#i don’t know if yumi knows since i didn’t talk to rock about it but maybe she saw asa showing signs before she was moved to the nursery ? | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

lisatelramor · 5 years ago

Text

How (Not) To Say You Love Her

Sooooo. @fugitivehues left a few comment tags on my other hanahaki fic, one of which was how the thought of Kosuke having it was fun and my brain did that thing it sometimes does and went "Oh! Let's play with that!!!" and promptly ignored all the other WIPs I have lying around ^_^;;;;;; So, uh, have a fic Fugitivehues, since you like Kosuke?? Also, like, Kosuke likes Emiko for over a year (based on those White Day presents) which leads to interesting things when combined with hanahaki, haha.

*O*O*O*O*

Kosuke pretended to be listening to his friends, but really he was watching the street beyond their outdoor café table. It was just about time… And there she was. Niwa Emiko, the prettiest girl at the university. She knew it too; she had the sort of presence that turned heads and beautiful red hair that stood out in a crowd. Kosuke watched her leave the much nicer café across the street that she got lunch at every Thursday and walk by, just the width of the street away before she turned the corner toward wherever she went after this. Kosuke had found out about the habitual lunch by chance, a creature of habit himself. It wasn’t weird if they both just happened to like to get lunch at cafés across the road from each other.

He sighed into his mostly cool cup of coffee as the last of her curls turned the corner. Maybe someday he’d get the courage to talk with her, but he kind of doubted it.

“Wow, what was that?” Minako asked, leaning over the table to wave a hand in Kosuke’s face.

“You don’t know?” Katsuma said, snickering. “Kosuke has a ~crush~.”

“It’s not a crush,” he mumbled, hiding his blush in his coffee cup.

“So you come here every Thursday to sit in the same seat at the same time because you really like their coffee?” Katsuma teased.

Minako grinned at his expense as Kosuke blushed harder. “Aww, cute! Though I didn’t take you for the type to gravitate toward pretty faces.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Kosuke said, knowing that trying to say he didn’t have a crush again would only get him teased more.

“I mean she has a ton of guys chasing after her on the off chance she’d so much as look at them. Don’t get me wrong, she’s pretty and probably perfectly nice,” Minako said waving a hand, “but she’s kind of weird.”

“Yeah, I’m with Mina-chan,” Katsuma said. “What kind of girl gets confessed to and asks men if they’re man enough to father a son?”

“A quirky one?” Minako joked with a laugh. “How’d she even get on your radar?”

“She was in one of his art history classes,” Katsuma said before Kosuke could try to change the topic. “Sat a few seats in front of him so he kept ~noticing~ her.”

Kosuke buried his face in his hands. They were going to talk about this whether he wanted them to or not.

“Wait, she’s studying art history?”

“Art conservation,” Kosuke mumbled.

“You would know that,” Katsuma said. “She’s probably here for her MRS, if you know what I mean.”

“I dunno, no one studies art conservation if they’re just trying to get married. You go with an easy ride,” Minako said.

Kosuke tuned them out. They were going to talk the topic to death, probably at his expense yet again. He didn’t have a crush. Even if Niwa Emiko was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, it was more that he was curious about her. Why did she choose art conservation? What sort of art did she like? How did she manage to have the courage to deal with all her admirers? She was interesting, and their spheres of life only glanced against each other in moments like this or a rare class overlap. Kosuke was a reclusive person with a few close friends and Emiko was… was bright and effervescent, attracting friends from all different walks of life. People got drawn into her orbit and Kosuke was just another one of them, like a far off meteor as brighter, more outgoing people navigated her gravitational pull.

“And we lost him again,” Minako sighed. “C’mon, Ko-kun. You said you’d help me find sources for my research paper, remember?”

“I’m coming.” He finished the last swallow of cold coffee.

It wasn’t a crush. It was the inevitable fascination that came with being on the other side of a window.

o*O*o

It was a crush. Kosuke felt a strange tickle at the back of his throat as he caught sight of Emiko again, this time on a lunch date. Or maybe an outing with a friend. Either way, it left a tiny pang in his heart and an immediate shame because he was just someone watching from afar. He wasn’t anything to her and he never would be. Emiko was free to love whoever she wanted. To make friends with who she wanted. And Kosuke was… Kosuke was an art history student who would rather dig through dusty records and primary source material than show up at any of the social events Emiko frequented.

Even if he sometimes wished he could get the courage to talk to her.

Just say hello even.

Kosuke coughed absently into his palm. A bitter taste, like the aftertaste of dark chocolate made him frown. There was a tiny speck of something purple on his hand. Odd.

He looked up and could swear for a second that their eyes met across the street, but then her eyes slid off him and he knew he was, as usual, just one more face in the crowd.

His heart ached and Kosuke had the horrifying realization that it wasn’t distant admiration and curiosity drawing him here anymore. He liked her.

He groaned into his hands.

“Bad homework load?” the waitress asked, popping up to refill his coffee.

“Something like that.”

She gave him a motherly smile. “You’re always working hard. I’m sure you’ll do fine.”

He gave her a weak smile and proceeded to go right back to burying his face in his hands. Well, he thought, nothing changed. She was still out of his reach and the feelings didn’t have to mean a thing.

The tickle kept buzzing in his throat. Maybe he was getting a cold.

o*O*o

Of course it couldn’t be that simple. Kosuke stared down at a tiny purple flower in his hand he’d somehow coughed up a week later. He’d heard of hanahaki—who hadn’t heard of it?—but he’d never known anyone that caught it, let alone considered he might catch it. He felt panic grip him. What exactly was hanahaki? Didn’t it involve plants growing in your lungs?? Oh no, was he going to suffocate on a horribly bitter tasting plant?

Kosuke spent fifteen minutes having a very quiet panic attack in the back of the campus library over a tiny purple flower.

Then he mentally slapped himself and decided he was an idiot. People got hanahaki all the time. It wasn’t an instant death sentence. Yes, it was vaguely terrifying to think about a plant currently growing in his body. But. All someone had to do was confess their feelings, if he remembered correctly. So. He’d be fine if he did that. Probably.

Kosuke took a shaky breath. He tried to picture walking up to Emiko and saying he loved her. He didn’t get past vaguely approaching her general direction. Oh god, how was he going to confess? He had never confessed to anyone! Or had anyone confess to him either, actually, his romantic life had been pretty barren for someone who was already twenty. No high school romance for him. He’d just been the weird kid who spent ninety percent of his time with his nose in a book.

He almost jumped out of his skin when hushed voices suddenly stopped right near the aisle he was in.

“You have to help me think of something! You’re a girl! What do girls like?” a male voice whispered loudly.

“Look, you could get Mikasa a rock for White Day and she’d be thrilled, stop overthinking it.” The girl walked past Kosuke’s aisle without even glancing his direction.

“Yumi!” the boy hissed-yelled. “Yumi, you’re not helping at all!” He rushed after her and Kosuke slowly unfroze.

White Day. White Day would be a perfect excuse to walk up and confess. No pressure either because there would probably be dozens of her admirers doing the same thing. He could just… walk up, give her a small gift, confess, get rejected, and go on with life cured.

Oh good, he had a plan.

His hands started to sweat. Oh no, he really didn’t like that plan.

“Why am I like this?” he groaned. The bitter taste of whatever that flower was lingered at the back of his throat like a threat. He didn’t really have much of a choice did he? Well, at least this was a perfectly legitimate excuse to actually talk to Emiko instead of sighing wistfully at her from across the street.

Kosuke was embarrassed by Kosuke. Hopefully Emiko never found out about the café thing.

o*O*o

Emiko was within sight. Kosuke had been gravitating nearby most of the afternoon trying to get himself psyched up enough to go over. In that time at least ten guys had come over to give Emiko gifts. They were all really nice gifts too, like perfume or fancy white chocolates or flowers. Kosuke could swear one of them had been a diamond necklace. With every new person his gift of a simple white ribbon felt less and less impressive. A woman like Emiko would probably laugh at something so cheap.

He’d picked it because it was pretty though and he could see it looking nice in her hair… Kind of optimistic of him to think she might possibly wear it though.

Emiko’s latest paramour was turned away and Kosuke saw his chance. He moved closer. Okay, just hold out the little tissue paper package and confess. Deep breath. Just confess. Just… Kosuke froze two meters away, overwhelmed by being this close for the first time since they shared that art history class. She just looked so put together and amazing, not a hair out of place and he had a coat a size too big on with an elbow worn out because he was always leaning on it while he worked.

Kosuke made a strangled sound and ducked away again, having a sudden coughing fit that left a couple purple flowers in his hand, a tiny deep-toothed leaf, and a horrible taste in his mouth.

He couldn’t do this.

Did it have to be a direct confession? Couldn’t he just… leave a note? Wouldn’t that still count as a confession?

He dug into his bag in a frantic motion that probably had nearby people thinking he was possessed and pulled out a scrap of paper that wasn’t covered in notes or absent doodles. What did he write though?? Dear Emiko—no, that was too intimate. Dear Niwa-san, I have greatly admired you from afar—did that sound creepy? Crap, it did sound creepy. Dear Niwa-san, you have captured my gaze and my heart (please give it back).

Why was this so hard?

Niwa Emiko, you make the sun shine brighter when you walk by and my day brighter to see you. You’ve captured my heart and affection. Would you be able to see me fondly back? Love, Kosuke

Well that didn’t sound great, but it was clearly a confession. Good enough. He just had to… somehow get it to her. Emiko had pulled out a book and looked pretty busy reading it. At least she wouldn’t be staring as he approached?

Kosuke edged over to her seat, standing in her peripherals. He opened his mouth but nothing came out. He felt like his face was on fire. Oh no, other people were looking in their direction. The curious stares and complete lack of notice from Emiko was enough to break the shreds of courage he’d pulled together. Kosuke set the tissue paper package near her elbow and ran.

It was only once he’d collapsed under a tree on the campus lawn that he realized he’d completely forgotten to drop the letter with it. So he’d failed all of his goals entirely.

Kosuke groaned into his hands.

Well, plan one, failed. That only meant one thing. Research.

o*O*o

Kosuke was not someone to stop at a little bit of information. He’d decided to learn about hanahaki and boy did he now know a lot about the subject. The library contained everything from medical texts—both historical, theoretical, and modernly factual—to collections of fairytales based around the phenomenon, flower species charts with deconstructions of emotional intent versus species, and a good deal of accounts of people who’d experienced the disease. Those ranged from notable historical figures to researchers using themselves as guinea pigs to personal memoirs. A distressing number of those accounts were suddenly cut off with editorial notes about the demise of the writer.

Those books were not good for his anxiety.

But, it was suffice to say that after a month of scouring everything he could find on the topic between working on classwork and occasionally being dragged from the library to socialize and see the light of day by friends, he felt he had a pretty good grasp on the topic. For one, he had a slower growing flower with a soft stem rather than something woody. It wasn’t going to do as much harm as some species as it grew. Unfortunately, his flower was also in the mint family and that meant it was both hardy and eager to spread if it got a chance. Motherwort was a medicinal plant that was used to alleviate female pains, regulate menstruation and calm anxiety. While the former weren’t really applicable to him, he found the latter mildly ironic considering the whole flower-in-lungs thing was causing a certain amount of stress. Its flower language association was ‘concealed love’ which again made perfect sense for the situation, but it didn’t entirely help. Theory held that hanahaki was a twofold illness. One part the body, one part the mind, and that the flowers—while very real—were fed by the mind, not the body. Emotions and thoughts determined how quickly they grew.

Drawing from that, Kosuke had hypothesized that the more he felt like he needed to go unnoticed and hide how he was feeling, the faster his flower was likely to grow. And also how much time he spent thinking of Emiko and whether or not she knew he even existed. (He had to stop that train of thought a lot because it kept leading to coughing fits and his friends were starting to subtly hint that he should go talk to a doctor about his ‘cold’.) The more anxious he got over the whole thing, the more the plant would show up to try and counteract that bit. It was all a bit cyclical with everything feeding back into itself, and the long and short of it was that if he continued at the current rate of growth, he probably had about three months before it reached hospitalization point.

Kosuke did not want to reach hospitalization point.

Obviously.

It made him want to hide away in the library even thinking about getting dragged to a hospital. But if he couldn’t magically confess in the next three months and let his hopeless love run its course, he’d end up there anyway, either because he was suffocating to death or because he went through with a surgery to remove the plant.

Surgery was controversial. It saved lives and continued to improve in safety in leaps and bounds. But it could lead to partial memory loss, muted feelings, or unstable emotions if the surgery wasn’t done right. Sometimes there was scarring to lung tissue or to the throat. And while most people didn’t regret having it done, Kosuke personally thought the idea of removing a whole chunk of what he felt was kind of horrifying. It was like his life was a text and someone decided to revise a key part of it by taking a knife to the pages.

People who had the surgery had a current eighty percent success rate provided it was done before late stage hanahaki. Of those who didn’t get the surgery, there was a thirty percent mortality rate due to inaction and/or inability to resolve emotions for one reason or another (a surprising number of cases involved people moving with no way to contact them). Sixty percent of that number confessed and recovered. Ten percent confessed and still died and why that happened was a greatly debated topic in both historic and modern texts.

Kosuke didn’t think he’d be among the ten percent to suffocate after confession. He didn’t have the black and white, stubborn thinking to clutch onto an emotion until it killed him when it was turned down. He was a lot more likely to just take what he was given and curl up somewhere to lick his wounds.

All said, he had a much better idea of where he stood—not great, because he had hanahaki because of feelings for someone he’d never managed to speak to and he was a shy person, but certainly a lot better than he could have been. The numbers and details soothed most of his immediate fears; it wasn’t an instant and quick death sentence.

He just had to make a plan from here…

He didn’t want surgery, so that really only left confessing. He wasn’t sure how to do that, but… It wasn’t like he didn’t see Emiko around campus. And he saw her at the café. He just… had to come up with a way to approach her. And confess.

Kosuke coughed faintly into his elbow. Yeah, that was going to be easier said than done. Back to square one.

o*O*o

No matter what else was going on in his life, Kosuke still had school. And school at the moment was a research paper that was fifty percent of his final grade in a class on Japanese artists. He’d gone with a local artist because it was rare that they looked at what was right under their noses, and of course, he was rapidly going overboard in researching. He didn’t need to read the artist’s personal journals or go painstakingly through his sketch book volumes, but the university had both in their collection along with a lot of the artist’s personal items and unsold artworks. How often did he get the opportunity to work with this much primary source material?

“You’ve started living in the library,” Minako said to him as Kosuke paged through a biography outlining Takamura Hiseki’s early artistic experience before he gained an apprenticeship with a glassworker. “Have you seen the sun in the last month?”

“I’ve seen the sun,” Kosuke said, not looking up. “I’m outside right now.”

“Because it’s your usual pining over an unobtainable woman day,” Minako said. “I heard that you fell asleep in the library last week.”

Kosuke flushed. He had. It was easy to lose track of time and he’d fallen asleep on a hanahaki book somewhere in the middle of trying to parse through dense medical terminology. He took a sip of coffee only to cough softly as it conflicted with the tickle in his throat. The flowers were still at a manageable level, but from the glance Minako sent him, he was starting to become obvious that something wasn’t quite right.

“Allergies still bothering you or do you have a cold?” she asked.

“I’m fine. You know how it is.”

“Right,” Minako said doubtfully.

Kosuke probably should tell his friends what was going on, but they’d just worry. He didn’t want to be a bother. They already spent more time than they needed to making sure he didn’t get lost in books forever.

Minako sighed. “So what’s got you glued to a book this time? Spill.”

“Takamura Hiseki.” Kosuke held up the book. “Born in Azumano and spent most of his artistic career here, though he studied abroad briefly. He’s mostly known for glasswork, but he worked with pen and ink, charcoal, and sometimes wood. There’s not as much interest in those things though since most of his drawings were done in planning his glasswork.”

“He’s your latest artist crush then,” Minako teased.

“He’s been dead for over fifty years,” Kosuke said with a roll of his eyes. Not that it made a difference. He’d fanboyed over artists from earlier time periods often enough that Minako just grinned at him. “But he’s interesting. I decided to look at a local artist for class, but I wasn’t expecting to find as much about him as I did. Do you know that the university has a room in their private collection dedicated to him? His friend donated most of Takamura’s belongings late in his life.”

“Takamura didn’t donate them himself?” Minako asked.

“No, he died fairly young actually.” From hanahaki, which was the only reason he’d come on Kosuke’s radar with all the binge reading on the disease lately. “I haven’t got permission yet to look at his journals firsthand, but one of his biographies broke down the last few years of his life. It was pretty skeptical of how accurate it was though. Takamura’s account of events apparently is at times fantastical, and the biographer wondered if he had a mental illness.” Kosuke absolutely had to read the primary source material to get his own impression.

Minako gave him a fond, if not completely exasperated look. “You don’t even need to look into half of what you’re doing for class, do you?”

“They want a research essay. I can’t get an accurate read on how much is author bias in biographies without looking closer at Takamura’s own writings,” he said.

“So yes, you’re going overboard again.”

“I remember you trying to reproduce a double-weaving technique for two months straight off of a single surviving cloth scrap, so you really can’t judge me here.”

Minako opened her mouth, then closed it with a pout. “I hate you.”

Kosuke grinned. His friends were all as strangely nerdy as he was. Although speaking of friends… “Where is Katsuma anyway?”

“Katsu-kun is trying to get a date,” Minako said with the despairing tone of someone who had to hear too much about Katsuma’s current crush. “It’s hopeless, but that’s Katsu-kun for you. He always falls for someone who’s way out of his league.”

Kosuke felt a twinge of heartache. He apparently was just the same. He coughed softly again as the flowers tickled his throat. Ugh, bitter taste. “Who is it this time, I don’t remember him saying.”

“You’ve had your head in a book too much,” Minako said without any heat. “It’s a girl from a different university. She’s a senior, Hikari something-or-other. Katsu-kun keeps going on about her looks so I’ve been tuning him out. Apparently she’s some kind of unobtainable ice queen type?”

“So his exact type,” Kosuke said, remembering some of the messes their freshman year.

“Yup. Be ready to go bar hopping tomorrow cheering him up. He’s definitely going to get rejected.”

Kosuke sighed. That meant all of them ending up with a hangover. And Katsuma embarrassing himself while Kosuke played damage control for his two friends. Across the street, right on time, Emiko walked out of the café, and Kosuke paused to watch her.

Her hair was up and she had a pretty sundress on, looking glamorous as ever. There was a man with her, just as handsome as she was lovely. Probably a date. Kosuke coughed again as his heart ached. Today wasn’t the day to try to talk to her either. When he tuned back in on Minako, she was looking at him with pity.

“Katsu-kun isn’t the only one with a thing for unobtainable women.”

Kosuke bit his lip and sunk lower in his chair.

“Not gonna say it isn’t a crush this time?”

“You both called it before I did,” he grumbled. “You don’t have a crush I can poke you back on do you?”

Minako grinned. “Eh, not yet. I have a pretty specific type.”

“What type is that?”

“The kind of lady that could bench press me.”

Kosuke sputtered a laugh, not expecting that in the least. There was the edge of nerves in Minako’s smile at admitting this, but she should know by now that he didn’t judge about those sorts of things. “Have you tried looking into any of the women at the girl’s college? They have athletics.”

The tiny bit of tension in Minako’s shoulders relaxed. “C’mon, when do I have time for something like that? Besides, I’m fine on my own. If something happens one day, it happens.” Her smile went soft. “Though if some girl ever literally sweeps me off my feet… that’d be nice.”

“I’m sure you’ll have better taste than Katsuma or me on ladies,” Kosuke said diplomatically.

“Hell yeah,” Minako said.

Kosuke laughed and leafed through his book again as comfortable understanding settled between them. There was evidence that Takamura had loved his close friend, the same one who had donated Takamura’s belongings after his death. The need to hide those emotions, unacceptable in their target, had been what killed Takamura in the end, though it wasn’t clear why he hadn’t just trusted his friend with the knowledge.

Kosuke tapped a paragraph that detailed Takamura’s private romantic thoughts compared to letters he’d written to his friend and hoped Minako could have better luck in life. There wasn’t a social stigma keeping Kosuke from confessing, just anxiety.

o*O*o

There was no way that this was accurate. Kosuke chewed the back on his pen as he cross referenced dates. Takamura’s diary showed that he contracted hanahaki shortly after his best friend and man he was in love with got married. And yet he’d died over three years later, which should be impossible. Medically speaking, he should have suffocated within a year at most, even if he had the mildest-tempered flower out there.

He’d had a bluebell growing though, which was a plant that spread, and came back, constant as its meaning. That wasn’t a plant that withered. It was a plant that grew just as well in the shade as in the sun.

The theories in biographies had it that Takamura tried experimental medicine to keep the flowers at bay, but if he did, it was something that was beating out modern medical practices because suppressants never got that kind of longevity out of them. Other theories were that Takamura originally hallucinated the flowers only to actually contract the disease later, or that he’d fallen in and out of love with several people, which was ridiculous because it wasn’t supported anywhere in his diary.

Based on the number of rough sketches that snuck into an otherwise work-related sketchbook of a kind-faced young man, Kosuke was sure Takamura had only loved the one friend.

He was missing something.

Kosuke sat back, books and notes scattered all across the table. Secondhand accounts and reproductions of the original materials weren’t enough. He needed to look at the actual source material. Besides, there were occasionally troubling sections of the diary where Kosuke could see why some of the biographers thought he was slowly losing sanity. Things like ‘the cost is worth it. Another day beside him is worth years I might have had without it,’ and ‘the poison is all I taste now, but my lungs pump on, the devil waiting for my last breath.’ It could be a descent into madness, or it could just be the rambles of a man facing his own mortality.

Kosuke gathered up his things. He’d have to hit up the campus conservationists to see if he could touch any of Takamura’s belongings.

The private collections were actually right off the library though, so it wasn’t a long trip to reach them. Kosuke rubbed his eyes. His friends were right that he needed more sleep, but this was interesting.

There was someone working in the collection room, more than one someone because there were voices.

“—one time. I swear you won’t regret it.”

“I’m flattered as always, but still not interested,” Emiko’s voice said.

Kosuke froze.

“Well, can’t blame me for trying,” the man in the other room said.

“Oh, but I really could,” Emiko said with the restrained sarcasm of a woman annoyed by someone that’s pushed one too many times.

The flowers in Kosuke’s chest felt like they were creeping up his throat. He swallowed convulsively. Not now, not in the middle of the library, he pleaded.

“Just finish your half of the project and we’re golden,” Emiko said, footsteps ringing out closer as she walked toward the door. “I will rat you out if you don’t do your fair share.”

“Aw, Emiko-chan, don’t be like that!”

“Jump in a lake, Ueda!” Kosuke stopped breathing as she stopped right in the doorway, attention inward and a scowl on her face. “I should replace all his pens with duds,” Emiko muttered under her breath. Then she stepped forward, casting an uninterested glance at Kosuke as she moved by him. She was so close he could smell her pretty, spicy perfume.

The whole back of Kosuke’s throat tasted bitter.

o*O*o

Kosuke paused on one of the doodles. It looked familiar. Actually, he’d seen one in an earlier journal… He snatched up a diary he’d been reading earlier. Yes, there was the same doodle, just with a slight difference in the middle, like the round design had been rotated a quarter turn. It had been out of place for the diary—Takamura had generally kept his writing journals for writing and his sketching ones for sketching. That was the only reason Kosuke remembered it. It was just as out of place in the sketch journal too though; the ink was a darker black than the rest of the page like it was added at a later date, and none of the other sketches so far had been anything beyond glasswork designs or the occasional nature study where Takamura had gained inspiration from things he saw on his walks. The doodle was abstract, almost geometric if not for the interlocking swirls around the center.

The more he looked at it, the more he had the niggling sensation that he’d seen that exact pattern before, and not in one of the journals.

Kosuke tapped the back of his pen against the table. Where? Where would he have seen it? A drawing? A photo? Maybe something from the exhibit with Takamura’s reconstructed study? He glanced at the brochure, paused. Oh, the desk. It had a pretty, decorative front panel in the center with drawers on either side. It wasn’t any bigger than Kosuke’s fist, but he remembered it looking vaguely like the doodle. He’d thought that the round design had been different though…

The biographies hadn’t found the doodles significant. Nor had the annotated sketchbooks. But… But there were two doodles, if not more…

Kosuke flipped through the diary for any more doodles, finding none, tried another. There. A third doodle… Almost identical to the others but yet another shift in the round central design. It was like… Kosuke paused, sitting up straight. It was like a combination lock. Rotate one direction, then the other, then back again, though what order or how far was difficult to tell based on the simplistic sketch.

Honestly, he should probably not be wasting time puzzling over something like this when it wouldn’t be anything to add to his essay, but it was interesting. And the idea that he’d noticed something that no one else might have filled Kosuke with a tiny thrill of excitement. He had to test this.

o*O*o

The sequence, once he sat down and worked it out had been simple. The desk was never meant to be difficult to open, just not obvious in its hiding spot. The order was sequential based off of when the journals were used. Kosuke pressed a gloved hand carefully on the carved wooden panel and turned the carving just the way the doodles showed. It moved far easier than he’d expect for a piece of wood that hadn’t been touched in decades, almost like it was just waiting to be used again.

When he tugged, a tiny compartment pulled out, perfectly sized and shaped to hold its contents, and probably why no one had realized it existed; it wouldn’t have sounded hollow.

A crystal bottle, tiny and filled with liquid tipped into his palm along with a piece of parchment, folded in on itself until it could be squeezed under the bottle. The vial was beautiful, a master work in glass. Kosuke examined how the light refracted along it before setting it down and unfolding the parchment with careful fingers. Thankfully it wasn’t brittle enough to crack even if it didn’t really want to unfold. On it in Takamura’s spiky handwriting it said:

I sold myself for a few more years with the one I love. May my price grant whoever finds this a few with their love as well.

Kosuke puzzled that, turned the parchment over, but there weren’t any more words. Kosuke could only assume it referred to Takamura’s hanahaki, but what price he paid and how it related to the compartment was less clear. Unless… Kosuke glanced at the bottle. Unless the bottle had something to do with how he’d vastly outlived the average life expectancy of untreated hanahaki. Unless this was the experimental substance that no one had ever been able to find.

What he should be doing was getting one of the staff and showing them what he learned.

What Kosuke did was pocket the vial, feeling like a thief—and wasn’t he one though? Wasn’t it theft to steal from university property?—and calmly walk out of the storage room.

If this was the suppressing factor for Takamura’s hanahaki, it could be revolutionary. Or at the very least it could buy Kosuke some much needed time.

o*O*o

Kosuke almost tried the vial immediately, only the last second realization that ingesting an unknown substance from a vial hidden in a desk drawer was kind of an idiotic thing to do made him pause and realize that this required testing. Testing that required another living thing, which was how Kosuke found himself at the park pond in the middle of the night catching frogs because he couldn’t bring himself to possibly hurt something that was cute or furry. Not that he didn’t feel horrifically guilty catching the frogs; frogs just had less expressive faces than tiny mice in pet shops that blinked wide, dark eyes at him and… Yeah, Kosuke felt kind of terrible about this.

But he also didn’t want to possibly kill himself, so experimentation it was. One of the frogs he’d caught glared balefully at him as he held the vial’s dropper above it, biting his lip unhappily. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled. “It shouldn’t kill you but I’m sorry if it does.” The frog squirmed as a drop landed on its skin, but nothing happened beyond him holding an angry, squirmy frog. “Oh thank goodness.” But what if it was poisonous if ingested? Or over time?

Kosuke eyed the bowl with foil and holes he’d stashed the frogs in and pulled out another, placing the first back in. After a few minutes of struggle he managed to get a drop in its mouth and other than angry frog croaking, there still wasn’t any, er, croaking happening. Only time would tell if it was just too soon to say.

He put the frog back in the bowl and sat on slightly muddy grass. When he decided to go to university, he never thought he’d one day end up catching frogs in the middle of the night because he had hanahaki and really hoped that a mystery bottle would help stave it off. He never thought he’d get hanahaki at all.

He looked at the vial. Even in the dark with only the moon for light, it was pretty. It almost seemed to glow, though he kind of hoped he was imagining that. This wasn’t the sort of thing he could talk to anyone about either. What was he supposed to tell his friends? That he stole a historical glasswork from the campus museum that no one knew existed that might also maybe kind of sort of be a magic stopgap for hanahaki? Yeah, that would go over just fine. He’d just wanted to pursue his interests, one of which was spending copious amounts of time reading about obscure things. Emotions like love happening never factored into it.

In the bowl, the frogs kept moving around unhappily. At least he hadn’t killed them. Yet. Oof, no that sounded like he wanted to kill them and he really didn’t. Kosuke sighed and reached for the bowl. Except there was a patch of water mint blooming right near it. If the vial did hold a substance that effected hanahaki… He pulled out the dropper again, letting a single drop of liquid fall onto one of the mint blossoms.

Instantly, the whole plant wilted and the flowers went dead.

“Oh.” Kosuke stoppered the bottle. “Shit.”

That was scarily effective. Not even weed killer worked that fast or effective.

He laughed nervously to himself, feeling his breath catch in his lungs on the plant growing there. Well. Well… If the frogs were alive tomorrow, he might test it on himself.

If that worked, he might just have time to think of a proper plan after all.

o*O*o

It tasted disgusting, bitter like his flower was bitter, but also sour and the faintest bit sweet the way rotting things could smell sweet along with the stench of rot. Kosuke grimaced and set the vial back down and waited, holed up in the privacy of his apartment with a bowl full of still-unhappy-yet-alive frogs. A second passed, two, and he could feel his chest ease, his breathing stop aching. It almost felt like before he had hanahaki at all.

He took a deep breath and relished how it didn’t catch at all, how no hint of a cough rattled in his chest. Oh. Maybe he’d been further along in the disease than he thought if one drop made that big of a difference. But he didn’t know how long it would last. Clearly not forever or Takamura wouldn’t have died from it, but it helped, made Kosuke feel better than he had in the last month at least.

He sent his fervent thanks to Takamura, wherever his spirit might be.

Minutes ticked on and he did not die and he kept breathing.

This, he reminded himself sternly, was a stop-gap measure. Not a cure. He still had to confess to Emiko.

It was so, so tempting to just… pretend. Go back to his usual life and throw himself wholeheartedly into working and studying and shove down any emotional issues like they didn’t exist. But doing that would get him killed. Kosuke sighed. Emiko had a birthday coming up so he could try again then. Just one more person in the crowd that had well-wishes and ulterior motives, he thought cynically.

It was no wonder no one caught Emiko’s attention. They were all trying so hard to one up each other, but had any of them actually taken any time to get to know her? Or were they all, himself included he supposed, just charmed by her appearance? Kosuke liked to think he wasn’t that shallow, but he didn’t know her well. He just knew that she cared about art like he did and that she was beautiful and that she was smart if her grades were anything to go by. He wanted to know more though. He didn’t want to snatch her up and have her on his arm like some sort of trophy. He wanted to ask her what she thought about what was considered art, or if she had a favorite artist, or what her thoughts were on the cultural revolution that had left hundreds of art pieces destroyed and culture lost or irrevocably changed for reasons he still couldn’t explain. He wanted to know if she liked research as much as he did or if she believed in restoring art rather than merely preserving it. What she thought about how museums could sustainably and ethically procure art pieces. If she liked history or if she cared more for physical art than where and when it came from…

Kosuke sighed.

For someone so popular, Emiko was a mystery. She was friendly and emotionally open about anything in the moment and completely closed about her family life or what she thought about the big things in life. She wanted to have a son, everyone knew that, but no one knew why.

Kosuke wanted to know her and it hurt to think about if he let himself. He didn’t let himself often.

What, he wondered, fingers playing with the glass stopper in the vial, would she think of the hidden artwork Kosuke found? That he should share it with the world or that it was okay that he was keeping it for his own personal gain for the moment?

That question, like all his questions, had no answer. One day he’d have to actually talk to her and find out.

o*O*o

Kosuke finished his paper on Takamura—above the page and reference count by far which hopefully wouldn’t get too much exasperation from his professor—and dove into finals while plotting how he was going to confess to Emiko. Using a flower as a gift felt a little too on the nose considering the situation, but he wasn’t sure what to give a woman who had nice things and the ability to buy herself far better jewelry or trinkets than Kosuke could afford. Not to mention that she’d receive nicer things from everyone else around her. He’d settled on a pretty bookmark as it was both practical and aesthetically appealing, but even practicing how he’d approach the gift and confession wasn’t going well when it was his own reflection he was talking to.

He didn’t really have much hope about getting it right.

The day came and Kosuke showed up outside one of her class buildings… and promptly got lost in the crowd of six other men there to get Emiko’s attention as well.

Well.

Kosuke watched her manage their enthusiasm and be simultaneously receptive and dismissive, listing reasons why she wasn’t interested in dating them but thanking them for their gift and attention, and he felt… not jealous, but perhaps a bit lost. It was another moment where she felt like she was on a different level than him.

He was so caught up in watching her handle it that he somehow missed the exact moment she managed to disengage from her admirers and sweep out the building. Kosuke was left standing with a gift hidden up his sleeve and a bunch of men comforting each other in their rejection.

“She hasn’t said yes to anyone once,” one said. “But there’s just something about an unobtainable woman…”

Unobtainable. Like she was a prize. Kosuke disliked that line of thinking. But she did feel unreachable. Emiko was as human as any of them but sometimes it didn’t feel that way with how confidently she confronted her world. They might as well be existing on different planes for all that Kosuke seemed to be able to bridge that gap.

What did it say about himself that he’d fallen for someone that he couldn’t even talk to? And yet he desperately wanted to.

Kosuke coughed, coughed again and had to duck into an unused classroom when it became a full blown attack. There were bits of stem mixed in with flower clumps, broad forked leaves. The bitter, bitter taste in his throat. Kosuke slid a cough drop in his mouth just to chase away the flavor with strong, numbing menthol. He was progressing more and more toward full flower stems and less toward scattered flower parts. His emotions hadn’t fully bloomed yet, but they were close.

He took a drop of the hanahaki suppressant. It didn’t remove the strain in his throat, but it let him breathe clearly. He didn’t know how often it was safe to use, but he’d slowly been needing it more, from once every several days to a little more than every other day, depending on the day. How many months would he last with it? How long until he started finding blood or fractured a rib? Soft-stem flowers had a longer threshold of time before they caused bleeding in the lungs. But because of that the coughing attacks could get worse before that point and hurt the body other ways.

There wasn’t much to do beyond keep moving forward.

o*O*o

Summer brought a few weeks of rest between semesters and a move to a new apartment; Kosuke’s old one had been slowly creeping out of his budget range. He needed a part time job to balance things, but he had too much going on in his life to have time for one.

Minako and Katsuma helped him move his things to his new smaller, and much sketchier apartment with the help of Kastsuma’s car. Kosuke pretended not to notice their concern when he was easily winded carrying boxes up one flight of stairs. Or how Minako narrowed her eyes at the couple of coughs he couldn’t suppress.

“Rest,” she pressed when Kosuke tried to start unpacking immediately. “You look like hell lately. Just take the break to actually recover, okay?”

“I’m fine,” Kosuke protested.

Katsuma smacked him on the back. “Sure you are. And there aren’t tanuki rings under your eyes. If I wasn’t going home to visit my family, I’d make sure you got some damn rest. Because I am going home you better call at least every other day to tell me how you managed to relax that day.”

“I’m not that bad,” Kosuke complained. Minako and Kastsuma had their own bad habits.

Minako patted Katsuma’s arm in a solidarity that annoyed Kosuke. “I’ll check in on him. I have more hours at work over break though so I can’t drag him to the beach or anything.”

“If he went to a beach he’d burn to a crisp. He doesn’t see enough sunlight.”

Kosuke rolled his eyes and let his friends help put away all of his belongings in the tiny space. He had a box leftover that couldn’t go anywhere and just sat in the corner.

“You need a job,” Minako said.

“I can’t rest if I’m working,” Kosuke pointed out snidely.

Katsuma cuffed him over the back of the head. “Don’t be an ass.”

Kosuke sighed. “How’s your girlfriend search going?”

Katsuma wrinkled his nose. “Yeah, you’re in a mood. For your information I’ve been exchanging letters with a girl. She likes kind of old fashioned courting. It’s going great.”

Now Kosuke felt like a jerk for trying to dig at Katsuma’s usual insecurity and because he hadn’t even known this was going on. Maybe they had a point that he was getting too caught up in his head.

“Are you visiting your family over the summer?” Minako asked Kosuke.

“No.” Katsuma was close to his family. Minako’s lived on the other side of Japan, too far to casually visit. Kosuke’s family… There had been a lot of absences growing up. There were reasons that books were a refuge. Going months without hearing from his parents or them from him was nothing new. If they ever suddenly took an interest in his life, he wouldn’t know what to do with it.

An awkward silence followed that.

“Well,” Minako said, “my parents are visiting next week. You’re welcome to go out to dinner with us. You know, to prove I can make friends in the big city and all.”

Kosuke smiled, a peace offering. “I’ll think about it.”

Katsuma, proving himself yet again as a good friend, announced they were getting food delivered and having a party to celebrate the new apartment despite it being the least celebratory environment possible.

Kosuke tried to keep in the moment with them for as long as they were there. He hadn’t been the best friend lately.

The move brought unexpected results. As in the fact that Kosuke suddenly found himself sharing a train stop with Emiko. Before they’d occasionally shared a train if they left campus at the same time, but now they lived in a neighborhood close enough that they used the same stop to get to the campus as well as get home. And Kosuke was aware of every meter between them and how Emiko looked radiant in a sun dress.

The universe sure did like to laugh at each new way Kosuke tied himself into knots over things.

o*O*o

It was somewhere between torture and comfort to see Emiko on the train so often. Kosuke could tell when she was having a good or bad day based on how she was dressed, the state of her hair, and how large of a travel mug she had at any given time.

It was probably creepy that he knew that.

There was a bell-curve to how she presented herself. On the days she was at her best and the days she was at her worst, seemed to be the times she was perfectly dressed. Like making herself that much more beautiful was both a pleasure and also a shield.

Kosuke liked the days where she was a bit less made up, where her hair was a bit flyaway and she would read on the way to their stop. She looked comfortable, and more than that, she looked human instead of unreachable. He was never telling her that though.

As the summer ended and they moved back into the next semester, Kosuke found himself orbiting her from a distance, part of the background of her life, but never quite part of it no matter how many times they almost brushed paths or coexisted in space. There were men who came and went around her, and a few bright-faced female friends in her life. There was an older man with graying red hair that sometimes accompanied her who might have been a relative or her father. There were several not-quite-dates he saw occurring in glimpses as he was moving through campus that were more likely Emiko grilling want-to-be beaus on their family history.

There was an invisible line between them that Kosuke was slowly feeling resigned to never cross. Emiko, on the whole, was happy, and he was glad for that. She didn’t need anyone in her life for all that she seemed intent to find someone. As always, he wondered why because she was an independent and driven person. And yet motherhood was one of her main life goals.

