#however i did have to pay for both pf these things

[ferulacommunis]

dogs are like the purest souls in the universe bc when I went to sleep and then woke up with my teeth gone and my mouth hurting really bad, I was cranky with the person who caused it (myself) for at least a calendar week but it's day 3 and Zoe took a snuggle nap w me today

[sosos-adventures]

April 3rd: cat cat village - sadly not cat related

After checking out our fancy hotel we decided to get some brekafast with a view before walking all the way down to the touristoc spot called Cat Cat village. It was a 40 minute walk down a road and we were almost the only ones walking. Everyone else was on a motorbike or car. The village was supposed to be an experience where you can see how locals live and what they do in their daily lifes. A year ago the entrance fee was about 70.000 dong and we had to pay 150.000 dong per person. So more than double from what it was a year ago.

The village itself was divided into a forest area with little fountains and bridges and the main toruistic area that looked like a movie set. Many cute little wodden houses, some waterwheels and inbetween locals trying to sell their stuff. We thought we would actually see some authentic daily lifestyle of the locals but it was mostls shops fpr tourists. However they had traditional music and dance shows every hour. That was a lot of fun. Can you spot me in the video? Probably in the last 8 seconds.

It still was a fun experience to visit the village before heading to the coubtryside and get to see how the locals live their lifes there with barely any tourism.

So if you decided to visit the village, take a motorbike. We wanted to take a taxi back and there werent any. Only motorbikers trying to bike us back for about 100.000 dong. 3 people on one bike.. sure thing.. they are really reaching the limit with sometimes up to 4 people on one bike. After walking all the way back to our hotel, our homestay guide for the next days picked us up to bring us to his place. And yes we did that by sitting on a tiny motorbike having the huge backpack infront. And this time there wasnt any securitythingy on the back of the bike to not let us fall down. That was a crazy 30 minute ride up the hills into the mountains. It was really weird because Naemas driver kept going straight and all of a sudden my driver took a tiny path up a hill and we got seperated. They didnt tell us why. So we gor more and more away from the main street and away from the crowds. And for a minute I was quite scared about why we got seperated and where he was taking me. But in the end ut just turned out that the other driver was afraid of the stong wind and took another road to the homestay.

So when we both arrived safely at the homestay we gor to see our room. And we somehow got an upgrade of our room. So now we have a view where we can see the ricefields and have a beautiful common area/balcony. It is so cozy here and silent.

Well silent is debatable. Every morning and evening there is a big speaker that is announcing some news and information and music. So kind of the local radio everyone can listen to. It is extremely loud and the locals dont even seem to hear that anymore. We were a bit confused at the beginning.

And now the really coll thing about being far away from the city:

The family of our homestay asked us if we wanted to have dinner with them. We agreed and one hour later they brought plenty of different food and shotglasses. So we all sat down together eating all kinds of food while the owner of the homestay gave everyone lots and lots pf rounds of shots. The happy water (snake alcohol). And whenever our glasses were empty they would refill them. We couldnt really say no so we had like 12 shits each. And they dont drink anythingelse for dinner. Always the shots. A really fun night. None of them soeaks any english so its lostly just handgestures and smiling and pointing at stuff. But it was still such a cool experience.

[struggling-with-time]

Cousin of a cousin’s wedding [Corpse x reader]

Paring: Corpse husband x Gender neutral!reader

Series: And they were roommates

Summary: “Fake dating au” requested by anon

Warnings: angst

Words: 2.2K

A/N: I’m sorry this took so long, it was supposed to be around 750 words... 

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

You barely remember the conversation leading up to the now 7-hour drive. Corpse had asked you to be his date for the cousin of a cousin’s wedding, he didn’t want to feel awkward all night so bringing you along would help a lot.

However you were now sitting in the car packed for the weekend about 2 hours down the road when Corpse had dropped the bomb.

“Could you pretend to be my partner? I just don’t want my aunts to bother me all night about dating, and then when you don’t leave my side all night won’t be looked upon as weird.”

You had never met more than his initiate family so of course you would be staying close to him, but this was a bit unexspected, and now you were going to be in love with him for a whole weekend only to have it ripped out of your reach Sunday afternoon. You knew you should say no, this could only end in catastrophy. But your voiced betrayed you, as you heard it answer him.

“Of course, I don’t mind.” Yes you did, you did mind a lot. What were you doing? You were screaming at yourself on the inside, while kindly smiling to the squirming Corpse beside you. You observed a wave of relief hit his face.

“Thank you, Y/N you’re my savior. I own you one.” He breathes out, why was he so stupid? Oh god now he had to act like he didn’t want to kiss you badly behind closed door but be able to express it free in the open. Why could he not just have kept his mouth shut? At least his aunts will be easier to deal with. They were the worst part of any family gathering.

The two of you got lost in music, both needing to escape from the impending doom each of your minds was trying to show you was going to happen.

You finally pull up to the estate of the wedding, Corpse looking as out of place as you feel. It was bright and everything was baby pink and baby blue. You have by now realized, you have no clue who the bride and groom are, and Corpse doesn’t seem to completely be sure either. This is going to be a rollercoaster of a weekend.

The two of you grab your bags, as you close the car Corpse is standing beside you, now packed with both bags and a hand outstretch. Oh yeah, couple. You have to be a couple for the weekend. This is fine. Totally. You can keep your cool. You look away as you take his hand, trying to keep the blush creeping up to you a bay.

Corpses eyes are fixated on your hand together, your hand just fit so perfectly in his, he knows he’s going to be keeping it in his now for as long as possible the rest of the weekend. He stands by watching as you check the two of you in under Corpses name, he can hear you ask if there is a possibility to get room service. He doesn’t register the answer, just the squeeze of your hand, as you can feel him start to lean back and forth on his feet.

Corpse lets out a breath as he puts your bags down on the bed, it’s a double bed. You’ve slept together before. It has been some time, but it’s not something that has never happened before. Corpse falls down onto the bed feeling how soft it is.

“Corpse! You can’t sleep now, we still have to greet everyone, but I wouldn’t mind missing it.” You sigh as you begin to open your bags and take out your outfits for tomorrow, and the rehearsal dinner tonight. You hang them up next to each other on the closet door.  You admire them, how in the world are you going to be paying attention to anyone but Corpse?

Corpse has pushed himself onto his elbows curious at your sudden silence, looking at your two outfits for the weekend, mirroring your thoughts. How in the world is going to be paying attention to anything but you?

“You’re…” He swallows “You’re going to be wearing that?” You turn around beaming at him

“Yes! Do you like it?” You take off the rehearsal outfit of its hanger and does the same with his. You’re excited to see him in a suit for the first time. It’s going to be a sight for ages, and you know it. You don’t notice Corpse flops back onto the bed.

Y/N is going to be the death of me. That is the only thought running through Corpses head as you begin to get ready for the greetings and the rehearsal dinner.  

“You’re going to look very… Nice?” Why did you say it like that Corpse? He nearly smacks himself in the head out of regret.

He finally rolls off the bed as you throw his outfit at him, ignoring his comment, not knowing how to take it, was it a compliment?

The two of you finish up, both trying to subtly check the other out, too busy to notice the other checking them out. You can smell the tension three doors down the hall.

He offers you his arm, and you happily take it after locking up the room you’ve been lodged into. You relish in the feeling of him leading you for as long as possible until you end up in the now bit crowed area of the lounge. You can feel Corpse tensing, so you do the only thing you can think of.

“Baby, it’s okay, I’m right here.” You reassure him. He smiles down at you. clearly already feeling calmer from knowing you’re there.

Baby?? Baby?? Y/N called you baby, and you didn’t do anything. Corpses thoughts are running wild of other nicknames he can suddenly hear you call him in the next two days.

He introduces you to a couple of cousins he vaguely remembers meeting when he was young. But a lot of the people there, he hasn’t met either. You were the more outgoing of the two of you. Which was kind of like being the tallest dwarf. You to what everyone tells you, and you nod at the right time. Corpse hasn’t been listening to anyone else since you came down here. You’ve invaded all of his mind in that outfit and by just being there, hearing you call him your partner, and baby. He’s whipped and you’re not even his.

The rehearsal dinner goes well, you’re seated between some people Corpse hasn’t met either, so the two of you keep to yourself. You’re chatting along, and having fun, both enjoying the couples part, having a bit of fun trash talking some of the others when you can see them be rude to the servers.

After dinner you greet the bride and groom, they seem nice, the bride like so many others vaguely remembers Corpse from that one family gathering back in that aunts house ages ago. They tell you they’re happy that he has finally found someone to take care of him, you thank them. Corpse is clearly embarrassed by the whole ordeal.

Another half an hour of mingling goes by before the bar is open and you tell Corpse you’ll be right back with something to drink.

You try to get the bartenders attention, but he seems preoccupied with flirting with an elderly woman down the bar, seemingly willing to give him tips. That’s when a man approaches you, he’s cleanly shaven and like so many others in an expensive suit.

“Here let me help you.” He tell you, before whistling, making the bartender come over.

“Thank you,” you tell him, before you give your order to the bartender.

“What’s someone like you doing hanging over by the bar?” He asks

“The same as you,” you can already tell where this is going, and can feel the dread creeping up on you for having answered.

“Then have the drink with me.” He offers ever so politely, you glance after the bartender. Hoping for him to come back soon.

“No thanks, I’ll be alright.” You tell him, and starts looking for Corpse in the crowd, but you can no longer see the place where you left him standing.

“C’mon it’s just one drink.” He persist, “it’ll be on my tab.”

“I’m sorry, I’m here with someone tonight.” You decline once again. Hoping for the drinks to be finished soon.

“One drink, just one.” He offers again.

“I think my partner here made it very clear. No.” You can hear the deep voice behind you, you lean into his arms as they embrace you from around the stomach. If you weren’t wrong you could hear a hint pf possessiveness in his voice, and that sent the right kinds of chills down your spine.

The man puts his hand up. “It was just a lighthearted offer, nothing to be making a fuss about.” He walks away.

You look up at Corpse, your drinks forgotten, the two of you just wanting to rest. You head for the bedroom, knowing there will be an even longer day in front of you tomorrow.

As you strip down in the bathroom you call out to Corpse.

“You know I could have handled that myself, right?”

“I know, doesn’t mean that you always have to though.” He calls back.

The two of you settle comfortably into bed, you can feel Corpse pull you into him, and you let him do it.

You’re awakened by the sun streaming in through the windows. Corpse is already up and showering, you yawn as you get out of bed, and look over the outfits for the day. There was a breakfast buffe, but the two of you settle with room service, and a nice silent morning together.

You take your time to get ready, as the two of you aren’t invited to the church, which is understandable. You have no clue how many you are here, but the small church attached to the large manor, doesn’t seem to be able to fit everyone attending.

You fix Corpse tie, as you finish up and check over yourself. The two of you linger close, before you pull away and dust down his jacket with your hand.

The dinner is what Corpse has been dreading the most. His aunts. They’ll be seated at the same table as you. Which means every aspect of his life will be scrutinized with certainty.

You let him lead you to the table, minimizing the amount of time you must mingle with others. The couple gets introduced and then the first course is served. This is when the first of the 4 aunts around you starts to question your life. What jobs do you have? Did you ever finish college? Why aren’t you more like my children?

You put your hand on Corpses thigh, and you can feel him melt underneath your touch. He puts his hand on top of yours, as he tries to calmly answer every question that gets thrown at you. but his mind keep wandering to the hand that’s burning a hole through his trousers.

The speeches flies by as the two of you go back into your little couple bubble, as you have dubbed it in your own mind. You know by tomorrow noon the spell will be broken, but you will enjoy every bit until then. By the time desert rolls around, both you and Corpse have gotten a bit of alcohol inside and is ready to hit the bar when desert finally gets taken off the table.

You giggle at something he said as he whispers it into your ear. You’re both drunk, and both having forgotten the couple thing was to help Corpse calm his nerves. The next thing you remember is the headache you had when you woke up.

You remember waking up and realizing you had significantly less on than usual when heading to bed. The scared look on Corpses face when you met his eyes explained enough for you.

The two of you packed your things in silence, only talking to each other, when thanking the newly weds for their hospitality, before heading to the car. Riding 7 hours in silence back to your apartment in San Diego. The spell certainly broken.

How you both wished that it had been real, and how you both wished you knew how to bring up what had happened and tell the other you wouldn’t mind continuing like that. Instead you both kept your mouths shot, with your minds running more miles per hours than the car.

[havana-great-time]

September 3rd, 2022. La Habana.

My dearest darlings —

I was so deeply exhausted yesterday that I slept for nearly ten hours, more than I have in a good long time. Luckily, such restful sleep granted me the energy I needed to get through the day.

After a lovely breakfast (my friends, the juice here is made fresh daily. Today it was guyava; yesterday mango), I met with my program once more, and together we walked throughout el Vedado, our university neighborhood of Habana.

El Vedado is truly lovely. The amalgamation of architectural styles would, I am sure, charm anyone with half a mind to that kind of thing. I hardly know anything about architecture and nonetheless found myself affected. The university, in particular, consists of enormous buildings with imposing columns and highly symbolic statues, the different faculties joined by a grand staircase. I am so looking forward to entering it as a student.

We ended our refreshing walk at the ETECSA office, the residence of our supposed SIM cards. Despite having purchased one in August, there continued to be no permanent lines available — and, when I checked my accounts, I found my purchase had been returned to me due to low stock. Tomorrow we shall return here and purchase 30-day options, at the least. We did also stop by an internet park, where I have purchased myself 5 hours of internet for 125 pesos, or about a dollar, usable at any such internet park. The exchange rate at the moment is highly in my favor.

As another note on walking, piropos are unfortunately quite common here. I was warned by the program, but it was still somewhat shocking to hear two calls while walking the several blocks to my program. Interestingly, the "qué niña más linda" was followed up by an enquiring "¿y gracias?". Apparently certain people will demand a thank you for the unsolicited compliment. While unfortunate in its existence, it is interesting to observe.

Another aspect of gendered existence I have found fascinating here is in terms of housework. So far, only A and her mother N have helped with any of it, that I can see; several other students report similar dynamics within their host families. By now, after strong insistence, they let me help with my own dishes; not so for the other students, and I wonder if part of that is down to gender.

After further reflections and a diversity presentation, a hurried lunch, and yet another stop at ETECSA, we were given a strange and quite unclear presentation on academics in Cuba. Although I am still unsure how to navigate the system, the classes are certainly looking fascinating.

With several of the students who live nearby, we finally went to the Malecón, the sea-wall, and saw my most beloved ocean, turbulent and restless as ever. As always, her beauty knows no bounds, and the jagged rocks below the wall only add to her loveliness.

Our first program-led cultural activity occurred in the evening, with a visit to the Fábrica de Arte Cubana. FAC is a combination of nightclub, dance floor, and art gallery, with both a fashion show and cheap alcohol. Our program could not, by law, pay for our alcohol, but they did pay for everything else and did not discourage us from drinking. I did not purchase any drinks there, for their quality reflected their price and I am not fond of cerveza in any case. The dance floor, too, was somewhat crowded for my taste. The art, however, was fascinating — it ranged from photography to collages, printmaking, and paper mache made pf old history textbooks. With plenty of wall art and quotes, I was kept plenty entertained.

Our program leader called us a taxi in an old American car at eleven, not wishing us to stay out so late; yet once in the car, all ten of us jammed together in a very small space and needing to make use of laps, most of us decided to return to the Malecón rather than our homes. The late-night ocean walk was truly wonderful, and I entered into some quite entertaining political discussions with an eternal optimist and a strong pessimist.

One last fun fact: road safety is next to nonexistent here. Crossing the street is entirely up to the walker, with the constant knowledge that "el carro es el rey"; the cars will stop for nothing and no one. If they are honking, it is a symbol to run. Within the cars themselves, there are no seatbelts to be seen, and everyone here really does take advantage of every space in the car imaginable, resulting in extremely crowded vehicles. Good thing Habana is such a walkable city; I could hardly imagine driving here.

Again sending all my love,

MICHA.

[mirobami]

Hello! May I request a kind of sequel? to the bami clan(background and reader being like let’s get yall some teddy bears) fic? Just fluff you know, y/n taking all pf them out to see things and buy them ice cream??? and the song being Runaway-AURORA

Your fics are just *chef’s kiss* ✨beautiful✨

━ TAKING OFF THE MASK

CHARACTER(S): The Bami clan

SONG: Runaway (AURORA)

A/N: Hi hi, THANK YOU SO MUCH!! Honestly, I wanted to write a second part too so >:D you read my mind (this was longer than what I expected), let’s get started! 

The day Y/N had said that they’d be able to go through their childhoods, even for a short time, was arriving sooner than anyone had expected. They were all eagerly waiting for that day, more than any of them had thought. As much as they tried to seem casual, it was clear that they wanted one day in which they didn’t have to worry about money or poison or anything obscure. 

Y/N had given them the place where they had to meet up and the time as well, but what she didn’t expect was them being there earlier than what she had expected. From what she could see, there was still a bit of awkwardness amongst everyone for the sole reason that they had been against each other and now they were all supposed to hang out with one another. It didn’t matter, she’d find a way to break the ice.

“All right! So today’s plan is to go to Build-A-Bear, eat as many sweets as we can, let you buy literally anything that your parents never let you--within reason, we’re not taking home a sword--I’ll pay for it all, don’t worry.” The bright smile on Y/N’s face made them all feel more elated.

With those words, they followed Y/N around like ducklings to see where she’d lead them until she led them to a mall. So many people were bustling around, shopping bags in their arms as they talked with their companions or just bopped their heads slightly to the beat of the music overhead. The songs were completely different than what they all usually heard so they had to stand there for a bit to drink it all in.

“This is a commoner mall?” Miyo asked.

Y/N blinked. “Please don’t tell me your malls are bigger, I’m gonna feel more broke.”

Miyo made a pained expression, as if trying to say no when in reality it was true, their malls were so much bigger. Y/N sighed and pulled them all towards the Build-A-Bear workshop. Inside, there were already a couple of people picking out bears and talking with the cashier. It seemed like the clan had never seen anything like it before so when Y/N let them loose, they all tentatively walked in before walking everywhere. 

Y/N went over to the cashier and watched as they all started talking with one another, mingling for the first time and bonding over bears they wanted. Yumi, Ibara and Miroslava were hanging around the bears before picking up the ones they wanted and walking towards the station where the bear would get stuffed. Rin, Sumika, Erimi and Rei were all talking casually with the bears in their arms, looking through clothes. Miyo, Miri and Nozomi were picking out clothes, showing each other the cute clothes they found. Kirari and Ririka were already dressing their bears up, having chosen the same bear but with different clothes. They all seemed to be having fun, smiles spreading on their faces.

The price was higher than what Y/N had expected, but it was worth it if it meant they’d be happy. Sure enough, they were chattering happily as they walked out of the store. 

“Okay, what do you guys want to do next? I’m thinking playground but if you guys want to buy something else here, we can do that too.”

It was a unanimous vote on the playground. All of them went to a playground that was near Y/N’s home and it was surprisingly empty. Y/N was also surprised, considering there were usually tons of kids playing there, but not today. It’s like the universe had decided to let the clan have fun for that day. Y/N held out her hands. “Give me your stuffed animals and go, I’ll take care of them.”

