#he doesn't believe in any kind of medicine let's be honest

[lexumpysfunland]

did you know that Kyro @thestanleyparablenctks is in the hospital?

why don't you visit him?

I know this is a stupid question, but... but still?

I make an exception to answer now to this one since Kyro is currently at the Hospital 👀

Walter is not the best at befriending other Narrators...

out of that, I do hope Kyro will get well soon! And a little message to all that suffer any mental health. I want to say that you are not alone, you all deserve good care and I hope you can find someone out there that can give it to you. Even if you think you don't deserve to have nice people around you to help, you do. Take good care of yourself, everyone! don't be like Walter 👀

[leaf-line]

𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐈𝐬 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐫𝐮𝐞𝐥

Yandere! Jiaoqiu X Gn! Reader

❏ Jiaoqiu finds himself enjoying your company that he wants to extend it more.

cw: might be lore inaccurate, might be ooc, a hint of angst, you being called annoying, force feeding, mentions of pinning, no beta we die like Tingyun, written in Jiaoqiu's pov + he doesn't talk, pls don't be confused, reader is loud.

w/c: 962

Immortality is a crime... No, rather, it's a sin.

"Alchemy Commission... Agh—!! Where was that place again?! Wait a minute... Hey there! You! The pretty foxian boy with pink hair!"

Jiaoqiu finds it hard to believe that a human like you were accepted into a prestigious place such as the Alchemy Commission. You weren't even a Xianzhou Native, just a regular human. Why did he even try to put an effort into knowing who you were? Maybe it was because apart of him was curious about you and why the hell were you so loud? Honestly, he shouldn't have.

"Ohhhh, so this was the place, wow, I could've sworn I've ran into here multiple times before, why didn't I see it? Speaking of which, can you even actually see that? Why are your eyes closed?"

He wasn't exactly sure why he welcomed you so easily into his life. To put it into words... You were eccentric, goofy, and a slacker with no sense of direction, you speak out loud what's on your mind, no matter the place and time.

"Alas, we meet again, blind foxian... So you're my senior? But you're so short—"

You were blunt, sometimes it was funny, sometimes it was annoying. But Jiaoqiu never heard you tell a lie ever since the first time he met you. Although if he ever hears you call him any more honest insults, he's gonna spike your lunch with one of his handmade concoctions.

"Noooo!! Please! I don't want to memorize another set of ingredients for a different medicine!! Have mercy!!!"

And did he mention that you were loud? He'd be lying if he said he didn't find it entertaining, since the people there were so serious and gloomy. You were like the clown of the class, and Jiaoqiu was simply there to be entertained.

"You mean to say that in your own eyes, you think that food is medicine? That's... Super interesting!!"

...That wasn't a lie right? Well, Jiaoqiu hoped so. You were cheerful, upbeat, and optimistic at some times, he's yet to be accustomed by that kind of personality.

"Oh, yeah, sure I'll have a taste of your cookings, leave it to me! I'm a good food critique!"

Have a taste, he says. He doesn't know what you will reply. Will you tell him it tastes garbage? Will you tell him it's the most godsend food you've ever tasted in your life? He doesn't know, not unless he tries to have you eat it. At some point you were brutally honest it hurts him through the gut, but surely at some point when he impresses you, it would feel rewarding, right?

"This straight up tastes awful, this one is painfully bland, and this is, hmm... Let me taste again, ...mmmm!! It's super delicious!"

Was it a wrong choice when he interacted with you more? No, otherwise he would have felt so much joy in a long while. Bit by bit, you warmed up your way into his heart, securing a comfortable place in it. There was a saying that the way into person's was through their stomach, so why was it when the more he poured into your stomach and the more he was successful at making you happy, the more was being poured into HIS own heart?

"Jiaoqiu... Thanks a lot."

The second you were calm and silent. Aeons, you were adorable, beautiful, handsome and majestic in your own way that Idrilla would be jealous. He wanted nothing more but to cup your cheeks with his hands and connect your lips to his own. He wanted to hug you dearly, bask in your touch, bask in your scent. But he holds himself to the ground, after all, looking at the picturesque scene in front of him will suffice more than enough.

"What do you mean my hair is turning white? I'm still young you know?"

...Oh. Did time fly that fast when he's having fun? Was it this early for someone he would willingly hold dearly to part ways with him soon enough? Or was time just cruelly toying him? How could he even forget that you were a short-life specie, just how?

"Ugh... Sorry and thank you, Jiaoqiu. I mean, for taking care of me, I'm still really sick, my body is just getting weaker and weaker by the day... I don't know why..."

Time is running out. Why was his time with you getting cut short? Why? Why? No. He's gonna fix this, he can. All he wants is a little more time with you, can't he have that? He doesn't want to feel lonely again. Please... Stay...

"Jiaoqiu... Are you okay? You've been stuffing your nose into books all day. I just... Have a feeling your doing something suspicious, don't get me wrong, I'm not accusing you, I'm just worried."

Immortality is a sin, he knows that, he knows it all too well. The only way to achieve it is through the flesh of an Emanator of Abundance. The last time that went... Didn't go well. Fuck around with immortality and there will be a cost... That he's willing to pay, unfortunately for you. All he needed is to make a medicine that will ensure you to live longer, even if you become mara-struck, it doesn't matter.

"Are you sure this medicine is safe? I don't think that it is..."

Aeons! Just consume it will you!? Do you know how hand it took him to get his hands in these things!? Do you want him to strip naked and beg you to consume it!? You want him to pin you and shove it down your throat!?

Jiaoqiu wouldn't really consider himself sinful... So he wonders why he's dragging you into the pits of hell.

a/n: uh... this is inaccurate as hell, i barely read the lore leave me alone— 😭

[iid-smile]

acne , suo hayato

x gn!reader ! the reader has acne and pimples, you and suo are in an established relationship, reader is kinda lactose intolerant, not proofread

author's note: im not even lactose so idk where milk came from??? but anywayz, uk weather sucks, the economy sucks, my sleep schedule sucks, so i wanted something i could relate to a lil yk?

"go away..." you mumble into your pillow, cuddling it impossibly closer to your body.

"it's concerning how you're not going to school, love. you never skip." suo's had remains on the door handle, but he doesn't make an attempt to open it. "are you that sick? should i get you medicine?"

"'m fine."

well, now he knows you're not. "i'm coming in, okay?" he calls out to you, opening the door at a painfully slow pace so you still have time to object. yet, as he expected, you don't, your figure still on the bed. with a quick glance around your room, he makes his way to the edge of your bed. "talk to me. you trust me, right?"

always such a tease, this guy... "don't say something like that right now."

he chuckles, taking a seat. "i'm sorry, i'm sorry. i thought you'd enjoy the inside joke." it's silent for a while, and a small shift of fabric catches your attention. "can i see your face?"

"no!" your response was instant. "i mean... no, no... i don't– mh..." that small sound leaves your lips as you seem to run out of things to say, wrapping your legs tighter around your pillow.

"why not? is there something wrong?" a gentle hand comes up to touch your hair, but it only ghosts over the strands slightly before pulling away. "bruise, rash, infection? any of those?"

"no..."

suo doesn't like to pry, but he knows that if he wants to get an answer out of you, then he's going to have to work for it. "i don't see why you won't let me look at you. is there something else?"

"yes, there is!"

"but you already said no to what i listed. nothing could possibly be wrong." 'or at least something i'd have to be worried about...' he thought to himself. his voice becomes more audible as he leans closer to you. "right? can i please see you?"

"don't say please like that either!"

"it's only good manners." the feigned innocence in his voice was evident.

"sneaky bastard..." you mutter, sitting up a bit. "fine. but don't be disappointed with what you see."

once you lifted your face from the pillow, suo was half expecting you to look completely different, but you just looked like... you. "huh?"

"it's bad, right?"

"what's bad?"

"do you not see them? i thought the spots are obvious..." you pick up your phone that was beside you and open up the camera. "even the smaller ones."

"oh, those?" so now he's just realising them? the pimples that were literally burning on your skin and were so big you could see them through the screen of your phone when you woke up this morning? "what's wrong with acne? it's natural."

"i don't like them, suo. don't wanna get mad fun of at school..." you poke and prod a bit at your skin, but not too much in fear of irritating it more. "messed up my skin all 'cause i wanted some cereal and hot chocolate at night. and then sat on the toilet for another hour. i seriously hate genetics."

"you still look pretty."

your mind was itching to give him a deadpan expression, but you knew he actually meant what he said. he's only ever honest with you, after all. "you're blinded by love, huh?"

"maybe. but you had me so worried you broke your nose or got a wisdom tooth pulled out." slowly, he places one of his hands over yours that was resting on your lap. "i'm not going to force you to go if you don't want to. but you really don't look any different, believe me."

"i don't know..."

for a while, suo just analyses your expression. furrowed eyebrows, pouted lips, and you're avoiding eye contact, busying yourself with your reflection. as much as you appreciate his kind words, it couldn't really make up for your before and after transformation, and he knew that. "face masks and cucumbers then?"

as he expected, your face immediately lit up. "really?!"

"really." finally, a genuine smile returns to his face, and he stands up. "you stay here until i get back and don't touch your face. we're going to have a full self-care and skincare session together."

he really does get you, even if it's something you'd never thought he'd do with you.

─────────────୨ৎ─────────────

[linkemon]

Period headcanons

Friendly reminder that English is not my first language. You can check my Masterlists both in English and Polish here. Consider supporting me on Ko-fi. You can also check out my commissions if you're interested.

Other headcanons from this series can be found here.

Ruggie Bucchi

• Ruggie wouldn't be surprised by the period in the first place. If there are guys for whom this is a taboo topic, he wouldn't be one of them. He saw so many things on the streets as a child that neither pain nor blood scares him. He would also have no problem talking about it loudly. It's just a normal thing.

• He would definitely be a master of home remedies during your period. His years of odd jobs and all kinds of life knowledge would be invaluable in this matter. He would brew you homemade teas to help with the pain. All herbs are collected and dried by hand by him.

• While he is invaluable when it comes to home-made medicines, when you feel like snacking, he can be a miser. Cookies, chocolates, chips at Sam's? He's always short of money. But don't worry, if you really want some, he will somehow get money from Leona. Will you know about it? Not necessarily...

• Ruggie tolerates mood swings very well. Not only did he undergo training while working for Leona but he also got used to the fact that a woman is right, even when she isn't. In Savanaclaw, they lead in most relationships and thus he will tolerate any moodiness you may have.

Ortho Shroud

•A prefect in need? Ortho noticed it first! Before he downloaded the exact module, he thought you were seriously ill. He was very concerned about your health. Only when he downloaded the appropriate data did he understand what was going on.

• You can be sure that his information will be verified and supported by scientific evidence. He and Idia have access to data that an ordinary mortal will probably never even see. Therefore, expect a slightly medical approach to the topic.

• You will be scanned frequently unless you specifically do not want it. But let's be honest, these won't be just ordinary scans. You will get full information about what hurts you, where exactly and what is the best way to deal with it, so it sounds like a good deal.

• Ortho believes you should get plenty of rest. A warm water bottle, a blanket and off to bed! He will ask Grim to stay with you and not make a fuss, which surprisingly the cat will do (you don't know that there is a promise about can of tuna behind it).

• He will get you some medicines from the school nurse if you don't feel up to going to get them. Same with snacks and pads or tampons. Where does the money come from? He belongs to the Styx, one word and Crowley will generously create a new fund for your needs, which you won't find out about until long after the fact.

• You will receive a personalized cycle tracking app. Idia was allegedly bored. In reality, however, his hair was red the entire time he was creating it and he explained to his brother that he was only doing it at his request.

Jade Leech

• Menstruation is not a foreign concept to him. The point is more that Jade, like his brother, knows it from theory. Everything looks different under water and he never had to face this problem with his mother, for example. But there's no need to worry. Years in business have accustomed him to learning new things quickly.

• If you like specific foods, whether before or during your period, Jade's has you covered. Mostro Lounge has a wide range of products and if you want something specific, he will simply cook it for you. It's best if it contains mushrooms but if you don't want them, it's fine...

• As with Ortho, there is no problem with money. He is a good businessman. What was the point of doing any business with Azul if he didn't make money?

He knows your dorm doesn't have enough money. He often jokes with a serious face that you will work it off later but in the end it never happens. In the worst case scenario, he will ask for a kiss on the cheek in exchange for help.

• You can be sure that at the first opportunity he will do some off-campus mega business related to hygiene products. There aren't many people interested in the NRC but outside? He can take over the world and give you free samples. He will ask you for advice and opinions. Guaranteed that at the end of the process you will come up with a new formula or scents. You are happy and he is rich. Two in one.

• He is not open enough to talk about period in front of others, like Ruggie. He won't shy away from it but he just has a little bit more tact and won't talk about it until the conversation clearly stirs that way.

[mariana-oconnor]

The Dying Detective pt 1

Mrs. Hudson, the landlady of Sherlock Holmes, was a long-suffering woman.

Yes! Mrs Hudson content. The recognition she deserves.

His incredible untidiness, his addiction to music at strange hours, his occasional revolver practice within doors, his weird and often malodorous scientific experiments, and the atmosphere of violence and danger which hung around him made him the very worst tenant in London.

Yep, long-suffering. Let's be honest, the woman should have thrown him out long ago. But at least he's paying her good money.

She was fond of him, too, for he had a remarkable gentleness and courtesy in his dealings with women. He disliked and distrusted the sex, but he was always a chivalrous opponent.

Have we seen any examples of him actually disliking women? We've seen him frustrated by them, certainly, or rather by his lack of ability to read them clearly. We've seen misogyny, yes, in line with some of the thinking of the time 'can't tell Mary Sutherland she's being financially abused because it wouldn't do any good'. But Holmes has on multiple occasions, only in the few stories we've read so far, championed women in many ways. I haven't reread A Study in Scarlet or The Sign of Four before reading these, so I can't say about them, but this insistence on Watson's part that he doesn't like women is just weird.

Is that just Watson not understanding that Holmes isn't attracted to women? Like, Watson just can't comprehend how anyone wouldn't see a pretty woman and be overcome, so the fact that Holmes is apathetic to that just Does Not Compute and therefore must mean he dislikes them? Like an on/off switch?

Hoo boy, Watson, I'd love to introduce you to the Kinsey scale.

"He's dying, Dr. Watson," said she. "For three days he has been sinking, and I doubt if he will last the day."

Mrs Hudson is not a trained physician... although I'm not sure how accurate actual doctors were during this period of time. Had germ theory made the big time yet?

Wikipedia says that the in-story date (1890s) is about the time when germ theory was taking over from miasma theory, so by the time this story was published (1913) it would have been pretty well established.

That's not really relevant, I just find the history of medicine and disease fascinating in a lot of ways. For so much of history we just made shit up and hoped it would work. Some of it really did and some of it really didn't, but we didn't know why, so we made up reasons. And given that this was set at a major transitional period in that history, honestly Watson's medical expertise is probably half guess work and wishful thinking... sorry Doctor. I mean, hysteria is still a diagnosis at this point.

"He took to his bed on Wednesday afternoon and has never moved since. For these three days neither food nor drink has passed his lips."

I think I know why he's not looking too good.

"Stand back! Stand right back!" said he with the sharp imperiousness which I had associated only with moments of crisis. "If you approach me, Watson, I shall order you out of the house."