Kosuke mentally slapped the judgmental side of himself because, well, who could judge when they didn’t know the motivations? And what was wrong with wanting to be a parent? Even he could admit that it would be nice to have a child someday. To holding a small being and knowing that some part of them came from you. That they were so tiny and new and would one day be as much of a person as any other, living and thinking and dreaming. It was awe inspiring, humbling and terrifying in equal measure.

If he got the nerve, perhaps that would be what he said to her first. Not a confession, but a question. That need to understand outstripped the part of him that said getting a cure to his disease was the bigger priority.

But Kosuke still couldn’t do it, and time dragged on, routine turning into stagnation, and inaction making the task grow from something intimidating to something that felt impossible.

Kosuke knew he was making things complicated and it was all in his head, but that was the problem, wasn’t it? He wouldn’t have hanahaki in the first place if his mind and heart didn’t work a certain way.

o*O*o

“This,” a familiar voice said, “is an intervention.”

“Eh?” Kosuke stifled a cough behind his cold mask, looking up to find Minako and Katsuma standing grim-faced in front of him. It was Katsuma who’d spoken. Minako had somehow confiscated half the library books he’d had strewn about the table without him even noticing either of them there. Kosuke blinked and sat back. “An intervention for what? I haven’t even been in the library tw—” He glanced at his watch. “Three hours yet.” It was a weekend day, and normally the only time his friends dragged him away was when he’d spent multiple weekends holed up. But he’d gone out with them the night before. And he’d made a point of arranging brunch on Sunday to try to be less antisocial than he had been lately.

Minako and Katsuma exchanged inscrutable looks. Katsuma set both palms on the table before Kosuke. “We’re your friends,” Katsuma said. “And as your friends, we’ve been trying to give you space and time to talk to us. But there’s only so long we can wait for you. Kosuke, how long have you had that cough?”

As if on cue, Kosuke had to stifle another small cough. “Um. For a while. On and off.”

“Months,” Minako said. “It’s been months. It got a little better, but it never went away. That’s not a cold. Colds don’t last over six months.”

“Maybe I just keep getting sick,” Kosuke said with the sinking feeling that he should have had a cover story ready. It hadn’t occurred to him that anyone would bring the coughing up, which in retrospect was kind of stupid. Especially when he had friends who cared enough to go out of their way to drag him out to get fresh air and sunlight on the regular.

“You’d have a week here and there being better if that was the case,” Minako said.

“Instead,” Katsuma said, “it’s been getting worse.” He reached out and tapped Kosuke’s mask. Kosuke leaned away. “You weren’t wearing that before. You stopped even noticing when you were coughing so you put that on to stop coughing over everything, right?”

Kosuke felt a bit trapped even though theoretically he could push his chair away from the table and walk away if he wanted to. “I have a cold.” He had actually had a very mild cold, the sniffles making his hanahaki cough worse, but it had only lasted him a few days. He’d kept the mask because his throat never recovered even if the rest of him had.

“Have you seen a doctor yet?” Katsuma asked seriously.

“I…” He hadn’t. Between knowing what they’d tell him about his hanahaki and being a little scared to find out if the magic vial of suppressant was harming the rest of his body he hadn’t exactly been diligent on keeping up with his usual health screenings.

“Well you’re going to.” Minako and Katsuma both put a hand on his shoulder. “We don’t want you to end up in a hospital.”

“I can’t,” Kosuke said uncomfortably.

“You can. It doesn’t take that much time, it doesn’t cost much money, and it’s not worth ignoring your health.” Katsuma was very emphatic and Kosuke remembered with a jolt that his grandmother had gotten pneumonia once and almost died because she hadn’t wanted to inconvenience anyone to the point that she hadn’t sought help. “Please.”

Kosuke should just tell them everything. Except that might make them worry more. Hanahaki could be as fatal as a bad cold or influenza if left untreated too long.

“I’m doing what I can,” he said finally. “I know what it is and I’m keeping track of it.”

Katsuma frowned. At his side, Minako chewed her lip, worry radiating from her.

Kosuke sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. “Just… a little more time? Please? I promise I’m not going to end up in a hospital tomorrow.”

Katsuma shook his head. “That’s not good enough, Kosuke.”

Crap. Kosuke felt genuinely guilty now. Even more when he glanced at Minako’s stony expression. They weren’t going to let this go today. “…It’s hanahaki,” he finally muttered. “Not a cold.”

Both his friends stared. “Wait, what?” Minako said. “Seriously?”

Kosuke’s cheeks burned. “Yes, seriously.”

“But for months? And you’re not coughing up blood by this point?” She froze. “You’re not coughing up blood are you?”

“No!” If he reached that point Kosuke would have to get the surgery. He wasn’t going to let himself die from this, but he was going to try to gain the courage to talk to Emiko right until he had no other choice.

“How?”

“It’s…” Most people would be coughing blood by this point or at least have coughing fits bad enough to land them in a hospital. He was just at the point where it was hard to hide that he was coughing frequently. All the tea and honey in the world couldn’t soothe the constant throat irritation at this point. “Hanahaki progresses differently for everyone. Mine’s just… slow.”

“Oh shit, it’s Niwa isn’t it?” Katsuma groaned. “Why didn’t that even occur to me?”

“…Maybe because hanahaki isn’t that common?” Only about twenty-some percent of the population was susceptible. Or perhaps only twenty percent ever ran into the specific requirements to get it; there wasn’t enough research done on the topic yet but there were strides being made to look into the possibility of genetic correlations for susceptibility but that was still in the early stages.

“Shut up, Kosuke, you’ve been mooning over her for ages, it should have been obvious. Damn.”

“I didn’t notice either,” Minako pointed out. “So… how serious is it then? If you’ve spent over six months…”

“Um.” Kosuke fidgeted with his mask.

“You didn’t ask a doctor about this either did you,” she said with a sigh.

“I did my own research,” he defended. “I haven’t reached any of the chronic markers yet. I’m still in the middle stages.”

“That being?”

“Still mostly parts coughed up, the rare full flower stem. …progressively more frequent cough and throat irritation…”

Minako sighed. “So, what are you going to do about it?”

Kosuke blushed. “I’ve. Um.” He sunk in his seat as both his friends fixed full attention on him. “I keep trying to confess and ending up awkwardly standing in the background.”

Katsuma looked somewhere between resigned and amused. Minako didn’t even bother to hide the twitch of a smile on her lips. “Well at least you’ve been trying.”

“I don’t want to be coughing flowers forever,” Kosuke said, a little annoyed that they both apparently thought he wouldn’t have even tried to confess. Then again, they’d been watching him watch Emiko leave a café once a week for almost a year. So. Yeah. Kosuke buried his face in his hands, coughing slightly. “Please don’t try to intervene.”

“Well maybe it’ll go better with help,” Minako said.

“The problem isn’t an opportunity, the problem is me.”

“So we back you up,” Katsuma said. “Try to help you both end up together alone or literally run into each other or something.”

“Because knocking her to the ground would be a great first impression,” Kosuke mumbled. “She doesn’t even realize I exist.”

“So you have to get her to realize,” Katsuma said realistically. “Try to catch her eye and smile. Wave. Offer to walk her to class.”

“Don’t walk her to class without asking, that’d just be creepy,” Minako said.

“I know!” Kosuke was already starting to regret telling them. “…we ride the same train.”

“Really?” Minako said. “Hmm… Find a way to stand closer? So maybe she picks up on you subconsciously first before you take a step to get her to actually notice you?”

Kosuke thought that if she was going to notice him subconsciously, it would have happened by now. Between having that once class together and then passing by on the same campus and campus adjacent businesses, and now the same train. But sure. Stand within sight range on the regular on the train. Never mind that Kosuke wasn’t sure if he could name three people he regularly rode the train with besides Emiko.

“The problem,” Katsuma said, “is that you chose a girl used to getting looked at by random men. And talked to. And given gifts by. And—”

“I know!” Did they think he hadn’t thought about all of this at one point or another?! He’d had months! “I know I don’t stand out enough!”

“So,” Minako said after a moment, “what are you hoping to happen? Once you confess?”

“That she turns me down lightly without somehow knowing my whole family history?” Kosuke said.

“Not that she might like you back?” Katsuma asked.

Kosuke rolled his eyes. “It’s Niwa Emiko. Who doesn’t know I exist even though we sat three seats away in the same class a year ago. I can be realistic in my expectations. Besides.” Kosuke tugged at the mask self-consciously. “I don’t expect anyone to like me just because I like them. That’s not how any of that works. Ideally I’d get to talk to her and ask her about some things I’m curious about but. I’m someone whose idea of fun is researching obscure topics and whose idea of a romantic gesture is a flower and a ribbon. That’s… not really the sort of person she seems to be interested in.”

“I dunno, she seems to be interested in a guy who’ll give her a son and is into girls who’re extremely forward,” Minako said bluntly. “You’re one of those things. Now if she asked you if you’d father her child…”

Kosuke went scarlet and sputtered.

Katsuma and Minako laughed at him.

“Why are we friends again?” Kosuke asked into his hands.

“Because we’re all nerds and we find your shut-in nature endearing,” Katsuma said slinging an arm around Kosuke’s shoulders. “But seriously, go see a doctor soon. I know you’re not too bad yet and your research skills are top notch, but you’re also not a medical professional by any stretch of the imagination.”

“…fine.”

“He conceded!” Minako cheered. “Good enough! Now you have one more hour with your books before we go for a walk. Spending this much time indoors is bad for you.”

“You both spend hours indoors too!”

“And we’re all going on that walk because we also need it,” Minako said. “Work fast.”

Kosuke swore at them both and dove for his notes. He only slightly dreaded the kind of plans and awkward conversations that were sure to follow telling them the truth.

o*O*o

He did, honestly, mean to go to a doctor. But life got complicated again with more school projects and taking odd shifts as a convenience store clerk for money and trying to follow Minako and Katsuma’s newest schemes to get him to talk to Emiko.

None of which worked, to no one’s surprise. Kosuke had walked into a wall, tripped over his own feet, and stood paralyzed off to the side as Emiko walked by more times than he can count. He’d visited Emiko’s café once instead of his preferred one across the street. He’d walked away dozens of other times because he truly hated how stressed it all was making him and wondered how he could simultaneously start to dread seeing someone and still want to make sure Emiko was doing well from afar.

“This isn’t working,” Kosuke sighed around Christmastime, as the number of couples tripled and suddenly everyone was being overly romantic.

Katsuma, who had recently just started dating a girl from his literature class (who had apparently been the pen pal), patted his shoulder sympathetically. Although a lot less sympathetically than a few months ago. “You know it really is easier if you’re going into it expecting to be rejected.” He’d know at this point with how his crushes had come and gone.

“I don’t know why this is so hard,” Kosuke said. Or why he couldn’t just be brave and march up and say something. He really didn’t expect anything from Emiko.

“It’s probably you overthinking,” Katsuma said, tapping Kosuke between his eyebrows. He gave a smirk. “I still think you should get drunk and then go confess. That’s probably the only way that you’re going to overcome that knee-jerk reaction of yours.”

“I’d die of embarrassment later.” Also, drunk Kosuke wasn’t actually any more forward than he was when he was sober. He just got more impulsive and tended to info-dump on anyone near him about whatever his latest interest was. He was, in Minako’s opinion, ‘one of the least fun drunks ever’.

“Yeah, but it’d be done,” Katsuma said. “Think about it. You only have so much time, you know?”

“Hmm.”

The hanahaki had plateau’d for the moment. He had a persistent cough that brought up bits of flowers all the time now, and rarer bad fits that left stems in his hands and a bitter taste that no amount of toothpaste could scrub away. He only used one drop from the vial a day but the benefit from it was lasting less and less each day. Soon he might have to use it every sixteen hours instead of every twenty four.

“Are you going home for New Year’s?” Katsuma asked, kindly changing the topic.

It wasn’t a much more enjoyable one to think of really. Kosuke pursed his lips. “I suppose I should.” Even his parents were home at New Year’s. Neither of them had talked in months.

“Yeah?” Katsuma said, surprised.

Kosuke shrugged. “I should try, right? To talk to them once a year at least?”

There was sadness in how Katsuma looked at him. He’d been invited to both his friend’s homes before and yet… Sometimes Kosuke wondered what it would be like to have a family. A real one that marked milestones and celebrated birthdays and showed support. He hoped that if he ever ended up a parent he’d do better than his had.

“You don’t have to go,” Katsuma pointed out.

“Mm.” Didn’t he though? They were supporting most of his university expenses. Why, though, did people have children if they had no interest in knowing who they were or spending time with them? Just to have someone to pass a name along to? Because they felt they were supposed to? (Why did Emiko want a child so badly…?) Kosuke gave himself a mental shake. There was no use in dwelling on any of it. It didn’t change what was. Though, some tiny part of him thought, it would be kind of funny to marry into another family. Then he wouldn’t even have a name to pass down from his parents, could be the one to walk away from them rather than the other way around.

o*O*o

New Year’s was quiet. Kosuke thought that perhaps this time they’d find something to say to each other. That he’d talk about his research and school with or without his parents’ interaction like he did as a child. Instead there were mechanical, stilted semblances of polite small-talk and long, uninterrupted silences that made Kosuke want to run to his childhood bedroom and bury himself in the books that had been his solace. Instead he endured, looking at the art on the walls of his family home and remembered a time that his parents did talk and they’d gone to museums and they’d instilled that little spark of interest in art that had grown. It must have died in them at some point, leaving Kosuke with a flame he had initially nurtured thinking it could be shared.

The whole experience was like taking a bite of something and finding it tasted like ash.

Neither his mother nor his father said anything about his cough.

Not for the first time, he accepted that his friends were better family than his actual family. At the first trip to the temple, he prayed for their happiness, not his own. He hoped he could be better in showing that he cared. If he modeled what he’d wanted to see from his actual family toward them… maybe. Maybe.

It was a cold, quiet New Year, but Kosuke knew warmth.

o*O*o

The first time he coughed and felt his breath go wet he had a sinking feeling in his gut. Ah, he thought as he saw the first flecks of blood speckle his handkerchief. Ah.

It was Valentine’s Day and there were dozens of men hoping Emiko would give them confession chocolate, or at the very least, obligation chocolate. There was more than one man who offered her chocolate, gender roles be damned.

Watching it all, his chest had grown tight and he’d had a coughing fit, one bad enough that Katsuma had pulled him aside.

And Kosuke could just stare down at the results with a numb feeling in his chest and pain in his throat.

“Kosuke?” Katsuma said, worried. He glanced at the three flower stems littering the secluded hall floor with bits of purple flowers and leaves. He didn’t see the blood. He didn’t know that the taste in Kosuke’s mouth was bittersweet with how the tang of blood mingled with bitter herbal astringency. “Are you—”

“I’m fine,” Kosuke said, tucking his handkerchief in his pocket. He dredged up a sheepish smile. “I just wasn’t expecting how hard watching everyone fall over her would hit this year,” he said. Christmas had been bad enough, but Christmas was more for established lovers. Valentine’s Day was for confessions and new love. He breathed, never too deeply to aggravate his chest and throat. Shallow breaths kept the feeling from catching as much, held back another coughing fit. He’d have to start wearing a mask again. That was fine. Between cold season and the fact that this was the time of year hanahaki showed up most, if it showed up at all, no one would think twice about it. Well, no one but his friends.

Mentally he calculated that he’d have to start using the drops twice a day. Mentally, he knew he had to at least consult a doctor and make plans. Mentally, he knew he’d give himself until White’s Day to actually make plans. Time was running down. He’d just entered late stage. Even that extra month was a stupid thing to draw out.

Katsuma touched his wrist in concern. “Want to walk around? I know we planned a whole confession out but…”

“Please,” Kosuke said.

Katsuma didn’t even joke as they walked away. Maybe Kosuke wasn’t really hiding anything from him after all.

o*O*o

He must still not have looked like himself a few days later because Katsuma pulled him aside. “Hey, remember that artist you were obsessed with last semester?”

“Takamura, who I did a research paper on?” Kosuke said.

“Yeah, that guy.” Katsuma smiled though it looked a little forced. “I was at the public library downtown and it turns out they have some of his art there too. I thought you might be interested since, y’know.”

Oh, Kosuke must really look back because Katsuma is encouraging him to set foot in a place surrounded by books and art he hadn’t got his hands on yet. Kosuke gave him a tiny smile, feeling both guilty and grateful. “That’s cool. Do you know anything about how they got it?”

“Uh.” Katsuma shrugged. “I think it was donated? Probably? I just saw a case with the name, and you’d been talking about him a lot, so…”

Kosuke smiled a bit wider. “Thanks for telling me. Although… what were you doing in the public library?” Kastsuma only used the school one when he had to.

“It was a stop on my date,” Katsuma mumbled, going pink-faced. “Um, Hana likes books and uh, I might be growing to like them more.” He scowled when Kosuke just kept smiling wider. “Fiction. I am not interested in any of your dense history and biographies. Just. Maybe literature isn’t so bad.”

“Thinking of changing majors?”

“Hell no. One of us has to get a degree that will actually get us a job. Business is useful.”

“Well you always have your family business if nothing else.”

“Exactly. And I need to have something steady if Hana becomes an author like she wants to be. That’s not a guaranteed paycheck every month.”

Kosuke blinked. “It’s that serious?”

Katsuma opened his mouth, closed it, face getting redder by the second. “I… maybe. I think I want it to be? I know it’s still early but…”

Kosuke pushed his shock aside. “No. No, you’ve been writing for months. You probably know each other pretty well.”

“Yeah.” Katsuma smiled shyly. “Yeah, I think we do.”

It shouldn’t be a surprise for one of his friends to have a serious relationship but it was. That was the way the world worked, right? People met and fell in love and got married. They planned a future together.

And there was Emiko looking straight to the future of a child without even having a boyfriend in the picture yet.

Kosuke felt a bit like he was falling behind, or maybe not taking things seriously enough. If she asked him the question she asked everyone else… He blushed.

Katsuma elbowed him with a knowing look. Kosuke rolled his eyes and elbowed back. He was fine. They were fine. It would all turn out fine. Somehow. He coughed lightly into his fist and pointedly didn’t notice the worried glance Katsuma sent him. Just fine.

o*O*o

Kosuke had set foot in the public library several times—it was a library, of course he had—but generally he’d gravitated toward the vast research-oriented collections of the university library to the local library’s less specialized collections. Still, it was nostalgic to walk through shelves and see children sitting at tables with picture books or mouthing words as they learned their kana and kanji. Libraries were homey to him in a way that his actual home wasn’t.

The collection Katsuma mentioned was at the back of the nonfiction section near local history books, just a cabinet attached to the wall with thick, shatterproof glass to protect its contents and a little plaque next to it. Kosuke was surprised Katsuma even saw it considering it was so tucked away.

“Glasswork by Takamura Hiseki, generously donated by the Amari family,” Kosuke read. “Items were gifted to the Amari family and Amari Jun in particular by Takamura, evidence of their close friendship.” ‘Close friendship’ was one way of putting it, he thought wryly. All the glasswork was smaller items, all beautiful, but two pieces made his breath catch in his aching chest. One was a bluebell, a perfect glass representation of the same flower that had killed Takamura as he stifled his love. The other… The other was almost a perfect double to the vial in Kosuke’s pocket. It was slightly different, just a bit less polished and the edges cut a bit less cleanly like it had been a prototype to the one he’d found in the hidden compartment, but it could only be its match.

What on earth had gone through Takamura’s mind when he gave Amari those items? What had Amari thought, later, when Takamura died and his hanahaki was exposed?

“There’s supposed to be a match to that,” a young voice said by Kosuke’s shoulder.

Kosuke jumped. A young teenage boy with over-large glasses looked at the same vial Kosuke had been looking at.

“They never found it though,” the boy continued, turning his gaze from the case to Kosuke.

Kosuke could practically feel the vial in his pocket burning against his leg in guilt. “T-They?” he asked.

The boy smiled. It wasn’t a nice smile, was probably the fakest smile Kosuke had ever seen. “Amari’s family. Takamura Hiseki and Amari Jun had matching vials, but Takamura’s was missing at his burial. It’s a pity,” he said looking back at the case. “It’s always sad when there’s only half of a set.”

Kosuke didn’t know how to answer that. Actually, he wondered how the boy knew any of that at all because it hadn’t been in the books Kosuke read. “They must have been really close,” Kosuke said after a moment, “if Takamura made them matching pieces.”

The boy snorted. “Were they by the end? At that point, was it love, selfishness, or cowardice?”

Kosuke really didn’t know how to respond to that, but thankfully the boy didn’t expect him to. He turned and walked away, leaving Kosuke far more unsettled than a child should be able to do. The words resonated though. Was it love, to pine away for someone and die slowly? Or was it just an unhealthy obsession? Takamura had hidden his illness for years. Was it because he was afraid of losing his friend or because he was afraid of hurting him with the knowledge? His diaries had been vague, circling around logic for so much of it. Maybe Takamura hadn’t even known his own reasoning by the end.

Maybe Kosuke was no better. At any rate, true, healthy love couldn’t be one-sided. And it couldn’t start with emotions hidden either.

He looked at the glasswork for a long time, thoughts whirling, indecisive.

When he left, he called the number of a local clinic. White Day would be the last attempt. If he couldn’t confess then, he’d get a consultation about having hanahaki surgery. It wouldn’t be like Takamura dying, leaving his friend shocked and grieving if Kosuke let things continue. Emiko didn’t know him. She wouldn’t care. But he did have friends who would be hurt, and Kosuke didn’t want to give up living just because he couldn’t stop feeling for a woman who didn’t know he existed.

He felt steadier after making the decision. All those months of running himself ragged over it, the choice was made.

Kosuke gripped the vial in his pocket. A bit longer. He’d endure a bit longer. But then he’d let go because it wasn’t healthy to keep doing what he’d been doing.

o*O*o

The ribbon was a tiny weight and pressure in Kosuke’s pocket. In fact, compared to the vial in the other one it should have been unnoticeable. Instead it was all Kosuke could focus on, like it was a highly volatile material instead of smooth silk.

As luck would have it, he’d had an exam on White Day and hadn’t been able to approach Emiko before it because her class (from what he heard; he hadn’t made a point to know where she was at all times, thank you that would be creepy) had happened to be on the exact opposite side of campus. Kosuke was dreading the exam results because it had definitely not been his best showing.

It took a little doing to figure out where Emiko was, and once he found her it was blatantly obvious. There were two different people currently giving her gifts and confessions and getting a few questions before being shot down. Usually Emiko seemed to enjoy the attention, but today she looked like she’d rather be at home than listening to another man try to win her heart. It kind of made Kosuke want to back out because he would hate to stress her more, but this was his self-imposed deadline. He had to do this. When the two men finally backed off, Kosuke took a step forward. Then another, and another until he was only a couple meters away.

And she turned and walked a different direction without noticing him at all.

“Emi—ko…” His voice trailed off, not loud enough for her to have heard.

Right. His hands clenched, sweaty and shaking. Right. Maybe he just wasn’t meant to talk to her.

Kosuke ran a hand through his hair. “Right.” There were flowers crowding his throat and he took a few quick steps to round the nearest building and cough them up with some amount of privacy. Three stems and the bittersweet blood and herb flavor on his tongue. He wiped his mouth. It was so frustrating. Why couldn’t he just do something as simple as walk up to a girl and talk?! The heel of his palms pressed against his eyes for a moment. “It’s fine. It doesn’t matter now. You’re going to be letting it all go in a few days anyway.”

It wasn’t fine.

Still, he dragged himself out of the shadows and back toward his last class, and from there to the train station. He couldn’t remember anything that happened in that class at all. In fact he barely remembered the walk to the station until he heard a familiar voice.

Emiko and some of her admirers, one of them one of the men from earlier. He started to look away but—“Hey! Stop pushing!!” Emiko said above the sound of an oncoming train. They were so close to the edge and—!

Kosuke didn’t even think about it, just shoved through bodies and dove for her as Emiko lost her footing. His hand caught her elbow and yanked her back against his chest as brakes shrieked as the train pulled into the station. A pillar smacked against his back and Emiko’s weight crushed the air from his chest. He struggled not to cough, back aching.

“Owww…” He may have hit his head too. In his arms Emiko jolted, pulling away. “Hey, it’s—”

“I’m so sorry!” she said, and of all the ways to finally meet, Kosuke thought wryly, this was not how he pictured it.

“I’m just glad I caught you,” he murmured. She could have been a smear along the track, he thought with a lurch in his gut. Thank goodness she was fiiii— “Your ankle! You got hurt!” Oh no, he made her bleed. He hadn’t even managed a rescue properly.

“It’s fine,” she said, one hand fluttering over the injury. “I’ll just tie it up, I’m sure I have a handkerchief.”

“I have one,” he offered immediately, digging into his pocket. “Use this!” He thrust it forward and Emiko’s eyes caught on it.

“Ah!” Her hand caught his. “The ribbon!”

“Oh no.” Kosuke felt his face burst into flame as he realized he’d not only pulled out the White Day gift with his handkerchief, but somehow Emiko recognized it. “Oh no no no.”

“It’s you!” Emiko said with something like joy in her voice. “You’re the one who left the ribbon last year! I wondered.”

Kosuke relinquished both items into her hands so he could bury his face in his own. “Ahhhh, that was not how I was supposed to do that…”

“So it was for me again?” Emiko asked.

When he risked a glance up, she was looking at the ribbon with a soft smile. “Yeah it, um, it is.”

“Why didn’t you give it to me earlier?”

How was he supposed to say that he’d been too nervous to walk up to her for over a year? That it was a miracle he’d given her the ribbon last time in the first place? “I was… waiting for the right time,” he mumbled.

She didn’t seem put out by that, if anything she smiled a bit more. “Well I guess now was the right time,” she teased. She tied Kosuke’s handkerchief around her ankle and Kosuke helped her stand up, letting her tug him over to a bench. The men that started all of this were somehow long gone of course. Emiko’s touch lingered on his fingertips and Kosuke found his hand getting sweaty again.

If Kosuke thought he loved her from afar, actually having a conversation was killing him. A bit literally actually; his chest was feeling very tight. He opened his mouth to confess—because that was kind of the whole point but what came out instead was, “I wanted to ask… why do you want to have a son?”

Emiko gave him a shocked look, like no one had ever asked her that, though he couldn’t believe no one had bothered. It was kind of an integral piece of understanding her.

“Since I was little it’s always been my dream to have a son,” Emiko said, warm and introspective. “I wanted to be the mother of the legendary phantom thief!”

Kosuke didn’t know what she meant by that exactly, or why it held significance to her, but he could tell that she truly felt strongly about it. That she was baring a piece of herself to him in a show of trust to a perfect stranger and that meant so much that his chest ached. He bit his lip.

Emiko looked up at him with a warm smile on her face. “So, are you someone who’d be willing to help me with that dream?”

Kosuke choked and ended up coughing after all, bad enough that Emiko touched his shoulder with concern. He wiped his mouth, damp petals hidden in his hand and just looked at her for a beat because he was actually here, talking to her. She was listening and waiting for him to speak. “I. One day, if you’d care to have me,” he choked out hoarsely. “If you like me, but I know you don’t know me, but I’d like it if you did know me, I mean I’d like to know you but only if you’d like to that is to say—!”

Emiko burst into giggles. “Is that a yes?” she asked, grinning.

Kosuke was going to die of embarrassment before he died from suffocation. “Yes,” he squeaked. “I’d like to have a family with you.”

And there was something in how he said that that she liked because she gave him the most genuine smile he’d seen her give anyone, and he’d been watching her from afar for a year. (Oh no, was he going to have to admit he’d been watching her for a year???) “I think I’d like to get to know you then,” Emiko said. “Although I think we should start with a name…?”

Oh no, he hadn’t even given his name. Kosuke was a wreck. “It’s Kosuke.”

And for the next few minutes they exchanged questions and Emiko learned he was the only son with distant parents, that he didn’t have much family at all, but that he had an unmarried uncle on his father’s side. He learned that she only had her father, but that they were very close and her mother died when she was young. She learned that he liked books and art history, he learned that her family had an art collection and she was learning conservation to take care of it properly. He learned that it was so much better to see her expressions up close and that he had never felt a rush quite the same as when she directed all of her attention his way.

Kosuke didn’t talk to people easily but somehow she coaxed words out of him and had him asking questions back, soaking in knowledge about her the same way he soaked in information about his research. If it wasn’t for the persistent tickle in his throat and the bitter taste in his mouth, he’d have forgotten what he needed to do.

Even with everything he almost let it slide again when Emiko glanced up and noticed the time.

“Oh! I have to get home!”

Another train would be arriving any minute too. “Um, Emiko-san.”

“You can just call me Emiko,” she said, not for the first time.

He really wasn’t ready to call her anything to her face without an honorific. “Emiko-san, I need to say. That is. I’d like to get to know you.” Close but not quite. “I like listening to you.” Still not there. “I l-like. I mean, you, I like—”

“You like me,” Emiko said, taking pity on him.

“Yes.” Thank goodness one of them could be direct. “I like…I like you.”

“I kind of figured,” she said, smiling fondly in a way that was way more intimate than one conversation merited.

“Do you…?”

Emiko hummed and tilted her head. “I don’t know yet.” Her smile grew wider. “But,” she said dragging out the word, “I’d be interested in finding out. I guess that just means you’ll have to take me out on a date, hmm?”

Kosuke breathed and felt like he could take a fuller breath all of a sudden. “Yes. Yeah, sure, I’ll take you on as many dates as you’ll let me.” He’d pull out full stop romance if she wanted. Flowers and candle-lit dinners and watching sunsets and sharing umbrellas in the rain.

Emiko laughed happily. He wanted to hear that sound forever. “You know,” she said after a moment, “I’ve seen you around before, but you always looked busy.”

She’d noticed him? Kosuke blinked. “I… really like reading.”

“You’ll have to show me some of your favorite books then. I’ll show you some of mine.”

Kosuke was definitely in love. There was no turning back now. Head over heels. It was only going to get deeper because now he knew what it felt like to have her smile at him and mean it. To hear her talk about things she liked and how her hand felt in his own. “Anytime.”

o*O*o

“So, what, you’re dating now?” Minako asked, stirring sugar into her coffee at the usual café.

“I think?” The word ‘dating’ hadn’t been used, but they’d met once for lunch and made plans to do so again. Kosuke’s heart beat fast thinking about it. But since White Day, he’d been breathing easier bit by bit, no more drops from the vial needed. It almost didn’t feel real.

“Well, congrats,” Katsuma said with a grin. “I told you that you could do it.”

“You said I could manage to confess, not that I could get a date with her,” Kosuke pointed out.

“Details,” Katsuma scoffed. “What’s she like?”

Kosuke tried to capture Emiko in words in his mind and kept coming up short. “Bright.” Her smile shone and she was very smart. She was also a bit strange, having some weird interests and he still was trying to parse out the whole thing with a phantom thief, but that was fine. Kosuke looked forward to getting to know her well enough to understand. And they’d talked about art and books and… She made him actually want to be sappily romantic.

“I think we’ve lost him,” Minako teased. “Just one word, lover-boy?”

“She’s…” Kosuke moved his hands helplessly to mean something bigger than he could describe. “I could talk to her for hours. Or listen to her talk.”

“Someone that actually makes you want to talk is good,” Minako said. “I’m glad.”

“If you’re ever up for a double date,” Katsuma said with a wink, “Hana and I are game.”

“I think I’ll stick to single dates until I’m sure we’re actually dating,” Kosuke said.

“And speaking of your girlfriend,” Minako said, nodding at across the street.

Kosuke turned so fast he almost fell out of his seat to see Emiko exit the other café like usual. Only unlike all the other times, her eyes met his across the space and she gave a smile and a wave. Kosuke’s face went red as he waved meekly back.

“You know,” Katsuma mused aloud as Emiko started to cross the street in their direction, “she always asks the same question when someone confesses, so does that mean our shy little Kosuke said yes?”

Kosuke’s face was almost as red as Emiko’s hair and Minako was laughing at him.

“Kosuke!” Emiko said cheerfully with another enthusiastic wave. It hit him right in the heart. He had to have the most ridiculous, sappy expression on his face right now. “I thought I’d seen you here before! Are these your friends?”

“Ah, yeah, this is Katsuma and Minako. Guys, this is Emiko.”

“Nice to meet you,” Katsuma said.

“Yeah, it’s about time,” Minako said with a grin, “since this dummy’s been pining for ages.”

“Guys…”

Emiko laughed. “You know I’ve never been to this café. Is anything good here?”

Kosuke and his friends exchanged a look. “It’s cheap,” they said at the same time. “And they have really strong coffee,” Kosuke added. “It’s good for when you’ve been pulling late nights.”

His friends looked exasperated. “He pulls them too often,” Minako complained. “The books aren’t going anywhere, Ko-kun.”

“So many books, so little time,” Emiko teased, stealing a chair to join them.

“It’ll be nice to have another person reminding him that there’s life outside the library,” Katsuma joked, poking Kosuke’s face.

Kosuke swatted his hand away and Emiko watched the exchange like she was seeing something valuable. He didn’t have words for how her interacting with his friends made him feel. It was a good feeling though.

“We’ll have to work on a work-life balance then,” Emiko said. “I’d be a little put out if he chose books over a date with me.”

“Oh, I don’t think that’d be a problem,” Katsuma said.

“I will tell Hana-san about the time you burned your classic literature book,” Kosuke said, calling back to their first year together as friends.

“No you won’t, I have more blackmail on you than you have on me,” Katsuma said confidently.

“I can list your failed relationships in order of magnitude of how bad they went.”

“Remember the first time you got drunk?”

Kosuke snapped his mouth shut. He very much did not remember parts of that night and that meant he really couldn’t refute if Katsuma made embarrassing things up.

Emiko laughed. “Hmm, I’d like to hear about some of these things.”

“Katsuma, I will pour my coffee down your pants so you have to leave here looking like you wet yourself.”

They laughed at him and Kosuke resigned himself to at least some of his embarrassing college stories being told, though most of them involved the extremes he went to on research benders. Still, it was nice. Emiko was slotting into his life, and maybe she’d let him slip into her life as an equal presence.

o*O*o

“Isn’t this one of Takamura Hiseki’s pieces?” Emiko asked months later, sitting in Kosuke’s cramped little apartment like it wasn’t a few steps above a box. She’d never made a big deal of any of it, not Kosuke’s lack of nice things or how he couldn’t make the grand gestures of other people who courted her. He was pretty sure that part of what she liked about him was that he didn’t give lavish gifts or make grandiose promises. That he was down to earth and showed he cared in small gestures like picking up a coffee or surprising her with a piece of candy or a good book on days where she was stressed. She’d been to the apartment before, but it was only recently that Kosuke stopped carrying Takamura’s vial around and put it on a shelf with some smaller, far less valuable art pieces.

It hadn’t occurred to him that she would recognize the artist.

“Uh.” He bit his lip. How to explain that? “It is.”

“It’s nice.” Emiko turned it over in her hands, letting the light reflect of its cut glass edges. The liquid swirled in it as full as it had been when he found it; he never did figure out how it never depleted. “How did you end up with it?”

Kosuke blushed guiltily. Emiko raised an eyebrow. Kosuke scratched at his cheek. “I did a research paper on him and noticed something odd in some of his journals… There was a secret compartment in one of the furniture pieces he donated to the university and… well.”

“Kosuke.” There was an almost gleeful expression on her face. “Did you steal a piece of art from the university?”

Kosuke flushed harder. “Err. In my defense they didn’t know it existed?”

Emiko laughed. A few months ago he would have expected to be scolded for it, but he was starting to realize Emiko didn’t function on the same moral standards as most of society. It should have bothered him, but honestly it was one more thing he liked about her, how she didn’t match the image she’d built herself up as in public. “You,” Emiko said, putting the vial back, “are perfect.”

“Excuse me??”

Emiko just shook her head and grinned. “How do you feel about meeting my dad this weekend?”

“So fast?”

“It’s not fast; we’ve been dating for months. Although I guess you haven’t introduced me to your parents either.”

Kosuke flailed a little, but stilled as Emiko moved to lean against his side. He relaxed against her. “I’d like to meet your father,” he said. Emiko nodded against his shoulder, snuggling closer. “And um, my parents are, um.” He was having trouble finding words with how Emiko kept getting closer, like she was going to end up sitting in his lap. “Um. We don’t talk, so.”

There was a tiny pause in her getting as close as possible before she gave up even trying to be subtle and draped herself against him. “Well, I guess you’ll just have to become part of my family.”

Oh. She was smiling, but her eyes were serious. Oh. His arms went around her. “Yeah. I’d. I’d like that.”

When she kissed him, he lost all ability to think about anything other than the moment, all his anxieties and insecurities falling away because she was here and she’d chosen him. By some miracle, she liked him back, and it was maybe about as much as he liked her. He felt like he belonged the way he did surrounded by books. Kosuke, finally, felt happy.

o*O*o

At some point, a second, almost identical crystal vial ends up sitting innocently on Kosuke’s shelf. Kosuke, soon to be Niwa Kosuke, never tells anyone how it got there.

*****

Kosuke totally doesn’t tell her about the hanahaki until right before they get married and Emiko is all ‘why didn’t you say something???' Also, I really wanted Kosuke to already have something to do with art because I prefer that to picturing him uprooting his entire life to try and fit with what the Niwas need. So my HC for him is he already was a guy who liked spending way too much time researching things and it just was serendipity that it turned out to be useful for the Niwas.

#dnangel #fanfiction #niwa kosuke #niwa emiko #i am very much not up to date with the manga these days #so if more backstory was given for either of them i'm afraid i missed it #hanahaki #this is one part comedy of errors one part kosuke having an ongoing case of anxiety #spot the cameos #but really kosuke you pined for over a year and never talked to her???#my demi-romantic ass is very ??? at the sheer concept lol #my writing #the real question is how did this end up longer than the satoshi fic #kosuke you're a wordy bastard

10 notes · View notes

twilightvolt · 5 years ago

Text

My Favorite Anime OPs and EDs from 2010-2019

No one asked for this, but i’m doin’ it anyway cuz there’s so many songs out there that i’ve never heard anyone talk about. like, y’all sleep on Yu-Gi-Oh! apparently. lmao

Going by release year, here’s all the OPs and EDs i can remember that i luv (and still do to this day). i may or may not have gotten all the years right. hell, i’m not even sure i got the OP and ED numbers right.

It’ll go by: Song Name - Artist (Name of Anime and Which OP/ED it is) an asterisk means i REALLY like it above the rest.

Hopefully this’ll help introduce you to some new jams you missed out on! ^ ^

2010

Going My Way! ~Road to Tomorrow~ - Masaaki Endoh (Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds OP5)*

Close to You - ALvino (Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds ED4)

Future Colors - Plastic Tree (Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds ED5)

Gravity 0 - Aqua Timez (Star Driver OP)*

Never Give Up! - Sonar Pocket (Digimon Xros Wars OP)*

Period - Chemistry (Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood OP4)*

Rain - SID (Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood OP5)* THE. FEELS.

Uragiri no Yuuyake - THEATRE BROOK (Durarara!! OP)* Y’all remember this one? Lmao

Trust Me - Yuya Matsushita (Durarara!! ED)

Ice Cream Syndrome - Sukima Switch (Pokemon Zoroark: Master of Illusions ED)*

My Soul, Your Beats! - Lia (Angel Beats OP) WAIT HOLD ON, ANGEL BEATS WAS THIS DECADE? I THOUGHT THAT WAS 2009 OR SOMETHING. DAHEQ?

