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karajaynetoday · 4 years ago

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ours, for the rest of forever | ashton irwin

Hello friends! Here is a godparent!Ash one shot, based on this blurb about being godparents with Ashton and also inspired in part by that scene in Season 5 of One Tree Hill when Brooke is randomly looking after a baby but has to also finish fashion sketches so Lucas comes to her rescue with babysitting and it is overall very soft and cute. You know the one! Lol.

A very big thank you to Jex @sadistmichael , Anna @cheekysos , Jae @jae-writes-fanfiction and Hailey @talkfastromance4 for proof-reading and providing feedback on this when it was in its draft stages. You’re all absolute gems!

Anyway, enjoy the softness and as always, please let me know what you think! I’ve got some thoughts for a potential part 2, so we’ll wait and see how part 1 goes :)

(This is a fem reader insert)

Word count: 3.3k words

Warnings: none

More writing here | send feedback/thoughts/suggestions here

When your best friend Alice told you she was having a baby, you were over the moon. She was honestly one of the most kind-hearted people you knew, and the amount of love in her heart for others would only bloom more for a little baby to hold and cherish. Her partner James had been by Alice’s side since your university days, and their relationship was one that was literally #goals. They’d moved over to Los Angeles because James had an opportunity to work at an indie creative agency working with music artists, and when you followed a year or so later to pursue a consulting job, they’d welcomed you with open arms into the little community they’d formed of Australian ex-pats, LA creatives and generally good quality, salt of the earth people.

In the early days, there were lots of late nights (that became early mornings) running amok in West Hollywood, going from one house party to the next, but as you grew older, it became more likely to be a quiet Sunday sesh in someone’s backyard, with a barbeque cooking and someone playing their favourite tunes on a portable speaker while you floated in the swimming pool or lounged about on the grass with everyone’s various pets in attendance. When you met Ashton, he was drumming shirtless at his own house party, and then doing shots with James and their friend Calum. You were more than a little intimidated, although he had a kind face and welcoming nature, Ashton was forthcoming his opinions. On the other hand, you were always more reserved, and it took you time to feel like you belonged with their crazy crew of friends. One night, you and Ashton ended up alone in the kitchen sharing some chicken nuggets and potato gems tater tots after a wild night on the house part dancefloor, and from there you could feel a solid friendship starting to take hold.

A few months after Alice and James told you they were expecting, they’d invited you and Ashton out to brunch at one of your favourite spots. It was a little hole-in-the-wall café in Studio City that you’d first come to after Ashton wouldn’t stop raving about how good their iced coffees were. You all ordered your favourites (avocado smash with a side of smoked salmon and a hash brown for you, raspberry hotcakes for Alice, a breakfast burger for James, and pulled pork eggs benedict with a side of halloumi for Ashton) and were chatting away about your weeks at work when Alice reached down and pulled two envelopes out of her tote bag and handed on to you and one to Ashton. You took them, looking confusedly at Alice and James, who had big goofy smiles on their faces.

“Well, go on! Open them!” Alice half-shouted excitedly, squeezing James’ hand on top of the table. You and Ashton glanced at each other, perplexed, before tearing open the envelopes and finding a card inside. Yours read, “Will you be my godmother?” in gold writing on the front, and inside was an ultrasound photo with a handwritten note from Alice that made you tear up when you started reading it. You could see in your peripheral vision that Ash had a corresponding card in his envelope too, and he was standing up to give James and Alice a hug with an enthusiastic “Fuck YES! Of course I will!” that garnered some disapproving looks from the middle-aged women sitting near you. You held it together just enough to stand up and exchange hugs and choke out a “Y-y-yes” to Alice and James, before basically bursting into full blown tears of happiness and apologising profusely as your brunch was delivered to the table. As you wiped away your tears and managed to begin eating your avocado smash, you felt Ashton squeeze your hand reassuringly under the table, and when you glanced towards him he was grinning at you with a smile that was as bright as a thousand suns.

It was a normal June day at the office a few months later when your phone pinged with a text from Alice in your group chat with her, James and Ashton that

read “It’s go-time. We’ll keep you updated!”. You replied with lots of exclamation points and crying emojis, and for Alice and James to let you know if they needed anything, and a few minutes later Ashton had penned a full paragraph about the beauty of the creation of life, how he knew that Alice and James would be incredible parents, and that he couldn’t wait to meet the little one once they made their way into the world. Ashton was frustratingly eloquent sometimes. Later that night, you received a photo message of a small, pink baby snuggled up on Alice’s chest, with James’ arm thrown around her shoulders, and the caption “Charlie Rose, ten fingers, ten toes. Come visit tomorrow, she can’t wait to meet you x” and you could barely sleep from the anticipation of meeting your darling goddaughter for the first time.