We've already had at least one story in which 'don't look at me too closely' was a massive red flag. It's sort of a nice symmetry to have Holmes using it here. Why can't he come any closer, Sherlock? Huh? Why?

"But why?" "Because it is my desire. Is that not enough?"

Oh look, that's another red flag right there. Honestly, Holmes, you could have at least made some effort at 'you might catch this illness' or something like that. Although I guess maybe Holmes doesn't believe in germ theory? Is he a miasma kind of guy? Or is this one of the areas in which he's just nonsensical and believes in the humours or something like that?

But 'you can't come closer to me because I don't want you to' to your friend the doctor who was summoned specifically to try to help you is just... No, obviously, Watson isn't entitled to an explanation or a reason. Holmes doesn't owe him anything. But on the other hand, Holmes specified that he would allow Mrs Hudson to get Watson. What did he think was going to happen?

I don't remember this story at all, but based on context clues and knowledge that there are more stories to come, I'm going to guess that he's faking it.

"I know what is the matter with me. It is a coolie disease from Sumatra--a thing that the Dutch know more about than we, though they have made little of it up to date. One thing only is certain. It is infallibly deadly, and it is horribly contagious."

Ah, there we are. You couldn't have led with that?

Did you get it from a giant rat?

Sorry, I should be more serious, Holmes is dying. He's dying.

(He actually is if he's not drunk anything in 3 days. Holmes, you moron.)

"Good heavens, Holmes! Do you suppose that such a consideration weighs with me of an instant? It would not affect me in the case of a stranger. Do you imagine it would prevent me from doing my duty to so old a friend?"

I mean obviously Watson wasn't going to listen to him, but whatever.

"Holmes," said I, "you are not yourself. A sick man is but a child, and so I will treat you."

Watson, you're being creepy again. Like, people do need to consent to treatment, my man. I guess, probably not in this time period? You could just say 'they're hysterical' and have done with it, but still. Consent is important. Agency is important. Let's be ethical about this, huh?

Do I think this is all fake and Holmes is only saying this so you won't see through his ingenious ruse? Yes. Do I think you should still respect his wishes and not touch him? Also yes.

✨Consent✨

"If I am to have a doctor whether I will or not, let me at least have someone in whom I have confidence," said he.

Dude, you literally asked for him. Literally. Asked. For. Him.

You are gaslighting him so bad right now. Holmes! Stop abusing your friend. Stop it! Bad detective! No biscuit!

No one in this scene is coming across well, rn, by modern standards.

"In your friendship, certainly. But facts are facts, Watson, and, after all, you are only a general practitioner with very limited experience and mediocre qualifications. It is painful to have to say these things, but you leave me no choice." I was bitterly hurt.

Holmes is being a bitch here, and I will absolutely say it. Watson, your ethics are shaky, but your feelings are valid.

"Possibly not. But I happen to know that Dr. Ainstree, the greatest living authority upon tropical disease, is now in London. All remonstrance is useless, Holmes, I am going this instant to fetch him."

Uno reverso, Holmes!

Honestly, Holmes's worst misjudgement here is thinking Watson would let him get away with dying without doing anything. Did you really think he was just going to say 'oh well, that's a pity; I'd best go home and start writing your eulogy.'

His misreading of the person he is literally closest to in the world is just such a massive blind spot here.

"You won't take the key from me by force, Watson, I've got you, my friend. Here you are, and here you will stay until I will otherwise. But I'll humour you." (All this in little gasps, with terrible struggles for breath between.) "You've only my own good at heart. Of course I know that very well. You shall have your way, but give me time to get my strength. Not now, Watson, not now. It's four o'clock. At six you can go."

Such a dramatic bitch right now. OMG. 😂😂😂

"You will seek help, not from the man you mention, but from the one that I choose."

I get that there's a time issue here, clearly, because Holmes is so insistent on 'six o'clock', but I feel like he could have handled this better.

"By all means." "The first three sensible words that you have uttered since you entered this room, Watson."

Wow.

All modern adaptations are based entirely on this scene, huh?

With fairness to Sherlock, it does seem like Mrs Hudson is at least correct about the starvation and dehydration and we all know being hungry makes people irritable. And being dehydrated makes you kind of loopy and gives you a killer headache. So he's not making the best decisions right now, if that's the case.

We all know what he really needs right now:

Then, unable to settle down to reading, I walked slowly round the room, examining the pictures of celebrated criminals with which every wall was adorned.

I love this description. Imagine sitting in this room with just the worst criminals of all time staring down at you from every wall. True crime chic. Serial killers watching you from every angle. It's absolute nightmare fuel and more what I'd expect from, like, a themed bar that was set up in an old prison.

I' can't imagine it. I'm glad he keeps this to his bedroom and out of the public areas. I can't imagine it would put his clients at ease.

To tell the truth, my desire to fetch a doctor had somewhat weakened, for poor Holmes was so obviously delirious that it seemed dangerous to leave him.

To be fair to Watson here, while often in the stories he seems unnecessarily dense about things, in this case his thoughts are entirely justified.

How much money in his pockets, only half the gas to the fire, pick the box up with sugar tongs. (Poison one assumes)

It may surprise you to know that the man upon earth who is best versed in this disease is not a medical man, but a planter. Mr. Culverton Smith is a well-known resident of Sumatra, now visiting London. An outbreak of the disease upon his plantation, which was distant from medical aid, caused him to study it himself, with some rather far-reaching consequences. He is a very methodical person, and I did not desire you to start before six, because I was well aware that you would not find him in his study.

So this guy poisoned a lot of people with this, huh? That's what I'm getting. And you couldn't have provided this information earlier in such a way that Watson would have stayed with you until then? You had to go the mad route of locking you both in a room together, while not letting him touch anything or talk to you?

"You will tell him exactly how you have left me," said he. "You will convey the very impression which is in your own mind--a dying man--a dying and delirious man. Indeed, I cannot think why the whole bed of the ocean is not one solid mass of oysters, so prolific the creatures seem."

I like to think that Holmes always has at least one little tangent like that going on in his brain, and he's just decided that he'll say it out loud right now to increase the impression of delusion and madness. But actually this is just a glimpse into his head on a normal day.

I do something similar, but I actually do ask the random questions out loud. My immediate family take them seriously, but other people tend to look at me like they are worried there is something wrong with me.

But the answer I have to Holmes' question is predation. Lots of things nomming on oysters. Humans, for one.

His nephew, Watson--I had suspicions of foul play and I allowed him to see it. The boy died horribly. He has a grudge against me.

So, he already poisoned his nephew. Good to know. Good to know

Make any excuse so as not to come with him. Don't forget, Watson. You won't fail me. You never did fail me. No doubt there are natural enemies which limit the increase of the creatures. You and I, Watson, we have done our part. Shall the world, then, be overrun by oysters? No, no; horrible! You'll convey all that is in your mind.

That's what I was saying, Holmes. Predation. I'm glad to know you've done your part to prevent the Oysterpocalypse. Good man.

I have never eaten an oyster, I am falling down in my duties.

I left him full of the image of this magnificent intellect babbling like a foolish child. He had handed me the key, and with a happy thought I took it with me lest he should lock himself in. Mrs. Hudson was waiting, trembling and weeping, in the passage.

Clearly everything is going according to plan, but Holmes you owe these two so much for putting up with you this time.

I still don't remember this story. I am feeling very Gandalf in Moria right now, but my nose says there's something very fishy about Holmes' illness, and it's not the oysters I'm smelling.

[liskantope]

Your intuition is within the realm of plausibility for me and might well be more or less right. My intuition about the "people who advocate for them" -- which I'm mostly going to round off to "politicians" since those are mainly the ones visible to me -- is somewhat different from yours: I think most politicians are just rather soulless, skilled at playing on the fears of the public, and lacking in truly grounded beliefs of their own, particularly on issues that sprang up recently enough that they aren't what got them into politics. (Qualification: there are some politicians and pundits by this point that did get into politics because of trans issues, I suppose. Matt Walsh strikes me as someone who probably truly hates -- or at the very least doesn't care the least bit about -- trans people, even if what he explicitly says is a lot of stuff about wanting to save teenagers from their own misguided beliefs and older influencers.) I find it kind of pointless to speculate what most politicians' Actual Beliefs on the most current divisive culture war issues are. Certainly someone like Ron deSantis is evil, but in some sense that's more because he's a sociopath typical of people in his position who also happens to be advocating for harmful things.

Of course, we can certainly judge politicians by their actual rhetoric, but I think I have yet to run across a quote from any right-wing politician expressing hostility or distaste towards trans teenagers. Rather, their tactic is almost always to frame trans youth as victims of mental illness, misguided beliefs, and a certain culture that perpetuates them, and they do blame older LGBT people for this if they feel the older people are badly influencing the youth (while, it seems, not actually attacking older trans people directly for being trans, just attacking them for advocating "gender ideology" to the more impressionable) and blame doctors who are willing to perform transition procedures. This reminds me of how I once, back around the spring before this last when I let myself get into extended discussion/debate in demonstrate my awkward views on all this stuff, had someone offer to show me proof through quotes that the very most extreme conservative politicians without too national of a platform were willing to applaud the deaths of trans people. My recollection is that the set of quotes this Tumblr user provided me, while bone-chilling, turned out to be one hundred percent about putting gender medicine doctors to death and one hundred percent positioned trans people themselves as victims! (Right now I can't remember that Tumblr's handle and a quick search is not finding me that reblog, may edit it in later.)

(Qualification: political commentator Richard Hanania does express visceral distaste for trans people and suggests that conservative politicians share this distaste and would be more honest to admit it openly.)

I'm going to get myself into a deeper hole with this, but I can't really get behind your use of "bigot" here either. Is it a form of bigotry to believe "such-and-such group of people is confused and misguided by our surrounding culture about what is best for them and they have an illness we should focus on curing?" Because I'm pretty sure most of us believe that about some group of people, and it's a question of how accurate our beliefs are. The fact that I (and probably most anyone reading this) happen to believe that, for instance, teenage girls and young women who view themselves as hideous because they have a tiny bit of cellulite or meat under their jawbone or something thanks to a culture that enforces female "perfection" are deluded and, in the cases of ones who are especially distressed over this, have a mental illness that typically would be best treated in other ways than surgery to get rid of the "extra" fat, doesn't make us "bigots" against young women with that belief. (Acting on our attitude by blanket banning all such medical treatment is a response I think would be wrong. But in the way I typically use language, "bigotry" refers to an attitude.)

To compare/contrast to gay rights for a moment (which I've learned gets me in a lot of hot water around here, but I'm clearly feeling reckless today), as someone who has stood by gay rights and the bulk of the surrounding rhetoric since I was becoming a teenager around the start of this century, I was quite comfortable characterizing the anti- gay rights side as bigoted, because a good bit of their rhetoric was along the lines of "homosexual behavior is evil and wrong and perverted, an abuse of God's creation, deserving of hellfire". But other parts of their rhetoric were "teenagers who say they're gay are confused and need our support and counseling" and, as far as I can accurately remember my own attitudes, I don't think I was ever comfortable with calling that bigotry. And the interesting thing is that, unlike in the gay rights culture war situation, almost all of the rhetoric I hear from conservative politicians on trans issues is arguing about what should be done for trans youth specifically and takes the latter tone rather than the former.

I'll end by conceding, however, the highly uncomfortable (for me) fact that there is a very, very thin line between looking at someone and going "what an unfortunate illness they have" and going "ugh gross, how distasteful it is to be in their presence", so the boundary between genuine concern for others and stigma or bigotry can be unfortunately quite blurred.

They know exactly what they're doing.

[eskumii]

I don't know if you're fine with wlw content but if you're not then you can make the reader neutral gender of course. Can I request a Koyuki x reader where the both of them are cuddling with each other trying to get warmth due to how cold it is for them? Headcanon please?

soft yandere!koyuki (kny) hcs + how she reacts to cuddling for warmth

TITLE: " YEARNING HEART " — navi.

A/N: this contains huge manga spoilers, specifically in regards to akaza's backstory! #justice4koyuki :") tysm for the req, flower!! 🌸 these got kind of angsty (??) i went and reread akaza's backstory so i could characterize koyuki properly and woo that pain cut deep again LOL. she's like barely yandere in this but i tried, she's just too sweet. not proofread.

PAIRING: soft yandere!koyuki x caretaker!reader

CHARACTERS: koyuki (16), reader (17)

☆ three months ago, koyuki's father, keizo, saved you from your almost inevitable fate of getting beaten to death in a back alley after you had ran away from an arranged marriage. though you had nothing to offer him in return for his heroism, you still had your skills as a practiced housewife that you knew would be highly desirable to anyone. and after finding out about his sick daughter, you pleaded with him to let you be of service to her.

☆ keizo was eager to accept your help. you found out he was the master of a dojo with no students of his own, which forced him to look for work during the day in order to provide for both koyuki and himself. but just like that, you took a load off his shoulders by dedicating everything you had to caring for his daughter. he might've been more grateful to you than you were to him, if that were possible.

☆ to be honest, the first few weeks of caring for koyuki were kind of awkward. not that it really surprised you—you were a stranger who suddenly forced your way into her life with the intention of being her caretaker. it's quite an intimate position, so you were respectful of her space until she got a bit more comfortable with you, which didn't take long at all, really.

☆ although koyuki was a little shy at first, she warmed up to you very quickly. maybe it's because of the fact that you're also a girl, or maybe you're just someone who's naturally easy to get along with. either way, koyuki often finds herself confiding in you with everything. she might even say that she was developing a crush on you; you're such a pretty young lady and she's surprised that you aren't married yet or at least looking for a suitor. from what she's noticed, you're not interested in any of that in the slightest. somehow that makes her happy, as bad as it sounds.

☆ a few of your duties consist of helping her bathe, comb and style her hair appropriately, dress her, and obviously make sure she's fed and takes her medicine (which she hates the taste of). although koyuki insists that she can be independent in all of these things, she doesn't protest when you help her out anyway. sitting inside all day can be boring, so most of the time you'll try to entertain her by reading her books or old scrolls and teaching her how to make origami, if she feels well enough to (even if she doesn't, she tries to push through it because she likes spending time with you).

☆ you often make her little origami hearts and slip them onto her meal trays; ironically, things like that make her heart flutter. she doesn't know why, but your nurturing nature makes her wonder what it'd be like if you were her actual wife, making her food and giving her little origami hearts in a different context. she gets embarrassed when you catch her daydreaming, even though you would never guess that they're about you. she despises her sickness more than anything and often wonders what it would be like if she had met you in another life. the world is cruel, isn't it?

☆ the day you open up about your past to koyuki is also the day she single-handedly falls in love with you. you're strong. you're not afraid to stand up for what you believe in, even if it means losing your family and a chance to be wealthy through an arranged marriage. she admires you from the bottom of her heart and that feeling only grows stronger and stronger with each passing day she dwells in your presence. she looks up to you—more than a friend and more than her caretaker.

☆ sometimes koyuki will start crying, seemingly at random. she apologizes constantly about things that don't bother you at all ("i'm sorry you have to keep changing my clothes during the night. :( you must be tired." "i'm sorry you had to clean up the tea i spilled." "i'm sorry you aren't able to go to school/make friends because of me.") she worries so much about how you're feeling that she doesn't take her own condition into account. you'll hold her in your arms and let her hair loose so you can run your fingers through while she sniffles.

