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imlostinsantacarla · 4 years

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anon: Dampyr thing for all of them please. If it's not too much trouble? You can write it however you want. Either preferences/would include or whatever is fine by me. Sorry for late reply. Dampyr is from old balkan folklore. My grandma from Serbia used to tell me the stories. It was long time ago so I'm kinda rusty on the details. Basicly, they are half-vampires. They weren't turned, but born that way from human mom and vamp dad. Unlike other half-vamps they look like human but age extremly slow and heal faster. They can't be hypnotized(sorry David your little noodle trick won't work) and their blood is leathal for vampires. They can drink vampire blood and absorb their knowledge.

(a/n: to the anon that requested this! i’m sorry that it’s taken so long to post this and i’m also so sorry that i lost your original request. i’ve worked so hard on this and it took me even longer to complete only bc when i was editing the draft of this piece tumblr didn’t save it so all of my previous hard work was gone. i hope you enjoy these! thanks so much for requesting! - admin kat 🌙❣)

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

The Lost Boys Dating a Damphyr!Reader Headcanons:

David:

° David is quite the nonchalant lad of the bunch, however, even he has difficulty in denying the fact that you intrigue him exponentially. So, it’s safe to assume that this Lost Boy is littered with curiosity over your skills and abilities.

° One thing that David prides himself immensely on is his knack for compulsion. It’s always been his forte, even in the early days of being an immortal being of the night.

° He also made you very aware with how displeased he was when he found out that mental tricks did not work on you. He moped about for a solid week and a half because compulsion is one of the few things in his existence that quenches his constant boredom. Taking that away from him throws everything off balance in his books.

° My boii sincerely attempted to play mind tricks on you from the very start and you certainly were having none of it. But then again, David should be ecstatic because this means that mentally you are in little danger to the tricks and trades of mental attacks.

° It also caused him to begin to ponder about what really was going through your mind most of the time. It almost gave you an air of mystery which he honestly preferred. It made you more challenging to read and less likely to submit. David is always up for a challenge after all.

° David will not lie either, he finds it intensely attractive when you drink from him. He get’s drunk off of the euphoria, your lips pressed to his wrist... The sight is enough to turn him on. I also imagine that vampires (particularly mates) drinking each other’s blood is rather intimate, and by allowing you to drink from him, it shows a more vulnerable side to David. It shows that he trusts you with his life. After all, you are more than capable of sucking him dry if you allowed your impulses to cloud your vision.

° In the heat of the moment, David’s logic is thrown behind a mist of lust and desire. He get’s quite carried away and soon you find his teeth nipping at your neck whilst you straddle him, his fangs pinching the delicate skin wondrously. Your heart flutters it’s blood beneath the surface. If he just sinks his teeth into you he’ll-

° This is where you pull back, breaking all contact and denying him everything that he wants. With a huffing sigh he flops back into the dusty old couch that is situated in the cave, blue eyes pulsing electric. How could you deny him this?

° You mumble a soft reminder, eyes not meeting his piercing gaze. He isn’t able to drink your blood because if he does, he would be no more. This is something that almost enrages him. Why did his mate have to have such an immense drawback? You’ve totally thrown the balance out of his desires.

° “Well, sunshine, aren’t you a little bit morbid.” Acrimony darts from his mouth, followed by a whirl of cigarette smoke. He tilts his head back, bleach blonde hair in disarray from your previous fiasco. His large calloused hands grasp your waist, pulling you closer to his being. He was taunting you. Taunting you for refusing him what he wanted.

° “I won’t be morbid when you’re foaming at the mouth.” You tilt your head to the side, eyes finding his oceanic ones. You were now challenging him, reminding him of what could happen if he allowed himself to grow careless with you. You only meant it well, but David never enjoyed being told what to do.

° “Yeah, yeah, point taken, princess.” He simpers up at you, that smoke wedged between his kissable lips. You pluck it from his mouth and stub the damn thing out before capturing his lips with yours with a hungry fire only he created in you. You had no problem with allowing him to get lost in you once more, only for you to playfully deny him his greatest wish. This was always about control... and you were the one in charge.

° Initially David mocks you about this. Why are you denying him? Are you worried for his safety? Please! He can handle himself, darling.

° But nevertheless, he’s not actually dumb enough to risk it... just in case.

° And it isn’t until one particular night that you miraculously managed to get out of both eye and ear shot from David. Another vampire had unwisely entered Santa Carla and attacked you. David had managed to get there just in time to witness the vampire drinking from you, along with the treacherous torture the vampire ensued as a result of it’s own foolish mistake.

° You healed rather quickly and effortlessly from it, yet you remained seated on the floor, panting wildly. Terror fluctuated through your body, your limbs vibrated in anxiety. It took a few moments for you to soothe yourself. What helped you calm down was discussing why that vampire was dead. You see, the rate in which a vampire dies after consuming your blood matters greatly on the amount it has taken in. If it has drank more then it will die quicker and with less in it’s system it will die slowly. Both ways are excruciating.

° And for the first time in his entire immortal existence, David experienced the heebie jeebies. He hadn’t even had time to pull the vampire from you prior to it dying on the spot. The memories were a vivid ordeal that continued to play behind his eyes.

° But was he scared out of his mind? Well, Paul definitely thought so!

° “Well, I guess you weren’t fooling around with the lethal part, princess.” David wedged a smoke between his lips and lit it, the glowing amber in the dark alleyway the only light. The way David had uttered the statement seemed almost mocking. Just like him. You knew he was only covering up the cluster of emotions underneath the surface.

° “Yeah, no kidding.” You muttered bitterly, a roll of your eyes causing your blonde boyfriend to chortle under his breath.

° “And I was also right about something else, y/n. The whole experience is definitely morbid.” He concluded, his gloved palm finding yours in the darkness to hoist you up onto your feet and into his protective embrace. He’d be damned if he allowed anything like this to happen again.

° David is quite known for his protectiveness over the people and things that he holds dearest to him. He also has a possessive streak that is unrivaled by any of the other boys. That vampire attacking you only caused him to hover closer to you when he could, a relaxed arm draped over your shoulders, hands placed firmly on your waist... you name it! There was a primal instinct in him that made him feel slightly perplexed. He wanted you all to himself and he wasn’t going to allow anyone else to take you away from him.

° As stated above, this blonde bad boy is possessive and high-key selfish. He only desires to have your entire attention focused on him. He also feels that it’s his job to keep you safe, but that can be hard when it’s the day time.

° “Well, well, well, how’s my special vampire doing today?” David would smirk in your ear, rough voice husky as he chortled. His teeth scraped tenderly against the shell of your ear, his cool breath fanning against the delicate skin of you neck, eliciting a deep shiver from your being. He was surely satisfied with that.

° “Would you stop calling me that, David? I’m not even a real vampire.” You’d roll your eyes in an exaggerated motion, shaking your head softly whilst you attempted to mask the smile that began to spread across your countenance.

° “Not until hell freezes over, dear.” He’d grin triumphantly in your ear.

° “Urgh!”

° At times David will attempt to still perform compulsion on you which he only does to get under your skin. As a result, all it really does is cause you and the boys to fall into bouts of intense laughter.

° “You sure it doesn’t work, love?”

° “Yeah, I think with hundreds of failed attempts you’d have realized that for yourself, babe.”

° “Alright, if you say so.”

° It’s also a known fact that David has no regard for human life whatsoever, and along with Paul, he really isn’t overwhelmed with joy when you sustain yourself on human food. Since you were brought up to be human, it’s quite difficult for you to let go of your human moral compass. The human part of you tells you not to harm humans. But David also see’s that as a challenge.

° David really wants you to feed from humans because logically vampires are far stronger when they do. So that obviously applies to your kind, right? Well, not so much. See, a full vampire needs to hunt and feed every night to curb the intense thirst that they feel. You do not. You’re able to go with longer periods of time without blood and sustain yourself of human food, even if it makes you less strong. So it takes a little while for David to realize that. It also takes him some time to understand that your ability to blend in as a human makes it particularly difficult for hunters to figure out what you are. Very smart.

° Going on hunts with David are bonding experiences. Before him you hadn’t ever hunted. You had stolen blood bags from the hospitals and blood drives, which had quenched your craving for it. So to begin with you were very awkward when feeding. David needed to show you the ropes, had to teach you to relax and let your instincts kick in.

° Although you are a half vampire, you are very different from Star, Laddie and Michael. You were born one, which actually sets you apart from the other non-born vampires. Like you are capable of walking in the sun without it making you feel weary and exhausted (this is due to you having been exposed to it your entire life, which almost created some form of immunity to it because your mother shunned the other part of you, conditioning you to be more human than vampire).

° To find out that absorb his knowledge when you feed from him makes him very intrigued to say the least. As David is possessive, he won’t allow you to feed from any other vampire. He’s caught off guard when you tell him about memories, etc. that you have absorbed from him.

° As pay back for all the mocking he does to you, you’re kind of an ass about it all. You tend to bust out terribly embarrassing memories from long ago that the boys never let him live down. Now that they’ve resurfaced, David isn’t too keen about it. Cue him then being a grumbling and pouting mess about it for awhile after. I mean, you basically roasted him in front of his boys so of course he’s feeling sensitive afterwards. But that sorta stuff doesn’t go unpunished, my lovely.

° It’s definitely a given that David would halt any and all of the rude things the other boys may say about you. He won’t tolerate any of it. Not even a funny look will be cast upon you.

° You have to understand though that things have been challenging with Star, especially since she rejected their life style. The boys find it hard to trust newcomers because of that but also due to their pasts as humans. But with that said, he’ll still harmlessly tease you. Harmless teasing from the boys is also alright. Though as soon as it begins to upset you, that’s when he’ll shut it down instantaneously.

° David is also certainly watchful over you when hunters are around. Those are the moments in which he will not allow you to leave the cave in the day time. If you’re going out, it’ll be at nighttime with him and the boys. His worst nightmare is you dying or getting hurt. He’s literally the most dramatic of the bunch. You sometimes think he’s just being a control freak, but usually something will happen that’ll make you realize that he’s only trying to keep you safe.

° Yes, you may heal quite swiftly, but he’s really certain that you won’t come bounding back from a stake to the heart.

° In the bedroom department, David is very dominant. He’s in charge and despite what others may think he is a rather passionate lover. The fact that you’re a Damphyr allows him to ease up a bit. Since you’re more durable than a human he can ease up and just enjoy the experience. He totally uses his super strength and speed, you don’t complain either.

° David is low-key a nerd and researches the legends and myths of hybrid vampires, Damphyr’s, etc. in every country. Sometimes he’ll put your skills to the test and you bet your backside that he’s all smug about it (especially when you can’t do something). Your mate is kind of an ass not gonna lie.

Dwayne:

° Dwayne’s interest is undeniably peeked when he figures out that you’re a Damphyr. Now there’s even a sliver of something that you both have in common. You’re both vampires, - well you’re half of one -. Sincerely, he finds you so mesmerizing. He’s only ever heard of vague and patchy legends of your kind that are more like myths.

° But hey! It gives him the courage to peek out of his shell a little more and begin talking with you. You both hit it off instantaneously and it all just blossoms from there.

° Although you may heal quite swiftly and possess more strength than a human, Dwayne cannot resist it when his protective and watchful nature kicks in. So you better be prepared for him to still be a meat wall that always slots itself in between you and any possible threat.

° He’s very aware of the fact that you can fend for yourself, he has no doubt in your abilities, I promise you that. Being vigilant of those that he loves is something that comes quite naturally to Dwayne, - he’s even protective of his fellow Lost Boys -. Consider it to be a good thing that he wants to keep you safe.

° He allows you to drink from him whenever you may feel the urge to, but he’s not like David where he’ll hound you about it. Dwayne is rather relaxed and knows you can’t live off of him because A) You’d kill him. And B) You need something else for sustenance too.

° Hunting with Dwayne has now become the normal thing. Primarily it was peculiar for you as you had never fed with another vampire around. You had always kept that to your lonesome. So during your first ten feedings he would accidentally make too hasty of a movement, which would kick start this primal instinct in you to fight him for your meal and territory. But you’re forgetting that Santa Carla is his territory.

° It’s a blessing that Dwayne is so grounded and relaxing, because he was able to defuse the tension and anxiety you felt in those moments. He’d reassure you that he wasn’t there to steal your meals or to harm you. He was doing this to help you for when you hunted with him and the boys. But if it proved far too overwhelming for you, he would give you your space when you hunted because he totally empathized with you.

° Out of all the Lost Boys he is the most chill and relaxed when it comes to you living out more as a human. Dwayne is very appeasing. His energy helps even Paul stay rooted down in the present moment. But that doesn’t stop him from being a wild one! But nevertheless, he’s very tolerant of your human nature coming into play in everyday life. It doesn’t bug him in the slightest.

° In fact, he encourages it! Dwayne doesn’t see the point in trying to get you to suppress a part of you that is totally natural to your being. In all honesty, he thoroughly enjoys the simplicity of sitting on the counter tops in your kitchen and watching you cook yourself a home cooked meal. He’ll even sample some of it and tell you what he thinks. Although he’s really not a fan of when you use garlic!

° So since you’re a born half vampire, Dwayne really does comprehend that you don’t just require or need blood in order to keep yourself and your hunger fulfilled. There’s honestly no pressure on his part for you to have to feed on human blood. You could even drink animal blood and he wouldn’t even bat an eyelash!

° Though the more human blood you consume the stronger you are. Yet you’ll never be as strong as a full vampire, and Dwayne totally get’s that.

° Dwayne is the biggest softie known to man because he loves listening to your heartbeat! And in my opinion, I think that it would run a tad bit slower than an actual humans heartbeat. Just the sound of it makes him grin so wide that it’s as though the sun is beaming brightly across his face! Urgh i’m dying!

° This raven haired boy is really known for not taking anyone’s bullshit and when it comes to you? He’s not going to stand for anybody disrespecting you. This is regardless of whether it’s the boys or not and in any context. He will not let anybody push you around.

° And again, within regards to the boys, Dwayne will shut their shit down pronto! Rude comments, nasty looks, you name it! None of it is tolerated in his books.

° And you best believe he’s flattened Paul at least once for saying something dumb about you.

° Much like David, Dwayne wishes to know more about your kind and will secretly research it. He get’s pretty abashed when you know that he does. The boys tease him a lot for it, especially in front of you, but you swear it’s adorable.

° Every once in awhile he will tell you facts he’s read up on or heard about in regards to your kind. He likes it when you debunk whether that’s a myth or not, and there’s even a lot that you still don’t know.

° “Hey, I uh- I heard your kind tend to become hunters of vampires, well, your kind mainly hunts your fathers because your fathers are the vampires.” He’d pipe up from beside you softly, his orbs landing on everything else but you. If he wasn’t dead you swore he would be blushing bright red by now.

° “Where did you learn that?” You’d bat your lashes at him, almost stunned he’d heard about that.

° “Nowhere, just heard it around.” Dwayne would smile softly, his deep eyes peeking at your face as he rubbed the rear of his neck sheepishly.

° “If you’re asking me whether I’m a vampire hunter or not, then fortunately for you the answer is no.” You’d grin up at him. That was a relief for him.

° Since he’s a vampire, Dwayne doesn’t tend to regard human life all that highly because to him and the boys, humans primary source to them is being prey, nothing more. However, since you are part human, he’s more tolerable of humans and their nature, even if it can a little confusing for him to figure out.

° Yes, I’m aware that he too was once human round about 80 years ago, but I like to imagines that as the years have stretched on his human nature has dwindled into nothing. Vampire morals are much different from human morals. He’s also dead and hunters consider him to be soulless now.

° Due to Dwayne’s vigilant nature, he is always apprehensive whenever you do get hurt, - even the thought of you being injured or killed sends him into an internal panic! He knows that you can heal quite impressively, yet it never stops him from experiencing worry over you. He cares about you after all.

° For all he knows, there could be some sort of poison out there that could kill you instantly!

° It’s a scarce occurrence for Dwayne to fill you in on his fears and anxieties (big or small). Dwayne is particularly physically strong and at times he feels like he needs to keep up a guard, like he’s holding all the pieces together. So even though he doesn’t directly tell you these worries, he still feels these said cluster-fuck of emotions. This can be quite challenging for him to digest, so some patience is needed on your behalf.

° Consistently this occurs because you have been though and he requires a lot of comforting from you, along with reassurances that you are alright.

° And afterwards, he is at your side as much as physically possible. It may feel a bit smothering but please do remember that Dwayne once had a brother named Jasper whom he lost a long time ago. You are now one of the only people that he has left that he loves and cares about.

° Compulsion isn’t Dwayne’s forte really; he’s never been good at it anyway. That’s more David’s style and the raven haired vampire is okay with it. However, he is intrigued about it not having an affect on you. He’s a huge advocate for your own free will and would never screw around with it.

° He is also incredibly relieved that hypnotization doesn’t work on you because David can get carried away with those sorts of things. You’re mentally protected which means one less thing for Dwayne to fret over.

° You’ve also got a lot more stamina than the average human (as does Dwayne) so there are plenty more rounds when it comes to the bedroom side of things, which he’s really into. ;)

° Dwayne is a very passionate lover whom enjoys taking his time in worshiping your body. Your added stamina means you can go for hours, which is just the way he prefers things.

° At times he does forget that you are only part vampire until something occurs that reminds him of it.

° He contemplates about the little things that you do when he’s not around or just in general. Do you hanging sleep upside down from the ceiling like him and the boys? Does garlic irritate you as much as it does the full vampires? Do you sleep through the day just like them? It’s honestly seriously adorable.

° Despite having a quiet nature, Dwayne will ask you a lot of questions, though he’s got an incredibly amazing knack for spreading them out so as to not cause you to feel bombarded or overwhelmed by his curiosity.

° Also Dwayne is really a phenomenal listener. He just loves the sound of your voice and could listen to it for hours!

° Dwayne has never seen firsthand what happens to vampires when they drink from your kind and he’s not bagged on the idea on finding out or even daring to try it out for himself. He’s ballsy but not that ballsy! As soon as you told him he took your word for it.

° Genuinely though Dwayne does take a lot of what you say as the truth. You’re the one who’s experiencing it. Every Damphyr is different just like every vampire, werewolf, human, etc.

° You’ve also become apart of the boys family, which surprisingly enough, Max allowed. So all in all, Dwayne is intensely ecstatic that he get’s to spend a lot time with you.

° He is aware that you age far slower than a human which is a relief to him. It’s just a little unknown to either of you on whether you will pass away one day as the legends are all conflicting. Even you are unsure about it. You boy try not to dwell on it all that much because then things become depressing.

° And that’s another worry of his. You dying. He genuinely just wants to spend forever with you. Poor baby.

° Dwayne is literally the best boyfriend ever tbh. My heart m e l t s just thinking about it!

Paul:

° Paul has never shut up once in his whole entire life, so it’s safe to say that he won’t be shutting his mouth when it comes to you either. I mean that in the sense of him inquiring a lot about you. This is totally expected at this point, and in all honesty, half of them don’t even make any sense, - particularly if he’s high or drunk -.

° “So you can run really fast right?”

° “Well, faster than a human.”

° “Does that mean you’re like the flash then, doll?”

° Give the poor boy a break though, he really is trying here!

° And funnily enough, Paul is without a doubt convinced that you’ve got some sort of super power that you’re not showing anyone. You think that this is the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever heard in your entire life. But Paul? Nah, he won’t relent until you show him. Even the boys join in on the teasing.

° “I dunno, dollface. I really think you’re hiding something. C’mon! It’s me and the boys. There’re no humans around.” He’d grin that perfect heart melting smirk at you. “We won’t blow her cover will we boys?”

° “He’s right, y/n! We won’t tell anyone.” Marko would call from across the cave, causing you to roll your eyes.

° “The only thing I’m hiding from you guys right now is my fist from your faces!” You’d shout back, attempting to hide the grin spreading across your face. You did a poor job of it.

° “Now you’re definitely hiding something! I can see you grinning like you’re sneaky, babe, but you’re not. I swear, I’m onto you.”

° “Have you been sniffing news print or something?”

° “Awe, c’mon, babe! Just show me already!”

° Although Paul isn’t very gifted in using compulsion, he was one of the few boys that was a bit bummed out when he found out it didn’t work on you. But really he knows it’s a good thing because it leaves you less vulnerable to mental attacks from anyone. That’s one less thing for him to worry about when it comes to your safety.

° Hunting with Paul is a nightly date. In fact, he encourages you to feed because he wants you to be as strong as you possibly can be. He’s just worried about you getting hurt when he isn’t around. It also takes awhile for him to understand that you don’t need so much blood to stay sustained.

° He is also the chillest out of all the boys when it comes to you feeding from other vampires. Sure, he likes it when you feed from him, but he won’t be mad if you have the urge to feed and get your fill from another vampire. That sort of stuff just doesn’t really ruffle Paul’s feathers.

° And besides, that gift can come in handy for him and the boys. You absorb knowledge from other vampires, which means black mail! Every vampire has some sort of dirty laundry or terrible baggage that they don’t want anyone else to know.

° With that said, he really wants you to feed from Max because he’s an asshole and such a terrible ‘father’. Paul really wants to know all the man’s dirty secrets and to use them against him. Which is when David has to step in and remind him that Max is much older and stronger than them all combined and if you did that to him, Max would kill you instantly. But it doesn’t stop him from wanting you to do it.

° He is second on the scale (next to David) when it comes to his displeasure towards your human self. Human life is very boring to him. Yes, he once was a human a long time ago, but he’s been there and done that already. He’s also lost touch with his humanity and it will never return. So, in conclusion to this point, he’s more adamant that you feed from humans instead of gaining sustenance from human food.

° Hunting with you is such a huge turn on for him. Afterwards you should expect without a doubt that he’ll either bring you back to your place, the cave or tuck you into a dark alleyway and have his way with you. Just seeing you drink from people and letting your inner vampire out is genuinely the sexiest thing this boy has ever seen!

° Poor boy tends to forget that he’s a vampire, so the fact that you’re more durable is better because he’d break an actual human in half by accident just by nonchalantly hitting them playfully on the back. He actually did that once and he panicked for a good two minutes. Marko had to help him bury the body.

° “I swear I didn’t mean it, man!”

° “Paul, you literally kill people on a nightly basis. Stop panicking!”

° “Oh yeah.”