Ashton insisted on meeting you at the hospital so you could visit Alice, James and Charlie together (“Dude, we’re a godparent team here! A package deal! A dynamic duo! Can’t have you getting in there as the favourite from day one!”) and you’d never seen him more gentle or smitten than when the small, wriggly bundle of blankets that was Charlie Rose was placed in his arms. Ashton rocked her gently, kissing her head, and whispering to her about how incredible she was and how excited he was to see her grow. James was snapping away with his camera, and he asked you and Ash to stand together for a photo holding Charlie, which would later be stuck on your fridge for years to come (and possibly be your phone lockscreen, but no need to mention that to Ashton).

Charlie was a tricky baby at first, resisting sleep and struggling with colic, but Alice and James were incredible and persistent and by the time she was 6 months old, they basically had the hang of this parenting thing. They didn’t want to christen Charlie in a church, but instead decided to hold one of your cherished backyard barbeques as a naming celebration for her. All of your nearest and dearest were there, and Alice’s mum had even flown in from Australia to meet her newest granddaughter. Despite it being an incredibly informal affair, Ashton insisted on making a speech about how he felt to be in Charlie’s life, to love and support her through every milestone and challenge she might encounter along the way. Charlie was happily gurgling in Ashton’s arms as he spoke, and she reached up to grab at his cheeks when he told her he loved her. Alice’s mum insisted on getting photos of everyone, including you and Ashton holding Charlie, and you tried to ignore the butterflies you felt when Ash slid his arm around your waist and pulled you into his side for a cosy photo pose. Were you actually starting to fall for him, or was it just the baby fever talking? Because damn, that man looked good with a baby in his arms.

When Charlie was almost 12 months old, Alice decided that she wanted to go back to work a few days a week. Charlie would be in childcare for most of the days, but you’d recently adopted a flexible working arrangement with your own office, and you insisted that you would love to look after Charlie for one day a week. The older Charlie got, the more adventurous she became, so what you’d originally envisioned as nice, quiet days of baking and craft activities and napping soon became full of visits to the playground and the beach and the zoo. Once Ashton heard about your regular babysitting day, he insisted on clearing his schedule as best he could, and joined the outings you and Charlie went on. It’s so much easier to cope with her boundless energy (and occasional temper tantrums) when you and Ash are together, and you have to admit it’s just as nice on the quieter days as well, when you snuggle in on your couch to watch a Disney movie, or do some puzzles with Charlie on the lounge room floor.

When Ashton was back out on tour, he’d insist on FaceTiming with you and Charlie on your babysitting day so he didn’t miss out on all the fun. Sometimes he’d read her a story or sing her a lullaby before naptime, and sometimes the timezones wouldn’t work out and he’d end up calling during naptime, so the two of you just spent a little time catching up on each other’s lives from your opposite sides of the country or the planet. Ashton also loved collecting little souvenirs for Charlie on his touring travels, and your group chat with Alice and James was regularly filled with photos of snow globes or little soft mascot toys he’d found in one city or the next. It was so cute how excited Ashton got when he found a new souvenir for Charlie, and you couldn’t help but imagine how adorable he’d be when he had his own children and carried on little traditions like this for them too.

One particular weekend, Alice and James were going away overnight to attend a friend’s wedding nearby, and despite their anxiety and nerves (and admittedly, your own), they decided to leave Charlie with you for the night as your house is the main one besides their own that she spends time in. They dropped Charlie off just after lunchtime, and after a teary goodbye, she’s soon happily playing with her toy cars and trains on the lounge room carpet (including making broom-broom noises, what a cutie) when you get an unexpected call from your boss. They’re rambling about a client needing an urgent rewrite on something that you’d submitted the previous day, a pretty sizeable project, and you could feel yourself starting to fill with dread at the idea of having to rework the entire thing while also keeping Charlie happy and entertained. After managing to jot down the gist of the rewrite on the back of a colouring in page you found on your coffee table and ending the call with your boss, you took a deep, calming breath before looking over to where Charlie was still playing on the floor. Sure, she looked content and adorable now, but nap time was fast approaching, and then dinner, and then eventually bedtime, and there was nothing Charlie liked more than stomping her feet and putting up a fight where sleep was involved. It was time to call for help, and your fingers found Ashton’s contact in your phone and hit “call” before you realised what you were doing.

“Hey, how’s it going with my favourite girl?” Ashton answered cheerily, and your heart stopped beating for a moment before you mentally face-palmed when you realised that he was talking about Charlie, not you, being his favourite girl.

“Hey Ash! All good so far, but um… I think I’m going to need some help. My boss is having a crisis, so I need to smash out some edits and new content in the next three hours, but Charlie’s due to go for a nap and you know that she -” You could feel yourself starting to sound more panicked with each word that you spoke, but Ashton quickly cut you off with his soothing voice.

“That she likes to pick a fight at nap time, yes. A truly assertive future world leader on our hands, I reckon. I’m just finishing up a demo, but I’ll be there in 20 minutes. I’ll sort dinner as well, spaghetti sound okay?” He mused, sounding as calm as ever.

“That… would be amazing. Thank you. You’re actually the best human to exist, you know that?” You gushed, feeling some of your anxiety immediately begin to disappear.