☆ you'll attempt to console her by saying that none of that matters to you and it's your job to do things like that for her anyway. that you want to do this for her. eventually she stops crying but she somehow always looks unsatisfied by your responses. were you only doing it for her because of her father? even though koyuki does apologize with sincerity, she loves the fact that you fret over her and that she's who your attention is on all the time. she knows it's selfish but so is her sickness; no one knows when it will overcome her, so she doesn't really have time to waste with being selfless with her feelings.

☆ with keizo working for most of the day, you and koyuki are often left alone but you're familiar enough with your surroundings to cope. one day, however, keizo doesn't come back when he usually does. winter season is quickly approaching and temperatures are beginning to drop as the sun goes down with them. usually keizo took care of chopping the wood for a fire but since he's not around, there's nothing for you to burn. koyuki can't handle extreme weather very well, so you have to think of something quickly.

☆ conflicted, you debate on whether or not you should try chopping some firewood yourself. you've never picked up an axe in your life so, naturally, you wouldn't know how to wield it properly, either. plus, you shouldn't leave koyuki by herself; you would be devastated if something ever happened to her while she was in your care. she's become someone important to you just within the few short months of knowing her.

☆ you navigate to koyuki's bedroom where extra blankets are neatly folded in her closet. you take them to where she lies on her futon in the foyer, a warm, wet towel on her forehead. you take it off and place it into the bowl of water by her head before piling the blankets on top of her. it seems that the weight woke her up, as she's now staring at you with those half-lidded, pink eyes of hers. you always thought they were really pretty.

☆ "[y/n]-san?" koyuki mumbles. "it's cold..." she nestles deeper into the blankets but even with the extras, it must not be enough. you frown and ponder on what to do, but koyuki beats you to it. "do you think you could m-maybe... lay with me? i'm sure it would be warmer if we stay close together."

☆ it's not a bad idea. you carefully lift the blankets up and slide underneath, laying so close that both your arms are touching. neither you or koyuki say anything for a long while—the light from the sun fades almost completely in the time that you spend underneath the blankets with her. a chill settles on the wooden floors of the dojo and just as you're about to fall asleep, a trembling voice awakes you. koyuki's been working up the courage to say something, anything to break the silence.

☆ "[y/n]-san, i like-" koyuki blurts. "i..." her voice seems to falter and you look at her in confusion, silently urging her to continue. koyuki's conscious halts her confession dead in its tracks. was this the right thing for her to do? what if you didn't feel the same way? what if she gets in the way of you finding a real spouse? her fears are rational but her feelings towards you aren't less than.

☆ "hm? what's wrong, koyuki-chan? are you still cold?" you pull the blanket tighter around the both of you and snake an arm around her shoulders. she stiffens like a two-by-four wood plank under the close proximity, and you get the impression that she's uncomfortable. still, you have to be close in order to transfer your body heat, so you press closer until you're both flush against each other, faces just inches away.

☆ a shoji panel at the front of the dojo suddenly slides open, startling both you and koyuki. you try to move away in order to not project the image that you're doing something inappropriate, but a warm hand wraps around your wrist to stop you. you look back at koyuki in shock, but the panic that's blazing in your chest is quickly expelled by the gentle gleam in her eyes.

☆ "please stay, [y/n]-san," she whispers, face flushed red as she fiddles with a strand of her hair. "i like... being this close to you." surely you can't reject her now.

☆ now it's your turn to blush. you hesitantly lay down again and scoot closer to her, wrapping the blanket back around the two of you. it's warm, hot even, and koyuki takes the initiative by wrapping her arms around your waist and snuggling close. she's smiling bashfully but she really looks like she's enjoying herself; more than when you read to her or taught her origami. slowly, you rest your head on top of hers and smile, too.

☆ "ah, there you two are. sorry for getting back so late, i'll go-" keizo pauses as he catches sight of both you and koyuki bundled up in a blanket with her face buried into your neck. his eyes soften and he smiles knowingly at you, who's trying to hide under the blanket, before quietly exiting to chop some wood for a fire.

☆ but, honestly, with the way your arms are tightly embracing her, koyuki doesn't seem to need it.

[horrorcat]

[Short story made up by Nona, illustrated by me] It was made as a kind of parody story (you know, in Naruto the love of your life needs to be pierced with pikes, otherwise it doesn't count), so there's not much sense to be honest XD I'll try to explain it anyway! Genkin and Gaki were hanging out outside the village walls (I guess they sneaked out past the gates). Then stumbled upon a group of rogue ninjas and, because they are both cocky bastards, started to fight instead of running away. They were doing quite well but it was only a patrol squad, soon the rest of the group joined and or boys got their ass kicked in no time. One of the rogues went too far and fired at Genkin with wooden pikes. Wounds were mortal, the rest of his group panicked ("what have you done, we weren't supposed to kill anyone!") and started to retreat. At the same time Gaki went into berserker mode and smashed those, who were too slow to run away. Now there's a dramatic love confession (in Genkin's mind "oh, so you do love me... I love you too bro, too bad we didn't tell that to each other earlier") and a few hours later Genkin is waking up in morgue, probably because of some kind of Jashin's blessing. Who knows? The boy is confused, doesn't remember clearly what happened, he just wants to go back home. He seems to not noticing the spikes. At the time both Kakuzu and Hidan were not informed that their son is dead (let's say because anbu was still trying to learn what happened and it was a top-secret or something because another village was involved. Whatever XD) When Hidan saw Genkin, standing in the door with pikes in his chest, he joined the dots quickly and started to cry that Jashin saved his son, that it's a miracle! God's blessing!

But when Kakuzu learned what happened he. got. mad. Like hell it was some fake god's blessing. He never believed in Jashin (or any god) and it wasn't the moment for changing his mind about that. He believed in medicine and medical insurances. Moreover, Kakuzu strongly believed in math - if you have more than one heart your chances of survival are increasing. He was keeping a heart in a jar, he wanted to give it to Genkin on boy's 16th birthday, but what's the point if that brat will die before becoming of age? The time was now. Kakuzu seemed to not listen to Hidan's yells ("are you going to make him a f*cking stitchy doll too? His body was BLESSED BY A GOD you heathen! DON'T YOU DARE..!") nor cared much about Genkin's confused questions ("w..what's going on? Dad, what is THAT?! is this a real human heart? Where are you taking me?"). Before giving his son an anesthesia Kakuzu shortly explained that it's for Genkin's own good. The next day boy woke up with an ugly scar on his back. Soon he'll get it covered with a mask.

[annonmaly]

Spoilers Ahead!

Hi, fellow bored humans! Today is another day to set aside our real-life problems and overthink matters about fictional situations. Because why not? Mochijun-Sensei can make us do that. So, last time I made a post questioning Misha's knowledge of Vani's self-hypnotism. So before anything else, I want to thank you guys who took the time to read, liked, and replied to that post. It is fun to read ideas that even I can not think about.

Grab a cup of coffee and be prepared for a long-ass non-sense.

I am calling human Vanitas = Vani, and Luna = Luna. The pronoun I use is "she" because I would not confuse myself. I know Luna said she is an enby so, do not fight me.

Today, I want to talk about Luna and her death. I know that we have too little information in our hands right now, but my brain cells can still assume something based on what we have. This thought came about with the premise that Luna is an Archiviste.

I can't think of anything that happened to them "that day", but I have a theory of why Vani killed Luna. To make things clear, I will summarize my assumptions and list them down. I made an explanation of each point. Supposedly, those would come first but I didn't expect it to be so long, that's why I decided to just put it at the end. You could ignore it if you want. Check it out if you are curious.

Luna is an Archiviste

Vani is protecting memory from his early childhood

Vani casts the hypnotism while/after he was training to be a chasseur but before Luna's death

Luna bit Vani the day she died

Do you see where I'm going with this?

Here is the idea: I think Vani killed Luna because she forced herself to drink Vani's blood for whatever reason and the self-hypnotism activated. Sound farfetched? Because it is, but I'll show you why I thought it this way.

This is my one and only proof. The eyes are almost the same, right? See, I told you I could make a long-ass post just from two panels. The left one is from the Bal-Masque arc before Vani made a scene. The right one is before Vani and Noe's death fight. I believe that Vani's hypnotism is triggered in both pictures. I actually hesitated if I should do this since Mochijun-Sensei really loves including similarities in the story. You see, Astolfo and Misha made the same eye. But all three of them have the same eyes the moment they thought about why they would kill a vampire.

Vani - to not allow anyone to steal his memory

Astolfo - because vampires shouldn't even exist

Misha - Noe didn't drink Vani's blood.

So yeah, whatever, I'll go ahead and write this one. Vani would be the main focus of this thing.

1. The way Vani's hallucination phrased this is interesting. We know Vani's father died protecting him. What about Luna? If Vani killed Luna intentionally or because of hate, she did not die "because" of Vani. Vani killed her. There's a difference between the two. Behind all that facade that Vani is showing, he's kind. He's not someone who could just kill anyone without any reason when he's in the right mind. Especially if that someone is the one who became his guardian and is helping him to find a cure to make his body normal. Initially, I thought that Luna had gone wild and reach the point of no return. That's why Vani had no other choice. Though if this is the reason, Luna still did not die because of Vani. Now, this phrase would only be right if Luna died protecting Vani or if something happened to Vani. How could this happen if she was killed by the one she's protecting. So, what if, instead of Luna going wild, Vani is the one breaking down. Thus, Luna had really no choice but to make Vani her kin. If she's an archiviste and Vani already casted the hypnotism. It would be triggered and so he had no choice but to kill Luna.

"You give yourself someone to protect that's why you're weak." -Vani to Jeanne

If Luna didn't save Vani and Misha, she might still be alive. If she chose to abandon or kill Vani (when Vani loses his mind), she might still be alive. But Luna chose to save him by making him her kin. She handicapped herself by choosing to protect Vani and she died by doing so.

2. Maybe Luna doesn't want to use this method because it involves blood drinking to leave her mark. If she's an Archiviste, perhaps her reason is the same as Noe does not drink blood "She doesn't want to look at anyone's memory without permission".

3.Vani was never an honest and straightforward guy. If there is someone/thing he wants to protect he wouldn't say it outright. Sometimes we would go full on beast mode, just to hide his real agenda. It already happened a lot (reread the manga for examples). So maybe the reason he strongly disagrees is that he knows that once Luna tries to bit her he would lose his mind and try to kill her.

4. This is just so heartbreaking. Look at how he cried. I think this is not a cry of relief. Vani is crying out of frustration. It's not because he wanted to kill Noe. For me, it's like Vani is saying "I killed Luna, why can't I kill now." I mean, he realized that this ordeal could be solved without killing the other party. But why didn't it happened before?

This is just a half baked theory so of course there are still things that could negate these panels:

If Luna is talking with Vani here, she makes him her kin even before dying. Since everything is so calm. Though I would ignore reality and think that Luna is talking with Misha here. I think that Misha became her kin first since he is breaking down first.

The flashback of Misha shouting at Vani, maybe this is just hallucinations. But if this is true, it means that they spent some time together after Luna's death. And yeah, all of this would be meaningless.

Explanation of each point

1. Luna is an Archiviste. The theory is already out there, so I wouldn't explain it anymore.

2. Vani is protecting memory from his early childhood & 3. Vani casts the hypnotism while/after he was training to be a chasseur but before Luna's death. Going back to my previous post, I mentioned that it is strange for Misha to know that Vani hypnotized himself if Luna is the one who begged Vani to not let anyone take his memory on her deathbed because:

a. The timeline doesn't coincide. The chance that Misha and Vani separated "that day" which is I believe the same day as Luna's death is high. So, there's no way Misha could know.

b. Misha forgot what happened "that day". However, it's not like Vani doesn't want Misha to remember. I don't know but I feel like everything would be civil if Misha didn't mention that he wants to revive Luna. That is the moment everything went a wrong turn.

It is likely that Luna already asked Vani days before "that day" and her death. The problem is if the three are together "why did she only ask Vani and not Misha?". Maybe, Luna and Vani have a shady secret that they don't share with Misha as he's too young. However, if the secret has something to do with Luna, Vani won't even mention something relating to it to Misha, I mean the kid knows exactly the trigger of self-hypnotism. Maybe Luna is not the one who asked Vani. I believe that someone already asked Vani before he entered the church to train as a chasseur. But "who" asked Vani is not my problem today it is "when".

So in short, I suppose that the memory Vani is protecting is something that only he knows at the moment, and it did not happen recently but goes way back in his early childhood. As retracexcviii pointed out, it looks like that the self-hypnotism technique Vani used is the same as what the chasseurs. So, Vani knows this technique way back before he became a lab rat.

Continuing on...

Don't judge but I wasted a considerable amount of time digging information about Vani's childhood (yup, I don't have a life outside). And I found nothing concrete that could help, however, as I said, I could make something out of what we have. So here we go.

In Vani's delirium due to high fever he finally opens up and we had a peak of his life before everything. There's nothing much here, just a simple story, but let's overanalyze this:

a. In the era they’re living in, vampires are not allowed to attack humans. People are even treating them as folklore or old people's tall tales. Thus, random vampire attacks are seldom. The attacks that we heard are from the cursed ones (e.g., Amelia and Thomas) or harboring resentment (I think this is why the vampires attacked Astolfo’s family). Well, the attack on Vani and co. may be a special case. Vani mentioned that chasseurs are hunting "dangerous" types of vampires that are rampaging in the human world. So, there may be a miscreant group of vampires somewhere that hates peace or being suppressed by humans. Right, Misha's mother was also killed by a vampire.

b. When Misha asked what's a band of traveling players then Luna answered that it's a bit like a circus. Vani answered that "It was nothing like...that formal". He hesitated for a moment, meaning, he wanted to say something different first, but he changed his mind. Or maybe he just can't find the right word. I know that someone already mentioned this, but did you know that according to Wikipedia "Charlatan is a seller of medicines who might advertise his presence with music and an outdoor stage show." Now that's another thing to add to Vani and Naenia's parallel.

c. Vani thinks that his father doesn't like it there very much. So, why stay even if his wife is dead? Even if Vani's father could not go back to his family, he could still opt to cut ties with the band and settle down somewhere. He's a doctor, it's not like they would be helpless if they leave. Travelling is not a safe choice if you think about it. Perhaps, he stayed in the memory of his wife? Or are there other reasons?

d. This guy didn't just come to Altus ones before. "No matter when I visit" he already visited during different periods. The times he possibly could go in Altus is before his father's death and after Luna's death. Maybe Luna's going in secretly for whatever reason. I just want to drop it here because it's interesting to take note of.

e. I'm not sure if I should include this since it may be Luna's influence, but Vani knows way too much about vampires and also the babel incident. Also, Ruthven's statement just gives me a weird feeling. Does it mean "You an average human are running around doing ridiculous things, so tell me about 'yourself', kin of the blue moon vampire"? Or "without the context of being the kin of the blue moon vampire, tell about yourself?" I think it is the latter meaning.

There's nothing important here that proves Vani's childhood should be kept as a secret. But this will do for now, I just want to establish that Vani is more than just kin to the Blue Moon Vampire. His childhood, his father, family, and that traveling players are also suspicious. (Why the hell do I find everyone in this series suspicious?!? oh, except Amelia and Riche).