ChAngE - Miwa (BLEACH OP12)

Calling - FLOW (Heroman ED)*

SHIVER - the GazettE (Black Butler II OP)

2011

Samurai Heart (Some Like it Hot!) - SPYAIR (Gintama ED17)* And on this day I realized….SPYAIR is lit.

New World - Twill (Digimon Xros Wars OP2)

Masterpiece - Mihimaru GT (Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL OP)

Boku Quest - Golden Bomber (Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL ED)* I luv watching the actual ending sequence. It fits my cyber aesthetic to a T.

BRAVING! - KANAN (Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL OP2)

Setsubou no Freesia (Longing Freesia) - Daizystripper (Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL ED2)* I’ll be completely honest, this song has been my favorite anime theme over most, if not all others, ever since. It’s kinda held a special place in my heart as it’s got memories of what transpired during 2012 that i don’t think i’ll ever forget. From the summer trip we took down south to me creating my very first OCs, Takuya and his Charmander partner Drake, on paper, i’ll luv this song with all my heart. ^ ^

Lovers - 7!! (Seven Oops) (Naruto Shippuden OP)

Counter Identity - UNISON SQUARE GARDEN (Soul Eater Repeat Show OP)*

Ai Ga Hoshii Yo - Shion Tsuji (Soul Eater Repeat Show OP2)* WANTCHU WANTCHU, I WANT CHUU~

SHINING STAR - 9nine (Star Driver OP2)*

Crossover - 9nine (Star Driver ED2)

Sky's the Limit - Shihoko Hirata (Persona 4 the Animation OP)

We’re Not Alone - coldrain (Rainbow Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin OP)

One Reason - Fade (Deadman Wonderland OP) I can bet you right now half of y’all forgot about this show. I mean i did. Lol

Mayonaka no Orchestra - Aqua Timez (Naruto Shippuden ED16)

Hacking to the Gate - Kanako Itou (Steins;Gate OP)* THIS SONG CLEARED MY SKIN AND RAISED MY GRADES.

Ranbu no Melody - SID (BLEACH OP13)* That main chorus tho. N o i c e .

LISTEN TO THE STEREO!! - GOING UNDERGROUND (Katekyo Hitman Reborn OP8)*

Core Pride - UVERworld (Blue Exorcist OP)

2012

Mask - Aqua Timez (BLEACH ED30?)

Soul Drive - Color Bottle (Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL OP3)*

Wild Child - Moumoon (Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL ED3)* Whenever I hear this song, I either think of school shenanigans or, if school isn't a thing in their world, a high school AU. Lmao

Unbreakable Heart - Hideaki Takatori (Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL OP4)

Artist - Vistlip (Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL ED4)*

Stand By Me - Stereopony (Eureka Seven AO ED)* Ok I know some people don't wanna remember AO, but hear me out here. Lmao

Brave Blue - FLOW (Eureka Seven AO OP2)*

Key Plus Words - Shihoko Hirata & Yumi Kawamura (Persona 4 the Animation OP2)

Harukaze - SCANDAL (BLEACH OP15)*

Crossing Field - LiSA (Sword Art Online OP) I like making SAO jokes as much as the next guy, but let's be real here. Crossing Field was still a pretty good song.

STAND UP! - Twill (Digimon Xros Wars Hunters OP)* Hunters sucked, but the OP slaps.

Kyomu Densen - ALI PROJECT (Another OP) This show gave me a temporary fear of umbrellas, but this OP is good.

Complication - ROOKiEZ is PUNK’D (Durarara!! OP2)

Light My Fire - KOTOKO (Shakugan no Shana III Final OP)

Mite Mite Kochichi - Memoiro Clover Z (Pokemon Best Wishes ED3)

2013

Dualism of Mirrors - Petite Milady (Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL OP5)

GO WAY GO WAY - FoZZtone (Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL ED5)

Challenge the GAME - REDMAN (Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL ED6)* I swear to god, this should’ve been the final OP rather than Wonder Wings. I really don’t like that song.

Oh, and if you wanna hear more of the lead singer's voice, he's the lead singer of GIRUGAMESH. They didn't do any anime songs while they were still active afaik, but totally check it out if you like J-Rock.

Sakura Mitsutsuki & Genjyou Destruction - SPYAIR (Gintama OP13 and Gintama: The Final Chapter OP)*

After Cherry Blossoms (all quartets lead to the?) - UNISON SQUARE GARDEN (Yozakura Quartet: Hana no Uta OP)*

Non-Fiction Compass - UNISON SQUARE GARDEN (Yozakura Quartet: Tsuki ni Naku OP)

Sayonara Memory - 7!! (Seven Oops) (Naruto Shippuden ED)

BLOODY STREAM - Coda (Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Battle tendency OP)* I mean, how could i NOT put this song on here? Lmao

Be An Arrow! - Rica Matsumoto (Pokemon Best Wishes! OP2)

Natsumeku Sakamichi (Summerly Slope) - Daisuke (Pokemon Best Wishes DA! OP)* While the Black & White series was absolutely terrible, I can thank it for spawning some nice OPs.

Egao - Ikimono-gakari (Pokemon Genesect and the Legend Awakened ED)

Take Your Way - Livetune adding Fukase (From SEKAI NO OWARI) (Devil Survivor 2 the Animation OP)* I swear I will never get tired of this song.

Be - Song Riders (Devil Survivor 2 the Animation ED)*

Watashi no Bara wo Kaminasai - ALI PROJECT (Rozen Maiden 2013 OP)

Moshimo - Daisuke (Naruto Shippuden OP)

Burn My Dread ~Spring of Birth~ & More Than One Heart - Yumi Kawamura (Persona 3 the Movie #1 Spring of Birth OP and ED)*

Eden - Aqua Timez (Magi: the Kingdom of Magic ED)*

Out of Control - Nothing’s Carved in Stone (Psycho Pass OP2)*

HERO -Kibou no Uta- - FLOW (Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods ED)

2014

Silhouette - KANA BOON (Naruto Shippuden OP16)* Everyone rise for the weeb national anthem.

BelievexBelieve - Bulletrain (Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V OP)

ENAMEL - SID (Black Butler: Book of Circus OP)

Masayume Chasing - BoA (Fairy Tail OP15)

STRIKE BACK - BACK-ON (Fairy Tail OP16)*

Burn! - Bulletrain (Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V OP2)

DAYxDAY - BLUE ENCOUNT (Gintama OP)* Before Polaris, there was this. lol

Goya no Machiawase - Hello Sleepwalkers (Noragami OP)* I swear Noragami has great taste in OPs. lmao

Fate is in Our Hands - Lotus Juice (Persona 3 the Movie #2 Midsummer Knight's Dream OP)* Y'all know Lotus Juice makes EVERYTHING badass.

One Hand, One Heartbeat - Yumi Kawamura (Persona 3 the Movie #2 Midsummer Knight's Dream ED)* I swear I literally feel like crying every time I hear this song. It's just that powerful.

Unravel - TK from Ling Tosite Sigure (Tokyo Ghoul OP) Ok, lemme explain. I used to hate this song cuz I thought TK's singing voice was whiny as hell. But after a long, LOOOOONG time, it finally started to grow on me. I think it's because of all the song covers I've listened to and, after understanding the meaning behind the lyrics, I appreciate this song a bit more nowadays.

V (VOLT) and MEGA V (MEGA VOLT) - Yusuke (Pokemon XY OPs 1&2)*

daze - Jin ft. MARiA from GARNiDELiA (Mekakucity Actors OP)

Monochrome - Dancing Dolls (Soul Eater NOT! OP)

2015

Saigo Made ii - Aqua Timez (Gintama ED15 i think?)

Kyouran Hey Kids! - THE ORAL CIGARETTES (Noragami Aragoto OP)* IN THIS HOUSE, WE JUST WANNA HOLD YOUR HAAAAAAND~

Getta Ban Ban (Mad-Paced Getter) - Tomohisa Sako (Pokemon XY OP3)*

XY&Z - Rica Matsumoto (Pokemon XY&Z OP)*

Raise Your Flag - MAN WITH A MISSION (Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans OP)*

Hello, World! - BUMP OF CHICKEN (Kekkai Sensen OP)*

Sugar Song and Bitter Step AKA the song everyone makes fan animated parodies of it’s opening sequence - UNISON SQUARE GARDEN (Kekkai Sensen ED)

Kirifuda (Trump Card) - Cinema Staff (Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V OP4)

Speaking - MRS. GREEN APPLE (Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V ED4)* before Great Escape from Attack on Titan and Inferno from Fire Force, there was this OP and ED. both of which i feel are better songs. lmao

Tweedia - Rei Yasuda (Pokemon Hoopa and the Clash of Ages ED)*

Diver - KANA-BOON (The Last: Naruto the Movie ED)*

Butter-Fly 2015 - Kouji Wada (Digimon Adventure Tri. OP)

Sono Chi no Kioku ~End of the World~ - JO☆STARS ~TOMMY, Coda, JIN~ (Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders OP2)

Lapis Lazuli - Eir Aoi (Arslan Senki ED)*

Clattanoia - OxT (Overlord OP)*

L.L.L. - MYTH & ROID (Overlord ED)

Nazo 2015 - La PomPon (Detective Conan OP41)* Hearing this brought back memories of hearing the original during my childhood back when Cased Closed was still a thing.

Just Fly Away - EDGE of LIFE (Gundam Build Fighters Try OP2)

Flyers - BRADIO (Death Parade OP) Like Another, this was one of those where i wouldn’t have touched the show itself if my anime club didn’t watch it.

X.U. - Hiroyuki Sawano (Seraph of the End OP)*

Hikari - ViViD (Magi: the Kingdom of Magic OP2)

2016

DiVE!! - Amatsuki (Digimon Universe: Applimonsters OP)*

Ai - Ami Wajima (Digimon Universe: Applimonsters ED2)

The Day - Porno Graffitti (My Hero Academia OP)

HEROES - Brian the Sun (My Hero academia ED)

RAGE OF DUST - SPYAIR (Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans OP2)*

Believe in Myself - EDGE of LIFE (Fairy Tail OP21)*

CRAZY NOISY BIZARRE TOWN - THE DU (Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable OP)

Chase - batta (Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable OP2)* Screw the haters. This song is a bop.

Great Days - Karen Aoki & Daisuke Hasegawa (Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable OP3) As you can see, i luv all of Jojo Part 4’s OPs. lmao

Kaze no Uta - FLOW (Tales of Zestiria the X OP)* Zestiria may have been the most uninteresting experience i’ve had in the Tales series, but at least it’s OPs are straight fire.

Dream Lantern, ZenZenZense, Sparkle and Nandemonaiya - RADWIMPS (Various themes from Your Name) I'm still miffed that they didn't kiss at the end. >:v

Re:Re: - ASIAN KUNGFU GENERATION (Erased OP)

Brave Shine - Aimer (Fate/Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works OP)*

Starting Over - Mr. Children (The Boy and the Beast ED)* Mamoru Hosoda never ceases to make me smile and/or cry, huh?

GO - BUMP OF CHICKEN (GRANBLUE FANTASY the Animation OP)

KINGS - angela (K Project OP) i don’t even know how i remembered this one. I watched K at my local anime club years ago cuz one of my friends suggested it. I barely remember what it was about, though. ^ ^’

Vision - Kusou Linkai (Yu-Gi-Oh ARC-V ED5)

Light of Hope - Unknown Number (Yu-Gi-Oh ARC-V OP5)

Pendulum Beat! - SUPER DRAGON (Yu-Gi-Oh ARC-V OP6)*

2017

Peace Sign - Kenshi Yonezu (My Hero Academia OP2)* SURE IT’S POPULAR, BUT IT’S POPULAR FOR A REASON.

Datte Atashi no Hero - LiSA (My Hero Academia ED3)

Little Pi - Ange☆Reve (Digimon Universe: Applimonsters ED3)

Perfect World - Traffic Light (Digimon Universe: Applimonsters ED4)*

With the Wind - Hiroaki “TOMMY” Tominaga (Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS OP)* I’ll be honest, this one took some getting used to, but now i luv it!

Fake Town Baby - UNISON SQUARE GARDEN (Kekkai Sensen and Beyond OP)

Tonari Au - THE ORAL CIGARETTES (Sakurada Reset ED)*

Rain - SEKAI NO OWARI (Mary and the Witch's Flower ED)* I really liked the movie and I just luved the fantasy vibes given off by the instrumentals in this song.

Baton Road - KANA BOON (Boruto: Naruto Next Generations OP)* Y'all say Boruto is trash, but at least the theme songs still boppin'.

Boku wa Hashiri Tsuzukeru - Melofloat (Boruto: Naruto Next Generations ED3)

FEED THE FIRE - coldrain (King’s Game OP)* Thank you Fire Force for introducing me to this wonderful band. ;w;

2018

PAiNT it BLACK - BiSH (Black Clover OP2)* Never thought I'd ever find a band actually named bish. Lmao

Black Rover - Vickeblanka (Black Clover OP3)

Guess Who is Back - Kumi Koda (Black Clover OP4)* Now, if this ain't a bop fit for a triumphant return like "SURPRISE BISH I'M BACK." then idk what is. Lmao

Gamushara & Tenge Tenjou - Miyuna (Black Clover OP&ED5)* i’m mainly referring to Gamushara, but i luv Tenge Tenjou too.

ODD FUTURE - UVERworld (My Hero Academia OP4)*

Make my story - Lenny code fiction (My Hero Academia OP5)*

The Future is Now - Straightener (Digimon ReArise OP)* Yes, I know I'm cheating cuz it's a video game, but it's an opening sequence much like an anime, so yeah.

Breath - Porno Graffitti (Pokemon the Power of Us ED)

Katharsis - TK from Ling Tosite Sigure (Tokyo Ghoul OP3?)*

Here - JUNNA (The Ancient Magus Bride OP)

Renai Circulation - Kana Hanazawa (Bakemonogatari OP4) Imma be honest, i found this song through those Coldplay mashups and other memes. Lmao

I Wanna Be - SPYAIR (Gintama Shirogane no Tamashii Hen OP)

Hana Ichi Monme - BURNOUT SYNDROMES (Gintama Shirogane no Tamashii Hen ED)*

2019

Hana ga Saku Michi - THE CHARM PARK (Black Clover ED7)* I SWEAR NO ONE’S COVERED THIS SONG YET AND I’M SAD. I LUV THIS SONG.

Inferno - MRS. GREEN APPLE (Fire Force OP)

Veil - Keina Suda (Fire Force ED)* This ED gives me feels and i luv it. ;w;

MAYDAY - coldrain (Fire Force OP2)* This sounds like a song i’d hear at Hot Topic and i feel blessed. lmao

Nounai - Lenny code fiction (Fire Force ED2) I swear this anime doesn’t have a single song i don’t like. I’m not kidding. lmao

WILD SIDE - ALI (BEASTARS OP)* IN THIS HOUSE, WE DO NOT SKIP THIS OPENING I STG.

Le Zoo - YURiKA (BEASTARS ED)

Nemureru Honou (Sleeping Instincts) - YURiKA (BEASTARS ED2)*

Kawaki no Ameku - Minami (Domestic Na Kanojo OP)

Polaris - BLUE ENCOUNT (My Hero Academia OP6)* THIS IS THE BIGGEST BOP SINCE PEACE SIGN OML

Touch Off - UVERworld (The Promised Neverland OP)* This show was too creepy for me to continue, but I luv it for what it is. Also NAA NANANANANANAA NANANAAAA~

Sangenshoku - PELICAN FANCLUB (Dr. Stone OP2)* Sorry, but Good Morning World didn’t totally do it for me. I luv this OP way more tbh.

Suisou - Megumi Nakajima (Hoshiai no Sora OP)* The bits before the chorus are just so good.

1•2•3 - After the Rain (Pocket Monsters 2019 OP)

Dark Crow - MAN WITH A MISSION (Vinland Saga OP2)

MOTOR CITY - Kenichi Asai (No Guns Life OP)

Game Over - DATS (No Guns Life ED)

#rambles #anime talk #favorite anime openings and endings #MY JAM #i really had to dig deep into my memory banks for this one #and do my research to make sure i got things right #i most likely forgot quite a bit still #feel free to tell me how trash my tastes are

17 notes · View notes

dlamp-dictator · 5 years ago

Text

Allen Rambles About Three Houses

So last week I finished up my Black Eagles playthrough of Fire Emblem Three Houses. It was... okay. It wasn’t great. I had a few issues with the pacing how quick the plot move to the final battles and the lack of build-up for the big climaxes in the last few chapters, but I had a good time overall. Still, I was left unsatisfied. Between Fates, Echoes, and even Warriors, I think I enjoyed this game the most, but also had the most uncertainty with.

Fates was a fun game with fun mechanics and fun customization options if you were willing to grind for it, but also had the worst stories and narratives. Echoes had the best story out of the three, but had some game mechanics I really wasn’t a fan of like dungeon stamina and enemy AI nonsense. And Warriors was just fun fanservice as a fan of Dynasty Warriors, but was overall boring and repetitive after completing the story mode.

Three Houses honestly succeeds in every category so far. It has an engaging story, fun gameplay mechanics with a lot of customization options, and a lot of fun interactions and cute moments in it. But even so, I still can’t help but have issues with it.

So... I want to talk about that for a bit. I want to cover what I like and what I dislike about this game so far. Just talk a little bit with the fanbase to see where my feelings and thoughts are compared to everyone else’s.

But first, as always, a synopsis for those unfamiliar with Three Housed.

Fire Emblem Three Houses is a strategy game for the Nintendo Switch and the 16th game in the franchise. This game in particular focuses on three heirs to three different nations on the continent of Fodlan. The proud and commanding Edelgard of the Adrestian Empire who has great ambitions for her nation and its people despite how radical and blasphemous her manifesto seems. The kind well-mannered Dimitri of the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus who’s smile and inviting nature hides a dark and maleficent past that still haunts and eats away at him to this day. And the easy-going and playful Claude of the Leicester Alliance who always seems to be planning something more sinister and malicious than his devil may care attitude shows. These 3 heirs all go to the same military academy at the Garreg Mach Monastery, both a religious and military center where the church resides. Together they enjoy school life, interact with students and classmates, compete in friendly competition, and learn the ways of war together. However, as political events, social changes, and possible wars erupting, the three friends are tested and eventually break part, now pointing their blades at each other for their own beliefs and goals. And as violence is all but certain as the years tick by, all the three can do is wait until they’re forced to kill each other for their beliefs, their goals, and their countries.

You play as none of these characters.

Instead, you play as Byleth, a new professor at the academy and former mercenary. You choose one of the Three Houses to teach and become wrapped up in their machinations as the plot thickens. How you train your students and ready them for the real world for the trials to come is all in your hands.

So... with that all said and the plot laid out, I think I should start with my issues first in the say way I did my quick thoughts. Just so I can at least end this on a good note after all my nitpicks and issues.

With that said, I’m going to start small and first cover...

Things That Only Annoy Allen

So last time I tried to write this I had to make my first “small” grievance into it’s own part. I’ll try and keep this short since I really want to keep this to the actual small stuff:

I don’t like Byleth’s female design. I’ll go into detail later but for now just know the lacy stockings are distracting for the wrong reasons.

There’s no female brawling class and it bugs me greatly due to Petra’s and Ingrid’s high speed growths. They could be some extremely high DPS infantry in the right hands with those things, but there’s no really class to take advantage of that aside from maybe Swordmaster.

More for story reasons than anything, I wish there was an in-game limit to how many students you could have join your class. About 3 students per House if I had to put a number on it for reasons I’ll explain later. This isn’t an issue, but it’s something I’d like.

Magic only being accessible for certain classes bugs me. I understand the in-game reason for this as a physical unit that could use some emergency (if very weak) magic after losing weapons or fighting armored units would honestly break the game even further than it can be now, but still.

Something I might mention later, but after watching a Blue Lions playthrough by one of my favorite Let’s Players I feel that the game should had limited which House we could join first, as my Black Eagles playthrough would had been more fulfilling learning of some things I’ve learned in that Blue Lions run.

Class mastery should be tied to levels instead of as a separate experience bar. I understand why that’s done, mostly keep people from really min-maxing classes and abilities, but it’s still annoying in terms of optimization.

Edelgard, the only female lord, is the only bisexual lord. Now I’m not in the LGBTQA+ community, but as a gamer and self-proclaimed degenerate I know that denying the yaoi fangirls a male gay option for a main character is... suspicious, given the lovable bisexual rouge of Niles in Fates, and it clear that Claude could had easily been a bisexual option as well given his personality. Again, not in the LGBTQA+ community or trying to play the social justice card, but it is making me raise eyebrows toward the games marketing and aimed demographics.

Byleth in general just... bugs me as a character, but I’ll get to that later.

...

And now it’s later, so let’s get to talking about the main thing that bugs me with Three Houses, and that’s...

Byleth

I don’t like Byleth. I don’t like Byleth at all. I namely don’t like how they were executed, but the fact that we have another avatar character after how well Echoes worked as a story without a self-insert character, I’m just... baffled. I’ll try and break this down a little.

Byleth’s Design

I really don’t Byleth’s design, namely the female design. The male version looks fine, if a little too black for my tastes, but the female version is trying way too hard to look sexy. This only makes me mad because both Awakening and Fates had female avatars that didn’t look overly sexy or obviously pandering to the male gaze. They were just the female version of the male version’s outfit. Maybe there was some more boobs and hips because female, but it was mostly forgivable.

And look, I’m not prude, far from it. Senran Kagura is one of my favorite video game series (cautiously hyped about Yumi being in Cross Tag BTW). Rumble Roses is a guilty pleasure I play every so often. One of my favorite anime is freaking Koihime, aka ‘Ikkitousen but better EVERYONE is a girl.’ I’m not saying you can’t have a sexy character or a bunch of sexy characters in a game or piece of media. However, that character should at least have a sexy personality to go with it. And with Byleth, who has the personality of cardboard has been with her mercenary father all her life fighting for her life, it doesn’t feel like she would actively be trying to look sexy since she doesn’t have the personality for it, or a personality at all. She looks less like a mercenary or teacher and more like Manuela forced her into some lacy stockings to make her branch out...

Huh, that would be a good paralogue/support conversation, but I’m not about to rewrite the game just for my satisfaction... yet.

If you want my quick armchair redesign ideas in terms of design I’d just stick her in Male Byleth’s armor, maybe have a more pronounced/noticeable skirt instead of a long shirt, and dear God get rid of those lacy stockings. Byleth is suppose to be a mercenary that’s only known battle with her father, the Ashen Demon that rarely shows their emotions, not a sexy fashion model. The Enlightened One model is it’s own mess, but this section ate up enough of my time already so I’m moving on.

Byleth’s Personality

Again, Byleth having the personality of a damn rock really kills my attachment to the character. They don’t speak or emote beyond generic level up phrases and crit quotes.

Which is a shame because Byleth has some really good crit quotes.

However, from what Jeralt and other students say about Byleth I can gather that their someone that’s often quiet and standoffish. They don’t speak unless prompted to or needs to interject. They tend to observe more than act, even more so after they gain the ability to rewind time, but have a razor-sharp and deadly focus when in combat. And despite their distant nature, they do care about their students, friends, and family quite a lot, willing to break the emotionless Ashen Demon persona to crack a smile even now and then, even completely showing deadpan shock when something surprising or appalling is said, as rare as it happens.

This is literally Yu Narukami’s personality in Persona 4 the Animation.

And that anime not only gave Yu Narukami more agency and personality than the self-insert the game made him out as, it also gave him a lot of a good back-and-forth with his friends and cast at large.

youtube

Seriously, this could had been Byleth if they bothered to let them speak and actively interact more independently, and it would had been great.

But that aside, I’m moving on to something a little more important, which is...

Byleth’s Importance

[Spoilers for the Black Eagles Route Ahead]

Again, I’ve only played the Black Eagle’s route, so maybe this changes in the other Houses, but Byleth seems way too important for his own good when we have 3 other “main” characters. He’s the crux of a lot of events and it doesn’t feel deserved or built up to well enough. In the Black Eagle’s path, you’re the one that convinces the class to work with Edelgard instead of Edelgard just explaining herself before the class of her goals. You’re the one leading the Black Eagle Strike Force instead of Edelgard or Hubert taking command and leading after years of not having the professor around and having to survive the war on their own. You’re the one that Rhea has a personal vengeance for instead of the woman that torn the church apart with both words of steel and blades of iron. And you just randomly find out that your the progenitor god from Edelgard and Hubert toward the very end. It feels really anti-climactic, but I also get the feeling that we were suppose to play Edelgard’s route last, something I’ll save for later.

Among other things, I just feel that the focus on Byleth stagnants Edelgard’s character a lot. I want to see Edelgard struggle with the fact that her ideals, while noble in concept, are dragging the world in the flames of war and that she’s seen more as a tyrant than a savior, but instead we focus on Byleth’s mysterious birth and power after being gone for five years. This game, at least on the Black Eagle route, was so damn close to telling a really good war drama, but backpedals due to Byleth’s existence and perceived importance.

Sothis

[Spoilers for Mid-Game Ahead]

I wish she was more active in the story. Nothing too big, but if I had to deal with emotionless rock that is Byleth, I’d like to have seen Sothis sprinkling her commentary on everything they did. Just imagine Sothis sassing Byleth about how their always eat lunch with their students. Her commenting on the fish they catch. Her giving additional small hints about who owns certain lost items after failing so many times to give the right item to someone. Her sassing every student in their support with Byleth on C-rank. Her telling you to go to sleep when you run out of activity points. It’d add a lot to her character and it’d make the moment later in the game when you no longer have her voice around feel more impactful. Imagine catching a big fish after fusing with her and... hearing nothing about it how big a catch it was. Imagine trying to give Ingrid a lost sword for the fifth time, hoping to hear a hint from Sothis and... you hear nothing.

Again, just an armchair idea, but at least that way when Byleth is being a plank of wood we’ll have Sothis to add some literal flavor text to everything they do.

Ah, but that’s enough about Byleth, let’s move on to something a little more important. Like...

The Gameplay

Thankfully, my issue with the gameplay are more nitpicks if anything, and I can actually have this in list form too.

As I mentioned in my quick thoughts, I feel like late-game/master classes are more of a pain to gain than most others. A lot of them need to have some heavy grinding in a stat you didn’t likely need to worry about before. Mortal Savant requires you to heavily grind either a physical class in magic or a magical class in swords, something that you likely didn’t do. Speaking of magic, it’s annoying that for all the customization in this game only certain classes can use magic. It makes raising a Mortal Savant or a more physical Holy/Dark Knight a nightmare. Again, I understand why this was done, but it’s annoying all the same.

Gender-restrictions, as I also said in my Quick Thoughts, are just dumb. Fates had removed this and it was great to have the freedom to give my male units the ability to become Falcon Knights, or my Female units to be... Okay, I only played Fates and Echoes, but the fact still remains that not being able to make a female Grappler/War Master or a male Falcon Knight really sucks and limits me quite a bit. Especially the inability to make Lysithea a Dark Mage. It’s practically wrong.

A lot of these maps have the same issue that Echoes had. They’re big and have a lot of enemies, but not much creativity to them. Okay, they have some thought put into them, more than Echoes anyway, but a lot of them still just feel like big fields that need at least three flying units to be manageable. Again, I’ve only played the Black Eagle route so there might be some more interesting maps in the other routes, but from what I’ve played there was no real strategy to these maps outside of baiting enemies and maneuvering around traps. I think there were probably only two maps that weren’t giant mazes or an empty field with a lot of enemies in them.

To the point above, this made slow moving armored classes almost completely useless. What point is there in having a slow tank on maps that span to what feels like 60X60 tile maps? Plus the maze-like design? Yeah, I don’t know how these maps were meant to be interesting.

And that’s it for gameplay issues. Moving on to...

The Story

Again, something that can be put into list form due to the story having more nitpicks than actual issues:

[Spoilers for Black Eagles Route Ahead]

The split decision to join Edelgard or not is dumb, as is the requirement to have the option available. I think it’s foolish to think we wouldn’t agree with her after listening to her manifesto for so long, especially if you played a Blue Lions route and seeing how Sylvain and Ingrid were screwed over due to their Crests, or just... Lysithea’s background in general. I can’t argue with her beliefs, only her execution.

The Flame Emperor reveal was... really anti-climatic. As if, again, they assumed we’d do Black Eagles last. Playing this route first just leads to a lot of anti-climatic reveals, especially on Edelgard’s route.

I just really wish Edelgard came clean with her classmates and commanders at some point in the story, to just tell them all that she was experimented on as a child and had two Crests as a result. That she wants to eliminate the nobility and Crests as a symbol of statu because of the harm it does to people both on top and on the bottom of the social food chain. It’d give a lot more weight to her cause.

Again, most of my issues with the story come from Byleth having too much screen time and importance compared to Edelgard as a whole. Especially when I did the route where I chose to go with her.

Alright, I think that’s it for all of my nitpicks, all the major ones anyway. I think I finally move to...

The Good Things

Again, this will be in list form since a lot of the nicer parts about this game don’t need as much breakdown as the bad parts.

But anyway...

As much as I don’t find the late game reward in terms of class advancement, the mid and early game are great for experimentation. I've had a bunch of fun on my second playthrough with some creative builds. I might suffer a little in the late game due to not optimizing everything, but that’s managable.

As I also stated in my quick thoughts, dismounting is hilariously broken. The amazing amount of utility you get from being about to dismount once you reach a destination and then mount at the start of the new turn for free while also being safe from arrows and horse-effective weapons is hysterical. I honestly think this was a bug that just didn’t patch and that dismounting meant you were stuck with the lower movement for the rest of the turn, but God am I going to use it until they eventually patch it out.

I’ve got... issues with the Black Eagle route, at least the route I went through, but I’ve been watching a playthrough of the Blue Lions route and it’s everything I could have wanted in a Fire Emblem game and more. If you want to play a good story I recommend the Blue Lions as your first route.

But to cut the Black Eagles route some credit, a lot of Edelgard and Hubert’s A-Supports were probably some of the best I’ve seen in the series... though I’ve only played Fates and Echoes, so...

Speaking of supports all of them were done very well. Like I said, Edelgard and Hubert had great supports, but Lysithea, Petra, Caspar, and Dorothea had great supports as well.

A lot of the supports and voice acting are great. It’s a key reason as to why I like the supports so much. The Lords are especially great to hear and were directed well.

And... yeah, that’s all the good things. Don’t let the short length fool you, folks. Like I said before, my issues are more nitpicks. The game as a whole is just fine.

That said...

In the Future

As much as I want to, even as a fun little project, I think it’s a little arrogant of me to be making any rewrites or “improvement” to the current story of Three Houses. I have various reasons for this that I might go into depth to in a later Rambling, but the short version is as someone that’s struggle to write their own story I feel like a hypocrite for trying to “correct” another’s. However, I think it’s far game to make requests and bring forth ideas for a future title, especially since this one is selling so well. And so, before concluding I’d like to present a few things I hope to be in the next Fire Emblem game:

No Avatar Character

Like I said, I feel Byleth’s entire presence can ruin scenes due to his lack of personality and engagement. And as easy as it would be to give him one that would also mean the play losing their use self-insert character. To this I say it’s probably best to just not have an avatar/self-insert character to begin with. You can easily make a character that has the stats of an above-average all-rounder as your main character/lord while still having a personality. I think Echoes did this well enough with Alm and Celica, especially Celica if we’re talking stats and utility as a healer/magic/swordsman hybrid.

No Gender-Locked Classes

This is more of a personal desire than something that needs to happen, but if the next Fire Emblem game is going to give us this much customization then I’d really like to have complete control and not be restricted by gender, especially when we’re talking stats. A War Master Hilda would be wild. As would a Hero Petra, a Gremory Linhardt, a Dark Mage Lythesia, and so on. To restrict us is not only screwing people who want to make quirky builds, but also those that want to make optimal builds. Either remove the gender lock, or have these characters with more straight-forward classes like in Fates.

One/Limited Routes

Again, I haven’t played Blue Lions or Golden Deer yet, but the Black Eagles route had a branching path that I honestly think shouldn’t have existed. Maybe this was for reasons I can only guess at, but the story of the Black Eagles Route I was on felt very rushed, or at least it assumed I had played either the other Houses or the “canon” Black Eagles route first. That left the actual story, while I personally found engaging, very rushed and underwhelming at the end. In the future I’m hoping for either one path, or for alternate paths to be locked until you complete the other “main” ones that give a fuller story, because a lot of what I’m seeing in the Blue Lions playthrough I’m watching would had been nice to learn in the Black Eagles route to see Edelgards view of things.

Smaller Maps

Like I said, the maps in Three Houses are a little too large, especially with slower armored/magic units in the early game with only 4 movement. In the next game I’m hoping for either smaller maps or at least maps that accommodate for that slow movement of early game and saving the bigger maps for when you’d naturally have some cavalry and infantry units with 5 movement. I think Fates’ Conquest and Revelations maps did this perfectly.

Brawling Weapons

No real critique here. I just really like the gauntlets and I hope they come back in the next game.

Conclusion

Overall, I think Three Houses is a good game, despite all my nitpicks. I hope the next game will be even better and hopefully have some of the things I want to see. I recommend this for anyone with a Switch wanting to play a decent strategy game.

Anyway, I got a draft to make on that story I’m writing, as well as draft up another Rambling. See you all later!

#fire emblem #fire emblem three houses #your dictator is speaking

2 notes · View notes

kpoptart216 · 7 years ago

Text

Betting on You (pt 5)

Previous Parts: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

A/n: this part is mostly fluff. I wrote this entirely on my phone and will post the previous partsater but it’s also found on my Masterlist in my bio!

Taehyung started browsing for tickets to Hawaii as soon as his friends left. He knew you wanted to go to Hawaii as well, and he was happy that he found a good gift.

A few hours later, he spared no expense as he booked the best resort in Maui among various other things. He knew you would be excited, at least he hoped you would. He didn’t know it himself, but trying to get you to laugh and smile had become a priority. Though, Taehyung would never admit that himself.

• • • • • •

After a long day at work, you dug your phone out of your purse only to find a handful of messages from your boyfriend. No matter how exhausted you were, you already had a smile on your face and you didn’t even know what had texted yet.

He knew you had a long day at work and he asked if you both could just have a nice night in, watching more movies. Movie nights became frequent since you both were busy with work, but it was some of the best dates you both had. Especially since you’d both end up just talking for most of it anyways. You’d either go to his place, and play with Yeontan most of the time which annoyed Taehyung without doubt, or he’d go to your place and cuddle you as you both watched some random movie.

Tonight, he claimed he wanted cuddles uninterrupted by Yeontan so he was going to come to your place with food in hand. Your boyfriend really was a godsend, you thought with a smile on your face.

By the time you both ate and settled into the movie, you were already drowsy with sleep. Taehyung could see your eyes begin to swoop and he tried to hide a laugh. You looked pretty cute trying not to fall asleep, he had to admit.

But, you were out by the time the movie was even halfway done and Taehyung didn’t really feel like finishing it. He set your laptop to the side and slowly moved you off of his chest as he tried to lay you down in a comfortable position. He didn’t want to wake you up, not after such a long day at work.

As he set you down, he also reached for things and placed a kiss on your forehead as usual before leaving.

This time however, a smile graced your lips.

“You don’t have to leave you know” you say, drowsily.

“You’re awake?” He asks, kinda shocked.

“I like your forehead kisses” you admit, still smiling with your eyes closed. “But you don’t have to leave every time you’re over, you know. You can always just sleep here if you want” you say, hoping he’d stay the night and cuddle with you longer.

“Are you sure? Will you be uncomfortable?” Taehyung asks. He didn’t know what came over him but he got a little excited at your request. He never, ever spent the night at a girls place since he didn’t want to give them the wrong idea. He always made it back to his place no matter how tired he was. So he didn’t quite understand why he got excited like a little child.

“I mean, you’re not going to do anything right?” You ask, jokingly. You trusted him. You knew he would never do anything to make you uncomfortable.

“No! I’ll be good!” Taehyung says like a child. “I didn’t want to drive back to my place anyways” he said, as a matter of fact.

“Well then get in here you big goof” you say as you lift the covers. He quickly jumped into bed and pulled you close to him. And before you knew it, you were both fast asleep in pure comfort.

This routine continued the following days as well. You’d either spend the night at his place, much to Yeontans happiness or he’d spend the night at your place. He even left a few of his clothes in your closet. It wasn’t what he was expecting when he thought of getting intimate with you, but this was new. This was...nice.

Taehyung managed to iron out the last bit of details for the surprise trip to Hawaii and now tomorrow was your birthday. He even got Yumi in on the plan and he somehow managed to convince your boss to give you the next week off. It’s amazing how much you could get away with when you were Kim Taehyung, future heir of Kim Enterprises.

Taehyung ended up taking you out for a nice dinner the night before your birthday, claiming he had an important meeting the next day. You seemed upset that you couldn’t spend your actual birthday with him, but you knew he was trying his best to make it up to you. Or at least, so you thought.

He took you to dinner and your favorite ice cream joint. You both then continued to walk along the Han river, hand in hand. Though it was simple, it was the best birthday you had in a long time.

You both eventually made it back to your place and Taehyung insisted on staying the night, at least wanting to wake up with you on your big day. You didn’t have it in you to say no.

You went to smile with a big smile on your face as you you thought about all your birthday celebrations with Taehyung. And Taehyung fell asleep with the anticipation of surprising you tomorrow morning.

Taehyung woke up to your sleeping figure next to him and he couldn’t wait to see the look on your face. He quietly got out of bed and went to grab your present that he had stashed away in his car. It was far too early to be up, but he had to get his plan rolling in action now.

Thankfully when he was back, you were still fast asleep. He set the little gift bag on the side of the best as he sat down beside you. He kissed your cheek multiple times, hoping to wake you up this way and fortunately it worked.

You had a big smile on you face as you felt Taehyung kiss you awake. “Good morning to you too” you say.

You could still feel his breath on your cheek, telling you he was still quite close to your face. Your eyes were still closed as he planted more and more kisses around your face, making you a giggling mess.

“Happy Birthday, princess” he says with his low voice that your heart skipped a beat. You finally open one eye to see the handsome man sitting in front of you and you quickly shut it again as you hide under the covers.

“Hey! Don’t hide!!” Taehyung says, laughing as he pulls the covers away. “Fine then, you won’t get your gift” he says as you pull the covers back over you.

You quickly toss the covers to the side and sit up. “Gift? What gift?” You joke, genuinely not expecting anything. You were never one to care about birthday gifts, but you were elated that your boyfriend had thought of you when he bought you something.

“Well, open if for yourself” he says as he hands you the sapphire blue gift bag. Your eyes widen in surprise, realizing he had actually bought you something.

You quickly take out the paper littered in the bag and toss it to the side of the bed in a flash. Taehyung could only chuckle at your eagerness.

The first thing you pulled out was a beautiful pink floral dress. You loved the shade of pink and admired the design as you ran your hands through the dress. “It’s beautiful, thank you!” You say, excitedly. Sure, it was more of a summer dress but you loved it.