° This boy loves to play fight and it’s on a c o n s t a n t basis with you. He doesn’t go easy on you either, he either wins or won’t play fight at all. There’s no in between with this vampire.

° You best believe that Paul has at least attempted to drink your blood once! You certainly did stop him because it’s an obviously big no, no! It’s lethal for his kind to drink your kinds blood, and you love Paul a lot, so you want him to be alive.

° When you reminded him of this predicament he just laughed in your face and said it’d be worth it.

° “C’mon, babe! I let you drink from me...” He’d pout miserably at you, baby blue eyes swelling in size. You hated it when he pulled those puppy dog eyes on you.

° “Do you want to die in the most painful of ways?” You’d arch your brow comically at him with a soft tilt of your head.

° “No, not really.”

° “Then you’re not drinking from me, Paul.” You’d hum softly against his lips, fingers already tangling in his blonde mane.

° And as if on cue, he’s the biggest pouting baby you have ever encountered for the next week or two. Honestly, this boy is so dramatic when he doesn’t get his way! However, you make it up to him by going hunting with him twice in one night. That helps him forget all about not being able to drink from you.

° And then one night down the line he witnesses firsthand what happens to vampires when they drink from you. Let’s just say the poor blonde is totally traumatized from the whole experience. He needed that good green stuff to forget at least a fraction of the agony that other vampire went through.

° “Thank God I had the brains not to feed from you. Jesus, babe! Who knew you were such a savage.” He’d ramble with a cigarette wedged anxiously between his lips.

° “Brains? I literally had to push you off of me, Paul.” You’d grin widely, shaking your head in disbelief.

° “Yeah, yeah!” He’d wave off your comment, taking a deep drag on his smoke. “But did you see the blood come out of his eyes? What a sorry loser!”

° Whenever he’s mad at the other boys he tells them to go drink from you as an insult lmaoo. I’m not even kidding.

° Even though he’s very goofy, Paul is pretty serious about you though. Everything to do with you he’s fascinated about, even if it seems a little weird. It’s just because you make him so happy. Honest, he’s just a big ball of sweetness when it comes to you.

° He’s not a researcher, so why would he start now? He knows that you’ll just tell him what he’s right and wrong about and all the details in between. Sometimes he listens pretty intently, but other times he doesn’t because he becomes distracted by your boobs or starts thinking about how pretty your lips are and how much he really wants to kiss them. He doesn’t mean it in a bad way though, you’re just the biggest distraction for him.

° This guy is a genuine horndog™ and will be on you 25/7. The boy is the most touch orientated fellow out there, it’s honestly unreal! But you don’t complain because you love it when his hands are all over you.

° Still to this day your family doesn’t understand why you moved into the hotel that fell into the caves in the cliffs. Like seriously? That place doesn’t even have a working bathroom! But you moved in anyway, and pretty much you’ve stayed there out of defiance against your family now. None of the boys bring it up any more because you just go off on a tangent about it.

° “Can you turn people into vampires?”

° “Do you feel anything since you ate that piece of garlic bread 3 hours ago?”

° “Do you sleep upside down hanging from your ceiling?”

° “Can you walk in the sun without bursting into flames?”

° “So like when your parents did it, did-”

° “I’m not talking about my parents doing it, Paul.”

° “But babe! It’s for science!”

° Paul is just as goofy with you as he would be with a full vampire or human mate too be honest. Nothing changes in that department.

° High-key thinks you’re a badass and will not shut up about it to the other boys. David has put a ban on any mention of you or your name from Paul when you’re not around. Honestly, it drives David mad!

° Although Paul doesn’t take much seriously, he still freaks out in a pretty gnarly context whenever you do get hurt. Paul is the most emotionally reactive out of the boys (as seen when Marko was killed and he went directly after the Frog Brothers). You can bet your pretty backside that he’s taking anyone down swinging, violently. Definitely violently!

° “Dwayne told me your kind become vampire hunters. Does that mean you’re one?”

° “No, but if Dwayne doesn’t pipe the fuck down about it I will be.”

° That literally made David laugh so hard he had tears streaming down his face. You’re really bold for saying that. Even David wouldn’t have said that about Dwayne with Dwayne literally sitting opposite of him. But you did. So rip to David but you’re different.

° “I hope you live for forever, babe. I don’t think I could live without you.”

° "Awe, Paul!”

Marko:

° Akin to the other boys, Marko is incredibly curious about you. Besides Paul, he is the most intrigued when it comes to you and your abilities. He hasn’t ever met a Damphy in his entire existence and he never knew they existed... until you came stumbling into his life.

° The pair of you feed together whenever you get the chance to. Hunting with the other boys causes you to draw into yourself. It’s an intimate thing for you to share with someone which Marko completely understands. It’s no biggie!

° So you’re a little feeding shy? Marko isn’t bothered by it. He enjoys hunting with you, because a couple that hunts together stays together, am I right?

° Much like David and Paul, Marko just assumes that you’re pulling his leg when you tell him if he feeds from you he’ll die. You have to go into a deeper depiction on how your kind usually hunts vampires (especially your fathers as they are typically the vampires) so your blood is built to be poisonous to full vampires, it’s aroma as sweet as honey in order to lure them in like the sorry flies that they are.

° This news doesn’t really phase Marko in the slightest. He thinks it’s gnarly that your blood can do that to a full vampire. David thinks he’s insane, but Marko loves anything weird and quirky, especially gruesome. He’s a horror fanatic in my eyes!

° Although he’s the smallest out of the entire group, doesn’t mean that he doesn’t possess an intelligent mind. He believes that if what you’re saying it the truth and only but the truth then he’s not stupid enough to risk it. He quite enjoys sleeping all day and partying all night, thank you very much!

° Marko would be nothing more than a fibber if he said that you feeding from him turns him on. Like David, he uses it as a way to strengthen the bond between you. He’s mindful during the whole experience to not let his desires take hold and bite you. He’s looking to enjoy the passionate ride you two are involved in, not die a premature death.

° Unbeknownst to most, Marko has a rather possessive streak when it comes to you. What’s his is his and he doesn’t really like to share. This causes him to receive a cornucopia of teasing from the boys, but he doesn’t really care. He’s the one with a hot Damphyr mate. In his eyes he’s already won.

° Following his vampiric nature, Marko doesn’t care all too much for human life and it’s fragile nature. I mean, because you’re a born half-ling, he’s got to deal with your human nature that runs just as strongly in you as the vampiric nature. The two often collide with one another, creating a deep rooted sense of conflict within you that is really difficult for Marko to watch. You actually feel guilt for the victims you feed from, which took awhile for him to get used to.

° After all, you need to feed to live. So why do you need to add guilt into the mix? The other boys don’t get it either, they tease you about it, but once they begin to see the actual effect consistently killing does to you, they snag a lot of blood bags because you’re not actually killing anyone any more. Just chill out.

° Marko is a hard nut to crack. I mean that in the sense in which he hardly let’s on what he’s thinking and feeling in any given moment. It takes years of knowing him to understand him. But one thing that is totally apparent is his protectiveness over you. He would without a doubt die for you, no questions asked. If it meant that you lived, he’s willing to sacrifice himself.

° “Listen, babe,” Marko murmured into the darkness of the hotel, his voice quiet as he leaned against one of the crumbling cave walls, “I know you’re capable and all of taking care of yourself. But like, can you stay here tonight? The boys and I got word there were hunters in town. I’d hate to see anything happen to you, you know?”

° Marko will defend you till his last breath! Ya boii will fight for your honor at the drop of a hat. Surf Nazis, the other boys, a random kid looking at you funny, you name it! He’s prepared to fight anyone anywhere!

° “Hey asshole! Mind waiting in line like a normal person instead of cutting in front of my girl like that?”

° “Marko!”

° “What, babe? I asked nicely.”

° Marko is the biggest sweetheart nonetheless and it’s a ritual that he gives you his jacket whenever you get cold. The s o f t vibes that flood off of him makes your knees goes weak. You’re such a sucker for sweet Marko.

° “I swear to God, you touch my girl again and I’ll rip your hands off, buddy!”

° “What’d you say to her you asshole?”

° “You say that again and I’ll rip your tongue right out of your head.”

° The amount of times him and the boys have been kicked off of the Board Walk because Marko got into a brawl over you is well over the hundreds by now. You seriously don’t feel like there’s a need for him being so protective because you’re stronger than most mortal men and women, you can kick ass on your own.

° If you blabber a lot in order to tell him about yourself he just grins his infamous Cheshire grin and kisses your lips softly to shut you up.

° “Was I rambling again?”

° “Just a little.”

° “Sorry!”

° “It’s all cool, babe. I love it.”

° When you educate him on your kind he thinks it’s the most adorable thing in the world because he can tell that you’re very passionate about the subject. You often catch him staring at you, head cocked to the side as he beams at you. The sight causes your heart to splutter as though it’s giving up which he only laughs in return to.

° “What? Do I have something on my face?” You’d hum, fingers darting to your cheek as your brow creases in confusion.

° “Nah, babe.” Marko grins, leaning closer to you, his crystal blue eyes gazing down at your mouth prior to meeting your gaze once more.

° “Then why are you staring at me like that?”

° He tends to ask you questions when it’s just you two, it gives him the space to relax because none of the other boys are listening in. He keeps all of your secrets. He’s a trustworthy vampire!

° “Does garlic work on you then?”

° “No, I literally just ate garlic right in front of you Marko.”

° “Oh yeah!”

° If hunters are rampant in Santa Carla he’s more than down to keep you safe. He’s never opposed to kicking some hunter ass! Even if you’re capable of defending yourself, he’s kind of an idiot and will get involved anyway. Again, that’s only because he feels strongly about you.

° Marko tends to sit back and observe the way you use your gifts. He laughed so hard when David attempted to use compulsion on you. The boys never let David live that down for a solid three months!

° Similar to the other boys, Marko is relieved that mind games aren’t something that can affect you. You’re fully aware of what someone is attempting to do to you, which makes you more honest and Marko enjoys that about you.

° He also thinks it’s incredibly hot when you call out David. Like his babe can’t get any better to him! No one stands up to David. The fact that he’s got a Damphyr mate that’s ballsy like that makes him happy. You fit right in with him and the boys, no doubt.

° Marko never holds back in the bedroom department, and the fact that you can withstand far more than a human, it allows him to worship your body for hours on end. He’s the most notorious tease out of all the boys, and isn’t afraid to make you work for what you want. He gladly suffers the consequences afterwards because in his eyes, you begging for him was all worth the teasing he received from you the next few nights.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

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wardofwinters · 5 years

Note

Hey I have a request for creators chosen, if u feel like writing a mini scene! Can we see Marinette bringing in Felix something like his favorite treat form the bakery or a specialized scarf or something because he's been really stressed by deadlines or family or something? If you feel like it or have time for it it would be pretty cool :)

HI! I’m so glad you asked. You absolutely inspired me for a little in-between chapter.

I hope you like it, it’s a bit off of what you asked for but it is canon for my story and leads to the next chapter.

Chapter one Chapter two Chapter three

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Plan F

Marinette was glad that there hadn’t been any more akuma’s since stoneheart. With how exhausted she was in the last week from the cure and purification she didn’t think she would have been any help.

Tikki said it was likely Hawkmoth was similarly exhausted. The things he did weren’t supposed to happen and would exact a heavy cost from him. That was a relief.

Over the past week she and Alya had grown closer, though she was a bit uncomfortable with Alya’s obsession with the hero’s identities. She and Felix had also grown closer over the past week.

She’d given Felix one of her extra binders, she made It with a planner built in and plenty of folders. It was one of her’s so customized to her needs but she’d give him a new one later.

He’d also started going to art club with Nathaniel. Apparently, they’d bonded over their dislike of people and like of art in the back. Marinette was glad, neither of them were good with people. She was really happy that she got to spend time with them too, turns out that Felix was a bit of a designer as well.

Adrien apparently took after their mom, modeling the clothes and standing in the spotlight. Felix took more after his father, a designer and content to stand behind the scenes.

He didn’t make any clothes mind you, wasn’t much of a seamster, but he did design some. And what Marinette had seen so far showed that he was rather skilled at it as well.

And so Marinette got used to seeing him fairly often.

She recognized his moods; how he despised the mornings and always forgot breakfast; how despite him always forgetting breakfast, he never forgot his assignments; how he was always dressed neatly and cleanly; how his tone was generally polite but he held a biting tone to use on those that annoyed him; how he was never ever bothered by anything.

So, when she was back to full strength and working on a dress in club she noticed how his mood was shifting. He was hurrying his work, losing papers, snapping at people quicker and quicker for things he used to ignore. When he came to school without his vest today, she knew something was wrong.

She worried about it all through morning classes. And when class let out for lunch, she checked on him, only to be assured that he was perfectly fine. She frowned but moved to lunch. She was half-way there when she realized she forgot Tikki’s extra cookies in her locker. She murmured a soft apology and turned to go back to the lockers

“It’s fine Marinette, just grab them quick so you can get your lunch.”

She hurried to the locker room and slipped in, only to pause when she heard the arguing.

“You’re only going to get us both in trouble! Father said that you had to go home for lunch and now you’re trying to sneak out again? I vouched for you! I vouched for you and you’re ju-“

“Oh come on! Father is never mad at you, it’ll be fine. I’m just having fun, it’s not hurting anyone. I just want my freedom!”

She slid down the wall, sneaking to peak around the lockers.

“You’ll get your freedom when you pass the probation. Honestly Adrien, I don’t know how you’ve been sneaking away but it stops now.”

“Well, that’s my secret. I’m not telling. And I’m not stopping either. Father won’t give us a birthday party so I’m gonna have fun while I can!”

The Agreste brothers?

“This is-… this is about the birthday party. This whole mess. You’re doing this cause Father said no to a party!”

“Mom would’ve let me! It’s not fair, I just want to be a normal kid!”

“Mom always said no to the parties, every year. She and Father stood together on that Adrien. Or did you forget so quickly?”

“Felix-“

“No. You will go to the car and go home right now. I’m not dealing with this anymore. Let’s go.”

Marinette shrunk back as Felix dragged Adrien out of the locker room.

“Well that was interesting, looks like they’re having a fight.” Tikki slid out of the bag to hover in front of Marinette.

“Yeah, and it sounds like something happened to their mom. And Adrien is getting Felix in trouble. This must be why he’s been so stressed!” She straightened.

“You’re right! Poor Felix, his brother certainly isn’t making things easy for him. Though it’s a shame they can’t have the birthday ceremony, I hear it’s very important.”

Marinette nodded, “Mm, let’s get the cookies, I have planning to do.”

There wasn’t much Marinette could do about Adrien. He was a pain, but she had no control over him. Felix stuck his neck out to get Adrien into school and he was throwing it back in his face. As Chloe would say, ridiculous, utterly ridiculous. She could help Felix in other ways though.

The twins birthday was just over a week away. She would use this time to help Felix relax, and then she’d make sure they got to celebrate.

Marinette made it so her cousin could have a party after that kidnapping attempt, M. Agreste was fairly famous himself. It wasn’t out of mind that he could be worried about something similar.

And thus Plan F was born.

She prepared her supplies. Six morning alarms, one palmier, one cheese Danish, one plain croissant, and that days specialty coffee.

She got up early and gathered her supplies, then took off, making it to school with more than enough time for her plan.

She quickly moved up to Felix, sitting in his normal seat.

She drew a bright smile up, “Morning Felix, how’re you doing today?”

He peered at her, “Well, and you?”

“I’m doing great, thanks for asking!” She plopped the bag of pastries on the desk in front of him and placed the coffee, black with sugar and cream packets on the side.

He blinked, “What’s this?”

“I noticed you’ve been a bit stressed lately. So, I thought I’d bring you a pick me up. They’re from my parent’s bakery, freshly made. And a coffee since it’s so early.”

His eye’s widened, “I see… Thank you Marinette,” he took a glance into the bag and swallowed, “I appreciate the gift, but you didn’t need to.”

“It’s fine,” she chirped, “I wanted too. I hope you like them.”

She hurried down to her seat, satisfied with her success.

The next day she brought a new coffee, and some assorted croissants.

Felix thanked her once more, his gaze sharp as he watched her.

She simply smiled and turned back to her seat, he seemed a bit more put together today.

That day passed quickly. Her plans for a small party drafted with the editing to be done.

Felix also seemed to be watching her that day. She noticed that he finished the coffee quickly and hummed, so he liked Café Crème. Good to know.

She brought assorted danishes the next day, and another Café Crème.

Her party plans were nearly finalized. Now she needed to schedule a meeting.

Felix stopped her the next morning, “You really don’t need to keep giving me food Marinette.”

“It’s fine Felix, I just want to help,” She smiled brighter when his gaze flickered, his brow furrowed slightly, “I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t want to.”

He sighed and nodded, “Thank you, I really do appreciate it, but really, don’t keep doing it. It’s too much.”

Marinette frowned but agreed.

That night she called her aunt for advice, backups it was.

Then next morning she cheerfully walked up to his desk, coffee in hand, and gave him a set of sketching pencils. She placed the coffee on his desk and hurried off before he could stop her.

She’d scheduled her meeting for that afternoon. She had work to do.

She quickly changed after school, putting on neat black slacks with cherry blossoms patterned on the side, a faded pink shirt, and a black blazer bearing more cherry blossoms. She threw her hair up in a ponytail for extra affect. Dress to impress.

She hurried off to Felix’s house as quickly as possible, he was at art club and Adrien had a photo shoot so no one would interrupt.

She was ready.

“Enter”

She quickly smoothed down her pants and straightened her blazer before stepping inside. She needed to look professional.

“How can I help you mademoiselle… “ Her idol stood in front of her, one of the king’s of fashion. He stared at her coolly, eyebrow raised in question.

“I’m Mari- Marinette Dupain-Cheng,” Don’t stutter, come on, she could do this, “I’m here to talk about Felix and Adrien’s birthday.”

His eyes narrowed, “If this is an attempt to get them a party I would suggest you leave now.”

She took a deep breath, rubbing her cherry blossom bracelet, “It is sir, but please he me out. I understand you don’t want to put them in danger, but I have an offer that could help.”

“You have three minutes,” his gaze was like ice, staring into her and peeling back her layers. Deep breaths Marinette.

“I understand that as you’re rather well known your sons may be in danger, especially with a large party. So I am proposing a smaller party of less than ten people in the park near the school.”

She pulled out her tablet and swiped to an image of the park.

“All food would be provided from my parents bakery,” She swiped to an image of one of their order platters, “My dad and aunt would be at the party to supervise.”

She eyed him warily, his expression gave nothing away, “I’ve prepared a possible guest list for the party with three friends for Felix, from our class and art club, and two for Adrien, both from our class. This can of course be adjusted as you feel.” She felt Tikki press against her reassuringly.

She flipped to the page with names and pictures of the students, along with contact information.

“All the music is age appropriate, I have a list as well. I suggest the date for the party being the Saturday after their birthday. This would leave the day mostly free for any time to schedule the party, and it would act as extra protection being four days after their birthday.

She hesitated, “All of this can be adjusted to your preferences… Ah… Any questions?”

He studied her, completely silent for a moment, “You planned all this out yourself?”

“Yes sir.”

“For… Felix?”

“Yes sir, he’s my friend.”

He tilted his head, gaze on her tablet now, “Very well. I will allow this party. Three other bodyguards will be present as well, to insure safety. The date you picked is satisfactory.”

His gaze lifted back to hers, “Email that to Nathalie, she will coordinate with you after looking it over.”

Marinette resisted the urge to cheer, “Yes sir. You won’t regret it.”

“I’d best not,” His gaze lingered for another moment, then he turned back to his computer. “Don’t inform them yet, it will remain a surprise. Nathalie will send out the invitations.”

Marinette was dismissed. She paused in the hall to send the powerpoint to Nathalie and then left the mansion.

She had enough self control to wait until she got outside and turned the corner before she squealed, cheering as she spun around, “I did it!” She did a little victory dance.

“That was brilliant Marinette, I’m very proud of you.” Tikki poked her head out the purse to grin at Marinette.

“Thanks Tikki, I’m really glad it worked.” Marinette calmed herself, there was still a lot to do. Best get started.

She hurried to the bakery, her success and Tikki’s praise buoying her.

Plan F was a success.

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No picture for this one, I’ll post one Saturday since I don’t have the next chapter done yet.

Tags: @zebrabaker @anonymouse-thoughts @miraculous-of-salt @blackirisposts @yin-390 @unabashedbookworm @whatamessofwords @fairyjinxed @protect-marinette @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @psychixx

#Creations Chosen #creation's chosen #marinette dupain-cheng #marinette dupain cheng #tikki #adrein agreste #Felix Agreste #Gabriel agreste #nathaniel kurtzberg #miraculous ladybug #birthday party #nathalie sancoeur

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purplesurveys · 4 years

Text

711

How fast can you say the alphabet? I can say it quickly without my accent failing me, I guess? I’m too lazy to time it. What are you allergic to? None. How many serious relationships have you had? Just one. If you could read one person's mind, who would it be? I wouldn’t want to target one person like that. I’d only be picking my dog’s so I can hear what he thinks of me, ha. If someone dared you, what dare would you be afraid to attempt? Eating/drinking anything rotten.

How do you like your eggs? Scrambled or over easy. What's your most expensive piece of clothing? Probably my shoes. Most of them are several thousand bucks. What was your last big achievement? The last objectively big achievement I made was finishing the first half of my thesis and getting the go signal to finish the rest of it. But if we’re counting tiny steps that feel like big achievements, it’s having an article published in my org’s publication this week. I co-wrote it with JM and Rick, but it still feels nice to get to say I was productive during the quarantine. What famous person's memoir would you like to read? I’m willing to read anyone’s biography/autobiography since it’s one of my favorite genres. But at the moment I’m probably most willing to read something about Kim Jong Un since it’s generally hard to find material in North Korea as it is, and it would be fascinating to hear about their life and culture there. Have you ever had a "false alarm" moment, what was it about? Sure. A few months ago I was in Manila for a workshop and my car wouldn’t start when it was time to drive back home. Pressing any button on the key fob wouldn’t work and I couldn’t open the doors, so I was pretty much just locked out. I was already stuck there for a while and I was starting to panic, so I called up my parents to ask for help and they were already getting dressed to drive all the way where I was. Right before they left the house Jhian was mysteriously able to make stuff work and opened my door and I gave my parents the happiest “false alarm” ever haha. Do you know how to ride a bike? I don’t. My dad recently pumped air into the wheels of the bike that we have in the house so I can practice riding it throughout the quarantine, but I just can’t. I never did learn what my friends say when they tell me to just “find my balance.” If you could breed two species together what new animal would you create? No thanks. What 5 world leaders would you make sit down in a room to discuss issues? Isn’t that already the point of UN? If you were in the hospital who are the two people you'd want by your side? Gab and my dad. When was the last time you cried and what made you cry? Ooh ya got me. With this quarantine not letting me go anywhere and giving me new experiences, I’ve had no reason to cry lol.