With the biggest smiles ever, they all let Y/N take their bears and immediately went towards the playground. It seemed like none of them even touched sand on a playground because they were playing with it rather than the structures. Miyo was on the swings with Sumika and it was clear from their laughter that they were enjoying it. Rin and Ibara were making a sandcastle with Terano, who was sitting on the side of the playground, unable to go and play on the structures. She didn’t mind, she was just determined to build a better castle than the boys. 

As Y/N continued watching, she silently told herself that whatever the Elders did to these kids, she’d have a good long chat with them and perhaps hire some people to toss them into a retirement home. It was clear that these kids had never had a real childhood and here they were, having the time of their lives like they never had before. It made her sad at first and then happier because she was the one doing it. No one had done it for them, so it was up to her to do it and she couldn’t be more content. 

Miri and Erimi were on the slides while Yumi and Nozomi were having a battle on the monkey bars. Miroslava was supposedly the judge for the castles along with Rei and they were both grinning as they ever so sneakily poked Rin and Ibara’s castle when they weren’t looking. The castle didn’t crumble but one wrong move and it’d be destroyed. Sure enough, a few minutes later, Y/N heard a cry of agony and it was Rin and Ibara lying face up, their castle destroyed as Miroslava and Rei started laughing with Terano. 

There was a sound of an ice cream truck nearby and Y/N called out, “Do you guys want ice cream?”

The clan suddenly felt bad, considering that she was paying for all of them but it was like she could read them. Crossing her arms, she said, “I wouldn’t be taking you guys out if I didn’t know that I’d have to pay for you. Go and order, I’ll pay for you.”

A few moments later, they were all sitting with their ice creams, happily eating them as they concentrated on the landscape around them. Y/N had a gentle smile on her face as she watched them look at everything with childish wonder, obviously never having been there. Yumi and Rin were sitting near her legs and they both leaned against her, making her heart clench. Tear away their jobs and they were just so adorable. “So what did you guys think?” 

“Can we come here again?” Kirari asked immediately and Terano nodded in agreement. 

Y/N smiled and chewing on her last piece of ice cream cone, she said, “Of course. I don’t mind.”

“Can we go to your house at some point too?” Yumi asked nonchalantly. “We want to hang out with you there!”

It seemed like the clan also wanted this and with a laugh, Y/N replied, “I guess we can do that too and sleepovers. I don’t mind at all, you guys deserve it all.”

Not only did Y/N care for them, the entire clan cared for her just as much if not more. Here she was, doing so much for them and she didn’t even expect anything back. So this was the feeling of love they had never felt. Just a rush of adoration swelled up within them all at this girl who gave them a chance when no one else would. This was the girl who they would be able to call home at some point, just not yet. However, they all already knew from one day with her that they wanted to be around her. That’s exactly what they planned to do. 

Now take me home, home where I belong, I can't take it anymore...

[lunarianillusion]

A change in fate

authors note: Sorry this chapter took a while, writers block is a pain and school takes a lot of time. Still I hope you enjoy this chapter and this story is now also on archive of our own under the same name. Now on with the story.

a maribat fanfic

Chapter 07

Marinette had been greatly relieved when Mist had returned so quickly and seemingly having succeeded in their mission. The miracle box safely tucked in their tail, a ball of memories between the leopard’s jaws and Wayzz sitting upon their silvery head. A small smile graced her lips at the sight.

But the small moment of joy had been shattered when a. unknown presence made themselves known. How had she not noticed them, she was the true holder of the miraculous of emotions, she could feel everyone’s emotions within a six-mile radius clearly. Even if she could not on a person’s scent, she should have been able to sense his emotions long before they made themselves known. So, how had she not been able to sense them following her guardian. 

In a quick and flowing motion Royal shifted into her battle stance. Her fan at the ready in one hand miracle box in the other, Mist had her claws out and growled from deep in their throat and Wayzz nuzzled into the female’s neck hiding away from the possible danger. All their eyes focussed on the figure that now slipped out of the shadows.

To a certain degree the wielder of the peafowl was relieved that the intruder was neither Chat Noir nor her replacement. That however did not rule out the possibility that this was another akuma, albeit a better dressed one. The male wore upon a quick glance a near skin-tight suit made out of a reinforced material she could not quite place. His main colors consisted of red and black with a golden yellow coloring for his utility belts, that sat on his waist and crossed over his chest. Overall a decent ensemble, definitely better than what some akumas wore. The only things that really did not sit well with her was the length of the cape and that bloody cowl!

The male raised his hands in a gesture of surrender and moved his head to bear his throat. “I am not here to fight you, Blue Royal,” the stranger stated calmly. “Or should I refer to you by your old identity, Ladybug.”

The blue clad hero went absolutely rigid at this comment as did her companions. How? How did he find out?

Seeming able to read her body language he went on to give her a simple explanation on how he got to this revelation. He told her about how he had been there when the last akuma attacked and had made the connection due to her mannerisms around the so-called heroes and her overall combat experience. For not even someone trained in any form of martial arts, no matter how long they may have trained, would be able to pull of what she did in that little of time without real life experience. And from her reaction he could tell that his theory was correct. Great so she ratted herself out, well done Marinette.

“Who are you?” she more demanded then asked.

“I go by Red Robin and I was formerly known as Robin and protégé of the Batman of Gotham. I have come to Paris to offer you my help in taking Hawkmoth down,” Red Robin told her, while looking straight at the female before him. Though his eyes were covert by the cowl’s white lenses, Mari swore their eyes were locked.

“And how am I to be certain that you are not one of His akumas or accomplices?” The blue clad girl asked skeptically with a cold tone her eyes narrowed into a glare. The tension in the air could almost be touchable as the two continued their stare of.

Red Robin nodded at her reasoning, seeming to understand her suspicions and following cautios manner. “Understandable concerns. Though I doubt I shall be able to put your worries to rest, with just my words. But quite a few people have made my existence public to the world. I hope that when you have seen that you can be assured that I am here to help,” He spoke calmly as he lowered his hands.

“Not very secretive of you to become known to the public, protégé of the Bat,” Royal could not help to comment. It gained a small chuckle from the male before her. “Well the existence of the League is not really a secret either, hence why I were the cowl,” He bantered back. Marinette could not help her lip twitching upward even as she kept her look skeptical. For her nerves were not put to rest.

Since she could not sense his emotions, he must have a strong control over them, she focused her connection to miraculous to look into his soul. It was in correlation with a trick that Duusu had been telling her about during training. How when transformed a true soul can look through the eyes of their kwami and gain the ability to see someone’s soul. It was however a very exhausting technique and she would most likely have a massive headache in the morning, but it was a small price to pay to see if he was a threat.

The only thing giving away her use of this skill was the thin glowing ring of silver surrounding her pupil.

His souls held several shades of blue implying to someone who was loyal and strong of mind. But the colors were dull and several cracks could be seen in the core of his soul and were festering in a malicious black veins. While black could been seen as a color of mystery, which would fit with his secret ID, the way the veins seemed to be invading re-laid to him being hurt greatly. From Blue Marinette could tell though was that the vigilantly infront of her was being sincere to her at the moment. Though it took a second as she got distracted by the sight of his soul.

Still best to play save and do a background check on this ‘protégé of the Batman’ when she got back to her room. “If I were to believe you and you truly are here to help end the reign pf Hawkmoth. How would you be able to help me?” The female asked firmly as she called off the leopard beside her.

“Do not assume me to being rude, but even though you are capable the akuma’s in battle. Far better then your stand in or the mangy cat. I have come to surmise that detective work is not your forte,” Red Robin answered as he took to leaning on the railing. “I was trained in the fields of being a detective, combat and stealth by one of the best that I know of. I believe if we combine both our skills, we will be able to finally to put the plague that Paris is under to rest,” he finished.

He was not wrong she did need help in that department. She could deal with the combat part more easily now than in years past, having learned from experience. Though she had also collected some leads on the possible identity of Hawkbitch, she was unsure on how to follow up on said leads. If he truly was trained by the Bat of Gotham, someone who was considered the number one detective, he would definitely be a useful asset to the mission.

She only had one question left.

“Why now?” The question seemed to startle the vigilante before. The raw emotion in her voice a reflection of her young thirteen-year-old self, sounding so tired and confused. “I sent a message to the league years ago. Why is their only now a response?”

The male’s expression turned soft at her tone of voice and seeming to understand why she would ask this. “I have no excuse to the sheer incompetence of the one who thought your call of distress was nothing more than a prank. The suffering and deaths of the people of Paris is not something to be brushed off as a prank,” he seethed in anger a small flicker of emotion slipping from his control. Telling the blue clad hero of his sincerity.

A beeping sound of the peafowl wielders miraculous rang through the air. Six minutes.

“I get the feeling that our time is limited so I shall get to the point. Will you give us working together a chance?” And that was the question wasn’t it. Could she trust him to help her?

No, she could not, but she needed someone who could dig deep. And if the Bat had trained him his skills in what he mentioned prior would definitely of use to the cause. Still, he was an unknown with strong control of his emotions and even by looking at his soul, she was able to get more information on the male, she did not feel that she had a good read on him. So, this would be a gamble on her part. She needed a second opinion.

Turning her head, she looked at the little turtle god on her shoulder. For while she and Fu had not always had been able to see eye to eye, Wayzz has always been there to come to some sort of compromise. The little kwami always staying level-headed when there was a whirlwind around him and for that she was grateful. So, she knew she could trust him with being her second voice. The kwami and omega duo locked eyes into a silent conversation as Mist kept watch over the anomaly.

The omega’s eyes soon locked back on the vigilante’s masked once, her decision made. Marinette only hoped she would not come to regret this in the future.

“We will meet to compare notes and come to a full partnership arrangement on Wednesday at eleven p.m. at the arc de triomphe. Should there be an akuma attack before that time I want you to focus on evacuating the civilians away from danger. Try not to get spotted by Chat or LB for I belief we both agree they are not to be trusted,” the peafowl wielder informed the male of her decision. She barely made out the smallest amount of tension leaving his shoulders as Red nodded his head in agreement.

“To that we can most certainly agree,” Red Robin voiced. “Then we shall leave further questions to each other for Wednesday.”

The silence that followed his statement gave the vigilante the impression that it was time to leave. However, as he was about to take of the hero Paris called for his attention once more. Turning back to the blue clad female he motioned for her to continue. “Can you make certain no other heroes come to Paris,” her command gained her a curios tilt of the other humans head, question implied but not voiced.

“When I started being a hero, I thought the JL would be able to help, but after some research of the battle tactics they would only bring more problems than actually solve. For most league heroes seem to rely on an emotion power boost,” Red nodded along with her statement gears starting to turn. “And with Hawkmoth feeding on those emotions would make them a liability.”

“Agreed, I for one do not want to fight a mind controlled and upgraded superman,” The cowled male answered giving her some assurance that he would make sure the league would not interfere with Paris.

Being assured things would be stable until they could talk things out in two days, the two bid each other goodnight. 

As Red Robin took off into the night Blue Royal took one more look at his soul, but instead of looking at his core she observed the spectral dragon that was coiling around his soul. It was the mark of a true soul. Which led to the question: Was that Timothy?

The nudge of the leopard beside her snapped Marinette out of her head and back to reality. Swiftly she and her companions took off to her nest. She had a lot to think about, to plan for and to do and the night was not getting any younger.

taglist: @moonlightstar64 @iloontjeboontje @mickylikesstuff@myazael @scribblinggraveyard @incredulous-reader@mewwitch@woe-is-me0 @fan-written @coolspidermanmusicflower@heretopasstimebi @jjmjjktth @ichigorose@cmouse @nyx-in-line@chocolatecatstheron @bookgirl14 @toodaloo-kangaroo@iglowinggemma28 @itsmeevie01

[shoichee]

Red Rose

Part 3 of the Pun Fest collection!

Akashi x Reader

Word Count: 4,355

Synopsis: You made it a challenge for yourself as the esteemed 1st year class clown to get a reaction out of Akashi. Not just any Akashi, however. Boku-Akashi. Things quickly get too out of hand.

Note: I will be trying to avoid describing the “color” of Akashi’s eyes because they are actually a non-diegetic effect, where the animation/visuals are flashy/emphasized for the audience to see, but in the canon universe, they don’t actually look like that and no one will actually see said animations, and such.

»»—————　☼　—————««

“...and after that, his ass fell flat on the floor right in front of everybody! Can you believe that?”

As your voice chimed throughout the halls, your fellow classmates were stifling their laughter but chortles still escaped from their suppressed lips. Hayama smacked your head in utter embarrassment.

“You’ve already told that story to everyone, c-cut it out already!”

“Kotarooooo,” you pouted. “Not my fault that they kept asking for me to retell it again.” You stuck your tongue at him.

“Tch,” he clicked his tongue, figurative irk marks popping up on his temple. “You needa show some more respect to your senpais!” With that, he started grabbing your head to mess with your hair.

“H-Hey! It’s not my fault that you tried to impress a passerby 3rd year girl by doing a failed dribbling trickshot,” you vehemently protested, trying to rip his strong grip off your poor hairline.

Your classmates were either watching with complete entertainment or with concern for your safety as both you and the Uncrowned King were duking it out and sidestepping each other. 

… That is, until they grew increasingly uncomfortable after spotting a particular redhead walking in their direction. 

You and Hayama were too invested in the playfight to notice the unforeseen deathly silence and chilled air that accompanied it.

“Kotarō.”

With a simple call from his airy tone that still somehow glaciated the sunniest of atmospheres, he halted both of you (with his hand still fisted in your hair and you still pulling his cheek) to turn your attention to the person to whom the voice belonged.

Akashi Seijuro.

“C-captain!” Hayama separated from you at an inhumane speed that rivaled his lightning dribbling. You stiffened yourself straight like a plank.

You’ve heard the rumors. From whispering gossipers to personal testimony from your blonde best friend, you knew his presence meant anything but pleasant. 

“Did you forget that we had practice today?”

Holy shit. You glanced in the corner of your eye to see Hayama paled before he gulped. Was he gonna be okay?

You dared not move a muscle from where you stood, hoping not to attract the basketball captain’s attention, but you knew you stuck out like a sore thumb after seeing how all the students huddled closer to the walls while you were stuck in the middle along with Hayama and Akashi.

“I knew that you forgot, so I came by for your sake so we can all start practice together as an absolute team.”

Ah… there was his infamous favorite word.

Akashi flickered his catlike gaze to you. He didn’t miss the way your body was paralyzed by fear, but he slightly narrowed his pupils at the fact that you almost looked curious about him.

“We’re going.” He gracefully pivoted around to walk the opposite direction in where he came from.

“I-I’ll see you later, dummy,” he whispered, giving you a playful wink before he strode up to Akashi’s pace, but you knew from his tense back that he was scared shitless of whatever inevitable punishment drill he was going to be tortured by.

You recovered from your stupor and tried to ease Hayama with a joke. “Don’t act all tough, Kota! I know you’re gonna akashit your pants!—” You snorted trying to finish your one-liner but finding your own joke funny. “P-pf-pfft, don’t slip on the floor again, okay?”

And just like that, with your words, the students around you eased up and let out soft chuckles.

Hayama turned back around even as he continued walking. “Oi! Watch it, kid!” He made the motions of pointing his eyes to you, but you knew that he was grateful for you in trying to unravel his bundle of nerves.

Akashi, still walking, merely glanced back at your figure, unamused at your “joke” but nonetheless almost impressed that you actually had some type of leadership charisma to be able to uplift a crowd’s mood in an instant.

. . .

Everyone released a huge sigh of collective relief once the basketball-player duo was out of sight.

“Are you insane, (l/n)?” Another good friend of yours went up to your side. “You had the balls to literally say such a thing in front of him? Of all people?”

“Well, it’s not like, I’d get sent to the faculty office because of him…” you muttered. On second thought, you probably would. This was Akashi Seijuro you were talking about.

Everyone started clamoring as they all started seeing you in a much higher regard; some of them even looked at you with starry eyes and others swore to be your new admirers. The rest, though, thought you had just sealed your fate by getting under Akashi’s radar.

“You’ll be missed and honored,” a classmate said, giving a solid pat to your right shoulder. “What type of flowers would you like for your funeral?”

“Hmmm,” you hummed, pointing to your chin and staring at the grand ceiling. You turned to them. “Roses as red as Akashi’s hair and the blood of his victims.”

“(l/n), you did not—”

“Oh my god.”

“Is it too late to become religious just to pray for your wellbeing?”

You just summoned chaos in the hallway for the next hour.

---------

The next morning was just another indication of a mild, warm day in Kyoto as you walked past Rakuzan’s school gates. Or at least, you thought the morning would be fine. Even with your thick uniform blazer, you swore that you felt cold chills running down your spine every now and then when you were strolling your normal route to your class.

There’s the cold chills again. 

You stopped and looked around your shoulders and behind your back. No one shady was near; they were all too busy chatting with their friends or changing their shoes in their lockers to care much for your presence. Those who noticed you nearby had already given you a friendly greeting.

You hesitantly walked again, being your usual carefree self but now being hyper aware in tracking the students around you. Your eyes widened.

There.

Had you blinked in that moment, you would have surely missed it, but a flash of red flitted around a corner of a hallway. You sighed and groaned inwardly.

Your classmates were right: you were going to die by the hands of a certain redhead.

This was the price you had to pay for not passing up the perfect opportunity for an iconic line.

---------

“Say,” you said turning to your friend once you entered your classroom. “Has Akashi ever shown a side other than being a calm freak?”

“I don’t know if you ever wanna see anything different than that,” she replied, looking up from her homework.

“Imagine him laughing, though. That’d be news of the century.”

“Dear god, I can’t imagine him laughing other than the kind of scheming cackle you’d get from the TV show villains.” You bursted into a fit of snorts while other students, who were secretly eavesdropping out of curiosity after hearing Akashi’s name, snickered.

Another student wedged himself into your conversation. “No one’s ever seen him show any side of him though. Honestly, he’s like a demon.”

“He’s a 1st year student just like the rest of us,” you chided. “Come on, he’s human too. He wasn’t born to be a calculating machine.”

Everyone in the vicinity gave you incredulous looks (for valid reasons, to be fair).

“Hmph!” You crossed your arms. “I’ll prove it to you guys! He’s not as stone-cold as you think!”

“(y-y/n)-san…” Your friend from earlier tugged onto your sleeve. “You’re really fun to hang around with and all, but…”

“Yeah, um… We know you’re competitive and don’t like to back down, but I think you shouldn’t tread into this type of… dangerous territory.”

“Did you already forget what happened with Hayama-senpai yesterday?”

Pretty soon, a large chorus of agreements and mumbles spread throughout your class. Irked, you pouted as you continued to cross your arms.

“I’m gonna make him laugh, and I’ll do it.”

“Uh..”

“Um…”

No one had the heart to disagree with you when you looked like you sparked a fiery aura around yourself as you raised your fists, ready to take it as a challenge for yourself. 

Your classmate sighed. Welp, there’s a reason why you got along with Hayama so well in the first place.

You were both so overly enthusiastic and reckless.

---------

You’ve been thrumming your fingers on your desk throughout your classes, staring blankly as you start stringing up ideas on how to accomplish your “challenge.”

Succeeding in making Akashi laugh is like Hayama agreeing to let the dentist extract his snaggletooth. You’re basically asking for the impossible.

Maybe you should’ve settled for a more realistic goal, but then again, this entire ordeal was an entire miracle on its own.