Within half an hour, Ash was in your lounge room handling Charlie’s nap time negotiations while you were furiously typing away at your laptop at the kitchen counter and fielding more frantic phone calls from your boss. Another 20 minutes passed before Ash proclaimed victory as Charlie lost her battle against sleep, and he came to see you in the kitchen and make a start on dinner. You were so lost in your task that you didn’t hear him come in, and you jumped a mile out of your seat in fright when he gently touched your shoulder in greeting.

“Jesus christ, Ash! Don’t sneak up on me like that!” You huffed, taking your glasses off and rubbing your eyes in exhaustion.

Ashton leaned on the counter opposite you and raised his eyebrows in concern. “Sorry love, didn’t realise you didn’t hear me come in. You good?”

Damn it, why was he always so nice to you these days? Remember the days when you were scared of him because he used to argue with you about politics and the state of the world? Why did those seem somehow easier because fear was more natural to you than whatever this other feeling was that you were starting to have whenever Ashton was around you.

You sighed and put your glasses back on, frowning briefly at the screen before hitting save one more time (just in case your bad luck took a turn and fucked you over with lost documents).

“Yep. Sorry. It’s just been a bit of a day. Did Charlie go down okay?” You forced a smile as you glanced up at Ashton over the top of your laptop screen.

“Yeah, she gave in once I offered another bedtime singalong. And maybe, juuuust maybe, I might have mentioned something about some sweets after dinner…” Ash looked at you guiltily, licking his lips nervously. You rolled your eyes and shook your head at him, but you couldn’t keep the small smile off your face.

Ashton got started on making spaghetti while you tapped away at your computer, and soon enough you heard Charlie calling out for Ashton in her little sing-song voice on the baby monitor you had set up on the kitchen counter (“Asht-aaaaa! Where are youuuuu! Asht-aaaaa!”). The spaghetti smelled incredible, and when Ashton brought Charlie into the kitchen from her nap and she’d had a little while to play a bit more, you settled at the kitchen table to tuck into some dinner. Well, Charlie was more interested in playing with her food than actually eating it, but yours was delicious and for the third or fourth time that day, you thanked Ash profusely for being such a gem (to which he just gave you one of those dazzling smiles in response).

After dinner, Ashton took Charlie for a bath and read her a bedtime story while you powered through the final part of the project edits you needed to finish before your boss burst a blood vessel. You could hear Ashton reading to Charlie on the baby monitor, doing all of the different character voices, and her little giggles in response were both breaking and warming your heart. Warming it with the cuteness and how much you loved that little girl and her cheeky soul, and breaking it with the guilt about how it was supposed to be you snuggled up reading to her, but instead you were frantically typing about key messages, marketing strategies and budget lines. You were doing your last section of re-writes when Ash came back into the kitchen, and this time you didn’t jump when he gently placed his hands on your shoulders. In fact, you leaned into his touch, and moaned quietly in relief as his thumbs began to work into the tension in your muscles.

“How’s it going?” Ashton asked quietly, continuing to press his hands into your back and shoulders.

“Almost there. Mostly just proof-reading now, and then I can send it and not fucking think about it for another second until at least Monday. Ash, I’m so sorry again, I know this isn’t what you had in mind for your Friday night and I should’ve been more organised but I just didn’t think that -” You began to ramble, feeling the guilt wash over you.

“Hey, hey. Stop. It’s fine. We’re a team, remember? The dynamic duo? Gotta stick together. We’ve got a whole lifetime of dealing with Charlie meltdowns and milestones ahead of us, love. It’s our job and our blessing, for the rest of forever. Don’t feel guilty over one night.” Ashton said softly, squeezing your shoulders and pressing a soft kiss to the top of your head. There were those butterflies again, and your skin was almost burning from where his hands had touched you. You simply nodded at his words, before returning to your laptop and the task at hand. Ashton stepped away and quietly began washing the dishes (honestly, is there anything this man didn’t do?) as you began typing again.

Finally, about twenty minutes later, you hit send on the email to your boss with the completed rewrites, and shut your laptop with a deep sense satisfaction, letting out a triumphant whisper-yell, mindful of the sleeping child down the hallway from you. Ash looked up from where he was sat on the couch, scrolling on his phone, and rushed over to high-five you when he realised that you’d shut your laptop.

“Right. You go shower and I’ll put the kettle on, then it’s one episode of Sons of Anarchy and then off to bed with you.” Ash began, tugging you out of your seat and pushing you towards your bedroom before you could protest.

“Wait… how did you know I was watching Sons of Anarchy?!” You turned and asked, with one hand on the door to your bedroom.

“I was stalking through your Netflix earlier when you were lost in editing land. Plus, I know you can’t resist a charming male lead who has a killer smile and looks damn good in a leather jacket.” Ash chuckled, shooting you a wink and one of those goddamn smiles.

