#her face looks unnaturally sad but i'll keep learning

[chxrry-kisses]

❥ you decided to explore the area.

Well, there were multiple places you could go to, but the closest seems to be a park right across the street. There were no slides or anything except a fountain, some scattered benches, and a small, sad-looking tree. The ground was littered with dandelions and other weeds. There was even a small anthill, but it was less of a hill and more like a hole in the ground.

Still, you saw the Student Council President in front of a computer with stacks on of paper in front of her. You wondered why she's doing it outside, and doesn't she have an office?

Took you a second to see, but there was a person sitting across her, with her face in her hands. Fair enough, considering the amount of work those two seem to have.

As if sensing your stare, Asiya looked up and waved. "Oh, hello!"

The girl's head snapped toward you. Her eyes were a light brown, and clear, like a shallow pond. The color of her hair was straight,and cut just above her shoulders. Despite her carefully keeping her face blank, you got the feeling that the girl did not want you there.

Asiya patted the seat next to her. "Please, don't mind Jin-Ae. She just doesn't like talking with new people."

JIN-AE the student council vice president

AFFECTION: ??? ENVY: ??? LUST: ??? LOVE: ???

You asked Asiya what she was working on. You felt Jin-Ae's eyes dig deep into your skull.

Asiya gazed at her computer screen and sighed. "It's mainly fighting the principal on things that would benefit the students, assembly meetings, helping the theatre and dance students get their productions and competitions approved by staff, but..." Her hands searched for something amidst the clutter. Asiya frowned and without looking up, said, "Jin-Ae, do you have those files? The ones with the students?"

With unnatural speed, Jin-Ae gave the files to Asiya. She opened them, and you saw what you could only describe as those criminal profiles you see in shows. "But sometimes, we get cases like these."

"What did they do?"

She scoffed. "They were fools, that's what." Asiya flipped through the profiles. "One of them tried approaching me to get information via recording on their phone, and to be fair, the flash wasn't on. A smart move that some other students did not think of." Disgust dripped from her tone. "Still, they held their phone in front of them, as close to me as they would dare. Can you believe it?"

Asiya continued to ramble. "That's what told me something was wrong. I got one of my... underlings? I got one of them to follow that student around, and I'll admit, they were careful about their shady dealings. Ethan couldn't keep up with them.

"A shame they weren't careful enough." Asiya pulled out a sheet from the file. "This one's in one of my classes. Every time I looked at her, I saw her on her phone. Someone put it in the lost and found box, and I recognized the case..."

❥ you listened to Asiya complain about some delinquent students. you learn a thing or two after hearing her talk.

PERCEPTION: +1%

❥ congratulations, you unlocked Asiya's special stat, PERCEPTION. Usually, you need to be close to a character to unlock it, but some characters work differently. You can continue to raise special stats by either getting closer, or doing specific events.

"Ahem."

Oh, you forgot that Jin-Ae was literally right there. You looked up at her. With thinly veiled displeasure, she smiled at you. It did not meet her eyes.

"It's getting a bit late, and Asiya and I have so much work to do. Why don't you go somewhere else?"

Asiya shrugged. "Do whatever."

You feel as though Jin-Ae really doesn't want you to stay...

❥ what will you do?

-> stay?

-> explore another area?

-> go home?

⊰᯽⊱⊰᯽⊱⊰᯽⊱

❥ vote by typing your answer in the notes or send an ask

❥ votes close on February 5th, 6 PM EST

[carrefxur]

Day 30: Two Heads Are Better Than One (FFXIV Writing Challenge 2024).

The Carwynn siblings were marching down the road, enjoying a pleasant and tranquil midday walk through a nearby forest. On either side of the path, rows of pale carnations bloomed on either side, stretching for as far as the eye could see. There was a name given to them in the region, but Rowan just called them "Grandpa Whiskers"…mostly because it made her laugh.

Her eyes are drawn away from the ethereal sight at the sound of her brother's gasp, looking at what was ahead of them -- a felled tree! Their path was blocked!

"Must've been the wind storm that passed a few days earlier." Ealdwynn says observantly. Rowan's eyes are drawn towards the flowers crushed underneath one of the many watchers of the forest, frowning.

"Sad…" She muses openly. Meanwhile, her brother is already measuring up the tree, pacing back and forth. "Need help with that, big bro? I can lift it up."

"How." It was a request.

"…very carefully and with a lot of force." She replies, a bit less confident than before.

"Mhm, and I'll ask it to kindly move out of our way." The grin on his face indicates his amusement. "Though it is fortunate we're both here. Remember that spell you've been learning from Dad? We can probably combine it with my wind magic to set it to the side at least."