Ah ha. You stopped your finger taps, hitting a fist to your palm in realization. Maybe you just need to get a reaction out of him, and the rest will eventually fall into place.

At the same time, your friend looked at you in worry; you were making odd hand gestures and mumbling to yourself as you went too deep within your thoughts to regard your surroundings.

Oh dear.

---------

Once lunch began, you immediately left class after incoherent chants of “seeyah” and “gotta go” to go look for Hayama’s corpse and pay your respects for the poor 2nd year after yesterday.

You bought sweet bread from the student store for his offering before you went to look for him.

At the sight of the completely lethargic Hayama, you ran up to him in mock grief.

“Ah, spirit-sama!” you cried out, bowing with your hands clasped together (the bread secured in between). “Please at least tell me that Kota died peacefully—” He interrupted you with a chop to the head.

“Ow! Please don’t curse me, spirit! I didn’t treat him that poorly when he was alive…” You winced, rubbing your head in an attempt to soothe the impact. 

“I’m not dead, idiot!” he retorted, but his banter lacked bite, and both of you knew why.

You sighed before you flashed him a genuine worried expression. “Are you okay, though?” You promptly handed him the bread, and he immediately did a 180, hooting and having starry eyes at the package.

“Of course I am,” he said, munching on the bread. “Not! He made me do so many extra drills and exercises that I seriously thought I was gonna die!”

“Okay, before you totally freak out, but please don’t freak out,” you started. You told him about your plan about Akashi.

“You’re gonna WHAT—”

“SHHHhhhHHH—” You clamped over his mouth despite him still chewing. “What did I just say?”

“Reo-nee! Ei-chan!” he called out while you still attempted to close his yapper. “Save meeeee!”

The said Uncrowned Kings nearby eyed you two before looking at each other and shrugged; they strolled up to you.

“Oh? (y/n)-chan?” Reo tucked his strands behind his ear. “Has he been causing a ruckus?”

“I have not—”

“Actually, since you’re here anyways, I wanna ask you all something,” you said. “What do you know about Akashi personally?”

“Huh?” was all you heard from the Uncrowned Kings.

“Well…” Reo hummed. “I might know a thing or two about Sei-chan…”

“I’ll just go get lunch,” Nebuya called out.

---------

Day 1 of the Challenge.

Thanks to Reo, you knew most of Akashi’s schedules so you can find the perfect opportunities to “safely” encounter him.

You waited behind a corner of the hall that you knew Akashi would walk through to get to the student council room during lunch. Peeking out, you looked for scarlet hair, ignoring the judgmental (and curious) glances thrown your way here and there. 

The moment you saw that everyone instantly collectively vanished, you knew Akashi was extremely nearby. You took a huge breath, expanding your chest to the point of exaggeration, and turned around the corner to finally meet the infamous emperor. 

You casually strolled, putting up an impeccable act that you were naturally there rather than staking out the same spot for 20 minutes. 

There he is. 

You purposely got closer, hoping the closeness between you two would catch his attention. He walked without a change in expression, however, impassively eyeing you before turning his gaze back to the front. That’s when you saw your opportunity.

You almost bumped into him, but you jumped away at the last second while putting your hands up in surrender.

“W-whoa! Wahh, sorry, Akashi-san!” you quickly apologized in a bow. “Luckily, I had my emperor’s eye to foresee the future and prevented any mishap on my part.” You peeked up from your position to see him standing with his back to you, head turned to the side. 

A few beats of silence passed before he said, “Your head is too high.”

“Huh?” You were thrown off. That was the last thing you expected him to say. “Wouldn’t my head not be high because I’m bowing?”

He was still assessing you from the corner of his eye, and you willed yourself to return his stare.

“Stay out of my way.”

“Then you should take your own advice,” you huffed, getting up from your bow. “Yesterday morning, I knew you were watching me at some point before you disappeared.” 

But he just turned his head back to the front and continued his intended course for the student council room.

Day 1 Results: he scared the daylights out of you instead of you trying to unnerve him.

---------

Day 2 of the Challenge.

What the hell did he mean by “your head is too high?” You still couldn’t decipher his cryptic line. Maybe he just said it to everyone, but that would be really corny of him; he wasn’t that type of person.

Did he think you were too much of a peasant to even talk to him?

You gritted your teeth. You weren’t gonna give up any time soon.

When everyone was dismissed after school, Hayama let you accompany him to Rakuzan’s spacious gym, under the belief that you were going to go home right after.

As soon as you were both in front of the bulky front doors, you marched right in, catching the blonde off guard so much at the fact that you waltzed in there (full knowing Akashi was in there). He couldn’t yank you out in time even with his lightning reflexes, and you skipped around, being careful to stay near the gym walls to not disrupt anyone. You plopped yourself on one of the further benches where you knew none of the players would ever sit, and as soon as you knew Akashi was in earshot (who was ignoring your existence), you smirked.

“Hey Kota!”

“Huh?” He looked up from rummaging through his duffel bag.

“I’ve heard shogi is being played a lot more by people our age for once, but don’t you think it’s such a dread to play such a dull hobby?”

“Yeah, righ—oh.” He swallowed back his answer in seeing Akashi behind you a few meters away, being as still as a statue.

You gleefully looked behind you, hoping for any entertaining response.

Without moving, he slinked his pupils to you before grabbing a water bottle and leaving.

“C-c-can you just drop this entire thing already?” Hayama runs to your side to give your shoulders a firm shake. “I swear to god, you’re not gonna live at this point!”

“You’re right,” you said. “Just for today, I’ll have to retreat before I’ll die.”

“Not just today!” He shook you harder. “I mean stop this for good!”

“Kota, I already signed a death certificate the moment I bumped into him yesterday. Might as well go all out.”

“Oh god, you started this yesterday?”

“Well, I gotta go! See you tomorrow!”

“... More like see you never.”

Day 2 Results: his reaction was inconclusive, but it was more of a failure than success.

---------

Day 3 of the Challenge.

You were pondering about how to annoy Akashi next, both excited and terrified about where this was going to end up.

“(l/n).”

“Y-yes?” You stood straight up from your seat the moment your homeroom teacher called you.

“During lunch, please make your way to the student council room. You’re needed.”

What in the world was going on? 

You fidgeted in your seat for the next few hours, shooting anxious glances at the clock every so often. All your classmates’ words of encouragement went through one ear and out the other.

“You’ll be fine!”

“I’m sure a teacher just wants you to help out with some workload…”

“We’re rooting for you!”

As the lunch bell rang, you braced yourself before you promptly made your way to the room that reeked of that particular chilled atmosphere that repelled most students away.

You prodded the door open, slipped in, and softly clicked the door shut before turning around to face the poker-faced terror sitting on his desk, watching your every move.

“Right on time.”

“You called me here?”

Akashi paid no heed to your outburst and continued. “I’ll admit. I’m quite interested in you. You have the innate sense of magnetism that draws others in.”

D-did he just compliment you?

“I would like to put your leadership to the test. You’re now vice.”

“What? You can’t just make a decision like that!”

“I ordered him to quit. There shouldn’t be a problem.”

What the hell?

What the hell, what the hell, what the hell—

Akashi looked at you like he was peering into the depths of your conscience and simply gave a civil smile.

“I hope you will contribute greatly to this school.”

Day 3 Result: a miserable failure.

---------

Day 4 of the Challenge.

You’re stressed, and it’s all Akashi’s fault.

Which made you even more determined to ruffle his feathers and rile him up.

When news broke out of your new “promotion” as vice president, your classmates celebrated for you and your already high popularity skyrocketed. Your teachers didn’t want to hear you talking about quitting when you “haven’t tried anything yet to know if this job was for you.”

The Rakuzan’s basketball starters (minus Mayazumi) were initially ecstatic for you as well… until you told them about Akashi’s string-pullings. 

“I’ll make sure Sei-chan won’t do anything, okay (y/n)-chan?”

“Thanks a bunch, Reo-kun… or should I say… Reokunma (Rilakkuma bear)?” You snapped your fingers at him. He just stared at you and patted your head, totally disregarding the fact that you made a pun.

“Just pack in the muscles and you’ll have nothing to worry about!” Nebuya flexed his biceps before getting a scolding from Reo.

“Shortie! Call me whenever you need help!” Hayama dropped his elbow on top of your shoulder to emphasize his point.

“Argh, Kotarō! You’re not that much taller than me at all!” You rolled your eyes. “If anyone, why don’t you say that to Akashi?”

“Say what.”

Oh fuck.

“S-Sei-chan!...” Reo walked over to Akashi. “If you’re here for us, I thought practice didn’t start until much later!”

“I am here for (y/n).” 

His irises contracted, highlighting his feline pupils. “I am depending on you as vice president to make this school an absolute powerhouse.” 

He still somehow made that sound extremely condescending, like a king encouraging a mere peasant. 

You were scared out of your wits, but you weren’t going to crumble so easily. Not until Akashi did first.

“Buh-bye, everyone! Good luck in practice later!”

. . . 

The walk back to the office was painfully silent. You decided to break it.

“I’m not taking back what I said, prez, you’re a shortie.”

He paused in his steps. “You run your mouth while knowing no bounds.”

“You’re just a spoilsport, y’know.”

“My orders are absolute.”

“You know, you’re scary as shit, but the whole ‘absolute’ line kinda grows old when I hear it every time I talk to you.”

Palpable silence blanketed between the two of you once again at your words.

This guy can’t even crack no matter what you do.

You stepped into the office and followed him to his desk. He walked to grab a pen from a drawer before he approached you.

He stepped forward, thrusted the sleek, black fountain pen to your face, and jerked back the writing instrument at the last millisecond. 

You froze, forgetting to breathe as you felt the pen nib harshly prodding the tip of your nose.

“Do not make me repeat myself. My orders are absolute.”

He then gave you some paperwork and assignments to complete like nothing ever transpired. 

Day 4 Results: you thought being relentless in your attacks would prove beneficial, but you’re starting to regret everything.

---------

Day 5 of the Challenge.

Maybe you needed to avoid direct confrontation, but that doesn’t mean you couldn’t get a reaction from him in other ways.

One small perk of being vice was the fact that you no longer needed to tail around Akashi in order to bump into him “coincidentally,” but you’re not sure if this sole advantage could outweigh the disadvantages, particularly one that might result in your early death.

You’re frankly not as scared as you should be, even though you definitely were at those times you were with Akashi. If anything, it pissed you off that he’s always able to get you to jump out of your skin.

He’s just a 1st year. He’s just a 1st year.

You went to the student council room early to tape on a note to his desk, so there wouldn’t be a chance that it would “fall off his desk” and that “he didn’t see it.”

Roses are red,

I suppose you’re “absolute.”

You’ll still be knocked dead,

And there’ll be no dispute.

You snickered. It was too funny to pass up.

Before you left, you took the time to survey around and get a solid look at the office interiors for the first time (since Akashi’s presence made it impossible for anyone to not pay attention to him).

It was ridiculously tidy, all the wooden furniture polished to the point where their mahogany varnishes shined. Books were meticulously ordered by alphabetical order and genres, and they looked like they were all dusted at every free chance. The rugs showcased simple circles, but the minimalism of them added to the office’s air of crisp cleanliness. The gray curtains gently framed the wide window behind Akashi’s desk. But what really caught your eye was a board of shogi and its pieces tucked away in a corner on a high shelf.

Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to try knocking on Death’s door again.

. . . 

Akashi’s shoe clicked on the floor as he opened the door. His steps continued to echo throughout the small room as he walked to his desk to start his work, that is, until he saw your note.

“Oh?” A grin snaked its way onto his face by the time he read the last line.

He severely underestimated you. You unexpectedly had tenacity.

No one has ever defied him repeatedly so openly before.

His expression put the notorious Cheshire cat to shame, his ulterior smile occupying half his face as his eyes widened in excitement equivalent to a predator.

Feeling pumped for the first time in a while, he decided to expend his energy on shogi. He carefully brought down the board and placed it onto his desk, going through the familiar motions of unpacking and setting up a game, before he froze.

There were various pencil doodles on each shogi piece. All of them were variants of :/ and :). 

You were taking a jab at his personality as well as his mannerisms.

He barked an amused harsh laugh. 

. . . 

Day 5 Results: truth be told, you were too scared to see him face to face right after your double stunts; since you knew his schedules, you only came into the student council office when you knew he wasn’t inside.

---------

Day 6 of the Challenge.

Continuing to avoid him would already confirm to Akashi that you were actually shaken up by the high possibility of him retaliating, and you definitely weren’t about to give him the satisfaction. 

You went to class as always, and by break, you feigned innocence as you strolled into the council room, seeing Akashi leaning against the table.

“Good morning, Akashi.”

He nodded in acknowledgment before he gave a full, predatory smile, his pupils focused on you. 

“To continue to fuel diligent work, it’s beneficial to recognize one’s efforts by giving gifts.”

What? Was he not going to bring up what you did yesterday?

He pulled out a single red rose and gracefully tilted it for you to take. You warily plucked it out of his hand.

In a different context, it would’ve been sweet or even romantic, but you knew Akashi ticked a different tune.

“I do hope that you will continue to stay and become even more efficient with your work.”

You gazed at the rose at your hand, confused, as Akashi started walking back out, heading for the door.

You gasped.

“... Did you overhear our conversations the other day in the hallway?”

He chuckled. 

“I know the future, because I am absolute.”

“Bastard.” You clicked your tongue, turning to Akashi. “You knew the entire time?” 

“Shogi is easily applied to every aspect of life. Move the correct pieces and you will always win.”

You turned back around to avoid letting Akashi see you in an embarrassed state. He played you like an absolute fiddle. 

You scowled, and you were about to cross your arms in defiance until the sunlight from the window cascaded on something where your “note” used to be.

“Akashi, what’s that on your desk?” You tentatively walked up to the table to see a stainless glass vase with a single dark burgundy dahlia resting daintily against the inner rim.

His hand was on the doorknob before he turned back to face you.

“Dahliang,” his tone of voice light, almost mockingly saccharine. “Do be careful from now on.”

He left.

Day 6 Results: he completely destroyed you at your own game and sealed the final nail to your coffin with a pun.

---------

End Note: Black dahlias (which are actually dark burgundy in color) symbolize signs of warning, betrayal, and other negative emotions.

[riversofmars]

Big, Vast, Complicated and Ridiculous - Chapter 3

Happy Sunday all! Here is the next brief encounter of the Big, Vast, Complicated and Ridiculous Series! Enjoy <3

Rating: G

Word count: 1700

Read on AO3 or below

The Maldovarium

The TARDIS ground to a halt with a jolt and the Doctor knocked the back of her head against the console.

“Thanks for that.“ She groaned, rubbing the bump, as she got to her feet. “I just need some time with her…“ She explained looking up to the central crystal. “You can’t just… show her to me and then she’s just gone again… I would have been fine if we’d just gone back to Sheffield…“

The TARDIS gave an apologetic wheeze.

“No, you’re right, I’m just… that just made me miss her even more.“ The Doctor closed her eyes for a moment, thinking of her wife. “If I could just… talk to her, properly and… I just need a damn hug…“ The Doctor admitted. She craved River’s closeness, her touch, her reassurance… She wanted to feel the way she always did around her. She’d had a taste of it just now, that feeling she got in the pit of her stomach when River looked at her with pride. As if she wanted to say: Look, that’s my husband right there. The way she’d only look at the Doctor, her Doctor… it made her feel like herself again. She needed more of it. “So where have you taken me now?“ The Doctor asked taking a deep breath, composing herself as she made her way to the door.

As she stepped outside, it took a moment for her to get her bearings. The Malovarium, Dorium’s trading post and bar. One of the most notorious places for black market dealings and illegal activities. Just the place River Song might be stopping off.

The Doctor closed the door behind herself, the TARDIS well hidden in a corner, and slowly started strolling through the crowd. All sorts pf species were among the many colourful guests, it was very busy and rather difficult to navigate. The Doctor did her best not to bump into anyone, knowing full well most of the people here would probably try to cut her head off for it. That was when she spotted a familiar head of hair up ahead.

“River…“ The Doctor smiled to herself, relieved that it had worked, the TARDIS had found her again. She quickened her step, trying to catch up to her. She couldn’t be sure where in her timeline River was just yet but her reaction to seeing her would probably give her a clue. The Doctor ducked past two rather shady looking Oods and spotted where River was headed. Dorium Maldovar was just giving a wave to one of his associates to allow River through to the VIP area that was cordoned off.

“Where do you think you’re going?“ A broad and unpleasant looking creature stepped into the Doctor’s way as she was about to duck under the barrier chain.

“Ah, sorry, I just need to go and see a friend, she’s just over there.“ The Doctor pointed to River who was heading towards Dorium.

“Only one at a time and only with permission.“ The creature barked and the Doctor held up her hands defensively. She took a few steps away, walking along the cordon, getting as close as she could to listen in.

“Miss Song, what a pleasant surprise.“ Dorium greeted River and gestured for her to take a seat. He waved for a waiter.  

“Dorium, always a pleasure.“ River retorted with a smile, crossing her legs as she sat.

“How can I be of service?“ The bar owner asked as River ordered a drink.

“In fact, I was wondering if I could be of service.“ River replied casually, folding her hands in her lap. “I’m in need of work… easy money, if you know what I mean.“

“Ah, you know, I have just the thing for someone of your skill set.“ He pulled several data pads from a pocket in his extravagant gown and sorted through them while their drinks arrived. “What’s your pleasure? Dead or alive? Criminal or missing family member…“

“Whichever pays the most.“ She smirked as she took a sip of her drink and Dorium pushed a data pad over to her. She picked it up, skimmed over the contents and placed it in her handbag with a smile. “That’ll do just fine. About the other thing?“

“Ah, well, that sort of information is a little harder to come by.“ Dorium replied taking a sip of his drink as well.

“So you haven’t heard anything?“ River frowned, clearly disappointed.

“I’m afraid not…“ He shook his head in response.

“Where could he be?“ For a moment, River’s carefully curated facade slipped. She was frustrated, disappointed, sad even as she shook her head to herself.

“You don’t just go to find the Doctor, he finds you. If he wants to, that is.“ Dorium mused and River sighed, regaining her composure:

“He better hurry up then, at this rate, I’ll have a doctorate by the time I see him again. Doctor River Song, quite the ring to is, doesn’t it.“

The Doctor hung back, observing the conversation between her two friends who, if they looked at her, probably wouldn’t have recognised her. This was a young River Song. River in the early days when the Doctor wasn’t around to measure and tame her. Ambiguous morals, quick of wit, so full of life and excitement and wonder. She was looking for her… him… however you wanted to look at it. This was before Madame Kovarian had found her again on the day she’d got her Doctorate and taken her to Lake Silencio. Would it be safe for her to reveal herself to her now? So early in her timeline?

The Doctor nearly panicked when she looked up again and realised that River had gone. Dorium had gone back to reading something on a data pad and the chair River had sat on had been abandoned.

“Can I help you with something?“ The Doctor jumped when River’s voice sounded behind her. She whirled around and stumbled back, surprised by how close she was standing to her, she nearly fell over the barrier chain behind her. River reached out and grabbed her by the collar of her coat, pulling her back and steadying her with a smirk on her face.

“I uhh…“ The Doctor was at a loss for words. Now that she found herself face to face with her very young wife, she had no idea how to act. River had given her no indication as to when they would meet properly, for the first time, safely, not to mess with the timeline.