You hated to admit it, but you felt so much better after your shower, and having Ash pull your feet up over his lap and absentmindedly run his hands softly across your legs from time to time wasn’t exactly bad either. You stuck to your promise of only one episode of Sons of Anarchy, and after pulling your groaning self up off the couch and jokingly half-carrying you to your bedroom door, Ashton bid you goodnight with a hug and a kiss to the forehead before disappearing into your guest room.

As you settled into your own bed, alone, and pulled the blankets up over you, you couldn’t help but think how nice it was to have Ash so present with you and with Charlie, and how sweet it would be in the morning to wake up together in the same house and go for breakfast at your favourite little brunch spot down the street, before waiting for James and Alice to return in the early afternoon. It was all your own little family unit, and as you felt yourself being lulled into sleep, you also felt a deep sense of content in your heart about the loved ones in your life. And then also there were those butterflies, just slowly but surely making their presence known, and getting a little bigger every time you thought of Ashton, and how much he loved Charlie, and how much she loved him and you, and how much you loved them both.

Shit. Did you actually love him? Were you falling in love with Ashton Irwin? Before you could panic too much, the need for sleep won out, and you slept peacefully knowing two of your favourite people were also sleeping calmly in the rooms either side of you.

More writing here | send feedback/thoughts/suggestions here

#my writing #ashton irwin #ashton irwin one shot #ashton irwin imagine #ashton irwin blurb #ashton irwin fanfiction #5sos imagine #5sos writing #there's going to be a part two #charlie rose ten fingers ten toes #soft AF up in here on a saturday morning #also i fucking miss going to brunch with my pals that I based alice and james on

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starkeaton · 4 years ago

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the adventure zone: graduation character list

Well, i accidentally deleted the original graduation character list post, so here i am making another one. Oops. And as always, if anyone has important details i should add then feel free to suggest them!

Here are all the characters introduced in episodes 1-25. Named characters only!

Also i can’t hide spoilers! So, um..... I can’t put spoilers on this one. If you need the version with spoilers try this version of the post that i made on the adventure zone subreddit but youre not missing out on much.

# -EPISODE 1- (19 characters)

Hieronymous Wiggenstaff (he/him): Head of the Hero/Villain school. at least 400 years old. wears shining blue armor with gold accents. also an elf. according to Tomas, he led the charge at the "battle of blood valley", brought the Kingdoms of Rickart and Dawnbreak to a peace treaty, and founded the school. a little boastful, a little prideful, [SPOILERS OMITTED], and overall a pretty good dude.

Higglemas Wiggenstaff (he/him): Head of the Sidekick/Henchperson annex, cranky old elf. has a dog named hero who shows no signs of anything strange at all, ever.

Gary (he/him): friendly room gargoyle. pseudo-hivemind.

Groundsy (he/him): the groundskeeper. a pretty nice fellow. don't go in his shed.

Hernandez (he/him): beautiful centaur professor of animal handling.

Jimson (he/him): human battlegrounds trainer for sidekicks/henchpeople, world famous featherweight champion, wields a staff. married to crushman.

Crushman (he/him): silver dragonborn with a sickle, and self-described beefy boy! heavyweight blood champion married to jimson. never lost a match for 8 years. full name Frostus Crushman.

Rolandus Fontaine (he/him): former prince, son of deposed king, kind of an asshole, maybe. wears a cape (important detail)

Zana (she/her): "terrifying" tiefling villain sorcerer, friend of rolandus. barkept the test tavern in ep2

Rhodes (she/her): hero ranger, friend of rolandus.

Buckminster Eden (he/him): hero guy. son of "The Iron Lord". their dad is stronger than rolandus's dad. his wiki page says rogue so i think hes a rogue? i never caught that and ive listened more times than i wish i did

Leon (he/him): softspoken buff, bald "fighter" (although i dont remember any clarification on how exactly he fights), sidekick of buckminster, around 28. anyone else keep forgetting he's bald? i keep forgetting it. >!gets sorta-drafted into becoming a falcon for higglemas and so far hasn't done much else.!<

Rainer Michelle (she/her): cheerful villainous necromancer with a floating chair. also, her name is pronounced "rainier" despite not being confirmed as such? travis ships her with fitzroy.

Tomas (he/him): human man with "kind eyes" and a good (psychic???) memory. guidance counselor.

Stewart LeBoeuf (he/him): brawny human man. serves food. there is no joke here, i promise

Mulligan (he/him): teaches potions. mentioned but doesn't appear yet. and we're like 25 episodes in. maybe we'll see him someday

Germaine, Victoria, Rattles (he/him,she/her,???/???): Skeleton crew. They live in the training room i guess, and as a result can never die, because "no one dies in the training room!" (note: someone now HAS to die in the training room). also their races are never explicitly stated but i guess they're probably human? in episode 3 travis brings up something about how many bones are in "the human body" and at this point i think i'm looking too deep into this so i'll just forget about it and you probably should too.

# -EPISODE 2- (9 characters)

Riveau (he/him): halfling, blame-taking teacher.