4. Luna bit Vani the day she died. I can't come up with anything that happened "that day". Did Luna has gone wild? Did someone attack them? Did Vani and Misha lose their mind as an effect of that weird doctor's experiment? There's really nothing but I think that whatever happened "that day" led to Luna's leaving no choice but to drink Vani's blood, or to make Vani her kin. There has no explicit explanation of how you make one your kin, but I'm sure drinking blood is included in the process. They would only gain a mark if they were bitten.

I'm actually not done yet. I still have plenty to say, but this should end here now. This is already too long for me to handle. Does this make sense? Or is it confusing? Don't hesitate to correct me if I'm wrong or tell me whatever you want to say.

So, if what Vani is saying is true, why do you think he killed Luna?

See ya' later folks!

Note: I wrote this to indulge my over-thinking self. This is just a random theory, thoughts, assumptions, and/or head-canons. Thank you for taking the time to read and understanding if I made any mistakes or post whatever it is you don’t agree on.

[nerdythebard]

#3: Ah Muzen Cab, God of Bees

Hello again, gods and goddesses!

This time, we focus on a very unusual figure. I'll be(e) honest, I had no idea there was a separate function as the God of Bees, but apparently, several ancient religions do have somebody for that specific task. Plus, there is surprisingly very little information on Ah Muzen Cab, who holds that position in the Maya pantheon, but when you think about it, it actually makes sense: honey was believed to have medicinal properties, it has an almost infinite shelf life, and is used as the main ingredient for mead... no wonder people would think of bees as divine creatures and honey as a sacred food. Sure, why not. Let's see what all the buzz is about!

Next time: When there's no more room in hell...

Now, let's set up some goals for this build. What do we need to make Ah Muzen Cab sting:

Bees: Goes without saying, what's a god without his minions? We gotta get those lil' buzzers somehow;

High Movement Speed: Pretty obvious, you're a bee god, you gotta zoom around;

High Attack Speed: Your sting stings and many stings sting even better. Let's make sure we can get a few extra hits on our turn;

Honey: Bees are cute and their puke is delicious. We have to include it somehow.

When it comes to Ah Muzen Cab's race, there were several options. I could've made him a Simic Hybrid for the nice carapace feature; or maybe a Gith, to reference his mysterious origins; at some point, I believe I even considered a winged Tiefling... but luckily, Wizards of the Coast came to my rescue with their latest Unearthed Arcana 2021: Folk of the Feywild.

Ah Muzen Cab is a Fairy. He's not the largest of gods in SMITE, so making him a size Small shouldn't be an issue. Fairies get a ground speed AND flying speed of 30 feet each, and a +2 and +1 to two stats of your choice; let's go with +2 Wisdom and +1 Dexterity. Instead of humanoid, we're now considered Fey creature type, and we have innate, unlimited flight ability (with hovering). We know Common language and one more of our choice (I suggest Sylvan) and we get the Fairy Magic feature, which gives us two spells from the start: Druidcraft, a cantrip that lets us interact with nature in one way or another (by for example opening flower pods, making them bloom, creating harmless sensory effects, etc.), and Faerie Fire, which marks everything in a 20-foot cube range with a bright aura, essentially preventing invisibility if a creature fails the saving throw (it's normally Dexterity, but we can pick Wisdom here, and so we shall). Another curious ability is Fey Passage, which allows us to squeeze through an opening even 1 inch wide.

For Ah Muzen Cab's background, to reflect his solitude and mystery around his very being, we're gonna pick the Hermit. We get proficiency in Medicine and Religion skills, proficiency in Herbalism Kit and we get to learn one language of our choice. We're now prepared to gather pollen and make our own honey. We also get the Discovery feature, which means we possess a particularly important piece of information. It honestly can be anything, from a crucial part of the campaign's plot to something more personal (for example 1001 recipes involving honey).

ABILITY SCORES

For the quick and nimble Ah Muzen Cab, Dexterity will be our first stat. We will be a caster in some degree, and our casting ability is going to be Wisdom. Follow that up with Constitution, for some Hit Points, then Strength and Charisma, and finally we'll dump Intelligence.

CLASS

We have yet another no-multiclass build. Ah Muzen Cab is going to be(e) nature-themed, quick, and ready to deal a plethora of ranged damage. He's a Ranger (Revised) start-to-finish.

As a Ranger, our Hit Dice is a d10. We start with Hit Points of 10 + our CON modifier, proficiency with light armour, medium armour and shields, as well as simple weapons and martial weapons. For Ah Muzen Cab, I think we should go with studded leather armour and a hand crossbow to mimic his carapace and stinger. We don't get proficiencies with any tools, and our saving throws are Strength and Dexterity. We get to choose three class skills, I'd say Animal Handling, Perception, and Survival fit Ah Muzen Cab's personality best.

---

Level 1: We start this build by choosing our Favoured Enemy. That's right, using the power of fantasy racism we can select a type of creature we are most effective against. We have an option of being the natural enemy of beasts, fey, humanoids, monstrosities, or undead. I'd say to choose either humanoids or fey, but this is to be adjusted to the campaign played. What's important is that we gain +2 damage against the chosen enemy type, we have an advantage on Survival checks related to tracking an enemy of said type, and Intelligence checks to recall any information about that type. We also get another language of our choice.

Another 1st-level feature we get is called Natural Explorer. As a master of the wilderness, we receive various benefits:

We can ignore any difficult terrain;

We have an advantage on initiative rolls;

On our first turn of combat, we have an advantage against enemies that hadn't acted yet.

Additionally, we grant the following benefits if we travel for an hour or more:

Difficult terrain doesn't slow our group's travel;

The group cannot be lost (unless by magic);

Even if we're engaged in some activity while travelling (foraging, tracking, etc.), we cannot be surprised by enemies;

If we're travelling alone, we can move stealthily at a regular pace;

We find twice as much food while foraging;

While tracking creatures, we learn their exact size, numbers, and how long ago they were at our current location.

Level 2: At this level, we get to learn some spells. Although we don't get any cantrips, nor can we cast ritual spells, there are a few tricks that will enhance our build. Wisdom is our spellcasting ability and we begin with two 1st-level spell slots and we learn two 1st-level spells: Alarm lets us put a 20-foot cube under magical surveillance for 8 hours. If any undesignated creature enters the cube, we are notified of the intrusion. We can flavour this spell by creating a small hive with bees buzzing around the perimeter. Hunter's Mark puts a target on one enemy for 1 hour (or until our concentration is broken); until the spell ends, the marked enemy receives extra 1d6 damage and we get an advantage on any Perception or Survival checks we roll in order to find it. If the enemy dies while marked, we can spend a bonus action to mark another creature.

At this level, we also get to pick our Fighting Style and Close Quarters Shooter lets us eliminate the disadvantage while shooting at a target that's within our melee range. We also ignore half-covers and three-quarters covers within 30 feet, and we get +1 to our ranged attack rolls.

Level 3: Our bond with nature deepens at this level. We get the Primeval Awareness feature; we can establish some basic-level communication with a non-hostile beast - we can learn of its emotional state, or if it's under any magical influence. Additionally, we can spend a minute of concentration to detect our Favoured Enemy within 5 miles of our current position.

This is also the level at which we pick our subclass and the Swarmkeeper Conclave finally lets us get our bees!

Our Gathered Swarm is a buzzing bundle of bees, which stays with us until we die. On each of our turns in combat, the Swarm can assist us in various ways. After we successfully hit the enemy:

The enemy receives additional 1d6 piercing damage;

The enemy has to succeed on a Strength saving throw, or be moved by our Swarm up to 15 feet horizontally in any direction;

We can be moved by our Swarm up to 5 feet horizontally in any direction.

We also gain access to Swarmkeeper's Magic feature, which grants us extra spells when reaching specific levels. At the 3rd level, we'd get Faerie Fire but we already know it because of our racial features. So we either forget about it or ask our DM if we could replace it with an extra 1st-level Ranger spell.

We also get another spell: Ensnaring Strike is applied to our ranged attack. On a successful hit, the enemy has to make a Strength saving throw or be restrained up to 1 minute (or until the concentration is broken) by magical thorny vines sprouting from the ground... or perhaps a puddle of extra-sticky honey? While restrained by the spell, suffers 1d6 piercing damage at the beginning of their turn (perhaps some bees hide within the honey and sting them).

Level 4: We get our first Ability Score Improvement! Let's raise our Constitution by 2 points, to get some more Hit Points later on. Survivability is important for the quick and nimble ones.

Level 5: At this level, we get our first subclass upgrade and it's... Extra Attack. We can now attack twice instead of once during a single action. It helps with our target goals, so it's good.

We also gain access to 2nd-level spell slots. Animal Messenger lets you select a critter and charm it to act as your courier for the next 24 hours. You speak a short message (up to 25 words) and describe a target and the creature does its best to deliver your words. I don't need to tell you what kind of creature to use, right?

Your Swarmkeeper's Magic feature also gives you an extra spell: Web fills a 20-foot cube space with sticky webbing. Creatures caught in the web must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or be restrained. Once again, we flavour web as honey and we're good to go.

Level 6: Our power of Fantasy Racism grows even stronger with Greater Favoured Enemy. We can pick another type of creatures to gain advantages against. This time, we get to choose from aberrations, celestials, constructs, dragons, elementals, fiends, or giants. We once again learn another language, and our bonus damage against both types of Favoured Enemies changes to a +4. Once again, choose whatever suits the campaign best.

Level 7: Time for another subclass upgrade. Writhing Tide lets our Swarm form a pair of wings around us, giving us flying speed of 10 feet for 1 minute. This ability seems a bit pointless, since we have a much better one from our racial background, so I would consider asking the DM if we can apply this for our party members and give them some slow flight instead.

For this level's spell, I think we should get Healing Spirit - we call upon a nature spirit (gee, I wonder what form it would take) to reside in a 5-foot space. If we or our allies movie into that space, or start our turn there, we get 1d6 points of healing. The spirit can heal only 1 + [our spellcasting modifier] number of times and disappears after the final healing. As a bonus action, we can move the spirit up to 30 feet to a space we can see.

Level 8: Another ASI! Let's put one point in Constitution and one in Wisdom.

At this level we also get Fleet of Foot, which lets us use the Dash action as a bonus action.

Level 9: We get access to 3rd-level spells: Conjure Barrage lets us magically multiply a projectile we shot. Each creature in a 60-foot cone must make a Dexterity saving throw or take 3d8 points of damage (half on a successful save), the type of which is the same as the projectile used.

We get another spell from our Swarmkeeper's Magic feature: Gaseous Form transforms us or whoever we touch into a cloud of smoke (or perhaps pollen). While in cloud form:

We have flying speed of 10 feet;

We can occupy another creature's space;

We have advantage on non-magical damage;

We have advantage on Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution saving throws;

We can slip through cracks and narrow openings;

If we're stunned or incapacitated mid-air, we don't fall.

While in this form, we cannot speak, use items, attack, or cast spells.

Level 10: At the midway point we get Hide in Plain Sight, which helps us hide so well we reach Drax levels of invisibility

When we choose to Hide, we can decide to not use any movement on our turn. If we do so, any creature that attempts to detect us receives a -10 to their Perception check until the end of our next turn. As long as we do not move, we can use this feature indefinitely.

Level 11: Another subclass feature! The Mighty Swarm feature gives us more bees than before. The damage dealt by our Swarm increases from d6 to d8; if a target fails their saving throw against being moved by our Swarm, they are also knocked prone; when we are moved by our Swarm, we get the benefit of half-cover until the start of our next turn.

We also get another 3rd-level spell: Protection from Energy gives us, or any creature we touch, resistance to one damage type of choice - acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder - for up to 1 hour (or until our concentration is broken).

Level 12: Time for another ASI! Let's raise our Dexterity by two points.

Level 13: We don't get new class features, but we do unlock 4th-level spells; Grasping Vine creates a wiggly plant tendril in a point within 30 feet from you, which can be directed to lash at a target within 30 feet from it. The target has to make a Dexterity saving throw or be pulled 20 feet towards the vine.

We also get another Swarmkeeper spell: Arcane Eye creates an invisible magical beacon that we can use to scout our surroundings for up to 1 hour (or until our concentration is broken). As an action we can move the Eye up to 30 feet without any distance limit; although it cannot enter other planes of existence, or pass through solid barriers, it can enter through an opening even 1 inch wide.

Level 14: We get to put a little extra sneaky to our build with Vanish. This allows us to take the Hide action as a bonus action (which pairs really well with our Hide in Plain Sight).

Level 15: For our final subclass upgrade, we get Swarming Dispersal. When we take damage, we can use a reaction to transform our body into a swarm of bees for the best representation of Naruto's Substitution Jutsu.

We gain resistance to the damage dealt to us and we teleport into an unoccupied space within 30 feet of where we started. We can use this ability the number of times equal to our proficiency bonus and we regain all uses when finishing a long rest.

We get to pick another 4th-level spell: we use Locate Creature to name a creature familiar to us and learn their location as long as they're within 1.000 feet from us. If the creature is moving, we will detect that as long as they don't live that range.

Level 16: We get another ASI! Let's cap our Dexterity with those two extra points.

Level 17: Here we unlock our spellcasting limit - 5th-level spells: Swift Quiver is a bonus action spell that turns our ammo supply into the infinite quiver of Legolas. For 1 minute (or until concentration is broken) on each of our turns, we can take a bonus action to make two additional attacks with ammo from our quiver. Combined with our Extra Attack, this lets us attack one target four times during our turn for 1d6+5 piercing damage.

Level 18: We get a feature called Feral Senses, which helps when fighting invisible enemies; when we attack something we cannot see we no longer get disadvantage on attack rolls. We are also aware of any invisible creatures within 30 feet of us, provided we're not blinded or deafened and the creature isn't using its Hide action.

Level 19: Final ASI of the build. Let's round-up our Wisdom into 18, and with one point to spare we can't do much so allocate it wherever.

We also learn our final spell for the build: Steel Wind Strike lets us do a flourish with our melee weapon, and turn it into an invisible blade of slashiness. Up to five creatures within 30 feet of us have to make a Dexterity saving throw or take 6d10 force damage. Additionally, we can choose to teleport within 5 feet of one of the targets that we hit or miss.

Level 20: For our capstone we get Foe Slayer: once on each of our turns, we can add our Wisdom modifier to the attack roll or the damage roll of an attack we make.

---

Now, let's see what came out from this build for Ah Muzen Cab.

I think we've reached all of our goals. We got our bees, we've got honey-flavour in some abilities, we get extra Movement Speed with Dash as a bonus action... we even get a good Attack Speed with Extra Attack and Swift Quiver.

Our Spell Save DC is 18, AC is 17 if paired with the studded leather armour, and we've on average 164 Hit Points.

Unfortunately, our Intelligence and Charisma scores are pretty low so any checks and saving throws involving those might give us trouble. We are also pretty much range-oriented, with just +1 in Strength.

But that's it! Hopefully you guys enjoyed this ride, and I'll see you for the next one!

Nerdy out!

[yuvon-writes-letters]

Yuvon, I just cannot anymore. He's not our Jake, but what Jessy's implying makes me crazy!!

If I had any way of going there I couldn't promise to hold myself back! Not because I blame her (V fgvyy qb...Your code, Yu...), but because of the thought that a Jake helped and got captured because if this.