The last most vivid reason I remember crying was that one Wednesday in February where everything went wrong – Andrew and I got red marks all over our thesis and we got practically yelled at over how bad our work had been so far; accidentally spewing peanut sauce all over the said thesis draft immediately after it was returned to us; almost losing this one thing for the org that I 100% WAS NOT allowed to lose, and having to ask Andrew to go back to campus at mid-fucking-night just to retrieve it and feeling shit the whole time for asking that of him; and having to deal with an unresponsive source for an article I needed to write and finish ASAP. I cried nonstop until like 2 AM that night. If you could ever take a street sign, what sign do you want? It’d be such a pointless steal, so no thanks. What is your favorite ride at any amusement park? Haha anything mild and for kids tbh. My stomach can’t handle rides. Have you ever raised money for charity? I haven’t spearheaded any fundraisers but I’ve donated for some, like whenever workers from exploitative corporations go to UP to visit some classes, talk about their struggles, and ask for support. How do you feel about growing older? I’ve got little time to be scared of it because getting old just happens all the time and constantly. I just take it for what it is and learn along the way. What wild animal scares you? Probs lion. I’ve never seen one in real life and movies and shows have conditioned me to think they’ll attack any human that comes close enough, soooooooo no thanks. I’d love to be corrected and to find out that they’re big softies, though. Do you think actors and athletes are overpaid? I can argue that for some actors, but definitely not athletes. Athletes bust their ass day in and day out and are in constant need of training, transportation, and the adequate gear, equipment, etc. Some actors just have to sit pretty and they wouldn’t even be good at it. Have you ever been alienated, if so for what? This was me for most of what you’d call middle school. People were starting to be more conscious of trends and using it as a basis for who to hang out with, so while everyone had a Blackberry, got side bangs, and listened to The Summer Set, I was struggling to fit in a place where my love of wrestling would be accepted. Of course there was none, and I felt left out for a while.

More recently, this was also me in applying for AIESEC but I’ve already touched on that a couple of times here. The alienation was so bad my friends and I just resort to laughing about my experience whenever it gets brought up. Have you ever not returned something you borrowed and if so what was it? I have a couple of Gab’s jackets, but she doesn’t mind me keeping them since I get cold quicker and more often. When you pack your lunch, what's your favorite packed lunch? Loooove when my dad makes curry for me to bring to school. What was the one most important thing you learned from your parents? It’s impossible to start at the bottom and work your way to the very top. I’m constantly worried about staying at the bottom, so it’s always comforting to see how far they’ve come.

On a parenting note, I’ve learned that I should talk to my future kids the way they are – kids. Ever since I can remember my mom has always gotten mad at me as if I was already an adult, so it’s made me permanently terrified of all adults/the idea of pissing anyone off. She would always just get mad, banging stuff around, and never explain to me what I did wrong, so to this day I get very self-punishing when I feel like I’ve done something wrong but don’t exactly know what it was I did.

How fast can you run? I used to be good as a kid which is what landed me on the track team in grade school, but I didn’t enjoy running so I did it less and less every year. Now I’m just meh at it. Have you done something you worry could come back to haunt you, what? Nothing that bad, no. What is your most favorite feature of your favorite electronic device? I’m very happy with the battery life of my laptop, considering how 1) my old Macbook Air only had a battery life of one hour, and 2) the laptop I had before had a damaged battery to begin with so I couldn’t even use it/bring it anywhere unless it was plugged in. The 10-hour battery life for my current one is a fucking dream for me lmao. If you had to build a small ark, what 7 animals would you save? All the endangered ones so like an elephant, Philippine eagle, panda, orangutan, tiger, and a rhinoceros. I’d save the last slot for a stray dog. What is your favorite Christmas or holiday tradition? I love going over to my mom’s cousins’ place and have our tradition of exchanging gifts singing My Monito/Monita. What novel would you love to be transported into to live out your days? I prefer non-fiction, soz. What is your favorite hiding place? MY CAR. It’s seen my worst breakdowns, my sleeping sessions in the middle of the day, and the days where I’m okay but simply need a break from everyone. If I feel like being alone I just head inside, recline my seat, and tune out the whole world. What is something your parents love that you actually love too? Indian food. Have anyone ever said "I love you" and you couldn't say it back. This is me with my mom. I’ve stopped saying “I love you” ever since I came to terms with the fact that she has brought a lot of trauma into my life and it would be unfair to the both of us (mostly me, heh) if I said it back. Have you ever ridden a camel? I haven’t. It would be very difficult to find a camel on this side of the planet.

What's been the hardest loss you've had to take? My grandfather and Nacho. What emotion is your least favorite and the one you are not in touch with? I hate feeling embarrassed obviously, but I’m regularly in touch with it because there’s always at least one event a day where I fuck up and I feel extremely embarrassed. Do you think facial moles or freckles are cute? I don’t mind them. They’re not a common facial trait where I live, so I’m more fascinated by them than anything else. Would you ever pick up a hitchhiker? I’ve read too many accounts of serial killers where hitchhikers were involved to feel skeptical about them but I know I’d also feel bad if I ignored them. I honestly don’t know what to feel about them as I don’t live in a hitchhike-y area.

What was your funniest computer or phone wallpaper? Eh, I don’t really pick wallpapers to find them funny. If you're searching for a relationship, where is your go place to look? Unapplicable for my demi ass. When and where are you happiest? Either anywhere with Gab or Skywalk with my orgmates. What was your favorite age, so far? 16 has so far been the year with the least fuckups. What is your favorite part of the day? Typically, it would be the moment I realize I’m done with everything that needed to be done for that day, like if my last meeting has ended or if I’m finished with my last class, and all that’s left to do is to drive home. What book have you read multiple times? The Septimus Heap series up til the 5th book (there are 7) only because in the past I had always made plans to restart and finish the whole series, but I never did get around to finishing it so I’ve only just kept restarting and restarting the books. Do you keep a budget? No budget. What matters to me is at least being able to have savings at the end of the week, which is tbh not the smartest thing to do. Have you ever test driven a car you knew you weren't going to buy? Nope, I’ve never gone car shopping like that. Pretend you're doing an interview, what's the first question? Uhhhhhhhhhh idk depends on what the interview is for? What do you have a hard time visualizing? Everything. I’m not a very visual person and creativity is my weak point, so I genuinely struggle if I do have to imagine anything. Abstract reasoning has always been my least favorite part of tests. What makes you feel uncomfortable in group settings? If all of them already know each other and I am just starting to try and fit in – it’s worse if they’re all loud and extroverts. The former is what made my internship hard for me in the beginning, but thankfully they were all very nice and could tell I was shy so they knew not to overwhelm me by being too loud. What was your worst date ever? I haven’t had a bad date. Have you ever gotten in a bidding war on Ebay, if so for what item? Nope. If you had to pick one food to eat everyday for life, what would it be? Risotto or chicken wings. For dessert, macarons. Are you supportive of your friends even if you don't agree with them? As long as their choice doesn’t entail stepping on human rights, e.g. not being pro-choice or supporting a president that supports killing the poor, I’ll be fine with the disagreement. Have you ever used the opposite sex restroom in an emergency? Yeah I had a bad nausea attack one time and needed to vomit but I only had enough time to run to the men’s bathroom before I started throwing up everywhere, so that’s where I ran. What did you think was stupid until you tried it? Ube cheesecake. I really hate ube flavor and I hate everything it’s in, but I gave it a chance when a local bakeshop incorporated ube in cheesecake since it’s my favorite kind of cake. I ended up really liking it and now I often look for it when we have family get-togethers. What subject do you and your parents never see eye to eye on? Politics, duh. Where do you see yourself in 1 year's time? Having a job, out of the quarantine, maybe saving for a trip. How scared of the dark are you? I’m fine with the dark as long as I’m not somewhere that’s meant to be haunted. What is your favorite type of seafood? Crab fat, sashimi, eel, and sea urchin. What triggers your inner shopaholic? I don’t really have a trigger. I don’t even consider myself a shopaholic. I just shop for new clothes once I feel like I’ve been repeating my clothes too much. What is the rudest thing a person can do to another person in your opinion? Insulting dead parents is one. Except if you’re the Marcoses, heh. What public figure do you disagree with the most? President Duterte, obviously. I wanna barf just having to call him President. Do you think you could ever be a firefighter, why/why not? Nope, because I’m terrified of fire and I don’t have half the stamina needed to carry the shit they have to lift when they have to put out fires. What is/was your favorite bedtime story? I don’t have any. My favorite kids’ book was Corduroy, though. What was the last thing to make you feel happy? My dog going down the stairs and going straight to me for pats once he was done. What is your opinion on rats as pets? Rats are pests here so I find it pretty disgusting. I think hamsters are fine, though. What is something you're afraid to try? Cliff diving, bungee jumping... anything that would give me the sensation of leaving my stomach behind lmao. What cartoon character best describes you? Mr. Peanutbutter from BoJack Horseman. What keeps you interested in your goals or dreams? The fact that I went through so much shit as a child/teenager that I absolutely have to make myself happy in the end, and I can only do that by achieving my goals. What is your favorite actress beginning with the letter J? Jessica Chastain. What song makes you dance uncontrollably? Crazy in Love by Beyoncé, heh. If you wanted to live off the radar where would you live? I was gonna say Sagada but everyone knows it’s my favorite place so it’d probably be one of the first areas they’d start to look... so I’d go with Batanes. That place can’t get any more secretive with their sporadic phone signal and nonexistent internet/data connection. Do you like nachos, if so what topping is a MUST have? Melted cheese. Do you have any subscriptions? Netflix and (technically) Spotify. Which is better, Mario or Sonic? Mario. I’ve never played a Sonic game and I’ve only ever encountered him playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which is a Mario-themed game to begin with. Who is the most creative person you know? Alex, someone from my high school who can recreate any. thing. Art is in her blood; she was my seatmate for one sem and she was constantly doodling and drawing and making new stuff in every class we were in. Besides a pickle, what is your favorite thing pickled? I hate pickles and anything pickled :/ Not really in the Filipino palate. What did you do for your 21st birthday? If not, 21 what are your plans? I celebrated it mostly alone because Gab couldn’t be present. Angela made me feel better by taking me to dinner and an arcade.

Are you a role model for anyone in your life? I dunno. I hope so, for at least one person. What song do you hate the most? Any song by The Vamps or Meghan Trainor. Do you think you need to slow down and enjoy life more? Isn’t slowing down what we’re all kinda forced to do right now? Can you impersonate anyone famous? Eh, sure. It’s fun to copy Gordon Ramsay for one hahaha. If you could go back in time to change one thing what would it be? Going out of my shell as early as freshman year and avoiding the semester-long breakdown/depressive episode I had. Can you honestly say you're enjoying your life right now? I can’t say I’m unhappy lmao. I have no problem doing nothing at home for more than a month – besides, this already serves as the break I planned to have shortly after graduating. After this I’ll be really ready to start looking for a job. What is your favorite salty snack? Pringles. What is your favorite restaurant? Yabu, Torch, Pound by Todd English, or Frankies. Idk man, I’m craving so much shit now that I haven’t eaten out for more than a month. Have you ever been in a play for school? Yeah, we were all required to be in all the annual school productions from kinder to senior year.

#survey #surveys

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maikatc · 5 years

Text

Black Sun Tale | Crimson Capture

Things are calm before a quiet storm, let’s just say that.

Remember this is only a first draft and has minimal edits, but enjoy! Comments and reception is always appreciated!

“Are you actually going to talk with them anytime soon?”

Oliver’s cold skin snuggled up against blankets; he read a book off of his shelf. “I’m trying to do homework, excuse me.” He frowned.

“It’s been a week, Oliver. They probably think that you already rejected them.”

He turned a page. “It’s not that I rejected them… I already looked through the situation but I still don’t know.”

Vittorino raised a brow. “And what did you get from looking through?”

Oliver ignored the question first, skimming through the dull read he grabbed. Though his thoughts blocked the pages the more he went on.

He sighed and closed the book. “I didn’t really get that much out of the interaction. But out of anything I can tell that Annette isn’t actually that involved with the group since she’s with busy with having an actual life. That and the two’s relationship is probably complicated since Annette doesn’t really try to get Ayu out of bad habits and they argue at little stuff like crazy; But at the same time, Ayu may have simply cared enough about not messing with Annette’s work after he screwed it up before, and didn’t want to bother her with something that’s technically unnecessary for him. Regardless of anything though, they’re completely inefficient as a team because their able-ness is terrible and Ayu’s right about not getting hopes up.” Oliver rambled words out in the matter of seconds, zoning out into his thoughts in the process. He took a breath at the end. “I can tell they have good intentions, but yeah they’re pretty much useless.”

Vittorino crossed his arms together with a grin, muttering, “You can definitely talk like em…” He emerged next to him. “You’re smarter for your age, I must say.”

“I just have good memory.” Oliver opened up his book again. “Doctors say I have a larger hippocampus than most. But I’ve been lacking in recent years compared to when I was little.”

“Yeah, yeah, makes sense,” Vittorino nods, “but either way, your friends will be- interesting to you at the very least. Trust me.”

Oliver scoffed, “I already know they’d be entertaining. It’s just that they’ll probably end up like all the rest. I already told you.”

“Okay then. Let me tell you in a different way then,” he groaned. “They’re not gonna be like the rest.”

A buzz rang from the corner of the room. Both Oliver and Vittorino turned towards the sound, Oliver quicker than the other. Oliver stumbled out of bed to check his phone. All there was another message from Annette, the third one of the week.

Yo Oliver, Ayu and I are hanging out in the alley again if you wanna join us (12:13pm)

“God, damn it,” the boy said under his breath. His fingers tattled at words, typing up that he was busy making new chord melodies. If it weren’t for someone interrupting him, he would’ve sent.

“Go with them for once,” Vittorino told him, “You’ll have better days that way.”

“… Will you stop talking if I do?”

“Obviously.”

Oliver’s face went flat. “You’re decent.” He edited the message:

I actually can today, but I was about to work on making some chord melodies so I’ll just bring my ukulele with. (12:15pm)

***

Oliver carried his worn-up uke strap over his shoulders. The day blistered in heat unlike the chills of before, though it didn’t stop him from wearing a thin coat.

The walk to Ayu’s still made his eyes go blurry from the distance. His legs gave in as always from another long week as they screeched in pain. He mumbled to himself with a deep breath, “Just don’t pass out in front of them.”

He clenched onto his ukulele strap as he stood back up from his slouch. The turn was straight ahead of him, and his predictions for what he would see was something he still couldn’t guess yet. “They won’t be that bad,” he figured.

“YOU MOTHER OF FUCK- HOW DID YOU DO THAT?” Oliver could still hear the same raspy voice from before in the distance.

“Hopefully,” he cringed.

Oliver walked into the alley, reluctantly knocking the wall for entrance. Annette and Ayu sat in front of one another, cards in their hands and scattered on the floor. Annette turned her head while Ayu looked over his own cards. “Oliver! Hi,” She stumbled up to greet him. “You came sooner than I thought. We’ve been playing Ono for a bit but you can join in if you want.”

“Ono…?” Oliver peeked across, sighting at the colorful cards closely. His eyes squinted at Ayu’s array of cards in his hands. He also peeked down towards Annette’s cards quickly to see her deck of five. He can literally just pull a yellow two. A grin curled up on his lips. “So, this is what a ‘gang’ does, huh?”

Annette’s eyes leaned toward the side, “Well, we usually goof around when there aren’t any attacks. It’d be too hard to track down when there’s only two people scouting. Right, Ayu?”

They both looked back to Ayu, and both found him fumbling to switch cards form the collector’s deck. Ayu blinked at them as he peeped his eyes in return, then groaned, placing the previous cards he had back to his hands.

“Goodness…” Annette sighed. “We sometimes play board games and figured today should be a game-day since you were coming over.”

“This was only Annette’s idea,” Ayu reminded.

She chuckled, “You’re even more competitive than me. Be quiet.”

Annette continued to ramble on to Oliver as he spaced out in the middle. He only interrupted her after a minute by saying, “Okay yeah, I’ll play. Get me some cards.”

Oliver beat them both by a landslide, Annette left with nine cards, Ayu left with thirteen.

“Oliver, how the heck did you do that?” Annette read over all the cards.

“Don’t worry about that,” he smiled, “You’ll learn how to use the right strategies at some point.”

“This is Ono! There are no strategies.” Ayu threw his cards over his head as he slumped to the ground.

“You out of anybody won’t figure it out.” He wasn’t even sneaky about cheating.

“Try me.” Ayu sat up with a smirk.

“Ayu, you don’t even know how to strategize on anything,” Annette laughed. Oliver played around with his case’s zipper until she asked him, “So you play ukulele, right.”

Oliver reluctantly nodded.

“I know some friends who have ones, but I barely see any guys with ‘em.” She waddled over to Oliver and his uke, arms swaying towards the case.

“Uh, yeah,” Oliver nodded, his smile curving, “No guy in my class can actually sing or do that stuff, so my class thinks it’s cool… but I was thinking of starting up guitar or piano though since it’s more practical-”

“So, you don’t just do tabs?”

“Uh, yeah.”

In the corner of his eye, Oliver caught Ayu scurrying off to a sketchbook and pencil.

“Can you sing a song for us? I wanna see how good a ten-year old is,” she giggled.

I’m tired though. “Sure.”

Oliver opened up the case, showcasing a small instrument. The paintjob was chipped off. The vibrant pattern that original shined was worn and blurred. Oliver picked it up, plucking and tuning with the scratched-up nylon. Tuning only took the matter of ten seconds.

Just a breath was fine for the young boy. His decision on the song gave him the memories of interrupted practices. Though with the plucked introduction, he began his song.

“Oh, my Red Maria. How long has back then been?”

A classic ballad. Oliver observed as Annette rang up with her ears with excitement in her face. Ayu tilted his head, in curiosity, his attention off the book.

“My life’s been dull without your blushing face.”

The chords and tabs slid through Oliver’s fingers like writing his own name. His eyes captured their expressions. While Annette’s face blurred in with every other he’s seen, Ayu had a calmed smile, everything else was unreadable.

“When we meet again, we can reach the stars as always…” He stumbled at a stop. Man, I forgot to figure out the short-stop. “The rest is just repeating so that’s about it.”

“That…” Annette stammered, “That was actually more than I expected.”

Oliver shrugged, leaning on his ukulele. “It isn’t that hard of a song.”

“I can’t play anything for crap,” she grinned, “Why are you just ten?”

“He’s turning eleven this week though,” Ayu corrected.

“Barely a difference!”

Ayu stuck his tongue out towards her. He gestured to Oliver. “I liked it.”

“Ah, thanks.” The responses were mindless and repetitive. “I usually don’t have people to listen so this is a nice-”

A ringtone began buzzing, stopping all the other noises crowding the alley.

Annette raised a finger, “Hold on a second.” She picked up her own phone from a small bag, raising it to her phone to answer the call. “Yo Jaiden, what’s up?... Oh lort- I forgot about that!”

“What do you think this is about?” Ayu moved over next to Oliver’s floor-seat.

“What do you mean?”

“She forgets extra stuff a lot, so it’s nice to pass time guessing what it is,” Ayu explained.

Oliver chuckled, “You really don’t have a lot to do, don’t you?”

“I’m betting a group project.”

The boy’s scent still wrinkled in Oliver’s nose. “Maybe it’s just…? I can’t think of one.”

“Well, she’s pretty predictable so I don’t think there’s that much to bet about anyways.” He pulled on his hoodie’s lace.

“Right…”

She combed her hair with his fingers. “I told you to remind me!... Okay fine, yeah this is a me problem,” she sighed, “I’ll get them today then we can work afterschool tomorrow, okay?... Okay, see ya.”

She groaned in her hands, but whisked back to Oliver and Ayu from behind. “Okay so I screwed up a bit,” she exclaimed, “and I have to go to the mall to get stuff for a project due on Friday.”

“That you forgot about?” Ayu eyed.

“Yeah, yeah, silence yourself,” she hassled. “Um… I don’t want to go since you’re here,” she darts Oliver.

“We can always come along,” Ayu said.

“Oh,” Annette hands opened up. “That’s actually a good idea. Oliver, do you wanna come with us?”

Do I really want to…?

“Do it,” Vittorino’s voice rang in Oliver’s head.

Damn it. “Sure.”

***

Shop lights blinded all around. Every store passed with its rows of sales and mannequins. Oliver walked along the outdoor mall, the sunny day in the Fall blazing onto his dimmed skin. The music echoed with aggravating speakers and pop ballads, and the sounds of voices rang through Oliver’s ears by the heavier crowd.

I can get through this for a bit. She won’t be long, he told himself. He clenched his fists as volumes went at screeches.

Annette hummed as she led both Ayu and Oliver, her walk swaying along with the music. All the while, Ayu’s hood covered over his head as he walked with his head down. Though looking down wasn’t that strange for Oliver, he’d done the same alone.

“It’s burning out here. How’re you in that hoodie?” He asked.

Ayu tilted his head towards Oliver. “I’m usually cold. Today’s not that bad but it’s still kinda cold.” He shrugged. “Besides, I can always bump into somebody and they can see my eye easier and I won’t get as bad of a sunburn.”

“Sunburn…?”

“My skin’s pale enough to get burned easily,” he raised and showed his boney hand, “not albino or anything but just sensitive.”

“I see.” Oliver’s brows furrowed. Damn…

“Okay!” Annette jumped. “You guys can do whatever you want. I gotta deal with the supply stuff.”

She grabbed her phone. “Oliver, I’ll call you when I’m done, alright?”

“Yeah,” Oliver nodded.

“Alright, then see ya!” She waved off before dashing away. Muttering of items got caught in Oliver’s ears as she ran.