Mimi (they/them): gnome sidekick who builds cool robot prosthetics

Bartholemus (he/him): owl aarakocra accountant teacher, known for being the best accountant in the land and having a face some might describe as "smoochable". very pro capitalist :’( hope he gets better

Ramos (she/her): goliath teacher of shieldwork. *

Dip (she/her): sidekick, half-orc twin of pip

Pip (she/her): hero, half-orc twin of dip

Festo (they/them): fairy with "beautiful gossamer wings", independent study teacher of magic, loves to party

Snippers (he/him?): Let me tell you my story about Snippers the magic crab. When Travis gave the list of animals that Griffin could choose as Fitzroy's familiar's current form, he listed crab near the start, and this gave me excitement. Now i knew that crab was pretty unlikely but god i hoped that he would choose it. When the list went on- Bat, Cat, Crab, Frog, Hawk, Lizard, Owl, Poisonous Snake, Fish, Rat, Raven, Seahorse, Spider or Weasel- I nearly lost hope. I was hoping so hard that Griffin would choose the crab, but i was ready to accept a non-crab familiar. It was just buried in that list. It wasn't the most useful animal and it was an obscure pick. And as Travis informed him that it didn't have to keep the form for the whole campaign, Griffin said those five words i wanted to hear so, so badly. "Well then it's a crab." Folks, I do not often react physically when something happens in media. But in that moment, i remember very clearly, i fist-pumped and yelled, "YES!!!!!!"

so anyway, Fitzroy has a crab.

Jackle (he/him): kenku teacher of sneakery. creepy dude. apparently knows something about argo? also his name is not spelled "jackal" for some reason. Also in later episodes theyve started calling him "The Jackle" for some reason??? *

# -EPISODE 3- (1 character)

Dakota (they/them): tavern instructor, clad in black/red leather. no race stated? probably human. *

# -EPISODE 4- (6 characters)

Gerry & Tom (she/her, he/him): shopkeepers at barns and nobles who seem to have very bad names. also constantly competing for customers? these guys got dropped faster than the heathcliff quests, which is honestly just sad.

Barb (she/her): the bartender. runs Springs Eternal in Last Hope. has a sweet seeing-eye hawk familiar.

Jaryd Reginald (he/him): owner of Reginald Ore. Wants the workers to be held responsible for the damage caused by the xorn. (fun fact: originally i wrote down "Jerrod" because i wanted it to sound like a fantasy name, then realized it was probably "Jared" because theyre named after listeners, but i was pleased to find it confirmed that it's actually "Jaryd")

Candice (she/her): A Miner. thought those werent allowed in bars but, i guess not. Wants the mine owner to be held responsible for the xorn's damage.

Jade Johnson Esq. (she/her): lawyer.

# -EPISODE 5- (1 character)

Xorn: a big hungry gem eating guy from the plane of earth Low-Down Deep with 3 arms and 3 legs. why did travis just say "multi-armed" instead of specifying it was 3? who knows! Anyway it leaves

# -EPISODE 6- (3 characters)

Osric (he/him): the man, the myth, the bursar. finally shows up after being mentioned in episodes 2 and 4. he's an elf.

breeze through the willows (she/her): Pegasus attacked by demons, lost her parents. introduced in ep1 but gets a name here so fuck it. also in ep>!16!< we find out shes a "white arabian pegasus" and i dont think thats a spoiler bc we shouldve really known it from the beginning

Sabor (he/him): Librarian/research teacher. also a TORTLE. Really good at recalling stuff, i guess. kinda reminds me of Tomas's memory thing but i'm sure that's just a coincidence... *

# -EPISODE 7- (1 character)

Mosh (he/him): The goliath blacksmith who welcomes argo into the unbroken chain. Also, and this is specific to the tumblr version of this post, all the characters with an * at the end of their descriptions are also members of the unbroken chain. if someone knows how to do spoilers on tumblr please tell me

# -EPISODE 8-

# -EPISODE 9- (2 characters)

Eeiïäá#æ&éñn (pronounced like "Ian") (he/him?): an imp but without a shitty voice. also happens to not be violent. what a coincidence?

Terence (he/him): a chain devil with a real demonic name. minor boss of the imps. very convincing and very threatening. has the frightening ability to make you zone out during his fight

# -EPISODE 10- (2 characters)

Althea Song (she/her): elf with autumn-orange hair. representative from heroic oversight guild. i'd like to personally thank travis for spelling her name out.

Crabtree (she/her): Artificing teacher. Long gray hair with a long grey beard. no mentioned race, one might guess dwarf but that would be an assumption i suppose. also unbroken chain member, presumably the dwarf argo didn't recognize in episode 7.

# -EPISODE 11- (3 characters)

Marie (she/her): Grey-haired elf woman. She's the school's physician, i guess. Member of the unbroken chain.

Dendra Maplecourt (she/her): Fitzroy's mom. Has hot mint gum, i guess. She was mentioned earlier but i wasn't convinced she was a real person until this episode

Cool Gary (he/him): AYY ITS ME GARYR

# -EPISODE 12-

no new characters again!