"Won't that damage more of the Grandpa Whiskers?"

"It'll be fine, Ro." The older brother pats his sister on the shoulder. "They'll grow back. We need to make sure nobody else gets blocked off."

"Alright!" She pounds a fist into her other hand, Warrior of Light style. "Let's get to it."

Rowan moves to kneel behind the tree, running a hand along the dark bark. Her mind drifts briefly. considering how long this pillar of the forest must have been standing guard. Well before her time, no doubt. The wind behind her blows, sending the nearby carnations to dance about in an unnatural waltz, while the leaves above shudder out their rustling song. An effect of Ealdwynn's aero magic, no doubt.

She smiles briefly, focusing her mind with one hand on the tree. She looks to the left, where more of the Grandpa Whiskers had been crushed. The young lady does her best to imagine the tree over there, put to rest in the field of flowers. It sounded like the best way to go. She realized then that's how she would want to leave this world.

The aether runs through her veins, Rowan closing her eyes as she channels the energy. She had her target in her mind's eye, the gusting winds sending her hair flying against her face.

The Marcellian isn't sure how long it takes -- all she knows is that at some point, the feeling of wood vanishes and the winds die down, returning to a gentle breeze. Rowan opens her eyes, looking to her left. The tree to the side of the road now, no longer blocking the road.

"YES!" She jumps up, laughing in delight. She runs over to high-five Ealdwynn, who does his best to play it cool -- for all about five seconds. He returns it (because who would leave someone hanging, right?), then goes down-low -- of course, Rowan follows it up flawlessly.

"Good work, Ro. Let's keep moving, shall we?"

[clairvoyagesims]

Lower Mimosa Hill,  6: 23PM

after work.

After crying in bed for some time, Tia sits up, staring morosely at the polaroid of herself and Severus on the wall. 

She wishes to take it down, so that she doesn’t have to keep feeling haunted by it, but keeps it up anyway as it reminds her of a time when it was just them and no one else. A time when they were happy. 

In that picture, they were teenagers, who had just broken up for the Summer holidays, returning home on the Hawthorne Express after their fifth boarding school year had come to an end.

Her cat, Coco comes over after napping, hopping up into Tia’s bed and nudging her thigh with her tiny head. 

Tia sniffles, wiping her tearstained cheek. “You must be hungry, let’s make sure you eat something too.”

Entering the kitchen, she grabs cat food from the shelf and spoons it into Coco’s bowl, as soon as she puts it down, Coco runs between her legs, almost causing her to trip. 

“Can you not?!” She snaps, irritated at the minor incident. 

Everything which would be minor to some, seems so intense to her. 

And she can’t fathom how her mood had gotten so dark and icy lately, she thought she was patient with Clarissa and Severus, but today, that patience had been tested beyond its means and now she’s starting to feel things a lot deeper, the numbness wearing off. 

After some time, her icy mood thaws out into sludgy remorse as she watches the cat ravenously indulge in her food .Here I am upset over a boy I can’t have... when I should be looking after you... what kind of cat mom am I?” 

Sighing, she turns back to the kitchen to make something for herself. 

“I think I’ll just eat ramen for now.” 

 mood song ♫ 

[dizzydennis]

Sonic x Rouge Cover Story (Part 2)

Translator note: Thank you for checking out Part 2 of Rouge’s cover story. I have no idea why it was separated like this, but it’s fine in the end. I am not fluent in Japanese and I am still learning how to be a better translator. Please note that there will likely be mistakes in my work here, but I hope you enjoy the story. Also, I am busy with work and didn’t have the luxury of working on my laptop for this one. While riding a Shinkansen, I typed this out on my phone. If there are any mistakes, please forgive me.

Within the center of Eggman Land, there is a deep vertical hole deep in the ground that goes over 100 meters down.

This was the site of the “Gaia Temple.”

The temple, which once stood for the "healing" of this planet, was tucked into the underground of Eggman Land, but emerged during a big battle and is now sleeping deep in the depths of the planet.

At the bottom of this hole was a figure that landed silently. After looking around carefully, this person said in an overly satisfied tone:

"Huh. It seems that all those robots that gathered together to get Sonic. All for little ol’ me! ♪"

This person was Rouge the Bat. When she looked at the radar she was carrying she could see Sonic was a ways off; just as planned.

"Everybody should get a friendly little hedgehog friend!~"

It seemed certain that she pushed the enemy towards Sonic and to drive them as far away as possible. Then, on the contrary, Sonic was heading for this very spot.

Soon after reaching the deepest part of the tall rock spires of the temple, Rouge found a stone that was dimly shining through the darkness, picked it up, and gracefully pressed it against her cheek.