“So…” Ayu kicked his leg, “You wanna do anything?”

Oliver stammered. Where would this guy even wanna go here? He shrugged. “Just somewhere quiet is fine, what about you?”

“Quiet,” he pondered, “I guess that could work… Here, let’s go.”

Ayu pulled on Oliver’s sleeve, dragging him to a map of the area. He asked, “Do you know where the bookstore is on here?”

“Ah,” Oliver’s attention zapped back, “It’s right there I think.” He pointed at the very corner of the mall.

“What’s it called?”

“Ferns and Hamlin’s?” It’s right there on the sign…

“Oh yeah,” Ayu gasped. “When was the last time I was even there?”

He gave a small grin, walking off from Oliver to a turn. “Come on,” he nodded off.

“Come on, kid,” Vittorino echoed.

Oliver followed.

***

“Even with clairvoyance, you’re terrible with directions,” Oliver groaned.

Ayu scoffed. “I can’t use it for anything other than monsters,” he looked away, “and that sucks too.”

Oliver brushed off Fall dust. “Regardless of whatever you have, that took us longer than needed.”

“Shouldn’t you know this place?”

“No,” Oliver answered, “I never go here. I go to Fair Woods and even that’s rare.”

“… How much do you go out?”

“Less than normal,” Oliver quickly replied.

“Sounds about right.” Ayu eyed Oliver’s hands. “You look pale even with your tan. Paler than before I think too.”

Well that’s for other reasons…

The two entered the shop together. Oliver immediately silenced from the soft music. The change of atmosphere contented him considering before. The aisles stacked with books barely held anybody else around as the cashiers only stood in patience.

“They’d have comics here, right?”

Oliver hiccupped once Ayu queried him. He only nodded off while reading over the signs. “Probably.”

Ayu stepped pass. “I think I can find it on my own,” he muttered, leaving Oliver at the front.

Oliver stared at space as the boy walked off, debating on what exactly to do.

“How’s it going so far,” Vittorino asked. His stature standing right next to Oliver right after Ayu’s leave.

Oliver’s face scrunched up. “They’re… fine, just like before. But that was the first time anyone’s ever mentioned me being paler than usual.”

“They’re people who can see a lot more than others can, remember?”

“I didn’t think that that’d matter in my case,” Oliver exclaimed. His legs began pacing through to the novel aisle. All that the aisle covered were teen-pandering novels involving the Wonder Chronicles and other stories that made it to film. As Oliver grabbed a book left in the corner, he turned around to find Vittorino already gone. He shrugged. Grabbing a book with a familiar title. “Heard this was good…”

Reading the sections, Oliver strolled to the comic area of the shop. The brightness of colors beaming from the graphic novels. In the corner, Ayu sat curled up with his knees, starting up a comic book from the very first page.

Oliver sat next to him, crisscrossed with a steady back. “Whatcha’ reading,” he asked.

Ayu perked up, his ear twitching. “Huh? Oh,” he closed up his book and pushed the cover straight at Oliver’s face, “It’s a Crimson Capture comic. I remember loving their old cartoon when I was younger so I’m giving it a shot.”

Crimson was unmistakable for Oliver. With their dashing velvet cloak and drawn-out, dark hair, they’d dash through cities to fight crime with only the power of their wits. All that could be known of their identity was hidden by their signature masquerade mask to run through the night.

While Oliver found the idea interesting, he could never take the vigilante seriously to most of his classmates’ dismay. So, all he replied with was a, “Cool.”

They both read with soft pop playing in the background. Minute by minute Oliver passed through pages. Though throughout the read, all Oliver could think of was, cliché.

It’d already turn to a good half-hour once Oliver slammed his book shut. “Lazy writing,” he muttered to himself.

He settled the book to the side, taking a breath as he grew self-aware in the atmosphere again. He shifted his attention back to the boy next to him.

Glancing for a second, Oliver could tell Ayu had only finished a decent quarter of the comic. His eyes held focus on the words as he continued to squint repeatedly.

“How come it’s taking you so long to read?” Oliver asked without thinking.

Ayu blinked, facing away from the book again. “Oh, it’s usually hard for me to read. Usually in stuff in small words.”

Oliver paused, processing the words Ayu had said. “You haven’t been at school for a while, haven’t you?”

“Nope,” Ayu laid his book down, “Stopped at around eight. Even back then I was bad, but they didn’t care as long as I had fun.” He chuckled at his own words.

Oliver hummed. “I was never like that.”

“Really?” Ayu’s voice grew deadpanned.

“I skipped a grade when I was younger for how fast I was learning, so everyone expected me to do everything well and didn’t worry.” Oliver patted on his ukulele case. “After skipping though, I started falling behind because of- this one guy… Do you know anybody named Faustus?”

Ayu blinked and scrunched up. “Who the hell names their kid Faucet?”

Oliver studied his reaction only to find confusion written on his entire face. He sighed, but chuckled from the name confusion. “He… was a weird kid. Popped up out of nowhere and talked to me whenever he was bored.” He chuckled to himself, “He looked like a tween emo-head too so that didn’t help anything.”

“Reminds me of stuff,” Ayu muttered.

“I liked him, though. He was fun, in a strange way.” Oliver pulled his chin up towards the cabinets, searching for words of memories. “He was kinda judgmental back then when I talked with him. Not sure why, but it could’ve been from either him being surprised of how smart I was for my age… or streets-dumb. I can’t tell.” His mind basked at the thoughts he had as a kid. The interactions he had with the white-haired kid baffled him for how unknowing he was.

Then sights of someone walking away and disappearing came before his eyes. Oliver nodded his head down again in expectance of what to come from the flashback. “He told me he had to leave right before I turned seven. Gave me something and went off. Haven’t seen him since.”

Ayu asked, his tone reluctant, “What did he give you?”

Oliver paused, biting his lip gently so it wouldn’t bleed again. “I can’t remember. I threw it away a bit after I’m pretty sure.”

A ring came from Oliver’s pocket. He picked up his phone, Annette’s name flashing at the front for a call, and flipped it open. “Are you done?”

“Yup. Luckily, it didn’t take that long so that’s good. I’m right by the food court so you guys can come up here.”

Fuck, we have to figure out how to get there. “Sounds good. See ya then.” He hung up, informing Ayu of what Annette told him.

Ayu groaned in response. “Why the food court?”

“I dunno, she just said to be there.”

Ayu wrapped himself around his arms and knees. “That’ll kill my stomach,” he muffled.

Oliver rolled his eyes.

They stored away their books together, not bothering to put them in the right place out of laziness, and exited the shop. As they walked, the crowd noise grew to Oliver’s ears once again.

“Fuck…” Ayu muttered, tugging on his hood.

“What?”

“I forgot about how loud this place is.”

Oliver tilted his head. “You’re bothered by it too?”

“More than traffic,” Ayu spat, “at least I got used to that one, kinda.”

Oliver smiled. “I have sensitive ears too. Sucks, doesn’t it?”

“Completely.”

Don’t worry about it. Mine’s probably worse than yours.

“No, mine’s worse…” Ayu mumbled to himself.

Oliver’s sights turned to the boy again. Did he just-

A hand pushed Oliver by the chest. He flinched as similar motions of back then popped back into his mind. The boy whipped his head around to see who gave him the money in his hands again. And all he saw was a man in a trench coat.

“What the hell, Vittorino,” Oliver spat. He ignored Ayu, who walked off without noticing a thing from what Oliver could decipher. Though as soon as he asked, Vittorino was already gone in a blink.

Oliver stared down at the money, the intentions unclear. He then shoved it in his pants-pocket and dashed off to catch up with Ayu.

The walk took shorter than the last, thanks to multiple bright signs directing towards the area.

As Oliver walked up steps to the court, he was immediately welcomed to the aroma. Though to his distaste, he passed it off.

“Dear God, that smells amazing.” Ayu purred, a slip of drool falling so slightly on his chin.

Well too bad for you, we don’t have any money- oh. A click formed in Oliver’s mind. He fumbled grabbing Vittorino’s money. “I have money if you want some food.”

“Seriously?” Ayu batted his head. His eyes shined despite one with dull grey.

Oliver nodded, opening up his hands to show his change to the boy. “It’s enough for the two of us. I’m pretty sure Annette can get herself food too.”

“Thank you,” he gasped. His smile was crooked but Oliver read it clearly.

“It’s really nothing,” Oliver exclaimed. “Here, I’ll call Annette right now.”

He dialed her number without looking at the phone and placed it against his ear. “You called?”

“Hey uh, Ayu actually wants some food here so I was thinking that we can eat together. I have money for him, don’t worry.”

Ayu shied away in the corner of Oliver’s eye. He fumbled with his hoodie’s aglet.

“That sounds great! I’ll get us a table and text you guys where. You get your food, he must be hungry.”

“Okay, I’ll talk with him about what he wants first off. See ya.” Oliver hung up to check up on Ayu again.

“You really don’t have to do this, you know,” Ayu swallowed. “I don’t need to eat.”

“No, it’s alright,” Oliver said, “Just tell me what you want and I’ll get you it.” Besides, I have no clue what else to do with this cash.

Ayu pouted but his stomach stopped him with a growl. He sighed and pointed, “Can we go to the Asian place over there?”

***

Ayu carried over his stacks of a meal while Oliver stared in a baffled state of mind. He himself carried only a small plate of food.

How was there fifty-dollars in there? Holy shit.

“My God, this smells delicious.” Ayu licked over his chapped lips. “Where did Annette say she was again?”

“Right there,” Oliver pointed out. Annette stood tall against her surroundings with her bright face. She waved as soon as her face met with theirs.

Oliver and company sat at a small table. Multiple families and friend groups surrounded them as they chatted about whatever. Steam and smoke from each and every store came seeking out throughout the entire area while toddlers cried for ice cream they wanted.

“So how did shopping go for you?” Oliver played around with the pork dish he ordered, taking small bites every two or three minutes.

“Not all that hard,” Annette answered, “Jaiden was yelling at me left and right about what to get though.” She chuckled while nom-ing a burger.

Ayu never entered the conversation the two were having. Majority of the time his face was stuffed with sushi rolls and salmon grills. Oliver glanced over the note.

Annette and Oliver continued conversing as Annette ate her meal. Though, as time went on, Oliver realized that there really was no use for him to get anything. He checked up on Ayu, who was almost done completely in the matter of minutes. His and Annette’s talking finished so he went and asked.

“How were you able to finish that much fish?”

Ayu chewed as he spoke, “I just really like sushi. Seafood in general…” He gulped. “Fish.”

“Enough to have that much?”

“I was in the mood. Plus, I feel like I’m starving so that’s for one thing.” He took his last bite, falling down on his seat as soon as he swallowed. “That was amazing. Thanks.”

Oliver eyed down on his plate and shoved it towards Ayu. “You can have mine too. I’m not that hungry so-” Ayu snatched the plate and wolfed it all down immediately. Oliver froze in response, shaken by the speed. “Damn.”

Annette laughed as she glanced off her phone. Though Ayu thanked Oliver again as he opened his first bottle of water.

Oliver sat next to him in slight disbelief. The animalistic tendencies being both interesting to watch yet questionable all the same. However, all he could make up in his head was, It’s alright. Don’t discredit the guy. You do the same stuff sometimes too. Just- worse…

All Oliver could read from him was a childish smile.

***

Four o’clock in the afternoon and the street bustling was as high as ever.

Oliver walked along silently, following the two ahead of him. He waited for anything to interrupt the dragging moments. An accident, Vittorino, him passing out, his expectations for something loomed throughout his mind.

Ayu and Annette chatted in front of him. They talked about some sort of show or story, just something Oliver had no knowledge of. Though from what Oliver could read, all the passion seeped out of Ayu’s weak voice as he talked. However, the conversation stopped at a halt as Ayu himself fell to his knees.

“Ayu,” Annette gasped out. She kneeled down supporting him.

Ayu began to shake, placing a hand on his right eye. He stammered whispers until he was able to form words. “Ende Street. Down the road. They’re over there.” He pointed with a dragged-up hand, weak enough to fall at any second.

“That’s so close,” Annette said, “Is it fine for you to stay here?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Ayu breathed out, “I’ll be fine, don’t worry.”

She nodded and stood up, throwing the shopping bag she held to Ayu. She gestured at Oliver. “Come with me,” and she ran off.

Oliver stepped forward, but hesitated. He turned back to see Ayu again, down on his luck. The child clenched onto his ukulele strap unsure of whether to give it to him or not. Though in a rush, he dashed his way around still holding onto his instrument. He can look inside.

Catching up to Annette, he asked her, “Is he gonna be okay?”

“Don’t sweat it,” Annette assured him while running, “This happens all the time.”

As soon as her sentence ended, Oliver’s eyes stopped upon a gate entrance. Annette slowed her pace as well, signaling him with a hand and whispering, “Be quiet, it’ll be trickier for it to notice us.”

Oliver nodded. He took steps he himself could hear faintly. His case rustled against his back in inconvenience. From a distance, Oliver caught the sounds of deep grunts and breaths that grew louder as he drew closer to a clear view.

Annette whispered to him again. “Once you see everything, don’t freak out. I’ll deal with the monster for you.”

Oliver gulped. A realization crossed his mind. The scent that he picked up strongly in the area was of a familiar crimson liquid.

Taking a turn to the door took Oliver’s breath away. Bodies filled the bloodied floor with punctures in their chest. Their skin was grey like so many before. Their faces held frozen in shock for the rest of their time. A sick hole formed in Oliver’s stomach as his throat lumped together. Not again.

At the corner of his feet was that of a little girl and her family. Her rosy cheeks draining from her as her blood trickled down from her body. Oliver’s own skin turn cold. He bit down against his lip. This is just-.

“There.” Annette nudged Oliver, breaking him out of his trance. Her head faced upwards, causing Oliver to follow on his own still shaking. Though, what stood above was as unearthly as himself.

The creature was hunched, cradling its lean, sharp claws over its stick hands. Its skin was almost nonexistent, as a black mist surrounding formed its indescribable shape. Darkness was all you could sense from the monster. That, and the blood stained over its arms.

Oliver stepped back as the monster tilted its head over to them. Its face drooped down to an uncanny horror. Mists of white and red formed the eyes and fangs. The eyes stared directly at the two as Oliver held his breath.

“Stand back,” Annette commanded. Oliver stood frozen in his spot, gazing at his surroundings.

Annette drafted her feet closer to the monster. Their distances meeting in a confrontation. A breath suppled her movement as she planted her legs apart in an assertive stance.

“Isn’t he going to attack us,” Oliver whispered.

“Don’t worry.”

A hand drew from her side, locking itself into midair and fingers spread wide. “You need patience for aim,” she said softly. Though, the soft voice turned into a loud radiance. “Hey, Jumbo!”

The monster turned around in slow agony at her.

She yelled, “You wanna go back?”

A squeal was heard from the monster, crying in tone. Its bloody hands and legs pounced in a scream. But before it could form a dent on her skin or a creep of her blood, a silent blast distorted the monster from Annette’s hand. Twists and turns misshaped the formless beast down to a single sphere in the air. The monster cried before the little sphere was left, and it tortured Oliver’s ears and mind.

Once the screams stopped, Oliver pulled up his head again to view what was left. And the sphere was gone as soon as it appeared to him, as its remains flew away in black fragments.

Annette huffed, dropping her arm down. “That’s how… you kill a monster.”

She then crouched down to sit, taking her hands to a prayer. She turned her head back to Oliver, who only began to process what had happened for the previous two minutes. She told him, “You can join if you want, but I’ll be quick.”

Oliver’s expression softened as he was reminded of the true results of what happened in the place. For him, it was dead silent. No traffic, no chatter could be heard. All that rang through the two of them was the silence of the innocent.

He walked next to her and took a knee down to sit as well. And they prayed together for the lost lives.

***

“It’s a bummer we couldn’t get anybody today,” Annette sighed. “We were so close to it too.”

“I’m…” Oliver traced his words. “I’m sure the next time it’s close, it’ll be fine.”

Annette giggled. “Nah, this is normal for us. So, we kinda just go for effort.” She kicked a can out of her way, though it barely moved. She dawdled over her steps. “Ayu should be where we left him. He’s probably fine but now.”

They took a turn to the street where Ayu was left. The city-noise returned to Oliver’s ears as time went on. It would’ve only taken them 5 minutes’ time to get back to the alleyway afterwards.

“You know,” Annette started. Oliver turned to find her in a small smile. “You better get your powers soon. Speed like Ayu could be really helpful for the job!”

Oliver huffed a response. “I’d figure.” He followed his own steps, thoughts rambling throughout his head. But he was cut short by a familiar black-haired boy standing in front of him

“How’d it go,” Ayu asked. His hands were shoved into his pockets as he held a numb expression.

“We weren’t able to get anyone again,” Annette answered behind Oliver. “But at least Oliver didn’t panic first thing.”

“Oh yeah, how did it go for you?” Ayu shifted to Oliver.

“It was… alright, I guess.”

Ayu raised a brow. “Weird. I thought you’d be more scared.”

Oliver avoided eye contact. “Don’t worry about that. It’s fine.”

Together, they all went back to the alleyway. Its messy composition remained unchanged.

“So, this was a… decent meeting day.” Annette grabbed her things while talking. “Oliver, don’t get too worried about the entire monster thing. Or at least- don’t feel too bad about it.”

“Like I said, it’s fine,” Oliver swatted out. It’s not the worst. He glanced the time on his phone.

“Well, I’m about to leave myself as you can tell.” Annette waved with cards in her hands. “Are you gonna do fine for the rest of the day, Ayu?”

He shrugged. “It’s like any other day so yeah.”

“Then just don’t die.” Annette jumped after grabbing up her shopping bag. She took a step out of the alley and waved to Oliver and Ayu. “See y’all whenever.” She walked off without a trace.

“See ya,” Ayu replied.

Oliver didn’t say a word. His throat itching at the memory of the area death. I’m gonna be thinking about that all day, aren’t I?

“So, you’re going too?” Ayu sat down as he asked.

“Oh,” Oliver cut his thoughts short. “Yeah. My mom’s probably gonna come back from work soon.”

“Ah, well, have fun with her then.” He grabbed his sketchbook into his hand, starting to write with the pencil inside.

Oliver nodded. He dipped down his head in thought. “I may not be here for the next few days. So, see you eventually.”

“See ya,” Ayu said without facing him.

Oliver left. His small feet paced back home without any thoughts in his mind.

The door clicked, Oliver’s head poking out as he entered. The living room had no change since the previous year. He took his steps towards the couch in which he tossed his ukulele to a small pillow. Immediately, he lunged his body down to the cushions afterwards.

“God damn, this was a long day,” he groaned.

His eyes would barely lay open. His mind slowly grew hazy as his entire body went heavy.

“Not today,” he muttered. In a sigh, he pulled himself back together with the minimal energy he had. Stumping back, he opened his ukulele case and grabbed an item from an inner pocket.

A voice rang in his ears, not of Vittorino, but of a vivid reminder. “Don’t be afraid of what will come.”

Did you expect me to follow that?

He stumbled with his head down through the hallway. His stomach cried in pain.

“Just wait,” he told himself. “Just wait…”

He locked himself in the bathroom, facing himself against the sink mirror. The boy stared at his own deathly eyes.

I’m not gonna make it again, aren’t I?

Ten Dollars | Bread and Water | Red Eye | Next>>>

#writing #my writing #writeblr #writblr #writers on tumblr #black sun tale #bst #chapter 4 #gore warning #swearing warning #fish?#bst oliver #bst ayu #bst annette #bst vittorino #bst faustus?#faucet

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missselenewrites · 5 years

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Entangled sequel snippet

Several months ago I started writing a proper sequel to Entagled, by which I mean that it takes place after the epilogue, not like the missing scenes which take place before. But because finishing sequels is clearly not my strong suit, it's likely to remain unfinished for some time. So I decided to post at least the first chapter here because I like it and it would be a shame if nobody got to read it.

It's just the first draft, so forgive any mistakes, and let me know if you can tell which Sherlock Holmes adaptations it's inspired by!

********

September 2034

John stepped out of the train and onto the platform, pulling his suitcase behind him. His eyes were immediately drawn to the imperious figure standing slightly apart from the general crowd milling about on the platform, and he smiled.

Sherlock looked as good as ever. Aging suited him, John thought for the upnteenth time. It wasn’t that he looked younger than he was, exactly - there were lines on his face and while his hair showed no sign of greying, his hairline had receded in a way that his wild curls couldn’t entirely mask. But he wore his age well - to John, he always looked like someone who was happy to be growing older simply because he was happy to be alive. His face was tanned from spending time outdoors and his erstwhile sharp edges had been smoothed down with love and regular meals. At fifty-five and having long ago abandoned his neatly-pressed suits for a more comfortable attire better suited for country living, he was still the most beautiful man John knew - the only difference was that he no longer shied away from admitting it to himself.

“John,” Sherlock said warmly, and then they were in each other’s arms, hugging tightly. Sherlock smelled like sun and honey and wood fire and John felt tension he hadn’t even been aware of drain from his shoulders. It always felt so good to come here. They saw each other fairly regularly, but it just wasn’t the same as when Sherlock still lived in London and they worked cases together.

It had come as a surprise, when Sherlock decided to retire from detective work. He’d been only fifty, and when he said he was moving away, John had assumed he meant Paris or New York or Tokyo - a metropolis, because that was the sort of environment where Sherlock Holmes belonged. Right in the middle of things. Sussex had come as a relief because it was closer, but the idea of Sherlock living in a tiny village - and not even in a village, more like just outside of one - took some getting used to. However, the new, quieter life clearly suited Sherlock, and even though John missed the excitement of their work, he had to admit it was good that they had stopped before their reflexes got too slow. He thought he was in good shape, but he doubted he’d be able to chase anyone across rooftops.

John had been worried at first that Sherlock would no longer have any use for him if there were no cases for John to assist with, but he had been wrong about that. They found opportunities to see each other as often as possible, and there was even a case from time to time, since Sherlock still accepted work that was interesting enough. Last year, when John had been a bit depressed when Rosie left for university, he’d spent ten days with Sherlock and they solved several cases within that time - he knew Sherlock had only taken them to cheer him up. Perhaps something like that would come up again this time, and if not, that was okay too - John would be more than happy to enjoy a quiet long weekend in the countryside with his best friend.