“Do you think I wouldn’t notice you watching me?“ River smirked, tilting her head a little.

“Uhh…“ The Doctor blushed, she really had been very obvious.

“We’ve met before, haven’t we?“ River carried on, confusing the Doctor even more.

“You uhh… know who I am?“ The Doctor looked back at her in surprise. Maybe it was save to reveal herself after all, particularly if they had met before, how far back was she going to go in her wife’s timeline?

“I wouldn’t go that far but I remember a face as pretty as that…“ River retorted flirtly, running a finger along the Doctor’s jawline.

“Ah well, that’s alright then.“ The Doctor tried her best to compose herself and not show how much her simple touch effected her. She summoned up her courage and went on: “Cause actually we do know each other - will know each other - very well, in fact.“ A grin spread across her features as River raised her eyebrows intrigued.

“Oh I’m looking forward to that… how about you buy me a drink and tell me all about it.“ River smirked and ran her fingers along her future wife’s yellow braces.

“Yeah, sure, okay, I…“ The Doctor found herself nodding frantically wondering how to best introduce herself. “I’m actually…“

There was a loud crash and blaster fire.

“There’s no weapons permitted in here.“ Dorium called from behind his table, getting to his feet to have a closer look. River turned as well and the Doctor stood on her tiptoes to catch a glimpse of what was going on. Four Sontarans had just teleported right into the middle of the bar, discharging their weapons to get everyone’s attention.

“Silence blue man.“ One of the Sontarans snapped. “This bar will be annexed to the Sontaran Empire unless you surrender the one that calls herself River Song, we traced her here.“

“I’m sorry, dear, I’ve got to run, that is my cue.“ River ducked under the cordon.

“It’s okay, I have a ship, I can…“ The Doctor grabbed her arm to stop her.

“As tempting as that offer is, I wouldn’t want to put your lovely little head in harms way. It’s far too pretty to have bullet holes through it.“ River winked and bopped her nose. “Maybe we will meet again some day, and then you can show all the rooms in your ship. Starting with the bedroom.“

Before the Doctor could do anything else, River had pulled away and disappeared through the back ways of the bar.

The Doctor quickly slammed the door of the TARDIS shut behind herself, only barely evading a laser blast as the Sontarans wreaked havoc in the Madovarium. She sighed, both in relief and disappointment.

“It’s fine, it’s not your fault is it…“ The Doctor mumbled as she made her way to the console. “Maybe it’s just… maybe these fleeting moments is all we have left? I don’t know… River seemed to think I had so much to look forward to…“

The TARDIS hummed encouraging.

“I just need a point in time where we won’t be interrupted! Where she knows who I am, where…“ The Doctor shook her head to herself. Maybe she was kidding herself, maybe there was no point to this. Maybe she should go back to pick up Yaz and wait for River to find her instead.

This time, the TARDIS jumped into action on its own accord.

[emblem-333]

Rebooking WrestleMania 35

What stays the same:

Kofi beats Bryan

Whatever else I didn’t care enough about to mention.

Brock Lesnar retains vs Seth Rollins

Why: Is Brock a good champion? No. He works very few dates and his best in-ring days are long gone. But give me him over Rollins as a Babyface. Rollins is a fine wrestler, one of the best in the WWE. However, his microphone skills are nonexistent and his feuds subsequent winning the strap from Lesnar have either been uninspiring or downright pathetic.

Still, there was a groundswell of support from fans eager to see the Universal Championship around the waist of a full timer once more. The secondary WWE title has had many misadventures. It’s inaugural champion Finn Balor suffered a legitimate shoulder injury and relinquished the belt the day after winning it at SummerSlam. WWE held a fatal-4-way match on Raw a week later between Kevin Owens, Roman Reigns, Big Cass, and Seth Rollins - the winner being Owens. He went on to hold the belt for nearly 200 days, but his reign came to a screeching halt when Goldberg returned and steamrolled him.

Since Owens ate a Goldberg spear, the belt spent nearly two-years around the waists PF part-timers. Frankly, I’ve forgotten it’s existed at points. To be honest, I was glad to see Rollins win initially for these reasons alone. Then came the night after ‘Mania, Rollins is in the middle of the ring out comes Triple H, his former rival who tried to derail his career... and they hug. THEY HUG. Instantly I get this feeling Rollins is a corporate backed champion packaged as a Babyface. While every WWE champion is a corporate champion at the very least give me the veneer Rollins isn’t a suck up behind the scenes by making him one during the show.

But the WWE is infatuated with themselves. They were so satisfied to have pulled off the angle and believed to have gotten Rollins over as a Babyface they couldn’t help but rub it in for all of us to see.

Lesnar, in hindsight, needed to remain champion. Rollins simply wasn’t the guy. But Vince McMahon isn’t going to put over someone like Samoa Joe- and let’s be honest, neither is Triple H or Stephenie. Whoever beats Lesnar has to be a creation of the WWE laboratory. If not Rollins, then there’s nobody on the Raw roster worth giving a look at.

If I was booking the WWE, I’d have Kurt Angle’s last match be against Lesnar and call it a night.

Sasha Banks and Bayley retain vs The IIconics, Nia Jax & Tamina, Beth Phoenix and Natalya

Why: The Women’s Tag Titles are the offspring of Bayley and Sasha’s constant lobbying. It is odd the women’s division does not have a tag championship in the first place. For all this talk of a “Women’s Revolution” and the idiotic elevation of “The Four Horsewomen” as if on par with “The Four Horseman,” the whole thing proves to be a farce despite the wrestlers being insanely talented and effective.

Heading into the eight women tag match the “Boss ‘n Hug Connection,” the inaugural champs had held the belts for 49 days. While their defense wasn’t something to write home about the whole point of their run was supposed to add legitimacy and mystic to the strap. Yeah, the IIconics are solid heels, but after winning the titles their reign didn’t last long either ending in 120 days before dropping them to Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross, who later lost it to the current champions Asuka and Kairi Sane after their heel turn. (Why are the tag titles primarily held by heels?)

Just let Bayley and Sasha keep the belts. Since ‘Mania, Bayley’s won Money in the Bank, cashing in on Charlotte Flair and is still the champion today. Holding the belt for 197 of the last 202 days. The interim period occurred when Flair beat Bayley at Hell in a Cell. On the following Smackdown, Bayley returned for her rematch with a new look and a new attitude. The lovable hugger with a back bone became a chicken shit heel over night. Instantly undercutting months of booking. While she did get a main event slot at pay-per-view at Survivor Series, she was treated as an afterthought by many inside and out of the company. The morning after Shayna Baszler made Bayley submit, the WWE twitter account reminded fans that Baszler didn’t beat “The Man” a.k.a the champion they actually care about. (https://twitter.com/wwe/status/1198805122681147392?s=21)

It’s a damn shame how Bayley’s been booked. A complete waste of her character and even from the standpoint of solely caring about making money, WWE circumvented an avenue of revenue by turning her heel. Bayley’s whole character is designed to appeal to young kids, girls in particular. Changing her to someone who makes them cry is a fun thing to do on paper, but in actual practice is awful.

Batista def. Triple H

Why: Triple H is 46. He sucks as a Babyface and is a fraud. He should retire. He does the same goddamn thing every year where he wears a suit, acts as an authority figure and then takes the suit off because things have gotten serious. This happens every year. It’s beyond annoying.

Bobby Lashley retains vs “The Demon” Finn Balor

Why: Poor Finn. Never able to find his footing on the main roster. Such a big star at NXT putting on clinics against Samoa Joe and Kevin Owens. Ironically, neither of them have been properly booked since their NXT days came to a close. WWE has a habit of restraining their talent. Balor fell prey to this and his run as Intercontinental Champion wasn’t relevant and later would lose it to fellow roamer of purgatory Shinsuke Nakamura.

I don’t see a reality where Balor as I.C champion works out. He was a lukewarm, forgetful player on the main roster. It’s good he’s back at NXT. They let their talent express themselves a little more than WWE. Best thing for him.

The Main Event:

The main event between Ronda, Becky and Flair was.. okay. Nothing special. I was happy for Becky. Initially booked to turn heel after SummerSlam in 2018, her promo the night after Flair stole her title made her a star overnight and plans changed to have her turn Babyface and keep Flair heel. Despite numerous attempts by WWE to make Lynch a heel fans simply weren’t allowing it just so Flair could win another title. That didn’t stop them from giving Flair titles, but at least it won’t be at Becky’s expense anymore.

Why did this culmination of months long storytelling feel so underwhelming in its conclusion? Simply put, it wasn’t a good story. Every participant was an absolute fool and the WWE doesn't remember how to book Babyfaces anymore. Becky failed at the Royal Rumble losing to Asuka clean. Then hijacks the No. 30 spot in the rumble when there were more deserving candidates available. What makes matters worse is Asuka would have the rug pulled out from under her a week before WrestleMania losing the belt to Flair. So why bother having her retain against Lynch and making things more complicated?

Following the rumble, Flair and Lynch battled for the right to go to WrestleMania. Despite being cleared to compete weeks before the PPV she still entered the ring on crutches and got the crap beaten out of her before Rousey inexplicably crashed the party, got Flair DQ'd and doubled the chances of her losing her title making the match a triple-threat.

The main event of WrestleMania didn’t need to be a triple-threat. It didn’t need Charlotte. And most certainly didn’t need to have both belts on the line. You had an actual fighter in Ronda Rousey and someone from the wrestling world who took an actual punch to the face, broke her nose and suffered a concussion so both participants had credibility entering.

In my eyes, the WWE could’ve done the following, dominate the headlines for their inclusivity, make everyone who needed to look good look good, and not marginalize Asuka in the process:

Becky Lynch def. Asuka for Smackdown Women’s Title at the Royal Rumble, Flair wins the rumble:

Asuka submits to the “Dis-Arm-Her” and Lynch is once again on top of the world after being unceremoniously knocked off by Nia Jax. Flair wins the rumble, and demands both belts are on the line to prove she’s the “Queen.” Both parties oblige and volià! There’s your WrestleMania main event done without unnecessary detours.

Or

Asuka retains vs Becky Lynch, faces Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville in a triple-threat for the title; Banks wins vs Rousey, Ronda is the one to enter No. 30 into the rumble and turning heel in the process.

Pushing Flair to the side here. She’s had enough moments in the spotlight and she’ll have tons more. Being omitted from me, WrestleMania isn’t the end or the world. This year belonged to Becky and Ronda. Let them have the spotlight.

I kind of think a Ronda heel turn would have worked if they paired her up with Paul Heyman. Would’ve made sense since she isn’t much of a talker and is from the ultimate fighting background as Lesnar. But that’s far too simple! And we can’t forget about The Queen. Heavens, no!

Sasha Banks wins vs Rousey; Flair wins the rumble. Lynch vs Rousey has no belt on the line. Banks vs Flair for ‘Mania:

Oooh, this is probably my worst take, but c’mon the Becky Two Belts story didn’t really lead to anything besides Bayley’s revival when a simple win over whoever was champion at the time would’ve done the trick.

Sasha Banks and Ronda had a very nice battle for the Raw Women’s Title. Perhaps the best match of Ronda’s one year stint in the WWE. If anyone doubts Banks’ in-ring capabilities, tell them to look at how she guides the green Rousey through the match. Booking Banks to win the title is a risky proposition. Ronda built a mystic of being unbeatable. A real fighter. Not a fake entertainer pumping ‘roids. Beating her essentially undos all of that. I guess Banks’ could have turned heel here and used a chair when the referee is unconscious and smashed it over Ronda’s head knocking her out of commission for a couple of weeks.

Anyways, Banks defends the title versus Flair. Asuka defends vs Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose; Becky Lynch and Ronda Rousey have an old fashioned grudge match settled at ‘Mania. How’s that for inclusivity? Why aren’t I working for the WWE? Is it because my ideas suck and have no basis in reality? Probably.

[lokisgame]

Rainbow’s End [2]

[part 1]

What a strange man, Dana said to herself and looked inside a box full of dinnerware, knowing that she should wash everything before putting it away into drawers and cabinets but having no time to do that. She picked two plates, and set aside everything else. They probably will eat out of cartons but she wanted to at least have the chance to offer. Fox, what a strange name, didn’t look like someone who stood on ceremony. She cleaned up the table, straightened the chairs, and leaving a carton on one of them, started to take out and rinse mugs, lining them up on a rag to dry. Coffee and tea was all she had around the house for now.

Mulder went downstairs with a silly grin on his face. Talk about small world, fate and fortune coincidences. Her warm smile was just as he remembered, real, he didn’t imagine it. A little angry at himself for not locking the door, he found the menus under the coffee table, took his wallet and stoped holding the doorknob. Calm down, relax. Where’s the fire? You know nothing about her, she might have someone, a guy, a girl perhaps. Don’t get ahead of yourself. Going through this silent rant, he double-backed to the fridge, white wine or beer? Beer, less alcohol, and anyway she can always opt out. He was locking his door when Alex passed him in the hallway, noticing the six-pack under his arm. “Wow, you’re cheap Mulder.” “Maybe for you Krycek,” he turned and went in the opposite direction than the other man, dislike quickening his step. “You know who moved in upstairs?” He called after him, but Mulder didn’t have time to answer. He knocked on the door and let himself in, “I’m back.”

Dana huffed out a small laugh without bothering to turn around, this guy knew nothing about boundaries. But as in other men it annoyed her, he made it feel casual and safe. She heard the clank of bottles and looked over her shoulder. “Don’t you have enough glass for one day?” “Something to wash down the food, totally optional, I’m not counting this into your tab,” he set the bottles on the table and spread out the pamphlets, “pick a place.” “I just moved here, how should I know which one is best?” “It’s like an adventure, come on, they’re all great so there’s no wrong choice to be honest.” “Okay, how about this,” she picked the most subdued design. “Not bad, best egg rolls of them all, mean sweet and sour chicken, but it’s your choice.” “Okay, let’s have that, I’m really not picky, and you seem to know your way around.” “You sure?” “Yup, go wild.” “Such a vote of confidence, I’m touched.” “Oh, just order already.” He picked up the phone, ordered and laughed with the person on the other side of the line, it sounded as if he was a regular customer. In the mean time she went to the box with kitchen utensils and found a bottle opener. “One hour tops,” Mulder said hanging up and took the bottle she offered, lifting it in a small salut, “to new friends.” “And safety glass,” she added and sipped from her bottle then went back to washing and drying the mugs. “So, Fox,” she started and he barked out a laugh. “Please, just Mulder, nobody calls me Fox, not even my parents.” “Alright, Mulder, what do you do for a living?” “I write horoscopes,” he went to his usual joke. A small lie combined with the fact that his novels were published under a pseudonym, bought him at least a few of days to get to know people without signing copies of his books for friends and relatives and answering questions about extraterrestrials. Life of a sci-fi novelist was hard. However the side effect of such innocent lie was her gaping mouth and bewildered smile. “What?” He chuckled, “someone has to do it.” She looked cute, frozen mid-wipe of a blue china cup. “How do you do that?” Dana forced herself to remain calm, “you had some kind of training?” “I took a four year course in Oxford,” he pushed on, wondering how far he could go with pulling her leg, before she burst out laughing, “came back to the states and now I run a little column for Cosmo, I can read your palm if you want.” And that was that, she couldn’t hold it in anymore, she bent over, arms crossed over her stomach and laughed, and laughed, and he laughed with her, marveling at the wonderful sound. “No, seriously, what do you do,” she gasped, siting at the table, wiping her eyes. “I’m a psychologist, not practicing, but I work for the FBI sometimes, mostly consulting jobs.” “And that leaves you with time to read people’s futures?” She teased, resting her chin in the palm of her hand. “Enough to balance dabbling in criminals’ past.” She laid both her hands on the table, palms up. “Okay, what do you see in my future” Mulder chuckled, but took her hand in his awkwardly, his right still throbbing under the bandages. “I see a tall dark stranger, completely harmless, no need to worry,” a wink earned him a smile, “a charming young man who could be a true friend if you’ll let him, well versed in neighbourhood politics, a wellspring of knowledge about best parking spots, local take-out joints and deli stores.” “How many girls did you try to pick up with that line?” Her gaze was honest and she made it clear his BS made no impression, except maybe being slightly amusing. “Not as many as you’d think,” he let go pf her palms and dialled back on the teasing. “It’s not very effective,” she went back to washing the mugs, “so about those neighbourhood politics, are there some unwritten rules I should know about?” “Not really,” he could feel that he crossed some line, but didn’t let it scare him away. Dana Scully didn’t suffer fools and he made note to remember that. “The guy above you, Alex Krycek doesn’t like noise, I don’t mind either way, the couple downstairs, the Petrie’s are away on an extended holiday, haven’t seen them in three months, and I don’t expect them to be back anytime soon.” “Where did they go?” “I didn’t ask, they kept to themselves, and I respected that.” “So you do not make a habit out of barging in on your new neighbours on their fist day?” That stung a bit, he was beginning to regret his forwardness. “No, I do not, and if you like, I can leave,” he pushed the bottle aside and started to get up, “you did enough for me as it is, and I see you have a lot to do.” “No,” suddenly alarmed, Dana turned to face him, “I didn’t mean it like that, please, stay. I’m just not used to being,” she stoped, he wasn’t sure why, but a cloud of shame passed over her face, “called someone’s friend after 20 minutes since meeting them. People usually take me for the Ice Queen.” “You didn’t meet me 20 minutes ago,” he sat back down, trying to bring her back from the shell she was crawling back into, “we met this morning.” “We did?” “Yeah, you passed me when you were leaving the diner at the end of the street, great waffles and coffee, probably the best in D.C.” “I did?” She raked her memory, but pulled blank. “You probably were too busy to remember, with the movers arriving soon.” “How did you know that?” Her eyes grew wide, and she became worried a little, despite his assurances. “Calm down, simple observation, I saw the truck, I remembered your clothes and hair, eidetic memory, just a simple matter of putting two and two together.” “You do work for the FBI.” “Part time, but you pick up a habit or two, I swear I mean you no harm.” “Even if you did, I took a self-defense class, so I know how to take care of myself.” “I don’t doubt that,” he tried to smile his most sincere and non-threatening smile, and she began to relax, still he was curious. “Why do people call you Ice Queen? I see no reason for that.” “You seem like the exception to all rules,” she sighed and dried the last mug. “I guess I’m skeptical of all new acquaintances, you can call it trust issues if you want.” “I’d rather call it reason,” he got up and rounded the table. “You’re going? What about the food?” She sounded anxious but didn’t step back. “No, I’m not going anywhere,” he pushed up the sleeves as much as he could with his bad hand, “put me to work, how can I help?” “But your hand.” “I’ll manage, and if I break anything I’ll pay for it,” he was completely serious and she saw it. “Come on Scully, I’m at your disposal.” “Okay,” she let slide the use of her last name, with what he said about his own name, it seemed kind of fair, “maybe we’ll leave the dishes for now, I don’t want you to get those bandages wet, we could unpack the books, you think you can handle that?” “I’ll hand them to you, and you’ll arrange them inside the bookcase, because I’m sure you have a system.” “Yup,” she smiled and led the way to the stack of boxes in the living room, “I sure have.”

