#he bullies everyone but the second someone else serves him what he dishes out he throws a temper tantrum

[batbabydaily]

world's finest comics #4: the ghost gang goes west

[blackcloverdatabase]

English Translation of Novel 3: Chapter 4 – The Hero Who Disappeared (Part 1 of 2)

I’m saving the illustration that came with this chapter for the second half since it illustrates a scene near the end, but what you see above is a picture of a Yuno card that was tucked into the pages of this chapter. The other novels didn’t come with a card, so I was surprised when I saw it.

This chapter features Yuno and William going on patrol at a festival William organizes a few days before the raid on the Eye of the Midnight Sun’s hideout. While on patrol, they run into Mereoleona, Asta, Noelle, Klaus, and Mimosa, and later they run into Yami and Charlotte. Chaos ensues.

--- The Hero Who Disappeared: Part 1 ---

“Welcome! For a limited time only, all magic tools are 50% off!”

“Hey, young lady! Would you like to drop by our store? I’ll make it nice and cheap for you~”

Under a clear, sunny sky, cheerful voices called out from the many stalls that were lined up as the townspeople walked among them with smiling faces. It was the square of the royal capital, the same place which served as the center of the Star Festival. Though not as large as the Star Festival, the square was filled with stalls and makeshift stages, offering the same amenities one would expect from a small festival. However, it wasn’t merchants who were manning these stalls.

“This is a magic tool endorsed by the captain of the Aqua Deer himself!! It’s a great security device!”

“This is a meat dish made by the captain of the Green Mantis! It’s delicious and nutritious!”

These stalls were manned by Magic Knights.

“This is quite the crowd~ There’s a lot of guests, but there’s a lot of Magic Knights, too.”

“Well, the Royal Knights Selection Exam is over, and……”

Bell and Yuno conversed as they walked among the crowd. They came here today because they were ordered to patrol the event. The Magic Knights were given various tasks to run the festival, ranging from selling things at the stalls, performing short skits and games on stage, as well as handling background tasks such as patrolling and clerical work. This may seem like a strange spectacle, but there was a reason why this was happening.

“Most importantly, this was a direct announcement from Captain Vangeance. Of course a lot of people are going to gather.”

That’s right. Vangeance proposed this event to assuage the unease the citizens had thanks to repeated attacks from the Eye of the Midnight Sun and the circulation of the “Original Sin”. Yuno heard that he simply “requested cooperation” from those who belonged to the other squads, but with his personal magnetism, this many people gathered in a heartbeat.

Bell sucked on a strawberry candy Yuno bought for her and happily quipped,

“Hm~ Well, I don’t really get it, but thanks to this, I get to go on a festival date with you!”

“This event isn’t for you to have fun. It’s for the citizens.”

“……No, one of the reasons I established this festival was to give the Magic Knights a break and allow them a chance to interact with the people. It would make me very happy if you and Bell enjoyed the festival, too.”

Startled by the sudden voice from behind, Yuno and Bell looked behind them to see William Vangeance standing with an air of composure. Vangeance was the captain of the Golden Dawn, and he was the man said to be the closest to becoming the Wizard King. That the hero of the Clover Kingdom was greeting him so casually in a place like this was surprising by itself, but……

“Hey, hey, Captain Vangeance! Let me borrow your mask~!”

“I asked first! I’m gonna pluck those feathers and put them on my bear!”

“………”

Yuno and Bell were also surprised to see two children, approximately 7 to 8 years old, clinging to that hero’s feet.

“……Captain Vangeance, those kids are……?”

“Yup, just as you see. It seems that they were interested in my mask, so they approached me, and…...”

From behind his mask, he answered Yuno’s question with his usual elegant smile……. No, rather than his usual smile, he answered with a considerably strained smile.

“……Anyway, can you please help me?”

“Jeez~ Why do we have to save our captain from getting bullied by a bunch of kids the very second we get here~”

“Stop that, Bell.”

“……Ha ha, sorry about that. I like kids, but I’m not very good at handling them.”

After Yuno and Bell managed to pull those children off of their captain, they continued their patrol together with Vangeance.  As if to regain his composure, Vangeance cleared his throat before speaking.

“Also, thank you for indulging my selfish request.”

“Selfish?”

When Yuno asked him this in return, Vangeance had a complicated expression on his face as he nodded.

“Though the Selection Exam may be over, the day you will be launching a surprise attack on the Eye of the Midnight Sun’s base is imminent. I’m thanking you because you came to my event during such an important time.”

“……I don’t think you’re being selfish at all.”

As he spoke, Yuno looked at all the people around him.

“I’m sure those children felt the same way. The townspeople all look like they’re having fun interacting with the Magic Knights like this. There has just been one horrible incident after another, so isn’t it fine to do something fun like this every once and a while?”

From the citizens’ point of view, this was a rare chance to interact so closely with the Magic Knights, the heroes that all citizens strive to become. That by itself makes this event enjoyable for them. Even the anxieties caused by the Eye of the Midnight Sun and Original Sin will be lessened to some degree.

“……I see. I’m happy to hear that from you.”

Vangeance replied, looking a little bit happy when he smiled. Yuno nodded before continuing,

“Also, just as you were saying earlier, the Magic Knights also look like they’re having fun.”

The faces of the Knights manning the stalls looked even more lively than usual. Being a Magic Knight is usually a tough job, so this was probably incredibly relaxing for them. Today looks to be a fun day for Magic Knights and citizens alike. That’s what Yuno thought, but……

“Yeah. It would be nice if today ended as nothing more than a fun day…...”

Vangeance said with a mysterious look on his face before lowering his voice so that only Yuno and Bell could hear him.

“There’s something I must tell you…… it has been reported that a person in possession of the Original Sin may have infiltrated today’s event.”

“!!”

They stiffened upon having such a serious matter suddenly disclosed to them.

“…Wait, w-what! We should evacuate everyone immed-!”

Bell raised her voice in a panic, but Yuno covered her mouth before Vangeance continued,

“I would very much like to do that, but if we do that so suddenly, everyone will panic, which may fuel the Original Sin. Also, this is only a possibility. We should gather more intel before making any large-scale moves.”

‘Even so, it’s dangerous to leave such a thing alone,’ Yuno thought, but he couldn’t come up with an alternative. To begin with, that information was too vague, so there was no way to know what move they should make. If there’s one thing they should do, it’s……

“In other words, we have no choice but to continue patrolling while searching for the Original Sin…… right?”

“That’s correct. I should also add that very few Magic Knights know about this. If too many people knew, our movements might begin to look unnatural, which could expose us to the owner of the Original Sin…… You two have more experiencing fighting the Original Sin than anyone else, so I decided I should tell you.”

Yuno still wasn’t satisfied, but he knew that there was no helping that.

“I understand. Is there anything else we know about the enemy?”

“Yes. You really do catch on quickly. I’ll tell you the details as we walk.”

After saying this, Vangeance’s voice once again sounded apologetic.

“I know I keep saying this, but I’m truly sorry about getting you involved in all this. I wanted you to be able to enjoy today’s event, too, so for this to happen is…...”

“There’s no helping that. It’s not like it’s your fault……”

If anything, he might be the most hurt by this. Any time he wasn’t busy with his duties as Captain was spent preparing for today’s event, only for all that to be spoiled by the Original Sin. Yuno meant for his words to be sympathetic, but, for some reason, Vangeance paused for an unnatural amount of time before finally responding,

“……Yeah, you’re right.”

He almost sounded as if he was at a loss for words when he said this, making Yuno feel uneasy. Then, suddenly,

“S-someone, anyone!! Please save me!!”

Boosted by amplification magic, a woman’s screams resounded throughout the venue.

It sounded like the scream came from the direction of the stage where the results of the Star Festival were announced. The scream’s timing was so uncanny that Yuno and the others raced to the stage as they prepared for battle. And, when they reached the front row of the stage……

“I’m a village girl named Mimosa!! I’m being chased by evil mages!!”

What they saw was Mimosa running around on stage, reading her lines with an unbelievably monotone voice. Then, several other Magic Knights went on stage, some acting as evil mages chasing Mimosa and others moving the background scenery around. It seemed that they stumbled upon a children’s play. After sighing with a bitter smile, Vangeance joked,  

“Ha ha, their timing was amazing…... Wait, it could be that these “evil mages” are being manipulated by the owner of the Original Sin.”

“If that were the case, it sure would make things easier for us.”

Yuno replied to his joke lightheartedly, but he, too, was smiling bitterly internally. The play’s timing was certainly bad, but it released the tension that was between them earlier, so he was honestly glad that it happened. Also, watching swarms of young children tottle around the stage as the play began brought a smile to his face. To protect those children’s smiles, they should arrest the Original Sin as soon as possible. Holding these feelings close to his heart, Yuno turned away from the stage to leave. At that moment, Mimosa pointed to the wing of the stage and said,

“Ah, it looks like someone came to save me! It must be the Magic Knight of Justice!”

The children started cheering with excitement at the words “Magic Knight of Justice”. Amidst those cheers, the person who entered on stage as that “Magic Knight of Justice” was……

“……Wait, look, Asta! That’s your cue! Get over there right now!”

“………Huh? My cue? What should I do?”

“………”

The Magic Knight of Justice was Asta, who made his long-awaited debut on stage…… or rather, he was dragged onto stage by Noelle with an even dumber look on his face than usual, so dumb that it was practically audible. It was like watching an old man, causing Bell to, without thinking, talk to Noelle from beneath the stage.

“Hey, Noelle…… what…… that is, why is he acting like an old man?”

“U-uh……I don’t really know, either……”

Noelle said with a sigh, sorrow hanging around her like a wife exhausted from taking care of her aging husband.

“The shock of being unable to fight Yuno in the finals of the Selection Exam turned him into this, and……”

“And so… he turned into that……?”

That explanation didn’t make sense to Bell and Yuno, and it didn’t make sense to Noelle, the person doing the explaining, either. It was a mystery to everyone. When Asta noticed Yuno, he spoke to him as if he were going senile.

“Aah, Yuno…… perfect timing. Can you replace me as the Magic Knight of Justice? Since you got first place at the Selection Exam, you’d be a better fit for the role…… Ah, sorry, should I use ‘Mr.’ when I speak to you?”

“Stop that. That kind of subservience doesn’t suit you. Hurry up and snap out of it.”

“After you defeat the villain, you have to shout your usual catchphrase. So, after you beat the enemy, you should yell “I’m Yuno, you know!?”.”

“Even your memory is all messed up. I’ve never said such a lame catchphrase in my life.”

While Yuno and Asta where bickering, the audience started getting antsy. It was only natural. They were told that the Magic Knight of Justice was coming, and they got some guy acting like an old man. Wanting to fix the now awkward atmosphere, Mimosa said in a panic,

“E-everyone! You’ll see this in the next act, but since Asta has gotten himself into a pinch, a new Magic Knight of Justice will rush to the scene! The person playing this role is a very famous captain of the Magic Knights! Also, we’ve made arrangements for all you little ones to be able to get on stage and fight the evil mages alongside them, so please don’t leave yet!”

“You’re being too desperate! Also, stop saying things like “role” and “arrangements”!”

Bell criticized Mimosa, but, despite her criticism, the kids were showing excitement once again.

“Cooool! We get to meet a Captain!”

“Hey, papa! Take me closer to the front! I wanna fight, too!”

Tiny voices piped up here and there as more and more children gathered at the bottom of the stage. It seemed that the title “Captain” wasn’t just for show after all. Not letting this chance pass them by, Klaus instructed Mimosa from behind the stage to have the children call for the captain.  Mimosa nodded, then turned toward the audience and exclaimed,

“Now, everyone! Let’s call for the captain with our loudest voices!! Ready, set…”

Mimosa counted down, then all the children in the assembly hall shouted together. The one who was summoned by those sweet voices was……

“WAH-HAH-HAAH! DO NOT WORRY, LITTLE VILLAGE GIRL! I, MEREOLEONA-SAMA, THE MAGIC KNIGHT OF JUSTICE, WILL DEVOUR ALL THOSE EVIL MAGES FOR YOU WITHOUT LEAVING A SINGLE TRACE!!”

“………”

A lioness. She walked on stage with a swagger and spoke in an intimidating tone as she laughed aloud. She was far from what a “Magic Knight of Justice” should look like. The children’s smiles froze, and they began to shiver with fear. Not seeming to notice this, she surveyed the audience with stone cold eyes and then, with a ferocious smirk, said,

“Ho hoh….. We have a lot of good kids here! Which of you friends are ready to fight beside me!? Is it you!? Is it YOU!?”

“Please wait for a moment, Mereoleona. I think you might be misunderstanding something here……”

Vangeance couldn’t help but interject fairly loudly from the bottom of the stage. He was aware that interjecting like this was incredibly out of character for him, but, at this rate, the reputation of the Magic Knights will be significantly damaged. Mereoleona had no way of knowing his thoughts, so she flared up into a fiery rage at him.

“You bastard…… are you insane, Vangeance!?  Talking to a performer who’s in the middle of their act on stage like that! Have you no manners!?”

“Well, from those children’s point of view, something much worse was happening right in front of them. Could you make your performance a little more kid friendly?”

“You fool! Are you saying I should hold back just because they’re kids!? A Magic Knight should always use all their power, no matter what!”

“Yes, I know. I know, so use all your power to imagine this for just one moment. Imagine that you’ve been told the “Magic Knight of Justice” is coming, but instead you get a “maniac with stone cold eyes”. Now, how would you feel about that?”

While the two were engaged in their progress-less exchange, Klaus approached them from the back of the stage and, with his fingers at his temple, informed them,

“……I’m sorry, you two. The play has been canceled. Let’s start working on cleaning everything up.”

“Cancelled…… hey, wait a second! What about all the kids who were looking forward to the play!”

While Bell was protesting, Klaus pointed his finger behind everyone and said,

“……And, where are those children you speak of?”

“Ah……”

Before they knew it, the audience had disappeared from their seats. They must have seen their chance to escape when Vangeance spoke up to Mereoleona. The parents in the audience took their kids and fled, almost as if they were escaping the clutches of a lioness. When Mereoleona noticed that her audience had disappeared, she punched the ground in vexation.

“Tch…… I’m sorry, everyone!! Though Vangeance was wrong for spouting off idiotic nonsense, the fact remains that I’m the one that allowed him to dampen the audience’s enthusiasm and cause them to leave! This is all my fault!”

“Um, Mereoleona, this is hard for me to say, but you’re absolutely right about it being your fault. Except, I’m not in the wrong. I’m not even saying this out of some sense of self-protection. I’m simply not in the wrong here.”

Mereoleona stood up with renewed determination, completely ignoring Vangeance’s protests.

“However, another audience will gather soon, so don’t worry! I’ll make up for my blunder with my own two hands!”

She proclaimed loudly. Then, she declared so stupidly loud that Yuno wouldn’t be surprised if the entire venue could hear her,

“Listen up, people! From now on, I will teach you all how to defend yourselves by burning your opponents! I’m about to demonstrate by using the other Magic Knights here as my opponents during the show, so you all should gather around the stage!!”

And so, everyone there had to use all their might to stop her.

  “……That was quite dangerous.”

“……Yes. Well, let’s just be glad the Original Sin never got involved in the fight.”

“……I’m still not glad about it.”

Said Vangeance, Yuno, then Bell as they continued their patrol. Their first interaction with her was tiring enough, but stopping Mereoleona’s rampage used up all their physical strength. After telling her the Original Sin might be at the venue, they somehow managed to calm her down, but that was only after everyone exhausted several days’ worth of energy stopping her. Yuno wanted nothing more than to go home, lie down, and rest, but he couldn’t say that out loud, so he forcibly distracted himself by asking Vangeance,

“So, do you know anything else about the Original Sin?”

“……Ah, sorry. That’s right. We were just talking about that.”

Their discussion, which had been nearly forgotten because of the impact the lioness left on them, resumed.

“First of all, we know the Original Sin is here because several Knights who have had run-ins with the Original Sin before have sensed its mana at this venue. However, its presence is so weak that we can’t pinpoint its location unless we can get several magic detection specialists in a concentrated area.”

“I see…… but, if that’s the case, can’t we narrow down its location by following the source of its mana?”

“Of course, we have tried that, but it seems that its mana is incredibly unstable, so it repeatedly appears and disappears. That’s why it’s difficult to pinpoint with mana perception alone. If we could narrow down the number of suspects to only a few people, then……”

“Is that so……?”

Yuno contemplated Vangeance’s words. The other times he has faced the Original Sin, being able to sense mana was a powerful advantage, but it’s a useless skill if that mana cannot be followed. As before, the only way to guarantee victory will be to make direct contact with the owner of the Original Sin and destroy it.

‘With so many people here, will that even be possible……?’ Yuno thought with a troubled face. While he was thinking, Vangeance pointed to a corner of the assembly hall and said,

“Speak of the devil…… He’s one of those who sensed the presence of the Original Sin.”

Where he pointed, several tables were lined up and spaced at equal intervals. There was a number of children using them to draw pictures. It appeared that one of the events at the festival was a drawing class. There was a man reclining in the corner who seemed to be in charge.

It was the Captain of the Black Bulls, Yami Sukehiro. When he noticed Vangeance, he raised his head from the art book he was reading and looked up toward them.

“……Oh, it’s golden weird mask guy. Hey, golden weird mask guy. Actually, golden weird mask guy is a pain in the ass to say. Can I stop?”

‘You’re the one who came up with that nickname, you know,’ Vangeance thought to himself with a bitter smile. He said as he watched the children,

“I was surprised when I heard you were doing an event geared toward children, but it looks like it’s going well.”

“Yeah. I was thinkin’ all I’d have to do is put out some paint and paper, and then I wouldn’t have to do anythin’ else, but a lot more kids gathered than I thought there’d be. I guess a cute guy like me summons more cuteness.”

Just as Yami said (?), there were many kids gathered around his corner, drawing and having fun as they talked with Magna Swing and Luck Voltia. There really was nothing but art supplies and paper on the table, and they could use it all free of charge. Perhaps it was that simplicity and ease of access that made his corner so popular. Its popularity probably had nothing to do with Yami’s “cuteness”. As Yuno was thinking such trivial thoughts, a boy and girl who were drawing toddled toward them.

“Ah! It’s Captain Vangeance!”

“Aah. Those two are the same kids as earlier…”

Bell nodded lightly.

‘Those two are the same kids who were bullying…… no, admiring Vangeance earlier. If I recall, their names were….’

“Hey, Al, Silka. Were you two drawing, too?”

Before Yuno could remember their names, Vangeance kneeled down and greeted them with a smile.

That’s right. The boy’s name was Al, and the girl’s name was Silka. The two were brother and sister. They lived in a village situated at the edge of the Common Realm, but today they asked their parents to come to this event so that they could meet the Magic Knights.

Al nodded happily and held his drawing out to Vangeance.

“Yeah! I drew us playing at my village! I drew it really good, so I’m giving it to you!”

“Are you sure? You two worked really hard to draw this, right?”

“Yeah! This is payment for letting us play with you earlier!”

Vangeance thanked Al and accepted his drawing, his expression more joyful than usual.

‘He really wasn’t lying when he said he liked kids,’ Yuno thought.

……However, Yuno also felt a touch of unease as he watched him. For some reason, there was a tinge of sadness in his smile. As Yuno began to feel such doubts, Silka came to his feet and offered him her drawing.

“Then, I’ll give mine to Yuno-niichan!”

“……Ah, thank you. I’ll treasure it.”

Just as Al said, the drawing depicted the two of them playing.  They included small details in their drawings, like their chestnut-colored hair, Al’s book pouch, Silka’s hair ornament, and more. Yuno accepted the drawing with a smile, making Silka’s face to turn red as she returned to Al’s side. They took each other’s hands and ran away cheerfully.

“See ya, Captain Vangeance! Have a good day at work!”

“Thanks! You two be careful not to trip and fall!”

Vangeance waved goodbye at them, already returning to his usual gentle self.

‘Was it just my imagination?’ Yuno wondered. As Yuno was lightly questioning himself, Yami started talking to Vangeance with his usual lax attitude.

“Hey, are you kiddin’ me, Vangeance? You never told me you had a love child, let alone two. They aren’t wearin’ weird golden masks, are they? You should make weird golden masks for them, too.”

“So, Yami? Have you been able to sense the Original Sin since then?”

Vangeance ignored Yami’s joke, carefully putting the drawing away in his book pouch as he asked his question. Yami shrugged his shoulders in response.

“Same as usual. I can sense it every now and then, but just as I catch a hint of it, it disappears. Well, rather than mana, I’m readin’ ki, but I think you’d get the same results either way. Luck was sayin’ the exact same thing, earlier.”

“So, all we know is that it’s still here. Understood. Even so, for the time being, continue to try sensing for it at regular intervals. Yuno and I will do the same.”

“Sure…… wait, huh?

His reply was flat, but then he leaned his head toward Vangeance, studying his face.

“What’s the matter?”

“Well, just now, I was sensin’ the ki in this area real lightly, and…”

He continued. With cigarette in hand, he pointed his finger at Vangeance.

“I feel a lingering sensation of the Original Sin’s ki from you. You happen to know why?”

“……Huh?”

As Yami spoke, Yuno half-reflexively focused his mana perception. Though it was very slight, he could certainly feel the mana of the Original Sin from Vangeance. It was so weak, that Yuno would never have noticed if it weren’t for Yami pointing it out…… it was like a lingering scent. If he possessed the Original Sin Grimoire, then the mana he felt from him would have been much stronger, so he couldn’t be the owner of that grimoire……. No, still, if he was using some technique to suppress his own mana, then it’s possible that…..

“Ah, before the Selection Exam, Julius secured an Original Sin grimoire intact. This morning, I touched it as I was examining it. It might be mana from that.”

Vangeance explained without even breaking a sweat, interrupting Yuno’s thoughts.

‘Am I stupid? Of course he doesn’t have it.’

Yuno calmed back down. That’s right. There’s no way he could be the owner of the Original Sin Grimoire. Even if it was only for a moment, Yuno felt ashamed for letting his mind run away with such strange ideas. Yami nodded his head and said,

“I see. Sometimes, when you touch something, its mana and ki can stick to you…. Ah, I just realized. That’s gonna make it even more of a pain in the ass to find this thing. Why’d you have to come here, you bastard!? I’m gonna smash your mask into pieces and use them to decorate the walls of a hipster cafe!”

“The way you express anger is sometimes rather mystifying, but I’d prefer it if you stop…... Anyway, please continue surveying the area.”

Vangeance said with a wry smile before turning back toward Yuno and Bell. Upon doing so, he was surprised to see a certain someone approaching him and Yami.

“Va…… Vangeance…… you, why are you here……!?”

It was the Captain of the Blue Roses, Charlotte Roselei. For some reason, when she made eye contact with Vangeance, she froze in place with a startle. Upon closer examination, she was holding a basket full of cookies.

‘What’s going on here……?’ he thought. Despite his uncertainty, Vangeance decided to try greeting her, but then Charlotte’s face turned bright red as she stuttered with an extraordinarily high-pitched voice,

“I-I, uh, funny story! My squad held a cooking class, and we ended up making too many cookies! I thought it would be a waste to throw them all away, s-so I thought that I could give them to Yami! It’s not like I have an ulterior motive or anything! I’m just trying to get rid of them!”

“I didn’t ask you anything, though……”

‘This situation feels very familiar…...’ secretly, Bell was experiencing Deja-vu. Yami folded his arms and looked at Charlotte.