“I finally found you! And you’re just such a cutie!”

"... Who are you talking to and what are you saying?"

When asked from behind, Rouge looked blankly forward with the stone still on her cheek.

"Oh ...? Did you abandon your work? That’s pretty naughty, Sonic."

Rouge's expression, as she slowly looked back and asked, returned to her usual graceful smile.

“Well, I know you’re the worst kind of lady and I couldn't help it," Sonic answered with an obnoxious grin.

Knowing the location of the Chaos Emerald with the energy detector, Sonic noticed Rouge's plan to use him to allow her a chance to take the gem and so… he quickly showed up here.

The communicator that was informing her of his position would still be spinning on rotation.

"So, what are ya going to do with that Chaos Emerald?"

Rouge smiled and returned without any fear.

"Well, I was thinking that I’d bring it home … What do you say to that?"

Rouge continued, shifting her gaze from the ring on Sonic’s left hand to the Chaos Emerald.

“You’ll soon realize the value of a better gem when one comes around.”

With that said, she slammed a smoke bomb, that she took out from in-between her breasts, on the ground.

<< BANG! >> >>

The area was covered with white smoke.

"Hey! What about our deal earlier!?"

When Sonic shook off the smoke, Rouge had already grabbed on to a large escape balloon and was rising into the sky.

"... Well that takes care of that! My investigation has already ended ♪ You were very useful for the time being, so I will share my intel as promised. Eggman Land’s power restarted because of that seven-colored shooting star ... and the Chaos Emerald accidentally fell here. "

The setup was a little crazy, but Rouge got the Chaos Emerald anyway. She began talking to earn time to escape.

“Well look at that, the Gaia Temple that was previously here was also a power spot for the Chaos Emeralds, right? Perhaps because of that, it seems the underground temple responded to all that Chaos Energy and began to spread energy around the area.”

Sonic didn’t seem to move at all.

"Well, I gave it some thought... If I were to come down here then I might happen upon a Chaos Emerald myself.”

So that was it. Sonic began to speak back.

"OK, but the Chaos Emeralds don’t really belong to anyone. They’ve just been used by some of us when the world was really in a pinch.”

It didn’t matter to Rouge as she let out a soft, “But…"

"But what?"

“But… isn’t it just great to be able to dig in and steal it?”

The next moment Sonic grinned as he dashed towards Rouge.

"!?"

Sonic used the slopes of the rock pillars to spin dash into the sky. As he crossed by Rouge, he grabbed the Chaos Emerald right from her hand.”

"Oh! You thief!"

With a wink, Sonic fell to the bottom of the vertical hole with a huge smile across his face. Rouge was at a loss for words and swooped down to catch up to him!

<< RUMBLE ...! >> >>

Suddenly, all the lights in Eggman Land shut off and the planet shook violently.

A plethora of dazzling streaks of light rose from the very bottom of the vertical hole. The lights shot out in countless directions, and the entire place was engulfed with light once Sonic landed.

The five Chaos Emeralds that Sonic had in his possession started to shine brightly as if they were responding to the lights below.

"What is this......!?"

A glow returned to the darkened and drained Chaos Emeralds.

Maybe it's because five Chaos Emeralds were gathered in the same place where the Gaia Temple used to be. Perhaps it was because Sonic has a deep connection with the temple. Either way, some slumbering power had “found” the Chaos Emerald.

Rouge, who was watching this from the sky, was completely awestruck at such a beautiful scene.

Moreover, the darkness that has spread across the entire temple was washed out as huge particles of light seemed to cut out through the engravings along the side of the large hole. They became even more gorgeous as they shined in seven bright colors.

It looked like a fancy jewel placed on top of high quality black velvet fabric.

"...!"

Rouge glanced at its beauty with longing eyes as she let out a sigh.

For the realist that Rouge was: gems that are unobtainable are truly worthless. However, the hint of "better jewels" still being out there made Rouge happy.

... She could hear Sonic calling from far below her feet.

"Hey! Are you going to come back for it?”

Sonic was shouting with the Chaos Emerald in his hand. It was if he wasn’t going to put up a fight at all.

Of course, she wasn’t going to give up on this real jewel. Right now, no matter what went down in Eggman Land, people’s hearts don’t change. Rouge squinted her eyes and made a confident smile. She pretended to give up and assessed her chances for a surprise attack.

“Well… I lost. I don’t need a sneaky hedgehog’s emerald anyway! Besides—”

<< Crack ...! >> >>

As Rouge flew, the circumference of the hole began cracking apart as the planet shook again.

<< RUMBLE ...! >> >>

"What!? What’s happening this time!?”