In this case I really would understand if MJake wouldn't want to help me anymore

But I'll hold myself back, that's probably the best for this case. I rather help you two, Yuvon and Jake. That means, as much as I can. Btw, Jake, any luck with the deciphering?

I understand what you mean you, it's in our nature to be the concerned ones, hm?

Yeah, actually, I do know about word association. I will do that later on the backside of the letter, I hope that's fine :) Even though I don't know what you and Jake want to figure out with that xD

When I send letters I just put them in the mailbox...Your name on the envelope (which you probably already saw). That's it. They most of the time appear in my mailbox or sometimes just in my flat directly infront of the door.

You want to break fate? Let's go, I'll do what I can to help.

Yes Jake, the thought is rather disturbing. And...to be honest, I didn't tell Jake about it till now. I think I'll do that directly after writing this letter...I just couldn't bring myself to do it till now. I mean, that's not really an apology, but yeah. I'll tell that Jake later. Probably even before I send the letter.

As I already said, no adress. Just sending it with a name. But that could be different from universe to universe (will saying that ever get less weird? Probably not)

Rebirth and change? XD I mean, I don't think it's impossible anymore.

That he's not on the way to be in any TSB danger is enough for me, thanks :)

Lis🐾🔥

[Once again a screenshot is glued to the back]

Once again a message from Jake :) I even read the first part.

Lis now talked to me about the situation with alternative-Jessica. I also understand now, why she was hesitant to tell me. So that's fine now. To be honest, it is quite unsettling. I don't like this thought at all. But in this case it isn't too bad that we now know what could possibly happen.

If you may stop reading now Liska :) You too, Yuvon

And we know what could happen if our pursuers get to us. I imagine, as well as myself, you had some kind of an idea, but this is different I suppose. I am not even quite sure if I would like for this Jessica to tell us more. (And in case you are reading this, I really do not intend any harm to come to Liska.)

But putting that aside, if it wasn't ADHD then I really have no idea what you are talking about, at least not in this moment.

And don't worry, I do not intend to make you a liar. Liskas safety is my first priority, as well as mine. And I know that this probably goes both ways. She wouldn't be able to sleep if anything happened that would give her the slightest chance to feel guilty. And she went through enough, she doesn't need that.

Also, additionally, I like my freedom.

~ Jake

[On an extra piece of paper is more written. It's with the letter in the envelope. Throughout the writing the words become more neat to the end]

I almost forgot, you wanted my associations to the word yellow, here they are:

bee, banana, beach, sun, best friend, past, light, warmth, brightness, safety, familiarity, gold, silver, Aur

Hello, Lis.

Yuvon is, for some reason, taking sheets of paper from the infinite pile and systematically tearing them into small, even shreds. She would not look at me when I attempted to hand her the letter to answer, and told me to answer first. I am not entirely sure what that is about. However, glancing at the rest of the letter, it seems the alternate Jessica said something troubling? Something involving my counterpart in her universe?

No. No luck yet deciphering those papers. It is incredibly vexing. Whoever created this code clearly did not intend it to be read by those without the key.

That is good to know, about the method of sending. Theoretically, your version of Jake may be able to send letters independently, in that case. That would be intriguing to test at some point, though obviously other issues take priority.

I am sure Yuvon will be glad for your help :)

I am not sure Yuvon meant literal rebirth. Symbolism is not my strong suit, but this place is all but made of symbols. It is possible she is planning an equally symbolic action to try to affect this place.

I will attempt to get Yuvon to write her piece, now, before I address Jake. Thank you for completing the word association, by the way, Lis :)

Sincerely,

Jake

(The handwriting changes to Yuvon's. Her lines are more jagged than normal. All down the margins of the letter and in all the remaining space on the front of the page she has repeatedly written in pencil "I have no plan". She attempted to erase it, but she wrote too forcefully to erase it all.)

Lis,

I know, Lis. I know. Trust me, I understand. I'm only barely holding it together, to be honest. I keep imagining

Well. I'm sure you're thinking the same.

I'm not going to spend very long on this letter. I'm a little upset right now, and trying not to think about things. I'll probably hand it back to Jake pretty soon.

I have no idea what you're talking about. I never mentioned those two words. And I don't have any plan, no matter what Jake thinks. I am not planning anything. :O

Goodbye for now.

—Yuvon

(The letter continues on the other side, in Jake's handwriting.) I have returned. I am not sure what Yuvon is getting at, exactly, but I am slightly concerned.

Regardless. Lis, if you would kindly stop reading, I'll address Jake now.

I must admit that while Yuvon was distracted writing her portion of the letter, I read the most recent letter from Jessica. I always had an idea of what might happen were our pursuers to catch up, but having it actually happen to one of our counterparts is a completely different matter. I wonder if this is how Yuvon felt when she read that Lis and Matt had been killed. I hope not.

I do not think the specifics of my diagnosis are entirely necessary to the case, but in the event that it becomes necessary, I will say this much: I cannot stand tags on my clothes. It feels like sandpaper. Similarly, I am very particular about what type of cloth my clothes are made of.

Also, the diagnosis is not treatable with medicine, nor would I care to treat it were I given the chance. It is a part of who I am and has been since birth.

Moving on. Yes, especially now that what is at stake has been made clear, and now that our Detectives are worrying, it is more important than ever to stay several steps before our pursuers at all times. I, naturally, have a significant advantage on that front, and you have a head start. I am not overly concerned about our odds.

I am sure you will leave them in the dust. You are a counterpart to myself, after all ;)

On a final note, Yuvon got the idea to ask Lis to do some word association. The word was "yellow." I am sure you can guess why. Look for yourself; I believe you will find this of interest.

(The note with the word association Lis did is glued to the letter here with sap. Impressively, Jake managed to not make a mess.)

Sincer

What in the name of

I give up. There is no logic in this place. Yuvon just cut a branch off a tree with a single blow with that knife of hers. That should not be physically possible.

—Jake

(The letter tucks itself in the paper clip with the others.)

[thoughts-n-paper]

When people speak of fairies, they often think of the wise fairy Godmother or the tiny passionate Tinkerbell, but let me tell you the truth, fairies can be as vicious as any wolf you might encounter in the woods. Take my mother, for example, I am about to fail a class and might not be able to graduate but here she is shouting at the principal, questioning his competency and making things worse. To be honest, I should have known this would happen. Ever since I was a toddler, my mother was ready to fight the Alaskan giants if she felt that they insulted me, although that seems a lot better than calling the man, an imbecile elf.

I had never been good at school, I was not born to do this. I cannot do magic, cannot fly. I do comparatively good at empathy, but that is probably due to my human side. All my teachers earlier were very understanding in cutting me some slack, but the new guy doesn't want to bend the rules and my mom just doesn't understand that.

As we entered the house from a tiresome argument with no conclusion, I watched my mom sink in her bed as she tried to push her tears back to space behind her eyes. On the side table there stood three photographs, one of her with her husband on her wedding day, one of her holding her baby and one of me and her on my first day of school. The one with her baby was the only one facing towards her pillow so that it is the first thing she sees when she opens her eyes. I was never jealous of him, but I did feel that my mother's life would have been easier if she never interchanged us.

I wound up the music box, placed it beside her and tiptoed to my room as the lullabies of her ancestors brought her calm.

I often wondered what the other me would be doing right now, my brother from another mother and raised by my own. And just in case, miles away he wondered that too, I started keeping a journal where I would write everything that happened on the day. I would walk him through every road that I mapped, what conversations mother and I had and what kind of jokes she laughed at. Just in case if he ever plans to return, he would never have to feel out of place because he had me to guide him, and just in case if I ever went back, I think I would have the same.

A knock broke my nap. As I looked outside the tiny round window, I could make out the prettiest face I had ever seen. We were in the same class but it was incomprehensible that she would be standing outside my window. And then it hit me, I looked her in the eyes and said firmly, "You don't fool me."

"Not fair. I need to practice my deception spells." saying that, the figure in front of me transformed into my childhood friend, Jaadu. One of the rules of bending spells, if the target of the trick sees through the rouge, the trickster has to come clean.

"It was good. If not for my trust in my status as a loser, you would have convinced me."

"Ah! I should study the target more. Will keep that in mind. Are you coming?"

Jaadu and I always went to the edge of the forest in the evenings. With the sun coming down and night beginning to rise, you can watch the shadows of all the travellers passing by. Some of them would sit and have their meal or set up camp, completely unaware that we are hiding behind the tree mere steps away, watching them. But the most exciting moment is when you see someone go from one realm to another. Sometimes you can see their shadow change shape or colour or sometimes nothing changes, it is always a surprise how the inter-realm travel reacts.

Jaadu enjoys it because it is something he might never do, he was to be part of the administration, like the fairies of his family before him. This was his way to vicariously travel through these evening rituals.

For me, it was the time I had felt closest to my mother. Although her husband was a traveller, she only planned one journey in her life. The one to save her baby.

In a way I had already travelled from one realm to another, I was just unaware of the magnitude of it. I sometimes think of going back, maybe visit my birth parents, might even bring my mother's son back. She would be delighted beyond belief, and maybe then, she wouldn't regret taking him. But I would always push the thought back, too afraid of the unknown.

The next few weeks were spent retaking and retaking the test until I was cleared to graduate school. There are three categories of fairies, one that is naturally gifted in all arts, whether it is music, the science of medicinal plants or chants and jinxes, they are fluent in all. Then there is the average category, the ones that work hard and learn and the last are the week students, ones who work even harder. And then there is me, the human among magical beings. I am the only one around like me, earlier there used to be a lot of us but with the danger of exposure and the spiritual fabric between realms weakening, it is just me. Potions are easy and I am good with plants and animals but I can't cast spells, at least not the high-level ones. So, it took a lot of convincing the new principal to test me only on the spells that I can do, but I finally succeeded.

Later that night, my mother organized a celebration for me, every house within a mile was invited, distant relatives came too. Some families brought a dish of their choice, some helped clean up space and some brought with them the sweetest water of different streams. But with all the gifts and praises, come the whispers too, how I was not one of them, what an achievement the real son would have been. When I was younger, my mother would often cast a filtration spell on my ears so that I wouldn't hear what they said about me but as I grew older, the spell weakened. She never herself told me the story, would always insist that I was hers just born with different abilities or as I see it, no abilities.

From what I could gather, my mother was with the child when her husband died. The grief was too much for her and the baby and so he was born with defects. A shaman told her that the milk of a human could cure him and so she left him in the first crib she could find and took me from mine as her own.

"Oh my son, come sit with me." my great-grandmother called me."How are you feeling? You are a big fairy now?"

"I am not a fairy Gre-ma." I sighed as I sat beside her.

"Oh, it doesn't matter what elements bind you. Tell me, Elven, how, do you think, is your mother?"

"She seems fine. I think she is alright."

"She is strong, but separation and loneliness often mould us into something much fragile. She has lights of sorrow surrounding her, you must make her happy. Bring her joy before the black lights swallow her."

After the celebration ended, I kept thinking about the words my Gre-ma said to me. She was the most powerful empath in the town, nobody could dare take her words lightly, especially if she said something like that. This was serious, I had to do something to cure my mother.

The next day, when I and Jaadu were sitting in the woods, relaxing as the shadows disappeared around us, I told him what Gre-ma had asked me to do. "Getting a good position in the council would cure all the sorrows of my mother." Jaadu joked.

"I am afraid, that doesn't work for mine."

"I know! My point is, only you know what will make her happy."

I thought about it for a while and by the next morning, I had an idea of what to do. I made up an overnight camping trip with some friends from school, which in retrospect, how mother agreed or believed any of that is beyond me. I checked in my bag to confirm I had the fairy dust with me that Gre-ma had given me the other night, without it, I would not be able to cross over. The plan was simple, follow the map she used years earlier and just knock on the door. Jaadu came to see me off, he wanted to see how my shadow will react.

I, on the other hand, just felt a slight current run through me, and on the next step, everything changed.

It took me at least five minutes of coughing to get used to the air around me. The map was magical, which meant that it would alter according to the destination desired and the time and space which surrounded it. But there still was no magic that can help me introduce myself to my birth parents or tell me how I am supposed to walk when each step is followed by a loud noise and a beast flying past me in a blink of an eye. The first thing I noticed was humans were tall, back in woodland, I was the tallest there, here I barely come up to the shoulders of some of these giants. And they all had different feet, different colours, shapes and textures. And walking for a few feet made me understand why. After walking a small distance, my feet were coloured black, they were damp and a new pink coloured flower had found a way between my toes and was now stuck to my skin. But ignoring it all, I marched ahead.

A few yards away stood the blue gate I had dreaded all through the journey, a million thoughts ran through my mind with each step till I lifted my arm to knock.

I looked around the house as I waited for them to make sense of everything that I had just finished telling them. Surprisingly, it was not that different from my house. it was filled with photographs except for the giant black frame in the middle of the room, which stood empty. Lamps were hanging from the walls, but there was probably some human magic that made it not look like fire. There weren't as many windows, or plants, outside or inside. We all sat on cloud-like cushions with brown milk in front of me.

When I introduced myself, I showed them my infancy photograph which my mother had taken with her. Then I told them about fairies and woodlands. I told them about magic and music, potions and pirouette. And then I told them about my mother, my fairy mother.

"So, you are ours?"

I nodded.

"And, you were kidnapped?"

"Exchanged!" I nodded

."And you live among fairies?"

I nodded.

"And, our son was a fairy?"

I began to nod and then stopped midway, "was?"

"He died ten years ago. Road accident." said the human mother and started sobbing.

My father stood up and came towards me with open arms, "We want to believe you, but we can't, at least not without tests I hope that is alright with you."

"Oh, I can't stay. I just came to take my mother's son back to meet her. I really should go now."

"NO!" my human mother shouted and holding my shoulders requested me to stay.

"I suppose I could stay for another day."

"Wonderful!" the mother smiled and ran to the kitchen mumbling recipes to herself. "She is going to make his favourite food," Father said to me. His eyes followed me suspiciously as I sat back down in my spot.

"Hey Dorothy, Can you do me-." A stranger walked into the house and stopped mid-sentence to stare back at me. "Family member?" she said while pointing at me.

"How can you tell?" mother came out of the kitchen.

"Well, he looks so much like Steve."

"Doesn't he?"

"Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves. We still have to run tests."

"What do you mean, Steve?"

"Yes, what do you mean, Steve?"

"Uhm, I am just saying..."

"Wait, but who is he?"

"Oh! It's a miracle from Jesus. My son has returned."

"Jesus! Dorothy, honey."

"Your son, the one whose funeral I helped organize."

"No, you see, he was exchanged, Uhm kidnapped."

"Jesus! Dorothy!"

"And now he is back, back at home."

Finally, silence fell. I looked up and all three were staring at me. "Hello," I said in a low voice. "I come from the woodlands. My mother who is a fairy..."

"Well, he is still processing his trauma." Father interrupted me. "Don't worry, we will have him checked shortly." Saying that he led me upstairs to a closed-door with the picture of a masked man on the door.

"This is your room. I will call you when food is prepared."

I had just turned back to stop him, he shut the door to my face. I tried to open it but it seemed locked from outside. I sat down on the small bed, trying to process whatever happened in the last few minutes. And then I remembered the word funeral being uttered. Their son's funeral.