“The cookies are for me? From you? Why have you been actin’ so girly lately?”

“What!? You…...!”

Charlotte was about to reach for the handle of her sword, but she reconsidered, stopping her hand and shaking her head. She walked up to Yami and said,

“Just take it already. I’m busy. I’d rather not waste my time on things like this.”

And, with a straight face, presented the basket of cookies to him. Unlike before, there was no agitation in her voice or mannerisms. She was her usual dignified self. Although, that was only true on the outside.

‘…...Y-yes! I gave it to him! I wasn’t sure what to do when I saw Vangeance here, but I managed to give it him! Ha ha, I’m amazing!’

Internally, she was frolicking about like a schoolgirl. However, she we careful not to show that on her face. Charlotte had been reflecting on her recent actions. She has always allowed herself to get agitated in front of Yami, so she decided to work hard at not letting those feelings show. However, perhaps it was because she has had many opportunities to make contact with him as of late, but she hasn’t been able to hide her unrest, and her behavior has become strange. The times she has nearly attacked him in attempt to hide this have only increased.

‘This isn’t good,’ Charlotte thought. She admonished herself once more and vowed that she would maintain her self-control in front of Yami.

‘No matter what might happen, I won’t allow myself to get upset in front of him ever again!’ She told herself this over and over again, but then,

“Oh, thanks.”

Yami said this as he shoveled several cookies into his mouth.

“Huh? They’re good, like normal cookies. What the hell? Did you seriously make these?”

“……Yes.”

Charlotte responded with a straight face, but,

‘I-I’m so happy! To think hearing the man I love praise my cooking would make me so happy!’

Internally, she was soaring. She was trying desperately not to let that show, however,

“I seriously thought your cookin’ was gonna suck, but I guess you’re a proper lady after all. Hey, Vangeance, Yuno, you guys should try some, too. They’re surprisingly good. Surprisingly.”

“……Hmph. You’re as rude as usual. I cannot tell if you’re trying to praise me or insult me.”

Once again, Charlotte responded with a straight face, but,

‘He thinks it’s so good that he’s telling other people to try them!? He thinks they’re that delicious!? I’m a little annoyed that any men other than Yami are eating them, but still, I’m so happy!’

Internally, she was flying even higher than before, and thus she was trying even more desperately not to let her feelings be known. However, then Yami said,

“I’ve gotta say……. I could eat these cookies every day. Seriously.”

“………”

‘Ah……. I’m done for.’

Her excitement seemed to overflow from her whole body until, finally, she fell backwards.

BAM!

The back of her head hit the stone pavement, knocking her unconscious.

“Eeeeeeeeh!? Wait, what just happened!? Are you okay!? Hey!?”

Yami picked up her body, holding her in her arms while unusually upset. However…… there, an even more terrible incident unfolded.

“B-Big Sis! Are you okay!? What happened!?”

Several members of the Blue Rose, with Sol at the forefront, rushed toward Charlotte. They surrounded her and glared sharply at Yami. Sol took one step forward toward Yami, her body swaying as if she were half-conscious. Representing the entire group, Sol quietly informed him,

“When Big Sis suddenly disappeared, we began a search for her……. What is the meaning of this, Captain of the Black Bulls……? Why has Big Sis collapsed before you?”

“That’s what I’d like to know! She just suddenly collapsed all on her own, and-

“HUUUUUH!? So, you did do something to her, didn’t you!?”

“As I’ve said, you’ve got it all wrong! It was all on her own, and…. Wait, don’t attack me!”

After that, a brawl broke out between the Black Bulls and the Blue Roses. However, Charlotte woke up soon after and cleared Yami’s name. Still, thanks to the uproar they caused, not a single person remained in Yami’s drawing class.

“………That was quite dangerous.”

“………Yes.”

“………I’m sick of this.”

Said Vangeance, Yuno, then Bell as they continued their patrol. They had a hard time stopping those girls’ rampage.  Though it only took a few dozen seconds before Charlotte woke up and said, “……Sorry. I was just feeling a little lightheaded. It’s nothing important,” their brawl was fierce and merciless, so it was exceedingly difficult to stop them without destroying the town themselves. Moreover, their brawl, coupled with the uproar that Mereoleona caused, was starting to make the citizens who came here afraid of the Magic Knights. One of the goals of this event was to dispel any doubts the citizens had about the Magic Knights, but their doubts were only increasing. On top of that, they haven’t found a single clue toward dealing with the main problem at hand, the Original Sin Grimoire. With such negative thoughts floating in his head, exhausted by the day’s events, Yuno muttered to himself,

“Is the Order of the Magic Knights…... really okay…...?”

“Ha ha. Certainly, a lot of events have happened in rapid succession that would make one a little uneasy. No, maybe “very uneasy” would be more accurate?”

“Ah, no, sorry. That was a little careless of me to say. I mean…...”

Realizing that Vangeance overheard him, he hurriedly tried to explain himself. Since he somehow managed to work his way to be the person in the Golden Dawn who collected the most stars last term, he thought that he shouldn’t complain in front of the captain. With a gentle smile, Vangeance waved his hand as if to expel Yuno’s worries.

“I don’t mind…… No, well…… this is a good opportunity, so I guess I’ll go ahead and ask you.”

Vangeance, too, spoke so softly that one would think he was talking to himself.  

“Let me ask you, Yuno. What do you think about the Magic Knights and this country?”

“Huh……?”

Yuno and Bell reflexively looked at each other. His superior was asking him what he thought about his workplace and the thing he is supposed to protect. That’s not all that strange by itself, but it seemed a little abrupt. Realizing what Yuno was thinking, Vangeance shrugged his shoulders and said,

“It wasn’t meant to be a deep question. It’s just that many members of the Magic Knights, myself included, have high hopes for you. I was simply curious about your thoughts.”

Yuno lowered his head as he thought. It’s an abstract question, but if all he’s curious about is what he thinks, then……

“I think there are many problems in both of them that must be solved, but, even so, I love the Magic Knights and this country. Everyone in the Magic Knights is…… well, at first, they were extremely critical of me, but, lately, they all seem to recognize me as a friend. It feels very comfortable. Ever since the Star Festival, it feels as if the citizens have accepted me, too.”

Yuno remembered the smiles and cheers of the people at the Star Festival, filling Yuno with warmth as he spoke.

“I want to fight to protect the people who accepted me. That’s what I think.”

At first, Yuno only thought about fulfilling his dreams. However, these feelings gradually grew as he continued to fulfill his duties. Every time a person thanked him, every time a person smiled, he felt that he wanted to protect them. Those were his truest feelings from the bottom of his heart, but was that answer good enough……? Yuno thoughts were such as he watched Vangeance, who replied with a satisfied expression,

“I feel the same way. I love the Magic Knights, and I love this country, too. In the Magic Knights, I have comrades and subordinates I can rely on, and I have a superior I want to be like…… Julius-sama. Moreover, this is the country where my comrades and I were born and raised. These feelings are not so grandiose that I would call them patriotism, but I feel a dept of gratitude. In order to repay that dept, I want to protect this country and its people forever…… I truly do.”

For some reason, his expression became sorrowful for the second time that day.

‘……As I thought, Vangeance is definitely acting strange today.’

He was clad in his usual elegantly dignified aura, but there were moments when Yuno could feel a terrible fragility in him, as if he could simply fade away. However, these moments passed by so quickly that it was hard for Yuno to bring up. In the end, all he could do was worry.  

“Anyway, just as you said, Yuno, I believe there are many problems in both that must be solved.”

While Yuno was thinking, Vangeance returned to normal and replied with his usual tone. Yuno understood that thinking about it wasn’t going to get him anywhere, so he stopped mulling over it and listened to Vangeance speak.

“Discrimination against commoners and peasants, the secret maneuvers of those who act only for their own self-interest…… there’s many things we must do to make the country and the Magic Knights better, to make them something you can love even more.”

“……I agree.”

Yuno unintentionally responded with a severe tone of voice. This was because he and Asta have had many painful experiences because of the discrimination that peasants face. Understanding the reason behind Yuno’s heavy reply, he put his hand on Yuno’s shoulder as he continued,

“I’m looking forward to what you will do to solve these problems. If you demonstrate that even a peasant can shine if you hone your strength, you will not only eliminate the discrimination peasants face, you will also become the hope of the populace. I apologize for using you like an advertisement, but I intend to keep you busy.”

“Leave it to us~! After all, not only does Yuno have a four-leaf grimoire, he’s also a genius who’s loved by me! We’ll crush the walls of social status into tiny little pieces as many times as it takes!”

Interjected a certain wind spirit who didn’t read the mood of the conversation.

“Bell, house.”

Yuno tried to make her be quiet, but her outburst made Vangeance chuckle.

“I’m sure you will.”

He agreed with her as he laughed.

“Despite that, no, maybe because of that…... I’m a little worried.”

Once again, though only slightly, something seemed to cloud his usual gentle expression.

“……Right. This may be a little off-topic, but your goal is to become the Wizard King, right, Yuno?”

“Yes.”

Yuno answered immediately. He had decided that there was nothing to be embarrassed about, so he would always answer without hesitation, no matter who asked him. Vangeance nodded his head before continuing,

“What are you willing to lay on the line for your goal?”

“Anything.”

“Including your own life?”

“As long as I get to be the Wizard King for a bit before I die.”

“I see. Then, what about the life of another?”

“Huh……?”

“Let’s say you could save people’s lives in exchange for your own. What would you do?”

Yuno found himself unable to respond to such an unexpected question. With a wry smile, yet somehow incredibly sincerely, he informed Yuno,

“……I’m sorry for asking such a cruel question. However, because of your strength, there will be many situations in the future where you will need to make all kinds of choices, especially if you are aiming to become the Wizard King. In some of those cases, deciding on what is the right choice will be difficult…… In fact, there will surely come a time where, like my earlier question, you’ll have to make a choice when there is no right answer.”

It was as if Vangeance was speaking from experience, no, as if he were in such a situation at this very moment.

‘In his position, he has probably had to make dozens of decisions where there wasn’t a right choice,’ Yuno thought. And, just as he says, the time when Yuno will have to make such a choice will surely come as well.

‘When the time comes, what will I choose…….?’

“You don’t have to think so hard about it. It’s just that, since its possible you might end up in a situation like that someday, I wanted to know what you thought…… Whenever that happens, I hope you will always be able make a decision you can stick behind.”

Vangeance briefly paused before continuing. In that moment, Yuno turned his head to the side in doubt, still unsure of what his decision would be.

“If you don’t know what the right choice is…… in times like those, make a decision that you can be satisfied with. If you do that, you’ll be able to take responsibility for the consequences of your decision, even if those consequences are bad. Maybe this is already obvious to you, but for people as powerful as you, every decision you make has a big influence on your surroundings…… it will make me happy if you keep that in mind.”

“……Yes.”

Yuno answered with uncertainty. With that, Vangeance stretched lightly before saying,

“……Now then, that was quite a long talk, so I’m thirsty. Let’s buy something to drink.”

“Okay, then I’ll-

“No, I’ve already forced you to listen to me talk, so I’ll go buy them.”

Vangeance interrupted gently before quickly making his way to the juice stand. Yuno reluctantly sat down on a nearby bench and, for the second time that day, sighed briefly.

“……Hey, Yuno! Don’t worry about it! That question was just way too mean!”

“Well, you’re right, but…...”

As Bell continued to speak, Yuno became lost in his thoughts. Since the day he decided to become the Wizard King, he has worked single-mindedly to make his goal come true. No matter what hardships or unfairness stood in his way, he would find a way to push them aside, or, at least, that was his intention. However, he couldn’t answer Vangeance’s question. Even now, he still didn’t know the answer. He wasn’t prepared. The fact he still didn’t know the answer filled him with frustration. He felt as if he was just told he wasn’t working hard enough, or that he was too naïve.

“Oh, come on!”

As if she could sense Yuno’s state of mind, Bell opened his book pouch without permission, opened his grimoire, and pushed it against his face.

“Huh!? What the heck are you do-

“Look! After getting your grimoire, you filled so many pages in just half a year! No ordinary person would be able to do that! This is proof of your weird fixation on trying too hard!”

“I’m not sure if you’re trying to compliment me or insult me.”

“To make matters worse, your legs are long, your eyes are like almonds, and your cuticles are flawless! Everything about you is amazing, you hottie!”

“As I said, are those compliments or insults? You’re throwing compliments at me with all the tension of a tirade, so it’s confusing.”

Though Bell was annoying, for once her rampage helped him. The thoughts that were plaguing him earlier were the type that do not stop once you let yourself start thinking about them. He was grateful that she forced him to stop thinking about it. The captain’s question was one that should be taken very seriously, but it was not something he needed to think about right now. Yuno wasn’t sure if this was what Bell was trying to say, but, at the very least, that was the conclusion she led him to.

“……I understand, Bell……. Thanks.”

“You’re very welcome! I don’t really get why you’re thanking me, though!”

As they continued their usual exchange, Bell pulled Yuno’s grimoire away from his face. When she did, Yuno noticed that the drawing Silka gave him earlier fell out. He had put the drawing in his book pouch, so when Bell pulled his grimoire out from it, it fell by accident. When he picked it up, he patted the soil of off it and moved to put the drawing back in his book pouch, but then,

“……Hm?”

When he looked at the drawing, there was something about it that made him a bit uneasy.

“………..!”

And then, he realized it.

Even so, there were many holes in his hypothesis. If he was right, then his opponent made a rather careless mistake. However, if his opponent really was that careless, then it’s possible that……

“I’m sorry for taking so long. Julius-sama ended up roping me into a conversation.”

Vangeance returned with three juices in hand. Yuno didn’t respond to his voice, only staring at him in silence. It would be too hasty of him to mark him as a suspect. However, if his hypothesis was correct, then that would explain what Yami was saying earlier. To find more evidence, first, he should……

“……Captain Vangeance.”

With tension rising, Yuno turned toward Vangeance and uttered these words,

“Captain, may I see what’s in your book pouch?”

“……….”

In response to Yuno’s question, Vangeance smiled back at Yuno with his usual elegant smile from beneath his mask.

……No. This wasn’t his usual smile. There was a hidden meaning behind it.

 — To be continued in Part 2 —

As usual, expect the second half next week! Did any of you catch what Yuno noticed when he looked at the drawing?

I know I keep gushing on about how great each chapter is, but the chapters in this book are just too good! This chapter was just too cute! William being a total sucker around kids was cute! Yuno thinking about how much he wants to protect those kids was cute! Yami’s class being a hit with kids was cute! And Mereoleona… well, I don’t know if I would describe her scene with those kids as “cute”, but I loved it nonetheless!

I think this might be the most progress Charlotte has ever had toward her relationship with Yami. She actually managed to give him something she made, and he liked it!

I’m also glad Yuno is hesitating in his answer toward William’s question. He may be a Magic Knight, so it may be his duty to sacrifice his life for the citizens, but he’s only about 16 years old at this point in the story. It would be strange for a 16-year-old to be okay with sacrificing his life.

[echodrops]

Home and a Half Pidge Headcanons

An ask I got yesterday reminded me that I never posted the HaaH headcanons for Pidge like I promised, so here they are! (I’ll answer the actual ask as soon as I can with some new material instead of headcanons I already had written... oops...)

Anyway, without further ado, some headcanons for Pidge related to my fic Home and a Half!

Pidge:

- Grew up in the picture of the nuclear family: mom, dad, two kids, dog, nice upper-middle-class house in a quiet neighborhood, dinner on the table at 7:30pm on the dot… Of all the paladins, Pidge had the most stable and “average” childhood… at least on paper.

 - In reality, there is not a single person in the Holt family who isn’t eccentric as fuck. Grandma Holt? May or may not still be an active intelligence agent for MI6. The dog? Woofs in Morse code. Auntie Ariana? Has actually seen the Jersey Devil. Colleen Holt? Has killed a man. If you ask Pidge, she’ll say that her upbringing was perfectly normal and she’ll genuinely mean it, but this is a consequence Pidge having no idea what “normal” even means.

 Rest under the read more to save your dash:

- Not actually a girly-girl when she was young. Although they’re eight years apart and thus unlikely to be mistaken for one another, very early on Pidge got frustrated by how similar she and Matt look, and she definitely did not want to wear his tacky hand-me-down clothes, so she pitched a royal fit and insisted on wearing dresses and hairbands so that her family would have to buy Pidge all her own things. (They probably would have bought them anyway if she’d just asked calmly, but Pidge was three at the time, and they were all very impressed by her grasp of cause and effect.)

 - Of course, when Matt disappeared on the ill-fated Kerberos trip, those tacky hand-me-downs ended up being some of the most important items in Pidge’s life. Even outside of infiltrating Garrison, wearing Matt’s old clothes was one of the few comforts Pidge would allow herself—when she cut her hair and put on his baggy shirts, for a second, looking in a mirror, she could almost convince herself he was still there—

 - Pidge has no intention of changing the way she dresses or styles her appearance until she’s reunited with Matt and her father. After that? Well, they may not be the coolest looking things ever, but Matt does have a point that baggy t-shirts are very comfy…

 - And okay, because I’m sure everyone expected this headcanon first: Pidge and gender is a surprisingly uncomplicated subject. Side note before I go further: I’m sure everyone has their own headcanons for this and none of what I say here should be taken as rejecting or invalidating any other fan’s views on Pidge. The only thing invalid in the Voltron fandom is canon. Anyway, I personally like to imagine that Pidge is very ambivalent on gender. There is so much else going on—the war, Sam and Matt being missing, freaking giant robot space cats—that sitting down and sorting out the question of “Do I identify as male, female, nonbinary, or anything else?” is just really, really low on Pidge’s to do list. Pidge thinks of Pidge as “Pidge” and even that’s rare because Pidge doesn’t sit around thinking about herself or what other people think of her.

 - In fact, what strangers think is, in general, extremely low on Pidge’s radar. Although she used to be more self-conscious due to bullying from both classmates and her teachers, the combination of her parents’ consistent support and Matt’s… extreme tactics (“I’m telling you Pigeon, nanobots in their lunches will solve all your problems.” “That’s illegal, Matt.” “Nothing is illegal until you get caught.”) Pidge (mostly) overcame the phase of being affected by other people’s opinions. Who cares what strangers think? Absolutely none of them will ever be even close to as smart and talented as her family anyway. (My IQ is three times yours, your argument about my gender is literally invalid.)

 - By the way, I’m using “her” simply because that’s what I’m used to seeing in the fandom and to keep the fic and headcanons consistent, but in the functional world of HaaH, Pidge answers to any pronouns and doesn’t have a preference for any set in particular over others. In fact, Pidge is used to going by different sets of pronouns coming from different people, and might be “he” to one person, “she” to another, and “they” to yet someone else. Pidge is just… Pidge.

 - Again, with the war and Voltron and missing family and literally everything else going on--and the fact Pidge is far more practical than all of the rest of her fellow Team Voltron members combined--she isn’t wasting time and energy doing something as troublesome as falling in love with an alien. (“Keith, can’t your melodrama wait until after we win the war?” “My drama waits for no man.” “Then please explain how you and Lance manage to engage in synchronized dumb-fuckery at least three times a week.”) Eventually, after life has settled down and Pidge has had some time to think about it, she’ll realize that the reason she somehow managed to avoid any romantic entanglements in space isn’t because she’s just much more mature than her teammates (although this might be true)—it’s that she’s just not really interested in romantic engagements with anybody, period. 

 - Pidge’s one true love is discovery; she feels far more passionate about knowledge and learning new things, encountering new puzzles, and grasping new concepts than she does about anything else. In between all her creations and codes and experiments and observations, it just doesn’t feel like there’s room—or that there needs to be room—for a romantic relationship with a real person.

 - Pidge will make room for friends though, if and when they insist on worming their ways into her life. She tends to be a fairly private person who has never really had a large friend group (back on Earth, before Garrison, there wasn’t anyone but Matt and her parents who really understood her, and she didn’t have much in common to discuss with children her own age), but once someone earns Pidge’s trust, she does open up and form close bonds and she will give her all to help and be there for her few, but close, friends.

 - Meeting Hunk at Garrison was a huge revelation. Up to that point in Pidge’s life she had never really met any young person outside her own family with a soaring genius-level IQ that was a match for her own. Although she and Hunk bicker frequently because their approaches to science are extremely different, she’s still over-the-moon to have someone who doesn’t stare at her like she’s talking gibberish whenever she goes off on one of her tangents.

 - If you ask Pidge, she will violently swear up and down that Lance never and in. no. way. reminds her of Matt, fills in for Matt in the lame-older-brother role, or helps her miss her brother just a little bit less. That did not happen, never had a chance of happening, what are you even talking about—

 - But if you ask about Shiro, she will be flat-out honest and admit she totally thinks of him as Space Dad. It’s not her fault. Shiro literally hero worships Sam Holt (still to this day!!) and may or may not have taken on more of his mentor’s mannerisms in order to fill the leadership role for Team Voltron. Sometimes Shiro will say or do something and Pidge will be absolutely dumb-struck because he got that from my dad is an actual thing she has to deal with.

- “Pidge” is actually a derivative of “Pigeon.” Everyone in the Holt family has a bird-based code name. Mr. Holt is Eagle Two.

 - People often get the impression that Pidge is scatterbrained because she can talk about ten different things at once and pounces on leaps in her own logic that other people just can’t follow, but her thoughts and speech are very organized. It’s not her fault you couldn’t understand her system of organization if you tried.

 - Put Pidge on the spot on a subject she doesn’t know, though, and watch the awkward jump right out. (“Oh, you meant the pop band Galileo, not the person. You know, that’s really an easy mistake to make. You can hardly blame me when you stop to consider all the similarities between modern chord progression and the trajectory of supermassive objects like—”)

 - And if it’s not awkward, it’s defensive. Pidge may be hyper-intelligent, but she’s still very, very young, and it’s hard not to get snappish when challenged by people whose opinions she really does care about. She has a far quicker temper than Matt (who is a “revenge is a dish best served cold” champion), a trait she shares with their mother. Colleen, in turn, blames it on her having been born in New Jersey. Pidge has flipped so many tables on the Castleship that Coran and Lance eventually went around and bolted them all down.

 - Do not even so much as hint that Sam and Matt Holt might be dead instead of just missing in space. Keith is still scared after his last attempt at reasoning with Pidge about her family’s fate.

 - Has a bad hoarding habit. Back on Earth she had her parents there to insist she clean her room at least once a week, but in space, things are getting a bit crazy. The Castleship closets and cabinets can hyper-condense their contents and she’s STILL running out of room for all the neat doodads and parts and scientific wonders she finds on their adventures across the galaxy. Is definitely in the “Look, there’s still a mostly clear path to the door; it’s fineee” category. It’s not like she finds it hard to let things go once she’s gotten attached to them or anything. Nope. Definitely not.

 - Pidge’s mess is absolutely of the “everything has a proper place” type though. Move anything with her name on it and you will feel her wrath.

- As the only one of the Earth paladins to have technology on her when they were unexpectedly swept off to war, everyone on the ship relies on Pidge’s laptop for their monthly dose of Earth nostalgia. Good thing for them Pidge and Matt’s pirating skills put Pirate Bay to shame, and she’s got basically every Earth movie from 1980 to the present. She even has every episode of the timeless classic F.R.I.E.N.D.S. (Keith hates that show with a burning passion that even he cannot explain.)