A vertical hole that was originally struck in an unnatural shape ... I couldn't stand the torrent of light. The vertical hole couldn’t withstand the barrage of light. The buildings and attractions of Eggman Land fell as if they were caught in an avalanche. The whole thin collapsed.

...... Now’s the time to strike!

If Rouge could get off a surprise move now, she could possibly get all five of Sonic’s emeralds! However, Sonic was able to avoid a giant Eggman statue that had collapsed and fallen in. Sonic slipped back and fell into the smoke.

Sonic would be fine in a situation like this. Rouge, however, concentrated all of her cunning towards an overhead surprise attack once the smoke settled.

But then ...

"I'm sorry to have kept a lady waiting, but I can’t give much more of an apology, right? By the way, what were you trying to tell me earlier?"

Rouge was hearing Sonic's cocky voice from the communicator.

Rouge dropped her head in sadness. Sonic had already escaped. Also, his communicator must was very far away from where he was ... Rouge realized that it was impossible to catch up with him.

Really, this guy does every single thing he wants to, doesn’t he?

"It's so annoying. I now have nothing!"

Saying that, Rouge got rid of her communicator and let her escape balloon go too. She then angrily flew into the sky.

Sonic, on the other hand, almost instantly returned to his usual demeanor with a cheeky expression. Before running off, he left a last message on his communicator despite the fact that nobody would hear it.

"Well, Rouge. Did you enjoy yourself today?"

The night was soon erased by a wave of light. Morning had come to Eggman Land, the place for hopes and desire.

The amusement park, which welcomed two guests during its bustling night of resurrection had collapsed and fallen completely silent. Now, it seemed nothing more than a set of ruins. Casting a dark shadow onto the new morning.

With that in mind, Rouge, who ended up going home empty-handed, was flying in the sky with horrid thoughts in her mind. However, she suddenly went silent when she thought about the jewel of light she saw.

Even so, it was overwhelming. That unrealistic beauty it had... What if Rouge could just know how valuable it was?

"... Well, you’ll just have to find it for yourself then!"

"Motivation" is the "ideal jewel". Maybe there was some value in this, depending on how you think about it.

Let's leave things as they are. Rouge was in a good mood as these thoughts raced through her mind. She then flew off into the sunrise.

“I'll definitely get all the jewels I want anyway! All jewels in the world are my mine to keep! ♪”

[barnesaintdead]

The Reason — A Bucky Barnes romance.

Summary: there's none, actually, I'm terrible at this so I'll just resume for you. Bucky turns up to be face-to-face with his past. Now he must deal with his feelings.

Warnings: teeth rotting fluff, smokin' hot smut, heart stabbing angst. It takes place between Civil War and Infinity war but Bucky is not a popsicle in the end. Mentions of abuse, torture and rape, so be careful and keep your mental health.

Word count: 1300+.

Pairing: Bucky Barnes/OC and big brother! Steve Rogers/ OC.

A/N: So, this is going to be full of fluff with tiny but heartbreaking moments of angst and not so much smut but really smutty at the few times. Get ready. I'm in college, tomorrow is my first day and probably I won't continue Pandora's box because it was written under an emotional breakdown so please don't be sad. Now, let's read. Feedback and love are always welcome.

Chapter One.

"This is definitely not good", Steve points as he stops in his tracks. Both him and Bucky went to the rescue of Wanda from one of Hydra's facility back and Germany and now the three of them were face to face with at least two dozens of highly armed men. Right in the middle, the only woman in the squad was casually cracking her knuckles. Cap's shield dancing on her arm. She was covered from head to toe, so they couldn't make out if she was someone known.

Tension running in the air, they kept staring until Wanda grunts and push her hands up, red magic swirling around them. In the first shot, she walked ahead her teammates to survey some protection, heading towards the enemy squad only to stop abruptly as the woman uses the shield to take them down one by one. When finished, she throws it with a certain strength back to Cap and he stands there, mouth agape while she approaches slowly.

"Is she one of ours?" Wanda asked with a crease in her forehead.

"Not that I know but Fury never was a fan of sharing his thoughts, was he?".

Only a short distance separated them when the girl pushed off her helmet along with the tactical mask. Steve jumps at the sound on his side, Bucky let his gun fell to the ground. His eyes were wide open and his breath came out in erratic puffs. Wanda raised a brow as she exchanged a concerned look with Steve.

"I thought you were dead", he finally stutters. The girls smirks and drop her helmet to the ground, kicking to the side with a loud tump. Loads of memories flowing trough his head, making him shiver at the sight of her.