My mother's son. The one I came to take back with me.

I had to get out immediately.

I stood in front of the door and chanted a simple admission spell. I tried to open the door again but it stayed locked. I tried the spell again, but it was all in vain. Casting spells in a new environment is always difficult, even for skilled casters. You have to be able to borrow magic from your surroundings. Often before any major spell, fairies perform cleansing and calming rituals to make the elements around them aware of their intentions, and once the fairies and every particle around them are in agreement can they cast the spells successfully. I did not know anything about those rituals, nor have I ever performed magic in an unaccustomed environment. Being human and bad at magic did not help either.

I sat back on the bed and waited for the door to open from outside. I looked around the room, there stood various balls of different colours all around the room, on a shelf placed in the corner, there were several miniatures beasts like the ones I encountered on my way. On the walls, there were drawings of different humans in various attires and figurines made of cotton and stone of different animals. I lied down and my eyes sparkled as on the roof I could see the sun and the moon and all the stars that the roof could fit, it was the only thing that reminded me of home. I could look at it for hours like I did back in the woodland, I smiled at the memories, glad that I could find at least one familiar thing.

A few hours later, the father came rushing in and closed the door behind him.

"Hey, buddy! There are a few people who want to meet with you. They are super nice and very friendly. They will ask you some questions. You don't have to worry, just nod when I answer those okay?" It was a question he did not wait for an answer to. I was held from my arms and pushed into the front room. There stood the two women from earlier, a man with an unusually shaped head and another woman with a toy in her hands. They all had their mouths in a curve and their teeth were exposed, I think they were trying to smile. The father sat me down and placed himself beside me.

The woman nodded and pushed the toy towards me.

"Hello, I hope you don't mind introducing yourself once again. Your father had already told me about you."

"Uh...my name is Elven."

"His name is Simon. He thinks his name is Elven and he was kidnapped by fairies. He is still recovering from the incident." The father interjected.

"Okay." The woman looked at the man and then back towards us. "Can you elaborate on the fairies that abducted you?"

I looked at the father he gestured me to go ahead. "I wasn't abducted, I was exchanged. My mother, my fairy mother gave birth to a weakling which could only be saved by human milk."

"We believe that the kidnapper left her disabled child with us in hopes to raise a healthier child, obviously for her benefit." The father looked towards the woman, and they both nodded. Like they agreed to not believe anything I said.

"Do you think drugs were involved?" The man asked the father.

"Well, listening to the absurdity, I am certain that the woman herself took drugs and gave my son some too. That seems to be the only explanation for his conviction."

They kept saying the word "Drugs", I didn't know what it meant, but I could conclude that it was bad. And if they think my mother gave them to me, they would never let me go back to her.

"Look," I stood up, "I should go, my mother would be worried."

"I think that should be enough for today, I will answer the rest of the questions." The father said as he directed the mother to take me.

"Oh, just a picture of the family would be great." The woman stopped me and the mother.

All three of us stood side by side as the man took out a small metal from his pocket and a light flashed towards us. I couldn't see for a while but I could feel being steered somewhere.

I was sitting on the tiny bed again, while my human mother was sobbing with her head in my lap. I looked up at the painted night sky and dreamed of the real one.

The next day I woke up to the sound of a crowd of humans in front of the house. A lot of them were holding the same toy as the day before, some had big boxes on their shoulders and behind them was a long queue of the white beasts. The father came in with a gentle smile and said, "Son, how are you? Breakfast is ready. And you remember yesterday, the people in the front have the same questions. Whenever you are ready, we will talk to them. Is that alright?"

I could simply nod. It was very clear that I did not have any choice in that.

The mother came in afterwards and asked me to take a bath, but when I asked for the stream nearby, she started crying again. The father came in and showed me to another room where twisting on a knob I could make it rain inside. He laid down a drying cloth, top and bottom covers and coverings for my feet. It was a strange feeling to not have my feet touch the earth. For fairies, it the only consistent relationship between them and the ground. Although it did feel better to not have my feet be dirty or cold. For breakfast the only thing that looked familiar was fruit, so I picked a red apple and bit into that, while the father and mother stood in front of the black frame, only this time it had a man talking in it.

"We have something like that in woodland too, motion paintings. It is a very complex spell though. My mother's uncle is famous as the most proficient in a 1000 step radius."

They both looked at me and the mother ran out of the room looking like she was about to burst into tears again.

"Hey, why don't we stop talking about woodland in front of mom." He gave me that non-smile again.

The whole day was just sitting in front of strangers and nod as the father told lies. And every time I tried to stop him or correct him, it was blamed on trauma, another word they kept on repeating. According to them, I had a trauma because of drugs and my mother was a criminal and she should be locked up. I did not most of the words in that sentence. They asked me to do magic to prove my story but when I failed, they simply smiled. When I first showed them my journal, they scanned through it within minutes and gave it back to the father. Mid-way through the day, I gave up. I might have been naïve in the human ways but I knew what a lost battle looked like.

They kept asking to take a picture, after a few I gathered they were just still drawings of us. Out of the corner of my eye, I would often catch someone pointing at me and chuckling with his or her friend. The mother spent most of the time crying and repeating that she was just glad to have her son back and she loved the other one too just like her own. In between taking pictures and answering questions, some would come up to me or the father and offer their condolences.

Everything resembled the kind of community I had left in woodland, but that was all it was, a resemblance, a mirror image. People offered help and sympathy but always from a distance. Some neighbours brought their children in hopes I could make friends with them but whenever I tried to talk to them, they pushed me out of the circle and talked amongst themselves, mostly in gibberish I might add.

I missed my mother, I missed Jaadu and Gre-ma. I missed the smell of freshly bloomed flowers in the morning and the lullabies of the moon as it sang us to sleep. Out here all I could smell was something burning, constantly. The food was like eating mould and every variant of the juice I was offered did not taste like its name. I wanted to see the real night sky and not the fake colours on the roof.

By midnight, the father and mother had fallen in deep sleep. And that was when I slipped out, fairies were of course famous for being light feet and my mother had taught me a few tricks early on. I decided to leave my journal with them, in case they ever wanted to visit. Although they would have another day of asking and answering and crying over my departure, I did not feel bad. I realized they were not my parents and this was not my world, my only link was my brother. He was supposed to be my guide, and without him, I had no purpose but to get lost.

I stood at the gates in the woods and waited for the sun to go up and night to fall. And when the moment came, as I stepped through the fairy dust, into the realm of my home, I could make out a figure that I was much too familiar with. And as I inhaled the blossoms, I could see Jaadu smiling at me. And I smiled back.

[kimvvantae]

feel better; (1)

➜ being with jimin is hot but cold at the same time. sweet but painful, exciting but sad, intimate but distant - and you don’t know if getting too close is worth the risk.

pairing: daddy!jimin x (f) reader

genre: smut (in future chapters), angst, fluff 

warnings: language, non-explicit mentions of sex

word count: 2k

A/N: this is an introduction of what i plan to do. if you guys like it i might update. also, i know that daddy kink is cringey, but 190105 jimin awakened the sub bitch inside of me and i had to write it. i’m not sorry.

➜ check out masterlist in bio for more of my works!

It's one of those days when you're sure the Universe hates you.

Whenever you think everything is fine, whenever you think you're about to have a nice day for once, whatever creatures that control the world probably look at you and say hm, I don't think so, bitch.

You close your eyes tightly and embrace your own body, heavy blankets covering you. The bedroom is considerably dark, but it's probably already noon and the world outside must be looking beautiful. It's summer, after all - and you're in one of the nicest places in the planet to enjoy summer: Rio de Janeiro.

You still don't know exactly how you ended up here. Jimin simply texted you some nights ago, asking if you wanted to "escape" from work. Of course you said yes, but you didn't expect that Jimin meant "escape" literally and would take you to fucking Brazil. 

You don't know him very well, but one thing you've learned about Park Jimin in these six months is that he's a very surprising man.

When you started with the whole sugar daddy thing, you didn't expect it to turn out to be good - because at the beginning, it really wasn't. You just started it because the idea of earning money easily was nice and you were desperate, so when you found out there was an app to find daddies (yes, there are apps about it), you downloaded it quickly. Let's just give it a try.

You did not meet anyone at first: you just sent nudes and some videos to your "clients", always covering your face and identity to protect yourself, and the experience was humiliating to say the very least. You kept doing it because the "clients" actually did pay for it and, again, you needed the money. Many of them said they'd pay more if you met them in person. You always refused. If just sending them some nudes made you feel that bad, then meeting in person or maybe having sex with them would be terrible.

That is… until you met Jimin.

You still don't know why the fuck he was using that app. Let's be honest, Park Jimin is not the type of man that needs to pay for sex. He sent you a message, though, and for some time you just sent him nudes as usual. Jimin was doing it anonymously - as most of the "clients" do - so you had no idea he was young. That is, until he started to ask for your private number. You got worried at first; he wasn't the first one to ask this, and you'd always refuse any kind of personal contact with the "clients". You're not stupid. You know that most of those old men are searching for a dumb girl or boy to use them in ugly ways. You considered blocking him…

Until you woke up to one thousand dollars in your bank account.

No one has ever paid that much.

All that because he wanted your private number.

Well, you gave him. If anything became strange, you could just block him and get rid of this number, right?

However, things took an unexpected route when the first thing Jimin sent was a video of himself masturbating for you.

You couldn't believe it. It could be a fake video, right? Are you telling me this beautiful man was on an app that only old men use? It took hours for you to reply - both because of your suspicion, your shock, and the fact that the video was mesmerizing. 

The man on the video was ridiculously hot. He was biting his bottom lip (such plump lips!) and moaning in a way that made your legs feel like jelly. And his cock - wow. Just wow.

You got wet and texted him back.

It was the first time someone made you come with texts.

You used to make fun of your friends when they talked about sexting, but sexting with this man was something out of this world. He was good with words and, before you noticed, you were sending more and more videos and nudes of yourself - and he'd constantly send videos of himself, too, what made you come to the conclusion that it wasn't fake. You've reached a point where you were doing it because of how hot it was, and not because of the money.

But then, Jimin thought that just sexting wasn't enough and asked to meet you in real life.

You still hesitated. You knew nothing about him. He could be a rapist, a psycho, a murderer. Jimin didn't force you into meeting him, though, what was unexpectedly nice of him (sugar daddies usually are not that nice), but he would ask from time to time if you'd like to meet.

A certain day, curiosity took the best of you and you said yes - as long as you'd meet in a public place.

Jimin choose a mall downtown.

It was a shocking moment.

One thing was seeing photos or videos of him. Another thing was seeing him in person.

His beautiful, plump lips. His cat-like eyes. Pitch black hair, flawless skin. He's not that tall, but his body proportions are balanced and perfect. The way he carries himself with confidence and pride, the way he looks at people with his piercing gaze…

When his eyes landed on you, you felt like being shot.

You promised yourself you wouldn't have sex with him, but ended up fucking the whole night.

The. Whole. Night.

Jimin was seductive. He was strong and flexible and had great stamina. Rough but  slow, deep and intoxicating, breath-takingly intense. He wasn't focusing only on his pleasure but on yours, too - and he didn't stop until he saw you begging desperately for release, dripping wet, toes curling, a moaning mess.

Jimin is that good.

After that night, you started fucking constantly. He started paying you higher, too - you soon found out Jimin is actually very rich and he doesn't mind buying you ridiculously expensive stuff. He even bought you a car. You're being so well paid that it's getting hard to hide your "secret life"; people are starting to notice you don't seem to struggle that much financially, which is strange, considering you work as a secretary with an average salary and has a university loan to pay (well, had; Jimin paid it for you).

You two are not close in the slightest, though. You don't know anything about Jimin's life other than the fact that he's super rich, his family owns Korea considering the amount of business they have in the country, and that he fucks good. Your relationship is strictly sexual. You don't ask about his life, he doesn't ask about yours. Jimin also made clear that he doesn't mind if you have a boyfriend or not and that you can end your "business" with him whenever you want. That's what surprises you: he seems to be a nice guy. Jimin doesn't force you to do anything, he constantly asks if you're liking it or not when you're fucking. His sex might be rough, but his actions and words are not. He never screamed at you, never spanked too strongly, never roped you too tightly, never offended you. Jimin doesn't think he can do whatever he wants with you just because he's paying for it.

Does it make you feel less bad? No. You know that what you're doing is prostitution. Sure, Jimin is the only person you have sex with, but it doesn't change the fact that you're being paid. You still need the money anyways - and you won't finish it all until you get what you need.

Jimin being so nice and fucking so good makes you consider staying a little longer sometimes.

He is so nice that he brought you to Rio with him after all. You know he's a busy man, having some free days to travel was probably hard for him. You should be rewarding him. You wanted to make him feel good, to enjoy the sun and the sea, to wear that pretty bikini he bought for you. Shit, you two should be fucking out there in the beach.

But here you are. Locked in the bedroom under the covers.

Sick.

Fever, headache, vomiting everything you eat. The doctor said it's a virus or something. You were already feeling bad even before you got in the plane, and now you feel bad for not telling him, because you could've taken some medicine and you'd be feeling better now. 

Instead of a sexy bikini, you're wearing one of your ugly (but comfy) pajamas, far from the nightgowns Jimin likes. Your hair is a mess, you're not wearing any makeup. What if Jimin gets disappointed with you bare face? Everything about this trip is wrong. 

When you hear Jimin's steps and the door opening, you close your eyes again.

He sits down by your side and put his hand on your forehead.

"How are you feeling?" He asks softly. You open your eyes and see the stunning man in front of you: he's wearing simple black shorts and a white cotton shirt. It's amazing how he can look good in such a simple outfit.

"Like crap," you say, raspy voice, and Jimin giggles. "I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing, baby? No one gets sick on purpose." It's one of the rare moments when Jimin is not talking with any type of sexual connotation, which is surprising. You expected him to be mad or disappointed, but he looks… concerned? The way his eyebrows are furrowed and he analyzes your face look like concern, at least. "I think the medicine is working. If you feel worse, I'll call the doctor again, okay?"

You nod weakly while Jimin caresses your hair. "I wish things were different."

"It's alright. This house is mine, we can come back whenever we want." You don't know why you still get shocked when Jimin says stuff like I own a mansion in a private beach so naturally, as if it's not a big deal. "We can visit Copacabana next time… and the Christ statue, if you want to, but that place is always too crowded. There is a city near here called Paraty, I think you'd love it, too…"

You lay there in silence as Jimin speaks. Okay, that is unexpected. You thought he just wanted to fuck in a cool beach, you didn't expect Jimin wanted to take you to touristic places. It almost felt like…

A couple?

You brush this idea off as soon as it crosses your mind. You know Jimin doesn't feel anything but sexual attraction for you - and it's the other way around. You're not stupid enough to fall for him. This is a man that pays to have you. He surely has some obsessive issues. You think that he wouldn't be a nice boyfriend at all, your relationship just works because you're as detached as him.

The idea of being in an actual relationship with him is… well…

"Rest now and you'll feel better soon." He says reassuringly, a small smile on his lips. Again, you search for any hint of annoyance on his expression - nothing.

The discomfort eases a little.

That is, until you see Jimin getting under the covers with you.

"What are you doing?!" You ask, surprised. Jimin's not going to initiate anything sexual, right? He's seeing you're sick!