 - Speaking of technology Pidge had on Earth—every single person in the Holt family is (and has been for decades) aware of the existence of aliens. Pidge’s family tree has been involved in communications, radio wave technology, and interpreting space observations since those fields were first invented. When Earth first identified patterns of waves that obviously corresponded to alien communications going on outside Earth’s galaxy, Pidge’s great- great- grandfather was there. When world governments covered up the discovery, he was the loudest voice of dissent. Since then, the Holt family has been deeply involved in military and space operations across several countries, operating from within an oppressive system they fundamentally disagree with, using their positions of authority to monitor the Milky Way and beyond, keeping tabs on what the aliens might be saying—and what messages Earth might be inadvertently sending back.

 - Of course this is top secret work—secret even from the Garrison and government where the Holts were employed. Other kids learn how to play piano and soccer; Pidge and Matt learned how to hack virtually impenetrable military databases and hide their data behind uncrackable ciphers instead.

 - But the Kerberos Mission was supposed to be safe. They’d all monitored the chatter so closely—there hadn’t been anything hostile anywhere even near Earth’s galaxy, no sign at all of any technologically advanced race like the Galra in years and nothing about one little Earth mission that would disturb any other intergalactic travelers anyway… Why would they...

 - Pidge is surprisingly athletic for a self-professed nerd. With youthful energy to burn and a family to save, Pidge took to Allura and Coran’s intense Altean training like a duck to water, and while she’s not quite Shiro or Keith when it comes to hand-to-hand combat, she can definitely holds up better than Hunk or Lance.

 - Favorite color is actually yellow, and if Green wasn’t totally The Coolest™ lion, she’d be sort of salty about Hunk getting the Yellow Lion instead.

 - Absolutely capable of cursing up a blue storm, and hasn’t been friends with Hunk quite long enough yet to remember to censor herself around him all the time like Lance does with his “Holy crow!”s. She’s trying, dammit!

 - Big on pets. Gets attached to pet-shaped creatures (whether living or robotic) very easily. 110% kept the space caterpillars, who live happily free-roaming the piles of space junk in her bedroom. The space caterpillars and the space mice do not get along, however, as the space mice do not take well to having their status as the favored fuzzy team mascot squad threatened. In their micro-Cold War, which is occurring without any of the ship’s humanoid occupants being aware, the space caterpillars are currently winning.

 - The caterpillars’ names are Copernicus, Kepler, and Newton.

 - Remember that one post about Lance drawing angry brows on the space caterpillar and siccing it on Keith? I very much accept that as canon. Pidge was Not Happy™ when she found out what Lance had done and she is NOT letting anyone else near her caterpillars again any time soon. Is very, very careful not to let Niresh see the space caterpillars so that they don’t end up stolen right from under her nose.

 - Speaking of the kids, Pidge is super awkward with them and skedaddles at the first sign of tears. Next to Allura, there is probably not any member of the team worse suited to babysitting duty. That said, as someone who has lost members of her family in the war, Pidge is probably the member of the team who most directly understands Dulsara’s anger and the children’s loss. That doesn’t mean she’s really ready to let herself sympathize with the Galra though, at least not until she finds her own family first.

- Pulls all the most bullshit moves in Monsters and Mana. Whenever the team reminiscences on the truly legendary moments from their campaigns, somehow Pidge is the star in all of them.

And that’s all I’ve got for now!

[zippiestdraws]

Choking Curiosity Ch 9

ftm reader x Michael Myers

read on ao3

The microwave clock says five-fifty am when Michael creeps into the house. He shakes the dew out of the mask’s hair and reaches for the kitchen towel to wipe off the latex.

The book is new. He saunters to it slowly, leaving it untouched other than plucking the note from the cover. Your request in writing is met with indifference, barely read, but his thumb rubs over the inking of your name at the bottom.

He’d seen it amongst your things, but this trinket he can keep. He pockets the paper, crumpling it in his grip, and picks up the book. Beginner’s Guide to American Sign Language.

Michael snarls under the mask. Past anger wells in his chest at the words, fighting to vent through his fingers. They tried to make him use sign language in Smith’s Grove. He never wanted to learn to communicate better, even if out of spite, it was what he could control. The only sign that really stuck was the middle finger.

Michael climbs the stairs with a harsh grip on the spine, sparing a glare towards your bedroom door and throwing the book into his room before him.

*** You wake up with purpose this morning and only spend half the amount of time as usual sitting in your bed before getting up.

Fussing with the bedhead in the mirror, you brush your teeth when a thought hits you. You haven’t seen your new roommate brush his teeth.

Ew.

You sigh. You’re going to have to get him a toothbrush and some deodorant, you can’t imagine being on the lam has left him smelling decent. You gag. He better not have touched your toothbrush.

The book is gone from the counter, which you count as a win. There’s no response to your note, but you’ll take what you can get. You just need to remember to study your book too, when you get back.

Thinking about the cookout, you stop short.

‘Was I supposed to bring a dish?’

You groan, hopefully they won’t judge you for bringing some chips and dip.

You get dressed what would be considered way too early, but you need to get gas anyway, and luckily you did because, as you leave your house, you see Abtin approach from his yard.

He gifts you a tomato from his garden, to your surprise, and begins to tell you how his plants are doing. He tells you he’s gonna cook the rabbit that keeps eating his cabbage if he catches it, in the way he jokes for shock value.

“So, hey, is that your brother I keep seeing behind your house? He keeps coming and going-”

You choke on your own spit.

“I’m just messing with you, I know what it is.” He laughs and slaps his knee. You don’t know what you would say if you could say something. What excuse could you give? You hope he doesn’t mean what you think he does, but you’re the only person he gossips to anyway.

You’re relieved when he moves on to critique the spray paint still out front, but at least Halloween is next month and then you’ll probably be able to paint the house.

In another ten minutes, you pocket your tomato and make it to your car to drive for the first time in probably two months. Hopefully you’ll have enough gas to make it to a station.

*** You’re lucky you filled the tank before leaving because you got lost twice trying to find the turn off indicated on the map. Finally, on another turn back, you see a faded red flannel tied around a tree, and upon closer inspection, an old dirt road hidden at an odd angle.

When the trees part into a wider clearing down the road, you slow to a stop in the drive of what appears to be a tricked out log cabin. Putting your car in park, you jump at a loud whack nearby, someone splitting logs in your peripheral.

Jake is wearing what looks like a cowboy hat, but you’re more enamored with the way his arms look in his sleeveless vest when he swings the axe. You close your mouth and remind yourself he’s spoken for. Stepping out of the car and grabbing the food you brought, he waves to you, then points to the cabin. Right on time you see Dwight and someone you don’t know lifting a wooden picnic bench, and you jog over to help because Dwight looks like he’s about to get squashed.

At its destination, the other man introduces himself as David and slaps hands with you, throwing his arm around Dwight. It’s almost surprising, the two of them look like a stereotypical high school nerd and bully, but David tussles his hair like an older brother.

After letting go, he pulls you over to where some logs are felled around a firepit to “grab a beer and meet the queers”. You laugh at the overtness of it, and again as a girl with red hair chucks a bag of marshmallows at his head when she hears him say it. Maybe finding someone like you isn’t a lost cause here.

“Hey!”, when David opens the cooler, you look up to see Laurie standing there pointing at you. “What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” you smile, glad to see a familiar face.

“I came with Meg and Claudette,” Laurie gestures at the two other women who nod to you.

“I’m Meg and this is Claudette, to be clear,” the girl with red hair clarifies and nods her head across from her, “and over there is Ace- and so help me, Ace, if you shoot that at me I will roast you over the fire.”

You turn towards who she’s speaking to and see an older man sitting in a blue, plastic kiddie pool struggling to fill a small water pistol while laughing.

“Here you go, mate.” David grabs your attention trying to hand you a beer.

“Oh, no thanks, I gotta drive home tonight-” you put your hand up, but he presses it into your palm.

“Come on, relax, just one won’t hurt. And if you get hammered, you can just camp out here like everyone else.”

It’s in your hand now and you nod at him, but you don’t want to reveal that you think beer tastes like shit.

Dwight returns with Jake and firewood in tow, Ace squirts the water gun at them ‘to cool Jake down’ and you duck out of the way as they drop the tinder into the pit.

“Hey, glad you came,” Jake says, dusting splinters from his hands.

“He brought chips!” You both hear David yell over from the table, presumably with his mouthful.

“Yeah, sorry I didn’t bring something better-” you start to apologize but he tells you not to worry about it, chips are great and you brought enough so that David can’t eat them all. David yells back that he takes that as a challenge.

You can’t remember the last time you’ve laughed this much.

It’s a warm enough afternoon that you don’t need to light the bonfire yet, and David gets the grill going while Jake runs back to his cabin to grab the meat. At this point you remember the tomato in your pocket, pulling it out and setting it on the table sheepishly.

“Nice tomato! I always bring a vegetarian option for everybody too, Jake keeps them separate on the grill for me.” Claudette smiles at you from across the table as she sets down some plates.

“Thanks, my neighbor actually gave it to me from his garden this morning before I left.”

The two of you talk, and you learn that planting marigolds with tomatoes is a great way to prevent pests and Claudette knows a whole lot about gardening because she happens to be a botanist.

Meg sits down next to her and listens happily for a couple of minutes before calling Ace over to challenge him to an arm wrestle.

“Don’t let him near the grill, everything he touches burns…” Meg whispers out of the side of her mouth as he walks over. You catch Laurie’s eye from where she’s standing with Dwight, Jake, and David at the grill, exiting the conversation before swiftly making her way over to you.

“I’m gonna show (Y/n) where the bathroom is.”, her hand lands on your shoulder, you guess you have no choice.

You swing your legs around the bench and follow her off towards the cabin with a shrug. When you’re a few paces away from the group, she hisses to you under her breath without looking and you almost miss it.

“Have you seen him again?”

It takes a second before you register what she’s talking about, but you respond before you come to a full conclusion on what you tell her.

“No, not since the first time.” She opens the front door of the cabin and you avoid eye contact. You hope your body language reads ‘upset’ and not ‘hiding something’. “I don’t want to talk about it right now…”

Laurie lets it drop, but sounds irritated when she points out the bathroom. On the way back you whisper a ‘sorry’ and she responds with a ‘me too’. You scrunch your brows in confusion, but head over to the grill. She disappears from your side but a thirty seconds later a stream of water hits you in the side of the head.

You yelp in shock and duck, but Laurie keeps squirting the gun, catching Dwight in the crossfire.

“It’s on!” David yells, dropping the tongs on the grill and vaulting over the table after her. Laurie runs to the other side of the kiddie pool that you see Ace getting out of, holding a beer aloft.

There’s a stand off on either side of the water, broken by David launching over it and landing one foot in the drink to lunge at Laurie, only for her to jump out of his reach. Almost in slow motion, everyone watches as his one foot slips on the plastic and he goes tumbling down, soaking his pants and getting a face full of grass. Everybody has a good laugh while he climbs out with a flurry of curses and peels off his shirt.

Damn.

Jake calls over as he sets one huge plate of hot dogs and burgers on the table and follows it with one of corncobs and what’s probably the veggie patties that Claudette mentioned. Meg whistles at the sight of the food and starts serving hot dogs after passing the vegetarian plate to Claudette, everyone falling in at the table to eat.

*** You eat until you’re stuffed, unashamed as everyone else does the same. The sun is sinking in the sky now, casting a pleasant glow through the trees. Jake deems it enough to start the fire and you approach to watch curiously as he strikes flint onto the dry brush and blows on it.

When he’s finished he tells the group to keep an eye on it while he fetches the s’mores stuff.

“I thought we put it out right here-” Dwight turns toward the logs, confused, but Jake takes him by the arm to bring him along to the cabin.

“I brought it inside because the chocolate was melting.” Dwight seems to accept this and follows along.

When they're out of earshot, Meg leans in towards the log you’re sitting on from her own.

“Jake is proposing tonight! I think he’s doing it!” She squeals a bit in excitement and tries to look like she’s not watching when Dwight looks back before ducking inside.

You share in their excitement and join Ace in stoking the fire into a roaring flame. You watch the smoke dance and carry some ashes into the air and lean back happily. The sky is turning from purple to deep blue now. The light from the fire dances off the trunks of the trees, and you take in the nature of your surroundings as your friends chatter around you.

You squint at a shape between the trees and it moves behind a thicker trunk.

White mask.

*** Michael would never admit to himself of ever feeling jealousy, but a certain irritation of possessiveness grows as he watches. His stomach rumbles at the food, but it’s of little relevance to him.

He spots Laurie and his knife is already in his dominant hand. The strings are connecting what he’s seeing to the same feeling of what he saw watching the teenagers in 1978. This time Laurie is collateral. Funny.

All he has to do is wait.

He could go after the two that already diverged from the group, but he wanted you separated. He moves closer to where you will see him.

The firelight flickers over your form, creating a beautiful moving sepia of you that reminds Michael of the old photographs in the asylum. As you poke at the fire, it licks towards your fingers and that are drawn back sharply.

What sounds would you make when it touched you?

Your eyes had a dream like quality, observing the realness of your habitat, peering through rose-tinted glasses to only see the welcoming nature when surrounded by the lurking sharpness of it.

He may have felt smug when the illusion broke around his presence.

Michael moves out of your line of sight, but he humors over the way a human freezes like an animal in the headlights.

The annoying man who fell in the pool speaks. Michael doesn’t like the way he looks at you.

“Oi, (y/n), you look like you’ve seen a ghost, what’s got you bothered?”

You snap out of it quickly, looking towards him and then shaking your head.

“Um, yeah sorry, I’m just...cold. I’m gonna go get my jacket from my car, I’ll be right back.”

You skitter off nervously, Michael can see the confusion on some of the other faces.

You make it to your car before scanning the woods and spinning to check your blindspot, but you don’t need it, Michael is already walking toward you and you can see the way the orange of the distant campfire glints off of the knife he’s brandishing. You step back, you don’t want to be intimidated, but you fear for what he’ll do to your friends.

The car door stands between the two of you when you open it, pulling out your jacket without breaking eye contact. It’s seeming like you can’t escape him.

“How did you get here?”, you whisper, not knowing exactly where Jake and Dwight are.

You wait for an answer, and when you give up on one, he turns his head deliberately toward the backseat of your car and back to you.

You’re incredulous, the main question you don’t want to elaborate on is “how?”, but you wave it away to get to the point.

“Please.”, you don’t know what you’re appealing to, but you hope there’s some leverage you have in the way he sees the situation. “Please don’t hurt these people. I’ll-”

What will you do?

You don’t know, but you have to save them from whatever he’s planning.

“I’ll do whatever you want. I’ll-I’ll leave right now, okay?” He just stares at you. He twists his knife once.

“The car is open, I’ll go make an excuse to leave and be right be right back, I promise.” You hold up your hands placatingly.

You do a quick jog back to campfire and it looks like you return shortly after Jake and Dwight.

“So, what’d I miss?”, you hope you don’t enter as clumsily as you feel.

Jake and Dwight turn to you on the log and Dwight is wearing the biggest sheepish smile and looks like he cried a little bit. You can see the little gold band on Dwight’s left hand and smile back, issuing proper congratulations.

You force yourself to say it, feeling guilty for springing it on them during a sentimental moment.

“I wanted to stay for the s’mores, sorry guys, but I gotta get home.” Some sad ‘awws’ erupt from the girls and Laurie looks at you suspiciously.

“What, are you afraid of the dark?”, David jeers as you say your goodbyes.

“No, I just have work tomorrow.”, you grimace.

he responds with a hum of acknowledgement before laughing.

“Hate to see you go, but love to watch you leave.”

You give him a good natured punch in the shoulder before waving to everyone and heading out.

Approaching your car once more, you can see Michael’s silhouette in the backseat and gulp. Sliding in and starting the car like normal, you try not to look back, but in the mirror you see the shadowed eyes watching you.

It’s easy to imagine how vulnerable you are to him in the backseat. The ride home is awkward, but only for you.

[mylinhnd987]

SPIRITED AWAY: THE METAPHORICAL DETAILS BEHIND THE CLASSIC

New Post has been published on http://www.idolpop.us/spirited-away-the-metaphorical-details-behind-the-classic/

SPIRITED AWAY: THE METAPHORICAL DETAILS BEHIND THE CLASSIC

SPIRITED AWAY: THE METAPHORICAL DETAILS BEHIND THE CLASSIC

Link video:

ANIMATIONCONTENT The first detail that is repeated continuously throughout the movie is greed. [The scene Chihiro's parents eat and get turned into pigs] At the beginning of the movie, the scene where Chihiro's parents curiously entered the spirit land and discovered restaurants full of delicious food. Unable to resist the attraction of those delicious dishes, they ate a lot, no matter the origin of this meal. There ain't no such thing as a free lunch, right. Witch Yubaba turned them into pigs, resulting in Chihiro having to work in her bathroom to pay off the debt. [The scene of No-Face enters the bathroom – gives gold – is served] Next scene, No-Face becomes the "richest" guest in the bathroom. The filmmaker built this character in a very special way, as his name – nobody. No-Face is said to be a dirty

spirit and not allowed in the streaming bathroom. No-Face lives off of human greed. Greed, lust, liberty, and depravity. From a very kind character to having super magic in his hand, he turns into a greedy, bloodthirsty man. All were fascinated by No-Face's money, their greed delighted No-Face and lost his humanity more and more. [The scene of No-Face eats bathroom staff – chases after Chihiro – transforms into a pure soul and working as Zeniba's maid] When No-Face had finished his food, he turned to eat some of the bathroom staff and caused chaos for everyone. The only thing that makes No-Face is a pure, non-greedy soul by the little Chihiro. After eating a piece of Chihiro's medicine cake given by the god of the River, No-Face vomited everything he ate, including the three bathhouse staff he had swallowed and furiously chased after Chihiro. Chihiro cheated No-Face to chase her out to sea, away from the bathhouse, where he reverted to his true personality, transforming into an endearing spirit. This detail represents a very meaningful message: Greed will be inspired by a pure soul. The second metaphorical detail is the good and the bad. The land of spirits and monsters, it only manifests when the sun goes out, things of darkness are different from what exists in Chihiro's world. Through the characters the filmmaker built, we can see that kindness exists everywhere, even in the darkest, most terrifying places. Here, the magician Haku, Mr. Kajima – the slave of the kettle, the maid Lin, the No-Face, the witch Zeniba … are the representatives of goodness. If it weren't for Haku's help, Chihiro could hardly exist in a world that she didn't believe was real – a monstrous world. [Movie scene about Kamaji] As for Mr. Kamaji, at first glance, Mr. Kamaji seems scary but his personality is not like that. In fact, Mr. Kamaji was a gentle, kind person, and helped Chihiro a lot during her time here. The image of a six-armed old man – Kamaji gives the impression of good people regardless of their appearance and nature. [Movie scene about Lin and Lin with Chihiro] And Lin, a maid who is always bullied and often ridiculed by everyone, is the one on her side and taught Chihiro how to live and work.

[Movie scene about No-Face giving a card to Chihiro] Even No-Face helped her with the bath-cleaning job by handing her precious bath tokens The No-Face is said to be greedy and dangerous, but when we are with Chihiro, we see pure, slow, gentle and gentle spirits. Miyazaki once said “You must see with eyes unclouded by hate. See the good in that which is evil, and the evil in that which is good. Pledge yourself to neither side, but vow instead to preserve the balance that exists between the two.” There will come a time when children grow up and meet something weird, difficult to understand, but slowly they will understand. Just let children know how to recognize good people, working, they will become self-confident and will shine no matter where they are forced to live. That is what the author wants to send messages to the children through his live video footage. Besides the meaningful messages about life, Miyazaki also builds many details and scenes to reflect the reality of society. [The scene of the river spirit in the bathhouse area] The first is the details that show the problem of environmental pollution. He is pictured as a famous, heavily polluted, and smelly river spirit. The pollution was so horrible that no employee wanted to serve him when they went to Yubaba's bathhouse. It could even make a bowl of rice spoil instantly when it was a few meters away that Lin brought Chihiro. [The scene of helping people pull the bicycle out of the river spirit and the river spirit flew away] The contaminated god made his body full of mud, deformed, and hard to walk. It seems that man-made the river spirit ugly by his unconscious way of littering. He is also seen as an "unclean" spirit by Yubaba until the help of Chihiro pulls out a bicycle from his body. Besides environmental pollution, in Spirited Away, Miyazaki also mentioned that the hot problems of international concern are children's rights. [The scene where Yubaba threatens Chihiro and Chihiro to do heavy work] Miyazaki wants to talk about the exploitation of children's labor. The characters represent those exploiting the labor of children . That is Yubaba – the greedy witch who rules the

land of the soul. She makes Chihiro work as her employees and sends her incredible jobs. This is the criticism the filmmaker wants to reflect. If in real life, they bind the children to work for themselves with whips and threats, in his animation, Yubaba also threatened to turn her into a pig or coal and take her name to bind Chihiro. like people do. To a kind-hearted, environment-conscious, and child-loving person like author Miyazaki, he is strongly against the exploitation of child labor. That's why he included it in his movie instead of words he wanted to say. And he desires children to have their full rights, to learn, to play, and enjoy social welfare. In the film's flow, author Miyazaki has also sent us many more messages about the education of children's characters. [The scene Yubaba comment Chihiro and Chihiro cries after visiting her parents] Chihiro was said by Yubaba to be weak, lazy, and could only cry and do nothing, a useless person she didn't want to accept. But because she wanted to save her parents and get out of here, she had to face many things that she had never seen before. She had to clean the bathtub with a lot of trash, had to scrub the dirty "safe" tub … She was so pitiful that she cried hiccup beside Lin and Haku when she visited her parents. Her strong desire to save her parents motivated her to work and do even better. [The scene Haku helps Chihiro and Chihiro finds Zeniba to rescue Haku] Appearing in the first scenes of the movie, Chihiro is just a shy girl who always needs Haku's help, from Haku helping to hide Chihiro to making rice balls for her, everything thanks to Haku. But when Haku was in trouble, Chihiro found Yubaba's sister to rescue Haku, even though she did not know the danger would happen. Because she knows only she can solve her problems, she can't just wait for someone to help her forever! We must know to do the good on our own, the things that we consider important to us and not to expect too much on the help of others. [The scene Boh] A character built by the author to emphasize that message is Boh – the son of the witch Yubaba. Because his mother is so pampered, the boy is bland, selfish, and reliant. Although Boh is "gianter" than his mother, he is unable to stand up and just crawls around in his room. Boh is transformed into a mouse by Zeniba, Yubaba's twin sister.

Going through an exciting trip with Chihiro to Zeniba's house, the boy can stand on his own feet and cares more for others. It was a message to parents as well as children about the independent way of life that Miyazaki wanted to say. Les Brown also said: "Accept responsibility for your life. Know that it is you who will get you where you want to go, no one else." Each image, every word appearing in the movie has a great metaphor and connotation. Not only a cartoon film that won many major awards and the most popular of the 21st century, Spirited Away also has timeless values, I firmly believe that the value of this animation is eternal and nothing has been able to pass it yet. Spirited Away is a movie that anyone in life must watch once. The film is excellent not only for its quality image but also human values that the author wants to convey to viewers, especially children – who will change the future of the world in the future.