The process went quite smoothly as they waited for the food to arrive. Thanks to her sensible packing, the books were basically ordered the way she wanted them, the only problem was picking bookshelves. He didn’t skip a chance to laugh at some of the titles. “’Inflammatory Bowel Diseases: A Personal View’ now that must be a real page turner,” he laughed handing her another pile of books. “You have no idea, Steven King has nothing on this one.” “Nope, wait, we have a winner, this one I got to read,” he picked a medium-sized volume and started to page through it. “Give it back, Mulder,” she reached for the books but he turned away. “Hold on a second, this is great.” “What have you got there,” she tried to take the book from him but he escaped her again, “a layman shouldn’t read this stuff, you’ll read something and you’ll think you’re sick or dying.” “I’m not a layman, I’m a psychologist,” the book was hidden behind his back and smile, “not a hypochondriac.” “All men are,” she laughed and her arms went around him, searching for the book. Mulder froze and she realized what she was doing. She was holding on to him, her arms around his waist and he was looking down at her with a wicked grin. “Like I said, you’re no Ice Queen,” he took half a step back, still in her space but no longer in her arms, and showed her the title. “DIY Brain Surgery,” he said and gave her the book back, “you have to lend me this one sometime.”

The doorbell saved them. Scully from thinking too much about the hard muscle of his chest, and Mulder from trying to remember when was the last time a woman putting her arms around him made him laugh with excitement. He went to the door and paid the Lin boy, as always, tipping him handsomely. “You want to eat here?” She asked walking to the kitchen, ready to set the table. “Sure,” unpacking the food, he grimaced as she set the plates and napkins and silverware, “I thought we said no dishes.” “I want to try everything, so we’re sharing, I’ll do the dishes.” He didn’t argue, and she did try everything, eating with gusto, as befit someone who did a honest day’s work. The sight made Mulder almost as pleased as if he cooked for her himself, although he never did things like that. “I like this chicken thing, not too spicy to burn you through,” she said around a mouthful of moo goo gai pan. “Easy on the deep fried shrimp then, the sauce is pure fire,” he warned. “Really?” Taking a piece and dipping it cautiously, she nibbled at the end then gasped, “oh-ghod-wha-ish-thish” She covered her mouth breathing deeply, hoping the beer could put out the fire, gesturing with her chopsticks for him to take the shrimp. “Put it down,” he said and she did, the shrimp and the beer, looking down, flushed at being caught taking too much liberties. “You don’t pass food like that,” he said with a smile, picking the shrimp of her plate and dipping it in sauce, “it’s a funeral custom in Japan.” He bit of half without flinching, then licked his lips, and the sight made her feel warmth that had nothing to do with the hot sauce. She wanted to argue that they were having chinese not sushi, but he licked his lips again and she lost her train of thought for a moment. “Try the dumplings,” she heard him say a moment later and time picked up its’ usual pace.

The food was great as promised, and they had a second beer with it, each. “This was probably the best Chinese I ever had.” Scully sighed, leaning back in her chair with a contented smile that suddenly turned into a frown. She looked over his shoulder to the living room, “do you have some strength left in you to help me clean up the couch?” “Sure,” he said looking back to the overstuffed monster he saw before, now stacked with bags, most likely clothes, “you want to unpack or just move it?” “Move it, I’ll do that later or tomorrow.” “‘key.” So they moved the bags and sank into couch cushions, shoulder to shoulder. “I think I’m in danger of falling into a food induced coma,” Scully giggled and pulled her feet up, folding them underneath herself. Elvis record he found and she let him put on, made another circle and the King crooned softly about things that couldn’t be helped. Mulder reached over and pulled down the blanket she left on the back of the couch over her, gently drawing her into his side. “Sleep,” he said quietly, shifting to make them both more comfortable, “I know a good doctor.” Scully half laughed half sighed, but sleep was stronger than either of them. Mulder closed his eyes, and drifted off, rocked by her steady breath and the King’s lullaby.

One floor below, phone woke the answering machine who beeped, startled, and then reciting her line, took a message from the woman on the other side. “Fox, I can’t meet you tomorrow, maybe some other time.”

[anearthstruckalien]

▌𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋 𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄 : Giegue

▌𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐋𝐄 𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐍 : single

▌𝐀𝐁𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐎𝐑 𝐏𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐒 :  he’s an insanely (no pun intended) powerful PSI-user (in terms of raw power and skill level alike) and while his core strengths lie in causing external destructions of various kinds and mind warping techniques, he is nonetheless also quite capable of altering his own statistics, levitating and telekinetically manipulating things, healing, putting up barriers, etc.  Outside of psychic abilities, Giegue is also exceedingly good at engineering whatever he needs and figuring out foreign technologies and is great at scheming and strategizing his way towards accomplishing a desired goal courtesy of his high level of creativity, attention to detail, and general sense of cautiousness --he basically knows how to make things happen (and if he doesn’t he will find out) and has every bit of determination required to do so.

▌𝐄𝐘𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐑 :  dark blue irises (human disguise) | dark blue irises, pupils, and sclerae (true form)

▌𝐇𝐀𝐈𝐑 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐑 :  light blonde (human disguise) | colorless and hollowed-out (true form)

▌𝐅𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐌𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐒 : Psions aren’t biologically related to any life-form.  They are all distinct from one another because they are independently (and artificially) produced via a machine at the core of the Psion home-planet.  The closest one comes to biological ‘family’ is either through being a duplicate of another or of the same ‘type’ of Psion.  As such, while Giegue doesn’t really have a biological family to speak of, he does have non-biological relations of a familial nature to the following - Maria (adoptive human mother), George (adoptive human father), anyone related to Maria... albeit this is more of a ‘formality’ on his own part and seeing them more like an extension of Maria rather than it being genuine affection for them.

▌𝐏𝐄𝐓𝐒 : not applicable.  Giegue doesn’t have any pets nor does he want any because he doesn’t think that he’s suitable for taking care of other living creatures (except for maybe plants) and feels that he has enough matters to deal with without throwing a pet into the mix.

▌𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐃𝐎𝐍'𝐓 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄 : there are a LOT of things that Giegue doesn’t like, both of which were revealed at some point in this blog’s history and on the main information page, but to deviate a little from that (i.e offer something more mundane) and cite something that hasn’t yet been revealed? I would say that Giegue doesn’t like the taste of any kind of meats.  As such, one won’t really find him consuming it at all among the narrow range of non-Psion food that he does end up consuming from time to time.

▌𝐇𝐎𝐁𝐁𝐈𝐄𝐒 / 𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐄𝐒 :  reading (which itself falls into a broader category of acquiring knowledge), engineering various things, playing video games, taking apart foreign machines to see how they work, solving puzzles, etc.

▌𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐇𝐔𝐑𝐓 𝐀𝐍𝐘𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐁𝐄𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄 : with Mother 2′s events alone, Giegue has done A LOT of harm to others ranging from individual life-forms to the fabric of the universe itself.  So when you take instances outside Mother 2′s events into consideration as well?  it all adds up to a substantial amont of times and ways he has harmed others, both directly and indirectly alike.

▌𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐊𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐍𝐘𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐁𝐄𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄 : naturally, this follows from the previous point with a gigantic YES though to a notably lesser degree since killing someone is a subset of everything that falls under harm for one thing.  And for another, excluding all that time where he went completely off the rails (wiping out half the universe in the erased timeline and trying to destroy everyone and everything during Mother 2), Giegue would ordinarily try to avoid having to kill anyone where it was possible... albeit if only because it seems fundamentally ‘pointless’ to waste his own energy on something like that unless it serves a valuable purpose aaaaaand because (and this applies more to his time working for the Psions) doing so would otherwise be a senseless waste of perfectly good ‘resources’.

▌𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐌𝐀𝐋 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐑𝐄𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐌 : cats

▌𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐇𝐀𝐁𝐈𝐓𝐒 : it’s no secret that this alien creature is something of a liar or at least sometimes insincere in his interactions with others (aka wheneer it suits his purposes)... but an arguably worse variant of this is just how much he actually lies to himself --which is quite a bit if that fake pride of his and the way he just ‘has to’ look down on something (the Psions) to feel better about himself is any indication; he’s way too hard on himself in that not only does he have these exceedingly high standards (which isn’t too bad on its own) but he can be really unforgiving towards his own mistakes and missteps in a way that he isn’t with others despite  being relatively harsh about it, the key difference being that he’s willing to forgive others more easily than he is when it comes to matters regarding himself; and he is rather paranoid and mistrustful of others (even when he can rationally acknowledge that there’s little reason to be given his own observations of the situation).

▌𝐑𝐎𝐋𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐃𝐄𝐋𝐒 : while I wouldn’t precisely refer to her as a ‘role model’ in this case, Giegue is undoubtedly inspired by Maria (what she did for him and what she taught him) and thus strives to use her as a guiding point in his life now.

▌𝐒𝐄𝐗𝐔𝐀𝐋 𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 : Psions don’t really have words for things like sexual orientation or romantic orientation or any of that stuff given that they’re missing many key social concepts that are present in human society, SO this creature wouldn’t describe himself like this, but he (like every other Psion) can be regarded as asexual.

▌𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒 𝐎𝐍 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐆𝐄 / 𝐊𝐈𝐃𝐒 : first and foremost, it doesn’t apply to himself and he knows that thereby making it ‘irrelevant’.  But beyond that? he primarily sees children as the by-products (with differing and shared characteristics within and across differing species alike) of a species’ efforts to maintain their existence... whereas marriage to him is a ceremony that he strongly associates with humans (despite knowing that it’s present across other non-Psion species as well) albeit something of a confusing one.  He just doesn’t understand what purpose marriage serves since (from his perspective) all it’s doing is repeating what the people involved already know without really changing anything significant.

▌𝐒𝐓𝐘𝐋𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐒 : anything that comfortable, plain (not too flashy, bright, or ‘needlessly’ complicated in design), and doesn’t obstruct his movements in a significant way.  As such, in Giegue’s case, this often tends to be varying sweaters in neutral colors.

▌𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 : Maria, but anyone that’s been paying attention to this blog probably already long-since knows this given how obvious it has consistently been on here.

▌𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐀𝐂𝐇 𝐓𝐎 𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐏𝐒 : Giegue doesn’t really... have any friends, but if he were to (somehow) have friends then he would make an effort to do the whole friendship thing ‘correctly’.  And by that, I mean that he would make certain to be well-informed about the baseline expectations of a friendship, how to optimally maintain it (i.e what constitutes a good friend), and attempt to implement it in a sound and efficient way.  Though because this is Giegue and because of how he was raised, there would inevitably be some awkwardness sprinkled in.

▌𝐅𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐃𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐊 : black coffee

▌𝐅𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐀𝐓 : he doesn’t actually mind Earth much.  Apart from spending time in the Mt. Itoi base (though even that is a bit mixed as far as his feelings on it go) he actually likes the isolated points of wilderness on Earth, especially places that are abundant in grasses and flowers like meadows... provided that there’s sufficient cover from the brightness of the sun given his own aversion to bright light.  In off-planet scenarios however, naturally his favourite place to spend time at ends up being his own ship.

▌𝐒𝐖𝐈𝐌 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐂𝐄𝐀𝐍 : Giegue... doesn’t know how to swim pf.  In fact, he’s never even attempted to do it before and doesn’t like getting wet anyways.

▌𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐈𝐑 𝐓𝐘𝐏𝐄 : not applicable... assuming that this refers to physical appearance that is because he doesn’t really frame things as ‘pretty’ or ‘ugly’ on a purely aesthetic basis --there has to be more to it than that since appeareances are a rather superficial means of judging others as far as he’s concerned.  The most he ever judges someone’s physical appearance is based on metrics such as ‘usefulness’ and ‘efficiency’.

▌𝐂𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐑 𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐎𝐎𝐑𝐒 : indoors.

Tagged by: No one, I just felt like talking about this alien creature (again).

Tagging: Go right ahead and do this.  It’s fun enough to fill out in any case.

[wilshirehq]

And you thought the Wallace kids were bad - just wait until you meet their parents. The air in the dining room pf the Wallace manor is tense to say the least. With the Wallace parents suddenly amongst the living again, it only makes since that the family would come together for an all too extravagant meal. How will the evening pan out? Will everyone survive? Will tears be shed and hearts be broken? Stay tuned to find out what happens in the next episode of Wilshire's Gone to Hell.

below is a chatzy log for a dinner involving the wallace family, including their resurrected parents! please be sure you read the trigger warning list before continuing, as there are some heavy topics discussed. if you are afraid you can’t get through it, message the main and we’ll give you the main details!! 

as always, please like this post once you’ve read it!!

TRIGGER WARNINGS: violence, abortion mention, death ( including the death of a child ), mention of blood and gore, car accident, child abuse mention, neglect mention.

Parents

As she watched their children and their...partners, Elizabeth barely kept her disgust hidden behind the carefully crafted mask of politeness, poised as ever with on hand delicately placed over her husband's. She'd already made mention her disappointment in her children - namely their partners and the abominations they called children - several times over, and couldn't help but find a certain satisfaction in their reactions. Elias, on the other hand, did nothing to hide his disdain for the filth that had filled into their presence. It was bad enough that one of their own had allowed herself to become one of those abominations - the thought that she'd had the audacity to breed, or that their sons had thought to further sully their bloodline with mixed shadowhunters, or that Leonard had taken a warlock as his partner - disgusting. Still, he'd yet to pay much mind to any of the women - instead focusing his attention on Leonard himself.

[ This is simply to set the scene. The dinner has been going on for about half an hour now, with no clear end in sight. Both Wallace parents have been berating their children, albeit in different ways. Elizabeth - the mother - is focusing her spite on Elena, Nora, Lilian, Thea, and the children. Elias - the father - is more focused on Leonard, and anyone that attempts to stand up for him in any way. ]

Jeremiah

Jeremiah casts yet another concerned glance to his fiance, gaze flicking between her and his parents. He'd known a dinner with the Wallace elders would end in disaster, all he could do now was damage control. He wasn't doing it successfully. " Mother. Father. " he starts through gritted teeth, trying to drag the attention off of the others. " Nora and I have an announcement to make . " Is this the best time? Likely not, but with any luck, it may just improve the mood. " My beautiful fiance is pregnant ... with triplets . "

Leonard

Leo could already see that the dinner wasn't going as planned (he knew trusting their parents' promises of having it going smoothly was a mistake but at least they could act like nothing was wrong, he had hoped) but there was no turning back now. Casting a glance at Lily who was seemingly tense as well, his attention was caught by his eldest brother who started to speak, the hope that he'd be able to put an end to the tension building in the shadowhunter. The announcement was a surprise, but unlike everything else about the dinner, was a pleasant one. A smile (surprisingly a genuine one) spread across his face, Leo looked at his brother, leaning back in his seat. "What delightful news," he said cheerfully, a grin taking the smile's place as his gaze drifted towards Jeremiah. "I see someone wasted no time. Congratulations to the both of you."

( Status of Nora: Tense, avoiding the gaze of the parents and casting a smile at the other pleasant faces around the table. Status of Elena: Quiet, holding Quill's hand through the whole time and hoping not to be seen. )

Thea

Thea had been on edge since she'd heard her parents were alive at all, and the idea of having to face them was not something she'd been looking forward to - especially not with her kids around. Yet here she was, casting glances between her siblings and her kids and really anywhere that didn't have her looking at her parents. Every dig her mother had made thus far had pushed her just a little further, and she could already feel the ache in her bones as the tiger lurking inside practically begged to be let out. Her brother's sudden announcement, however, was enough to send a momentary wave of calm through her as a grin spread across her lips. "I'll second that - congrats on joining the multiples club!"

( Lily - very clearly unhappy, has a spell up around the kids so they don't hear the awful things their grandparents are saying about them. Really wants to stab Elizabeth with a fork. Poppy & Quinton - honestly pretty okay thanks to Lily's spell and the tasty food, plus there's a baby and there's Lukas. Pretty good atm 💗 )

Amalie

Amalie had been keeping quiet, knowing that the family dinners always were awkward and painful each year. The years passing by didn't make it any easier. It was like pulling teeth. She normally did keep her quiet, one because she wanted to stay out of the mess that was the arguments that always ensued, and two because she wasn't exactly the best socially in the family. But when she heard the news from her eldest brother, she smiled and rose her head from her mobile. "Congrats you two. I'm so excited for you both" she beams.

Parents

Elizabeth remained silent for several moments after her eldest's revelation, expression shifting from shock to disgust to something akin to anger. When she finally does speak, her voice is cold and low, eyes flicking between his son and his so-called fiancée. "Unfortunate. And how far along are you, exactly?" It takes nearly all her will not to say anything further, though she couldn't help but grin as her husband seemed even more irate at the idea than she.

Elias slammed his wine glass down hard enough that the stem cracked, though it didn't quite break fully, jaw clenched as he turned his attention from their demon-blooded son to their eldest, fixing him with an icy glare. "Excuse me? You mean to tell us that you and your little half-fish mutt intend to further drag our name through the mud?Is there even a single one of you that deserves to carry the Wallace name? No, no I don't think there is. You're just a bunch of idiots, useless freaks who can't even uphold your duty."

Jeremiah

Jeremiah tenses, eyes narrowed and jaw set as he glares at his parents. " Her name is Nora and she's worth more than either of you could ever be . It's not unfortunate mother , it's a blessing . " It's a struggle not to raise his voice, one that he ultimately ends up losing as he rounds on his father. It's odd. For so many years he'd been terrified of uttering a single word against his parents. " How dare you , " he spits. " Tell me , who upheld the Wallace name for the past eighteen years whilst you were rotting in graves that frankly , you should've stayed in ? Do you think any of us care ? This isn't about you ! This isn't about either of you and fuck what you think. These useless freaks ? Quill just married his best friend . Thea has raised the most beautiful children on her own . Amalie is one of the smartest shadowhunters in the institute. And Leo ? Leo might just become the next Head of our Institute . They did it all , with no thanks to either of you . Go and crawl back to your graves , we were fine without you before , we'll be perfect without you now . "

Leonard

Not many things in this world can manage to make the demon-blooded shadowhunter flinch, but as soon as he heard the glass slam and crack on the table he did, eyes darting towards the man, the so called father of the family. His words making his blood start to boil in his veins, Leo could feel the anger in him rise; his eldest brother, Jeremiah, was probably one of the best thing that had ever happened to this mess of a family. That bastard had no right to insult him like that. "Cut the crap will you? Your existence itself is enough to ruin the family name. Those children will meet a fate brighter than the one you provided for all of us combined. Don't act like we both don't know Jeremiah had always been a better father than you, even when he had no children on the way." Leo said, in between hissing and glaring daggers at Elias. He had nothing to say to their venomous snake of a mother, and even if he did, he'd stop right away as Nora began to speak.

"These are my children," Nora began, voice shaky as her gaze was locked on the table for a moment before she raised it to look at the other 'mother', eyes slightly glassy and breath hitched. "...and his." She continued, gaze flickering to Jerry before she swallowed, hand coming to rest on her quite small but apparent to the eye baby bump protectively, the motherly instincts in her kicking in. "You have no right to talk about them like that, grandparents or not. Please don't let things get unpleasant." She said, trying to keep her voice steady but she was quite hurt by their words and especially under Elizabeth's glare, something else just kicked in; fear. And that made her wrap her arm around her belly tighter, sinking in her chair.

(Elena: Starting to get scared, clutching Quill's hand tight and caressing his arm, hoping to keep him calm.)