"I'm not a doctor, but… one thing I know is that cuddling helps a lot in the healing process."

You feel Jimin's arms wrapping around your waist, your back touching his chest. He snuggles closer to you in a warm, cozy hug.

Your heart races. 

"Sleep now, baby." He whispers on your ear and kisses your neck tenderly. "Don't feel bad. I'm not mad at you."

As unexpected (and weird) as it is, you smile softly. It's been a long time since you've been so close to someone like this - no second intentions involved. It feels good. Although you're very aware of what your thing with Jimin is and you agreed with it in the first place, not being treated like a sexual toy feels good.

It's the first time you touch each other like this.

It feels more intimate than any sex you've ever had.

"And…" Jimin whispers in a raspy, low voice. "We'll have enough time later for you to pay for what we lost here, baby."

This makes you shiver. You love it when Jimin talks like that.

Your stomach twirls in excitement just imagining what Jimin will do to you in the future.

[gdxnicky]

The Calm Storm

Pairing: Min Yoongi x Female Reader

Genre: Fluff

Word Count: 4,573

Summary: You get an early morning phone call that your coworker, Min Yoongi has been in an accident. You step up the time he is hurt to take care of him but end up seeing him differently. Question is, does he?

It is way too early in the morning to be awake. Yet, some reason someone feels the need to blow up your phone. You grab it from your night stand and don't recognize the number at all.

"Hello…"

"Hi. Is this Y/N?" The other voice asks.

"Yes. Who is this?" You reply.

"My name is Park Jimin. I am a nurse at the hospital here in Seoul. I am calling because we had a young man come in after a car accident and he told us to call you for his emergency contact. Is this man your brother or something?" He explains and you begin to get nervous. You have no clue who he could be talking about. You are an only child and your parents live in Busan. 

"Sir, I don't know who you could possibly be talking about. I am an only child and my parents don't live around here." You respond feeling bad that you can't help his situation. 

After a moment of silence he comes back with "He said his name is Min Snail but that doesn't make sense to us. He has had some medicine so that doesn't help understanding him right now." Once he said that it clicked. Your coworker that you have been working with for about 5 years now. 

"Oh my gosh. Yoongi. Is he okay? What happened? Nevermind I am getting dressed and I will be there shortly." You say and hang up your phone before saying goodbye. Yoongi and you have been a songwriting duo working for an entertainment company in Seoul. He makes the track and the two of you write the lyrics. Through working with him you two have become close but you didn't think you were emergency contact close. 

You arrive to the hospital and get to where Yoongi was. He looked like crap and that is putting it nicely. If you didn't know him you would have never recognized him. He was all bruised and swollen. By the look of the contraption they have on his left arm you assume that there is where the majority of the damage is. You sat down on his right side and reached out for his hand. 

"Yoongi. It is Y/n. I just got here. Don't worry about waking up. You just rest there and I'll be here when you wake up." You tell him. He doesn't even move the slightest. You just take a deep breath and sigh. 

After being there for about 30 minutes his door begins to open. You stand up and greet the incoming doctor and nurse.

"Hello. I am Dr. Kim Namjoon and this is my nurse Park Jimin." 

"Hi. My name is Y/n. I am Yoongi's coworker and apparently emergency contact. Nice to meet you."

"Well nice to meet you too. So Yoongi has a concussion, broken left shoulder, and a broken right leg. From our understanding he was crossing the street and a drunk driver did not see the traffic light turn red. The driver hit his right side and when he landed he fell on his left shoulder and head. He will be here for a while until we can get his swelling down to cast his breaks and until we can make sure he does not have any underlying complications with the concussion." Dr. Kim explained. You could feel your heart breaking being the worrier that you are you start to think the worst. Tears form in your eyes and you fight them back.

"Miss, he is very lucky that this all that happened. This could have been a lot worse but we believe he will make a full recovery. No need to worry." Nurse Jimin says trying to comfort you. "We have him in a private room because it is all we have left. The couch in the corner can turn into a bed should you decide to stay with him. If you need anything, let me know."

"Thank you both very much." You say standing and bowing to show your gratitude. As they turned to leave you sat back down. Now that you know you will be there a while you will text your roommate to bring you a bag with some clothes, phone charger, and necessities so you don't have to leave him by himself. 

You wait until you know people will be at the office to call your boss to tell him what is going on. While on the phone with him you see Yoongi start to stir a little. Your boss tells you to just stay with him because you both know his parents won't be able to come stay with him. You can work on writing lyrics and stuff on a laptop and just share them with your boss. You tell him that once your laptop gets here you will have Yoongi teach you to use the software to make the tracks. After you hang up you look over at Yoongi and he is looking at you out of the one eye he can open since the other is swollen shut.

"Well hello sleeping beauty. How are you feeling?" You ask him as you take your seat next to him again.

"I am sore as all hell. How long have you been here?"

"I got here about 3:30 or 4 this morning."

"I am sorry. I don't even know they called anyone. I think I was pretty out of it because I don't remember much after getting in the ambulance. How did they get your number?"

"You told them to call me and when I asked who got in the accident you told them your name was Min Snail." You giggle at the nickname his friends had given him but it fits him perfectly. Yoongi moved like a snail. Not because he was lazy but mainly because he wanted to do things on his own terms.

"I'm still sorry that they called so early. It could have waited." He says while he is looking at you. He seems to feel bad about you waking up for his accident.

"Yoongi. Don't be sorry. I have no problem being here with you at all. You are a good friend of mine and that is what friends do." You tell him looking him in the eye. He must hear the sincerity in your voice because he backs down. You look at him for another moment and give him a smile. At that moment his door opens again and it is nurse Jimin with medicine for him. You step back and take this time to text your roommate.

'Seokjin, can you please pack me up some clothes with my phone charger, laptop with charger, and toiletries. Yoongi got in an accident and is in the hospital. I am going to stay here with him for a few days so he isn't alone.'

'Sure. No problem. Anything else you want me to bring you?'

'Something to drink and some breakfast would be amazing'

You sit next to Yoongi and tell him about your roomie bringing you your stuff. He tries to debate with you that you don't have to stay but you insist. He quickly surrenders and lets you win. You grin and slightly mock him because you never win a debate with him because he usually is so stubborn. The two of you sit in silence while he watches TV and nodding in and out of sleep. You play games on your phone and write down some lyric ideas that pop into your head. Shortly you hear his door open again and it is Seokjin with your things. 

"Thank you so much. This is great." You tell him as you take the bags from him. 

"No problem. I hope he feels better soon." Seokjin replies as he turns to leave. You thank your roomie again as he shuts the door. You think to yourself how lucky you are to have a roommate that is like him. He is always quick to help with anything. He is like the big brother you never had. Suddenly you are brought back to reality with the ringing of Yoongi's phone.

"Y/n, can you answer that for me and put it up to my ear?" He asks. You don't even utter a reply and do it for him. It is his three best friends and roommates wondering where he was because he never come home last night. 

"Hoseok, I swear I didn't work all night. I am in the hospital…. I will be fine. Y/n is here with me. I don't need anything… Actually a phone charger would be nice… Okay I will see you guys soon." He nods to you that you can pull the phone away now.

"Hoseok, Tae, and JK will be here soon. They thought that I made you work all night and that is why I wasn't home."

"Well it wouldn't be the first time we worked all night." You laugh at yourself then notice the glare from him. "I am not saying it as a bad thing. I enjoy our work."

"Sure you do." He responds very sarcastically. "That is why you never date because you are always working. You really should meet a guy. Let's be honest Y/n, you aren't getting any younger."

"And neither are you. If you had taken time off and gone on those blind dates I set you up on them you could have a girlfriend here taking care of you and not me." You snap back, slightly ticked off because you are reminded that your last boyfriend broke up with you because you are such a workaholic. He kind of looks at you all confused. You never tell him parts of your personal life because you try to keep it professional. You walk over to the couch and sit down with your laptop and begin writing lyrics to get your frustration out. 

Forty minutes have passed since you irresponsibly snapped at Yoongi. You have been trying to muster an apology but you don't know what to say. Finally it comes to you at the exact moment that his roommates show up. You stand up and greet them properly. 

"Yoongi, since these guys are here I am going to go for a brief walk and let you talk in private." You tell him very quietly and nervously before you turn and walk out. 

You wander aimlessly around the halls and debate how long you should give them before you head back. You look at the time. It has been 15 minutes. So you make your way back to the room. You stop yourself just outside the door as you hear them talking. You can't quite distinguish the voice but you know it isn't Yoongi's.

"Hyung, she is going to be here for the next couple days at least. She even had her roommate bring her things. Why not take advantage of it?" 

"Maybe because I just got my ass kicked by a car and pavement. I doubt this would be a good time to do it." 

"You need to tell her soon Yoongi so that you and her don't come to regret it."

You lean against the wall and start to ponder what they could be talking about. Then you begin to panic 'Oh my gosh… Is he going to request for someone else to work with him because I snapped at him… Did I hurt his feelings over that… Oh dammit.' You manage to pull yourself together before opening the door.

"Hey! You are back. We were just getting ready to leave." Hoseok says as he nudges the other two roommates. The four of them look like they are trying to hide something. You can only hope that it isn't what you are thinking. As much as Yoongi likes to work late and can be a pain in the ass, you two get along really well and you wouldn't want to work with someone else. He is such a good friend and you don't want to lose a friendship over pettiness.

"Oh no worries. You guys can stay. I can sit down over here and put on my headphones. I have a song I need to finish the lyrics for." You reply trying to ease the tension. 

"Just like Hyung… Working even when you should be just relaxing." Tae says as shakes his head.

"Well songs aren't going to write themselves…" You respond as you put your sound canceling headphones over your ears. You get so lost in your writing that you don't even notice the guys leaving. Eventually you feel your phone vibrating. You grab it to see you have a snapchat. You open up the message and it is from Yoongi. It is a picture of you sitting on the couch working with the caption are you going to be like that all day. You look at the time and it is almost 4pm. You take your headphones off and look at him. 

"No I'm not going to be like that all day." As you pass him a smile. "But Yoongi, um, I wanted to talk to you about something."

"...okay…" He says hesitantly.

"I heard you and the guys talking a little bit before I came back in the room. I know they want to tell me sooner than later but can I explain myself first?" You ask waiting for Yoongi to say something or try to get some sort of read off him but that man is like a statue. He has the best poker face. "I am sorry for how I snapped at you earlier. I shouldn't have. You don't even know what upset me and you don't deserve my drama crap. So if you will please forgive me and not ask to work with someone else?" You plead as he stares at you. 

"That isn't what we were talking about at all but okay." He says and laughs at you. You walk over toward the bed and bend down to give him a hug. 

"Thank you thank you thank you Yoongi. I really enjoy working with you." Just that second it hits you, this is the closest you have ever been to Yoongi and this is probably considered really unprofessional. However, you can't help but notice how he still smells nice even after the accident and medical treatments. You awkwardly stand up and apologize. "Yoongi, I am sorry. I shouldn't have done that. Kinda just happened."

He looks up you and just laughs. "Why are you so worked up over a hug? I mean like we have worked together for a while now. A hug between us would be fine." He explains half nervously. You just smile and sit next to him. "I mean you did come rushing in here and held my hand when you first got here." You feel your cheeks begin to flush.

"How do you know? You were sleeping until I got off the phone with our boss…" You exclaim.

"Was I really though?" He questions then turns his head to the side like he was sleeping.

"You weren't really asleep?"

"Nope. I didn't fall asleep until after you got here."

"You jerk." The two of you have a good laugh then start watching the new drama that was premiering tonight. About half way thru you look at Yoongi and he is fast asleep. You can tell because you wave your hand in front of his face and he doesn't budge. You stay next to him, holding his right hand for the next couple hours. Eventually you move over to the couch in the corner and fall asleep. 

You wake up the next day feeling awkwardly refreshed. The hospital couch is surprisingly comfortable. You look over to Yoongi and he is writing something down on a piece of paper.

"What are your writing?" You inquire. He begins to act embarrassed and tries to hide it quickly. 

"Oh um just some lyrics." He answers. You just raise an eyebrow at him and accept his answer. You two spend the next few days just hanging out and working on random songs. 

Eventually he gets the okay from the doctor to be discharged and you take him home. You explain to his roommates his restrictions and that you will be back in the morning to work from home with him. You get home and walk right for a shower and clean up. After you are done you walk to the kitchen and begin making some supper for Seokjin and you to eat. While you are eating you and him talk about the past few days and explain the embarrassing moments of the random hugs and such. He just laughs at you.

"You know a psychologist would argue that you hugged him because you had the subconscious desire to hug him." He teases.

"What?! Why would I have a desire to hug Yoongi?! That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard." You rebuttal quickly. Jin just looks at you and shrugs his shoulders. Before either of you can say anything you are interrupted by your doorbell ringing. You stand up and walk to the door.

"Hello, are you Y/n?" A delivery man asks.

"Yes I am." You answer nervously.

"Awesome, then these are for you." He responds while handing over a small bouquet of flowers and a card. "Have a good night."

"Thanks. You too." You answer as you begin to close the door. You walk back towards Jin. "Who in the hell would send me flowers?" You question as you open up the card.

'Y/n thank you for everything you have done for me the past few days. It means a lot to know I have someone like you to count on. -Yoongi"

You read the card aloud and your jaw drops when you read his name. You look up at Jin completely dumbfounded.

"Maybe he liked that hug…" He remarks. Then swerves his head because of the stuff you started to throw at him. 

"Shut up Jin. He is just saying thanks. It is nothing more." 

"Yeah… Sure… I'll let you keep thinking that."

You take the flowers and place them in some water next to your bed. You grab your phone and send Yoongi a Snapchat saying thank you for the flowers. You tell them that they are beautiful but he didn't have to because you were just doing what friends do. 

'I know but it meant a lot to me to have you there.' He responds with his gummy smile. You can't help but smile back. You are not used to seeing this side of Yoongi because normally he is pretty cold and standoffish. However, you can get used to this. It is nice to see he is human still. 

You go to bed fairly early because you seemed to have forgotten how comfortable your bed is. You wake up in the morning to your alarm slightly startled and weirded out by your dream. You sit there for a moment and ponder why you had a dream about Yoongi and why you kissed him in it… maybe you do like him. You shake your head back to reality and get ready to go over to his place to work with him. 

Once you arrive and ring the bell his roommate Jungkook opens the door for you.

"Hey Y/n. How are you?" He says politely as he lets you into the apartment

"I am well. Thanks. How are you?" You respond as you take your coat and shoes off.

"Good. Yoongi is in his room. Is there anything I can get you before you two get to work?" 

"No, I am fine. I stopped and grabbed some coffee and breakfast for Yoongi and I. Um… could you show me where his room is?" The two of you walk down the hallway and stop just outside his door. Jungkook knocks and tells Yoongi that you are there. He opens the door for you. You walk in to find that Yoongi's room is not a typical bedroom at all. He has quite the studio set up by his computer with a sofa and a bed there. You walk in, setting down the food and drinks on a stand in front of the sofa. You set your bag on the floor. Yoongi spins around in his computer chair to greet you.

"Hey Y/n. What did you bring?" He questions as he eyeballs everything your brought. 