[ruinins]

—  ϟ  ›  ( bae suzy, cis woman, she/her )  ⋆  you know , the gossip in london is insidious , and gossip about a HALFBLOOD ( SEER ) like SYBILL TRELAWNEY seems to constantly be afloat. what i know for a fact , though , is that they’re a TWENTY THREE year old DRAGONOLOGIST who graduated as a RAVENCLAW from HOGWARTS. someone they went to school with told me that roaring flames just tenderly brushing your cheek, the subtle wrongness of a reflection in the mirror, crackling records playing on a phonograph, the gentle flickering light of a firefly, and a million glittering pieces of a broken crystal ball & THE LOVERS always reminded them of HER. maybe that’s why the WITCH has publicly declared their allegiance to NO ONE ? 

x

NAME : sybill trelawney ( no middle name ). NICKNAMES : none, technically, but she does have a korean name she uses at work—sihyeon—which her mother gave her. DATE OF BIRTH : march 9th, 1958. HOGWARTS HOUSE : ravenclaw. ZODIAC SIGN : pisces sun, scorpio moon, sagittarius rising / year of the dog. AGE : twenty - three. GENDER / PRONOUNS : cis woman & she/her. SEXUAL ORIENTATION : bisexual, biromantic. PLACE OF BIRTH : belfast, ireland. EYE COLOR : dark brown. HAIR COLOR : black. HEIGHT : 5’4. SCARS : scar on her lower back ; burn scars littering her arms.  ETHNICITY : korean. PARENTS : trelawney, silvius ( father ); trelawney, victoria née kang ( mother, muggle, † ). SIBLINGS : only child. MARITAL STATUS : single. OCCUPATION : dragonologist. LANGUAGES : english, korean, some mandarin chinese.

CARD CORRESPONDENCE: sybill’s card is the lovers, reversed, representing her doubts in herself, her career, the people who surround her, and how cynical she’s become.sybill has always been littered with self-doubt. for herself, for the lineage she’s been born into, for her dubious gift that everyone insists isn’t really there. having no one believe in you takes a toll on a witch. she’s haunted by a need that never leaves her, a need to prove herself and her sight, a need that has only worsened with time ( no one knows how nauseating it feels, to face a portrait of the great cassandra trelawney after receiving a dreadful in divination ). there’s something to be said about fake it until you make it, but sybill never quite manages to make it. slowly, the doubt has been sinking its claws into her, and she’s been shrinking away from her wants and focusing more on other things, practical things––her aimless job, her aimless life.

 until recently, sybill wandered through life with a certain naivete. it’s served her well, like most things in life that aren’t the second sight. but then, she let someone close, let herself believe they cared about her, let herself open up only to be stabbed in the back. figuratively and literally, by the scar that still stings whenever she reaches behind to brush her hands over it. she’s changed, become aware of the snakes in the grass––become aware that they don’t always look like snakes. this mistrust in others is slowly bordering on paranoia, but she can’t seem to make it stop. people call her a falsifier, a manipulator, a fool; why shouldn’t she meet energy with energy, insult with insult, distaste with distaste ? 

ministry file / pinterest board  ( EYES TW for the board ) / playlist

tw: murder ( mentioned, also attempted murder ), neglect ( ? ), parental death ( skip paragraph beginning with ‘sixteen’ ! )

zero.

you don’t know this, you’ll never know this, but it was your father who named you. hunched over your laughing mother and clutching your tiny fist between his fingers, tears streaming down his face, he pleaded sybill, call her sybill. an oracle of delphi born anew. in a few weeks, you will both be the subject of controversy: the girl who’s birth ended the pureblood trelawney line, and the pureblood who fell for a muggle. but for now, you are loved.

eight.

you live in a cottage, small and hidden, tucked into a nook of ireland where there are more animals than people. this is purposeful. your father has a manor in london, a hanok in korea, but it is this cottage where the three of you can live at peace. your father is gone most days; you have no idea what he does. instead, your mother teaches you things, practical things. “what if you lose your magic; how will you cook then ?” you think her reasoning is silly, but you play along - even if your father comes home to a look of distaste when he sees you manually scrubbing dishes.

something happens to you. you’re outside, playing, when you reach out to pet a cat that’s just appeared - and a haze settles in. fog clouds your mind, your sight; there’s nothing. no darkness, no void: there is just nothing. and then there is your mother, frantic, choking on tears as she shakes you. later, your father will grin. “has my little sybill inherited cassandra’s gift ?” he’s joking, of course. no one in the family has had cassandra trelawney’s inner eye in generations. 

but when you’re taken to a healer, nothing is wrong. nothing they can find, anyway. and a spark lights in you.

sixteen.

your mother is dead. your mother is dead. taken from you while you couldn’t protect her, while you were in school; your father insists he took his eyes off of her for just a second, but you don’t believe him at all. he’s always wanted you to be more witch than muggle. he’s never understood that she’s both, in a way, and that that’s okay. you wonder if he killed her or if he sent someone to do it, instead. either way, he is a coward and a fool and you hate him; this, you tell him.

the next christmas break, you don’t visit home.

eighteen.

you don’t come home for summer break, either. you don’t come back at all until after graduation, to face cassandra trelawney’s portrait and beg for guidance. for help with your gift. the gift that has abandoned you, it seems, along with your mother. 

you apply, young and naïve, for the position of divination professor at hogwarts. as if anyone would hire you. the rejection stings, but what hurts more is having to face your father. he seems to have planned this outcome all along, and when he offers to help you find a realistic job using his connections, you want to do the filthy muggle thing and punch him.

you take his offer, however, when he reveals it’s in korea. away. that is what you need. away from him, away from london, away from that damned portrait. a week later, you’re in seoul. a week after that, you’re a dragonologist-in-training.

twenty two.

you travel, often. your specialty is hatchlings, and the reserve has begun to branch out, so they send you on missions to other reserves - get an egg, bring it back. in one of your travels, something happens, something unexpected: you meet someone. they’re charming, kind. when you tell them about your gift, their eyes light up. they believe you. you trust them fast.

you don’t see them often, but when you do, it’s incredible. you think they might be something special. you want them to be something special.

then, that night. you’re not sure what happened. everything is a haze; you’d been feeling like that for hours, feeling wrong. they were aggressive. they wanted something. and that fog, the one that had only flickered to life once every few years, was returning. for a moment, you knew nothing. and then you knew blood. the taste of iron, the way it stuck to your fingers. they’d stabbed you. surely, they had; there was no one else in your home, no blood but yours staining your floors.

your father is the one that finds you by a stroke of fate. takes you to a healer. you live, but something in you dies. 

if you ever see them again, they will wish they’d finished you off with the killing curse instead.

twenty three.

you’re back in wizarding london. it’s been years. technically, you’re here for work - “the macfusty’s have to have a hebridean black egg, sihyeon; do well and find us one.” - but you seem to have fallen right into a budding war. you don’t want anything to do with it. you will go in, get an egg, and get out before anything terrible happens. 

WANTED CONNECTIONS 

hogwarts friends / enemies / bullies  ––  for, um, obvious reasons, sybill wasn’t terribly popular at school. i’m literally down for anything from hogwarts, from close friends who drifted after her mother died to people who terrorized her for making prophecies and being a “false seer”, to those she finessed with her you’re going to die in a week-type proclamations.

THE STABBY STAB  ––  so when i was coming up with this i very much wanted sybill to be stabbed instead of cursed bc a) stabbing is something that can be So Personal and b) it’s more of a muggle thing, and it’s fitting for someone who does often to things the “odd”/muggle way to find her ( almost ) end in the same way. i really..... don’t have much else for this connection; the way i visualized it, this person was probably looking for a seer for Some Reason, and whatever sybill told them during her vision - bc she did have a Real Prophecy that night - it wasn’t something they wanted to hear. or something they wanted to get out. sybill definitely had romantic feelings for them, but this obviously didn’t need to be reciprocated - the relationship could’ve been 100% platonic. does this character regret The Stab ? did they kind of want her to live ? are they prepared for the suplex she’ll give them On Sight ? 

ruin me, ruin us, and i’ll let you  ––  this is, incredibly enough, not a romantic connection. i mentioned in my now-deleted gonetalk post that i love platonic soulmates; this is that. whether they connected instantly or they had to slowly get accommodated to each other, i want someone to have an Unbreakable Bond with sybill. they don’t have to already be friends, maybe it slowly happens, but eventually they’d both do anything for each other. if u have read the poppy war series, yes this is very much a wc based off of rin and kitay, those are the Vibes i’m going for.

this town’s only big enough for one cowboy  ––  I DON’T THINK THERE’S ONE YET BUT IF U ARE PLANNING A SECOND CHARACTER..... . .. picture this: someone who’s a seer who is actually competent, and can actually prophesize well instead of Whenever The Inner Eye Wants To. the jealousy ! the rivalry ! the mocking ! the shame ! GIVE IT TO ME NOW....

family friends ? family ? cousins ?  ––  i have sybill’s family being purebloods up to her, so i’d imagine she has a few distant family members or family friends running around ?  i imagine her father runs in pro-death eater circles but isn’t one so !

[xiolaperry]

“Of Dogs and Cats” Chapter 2

Summary:  Another trio of vignettes featuring pets in Rumplestiltskin's life.

Notes:  Written during Camp NaNoWriMo April 2020. Special thanks to my fellow campers in the "Rumbelle Writers' Realm".

Read on AO3  ---  Read previous chapter here.

Rumplestiltskin approached the back door of his shop. His mind was reeling from the previous night’s encounter with Emma and the resulting flood of memories. But he was still observant enough to notice movement out of the corner of his eye. He looked around, but whatever he'd seen had disappeared.

Later that afternoon he glanced out the back window and saw it. A small black cat, lying in the sun. It was barely larger than a kitten, its ribs visible through its dull fur. His heart ached as he remembered Belle saving the mother cat and her kittens by bringing them into the Dark Castle.

He went into the refrigerator, looking for something to give it. He had to feed it, to save it. It was what Belle would have done.  She was gone, but he would do this for her memory.

He scraped tuna off of a half-finished sandwich onto a saucer and poured water into the matching teacup. Not the cup. That one was safe at his home. He could almost hear Belle laughing: the Dark One serving a stray cat on fine china dishes. He missed her laughter. He missed everything about her.   Feeling foolish, he opened the door, making as little noise as possible. The cat jumped and ran a short distance away. It turned to stare at him. “Here, kitty, kitty,” he called in a low voice. He put the water and tuna on the ground. “Little cat, look what I have for you.” The cat gazed at him with bleary gold eyes. One was nearly pasted shut. He knew it would never come while he stood there, so he closed the door. When he checked back in a few minutes, the cat had eaten the tuna and was lying in the sun again. Rumplestiltskin called Dove that evening and instructed him to purchase two cat dishes, wet and dry cat food, and cat treats. He delivered them the next day without comment, which was exactly how he liked it. And so started the routine: a can of food in the morning, dry food in the afternoon and always a bowl of fresh water. After a week he noticed the cat didn’t run as far when he opened the door. He set up a small table and chair not far from the bowls. He put out some treats, sat down and waited.  The little cat came and ate them while keeping a wary eye on this new development. No matter how crazy things started becoming in Storybrooke, he sat outside and had his tea every afternoon. The cat relaxed, coming closer each day. A few times it even came close enough for him to pet it. One day he sat down and the cat came running. It jumped on his lap, purring and butting its head against his hand for affection. It was difficult to speak around the lump in his throat. “Hello, little cat.” He stroked its black fur, no longer dull but glossy with health. Its bright gold eyes looked at him. Rumplestiltskin felt silly talking to a cat, but really, who else did he have to talk to? “I should give you a name. Names are important. I had cats once, back in my castle.  I could do magic then. You should have seen the treats I would conjure for them. I would sit in my kitchen and pet them, just like this. My caretaker had... gone, you see, and I was lonely. They were her cats, actually. I never even knew their names.  Why didn’t I ask her? She would have picked the perfect names. I would have given anything- well, I can’t name you. I won’t. The things I care for are always taken from me.” He placed the cat on the ground and returned to his shop, weary to his bones. Old. There was so much to do. There was magic to bring back to Storybrooke.

----

The jingle of the bell signaling the departure of the Charmings from his shop was a wonderful sound, second only to the one it made when it announced Belle's entrance.  When she walked in, picnic basket in hand and a smile on her face he almost forgot how to breathe. A smile. For him, the Dark One. Genuine smiles directed at him were rare things, precious. Then the Charmings had barged in, hurling accusations and interrupting their time together.

But Belle, his fearless scholar, had defended him. And now the “heroes” were gone. Rumplestiltskin was still tense. Belle would have questions. He needed to show her part of himself – pieces of truth, honesty of the heart. He wondered how large a piece of himself he would need to carve out.

Belle broke into his musings. “Rumple, I never pictured you as a dog person! Please tell me about your 'sheepdog or two'?”

He relaxed a bit. This piece he could give. It was still difficult. It had been years, centuries, since someone had been interested in him as a man, not as the Dark One. His instinct was deflection. Information was power. It could be used against you. Change was needed though, or he would lose her (again) forever. This would be good practice.

“You might have surmised from my hobby that I was a spinner in my previous life. What I spun was wool, into the finest yarn ever seen. And the best way to get good wool is to have your own sheep. And taking care of sheep is easier with a good sheepdog.”

“Were they just work animals or were they pets?” asked Belle, enthralled.

“I named my first dog Friend if that tells you anything.”

“That's so sweet, Rumple.”

“I was just a boy when I got him, and not very imaginative when it came to names. But he was my friend. I'm sure it is hard to believe, given my sunny disposition, but I didn't have many of those,” he said wryly. He continued in a more serious tone, “Having the unconditional love of a dog was a wonderful thing.”

He could have elaborated, explained. About the father who abandoned him. The villagers who shunned him. His aunties who loved him. It was the only good thing his father had ever done for him, and it wasn't even on purpose. Malcolm knew the women would jump at the opportunity to have a child, having no chance at one of their own. Luck was on his side, and they were loving and kind. No need to go into that now. Dogs. That was what honesty required today.

He continued, “My boy, Baelfire, had a limitless imagination. No plain name for his dog. He named him Sir Beric Dondarrion, Brave Hero of the Frontlands. He and that dog had many grand adventures. Slaying dragons, defeating ogres, saving damsels in distress. I looked forward to hearing his stories every night as I spun. Those were some of the happiest times of my life.”

Rumplestiltskin stopped. He didn't know what else to say. He couldn't bear to tell how the story of Bae's Sir Beric the Brave ended.

Hordor and his men taunting and threatening Bae. Bullies, all of them. The dog jumping to the boy's defense, growling and snapping. Hordor killing the dog without a thought, then laughing at his son's tears.

Killing Hordor was one of the most satisfying things Rumplestiltskin had done as the Dark One.

The silence was becoming awkward and he didn't know how to fill it. Belle saved him- she always saved him.

“Would you like to see what I brought for dessert?” she asked.

“Yes, I would,” he answered, grateful.

Belle chattered on, telling him in significant detail about the amazing cake whose ingredients came neatly packaged all in one box. He took a piece.

“Thank you,” he said. What he couldn't say was thank you for seeing I was trapped in my memories. Thank you for wanting to know me. And thank you for not forcing me to share more than I was ready for.              

----                                                                                                                                            Belle mentioned the reptile show in passing at breakfast. Rumple, busy making faces at a smiling Gideon, almost missed it.

“What did you say? Something about a reptile show?”

“I said I had to leave early to set up extra chairs. 'Forgotten Friend Reptile Sanctuary' is coming, and we always have an excellent turn out for storytime when there's a special presentation.”

“What kind of reptiles?”

“I don't know, I think the reptile lady said something about an iguana, some snakes, a chameleon. Why? Are you considering attending today?”

This had been a source of mild disagreement between them. Rumplestiltskin had assured her he thought it was important that she have time away from Gideon, and working a few mornings at the library made her happy. Having Gideon with him at his shop was the highlight of his week. But the Dark One did not attend storytime. Besides, Belle took him to baby lap-sit storytimes on one of the days she didn't work. He hadn't budged. But now....

“Just curious, that's all,” he answered, striving for nonchalance.

Belle gave them each a kiss, and she left.

9:50 found him hesitating at the door of the library. He told himself he ridiculous. The chameleon had never existed. It was a figment of Mr. Gold's cursed memories. But he remembered it so vividly. He had loved that wee lizard. And now was his chance to see one and show it to Gideon.

The chatter between the mothers died down as soon as they saw him enter the room. He sat down in a chair in the front middle of the semicircle, figuring it would give him the best view. He placed the diaper bag on the seat to his left, and Gideon's blanket to his right to dissuade anyone from sitting next to him.

Belle was speaking to a woman wearing a “Forgotten Friend” shirt. She turned to see what had caused everyone to quiet down.

“Rumple!” she said, startled. “What are you doing here?”

“Gideon wanted to see the reptiles,” he answered, bouncing the smiling six-month-old on his lap.

The woman saved him from a further reply.

“Hello, my name is Miss Pam. If all the children would come sit on the floor in front of me, we can begin.”

Rumplestiltskin waited through the snakes, the anoles, the bearded dragons, the iguana, and others. Children raised their hands to volunteer to be helpers as she uncovered cages and presented each one.

There was only one cage left.

“Who would like to help present our last friend?” asked Miss Pam. “I'll give you a clue as to her identity- she can change colors.”

Rumplestiltskin stood little Gideon on his lap and raised the boy's hand. He could feel Belle's eyes boring into the back of his head at this out of character behavior. He would have to explain later.

Miss Pam smiled.  “How about this young man,” she said, pointing at Gideon.

He stood up, holding Gideon on one hip as Miss Pam uncovered the chameleon's cage. She talked for a few minutes about its diet, its ability to change colors and its natural habitat.

“Mr. Gold, this veiled chameleon is quite tame. Could I let her out? She’ll climb on you and the children can get a closer look.”

“Yes, I'd like that very much.”

Belle continued to stare at him, flabbergasted.

The chameleon climbed to his left shoulder. Rumplestiltskin couldn't help the smile that appeared on his face. From his right hip Gideon watched, wide-eyed.

He heard nothing else that was said until the presentation was over and Miss Pam put the lizard away. He thanked the woman and made his way with Gideon to the back of the library. Belle was waiting.

“Rumple-”

“I'm sure you have questions. I'll tell you everything. Tonight.”

“I look forward to it,” Belle said, taking his hand.

A week later,  he came home to a box wrapped in gold paper sitting on the kitchen table.

“Who's this for?” he asked.

“Gideon and I wanted to get you a surprise. Hurry, open it!” said Belle. Gideon babbled with excitement, pointing at the present.

He took his time removing the wrapping, folding it into a neat square. He lifted the lid and saw a box of crickets, mealworms, a container of calcium dust and a bottle filled with bright orange cubes.

“What’s all this?”

“Come see in your office,” she said, grabbing his hand and leading the way.

He stopped short in the doorway. Next to his desk was a large reptile habitat full of beautiful plants. And a chameleon. “I contacted the 'Forgotten Friend' and they were agreeable to placing her with us. With the understanding that she can attend the occasional show.”

He opened the door of the habitat, and the lizard climbed up to his shoulder again. Gideon clapped his hands, wiggling with excitement.

“Who's a bonnie wee lass?” he asked the chameleon in a low tone, stroking it with one finger just as he had as a boy. His curse memories and the present came together, and he felt at peace.

“What's her name?”

“She doesn't have one yet. I thought we could come up with a name together.”

“That would be perfect.”

[mooksie01]

With Teammates Like These, Who Needs Friends? (5/5)

Chapter Summary: A post-mission lunch break leads to... more mockery.

Clover is going to fire every single one of his teammates.

Warnings: More bullying of teammates, mild spiciness, workplace banter of a less-than-respectful nature

AO3 Link: [X]

First Chapter: [X]

Notes: Hey everyone! Sorry for the slight delay in getting this chapter out, I spent the majority of yesterday moving back into my dorm room and the rest of it hanging out with my friends that I haven't seen in a month, so I didn't really have time to post. Hopefully this chapter makes up for it, though! I hope you all enjoy the last chapter in this first installment of the series! Subsequent installments will be posted whenever I find time to write them, which may be sporadic now that classes have started back up again. 

Please like, reblog, and comment if you're able!!!! You guys have all been so amazing throughout this journey and I could not appreciate you more!

---

Clover is ambushed the moment he steps foot into the mess hall after the mission debrief. This time, he is fully prepared for Elm’s attack, and he ducks under her attempt at wrapping one of her well-muscled arms around his neck. 

“Aw, come on, captain! I was only going to mess up your hair a little!” Elm cries exuberantly, apparently elated at this turn of events. She is always excited when Clover plays along with her roughhousing. 

“Sorry, Elm,” Clover says, getting in line for some of whatever they’re serving today. He’d cook if he weren’t so wiped from the mission, but he supposes that he’ll have to settle for food from the canteen just this once. “I’m afraid that I’d like to keep my hair as it is for right now.”

He accepts a tray of some sort of hearty stew and a chunk of bread, pleased. He’d personally signed off on the directive to encourage the kitchen staff to serve more hot meals, and he’s glad to see that the order is being followed. The lower-ranking soldiers certainly deserve it. 

Elm laughs, boxing him on the shoulder with so much force that, had he not been ready for it, Clover likely would’ve dropped his newly-acquired food. “Why, captain!” she shouts as they head in the direction of the table where the rest of the Ace Ops are sitting, “Are you trying to look nice for someone? Has some little birdie caught your eye?” 

Clover rolls his eyes as they settle next to each other on one of the benches. Across from them, Vine speaks, “I believe Huntsman Branwen has captured the captain’s attention, Elm. I was under the impression that you already knew this.” 

“And I,” Clover cuts Elm off before she can say something stupid that will stack more disciplinary action on top of her ever-growing pile, “was under the impression that my subordinates had a bit more tact and a lot more sense, but I suppose that I was wrong. Especially considering that stunt you pulled during the mission today, Elm.”

Harriet and Marrow exchange a long suffering look from where they sit beside Vine. Harriet leans an elbow on the table and props her chin in her palm, half-heartedly stirring around her stew with the other hand. “Are you guys really still talking about this? I already told you, I have no desire to poke into my coworkers' personal lives.” 

Elm powers on, disregarding Harriet’s words, “Aw, lighten up, captain! I feel like you should be celebrating! After all,” she winks with all the subtlety of a raging Megoliath, “you got to spend the whole mission today with your pretty bird, didn’t you? Not to mention whatever was going on in the hall this morning….” She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. 

Clover sighs, “If you could please refrain from referring to Qrow as a ‘pretty bird’ or whatever else, I don’t think he’d be too happy if he heard you saying that.” 

Marrow perks up next to Harriet, “Qrow?”

“Ha!” Elm slams her fists down onto the table, rattling everyone’s dishes. “Seems like someone is on a first-name-basis!” 

Is it too late to take his food back to his quarters? Probably. That would likely be an admission of guilt in his teammates’ eyes. Instead, Clover raises his chin in challenge, narrowing his eyes at Elm. “I’ll have you know that Qrow requested that we all call him by his first name. I simply have enough respect for him to abide by that.” He may have resolved to get closer to the other man, but he doesn’t need his teammates to know that right away. That will just lead them to start harassing Qrow. 

“Seems like you’re doing a little more than ‘respecting’ him, Clover,” Marrow states, tail wagging behind him. 

Clover scowls at him, feeling betrayed, “What ever happened to not acting like kids, Marrow?” 