“There’s more silly, keep going. Open the letter last” he instructs.

The next thing you pull out is none other than a small jewelry box. Inside were beautiful gold earrings, shaped like shells. “Oh my, Taehyung it’s beautiful” you admire. You weren’t exactly sure what significance the shells held, but you couldn’t care less, the earrings were beautiful.

“Ok keep looking” Taehyung says with a smile. Your reaction so far already made everything worth it.

You dig through the bag and finally feel something at the bottom. You yank it out to find...flip flops?

“Oh uh, they’re great! Thank you?” You say, slightly confused. You hadn’t wore flip flops in years, but you knew Taehyung had interesting fashion choices so you didn’t say anything else, just admiring the shoes in all it’s glory.

Taehyung only continued to chuckle. He couldn’t care less about the flip flops, he just saw them last minute and tossed them into the gift bag. He wasn’t even sure he got you the right size. “Ok now open the letter!!” He says, getting too excited.

You open the envelope, hoping to find a cute birthday card, but instead, you pull out two pieces of paper. It takes you a hot second to register what was written on both pieces of paper but when it finally hits you that they’re tickets for Hawaii, your jaw drops.

“Tae, is this..?” You start, not able to believe it.

“Real? Yes!” He says laughing.

“Oh my god, I can’t believe this! But wait, this ticket is for...later today?!” You ask in suprise.

“Yup! I had Yumi already pack your bags” he said, proudly.

“Is that what she was doing sneaking into my room? That troll. But Tae, I have work...”you say sadly.

“Don’t worry about it, your boss gave you the week off. You should even have a confirmation email in your inbox this morning. Don’t worry about all that ok? I’ve been planning this trip for so long, you don’t think i didn’t think of work?” He asks.

“We’re really going to Hawaii? Like today? Like in a few hours??” You ask, wondering if you were still in dreamland.

“Yes we are princess. I suggest you go get ready now or we’re going to miss the plane!” He says, holding out his hand for you so that you can finally jump out of bed. You take his hand jump into his arms, giving him the biggest hug you could muster at the moment.

“Thank you so much” you say into his shoulder. Taehyung simply rocks you back in forth in s tight embrace.

“Anything for you, beautiful” he says, loving how happy you were.

• • • • • • • • • • • •

Soon enough, you both were in Hawaii. You couldn’t contain your excitement as the plane landed, and you kept staring out the window like a little kid. And to be honest, Taehyung was excited to be back here too. Especially since you were here too.

By the time you both got to the resort though, you both were exhausted from the long journey from Korea. You threw yourself onto the huge bed before finally taking in your surroundings. This room was...huge?

“Wow this hotel has huge rooms” you think aloud, sitting up.

“Actually...it’s the presidential suite” Taehyung says as he rubs the back of his neck.

“W-what?” You ask, shocked. “Why would you book this suite?! It must cost fortunes!” You say, loudly.

“I think you’re forgetting who I am sweetheart. I only wanted the best for you” Taehyung pours.

“Awh, babe. Thank you. Honestly though, any room would have sufficed” you say. “We could be sitting in my room back home with a Hawaii background on my laptop and even that would be perfect” You say honestly.

Taehyung could only laugh. “Well I already booked everything so no turning back now. What do you want to do now?” He asks. Tomorrow he had a full day planned ahead so he wanted you to decide what to do now. Fortunately the resort was beachfront and you both had an incredible view of the beach.

“How about a stroll on the beach? And we can come back and eat dinner and head to bed. I’m pretty tired” you say, already wanting to just sleep.

“Sounds great. You can wear your flip flops!!” Taehyung says, already going to pull them out of your suitcase. He stuffed it in along with thendress and earrings at the last minute as you were showering earlier that morning.

You only laugh as you put them on, loving how they fit you perfectly. “They fit like a charm” you say, admiring your tiny feet. Taehyung takes your hand as you both walk towards the beach.

The rest of the evening was peaceful and you both shared lots of laughs as you talked like usual. “I can’t believe we’re actually here” you say, facing the ocean.

“You didn’t think I didn’t have anything planned for your birthday did you?” Asks tawhyung, faking hurt.

“I honestly never celebrate my birthday like this. But I’m glad we’re here and doing this. This has been the best birthday ever, Tae. Thank you, again”

“Im glad you’re enjoying yourself princess. But we should get to bed, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow!” He says. He could see the sleep in your eyes and he’s pretty sure his eyes mirror your own.

The following day truly was packed. You chose to wear the floral dress Taehyung picked out for you and Taehyung praised himself for making the right choice in dress. The dress highlighted all of your curves and the shade of pink accented your skin perfectly. And you even wore the earrings! After a nice breakfast at the hotel, Taehyung took you on a private helicopter tour around the island and you were in awe the entire time. Taehyung couldn’t help but look at you the entire time though. Even the helicopter pilot noticed and joked around. “You can’t stop staring at your beautiful lady young man!” He said with a hearty laugh.

After that, Taehyung took you to lunch at one of his favorite poke joints and then took you to a private beach. The beach was practically empty and you spent hours just playing around in the water and sand. You made sure to take a million pictures too.

Towards the evening, both of you made it back to the city and decided to shop around a bit. You found lots of tiny little souvenirs for Yumi and a few colleagues at work. It always amazed Taehyung how you always thought of others first.

Finally, Taehyung dragged you to a luau for dinner. You two had fun watching the others dance and you had even more fun when Taehyung insisted on both of you dancing on stage too. Today was truly so perfect and you got chocked up when you thought of how thoughtful Taehyung was towards you.

“Today was absolutely amazing. I didn’t think we would be doing so much today, but I had so much fun” you say as you both sat at the bed back in the hotel. You marveled at the size of the bed and you laughed when our realized how little space you and Taehyung actually ended up using since he always held you when you both slept.

“I had fun too, it was like seeing everything for the first time” Taehyung said honestly. It was fun seeing the island through your eyes. He was pretty tired himself, but he was glad he still had a few days to relax with you before going back to Korea.

While he was caught up in his thoughts, you place a kiss on his cheek which always seemed to catch him off guard.

“Don’t I deserve a little more than that?” Taehyung jokes but you couldn’t agree more. You lean in and pull him closer to you as you place a warm kiss on his soft lips.

“Thank you baby” you say against his lips, and it sends shivers down his spine. He couldn’t get enough of your kisses though so he locked his lips with yours once again.

Of course, things got heated once again. He didn’t even realize it, but soon you were on his lap and straddling him. You were intoxicating and he didn’t know much longer he could hold his resolve around you. It had been four months since you two started “dating” and Taehyungs craving for you only intensified each day.

But the second he heard the smallest moan from you, he snapped back into reality and remembered that he shouldn’t lose control. He pulled away from you but his hands still held your waist.

“I’m sorry princess, I got carried away” he said. He didnt have it in him to look at your face because he knew he’s just kiss you again. “It’s getting harder to stop” he half jokes. But you knew.

“Then don’t” you say. That’s all it takes for his head to whip up and look you in the eyes. “Don’t stop then” you say with a shy smile as you wrap your hands around his neck.

“Y/n I-“ he didn’t know what to say. He didn’t want to take advantage of you but at the same time he didn’t know how much longer he could hold on with you sitting on his lap and looking at him with your doe eyes.

“I want to be with you. Please?” You ask, your voice breaking slightly at the end. “I trust you Tae, and I want to be with you baby, Hhm?” You try again, slightly louder this time affirming your confidence in the situation.

Taehyung searches your eyes as if there was another answer hidden in there but he could only see how honest you were being.

“I trust you and want to be with you, ok?” You say once again. Taehyung only nods, not able to form the appropriate words in the situation. He felt, honored, in that moment. And he knew, that you deserved better but any last bit of resolve he had had dissolved the second you kissed him again, more hungry this time.

Taehyung laid you on the bed as he hovered over you. “I’ll be gentle, ok? But we can stop anytime, don’t for a second feel pressured to do anything ok?” He assures you.

You simply smile and nod at him and if Taehyung wished time stopped in that moment because he wanted to paint a picture of you in his head and remember it.

He kissed you once again and this time, he didn’t let go till morning.

637 notes · View notes

mythicamagic · 6 years ago

Text

Terracotta Teeth - Chapter One

A Halloween Sesskag fic

During a long drive to Tokyo, Kagome's car is totalled by a monstrous silver dog. She now finds herself stranded in a remote village, where the residents appear kind, if slightly distant. However something or someone seems a little too keen on making her stay, permanently.

Rated M for later chapters

Horror/Romance/Drama - You can read this story on Ao3, Fanfiction.net or Dokuga

Chapter 2 - here

Made for the sesskag monthly prompt - Haunting

AN: Hi all, hope you like this one. It'll include a few smut scenes, but I'll place warnings at the start of chapters for those.

Hours to make, seconds to comment. ^^

Terracotta Teeth ~

Kagome kagome / The bird in the basket/cage,

When, oh when will it come out In the night of dawn The crane and turtle slipped Who is behind you now?

"You've been on the road for four hours straight. Don't you think it's time to stop the car and relax for a sec?"

"Stop fussing already, you really don't need to remind me. I've passed at least 10 signs saying; Tiredness can kill, take a break!" Kagome paused, hearing her brother sigh through the phone. "I've drank a lot of coffee, kiddo, there's no need to worry. I'm getting to Tokyo tonight even if it kills me."

She'd meant to sound encouraging, but the coughing and spluttering of Souta chocking on his drink told her he'd not caught the joke.

Souta cleared his throat, voice thin. "It's not like there's a special occasion to rush home for, why are you even-" he suddenly squeaked. "H-hey! How are we talking right now if you're driving?"

Kagome rolled her eyes, practically seeing his judgemental look. For a boy who was five years her junior, he sure liked to act like he was the older sibling. "It's on speakerphone, moron," she muttered, a smile tugging at her mouth. He was such a worry wort.

Continuing down the road with the moon above as her sole companion, Kagome turned the wheel at a bend, glad her headlights were so bright. Making the journey to Tokyo from where she'd been staying at her aunts was a long and tedious one, but she felt more than ready to see her family again.

She hesitated, before inquiring; "How's Grandpa?"

There was a brief moment of silence, then the sound of a long, deep sigh through the phone. "The same, but we're handling it. How- um...how are things with you?"

"Everything's fine." She said a little too quickly, soon smoothing her tone. "I'll be there soon," she promised, guilt gnawing painfully at her heart. Souta assured her as he always did that she didn't need to come home and help, but it never lessened the strain.

Deciding to change the subject, blue eyes glanced out the window to her right, seeing nothing but darkness and the moonlit outlines of trees.

"I haven't seen another car pass by for awhile," Kagome murmured offhandedly, a little disconcerted. Maybe travelling at night hadn't been such a great idea.

"Mmm?" Hearing the sounds of muted explosions and blasters over the phone, Kagome shook her head. She'd lost Souta's attention to video games yet again.

"Hey! You still with me?"

"Oh, sure, sorry. Did you see that it's a full moon tonight? Better be careful~" he chuckled darkly, making ghost noises.

Kagome laughed even as she scanned ahead. Fog was starting to creep into the road, and even the moon wasn't helping with visibility, hanging in the pitch black sky. "I'll try not to run into any vampires."

"It's werewolves, you uncultured swine!" Souta gasped dramatically, and Kagome couldn't hold back her giggle. "Well, if any do bother you, send them my way. I'm fighting Dracula in Castlevania as we speak."

"My hero," she drawled, still smiling.

Saying their goodbyes, the phone clicked, shutting off. Kagome raised her head, noticing a sign on the side of the road, and feeling hope leap in her heart. Leaning forward and slowing the car to a crawl, she frowned, trying to read.

Yet even as she squinted she couldn't make sense of it, as the words were covered in grime. The encroaching fog was getting denser with every second, grey wraiths of smoke rolling through the trees. Kagome sighed and hesitated, before deciding to carry on, stomach twisting at the thought of getting out of the car.

Trees surrounded her on either side of the road, standing tall and thin. Something about their stillness made her shoulders tense, though she knew it was ridiculous. It was probably because it was so close to winter that she didn't feel like getting out into the biting cold, and definitely not that Halloween loomed a few weeks away. Yeah, that definitely wasn't it.

Shaking her head, Kagome drove on. Silence hung in the air like a physical, heavy presence, only mildly broken by the sound of her engine.

She glanced at the map folded neatly on the passenger seat, unopened since she'd turned onto this road an hour ago. It wasn't like she was concerned, she knew to stay on this road for at least another hour, but the sign would've helped assure her.

Kagome's chest tightened, and she swallowed, deciding to lighten the mood. Leaning forward, she turned the radio on, wincing when static blasted through the speakers.

Growling in frustration, she turned the dial back and forth, glancing up at the road after a moment.

A dark shape darted out from the trees, flashing white in the headlights as it stopped in the road. Kagome gasped, foot slamming on the break immediately. Her head swung forward, but her eyes stayed locked with the creatures in front of her, heart racing as the tires screeched.

It wasn't moving! She was going to hit it!

Just as she was about to turn the wheel, the white form leaped into the air, heading straight for her. Kagome cried out. The windscreen cracked, glass caving inwards. Kagome grit her teeth, eyes squeezing shut as the shards flew by her face. As she ground to halt, she rocked forward, panting wildly.

Everything lapsed into silence, save for the sound of her frantic breaths. Terrified blue eyes peeled open slowly.

Pale, shaking hands unfurled from the steering wheel, knuckles stained white. She inhaled a breath sharply, before releasing it, chest rising and falling. She stared unseeingly ahead, mind turning impossibly fast.

"W-w-what the hell was that?" She breathed, voice thin.

Her hand shot out for the handle and yanked, pushing the door open. Ripping the seat-belt aside, Kagome climbed out of the car, legs shaking. She grabbed onto the door as her knees weakened, threatening to give out.

Willing herself to calm down, she set one foot forward, followed by another, breathing in the crisp, cold air. Placing a hand on the car bonnet to steady her, Kagome staggered forward, terror seizing her at the sight of the damage.

The windscreen was almost completely caved in. It's glass was covered in cracks, all spilling out like a spiders web from one deep indent in the screen. It was barely holding itself together, though a few fragments had broken off inside the car. There was another indent of the same size on the bonnet, probably crushing the engine lying underneath.

Cursing shakily under her breath, Kagome glanced up, searching for anything in the cover of the misty outlines of trees. What was that thing? It had looked like a dog, but none that she'd ever seen. What kind of dog was the size of a bear? And it's eyes...

Tracing her mind back, she dimly remembered hearing something hit the roof after the windscreen had caved in. Kagome reached up on her toes, feeling for anything on the roof.

Her fingers met another deep indent. Bringing her hand back quickly, Kagome cradled it to her chest, wondering what this meant.

Had the white dog jumped onto her car? Even if it had, would it really have been heavy enough to crack the windscreen like that, or even the bonnet? One thing was certain, she hadn't hit it. The creature had willingly lunged at her.

Standing stunned for a moment, Kagome just stared at the damage, at a loss what to do. "I-I guess I can't drive it like this," she laughed weakly.

First things first, I need to call someone. No, wait, its safety first I guess.

Sliding back into her car and switching the hazard lights on, Kagome grabbed her phone and stepped out into the cool night air once more. Warily glancing around for any sign of the white beast, she realized with dismay that she didn't have any breakdown services saved on her phone.

Kagome sighed, wishing she'd been a little more organised. Souta always did say I left everything to chance.

"Souta..." she murmured, hand tightening around the phone. She could ring home and ask them to arrange a pick up truck for her, but it was late and Grandpa was in a 'sensitive state' as the doctors called him. Kagome didn't want to burden her mother with any more stress on top of that.

Scrolling down her list of contacts, she decided to ring Yumi, an old schoolmate who she hadn't lost touch with by some miracle. Just as her thumb hovered over the 'Call' button, a bright light caught her attention. Kagome winced, blinded- and lifted her hand to shield her eyes.

The lights dimmed, and Kagome heard a car approaching, the headlights steadily drawing nearer.

Relief flooded her, but at the same time a faint pang of caution beat in her chest. She'd seen enough horror movies and hitchhiker reports in the news, to know that strangers in cars might not be a trustworthy gamble.

Kagome shivered and wrapped her arms around herself, breath becoming visible in the air as the car slowed and passed her. It parked not too far away.

Her heart thundered in her chest as the driver's door opened. From the light cast by her car, she could faintly make out the number-plate but little else. Fog was still hanging close, draping the stranger in a haze as they began to approach. The sound of footsteps and the faint grumble of their cars engine was all she could hear.

Kagome's eyes were wide, but she held herself still.

Now that they were closer, their form was discernible from the gloomy haze. He was dressed in a casual suit, but the tie at his neck was to the collar, clothes crisp and clean. He had long, dark hair tied back at the nape of his neck. As he stepped closer, Kagome noticed the handsomeness of his face, and found herself surprised. Out of all the people she'd expected, she hadn't thought a businessman would stop to help her. Suspicion rose in the pit of her stomach, and Kagome's eyes darted to the road.

No one else was around, and no one knew she was there. What road she was even on.

"Are you alright?" A low, pleasant voice asked.

Kagome started, and looked back at him, now able to see him clearly. The moonlight made him look ghostly pale, and somehow otherworldly- and Kagome had never thought to use that word on a person before. He stopped at a respectable distance as Kagome looked him over. The stranger seemed genuinely concerned.

"Y-yeah I'm fine," she cursed her squeaky voice.

He came closer, dark eyes locked with hers. "You're bleeding."

Kagome blinked in surprise and glanced down at herself. She was? Where? Why hadn't she noticed?

The man took pity on her and gestured to his cheek. Kagome's hand rose to her face and gingerly traced her fingers down, wincing when she felt a few scrapes.

He watched her, face unreadable. Kagome smiled reassuringly, "it's just from stay bits of the windscreen. I don''t think I have whiplash or anything. I'm mostly a little shaken up."

He nodded, "not surprising. Did you hit something?"

At that, Kagome frowned slightly. "No, well- it's hard to explain. I think a dog or something jumped onto my car and dented it. I know it sounds strange but- I mean look!" Her hands waved enthusiastically in the air, gesturing to the car.

The quiet man approached her vehicle, assessing the damage with intense, focused eyes. Kagome wasn't sure what to make of his expression. His face seemed guarded.

A large hand drew out and traced the dent in the bonnet. "While this may be strange to you, miss, the attack you described is a regular occurrence on this road."

"W-what?" Kagome breathed. "Then why hasn't someone caught the dog yet? It was massive, like- the size of a bear! I'm not kidding!" She squeaked, voice thin.

Eyes that told of secrets, but held them locked tight in a strongbox, raised to meet hers. Kagome quieted instantly, uncertain of what she was feeling.

"The village in this area is small, they don't have the funding or support to undertake such a task. Simple village folk would be no match against such a creature, wouldn't you agree?" The man straightened, expression still carefully blank, but something hard leaked into his voice.

Kagome frowned, unsure what to make of him. He spoke strangely, entirely formal and almost old fashioned.

She rubbed her arms against the chill in the air. "I-I guess. Do you live around here?"

"Hn, at the border of the village. My brother is a mechanic and owns a small business within it." He glanced at her car. "It's doubtful he could repair it, but you could at least hold your vehicle there for now."

Kagome's eyes widened. "O-oh." This was the tricky part. Could she trust his word, or was he just saying this to get her to trust him? He didn't look like a serial killer, but they hardly wore signs around their necks. "Will your brother be able to tow my car to the village?"

The stranger nodded, his stillness setting Kagome's teeth on edge. "I will contact him now. If you wish, there is also a small hotel where you could stay for the night."

"Ah, thank you very much." She smiled slightly. Realizing she'd been a little rude, she continued. "My name's Kagome Higurashi by the way."

His eyes widened, as if caught off guard and finally noticing he hadn't offered his name. "Sesshoumaru Taisho."

Kagome's shoulders eased as she relaxed a little. Someone with a name that meant 'Killing Perfection' sounded like they belonged in a gang, but the awkward way he'd said it made her smile.

He might not have been a very responsive or warm person, but he did seem nice under that indifferent attitude. However, Kagome was still uncertain, and as he turned away to make a phone call, she wrung her hands.

He'd probably offer to give her a ride into the village soon, and then she'd have to choose whether to trust him or not. Deciding to be safe, she rang Souta.

"Hey Sis, whats up?"

"Um, nothing serious, I just broke down is all." She said easily. This way she could tell him the facts and gloss over the details, hopefully making him worry a little less.

There was a panicked squeak from the line. "W-what! Are you okay?"

Kagome's lips lifted at the corners, affection leaking into her voice. "I'm fine, the 'check engine' light flashed up and I coasted to a stop. A guy pulled up and says his brother can tow my car to a village."

"You sure it's safe?" Souta asked hesitantly.

"No sweat, kiddo. He seems like a nice guy, but just in case, I'll text you my road number. I'm going to stay at the hotel overnight, and hopefully it'll be fixed soon." Kagome glanced over to where Sesshoumaru was standing, in deep conversation. He said it was doubtful it could be fixed though. Oh man, what am I going to do?

"What's the name of the village?"

Kagome's silence spoke for itself. Souta gave a long suffering sigh, as if imagining her smiling and waving it off.

She laughed weakly, "I'll text you that too." Kagome's eyes drew back to Sesshoumaru once more, but stopped short at the sight of his passenger door opening. A little girl around the age of ten stepped out, her eyes wide and inquisitive.

"Papa? Whats going on?" She asked, voice soft.

Sesshoumaru stilled, turning with a frown as he lowered the phone from his ear. "Rin. Did I not tell you to stay inside?"

Rin nodded and grinned apologetically, a gap in her teeth. Her eyes strayed to meet Kagome's, who stopped. A ripple of unease shuddered down her spine, breath catching.

When she blinked, nothing seemed to have changed, and the brief feeling of terror had vanished. Kagome realized dazedly that her hand had risen to her forehead, dizziness swaying her.

"Miss Higurashi?" Sesshoumaru's voice snapped her alert, and she smiled weakly at his inquiring look.

Mentally shaking herself and saying a brief goodbye to Souta, she put away her phone. Rin's dark brown eyes stayed glued to her the whole time, a warm smile slowly touching her face.

Kagome returned it, wondering at the faint sense of alarm that still clung to her. Stepping forward, she buried her feelings. "Your name's Rin? It's nice to meet you, I'm Kagome."

Rin nodded, her eyes landing on the ruined car. She gasped quietly. "Were you driving that car?"

Kagome, seeing her fearful look, gentled her voice."I sure was. Looks bad huh? But don't worry, not a scratch on me." At this, Rin's keen gaze roved over her face, and Kagome sweat dropped. "Well not many scratches anyway."

Sesshoumaru cleared his throat, clicking his phone off. "My brother refuses to pick up your car, but another mechanic who works with him has agreed to take it."

His expression was dark, face like thunder. Kagome hazarded a guess that he and his brother didn't get on too well. "O-oh alright. That's okay, I guess."

"We could wait for him if you wish, or I can take you to the hotel now."

Automatically, Kagome's chest tightened. Glancing down at Rin, she thought briefly to herself. He had his daughter with him, and she didn't have any reason to distrust the guy.

Raising her eyes to meet Sesshoumaru's, she smiled easily. "I'd appreciate a lift with you."

Sesshoumaru nodded, and turned to usher a beaming Rin back into the car. After retrieving her bags from the beat up wreck of her once beloved car, Kagome soon found herself being driven into unknown territory.

Sesshoumaru turned off from the main road almost immediately, driving into the pitch black cover of the trees.

The road was only a faint outline of a path for the car to follow, mist rolling through the road. Kagome held herself rigidly in her seat. An awkward silence hung in the air, and she caught herself glancing at Sesshoumaru. He met her gaze once and calmly returned his eyes to the road. If he noticed her uneasy expression, he didn't comment on it.

"Where were you travelling to, Kagome?" Rin pipped up from the backseat.

She turned to look at her, grateful for the distraction. "I was heading back home to Tokyo, but I kinda wish I'd driven a little earlier in the day."

The little girl nodded sagely. "Me too, we've been on the road for hours."

"Oh?" She hadn't thought to ask why they were travelling so late at night.

"Mmhm, we're on our way back from vacation because school starts again soon." She made a face, but then looked up inquisitively. "Why were you away from Tokyo? Were you on vacation too?"

Kagome tensed, but covered it up by smiling quickly. Her hands met in her lap, fingers threading. She wondered how to change the topic without seeming rude.

"Rin, Miss Higurashi is probably tired. Do not ask such questions." Sesshoumaru's steady voice cut through the air, making Kagome glance at him surreptitiously. She'd only hesitated for a moment, but had he somehow known she didn't want to answer?

Rin sighed and leaned back in her seat as Kagome smiled apologetically.

Her attention was grabbed when they turned a corner, leaving the trees behind them as the car was once more bathed in moonlight. A shudder ran down her spine, making Kagome violently quiver. It was as if something had physically brushed past her. Gritting her teeth against the sensation, Kagome was alarmed to find herself feeling nauseous. Breathing out shakily, she raised her head and found Sesshoumaru's gaze trained on her.

Blushing, she waved it off, missing his lingering look.

Houses awaited them, all grouped close together and looking somewhat old fashioned with their soft, quaint lights. Sesshoumaru carried on through the small, rural village, and Kagome glanced around, wondering how people could live in a place so isolated, so far away from any cities.

As they headed towards a cosy looking house, Kagome found her eyes returning to the driver once more. He was so serious and quiet, it was difficult to know what he was really like, yet she felt grateful to him for the ride. But it's not as if I'm going to hang around here to find out more about him. I'm getting outta this village as soon as I can.

Stopping in front of the two story house, Kagome noticed the lights flick on in the upstairs windows. Feeling guilty that they'd disturbed someone, she got out the car and followed Sesshoumaru up the porch steps. Sesshoumaru didn't knock on the front door, but instead waited silently.

There was a rustling from inside, and the jangle of keys being turned before an old woman answered the door. Kagome was surprised to see that she wore an eye-patch. She pulled her dressing gown tight around herself and frowned deeply at Sesshoumaru, who gazed back, non pulsed.

"Do you have any idea what time it is, Mr. Taisho?" The woman grumbled, her single eye narrowing.

"Past midnight, I suspect. This is Kagome Higurashi, she needs a room for the night." Sesshoumaru said, quick and to the point. He turned and looked back at Kagome, who awkwardly waved from behind him.

The woman glanced briefly at her, mouth thinning, eye widening slightly. Kagome felt another brief tremor of that strange sensation down her spine again, but shook it off. She should probably take some pills soon for the travel sickness.

She couldn't see Sesshoumaru's expression, but his voice softened, making the hair on the back of her neck stand up. "Kaede, this girl was attacked by the white dog that frequents the main road. Would you really turn her away after such an experience?"

Kaede's face turned pale, her eye narrowing once more. The two stared at each other in silence for a moment, something unseen passing between them that hung in the air. Kaede finally stepped aside, not looking at Kagome. "Bring your things inside then, shouldn't be too hard to find ye a room."

Kagome said her thanks, and after grabbing her bags, she followed the woman into the house as Rin waited in the car.

Climbing the stairs, Kaede showed her to a small room with a single bed, dresser and wardrobe. Kagome turned on her heel, words of thanks dying on her tongue the moment she realized the older woman had already left. Trying to shake of the feeling that she was intruding, her bags hit the floor as a sigh escaped her.

"A larger room could be arranged," came a velvety voice.

She jumped, finding Sesshoumaru in the door way. She hadn't heard him follow her up the stairs. He gave the room a once over, before settling his cool gaze on her.

Kagome shook her head. "No way, this suits me fine. Besides, you've done enough for me without all that hassle," her hand that waved in the air froze the moment he stepped closer.

He held up a face cloth, causing Kagome to blink in confusion. When he pressed it into her waiting hand, it felt damp and cool. "Because of the accident, it wouldn't surprise me if you've suffered whiplash. At the very least, you should tend to the cuts on your face."

"O-oh, thanks." She felt her cheeks burn, and smiled softly, cursing in the privacy of her mind. Great, the one time I meet a nice guy, I have seven hours worth of driving hanging over me, and we meet because of an accident. Despite his reserved nature, Kagome couldn't stifle the flutter in her stomach as his dark eyes met hers.

"Here is the number of the garage your car is being held at. My number is below it should you need anything," he murmured, giving her a piece of folded paper.

Saying thanks again felt inadequate, so when he turned with the intention of leaving, Kagome stepped forward. "I owe you. Seriously, if there's anything I can do to repay you for this, just lemme know. I mean it."

Sesshoumaru glanced back at her briefly, eyes shining from the warm light of the lamps. His lips tugged up at the corner, just for a moment- but in a flash it was gone. He nodded and Kagome watched, transfixed, as he left without another word.

Kaede only returned briefly to tell her where the bathroom was, and that breakfast was served at 8.00 am sharp.

"How much is it to stay for the night?" Kagome asked, hoping to soothe the tense atmosphere between them. Kaede's single eye landed on her and stared with an intensity that made the young woman rock back on her heels.

"Mr. Taisho has covered your expenses."

"What?" Kagome breathed, "he can't- I mean, why would he do that?" She stuttered, at a loss what to say.

Kaede's mouth tightened, lips thinning until they pressed into a grim line. "You'd best get some sleep," she muttered, shuffling down the hallway before Kagome could utter another word.

What the heck is going on? She stayed in a state of confusion even as she lay in bed, settling down under the covers. She resisted the strong urge to push the curtains aside and peek outside for signs of the white dog. She remained alert and stiff under the covers, listening. It was so quiet outside. The sound of her own breathing was too loud. She couldn't shake the feeling that it was out there somewhere. Strange, demonic red eyes glowing from within the mists, watching her hotel window.

She shivered and curled herself into a ball, yanking the covers over her head. The image of gigantic, monstrous jaws opening wide and consuming her bed whole made sleep a distant friend for awhile. Deciding to visit the garage as soon as possible in the morning, Kagome's eyes squeezed shut, and she released a long breath.

The last thing that passed through her mind before sleep claimed her, was that she hadn't asked what the name of the village was. Yet even as she tried to remind herself to ask about it tomorrow, a phantom sensation brushed through her, wiping the thought away.

If you like what I do please consider buying me a coffee x

#skmpoct18 #sesskag #Sesskag fanfiction #sesskag monthly prompt #sesshoumaru x kagome #Sesshoumaru #kagome higurashi #inuyasha fanfiction

77 notes · View notes

adonis-koo · 6 years ago

Text

The Music Between Us (Jimin x reader)

Ballet AU

Part 2

Previous | Next | Part 1

Your body ached severely, and the visual laying below you was not helping the pain.

Jeon Jungkook, yes even you the queen of hermits had heard of him by all the girls who had heart eyes and were ready to pounce on him.

You weren’t actually laying on top of him of course, but had his arms caved at any given moment you’d meet the certain pain of his broad well built chest. Currently he was laying on the floor holding you up by the hips.

People always had this idea that girls just had fun being carried around on stage and that was partly true accept you had to pull your weight in terms of holding poses.

Such as this unflattering Superman except your arms were fifth high, your back was arched as you attempted to push your legs higher along with your arms.

‘Is he attractive? Absolutely, but you need to stay focused Y/n..focus...’

“Wow you have a really flexible lower back,” Jungkook let out a strained laugh, as his warm chocolate brown eyes meet yours.

‘Fuck...’

You couldn’t help but let out a strained laugh yourself as you replied, “Uh thanks,”

It was certain that the only reason he asked you to partner with him was because you were the only girl who wasn’t shooting him heart eyes and slobbering out the mouth to be with him.

Even then you instantly knew he was very shy when he approached you, stammering out if you’d like to partner with him.

His personality didn’t match his looks at all, you would’ve assumed he would’ve been a fuckboy had he not approached you in such a docile manner.

But it was adorable and even with beads of sweat on his forehead that caused his dark brown hair to cling against his forehead he was still very attractive none the less.

And you didn’t even wanna start on his build, especially the his arms which were currently flexing the muscles that seemed to hold you up effortlessly.

Of course that word wasn’t entirely true after two minutes of being there, you were ready to die and you were sure he was too.

“No I mean it, I’ve never seen a girl who’s lower back is that flexible,” Jungkook insisted as he squeezed his eyes shut for a second in strain.

Unable to keep out the huff as you replied, “Yumi has way more lower back flexibility then me,”

It was Jungkooks turn to scoff as he nodded his head to head figure not to far to the right of you both, “Yeah but she doesn’t have the strength to hold it like you,”

Stealing a glance to the right too see Yumi being held up by Jimin, who seemed to be having just as rough as a time as poor Jungkook even if it didn’t look like it.

However Jungkook was right, she wasn’t able to hold her legs behind her nearly has high as you, but being your humble nature wouldn’t let allow you to view that as a ‘success’

“Okay yeah, maybe I do but it’s only because it’s only because I’ve always had a naturally flexible lower back all I’ve had to do is build strength,” You answered though it was came out through gritted teeth from the strain your back was being put under.

Jungkook let out a small smile as his eyes squinted slightly, “I know we’ve just met but would you mind staying my partner for next class?”

You didn’t mind at all in fact, he was well built and no matter how shakey his arms were right now, he made no signs of dropping you and not to mention the bonus of him being attractive.

The next class would be actual Partnering and you didn’t wanna be stuck with someone who wasn’t strong enough to be constantly lifting you, “Sure! You haven’t dropped me so far so you’re off to a great start,”

“I haven’t dropped a girl since my freshman year and you’re pretty light so you definitely won’t be in any danger I promise,” Jungkook let out another small strained laugh, “Not to mention id like to see you dance...”

You raised an eyebrow as you looked at him, “Oh?”

As in asking him to elaborate doing so he continued, “You don’t seem like you give yourself enough credit not to mention I’ve heard you’re really good,”

“Five minutes is up!” The teacher called out and without further instructon Jungkook gently set you down as you rolled off him collapsing next to his form.

Looking towards the exhausted boy as you inquired, “Heard of me?”

“Yeah, all the guys that have seen you dance say you have incredible artistry and technique, so I’d like to see for myself, if you don’t mind of course,” Jungkook gave you another warm smile.

Turning your head back to look at the ceiling as you felt your face throbbing unsure if it was from all the pain you just endured or from his compliment, “Oh...well I wouldn’t say I’m incredible but I do try my best,”

“And there you go again without giving yourself enough credit,” Jungkooks eyes crinkled amused, “Come on class is finished up,”

Groaning with a sigh as you answered, “Thank god, feels like my back is broken,”

He laughs as he stands up and holds his hand out, without any hesitation you took hold on it as he pulled you up with ease.

Unfortunately once one pain was finished you were ready to start another, putting pointe shoes on more then once a day was utter hell on your feet.

You weren’t really sure what it was about putting them on again but what you did know was it felt like there was rocks in your shoes and that wasn’t a pleasant feeling when your entire body weight was all being put on the small box of your shoe.

After putting on your shoes and making your way back into the classroom whilst tucking in the ribbon of your skirt.

Atleast they let you wear a skirt this time, it wasn’t a lot but it was better then just being in a leotard the entire time like last year, a memory you often cringed at.

Standing beside Jungkook as you both watched and listened to the teacher explaining the combination. Nothing too extremely, you stood in front of him as you both marked.

‘Releve, retiré, developpé devant, fouetté into a triple pirouette, bourrée foward and repeat on the other side’ it was simple enough and the exercise was mainly to work on balance and spacing between you and your partner.

You had your fair share of kneeing guys in the thigh but that was their fault for standing too close, and perhaps Jungkook shared the same fate as them since he kept a good distance between you both though he didn’t hesitate to tightly hold your waist as he balanced you during your turns.

He was actually a really good partner, and you had a feeling that was the case during the previous class but you were still surprised at how steady he kept you, Jungkook was definitely reliable and that you could appreciate.

Specifically when you got to the adagio of the class it was much appreciated, “Y/n I know your leg can go higher up,” your teacher Mr Sokolov suddenly grabbed your knee that was held in attitude and pushed it higher towards your back.

You hadn’t meant to crush Jungkooks hand in the process who had kept you steady during the whole process, he was promenading you around by the hand until you both had been stopped.

Jungkook winced in pain though he didn’t let go out your hand, feeling apologetic you mouthed an apology as your teacher pushed your knee back in line with your shoulder, “Now hold it! See! I want to see it this high from now on understood?”

Pulled your leg back into a releve before dropping into a pile as you nodded your head, “Yes sir,”

Mr Sokolav nodded and waved his hand at you both, “Try again,”

You hated having to go one at a time, especially with all the students staring at you sizing you up but Jungkook didn’t seem particularly phased by all of their expectant stares, “Sorry for that,” you whispered apologizing sheepishly.

“It’s okay, you looked like you were in pain. No wonder the Russians are so good when they have teachers like that,” Jungkook replied with a small smile as you stood back in front of him.

The pianist began to play as you both began, the beginning was simple enough, chasse with a first port de bra.

You could already feel the beads of sweat form on the back of your neck as you piqued into the first arabesque, Jungkook was quick to grab both of your hands behind you as you leaned forward.

On any other occasion without a partner you would’ve end up faceplanting, and in theory if your partner was bad that could still easily happen.

Petite battement back front, you cranked as much turnout as possible though your body just about hated you for doing so as you went into the arabesque on your left side.

One last arabesque, only this time Jungkook changed positions to stand to your side as you caught his extended hand.

Just two more sets of eight then you can hunch over for five minutes straight, you switched your arabesque line to an attitude efface, “Higher Y/n!” Mr Petrov called out from his seat on his stool

Doing as told you lifted your bent leg higher though keeping your ribs square and your knee behind your shoulder felt close to impossible as Jungkook led you around in the promenade.

“Yes! Good, good now hold in five, six,” Sokolav called out counting.

‘Seven’ You pulled into retire, rolling down to forth position you finished the combination strong with two incredibly fast turns curtsy to Jungkook who kept you steady the entire time.

Finishing the combination with a grande ronde jambe Jungkook turned you to the right corner of the room as you let your leg bend back into an attitude croise, letting go of his hand for the final balance ‘Eight’

Closely back to fifth before plieing you groaned instantly folding forward, your back was in immense pain but Sokolav was very happy with you so that had to count for something.

“See girls! That is what I am talking about! Once you get your leg past hip height you no longer have to hold your foot in line with your knee,” Sokolav praises you as he explained to the other girls but with one passing glance all you saw was envious faces.

And that just about summed up summer intensives. If you weren’t the best you were jealous of the best.

That’s just how it was with the mass majority of girls, and if they weren’t jealous they certainly didn’t offer any warm smiles.

Jungkook lead you to the back of the room were the rest of the class stood as the next set of partners begun.

Letting go of you hand Jungkook praised you, “You did good, thanks for not elbowing my face by the way,”

Raising an eyebrow with a soft chuckle you quietly inquired, “I assume its happened before?”

Jungkook winced at the memory as you explained, “Last year when I was help a girl during four pirouettes she had to go through all the fifth positions with her arms, horrible timing but as she passed through fifth front she elbowed me right in the nose, it wouldn’t stop bleeding for over a half hour,”

Unconsciously you grabbed you nose was you winced with him, “God that sounds painful, the worst I’ve done kneed a guy right in the crotch during turns,”

“Somehow I feel like that would actually be worse,” Jungkook let out a snigger before lowering his voice once more.