# -EPISODE 13- (7 characters hhhyyyuu)

Kale (???/???): Head of the Placement Department, in charge of real world assignments. First mentioned in Ep4 but i missed that the last few times bc it is so brief. Gives exposition about missions i guess????? is that the only reason this chara cter exists

satyr thief (unnamed) (he/him): tries to rob thundermen, dies instantly

Ogre (he/him): teamed up with the satyr. his name is ogre.

Moon (he/him): A Sidekick. small pale sullen guy. no mentioned race. Why is there another FUCKING sidekick WE HAD ENOUGH hhhyuuuuuu

Deanna (she/her): A bigoted centaur with an obnoxious voice. Malwin the Strong's second in command.

Malwin the Strong (she/her): Leader of the centaurs of the scarlet woods. Wants to appease the spirit of the scarlet woods so that thecentaurs of the scarlet woods will be protected in the scarlet woods. Had a relationship with Arturas in the past but their clashes are currently known to get pretty heated.

Arturas (he/him): Leader of the Centaurs of the Valley, i guess. Had a relationship with Malwin. Centaur. Did i mention centaur? i cant think of anything else about this character

# -EPISODE 14- (2 characters)

Calhain (he/him): Human wizard, Malwin's magical advisor. Kind of an amateur wizard in a job high above his skill level. Graduated Wigginstaff's as a hero.

Spirit of the Scarlet Woods: A spirit who requires sacrifice in order to keep Malwin's herd safe and prosperous. Not keen on dubiously canonical combos, i guess. i wouldnt be either. also apparently the sacrifice depends on personal value, not how much value it has to the spirit.

# -EPISODE 15- (2 characters)

Sylvia Nite (she/her): Fitzroy's magic theory teacher at knight night school, who he turned into a catfish by accident. oops!

Chaos (they/them, maybe more): Presumably a deity, gave Fitz his powers and wants him to give in to his chaotic desires. (physical desc: 9 foot tall, iridescent 'mother of pearl' skin, pure white eyes, fine burgundy cloak with gold/onyx lining. their physical form beyond that seems to change every time they show up.)

# -EPISODE 16-

none -w-

# -EPISODE 17-

some demins happened. the big dudes are called "Pit Fiends" and the armored demon ladies are called "Erinyes", by the way. that was incredibly hard for me to figure out the first time, especially without headphones, i thought travis was saying "pig feet" and i just could not discern what the other things were

# -EPISODE 18- (6 characters)

snow on the mountain: shire horse pegasus

storm at sea: peruvian paso pegasus, vehement defender of The Guardian. doesn't have a goofy voice.. but he could have....

thaw of the spring: a winged horse

night of no clouds: a winged hhorse

The Guardian: "An ancient and powerful being that guards the unknown forest." Has protected the flock from demons for many many years. apparently is the voice that was talking to our firbolg in episode 1?

Grey, the Demon Prince (he/him): wants to cause a war, originally wanted to kill hiero and higgs, forces the heroes to build an army to fight his. As "Fauxronimous", he has skin the *color and pattern of* (but not necessarily made of) slate splashed with liquid, pointed ears, sharp teeth, shining eyes, horns of unspecified shape. 12 fucking feet tall. wonder if the slate-looking skin is related to garys. plot twist detected? Also i recently looked at the episode descriptions and found out his name is spelled "Gray", but really does it truly matter?

# -EPISODE 19- (2 characters)

Shabree Keene (she/her): Argo's mom, killed on the Mariah, possibly by the Commodore. Long auburn hair, green eyes. Mentioned earlier but described here, so fuck it.

**Thomas** (he/him): Argo's first mate on the Mariah, as the Kraken, in his chaos-dream. may or may not actually exist.

# -EPISODE 20- (1 character)

The Commodore (he/him): Reknowned hero of the seas, military regalia, great naval hero, presumably responsible for the death of Shabree Keene. No mentioned race. Seriously, they never mention this guy's race. The only thing described about him is how he's dressed and his evil smile. Does that mean he's human? Elf? Dwarf??? Who knows! maybe it just doesnt matter.

# -EPISODE 21-

none

# -EPISODE 22-

not any of them. not any.

# -EPISODE 23- (1 character)

Ozymondelius (sp???) (it/its): A warforged teacher who just so happens to like war or something? i guess its in the name. only mentioned in this episode, doesnt show up yet.

# -EPISODE 24-

they have a fight in the training room but nobody dies :\\ maybe next time. also no new characters. pog

# -EPISODE 25- (4 characters)

Gherkin (he/him): Tall lankier skeleton, has a scimitar and a merkin, which is a pubic wig... and he wears a jerkin? which i guess is a kind of coat? also i think hes mute

Tibia (she/her?) : Shorter skeleton with gold teeth, and long canines. i think both of the skeletons are mute actually.