Thea

The growl that slipped past Thea's lips was unintentional, a response to the cracking glass and raised voices. Bright blue eyes are suddenly a golden yellow - fight or flight mode is kicking in and the werecat's not the sort to flee, not when her family is involved. Her touch is gentle as she reaches out to rest a hand on the arm of the woman beside her in an attempt to offer reassurance, gaze locked on her parents. She had nothing to say, not this time - her brothers seemed to be handling it beautifully, but it was clear from her posture, the way she'd shifted closer to Nora, that she was ready for the fight that she felt was inevitable. Jeremiah or Leo, Elizabeth or Elias - she wasn't sure who'd swing first, but she could see the look in her mothers eyes - a look she knew all too well - that said she wasn't done prodding.

( Lily is shifting her spell, trying to work in a protection charm and move it to include Lukas and Nora and Elena. She's barely keeping herself from saying anything. Poppy and Quinton, while not really able to hear what's going on, can feel and smell their mother's unease - they're eyes are the same golden color that Thea's are and they are trying to sink under the table. )

Amalie

The fight kicking off, Amalie felt her own anger building as she heard the frankly disgusting words towards everyone, especially Nora. She was sick of all of this, sick of the fighting, sick of being treated like a lesser. She stood up abruptly and glared at their parents, hands clenched to fists by her side. "How can you be so disgustingly rude and thoughtless. I'm sick and tired of you acting like we're all dirt on your shoes. You're both nothing but a pair of snobby, stuck-up bastards who have done nothing to help us ever. You think we're just going to take it after all these years? No! I'm not standing here and letting you do this again. Fuck you!!"

She walked over to Nora, putting her arm around her sister in law to be {nora} and urging her to come with her before glancing over to Elena, Lukas, and the Kids, "come on, let's get out of here"

Parents

"And who was it, pray tell, that brought us back? Better yet - who put us in those graves? Certainly not you, dearest Jeremiah. No, as a matter of fact the answer to both questions is one and the same - would anyone care to take a guess?" Elizabeth's voice was filled with something between venom and the lilt of a song, a laugh spilling out as she once again turned her attention to Nora. "You know, it's not too late to terminate the pregnancy - save yourself the trouble this family brings. After all, who's to say your offspring wouldn't turn out just like their uncle. And you, dear sweet Amalie," she muses, a wild glint in her eyes as she calls out to her youngest, turning to study her for a moment before continuing. "Tell me, what were we meant to do for you from the grave? The grave your brother put us in, all those years ago? Should we've followed you around, two ghosts like lost puppies who could do little more than bark? No, I must say we had no desire to watch you each grew into such disappointments. Besides, you had you're fantastic older brother there to look after you, didn't you? Sad that your half brother didn't have that luxury."

Elias knew better than to speak over his wife - for all she was on his side he knew her anger could snap to him just as quickly as any other - and as such he waited for her to reach a pause before speaking again, standing as he studied each of his children. "'Upheld the Wallace name'? We paved a path to greatness for you and yet each and every one of you squandered it away as if we'd done nothing. Alexander, to my understanding, wasn't even here until just this last year - yet here he is, likely one of the brightest of you but married to that half-breed girl. Leonard wasted whatever little potential he had left after becoming a murderous bastard by shacking up with some half-demon bitch and what, raising an infant just like her and a grown man? And tell me where were you, Jeremiah, when your sister ran out and got herself turned? Tell me what sort of father figure would let that happen - had she been raised by her actual father she would've had the skill needed to avoid such a fate. And can you tell me, did any of you even know Alexandra bore these children before this year? because the vast majority of people I've spoken with said it had come as a surprise when two six year olds suddenly turned up following her around. And Amilie, full of so much potential that has undoubtably been wasted after being raised by your foolish brothers, such a pity and I'm honestly sorry." He paused then, lifting his glass to his lips before continuing. "And don't even get me started on you, Jeremiah. Foolish Jeremiah, always trailing after your brother and cleaning up his messes. Tell me, did you cover for our murder too?"

Jeremiah

Jeremiah flinches, fists clenched and wisps of smoke slowly rising from his skin as he stands. He needs to calm down, his angel blood and it's ability he'd kept from his siblings, and now wasn't the time to reveal it. " Hey - don't talk to them like that . " He snaps, stepping around the table, closer to their father. " You want to go on about how we're the disappointments in the family ? Well I guess we got it from our parents . " At the mention of their murder he stills, casting an anxious glance at the others before shaking his head. " Would you like to know something Father ? I did . I covered it . And if he didn't kill you , I would've ; And I would've burned every shred of your precious legacy to the ground . You want to talk about your deaths ? fine . Let's talk about how you got there . Let's talk about everything you did to your oh so precious sons that made them hate you enough to want your heads on spikes . "

Leonard

As soon as the 'father' mentioned the murder, Leo felt as if his blood turned ice, a breath hitching and being stuck in his throat. No wonder if Lily felt it as well, it was evident in her eyes as he turned to look at her that she felt it all and had it not been for the somewhat mustered up stability in her eyes, he would've already been attacking one of them, if not both. He had never been one for stability. Slowly, his gaze turned towards Elias again, fire burning in those eyes as Jeremiah stood up, the smoke rising from him concerning and confusing him for a moment. But before he could focus further, his eldest brother's words wiping the small strike of worry from his face, bringing out the courage to speak again. "Let's call it a humble gift from me to my siblings and well, rest of the shadow world." He said, giving a pause as he heard Quill trying to begin with something to say, out of confusion. "Not now, brother -- yes, I did it all. That was for a reason, just like you are here today for one." Leo's lips formed into a sly smirk as he stood up from his chair, unlike Jeremiah, quite calmly. "See, father, the people we've collected around us; Jeremiah's fiance, Quill's wife, Thea's brilliant children," he began to say, unlikely words to be heard from the shadowhunter. He had never showed sympathy for that girl his youngest brother married and ever since Thea was turned, their relationship was clearly strained but right now he was looking at each one of them with such genuine flame in his eyes, which finally landed on Lily. "and my lovely partner." He finished off, taking a breath before the flame was replaced with one of hate, gaze returned to the father as he opened his hands to the sides. "We've found our seperate ways all the while remaining as one, strained or not. While you two were rotting under seven feet. May I ask -- how was hell? I reckon it must be quite hot at this time of the year?" He taunted, grin spreading before he turned towards the rest of the table, pointing a finger around. "And yes, yes - yes I did. I killed them. With my bare hands. At 16. Ah, these mighty bastards, I ripped them apart as a young boy. You all should be thanking me. Had it not been for me you all would end up corrupted in one way or another, like they did to me." At the end of his sentence, the unstability in him was clear than ever, eyes flashing golden for a second before his fist landed on the table. "I murdered them. I did. It was the best fucking thing I did for this family."

(Nora stood up the moment Jerry did, standing right next to him as she refuses to stay if he's leaving, though since he remained so did she; hurt by the parents words and fearing the safety of her babies Elena is on the brink of tears, holding onto Quill's arm tighter as she casts glances at her parabatai; the tension scaring her quite a lot.)

Thea

Something in Thea snapped as her mother suggested Nora get an abortion, yet she still managed to bide her time as her brothers spoke. Somehow she wasn't shocked to learn it was Leo who had killed them, or even that they'd had some secret half sibling. She is surprised when Leo speaks up for them all - she loves her brother, really, but she's never known him to be the sort to be soft on his family. She's out of her seat as her older brothers finish, her voice low and dangerous as she finally speaks after remaining quiet for most of the evening. "Say one more word - a single vile thing about them - and you'll find out just how easy it is to meet my fate, dad." She grimaces as claws break through her fingertips, though the look simply shifts into a snarl as she sees her mother moving. Her control is waning, and she knows her kids have picked up on her displeasure - knows there's now two tiger cubs curled together under the table trying to hide - which only has her more on edge. "You keep going on and on about our failures, but what of your own? Because as I recall it was you who started my on my path to who I am now. The neglect. All the training. The way you'd go after Leo, and then Jeremiah when he'd stand up for him. You abused us - do you really think anything you say now could turn us against each other, after everything you've done that pushed us together?" Her carefully crafted American accent is gone, leaving her resembling her family even more than ever. "This? All of this? If anyone's to blame its you. You created us, and you have no right to belittle us for your shortcomings as parents. Jeremiah and Nora will make wonderful parents, and their babies will be beautiful. Elena makes Quill happy and is an absolutely amazing woman. My kids? I was too afraid I'd be like you to raise them myself, but in the few months I've had them they've brightened my life so, so much that I can't imagine another day without them. Lily, Lukas, and Rain have changed Leo so much that he's almost bearable to be around," there's a slight teasing tone as she casts a quick glance at her brother, but it's gone again as soon as her attention is back on their mother. "And for the last goddamn time - My. Name. Is. Amalthea."

( Lily is livid, plus Leo's anger is flowing through her, but she's doing her best to bottle it up and keep herself even. Still she's shifting her spell, she's got a nice safe little bubble that she's subtly urging Elena, Quill, Lukas, and the kids into, and she's trying to urge Amilie and Nora as well but she can only do so much.

Poppy and Quinton are curled up on the floor under the table, just outside the bubble - meaning they can hear everything now. Q is wrapped around Poppy in a protective manner and softly growling in the direction of his grandparents. )

Amalie

It had all reached a boiling point, insults being thrown around, tempers flaring quite literally, Amalie had had enough of it all. She shook her head and stepped back, fingers raking through her long brown locks as she stepped back, stressed and angry. "No. I have had enough. I'm leaving. If anyone wants to join me, then i won't blame you" she cast a fierce glare at her waste of space parents and stormed outside, slamming the door behind her.

She practically sped down the street, her mind a tumultuous mess. She was completely in her own head, buzzing with anger... That was until she was crossing the road, unaware of her surroundings until she heard a loud lorry horn accompanied by said lorry hurtling toward her. Before she could even react, it hit... everything went black

Parents

Elias moved first, though watching them from the outside he and Elizabeth moved perfectly in sync - as if they'd planned and choreographed everything beforehand. As he darted for Leo, brandishing a knife seemingly out of nowhere, Elizabeth made her move against Nora - a matching blade in her hand.

She managed to slice the woman across the slight swell of her belly, though not as deeply as she would've liked, Thea leaping into action and knocking the resurrected shadowhunter away and putting herself between them. Elizabeth, enraged at the fact that she'd failed to take down her target, turned her blade first towards Thea and then towards the tiny orange blur that had launched itself at her from under the table. Between the cub and Thea, Elizabeth was kept preoccupied for several moments - up until she tossed the cub down and focused her attention on her daughter.

At the same time Elias' fist met Leo's jaw, the latter managing to land several hits before the elder had lifted him by his shirt and thrown him backwards into a mirror, landing a swift hit to Lily's gut when she tried to get between them, leaving her both breathless and bleeding from the blade still in his hand, before continuing his pursuit of his son - determined to erase the mistake he and his wife had created all those years ago.

Jeremiah

He's frozen as it happens, close enough to watch the blade slice through his fiance's stomach, but too far to stop his mother's attack. Jeremiah moves to Nora instantly, pulling the half mer into his chest as he presses his hands to her bump, a lump in his throat as he checks her over. His panic recedes slightly as he examines it , " it's just a flesh wound . Just a flesh wound , you're okay , we're okay . " The assurance is more to himself than anyone else and it isn't until he catches the glint of a blade from the corner of his eye that he forces himself away from her. The panic gives way to fury and Jeremiah feels himself igniting, lunging towards his father and grabbing the arm wielding the blade with his own, covered in flame. He feels the flesh as it sizzles and burns beneath his grip, and twists behind his father, blade falling from his grip as the patriarch screams.

Leonard

Nora was too late to see the woman approaching her fast with a knife in her hand but luckily, Thea wasn’t. In fact, the werecat was just in time to push Elizabeth out of the way, leaving her only with a cut down her chest and belly, which would be healed completely without a scar if it was treated within a few hours by an iratze. But in shock, panic and instant fear the half mer let out a scream, her knees giving in just when Jeremiah arrived at her side to hold her and check her slight baby bump. It was a blur as Nora began to cry, too shocked to even move, but she heard him telling that they were okay which was enough to keep her from passing out — yet. As soon as her fiance left her side she sunk onto the floor against the wall, hands clutching her belly as she cried uncontrollably.

On the other side of the room, things weren’t any brighter. Just having been thrown into a large mirror, Leo took a moment to recover, dark demon ichor dripping from every single cut on his body, clothes ripped everywhere. But the moment he saw (and felt) Lily getting hurt, he was trying to get on his feet to help her, only to be pinned down again by their father. Growling, he tried to fight him off, the blade too close to his face for a moment before suddenly the struggle relieved a bit and that was when he realized his brother had came to his rescue. Jeremiah, his confidant, his savior — as always was there for him, keeping him safe from the merciless hands of their father. Though now he was actually able to overpower their father, the flame is confusing but nevertheless an advantage, one he’d question later. Now was time to move. With a burst of power Leo lunched forward, toppling down the elder shadowhunter. With no weapon, Leo’s best bet was his own hands. He had ripped them apart bare handed at 16. He could do it again. And with the little bit of magic that he had tapped into with the help of his demon bloof and Lily, his fingertips buzzed and dug into the man’s chest until he was clutching his heart and he eventually pulled it oyt, forcefully ripping it out as he fell backwards. Panting, he looked at his older brother, the still heart still in his blood covered hand, not realizing that in the other side of the room the struggle hadn’t stopped yet.

Thea

Thea let out something akin to a roar as the cub hit the ground with a thud and a whimper, her shoulder driving into the woman's ribs and propelling her into the wall, claws digging into her in spite of the blade she'd lodged into Thea's side. The werecat was angry, wounded, and above all her children were in danger - any thoughts of controlling herself were long gone as she tore into the woman who bore her. She's barely aware when Quill moves up to join her, her twin joining in her fight and disarming the woman. By the time Thea dropped her the light was gone from her eyes and the were was a mess, panting as she tried to catch her breath - which caught in her throat the moment she heard it. Poppy was whimpering, the girl still in tiger form as she nudged her brother and tried to wake him, crying for her mother. In an instant Thea was there at her childrens' side pulling the limp cub into her arms just as he whimpered and shuddered and shifted back, eyes glossy and empty. The sound that tore itself from her lips wasn't human, the woman clinging to her son's broken form as she sobbed and begged him to wake up - begged for someone to help her, to bring him back. She couldn't do this, she couldn't lose him when she'd just gotten them back...and yet he was gone. Poppy had shifted back and nestled herself against her mother, sobbing in a much quieter way as she clenched her eyes shut.

Lily, who had finally caught her breath and been on her way to Leo when she'd heard the woman's anguish, had tears in her eyes as she wrapped her arms around herself. She managed to tear her gaze away and make her way to her partner's side, one delicate hand reaching for his as she let her wards down. The danger was gone, but the pain....the pain would never go away.

[shervonfakhimi]

The Coronavirus 2020 NBA Draft Prospect Binge Report

Remember when people looked forward to 2020 with actual optimism? That was fun while it lasted. Instead of joy and relief, this year has brought us tragedy after tragedy and now utter chaos. That is not typically how one would start an article about NBA Draft prospects, but I have managed to accomplish absolutely nothing but watch replays of college basketball games of NBA Draft prospects amidst this COVID-19 pandemic. There are much more serious things going on right now, but maybe you could use a distraction. So here goes nothing! Here are some takeaways from prospects I’ve watched during the season and now after the season got shut down.

Lottery:

Anthony Edwards SG Georgia: I don’t know if blame needs to be put on Edwards, the construction of his Georgia team or Tom Crean, but Edwards tended to float through games and settle for tough shots he shouldn’t need to rely upon given his athleticism and superhero frame for a college freshman. And then, all of a sudden, you’ll see him flip the switch and embark on ballistic streaks like this where he explodes and decides not to miss. He’s an elite shotmaker, whether it is contested or on the move or both. It felt like he had too much of a green light to shoot these and Edwards relied on these shots a bit too much, and that put a damper on his efficiency. He did get to the free-throw line 5.3 times per game, but with his ability to drive, that probably could improve as well. A nearly identical assist/turnover ratio needs improvement as well. However, while I did not see a frequent number of passes manipulating scrambling defenses, I did see Edwards make the correct pass at times when swarmed by help defense, both in transition and in the halfcourt. When engaged, Edwards can be a staunch defender as well, but that wasn’t always the case. Again, it didn’t help playing on a young team that was often, at best, a disorganized mess (seriously, that’s me being nice). But, ideally, you’d like to see a player of Edwards’ caliber carry his team to more wins than what Georgia accumulated this season. But the talent is overwhelming and *clearly* there. He should be the number one pick (at least among the crop of college basketball prospects), but both he and the team that drafts him has work to do to get the most out of that talent.

Isaac Okoro SF Auburn: Isaac Okoro just might be the best defensive player in the draft, certainly on the wing. I watched Mason Jones give Auburn fits en route to a 40 point performance, but when Bruce Pearl (finally) placed Okoro to take him out, he obliged as if he was Jason Bourne on the loose, shutting Jones down and allowing Auburn to escape Bud Walton Arena with a win. He’s big, long, tough, and athletic to stay in front of just about anybody. Offensively, he’s more of a work-in-progress but is a good slasher who can pass or finish off a straight-line drive and can play a little bit of pick and roll. He’s got to improve as a shooter (29% from the three-point line, 67% from the free-throw line) and as a ballhandler, but will be able to defend in the NBA from day one. At the very least, he’s Josh Okogie of the Minnesota Timberwolves. The floor for him as a player is very high because of his defense. If his offensive game improves, however, he can be much more though.

Tyrese Maxey PG/SG Kentucky: A more in-depth look at the Kentucky guard is coming soon. Spoiler alert: I like him. A LOT.

Onyeka Okongwu C USC: A deeper dive into the Trojan big man will arrive shortly.

Obi Toppin SF/PF Dayton: An in-depth look at Mr. Toppin is dropping soon.

Devin Vassell SF Florida State: A deeper dive on the Florida State wing will drop shortly.

Cole Anthony PG North Carolina: If Anthony Edwards played in a mess, then I don’t know what the hell you’re supposed to describe what this season’s North Carolina team was. Anthony got hurt, his team completely fell apart without him and had little to zero help on his team outside of Garrison Brooks. So yeah, not great by any means! As a result, he’d often dribble into waves of defenders and/or hoist up forced shots which took a sledgehammer to his efficiency. He showed a little bit of a post and midrange game, did his best to control the tempo of the game and run pick and roll when he actually had room to do so, but that was not the norm. He should be better with NBA caliber teammates and spacing surrounding him next season. He should still go in the mid-to-late lottery, but this wasn’t the season many had hoped to get from him this season.

1st Round:

Saddiq Bey SF Villanova: You want a 3-and-D guy? Enter Saddiq Bey. Bey shot 41.8% from three during his two years at Villanova. Bey can hit them on the move as well as standing still, off the dribble or catch-and-shoot. He can defend multiple positions, staying in front of quicker guards or guys his size as well. I wouldn’t recommend a steady diet of Bey putting on the ball on the deck as a primary option, but he can definitely go create his own shot as well, as he did here against Georgetown, piling up 33 points in the process. Bey won’t overwhelm with his athleticism, but he can get the job done well enough to be a threat. Villanova’s a program that routinely churns out quality NBA players, and I wouldn’t expect anything less when it comes to Saddiq Bey.