“Y/n your lines were beautiful,”

Both Jungkook and you looked towards your right were Jimin stood his gaze was not so warm and soft when it landed on Jungkook but it melted once more when it returned back to you.

You faced began to feel warm as you nervously laughed, “Thank you! I give curtsy to Mr Sokolav for trying to break my back in the process,”

Jimin only smiled at you softly as he shook his head, “If you insist Y/n,”

He then turned back to return to Yumi who was waiting for him as they were next in line to begin.

Facing back to Jungkook you didn’t expect the smirk on his lips as you instantly squinted your eyes in suspicion, “What?”

“So...You and Jimin huh?”

You knew what he was insinuating as your flusteredly replied “No!”

Not meaning to deny it so loudly as a few people turned to look at you both, quickly lowering your voice you continued, “No it’s nothing like that,”

“Then why was he staring at me the entire combination with this glare and clenched jaw?” Jungkook asked crossing his arms with a raised brow.

Trying to imagine Jimin glaring was close to impossible, he was an absolute sweetheart, “Jimin wouldn’t- wait how would you know that? We were dancing,”

“In front of a mirror Y/n I saw his reflection while you were doing your arabesques,” Jungkook replied flatly, “How long have you two known each other,”

Shrugging you didn’t really ever think about it all that much as you answered, “I don’t know, two, three years maybe? We met back in middle school for the performing arts academy but he moved over seas due to his family’s business when he was like fourteen, I haven’t seen him since until this morning.”

Jungkook pressed his tongue against his cheek, letting his eyes trail to Jimin who was preparing to start before returning back to you, “And you guys didn’t keep in contact at all?”

Shaking your head as your eyes trained on Jimin and Yumi who both chassed into their first port de bra, “No...we mainly only saw each other during our technical class and lunch, occasionally we went out to one of the food stands on Main Street after we finished class but that was about it,”

Despite Yumi being the one really dancing your eyes has stayed trained on Jimin, there was something so regal about his stance, just the way he held his body he exuded poise.

In fact you would have rather of just watched him dance alone, sure Yumi had incredible technique and all of her arabesques were close to hitting her head, and sure her attitude was higher then yours -though barely- she just didn’t have that natural elegance Jimin held.

“Lower you leg in attitude so you can keep your ribs square Yumi,” Sokolav called out.

You only had to see Yumi’s grimace for a second to see she wasn’t pleased with the correction but she was trained Russian who instantly listened, lowering her leg she adjusted her ribs.

Jungkook didnt press the subject anymore though he didn’t hesitate to lean towards your ear to whisper, “That’s the girl everyone thinks is gonna get casted for the main role?”

Looking back towards Jungkook you nodded, “She’s the strongest technical dancer in our class, not mention her parents are well connected to the ballet master who’s holding the audition, why do you say it like that?”

He shrugged as you both watched them end their combination, “I don’t know, she just doesn’t really give off a white swan vibe y’know? Maybe a black swan, but she isn’t an Odette that’s for sure,”

You only soaked in his words as you both carefully watch the couple taking corrections, Jungkook wasn’t wrong, she would make an excellent black swan.

Hey guys hope you enjoyed the chapter I busted a lot uwu’s seeing how much you all enjoyed the first chapter, I’m 90% positive some of my dance terms aren’t properly spelt in this chapter but it’s been sitting in my drafts for ages and I’ll correct it tomorrow when I don’t have to turn on a light 😂

#bts jimin #jimin x you #jimin x reader #park jimin #jimin series #bts au #dancer!jimin #dancer!jimin x reader #jimin imagine #jimin scenarios #bts scenarios #reader insert #jungkook x reader if you squint #im tired and cant sleep so have another chapter #the music between us

121 notes · View notes

theygotmewhipped · 6 years ago

Text

Skin - 7. Bowling

Word Count: 5 468

“Uhm, Chanyeol?” I tugged on his shirt while he was leaning on the counter, waiting for his shoes.

“Hmm?” He turned at me with questioning look. I was fidgeting.

“This is kinda embarrassing but I’ve never actually played bowling. I mean, I have the general idea of what you are supposed to do but…” I awkwardly grinned.

“I know.” He simply replied.

“What? How?” I creased my brows.

“You’ll be on my team and I’ll teach you. You’ll be professional in no time cos I’m the best.” He puffed his chest grinning.

“But…” That wasn’t my question.

“Here are your shoes, sir.” The assistant interrupted me. Chanyeol took his shoes and went to the seats to put them on.

“Yeol!” I called after him.

“Miss, I need your shoe size.” The guy at the counter interrupted another of my attempts.

“Oh, sorry.” I gave him attention and told him the size of my shoes.

“So who are the team leaders?” Minseok asked once we were all ready.

“Me, of course.” Chanyeol grinned. “So who wants to fight me?” Everyone just started mumbling something and looking around for a victim who would take up the mantle.

“How about Yumi?” Sehun tried to push me into the role.

“She’s in my team, that’s not negotiable.” Chanyeol took a step in front of me partially hiding me behind him. Others looked a bit confused but didn’t argue. I didn’t argue either. Better to be in a team with Chanyeol than without, although the best option would be to not be here at all.

“What about you, Sehun?” I struck back at him.

“Are you kidding me? I’m the youngest, I can’t be the leader.” He overdramatized. “Junmyeon is definitely more fitted for it.” He threw the hot potato at another member.

“What? But Minseok is older than me.” Junmyeon evaded.

“What does it have to do with age?” Minseok defended himself. They started to squabble about Chanyeol’s opponent.

“Idiots!” I shouted over them. “Why don’t you just play rock-paper-scissors or draw a straw?” They all went quiet and looked at me for a second then proceeded to play r-p-s among themselves.

“You sure saved us a lot of time. They always do this because everyone wants to be on my team.” Chanyeol smirked.

“Are you really that good?” I looked at him in disbelief. It’s kinda hard to tell if he is just boasting or not, but others seem really reluctant to play against him. I just hope he’s better than in playing videogames.

“Seriously?” Kyungsoo sighed. Seems like it’s decided.

“It had to happen one day.” Baekhyun patted his shoulder.

“Alright, you pick first since I already have Yumi.” Chanyeol gave him the right to choose. Kyungsoo looked among the teamless boys his eyes wide open. The boy actually has bigger eyes than it seems.

“I take Jongin.” Jongin smiled a little and stepped closer to Kyungsoo.

“So who do we want?” Chanyeol looked at me.

“Huh? Why are you asking me? You are the captain.” I was a little baffled.

“Yep, and I want a team you’ll feel most comfortable in, so pick the members.” He amiably smiled at me. He wants me to feel comfortable? Why does something like that matter? I observed his face looking for any hidden motives but all I saw was a genuine generosity. Our eyes locked for a moment before I quickly turned away feeling flustered for no reason.

I assessed all the remaining boys trying to pick someone I thought would help Chanyeol win since I am a dead weight. As I looked them over, Baekhyun was hopping up and down and swaying to sides, trying to catch my attention so I would pick him, with wide grin on his face. When I looked at his face he lit up even more like an excited puppy.

“Eh…” I snarled and rolled my eyes. “Is Jongdae okay?” I turned to Chanyeol for approval. He nodded.

“I told you to choose so pick whoever you want.” He smiled at me. “We’re taking Dae.” Chanyeol said loudly.

“Yes!” Jongdae yelled and jumped to our side satisfied. Then Kyungsoo took Yixing so I took Sehun to balance the giraffe guys out in the teams and also because I didn’t exactly wanted to pick Minseok because of his creepy vibe. Junmyeon is clumsy enough to break my mug so I don’t know if I trust him with a ball so heavy in his hands. And Baekhyun, well, I would choose him but his obvious desire to be picked by Chanyeol’s team makes me want to drag him a little.

Luckily, Soo’s next pick was Minseok. Junmyeon and Baekhyun were the only ones left. Baek instead of jumping like a kid just stared at me with sad puppy eyes, pouting, basically begging me to choose him. Well, this is satisfying. Seeing the transition from cheerful to pleading in a matter of seconds.

Chanyeol leaned to my ear.

“Please, choose Hyunie. Otherwise he’ll be sulking for the rest of the day.” I was gonna choose him anyway but seeing him so desperate for a second was a real blessing to the eyes.

“Sorry, Junmyeon, but I really liked that mug so as much as it pains me…” I tried to make it sound more dramatic. “We want Baekhyun.” I rolled my eyes in over-exaggerated manner and sighed.

“I know you like me!” Baekhyun happily ran over to us and jumped at me. SHIT! I tried to push him away as I started to tremble.

“Idiot! Let me-go!” I shouted in panic, pushing his chest away, trying to stand still on my wobbling legs while my body was rapidly heating up.

“Baekhyun, stop!” Chanyeol tore him away from me. I turned at him with wide eyes, searching for the most familiar thing around me, still trembling, my skin burning and my brain switching to fight or flight mode, making my legs run away. “Yumi!” Chanyeol yelled after me. I didn’t stop until I was closed in one of the stalls in women’s bathroom. I sat down on the lid and tried to calm down. Why me? Why does this have to happen to me? I hid my face in shaky hands, crying, hardly breathing.

“Yumi.” A soft voice followed a knock on the door. “Yumi, please, open the door.” Chanyeol said calmly. I lifted my head with my eyes shut, trying to calm my breathing and stifle the sobbing so he wouldn’t hear. Which was proving to be impossible. “If you don’t open the door, I’m gonna tear them out. Yumi, please.” Chanyeol spoke softly even though he was threatening.

I slowly opened my eyes filled with tears and stared at the door in front of me choking on my own breath.

“I am sorry, Yumi, please.” His voice got an undertone of hopelessness. Why is he apologizing though? It’s not his fault I’m like this. It’s my fault. Few more sobs got stuck in my throat leaving me breathless. I felt a dull pain in my head and I sweating a lot. I need…I need help. I took a spastic breath. I can’t stop it on my own. It’s gone too far. In a despair, I hesitantly reached out to the lock and left my shaking fingers linger over it.

“Yumi, please, let me in.” Chanyeol sounded more desperate. He is my only option now, isn’t he? I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and with trembling fingers unlocked the door. “Thank you.” He whispered with a relieved sigh before the door opened and he stepped closer. “Yumi, look at me.” His voice came from beneath me. He was probably crouching down in front of me. I shook my head in refusal and couldn’t catch my breath. It felt like someone was strangling me from inside. The thick lump stuck in my throat not wanting to disappear. “Okay, it’s okay. You don’t have to look at me.” Chanyeol said soothingly as I choked on my own sobs. “I’m gonna hold your hands, Yumi, is that alright?” He talked slowly and carefully. I violently shook my head no with a new rash of panic overcoming me. “Shh, I’m not going to hurt you, Yumi. I know how it makes you feel but I’m here to help, okay? I’ll just touch your hands, nothing else. Can I do that?” Chanyeol spoke clearly to persuade me. I shook my head again trying to calm my breathing. “Yumi, can I touch you? It’s not going to hurt, I promise.” He pleaded with me. I fidgeted my fingers fighting my own instincts and forced myself to nod. It’s just hands. He won’t hurt me, right? He has never been a threat to me so far and I really need help.

After I nodded, Chanyeol’s hands softly cupped mine and lightly caressed them. The shock from the touch, even though it was expected, forced me to finally take a proper breath and open my eyes wide. It felt like taking first breath after a long time underwater.

“There you go.” Chanyeol was sadly smiling at me right in front of me. “Now focus on breathing.” He kept on caressing my hands. He started to take deep breaths, trying to make me do the same. “Just breathe. Everything is okay. Nobody is going to hurt you.” He looked me straight in the eyes with such sincerity that I wanted to believe him.

After couple more minutes of Chanyeol’s attempt to calm me down, my breathing and heartbeat finally regulated and I stopped shaking so violently.

“See? Everything is fine. Nothing bad happened to you.” He lightly squeezed my hands and gazed at me with a kind smile. I looked at our touching hands, breaking the eye contact for the first time, taking a few shallow breaths before I convinced myself that nothing is actually hurting and that nothing bad is happening to me.

“Thank you.” I said with a weak raspy voice. “I’m sorry you had to see this.” I avoided the eye contact, embarrassed.

“Hey, there’s no reason to feel ashamed about it. It’s not your fault.” He peeked into my face, seeking an eye contact. “Ready to go back? They’re probably panicking out there.” He chuckled.

“Yeah, let me just clean my face a bit. I probably look like trash can had a baby with Medusa.” I wanted to stand up but Chanyeol was still holding my hands. His hands are so warm. It feels weird, but not in a bad way like it always does.

“Nah, I don’t see it. More like a cute little panda.” He grinned at me.

“Hey! That’s not nice! And you can stop holding me, by the way.” I tugged my hands a bit from him.

“Oh, sorry.” His face clouding for a second when he let go of me. We both stood up and moved to the sinks.

“If you don’t mind me asking, why are you afraid of being touched?” I almost poked my eye out when he asked looking at me through the mirror.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I tried to play it off.

“C’mon, Yumi. After all this…I’m not as dumb as I look.” He almost seemed hurt that I’m making a fool of him. “And I kinda asked your sister about it.” He finished quietly.

“You did what?!” I promptly turned at him.

“Well, I had my suspicions after spending some time with you and if I had asked, you would have just brushed me off or lied or something so I went ahead and asked your sister.” He blurted out. “I’m sorry, okay?”

“No, not okay. What the hell has she told you?” I don’t know if I should kill him, her or both and in what order.

“Nothing specific. Just that the touch of others makes you anxious and that I should take care of you if anything like this happens. She said that if I want to know more I have to ask you.” He tried to defend himself. Well, he doesn’t know much. Luckily. But still…what’s the best way to hide a body?

Instead of saying anything, I turned back to the sink and splashed my face with cold water. I can’t really change the fact that he knows so it’s pointless to aggravate myself. Not after the scene I just made. I dried my face with paper towels and looked in the mirror. Bitch, look at you. A complete mess as a human.

“If you tell anyone,” I looked at Chanyeol’s reflection. “I swear to God you won’t see the light of the day ever again. I’ll make a minced meat out of you and feed you to the dogs.” I said in a low voice. Chanyeol’s eyes widened and he gulped down. “Understood?” I asked when he wouldn’t response.

“Yes, ma’am.” I nodded in satisfaction and threw away the towels.

“Let’s go back before they all barge in here as well.” I left the restroom with Chanyeol trailing me.

“I’m so sorry! Please, accept this gift and forgive me for I have sinned.” Baekhyun fell to his knee in front of me as soon as we returned to our box, holding a tray of nachos with cheese. I blinked in surprise as I watched his melodramatic and exaggerated apology.

“Dude…” Chanyeol stood next to me face-palming himself.

“Is nachos really the best you could do?” I tried to sound annoyed. The guys sitting in the booth just snickered and whispered among themselves.

“Well, there wasn’t exactly wide range to choose from so I chose what I thought you would like.” He pouted. “Pwease, don’t be mad at me?” He purposely said like a child.

“Geez, are you always such a drama queen?” I rolled my eyes.

“Yes!” Everyone except Baekhyun answered.

“Oh,” I flinched in a shock. “Whatever, let’s just play. It’s what we came for after all.” I sat down next to Sehun. Honestly, I was glad they didn’t have any questions about what happened, even grateful. It made me feel a little less like a freak. Seems like Chanyeol surrounds himself with people who are a lot like him in some ways.

“Sooo…you don’t want the nachos?” Baekhyun spinned on his knee.

“Bitch, of course I do. Gimme it.” I snatched it from his hands and ate a chip dipped in the cheese.

“So what are the stakes this time?” Yixing asked, folding his hands on the table looking from boy to boy.

“Mm…” I munched on the nacho fuzzily glaring at them.

“We always put something as a prize or punishment so we have bigger motivation to win.” Chanyeol sat down next to me.

“How about the losing team has to cross-dress.” Junmyeon suggested. Some of them agreed to it.

“Isn’t that too dull?” Jongdae asked.

“I agree. Why not spicy it up a little?” I cheekily grinned.

“What do you have in mind?” Baekhyun asked interested.

“How good did you say you are?” I leaned in to Chanyeol and whispered. A need-to-know information for my own survival.

“The best.” Chanyeol winked at me with a smug look. An evil smirk spread across my face.

“The losing team will cross-dress as sexily as possible and then we’ll go clubbing.” I laid down the modification. Jongdae and Baekhyun were snickering together on my idea. Kyungsoo’s team looked among each other with uneasiness.

“Isn’t that a bit too much to go in public like that?” Yixing didn’t really identify with the idea.

“You are saying it as if you’ve already lost.” Sehun kept straight face trying to sound serious.

“We have Chanyeol so they basically did.” Baekhyun maliciously giggled.

“I wouldn’t laugh just yet, Baek.” I scolded him. “I’m in your team as well and I’ve never played this before.” Although I talked to Baekhyun I looked at the other team to convince them they still have a chance to win.

“That’s right. And I might not have a good day. Who knows how it will end.” Chanyeol seemingly picked up on my intentions and added something himself.

“C’mon guys, maybe we can win this time.” Jongin was first to get convinced. On the outside I looked completely normal but inside, I was laughing evilly.

“Geez, fine, whatever.” Kyungsoo gave in. In the end everyone agreed.

“So which team goes first?” Minseok asked. Chanyeol then played rock-paper-scissors against Kyungsoo and lost.

“Guess that means I go first.” Soo sluggishly stood up and went to take a ball. His team started to cheer him on. I studied him in order to pick up some knowledge about the game. He stood in front of the lane, holding the ball up to his chest, not moving. A minute went by, the cheers gradually faded but he hadn’t moved an inch.

“Uhm, I’m no expert but I don’t think this is how it’s supposed to be played.” I was confused what was going on.

“He always does this.” Sehun rolled his eyes.

“He never told us why it takes him so long to actually throw the ball but I think he’s calculating the trajectory or something like that.” Jongin explained.

“Then why does he look completely lost while at it?” I observed Kyungsoo from a far.

“Who knows, maybe he’s just contemplating life.” Jongdae shrugged.

“More like wondering where his life went wrong that he ended up here with you like I am.” I snarled.

“Aww. Stop lying, we know you are happy to be here with us.” Baekhyun grinned at me. I sent him an angry look and his grin changed into a face of fear.

“Chanyeol, you up.” Kyungsoo suddenly appeared at the table making me twitch. When did he throw the ball? I haven’t even noticed him move. Chanyeol excitedly jumped to his feet.

“Now watch how it’s done, Yumi.” He exclaimed confidently. He took a ball and threw it with power. The ball spun to the left and ended up in a gutter. Everyone started laughing while Chanyeol was shocked at his own failure.

“Seems like the King of the Gutter is back.” Junmyeon said after he stopped laughing.

“King of the Gutter?” I was out of the picture.

“Yeah, when we started to go bowling, he always hit the gutter no matter how he threw it.” Minseok explained. Chanyeol sat back down next to me slumping his shoulders.

“So... is this how it’s supposed to go?” I chuckled while looking at his devastated face. He just sent me puppy glare with a pout.

Next up was Junmyeon. He took a ball and stood in front of the lane. Everything seemed normal until he squatted down and held the ball with both hands swinging it between his legs.

“Wha-what is he doing?” I stared at him wide eyed.

“It’s better this way.” Yixing gave me a vague answer.

“What, why? Isn’t this against the rules or something?” I didn’t understand why they would let him play like this.

“Just let it go.” Jongin answered.

“Once, when he played how it should be played, he accidentally threw the ball in the air and destroyed ceiling panel. So we let him play like this to keep everything and everyone safe.” Chanyeol explained.

“Oh-kay.” Junmyeon really is a clumsy lad, isn’t he? It was our team’s turn and Sehun was up. He walked normally to take a ball but as soon as he held it he started walking sternly like he had a stick in his ass. Do all of them do weird shit like this? Unexpectedly, he knocked down all the pins returning to us with a proud smirk on his face.

Minseok took a next turn. He threw the ball and I stood up in shock. “How is that even possible for fucks sake?!” I said way too loud causing few people to turn to look at us instead of Minseok where they were looking before. That midget scored a strike…Which wouldn’t be so eye catching if it wasn’t two lanes from the one where it was supposed to be. I’m starting to think my inexperience won’t be standing out that much

Jongdae took Minseok’s place and got ready. As soon as he swung his arm back the ball flew out of his hand in our direction. We all at once tried to hide under the table.

“Sorry, guys!” Jongdae yelled from the lane. I knew I should have stayed at home and take that nap. It seems like this might be the last day of my life if it continues like this. We all sat back down to the seats.

“Are you two like twins or something?” I looked at Minseok, making fun of their skills.

“No, we are married.” He answered in all seriousness.

“Really?!” I was caught off guard.

“Nah, he’s just messing with you. They just live together.” Chanyeol set things right.

“For now.” Minseok was completely serious as he stared right in to my eyes with blank expression. Yep, he’s totally creepy. I turned away from him and rather watched Yixing play. He took a ball, held it in front of him and started doing circles with the other hand above the ball. Are they really all like this? Who have I killed in my previous life to end up here? Yixing’s lips started moving.

“Is he trying to cast a spell or something?” I raised my brows in despair.

“Something like that. It has something to do with power of positive words and thinking or what?” Kyungsoo answered. Are they in a cult? It would explain why they are all so weird but…Oh God, I hate my life.

“Oh yeah, man. It’s time to show you all who’s the boss.” Baekhyun jumped up, stretching his arms. I mentally face-palmed myself. Another flying ball for sure. Baekhyun took a ball, took a few steps and threw it striking down the pins. That was…actually pretty normal. Except for one thing.

“What the heck is wrong with your arm?” I asked him when he returned.

“You mean, this.” Baekhyun stretched his arm revealing a weird bending in the elbow.

“Eww, why?” I scrunched my nose.

“Cool, right?” He smiled and sat down.

Next up was Jongin and then it was supposed to be my turn. Jongin took a ball and went to the lane. However instead of stopping before the foul line, he just walked right down the lane to the pins and let go of the ball at the end.

“What the actual fuck?” I just glared at him in disbelief. “You know what? I’m fucking done.” I looked from boy to boy. “You all belong to an asylum. I can’t believe that Baekhyun is the…well…relatively normal one.” I was frustrated from the scenes I’ve seen. “Do you always play like this?! I’m actually surprised they haven’t restricted you from entering all bowling alleys on the east hemisphere!” This is a stress I don’t need in my life. I’m just waiting for someone from the staff to come and kick us out. While I was stressing out, they all erupted in to a laughter. I watched as they were laughing so hard they couldn’t breathe, just smacking each other and holding their stomachs. My confused face slowly replaced the one of realization as it dawned on me. “It was a prank, wasn’t it?” I said sourly. They were still chuckling and laughing without answering me. “You are assholes. All of you. You know that?!” I grumbled in defeat.

“It was worth it though.” Junmyeon smiled.

“You should have seen your face every time one of us did something stupid.” Jongdae grinned and along with Baekhyun started imitating me.

“Did you really think we were complete idiots like that?” Yixing chuckled. Actually, yeah, yeah, I did. It wouldn’t be that surprising.

“Are you playing or will you just sit there glaring at us for the rest of the day?” Sehun was impatient.

“Of course, she’s playing. Come on, Yumi.” Chanyeol answered instead of me and stood up full of determination.

“I’d rather glare at you.” I narrowed my eyes at them.

“Na-ah.” Chanyeol grabbed me by the sleeve of my shirt and tugged on it, revealing my shoulder since I wouldn’t stand up.

“Argh, fine. Stop stretching my shirt, dumbass.” I knew he was probably doing it as not to touch me but still…my shirrrt.

“So how do I do this?” I stared at the pins with Chanyeol next to me.

“Well, first you need a ball.” He chuckled. I nodded in determination and picked up a ball. However, I didn’t anticipate for it to be so heavy. I got dragged downward stopping above the floor just because Chanyeol reached for the ball. “Whoa, careful. It’s heavier than it looks.” We stood face to face holding the ball between us.

“I’ve kinda noticed but thanks anyway.” I looked at his smiling face with his dimple visible. That’s cute. I smiled back at him…What? No! I turned sideways and snatched the ball away from him. What the fuck was that?! “Okay, so now I just throw it and pray to some higher power it hits the pins?” I focused my gaze on the lane.

“You could do that…or you could actually aim and try your best to hit them. Just steady your wrist and give it the direction you want it to go.” He stood next to me and gave me an exhibition how to move the arm. “You should have like three steps before you release the ball. Something like this.” He took three steps and pretended to throw the ball at the end.

“Got it!” I strongly nodded. I have to get this right. I just have to. I don’t want to embarrass myself more than I already did today. I took a few steps and swung my arm to throw the ball.

It wouldn’t be me if something actually went the way I want it to though. I let go off the ball too late and it dragged me forward which made me slip on the floor and I ended up face first on the ground with a big thud. The boys at the table erupted into a great laughter. I lifted my head up only to see the ball falling into the gutter not hitting a single pin. With a heavy disappointed sigh I hit the floor with my forehead.

“Seems like Chanyeol found his Queen of the Gutter.” They all laughed at the table. “And she’s got some special skills of her one, like breakdancing.” “And being the literal star of the game.” Can I please just die right this moment? Pretty please.

“Yumi, are you alright?” Chanyeol crouched down next to me.

“What do you think?” I talked to the floor. Devastated by my own clumsy ass.

“C’mon, get up.” He ignored my whining.

“Not until I fall through the ground right to the deepest darkest parts of hell.” I haven’t moved an inch. Chanyeol snickered taking a moment before speaking again.

“You’re starting to act like Baekhyun, drama queen.” My head shot up right that second, staring daggers into Chanyeol.

“Am not!” Chanyeol chuckled at my reaction.

“Oh really? Then that means you’ll stop laying here like it’s the end of the world, is that right?” He mocked me.

“Ugh, fine.” I rolled my eyes. “I’m standing up, see?” I picked myself up. “But I’m never playing this thing ever again. Nah, e-e… I’m going home.” I trailed to the table.

“Whoa, whoa, stop.” Chanyeol stepped in my way. “Why are you giving up after a first attempt?”

“Cause, if you haven’t noticed, I suck. Big time.” I wanted to walk around him but he stepped in front of me again.

“Don’t just walk away without putting in any effort. Do you know how long it took me to get a hang of it? I wasn’t called King of the Gutter for nothing.” He snickered. “No one ever mastered anything after one try. It takes time and practice.” He gave some kind of a motivational eyes opening monologue you see in movies when the main character is going through tough time.

“Are you done?” I gave him a bored look. He got a bit perplexed but soon regained his composure.

“Please, don’t go.” He stared at me with a pleading face. We gazed into each other’s eyes neither willing to give in.

“Just kiss already!” Yixing yelled at us which earned him another smacking by Junmyeon.

“What the…?!” I frowned at him, noticing that all of them were watching us. Chanyeol kept quiet and when I turned to look at him his face was bright red reminding me of the time I told Baekhyun we had kissed. “God, fine, whatever, I’m staying.” I grumbled. Chanyeol’s face lit up like a Christmas tree. “But if I don’t get a grip by the end of the game, I’m never doing this again.” I gave an ultimatum.

“Deal, now come here and try again.” He tugged me by the shirt back to the lane. “I have a proposal.” He seriously stared at me.

“Um, okay?” I suspiciously glared at him.

“I can help you get better but it would involve me touching you.” I immediately tensed up.

“What do you mean?” I asked sternly.

“If you don’t want to it’s okay. I won’t do it without your permission. I was thinking I would just help you with a stance so you won’t fall off balance and will have better idea of the timing of your movement.” He explained in detail. I looked into his eyes the whole time. As always I haven’t noticed anything ominous or any bad intentions, just pure kindness and thoughtfulness.

“Alright, let’s do it.” I said seriously. I’m doing a lot of things I haven’t done before today so if I’m supposed to die then why not speed it up. Chanyeol put on a huge grin overflowing with happiness.

“Thank you, Yumi.” What are you thanking me for, you overgrown puppy? He excitedly handed me a ball, still wearing a grand smile on his face. “Shall we?”

“Do I even have a choice at this point?” I answered defeated and took the ball from him.

“I’m gonna touch you now, so don’t panic, okay? I’m not gonna hurt you or harm you in any way.” He stood next to me and put his hand on my back. I flinched but stood my ground focusing on Chanyeol’s voice rather than the burning touch. “I’m moving my hand to yours now. If it becomes too much, tell me and I’ll stop.” He talked me through his every move to prepare me for it. His hand slowly crawled through my shoulder down to my elbow.

“Stop!” I froze when he stepped behind me and his chest lightly touched my back. He immediately stopped moving and stood completely still. I couldn’t even feel him breathe. I took a deep breath, looked at his hand near my elbow and tried to convince my brain to turn off the alarm. “You may continue.” Chanyeol let out relaxed sigh and resumed his movement. He kept talking to me until his hand covered mine, his body touching mine so slightly that it felt like only our clothes rubbed each other.

“I’m gonna touch your waist to keep you in balance. Can I?” I inhaled, quickly nodded with closed eyes, and exhaled. His other arm curled around my body and landed on my waist. Wow, his hands are really big. He’s basically holding half of my belly. “So now, what you wanna do is…” He explained me everything while leading my movements up until the release of the ball. While I paid attention to what he was saying the burning subdued and I could breathe normally. When I let go of the ball, Chanyeol immediately stepped away, giving me space to completely relax, sending me a warm smile. I looked at him the entire time not even caring if I hit anything or not. “Look at that! You did it!” I turned to the pins, seeing few of them knocked down. Corners of my mouth rose slightly into a small smile. “Four down. That’s impressive, Yumi.” Chanyeol grinned. Sense of accomplishment spread through me, lifting up my mood.

“You know what?” I looked back at Chanyeol smirking. He stared back at me confused with a small frown. “I think we might actually win this.” I said with a new found optimism. Chanyeol proudly smiled at me in response.

“Of course we will. We have you on our team.” He chuckled and we went back to the table.

“Aww…” Sounded in unison, when we got there. All of them giving us that weird face people make when looking at something awfully cute.

First Chapter——–Previous Chapter——–Next Chapter

Hi :)

I have played bowling like once in my life long long time ago, so please excuse all the bullshit I wrote about it

#chanyeol #park chanyeol #exo #exo au #exo fanfiction #exo fluff #slice of life #fluff #not a love story #fanfiction #fanfic #ff #own writing #own work #ao3 #archive of our own #Wattpad

1 note · View note

apriciticreveries · 1 month ago

Text

——

( days, where she walked along the cold hallways . talking note of and re - memorizing all the turns and structures and rooms and doors, until she had practically seared them into her mind . )

——

she could do . . that . now, couldn’t she ? she could run —and she could take yumi, too, just as she had silently contemplated to herself while her and yumi were backstage, shakily combing through blonde and brown hair in those moments in not just an attempt to comfort her yumi, but herself as well . it would probably be that last chance she’d have to do that, she thought to herself .

but - what if one of them got hurt ? — more importantly — what if yumi got hurt ? they would practically have no cover so they’d have to rely purely on speed and being swift enough to dodge every single shot— plus the security was no - doubt probably still doubled because of ciaran—

. . what if she just went herself, then ?

yumi wouldn’t have to be danger . of course she didn’t want to leave her — not even for a moment — but she was guaranteed life, and that’s really all asahi cared about anyway .

she couldn’t lay down and accept this end .

she needed to keep going . not for herself, but for others . she still had a chance at a future, she didn’t need to accept just like she always had . she didn’t want to die, and she didn’t need to .

she toke in a last breath and wiped her tears .

asahi’s eyes soon wandered from a weapon being loaded and ready to be aimed, to yumi .

turning to her, asahi toke one of yumi’s hands in one hand, and laid a hand on her cheek with her other . she whispered soft promises to return— to come back for her . no matter what . she hoped yumi understood what she meant .

“ . . just hang on while im gone, ok ? for me . ? “ asahi said, forcing a comforting smile as she placed her forehead to yumi’s . slowly untying her ribbon from her hair, and placing it in yumi’s hands gently . she pressed a soft kiss to familiarly warm lips .

the moment she heard the loud “ BANG ! “ of a gun, she opened her eyes— and pinpointed the placement of bullet in the air, aiming right for her head . her movements were a bit sloppy in return when she clumsily dodged it over the repetitive banging of her heart —

a bit too slowly on the behalf of her hair, though, as the bullet sliced straight across it, cutting it to a length of her shoulders .

she toke a sharp turn away while the guard was recovering from their confusion, joining the crowd below of shocked and confused spectators too ignorant and worried about themselves to even glance around, as she weaved through to the exit discreetly .

——————————————————————————————————

ok ok . first . this was actually one whole passage before i decided to split it since it was getting a bit too long . . i have a bit of a habit when writing to drag it out or make it a bit too long ? i don’t know 🫠

oh and the flashbacks are indented and sectioned off from the rest of the passage if you need help with that ! im sorry if that also gets confusing at times . .

secondly . . so i honestly don’t want to tag rock because im kind of embarrassed since its kind of clear in my opinion that im not that great at writing even though i like to . . but . . yumi and nyx ( since hes vaguely referenced in part 1 ) belong to @rockwgooglyeyes !

#alien stage #alnst #alien stage ocs #alnst ocs #alnst oc: yumi #alnst oc: nyx #alnst oc: asahi #alnst oc: cosmo

6 notes · View notes

tiefling-queer · 6 years ago

Note

★★★★★★ *whispers* tell me about all your ocsssssssss :D

Allen Krueger - he’s the Chosen One and he’s just trying his best. Allen would rather be spending his time playing Overwatch with his discord pals or longboarding around listening to music than taking on these dangerous missions where people die or trying to figure out this weird axe that makes his head overload or some destiny and Choice-with-a-capital-c that he has to make. This was cool for about a day before it got incredibly overwhelming. Allen’s mixed race - his father is middle eastern, his mother is white. He’s 16 at the start of all this (which begins in 2016) and a sophomore in high school and he doesn’t deserve what we put him through lol. Allen’s big into emo, pop punk, punk, and basically anything you can find on a warped tour comp cd (since his mom was big into the offspring and green day back in the day, and his uncle is big into alt rock, so as a kid he latched onto fob and mcr and was just like ‘these. these are good’). Allen loves animals, especially marine mammals (ESPECIALLY WHALES), and was defo one of those kids who just kinda sits around and if prompted gives you their entire encyclopedic knowledge of wildlife. Allen often has difficulty putting his thoughts to words, and so he’ll trail off, try to use hand gestures to symbolize the word he’s looking for, use vague language like ‘the thing’ or ‘stuff’. That said, Allen also has problems filtering his words, and often says things as they come to mind. A double-edged sword because Talking is Hard. This boy is also just a terrible, terrible liar. He doesn’t like lying, he’s not good at it, Allen’s quick to draw conclusions about situations, things, and people, but also open-minded and quick to reconsider. He thrives on praise and a well-defined set of instructions or plan - he likes to know that he’s doing the right thing and on the right track.Allen was originally a Monster of the Week character, but is currently one of the characters in a webcomic i’m cowriting with @i-want-it-on-fire. his personality is based on a combination of some of my brother’s personality with some of my own (so instead of a sarcastic wallflower stoner or an edgy emo theater kid, Allen is a sarcastic edgy emo wallflower)

Tam es Eleutherios - he’s a minotaur. he’s a sailor. he’s a scottish highland cow who talks like barbosa. he’s a little over a century old. he’s deadly with a long sword or a trident. he’s the last of his name and told his fiance he was getting some wine and purposefully got himself shanghaied to a pirate ship. Tam’s the equivalent of about 60 in human years, has a long, long list of vessels he’s sailed on over the past century (about half of those are pirate vessels) and he took the mission sailing on this expedition past the Ghostly Isles in the Undersea to die.For Tam, the idea of dying on an uncharted and untamed ocean is, well, exactly what he’s always dreamed of (frankly he’s surprised he lived this long). While he went through a minor crisis at first with how dauntingly still and unmoving and dead the Undersea appears to be, he’s back to his original goal after they’ve slowly discovered currents and life in the black waters. Tam’s afraid of commitment, and doesn’t like facing consequences of his actions or mistakes. He really just kind of goes with the flow, and does what needs to get done, and doesn’t put a lot of thought into what he’s doing.

Baylock Craft stole his name, coat, and boots off a dead man. He’s been in prison for 5 years, since he was left behind by his thieves’ guild to take the fall for a job that went bad. He’s lied about his identity to get a group of rebels breaking out prisoners to believe he’s also a rebel fighter. Baylock’s a bit in over his head now, and has only recently had a couple close-enough calls to realize just how fucked he is, and how dangerous the missions the rebel fighters go on are. His goal is to get back to his home town and get revenge on his former friends.Baylock is, despite his raspberry pink skin and lavender hair, more suited to life in the shadows. His strange arcane powers come from being born during a solar eclipse, and his personality is that of someone who’s reserved and a bit shy - content to observe. He errs to the side of caution, but is kind of a bad judge of character. The betrayal and years in prison kind of twisted that original nature - he’s now mistrusting, abrasive, and guarded.

Sydel Anastol - As a younger man, Sydel had… noble intentions. Lofty goals. A sense of duty and a desire to right wrongs and protect innocents. These were the parts of him that contributed to his becoming a blood hunter as a teenager. But over the years of self-mutilating and watching the people around him lose themselves to their obsessive quests, he began to become unhinged. Hunting wasn’t about killing monsters and protecting innocents anymore - it was about the hunt. It was about the rush. It was about any distraction he could get from the pain of the hunter’s bane, even if that was more immediate pain. Those lofty ideals, they don’t make you a better fighter, a better hunter. They don’t make you heal faster or hit harder. He drifted from the order, turned to bounty hunting.Sydel hasn’t felt a human emotion in years. He spends most of his time drunk, partly to distract from the chronic pain caused by the hunter’s bane, and partly to keep from thinking about his time with the order. Sydel is eccentric, a little unhinged, will lick anything he doesn’t recognize, and is seeking the rush of a hunt or battle in order to feel something and keep himself distracted. If he can keep himself in a constant state of intoxication and adrenaline high, he can feel good. Sydel is impulsive, reckless, callous, and doesn’t think ahead or care who gets hurt as a result of his actions (though it’s usually just him so it’s fine). He’s also a masochist. All in all he’s just a garbage bastard man, trying to keep the part of himself that was trained to be an obsessive monster hunter from taking over again - ‘because that’s how you go crazy.’