He came back from an late assignment after a long time away from the compound. His eyes lingered at her the entire time as she played with her teddy bear between her mom's legs. He was in a chair, doing routine exams in his arm after finishing the late mission report. She looked at him and smiled, waving her tiny hands in his direction.

Later that same night, she broke into his room. A huge grin across her features as she put down her dinner in his small table. Her soft voice humming to the melody of one of The Ink Spots song.

"You need to stop lockpicking, kroshechnyy", he lectured, sitting down across from her.

"If you tell me that again, I'll have the pudding all to myself", she threatened, earning a soft laugh from the soldier. "I wouldn't need to lockpick anything if they stopped locking you up here".

The soldier sighed, and shook that sudden sadness off once he tore a piece off of the bread and shoved into his mouth. The girl must've have eight or nine years by now, he saw her birth. Since she started talking, he was her target for everything. Since drawings, to new stuffed animals the other doctors or soldier brought to her. He didn't like much the thought that a little piece of sunshine like her had grown without knowing what was to attend school, play in the park or having friends of her age. But he was gratefull for the special fondness she had over him. She would slide into his room when she had nightmares, or just couldn't sleep, she always shared her meals with him for not being able to finish all herself.

Nora was an exceptional kid. Great hability on learning every single thing they taught her. At some point, she was tested after her "natural" enhancement. She was daughter of the only woman used in the Winter Soldier project, born unnaturally by lab breeding, she was injected with the serum even before her body was formed.

The times for her training came, they made sure to hurt her as much as they hurt him, and that killed him. She would be spared with him for fights to unconsciousness or until one of them were too weak to continue. She was good, strong, her small body was useful in a lot of ways, but mostly to scape from bigger enemies like him. They made him hurt her, for her learning. To turn her into the perfect soldier, emotionless and methodic.

Sadly — for them —, she wasn't like that. She couldn't be tamed or bent to no one's wills. Nora was fierce, bright and strong. Deadly strong. All the torture, the spanking sessions and the confinement never tore apart, never took out her warm personality; her kindness could never be erased. She was just that good.

After the sessions, she would still sneak into his room at night. Even after he had beaten her up to her unconsciousness, she would always come back to his room and assure him it was alright, that she was still his friend. A deep bond has settled between them. Until he dissapeared. The last time she saw him, she felt a hug wasn't enough to say goodbye, almost as she knew he wouldn't come back. She shoved an old drawging she made him when younger into one of his back pockets and prayed for him to be back soon. When he didn't came back, she was in pieces.

Knowing she would never be a weapon to them, and knowing too that she was way to smart to get rid off, Nora became a doctor, an apprentice of the scientists. After his disappearance, she didn't felt the necessity to smile ever again.

"I thougt you were dead", she objected.

Steve had to get a grip on Wanda's elbow to try and assimilate what was happening, his eyes not believing in the scene right in front of him. The unknown girl spread her arms as his best friend sprinted like a child, throwing himself against her. Both falling on the ground in a tight, emotional embrace. Bucky pressed her head against his neck, caressing the soft hair under his digits. It was her. The smile, the eyes, the smell in her hair. It was her. Bucky felt his eyes water a bit as she let out a faint laugh. He was bigger than before, broader, but also a lot more soft in every other way. He pushed away enough to cup her jaw in his hands, watching all over her features as she lit a smile that made her cheeks ache, tears blooming in the corners of her eyes. He left out a nervous laugh and pushed her again.

"I missed you", he sobbed. Whispering his words, he lowered himself to hug her, her quick heartbeats deafening his ears.

Wanda was not understanding why the normally cold and close-for-human-contact James Barnes was sitting on the ground with a girl between his legs, hugging her like she was about to die right there and with a crying face. Steve cleans his throat, trying to get their attention.

"Anything you might wanna share, buddy?" He asks, a grin spreading all along his face and crossing his arms at chest level.

Bucky stands up, offering his hand out to help her get up too. They stand side by side, his hand tightly grasping hers. Steve had a good feeling about all that, even though she was a agent from Hydra. From all he could bring together, the girl belonged to his life at some point. The happiness in his friend's eyes only making that more clear to him.

"I know her since she was a kid." He explains. "She kept me company, even when I was in cryo she would never leave my side."

Steve smiled even more.

"That makes her one of ours?" Wanda asks in low tone only to Steve hear. Bucky approached, his flesh hand tight around the girl's shoulders as she smiled shyly.

"Nora, this is Steve, my former best friend, and Wanda". Nora faked a betrayed frown, a hand to her chest and a scoffy expression loaded in drama.

"I thought I was your best friend!", she snorted. "Still, it's a pleasure to meet you, Captain Rogers.

"The pleasure is all mine, Nora".