Kira Lewis Jr. PG Alabama: Kira Lewis Jr. could be one of the better values out of the guard spot this season. He’s arguably the fastest player in the draft, and likely has that distinction amongst guards. He’d use that to his advantage to get to the rim, and when defenders try to cut him off or go under screens he’s a good enough shooter to make defenses pay. It felt like his first instinct was to find open teammates before going for his own. Lewis would flash finesse finishes in the paint, another nifty counter to balance his speed, but felt like he’d more often struggle to finish those plays than not. He needs to improve on that and his turnovers, but if he can, there is a lot to work with here. As an 18-year-old sophomore, Lewis is young for his age too and already has two years of experience under his belt. He needs to develop though and go to a place with a track record of developing young talent. If that’s the case, he can be a big-time steal. I’m a fan.

Jaden McDaniels SF/PF Washington: Perhaps no player in this draft is more perplexing, enigmatic, or boom-bust than McDaniels. There are days like his game against UCLA where once he is dialed in, he’s a scoring menace and guards 1-5 defensively. There are other days where you don’t even notice he’s on the floor. He still is raw and needs some fine-tuning to his game, but the flashes of brilliance are so tantalizing. He has the tools to become the versatile positionless wing to wreak havoc across the floor, but he’s going to need to go to a spot who can get the most out of him. The situation is key in the NBA, and there might not be a player more dependent upon it than McDaniels. If he gets to the right spot, he could be the steal of the draft.

Isaiah Stewart C Washington: While there are some concerns about Jaden McDaniels’ motor, there shouldn’t be much regarding his teammate, Isaiah Stewart. Stewart came to play all season long, routinely gobbling up rebounds and bending the rim. He racked up a double-double in nearly half of his games (14 out of 32) during his freshman season in Seattle. Stewart is a brute force at 6’9” 250 pounds yet runs like a gazelle in transition nearly every chance he gets to do so. What I also like about Stewart is he has very good touch around the rim and can go to the post and finish in case of an emergency. He fits the mold of the Clint Capela-archetype of today’s bigs. Sitting in the middle of Washington’s 2-3 zone didn’t allow for much to see how Stewart defends on the perimeter, but more and more NBA teams have elected to trot out zone defenses in stretches anyway in an attempt to throw off their opponent by giving them a different puzzle to solve. There is some question as to how much these types of bigs can actually produce in playoff series, but Stewart has skill in his own right to not be solely dependent on others throwing lobs to him like Clint Capela or Jarrett Allen, who both were played off the floor for stretches in the postseason last year. He’ll help whoever drafts him.

Nico Mannion PG Arizona: I was a little disappointed watching Mannion. He’s a floor general who looks to pass and make his teammates better, things I value out of my point guards for sure but was expecting a little more given the hype before the season, and he didn’t seem to live up to it. To be fair, he did finish the season well, but he was inconsistent. He also did not have an open court to play under in the halfcourt (a Sean Miller special) and thrived in that type of environment, mostly in transition. He’s a fantastic passer who looks to throw the ball up the floor in transition and is unafraid to let it fly before the defense is set. Creating his own shot proved to be too daunting a task at times, however, and that led to both he and Arizona’s inconsistency (again, coaching didn’t do him many favors though). Mannion is and can be a good player in the league, but I’m not sure we’ll see the star he was hyped to be before heading to Tuscon.

Cassius Winston PG Michigan State: More on the Spartan floor general will come soon.

Patrick Williams SF/PF Florida State: A deeper dive on the other wing from Florida State will arrive soon.

Tre Jones PG Duke: The problem with Tre Jones during his freshman year at Durham was his shooting ability. He shot 26.2% from deep that year, but things changed fairly drastically this go-around. He bumped his three-point percentage up to 36.1% while holding his water from the free-throw line. It’s easy to compare him to his brother Tyus, but it also holds weight with Tre’s ability to defend. If his shooting holds true, I don’t see how he couldn’t produce and follow the same trajectory as his brother in the NBA.

Jahm’ius Ramsey SG Texas Tech: Youth is the rage when it comes to the NBA draft, and Ramsey has a lot of it, as he won’t turn 19 until June. When it comes to youth, Ramsey showed it for stretches at Texas Tech, sometimes losing track of his man defensively or driving with reckless abandon into traffic (an unfinished handle to blame for some of that). Working in Ramsey’s favor, however, is the fact he hit 60 of 141 threes, not all of the catch-and-shoot variety, with some tough contested looks like this one sprinkled in between. However, I’m not sure his shot is as potent as his three-point percentage suggests, as his line-drive release and free-throw percentage (64.1%) strays from his percentage from deep, but shooting well from deep surely can’t hurt Ramsey’s chances. I wouldn’t count on Ramsey becoming a plus creator with the ball in his hands as his handle needs more polish to tap more into that area of his game, but he has given glimpses he can do so in spurts. Maybe Ramsey could step into a rotation with his effort level, but his best-case situation would be going to a team touted for its development prowess in the first round to give some reps and experience before throwing him to the NBA fire.

Sleepers:

Immanuel Quickley SG Kentucky: More on the Kentucky guard will arrive shortly.

Mason Jones SG/SF Arkansas: More about the Arkansas guard will come soon.

Desmond Bane PG/SG TCU: Desmond Bane should be getting more love than he’s getting. He can reliably play both guard spots with his ability to cut and move without the ball and space the floor (he’s a career 43% shooter from distance from well over 500 attempts throughout his four seasons at TCU) and create offense for himself or for others with the ball in his hands. Not only does he have the game to toggle between either guard spot, but at 6’6” 215 pounds, he possesses the size to switch across the floor and make difficult for anybody he’s guarding. He isn’t quite the conductor that fellow senior draft-eligible prospect Cassius Winston is, but the difference between the two is negligible. Bane could end up being an absolute steal if he were to fall in the second round, which, quite frankly, shouldn’t happen.

Elijah Hughes SF Syracuse: For those eager to read more on the Syracuse wing, it will drop shortly.

Isaiah Joe SG Arkansas: Isaiah Joe is a bit of an enigma. A knee injury really bothered him over the second half of the season and the construction of his team forced him to almost exclusively shoot threes, hurting his percentage from the field (36.7%). His form is still splendid, however, and the release is quick enough to get shots off when others can’t. He can get his own shot off the bounce with a step-back and is a nice passer in space, but struggled to finish through contact. He did embrace on the defensive side, however, routinely stepping up to take charges. I think it would do Joe good to come back and get stronger, but his shooting should keep him in the NBA for a long time in a time where everyone is looking for guys who can shoot from beyond the three-point line.

Payton Pritchard PG/SG Oregon: Pritchard reminds me a lot of Fred Vanvleet. He’s tough, tenacious, will get after it defensively, and will not go down without a fight. Both possess handles good enough to get them where they want to go along with their strength to bruise through defenders. Get a big man on a switch and Pritchard can handle them no problem and bury shots from distance. Teams need reliable guards off the bench, and Pritchard has proven he can be that for whoever drafts him, whether through his stellar play in the Pac-12 tournament last season or stepping his game up again this season, averaging over 20 points a night with 46.8/41.5/82.1 shooting splits. He won’t go high, but I feel fairly certain he’s going to stick in the NBA for a long time. 

Nick Richards C Kentucky: John Calipari doesn’t do a whole lot of three-and-dones, but the payoff for Richards finally came through this season. Even at the beginning of the year against Michigan State and Evansville, he sort of got pushed around, but that changed during the course of the season. He’s athletic, can move up and down the floor, is a lob threat, can operate out of the post, and showed good verticality in the paint defensively. He has glue for hands, catching nearly every pass that came to his direction, even in tight corridors. As the center position continues to be an area where value is found, Richards can be a value for teams in the second round. 

Jalen Smith C Maryland and Xavier Tillman C Michigan State: I’m lumping these two together because both Smith and Tillman seem like good archetypes for the modern big man. Defend the rim, switch on the perimeter, roll to the rim, hit the occasional three (Smith shot 36.8% on 2.8 attempts this season), and rebound. Smith likes to slip screens and is a threat to score both rolling to the rim or hit catch-and-shoot threes. Smith showed flashes of making the right reads on the move as well when rolling to the rim but would force passes that weren’t there, in part leading to his paltry near 0.5 assist/turnover ratio, but that can improve. Tillman can make the same passes when rolling to the rim as well and is a solid, but not as explosive compared to Smith, finisher in his own right. While he isn’t quite the shooter Smith is, his 3 assists per game are more than quadruple Smith’s on about the same number of turnovers. For a team that needs help in its frontcourt defensively, Smith or Tillman would make for a more than fine selection in the late first or early second round.

Markus Howard PG Marquette: I watched his game against USC and was quickly reminded: this guy can get buckets. Now, I’m not sure what else he does, but he can score and is one of the better shooters in the draft. If you need a Quinn Cook on your bench who can come in and flip a game or two with three quick threes, then this is the guy for you late in the draft.

Ashton Hagans PG Kentucky: Hagans is the polar opposite of what Howard is. He’s not as renowned a shooter, but he is a hound defensively and is a physical finisher at the rim. He’s quick and really fast with the ball in his hands and knows how to run a team. The league is falling out of favor for guys who aren’t shooters, but his defense and savvy should be enough to, at the very least, get Hagans on an NBA bench somewhere, especially if there are teams out there who believe they can develop that jumper.

Kaleb Wesson C Ohio State & Vernon Carey Jr. C Duke: Wesson and Carey are the archetype centers that are falling out of favor in the NBA. While they have defensive limitations on the perimeter, both Wesson and Carey are skilled passers who can match both low-post brute force with three-point prowess (Wesson shot 38% on threes during his career at Ohio State. Carey hit the same percentage, albeit on a much smaller sample size of just 21 threes). Unfortunately, their time of conception was off a few years in terms of how the NBA values big men like them, diminishing their draft stock, but both have a shot of sticking in a rotation somewhere with their abilities to generate offense.

Skylar Mays PG/SG LSU: If you value versatility at your guard spot, Skylar Mays can be a very nice value in the draft. He boosted his efficiency up big time this year, shooting a career-high 49.1% from the field and 39.4% from three, allowing him to switch up and shift roles depending on what his team needed. He can affect the game and create offense both with and without the ball in his hands at the start of possessions. I could see him stick in the NBA for a long time.

Yves Pons SF/PF Tennessee: Pons is a monster athlete. He looks like a tight end out there. The man can actually fly. Seriously. Granted, that is against air, but that still doesn’t seem normal at all. He can get in a stance and defend guards and use his 6’6” 215-pound frame and athleticism to hang against bigger players. He even shot about 35% from three this season. It didn’t feel like Tennessee tapped into his athleticism enough, but an NBA team would be smart to and give him a chance to be a role player off the bench in the mold of a Derrick Jones Jr.

Cassius Stanley SF Duke: I’ll be honest, I didn’t think much of Stanley as an NBA prospect outside of his insane hops and wasn’t sure I’d sway off of that line of thinking. I was wrong. Going back to the hops though, the man literally has pogo-sticks for legs to fly across the hardwood, and no I’m not kidding. Get him running on the wing in transition and odds are he’ll bring the house down. Also, how’s this for an inbounds play? But, while Stanley is very much still a raw prospect, there is more than meets the eye than just aerial acrobatics. I was surprised to see he ended the season shooting 36% from deep and it bore out on the tape as he made defenses pay *enough* for making him beat them from distance. He’d use his freaky athleticism to slash to the rim and get to the free-throw line (3.6 free throw attempts per game). He’d benefit from a tighter handle and could use a better feel for the game (he nearly doubled his assist numbers with turnovers), but think he showed he *can be* more than just a dunker. He’s more than worth the shot in the second round.

Jordan Nwora SF Louisville: I wish Nwora was a little more consistent. I also wish he had more avenues towards production other than scoring. Nwora came on the scene last season with his scoring prowess and has coupled that with efficiency from deep (he shot 39% on over 450 threes during his three seasons at Louisville). Nwora’s defense and playmaking do not inspire a ton of confidence, but Nwora can serve as an instant offense energizer off the bench.

Aamir Simms PF/C Clemson: Simms’ name has not entered many NBA Draft discussions that I have heard/read, but that seems like a mistake to me. With requisite size (6’8” 240 pounds) and ample athleticism, Simms’ build suggests he is capable of handling the pounding of an NBA big man. His game does so as well. Passing is a strong suit of his game, as Simms can deliver nifty passes from all types of angles and areas along the floor. He can either finish or playmake a little in the dribble hand-off game and can also elevate in the open floor in the pick-and-roll. He’s a career 35% three-point shooter and owns essentially a neutral assist/turnover ratio (better than many other bigs in this class). He isn’t the biggest brute out there but uses every ounce of his frame to take the punishment from his opponent and hold his ground. Is Simms a star? Not exactly, but I could see him be a positive contributor off the bench and possibly work his way into being a starter a la Maxi Kleber has done with the Dallas Mavericks. Simms should not be ignored.

Kristian Doolittle SF Oklahoma: Kristian Doolittle deserves some more love, in my opinion. He’s 6’7”, 232 pounds, ideal size for the modern wing, with the versatility to guard multiple positions. Doolittle shot 37% from three during his four seasons at Norman, albeit on only 131 attempts, but still (he was solid from the free-throw line too, hitting at least 77.5% of his free-throws in three of four seasons). I see quite a bit of Dorian Finney-Smith, who has turned into quite the role player for the Dallas Mavericks, in Doolittle’s game. I could easily see Doolittle becoming a role player like Finney-Smith and becoming a very nice steal for whoever gives him a sh

[durm-ff]

Is That So?

hey @lbucheli ! finally finished your one shot! hope you like it!! i’m not a dybala girl so I did have to think a lot about it and look at a ton of pictures of him, but i hope i did justice to your request and still like it! 

the first bit of the shot might not be the strongest one, but i can surely say it is going up throughout the whole piece ;). hope you guys will enjoy it!

‘Be quick. If it’s an expired parking ticket to which you reacted as ‘Son of a bitch!’ in front of a cop, I’m not gonna save your butt again.’ – I said as I picked up the phone.

‘Watch it Leu, you’re talking to a Coppa Italia winner.’ – I heard Paulo’s voice, with a strong Spanish accent.

‘Is that so?’ – I teased him further, knowing damn well Juventus just won it, making it an amazing season for them. Still, exploiting my position as associate attorney always got the best of me, and I couldn’t let these chances go. What are best friends for?

‘You know, you’re getting less funny every day!’ – I heard him say, well, shout basically, as he was probably still in the locker room, celebrating. I shook my head laughing, even though he couldn’t see me.

‘Congratulations Paulo’ – I said and I really did mean it. It was a rare moment of our friendship. ‘Oh, nooo. No, no. Leu, you’re freaking me out. Just call me a dumbass or something.’ ‘Geez, now that wouldn’t be any fun. You already know you’re an idiot. I do mean it. Now go celebrate with what’s-her-face.’ – I said, hinting at his girlfriend, friend with benefit, booty call, whatever you want to name it.

‘Who? Oh, right. Giulia. No, that’s fine, she’s somewhere out with her friends.’ – he said casually and as if he could read my mind told me not to roll my eyes. Dammit. We’re too close. ‘You’re still coming to the celebration right?’

Every year, there was an end-of-the-season party for the whole club, including managers, trainers, doctors, legal advisors, etc. This year, winning the Coppa Italia, Juventus was going to put out. Big time. It was a great opportunity to see our clients crumble down the lane of dignity, getting wasted for one time before national duties kicked in. In addition, you could get the latest gossip as well.

-

Being part of the legal team of Juventus didn’t really make me yearn for gossip. We either knew the facts already, or we were paying to God to not have a slip between drunk people on a night like this. Otherwise the hungover legal team (as we were all invited of course) would have to take care of it all the next day.

Being part of the I’m-twenty-three-years-old-I-should-be-partying-but-these-skinny-girlfriends/models-are-not-the-company-I’m-looking-for group, however, made me yearn for a person with even semi-high IQ and something interesting to say. At times, that was Paulo, making me laugh, or annoying me with his phone calls after long days, but at other times, like now, he was up there dancing with what’s-her-face, while I was sipping on watered down Martini. Great.

Part of me rolled her eyes at superficial people all the time, but part of me was one of those superficial people, being slightly jealous of what’s-her-face; having to spend time with Paulo was a privilege. Okay, kind of. We were the same age, and being best friends was great, but while sitting at the table, I wish he would have been there with me. Not skanking it out with someone he will probably dump soon.

I’m fine.

I was just surrounded by my fellow associates, all being above thirty, talking about their kids, about work, all that boring stuff. Even though this activity was all kinds of uplifting and I really wanted to take part (not), I ordered another Martini instead, grabbed the hem of my dress, and headed to the rooftop.

To make sure I could get back inside, I put a brick next to the door, which could only be opened from the inside, and stepped onto the roof. Piazza San Carlo lay in front of me, while I could see all the lights from the rest of the city.

Always a fan of rooftops, pretty views, summer nights, and summer air, I inhaled deeply, then exhaled. Resting on the fence next to the edge allowed me to rest and to observe the city from above.

‘Was it getting too fun downstairs?’ – I heard from behind and immediately recognized that voice. There’s only one man that speaks Italian with this kind of Spanish accent. Paulo. ‘I bet you just needed a break from all that laughing with the other lawyers about documents, cases, accountants, what not…’ – I looked around and sighed. ‘Not your greatest punch line.’

His smirk settled on his face and he stood next to me. ‘Everything alright?’ ‘Yeah, I just realized that I’m the most boring twenty three year old lawyer there’s ever been.’ – I shrugged. ‘Correction: I am not boring, my job is, can’t believe I just dissed myself. But it pays well, plus I get to suck your stupid face’s blood all the time. Which is occasionally fun.’ – I winked at Paulo.

‘My absolute pleasure, Leu.’ – he stood up straight and adjusted his blazer, with a smug look on his face. ‘You’re unbelievable.’ – I smiled at him. ‘Does everyone really fall for this?’ – I was thinking out loud. ‘Well, you know the answer. I can show you who’s falling for it. Or just read out my contacts.’ ‘Alright, dude, slow down. Gross.’ – I laughed.

He finally rested his hands on the fence too and looked around. His hair was not stiff anymore from the gel, locks were hanging into his face, and his blue eyes were still visible.

‘So what’s the deal with what’s-her-face?’ – I turned to him. ‘God dammit, can you please stop calling her like that?’ ‘Why, what’s the point in remembering her name if a new one is going to show up in a matter of days?’

‘Alright. I’m sorry.’ – I said. ‘No, you’re not.’ ‘Okay, I’m not. But still, tell me. Is it worth it for me to learn her name?’ – I raised my eyebrows and knew that I won.

‘Okay, it’s not, no.’ – he sighed and while I won, he didn’t look fine. He looked like he cared about this, not necessarily about her, but about something around this issue. He looked upset.

‘Hey! What’s with your face now? What’s this frown?’ – I poked his cheek while he tried to stop me. ‘Gosh, you’re like a five year old, Leu.’ – he said and I laughed. ‘Are you unhappy? Is what’s-her-face not treating you right?’ – I said in in a baby voice.

‘I don’t care enough about her to think about that, okay?’ – he hissed and I backed off. I wanted to say ‘woah’ but I figured for once it wouldn’t hurt to keep my mouth shut.