Tsuruchi Natsumi just wants peace in her life, but she hasn’t had any since some asshole Matsu dropped out of the sky and demons destroyed her village. As the eldest child of the current Wasp clan leader, she’s technically pretty damn important. Too bad she wants nothing to do with it. She planned to run away at a young age, citing being ‘fed up with clan politics’ and not enjoying her training with anything other than a bow - she didn’t want to learn court niceties, she didn’t want to learn bushido, she just wanted to shoot her bow and wear comfortable clothes. However, being a child, and with things at work in the world she was unaware of, she found herself literally spirited away, dropped in the spirit world and left there, a world apart from her family. She was taken in by a seaside village she was drawn to because of her sea-spirit folk heritage on her mother’s side (originally of the Mantis Clan), where she continued to do what she does best - shoot a bow and mind her own business. As she grew older, she eventually became the village’s protector and primary watch, and things were pretty good - just her, her village, her bow, and the red panda she took in as a pet - for a little over a decade. Until the Matsu and that Phoenix clan idiot dropped from the sky and upset the balance of the worlds, leading to a disastrous string of events that landed her back in the mortal world, having her ancestral bow thrust upon her, getting sucked back into clan politics, and dealing with a brother she barely remembers telling her that she’s got, like, some kind of duty to protect the city her family founded, or some kind of destiny as the person currently wielding Tsuruchi’s Yumi.Natsumi, while she claims to not want to be involved in clan politics, still follows Wasp Code, and still holds clan grudges and prejudices. While she is compassionate and (with some exceptions) quick to make friends and form bonds with the people around her, she’s ultimately a self-oriented person - Natsumi is very in tune with herself, what she wants, and her own beliefs, but isn’t likely to pick up on the wants and beliefs of those around her. She doesn’t even attempt to anticipate the desires and goals of other people, unless she suspects they’re up to no good, and as such comes off as a self-absorbed. Her pride is easily wounded (but don’t tell her that), she’s no-nonsense in the field, and she’ll shoot her way out of any problem she can’t talk her way out of. Her experiences in the last 5 years have left her paranoid and slow to trust her surroundings once weird spirit shit starts happening.

Ainsley grew up in Mesnia, a country where magic is a capital offense, on the streets of the central trade city of Kerrys, following their older brother and cousins in attempts to become a thief. They weren’t very good at it. One day, while their brother was giving them the slip, they were enthralled by a street musician and jumped on the offer this man gave them for apprenticeship. Growing up, they split their time between shenanigans and schemes with their cousin Brynn and learning this instrument, as well as, unbeknownst to them, bardic magic. After their mentor was tried, found guilty of, and hanged for illegal use of magic, they put their time into simple cons with Brynn - or rather, Brynn would get them into trouble, Ainsley would talk them out of it, and the ferret would manage to steal some coin.Ainsley is curious, naive, quick to make friends, compassionate towards strangers, genuinely wants to do good and right the things that are wrong, and primarily trusts their eyes. They spent most of their life not believing in gods, and only decided to do so after they saw one. They’re also mostly illiterate, stubborn, and they don’t think things through very well. They drank a potion that they were warned caused ‘random mutations and death through madness’ in desperation after an enemy killed one of their party members, hoping to gain some kind of power that could destroy him (now they can breathe fire). While eventually on their travels they found out and accepted that what their bardic abilities did was magic, they were in denial about it for quite a while.

Kip - Joffric ‘Kip’ Ravenhall was born to the head priest at a temple to the Raven Queen, with a proud lineage of Ghostwise Halfling Raven Queen worshipers - funeral preparers and Grave Clerics. As a child, he and his older sister Hattie were well on their training for priesthood themselves (though Hattie would eventually leave to find her own way to follow their goddess). However, when Kip’s father fell ill while he was still young (about 18 - Halflings reach maturity around 20), Kip began desperately searching for ways to cure his disease, or at least extend his father’s life until they could get him to a priest who could help. His father, being at peace with death and believing that the dying aren’t to be pitied, disapproved of Kip’s studies and attempts to heal him, and Kip, becoming more and more desperate to save his father, eventually sought the aid of a necromancer he and his father had dealt with several years before, agreeing to bail him out of jail in exchange for training in the necromantic arts - particularly those involved with extending life. His father found out, there was a big fight and falling out, Kip abandoned his priesthood training and tensions were high when his father died. But Kip was already too curious and too far gone, and so he continued studying, occasionally seeking help from the necromancer he bailed out. Kip’s primary area of study was reviving the dead, and extending the life of the living. His belief was that if it were possible to choose when one dies, or ensure everyone died only after living a full and fruitful life, after they’ve accomplished whatever they set out to do, society could flourish. He didn’t think it was fair that study of resurrection apparently stopped once people found out that diamonds could serve as a conduit for the spells - it limited resurrection to only the rich, the powerful, and the truly desperate. If only he could, say, find a cheaper solution? A more plentiful component?His family found out about his studies. He was disgraced, accused of necromancy, and has been on the run under the alias of ‘Geoffric Greenbough’ ever since.Kip is deeply conflicted about his studies, as he believes that undead - creatures brought back without agency or souls - are affronts to nature, and those creating and using them are particularly morally bankrupt for desecrating and enslaving the dead. While he’s abandoned his religion, he still finds himself following his old ways, and often feels directionless without the peace that worship once gave him. That said, Kip is truly driven by a morbid curiosity, a desire to see and feel and know - that’s what keeps him going through failed experiments and terrible mistakes and feeling sick to his stomach. Although Kip tries to hide his true colors to keep people from getting close enough to find him out, those who travel with him will find that his humorless and cold personality is a facade, and that under that he’s a pretty playful and friendly person. The exception to this is when he’s in a situation that requires spell casting, which is a personality quirk that even predates his necromantic studies - he’s always been taught that magic is a serious thing that requires full attention and focus, and he doesn’t have time for nonsense then. Kip is incredibly loyal and very quick to become ride-or-die for those around him. Above all, he wants to help people, and he wants to make people happy. (Ironically, while his sister was more devoted to the Raven Queen than he was, Kip was always more suited to being a cleric, and if Hattie had been around to keep him level during their father’s sickness, he probably would have finished his training and become a cleric.)

These are just a few, and mostly rp characters since it’s been 3 billion years since I’ve thought about my other ocs.

As characters, they’ve all got really fun aspects to them. Allen is probably the most ‘real’ character to me, and honestly probably has the most of me in him. Sydel is my first attempt to play someone who’s just, objectively, not a good person, and it is challenging (he’s officially done damage to every member of the party except the kobold and the rogue). Ainsley is a very simple character who I honestly slip into like a glove. Kip has the most fleshed out backstory of any RP character I’ve ever had I think, and I love the internal conflict between his need to sate his curiosity and help people and his questioning about whether what he’s doing will do more harm than good.

#emo poetry #long post under cut #ocs #ideally human #dnd #legend of the 5 rings #renaissance-aeroplane

5 notes · View notes

elliotthezubat · 7 years ago

Text

DEATH CITY DAYS CHAPTER 83

an incident in a certain city, a guard is losing her sanity, a confrontation with the mafia, and leroux’s backstory

[[cont from part 82]]