They walked together to Sherlock’s car and drove the short distance to the stone cottage, which stood in a secluded spot away from prying eyes and out of the way of random passers-by. The cottage was picture-perfect, complete with a white picket gate set in a low stone wall, a flowering front garden and roses climbing up the walls. It wasn’t a place where Sherlock of twenty years ago would have willingly lived, but it suited his softer, gentler nature of recent years and the loving warmth of his relationship with his husband -- or partner, more precisely, since they weren’t married, but at some point John had started thinking of Sanjay as Sherlock’s husband anyway.

Right now, however, the house was clearly empty when they arrived, aside from the two dogs who greeted them - an Irish setter called Bonny, and Doyle, a boisterous one-year-old retriever that nearly knocked John off his feet with his enthusiasm.

“Down, Doyle,” Sherlock commanded to absolutely no effect. “Sanjay’s at work, he’ll be back after lunch.”

“Oh, didn’t he need the car? I could have taken a cab from the station.”

“No, it’s fine, he likes the walk from the bus stop when the weather’s nice. Doyle, down! I swear to god, this dog is a menace,” Sherlock said sternly as he tried to stop Doyle from jumping up and down in excitement, but John knew that his strictness was faked - there was no one in the world who loved and spoiled their dogs more than Sherlock did.

“Let him be, it’s great that someone’s so happy to see me,” John said indulgently, more than happy to pet one dog with each hand.

“I’m happy to see you, but forgive me if I don’t slobber on you to show it. Tea?”

“Please.”

They took their tea on the patio. John sank into his chair with a sigh of satisfaction, enjoying the view of the extensive back garden, full of flowers and fruit trees intended to provide plentiful and varied sources of pollen to the bees that resided in the colourful beehives at the back.

“Mmm, I needed this,” he hummed appreciatively as he took his first sip of the hot tea, sweetened with a generous dollop of honey. He normally took his tea unsweetened, but one did not simply refuse Sherlock Holmes’ honey.

“The tea?” Sherlock said, stirring even more honey into his cup.

“No, just being here. I always feel like I’m in a different universe when I’m here.” It was the absolute truth, and it wasn’t just about leaving the city behind, hearing birdsong instead of the hum of traffic, smelling flowers and grass and damp earth instead of exhaust fumes. It was Sherlock, being with him, seeing how happy and fulfilled he was in his new life. It energised John like nothing else.

“You could move here, you know,” Sherlock said softly, looking at John through his eyelashes.

“Yeah, I’ve thought about it, actually.” He wasn’t sure how Lara, his wife, would like being away from London and her daughter and grandchildren, and buying real estate in the current economy wasn’t an easy thing to do, but then again, the train connection to London was pretty good, and selling their flat would bring a nice sum. They certainly couldn’t afford something as nice and large as Sherlock’s cottage (Sherlock and Sanjay were only able to afford it thanks to the Holmes family money) but if they found something simpler and smaller… it was a possibility. “But Lara helps out a lot with Veronica’s kids, you know, I don’t think she’s in a hurry to leave, she loves being a grandmother. But when the kids are a bit older… it could be nice.”

“I loved visiting my grandparents in the country when I was a child. Tell Lara she should consider that before all the good properties are snapped up. There’s a house in Cocksbrige that’s just become available and should be within your price range.”

John raised an eyebrow at him. “You’ve given this some thought.”

Sherlock shrugged. “Yes, well. It’s tedious having to pick you up at the station all the time, and then you clutter up the guest room.”

John grinned at him, warmth spreading through his chest. “I miss you too.”

Sherlock’s eyelashes fluttered as he gave a tiny smile, clearing his throat.

“Think about it, John.”

“Yeah, I will. I think I deserve a nice retirement too, don’t I?” He’d occasionally thought about this ever since Sherlock and Sanjay had moved here. It wasn’t far from London, but it still wasn’t practicable to see Sherlock as often as he’d like. If he could move somewhere within a reasonable distance, he’d have everything he needed.

“And how are the bees?”

“Good. It’s been a good summer, enough rain and not too hot for once.” Sherlock launched into a lengthy monologue about his bees as John had known he would, and John tuned out. He had no interest in the intricacies of beekeeping, but he enjoyed watching Sherlock’s enthusiasm, the animated way he talked about about his favourite topic, the glint in his eye. It would be good if he could see it more often.

“... but then it turned out that the bees in the hives on the eastern side noticed the increased number of exits from the hive much quicker than the bees on the western side, and… John. You’re not listening to me at all, are you?”

“What? No, I am. The number of exits. I’m listening.”

Sherlock smiled broadly. “You know you don’t have to pretend to care about bees. It’s fine. Now.” He puts his cup back on the table and straightens a little in his chair. “Have we wasted enough time talking?”

“Sorry, what?”

“Are you finally going to give it to me?”

“Give you what?” John asked, but of course he knew what Sherlock meant. He’d been hoping that somehow Sherlock wouldn’t notice, but he had known there was only a small chance of that.

Sherlock gives him a pointed look. “You brought Lara’s suitcase instead of your usual duffel bag.”

“So? Maybe my shoulder hurts.” John knew there was no point in dragging it out, but something stopped him from giving in too easily.

“Except it doesn’t. The only reason why you’d choose a suitcase is if you wanted to bring something that you couldn’t bring in your duffel bag. Not because of size, the case is actually smaller in volume. But something that could get damaged in the bag. Creased. Like sheets of paper that you printed out because you’re old-fashioned.”

“I’m not old-fashioned,” John bristled automatically.

“You’re old-fashioned enough to prefer paper instead of the screen for your manuscript.”

“Hmm, that’s just a wild guess. You couldn’t deduce anything like that just from the suitcase.”

“Couldn’t I? The only thing you’d want to bring as a physical copy would have to be something with sentimental value - there aren’t many things like that. But you’re right, it wasn’t just the case. There’s also the fact that everytime I visited your home in the past year, you computer was conspicuously absent, hidden away. You normally leave it lying around, but suddenly it was nowhere to be seen, so clearly connected to something personal.”

“Maybe I just watch a lot of porn.”

Sherlock chuckled. “That never made you hide your laptop before. Your eyesight has also deteriorated slightly in the past year from too much screen time and squinting at your notes in bad lighting, although I admit it could be attributed to other factors as well. However, I know from Rosie that you’ve been using her room as an office while she’s away. She complained that her desk was full of your old case notes when she came back home for Easter.”

“Ah, so you didn’t actually deduce anything. Rosie just told you.”

“She only told me what I needed to confirm my suspicion. You’ve been writing.”

John sighed. “Yes.”

“About our old cases.”

“Yes.”

“And you’ve brought the manuscript for me to read.”

“Yes. But only I wanted to give it to you just before leaving.”

“Afraid of my scathing critique?”

“Can you blame me, given how you reacted to my blog?” John said, but that wasn’t the true reason, although it was part of it. Of course he was worried Sherlock would think his writing was bad, but it was more than that. What he had written was far more personal than any account of a case he’d ever published on his blog. It wasn’t about the cases. It wasn’t even about Sherlock, not really.

John had had a vague idea about writing a proper book about his work with Sherlock almost from the very beginning, but he had only started actually writing it last year, almost immediately after he came back home from his extended visit to Sherlock’s. There was nothing like your only child leaving the nest to make you think about time passing, face the fact that you were getting older, that most of your life was behind you. John had thought about that when Rosie left for university, her small bedroom quiet and eerily empty even though most of her possessions were still there. He had thought about his life then, and all the choices he had made that had led him to where he was - the right ones, and the wrong ones. He had made a lot of the wrong ones. And after spending almost two weeks with Sherlock, in that perfect cocoon of happiness and domesticity and love that was Sherlock’s home and where John would only ever be a guest, he had known what he had to do. He had come home, and found his old case notes, and started writing. The cases served as a basis for the plot, but the real story was elsewhere, and even though John had known ever since he first opened a blank document that he’d eventually give the story to Sherlock to read, he still dreaded Sherlock’s reaction.

Sherlock inclined his head to the side, his piercing eyes fixed on John and no doubt reading every single thought that passed through John’s mind, and somehow that made John feel braver - Sherlock already knew John thoroughly. One extra glimpse into John’s soul would hardly matter.

“I’m sure your literary style has improved over the years,” Sherlock said. “But if it helps, I promise not to read it until you leave.”

John scoffed. “Yeah, right.” He had no illusions about Sherlock’s ability to resist temptation. He pushed his chair back and stood up. “Wait here.” He walked back inside the cosy lounge and then to the entrance hall where he’d left his suitcase, and then he carefully took out the thick folder he’d placed in the front pocket.

“There you go,” he said brusquely when he joined Sherlock back on the patio, handing the manuscript to him.

“Thank you, John,” Sherlock said with obvious sincerity in his voice, but John couldn’t fully look him in the eye. His heart was thumping rather hard.

Sherlock glanced at the front page through the transparent front flap of the folder.

“The Adventures of Sheridan Hope?!” he read, almost comically surprised. “Who the hell is Sheridan Hope?”

“Well, he’s you. But not really. Your alter ego. This is not a biography, Sherlock. It’s not facts. And I didn’t want to make it seem like it was, so I didn’t use anyone’s real names.”

“Right,” Sherlock said, looking at the manuscript rather doubtfully. John could tell he was itching to open it. “So I’m Sheridan Hope. And you are…?”

“Doctor James Weston,” John said reluctantly.

“You know, if you wanted to hide our identities, you should have taken the name changes a bit further. No one will be fooled by Sheridan Hope and James Weston.”

“Shut up,” John bristled. “You’ve only read the title and you’re already criticising. Wait until you’ve read the whole thing at least, all right?”

“Sorry,” Sherlock said, a little subdued, then he carefully set the folder to the side with an admirable show of self-restraint. “I appreciate you letting me read this, John, truly. It will be nice to relive our glory days, so to speak.”

“Do you really never miss it?” John asked, grasping the first opportunity to shift the conversation away from his book (if he could even call it that).

“Oh, I do, sometimes. The thrill of the chase, the two of us against the rest of the world,” he smiled at John, a warm, fond smile that compelled John to smile back. “But the truth is I have no interest in facing the world anymore. And besides, this life isn’t devoid of excitement,” he added with a glint in his eye. “You really should have been here two weeks ago.”

“Oh? What happened? Did some of your bees escape? Stage a coup against the queen?”

“Coups against the queen are more common than you’d think, actually,” Sherlock said with smile. “But no. There was a murder.”

There was a moment of silence when John tried to determine whether Sherlock was pulling his leg and was actually referring to one of his beehives getting attacked by wasps, or something of that sort.

“A murder? Here?”

“Yep. People are just as capable of criminal behaviour in the country as in the city, John. There’s just less chance of someone noticing it.”

“So a murder happened basically on your doorstep and you didn’t think to tell me until now?”

“It was Rosie’s last week before home before the start of term, you wouldn’t have wanted to come here anyway. But don’t worry, there’s still a chance for you to solve the mystery.”

“What do you mean, for me to solve?”

“Well, I gave the matter some thought, and I realised there were three alternatives how I could share this case, if you want to call it that, with you. One, I could simply tell you what happened--”

“And you rejected that idea immediately as being way too straightforward.”

Sherlock smiled. “Naturally. Two, I could write it up and we could exchange manuscripts…”

“Hang on, you had no way of knowing I’d bring it with me.”

“No, but I had hopes. I knew you’d been writing, obviously I hoped you’d share it with me at some point.”

“And the third option?”

“I could tell you the facts, show you the evidence, take you to the place where it happened, and you could try to solve it.”

“So it’s still unsolved?”

“No, I was able to clear it up.”

“Right, so I’m just supposed to make a fool of myself for your entertainment, is that it?”

“Of course not, John. I have no doubt that you can get to the bottom of it. I thought you might enjoy it. Didn’t want you to get bored."

Sherlock seemed actually a little hurt by John’s reaction, and John realised that his nerves about the manuscript had made him a bit too sensitive. Of course Sherlock wasn’t planning to make fun of John - he’d essentially planned a game for John.

“I’m never bored here,” said John, and by here he meant with you. “But okay. Let’s see if I can solve this faster than you did.”

Sherlock clapped his hands together with obvious glee. “Excellent.” He stood up and grabbed the manuscript. “Let me just put this away somewhere safe and let’s go.”

“Go?”

“Obviously. The murder didn’t happen literally on my doorstep. There won’t be much in terms of evidence left, but you should still see the crime scene, don’t you think?”

#sherlock and sanjay #entangled #my fic

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kierongillen · 6 years

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Writer Notes: The Wicked + the Divine 41

Spoilers, obv.

After last issue's formalism, this one just accelerates. And, as everything in this arc, everything is a big beat. If everything is a big beat, how do you choose what to spend your space on? What beats really matter? How do you pace it? What can be a grace note and what's a scene? That's what this issue, and the rest of the arc, tends to be about.

This issue has gone down very well. I'll admit that while I absolutely gasped when I got paged in, I suspect it's going to be least favourite of the whole arc. That more says how much I enjoy the rest of the arc. Also, as a friend put it to me, I may be allergic to making people happy.

Let’s get on with this.

Jamie and Matt's cover:

There is, to some degree, a "Who hasn't had a headshot cover?" to this arc. As such, Mimir finally gets his. This is a glorious one – the pinks and blues, work really well, and the circuitboards frame it well. Obviously, Mimir plays a big role in this issue, so it is thematic. As is…

Paulina's cover

I just love Paulina's covers, as her being the regular alt-cover artist on Thunderbolt should imply. This made me want to immediately pitch a kick-ass pop D&D bard comic to someone, Xena Warrior Princess as produced by Xenomania. The names of the swords are the chef-kiss, but there's so much to love. The expression is everything.

Page 1

One page scene, with a modified nine panel grid. The one page scene is something that happens a lot this arc. I did a two-page version, but with the right seven panels, we're sorted. Yes, this is all we see of the de facto antagonists of the series this issue – when last issue was all about them, it doesn't worry me too much.

Page 2

Standard music journalist concept. That the second album tends to be worst than the first. Hard to prove, though my old friend Peter's note that "you have your whole life preparing for your first album and have a year to do your second" does seem to imply an easy explanation.

Page 3-4-5

Stealth mission! It's Metal Gear WicDiv!

We actually forgot to add the flashes to the first panel until the very last minute. Monthly Comics is a hell of a time sometimes, stress the “hell.”

I love the determination of Laura in the second panel of 3. That's great eyes.

Looking at this now, that "I can't do much now" is in a panel smaller than 1/9th of the page says a lot about the scale she's working on. The background was Matt in full trippy mode – I had a friend note that this scene is a little akin to Kohl in Rue Britannia 5 (The difference being Kohl is using nostalgia for a performance, while Laura is just doing a performance) but the moving squiggle does remind me the use of optical illusions in Phonogram 3. Bugs in the optic nerve are our friend.

Panel 3 on 4 is obviously Clayton living large and conquering. When you ask for something like "Can you sample the background and use as a speech balloon" you have no idea if it's going to work.

We could have divided the middle panel into two, but I suspect it'd have been less effective. We've seen the trick before. Now we see the same trick, but different. Mix it up. We're performers.

Hmm. I realise the Norns string of balloons is something I'm doing more often now – it's not something I've always done. I'm normally a one-panel-one-emotion, which strings of dialogue rarely allow (as, if there’s any change of emotion inside the string, the image is rendered ludicrous). In a middle shot, and a strong emotional throughline with the dialogue and I'm more okay with it.

While this whole three pages is an action sequence, it's also exposition for Laura's current state. The best exposition is demonstration, I guess.

I mean, the last panel of page 5? That's how cut to the bone we are. Problem? Solve it. Problem? Solve it. We don't need to fuck around anymore.

Page 6-7-8

And after six whole trades, the reunion between Lucifer and Laura. I suspect a different writer would have played this bigger and more melodramatic, but when the reader knows this, a splash feels overkill, especially with the taut pacing of the rest of the issue. However... there are five panels here. That's a page's worth of content, and enough to give an emotional throughline.

Sometimes when writing it's all about trying to find an honest response which is also unexpected. Like, in life, you think you'll feel sad or happy at certain times, but when you live through it, you don't. Or you don't entirely. What other stuff is happening? That's what rings true to me.

Anyway – that's where Laura's Guilt comes from. Laura at her most Dionysus.

And then Lucifer shatters all that self pity with the wink. Did you miss me? Of course, you did.

Page 7, panel 4 is one of those "a comic panel is not a moment in time" bits of magic McLeod always talks about. As in, as we read across the panel time progresses. The Mimir/Cass conversation is getting on for... 10 seconds, maybe? The teleport signatures do not take that long to appear. It's only with Laura's interruption that panel kicks into high gear.

As Multiversity noted you can easily imagine another draft of this with a bigger fight scene. And it's true – but also lying around was a version which cuts it even shorter. Do we need to really give a whole page to Cass breaking out? I felt so. Without the big beat, it feels flat. And it's good to see Cass let rip.

The slight angle on Jamie's external shot with a Norns black/white plus golden thread from Matt is really interesting. We don't often see the Norns as combatants in WicDiv, so this is a rare chance to give Cass a "Hello, I am a bad ass too, in case you've forgotten."

Page 9-10-11-12

Cripes. Going this and making notes I can't believe how tightly we're winding this and (more so) getting away from it. We did all this in four pages?

Two panels to the escape – the right image and a handful of taut captions to hold you between scenes. The first is doing a lot of work, but the second is just elegant. What do you need but the broken doors? Great stuff by Jamie here.

(Laura's captions do a lot of work here in setting up the themes, and the return of Sakhmet's memory to the story)

If you're wondering "How on earth could we get the escape be quicker, it's to take the first two panels on page 8 and move to the previous page. That makes it a five panel page, which is entirely do-able. That's a cost, but it would have bought slightly more space in this scene. As it is, I preferred to cut mid-page and end with Lucifer's first spoken lines in ages.

Once more, a big reveal in a small panel. Chrissy's note on the script was basically hearts for Luci at this point. Like, the second she cuts to the chase and tell s people what to do...

...and then the page turn, and she just goes full Lucifer. I know you lot have missed her, but I have too.

Getting back to Inanna was also easy, the sweetheart... but it all leads back to Sakhmet. That Mothering Invention was as tight as it was didn't leave much room for Laura to think about Sakhmet, or mourn at all... or, most of all, make it clear the story (and Laura) considers her loss important and real. It's an awful sad panel at the end of the page.

Inanna's voice was easy to find again. He's such a sweetheart. Tara is a little harder, just as I wrote her less, but I've been fascinated by this arc in terms of writing her as an actual character. I think one of the ironies of issue 13 was that it put Tara on a pedestal, and the pedestal is an objectifying as any other cage. Getting her back as a character is wonderful, and she gets to be as messy and flawed as everyone else.

Inanna not knowing ANY of this is hard. That's the problem with most of this arc – there is so much information flying around, and secrets some (but not all) are aware of. Who gets to respond to what and when? What to remind people of? What to let slide? Inanna not knowing about Baal is so huge it had to be hit and hit hard.

And then... the bodies.

When plotting this and trying to work out how I could get the cast – oh god, this is not a deliberate pun, but it's also clearly a pun - back on their feet, I was thinking of the Morrigan Gambit. Three heads, three bodies. Perfect. Then I remembered Mimir, and swore. I started to think about how that would be a tense, dramatic situation and how the personal politics could play out and I realised that Tara would just turn it down. I then realised that's exactly how the scene would work too.

(In a "tightness" thing, I suspect in another world, this scene would have been two pages. The "and Tara then just butts in" is the key thing, but you could get the timing a little more intricate to sell the moment more – still, even in this page, I could have extended it more, but seeing Tara's elaboration and everyone else's response to it was just key work for them all.)

In passing – Mimir's glowing in the dark in the penultimate panel just wonderful. Nice work Jamie and Matt.

Page 13

From the Sisters of Mercy's song, Marian.

Page 14-15-16-17

Here's where you talk about spending space. What's important here? You need the scale to show what Baph has been doing – and Jamie turns it into something astoundingly gothic. The use of blacks, the use of light and shade. Just the right level of suggestive. It’s one of my favourite bits of composition in the issue.

As the pantheon are getting back together, this leads to an increase in crowd scenes, which are the eternal artist killer. As such, I'm looking for solutions which only involve the absolute minimum of the cast in a scene.

Thee was an awful moment earlier in the issue when I went – wait! Do I have too many heads to carry? Then I realised I was fine. That said, finding places to put them down so we can have chat scenes was also somewhat tricky. The shelf turning up on page 15 is an example. Clealry Baph planned to (er) have a place to keep heads.

Well, I say, Baph, but it's clearly Nergal now. The road from early Nick Cave to late Nick Cave has been a long way. It's a great shot.

To go back to the space, why spend it on this? We’re reintroducing Nergal and Morrigan, and we’re also showing the scale of them in the plot, and the actions of Nergal. Where we go with the bodies is such a big beat, it needs to come from something similarly large. That’s also the reason why so much (relative in the issue) space is spent on the Morrigan/Nergal scenes. Of course, it’s also a key scene for this subplot, so demands space for that. It’s rarely just one reason. Probably a useful time for my usual “these notes are only ever a selection of thoughts.”

This is also a serious pose panel by Jamie.

The “I could bring her back.” He’s an underworld god too. If she could do it, he could. This is something which I suspect some people thought implicit in the old scene, but the final manipulation of Morrigan is unpacked at length in the nine panel grids.

Nine panel grids are a natural rhythm for this – when I was planning the later bit the triple-goddess of it made obvious sense, so it expanded to the whole scene. Also, the cropped image reduces the possibility of a Jamie crowd scene.

I always thought that, given the amount of time the various characters get on film, Ladyhawke could more accurately be called Blokeywolf. I digress.

Page 18-19-20

As said earlier, the triple-goddess to nine panel grid is one of those natural ways to give a stress to each of the elements. You’ll notice the clicks are left then right then centre. I’d originally written it as left to right, before – after Chrissy’s Editorial urging – rewrote to end with the Macha section to go last. Gentle Annie may have been the kinder part of Morrigan, but Macha was the part he mostly dated.

Then, in a moment of weirdness, Jamie actually drew it in the original order, despite never having seen that script. Morrigan has powers, as does the logical necessity of a left to right panelling order. As a nine panel grid, just moving panels around to fix it is easy. Hail grids!