Marrow shrugs, leaning precariously into the open space where the back of the table’s bench would be, if it had one. He crosses his arms casually behind his head and closes his eyes. “Hey, the way I see it, if everyone’s dog-piling onto you instead of me, for once? That’s a good thing. Besides,” he sighs, “that was before I knew that you had an actual, real crush on the dude. I thought you just wanted to bone him.” 

At this, Clover swears that he can actually feel a few circuits in his brain all frying at once. He resolutely ignores any thoughts of “boning” Qrow, as well as the incessant laughter coming from Elm and Vine’s (faux-?)confused inquiries as to what exactly “bone” is a euphemism for, instead choosing to focus on Marrow, who is still lounging across from him. 

He snarls at the faunus, “Marrow. Need I remind you that I am your commanding officer and that I am more than willing to issue disciplinary if I feel it’s necessary? And that is incredibly disrespectful to Qrow, as well as myself.” 

Marrow straightens immediately and crosses his arms in a pout, “Aw, come on, Clover, I was just kidding. You did the same thing to me a few months ago when I was into that rabbit girl from Menagerie.”

That… was fair. But still, Qrow would probably be all kinds of upset and embarrassed if he heard that the people who were supposed to be his teammates for the foreseeable future were all making inappropriate jokes about him. 

Harriet groans loudly, dropping her head into her hands, “Can we please stop talking about this? The guy probably isn’t even gay.” 

Clover’s heart skips a beat. A strange sense of something that feels very much like panic floods his veins. “Really, you don’t think so?” He leans toward Harriet, aware that something weird is probably going on with his face, but unable to find it within himself to care.

Harriet backs away as much as she is able to while staying seated on the bench. “Uh.”

“I’d imagine that it would be simple enough to ask General Ironwood whether Huntsman Branwen is interested in acquiring a same-sex partner or not,” Vine folds his arms placidly onto the table, gaze contemplative, “considering their apparent long history. We may even be able to present our inquiries to some of the children that Huntsman Branwen brought with him. It is my understanding that a Miss ‘Ruby’ and Miss ‘Yang’ are related to him in some way, if the intel Elm and I received from Miss Valkyrie, Mister Arc, and Mister Ren while wandering the mines today is correct.”

Clover’s brain takes a long second to catch up to all of that. Then it rewinds.

“Hold on!” He interjects with no small amount of alarm. “What do you mean by ‘we’?” 

Elm grins a little too widely. It’s extremely off-putting. “Isn’t it obvious?!” she yells. Loudly. 

Several heads turn in their direction.

“We’re going to help you get your man!”

---

More Notes: There we go! A return to the roots of this story, which was always meant to be the Ace Ops torturing poor Clover (but really, how bad can you feel for the guy who's currently in the process of snagging a date with Qrow?). I hope you all enjoyed and I love you guys so much!

THANK YOU FOR READING!

(That Clover/Qrow/Elm story will be going up in a couple of hours, too, by the way! I have a few errands to run first, but then it's full steam ahead!)

[mdzs-english]

Chapter 3: Wild and Free 2 (Making a Scene)

Wei Wuxian wanted to wash up and see his host’s face, but there was no water in the room, neither for drinking nor for bathing. The only basin-shaped object, he surmised, was used as a toilet, and thus completely unsuitable. He pushed on the door, but it was bolted from the outside, presumably to prevent him from running amok.

Wei Wuxian had finally been reborn, and he wasn’t able to enjoy it one bit!

He might as well sit a while, adapt to his host. He wound up meditating the whole day. When he opened his eyes, sunlight was leaking into the room through the cracks in the door and shutters. Though he could stand up and walk around, he was still dizzy, his condition not much improved. It was strange. “Mo Xuanyu’s spiritual energy is negligible. Why can’t I control his body? What’s causing this?”

Then his stomach rumbled, and he realized it had nothing to do with spiritual energy. This body wasn’t used to fasting. It was hunger, nothing more. If he didn’t find food soon, he might be the first evil spirit to be brought back to life, only to starve to death immediately.

Wei Wuxian had taken a deep breath and raised his foot, prepared to kick the door down, when suddenly the sound of footsteps approached. Someone kicked at the door, impatiently yelling, “Mealtime!”

That didn’t mean the door was going to open. Wei Wuxian looked down and saw that the main door had a smaller door that opened below it. A small bowl had been placed before it.

“Quickly!” the servant outside called. “Quit dawdling, eat up and give the bowl back.”

The door was smaller than a dog flap, large enough for a bowl but too small for a person to pass through. There were two dishes and one serving of strange-looking rice. Wei Wuxian prodded at it with the chopsticks and thought sadly:

When the Yiling Patriarch returned, he was kicked down, chewed out, and given cold leftovers for his first meal. What carnage should result? Not even the chickens and the dogs left alive? The whole family extinguished? Tell anyone who would believe it. He was a tiger in Pingyang nipped at by dogs, a dragon in the shallow waters of Longyou harassed by shrimp. A plucked phoenix is less than a chicken.

This time, when the servants outside the door called, they sounded like they were grinning. “A’ding! Get over here!”

A crisp female voice replied from far away, “A’tong, are you giving the guy in there some food?”

“What else would I be doing in this wretched courtyard?” A’tong spit back.

A’ding’s voice appeared closer, like she was right in front of the door. “You only feed him once a day. When you’re goofing off no one calls you out, yet you say it’s wretched? Look at me. There’s too much to do for me to go out and have fun. ”

“I don’t just have to feed him,” A’tong complained. “Besides, would you dare go out these days? With this many walking dead, what family doesn’t have their doors sealed up tight.”

Wei Wuxian crouched by the door, tossing aside his two different-length chopsticks, and listened as he ate.

It seemed Mo Manor had had little peace of late. The walking dead, as their name implied, were corpses that walked, a relatively minor and common type of corpse transformation. They were generally dead-eyed, slow-moving, and of limited destructive power, but they alarmed the common people, and their stench alone was enough to induce vomiting.

However, to Wei Wuxian, they were the easiest to control, most obedient puppets. He felt a sense of fond familiarity at hearing them discussed.

“If you want to go out, bring me. I’ll protect you,” A’tong flirted.

“You’ll protect me? You talk a big game. You really think you can hold those things off?”

“If I can’t hold them off, no one can,” A’tong retorted.

A’ding laughed. “How do you know? I’m telling you, cultivators have already arrived at Mo Manor. I heard they’re from an illustrious clan! Mo-furen is greeting them in the hall, and everyone crowded in for the occasion. Didn’t you hear the racket? I don’t have time for you, they’ll probably send me on an errand any second.”

Wei Wuxian listened raptly. To the east, a faint clamor of voices could indeed be heard. He thought for a moment, then rose. He kicked the door and the bolt gave with a loud crack.

The two servants, who had been giggling and making eyes at one another, were startled into a screech when the doors flung open to either side of them. Wei Wuxian tossed his dishes aside and made a break for it, eyes burning in the sudden glare of the sunlight. His skin prickled, and he shaded his eyes with his hand, closing his eyes briefly.

A’tong’s screech was sharper than A’ding’s. Composing himself, he saw the headcase everyone bullied and regained his courage. Trying to save face, he jumped over and shouted, “Get back in there! What are you doing out here?” waving like Wei Wuxian was a misbehaving dog.

A beggar or a housefly wouldn’t have been treated worse. Mo Xuanyu had never resisted, giving them free rein. Wei Wuxian kicked A’tong lightly and laughed, “Who do you think you’re talking to?”

Wei Wuxian followed the noise east to a courtyard full of people, with more crammed into the hall. As soon as he set foot in the courtyard, a woman’s voice called out over the din, “One of our clan’s youths was a cultivator...”

That must be Mo-furen, scrambling to build a bridge between herself and the cultivation world. Without waiting for her to finish, Wei Wuxian forced his way through the crowd into the hall, waving enthusiastically and shouting, “I’m coming, I’m coming! Don’t worry, I made it.”

In the hall sat a middle-aged woman, well put-together, in fine clothes: Mo-furen. Her husband was seated before her. Facing them sat a number of white-clad youths with swords strapped across their backs. At the emergence of a disheveled weirdo from the crowd, the hall fell silent. Wei Wuxian pretended not to notice the frozen scene around him and continued, unabashed: “You called? The cultivator you mentioned, that could only be me.”

The powder was too thick, and it cracked when he smiled, fluttering to the ground. One of the youths in white snorted, stifling a laugh. The one next to him, who seemed to be in charge, glared disapprovingly, and he schooled his face back into a neutral expression.

Wei Wuxian surveyed the scene, startled. He thought the visitors had been exaggerated by naive servants, but they really were young cultivators from an “illustrious clan.”

Magic seemed to float from those graceful robes and flowing belts. One only had to glance at that uniform to recognize the Lan clan of Gusu. And these disciples were blood relatives of the Lan family—thin white ribbons circled their foreheads, decorated with wisps of cloud.

The Lan clan’s motto was “Stand Upright.” The ribbons represented self-restraint, and the cloud was the symbol of the Lan family itself. When visiting disciples from other families wore the ribbon, the cloud was not present. Seeing Lans made Wei Wuxian’s teeth ache. In a past life, he had always joked that the uniform looked like funeral garb. He would recognize it anywhere.

Mo-furen hadn’t seen her nephew in some time, and it took a while for her to recover from the shock. Upon recognizing the painted man, her rage mounted. Still in control of herself, she murmured to her husband, “Whoever let him out, put him back again.”

Her husband smiled apologetically, but when the unlucky bastard got up to grab him, Wei Wuxian threw himself down, hugging the floor. He couldn’t be dragged away, and calling in more servants didn’t help, other than to prevent other people from seeing him kick. Watching the look on Mo-furen’s face turn ugly, her husband snapped, “You lunatic! If you don’t get out of here, you wait and see what I’ll do to you.”

Although everyone in Mo Manor knew one of the Mos was a dangerous madman, Mo Xuanyu had been secluded in his dingy room for years, not daring to show his face. When people saw his ghoulish makeup and behavior, whispers sprung up. They were afraid only of missing a good show.

“If you want me to go back,” Wei Wuxian said, extending a finger towards Mo Ziyuan, “tell him to return my stuff he stole.”

Mo Ziyuan, shocked that this lunatic had the nerve first to scold him and then to show up here, turned blotchy and yelled, “Bullshit! When did I steal from you? I don’t need your stuff.”

“Right, right,” Wei Wuxian said. “You didn’t steal from me, you robbed me.”

Mo-furen could see clearly now. Mo Xuanyu wasn’t crazy: he had planned this. He was trying to ruin them. Vitriolically, she said, “You came here to cause trouble, didn’t you?”

“He stole from me, and I came to get my stuff back,” Wei Wuxian said blankly. “You call that causing trouble?”

Mo-furen was silent. Mo Ziyuan was beginning to get nervous, and he wound up to deliver a kick. One of the white-clad disciples twitched a finger, and Mo Ziyuan wobbled, kicking the air, and ended up knocking himself over. Wei Wuxian rolled over as if he really had been kicked, tearing open his lapels to reveal the mark Mo Ziyuan’s shoe had left the day before.

The denizens of Mo Manor, who had been watching eagerly, became excited: it would have been impossible for Mo Xuanyu to leave the footprint himself. The Mo family must be cruel even to their own blood. Mo Xuanyu didn’t return to Mo Manor insane—he was most likely driven to madness. Any excitement was okay with the assembled crowd, and this was even more entertaining than the arrival of the cultivators!

With this many witnesses, Mo-furen could neither strike him nor leave. She was forced to hold her nose and compromise. Faintly, she said, “Theft? Robbery? This accusation is difficult to process—between friends, that’s just borrowing. A’yuan is your little brother, so what if he borrows your things? How can a big brother be so stingy? Acting like a child over such a small matter is foolish. It’s not like he won’t return them.”

Several of the white-clad youths looked at each other in dismay, and one who had just taken a sip of tea nearly choked. Children raised in the Lan clan of Gusu were pure as the fresh-driven snow, and had probably never seen such a farce, or heard such wisdom. This was a learning experience for them. Wei Wuxian, cackling on the inside, held out a hand and asked, “Then you’ll give it back?”

Mo Ziyuan, of course, did not. What was gone was gone, and what was destroyed was destroyed. Even if he could return it, he wouldn’t. Looking pale, he yelled, “A’niang!” His glare said, Are you going to let him humiliate me like this? 

Mo-furen glared back, silently ordering him not to cause an even uglier scene. Wei Wuxian interjected, “While we’re at it, not only should he not steal from me, he especially shouldn’t do it in the middle of the night. Everyone knows I like men. Even if he doesn’t have the sense to be ashamed, I know how to stay under the radar.”

Mo-furen took a shocked breath and shouted, “How dare you say this in front of the villagers and your elders? You really are shameless! A’yuan is your cousin!”

Wei Wuxian was an expert at bad behavior. Long ago, he had minded his manners here and there so that no one could accuse him of lacking good breeding. Now he was a madman, with no reputation to lose. He was expected to make a scene, so he could do what he pleased. He ducked his chin and said righteously, “He knows full well he’s my cousin, and yet he still can’t avoid suspicion! Who is shameless here? You won’t admit it, but don’t impugn my innocence! I’m still searching for a good man.”

Mo Ziyuan shouted and swung a chair. Wei Wuxian had finally gotten him to explode. In one motion, he sat up and dodged, and the chair smashed against the ground. The throngs of people milling about the East Hall had originally delighted in seeing the Mo clan lose face big time, but scattered as soon as the chair broke apart, afraid they’d be next if they weren’t careful. Wei Wuxian dodged behind the Lan disciples, who were sitting agape, and said reproachfully, “Did you see that? Did you see? He steals things and hits people, utterly heartless!”

Mo Ziyuan came after him, flailing, but his path was blocked by the head disciple. “This, uh, gongzi has something to say.”

Mo-furen saw that the disciples intended to protect this lunatic. Holding back fear, she forced out a smile. “This is my sister’s boy. Here, it’s complicated. Everyone in Mo Manor knows he’s insane. He says a lot of things you can’t take seriously. Cultivators, you must…” She trailed off, and Wei Wuxian poked his head out from behind the disciples.

“Who says you can’t take me seriously? The next time someone tries to steal from me, I’ll chop their hand off.”

Mo Ziyuan, who had been restrained by his father, broke loose upon hearing this. Wei Wuxian shrieked and leapt like a fish out the door. The disciples rushed to block his re-entrance, and, changing the topic, one earnestly declared, “Then… then tonight we will borrow the West Courtyard. Please bear in mind what I said before. After dusk, close your doors tightly and do not wander, and especially do not go near that courtyard.”

Mo-furen breathed shakily and did not object, just said, “Yes, we won’t, thank you for your help.”

Incredulously, Mo Ziyuan said, “Ma! That madman slandered me in front of everyone, and you let it go? You said, you said he was just a…”

Mo-furen cut him off. “Shut up! What do you have to say that you can’t say later?”

Mo Ziyuan had never experienced this treatment, been embarrassed this way. His mother had never scolded him like this. Full of hatred, he roared, “Tonight, this lunatic is going to die!”

The show over, Wei Wuxian slipped away from Mo Manor. He did a loop around town, taking pleasure in startling passersby and beginning to understand the joys of being a madman. The hanged-ghost makeup was a factor, and he was loathe to wash it off. He couldn’t bathe without water anyway. He fixed his hair and glanced at his wrists. The gashes there were unchanged. Clearly, bringing Mo Xuanyu’s struggles to light was far from adequate retaliation. 

Would he really have to exterminate the Mo clan?

...Honestly, that wouldn’t be difficult.

Wei Wuxian pondered this as he wandered back to Mo Manor. When he tiptoed over to the West Courtyard, he saw Lan disciples standing atop the roof and walls, engaged in serious discussion. He retreated quietly—they would definitely notice him.

Although the Gusu Lan clan had headed the siege against him, this generation of cultivators either weren’t born then, or were toddlers. He didn’t need to worry about them. Wei Wuxian stopped and circled back to see what they were doing. As he watched, he suddenly felt strange.

The black flags, planted on the roof and walls and fluttering in the wind—why were they so familiar?

These flags were called “Yin Summoning Flags.” When stuck into the body of a living person, they would attract all manner of beings of Yin energy, like vengeful ghosts, fierce corpses, and evil spirits, which would then only attack the victim. Being stabbed with such a flag would turn a person into a target, so they were also called “Target Flags.” They could also be used on a house, in which case their range would extend to all its living occupants. Because Yin energy would linger wherever the flags were used, swirling around in the form of a black wind, they were also known as “Black Wind Flags.” The disciples had arranged the flags in the West Courtyard and warned bystanders to keep away. They must have planned to draw the walking dead here, catching them all in one net. 

As for why they were familiar… how could they not be? Yin-Summoning Flags were invented by the Yiling Patriarch!

Though the cultivation clans raged against him, fought and killed him, it was alright for them to use what he made…

A disciple on the roof spotted him, calling, “Go back, please! You shouldn’t be here.”

Although he was shooing him away, he did it kindly, his tone very different from that of the servants. Taking advantage of his unguardedness, Wei Wuxian leapt up and snatched one of the flags.

The disciple startled. He jumped down from the wall to give chase. “Don’t mess with that! You shouldn’t take this stuff!”

Wei Wuxian shouted as he ran, disheveled and flailing like a real madman, “No, I won’t! I want it! It’s mine!”

The disciple got within two steps of him and grabbed his arm, saying “Will you give it back? If you don’t, I’ll hit you!”

Wei Wuxian held the flag in a deathgrip. The head disciple, who had been arranging the flags, heard the disturbance and leapt lightly down from the roof. “Jingyi, let it go. We’ll get it back nicely. There’s no need to bicker.”

“Sizhui, I didn’t really hit him,” Lan Jingyi said. “Look, he’s made a mess of the flags!”

In this time, Wei Wuxian rapidly finished inspecting the Yin Summoning Flag in his hand. The figures were drawn correctly, the spellwork wasn’t bad, and there were no careless mistakes. It was usable. The flag’s maker was just inexperienced, and the markings would only be able to attract a handful of evil spirits and walking dead. That was good enough.

Lan Sizhui smiled at him and said, “Mo-gongzi, it’s getting dark. The corpses will be drawn here soon. It would be best if you hurried home.”

Wei Wuxian sized up the disciple. He was polite and refined, with an impressive bearing and a small smile at the corner of his mouth. He was a young sapling worthy of praise. He had arranged the flags in perfect order, and his upbringing was clearly acceptable. Wei Wuxian didn’t know who in Gusu, that dreadful, old-fashioned place, could have raised a kid like this.

Lan Sizhui said, “This flag…”

Before he could finish, Wei Wuxian threw the Yin Summoning flag to the ground, hurrumping. “Just a lousy flag! What’s so special about it? I could draw one better than you all!” Then he ran off.

The disciples still on the roof watching the scene heard him boasting, and they laughed so hard they almost fell to the ground. Lan Jingyi huffed a laugh as well, gathering the Yin Summoning Flag and shaking out the dirt. “He really is a lunatic.”

“Don’t say that. Here, come help me,” Lan Sizhui responded.

Wei Wuxian headed off to do a couple more circuits of the manor, not returning to Mo Xuanyu’s little courtyard until nightfall. The bolt was already broken, and no one had tidied up the mess inside. Ignoring this, he looked around, choosing a clear spot on the ground to sit and meditate.

Before dawn broke, a wave of noise from outside pulled him from his meditative state. He could hear footsteps, crying, and panicked yells heading his direction. People were shouting over each other, “Get in there! Drag him out!” “Report him!” “What do you mean, report him? Beat him to death!” 

He opened his eyes to see a group of servants had rushed in. The courtyard was ablaze, and someone was shouting, “Drag the crazy murderer to the Main Hall! He’ll pay with his life!”

[miasswier]

miasswier’s ultimate glee ranking: no 58

58: Ballad

Written by: Brad Falchuk Directed by: Brad Falchuk

Overall Thoughts: Another episode that ended up being a lot better than I remember! It’s definitely not as good as some of the strongest episodes in the season, but it’s not the weakest either. I totally forgot that the Finn and Kurt stuff really took off in this episode, and Mercedes having more than like, two lines, was amazing. PLUS extra bonus for having an entire episode where Finn and Rachel don’t even interact.

What I Like:

I’m going to repeat what I just said: Finn and Rachel do not interact in this episode, and it is beyond refreshing.

Kurt is starting to become more of a main character and less of a secondary character. He’s officially been included in this whole love hexagon mess that’s going on, and it’s awesome. Even if he’s a little dink about it (which I’ll talk about later).

Getting to see Quinn’s family life. It shows so much about why she is the way she is, and why she tries so hard to be on top. Even though in the first scene it seems as though she has a loving family life, it’s very clear that she and her mother are walking on eggshells around her father; Quinn knew how he would react, and she knew her mom wouldn’t do anything. It’s incredibly emotional and painful to watch, but it really helps the audience finally see why Quinn is Quinn. It honestly just makes me love her even more.

The scene with Finn and Kurt where Kurt is helping Finn figure out what to wear. The best part, I think, is when Kurt tells Finn about his mom’s dresser and Finn instantly says “that’s not stupid”, but not in a patronizing, laughing behind his back kind of way. He genuinely means it. He and Kurt are bonding over something only they have in common, and it’s really sweet of Finn to take a step back and admit that, because he never knew his dad, he’ll never really know what it’s like to lose a parent like Kurt did – but he does still know what it’s like to grow up with only one parent. It’s a really nice moment, and even though it has all those overtones of Kurt crushing on Finn, it still sets up the scene for when the two become brothers.

“You think I should bring a gun?”

Santana being so excited to get Brittany as her partner, and Brittany standing up and clapping. Those two are so cute I can barely stand it.

Mercedes basically telling Puck to take several seats when it comes to Quinn. It’s actually really interesting that they chose Mercedes, of all people, to have Puck tell first. I think part of it is because they needed someone who would spill the beans (although let’s be real, Tina, Kurt, Artie, and Santana would all be just as likely to dish), but I do think a big part of it is because he needs to hear what she has to say, and nobody is going to say it with as much conviction as she will. GOD I JUST LOVE MERCEDES SO MUCH.

I’ll Stand by You. An amazing Finn solo, and incredibly emotional. I teared up. Teared up some more when Carole walked in and Finn started crying, so she just held him. She was really the most amazing mother.

Will wanting to be careful about Rachel’s feelings, and then giving her that little pep talk at the end. Although it kind of bothers me that all his positive reinforcement came from the idea that some day a boy would love Rachel, I really do think it’s what Rachel needed to hear at that point in time. Sometimes you just need to be reassured that somebody will, indeed, love you, you know? Plus, this scene really managed to show how Schue really is Rachel’s mentor just as much as he is Finn’s, which is nice because until now we’ve basically just had Schue catering to Rachel and Rachel pitching a fit if he doesn’t.

Terri making Rachel clean the house. I’m sorry, I know it’s terrible, but it’s just so fucking funny.

“I have to go, they’ll think I’m pooping”

What I Don’t Like:

Even though it’s nice to get a break from the Rachel/Finn bonanza, it does suck that the show doesn’t seem to know how to give Rachel a plot-line that doesn’t involve her fawning over some guy. It kind of shows the inherent problem the show always seemed to have with Rachel’s character – they wanted her to be a strong and independent woman, but they also needed her to be obsessed with boys and want Finn as her boyfriend more than anything in the world. Unfortunately, they never managed to find the balance (it’s totally okay, and actually quite common, to want a relationship and still want to further your career and do things outside of said relationship. It really doesn’t have to be one or the other) so ultimately Rachel comes across as really inconsistent, especially in this first season.