Patty: *hug* >w< "You're back!" liz: hey sis. ^^ Wes: ^^ Patty: "What you bring home?" -elsewhere- Convenience Store Robber: "Give me all the money in the register." Hyde: -_-; ochako:....*poke* Robber: "?!" *aims their gun* "What the hell do you think you're--" *notices they're floating* o_____o ochako: *calling 911* Robber: "WHAT THE HECK YOU DO TO ME?!" Hyde: "You messed with a super, punk." ochako: and now, you are going to jail, buddy. Robber: Q___Q "My probation officer is going to kill me..." -elsewhere- Poe: "..." *sips tea, reading the news* lana: ?? whats up? Poe: "It's like something I would write--quite violent..." lana:....*hug* Poe: "I-I'm fine..." *hug* -elsewhere- Mori: "..." *looks around* -silence- Mori: "..." *stomach growls* "..." *exits the bedroom* *looks at a door* "And a new pillow..." *opens the closet door* -shizuka's head is there...- Mori: "...Wh-Where..." -silence- Mori: "..." *picks up the head* -she looks as peaceful as ever...- Mori: "...Talk." -...- Mori: "Speak. Why aren't you doing as I ask?" -i missed you....mr mori...- shizuka?: *she smiles at him with a loving expression* Mori: *smiles* "I, you..." shizuka?: hehe~ Mori: *tearing up, smiling* "I missed you...Thank you for returning..." -...- Mori: *he cradles the head* -...- Mori: "You won't leave again...I'll make sure of that." -...- Mori: "I won't let them take you away from me again..." -elsewhere- Katai: *hands the files* "H-H-H-H-H-Her-Here-Here--" Kunikida: *takes them* "Thanks." kirako: you know, you're welcome to come back any time, katai. Katai: >~< "You...all seem to be doing fine...without me." kirako: our offer still stands. Katai: Q___Q "I-I'll think..." -elsewhere- marie: alright, so what's up? Yumi: "We anticipate the Kishin disappeared. Residual madness may persist. Your wavelength should help negate that while I look..." *glancing at the surroundings* marie: *she nods* Yumi: *looks at some rubble* "..." *pushes a few rocks aside--* marie:.....!! GET DOWN! Yumi: "!!!" -it's too late--the claws reach her hand* Yumi: "AH!" marie: *attacks the claw* Kishin Crow: "CAW!" *tries to flap away--its three eyes staring at Marie* marie: oh no you dont! ~lightning rope~ Kishin Crow: "CAW CAW!" *the eye...moves on its stalk!* marie: !!! yumi! Yumi: *clutching her slices hand* "!!!" *lets go of the injured hand, transforms the other hand into a crossbow--* Kishin Crow: *sends the eye stalk at Yumi* *SLICE* *Arrow to the eye stalk* Kishin Crow: *shrieks* marie: you alright? *The crow is bleeding out* Yumi: "I think so..." *rips a cloth to tie off the cuts* "...Marie...Look at its blood..." marie: ..... you didnt get any of it on you, did you? Yumi: "No..." *The blood keeps coming out...and then--* Yumi: "!!!" *The blood forms a spire, aimed at Marie* marie: !!!! *grabs yumi and runs* OH SHIIIIIT! Yumi: *running with her, turning back and firing more shots at the Black Blood* *Something rumbles under the ground* marie: ._.; oh this is gonna suck. *Bugs start crawling out of the ground...with Kishin Eye symbols along their backs* marie: *electric attacks at them* *The bugs screech--before more blood pours out of them* marie: *over talkie* everyone, fall back!* DWMA agent: *over talkie* "Do you need back up?" Yumi: "Fall back! Evacuate the entire facility now!" DWMA agent: "Roger." marie: *still running* *The blood is pooling...and swirling on the ground...* marie: shit, we need to get to higher ground... *The helicopters are already leaving* marie: yumi, do you have a grappling hook function? Yumi: "Of course..." *aims* -nice shot!- marie: *holding on for dear life* Yumi: *feels her arm being tugged* "UGH!" Death the Kid: *The blood is whirling higher...forming...a dome?!* -nice landing!- agent: miss mjolnir, yumi, are you two alright? marie: Q~Q that was scary.... *The dome is closing in on them, leaving a hole just small enough for the helicopter to pass...* Yumi: "Focus! Get us out!" -escape successful! - Yumi: *collapses back, clutching her arm* "Thank goodness..." doctor: you werent infected, were you? marie: no. Yumi: *shakes her head* "I don't think so...but we'll need to test." -elsewhere- Medusa: "..." *small laugh* neian: gubu? Medusa: "Just...thinking about something." *feels warm* "I think...it's back." neian: ? Medusa: *pulls up news* -an entire town trapped in a black blood dome- Medusa: *her smile widens* -elsewhere- Asura: *shuddering* mikan: *holds his hand* Asura: "It's too much...It keeps bubbling up..." mikan: *strokes his head and holds him close to her chest, humming* Asura: *leans into her, murmuring...breathes a bit more calmly* mikan: *smiles* Asura: "...Thank you." -elsewhere- Anya: *hands Tsugumi medicine* "Is the migraine any better?" tsugumi: *groooan* =~=;; why is my head hurting meeeeee? Anya: *closes the blinds, takes a cloth from the bowl of water* "Just rest..." *rests the cloth on her forehead* tsugumi: ok.....zzzzzz Anya: *sad smile, as she tucks Tsugumi in* -...- tsugumi: hn? am i dreaming?.....helloooo? ???: "Hello." tsugumi: *turns* ?? *It's misty in this space* ???: "You're not feeling well, are you?" tsugumi: no? ???: "It must be the madness." tsugumi: wait a minute....*squints* *The person walks through the mist* tsugumi: !!!! Maka: *smiles* tsugumi: m-miss maka! why are you here? oh my god, did i die in my sleep?! Maka: "Heh...No, you're not dead. Although I appreciate the Death Children humor." tsugumi: he...he..... HAHAHAHAHAHA....ha....*ahem* sorry. Maka: .w.; "...Sorry. I guess that was a bit much. Let's start from the beginning. No, you are not dead--you're just tapping into your Grigori." tsugumi: like, in my sleep? that's cool. Maka: "I know, right? But there was something else that stimulated this reaction...madness." tsugumi:.....am i going crazy? Maka: "You aren't. But others are. There was recently an explosion of Black Blood...and its effects are spreading. You're feeling them." tsugumi: *gulp* Maka: "Be on the alert. The DWMA will need your sensory skills to determine where next the madness will emerge." tsugumi:..r-right.... Maka: "If you can't pinpoint the madness, you'll need a conduit to channel your Grigori." tsugumi: how do i do that? Maka: "By working with your weapon partner." tsugumi: maka...i _am_ a weapon. *sweatdrop* Maka: .___.; "...Sorry. I meant meister. I'm not used to thinking of Grigoris as weapons." ^^; tsugumi: right, hehe. ^^; its fine. Maka: "Have you and your meister attempted to locate souls through Grigori before?" tsugumi:....no .w.; Maka: "Well, practice makes perfect. I took some notes on it...but I don't know where those notes would be now since I'm..." tsugumi:....r-right... Maka: "...Did they ever put my papers in the library?" tsugumi: i could start there. Maka: "Good. And bring your meister." tsugumi: right... ^^;;;; -...- mio: um...tsugumi? tsugumi:...nugh?....why is everything upside down? Anya: "You fell off your bed." -_-; tsugumi: oh. ehehe.. ^^; ao: *helping her up* Anya: "You must have had some dream, given all that muttering you were doing." ao: and for a moment, your ankle sprouted wings. tsugumi: wait what?! Anya: "It was weird...Maybe your migraine is messing with your soul." mio: at least you were wearing pants. tsugumi:...i think...im better now....ah! right! library! Anya: "???" -elsewhere- Kuro: *curled up, reading a book* mahiru: *talking on the phone* i know. im kind of nervous though. Ryuusei: "You'll be fine! Just don't piss off the wrong people--DWMA kids are hardcore." koyuki: we'll be supporting you. ^^ mahiru: thanks guys. Ryuusei: "And don't forget us! We should hang out the weekend after. And bring your new friends!" mahiru: right. i think sakuya's at the DWMA too, so it'll be good to see him again. Ryuusei: "Right. Keep an eye on him." mahiru: will do. *Noise heard off the phone* Ryuusei: "Yeah, okay! Jeez, get off my back..." koyuki: ^^; your sister again? Ryuusei: "Yeah. Her highness didn't like how I dried the plates." mahiru: ^^; -elsewhere- Sakuya: "How about this one?" *holds up a notebook in the department store--with flowers on it* naho: super cute. ^^ lilac: y-yeah... Sakuya: "Lilac, need a new bookbag?" lilac: *nod* -elsewhere- fukuzawa: mori?...*looking around* *Whimpering is heard* fukuzawa: ??....*enters a room*...!!! Mori: "Talk to me...Why won't you talk?" fukuzawa: ..... Mori: *talking to shizuka’s head* "Of course I love you! How could you ask me? You're the one who left me..." fukuzawa: mori... Mori: *ignoring him* "I missed you, too..." *cradles the head* fukuzawa:.....*reaches his hand out* Mori: "GET BACK!" fukuzawa: ..... Mori: "Can't you leave us alone?" fukuzawa:.....*glances at the head* -the head doesnt reply- fukuzawa:...my apologies....take your time....*exits* ..... Mori: *nods* "Thank you..." *looks at the head* "..." -i love you so much, mr mori- Mori: "I love you, too..." -i will love you, even if you killed me- Mori: "...But...I did..." -i will forgive you- Mori: "Really?" -i will forgive you, even if _she_ doesnt- --...b a s t a r d....-- rain?: *staring down at him with wide, hate filled eyes* Mori: "!!!" *backs away* rain?: y o u d i d t h i s t o m e.....y o u r u i n e d m e... Mori: "It-It wasn't me..." rain?: t h e n w h o w a s i t w h o r a p e d m e r e p e a t e d l y t h e n?! Mori: *glares* "I did what was given to me..." rain?:....then you truly are a monster. just like your mother said you would become.... Mori: "She was wrong!" rain?: oh? Mori: "She was just unlucky! Unlucky like you, you cursed brat!" rain?:............*stares at him with that same, damned stare....* Mori: "!!! You're not her! Or her! You're just a dumb bitch!" rain?: ..............*she grabs him by the neck* how dare you talk down to me after all you're put me through. Mori: "!!! L-Let go!" fukuzawa: mori? Mori: "UNHAND ME! I'LL KNOCK YOU DOWN AND REMIND YOU WHO IS IN CONTROL!" -SMACK- fukuzawa: ..... Mori: "..." *tears up...strokes the head* fukuzawa: .....you need help, mori. Mori: *crying* fukuzawa:.....*pat pat* (what am i to do with him?) Mori: *curls up* -elsewhere- Wes: "...Soul..." soul: yeah? Wes: "...I went to use your bathroom. And it was locked. And when I knocked, there was a small child inside who said 'Occupied’. Also, you have another small child in the kitchen eating cereal on the floor." Damon: *grabs another handful of cereal from the box* soul: its...a bit of a long story. ^^; Wes: "...I got time." *sits* "At least until I can use the bathroom." -one explanation later- Wes: "...That's a big thing. Need any help?" soul: all i can get. Wes: "Happy to." *smiles* "Just think of me as their Uncle Wes." Damon: *stares at Wes* soul: hey damon, say hi. becky:..... mr wes, is mr soul a creepy guy? soul: *pierced with an arrow that says 'creepy guy'* QvQ Wes: "N-No? What makes you think that?" becky: he's a stranger who invited us to live with him after we lost our parents. stranger danger! soul: QwQ Wes: "I assure you, my brother has no bad interests involved. He just wants to take care of you--" Damon: *stares at Wes* Wes: "Right, Damon?" Damon: "...Your teeth look dumb, Wes. Soul's are cooler." Wes: QwQ soul: damon, please. ^^; s-sorry about that bro. ^^;; Damon: -_- Wes: *pat pat* "R-Right, bro..." -elsewhere- Motojiro: *brings out a tray* <Your meal~> leo: *smiles* thank you. *nom* ^u^ Motojiro: *sits next to her* "You're welcome." *inches closer* leo: *lean* u///u Motojiro: *smiles, puts an arm around her* <You know what...> leo: ?? Motojiro: "I just realized I forgot something..." *hands her a tea cup* "Let me pour you some..." leo: ok. *The tea pours into the cup--then there is a metal clink heard* leo: ?? Motojiro: *knowing smile* "I wonder what that is..." *hands her a spoon* leo: *stirs and pulls something out* ah- *It's a ring* Motojiro: "..." leo: ah-...*blush* Motojiro: "A new synthetically constructed palladium platinum blend with a new jewel component that I have named Leo--" *blinks* "...Sorry. I'm rambling. I named the substance after you. And I want to marry you. And I am all flustered and don't know how to ask--" -HUG- leo: *crying tears of happiness* <yes..yes...> Motojiro: OwO "..." *hug* "Then let's get married!" pushkin: *sniff* how sweet. katya: if you hurt her, we'll shoot you in the kneecaps, buddy! leo: *sniffs and smiles* Motojiro: QwQ "...Th-Thanks for at least threatening me with the name 'buddy'..." katya: *gives him the 'im watching you' hand sign* -elsewhere- Yumi: *recovering in bed* marie: well, seems you're doing alright... Yumi: *sighs* "That's a relief...How about you?" marie: all good. that was really scary.... Yumi: "...That blood should not have done that. We'll need someone to run checks." marie:...*nods* Yumi: "...I haven't even called home. Have you?" marie: i called the babysitter. Yumi: *sighs* "Christa?" marie: she's doing ok. Yumi: "..." *winces as she grabs her phone, dials--* "...Death?" lord death: yumi, thank goodness you're ok! *sigh* i was so worried that-... Yumi: "I know. I'm sorry. And..." *weak smile* "If I was dead, you'd be the first to know." lord death:....but you're alive and well...and when you get home, im going to give you so much love. Yumi: *crying* "I-I know. The kids?" lord death: waiting for you... Yumi: "Can I see Shiori?" shiori: mama! lord death: that's right! mama! Yumi: *wipes her eyes* "Hello, sweetie. I missed you." -elsewhere- Akitaru: *hands a reading light* "Here's for your 'clubhouse,' Tamaki." tamaki: thanks. Akitaru: "Don't mention it. Just remember you got hand-to-hand combat training this week. I convinced someone to help you with that..." tamaki: right. -elsewhere- Kurogiri: "Congratulations." *picks up the files* "Were these hard to come by?" shaula: *asleep at the bar* beatrice: -.-; Kurogiri: "..." *turns to Beatrice* "Thank you, then. As for her, get her sleep, coffee, and away from Shigaraki." beatrice: right away. -elsewhere- Kid: *sigh of relief* *falls back in his chair* stocking: well? Kid: "Yumi is recovering and sounds unharmed. Same for Marie." stocking: *phew* that's good to know... Kid: "Black Blood...Madness..." *takes a pillow, hugs it* stocking:....*kiss on his shoulder* Kid: T\\\\\T *sniff* "Th-Thank you...I'm sorry." -elsewhere- erina: ...... Allison: "Hey, you're home!" erina: yeah.....*slumps onto the couch* {erina: *in the medical room* ....} {Fyodor: *wearing a breathing mask* "..."} {erina:....*holding his hand*} {Fyodor: "..." *small squeeze*} {erina:....} erina: ......... Allison: "..." *sets down some drinks* erina:...i feel like im just air.... Allison: "...What's that like?" erina: like im not even real.... -she looks drained...- Allison: "...Drink and get some sleep. Or talk?" erina: .........i miss him...... Allison: "...You know it would not work." erina:...i-i know....but it still hurts..... Allison: "I mean, there are plenty of fish in the sea. You could always meet someone else." erina:...i guess......he made me feel so special, though.... Allison: "A lot of...those people do. I read enough psychology books. You should focus on what a person _does_." erina:...... Allison: "...Let's try something else. Girls' night? Or get you a date? Or...just find you a one-night stand." erina:....i dont know..... Allison: "Hey. Being alone with your thoughts isn't going to be enoug here. You need to talk to people." erina:...i guess...... Allison: "Mixer?" erina:.....*nod* Allison: *smiles* "Then we'll head out. Get your best outfit on." -elsewhere- Chuuya: "Brushed your teeth?" sonia: *nod nod* Chuuya: "Washed your face?" sonia: yes, papa. mito: *mew* Chuuya: "You sure?" *looks at Mito* "Did she wash...here?" *small playful tap on Sonia's nose* sonia: hehehe. ^u^ Chuuya: *hug* sonia: love you, papa. Chuuya: "Love you, too, Sonia." -morning- Damon: "Zzz..." becky: zzzzz soul: *making pancakes* Damon: "Zzz..." *kicks* becky: nngh? huh? Damon: *wakes up* "Wha? ..." *sniff* "...Is something burning?" becky: *peeeks* mr soul's making pancakes. soul: hey kiddos, i figured you'd be hungry. Damon: ._. *stomach growl* becky:....yeah.... soul: *puts some pancakes on two plates* becky:...*takes her seat* Damon: "..." *pokes one with a fork* -they look pretty good- becky:..... Damon: *nom* "..." -w- -elsewhere- fukuzawa: and that's what happened... Santoka: "..." *sighs* "Usually, I defer to your judgment. But this seems crazy." fukuzawa: ...*sigh* what do you make of this, sir? souseki: if mori's mental state really has collapsed like this, it would be wise to contact the acting head of the mafia, whoever that may be... fukuzawa: but that's the thing, the mafia seems to have vanished off the face of the earth. we've investigated all their usual sources....unless........!!!! Santoka: "??? What?" fukuzawa: *making a call to dazai* i think i know where they are.... -and so- fukuzawa: *underground, with atsushi and dazai* atsushi: is this a good idea, sir? Dazai: "..." fukuzawa: what other option do we have? atsushi:.... Dazai: "Better check for any defenses..." atsushi:.... fukuzawa:....*hand on sword handle* Dazai: *approaches a wall--* *WHIIIIIIR* atsushi: get down! fukuzawa: *dodge* Dazai: *ducks* *A camera pops out* atsushi: ....? fukuzawa:.....*continues forwards* atsushi: *follows* Dazai: "Heh. And you all were worried it was a gun or someth--" *Something loud pierces Atsushi's ears* atsushi: AH! *wince* fukuzawa: *sword out* Dazai: *looking around* "..." *FWIP* Dazai: "Urk!" *a dart is now in his arm* "Oh, like that's supposed to--" *FWIP FWIP FWIP* -slash slash slash- fukuzawa: *slicing at them* Dazai: *now has four darts in his body* "...Welp--" *collapses* atsushi: D8> DAZAI! Dazai: =w= *snore* ???: "You really think we would take over this facility and not improve your paltry security measures?" atsushi: !!! *glances* fukuzawa: .... Chuuya: *standing there, holding a remote--which he presses, turning off the cat-whistle tone that has been deafening Atsushi* atsushi: ah...jeeez TT~Q fukuzawa: ..... -a gun can be felt pressed against his back- katya: dont try anything funny, old man, unless you want to paint the floors red.... fukuzawa: *unfazed* Chuuya: "State your business." fukuzawa: we wish to speak with the boss of the mafia in regards to the tripartite tactic. *hands up* we have no intentions of fighting you. atsushi:.... *glances at katya* katya: ?? you got a staring problem, kid? atsushi: *sweatdrop* (she doesnt seem any older than 14....) [note: she is actually, at this point in the timeline, 28!] Chuuya: "..." *glances at Dazai* "Pick up that trash and follow. Katya, march them forward into the conference room." Dazai: =w= "Zzz..." katya: you got it. -and so- Dazai: *waking up* *yawn* Chuuya: *sits with Kouyou* "Why are you here?" atsushi: we're here to keep mr fukuzawa safe. fukuzawa:... Chuuya: "And why are you here?" fukuzawa: it is as i said before. i wish to speak with your boss. Chuuya: *holds out his arms* "We're the bosses here." kouyou: *nods* hirotsu: ... fukuzawa:....does the term 'tripartite tactic' sound familiar to you? hirotsu: yes....why do you ask? Dazai: *yawns, wakes up* "We..." *stretches* "...have to maintain some order..." fukuzawa:....*sigh* after the incident with 'cannibalism', we found mori and have him in agency custody. hirotsu: !!!! kouyou: !!!!!! Chuuya: "?! You've hid him from us all this time?!" fukuzawa: his mental state was...not the best. atsushi: and by the looks of things, its only getting worse. kouyou: *covers her mouth* Chuuya: "..." *sits down* "What would you have us do?" fukuzawa: take his place in the tactic. as for what will happen to him personally....im not certain.... Chuuya: "...Take his place. What the hell do you think we've been doing?" fukuzawa: .... -as the meeting continued- fukuzawa: thank you for your time Dazai: *smiles at Chuuya* "I'm glad to see you are alive." Chuuya: "..." atsushi:....*feels something around his leg, before he is dragged off* !!!! Akutagawa: "..." atsushi: D8< are you serious right now?! *Rashomon wraps Atsushi--and brings him into a hug with Akutagawa* atsushi: O-O;;;;;; *INTERNALLY SCREAMING* (LUCY SAVE ME) Akutagawa: "I was worried..." atsushi: right now i _am_ worried! >->;;;;;; Akutagawa: *nods* "I can imagine. But I assure you, I have not killed." atsushi: that's....good to know.... >->;;; Akutagawa: "Even though I almost died." atsushi: ?! do you know why the mafia has gone underground? Akutagawa: "...We were found by the Rats." atsushi: !!!!!!! Akutagawa: "It seems more evidence about the Mafia's...deeds has come to light." atsushi: *stomach drops* Akutagawa: "We are still determining how this evidence is coming out..." atsushi: .... (so that's why.....) Akutagawa: "...Have you been safe?" atsushi: as far as i can tell, yes.....you can let me go now, akutagawa. -_-; Akutagawa: "...But I don't want to." atsushi: *sweatdrop* please? Akutagawa: "...Fine." *sets him down* atsushi: thank you. Akutagawa: "...Are you still seeing...her?" atsushi: *smiles* yeah. Akutagawa: "Hmph." atsushi: ....well, see you 'round, then? Akutagawa: "That's it?" atsushi: um....*pat on the back* Akutagawa: =\\\\= *purr* atsushi: *sweatdrop* Dazai: "AKUTAGAWA~" Akutagawa: "!!!" *spins around* "YOU!" Dazai: "Me!" atsushi: oh thank god. Akutagawa: "WHY DIDN'T YOU SEEK US OUT SOONER?" Dazai: "I'm going to be a father." Akutagawa: "...On purpose?" atsushi:... >->; (define 'on purpose') Dazai: "Regardless, it is my responsibility." Akutagawa: "Like _I_ was your responsibility?" atsushi:... odasaku: ..... Dazai: "Oh, are we really doing this? I thought we had a moment when I acknowledged you after you and Atsushi worked together to stop the Guild--" Akutagawa: "A few words mean a lot. They do not undo the entire past of your awful treatment." Dazai: *smiles* "I'm glad you have the confidence to speak in this manner to me." Akutagawa: "..." atsushi: *looks at akutagawa* ..... Akutagawa: "...I did fine without you. I don't owe you for how I have gotten to this point, so don't you dare try to pat yourself on the back." ???: did you say all you needed to tell him, akuta? Akutagawa: "...As much as I can before..." *clears his throat* "B-Before I have another coughing fit..." naoya: then take it easy....*glares at dazai* get lost. your business is done here. Dazai: "Hello, Naoya. You well?" naoya: i was until you started talking, you waste of bandages. *grabs him by the collar* i take it you're still the same piece of shit you were five years ago? Dazai: *smiles* "I think my vocabulary has expanded~" naoya: still manipulating people to your own whims? pathetic.....one day, karma's gonna kick you right in the ass and knock you down a few pegs. i cant wait for that moment to happen.... Dazai: "...You and me both." naoya:....*drops him* tch-, you're not even worth wasting my breath. come on akuta, lets go. atsushi: .... Akutagawa: "..." *nods to Atsushi* -elsewhere- Benimaru: "Hello. I am here to offer additional training." tamaki: ._____.;;;; SIR. Benimaru: *nods* "Kotatsu. Have you been keeping up on your exercises?" tamaki: *nod nod nod* Benimaru: *takes off his jacket, assumes a fighting pose* "Then let's see whether it has paid off." tamaki: *circling* Benimaru: *following* tamaki: *charges* Benimaru: *doesn't move* tamaki: *stops in her tracks, her eyes still on him* Benimaru: *still motionless* tamaki: *anticipating his next move* Benimaru: "..." *steps forward* tamaki: !! *LEAPS* Benimaru: *watches* ("Hmm...Higher than before...") tamaki: ~cat-a-pult cartwheel!~ *spins towards him* Benimaru: *leans back, the attacks just barely reaching him at the last moment* "Hmm." tamaki: *growls of annoyance* Benimaru: "...Improved." tamaki: *spin kick* Benimaru: *blocks, absorbing the kick* tamaki: !! *upwards kick* Benimaru: "?!" *the kick lands on his chin* tamaki: (success!) Benimaru: *stares* tamaki: ^w^ *peace sign* Benimaru: *rubs his chin* "Good work." -elsewhere- Gogol: *humming* elizaveta: ~? Gogol: <It's nice to feel satisfaction in one's work~> elizaveta: yeah. *doing homework* Gogol: <??? What you writing?> elizaveta: history homework. Gogol: <Like ancient Rome?> elizaveta: yeah. *yaaawn* tiring.... Gogol: <Hmm...We could make it more entertaining.> -elsewhere- Relan: "..." *pat pat* shinra: =w= zzzz Relan: *brushes his hair, lightly kisses his forehead* iris: ^^ shinra: *smiles and leg twitches* Relan: "???" shinra: *he seems happy* Relan: *smiles, strokes him lightly* -elsewhere- Yumi: *reading in bed* "..." nurse: how are you? Yumi: "I think I have bed sores..." nurse: did you want to talk a walk? Yumi: "Yes..." *shifts carefully, minding the bandages on her arm, as she gets out of bed* -in the medical ward- Yumi: *walking, looking around at patients* marie: hey yumi. ^^ Yumi: *smiles* "How you holding up?" marie: doing good. look. they have mini-BLTs! they're so cute and tiny! Yumi: ^^; "Glad the hospital food is decent. How's recuperation?" marie: it's been well. cant wait to get home though. Yumi: "You didn't want to bring Christa here?" marie: and risk her getting close to _that_? no way! Yumi: "I mean, we're far enough away from the site...I hope." marie: hm.... Yumi: *walks to look out the window* "...At least the sun is out again." -elsewhere- Chuuya: "..." *slams his fist on the table* kouyou: chuuya... Chuuya: "Madness...Just dreadfully, awful madness." kouyou:...*pats his back* Chuuya: "...Just so damn angry." kouyou: ... Chuuya: "After what Mori did to Rain...to Sonia...This is intolerable." kouyou: ...what do we do now? Chuuya: "...We can take him back." kouyou: ... Chuuya: "But we're containing him. He's not trustworthy in this state." kouyou:....right...... Chuuya: "And keep Sonia away from him." kouyou: of course. Chuuya: "..." *rubs his arm* kouyou:..... Chuuya: "...Why couldn't he have gone away..." kouyou: *pat pat* Chuuya: *sniff* kouyou: *hug* Chuuya: *whimpers, holds on* -elsewhere- Dazai: "..." atsushi: and that's what i learned.... Dazai: "Which would line up with what the voicemail indicates..." yosano: ..... Dazai: "...Is Mori in any condition to transfer?" fukuzawa:....it'd be risky....he'd have to take the doll and the head... Dazai: "Jeez...We're really letting him keep that head?' naomi: well what do _you_ suggest? Dazai: "Proper burial." fukuzawa: we've tried, but he refuses to let her head go.... Dazai: "..." *sighs* "Fine." -elsewhere- Fitzgerald: "Miss Alcott, send a fruit basket." louisa: right away, sir. Fitzgerald: "Let Mrs. Death know I wish her a speedy recovery." *slight smirk* louisa: ^^; Fitzgerald: "Oh, and I suppose send some chocolates to Miss Mjolnir." louisa: right away. mary: i like her, she seems really nice. ^^ -elsewhere- Benimaru: *rotates his arm* "She's improving. What has she been doing?" shinra: hard work and determination. and lots of pent up rage. Benimaru: "Ah. So, wrath is motivating her." *sips his tea* "And your motivation persists despite setbacks?" shinra:...yeah. Benimaru: *nods* "I have not seen any Hoods..." shinra: doesnt mean we can ler out guard down... Benimaru: "No. Never. Keep your eye on the goal, though." shinra: right......so, i heard you're engaged to kirei. congrats. Benimaru: =\\\\\\= "Hmm." -elsewhere- Kid: "Zzz..." *napping on the couch* stocking: *strokes his head* Kid: *breathes more easily* "Mmm..." stocking: ^^ Kid: *kitten yawn...opens his eyes* stocking: well hello handsome~ Kid: *kittie smile* "Hello, beautiful~" stocking: *snuggle* Kid: =\\\w\\\= "Comfy~ I missed you." stocking: mmm Kid: *rests a hand along her stomach* stocking: *smiles* Kid: "Mmm..." *kisses her cheek* stocking: hehe~ Kid: *strokes along her stomach...towards her hips* stocking: ah~ =///T Kid: *his hand is already passed up along her leg* stocking: ah~ mmmm~ Kid: *rubs the bare skin...as his lips reach her neck* -elsewhere- Damon: *whine* "I don't wanna..." soul: *carrying him* come on, kiddo, you two need new clothes for school. Damon: >~< "I hate clothes shopping. I'm tired. I don't wanna go." soul: *sweatdrop* liz: afterwords, we can go to meowkies. Damon: *sniff* "Wh-What?" liz: it's a cool place with games and pizza. Damon: *brief shiny eyes* -\\\\\- "...A-And punch?" liz: yeah. Damon: >\\\\\> "O-Okay..." -elsewhere- lana: *holding flyswatter* ._. alright you little bastard, where did you run off to? Karl: *digging under some papers, patting them for the bug* Poe: ^^;;;;;;; "J-Just remove it..." lana: .~.;;; *nudges the papers* *FLAP FLAP FLAP* lana: *yells and swats* Karl: *chittering, leaping trying to catch it in his mouth* Poe: "EEEP!" *swinging his hands* -after that fiasco- Poe: *pant pant pant* lana: *lays down* *sigh* that was intense... Poe: "Y-Yeah..." *hug* lana: =///= Poe: "Thank you, my savior..." lana: aww.. ^^; Poe: *sniff* =\\\\\= *hug* -elsewhere- Magaki: *writing, humming* guard: oi. lord death wishes to speak with you. Magaki: *stares* "...Now?" guard: *nods* no funny business... Magaki: *even voice* "Have I ever given any indication I am humorous?" guard:....lets just go... -and so- lord death: so then, magaki, was it? Magaki: *nods* "Lord Death, is it?" lord death: indeed-i-o! how're you doing? Magaki: "..." *shrugs* "Probably better than I deserve." lord death: how so? Magaki: "...I have fed on humans." lord death: .... Magaki: "You sent Tsubaki and Black Star after me, did you not?" lord death: yes, but miss nakatsukasa seems to be set on rehabilitating you. Magaki: "...Does she do that frequently? Do people do that often?" lord death: let me ask, what is your motivation? what is it you want in life? Magaki: "...I want to survive...long enough to know how I got like this." lord death: do you regret what you did to the people you have harmed? Magaki: "..." *nods* lord death: ....then that is all i need to know for now. Magaki: "??? That's all?" lord death: i have made a decision to place you in miss nakatsukasa's care. Magaki: "...Has she agreed?" lord death: yes. i will make the call to her now. Magaki: "..." *bows* <Thank you.> -elsewhere- emily: well, this is the place. twain: dusty. Steinbeck: "..." *walks up to the door* Hemingway: "Wonder if someone's even here--" -SHOT TO THE AIR- twain: OwO;;; emily: EEK! *ducks* >~< Steinbeck: "!!! Get back!" Hemingway: *not even moving* "???" ???: who the hell're you?! *an old lady is holding a shotgun at them* you sellin’ somethin'? Steinbeck: "S-Sorry! It's okay...We're looking for Wilder." old lady: wilder? my son hasnt done anything illegal to my knowledge- Steinbeck: "N-No...Laura Wilder?" old lady: well you happen to be lookin' right at her. twain: makes sense. ???: gran, are you trying to scare off visitors again? Steinbeck: "???" *looks* old lady: that depends, sweetie. go wait inside for now. -a younger girl with pigtails and a cowboy hat looks at him- Steinbeck: "...Ma'am. We're from the Guild." old lady: the guild?.....hoho! now that's a name i havent heard in years. Hemingway: *stares* "Quite a few years, huh?" wilder: well i'll be, ernie, you've gotten so big now, i can hardly recognize ya! Steinbeck: "?!" Hemingway: ^\\\^ "Thanks. I've had a real work out." wilder: well dont just stand there, dearies, come on in. -and so- twain: owo Steinbeck: *seated, looking around* -one of wilder's granddaughters giggles at him- emily:... >->;;; Steinbeck: "???" Hemingway: "--and then the boulder crashed!" grace: woooah. laura jr: cool! Hemingway: "Yep! Should've heard this guy [grabs Twain's shoulders] screaming!" twain: ^u^;; caroline: sounds like you've all been on quite the adventures. laura jr: it's just like the stories gran tells us, right gran? Wilder: "Oh, I can tell you much wilder stories, kiddo." laura jr: ^u^ carrie: are you really from the city? whats it like? are there lots of cars? emily: ^^;;; (help me please....) Steinbeck: "That's one reason we're here...What can you tell us about the Old Guild?" Hemingway: "??? Hey, kiddo --there are a lot of cars. Even some that fly!" Wilder: "??? Why not ask Ernie?" *looks at Twain* "Why ask me?" carrie: woooooah. so cool! *shiny eyes* twain: cause you're like super old- emily: *punch* twain: OW! >-O Wilder: -_-# *sighs* "I can tell you a lot of...*ahem* aged tales. Maybe about previous members?" twain: yes please! Wilder: "I could tell you about Irv." twain: ooooh. OwO *listening* Wilder: "He was from New York. Like, the rural parts, not that loud city noise." emily: ah. Wilder: "He was one lazy son of a gun, though. 'The more I sleep, the longer I'll live!' he kept insisting." twain: *listening* Wilder: "Long story short, he's dead. I think." twain: bummer. ._. Steinbeck: " 'I think'?" Wilder: *shrug* "Never found the body." emily: hmmm.... Hemingway: "His beard was epic, though. Longer than his height." emily: anyone else who comes to mind? Wilder: "Hang on, hang on, I'm thinking...Oh! Harper!" emily: i think i remember seeing her file... Wilder: *nods* "Really idealistic--but always good for a laugh!" emily: *she nods* Wilder: "Everywhere we'd travel, she'd lug around that big typewriter, taking notes on whatever adventures we had." emily: (sounds busy....) Wilder: "Better than JD--what a curmudgeon he could be. And he was only 17!" -elsewhere- Black Star: "??? How about this room for them?" tsubaki: perfect. ^^ Black Star: "Well, we can clear the boxes. Gonna need to get a bed in here..." -elsewhere- Allison: *sets out her dress* "Almost ready?" erina: y-yeah... Allison: *small nudge* "It'll be fun. Need any jewelry?" erina:...i-im good.... Allison: "Well, get changed, and if you need help with hair or makeup, just ask." *smiles* erina: a-alright.... -elsewhere- Ivan: <Been quiet.> yana: <no kidding.....> Ivan: <...Not even crying in the cells. Is that a problem?> yana:.....<am i even the right person for this position? as acting leader?> Ivan: <??? You were chosen by Master--of course you are the right person.> yana:.....(you're just saying that....) Ivan: <Have some faith in yourself--because Master does.> yana:....<yeah...> Ivan: <And if you're that concerned, there are people to advise. Like Gogol--> Gogol: "I GOT A BRAIN FREEZE!" Ivan: "..." <Like me~> yana: JUST PRESS YOUR TONGUE AGAINST THE ROOF OF YOUR MOUTH, GOGOL! Gogol: *does so* "..." "Ah welly bwowk! Thanks, bowss!" [translation: "It really worked! Thanks, boss!"] Ivan: *proud smile* yana: *sigh* Ivan: <Give it time. Every leader takes time to motivate their troops to achieve greatness.> yana:... Ivan: <What do _you_ want to do with this team?> yana:....<you're seriously going to ask me that? lets be real here, you and i both know it doesnt matter, im just a temporary leader until fedya returns.> Ivan: <B-But they need guidance so that they are in peak condition when Master returns!> yana:....<right....well what do _you_ suggest, grand chamberlain?> Ivan: *shiny eyes* <Combat training?> yana:... <sounds good.> Ivan: *nods* *small inhale* <OKAY YOU MAGGOTS, LINE UP!> lydia: *sweatdrop* elizaveta: 0-0; yana: *sweatdrop* (i didnt ask you to become a drill seargent...) Ivan: <We have to be in top condition for Master's return! Let's see some energy as we engage in combat practice!> Gogol: <Um, I have a note from my doctor--> Ivan: Gogol: ._. ("He really hates her...") -elsewhere- Gopher: "Your mother called?" kirika: yeah. she's doing good from what i heard... Gopher: "...When is she returning? Did you find out?" kirika: soon....alright, we're here. -the sign reads 'Vale Apartments'- Gopher: "...Oh. Right." *follows* kirika: *checking the paper* lets see....this building. -they stop at a door and knock- kirika: ooooi, shitty priest, you in there? *The door opens--* Justin: "Shhh..." kirika: she sleeping? Justin: *nods* "She'll be up shortly. Let me get you some water." kirika: thanks....*glances at gopher* you gonna come on in or what? Gopher: OwO *inches inside* Justin: *sets down drinks* "Any word from Azusa?" -kirika explains what all she heard- Justin: "Oh dear. I'm glad she and Marie are recovering." kirika: yeah... oriko: *yaaawn* oh. hello. ^^ kirika: how're you feeling? oriko: ok... kirika: do you remember anything. oriko: vague things.... kirika:...at least it's something... Gopher: *small wave* oriko: *smile and small waves back* Gopher: ^w^ "Do you like the apartment?" oriko: it's nice. ^^ kirika:... (he can at least decorate more..) *sweatdrop* Gopher: "We could bring flowers. Spring is coming soon..." oriko: *smiles* -elsewhere- Kurogiri: "--so we're increasing our numbers and attracting new recruits." shaula: neato Kurogiri: "We can always track your 'leftovers' to see whether there are experiments still salvageable for our purposes." -elsewhere- Yohei: *sits Toru into the baby chair at Deathbucks* "All set, big guy?" toru: ah! Yohei: "Okay!" *gestures* "Two chocolate milks, please?" tsugumi: coming right up, sir! Yohei: *nods* "She seems like a nice person, right, Toru?" toru: mama! Yohei: "Yes, the young lady has twintails too, Toru, just like Mama." [side note; chie changes her hairstyle often] toru: ma! -elsewhere- Teacher: "Okay--time for recess, class!" aya: awesome! elizaveta: aya! do you want to come over to my house this weekend? im having a party! aya: i'll have to ask kunikida first. Teacher: "It's still chilly out, so don't forget coats." aya: ok! elizaveta: ok! Teacher: ^^ Student: *stares at Aya and Elizaveta* aya: so what kind of a party is it? elizaveta: it's a super secret party. aya: oh? Student: *leans closer to listen* elizaveta: *snake eyed glare* aya: ?? Student: "!!!" *hides* aya: what was that? elizaveta: some stalker. aya: oh. i had this one weird kid stalk me a bit last year, havent heard from them, thankfully. elizaveta: yikes. ( >u>;;;; ) Student: "I WASN'T A STALKER!" *tosses leaves at Elizaveta* elizaveta:... *blink* Student: O___O "..." *runs* aya:...huh. -elsewhere- becky: mr soul? who's that? soul: hm? Hyde: "...Soul. You've spawned?" Damon: "..." *whispers* "He looks like a hedgehog." soul: well, its a long story. ^^; Hyde: "Huh..." *waves* "Hi, little lady!" becky: hello? *blink blink* Hyde: "I am the master thespian, Hyde!" becky: you're a therapist? soul: *sweatdrop* he means 'actor', kiddo. becky: oh. Hyde: *puts a hand on Soul's shoulder* "And I'm Soul's best friend! Just think of me as your cool uncle!" licht: since when, shit rat? Hyde: -_-# "Since he got inside my brain!" becky: ooooh, that guy said a naughty! Damon: "??? What is 'shit'?" soul:...licht look at what you've done. Hyde: -^- "So undignified, Licht." licht: this man behind me is an evil scary demon. but i will protect you, *pose* for i am an angel. Damon: "...Shit angel." soul: *almost chokes* damon no. dont say the s-word. Hyde: "..." *holding back laughs* licht:.... *kicks hyde into the wall* Damon: Q_Q "I won't say that word. Please don't kick me into a wall." Hyde: X____X becky: is he dead? soul: he'll be fine.....mostly. Hyde: *sits up* "I am a master lesbian..." *collapses* soul:....well he's half right? ish? becky: i'll get the shovel. -elsewhere- Vulcan: "..." Benimaru: "..." Vulcan: "...Cool kimono." Benimaru: "Thank you. Nice...what is that?" yu: *awkward sipping of his slushie* Vulcan: "Robotic penguin fire attachments." Benimaru: "..." *looks at Yu* "How are you adjusting to the Eighth?" yu: doing good, sir. ^^ Benimaru: "Hmm. At this rate, your building won't be big enough for all these people." *narrows his eyes* "You're not thinking of forming your own city or something, are you?" shinra: who knows at this rate. tamaki: *side glance* at least its not a harem. shinra: I HEARD THAT! D8< Benimaru: "….Aaaanyway." *sips his tea* "You met with Arg?" shinra:.....yeah...it was....hectic. Benimaru: "..." *sets down his tea* "When I encountered him upon forming the Seventh, he was...annoying, but professional. The rumors I had heard do not describe the same man." shinra:....*shaking* Benimaru: "??? ..." *crosses his arms* "What is your availability for my wedding?" shinra: *sweatdrop* i dont know when it is, sir? Benimaru: "Spring." shinra: i think so. -elsewhere- Kepuri: *clutching her stomach in bed* >~< akaderu: you sure you're ok? Kepuri: "F-Fine...Just cramps or nerves..." nea: *knocks* yoo-hoo~ mind if i come in, dearies~? Kepuri: "S-Sure..." nea: *wraps a scarf around her neck* there you go~ Kepuri: =\\\\\= "Thanks..." -elsewhere- Black Star: "Turn it!" Sakuya: "I AM TURNING IT." -tsubaki enters with magaki- tsubaki: we're home! naho: NEW FRIEND! hiya! i'm naho! lilac: *peeek* Magaki: "..." *inches back behind Tsubaki* tsubaki: it's ok. they're nice. Magaki: "..." *looks from behind* "Hello. I am Magaki." -after introductions- naho: and here's your room! Magaki: "...Oh. ...Is this too much?" tsubaki: feel free to decorate how you want. ^^ Magaki: "...I only have my umbrella." tsubaki: i see. we made sure to put covers on the windows so the sunlight wouldnt burn you. Magaki: "I appreciate it." *sits* "...Are there more books in this house?" tsubaki: yes. i got some new text books the other day. Magaki: *small shine to their eyes* tsubaki: ^^ -elsewhere- {-the theater house is ablaze-} {bystander: <dear heavens!>} {bystander 2: } {???: <Out of my way!>} {bystander: !!! <sir! are you mad?>} {???: <Yes! Madly in love!> *runs inside*} {-the blazes are intense-} {???: *coughs* "Christine!"} {-its so hot, the flames are roaring so loudly....-} {???: *pushing forward* <CHRISTINE! CHR-->} {*Something above him makes a loud crack and a pop*} {???: <?!>} {*CRASH*} {-....beep...beep...beep-} {nurse: <he's come to....monsiour leroux?>} {Leroux: *muffled* <Wh-Where...>} {nurse: <you're in the hospital sir... it's a miracle you survived the blaze...>} {Leroux: <Christine...>} {nurse:.....<madame and monsiour daae sadly did not survive. i'm truly sorry.>} {Leroux: "..." *his face under one side of the bandages contorts*} {nurse:....<when they found you, your right eye was badly scarred...>} {Leroux: …………….<Where is Christine?>} {nurse: } {Leroux: …………*giggles* <Where are you, my sweet~? Come on out...>} {nurse: *backing up*} {Leroux: *shifts out of bed...grabbing a pillow* <Ch-Christine?>} {nurse: <sir! lay down!>} {doctor: <dont just stand there, put him under!>} {Leroux: *hugging the pillow* <Oh, Christine~>} {-medical staff had to hold him down and give him anesthetic-} {Leroux: <Ch-Chri...Chris...Zzzz...>} {-...-} {Leroux: "..."} {???: you poor man...having lost both your eye and the love of your life...} {Leroux: "...Who asked you?"} {???: i have my ways of knowing things like this....} {Leroux: "...Why?"} {???: i have come to make you an offer. a deal of sorts. what if i were to tell you, i have a way to reunite you with your beloved?} {Leroux: "?!"} {???: i can give you that chance, and i can give you power beyond your wildest dreams.} {Leroux: "...I just want her."} {???: i see. but this comes at a price. in exchange for this power, you must serve me the remainder of your life.} {Leroux: "...Like I have much reason to go on."} {???: do you want the power to bring her back or not?} {Leroux: "...Yes."} {???: good. *offers hand* do we have a deal?} etta: Q~Q rorooooo.... hans: TT~TT i had no idea.... Leroux: "??? Oh. That?" etta: you need the biggest hug, like, ever. Leroux: *smiles* "But I got what I wanted! Isn't that right, beloved?" christine: *says nothing, as, once again, she is a doll* Leroux: "Oh, you~ ^w^" hans: *sweatdrop* (after hearing that story, this gag just became really really depressing...) Walter: *opens the door* "I brought lemonade, cookies, and...and... ...I should get you all some tissues too, huh?" -elsewhere- Motojiro: "Good work!" sonia: ^^ Motojiro: "And that means...your essay gets a scratch and sniff sticker!" *holds up a lemon sticker* sonia: thank you mr kajii. Motojiro: ^w^ "You're welcome, Sonia. Don't forget to study for tomorrow's math quiz." sonia: i will. ^^ -elsewhere- Daisy: "I'm heading out." mrs fay: have a nice day at work, dear. Daisy: "...Yeah, not much 'nice' to expect today." mrs fay: something wrong, dear? Daisy: "Just my usual pessimism, Mom--that's all, no big." mrs fay: well, take care of yourself, ok? Daisy: "..." *sigh* *hug* "Thanks." -elsewhere- emily: *yaaawn.* morning.... twain: it's noon. emily: WHA?! Wilder: *slaps the back of Twain's head* "If she said 'mornin' ,' it's mornin'!" *smiles* "Mornin'!" twain: >-O emily: wh-what all did i miss?? Steinbeck: "Milked cows, fed the chickens, and got some leftovers for you to heat up." emily: oh...t-thanks. carrie: are you his girlfriend? emily: O////. w-wha?! Steinbeck: *not noticing, heating up food* twain: weeeeell- Wilder: *slaps Twain again* "No." twain: >3< -elsewhere- Dazai: "I'm back..." *sets down groceries* kirako: *smiles* atsushi: *helping unpack groceries* Dazai: "How was your appointment?" kirako: the baby's coming along well. Dazai: "Phew..." *hug* kirako: hehe~ ^u^ atsushi:......*hugs them both* Dazai: "..." *pat pat* -elsewhere- Mr. Tsubaki: *nudges Mary* mary: heya toby. ^u^ *picks him up* Mr. Tsubaki: ^w^ *nuzzle* mary: hehehe~ bram: .. Mr. Tsubaki: *small yip at Bram* bram: *tiny awkward pet* Mr. Tsubaki: *happy fox murmur* *wags tail* bram:...*tiny smile* Mr. Tsubaki: =w= *lowers his head to Bram* -elsewhere- Yumi: "All packed?" marie: yep! ready to get home. Yumi: *smiles* "Ride will be here in 10 minutes." -elsewhere- Justin: *watering plants* oriko: .... Justin: "Oh. You're up." oriko:....just thinking....miss kirika...really wants me to regain my memories again.... Justin: *nods* "It's a concern for her, not only for your own safety...but because she loves you." oriko:...she feels so familiar to me...were we friends? i think we were.... Justin: *nods* "Yes, you were. Close friends." oriko: part of me wants to say we were like sisters... Justin: "..." *nods* "That is one way to describe it." oriko:...should i start school? if i pursue that path, maybe i can remember.... Justin: "I think that is a great idea. There are a few school options." oriko: i know where i want to go... -elsewhere- Bon: *carrying boxes down the hall* "You sure you got those?" izumo: im not helpless. =n= Bon: "And don't drop them, either--we can't afford to clean up another mess--" izumo: *glare* Rin: -____-# "You two done bickering like an old married couple?" izumo: YOU SHUSH. Bon: "Shut the hell up!" konekomaru:... (they didnt deny it...) Rin: *eyeroll* "Whateves. I just know--" *trips...over his own tail* o____O "Oh poop--" *and drops boxes--down the stairs* Triple A: *walking along the stairs* *bounce rumble clunk* Triple A: "???" *looks up--* -he got covered in paint- shiemi: ._.; Triple A: "..." *looks up with a furious glare* stocking:...rin, you get a grade up in your next assignment. Rin: "..." *victory pose* "WOOT! ...I DON'T KNOW WHY, BUT I'LL TAKE IT!" Triple A: "YOU ARROGANT WELP! I DEMAND RECOMPENSE FOR THIS INSULT--" stocking: *GLARE* Rin: "If I drop confetti on him, can I get my tardies removed?" Triple A: "DAMN DEMONS!" stocking:...*serious look at rin* do it. Triple A: "DON'T YOU--" *Mouth full of confetti* Triple A: "BLARG!!!" -elsewhere- Magaki: *reading* -knock- tsubaki: hungry? Magaki: "...What is there to have?" tsubaki: a friend brought over some baked manjuu. Magaki: "..." *sniff* "...It's been a long time since I didn't have blood." tsubaki:... *offers upper arm* Magaki: "...You're sure?" tsubaki: *she nods* Magaki: "..." *nods* <Thank you.> *their teeth approach--and bite* tsubaki: ah.... Magaki: *takes in blood...pulls quite a bit...then quickly pulls back* <Th-That's enough...Sorry.> tsubaki: i-it's fine...i'm used to it. Magaki: "...They feed on you?" tsubaki: sometimes. but they're kind of my kids now, so im willing. Magaki: "...You're too kind..." ("...Mother...") -elsewhere- Yumi: *walks up to the door--* -confetti- lord death: welcome home! kirika: welcome back, mom! shiori: mama! Kid: "Mom!" Yumi: "..." *hug* lord death: *smooches all over her face* Yumi: *giggling, crying happy tears* "Death, please--" *Yumi covered in hugs* lord death: you're home now, and you're alive... Yumi: *nods* "Glad to be...Umph! Also...looking forward to sitting?" lord death: right, right! ^^; Yumi: ^^; *sits, holds Shiori* "Kirika, Kid, are you okay?" kirika: as you can see, we havent murdered each other. Kid: -_-; Yumi: "...I detect no lie." *kisses Kirika's forehead* kirika: -///-; Yumi: ^^ "You kept an eye on your siblings, Shiori?" shiori: ye mama! Yumi: *smiles* "Good girl." *smiles at Kid* Kid: *sits down, smiles* "Now you can recover a bit more here..." -elsewhere- Mori: *shudders* fukuzawa:.....mori? Mori: "What are you going to do to me?" fukuzawa:....we've made contact with the mafia...you will be returned to their care... Mori: "They'll kill me." fukuzawa: ..... Mori: "What they now know...what assurances does your contract hold?" fukuzawa: hmm...... Mori: "...Oh. So you'll let that be on your conscience." fukuzawa: try not to worry about it, this wasnt out of the blue. Mori: "??? You planned this?" fukuzawa: we've discussed the circumstances with your executives. Mori: "...Enlighten me." -fukuzawa explains the situation- Mori: "So I'm still a prisoner." fukuzawa: i wouldnt phrase it that way. consider yourself more of a patient in their care... Mori: "..." *nods* "Like a doctor." fukuzawa: this way, you'll be safe. Mori: "...Okay." -elsewhere- Magaki: *points* "So...Naho, Sakuya, and...Lilac?" naho: yep, that's right. ^^ lilac: y-yeah... Sakuya: *nods* Magaki: "..." *points at Belkia* "And his name is Glam Rock?" Shamrock: x_o Belkia: ^^; "I am glamorous..." naho:....in belkia's case, that statement wouldnt be wrong. Shamrock: " 'Shamrock.'" Magaki: "...Sorry." lavender: you're getting there. ^^ Magaki: "...Thank you, Lavender." -elsewhere- sonia: im back from class, papa. mito: ^u^ Chuuya: "How was it?" sonia: i had fun. ^^ Chuuya: "That's good...Kajii told me about your homework. It's looking really good..." -elsewhere- Anya: -_-# "Aren't these enough books, Tsugumi?" *carrying a stack* tsugumi: ^^; jackie and mr poe were very helpful in recommendations. Anya: "Why can't you learn to just say 'no'--" Poe: "MORE BOOKS!" *drops more onto Anya's stack* *A cracking sound is heard* ao: oh my. Anya: Q_____Q tsugumi: D8> -elsewhere- Hemingway: *playing with the Wilder kids* "There we go!" carrie: *laughs* laura jr: ^u^ emily: *looking at her notes, determining where to go next* Steinbeck: *looks over* "How's navigating?" emily: still trying to locate other members... Steinbeck: *looks over* "How's navigating?" emily: still trying to locate other members... Steinbeck: "Wait...On the East Coast?" emily: seems so... Steinbeck: "Long trip." -elsewhere- Mephisto: "Here you are~" felisia: *nom* ^u^ Mephisto: "Pleased?" felisia: indeed~<3 Mephisto: *hug* -elsewhere- Allison: "All set?" erina: y-yeah.... Allison: *walks on in* "Just keep it cool..." erina: ..... *There are different people seated and standing, having drinks* Bartender: "What can I get you?" erina:.... Allison: "Two glasses of mineral water to start." Bartender: "Coming right up." *smiles at Erina* erina: ....... *Seem to already be some pairings talking with each other...It's a bit crowded* erina: ...... Attendee: "Hello, there." erina:...hey... ???: "I'm Jordan." erina:....nice to meet you.... Jordan: "Likewise. Care to sit?" *pulls up a chair* erina:...*sits down*... Jordan: "So, you off work?" erina:....transferring to a new place... Jordan: "Oh? Promotion?" erina: .....safety concerns.... Jordan: "...Oh. I hear you. I had to be transferred once due to peanut allergies." erina: ....i.....see.... Jordan: "What is your name?" erina:........erina.... Jordan: "...Hi, Erina." erina: ....*sigh*.... Jordan: "??? The transfer has you exhausted huh?" erina:....amongst other things.... Jordan: "...Anything you're doing to relax?" erina:.....sleeping mostly.... Jordan: "Not even a movie?" erina:....just been depressed.... Jordan: "Oh. Sorry. Well, at least getting out can help. And nachos!" erina:....i guess..... Jordan: ^w^ "Hello! One order of nachos!" erina: .....*stares at her reflection in the water* Jordan: "..." *just looks at her* erina: *she looks worn down by something* Jordan: "...Hey. What's wrong?" erina:... ...just heartache is all.... Jordan: "...Oh. Um...that's rough." -a few girls are whispering- girl: isnt she the guard that was sleeping with that dostoevsky guy? Jordan: "???" *looks* girl 2: omg you're right. she has to be crazy, lol girl 3: they should lock her up too then they can be crazy together, lol erina:..........