‘Then…break up with her?’ – I spoke with caution and kept looking directly at him. ‘Yeah. But that’s just it. Then I’ll still be without that someone. That…person that I want? Everyone that I meet is like her. There’s no chance to find someone like..’ he sighed and trailed off without finishing the sentence. Then he glanced at me.

I tried to get something out of his eyes, try to find out what he was thinking, and although I’ve known him for a long time, and therefore have experienced some of his sad moments, I couldn’t place this look of his anywhere. It was weird.

He was still looking at me and to break the ice I joked ‘Someone like me?’ to which he looked at me in disbelief and I finally saw a flash of smile on his face. ‘Uh…’ – he tried to say something but didn’t. Oh my God. ‘No, of course not. Pf.’ – he tried to shake it off and looked towards the city skyline. ‘Oh my God! It’s totally me! You want your best friend. How lame is that?’ – I teased him because a; I still couldn’t believe it, b; it could still be false, so I didn’t want to look like an idiot, and c; because this was too good of an opportunity to make fun of him.

‘What about you then? You’ve been asking too much about Giulia. One might think you’re jealous.’ – he raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms on his chest. ‘Me? Jealous?’ – I gasped very obviously, because this was too funny to even think about. Okay, maybe it wasn’t that funny. But it was unheard of to say.

I glanced at him and when he glanced back, we both looked away, with arms on our chest. ‘That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.’ ‘I said.’ ‘Couldn’t agree more about your unbelievable accusation of my feelings.’ – he nodded.  ‘It’s settled then.’ ‘Yup.’

And there we were. Too stubborn once again. I wasn’t going to admit anything. Because even though I felt the things he explained and I was in fact jealous, it was only when he said it out loud that it clicked in my mind. And as stupid as it sounds, I wasn’t going to let him “win”. That’s what we were. Stubborn, and most of all, competitive.

‘So, uh, I’ll go back inside. Dance with what’s-her-face, maybe she’s nice.’ – I’ve shrugged. I figured neither of us would give in so teasing each other for a little while longer (or for eternity) seemed reasonable. ‘I’ll ask her all the embarrassing habits you might have in the bedroom. Everything else I already know.’ – I said and was already walking towards the door.

‘Oh, no, no, no. No way.’ – he grabbed my arm and pulled me back. ‘You stay here and behave.’ I stepped back next to him and we turned to face each other. Once again, I saw those blue eyes, the undone hair and the loose shirt with the tie. I hated to admit that I did like all of these features. Especially the facial features.

He did not break eye contact. After a few seconds he spoke up. ‘Leucotela, I’m going to be the bigger person here.’ – he took a deep breath. ‘If you admit it, I’ll do it too.’ I hesitated for a second too long before protesting, as my usual self would do, so I had no way to make my words seem powerful. ‘I, uh..no, you’re uhh..wrong.’

‘Is that so?’ – he raised his eyebrows and had such an annoying smirk on his face, citing my words back to me that I regained my power and opened my mouth. ‘Alright, no, that’s no-‘ I wanted to continue but he shut me up by kissing me. And although I’m a firm believer of ‘let the girl talk, don’t shut her up by kissing her’, this situation was slightly different. I wanted it to happen.

I finally uncrossed my arms and put them on his torso. I let go. I finally gave in and even though I didn’t say it out loud, I thought it all along. Kissing him was better than making fun of him. Now I got to do both.

[the-amaryka]

Keith’s Pretty Galra Eyes

I noticed some unique moments where his pupils narrow like a cats, then I got curious to see if this was consistent, because if the animators have been doing something so subtle from the beginning that would be HARDCORE.  This…Is the documentation of my silly quest to see if that was intentional, or if this is all in my head.  It’s basically me RE-watching the series, Paying attention to Keith’s eyes, and screenshotting my observations.  Plus I get to capture some pretty Keith eyes in the mean time, so it’s a win win.  Shall we begin?

“Where…were you?” Look at those purples!  I did lighten the image here to see his pupils better but besides that there was no color tampering.  So This is just an image to see his general eyes.  There is nothing particularly odd about them in this picture besides the unnatural color.

And just for comparison, here are Allura’s eyes.  Shiro and Hunk have relatively round irises, while Pidge and Allura have slightly more oval shaped Irises, they are still both rounder than Keith’s consistently sharpened shape.  Lance has pretty smal Irises but when you’re in close enough to see the color, they are also pretty narrow, but still round at the end of the day.  Allura’s and Keith’s are the closest in terms of how elongated they are, and the general shape of their eyes + how big their irises are by comparison.  So I’m using Allura as something of a control group for my observations today.  Now thats established.  MOVING ON!

“By myself?”  “Minor change pf plans.  You’ll be fine.  Just remember, patience yields focus…” So Keith is obviously a bit nervous here. The idea of Shiro splitting with him to help Pidge find the prisoners unsettled him enough to voice his concerns (while he usually keeps his thoughts to himself).  His Irises are standard level pointy but his Pupils are sharper and more diamond-like in this shot.  This is the first time I noticed any real sort of change in his screen time.  This could have been an accident but like…Whatever?

“Great, now which way?” This shot is right after he stopped to stare at the Galra symbol for awhile.  His Pupils have already rounded out but once again, his irises are consistently sharp.  That is a character design choice that stands out from the others.  As I’ve been watching the episode I have seen some similar oval eyes from Pidge but never this pointed in the Iris department.

*Has just been ejected into space and is afraid* So it’s find of interesting.  Usually in cartoons when a character is scared or surprised their irises get smaller all around, so there is more white of the eye shown.  There isn’t a significant difference in size here, his irises still take up most of the length of his eye, BUT they are notably more narrow.  His pupils are slightly elongated.  Very subtle but it gets the point across in a way that isn’t the first route to showing that emotion in animation.  Then of course moments later we get this:

Still sharp and narrow, that the general shrinking of the iris is what i would have expected them to do form the start.

I think the strongest examples though, are when you compare two moments 

form the same shot.  Example:

“You’re putting the lives of two people over the lives of everyone in the entire galaxy!”

“Oh No.  We’ve gotta get to our Lions!”

“Sendak…Wait, has anybody seen Shiro?”

“This is my chance to put an end to the Galra Empire…”

“I have to take it!”

“I know I’m not Shiro, but he’s in trouble.  We need to help him.”

Coincidentally.  In my entire re-watch of the series, I think this is the roundest I’ve seen his eyes, even though his pupils are still sharp.  Likely because they were subtly wanting him to look more like Shiro in this shot since he is about to be all Black Lion status.

“Keith, if I don’t make it out if here…I want you to lead Voltron.” “BItch EXCUSE you?! You are NOT leaving me AGAIN” So the first time I thought it might just be a coincidence, but now I’ve seen multiple incidents in which his Irises simply NARROW rather than shrink to express emotion.  It doesn’t happen all the time, but usually in close up shots.  I haven’t seen that happen for anybody else.  At least not to this extent.

“Stop talking like that.  You’re gonna make it…”

“Maybe Zarkon found out about this place on his own.  He’s probably been searching for the Blade of Marmora”

“Okay!  We’re getting out of here.  Anybody tries to stop us, and Lubos gets it.” On a side note, I love how Keith gets so pissed about King Lubos turning on his people that he’s just like “Well I am willing to kill you now.”  Nobody messes with Keith, especially when it comes to family.  He lost it similarly at Pidge in season 1.

“I’m fine.  Just tired.” Wow.  Look at those vulnerable uncertain sad eyes.  They really widened them for this shot.  even more than his usual resting face.  Super round.  Nice.

During the nightmare (episode 6) This is a typical technique to show fear by shrinking the iris.  Vur they still emphasized the diamond shape of his eyes while with other characters they have shrunk to small circles or ovals.  Point being, the sharp shape of his eyes is very intentional.

I have always thought that Keith’s eyes were one of his biggest expressors and one of the clearest link he has to being Galra in his design.  And I just believe that more in season 2 because of all of these shots:

Not only is it dramatic, but as soon as we find out his dagger is Galra, he always see his eyes in it.  Not much else about his design hints to his Galra heritage so I would say, yeah, that was probably intentional.

“I would never count on them for help.” Just throwing this in here because I want to acknowledge Allura’s eyes have done some similar things to Keith’s in this particular scene.  Not in narrowness, but in the sharp shape of her Irises.  Though it’s notable that she too is an alien.

“Princess, are you okay?”

Opening shot of Episode 8 “That Blade of Marmora” The episode in which Galra Keith is confirmed OPENS with a shot of his eyes.

“This is the whole reason we came out here!  There is no other option!” Ooooooh look at those sharp pupils!

“You’ll need to control your emotions if you’re going to lead this group someday.”

“I imagine we would.  However, I wasn’t referring to your beast.”

“We will meet again.”  “Can’t wait…”

“Shiro…?”

“Keith.”  “…Dad?”

“She’ll be here soon.” So Keith’s dad has them too.  And assuming he is human, I am truly crazy and looking for something that isn’t there.  Either that or they put that in as a subtle design choice to make him look more like Keith so we can indeed say yes this is his dad.

But you know what?  I have come this far so I’m gonna finish anyways.

And though I’ve notices a few other sharp and determined eyes in my watch through, Keith’s have been the most consistently narrow and sharp so I STAND BY THAT BEING A DESIGN CHOICE FOR HIM WHETHER IT HAS TO DO WITH HIM BEING GALRA OR NOT.

“If any one of us fails, the entire plan fails.” Still sharp and narrow pupils even with round eyes.  His eyes get a lot more round during his vunerable moments though.  His more “human” emotions like insecurity or sadness clash with his firey Galra ones like fierce loyalty and rage.  Those at least seem to be how the Galra define themselves through what he we have been presented thus far.  “I fight in the name of Galra.  Nothing can stop me but triumph or death.”  Once again, assuming this was intentional.  I could also be reading too much into things but I’ve put enough time into this by now tha tI don’t really care if it’s wrong.  Still gonna headcanon it ;) But most of all this is just a really pretty Keith shot.

OKAY HERE WE GO, THIS IS THE MOMENT THAT CONVINCED ME TO RE-WATCH THE ENTIRE SERIES TO BEGIN WITH.

Here are some round, curious irises as Keith helps the unidentified lifeform from the ship inside the Weblum.

Narrowing as he realizes the lifeform has the Galra insignia on their armor.

”You’re Galra.” Um, I dunno if you’ve forgotten Keith, but SO ARE YOU!  LOOK AT THOSE EYES!

CLOSE UP and color tampered for better view.  Look how narrow and shark.  He looks like a snake or a cat in this shot.  Even if everything else I’ve screenshot has been grasping at straws I am CONVINCED this is intentional.  Just watching the frames as a whole and watching that change happen?  It’s to blatant to not be pointing out that Keith is Galra, even as he’s not trusting somebody else for being.

But just a moment later he blinks them away, confused and distracted by the sounds of the Creatures inside the Weblum.  UGH So good.

“We’re Paladins of Voltron.  We can’t just leave people to die, even if they are Galra.” Keith’s eyes are sincere here, and perhaps a little humbled.  He passed judgement back there in the blink of an eye and probably realized how hypocritical that was.  Funny how it’s the HUMAN side of his that is going ot have to learn to accept the Galra.  And that part of himself.  AAAAAAAAH.  I love this show.  “I think turning Galra has made you a better human.”  Lol.

Okay just a few more pretty eyes then I’ll be done with this post forever.  If you read all the way to this point like…congrats?  It’s long?  I didn’t expect anybody ot actually read it since it’s just an awkward documentation of me obsession over Keith but like…yeah.

“Oh, good timing, Lance!” This is directly after Keith has been telling Hunk what to do to avoid/distract the beast in episode 10.  Hunk tells him to “stop back-lion-driving” despite the fact he’s listening to him.  Then Keith shuts up, Lance shows up being all hero-like, and Hunk acknowledges him.  Even without the zoom I’ve provided, the emphasis is on Keith in this shot, despite Hunk being the one who is talking.  The storyboard artist wanted us to notice Keith’s face.  I know its off topic, but I think Keith’s biggest issue when he becomes the leader is going to be 1) coming to terms with the fact he is not and can’t be Shiro.  He needs to be his own leader, not imitate their previous one.  2) The others aren’t going to want to listen to him, despite the fact that it was his instructions that were keeping them form getting hit.  Even if Hunk didn’t need them, after Keith shuts up, Lance fails in distracting the Beast and the Yellow lion gets hit.  It’s subtle, but they put that there for a reason.  Even when Keith IS displaying proper leadership qualities, he kinda has a bad rep, and it’s gonna be a struggle to take over when Shiro is gone. OFF TOPIC BUT KEITH’S EYES YAY

“No one’s commanding me.  I’m doing it.”

“Please come back to us.”  “I will.”

“It was an honor…to meet you.”

“I’m all in.”

Aaaaand thats all.  Thank you for coming on this silly little journey with me.

[lostborderline]

Week Overview

This week has been relatively good to me honestly. I’ve probably had more good than bad happen. Even if I did stress out pretty bad sometimes. I’m going to start chronologically as much as possible. 

Friday: In the morning I was about to go to Target, and thought my boyfriend wanted to come because we always grocery shop together but he didn’t so I went alone. Which is fine, I enjoy shopping alone because I can take my time. While sitting in the parking lot, someone who lived in one of the buildings asked me for a ride to Stop and Shop so she didn’t have to take the bus. She is a very nice, old black woman and I’ve met her previously. I agreed to take her and we talked along the way. I suppose this was my good deed for the day. After I got paid, I ordered HTV sheets online for my shirts and it was a relatively good price and they were apparently way better quality than the ones I was using. I also ordered some skincare products from Elf because they’re products are not only amazing, but affordable too. It was only $15 for 5 products and I figured I needed some actual products and I want to care for myself more. I hung out with my cousin today as well, we went to BAM and I got a deck of Oracle cards and a set of citrine crystal earrings which are beautiful. We headed back to my grandma’s house and sat outside with my aunt, grandma, uncle, and cousin. My aunt mentioned that I should buy some crystals to go along with the deck of cards and suggested a place I completely forgot existed, Pandora’s Box. I took my cousin up there with me to Norwich and purchased selenite, black tourmaline, and black onyx as well as a mini satchel, and a depression aid kit. 

Sunday: I decided to make a mini jar of prosperity oil as I watched a video of someone else making one. I decided to make it my own because everyone has different ingredients. It is supposed to attract money and success into your life. The ingredients I added were: mint (money, prosperity), basil (money, success), cinnamon (prosperity, good luck, energy), sesame oil (creativity, passion, money, success), patchouli essential oil (money, wealth, prosperity, material goods), sugar (fast acting agent). It was recommended to leave the oil to sit for two weeks so it can absorb all the herbs within the oil. I also went to Walmart and bought a nice lamp and a daylight bulb so that I can do my makeup in my room without the shitty lighting. When I tested it out, it was amazing and I was obsessed. It is amazing for photos as well as doing makeup. Later on this day, I organized my desk area to accommodate space for my makeup, shop items, school items, and machinery. It felt really good to do this.

Monday: Today marked the start of my weeklong Summer break before going back August 31st. I also slept the whole day because I was really tired. When I woke up, I went to Walmart and bought a nice wok for only $6. It’s 14 inches and I made vegetable fried rice with it, it is a dream to cook on. 

Tuesday: Today my HTV sheets arrived. After work I went to Walmart and got a nice clothing rack to hang my products on, it was only $9 and was easy to assemble. I also assembled it myself while my boyfriend went out and did whatever. I also bought 6 shirts, 3 med, and 3 large. I tested out the HTV by printing one of my popular designs onto it and applying it with the heat press. It was a hot peel unlike my other transfer sheets which were cold peel. There was a definite quality difference and it was easy to use. I was very scared to peel it because I messed up every time before. At first, there was some product coming off but I put it back down and put the heat press on it again. Eventually it came out nice and it is currently hanging on the rack waiting to be sold. I started my bullet journal today with the one I bought a few weeks ago when I noticed my current notebook getting filled up. It’s initial intention was to be exactly like my current notebook, but then I decided I wanted to make it a bullet journal and (actually use it this time) and make it look really pretty. As always, if I don’t “vibe” with a journal or a notebook, I tend to not use it or want to use it. It originally was very plain blue with a quote on it. I felt that I would not vibe with this so I added some personalization to it with stickers I had and even added one of my own. Finally putting a use to all the unused stickers I have (that are not mine). I did also make some sticker designs because I’ve been putting it off. I made 3 sticker designs. I thought they turned out really nice. However, when I printed them, they didn’t have a nice quality. It was solely due to the fact of how I was creating them (my art software that does not have transparency, which is essential for sticker making). I attempted to use scissors to get rid of the nasty border and used an exacto knife for the insides, and I accidentally cut myself on it, so great. 

Wednesday: Today was a pretty good day actually. At work, things went smoothly. I was the order taker, and normally it feels like the shift goes by forever but it wasn’t that bad this time. I was the one in charge so I made sure everything was done for the next shift and that everything went by smoothly and answered any phone calls and whatever. Later on this day, I was fed up with my designs not being the best quality that it can be. I decided to check out the Apple website because I love seeing their products, they’re so nice and smooth. I ended up applying for an Apple Card (which before I was denied 3 times), I actually got approved this time which is amazing! So, due to that, I was able to finance a brand new iPad Air 2019 and the first gen Apple Pencil. It is only $47 a month for both so it really is not bad at all. I am planning on canceling my gym membership, because I don’t even go, and honestly I feel I am content with my body right now and I don’t need a gym to get exercise. I still have yet to come into PF to cancel because you can’t do it over the phone. To make things better, before purchasing, I did do all the math to make sure I was financially stable especially for the upcoming weeks because I have bills due on the second week of September. I made a plan to save all my change to deposit into my account and to limit eating out to only once a week. (it shouldn’t be that hard). As of right now, my bills in tips that I make I will be depositing into my joint account to help pay for groceries because we are a little behind. I also consulted my friend Rheanna about the iPad because she has one for her shop. She has a different version but she says it is absolutely worth it and that I should definitely do it. So, in conclusion, it is a great investment for my business. Also, I would be using it for more than just that. I would be taking notes for school, grocery shopping lists, calculator as well (because with wearing face masks in the store, it makes Face ID unusable so it is a hassle to open the calculator, and the iPad I got has Touch ID instead) and much more. It is portable so I can draw anywhere literally. With my laptop PC and graphic tablet I can’t do that. I am actually very glad I got this and my pencil is supposed to arrive Thursday while it will take the iPad 2-3 weeks to arrive unfortunately. 

Thursday: Today, I was actually at work on time. Work went pretty smooth and I got everything done, there was no yelling at all or complaints. My coworker invited me to his upcoming event where people can be vendors and sell their shirts and other products. Showcase their shops kind of. He said he is planning on getting the permit to host the event in New London (which is the perfect place). Originally he said it would be a cash only event, but I suggested that a lot of people only carry card, like myself. I suggested that we accept Cashapp, PayPal and even get those tiny Square card reader things that plug into your phone. I also gave some more ideas. He said he would be having food catered to the event and I suggested that the vendors should also make homemade food to bring to cut costs on the event, as it will be free to get in. I suggested that when the advertisement begins, that I would help advertise as I have a big following on Facebook and I even said I would create a banner with a piece of every vendor’s art to show potential guests what they are in for. Eventually he asked me to help with the event, to which I said yes. I actually am very excited for this as it will be good business for everyone.