The Lich King aka Gordy (he/him): Rainer's dad. Commands armies of the undead. lives in The Crypt. described as a hooded, skull-faced man with intricate black lines on his face, but changes to a shaved-head man with dark skin and vetiligo. Abandoned as a babby, raised by traveling parents, had necromancy powers, took Rainier in. Not actually very scary at all i don't know why he did the creepy laugh. Kind of a warm fatherly figure actually. hm. also people are speculating Gordy might be short for Gordita and his parents are maybe supposed to be lup and barry but THAT S JUST A THEORY.

our firbolg's father (he/him): A firbolg who lived by the code and was there when our firbolg was banished. Came to respect our firbolg's interest in a new way of life, in his final moments.

TOTAL: 72 NPCS! (well, including 2 extra PCs, i guess.)

Average: 2.88 NPCs per episode.

i was gonna not include the bone-PCs and have it be 69 but our firbolg's dad was just too important to not respect with a spot on the list.

anyway as always make sure to smack me with a blunt object if i forgot any characters!!!!!

#the adventure zone #taz #taz: graduation #taz g #sir fitzroy maplecourt #argonaut keene #taz firbolg #i dunno what else to tag this with #text post #keatposting

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broadstbroskis · 5 years ago

Text

connected-pt 5 | auston matthews

an author’s note: and here we are with the last chapter! wow, thank you all for sticking with me through this and for sharing your feedback on it! hope you enjoy!

-----

Toronto 2019

There’s a long moment of silence before Auston clears his throat. “I owe you an apology.”

“You think?” You snark before you can stop yourself. “Sorry.” You add, as he winces.

“No,” He nods. “I-uh-I deserved that.”

“You do,” You agree. “But it’s not really helpful.”

Auston gives you a small smile. “There’s a lot I want to say; I’m not sure where I want to start.”

“I’ll start then.” You say, starting to lose patience. “I hated you for months. I was so mad. You just...how could you just leave me there without a single word? I thought we were so solid! Not just, like, solid. In agreement, even! Going to come back here, see where you were drafted, and then work something out. But no! You left.”

You’re on a roll now, the feelings that have been stewing for years just pouring out. Austin winces and you don’t even acknowledge it; you just keep rolling on. “And that devastated me, Auston! Break ups are bad enough on their own, but that you couldn’t even respect me enough to tell me you were leaving hurt me more than anything.” He winces again. “And then! I come back here to Toronto for fall semester, and what do I get? To see your fucking face everywhere. On billboards, magazines, commercials, and some-fucking-how, in person, all over an entire city of over two million people!”

He opens his mouth, like he wants to respond to that, but you continue on. Really, it’s just hard to stop now; if you stop talking, you might start crying and you really just don’t feel up for that now. You’re already emotionally drained enough. “And I just-how was I supposed to ever get over you? When we live in a city that worships the ground you walk on and you just magically appear in all my favorite places?” You gesture between the two of you. “This right here? This absurd meeting, where I low key went off the deep end, was bound to happen. Frankly, I’m shocked it took as long as it did.”

Auston’s eyes are wide and his jaw is dropped as he turns his head to stare at you. “What did you just say?”

You level him with a flat look. “Look, I know I was more than “low key” weird today, but not commenting on it is about the least you could do for me.”

“That’s not what I-” He huffs impatiently. “No! What did you mean about us meeting? When could that have happened?”

The question is so absurd to you that you break down, laughing maniacally. But Auston’s looking at you with genuine confusion, like he actually has no idea what’s going on. “Like, ten times, last spring alone.” You manage, wiping the tears that have fallen from your eyes. If you don’t, they’ll turn into actual tears.

Auston frowns. “No.” He shakes his head.

You glare back at him. “Yes. I see you all around the city, all the fucking time. Do you have any idea how many tables in this city I’ve ducked under to avoid you?” He pales. It’s frightening, almost, how white his face turns, and you actually stop talking, stop moving even, as you watch, concerned. “What’s wrong?” It’s the softest tone you’ve taken with him all day.

“Holy shit.” He buries his face in his hands; his voice sounds absolutely wrecked.

“Auston?” You try to keep the impatience out of your voice, when it’s been a few moments and he still hasn’t looked up. “What is it?”

When he looks back up at you, there’s a slight red rim around his eyes and he takes a deep breath. “I’ve actually got no idea how many tables you’ve ducked under to avoid me, but I do know I’ve been searching high and wide all over this entire goddamn city to try and find you again.”

It’s your turn to freeze, choking on absolutely nothing at his words, and he loses the ghost of a smile that flickers onto his face almost as quickly as it comes when he reaches out to calm you and you immediately flinch away. “Sorry.” Auston says, but leaves his hand close by. “Please; let me finish though?”

When you make no move to get away, he smiles gratefully. “There’s no apology I could give that would make up for things but I want you to know that I am sorry. I don’t know why I did it; I was scared, I guess? Not that that excuses it. I still don’t really know, but I do know you deserved better than that. And I-I realized that pretty quickly, but…” He trails off.

“But I blocked your phone number.” You supplement. That had happened shortly after he left-blocked, deleted, and all physical traces removed. It was unfortunate for you that memories couldn’t be erased so quickly.