*shaking* *shoulder tap tap* girl 1: like, what do _you_ want? Allison: *puts her arms around the shoulders of each girl* ^w^ "Ladies! Let's have a nice little chat..." *tighter squeeze* "Alone." girl 2: um, like....okay? girl 3: ._.;;; Allison: "Goodie." *tighter squeeze, as she practically drags them away* erina: ...... Allison: *getting them into the corner, smiling sweetly* "Talk like that again about my friend, and you'll be drinking your meals through a straw for the next month." Jordan: "??? Your friend?" erina:...and roommate.... Jordan: "Cool. She seems to be making friends!" erina:........ Jordan: "...Like the earrings." erina:....she has a lot of them. Jordan: "You borrowed them?" erina: *shakes head* Jordan: "Well, the ones you got look good, too." -elsewhere- zoey:....i feel as if.....a weight is being lifted.... Q: ?? Ivan: =w= lydia: <they're both at peace......something's wrong here.> elizaveta: <kolya im scared.> Q_Q Gogol: "...Nurse? Ivan said awful things about you." zoey: when _doesnt_ he? yana: oh zing, how is he gonna come back from _that_ one? Ivan: <Your mother should have traded you for a dog--the bitch would be quieter.> yana: ZING. zoey: i dont know what you just said to me, but at least i'm carrying master’s baby! lydia: <and with that, the natural order is restored.> Ivan: <If I could carry his child, I would!> yana: <and we would totally support that.> Ivan: ^w^ -elsewhere- Damon: "..." *stares at the menu* becky: *shiny eyes* soul: anything you guys want? Damon: "...Chicken fingers?" soul: good taste, kiddo. becky: pepperoni and cheese pizza! Damon: "..." *small smile* soul: sounds good. you kids want fries or anything? Damon: *nods* soul: alright then. Damon: "And water?" soul: of course. -elsewhere- Gin: "How is watch going?" higuchi: tense.... Gin: "Hmm. Anything wrong?" higuchi:.....just this whole mori thing.... Gin: *nods* "I have been reviewing security measures." higuchi:..... Gin: "We'll make sure he does no harm...especially for Sonia's sake." higuchi:...r-right.... Gin: "..." *holds her hand* higuchi:...*sniff* Gin: *hug* higuchi: s-she didnt deserve this....*crying* Gin: "I know..." *holds her* "She didn't." higuchi: *cries, holding onto her* Gin: *strokes her head* "I'm sorry..." higuchi:.....*calming down* Gin: "..." *smiles* -elsewhere- aya: so she invited me over to her house. Kunikida: "..." aya: my gut instincts are telling me something's up....i mean, random new student inviting you over? kind of suspicious. Kunikida: "Good. What else have you noticed about her?" aya: she seems to wear this weird collar all the time. i mean, its not too odd for other students to wear collars or stuff like that, but it seems kind of....mechanical? Kunikida: "Hmm..." *tapping something onto his tablet* aya: ?? Kunikida: *pulls up some images* "Any of these look like her collar?" aya: *examines the photos* *There are a variety of medical devices, some that only sort of look like her collar* aya: hmmm....*points to one* Kunikida: *clicks* "It's an appartus used for vocal assistance." aya: ah. Kunikida: "Why would someone need a device like that? An injury? What do you think?" aya: not sure yet... Kunikida: …"You're going in armed." *puts onto the table a taser and a switchblade* aya: *takes the switchblade* easier to hide. Kunikida: "Smart." -elsewhere- Lucy: *rings the doorbell* mary: cooomiiin'! *opens up* oh hiya lulu! Lucy: ^w^ "Hello, Mary! How are you?" mary: good. come on in, i'll get tea ready! Lucy: "Goody!" *looks around* "How is everyone?" mary: busy with work stuff. bram: *reading* Lucy: "Hello, Bram." bram: *nods* hello. how's work? Lucy: "Keeping me busy...Some customers are better than others..." {Dazai: "I have a coupon!"} {Lucy: "...This is just crayon writing that says 'Free meal.'"} {Dazai: ^w^} Lucy: -_-# bram: yikes. mary: say, what were the other guild members like? mr fitz mentioned them offhandedly, but im curious. Lucy: "Well, you know Mr. Fitzgerald and Miss Alcott. I could tell you about John." mary: oooooh. *shiny eyes* Lucy: "John is...hard to place. He's rather serious but with a bit of a dark sense of humor." mary: *listening* Lucy: "When work finished, he either stayed in his room writing to his family, listened to Mr. Hawthorne's sermons, or was chatting with Howard." bram: ah. Lucy: "Mr. Hawthorne's sermons were..." *slight shrug* "They weren't quite what I think when I think of God or anything. Too far removed from nature, I guess." mary: hmmm... Lucy: "And Howard is so much fun." *smiles* "He just had to stay wet." bram: ................................ >->;;;; Lucy: ^w^ "Want to know about Moby Dick?" mary: yes please! Lucy: "I didn't get to see it as Herman first described it...It was kind of robotic." bram: i see. Lucy: "...Seemed kind of sad. I mean, as sad as a robotic aquatic...mammal can?" mary: awww. Lucy: "...You like pets, Mary?" mary: you bet i do! i love all kinds of animals! Lucy: "Did you have many pets?" *looks at Toby's bed* mary: oh! tooobyyy, come on ooout~ Mr Tsubaki: *yawns...* *steps out, looks around* Lucy: *shiny eyes* Mr Tsubaki: ._.; *hides behind Mary* mary: *picks him up* ta-dah! Mr Tsubaki: OwO Lucy: >w< *hugs ‘Toby’* Mr Tsubaki: *choking* .____. -elsewhere- Steinbeck: "Well, thanks for letting us stay over the last few days." mary: *wave* carrie: bye bye! laura jr: be sure to write! *waves* grace: byyye... emily: ^^ Wilder: "Feel free to come back anytime." *smiles at Emily and Twain* twain: sure thing, granny! emily: ^^; Wilder: *head-locks Twain* "MIND YOUR MANNERS, BOY!" twain: >-< Steinbeck: "Hemingway, come on!" Hemingway: *picking up a cow* emily: hemingway, dont kidnap the livestock. Hemingway: "Her name is Bessie, and we have formed a close bond!" Steinbeck: ._. -elsewhere- Black Star: "How're they adjusting?" soul: they seem to be getting better. Black Star: "Can't be easy..." *beams with pride* " 'Course, not everyone can be as awesome a father figure as me!" naho: black*star! belkia's head is stuck in the coffee pot. again. Belkia: *muffled* "I needed the last drop!" Black Star: -_-;;;; Magaki: "..." *returns to sipping tea in the dark corner of the room* soul: ^^; Black Star: "Sakuya, get the butter." Sakuya: -_-; "We never get to keep enough butter here..." Magaki: *looks at Soul* "..." soul:...*wave* Magaki: "..." *slight nod* -elsewhere- Asura: "..." *touching a wall* *He feels a pressure against his head, like voices screaming* Asura: "AAH!" *clutching his head* heibito: dad? Asura: *panting* "..." *forces a smile* "N-No need to worry..." heibito:.... *clings to his leg* Asura: "..." *pet pet* -elsewhere- Jun: *chopping up food, dumping it into a bowl* mafura: OuO Jun: "Almost done with the salad..." *offers a piece of lettuce* mafura: *nom* OvO Jun: "Good, right? Wait 'til you try the dressing." -elsewhere- Neuhaus: *sits at a table* "You wanted to speak?" shura: so, how's she doing? Neuhaus: "...Few to no memories returning." shura:...darn...have you tried taking her to places she's familiar with? Neuhaus: "She has been reticent. I'm trying to be patient and give her time...I'm worried about pushing her." shura: want me to go with you guys? Neuhaus: "...After everything, you'd do that?" shura: well, if no one else is going to, then i may as well. Neuhaus: "Fair enough. Okay. Let me tell her today." shura: *nods* Neuhaus: "...Thank you." *hands her a folder* shura: ok. -elsewhere- Walter: *puts away files, takes out a map* hans: so what's on today's schedule? Walter: "Travel, surprisingly." hans: really? etta: oooooh. *shiny eyes* Walter: "The city of lights." ^w^ etta: *SQUEEEEEEEE* OvO Leroux: "..." etta: ....roro? are you alright? Leroux: "...Why do we have to go?" Walter: "???" hans: because goethe gave us a vacation? Leroux: "Some vacation..." *steps away* etta: ....*concerned* Walter: "...I, um...think I'll check with Kafka on logistics and who else is going...Etta, maybe speak with him?" etta: sure thing. hans: hmm.... -elsewhere- Kuro: "...We're out of ramen." mahiru: time to make another trip to the convenience store then. Kuro: "...I'm too tired." *pops into cat form* mahiru: *puts him in the cat window backpack* come on. -_-; Kuro: =w= *shifts in the bag* -elsewhere- Steinbeck: *sips coffee, eyes on the road* "..." twain: *asleep in the back* emily:...^^; he really is like a kid... Steinbeck: "I don't know about that...Kids are more mature." emily:.....*chuckle* Steinbeck: *smiles* "Glad you're in good spirits. Had fun at Wilder's?" emily: it was nice.... {carrie: are you his girlfriend or something?} emily:.... .///////.;; Steinbeck: *glances* "??? Need me to turn down the heat?" Hemingway: *reading in the back* emily: >////< i-im fine, dont mind me. Hemingway: "??? Em, you want to switch seats?" emily: i'm fine, really! ^^;;; Steinbeck: "...Maybe we can pull over. I think there's a donut shop--" twain: behold! we have reached taco island!.....zzzz..... Steinbeck: "...Or tacos work." -elsewhere- fukuzawa:....alright, we're here... Mori: "..." *hugs a bag* fukuzawa:...*pat on the shoulder* Mori: "..." *steps forward* higuchi:........... kouyou: mori. it's been a while..... Mori: "..." *stands upright* "It has. I am sorry for my absence." kouyou:....we'll be showing you to your quarters then..... Mori: *nods* "Thank you." *follows* higuchi:....*glares at him* Mori: "..." *small smile* higuchi:...what's in the bag? Mori: "Reminders of the past." higuchi:........... Mori: "You've held up well, Higuchi." higuchi: ............................... Mori: "..." *looks at Kouyou* "I will follow." kouyou:...... ???: "...Mori." Mori: "???" *looks around... * "Oh. Hello..." Chuuya: "...Your room is far from her." Mori: "???" sonia:.....*hiding behind chuuya, trembling* Mori: "..." *stares at Chuuya's feet* sonia: *ducks her head behind chuuya* Chuuya: "You stay away from her. That is part of this agreement." Mori: "..." *looks over Chuuya's head* rain?: *glaring at him with empty eyes* ...... Mori: "..." *shakes, starts sweating* kouyou: come along now, mori....before you make more people angry... Mori: "Of course..." *follows* sonia:...papa....im scared...... Chuuya: "I know...It's going to be okay, though. Because you have people who will help you." sonia:...o-ok..... Chuuya: *protective hug* katya: huh....so that's their boss, eh? pushkin: seems like it. Motojiro: "..." leo: he seems so sad. Motojiro: "...I guess so." katya: lev, sweet, sweet lev. you're too good-natured sometimes. TT.TT leo: ?? Motojiro: "..." *shoulder pat* leo: ....*smile* Akutagawa: "..." Gin: "..." higuchi:.......i dont like this. kuniko: sis, why is the vampire man here? Akutagawa: "...He's not a vampire." higuchi: he may as well be.... Akutagawa: "Hmm...Well, if you're really so concerned about him, you know the security measures we need." higuchi:...*nods* Gin: "...I'll get to work." -elsewhere- Toby: *bows tied all over him* -________- Lucy: ^w^ "So cuuuuute~!" mary: *snaps a pic* hehehe~<3 bram:... *sweatdrop* Toby: *shakes like a dog--and somehow gets more fluffy* ._______. mary: *giggles* Toby: T_T *nuzzles to Mary* mary: *snuggle* aww. ^u^ Lucy: "You must be taking really good care of him." mary: mmhmm. Lucy: "I wish I had a pet..." *pets Toby* Toby: *small growl* -elsewhere- Mephisto: "..." *opens a door* {stocking: *looking out the window of the limo* .....} {Mephisto: "...I hope you'll like it."} {stocking: is this...really where im going to live?} {Mephisto: "If you'll have it, yes, of course."} {stocking:....*smiles* it's like a castle, right honekoneko?} {Mephisto: ^w^} {Honekoneko: "..."} {stocking: hehehe~} Mephisto: "..." *enters the room...sits down on his daughter's old bed* -phone call- Mephisto: "???" *flips open his phone* stocking: hey dad. Mephisto: *teary-eye* "Hello, sweetie. How are you?" stocking: doing good. how's everything with you? Mephisto: "Very well. Your mother returned with a grand bill of health." stocking: that's great! Mephisto: "Hm-mm! She's napping right now--did you want to speak with her, too?" stocking: nah, let her rest. Mephisto: "You finished teaching for the day?" stocking: yeah. been pretty busy. still no updates from _him_ either. Mephisto: *sighs* "Keep it up--I'm sure you'll find something." stocking: ok....did you come up with a name yet? Mephisto: *sighs* "No. We haven't been able to agree yet." stocking: keep it up, im sure you'll find something. *smiles* Mephisto: *nods* "...Could I ask you something?" stocking: ya? Mephisto: "...I don't suppose you have some free time for some tea with your parents? You can bring Kid?" stocking: of course. ^^ Mephisto: "Yay! I look forward to it~" -morning- Magaki: *at the kitchen table* ._________.;;;;; naho: morning! Magaki: "G-Good m-m-m-morning..." tsubaki: *smiles* what would you like? Magaki: "...Tea is fine." *there are bags under their eyes* tsubaki: of course..... lavender: rough first night, kiddo? Higan: *walks downstairs without a shirt* naho: IM BLIND! Magaki: .___________________. "...I am fine." {Magaki: *last night* O_______O "..." ("What are these loud noises, and why aren't they stopping?")} Magaki: ._________. "...When do I start classes?" tsubaki: oh? Magaki: "If they will have me. I think I need to get out of the house." *awkward stare at Higan and Lavender* tsubaki: ^^; i'll see what i can do. naho:...*pat pat* i feel your pain, magaki TT~TT Magaki: Q____Q "...There's water coming out of my eyes. What is happening?" Higan: "..." *grabs a shirt from the laundry hamper* -elsewhere- Jordan: ^w^ louisa: you seem to be in a good mood today. Jordan: "Because the mixer was lit!" eckleburg: i see. ^^; Jordan: "...But I didn't get her number." TwT -elsewhere- -knocks- etta: roro? are you in there? Leroux: *on the couch, under a blanket* "...Yes." etta: you feeling alright? Leroux: "...I don't want to go." etta: ...did you want to talk about it? Leroux: "W-We don't need to go. We're fine here." etta: .....is it something from the past bothering you? Leroux: "Th-The past is the past. That's all..." TwT etta: ....well, if you want to talk about it, let us know ok? we're your friends. dont forget that. *smiles* christine: .....*stares from where she is seated* Leroux: "We know...Right, Christine?" christine: ..... Leroux: "..." *sniff* {nurse:....<monsieur? how are you feeling now? you gave us quite a scare just then...>} {Leroux: "..."} {nurse:.....<we apologize for your loss...> *exits*} {Leroux: "...No..." *hugs the pillow, sobbing*} {-silence...-} {Leroux: *loud sobbing*} Leroux: *crying* etta:......*walking away* Leroux: *hugs Christine* christine: ......*she is unable to reply...she is just a doll* Leroux: *sobs, falling to his side on the couch* etta: *walking down the hall, her bow drooping* ???: "No luck?" etta: *shakes her head* i really want to help him, but i dont know how... Kafka: "Talking is at least a first step. Don't stop doing so." etta:....right. thanks, franzy. Kafka: >\\\\> "...Whatever." etta: ^u^ Kafka: "...Well, we'll have to make up his work now for the time being--so get to it." etta: will do~ *walks off* Kafka: "..." =\\\\\= *awkward walk away* -elsewhere- Takehisa: *covered in extinguisher fluid* "..." *looks at his shotgun* "..." komori: ._. Vulcan: "...I guess I need to decrease the pressure on that extinguisher round." *hands Takehisa a towel* karin: ^^; Takehisa: *wipes his face* "Indeed. Doctor [Karin], how is your project?" karin: been working on some specialized clothes to be compatible with flames. Takehisa: "Oh, good. We've been needing those." -elsewhere- Dazai: *tapping his fingers* kenji: you seem antsy. Dazai: "Just...It's 'moving day.'" kenji: ? yosano: is this about 'you-know-who'? Dazai: *nods* yosano: ...... Dazai: "Just hope when they kill him, they do it quickly." -elsewhere- Neuhaus: "Right this way..." michelle: .... shura *following* Neuhaus: "...The leaves will grow back soon on the trees." michelle: ..... Neuhaus: "...Warm enough?" michelle:....i think so.... Neuhaus: "...I remember visiting many parks..." michelle:....mmm... Neuhaus: "...When you would look at flowers--" michelle:....*tears falling* Neuhaus: "!!!" *looks at Shura* shura: *making hand motions that say 'talk to her!'* michelle: i...i remember that....a little bit... Neuhaus: "O-Oh? The colors of the flowers?" michelle: pink ones....orange ones.... Neuhaus: "We'd determine how they were bred..." michelle:...*small smile* Neuhaus: "..." *reaches for her hand* michelle:....*small lean* at least...its something...right? Neuhaus: "And that's enough." shura:....*smiles* Neuhaus: "..." *small squeeze* -elsewhere- Benimaru: "They seemed well. Weirdos, still." kirei: hehe. ^^; that's good to hear. Benimaru: "And I invited them. I mean, verbally. Not any card." kirei: i see. *kiss on the cheek* Benimaru: =\\\\= "Mm. Thank you." -elsewhere- Paku: "Here you go!" *sets down some fries* shiemi: *nom* =u= izumo: *nom* Paku: "How're classes?" izumo: same old, i guess.... Paku: "??? I guess that's a bit calming. Anyone been asking you for tutoring?" izumo: hmmm. shiemi: .///w///.; Paku: "??? Shiemi? Problem with tutoring?" shiemi: no, not at all. Paku: "Oh, good! Izumo is great at tutoring, though." -elsewhere- Kepuri: *flipping through a magazine* "How 'bout this one?" chie: *looks* ooh, i could try that one. nea: oooh. *shiny eyes* Kepuri: *nods* "Maybe grow out a bit more first..." -elsewhere- Yumi: *looks at her bandaged arm* "..." lord death:....*bridal lift* Yumi: .\\\\. "D-Death..." lord death: *smooches all over her face* ^///3///^ Yumi: =\\\\\\\= "Mmm..." *holds onto him* -elsewhere- ???: *standing over a dead body, soul in hand* <....just a few more...> *A cop siren is heard* ???: *disappears into the dark* <soon, we will be together again....my darling julia...> *The police car parks...Two officers step out* Officer: <My God...> officer 2: <the 3rd one this month...> -elsewhere- Leroux: "..." *inhales* christine?: gaston? *pats his hand* are you ok now? Leroux: *nods* "Better. Thank you." *smiles* christine?:...your friend seems worried about you. Leroux: "...Just something minor." christine?: is it about the trip? Leroux: "...Why should I go back? I have what I need here." christine?: your friends seem to look forwards to going. and you dont have to stay there, it's only a small trip. *strokes his head* and im sure they would be glad to have a guide~ ^^ Leroux: =\\\\= "...Do you want me to?" christine?: it would make me happy if you did. for their sakes and for mine. Leroux: "...Okay." christine?: ^^ hans: *knocks* leroux? Leroux: "??? Yes?" hans: is everything alright? Leroux: *smiles* "Perfectly." hans: oh? Leroux: "When do we depart?" hans: ...*smiles* tomorrow first thing. Leroux: *smiles* "Excellent." -elsewhere- Meme: "How's reading going, Tsugumi?" tsugumi: *yaaaawn* exhausting. i have no clue on what im looking for is gonna look like. TT3TT Meme: "???" *picks up some notes* "..." *holds up a page* "Maka wasn’t a very good drawer, was she?" *It's a crude drawing of Maka and Soul holding hands with 'Resonance' above it* tsugumi: *shiny eyes* score! Meme: "???" tsugumi: resonance, i think i heard this in class. *reviewing notes* Notes: "--to augment the power of one's soul. And the soul is capable of so much, not just in combat but in search and surveillance." tsugumi: hmmmm... but how to test this out.... Meme: "Well, if Maka is holding hands with Soul here, I guess you hold hands with your meister?" tsugumi: i guess.... ANYA! AO! WHO WANTS TO HOLD HANDS WITH ME?! mio: ._. ao: *already holding the left hand* Anya: D:< *grabs Tsugumi's right hand* "I'm doing this!" tsugumi: ^^; Meme: *looking at the notes* "So focus on your meister's...er, meisters' souls to resonate with her...Um, both her's." tsugumi: ok.....*sweats* how did we do that again? Anya: "Just close your eyes...and listen to the beat of the soul." tsugumi: ok.....*breathes* ao:......*closing eyes* Anya: *closes eyes* -...- tsugumi:........(its like im....underwater.....) Anya: ("It's a struggle to move...") ao: (where......is this?) tsugumi: *looks around* Anya: *shifts...looks at her hand* tsugumi: *reaching* ao:....*reaching as well* (dont leave me here....dont leave me dont leave me dont leave me...) Anya: "???" *reaches for Tsugumi* tsugumi: *takes her hand* *smiles* ao: (PLEASE DONT LEAVE ME ALONE!!!) Anya: "!!!" ("Get a hold of yourself!") tsugumi: *snaps back to reality* ah! ao: *stumbles back, panting* ha...haa.....haaa.... Anya: *trying to stay upright...deep inhale* mio: h-hey, you guys alright? tsugumi: i-i think so....aochi? ao:...*holding onto tsugumi, whimpering* dont leave me alone...... tsugumi:...*awkward hug* Anya: "..." *looks away* mio:...*looks at meme, concerned. Meme: "...Sometimes resonance exposes a lot to each other and...can take time." tsugumi: y-yeah.... ao: have you and mio ever done it? mio: *BLUSHING* Meme: .\\\\. "...Resonance?" mio: oh! that...i...think so? i think the terra spike thing counts...right? Meme: *nods* "Yes! So maybe practicing attacks also would help." ^\\\^; tsugumi: ok!.....now to determine which attack uses which blade edge. mio: *sweatdrops* (the struggles of a tri-edged weapon...) Anya: "Well, spear attacks would allow to joust or stab." ao: and scythe attacks involve a lot of slashing, and axe attacks require chopping. Anya: "I'd say target practice is a start." -elsewhere- Goethe: "They agreed?" hans: yes. *smiles* Goethe: "Excellent. Leroux as well?" hans: *she nods* Goethe: "Hmm. You convinced him well, then." hans: ^///^ its a shame you wont be going with us too. Goethe: "A pity. But travel elsewhere dictates moving forward with Phase 2." hans: right. make sure the twins stay out of too much trouble, ok? Goethe: -____- "That's too much work." hans: *sweatdrop* -elsewhere- Sakuya: "..." *nudge* naho: ? Sakuya: "Lost in your own thoughts?" naho: why do you ask? Sakuya: "You just seemed...like your mind was elsewhere. And I wanted to talk?" naho: just thinkin about stuff. Sakuya: "...Important stuff?" naho: i dunno. Sakuya: "...Something from the past?" naho: why, did you want to know something? Sakuya: "...What was school like for you, back then before...you were made into..." naho: oh school? i did attend a school that had a dorm, but it wasnt the dwma. it was nice, and i had nice roommates. ^^ Sakuya: "Good teachers?" naho: yeah. ^^ Sakuya: "And were you a good student?" naho: i think so at least. ^^; Sakuya: "..." *holds her hand* "Did you pack your lunch, or buy it?" naho: i remember there was a small cafe on the campus and we'd eat there. they had such good muffins. =w=oh! i do have a photo from one summer when we went to an indoor water park! see? -she holds up a photo- Sakuya: "...You all look happy." naho: yeah....*sigh* i do talk to them online sometimes. Sakuya: "But you miss them." naho: yeah..... Sakuya: "Want to visit?" naho: i dunno. Sakuya: "...Maybe an online chat would help." naho: maybe. -elsewhere- Anya: "..." ao: .....*making tea* Anya: "...Are you better?" ao: i think so... Anya: "...What happened back there to you?" ao: it was dark.....i saw tsugumi going over to you and...i was scared.... Anya: "..." -_- "That's what scares you?" ao: i didnt....want to be abandoned in that place.... Anya: "...Why would you think Tsugumi would abandon you?" ao:....sorry...i was just jealous of you, i guess....that she went to you first.... Anya: "Of me? Is that what this is about? Tsugumi chose both of us as her meisters, and you're spending time being jealous?" ao:....she's known you longer, right? Anya: "Yes." ao: then she's closer to you, right? Anya: "..." >\\\\> "I wouldn't say that. I mean, she hangs out with you, too." ao: i guess... Anya: "She's your friend, and you like her, yes?" ao: of course.... i love her. Anya: "...Maybe just tell her. If you want this resonance to work, you should be honest." *crosses her arms, looks out the window* ao:....i guess i should be more open, even if she doesnt feel the same for me... Anya: "...Better to say it now than have regrets you didn't get to." ao:....right... -elsewhere- Damon: *looks at bookshelves* becky: ?? Damon: "...You think he read them all?" becky: maybe. Damon: *grabs one, opens it* -elsewhere- Poe: "Hello!" aya: ranpo, your friend is here! ranpo: hey. Poe: "...Are you okay?" ranpo: just feeling out of it i guess... Poe: "...I brought a new board game." ranpo:...cool. Poe: owo "It's like 'Clue.' Only a bit more colorful." -elsewhere- Gopher: "..." eibon: *watering flowers* Gopher: "May I help?" eibon: of course. ^^ Gopher: "With watering, or making planting?" -elsewhere- Kafka: *folding boxers* -silence- Kafka: *puts them into a vacuum-pack bag, then attaches the vacuum and turns it in on* "..." -knock- Kafka: -___- "Interruptions..." *turns off the vacuum, goes to the door* hans: everything ok in there? the others are already packed. Kafka: "I'm moving as fast as I can!" >_< hans: ok, ok. ^^; Walter: *rolling his luggage* "He's not done?" *his luggage has a cute anime cat design* hans: no, not yet. etta: oh, you're bringing harriet with you? harriet: *on walter's head* o)_(o Walter: "Yepper! Even got the paperwork for international travel for her." hans: how nice. etta: and leroux said he was taking christine too. Walter: "And he can show us all the fun places!" hans: i just hope he'll be ok. Kafka: *opens the door* -____- etta: oh, hiya franzy. ^^ Kafka: -\\\\- "...Hello. I did the best I could to pack." -elsewhere- Akutagawa: *standing outside Mori's door* naoya: .....you gonna be ok? Akutagawa: *nods* "I'll be fine." naoya:.... Akutagawa: "...I'll keep an eye on him." naoya:...*pats his shoulder* Akutagawa: "..." *nods* mori: *brushing the doll's hair* Akutagawa: "..." *walks inside, shuts the door* mori: *looks up at him* ..... *hugging his doll, scarred.....* -before akutagawa was a truly twisted and broken man....but at the same time, a frightened lost child...- Akutagawa: "..." *locks the door, sits down on a chair* "..." *just stares* mori:....are you going to kill me? {atsushi: -dont kill anyone in those 6 months...} Akutagawa: "...No. I made a promise." mori: ?? Akutagawa: "...I will not kill for a certain period of time. So, you don't have to die today." mori:....... Akutagawa: "...It's not a personal thing. Just a blanket thing. If I could kill, there are a few people I would kill. But I would not kill you when you are the head of the Mafia. So...you have that going for you." mori: .......right... Akutagawa: "...Why do you have a doll?" mori:.....i still cant summon elise.....i miss her so much.....this doll is from when i was a child.....dazai brought it back for me.....*hugs the doll* Akutagawa: "...Why would he do that?" mori:....i dont know....i've raised him so long, and i still dont understand him.... Akutagawa: "The way you raised him explains a lot." mori: ....... Akutagawa: "...Who knows. Maybe he gave it to you as some absurd Father's Day gift." mori: ...........elise, what do you think?......................right....of course.....you dont want to talk to _me_, you want to talk to rintarou.... Akutagawa: "...Who are you talking to?" mori:..... -seems he doesnt have anything else to say...- Akutagawa: "..." *crosses his arms, leans back in the chair* Chuuya: *outside the locked door* "..." naoya: ..... Chuuya: "...Who is in there?" naoya:...akuta _was_ talking to mori. Chuuya: "Why 'was'? Are they no longer speaking in there?" naoya: not that i can hear. oooi, akuta? Akutagawa: "..." *through the door* "Yes?" naoya: everything ok in there? Akutagawa: "Yes. I have not killed him." naoya: chuuya's here. Akutagawa: "...Oh." Chuuya: "I'll take over." naoya:.....*worried look* Akutagawa: "..." *looks back at Mori* mori: ........ Akutagawa: "..." *unlocks the door* naoya: keep it together, chuuya... Chuuya: "...You don't need to tell me that, you know?" naoya: right... Chuuya: "..." *faces the door* Akutagawa: *opens the door...* mori: *stares* Chuuya: *stares...walks by Akutagawa, practically shoving him as he enters* Akutagawa: "..." mori: *backing up* Chuuya: *...does not look back as he slams the door shut behind him and locks it* mori: !!!!! Chuuya: "Sit down. And don't you dare get up." mori: i-im already sitting down....*clings to the doll, scared* Chuuya: "Stay that way until I finish." mori: .......are you going to kill me? Chuuya: "...No." mori:....... Chuuya: "I only respect you because you're head of the Mafia...." mori: ............ Chuuya: "But as a person, you disgust me." mori:.......is this because of her? Chuuya: "Name. Her. I dare you to say her name right now." mori: .....mito kosaka. right? my former secretary....mother of my child- *From the hall, something falling to the floor is heard* naoya: ??? *glances* Chuuya: *has kicked over the table* "..." mori: *shaking* Chuuya: "She is not your child." mori: .......i've seen her....she has the same eyes as mine, the same hair....now tell me, how is she alive, when she would have surely died when rain- *SNAP* mori: !!!! Chuuya: *has a shattered piece of wood from the table to Mori's throat* "..." mori: !!!!!!!!!! Chuuya: "..." *looking down, quiet* "Rain is dead because of you. That child...is not yours. Stay away from her." mori: .... Chuuya: "..." *drops Mori to the floor* mori: oof! Chuuya: "I don't have to kill you to keep you away from Sonia. Remember that." mori:...... Chuuya: "..." *turns, opens the door* -elsewhere- Meme: "..." *hand squeeze* mio:....*snuggle* Meme: =\\\\= *hugs* "I'm glad to resonate with you..." mio: =///////= m-meme... Meme: *hugs* "Let's do more practice to get better, okay?" mio:...r-right... Meme: *smiles* "I can set up the targets...or we could just meditate together." -elsewhere- Allison: >w> erina:...what? Allison: "You seemed to be having fun." erina: was i? Allison: "Tell me--was your mind on anything else that night?" erina: ......yeah... Allison: "...Hm. Well, you seemed a little distracted." erina:....he's haunting me.... Allison: "...Still?" erina: *whimper* Allison: "..." *hug* erina: am i always going to be like this? Allison: *pat pat* "Not if you get help..." erina: im scared. he's inside me, he wont let me go.... Allison: "He will...You can't let him get a hold of you. You're too strong for that shit." erina: r-right....*shaking* Allison: "...When do you have work?" erina:....this week, probably.... Allison: "Where at?" erina: death city mall. Allison: *smiles* "Any shop discounts?" erina:....*small chuckle* Allison: *smiles* "There we go. So while you still have some time off, what you want to do?" -elsewhere- Toby: *hides under the table* -no one is home- Toby: "..." *pokes out his snout--sniffs* "..." *crawls out from under...walks to the hall* *sighs* *POOF* *Mr. Tsubaki lets out another sigh...then inhales deeply* Mr. Tsubaki: "..." *streeeeetch* "Jeez, that was cramped." -...- Mr. Tsubaki: "..." *slowly stands...stretches* "Mmm..." -elsewhere- tsubaki: ...... Black Star: *hug* tsubaki:...t-thanks. Black Star: "Any time...Need to talk?" -elsewhere- Motojiro: "...Sonia? I had asked...a question." sonia: ?? Motojiro: "Number 4? Did you have an answer?" sonia: *looks at her paper again* Motojiro: "...Something on your mind?" sonia: im looking at number 4 again. Motojiro: "..." ("She hasn't seemed to let Mori's arrival affect her...too much.") sonia: ...... Motojiro: "Take your time." *smiles* -elsewhere- ango: hmmm... Santoka: "Still planning?" ango: hmm... *moves a pawn forwards* Santoka: "Ah...Is something on your mind?" ango: just the usual work-related thoughts. Santoka: "Progress?" *moves a pawn* ango: miss hawkins has been transferred to mall security. Santoka: "You've declined to have her keep an eye on Dostoyevsky?" ango: i fear if she stays near him longer, it will affect her mental wellbeing. Santoka: "And how do we keep an eye on him now?" ango: it will be challenging. he seems to have gotten dirt on all the prison staff working there, and is using it to his advantage.... Santoka: "And how would he get that infomation?" ango: probably he found it during the prison riot earlier this month.... Santoka: "Rather convenient, even for him. No guards on his take?" ango: we cant be certain yet.....but rumor have begun spreading... Santoka: "Rumors can lead us to more information--or be a wild goose chase." ango: perhaps.....the rumor in particular is that dostoevsky has some connection to the dragon's head rush seven years ago. Santoka: "...How familiar are you with the Rush?" ango: painfully. i had to document the belongings of the deceased during the incident.....(and that's the same year i met _them_....) Santoka: "No time you saw Dostoyevsky at that time?" ango:...not that i can recall. Santoka: *shifts a piece* "Unfortunate. No contacts you have from that time to point us to the remaining Rats?" ango: ......i'll have to do my research. Santoka: "Persist." ango: right..... Santoka: "Your move." -elsewhere- Gogol: *hangs up potpourri* lydia: doing some redecorating? Gogol: "And clean up the smell." lydia: well this hotel is musty... yana:......hm? huh. Gogol: "Distracted, Tiny Boss?" yana: found something interesting on the boss's computer. 'person's of interest'. Gogol: "Oh~?" -there are several files with several names- yana: any of them you want to check out? Gogol: "..." *smiles* "Maybe~" *runs a finger along some names* yana: let's see here.... Gogol: "Start with Mori..." [name; Ougai Mori. age: ??? gender: Male ability: 'Vita Sexualis' - allows him to conjure a guardian entity in the form of a young girl, named 'Elise' affiliation: Port Mafia other notes; his personal tastes in romantic partners is HIGHLY questionable.] Gogol: "...Sounds like a few people I've met." yana: yeeeah the less i know about _that_ the better. *clicks another file* [name: Masuji Ibuse age: ??? gender: male ability: 'Black Rain' - unknown details affiliation: Salamander Publishing company.] Gogol: "I think I have some stories worth publishing~" [name: Yukichi Fukuzawa age: 45 gender: male ability: 'all are created equal' - seems to suppress the abilities of his subordinates? affiiliation: Armed Detective Agency other notes: former bodyguard. knicknamed 'silver wolf'. cat lover.] yana: *unamused face* Gogol: "...He likes p--" yana: dont. [name: Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald age: in his 30s gender: male ability: 'the great fitzgerald' - bestowment of strength through wealth affiliation; The Guild.] yana: _was_ affiliated with the guild. Gogol: "So what's he calling his group now?" yana: apparently, he's in charge of a group called 'Manhasset Security.' [name: Agatha Christie age: ???? gender: female ability: 'And then there were none' - details unknown affiliation; Order of the Clock Tower other notes: it would be wise not to anger her. TRUST ME ON THIS.] yana: so this lady actually exists? *monotone* dear god i thought she was just a myth. *chuckles*....ha... Gogol: "Don't anger her? ...I want to try that." yana:.....why are you like this? Gogol: "Because I can survive a lot!" [name; Johann Wolfgang von Goethe age: in his 20s? gender: male ability; 'Faust' - bestows abilities to others via a contract affiliation; Sturm und Drang other notes: wishes to spread abilities to others. what an idiot.] Gogol: "Okay. But imagine someone else with my abilities. THEN I COULD TAKE THEM AND BEND THEM TO MY WILL." yana:......riiiiight.....lets see what else is here, mafia members, agency members, guild members, etc etc......hmm? -there is one other file; Tatsuhiko Shibusawa- Gogol: "???" yana: *clicks on it* [name: Tatsuhiko Shibusawa age: ?????? gender: ????? ability: ????? affiliation: ... ] yana: damn, all that’s here is a picture and a name. BOSS YOU SUCK AT KEEPING THINGS UP TO DATE!....gogol? Gogol: .\\\\\. yana:....gogol? {fantasy!shibusawa: *giggles and smiles*} yana: oooooi, gogol, are you there? *waves her hand in front of his face* {fantasy!shibusawa: *kiss on the cheek*} {Gogol: O\\\\\\\O *heart eyes*} Gogol: .\\\\\\\\. "..." *collapses* elizaveta: D8> KOLYA!!!! *shaking him* DONT DIIIIIE QAQ yana: gogol what the shit?! Gogol: O\\\\\\O lydia: ?? Gogol: *covers his face* >\\\\< yana: what's up with him? zoey:....i'll get him to medical now.... *drags him off* Gogol: "Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma--" yana:...*smack* OUT WITH IT, MAN! Gogol: "MY WORD, THEY'RE HOT!" yana:...*blink* Gogol: *covers his face, rocks back and forth* elizaveta: ??? Gogol: "My heart is going crazyyyyy..." lydia: oh jeez... *sweatdrop* he's fallen for someone he's never even met. this can only go swimmingly. Gogol: =\\\\\= yana:....ivan? help? Ivan: "??? How can I be of any help?" yana: .....for now get a funnel and ice water. Ivan: *nods* *opens the freezer, takes out ice* -elsewhere- Mr. Tsubaki: *heats up chicken nuggets in the microwave* "..." {tsubaki: *smiles*} Mr. Tsubaki: =\\\\= ("I wonder what meals she's cooking...") {tsubaki: *pet pet* hehe~} {Mr. Tsubaki: *cuddle*} {tsubaki: *leans in for a kiss*} {Mr. Tsubaki: *closes his eyes* "Mmm..."} -beeeep beeeeep beeeep- Mr. Tsubaki: O\\\\O *looks at the microwave* "..." *sighs* *opens the door* -elsewhere- Kunikida: "..." yosano: nervous? Kunikida: "Hard not to be." yosano: have you been training her? Kunikida: "Yes. But not enough." yosano: im sure she'll be fine. she'll be going in armed. Kunikida: "..." *nods* *taps his earpiece* "Can you hear?" aya: yeah, im at the meeting place now. Kunikida: "...Okay. Let us know who you see when they arrive." aya: ok. -elsewhere- Gin: "Better?" higuchi:...*nod* Gin: *strokes her arm* "Just take it easy..." higuchi: *leaning into her chest* Gin: *strokes her head, hums lightly* higuchi: *calming down* Gin: "I'm here. I'm not going anywhere. Just rest." -elsewhere- Jun: "D'aw, what a cute tiny toy!" *pokes the tiny robot arm* takuto: *laughs* yumikage: figured the kiddo would like it. Jun: "Indeed!" -elsewhere- Kafka: T~T hans: *pap pap* Kafka: "A pat-down...I'm so mortified. I hate being touched by those strangers..." etta: that's embarrassing, hehe. Kafka: >\\\\\< Walter: "I'm sure it was just random. I know it's your first time flying and all. I mean, I know with your ability you could--" Kafka: *DEATH GLARE AT WALTER AND HARRIET* harriet: o)_(o Walter: OWO "...With your ability, you could just be as snug as a bug in a rug--" Kafka: *DEATH GLARE INTENSIFIES* Walter: o~O "...I'll shut up now." etta: ^^; hans: ^^; leroux, how're you holding up? Leroux: "F-Fine...We have our tickets!" *holds up two* hans: glad to see that. christine: ... Leroux: "I'll even give you the window seat, dear~" hans: ^^; etta: hansy, did you want to go to paris with goethe too? hans: .///////. well, h-he's busy at the moment. as busy as he can be anyway. Walter: "..." >w> etta: maybe one day you'll get the chance to. *sigh* i would love to get to go to paris with a handsome guy~ it would be so romantic~ hehe~ Kafka: T\\\\\\T Walter: "... ... ..." >W> harriet: *saying nothing, since she is a chameleon.* Intercom: "We will start the line-up for Flight 142 to Paris in a few minutes." etta: that's us! Walter: "Ready, Harriet?" harriet: *chameleon noise* Walter: ^w^ Kafka: *groans* "They took my neck pillow..." hans: there will be one on the plane. Kafka: TwT "But it was the right one--it had molded to my neck..." -elsewhere- aya: *waiting* *An engine is heard* aya: *looks* elizaveta: *waves from out of the window* Ivan: *driving, wearing a scarf and hat* aya: hi. im aya. lydia: *wearing sunglasses* i see, erika's told us all a lot about you. elizaveta: *opens the door* i even brought my doll leila with me! *waves the doll's hand* Ivan: *grunts* aya: *steps in and takes a seat* elizaveta: *shakes the doll's hand* leila wants to say hi! aya: um....hi there *takes the doll's hand......she feels a sharp pain* AH! elizaveta: hey aya?......soooorry~ -a needle is sticking out of leila's hand- aya: !!! *tries to open the car door* Ivan: *takes off* aya: !!! *trying to get out, but she's losing conscious* aya: *on intercom* kunikida! it was...a trap....in a silver van- Kunikida: *over radio earpiece* "Aya?" aya: send hel- Kunikida: "Silver van?! Who is there? License number?" elizaveta: *removes earpiece and hands it to ivan* Ivan: *smiles* <Hello~> Kunikida: "!!!" yosano: !!!! where the hell are you, bastards?! Ivan: "You know rats--they get in everywhere~" yosano: *growls angrily* you wont get away with this, you fuckers. Ivan: "We are getting away with your child--and I think that's a start." aya: *she's passed out* lydia: she will be unharmed....for the time being. if you wish for her to be returned, we will send a set of instructions to you. Kunikida: "..." -elsewhere- Yohei: "Oh, kiddo--it's okay." *rocks him* toru: *cries* chie: *worried* Yohei: *strokes his back* "I don't know...Did he eat?" chie: yes. i know that he did. Yohei: "Gas?" -morning- aya:....nggh......*opening eyes* ugh..... Q: *asleep and clinging to her arm* mmm...~ u///////u aya:.....*SCREAMS AND KICKS HIM IN THE FACE* Q: OWIE! aya: *the curse mark appears on her neck*...crap. Q: >^< i didnt do anything pervy! mama wouldnt be happy with that. aya: what the hell you little creep?! Q: i just wanted to cuddle, honest! i wont even curse you! i promise! aya: .....*unamused glare* Q: QAQ *KNOCK KNOCK* aya: *opens the door, getting her pocket knife out* Ivan: ^w^ "I made hot chocolate~" -KNIFE TO THE THIGH- Q: OxO;;; Ivan: *SCREAMS--spilling the really hot chocolate onto himself* *SHRIEKS* aya: *heel of her hand to his face* HYAH! *kick to the stomach* Ivan: "AAAH! UMPH!" *collapses back to the floor, the tray flying up out of his hand* aya: *grabs her bag and runs out of the room* Q: w-wait come back! aya: *running* *She runs into someone--* aya: !!! Adam: "??? Oh. I'm sorry, tiny person." aya: where's the exit to this place, buddy? Adam: "Oh, gee, I'm not good with directions...I think down the hall, to the right, third door on the left?" aya: thanks. *runs in that direction* Ivan: "Wh-What are you doing?! Go get her!" Adam: "??? But she was trying to find the exit. I already helped her do that." -elsewhere- aya: *pant, pant*....*looking around* *It's dusty...Quiet* ???: *groans* aya: ??!!! *opens one door* !!! you! *Shackled to the wall is Shousaku* Shousaku: "..." *looks up* "...Oh, God, I'm hallucinating." aya: *kick to the balls* that's for trying to kill me and kunikida and all those other people, you sack of butts! Shousaku: .________O "..." *squeaky voice* "You're not a hallucination?" aya: no. Shousaku: "Ow...Why are you here?" aya: i got kidnapped. i had to stab a guy in the leg to get out. Shousaku: "You...aren't here to rescue me?" aya: give me one reason why i should after all the shit you did! Shousaku: "...Keek..." aya: ....? Shousaku: "Where is...she? Did she escape?" aya:...she's back home with her family. Shousaku: "..." *smiles* "Thank...goodness..." *closes his eyes...he stops moving...* aya: h-hey...hey dont die, idiot! she'd be really sad if you died! Shousaku: "..." -PUNCH- -slap attack- Shousaku: "OW OW OW! I'M NOT DEAD!" aya: then dont pretend to die, jerkface! D8< Shousaku: "I'm exhausted!" *whimpering* "I'm starved, hit...I need water...I need out of here..." aya:...fine, where's the key? Shousaku: "...I don't know. They never let me loose. One of them would have it to get in and out of this room--" *looks at the door--which Aya kicked down* "...Nevermind." aya:....i meant for the shackles. -_-# Shousaku: "That's what I'm saying--if they had the key to open the door, they'd have the key to my shackles--THE ONES THEY NEVER UNLOCK. Go find, I don't know, the eyepatch man." aya: right. *sneaks out* *The hall is empty...A metal jangling can be heard* aya:....*peeks around the corner* *Gogol is asleep in a chair leaning against the wall...The chair shifts back and forth with each snore, rattling the keys looped to his pocket* aya: (bingo....) *sneaks over, quietly* Gogol: "Mmm..." *sleep muttering* aya: *examines keys* *There are at least a dozen keys* aya: (darn...im just gonna have to take them all, huh? now how do i go about this?) *The keys are connected to a belt loop...It looks a little worn* aya: *takes knife and cuts* Gogol: "No..." aya: !!!! Gogol: *sleep mutter* "No, no there...Not in front of the circus folk..." aya:.....*takes keys and backs up* Gogol: =w= "Yes, honey, I'll pay the rent...' aya:....*sneaks away* (weirdo) -SCALPEL THROW AT THE WALL- aya: .________________.;;; ???: now, now, my baby wouldnt....want you to leave.... aya: O-O;;;; zoey: master wants me....to keep him happy....for master's sake....i will do anything~ Gogol: *yawns, stretches* "...Oh, heya, Nurse." aya: *RUNS* zoey: oh no you dont brat! *chases after her* Gogol: "??? Hey...Where are the keys?" zoey: that girl has them.... Gogol: "!!! I'M GOING TO TAKE HER PINKY TOES!" -elsewhere in the building- aya:....shit...it's just one thing after the other..... Ivan: *holding ice to his groin* "You..." aya: *knife out* Ivan: aya: i have no idea what you're saying. Ivan: "..." *LOUD SCREAM AS HE DASHES AT HER* Adam: "Oh, I got her!" *runs from the other end* aya: !!! *ducks* Adam: "!!!" *Adam's head collides--with Ivan's groin* Ivan: Q________Q "..." *falls to the floor* aya: *wince and runs* Adam: @____@ "Where's the cat, Haumea...?" *A door pops open* aya: !!! *Hawthorne steps out* Hawthorne: "..." aya: !!!!!!!! -two smaller hooded figures with masks are besides him- Hawthorne: *looks around* "...Weirdos." *goes back inside and closes the door* -the two figures rush at aya- aya: *dodges and runs* (shit shit shit shit shit!) Masked Boy: *pursues, arms at sides* masked girl: .....*pursuing* Hood #1: *leaps to the wall--and runs along it* aya: HOW ARE YOU EVEN?! Hood #1: *reaches the ceiling, and leaps from it at Aya* aya: *rolls forwards* Hood #1: *lands, rolls along the floor, follows* aya: (crap, they arent letting up. IF THE POWERS THAT BE COULD GIVE ME A CONVENIENT ESCAPE OR SOMETHING, THAT'D JUST BE SWELL! PLEASE?) *A portal pops up behind Aya* aya: OwO;;;; *A hand reaches out* Gogol: "GIVE ME BACK MY KEYS!" aya: *light bulb and jumps in* Hood #1: "?!" Gogol: OwO "...Oh no--" aya: *JUMPS OUT* Gogol: "NOT THE FACE NOT THE FA--" aya: *slides on her feet and turns back running and jumps up to punch his face* Gogol: *slow motion* "Nooooooooo--" *hits the floor* aya: *runs* *She's back near Shousaku's cell* aya: *runs in, trying the keys* Shousaku: "You...came back?" aya: yeah. *trying keys* Shousaku: "...Thank you." aya: *she got it* success! ???: i...found you....aya~ aya: !!!! Q: *standing in the doorway* .......are you....going to leave? aya: um, yes, obvously. Q: im not.....gonna let you abandon me.....i'll just have mommy cut your legs off.....then you cant run...hehehe.... Shousaku: "..." *intense glare at Q* aya: you're sick, kid. Q: but im doing it cause i really like you a lot, aya. ^^ mr mori said this was what you do if you like someone a lot. aya: MR MORI'S REALLY SICK, YOU LITTLE WEIRDO! Q: why must you be so mean to me, aya? Shousaku: "..." *tries to step forward* Q: ..... Shousaku: "Kid...Love is not control." Q: but im not controlling her right now. aya: you're creeping me out, is what your doing. thats not love either! Shousaku: "And your 'friends' kidnapped her..." Q: but i really like her? i liked her since i saw her! aya: and you just think the feeling will be mutual just like that? Q: .... aya: you dont know a thing about me, and i dont know a think about you. Shousaku: "..." *looks down* Q: but.....but.....*ghibli tears* aya: trying to guilt me isnt going to work either. Q: ...uu...uuuuuu..... Shousaku: "..." *spots a pair of tongs* *picks up Q by the collar* Q: *sniffle* ev-everyone's always mean to me. i dont-*hic* i dont wanna be lonely...i just...i want someone to love me and not leave me....*cries* m-mommyyyy!! Shousaku: "..." *sighs* "Poor kid." aya: ??? Shousaku: "...Let's take him." aya: seriously?! Q: ?? Shousaku: "He needs help--not getting brainwashed here." Q: n-n-noooooo! i do-i dont wanna go back the mafia! t-they-they're gonna l-lock me u-huuuup... Shousaku: "..." *sighs* "Then maybe someone else needs to keep an eye on you, too..." aya:....i guess im taking him with me to the agency then, huh? Shousaku: *nods* Q: ?? y-yo-you'd...*sniff* you'd do that? b-but they- aya: i'll make sure they dont lock you up, kid. Q: r-r-really? b-but what about m-mommy? Shousaku: "You think she really cares about you?" Q: ??? m-mommy said s-she loved me...r-right? Shousaku: "...I've seen Fyodor. If he asked her to kill you, she would." Q: .............. Shousaku: "Come on, kid...Let's get you out." aya: if you come with us....i'll consider being your friend. Q: y-you mean it, aya? aya: does it look like im lying? Q:...*sniff* o-ok...... aya: *takes his hand and exits* Q: ....*holds his doll close* Shousaku: *follows* aya: so where's the exit? Q: i-its....*sniff* t-this way...i-i think.... Shousaku: *walks with them* ???: LET GO OF HIM!!!! Q: !!! aya: !!!!! zoey: GET AWAY FROM MY BABY!!!! Shousaku: "..." *looks at Q and Aya* aya: *grabs Q's hand tighter and pulls him* come on! Q: *frozen* Shousaku: "RUN!" *dashes at Zoey* aya: Q come on! Q: ah- aya: *drags him along* zoey: NO! m-MY BABY! Shousaku: *tackles Zoey* zoey: AH! g-get off me! Shousaku: *pins her down* "No..." zoey: *kicks at him* HOW DARE YOU! ONLY MASTER CAN PIN ME DOWN THIS WAY! Shousaku: "...If you were not pregnant, I'd knock your teeth in. Now shut up...Just..." {Shousaku: "It's going to be okay..."} {keek: *cries*} {Shousaku: "..." *holds her*} Shousaku: "..." *tears up* -outside- aya: *running through the sewer with Q* Q: *crying* aya:...*sigh* come on, you're gonna be ok, kid. Q: "Mommy..." aya:....when we get to the agency, i'll ask miss kirako to give you a hug. if it helps at all. Q: "..." *sniff* "Th-The woman from the train?" aya: she's the one with glasses and brown hair, yes. Q: *sniff* "O-Okay...Will you hug me?" aya:... Q: Q___Q aya:....maybe later. Q: QwQ *follows* -elsewhere- Dazai: "You let a kid do this? On her own?" Kunikida: *driving* atsushi:...... Dazai: "You must be desperate...especially that mess you left behind. That guy wasn't even an informant to the Rats." Kunikida: "..." atsushi: dazai, not now. Dazai: *hard stare at Atsushi* "...You ever have kids?" atsushi:........ Dazai: "Yeah, what I thought." *looks back at Kunikida* "And this problem is not just have a solution come running into the streets--" -text on kuni's cell- Dazai: "YOINK." *takes the phone, reads* aya: [at pine acre's station. brought someone back w/ me] Dazai: OwO *shiny eyes* "...Kunikida...I have some bad news--" Kunikida: *slams the brakes* atsushi: DAZAI! Kunikida: "..." *shaking* atsushi: give him the phone dazai, and dont joke around, cant you see he's tense enough as it is?! Dazai: "...This is me teaching him a lesson in--" Kunikida: *seizes Dazai's wrist--crushing it* atsushi: !!! Dazai: QwQ Kunikida: *looks at the phone* "..." *loud sigh* atsushi: ...... Kunikida: "..." *lets go of his wrist, keeps driving to the station* Dazai: Q____Q -and so- aya: *waiting* ..... Q: "..." aya: ....*swinging her feet* Q: "...I'm scared." aya:....*awkward back pat* Q: *shudders* QwQ; atsushi: we're he-................ ._________________.;;; aya: hey guys. *waves* Q: *stares at Atsushi* "..." Kunikida: *marches up to Aya* aya: *hug* atsushi: *sweats* Kunikida: "..." *pat pat* "I was...worried." Q: "..." *inches closer to Atsushi* aya: well, im here now, right? atsushi: .-.;;;;;; Kunikida: "Yes...Where did you find him?" aya: he was held by the rats. Kunikida: "Where are the Rats?" aya: i think some abandoned hotel about 30 minutes away from here. Kunikida: *dials a number* "Time to get someone there..." atsushi:..... Q: "..." *moves his hand to Atsushi's hand* atsushi: um.....hi? Q: "May I hold your hand?" atsushi: um.....*blink* Q: *reaches--* Dazai: "No, Q." *grabs his wrist* Q: >n< atsushi:... -elsewhere-

#death city days

1 note · View note