"I have my normal work bag but I also bought you some breakfast and coffee because I doubt you have eaten." He scoots his chair over and you sit down on the sofa. You can tell he probably didn't sleep much because he has quite the tired look on his face. "Yoongi, did you not sleep last night?" 

"I did sleep last night but I woke up early. I had inspiration for a song and needed to get it out of my head." He explains as he starts to drink coffee and eat a bagel. 

"Oh nice. Can I hear the song?" You ask. He chokes on his bagel at your question and you see slight panic flash across his face. "If it isn't done than no big deal. I know you can get OCD about those things." You tell him, trying to reassure him. This only makes you more and more curious about the song. Yoongi is great at what he does and you have yet to find something he has written that you don't like. 

The two of you spend the rest of the day working on a song you had started when he was in the hospital. At the end of the day you tell him that you are going to have the next three days off because of some family coming to town. However, you make sure that he knows to call you if he needs anything. As you leave his apartment you feel this ache in your chest and your mind races. You begin to wonder, does this mean I am seeing Yoongi as a man… have I developed a true crush?

You were definitely ready to get back to work after three days of being away from Yoongi. It is true that distance makes the heart grow fonder. There is no doubt in your mind now that you had a crush on this man. After the first day you started to come up with random things to send him on Snapchat just to see his handsome face and gummy smile. He may have been hit by a car but you were shot by Cupid's arrow. 

You wake up that morning earlier than you normally do to make sure you do your hair and makeup just right but also have a cute outfit on to try and catch his eye. Instead of your usual ponytail you leave your hair down and flat iron it. For makeup, you decide to do the whole 9 yards rather than the simple mascara and cover up you do. You decide to go with a cute and flowy-ish skirt that comes three quarters the way down your thighs with a cute shirt that hugs just right to show off your womanly figure.

You leave your place and begin to head over to Yoongi's. Once you are there you knock on the door and Hoseok answers. He lets you inside and looks you up and down. 

"Wow. Y/n. You look… Wow." He says as he is embarrassed but speechless. 

You blush slightly and thank him before putting on your slippers and hearing to Yoongi's room. You knock on the door before walking in. You find a gift box on the stand in front of the sofa, the computer on and a song pulled up. You don't see Yoongi anywhere and walk over to the computer. There is a note on the keyboard that says 'press play and open the box'. You hit play and realize it is a song you have never heard. You sit down and begin the box. Inside you find a picture frame with lyrics to the song you are listening to. Once the song is over you reread the lyrics aloud to yourself. You begin to realize that the singer is confessing to the listener but struggling with some sort of barrier or obstacle in their way. You have been too oblivious to what has been going on around you while listening and reading to notice that Yoongi had walked into the room. You start talking to yourself.

"That song is so beautiful. If I was on the receiving end of the confession I would tell them that everything will be okay. I wonder what the barrier is for the singer and I wonder what sparked Yoongi to write this…"

"You." You hear from behind you turning to see Yoongi standing there. He is looking at you in the eye trying to maintain some form of confidence but there is still nervousness in his voice. 

"Me? What about me?" 

"You sparked me to write this and you are on the receiving end of this confession." He explains as he lowers his head slightly because he was expecting something more. "The barrier or obstacle that I talk about is the fact that we are coworkers and obviously have become great friends but I don't want to jeopardize what we already have for some silly crush. I was debating telling you also because I know things will never be the same between us whether you are okay with my feelings or not. This is my first time ever confessing to a female how I feel because before now I never liked someone as much as I like you. Even if I did think I liked them, my anxiety would have never allowed it, but there is something about you Y/n that just puts my mind and body at ease. You are the calm to my storm." You take a couple steps toward Yoongi and set the gift down on the table. You reach out with a hand, grabbing his chin and making him look at you.

"Yoongi. You have no idea how much this changes things between us. Our friendship will never be the same, but that is because I feel the same way too." You explain to him as you reach for one of his hands. You try to fight back happy tears because this is not only the sweetest confession ever and coming from the man that you adore, but you know that this is sincere because music is how Yoongi communicates. 

"Really?" 

"Yes, really. Why do you think I have done all that I have done for you recently. Let's also add on the fact that I did my hair, makeup, wore a really cute outfit, and had this big master speech on how I was going to tell you how I feel all planned out." He takes a small step back and begins to look you over, having you twirl so he can see it all. 

"You look absolutely beautiful." He compliments with a big gummy smile stretched across his face. "So since we both like each other, can we officially consider today as our day 1?"

"Look at you going all romantic kdrama on me." You giggle. "Of course today is our day one."

[saeranlover]

Why give rika a good ending? she doesn't deserve it

Okay, anon... I understand where you’re coming from. Yes, Rika did some pretty bad, disgusting stuff in her life. However, that does not mean that she is 100% not worthy of any sort of redemption.

I’m going to probably end up doing some sort of long analysis on Rika here, so stick by me...

Note: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS FOR THE SECRET ENDINGS IN THIS.

Rika was mentally ill. Of course, all of what she did cannot be pinned upon just that. All of the RFA members seem to hold some semblance of mental issues, but I’m going to be talking about just Rika here.

From what it sounds like, she has worked persistently through her life to improve the quality of the lives of others over her own. You can tell by some of the CGs in the game. For example, this one with Yoosung:

The thing is, her life wasn’t perfect, perhaps leading to why she wanted to help others. It is indicated that her adoptive parents end up disliking her, meaning that in terms of family, Yoosung was the only one who wanted her around. That must have been horrible, knowing that not even the parents who wished to grant her a second chance to have a family in life don’t want her, with it only being her adoptive cousin who feels as though she was worth something. That could have made her depression so much worse than it could have been if she had a proper, full family wanting to support her.

Also, to add on to this, her life becomes worse following the death of somebody important in her life: her pet dog, Sally. This is like a trigger for her, as she blames herself entirely for not letting Sally get surgery to fix her eyes, leading to Sally running out in front of a car. She must have felt like it was her own dog committing suicide just for the sake of getting happiness that could only be achieved otherwise by receiving the surgery.

This leads to (what may be coincidental, because of Sally’s blindness) V’s eyes being attacked by Rika. However, he is not innocent with this matter. I do feel sympathetic for V, and believe that he was dumb for not taking up Jumin’s offer for surgery... But he did bring this upon himself.

This is a conversation which they had in part 3 of the first section of the secret endings:

And for just in case it doesn’t load:

V: You can never hurt me, Rika. I love you more than you can ever imagine. I don’t have a single shroud of doubt in my mind. I love you, I desperately want you.

Rika: You want me when I’m like this? I’m always depressed. I have so many problems...

V: They are nothing compared to my love...

Rika: I can’t believe somebody would love me so much. V... are you real?

V: You can test me until you believe me. Even if you strangle my neck, BLIND MY EYES, and destroy my limbs... I love you. I am your sun.

V is genuinely trying to help her, but is going the complete wrong way about it in my opinion. He says that she can never hurt him, but feeling hurt is good in a natural, healthy relationship, so long as the hurt isn’t constant or permanent. He then, as I emphasised in bold, italics, and capital letters, says that Rika can blind him to prove that he is real and that his love is real. V, for god’s sake... That will not help in the slightest. He did feel as though he was doing good for her, and proving his love...

But still, in a way, that may have been another trigger for Rika in setting her off in her delusions of achieving happiness. Being able to influence V’s happiness in such a way may have made her feel she had the power to bring about happiness for all.

On top of this, this was most likely at a point after V had influenced Saeyoung into joining the intelligence agency. That meant that she had somebody else to test out her happiness ideals... Saeran Choi, a vulnerable, abused, and sickly teenager. Her promises to him for happiness through assisting her and getting his revenge on Saeyoung for leaving is what led to him becoming completely loyal to her, in turn making her feel more powerful in terms of achieving power, and making her delusions of power worse, leading to her calling herself a ‘Saviour’.

On top of that.... Rika used the RFA to assist in the creation of Mint Eye, her ‘Paradise’. Chances are, she used the lists of guests to find people who would be willing to join and support the group. This can be supported by something which V, who is aware of Rika and Mint Eye, says in the Christmas DLC to Jumin. He asks for Jumin to illegally obtain information about people who attended the first RFA party... Specifically the bank details.

He’s vague with his reasons, but I have a feeling that this is to fund Rika’s Mint Eye. I mean, the ‘medicine of salvation’ which Rika ends up with must have been created through some sort of funding, and I have a feeling that V knew that if he could get the support of those who are no longer associated to the RFA - AKA those who could tell Jumin, etc. that something is going on, he could support Rika’s paradise.

Again... Not the best thing you could’ve done, V. And even then, I think Jumin still does it for him, because of his loyalty to his friend.... V is so blinded by his love for Rika, he just wants her to be happy. I understand that feeling which V has of being so in love with somebody that I would want to do literally anything for them, but if Tobias started a cult which drugs and brainwashes people? Hell nah, I would never help him with that, I’d try to talk him out of it!

But even then... He probably knew that Rika now had the power to kill him. She has disciples at this point, people who would be willing to kill him just to make her happy. He can’t lie to her...

But anyway, I want to kind of go into Rika’s delusions of power now. As I mentioned earlier, through (most likely) Saeran and V, she feels powerful and as though she is one of the only ones who have the power to make people happy, hence her taking on the title of ‘Saviour’. She attempts to ‘save’ people, and ‘cleanse’ them from the ‘sins’ of society. As she has influence by this point, she feels more and more powerful.

She has nothing to ground her to reality.

She abandons the RFA, which V covers up at a suicide to protect the lives of the RFA. He doesn’t want them to know, he can’t afford to let them know, or else their lives would be put in danger by her pulling them into Mint Eye. But it was the RFA who grounded her to reality. People who supported and loved her, and became a second family to her who relied upon her.

Yoosung, her cousin who looked up to her. Jihyun, her lover and fiancée. Jumin, a close friend or both her and Jihyun. Zen, the rising musical actor who she had supported since he was nothing but a small name in the industry. Saeyoung, the boy she assisted in church before he became a hacker. Jaehee isn’t so closely tied to Rika, only being a part of the RFA through association to Jumin, but chances are she probably understood and empathised with the love and adoration which the others had for her.

The only way in which she could be brought back to reality...

Was being made to witness something which could only happen in reality, and not in her paradise.

V being killed by Saeran.

In her paradise, V would have remained a ‘loyal’ disciple by her side (it is indicated at times that he is simply just a mole in Mint Eye under the premise of a disciple who does as she asks to avoid his death at her hands, trying to gather information to protect the RFA), until his natural death He would have been made to stay with her as he turns blind, and have been at her every whim.

He didn’t die how she intended for him to die.

It breaks her. She doesn’t know how to react. But unfortunately, that is how she can be grounded to reality.

After this, Rika is completely silent. Even when Zen and Yoosung are watching over her, she remains mute. She’s in shock. She is too shocked and horrified to react to Jihyun dying, and her only way of reacting to that is smiling and being silent. I assume that she is smiling and happy because that’s what Jihyun wanted her to be like when she was alive. Happy.

It’s only at his funeral, where people are talking of V in a positive light, that Rika begins to speak again. She talks about the sun - what she and V called each other.

Then, of course... She was able to be sent to Alaska for a year of residential therapy by Zen and Yoosung, before she is arrested for her crimes as a cult leader. She doesn’t resist, as she likely would have done if she was still at Mint Eye.

And we can only assume, due to how the secret endings finish, that one of two things happen.

She is helped with her mental illnesses in Alaska

The therapy doesn’t help, and makes things even worse for her.

I, in my honest opinion, hope that it is number 1 which occurs.

But anyway... That’s enough of my rambling... I’ll summarise what I said here:

Rika is mentally ill.

Yoosung is her only family member who supports her, not even her adoptive parents.

Sally’s death is one of the main triggers of her worse actions, as is V’s attempts at helping the one that he loves.

She feels that, through doing her best to make V and Saeran happy, she can make everyone happy, leading to delusions of power.

Mint Eye is a result of that.

The RFA was what grounded her to reality - leaving them to work on Mint Eye completely separated her from reality.

Only one thing was possible to ground her to reality, making her see the problems in her actions - V’s death

She becomes mute, but comes across as happy - WHAT V HAD WANTED FOR HER THE WHOLE TIME.

She doesn’t resist being sent to therapy in Alaska, but it is unknown what the outcome of that is.

Aaaaaaaand... Thank you for sticking with me.

[johanna-swann]

So, my headcanon is kinda long but bear with me: When the whole rebirth thing starts Merlin can't really figure it out, because the order of the people who come back and especially the time spans in between seem so fucking random.

Also the why isn't really clear to him. Hearing how "Arthur will return when Albion's need is greatest" he expected some kind of apocalypse scenario. But when the first person walks out of that lake it's the early 1700s. Something is always going on in the world of course, but nothing major is happening right then and also, why the hell is Morgana the first to come back?

Morgana though is a very different person from the last time they met. She has much more clarity on everything now and much less anger. She still remembers everything that happened in Camelot and is still blaming Merlin for a couple things, but after a few yelling matches they sort of forgive each other and to an extent even themselves.

So Merlin and Morgana are just vibing in the 1700s and waiting for the others to arrive. Which doesn't happen though, not after 1 year or 10 or 50. They do however find out that Morgana is immortal now, too. Or at least she doesn't age. They're not sure how exactly it works and aren't too keen on testing it. While they wait they slowly become friends again and after realising that Arthur probably won't show up anytime soon they basically go "oh well, screw it" and have the time of their lives partying through the decades. [Which is where I personally would pepper in the fact that they're totally falling for each other, but it works with them being platonic companions as well.]

It's the Lord's year of 1897 when finally the next person appears at lake Avalon's shores. It's Mordred and at first the situation is really awkward. Mordred slightly regrets killing his king, but still hates Merlin and admires Morgana, but Morgana is set on getting things right this time around and is also Merlin's gf/bff now, so yeah. It takes a while to get everything sorted out, but eventually Mordred settles in just fine.

They live through both world wars and they try their best to somehow make things better without getting found out (let's be honest, this is the magical trio team-up we deserved to see). It was a draining couple of decades which is why they're over the moon when one day Gaius walks out of the lake. They can all use these good news and Gaius immediately takes back his position as surrogate father.

It's also Gaius who suggests the theory that they all were brought back depending on how strong their magic is. Being raised from the dead by destiny sounds pretty magical to Gaius and it makes sense that their own magic accidentally sped up the process. It's the best theory they've got so far since they can't find any other logical pattern. It does lead them to believe that they'll have to wait some more for Arthur and the knights though since none of them have magic.

So for a lack of better things to do they try to prepare for their friends' arrival. They build a house together near the lake, big enough to house all of them. They begin to write summaries on world history and modern technology while Mordred simultaneously starts his search for authentic magical artefacts and relics. It's a rather calm couple of years, cottage core style. Gaius goes back to studying medicine, Morgana becomes a lawyer at some point and Merlin is still waiting.

That's pretty much the end of my headcanon. I'm unsure what exactly Arthur would be needed for when he comes back, but in the essence all of them are friends again and team up to save the world.

Hey merlin blogs I wanna test something

If you see this, you gotta reblog with your favourite headcanon you have that either slightly contradicts canon or has Literally Zero Evidence to support it.

Mine would be that Mordred helped Morgana escape the Sarrum of Amata but never told her or anyone else. And also that Isolde is Irish nobility and has some magic.