The whole Suzy Pepper thing was just weird and honestly a little unnecessary. We get it, everyone and their mom thinks Will is hot. Chill out.

The very obvious parallel between Emma and Rachel’s crushes on Schue. It really shows that Emma is basically a schoolgirl with a crush on her teacher. While I’ve always felt that her crush is very high school, this episode really serves to highlight their maturity differences, as well as their difference in experience. I’m not saying that somebody with as little experience as Emma shouldn’t be with someone like Will – but the way the show portrayed it was really gross. She’s always come across as almost juvenile when compared to him, and it sort of creates this imbalance in their relationship – an imbalance which Will takes advantage of (even if he does so subconsciously) more times that I can count.

Kurt’s misogyny. Look, Kurt, I get it. You like Finn and Finn is straight and you want Finn to like you, but do you really need to shit on all girls everywhere in order to make that happen? He’s especially unfair to Quinn, which is just annoying. I really don’t like that this show often took the route of “in order to make myself big I need to make everyone else feel small”. Considering how anti-bullying this show is, it really is a big message that they bring back over and over again.

Quinn’s dad. He makes me so goddamn angry. I know he explains a lot about Quinn’s character, but he still makes me so goddamn angry.

Kurt encouraging Finn to reveal Quinn’s pregnancy to her parents. I’m sorry, but this is Quinn’s family, it’s her body, it’s her fucking child, and these two think they can take away her agency because Finn feels he “needs to do this?” No. Just… no.

I know this isn’t a specific about this episode, but I feel like this episode and Hairography were doing a really good job of setting up a potential bisexual Finn storyline, but the showrunners weren’t sure if they wanted to do it or not. I think if they had gone for it that would have had the potential of being a really interesting story, but alas.

Songs

Endless Love: Boring and creepy. The Glee kids voiceovers are pretty funny though.

I’ll Stand by You: One of my absolute favourite Finn songs of all time. It’s emotional and it’s engaging, and he sounds amazing.

Don’t Stand So Close to Me/Young Girl: This is one of the few songs that Will has that I actually enjoy. The mash-up works really well, and even if the message is a little unclear at times (come on Will, don’t sing about “temptation, frustration, so bad it makes him cry” to your student who has a crush on you) I still think it’s a really good number.

(You’re) Having My Baby: This song is boring and uncomfortable, and symbolizes Finn taking Quinn’s decision about when to reveal her pregnancy to her parents out of her hands. Hard pass.

Lean on Me: I LOVE THIS SONG!!! It’s so cute and fun, and brought tears to my eyes. It’s so nice to see the whole club have Quinn and Finn’s back.

Overall Thoughts: I definitely don’t remember enjoy this episode so much the first time I saw it, or the second! It’s got a lot of cute moments, a lot of character development, and no Finn/Rachel shenanigans. It’s good, even if it does feel like a bit of a filler.

[hollypastl]

Twins of a feather: miya atsumu x twin! reader

This fic is some horrible amalgamation of OHSHC, The Twelfth Night, and Mulan let us pray for everyone’s sanity. Y/B/N = your brother’s name

You would do anything for your brother, and when you meant anything, you meant anything. So when he tore his ACL the summer before high school, (which happened to be a volleyball powerhouse) you asked him what you could do.

It was a joke of course, he had jokingly told you that taking his place was the only way he’d ever work up enough brownie points to be a regular by his second year. But you took it seriously. After all, your brother was always the “better twin” out of you two. He was athletic, hardworking, good looking, and had so much going for him. You, on the other hand? You were set to homeschool yourself for high school so you could speed through the work without wasting time in class, all so you could spend more time playing video games and watching anime.

But your brother had always been there for you. Always. He protected you from bullies all throughout elementary and middle school. He still played 1v1 FPS games with you even though you kicked his ass every time. He was the best big brother (by four minutes, but who’s counting?) that you could have ever asked for.

So you get a haircut, by a binder, and spend the entire summer learning how to play volleyball. You’re just lucky that you two have always been the same height and that he plays Libero. If he were taller, there’d be no way you would have a chance of pulling it all off.

The first day of school is… easy. You like wearing pants for once and not having to wear makeup is great for your skin. Maybe pretending to be a guy online to avoid sexual harassment for all these years has finally paid off. The class plays some icebreakers and you make friends with as many guys as possible. It’s a little weird having to switch the way you talk, but at least you’re not close enough with anyone to have them calling you by your first name. You also don’t recognize anyone from your middle school, which is a godsend. You think you look enough like your brother to pass as him, but you didn’t want to take any chances.

The day finally ends and you just want to go home and play CoD, but you have to go try out for volleyball.

You change in the bathroom and arrive at the gym shortly after school ends. The team is slowly trickling in, full of tall boys who tower over you. Even the other Libero is at least three centimeters taller than you.

The coach starts off tryouts with a three on three match between all six of the first years trying out. You’re placed on a team with two ridiculously tall boys who don’t seem to even notice you, but you shrug it off. The only thing you can focus on is making the team, and all you have to do to achieve that is receive these stupid balls. They don’t matter.

The other side serves first and you call out to receive. It stings, but it’s nothing like the force your brother could dish out. You send the ball flying back into the air, right above the setter, who tosses it in a messy arc that the spiker barely reaches.

It goes on like that for a while. You receive and occasionally set the ball. Your serves are shit but at least they get over the net. You’re lucky that your reflexes are top notch after years of gaming or you would’ve really been screwed.

Your team wins to your surprise and you feel that rush of endorphins that comes right after beating a boss or leveling up. You finally get what your brother has been talking about all these years.

The coach sends all the first years home except for you and one other guy, saying that the rest of them are welcome to try out next year or find another sport.

You stifle a girly squeal of excitement and finally take note of all the upperclassmen you have to get to know. The thing that stands out to you first is the twins. All you can think of is the notion that it really is a small, small world. The next person you notice is someone with black hair and a middle part, who looks like he’s secretly watching vines on his phone. After that is the captain, who introduces himself. He’s kinda plain and you wonder how someone as ordinary as him had the leadership skills needed to be captain.

You run drills after and the coach mentions that the team already has a practice match set for next week. It’s only when practice is officially over that you get a feel for what this team is really like. They’re complete trolls. Memelords. Whatever word worked best. The second the coach left the room, the twins were fighting, Suna (you had learned his name at some point) was catching it all on video, and Aran was looking like he was in the middle of his own personal hell.

These were the type of people you could learn to like.

---

You make it through the first week without any trouble. So little trouble in fact that you think the gods are waiting to dump all the trouble on you all at once.

“L/N!!! Is that you?”

You’d recognize that annoying voice anywhere. It was the class rep from your middle school. Of course she would go to the high school where your practice match was at. Of course she would be the manager for the other team.

You turn around, leaving the pack that the team was walking in and speed walking over to the girl before she could say anything else.

“Wow L/N, did you cut your hair? It looks cute, but I almost mistook you for-” You slap a hand over her mouth before any of her words could reach your team, whipping your head around to see if they were paying attention.

They weren’t.

“Listen.” Your voice is low and sickly sweet. “I can’t tell you the details, but I’m acting like a boy right now, okay? Just use my surname and refer to me with male pronouns, okay?”

She gasps, fiddling with her glasses. “Oh my gosh, L/N! Are you transgender? I’m like, totally cool with it, so don’t worry! Your secret is safe with me.”

You figure that correcting her would only make things worse, so you let her believe it, making your way back to your team.

“Looks like L/N is popular with the ladies.” Thing One elbows you in the side and you elbow him right back, not in the mood for his teasing.

“Careful, Atsumu. Your ugly bleached hair is turning green with envy.” Half the team howls at your roast, an art that you’ve carefully perfected after years of clapping back to assholes online. He glares at you like you’ve just killed his first born and you flip him off, following everyone else’s lead in getting ready for the match. You don’t play for the first set, but coach puts you in for the second, saying you better not screw up, and you shiver with anticipation.

It’s the first time you’ll be playing in a 6v6 game and although you know it’s gonna be different, you’re not one to let nerves get to you. Aran told you in passing the other day that you were a lot like the captain in that way.

The other team can tell that you’re a first year. Whatever girlish features you possessed were misconstrued as childish, so they make sure to aim all their serves straight at you.

You receive most of them cleanly, but you flub one or two of them. Most of the time you’re just in awe of how seamlessly the twins play together. It’s amazing and you can’t help but be the tiniest bit jealous that your brother couldn’t be here. Although, that would mean that you wouldn’t be here… Still.

---

The next few months are grueling. Day after day is filled with blood, sweat, and tears, and sometimes you want to quit, but something always stops you. Sometimes it’s Suna referencing a meme during the middle of a game, or Aran saying something so wholesome that your whole heart can’t help but sigh at how innocent he is. Other times it’s Atsumu’s invite to play Fifa at one in the morning and all the stupid shit he says over the head set.

There are some close calls and times when you almost get caught in your big lie. For example: training camps. They were your worst nightmare. Finding discreet places to change and reasons to not bath with everyone else were hard and you found out the hard way that sleeping next to Atsumu was a big mistake. Not only were his snores louder than a volcano erupting, you woke up to him clinging onto you like a koala bear.

There was also the time when you were out with your brother (who could finally walk like a normal person again) and you spotted the -other- twins from across the market and you almost gave your poor brother whiplash from how fast you pulled him around a corner. You would’ve been fine with seeing them in public if not for the fact that you had girls shorts on and you could clearly tell that you had boobs from the thin top you wore.

The closest call definitely comes late after practice one night in late December when everyone is walking home.

Suna, the little shit he is, suggests that they play Truth or Dare.

“What are we?” You sneer. “A bunch of girls in grade school?”

Nevertheless, several of them agree and the rest are roped into participating.

The first few are pretty normal.

“Do ten push ups.”

“Whaaaa? That’s easy.”

“Okay. Do ten push ups but you can only use one finger.”

“Steal the light bulb from that lamp.”

“It’s like twenty feet in the air!”

Kita still manages to do it.

“I dare you to give me twenty bucks.”

“Fuck you.”

Atsumu finally is chosen for the slaughter.

“Truth or dare?”

“We’ve had way too many daredevils, so truth.” He says.

“Hmmmm.” Osamu rubs his chin. “Out of all the people in this group, who would you go gay for?”

“Y/B/N.” He answers it so nonchalantly and quickly. The worst part is when the nods of agreement come about.

“Yeah, Y/B/N is definitely the prettiest out of all of us.”

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’d totally fuck you.”

“Plus he’s just so adorable!” Atsumu throws an arm around your shoulder and you know blood would be rushing to your cheeks if not for the fact that it already was there from the freezing cold air. “Don’t you just wanna cuddle him all the time?”

You’re lucky that the turn where you break off from the rest of the group is here and you can escape the awkwardness that is a bunch of boys thinking they have gay crushes on a cross dressing girl.

You wake up the next morning to the happiness that is the weekend and a text from Atsumu asking if you want to hang out. You want to say no, because weekend time is strictly reserved for catching up on all the gaming time you miss because of practice, but he shoots you another text when he sees that you’ve read it, saying that you guys can see that action movie you were freaking out about the other day and then stop by the frozen yogurt shop you like. And that he’d pay for it.

You get ready in your guy clothes, which are a pair of joggers and a hoodie with a windbreaker pulled on top. You almost forget your gloves and earmuffs while leaving, but your brother has enough mind to stop you and your airheaded self.

Atsumu has already bought tickets, and a large popcorn and soda to share when you get to the theater. You’re surprised when you stick a straw in the soda and find out that it’s rootbeer, your favorite and his worst enemy. Why would he buy a soda that he hates when he knows you���d be just fine with something they both liked?

The movie is incredible and you two walk out of the theater with your minds blown. You can’t stop talking about every single easter egg, action sequence, and joke that happened and Atsumu can’t believe that you remember so much after only seeing it once.

“Y/B/N, this is really awkward for me, but I’m just gonna come out and say it.” He starts, hands stuffed in his pockets as they walk towards the frozen yogurt shop. He’s obviously having a hard time forcing the rest of it out, so you stop and tilt your head to the side, waiting for him.

“I think I have feelings for you! The romantic kind, to be specific.” He blurts out. “Which is weird, because I’ve never been attracted to guys before, but uhhhh, I guess there’s a first time for everything.” His words are racing out at a mile a minute now and you can barely keep up. “I dunno, I’ve just been feeling this way for a while now and I tried to make it go away because I have no idea if you’re into girls or guys or anybody for that matter. Hell, I even tried to talk to ‘Samu about it, because we both know he’s very bisexual, but all he told me to do was tell you, so here I am, feeling like an idiot, so please just say something so I can stop talking.”

You unclench your jaw. You weren’t expecting that. “Atsumu…”

He looks like a scared puppy and all of a sudden you have to decide if you feel the same way he does. But if anything, he does deserve to know that he’s not crazy for being attracted to you.

“You’re not bi.” You sigh, wondering just what you were getting into.

“If this is your way of letting me down easy-”

You grab him by the wrist and drag him into the little sidestreet so you could have some more privacy for what you were about to show him.

“Y/B/N, what are you-”

You turn back to face him and grab the bottom of your hoodie, bringing it up to expose your bare stomach and the sports bra you were wearing.

It takes him a second.

“So you’re…”

“Yep.”

“WHAT THE FUCK?”

You roll your eyes at his dramatics and decide to go ahead and tell him why before he has an aneurysm.

“Long story short: My brother was gonna go to Inarizaki, but he injured himself and couldn’t play. I’m just filling in for him for this year.”

He looked like he was about to faint.

“I didn’t know you had a brother.”

Of all the things to fixate on in that explanation, he chose that? “We’re twins.”

He freaks out again. “You have a twin and you didn’t tell me?! A fellow twin? That goes against the fuckin’ twin code!”

You scowl. “It would have blown my cover! And what do you mean by the twin code? I’ve never heard of that!”

“Maybe it’s ‘cause you’re a fraternal twin. You guys are really just siblings born at the same time.”

“Don’t look down on me ‘cause I’m a fraternal twin! Identical twins don’t seem to have it better, you and Osamu couldn’t get along if I paid you to!”

“At least ‘Samu hasn’t turned out to be a girl!”

“Oh shut up!”

“Make me!”

You shoot out a hand, grab him by the collar, and kiss him, which surprises you way more than it does him. He’s frozen for a split second before he starts moving his lips against yours and slips his tongue into your mouth. Wow, he’s a good kisser. Your arms move to wrap around his neck and one of his hands is resting on the small of your back while the other is playing with the short hairs at the nape of your neck.

You break away first and properly process what just happened. You kissed Atsumu. And you liked it.

“So, do I get a second date, or what?”

You smile and let out a giggle for the first time in months. It’s high pitched and girly and it’s a relief to finally talk like yourself to someone that wasn’t your brother. “A second?”

He nods. “I think this was a pretty good first date.”

You take a second with that. He wasn’t wrong. Under all social standards, this was a date. They did something social together, he paid for it. They even kissed at the end of it.

You cock your head to the side and peck him on the lips. “I guess it was nice.”

“That’s a yes to date number two then?”

You nod. “One condition though, you can’t tell anyone. I still need to make sure my brother can play next year.”

He agrees immediately, hugging you tightly.

“That means keeping your hands to yourself when we’re around other people.” You say, swatting his hand away from its creeping path to your butt.

He hums in thought for a second, running a hand through his hair. “I dunno…” He muses. “Actually wait.” His tone turns serious. “If you get kicked off the team then I won’t be able to stare at your ass during practice anymore.”

“Atsumu!” You smack him and grab his hand, lacing your fingers with his and heading towards the frozen yogurt shop.

[knightofbalance-13]

Too bad: Don’t want drama, don’t be a jackass. Same for everyone on the internet.

0:24 No no, there’s a ton of drama about hate being passed off as criticism. Actual critics of RWBY have gotten off scott free and the only ones being affected are you assholes who try to sell your snakeoil opinions as fact and critics who don’t want to be associated with you. And quite frankly: You deserve for the shit you spew.

0:34 Rant huh? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBUJ3RrkZhU) Not even a minute...and a good third of that was Miles giving people credit and leniancy. Your video is more of a rant than his, complete with whiny bitching and rambling.

0:46 No, Lord Fatass whined that he was getting called out. That isn’t a response anymore than...well, any response he makes to anyone who doesn’t agree with him.

0:55 Lord fatass has a Patreon and all he does is bullshit all the damn time about RWBY. Fuck, you even compare yourself to a cult leader in that screenshot. Cults are defined by being irrational and rabid with the leader encouraging such behavior. I don’t care what you say your relationship with RWBY is: Lord Fatass calls himself a fan. Your ACTIONS are what I care about you DEFINITELY act like a cult leader.

1:01 Not helping your case that you sound pissed about a video essentially saying ‘‘don’t hate on the creators.”

1:20 Oh, someone’s being disingenuous! Miles never discredited the fandom as a whole or even critics as a whole. He just said ‘I don’t like know it alls and haters.’ You just said that because if you told the truth, no one would listen to you.

1:26 Bull fucking shit. Critics are revered in fandoms and it’s usually the CREATORS that are given a bad name. A critic can shrug off criticism and ignore their own flaws and continue making the same mistake over and over again while if a creator so much as thinks about not gulping down shit, they’re seen as egotistical. You’re lying.

1:30 Lord Fatass literally lies about the show numerous times in his ‘reviews’ and you will outright lose your shit if someone doesn’t call Volumes 3-5 shit. Pretty safe to assume you hate RWBY.

1:34 Yes. And it is literally every single point I’ve figured out on my own just said worse mixed in with personal gripes trying to be passed off as criticism. It just feels like you looked up what other people said and parroted it back to disguise your bullshit as criticism.

1:48 Your Volume 5 review was you rambling about fight scenes. That’s it. You apparently have the patience of a goldfish. P.S. You are literally contradicting what you did in the video you linked because you flipped your shit at people who were saying they liked Volume 5. You’re only doing this to try and build credit.

2:04 So basically, let people be irredeemable assholes, making personal attacks on creators until said creators become so desensitized to criticism due to the abuse they suffered they stop trying to improve because you’re shit at your job and can’t handle being professional in any way. Here’s another saying: “Git Gud.”

2:08 Yes and let’s here about all those dirty commies and how ugly and nasty they are while we’re doing propaganda.

2:16 And flat earthers say that a round Earth doesn’t exist either. Doesn’t make it make it true!

2:25 But if you ordered a steak that was suppose to be undercooked or went to a place that only served undercooked steaks: You’re wrong for bitching about it. Hey look, I broke your lengthy analogy in it’s infancy in under two seconds. Should say something about your critical thinking skills.

2:29 yes but a media student would know WHY it sucked on an objective level while you just pass off subjective as fuck opinions are objective reasons why a show sucks. A chief would be able to know why something sucks anbd why it sucks for being that particular meal while a normal customer would bitch and moan because they ordered a dish and they didn’t like it. Also, this has nothing to do with constructive criticism and is just kind of out of place. Plus your analogy was kind of...short to be honest. You should have looked over your script before writing and thought about it. ... Hey look, I just CONSTRUCTIVELY criticized you. And all it took was NOT being a complete douchebag. Almost as though your skill in critiquing has next to nothing to do with constructive criticism and is instead about HOW you go about criticizing.

2:42 Cept this analogy doesn’t work either. PLENTY of people make calm, constructive reviews of the show, both positive and negative, explaining why the show does/doesn’t work. While the angry reviews basically boil down to ‘this Volume wasn’t made for ME.” So whose more right? The people who can explain why the dish does/doesn’t work as the type of dish it is or the people bitching about the type of dish it is or the flavor of the dish not being a flavor they like?

2:46 Cept they CHOOSE to waste their time and the show is FREE. You only pay to see it early, not to view the show. This is like bitching about mayo being on a sandwitch that was said to have mayo on it and the sandwitch was FREE. I broke that analogy by just looking at it funny.

2:50 Yeah and then they assault the chiefs, sending them hatemail and death threats, attempting to ruin their business through fake controversies, invoking the memory of the dead friend who made the recipe and general act as though they fed them PEOPLE. All while complain about how the dish was too sour when it was advertised as sour. You just keep getting worse and worse at this.

3:03 While the reviews say there were bugs in it (which there wasn’t), saying the dish gave people food poisoning (which it didn’t), the reviwers tried assaulting the chief for using a certain ingreident to the point he doesn’t want to cook and instead of the morning news, it was a recording of the chief just relieving stress with friends. Now you sound like a fucking sociopath.

3:09 I mean, Gordon Ramsey actually knows what eh is saying, in the British version of the show Gordon is a lot nicer and in turn is more well respected, Gordon actually tries to help and encourage the chiefs instead of belittling them and Gordon doesn’t try to force his way of cooking down their throats while attempting to make them quit cooking.

... Now YOU sound like one of those chiefs from Kitchen Nightmares.

3:18 No, you’re going to assault the chief and essentially harass him into becoming your slave. I do not care how pissed you are: You ‘critics’ of RWBY have used up all my sympathy for you. You have to now EARN it and boy oh howdy will it be a HERCULEAN task for that to happen.

3:26 And yet I can, despite not being an animator myself. Also, if you can’t tell what is wrong with a dish then why should the chief listen to you when you could just be a whiny bitch? Also also: Miles is a WRITER and by virtue of making a script for this video, you are a writer. You have no excuses.

And finally: that’s actually a rather adept analogy with Yelp. Because yelp is FULL of people who will us either status as ‘critics’ to harass and bully restaurants into doing what they want. You wanna know what you are? You’re Cartman from the episode “You’re not Yelping!” And we all know how THAT ended (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDlR_ccnZww)/ Fuck, I’ll make a RWDE version after this.

3:35 funny because that isn’t what constructive criticism is because it’s more akin to ‘this is how you should do this for these reasons’ and what he described is what YOU people do.

3:39 ... But you can help them. You’re just too lazy.

3:51 But you guys DON’T and in fact when people bring evidence of YOUR fuck ups, you’ll whine and moan and ignore it. See, that’s the biggest irony here. Miles is essentially being YOUR critic and you are acting EXACTLY as you perceive him to be. It’s like if a student came to teacher for help and all the teacher did was scream in his face and slap him.

4:03 But you will call the steak shit by saying it was cooked exactly as advertised and you didn’t want that despite nit letting them know otherwise. Also the steak was free.

4:08 And I can say you’re full of shit. Doesn’t make either one of us right. Except i can say WHY you’re full of shit and you can’t explain jackshit.

4:19 No but they’d give it a fair chance and move on if they don’t like it for personal reasons. Now forcing your opinion onto everyone else: THAT’S a hater move.

4:21 No you’re not. Your actions say otherwise.

4:28 You’re not the audience. You’ve made that abundantly clear. You’re like a chicken fan bitching about how a steak doesn’t taste like chicken.

4:37 Name one person and no, Shane doesn’t count. And even then, Shane even admits he was probably being biased.

4:42 Well, when you blow things out of proportion to ATTACK Miles, that would be the case...except if anything, they’re toning it down.

4:54 That’s fucking rich. Not only was Miles NOT talking about critics in general but HE was defending himself from YOU PEOPLE. And he’s ONE person when you’re fucking DOZENS.

5:06 And Miles shouldn’t have to grovel and beg for forgiveness. This is just your shit coming back at you. I do not care.

5:13 Cept that;s your JOB as a critic. Don't wanna do it? Stop calling yourself a critic.