Like most of the big acts of magic, it’s all about emotional sense than anything else. Hence, it is inevitable as Nergal actually does this, the bleak temple he’s constructed starts to crumble. And, in perhaps the most ludicrous bit of me in the comic, The Temple Of Love Is Falling Down. Too much is the bare minimum.

Jamie’s triple-portrait of the Morrigan is pretty startling. I have no idea if Jamie will miss drawing Badb’s hair, but I’ll miss seeing it.

Re-reading this now I’m struck by how low-key it is. That was always part of WicDiv’s magic – the finger click, and then things happening. The Morrigan transformation was usually drawn to be instantaneous – one panel Macha, the next Badb and so on. This kind of keeps to that.

And then… the reveal. That the new bodies isn’t a splash page says everything about this issue, but it still gets the punching the air moment. We had to have one of those eventually. Lucifer in a black suit is one of the things I’ve been waiting as long to see as Nergal in his. I giggled with glee at seeing this. Jamie’s worked in elements of the Morrigan into each of the gods – Lucifer’s red hair is the most obvious one, but Gentle Annie in Inanna and Macha in Mimir also have their notes. Inanna’s netting top is the main one – and note the shapes on Mimir’s armour changing to mimic Macha’s.

Yes, writing Lucifer remains fun and easy. I recommend it to everyone.

Page 21-22

In terms of seeing chat, people responding to the small details in the issue is one of the bigger joys. That Jamie got the Inanna/Nergal hug in the background of this exchange between Laura/Lucifer/Cass is absolutely wonderful. Laura and Cass have come a long way.

This is arguably a small cliffhanger – the smallest of this arc, at least. However, it sits on the weight of the rest of the run. We’re promising a solution to one of the larger mysteries in the run, and I suspect we get by on that. Note how space is used – this is a dense panel layout, but we go to a thired of a page for Laura’s “I know how to end this” (so giving it weight” and then going to three panel page for the conclusion (which adds weight to each of these beats.) Jamie takes the framing to tight on Cass for the beat as well to sell it. Note Matt with the Norn-colouring creeping in – and how it goes from the fires in the first panel to this is just a joy.

Page 23

Interstitial, and obvious reference to the Jay-Z record, but everyone is just excitedly clapping over the adding stuff to the godwheel. Sergio outdid himself here. It’s certainly an example of how you can have storytelling and even hero-shot audience-cheers beats out of things entirely unlike a traditional comics panel. After all these issue,s we get to see something added to the godwheel. Of course people cheer. That said, as I said to a friend, “Of all the things I’ve found to torture the WicDiv readership, hope is the cruelest of all.”

EDIT: Actually, I messed up here - Jamie did the tweaks. Nice work Jamie!

And that’s it. Next up – 42, wherein questions are answered. In passing – the letters we’ve been getting are amazing. I’m going to try and cram as many as I can in the issues to come, but issue 44 will be our last one with a letters page. So that’s a timelimit if you wanna try and get in. It’s [email protected].

Thanks for reading.

#WicDiv #the wicked and the divine #writer notes

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ofwolvesandbutterflies · 6 years

Text

you don’t know

NCT’s Jaemin x Reader

Genre: soft angst (like is this even a genre)

guardianangel!AU

A/N: This was kinda a blurb to get my confusing feelings out so. Writing is going really slowly. Still in the process of writing the second part of headlines. Hope you understand, I really truly appreciate you all.

There was something uplifting about walking up to the front of a room and feeling his eyes on me. Something about the shift of his gaze from the random doodles on an article he was writing to me lessened the weight of everyone else’s stares and brought the steady pace of my beating heart up a notch.

Shuffling through my notes, I could nearly visualize the minuscule smile creeping up his lips as I struggled to find the first note card and reorder them. So much for practicing beforehand. Quickly glancing about the room, his deep brown eyes met mine and he flashed me a brief thumbs-up as if to cheer me on.

Recalling his positive feedback from before, I managed a small smile and inhaled deeply before setting my shoulders back, straightening my spine, and parting my lips to present my findings to the board of scientists before me.

“- due to the collective research found in both experiments conducted recently and conducted by other scientist, we strongly believe that the mountain yellow-legged frogs infected with B. dendrobatidis have a much higher probability of survival in higher temperatures as opposed to those in lower temperatures. Thank you for your time,” I finally concluded, thanking my classmates and the scientists for their presence.

A polite round of applause rose in the air as I did my best not to sprint back to my seat towards the back of the class. I took my seat just as the professor rose to dismiss the class, my heartbeat still beating erratically after my spheal.

“Thank you very much, ___ for presenting. The rest of you will go Wednesday. I will see you all then students, you are dismissed.”

“Psst!” someone hissed from beside me. I swiveled around to see my dear friend’s wide smile. A flush rose to my cheeks and I reverted my attention to packing my notebook into my bag to try and hide the pink.

“Hey!” I spoke back giddily. “How did I do? Did I do good?”

Pushing my backpack out of the way, he wrapped his arms around me, squeezing lightly. My breath caught in my throat and my mind went blank. Though I had known him for so long, I had yet to get used to his random hugs. The beating of my heart only increased in speed when he pulled back enough to shoot me a genuine smile.

“Of course, you always do good.”

Day 10

She seems to like someone. I’ve noticed her heart beats much quicker when she’s around him. The object of her affection is a boy she’s known since fourth grade.

Other than that, she nearly fell tripping over someone’s backpack. I caught her. Someone’s frisbee almost hit her in the head, I was able to redirect it without it being too obvious.

So this is what it’s like. I’ve always wondered what it’s like being someone’s guardian angel.

Jaemin

“Yesss!” I shouted, throwing my arms up in the air in triumph. “I won! You lost! Finally!”

“Whoop dee doo, good for you.” My dear friend heaved an over exaggerated sigh, tossing his left over uno cards down into the pile carelessly. On his lips sat a relaxed smile, nonchalant and content as he watched me boast, dancing my victory dance around the coffee table.

“Calm down, ___,” he chuckled warmly, grabbing my wrist as soon as I neared him to pull me back down. “It’s just an card game.”

The light of the moon and stars combined with the illumination of my aged desk lamp to highlight all the right parts of his handsome face. The yellow-ish glimmer in his eyes from the lamp enhanced the deep coffee color of his irises. His dimples deepened the longer I danced around jovially. I danced around for a little while longer before plopping back down on the mountain of pillows I had scattered around the room and sighed.

“Okay, but you still promised me 10 dollars worth of junk food if I won at least once tonight.”

“Ahh…” His lax smile shifted into a sheepish grin once his promise was mentioned. “You remembered.”

I socked him in the shoulder, an unimpressed frown stretched across my lips. Rubbing the spot I hit him with one hand, he held the other one up in defense.

“I’m kidding, geez. Why are you so aggressive?”

“Because you promised me food and you aren’t giving me food. You of all people should know that food is my main priority in life,” I spoke matter-of-factly, crossing my arms childishly.

“You’re really something, __. You know that?”

Without warning, he reached forward and brushed a strand of hair out of my face, soft smile still present on his plush lips. His fingers trailed down my face, eyes following closely behind. He held my chin for a moment, regarding me with an unreadable expression sitting deep in his eyes. For that moment, it was as if all of nature held its breath. I knew for certain I was.

Nevertheless, as soon as I blinked, he clutched his hand back to himself as if realizing what he had done. His gaze switched away from mine as he laughed nervously.

“Uhh… Should we -uh- head out to get you some junk food?”

As astounded as I was, I shrugged away my surprise and sent him a mischievous smirk.

“Oh, absolutely.”

Day 15

Not only does she foster feelings for this boy, her feelings seem to be requited. I am always able to sense a hurried heartbeat and an increase in the blood flow to her face. Should I be concerned? Is the boy bad for her health?

As her guardian angel, I feel I should be especially aware of her physical health. His presence triggered all these unusual and quite possibly dangerous feelings in her, and he fed her extremely unhealthy sustenance.

I am not sure what to think about this boy.

Jaemin

A loud silence hung in the darkened room. I could hardly make out the outline of my hand in front of my face whilst we lay together, my head on his stomach, one of his hands absentmindedly running through my hair. The dim illumination of the glow in the dark star stickers on his ceiling offered little comfort as opposed to the warmth in the subtlety of the rise and fall of his breath.

Listening to the soft melody of our combined breathing, a secretive somewhat melancholy smile crawled across my lips. Would he ever know of my feelings? More importantly, would I ever find the courage to bring my feelings to light?

“Ooh, hey!” I spoke suddenly, pushing off his stomach as an idea for a short story I was working on came to mind.

“Oof, jeez,” he grunted, pushing himself up onto his forearms up while rubbing the tender spot on his stomach I had pushed up off of. “What’s got you all excited?”

“I just thought of something!” I hummed excitedly, drumming my fingers against his taut torso.

“Pray tell-”

“I think I just figured out how to end that one creative writing piece I’ve been working on for the past month! This would be perfect, I’d just need to wrap up that one section of dialogue, introduce the most obvious solution ever, and give the main characters a boost of confidence and everything should work out perfectly!”

I droned on, trapped in the enthusiasm that came with figuring out how to tie a plot off. Had I only been more aware while listing off all the things I was going to add on my phone, I would have notice the complete adoration in his eyes as he sat with head cocked, attention solely on me. A spellbound grin sat on his lips as he watched me spill my imagination.

Day 22

He feels just as strongly for her - if not more so - as she does for him. I think I’ve learned enough about humans in the past few days to know not to intercept with two teenagers in love.

Still though, I’m her guardian angel. Something tells me, just as it always does, that something is bound to go wrong and that __ will get hurt. I know it’s my job to make sure that doesn’t happen…

However, Jaehyun told me that some types of hurt, humans just need to experience on their own. I don’t know if I’m comfortable with that. I don’t want her to get hurt. She deserves to be happy.

Jaemin

“Urghhh…” I groaned, smacking my head down on the counter, nearly scratching my forehead against the edge of my laptop. My computer had crashed right before I could save my final draft and I was about ready to jump off my balcony. “Stupid. Freaking. Computer.”

“Hey __, is now a bad time?” Someone tapped my shoulder as a familiar, comforting voice spoke and I finally turned to look at something besides the computer screen. Dressed today in a pair of fitted joggers and a dark sweater with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, his beautiful smile peeked out from behind a large bowl of ramen and his eyebrows were narrowed ever so slightly in concern.

“For food and a break from being frustrated? Absolutely not,” I spoke, sighing through my gritting teeth. Just the sight of my dear friend was refreshing after staring at the same damn screen for the last couple hours. He sat beside me quietly and placed the bowl down between us. Resting his chin in his hand, he reached forward to brush a stray strand of hair out of my face. A deep cerise colored my cheeks at his close proximity.

“What’s wrong?” He murmured, dark eyes fixated on the section of hair he was fixing. “And don’t bother lying.”

Without a word, my arms stretched towards him and wrapped themselves around his lithe waist. Burying my face in his sweater, I closed my eyes, breathing in his unique scent.

“I’m so tired. I’m so frustrated. I don’t want to do this anymore. My computer crashed before I got a chance to save my work. I’m actually this fucking close to throwing this goddamn computer out the window,” I mumbled into his chest. For a moment, he just held me close, stroking my hair gently.

“How about we head over to the shop tomorrow morning? I’m sure it’d be way easier to fix a slow computer than it would be to fix one that was tossed out a window on the sixth floor of a building.” He spoke quietly, jokingly as he pulled back to look at me. I nodded slowly, more amazed by the simplistic beauty of his dark eyes than I had ever been before. His widening smile jump-started the familiar swarming of butterflies in my stomach.

“How are you so patient with me? It’s like you’re literally a perfect - well almost perfect - human being,” I asked curiously, reaching up to brush the bangs away from his face.

The arm encircling my waist tugged me ever so slightly closer to him. Out of the ordinary and perhaps in the spur of the moment, he leaned down. His lips brushed against my forehead softly. In that brief happening, my breath caught in my throat and I could’ve sworn my heart stopped. Though my lips parted to express my pleasant surprise, I found my brain could not form even the simplest coherent utterances.

He pulled away, a light pink dusting his cheeks.

“I…uhmm.. I don’t know. I suppose it may have something to do with how beautiful you are.”

Day 28

It is becoming increasingly harder to do my job correctly when often times, so much of me wants to intervene before the chance of __ getting hurt turns up. I know I’m not supposed to feel the need to intervene, especially in the case of an emotional crisis… but I still want to.

She’s not supposed to get hurt. She’s supposed to know that she’s making herself very vulnerable. She’s putting her heart in the hands of another human, another imperfect being, and I know for sure as her guardian angel that something is bound to go wrong. She’s too precious to be hurt.

Jaehyun told me that it’ll be hard to stand by in scenarios like these. He told me that we each fall a little in love with our humans, that we each get the tiniest bit attached… That watching them go through hardship will hurt us as well. But he also told me that at the end of the day, they will get old and die. That we must not get too attached, otherwise…

Nevermind.

Jaemin

“Is that for me?” I asked, pushing myself onto the counter beside pantry. I watched as he bustled around the kitchen with his hair still wet from the shower, only pausing in his cooking to roll his eyes playfully at me.

“Depends. You up for microwaved rice and refried stir fry?”

“I’m good with anything as long as I’m not the one cooking.” Resting my chin on my hand, I subconsciously stared at his bare back. There was something just so attractive about a guy who could cook. For a brief moment, the ambiance in his kitchen quieted, the only sound heard being the onions screaming in the pan.

Suddenly, he covered the pan with a lid and turned, walking towards me. It seemed, like in any cheesy romance film, that time slowed. Running his fingers through his hair, a small smile played at the edges of his lips. The top of his sweatpants sat low on his hips, revealing the planes of his muscular torso. Though I’d seen him countless times shirtless, the sight of him approaching me in that sense brought forth a jolt of excitement in my stomach.

“Hey…” he breathed lowly once he reached me, placing a hand right by my knee. The speed of my heartbeat increased tenfold while he leaned closer. His free hand reached up and I nearly stopped breathing. What was he doing? My back straightened.

However, his hand didn’t stop to cup my chin and bring me into the heart-wrenching kiss I was hoping for.

“Oi,” he grunted, rising up to his tiptoes to try and reach the seasoning salt on the shelf behind me. “Could you scoot over a little bit?”

Almost immediately, my posture slumped and all the butterflies in my stomach ceased to flutter. You tease. You fucking bully. With a sound of victory, he landed back on his toes and rattled the bottle a little bit. Irritated, I grabbed the salt out of his hands and hid it behind my back.

“Hey!”

“You want it?” I questioned, albeit a tad bit childishly. “Better guess which hand it’s in.”

“Look, __,” he sighed. “Did you want food or not?”

I shrugged and offered him a teasing smile. He messed with me and now it was time for payback.

“I dunno, did you want salt or not?”

“Oh come on!” He threw his hands up in air. “Don’t be like that.”

“Guess which hand and I’ll give it to you,” I spoke. Refusing to budge, I gave him a little half-shrug.

“You’re impossible.” Groaning in frustration, he made as if to turn around, fooling me into thinking I had won. A smile built on my lips and I opened my mouth to taunt him... But before long, he spun back around and wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me into a searing kiss. His plush lips caressed mine, melting every coherent thought in my brain.

With his toned body pressed flush against mine, a spark of warmth ignited in my chest and spread throughout my body. My grip on the salt loosened until all my resolve gave out. The salt slipped out of my hands and still his lips remained on mine, branding them with his affection. Was the kiss not a distraction mechanism?

Trailing slowly up his sculpted arms, my fingers eventually tangled themselves in his hair and the graze of my nails against his scalp elicited the sweetest sound from his lips. After what seemed like not enough time, we pulled away, our breathing uneven and the slightest bit raggedy.

I stared at him for a while. His hands still rested on my hips, a nervous grin covering his mouth.

“You know-” he finally spoke, voice cracking nervously. “That was originally to try and get the salt from you but I’m assuming by your enthusiasm, you feel the same way for me that I feel about you.”

Smiling softly, I leaned forward to press a gentle kiss to his plush lips, an unsaid ‘yes’ silently spoken between us.

Day 34

I don’t ever recall my human life ever being quite like __’s.

No matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to recall ever experiencing love like she had. The rushing of her heart, the pretty pink of her cheeks, the way everything looks better from someone else’s eyes… I can only remember waking up here.

Jaehyun was right. Falling for your human is inevitable. However, despite once being a human, I cannot understand why she continues to love someone so flaw-filled as he. Seeing her continue on a path that will likely bring her some sort of hurt pains me and the heart I once had to a great extent.

But in the end, I suppose there’s nothing I could really have done. She’ll never know of me, never know of my feelings.. And that is why I curse myself for ever having fallen for her.

Jaemin

I walked out of my last class of the day, arm-in-arm with him, the both of our faces all smiles. The day was perfectly sunny today and a slight breeze tousled my hair. I took a deep breath as we strolled, absorbing the pleasant feeling of sunlight and the satisfaction of a day well-filled. But my contentment was short-lived.

The feeling of someone’s heavy gaze struck me out of nowhere.

Glancing about me for the source of my uneasiness, I made eye contact with a strangely familiar teenage boy. His auburn hair burned a lusterless shade of gold under the sunlight and there was a deep sadness dwelling in his dark eyes. Though slender and fit and quite obviously the same age as me, he stood slumped as if he had just lived through a thousand lives. His pink lips sat in a faint, somewhat melancholy smile.

No matter how I looked at him, I couldn’t place where I knew him from and why he looked so familiar.

“Hey,” I mumbled, turning towards my dear, best friend. My new boyfriend turned to look a me, a smile sitting patiently on his lips.

“What’s up? Whoa,” he paused in his step, eyes narrowing at my stature. “__, are you alright? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

I brought a reassuring smile up to my lips and released my hold on his arm.

“I’m fine, I just…” I took a breath. How would I explain what I just saw? “Why don’t I meet you in the coffee shop in like, five minutes, I think I forgot something.”

Though I knew full well he wasn’t convinced with my story, he pressed a kiss to my forehead and bid me a brief farewell, walking off in the direction of the campus coffee shop. Still intrigued and still a bit bothered, I turned, well prepared to confront this boy and figure out just why he looked so familiar.

Nevertheless, the moment I turned around to try and find him… the boy was gone. I spun around in a complete circle, eyes searching every face around me in attempt to find the boy. It was no use. He had disappeared.

Out of nowhere, a spike of pain briefly prodded at my mind. Once the pain subsided, I was left with no memory of what I had been doing and why I was standing there. What had I been doing…? Shaking my head for a moment, the fog lifted and I suddenly remembered the coffee shop date I was now late for.

I broke out into a jog, a giddy smile on my lips, paying no heed to the voice of the wind and how it seemed to be saying ‘I love you. I’m sorry I fell for you. I wish you all the best’.

Day 1

I am guarding someone new now.

Jaemin

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monstrouswrites · 6 years

Text

11/11/11 tag #2

Thank you @gottaenjoythelittlethingzz <3 you are a blessing and I hope your hot drink always stays warm enough to drink!

Rules go like this: 11 answers, 11 questions, 11 writers tagged!

1. Do you prefer to have one story to focus on at a time or do you like to work on multiple pieces at once?

Personally I like to work one at a time with multiple ideas running around in my notes and evernote notebooks. I like thinking about/developing multiple projects, but writing seems to tend towards one at a time!

2. If you could change the title of any of your previous works, what would you change it to and why?

Oh goodness uh, last time I finished anything was when I was ten I think. Maybe 13? But tbh, I usually like my titles bc I spend a long time picking them out. So far my favorite is smoke on the river (death comes quicker) for a fanfic I dropped. I wanna reuse that as a quote or something tbh.

3. About how many words can you type per minute?

Apparently 37 WPM with 94% accuracy, but I know I get faster when immersed.

4. Is there a IRL place in the world that you have yet to write about in a story, but would like to and why? (If not, where in the world do you personally want to visit?)

I really want to one day write something in Chicago. I enjoyed a family vacation there so freakin’ much, I just think it’d be fun. Or, more international, would love to write something set in an Asian metropolis like Tokyo or Seoul, just because I want to learn how to write different kinds of cities.

5. What’s a cool fact about your world? Or about your characters, if there’s no fantasy/sci-fi elements?

For A Cryptic Carol, since that’s my main wip, a cool fact is that paranormal creatures exist, like cryptids. Whether they’re real is a different story.

6. How do you keep yourself accountable for your writing (goals, daily word counts, rewards) if at all?

I’ve tried that but I need to work out a better system. I find it so difficult to write daily, but here’s to hoping I can figure it out in my bullet journal.

7. What was the last book you read? Did it inspire you to write, return to writing after a break, or write something specific when you finished?

Last short story was Symbiosis by Shaelin Bishop, last book was I wanna say The Wrath & the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh in August and before that I was working my way through the Raven Cycle last year about this time. I’m slow to finish books if I finish at all haha. I’m more of a podcast / short story person these days.

8. What’s the last detail you remember adding to any story, character, world you created (list as many as you’d like)?

I remember adding ages to Jackson, Colt, and Robin(yn? haven’t decided) for when they meet. At least, mentally, because I wanted to try and have a baby being taken care of by preteens/kids. Because that’s adorable and hilarious, and provides a nice reason for why the kids warm up to January by proxy of her baby boy.

9. How many notebooks do you currently own and are using? What are they for?

I can’t count since I’m at work (on lunch break) but at least ten sketchbooks, and literally no idea how many notebooks between bullet journals, lined, blank, college rule, etc. Mostly for college classes but a few are for organization & maybe eventual writing.

10. What caused you to take your last break from writing and what brought you back to writing? (If this is too personal, than how long do you consider a “break” for writing?)

I took a major break from the time I was maybe 16 or 17 to this month or so. I had a brief week or two where I wrote fanfic oneshots scattered through 2016, sometimes just a night. I had practically given up on writing for fun, like I had kind of given up on reading for fun.

But I kept listening to podcasts, like The Adventure Zone and more recently, The Penumbra Podcast. The stories really helped me through hard times, but TPP inspired me so much to try writing fanfic again. I had been doing some fiddling with writing for a petsite too earlier this year, maybe more around July. And it kinda snowballed, with TPP pushing the snowball off the cliff I guess!

So if there’s anything I’ve learned, don’t give up and just keep consuming stories anyway. Who knows what sparks you? Same thing happened with me buckling down to learn how to draw because of youtube artists like Dina Norlund, Kasey Golden, and DrawingWiffWaffles!

11. What are your personal writing goals for 2019?

Finish something. Anything. Hopefully that short story for a fantasy contest themed around family by the deadline, but don’t stress out about that.

Tagging some fellow writers for my own 11 questions @quarff @lend-your-lungs-to-me @yuyuwrites @push-the-draft @quiescentwriting @decaffeinated1amwriting @roselinproductions @girlnovels @shaelinwrites @cogwrites @scyllaology

1. What’s the last thing you listened to while writing? Or if you prefer silence/white noise, in general!

2. Does your wip have a theme or message? What is it? Ex. family, happy endings aren’t boring, etc

3. What kind of pet animal would you be? What about your MC? Type of dog, cat, bird, etc

4. Do you like word sprints or timed writing like pomodoro? Why or why not?

5. What are the tools you use for writing? Why those?

6. Forget book cover, what’s an album cover that reminds you of your wip? Doesn’t have to have music that matches!

7. What would your MC do in a holiday movie ie saving Christmas, Hallmark, Hanukkah, whatever!

8. What’s a holiday tradition that your MC enjoys? Hates? Can be any holiday!

9. Would you include illustrations in your wip? Why or why not? Would you ever write something that might have illustrations?

10. What do you prefer: creative/long descriptions or descriptions that are the barest minimum?

11. Do you have a quote you live/write by? Doesn’t have to be exactly about writing!

#tag game #wip writing

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errantknightess · 6 years

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Writer ask meme

Tagged by @kitty-bandit, @silentium-nightshade and @faeriexqueen - thanks a lot :D Answers under the cut because it’s long and who has the time for that.

1. Explain your AO3 handle.

It's just a variant of the screen name I came up back when I was fourteen and obsessed with Middle Ages. It's pretty dumb, but I got used to it and kinda like the shape of those lowercase letters.

2. Favorite fanfiction trope?

Mutual pining. Give me all the sad idiots that don't realize how much they mean to the love of their life! Give me their awkward fumbling as they fail to express their feelings and stay convinced the other could never possibly reciprocate! Give me the stolen touches and fleeting glances and weak excuses to be as close to each other as they dare!

3. Favorite place to write?

My room, door closed, absolute silence everywhere, or at the very least earplugs/some white noise in my headphones.

4. Favorite ships in your current fandom?

In DGM it's laven, always and forever, my precious lost dorks ♥ And as you can notice, I've also fallen into FFXV and promptis hell recently. Here's your fair warning that I'll be writing quite a bit of it in the future.

5. What are your steps to get into the Writing Mood™?

Basically just daydreaming the scenes I need to write next. When I can see them in my mind clearly enough, I'm ready to write -- otherwise I fumble a lot and they don't come out feeling very natural.

6. What program/app do you use to write?

I draft things out in Notepad and clean the finished thing in Word. I find that Notepad is less intimidating in a way -- I can just drop loose messy notes in it and not worry about things being perfect, while Word and other “proper” programs pressure me to Get It Right on the first try. Recently I've also started turning my laptop off and jotting my notes down by hand instead, and that helps a lot in keeping away all the internet distractions! (I do transfer those notes to Notepad later, though -- actual writing is way quicker on the keyboard, and as a non-native speaker I need my dictionaries and Google).

7. List your zodiac sign, favorite ice cream flavor, Hogwarts House, and your opinion on pineapple pizza.

Cancer, mint with chocolate chips, Slytherin, and sure I'll eat that

8. Link us a fanfic that made you cry.

Two of Cups by @kitty-bandit makes me cry every time I read it. It's so full of raw love and passion, and has such a wonderful, intimate atmosphere. It makes me very emotional.

9. Link us a fanfic that made you laugh.

Tumbling down the ffxv hole, I've discovered that I love Ignis/Gladio written as comedy. Marry in Haste, Regen at Leisure by fictionfinding is a gem, those fast-paced, quippy dialogues had me howling.

10. Link us a fanfic that left you in complete awe at the writer’s ability.

I'm always completely in awe of @kitty-bandit‘s ability to plot out long, complex stories, fill them with action and tension, and see them through till the end. Her Lost Time is probably where it hit me the most. I'm seriously amazed at how she comes up with all her ideas and puts them together so they fit perfectly like puzzle pieces. I also just have to mention Warmth by @carolyncaves as it had literally reduced me to stumbling in a stunned daze for a few days. I fell in love with the narration there, with those vivid descriptions and the striking way of building the scenes so they grip you tight with suspense.

11. List your kinks.

I don't really read porn and I'm extremely vanilla, but I always appreciate heavy makeouts/clothed sex, some non-con with a heavy focus on hurt/comfort later, and certain very specific aspects of the Fuck or Die trope.

12. How do you come up with your ideas?

I don't really come up with ideas as much as they come to me; I tend to write things I want to read myself. Sometimes I draw inspiration from life (one of my current WIPs is based on a really terrible attempt at an omelette I made recently...), other times they develop from random headcanons as I try to flesh out my desperately lacking characterization and get into the characters' heads better.

13. How do you implement said ideas into a cohesive narrative?

I write mostly short stuff, so there's not really a lot of work for me to do in terms of plotting. If I feel the need to see a particular scene, I just put it down and try to build some more context around it until it can pass for a drabble/fic -- so I think back on all the "why"s, figure out how that situation could come to be and where it leads to based on the characters' reactions and dialogue.

14. What are your working on right now? Share a little snippet or a description.

I'm working on a bunch of stuff, jumping form one thing to another, so... have this tiny bit of a very random promptis drabble? (I'm sorry, I promise y'all some laven for Christmas, but for now I'm just. In the mood for this ;;;;;;;;;)

When he needed to, Noctis could be an incredibly patient man.

He had withstood the trials of adolescence that came with being royalty in a public high school. His scarce public appearances were a constant display of diplomacy and self-control as he deflected obnoxious, invasive questions from the press. He managed not to nap in most of the bi-weekly council meetings. And of course, when all of that was done, he could spend hours on end sitting still and silent on a pier with a fishing rod in hand.

All of that patience, however, evaporated like a daemon on a summer morning some time around his third game over in a row.

"Damn it," he groaned, slamming the control panel with his fist. Prompto flinched, but the dull clang of metal drowned in the noise around them. The arcade was busy enough that no one paid any mind to their crown prince assaulting the machines -- even though Noct did his best to make sure Prompto could hear his discontent over the crowd.

"Did you see that?" He waved his hand at the screen, where his avatar was still blinking red in a cloud of pixellated explosion. "I totally had it! This is cheating!"

"You think it's rigged?" Prompto poked the machine with the tip of his boot. If it was, he couldn't see any signs of tampering, other than the peeling stickers and a few choice words of graffiti on the side.

#games and memes #less talking more writing #something about me #fic recs #(technically they're somewhere in there too)

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thewrittenmagic · 6 years

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Querying Qs with Barrierspark

Author Chantel Pereira, aka barrierspark, chats with us about querying tips and success. Her upcoming novel, Coltrane’s Cross, is a magical children’s fantasy series already being praised as the next Harry Potter.

What was your research process like?

I honestly didn’t dabble enough in researching the first time I sent out queries. I definitely knew from my research what a query letter was and how to draft one, but I didn’t take in the information I should have that would have helped me write a successful one sooner. As I became more serious about my writing, and after I received my first inevitable rejections, I really took a step back and re-evaluated what I wanted for my books, what I felt like they could achieve, what I wanted for my future writings, and what I wanted out of this process. After knowing what direction I wanted, I researched every possible agency before sending any further queries. Querying an agent is not something that should be taken lightly - this is the person who is going to be championing your hard work. You need to be 100% happy with who you may end up with, and the only way of being certain is by doing your research. I think a lot of people run the risk of accepting the first agent who says yes. Which can be scary if it’s not the right arrangement for both parties.

What did you look out for when picking agents to query?

I looked out not only for what types of books they represented (i.e. reader age, genre, and possible crossover genres I also identified with my book), but I also looked for what they weren’t looking for, what authors they already worked with, if they had a Manuscript Wishlist, and generally agents tend to post a small description about themselves, the books they love most, and what inspired them to enter their line of work. Sometimes that small bit of information can tell you so much about whether they could be interested in what you’ve written and your personal style.

Where did you start looking for Agents? How did you keep track of which agencies had special query instructions?

At first, I used the Children’s Writer’s and Illustrator’s Market, a poorly-drawn chart in my notebook, and a lot of coffee. I’m a bit of a Type A personality, meaning my graph was organized by things like how many sample pages they’d like, books they covered that I recognized, trends of what they were looking for based on their Manuscript Wishlist (if they had one posted either on their personal agent page or Twitter). As time went on, I found an incredible tool of a site called Query Tracker. It was essentially what I was physically writing on paper but organized in a more accurate online database. More accurate as updates happened quicker there than in my outdated Market book reprinted once a year.

What was the hardest thing about writing your query letter? What tips do you have for others?

I think the hardest thing about writing my query letter was a mixture of me trying to keep myself composed so I didn’t word-gush about how much I love my books to them, and also perhaps striking the confidence to just write that letter. It was a bit terrifying for me because this has been a dream I’ve wanted since I was eight. But I think it’s important to keep your query letter brief, clear, and professional. Of course, depending on the type of book you’re writing, I’ve read that the query letter can reflect the writing style you’ve used in order to cement what your book is all about, but I found I had a lot of luck keeping my query professional. My other two important tips - besides doing your research - are proofread, proofread, proofread, and send small batches first. If there is a glaring typo in something as serious as your query, very likely that agent may pass before reading your sample. And what I mean by sending queries in small batches is that say you send to five and they all immediately reply with a rejection, your problem may not necessarily lie in your manuscript. It could be your query letter. It’s always best to have an editor or beta reader give it a fresh read. Sometimes other can catch things we simply can’t with our own eyes.

What motivated you the most through the rejections?

I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have an incredible support system through my friends, family, boyfriend, and my writing partners I’ve gathered over the years. Who knows, it may have all just boiled down to my stubbornness, but I really felt I had something that needed to be seen. I won’t lie, the rejections were incredibly hard on me. I took them a lot worse than I imagined I would, especially because I knew this was an inevitable part of being in this industry. But I think failure is so important and it took me a while to realize that. I just took failure and failure and not as the opportunity it was to get stronger. So after a while, my motivation was that every rejection was making me into the stronger writer I needed to be to make this book/series happen. Keeping my brain occupied with other healthy hobbies - like hiking - helped too.

Do you have any other tips for querying writers?

Keep going. It’s going to be hard. It’s going to be tough. Each one is going to take a long time to write and you will stay up late into the night perfecting this one-page letter, but this is you fighting for your future. Don’t take it lightly.

More about Chantel:

Chantel’s blog, barrierspark, is an online scrapbook of her book/planning process, complete with writing tips, aesthetic photos, poetry, and snippets! Follow Chantel here for publishing updates on her series, Coltrane’s Cross. Here is a snippet from book one in the series:

“ All the stories said that the forest should have been left as silent as it was gray. Yet, on the snowiest night of the year, three men wandered through at midnight in search of the girl caught in the woods “

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unproduciblesmackdown · 7 years

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hey man your comic stuff?? fucking amazing do you have any tips for a novice child artist such as myself

hmm!!! thats a good question if i have any advice at all…i dont really draw things in comic form that often because of how slow i am…its a whole project for me lol

also natch im just an amateur at all of this vs people who like…pay attention to how to do things really well and/or draw comics on a regular schedule &/or get paid for it and all. so seeing this i was immediately trying to think of like, advice ive seen from random professionals on twitter & stuff & i’ve tried to moreso shake it down to the stuff I’M actually doing when i draw a comic. which is a bit tricky because of my small sample size & the fact that i dont have any kind of consistent process or technique unifying all the comic-type stuff i draw

like sometimes its just a few floating sequential drawings and other times is definitely more like, really thinking of it in terms of how i’m going to structure it in Comic Form & use the format to adjust my presentation of whatever idea i have

like i know ppl whose Job (officially or just by their own standards) to do a bunch of comics pages will do a script of scenes to decide what goes on what page and sort dialogue / action into panels & describe how things will look etc…and then do like maybe really rough layout pre-sketches, then the first rough sketch for a page, an optional more cleaned up sketch layer on top of that, and then the final lineart

i sorrrt of do a version of that, in that i am generally sitting on a Comic Idea for a while before i even start getting into the business of thinking through how it’ll actually work. i have to make sure that im “committed” enough to the idea to wanna make more than one drawing for it, and that i think i have at least a vague notion of how i could put it into a comic. sometimes i DO end up just putting the notion into a single drawing or condensing it into like, 2-3 lil floating drawings or w/e. coz a lot of the times the idea starts out really vague, often with one “moment” that serves as the whole inspiration & that i then try to build a scene/sequence around….a lot of the details beyond that can be really vague in my mind, like the setting or dialogue or who’s involved or what happens or the pacing or extra events or etc…basically Everything is real amorphous for a while

so yea step 1 is me having this one idea and trying to decide if building a scene around it would be a better way to present it vs just having one drawing, & if i think i can actually effectively carry it out….which is in reality even less fancy than it sounds…i just sit on an idea for a while & never get around to actually focusing on it / putting down any of the thoughts abt it that im formulating. but the upshot of me putting it off for forever is that i do end up with a kind of mental script / layout for a comic before i start it…..but even the extensiveness / format of these unwritten scripts varies a lot for me

like, a few times when i have made something that’s maybe longer than just one page &/or something ive been mulling over for an extra long amt of time (which tends to be stuff that is starting out w/ heavier than usual ideas) i’ll like, actually write down what happens page by page, even plan out specific panels, maybe even put down a few rough sketches of certain parts. i’ll have the Main Moment which is the idea that started the whole thing in the first place, but what tends to happen is i’ll come up w other moments that i think could lead up to / frame / follow the main moment, and i pretty much just decide how they all fit into one cohesive piece. so what my “rough drafts” look like for these more extensively planned ones—still really not that exhaustive, i only put things to paper when im basically done enough w my ideas to be just about ready to start actually making them—can vary in their actual formats (e.g. simple chronological bullet points of events, a few drawings, a rough sketch of how the whole thing might look), the core of it is basically just me finding a way to nail down how i’m going to arrange the Moments i have and how i’m going to lead one into the other…….like for things with enough pages / panels, i’ll tend to focus on which Moment will end each page &/or each line of panels, then have an idea of which other Moments i’ll need to put on which of those pages, and kinda figure out how to pace things

again that all sounds like maybe i have a real process…..I Do Not

im kinda lucky in that i think i have a decent sense for composition without having to struggle over it too much. so a lot of times i can leave a lot of that up to be felt out as im actually doing the rough lineart for the first time. i also often don’t nail down panel arrangement that carefully & also make it up as i go along a bit, which is probably not something anyone should emulate. someone was saying something about how some certain page layout of like, 3-something-something panel rows looks best, i dont know. i’m guessing, as with all things, nobody can say “always do this / never do that,” but i think staggering odd/even numbers of panels in each row is always a good guess. just makes it easier for them to read more distinctly at least, surely

sometimes i DO think about certain panels when i wanna frame a certain “shot” in a very specific way. but im just kind of doing whatever. i know vague rules like that wide shots / negative space slows down the pace, vs tightly cropped / small panels / packed w a lot of visual info tends to read as a faster pace, more chaotic. i dont quite go too wild about that sort of thing tho, because for me as a reader, a lot of times really tight shots that are like cutting between 5000 different angles rly fast all in a row, sometimes it is absolutely unreadable to me, as in i do not understand the visual info at all. it feels like the equivalent of how action movie editing keeps hanging on to the “incoherency = intensity” vs just me tuning out until the scene is over & missing details b/c i just am not getting anything out of it

thats not much of a factor for me coz i dont really ever do things with extended sequences of movement / action or whatever. i’ll keep things in one place. i’ll like to do smaller, “quicker” panels moreso to like, show simultaneousish details / to extend one moment…..occasionally i do Big Panels for a moment of higher intensity / impact too. btw putting a High Intensity moment in a super tiny panel is always really funny for the contrast of it all. i dont think ive ever done it, but it is

ummm…….also planning where your speech bubbles will go is good. i dont do that enough, but i should. most of the reason i dont have a more proper, organized process to anything i draw is that i just dont have the focus / patience to slow down for More Planning vs just going ahead and drawing it. jokes on me, since some quick vague planning can make it a lot easier on yourself vs just diving in and struggling w something for ages

uhhh also since im not that fantastic or mindful of panel layout? sometimes i’ll make a point of just having uniform rectangle panels of the same size/shape, so i only have to really worry about the layout within the frame. this is mostly good obv for things with not that much shift in pacing throughout it or action or whatever…you lose the advantage of how panel sizes can affect the tone of a shot or something & probably cant get that detailed in ur drawings but that is often Fine By Me

when i do use the uniform rectangle structure though, i kinda have to focus more on each individual panel, vs like, knowing ok, these three moments are going on this page, i have a vague idea of what’ll connect them, just make up the individual panels as you go along. this does mean that i have to kinda think more about what justifies each panel….how its different from the ones before & after it or how i might want it to be similar to “hold” a shot for a beat or w/e or draw focus to a small movement, what’s actually going into each panel, if i can/should condense two panels into one, etc. its still a lot of playing it by ear, i dont have solid rules of how i think i should do it each time

even when i do have a like whole plan for something im drawing i’ll often make more changes as im actually making it. sometimes its deciding something would be more effective, sometimes it’s just “hey this would work too & be easier,” and thats definitely fine. nobody knows the change you made, and Easier isn’t necessarily Worse anyways. convenience is good where you can get it

ive also definitely had specific comic artists formatting/framing styles in mind when i specifically wanted to use that while drawing my own stuff. like the way i’ll draw maybe a kind of horror vibe (more diagonal lines / “fractured” panels than i’d normally use, quick tiny shots of different smaller details, that kinda stuff) is gonna be different from when its a calm & quiet tone. where i dont really get too creative with the panels really & keep them pretty steady

and then that one time i did a largely nonsequential sort of panel collage b/c the marge simpson anime gave me great inspiration for how to combine & present a bunch of vague notions i had floating around all into one page. it was a good accomplishment & thats unsurprising because the inspiration i was using was That Good. thank god we can all benefit from each others good ideas and knowledge & work & all that. it does help to jump on a feeling of “wow what a cool comic i wish i could make something like that.” just go ahead and make something like that…

ummm this is all on the technical side-ish still but i dont really know what to say abt the kind of stuff that makes me wanna draw a comic in the first place vs just putting the idea into a regular single drawing…usually it Is kind of a more nuanced moment that i think would be better presented within some amount of context and buildup and all that. i basically exclusively draw emotions….and sometimes theyre better shown with some amount of action/dialogue, or at least a few different shots or something. i dont know if this area is helpful information or anything anyone would benefit from knowing about, or even if i have anything to say about it…is it all self evident maybe? idk! i do think i communicate emotions best through comics…not that each one is “here is my mood!” or talking about me at all, but i was for example trying to communicate about an abstract emotion, i think i can draw about it better than talk or write about it or anything. i DO sometimes draw more directly from my own specific feelings/experiences for things, but mostly when i think it can be relevant…i cant really do anything all that directly autobiographical, even casual diary comics or whatever. thats what my text posts are for… but i have been interested in how to convert these huge emotional issues that i’ve been v familiar with into a few pages or panels and how to present its impact in the simplest, straightforward ways i can manage…sometimes i think its worked for sure…..i feel like i gave a more Relatable sense to a certain experience by putting it in comic form than any of the times ive discussed it as a personal thing at length via text. like i said i communicate best via comics probably, despite not drawing them all that much coz im too damn slow lmao

speaking of, i’ve kind of been like “what a waste” abt the fact that i dont have like, a proper approach or regular strategy to thinking up comics before i draw them, but i think theres something actually okay to be taken from that lol……just that i know if i got too caught up in trying to plan it all out perfectly before getting into actually drawing it, i’d be making it into a bigger project and slowing myself down even more & i’d risk dropping it partway through or just never getting started at all. so if i have a less than perfect end result, at least i have an end result, and ive finally got that one idea out of my head in some way. and i feel like some of my comics do work out decently enough….a good handful of times ive been surprised w how well some ppl receive them

so i think it is good to just go ahead and dive in. i did that once w an idea i’d been sitting on for like half a year, and i think it turned out good enough. i just knew i could easily spend months and months more turning over all the details, which might make it Better, but would also mean that yknow, i’d never actually get around to making it b/c of feeling like it had to be ideal. so i simplified it a bit, used a uniform panel layout, did little drawings, and just got it drawn out in an afternoon or two. and now at least it exists lol. and ive sort of come back to the same idea in a way…if i feel like it turns out i wanna elaborate on something more, i can just make another pic/comic built on the same theme, who’s gonna care or stop me

i also try to focus on what lines are/aren’t necessary to avoid things being confusing or just pointlessly cluttery….this isnt a big issue b/c i dont often bother w bgs. dont emulate that either lol…….but im not doing any Serious art so its no big deal to me if im not “good” or not progressing as spectacularly as i might. i dont need my drawing abilities to be that amazing here. but bgs still serve a purpose beyond being a “skill” or whatever so im trying to include them more, aka occasionally, at all. still hardly ever. but sometimes you at least need like one halfassed establishing shot yknow. anyways

mmm this has all been kinda vague and i’m trying to think if there’s anything more specific i could/should talk about!! i dont know. i dont have a good perspective on what its like to look at my art while not being me lol & what ppl might think or what stands out to them or whatever. rip

sorry this is so long, i dont really have ppl wanting to know abt my Processes or drawing thoughts or whatever so i’m kinda jumping at the chance to talk about this sort of stuff after having been actually prompted to. but i dont know if i’ve said anything at all!! i dont know if any of it has been helpful

“tldr; i dont really know what im doing, but go ahead and jump into actually making them as opposed to feeling like youre ready / you know the best way to make a page, because nobodys ever ready or can say This Is The Best Possible Version so just go ahead and use whatever process feels like it makes your life easier, while still actually making the damn comic” is my whole thing, i guess

i dunno, if there was some specific thing you wanted to know abt that i didnt talk about / talk about well here, feel free to ask me to specify because i totally will, which is both an invitation and a warning obviously

sorry this is so long everybody…….writing an essay & by the end of it not being sure if ive given any info at all is part of my whole Thing

#long post //#jfc this is even longer than i thought #i dont know if theres anytning helpful about this at all #maybe its that ‘’if you think i’m good its good news for you b/c you probably know what youre doing just as much if not more than i know #what i’m doing’’

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tyzerman91 · 7 years

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Alex Nylander #1

Request: Can I request an Alex Nylander one shot. Where he and the readers are young parents and their Kid meets his parents first time in Sweden.