5:22 yet here you are, fearmongering that Miles is gonna annihilate your poor defenseless critics in an age where critics are treated as infallible gods.

5:32 ... So you’re basically affirming what Miles said, that you don’t know what you are talking about. ... You just beat yourself.

5:43 Says the man who says ‘the customer is always right’ unironically.

5:51 ... Miles outright hates working on RWBY because of you. He is scared shitless of what people will do to him if Jaune gets any scenes. A Camp Camp blog got mistaken for Miles and was harassed to the point of leaving because of it. I’ve seen Miles’ life being threatened on this very site. ... Fuck you.

6:11 Yet when that happens for hating on RWBY and making Miles’ life a living hell, it’s A-Okay! ... You’re just fucking salty people aren’t listening to your shit and calling you out.

6:21 This is gonna be GOOD.

6:25 Cept he is in the UK and actually reviews food instead of screaming. Hell, even in kitchen nightmares he doesn’t insult anyone. That’s just Hell’s Kitchen, which is basically cooking Jerry Springer. Congratsm you're Jerry Springer.

6:36 Cept you gave the hatedom every fucking excuse to hate on Miles and make his life hell while parroting their points while also categorizing anyone who disagrees with you a fanboy.

6:52 ‘I’m not calling you out! ... But here's me calling you out indirectly like a pussy!’

6:57 And guess what? Most of RT’s fans have heard ENOUGH of YOU. And unlike YOU, they have an actual reason while you just wanna protect your ego.

My final thoughts? I don’t care how tired you are of it, you fucking deserve every last bit of this. You wanna be a total jackass? FIne, you can get hate for it Wanna be a hypocrite? Get hate for it. Wanna encourage harassment and hatred? Get fucking hate for it.

I do not care. You have lost ALL sympathy from me.

[duongthanhdt]

SPIRITED AWAY: THE METAPHORICAL DETAILS BEHIND THE CLASSIC

New Post has been published on http://www.btsvfans.com/spirited-away-the-metaphorical-details-behind-the-classic/

SPIRITED AWAY: THE METAPHORICAL DETAILS BEHIND THE CLASSIC

SPIRITED AWAY: THE METAPHORICAL DETAILS BEHIND THE CLASSIC

Link video:

ANIMATIONCONTENT The first detail that is repeated continuously throughout the movie is greed. [The scene Chihiro's parents eat and get turned into pigs] At the beginning of the movie, the scene where Chihiro's parents curiously entered the spirit land and discovered restaurants full of delicious food. Unable to resist the attraction of those delicious dishes, they ate a lot, no matter the origin of this meal. There ain't no such thing as a free lunch, right. Witch Yubaba turned them into pigs, resulting in Chihiro having to work in her bathroom to pay off the debt. [The scene of No-Face enters the bathroom – gives gold – is served] Next scene, No-Face becomes the "richest" guest in the bathroom. The filmmaker built this character in a very special way, as his name – nobody. No-Face is said to be a dirty

spirit and not allowed in the streaming bathroom. No-Face lives off of human greed. Greed, lust, liberty, and depravity. From a very kind character to having super magic in his hand, he turns into a greedy, bloodthirsty man. All were fascinated by No-Face's money, their greed delighted No-Face and lost his humanity more and more. [The scene of No-Face eats bathroom staff – chases after Chihiro – transforms into a pure soul and working as Zeniba's maid] When No-Face had finished his food, he turned to eat some of the bathroom staff and caused chaos for everyone. The only thing that makes No-Face is a pure, non-greedy soul by the little Chihiro. After eating a piece of Chihiro's medicine cake given by the god of the River, No-Face vomited everything he ate, including the three bathhouse staff he had swallowed and furiously chased after Chihiro. Chihiro cheated No-Face to chase her out to sea, away from the bathhouse, where he reverted to his true personality, transforming into an endearing spirit. This detail represents a very meaningful message: Greed will be inspired by a pure soul. The second metaphorical detail is the good and the bad. The land of spirits and monsters, it only manifests when the sun goes out, things of darkness are different from what exists in Chihiro's world. Through the characters the filmmaker built, we can see that kindness exists everywhere, even in the darkest, most terrifying places. Here, the magician Haku, Mr. Kajima – the slave of the kettle, the maid Lin, the No-Face, the witch Zeniba … are the representatives of goodness. If it weren't for Haku's help, Chihiro could hardly exist in a world that she didn't believe was real – a monstrous world. [Movie scene about Kamaji] As for Mr. Kamaji, at first glance, Mr. Kamaji seems scary but his personality is not like that. In fact, Mr. Kamaji was a gentle, kind person, and helped Chihiro a lot during her time here. The image of a six-armed old man – Kamaji gives the impression of good people regardless of their appearance and nature. [Movie scene about Lin and Lin with Chihiro] And Lin, a maid who is always bullied and often ridiculed by everyone, is the one on her side and taught Chihiro how to live and work.

[Movie scene about No-Face giving a card to Chihiro] Even No-Face helped her with the bath-cleaning job by handing her precious bath tokens The No-Face is said to be greedy and dangerous, but when we are with Chihiro, we see pure, slow, gentle and gentle spirits. Miyazaki once said “You must see with eyes unclouded by hate. See the good in that which is evil, and the evil in that which is good. Pledge yourself to neither side, but vow instead to preserve the balance that exists between the two.” There will come a time when children grow up and meet something weird, difficult to understand, but slowly they will understand. Just let children know how to recognize good people, working, they will become self-confident and will shine no matter where they are forced to live. That is what the author wants to send messages to the children through his live video footage. Besides the meaningful messages about life, Miyazaki also builds many details and scenes to reflect the reality of society. [The scene of the river spirit in the bathhouse area] The first is the details that show the problem of environmental pollution. He is pictured as a famous, heavily polluted, and smelly river spirit. The pollution was so horrible that no employee wanted to serve him when they went to Yubaba's bathhouse. It could even make a bowl of rice spoil instantly when it was a few meters away that Lin brought Chihiro. [The scene of helping people pull the bicycle out of the river spirit and the river spirit flew away] The contaminated god made his body full of mud, deformed, and hard to walk. It seems that man-made the river spirit ugly by his unconscious way of littering. He is also seen as an "unclean" spirit by Yubaba until the help of Chihiro pulls out a bicycle from his body. Besides environmental pollution, in Spirited Away, Miyazaki also mentioned that the hot problems of international concern are children's rights. [The scene where Yubaba threatens Chihiro and Chihiro to do heavy work] Miyazaki wants to talk about the exploitation of children's labor. The characters represent those exploiting the labor of children . That is Yubaba – the greedy witch who rules the

land of the soul. She makes Chihiro work as her employees and sends her incredible jobs. This is the criticism the filmmaker wants to reflect. If in real life, they bind the children to work for themselves with whips and threats, in his animation, Yubaba also threatened to turn her into a pig or coal and take her name to bind Chihiro. like people do. To a kind-hearted, environment-conscious, and child-loving person like author Miyazaki, he is strongly against the exploitation of child labor. That's why he included it in his movie instead of words he wanted to say. And he desires children to have their full rights, to learn, to play, and enjoy social welfare. In the film's flow, author Miyazaki has also sent us many more messages about the education of children's characters. [The scene Yubaba comment Chihiro and Chihiro cries after visiting her parents] Chihiro was said by Yubaba to be weak, lazy, and could only cry and do nothing, a useless person she didn't want to accept. But because she wanted to save her parents and get out of here, she had to face many things that she had never seen before. She had to clean the bathtub with a lot of trash, had to scrub the dirty "safe" tub … She was so pitiful that she cried hiccup beside Lin and Haku when she visited her parents. Her strong desire to save her parents motivated her to work and do even better. [The scene Haku helps Chihiro and Chihiro finds Zeniba to rescue Haku] Appearing in the first scenes of the movie, Chihiro is just a shy girl who always needs Haku's help, from Haku helping to hide Chihiro to making rice balls for her, everything thanks to Haku. But when Haku was in trouble, Chihiro found Yubaba's sister to rescue Haku, even though she did not know the danger would happen. Because she knows only she can solve her problems, she can't just wait for someone to help her forever! We must know to do the good on our own, the things that we consider important to us and not to expect too much on the help of others. [The scene Boh] A character built by the author to emphasize that message is Boh – the son of the witch Yubaba. Because his mother is so pampered, the boy is bland, selfish, and reliant. Although Boh is "gianter" than his mother, he is unable to stand up and just crawls around in his room. Boh is transformed into a mouse by Zeniba, Yubaba's twin sister.

Going through an exciting trip with Chihiro to Zeniba's house, the boy can stand on his own feet and cares more for others. It was a message to parents as well as children about the independent way of life that Miyazaki wanted to say. Les Brown also said: "Accept responsibility for your life. Know that it is you who will get you where you want to go, no one else." Each image, every word appearing in the movie has a great metaphor and connotation. Not only a cartoon film that won many major awards and the most popular of the 21st century, Spirited Away also has timeless values, I firmly believe that the value of this animation is eternal and nothing has been able to pass it yet. Spirited Away is a movie that anyone in life must watch once. The film is excellent not only for its quality image but also human values that the author wants to convey to viewers, especially children – who will change the future of the world in the future.

[ikemensengokufandom]

Chapter 2: "Kenshin”

CLICK FOR MASTERPOST HERE 

Chapter 2: "Kenshin”

The next day, Mai was in the town with Mitsunari, as he promised Mai to show her around and brought her to the fabric store where she can get her supplies if she needs it. Mai was excited when she first stepped into the store, as this is a place where sparks her interest. She was amazed when she stepped into the store and touches the fabric while feeling its quality. 

“Lord Nobunaga told me that you’ll love it.” Mitsunari smiled. “He said that you may pick the ones you like as a gift, so you may feel free to choose.” Mai’s smile faded when she heard Nobunaga’s name, as she put her hand away from the fabric then looked back at Mitsunari. 

“Tell Nobunaga that I accept his courtesy.” She replied, “But I will not accept such expensive gifts from him.” 

“Why not?” Mitsunari questioned her. Mai recalled what happened last night which Nobunaga teased her. That warmth from his kisses, the touch of his skin… how could she not forget?   

“Either way, I don’t find it right to accept his gifts for no reason.” She replied. Her cheeks went red while recalling such embarrassing moment, which Mitsunari noticed her flustered cheeks and looked at her curiously.

“Are you alright Mai?” He asked, “You don’t look good. Should we head back to the castle?”

“It’s… fine.” She replied. “Mitsunari, is it ok if you just leave me alone? I would like to explore the area myself.” 

  “But Nobunaga ordered me to guide you…. Besides you’re face looks red, how can I possibly leave you alone?” Mitsunari looked at Mai worried. Mai sighed as she doesn’t want to go back to the castle early, as she is fear of bumping onto Nobunaga. 

“Could you let me go alone please, even just for a while?” She spoke as she grabbed Mitsunari’s arms by surprised and looked at him. “I promised that I’ll meet you somewhere later after I am done.”

Mitsunari sighed and looked at the princess who is pleading him, thinking whether should let her go explore the town alone or insisting that he must follow Nobunaga’s order? Mai continue to plead, then suddenly grabbed his arms like she was about to cry.

“Okay Mai, you may go alone… I supposed.” He hesitated. “However, you must meet me back in the castle before Dawn, do you understand that?” he took out a bag of pouch and then passed it to Mai. “Here, you may spend whatever you want from this. Take it as a welcome gift from me, how does that sound?” “Well, as long as it’s not from Nobunaga I guess it’s fine…” she murmured. “Sorry Mai, did you said something?” Mitsunari questioned. Mai just shook her and smiled at Mitsunari.   

“Nothing!” She smiled. “Thanks Mitsunari, you’re the best!” She then left happily with the bag of money that she got it from Mitsunari. As she go further, Mitsunari called the store owner and pointed on the fabrics she have just touched.

“I am buying all of these.” Mitsunari said. “Kindly deliver them to the castle.”

“All of this… Milord?” the store Owner looked at him surprised. Mitsunari smiled and nodded kindly, then took out another pouch which seems to weigh heavier than the one he gave it to Mai.   

“All of it please.”

--------

Mai looked upon the street, and was excited and relieved at the same time for being able to explore freely without anyone’s supervision.   

“Now this is what I call freedom!” She thought while looking at the stores. She was fascinated by the surrounding, afterall not everyone gets to travel back to time and witness those historical moment. 

Just then, she saw something that catches her eye; a pink comb with simple floral print on it.   

“This is really pretty! How much is this?” As she looked up at the seller, she froze after seeing a familiar face. The seller, who’s a young lad with brunette hair looked at her as well, with the same reaction she had. 

“What are you doing here!” He exclaimed. “Speaking of damm luck…” “You’re that guy who saved me from the cliff the other day!” Mai recalled, “You’re a merchant?! But how-“

“Yeah, so what if I am?” he snapped back. “So what, are you going to get something or no? I have a business to run here.”   

“Yeah- I kind of like this comb here…” She showed him the comb that she hold on.   

“10 coins.” He snapped back before she could asked the price of the comb. Angrily, Mai took out 10 coins from the pouch.   

“Fine, here’s your money.” She angrily snapped back at him, showing him the coins. “And free advice, that’s a very bad customer service you had there.”

“Whatever you said.” He groaned. As his hands touches Mai’s, he begin to blush and immediately looked away from her, grabbing the coins from her palm.   

“Hey…. thank you for saving me back then.” She said. “Can I at least have your name so that-“

“My name is Yuki.” He replied before she could finished her sentence. “Alot of young ladies like you have been asking me that question, I wonder why.”

“Probably because you’re cute.” Mai thought as she giggles on Yuki’s blushing face. Yuki’s face flustered even more when he saw her laughed.   

“Stop laughing!” he commented. Mai then looked back at him again while still trying to hold on her laughter.   

“Anyway, thanks for the comb. It’s really pretty.” Mai smiled at him. “Hope to see you around again!”

“Pfft, whatever. It’s not like as if I would want to meet you.” Yuki commented while he watches her walking off to the other direction.   

Mai looked around the surroundings, and there she discovered a small restaurant which are crowded with a few people. Out of curiosity, she stepped in as she smell the fragrance of the dishes here.   

“Welcome! Please take a seat.” A waiter, who looks no more than 10 years old lead Mai to an empty seat. “May I know what you would want to order please?”

“Possible for me to have a cup of Hōjicha first? I will get back to you again later when I know what to order.” She replied. 

“Sure, one Hōjicha coming right up!” the boy yelled to the counter, then smiled at Mai before he walks off. Mai smiled back and looked at the food on every customers’ table.   

“Wow, that’s a lot of choices. I wonder how people order without a menu.” She thought. Just then, a guy with blonde hair caught her attention. All she sees on his table was a few bottle of empty sake, and it surprised her as he seems not to be affected by the amount he drank or show signs of getting drunk. Wind blew and his fringe flew up, which is when Mai realized that his eyes are of different color. 

“Heterochromia…” Mai thought. “Beautiful….”  

Just then, the man looked back and saw Mai. He looked at her coldly for a few seconds and then proceed to continue drinking his sake.   

“Wow…. It must be weird for me to check out at him randomly.” Mai murmured. Suddenly, she heard some noises not far apart, causing her to be distracted. When she turned back, she saw 3 men picking on that waiter who just served her, as she saw food being scattered on the floor and broken dishes around that area.   

“You little brat, so you’re accusing us of wanting to eat for free?” One of the men yelled. As he was about to raise his hands upon the little boy, a middle age woman grabbed his hands and knee down in front of them.

“Please don’t hurt him, I’m sorry!” the woman pleaded. Ignoring the plead, he pushed the woman away. 

“Don’t you dare bully my mother!” the young waiter yelled, helping his mother up. “Your dishes was almost empty while you claimed that there are something wrong with it!” 

“How dare you little-“

“Hey stop!” Mai got up from the seat and went towards them, defending the mother and son. “That is no way for you to treat someone, especially when you’re acting like a tyrant demanding for free meals!”   

“Hey woman, watch your tongue.” The man, who seems to be a leader barked back. “It is none of your concern.”

“It is when I am just a customer who wants to enjoy my lunch peacefully.” Mai looked at the man fiercely, hiding her shivering hands under her long kimono sleeves.   

“Hey boss…” One of the man approached to the leader. “She looks really pretty.” “Hey, you’re right!” Another guy spoke as he starting to put his arms around her. “Hey there pretty, how about a drink with us?” 

“Get lost, this woman is mine.” The tyrant boss pushed the two men away and put his arms around Mai, holding on her cheek. “I would prefer if you could just spend some time with me alone instead…. under the futon.”

“How dare you!” Mai raised up her hand and slapped him across the face angrily. “Hands off me you jerks!” 

“How dare you-“ 

Just as he was about to raise his hands upon her, someone grabbed the tyrant boss’s hands. Mai looked up and realized that it was that guy whom she stared on earlier. The man then threw the tyrant boss towards the other two, causing them to fall on the ground.   

“Just as I was enjoying my sake peacefully, you guys are making a lot of noises. It’s irritating.” The man commented.   

“Ow…” The men groaned in pain. One of them almost stood up and fight him, but took a stepped back immediately once he saw the sword which he was about to draw out. 

“Fine, we will go.” The tyrant boss said, fearing of the sword that he is holding on. As they got up and was about to leave, the blonde man drew out his sword and pointed at the tyrants, who was shocked and frighten by the sharp blade that was pointing at them. 

“Pay them.” The blonde man spoke coldly. “Or else my blade will be crying for your blood.”

“FI-Fine.” Mai saw the tyrant boss’s hands were shaking while he was taking out the coins from his pouch, then slams it on the table before they run off. “Thank You-“ Mai walks up to the man who saved her earlier. The man looked at her coldly while keeping his sword.   

“What’s with woman like you standing up against men so impulsively?” He commented. “You only bring in more trouble instead of helping. Now I am in no mood for sake.”

“Sir, thank you!” The mother and son approached the man and bowed down. “It’s fine. Anyway, here’s the money for the sake.” the man then took out a small pouch and handed it to the mother.   

“No sir you saved us from those tyrants! Let us give you a treat-“

“Is ok. I’m going to other places for more sake.” Before the woman could finish her sentence, the man walks off. Mai turned back and runs off the restaurant. As she got out, she saw that familiar figure who just saved her earlier. She runs to the direction, trying to catch up.   

“Hey!” Mai called out. The man turned back as she approaches him, looking annoyed. 

“Woman, what do you want?” He said. Mai took a deep breathe, as she looked up at him and look that pair cold glaze, but beautiful Heterochromia eyes. 

“I just wanted to say thank you for earlier.” Mai Spoke. 

“Why does he looks so sad?” Mai thought, as she felt sadness from the pair of eyes she is looking at. Just as the man was about to turn away and leave, Mai grabbed his arms, which caught him by surprised.

“Hey, let me repay you for earlier.” Mai spoke. “Pardon me but I’ve saw you with a few bottles of sake earlier…. I believe you like sake?”

“So what if I am?” The man snapped back, but his eyes said otherwise as it grew widen, looking curiosity at the girl whom he just saved.   

“I know a place where they sell good sake.” Mai smiled. “At least let me give you a treat for earlier.”

The man looked at her and thought “What is with this girl?” He looked at his arm, while Mai still holding on to it. Mai look and immediately let go of his arms, looking away as she blushed.   

“Bring me there then.” The man sighed. “But if the sake is not as good as you spoke of I will let you have a taste of my blade.”

“Fine…” Mai looked at him awkward, as she thinks he exaggerated.   

“Wow, so much for asking a stranger out even though I was taught not to speak to stranger since young.” She thought. “Maybe I should ask for his name…”

“By the way, is it ok if you let me know your name?”   

“Kenshin.” He replied. 

“My name is Mai.” Mai smiled. Kenshin sighed as he looked annoyed.   

“I didn’t ask for your name.” He replied. “God, women like you are very annoying. Just bring me for a drink already.”

“Sure.” Mai replied awkwardly, as they both headed off to the place where Mai mentioned.

--------

[NEXT CHAPTER CLICK HERE]

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[builder051]

Hello! for a prompt: bucky massively overestimating his alcohol tolerance?

Ha!  Nice one!  Here you go.

This is Powers/No Powers.  And it’s Halloween!

________________________

Halloween is boys’ night in.

Steve’d called Clint.  “You know Buck’s not really good with the doorbell, so we’re looking for somewhere quiet to spend Halloween.”

“No one hikes up to our house,” Clint’d assured him.  “Laura’s taking the kids into town, so you’re welcome to come crash with me.”

So they’d made plans for drinks and sloppy joes and Svengoolie

Steve pulls up in the driveway as Laura’s loading the two miniature pirates into the car.

“Arrrgh!”  Leila growls at them, brandishing her plastic hook.

Bucky looks at Steve for a second and whispers, “Am I supposed to act scared?”

“Um.  Yeah,” Steve replies, raising his hands and pulling a girlishly frightened face.

“Ooh.  Scary,” Bucky says flatly, missing the nail on the acting part.

“You boys let yourselves in,” Laura says, dusting off her jack-o-lantern sweatshirt before settling behind the wheel.  "Clint’s…a little excited.”

Laura’s right.  The kitchen is cluttered, and Clint’s bouncing back and forth between the large collection of condiments on the counter and what looks like a full bar on the breakfast table.

“Hey, what can I start you off with?” Clint asks, setting down his down-to-ice-cubes glass and grabbing a couple clean glasses from the cupboard.

“I don’t know…” Steve says unsurely.  Drinks has always meant a couple beers on the back porch, or at least it has since Bucky came back.  Not hard liquor.  Alcohol doesn’t do much for Steve these days, and he’s not sure it’s wise for Bucky to imbibe anything stronger than a Miller Lite.

But it’s not like they don’t have a history.  Steve remembers the days when he was barely legal and three sheets to the wind on scotch and soda, watching Bucky try to pick up everyone in the vicinity.  Maybe Bucky remembers too.  Maybe it’ll be ok.

“What do you recommend?” Bucky asks, looking at the intimidating number of bottles.

“This one’s always been one of my favorites.”  Clint selects Canadian Club from the array and turns to fridge for ice.

“He doesn’t want ice,” Steve says quietly, trying to give a gentle reminder that Bucky’s trigger situation is still…what exactly?  Delicate?

“Maybe I do.”  Bucky’s standing close to Steve, looking at him with an expression Steve doesn’t quite recognize.

“Well, I mean…”

“I know you’re helping me out.  Just.  Maybe I do.”

“Yeah, ok,” Steve concedes.  He’s always know it would come to this someday.  And it’s really a good thing if Bucky starts to see him at too protective.  It means he’s getting better.  More independent.  It’s just hard to see things change when he’s not sure of the outcome.

“Do you want ice?” Clint asks, looking over his shoulder and flicking his gaze from Steve to Bucky.

“No,” Bucky replies, nullifying the argument.

Clint splashes whiskey into the glasses, then tops off his ice cubes as well.  Steve takes his serving and inhales the slightly sweet, almost woodsy aroma before taking a small sip.  Bucky’s already tipping his head back and chugging down a gulp.

“Someone’s a little eager,” Clint comments, raising his brows.

“I think I remember this,” Bucky murmurs after holding the liquor in his mouth for a moment and swallowing it down.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure you drank everything you could get your hands on back then,” Steve replies, a smile pressing out of the corners of his worried expression.  “I think scotch and soda was your usual, though.”

“Do you have that?” Bucky asks Clint, draining his glass of Canadian.