A/N: So I really had no idea what to do with this one. I apologize. I feel like I didn’t even come close to what you were asking for. Let me know if you like it. Because if you don’t, I will definitely try writing it again.

Warnings: None?

Word Count: 984

How did you get here?

That was the dominant thought running through your head. You were holding your son, Leon, while Alex found your luggage. It was the first time back in Sweden since he was born, making it the first time Alex’s parents would be meeting their grandson.

You were nervous, to say the least. You’d visited Michael and Camilla twice in Sweden. And they seemed to really like you. You couldn’t help but wonder if they would blame you. You and Alex were only 19, still children in some peoples eyes, and you now had a child of your own.

You loved Leon the moment you laid eyes on him. He was beautiful just like his father. Bright blue eyes and blonde hair. You had talked, for hours with Alex after discovering you were, in fact, pregnant not just sick, you ran through a million scenarios in your head. All of them ended with Alex walking out of your life. But he didn’t. No, he didn’t even think of it as an option. He immediately went full speed ahead, moving you all the way in. He canceled your apartment lease. Then he began to prepare for the baby. The room was completed the day you found out you were having a boy.

You hate yourself, but it really surprised you. You didn’t think he would want to deal with being a father at such a young age. But he stepped into the role with not so much as a stumble.

But that didn’t mean his parents would be so accepting. So here you were, stressing over them meeting your son.

“Babe. You need to relax. People will think I’m trying to kidnap you or something.” Alex rolls the luggage over to where you are standing. “My parents love you.” “They did. But that was before I ruined your life.” You say. You are on the verge of crying. Because that’s just what you need, to break down in the middle of an airport. “Oh God. I ruined your life. You should hate me.”

“Stop. (Y/N), you are the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” He says kissing you, and then Leon. “I wouldn’t change a single thing. So what if we became parents quicker than we planned.”

“But you have your whole hockey career ahead of you.” You say, tears filling your eyes. “Now you’re stuck.”

“No. Now I get to share the excitement of hockey with you and our son. He will get to see me play.” Alex wraps an arm around you. With one hand on the luggage and the other on you, he leads you towards the exit. “I’m the luckiest guy in the world. Most of the guys don’t get to share this with the woman of their dreams and their kid. I get to do both.”

“It’s just…”

“No. Whatever’s got you thinking I would ever change anything about us, forget it.” He isn’t listening.

“Alex!” You hear his mom call. “(Y/N)!” “Mom, Dad.” Alex greets them. His mom surprises you by hugging you first then Alex. “And this must be little Leon.” She coos. “Oh, he’s just beautiful. Can I hold him?” “Of course.” You manage to say. Alex just smirks.

…

Later that night after Leon has been put down and Alex and his dad have gone to bed, it’s just you and Camilla. You want to get up and go into the room you and Alex are staying in. But something makes you stay seated.

“Alex told us.” She says not looking at you. “What?” “The day you told him. He called us and told us.” She turns to look at you. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard my son so excited. Not even when he was drafted.”

“I didn’t know that.” You say softly. “I don’t think it’s possible to upset, not when Alex was so excited.” She laughs. “Now, of course, we would have liked you to wait. But sometimes things happen. Things we can’t control. Like the wind or the rain. But we’re not mad and we don’t hate you. You gave us a grandson. And you make Alex so happy. I want you to know, I’m here. If you ever need anything.”

“You don’t know how much it means to me to hear you say that.”

“All I ask is that you say yes.”

“What? You’ve lost me.” You reply, confused.

“When Alex asks you. All I ask is that you say yes.” Her eyes are twinkling. “Oh, you’re talking- oh wow.” You’re in shock.

“Wow, mom, way to ruin it.” You hear from the doorway. “I’m sorry son.” She says but doesn’t sound too sorry. “Well, I was going to make this romantic but since the secrets out,” Alex says walking over to you. He kneels down and takes your hand. “(Y/N), I’ve loved you since the moment we met. I didn’t realize it until a while later, but the moment you looked at me and smiled I was a goner. I didn’t think anything could make me happier than when you agreed to be my girlfriend. Then you told me I was going to be a father, and did. I won’t ever be able to tell you just how happy I was in that moment. Because words can’t begin to describe it.”

“Oh, Alex.” You say covering your face.

“Shhhh. Let me finish.” He says taking your hands again. “Now, that was the happiest I’ve ever been. I would not change a single thing about our life. I love you more than anything in the world. There is just one thing I’d really like to change about you, and that’s your last name. So will you make me, not only the happiest man in the world but the luckiest and take my last name? Will you marry me, (Y/N)?”

“Yes. A million times yes.”

#alex nylander #alex nylander imagine #buffalo sabres #nhl imagines #hockey imagines #request #anonymous

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tamboradventure · 5 years

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My Favorite Books of 2019

Posted: 12/10/2019 | December 10th, 2019

Another year is almost over, which means it’s again time for my annual best books of the year list! This year, I sort of fell off the book-reading wagon. Writing my own book, moving to Paris and then Austin, and running a conference was exhausting and, by the end of the day, I was often too tired to read.

But, while Netflix often whisked me away to dreamland, I did manage to read a lot of great books this year. It may not have been as many as I would have liked but one can still not be made at averaging two books a month.

So, as we come to end of 2019, here are my favorite travel and non-travel books I think you should pick up to consume:

Ten Years a Nomad, by me!

This is my new(ish) book!!! Unlike my previous books, this is not a “how to” guide but a collection of insights and stories from the road. It’s a memoir of my ten years backpacking the world and the lessons I learned along the way. This book gets to the heart of wanderlust and what extended travel can teach us about life, ourselves, and our place in the world. It’s available as an audiobook too!

I think it makes for the BEST Christmas gift and it would mean a lot if you picked it up! Gift it to a friend! Leave it in hostels! Whatever you want!

River Town, by Peter Hessler

This book is about American writer and journalist Peter Hessler’s time living in Fuling, China, in the 1990s as one of the first Peace Corp volunteers allowed back in China. I loved his book Oracle Bones, so I was excited to read this one. I don’t think it’s as good, but it’s a detailed, fascinating, well-written account of what living as an expat during a time of great change was like.

Lands of Lost Borders, by Kate Harris

I read this right after I handed in the final draft of my book and was blown away by Kate Harris’s magical prose. Kate writes the way I would love to be gifted enough to write. The book follows her journey cycling the Silk Road from Turkey to Tibet and is filled with vivid descriptions of the people and places she encountered. It’s one of the best books I read all year.

The Joys of Travel, by Thomas Swick

Thomas Swick has been a travel writer and editor for decades and is one of the giants in the industry (it’s been fun to get to know him over the years, and I only regret not finding his work sooner). The book is a quick but thoughtful read on the emotions we feel as travelers and is filled with lovely stories from his time living abroad in Poland and how mass communication has changed travel. It’s a book that will surely inspire you to see more.

Here Lies America, by Jason Cochran

This book examines death tourism in America and the forgotten history that comes along with it. My friend Jason Cochran spent time roaming the country exploring the secret past of America’s greatest memorials through the lens of his family’s history. It’s an intriguing and absorbing look at the history of the US (I learned a lot I didn’t know) and how we remember our history (and what we choose to forget). I can’t recommend it enough!

The Atlas of Happiness, by Helen Russell

Written by Helen Russell (who also wrote the entertaining book The Year of Living Danishly), this book examines what makes certain cultures happy and others not. (In many ways, it’s like The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner.) The book’s writing style makes it an easy read that will give you lessons you can use in your own life.

Stillness Is the Key, by Ryan Holiday

Written by Best-selling author and modern-day philosopher Ryan Holiday, this book is a short and easy (but insightful) read about the need for stillness in your life. In this fast-paced world, we forget that slowing down can provide us with calmness, thoughtfulness, and help us lead a happier life. As someone who has gone through a lot of change this year, I found a lot of wisdom in the book. It’s some of Ryan’s best writing to date.

Why We Sleep, by Matthew Walker

As an insomniac, I was hoping this book would help me learn how to sleep better. It didn’t. But what it did do was show me just how important sleep really is and why I need to try to get a lot more of it. “Sleep when you’re dead” is a common phrase, but reading this taught me that if I don’t try to sleep more, I’ll be dead quicker.

Dark Matter, by Blake Crouch

Without giving too much away, this sci-fi book by Blake Crouch revolves around the idea of an infinite multiverse where every possible outcome of a decision plays out — and each decision thereafter creates another split, and so forth and so forth. It made me really think about regret and the decisions we make in our lives in a way I never thought about before. I couldn’t put the book down and found it a profoundly impactful book. It changed how I view regret.

Mistakes Were Made (but Not by Me), by Carol Tavris

I know that I’m raving about a lot of books on this list, but this is hands-down the best I read all year, one that made me look at people differently. We have a hard time saying, “I was wrong” (even when presented with facts that show 100% we were wrong). This book delves into why people double down on false information. In an age of “fake news,” it was an eye-opening look into how people reduce cognitive dissonance.

***

So there you have it! My favorite books of 2019. I wish the list was longer so I could say I kept my promise to read more, but all you can do is pick up and keep going! I have a pile of books on my coffee table I’m getting through quicker, now that I’m at home more.

Regardless, if you’re looking for some good books this holiday season, pick one of these up (especially mine, because, hey, let’s be real, I’d appreciate the support!).

If you have any suggestions on what to read, leave them in the comments. I’m due for another big book buy soon!

If you’d like to see some of the other books I’ve recommended (or are currently reading), check out this page I created on Amazon that lists them all!

Book Your Trip: Logistical Tips and Tricks

Book Your Flight Find a cheap flight by using Skyscanner or Momondo. They are my two favorite search engines because they search websites and airlines around the globe, so you always know no stone is being left unturned.

Book Your Accommodation You can book your hostel with Hostelworld as they have the largest inventory. If you want to stay somewhere other than a hostel, use Booking.com, as it consistently returns the cheapest rates for guesthouses and cheap hotels. I use them both all the time.

Don’t Forget Travel Insurance Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. It’s comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong. I never go on a trip without it, as I’ve had to use it many times in the past. I’ve been using World Nomads for ten years. My favorite companies that offer the best service and value are:

World Nomads (for everyone below 70)

Insure My Trip (for those over 70)

Looking for the best companies to save money with? Check out my resource page for the best companies to use when you travel! I list all those I use to save money when I travel — and they will save you time and money too!

The post My Favorite Books of 2019 appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

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wishingawayreality-blog · 7 years

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Author’s Note: My friend gave me a and a few others some prompts for Halloween. This is my submission. :3

Prompt: "The man leans into you. There is a dark red almost black color to the whites of his eyes. He is so close his nose is almost touching your nose. You can feel his breath when he says, “We all have it in here. We are all infected."

Trigger Warnings: Death, hints of kidnapping, murder, feelings of loneliness.

Day One

  I don’t know how I got here, but I suspect it was something sinister that led me here. No. I know it was. The house didn’t resemble anything from a horror book, with it’s light orange paint and baby pink trim. It stood as a tall reminder of how elegant America was back in the abhorrent days of slavery.  And maybe that’s what made me question things, that stark reminder of how appearances can be deceiving and the most pleasant of looks often house something darker beyond our imaginations. Yet despite the unease that cut into my stomach, I found myself unable to halt my approach up those three creaking steps and to the front door. It opened with an invisible force, leading into a darkness that consumed even the shadows of the night. The floor groaned beneath me, proving to be more brittle with age than the outside appearance first suggested.

I felt the fog in my head grow thicker until I could barely recognize that I was in a house. That was when he appeared. He leaned into me, a hand snaking around my waist. Despite the darkness that surrounded me and the blank slate my mind became, I noticed the dark red, almost black color, to the whites of his eyes, magnified by the pale skin of his face and the shining amber of his irises. He leaned in so close that our noses almost touched. For a moment, I thought I could feel his breath, but now that I write this, I know that it wasn’t his breath. It was merely the vibrations of his words.

“We all have it in here. We are all infected.”

Then I woke up, with a chill draft wafting over me. The man’s words circled in my head for several minutes after I found myself in a bed that wasn’t mine. I began to wonder how many there were, and what this infection was. Despite a new ache in my neck and a heaviness in my limbs, I felt well. Prior to having come to the house, despite the strange cloudiness in my mind, I felt just fine as well. But the man’s strange eyes still haunted my mind and I dared not to wander away, though eventually I would have to return home.

I will try in the morning. For the meantime, I wanted to document everything that happened to me in a journal I found on the bedside. The beginning pages are torn out, but in case I do fall ill, I want others to know of it. It strikes me as a strange ailment, if it turns one’s eyes the same color as the man’s, and not one spoken of in the world. Perhaps one day my own documentation will be important.

Day Two

I write this with a shaking hand from an ice cold chill that surrounds every fiber of my being. I have indeed fallen ill, but with what, I do not know. I can only speak to the symptoms that ail me. I wish to say that they’ve been prominent ever since this morning, but I have no means of telling the time of day. The house is shrouded in an impossible darkness, and went I went to open the curtains earlier, the sun stung like a million ants tearing through my body in every way, so I promptly shut it again.

I have had a hacking cough since awaking this morning, however, which only seems to grow worse as the day progresses. It started out as merely a cough, as one would have with a chest cold, but has begun to include blood. It has even, on occasion, been in congealed masses as if my lungs hold some unknown cut that can’t quite clot. I first thought that perhaps I had tuberculosis, and some doctor foreign to me had diagnosed it and sent me to a home to be under quarantine.

This wouldn’t explain the man’s strange eyes. Mine own I cannot see, because there are no mirrors in this hellish home. But I also realized that we have a cure now, one that I believe works no matter what stage of the illness, and as I had shown no symptoms, I surely could have been cured.

Awhile after waking up, I began to throw up. At first it was the usual bile from an empty stomach, though I felt no real nausea. Now it has become something black and smells like the sulfur of a demon. I fear I am dying, and at a quicker rate than I could have ever imagined. All day I’ve bounced between panic and acceptance. In the panic, I have cried out for help from my housemate. I’m so scared, and I don’t wish to be alone. He didn’t seem too friendly, but surely he at least knows how to survive the illness. And any company is better than none. I just don’t want to be alone...

He did not come at my calling, though. I attempted to leave my room, but the illness has left me weak and cripples me when the bouts of coughing or vomiting come up. I am to die alone, and it scares me. I don’t know where I am, I don’t know what I am ill with, I don’t know if my loved ones are alright. In the quiet, and the dark, and the pain of this illness, I’ll succumb to the quiet solitude of death. I have no idea what lies in store for me beyond, but I’m not ready to leave.

My cellphone is missing, there is no phone in this room. I’m scared. I just want someone to help me. I can’t do this alone. I wish these words reached more than just the paper. I don’t even have my wallet. Will anyone come for my body, or am I here to rot with the ill? Who knows how many others have died here?

Please. Someone. Find me. Please… I don’t want to die alone. I don’t want to rot here. Please find me…

Day Three?

I don’t know how long I was asleep. It feels like years, perhaps even longer. When I first awoke, I felt nothing. Everything feels strange; I couldn’t even remember what happened to me until I read this journal. Am I still ill? I don’t feel sick at all. I don’t feel cold. In fact, everything feels almost unbearably hot. Prior to reading this journal, I went to open the curtains. The sun poured in, and whatever I may have, or however it may have changed me, I don’t think I can ever go outside again. I felt as if I was in a furnace, as if my insides were burning their way out of me. Instinct must have guided me to close the curtains, because I don’t believe I could have willed myself to do so.

Since I am feeling better, I’ve decided to explore a bit more. I can hear a dull thumping, a rhythmic beat. At first, I thought it was muffled music from somewhere deeper within the house, but it hasn’t stopped, and the rhythm may change randomly. I cannot identify where it’s coming from, but I’m too scared to leave the floor I’m on. There are four rooms on this level. Mine and three others that appear to be uninhabited. I cannot find my mysterious housemate and there are no signs of anyone else here. How many of us truly are infected? Has he kidnapped me and done some torturous experiment on me? Am I poisoned?

I still cannot find a mirror. I did try to shower, fearing the stench I may carry from being ill and sleeping for who knows how long, but the water does not seem to work from any faucet I’ve tried. Which brings me to my next mystery; I am neither hungry nor thirsty, though I know I haven’t had anything to eat or drink in a great while. Perhaps I am already dead and a specter, and this world I now inhabit is some strange in between where I only think I’m interacting with the things around me?

Before I could attempt to muster the courage for further explanation, a shrill scream shook me to my core. It pierced through my head like a hot knife through butter. It caused me no pain, but the sheer pitch was uncomfortable. I retreated to my room after that and haven’t left since. I don’t know what caused it, but something makes me feel that it’s not a sound that brings good omens.

I’m going to have to find a way out of here, since I’m still alive, but I feel it’s my duty to find out what secrets are hidden here. If I can save someone else… Actually, I’m not sure I care to save anyone else. I simply feel drawn to something in this house. Perhaps it’s the man that greeted me?

Oh, another mystery. I seem to not be breathing? I only realized it writing these words. My chest no longer heaves up and down and there’s an emptiness there. It may just be that my breathing is too shallow from whatever is happening to me but I feel nothing there. I can’t even hear my own heartbeat. I am… empty.

Day Four

I… cannot. I don’t know what to say about the horrors I saw today.

Today, I chose to explore. I managed to pull some courage out of… whatever sort of soul I have. I wanted to find the beating, the shrill noises. I need answers. If I am to die, if this journal is to help anyone, I need to know what this is. Take this journal, whomever shall find this, and learn the symptoms. Know when you are sick, and find a cure.

But I digress.

I went to the first floor of this home, and still no other signs of a living being presented themselves to me. So I continued on, checking each room. There’s a study, with a large oak desk, a quill and inkwell, and books that line the walls. I decided I wanted to know a bit more about whoever owned this place, or whoever set it up. The books were all old. Some of them date back to the 1600s, yet they’re in perfect condition. I couldn’t find anything more modern, anything that I might be familiar with. The most recent I found was from the 1940s.

I searched the desk, but found nothing, not even a pen or piece of paper. That room connected to another room, which opened to the hallway. It appeared to be a living room, with old decor. There is no television or radio that I can find anywhere. None of the doors were locked, though none of the rooms looked lived in. Not a single bed sheet was ruffled, and not a single item of personal value. I wondered, who else lived here? Who else was infected? I didn’t know I would find my answer in the most horrendous way.

I entered the kitchen next, and everything is empty. There are china dishes but no food or dirty dishes, there is no dishwasher. I clearly remember the house appearing to be from the 1800s when I approached on my first night, but it truly seems to be from the 1800s, without any modernization. The floor is intact enough, though wallpaper peels and paint chips. The wood is faded, but nothing seems hazardous. From the laundry room, I found a set of stairs that descended to the basement.

In this basement are four women, all of them chained to the wall. Standing around one, with her throat slit and the deepest of red blood pouring from the wound in her neck, were three others. I recognized the man who greeted me the first day; he turned to me with those dark red and amber eyes. A grin parted his lips and I noticed the charm in his aura. His dark hair contrasted from that snowy complexion. The fog in my head seemed to return.

The other two, I barely took note of as the horror of what stood before me broke through the haze. A young girl, with blonde hair and pale skin. The blood pooled on the floor and I noticed the second man had a tint of that same red on his pink lips and on his fingertips. And then it hit me, that sweet smell like honey.

I could feel it, a longing and a sudden hunger worse than any I’ve felt before. I wanted it, whatever it was that caused that scent. It filled the air like smoke and my body felt a jolt of pain. “Come,” the third member beckoned. She looked different from the others. Her dark skin made those same dark red eyes sink into them. Only instead of amber orbs hidden in the darkness, a pale blue bounced back. There is no way to describe her beauty or the grace with which she offered her hand to me.

I don’t know how long I stood there before I realized; they wanted me to enjoy their murderous intent as well.

And then I was at the door. I don’t know how I made it up the stairs and found my way to the front door in a place I don’t even know, but before I even made it, the three blocked my path. My host stood directly in front of me, with the other man and the beautiful woman next to either side of me. What once I saw as charm and grace now looked wild, as if they were wolves and I a rabbit about to be torn apart.

The shadows of the house seemed to suffocate me as I stood there. And I realized my heart was not beating, as I should have felt the racing of my fear. Instead, the emptiness lingered.

My host reached his hand out, his fingers brushing the bottom of my chin. “You’ll learn,” he whispered. “We’re all infected…” The woman touched me next, placing her fingers to my forehead.

And then I awoke once more in bed with the vision of that girl against the wall. Her clothes stained an almost brown and that sweet, sweet smell lingering in my mind. I want it. I must find the source of that smell. Whatever it is in the basement, whatever they have done. I must know.

Though I know it is wrong and it is horrendous… I cannot say I’m sorry for the girl. I cannot say I felt bad for them. All I can say is that my upbringing has taught me better, but I don’t care to save them. Have I become so concerned about my own wellbeing? I don’t relate to them. There’s something else. Something lingering. I am not me.

Day Five

I have tasted the honey.

This is no infection. It’s a death, my death. And in my living death, I have performed the ultimate sin.

I killed the second girl. I ripped her throat out with that very hunger I’ve never felt before. For a moment, I could feel my heart beating and I partook that breath that was missing. It filled my emptiness. There was relief from this infernal heat.

I am not ashamed, because there is nothing to be ashamed about.

She told me that, the beautiful woman. As I ravaged the second girl, she told me it was the way things had to be. If we are to survive, if we are to cure ourselves, we must partake of the blood of the living. It’s simple. And I agree.

I did not choose to house this infection, this death within my body. He transferred it to me, but I cannot hate him. He is my host, my gracious host who has given me a home and provided nourishment.

Day Six

I am the monster, I am a child of the night. This is my last entry. Tomorrow, I will rip apart these pages and leave behind these thoughts. The next to be infected must learn for themselves, to shape their own undeath. They will either walk in the sun for redemption into Heaven, or join us in survival.

I am the monster, I am a child of the night...

#halloween #happy halloween #vampires #writing prompt #writer #am writing

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