“You underestimate my skills as a bartender,” Clint says, rinsing Bucky’s empty glass and setting to work mixing.

“You should probably pace yourself,” Steve warns.  “You haven’t had this stuff in a while.  Don’t know how it’s gonna make you feel.”

“I’ll be fine,” Bucky says.  “Don’t go getting sore about me out drinking you.”  He gives Steve a playful nudge.

“Yeah, well.  A lot’s changed since then.  I wouldn’t go thinking everything’s all the same as it was before the war.”

“Well.  Gotta try before we find out.”  Bucky accepts his refreshed beverage from Clint and takes a generous sip.  He considers for a moment, then slowly nods.  “Yeah.  I did like this.  I think I still like this.”

“Thank you, thank you.”  Clint mock-bows and takes the words as praise for himself.  “I’m a pretty good cook, too, if you’re ready to eat.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty hungry,” Steve agrees.

Bucky looks up from another sizeable sip of his drink and nods.  “Sure.”

The crock pot is plugged in on the counter, and when Clint lifts the lid, the savory scent of meat and tomato sauce and spices fills the air.  “Mm.  Smells great.  You are a multitalented man,” Steve says.

Clint throws buns onto plates, then starts ladling out the filling.  The name sloppy joes ends up being quite accurate as Clint isn’t precise with his plating.

“You know…” Bucky says, an edge of uneasiness in his voice.  He holds his glass against his mouth and clinks it against his teeth.  “I’m…I don’t know if I’m real hungry.”

Steve follows Bucky’s gaze to the red-brown sauce dripping from the edge of one plate onto the counter. And practically in the blink of an eye, things are back to being delicate.

“I’m sure we could get you something else,” Steve says.  “I bet Mr. Master Chef’s a whiz at grilled cheese too.”

“Uh.  Yeah,” Clint agrees, clearly not sure what he’s missing.

“I’m good.  I’m just not hungry yet,” Bucky says.  He drains his glass again.  He’s paled slightly, and his eyes are wide and a tad glazed.

“Do you need a minute?” Steve asks, offering the out that Bucky clearly requires.

“No, I’m.  Um.”  Bucky turns away and sets his glass down on the bottle-laden table.  “How do I mix this?”

“I’ll get you set up,” Clint promises.  Then, a bit unsurely, “You ok to eat in the living room?  You’ll have to promise not to tell Laura.”

“Yeah, here, I’ll take the plates,” Steve says, jumping into action.  He transfers one of the sandwiches to his own plate so nothing will be left out or wasted.  When he’s back in the kitchen, Bucky’s sipping another scotch and trying hard to hide the tremors in his hand.

By the time they’re through the first Svengoolie-commentated film that Clint’s bootlegged from somewhere, Steve and Clint are fed and Bucky’s on his ninth or tenth cocktail.  Steve has to practically bully him into eating a plain hamburger bun, and Bucky keeps insisting he’s fine even though there’s clear evidence to the contrary.

“Think maybe you should slow down a little, Buck?” Steve says, softly patting Bucky’s shoulder.

“I’m good,” Bucky says.  “This is fun.  We should do this more often.”

“You’re going hard, though.  Might be better to take a little break.  Drink some water.��

“We always do what you want,” Bucky grumbles, smacking his glass against his knee so the tablespoon or so of liquid in it slops onto his jeans.  “I wanna…pick what I do.”  He puts his glass on the coffee table and dabs the spill with his fingers.

“I’m just trying to keep you safe.  You know that,” Steve reminds him.

“Yeah, but…I just…That’s not what I want to do.”

“Buck—”

“Just shut up a minute, Stevie.”

Clint comes back from the kitchen where he’s been washing dishes.  “Do you need me to leave so you can have a fight?”

“We’re good,” Steve says.

“Top me off,” Bucky demands nodding at his empty drink.

“Sure.”  Clint picks up all their glasses and heads off to refill.  Steve launches up to follow him.

“You need to cut him off,” Steve says.  “He’s drunk, he’s barely eating, he’s in a bad mood…”

“How many has he had?” Clint asks.

“I don’t know.  You keep refilling him!”

“What?  Oh, fuck, I thought that was your glass, that’s why I kept refilling it.  Shit.  I don’t know either,” Clint admits.  “What was he talking about, making his own choices?”

Steve sighs.  “He thinks I’m smothering him.”  He runs his hand agitatedly through his hair.  “I mean, I knew this would come on eventually as he gets more independent, but… turns out he has to be drunk off his ass and making really immature decisions in order to talk to me about it.”

“Maybe you should let him.”

“Huh?”

“Let him do something stupid and drink himself sick.  He’s in a safe place here.  He’ll learn and get over it and move on,” Clint suggests.  “You can tell him ‘I told you so’ while you’re carrying him to bed.”

“Is that, like, a parenting thing?”  He cringes at the idea of being a father figure to Bucky.

“Eh.  Sorta.  More like a college roommate thing.  Sometimes people have to figure out shit for themselves,” Clint says.

“Yeah,” Steve exhales.  “I still think you should cut him off, though.  Give him a glass of water.  Or at least something else, something maybe he won’t like so much.”

Clint chuckles.  “You got it.”

“What’s that?” Bucky asks when Clint hands him a taller glass of yellow liquid instead of the scotch he’d been expecting.

“Pinnacle Whip and pineapple juice,” Clint replies.  “It’s kind of more Laura’s thing, but like I said, I’m a good bar tender.”

Bucky gamely takes a taste.  He shrugs and sips it again.  “Kind of sweet.”

“You don’t like sweet so much, huh?” Steve poses.

“It’s ok.  Way better than that pumpkin coffee whatever thing you had that one time…”

“Wait, you drink pumpkin spice lattes?” Clint asks, bursting out laughing.

“What?  They’re good!” Steve says in his own defense.

Clint starts another episode of Svengoolie, but they only watch a few minutes before all three of them are laughing raucously at something and Bucky shouts that they should probably play cards.

“That’s what we do, right?” He asks Steve, a little slur tainting his pronunciation.  “Play cards?”

“Um.  We did.  I think.  Before the war?  When we’d go drinking?”  Steve strains to remember.

“No, when I can’t sleep.”

“Oh.  Yeah, we play cards sometimes.  Uno and stuff.”  He tries to lock on Bucky’s blurry gaze.  “You getting tired?”

“Maybe.  I don’t know.  It feels late.”

“It’s 8:30,” Clint says with his own version of buzzed sarcasm.  “So late.”

They dig up a pack of cards.  It takes a while to come up with a game they all know how to play, and finally they just start up with 3-way war, even though Steve thinks it’s a bad idea from the name alone.

Bucky drains his glass for what seems like the hundredth time tonight, then knocks it over as he sweeps a pile of cards toward himself.  The glass doesn’t break, but Bucky jumps when it hits the table and whispers, “Shit.”

“You’re ok,” Steve says, righting the cup and clapping Bucky on the stump shoulder.  Maybe a little harder than he meant to.

“No, I’m not,” Bucky murmurs unexpectedly.  “I was…I’m…I don’t…”  He hiccups.  Then spills all his cards into his lap.  “Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Clint says.  “It’s really easy to clean cards out of the carpet.”

Bucky belches wetly in response, swallows hard, and brings his fist up to his mouth.

“Barf, though…”  Clint cocks his head.  “Not so much.”

“Ok.  Come on.”  Steve heaves Bucky up from the couch and steers him toward the bathroom.  Bucky gags into his hand before they’re over the threshold, then leaves a brownish spitty handprint on the toilet seat when Steve guides him down to his knees.

Bucky retches hard.  “I don’t feel good, Stevie,” he chokes.

“Yeah,” Steve whispers.  “Looks like maybe your tolerance isn’t so high after all.”

A huge slew of liquid splashes into the toilet, and Bucky coughs and groans as his system rejects everything he drank.

The wave of vomit finally lets up, and Bucky turns his head to the side to rest his cheek on the toilet seat. His eyes are red, and spit’s stuck to the stubble on his upper lip.  He looks 18 and naïve.

It brings Steve back to being young and invincible, though more often than not he was the one with his head in the toilet back then.  Even though he’s so much older now, things aren’t that much different.  Not really.

“Sorry,” Bucky breathes.

“It’s ok, Buck,” Steve says.  He pats him on the back, then tries to relieve some of the tension in Bucky’s quivering shoulders.  “You’re really doing ok.  I mean, of all the things that could’ve brought you down tonight, it’s the liquor.”  Steve laughs in spite of himself.

“’S not that funny,” Bucky grumbles, repositioning himself over the toilet to prepare for the next wave of sickness.  He throws up for a while more, then just stays there, bent over the porcelain bowl as Steve rubs his back.

There’s a scuffling of doors opening and closing, then footsteps dashing through the house, which can only mean that Laura and the kids are home.  Steve’s barely thought through what to do next when knuckles softly rap on the door frame.

“You doing ok?”  Laura’s standing there in her festive sweatshirt, looking concerned at the scene playing out in her bathroom.

“Yeah, I’m sure Clint told you,” Steve says quietly.  “Just.  Had a little too much.”

“I’ll put some sheets on the guest bed for you,” Laura offers.  “There are some spare toothbrushes under the sink.”

“No, we’ll get out of here,” Steve says.  Bucky starts retching again.  “Just, give us a few more minutes.”

“You’re staying here,” Laura says with gentle matriarchal authority.  “I don’t know how much you’ve had to drink.  And he really needs somewhere to sleep it off.”

Steve sighs.  She has a point.  “I’m just…really sorry to be…you know.  Those kind of guests.”

“You guys are never bad guests,” Laura smiles.  “Is there something he’ll want to eat in the morning?  Just so I can have it on hand.  I’m sure the kids are going to insist on candy for breakfast…”

“Anything but that,” Bucky mutters into the toilet bowl.

Steve laughs, relieved that of all the possibilities, this is how he gets to spend Halloween.

[phoenix1966sbottom]

Hey there~ 😊 Hope you're having a great day! I'd like to ask, do you know, by any chance, fictions where Sam/Jared is bullied or is the bully? Thanks in advance! 💕

Stories with Sam/Jared and bullying…as always, heed the author warnings where the story is hosted. There is at least one death fic in this one, folks.

J2

KHARMA’S A COLD-HEARTED BITCH  by maryjo24 on LiveJournal. Jared/Jensen. J2 AU. Jared made Jensen’s life a misery at High School. Now ten years on things have changed. Jensen is very successful and Jared’s a hooker. Jensen wants his own back.

Monster by freaknout on LiveJournal. Jared/Jensen. J2 AU. Some mistakes are irreparable.

For the Love of Jensen Ackles by themadslasher on MediaFire. Jared/Jensen. J2 AU. For the prompt - Jensen is the fat kid at school and Jared either bullies him/is his only friend, but because he’s younger he doesn’t stand up to the bullies. The boys lose touch but meet again in college where Jensen has lost the weight, but is still very self-conscious and shy. Feelings ensue and they go back home to visit Jensen’s family/friend and meet up with the bullies again.

Best Served Cold by fatebegins on Ao3. Jared/Jensen. J2 AU. Ten years ago, shy and awkward teenager Jared was humiliated by Jensen. When they meet up unexpectedly and Jensen doesn’t recognize him, Jared thinks this is his perfect opportunity to get revenge. But is revenge really a dish best served cold? (must be logged in to read)

Heart-Shaped Hole by tebtosca on Ao3. Jared/Jensen. J2 AU. Money is tight in the Padalecki-Ackles household. Jared wears his stepbrother Jensen close to his chest. (no penetrative sex)

Life is Fragile, Handle with Care by blueeyedliz & dontknowmyname on LiveJournal. Jared/Jensen. J2 AU. High school student and resident rebel without a clue, Jensen Ackles, faces expulsion for a prank gone wrong. His punishment is eventually lessened to mandatory participation in the drama club’s spring play. Forced to interact with the Pastor’s son (and president of the geek squad) Jared Padalecki, the boys’ relationship blossoms from initial dislike into something much more unexpected. Until something terrible threatens to destroy everything they’ve worked so hard to create. Based on the schmoop-tastic film A Walk to Remember, with a dash of Chad and a healthy serving of other CW regulars.

I think I Love you (But I Don’t Even Know You) by keep_waking_up on Ao3. Jared/Jensen. J2 AU. After five years away on his mating quest, Jensen is forced to return home mateless and marry his best friend so he can become Alpha of his pride. In an ironic twist of fate, it is back at home that he finally finds his mate in the least acceptable person possible: Jared Padalecki, an outcast and half-breed. (mentions of mpreg)

Pretty Things series byby keep_waking_up on Ao3. Jared/Jensen. J2 AU. King Jensen has a reputation for liking pretty things. (the bullying occurs in the second story)

We’ve Come A Long Way by gypsy_sunday on LiveJournal. Jared/Jensen. J2 AU. Growing up in a small town, Jared and Jensen form an unlikely friendship. But are they too different to make it last? (no penetrative sex. This may be f-locked).

Perfect (For You) by tebtosca on Ao3. Jared/Jensen. J2 AU. Jared forgot about his high-school crush long ago. At least he thought he did, until fate and his best friend Gen conspire to throw him in now-movie-star Jensen’s path once more. Transforming his geeky persona into a well-built, somewhat-less-geeky one, Jared quickly wins the attention of the one man he never thought would be interested in him. But Jared doesn’t know if it’s the real him that Jensen sees, or just an illusion. (no penetrative sex)

Entwined Branches by strive2bhappy on Ao3. Jared/Jensen. J2 AU. In a world where the government keeps a close eye on alphas, betas and omegas – to the point of making certain everyone with these traits is mated by the time they turn eighteen – it’s no wonder the condition has become rather rare. It is, however, essentially unheard of to be unmated at thirty-three, but Jensen Ackles is an alpha who’s good at staying under the radar. That is, until he’s not and he’s matched – by bureaucratic decree – to 18-year-old omega, Jared Padalecki. This is the story of how the two of them find far more than they ever thought they could.

Problem Is You Make Me Melt by juice817 on Ao3. Jared/Jensen. J2 AU. Jensen makes a bet that changes his life forever. (no penetrative sex, but the last paragraph could imply Jared wants to top)

Can’t get my head around you by earthquakedream on LiveJournal. Jared/Jensen. J2 AU.  There’s always been one constant in Jared’s life: he hates Jensen Ackles. It’s easy to ignore his attraction to the guy because he’s such a bully. When Jared goes to college, he thinks he’s finally free, but then Jensen shows up there too and Jared is forced to confront his feelings.

How to Speak Love by crackedbuthappy on LiveJournal. Jared/Jensen. J2 AU. Jensen asks Jared to marry him when they’re five. (no penetrative sex and very short, but I had to include this one)

The Next Chapter by Annie46fic on Ao3. Jared/Jensen. J2 AU. Jensen has been Jared’s protector since Kindergarten; now they are older and in a relationship Jared really wants things to change. When Jared gets a place at Harvard, Jensen moves to the city with him and, finally, it looks like they are on an equal footing. Unfortunately, Jared didn’t reckon on a bully who seems intent on making his life a misery. What will Jensen do when he finds out someone is hurting the man that he loves?

Just Give It Time by fatebegins on Ao3. Jared/Jensen. J2 AU.Jared’s mom is a prostitute. The people in the town all know it and Jared is bullied constantly at school because of it. Jensen is his best friend, turning slowly into something more. Jared has vowed never to be like his mother in spite of pressures from her questionable acquaintances that come to the house sometimes and the taunts from the kids at school. Even some teachers assume he’d grow up to sell himself. Jensen has always looked out for him but when Jared needs money really badly, he lets someone pay him to take his virginity. (must be logged in to read)

Concrete Angel by freaknout on LiveJournal. Jared/Jensen. J2 AU. Jared grows up in a broken home. Lost and alone, hurt by those who should protect him, he makes his way through life. The arrival of the new gym coach, Mr Ackles, changes things quite drastically.

Men Are From Mars by soulmatecest on Ao3. Jared/Jensen. J2 AU. When Jared is six, he likes to think he’s from Mars and that’s why he doesn’t have any friends.Then he meets Jensen, and from that moment Jared doesn’t have to worry about being alone ever again. (no penetrative sex)

The Convergence of the Twain by fairygrrl45 on LIvejournal. Jared/Jensen. J2 AU. Jared is the kid everyone picks on in school and Jensen is the high-schooler who finally sees him.

Gone Are The Days by NixBlaque on Ao3. Jared/Jensen. J2 AU. Jensen didn’t know what he was expecting when the Ackles announced that he was going to be getting another foster brother, but it certainly wasn’t Jared – the ex-best friend whose heart he broke two and a half years ago. It soon becomes apparent that Jared has changed more than Jensen ever could have predicted, but the seventeen-year-old is determined to win his best friend back.

The Screw Fell Out by Lyri on AO3. Jared/Jensen. J2 AU. Sometimes, detention can be the best time of your life. (no penetrative sex)

Two Sides to Every Story by Lyri on Ao3. Jared/Jensen. J2 AU. Jared and Jensen were high school sweethearts, destined to be together for the rest of the their lives, until one awful day changed everything.Now it’s three years later, and Jared’s starting UC Berkeley, and he hasn’t spoken to Jensen since that fateful afternoon. But all that’s about to change when he finds out that not only is Jensen also at UC Berkeley, but his new roommate is one of Jensen’s best friends.

Pretty in Pink !verse by House_of_Lantis on Ao3. Jared/Jensen. J2 AU. It’s been 10 years since Jared Padalecki graduated from Madison-Berkner Academy and left his life as a have-not behind. Now, he’s an A-List actor in hot demand, celebrated for his talents, good looks, and aw-shucks good manners. So when Jared is invited back to Madison-Berkner for his 10 year high school reunion, Jared reluctantly attends to see the boy who broke his heart: Jensen Ackles. This is the summary for sequel to “Pretty in Pink”, the first in the series where the bullying occurs.

On the Edge by Lyri on Ao3. Jared/Jensen. J2 AU. Jensen’s never going to be the popular kid. But his senior year of high school was supposed to be different. Chad and his goons had backed off - mostly - and Jensen had a guy who didn’t mind putting out every now and then. But then, Misha moves away, and there’s a new guy a school - a guy who seems to rev up the amount of abuse Jensen faces at school every day, just by being there. But is Jared all that he seems? Just a homophobic jock and nothing more? Or is there something else going on behind those hazel eyes? (Jared mentions many het encounters, which occurred off-screen in the past)

The Dog Game by Annie_46fic on LiveJournal. Jared/Jensen. J2 AU. Jensen Ackles and his crowd are rich and privileged. They have never faced any challenges in their lives and have to come up with their own way of amusing themselves. The invention of the cruel ‘Dog Game’ keeps them on their toes but do they ever stop to consider who they are actually hurting? When Jensen chooses the wrong person to enter into the game, his life takes a direction that will change his views forever.

Don’t Hide Your Light by laisserais on Ao3. Jared/Jensen. J2 AU.  From a very young age, Jensen has been told what it means to be a man, and he does everything he’s supposed to. His next-door neighbor, Jared, doesn’t seem to get it. Jensen moves to New York after college and loses touch with nearly everyone in his hometown. Everyone except Jared, who, even though he’s unashamedly, flamboyantly gay, is Jensen’s best friend. After years of solitude in New York, Jensen’s life is turned upside down when Jared moves in with him, following his dream of being a fashion designer. Jared’s easy charm and the way he can make friends anywhere have always inspired Jensen, and he wonders if maybe there isn’t one more lesson he can learn as he watches Jared become an overnight success. (no penetrative sex, Jared does rim Jensen, implied bottom!Jared at the end)

Wincest

Caught in the Undertow by blackrose_17 on Ao3. Sam/Dean. Wincest. After the dealing with angels and demons, Sam and Dean are happy to get back to hunting monsters and Bobby sends them on the case of a group of missing teens and it doesn’t take long for them to learn the teens missing are the school bullies and this might all be happening because someone wanting peace from them. (bullying is only mentioned in passing)

Hold On Until Dawn by insertcode11 & jcrgirl on LiveJournal. Sam/Dean. Wincest. AU after the events of Devil’s Trap (1x22). The Winchesters have unfinished business in the town of Pike Creek, Delaware. Will Dean find, just as Sam did when he was sixteen, that the supernatural isn’t the only horrifying things that stir in the coldest hours just before the dawn. (bullying is only mentioned in passing)

Leaving the River Road by Stone_Princess on AO3. Sam/Dean. Wincest. Sam decides what best for him, even if it’s not best for everyone else. Worst case scenario: How to treat a black eye. (no penetrative sex)

Cut Too Close and Dug Too Deep by lavishsqualor on Ao3. Sam/Dean. Pre-Slash. Wincest. Another town, another school, and for Sam, Willcox, Arizona sucks. There’s something that the people there just don’t like about him, and they throw the usual sticks and stones. But when it’s just him and Dean, Sam doesn’t have to worry about what the rest of the world thinks, or about how right they might be. (no penetrative sex)

Chubby verse by Elenyasblood on Ao3. Sam/Dean. Pre-slash. Weecest. Long before Sam’s body started to grow, his shape sprouting into unknown heights and eventually turning scrawny; long before bulky shoulders and hard muscles, before strong legs and even before gangly limbs and shaggy bangs, Sam was chubby.And all those people who won’t stop giving him shit about will sooner or later have to face the wrath of his big brother. (no penetrative sex)

Marks by Llamadramaphan on Ao3. Sam/Dean. Wincest AU. Sam Winchester presents as an omega - and during his first heat, Dean’s inner alpha decides to help the kid out. (warning: thoughts of mpreg)

Terms of Endearment by octopussy on Ao3. Sam/Dean. Weecest. The story behind “Bitch” and “Jerk.”

Just A Freak by pinolief on Ao3. Sam/Dean. Pre-slash. Weecest. Dean noticed; over the last few weeks Sam had been quiet. Even more than normal. Dean didn’t know why Sam was so quiet, he would ask, but Sam always had the same answer: “Nothing is wrong Dean. I’m fine.” Dean had been letting it go for almost three weeks now, but he just couldn’t anymore.

Anonymous Love Letters by Invictusimpala on AO3. Sam/Dean. Pre-slash. Weecest. They’re close, closer than any normal brothers, and Sam figures that if they just took it that step further, it wouldn’t make much of a difference. At least not to him.

Our Status by awkwardblogger on Ao3. Sam/Dean. Wincest AU. In a world where you’re either an alpha, beta, or omega, John Winchester is trying to raise his boys to be hunters while trying to ignore what they may be. But John can only ignore it for so long until Dean is fourteen and the school demands he must be tested.

Love Me Please by addictiontofiction on Ao3. Sam/Dean. Weecest. Sammy loves and hates school. He loves to learn, but hates his classmates. It’s just like Sammy loves and hates Dean. Dean is the most oblivious Alpha he’s ever met. Maybe he’s oblivious because they’ve just been so close for this long, but Dean never seems to scent Sam’s distress or need- at least it doesn’t look like it. And Sammy doesn’t understand, all he knows is he wants Dean to love him the way he loves Dean.

I Used to Hate Myself by spookyskeletons on Ao3. Sam/Dean. Weecest. It partly wasn’t fair, the bullying he got for having those disgusting red spots on his face, and for when they got changed for PE and the kids saw his body hair. He also got bullied because despite the fact that he had started his bodily changes early, Sam still had a lot of his child fat. He hadn’t filled out yet so he was still a chubby lanky kid. He couldn’t have grown out first and got acne later, nope.To put it simply, Sam hated himself. Well, he used too