He nods slowly. “Yeah. So when I was drafted here and moved here, I knew that was my chance. I could come see you, apologize, try and talk to you. Except I couldn’t find you, anywhere.” And suddenly, your jaw drops in realization, but now, Auston’s the one who’s on roll, just talking on. “I tried your school. I looked at all the coffee places. I go to restaurants I know you’ll like and bars that I know you’ll love.”

“Oh my god.” It comes out as a whisper.

“And I’ve been doing that for three years, hoping to run into you, to just talk to you, and apologize, and Jesus Christ, tell you that I’m not over you either!”

Your jaw drops at his admission and Auston is breathing heavy as he looks at you, somehow both gently and challenging. You can’t look away, drawn into his eyes. This is the last thing you expected to hear from him; your stomach is clenching-from excitement? Or from anxiety? Nerves maybe-but over what? “Oh.” Is all you can say, after a very long pause.

“Oh?” Auston repeats. “That’s all you have to say? Oh?”

“I’m thinking!” You cry. “I just-” You sigh. “I don’t know where we go from here.”

He sighs. “I know. I think three years ago I would have been happy to just jump back into things, but I know better now. I don’t know either.”

There’s a sadness in his voice as he finishes speaking, a certain solemnity that’s settled over the two of you. And as you reach for his hand, tangling your fingers in his on the countertop, you know that the two of you are finally on the same page.

-----

Zurich 2021

“We could have gone anywhere in Europe after Worlds.” You give Auston a look. “Anywhere on the entire continent. It’s so easy to travel!” He’s grinning, like he already knows what you’re going to say. “And you picked the city I hate most in the world.”

“Hey!” He protests. “We met here!”

“And then you left me here alone!”

He tangles your hands together, as you continue your walk through town. “I’m trying to erase those memories. Bring up some good ones.”

“I mean, they weren’t all bad.” You concede. “Lina’s still a gem. All those chocolate shops.”

“Uh huh, and?” Auston prompts, grinning.

“I guess you had a couple good games here.” You tease. “Before you bowed out early in the playoffs. Oh wait, that sounds familiar.”

“Gutty.” Auston shakes his head. “Alright, anything else?”

“I love you, but enough people pump up your ego already. I am actively working to make it so that it doesn’t get so large that you float off this planet and away from me.” You laugh at the look of mock hurt on his face. “But yes, you know I did have some good times here with you too.”

He grins. “Like here, in this park?”

You frown. “What are you talking about? We’ve never been here before!”

His grin widens. “You sure about that?”

It takes a minute of looking around-the trees are in full bloom, there’s people picnic-ing on the grass under them, ducks are swimming in the pond, the mountains off in the distance look far more green- before it hits you. “We skated here!

Auston nods, grinning. “Dangle, snipe.”

“What, no celly?” You tease.”

“That comes later.” He drops down on one knee and you gasp, covering your mouth immediately, wishing you could take back the “holy fuck,” that had escaped before you’d been able to stop it. “I know it’s taken us a while to get back to this point, but I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I can’t think of a better place than the city we first met in, the place we first fell in love in, to ask this. Will you marry me?”

He actually looks nervous. You’ve never seen that look on his face before-not for playoffs, for big games...for anything really. But it’s not like your answer could be anything else. “Yes. Oh my god, yes!”

It feels like a blur as he slips the ring on your finger-it’s diamond and beautiful and shiny!-and then Auston’s kissing you-or maybe you’re kissing him?-and people around you are clapping as they realize what’s happening.

You’re willing to concede that maybe Zurich isn’t the worst city. In fact, as you look over the pictures the hidden photographer had taken of the two of you while lying in bed with Auston later that same evening, you realize the city had been what connected the two of you in the first place.

Which definitely wasn’t a bad thing.

#connected fic #auston matthews #auston matthews imagine #nhl imagines #hockey imagines #nhl fanfiction #hockey fanfiction #my hockey fics

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its-a-branwen-thing · 5 years ago

Text

On Qrow: Part 1

Buckle up, people, this is a Qrow appreciation post and it is a few weeks of brain gems so it’s loooonng and broken up into...two? three? I’m not sure yet parts because I love this man and his future story potential has me in tatters.

Qrow’s arc this season has been about recovery. Recovery from his alcoholism, his self doubt, his persistent pessimism. You love to see it. And it was evident from his introduction that Clover was supposed to be instrumental to that in an illustrative way. How instrumental, I think, is up to interpretation. (Yes, I did in fact heavily ship Fair Game and no, I am not here to discuss that topic, as this is a post on Qrow’s character moving forward). But as much of a help as Clover was he also served as a vessel for some very interesting tidbits and breadcrumbs that I think will service the future of Qrow’s character.

“I just found working alone tends to be for the best.”

“Well I think that’s a shame.”

It sure is a damn shame, Clover. E3 is our first real introduction to this character and his subsequent partnership with Qrow. My interpretation of these scenes is tinted heavily by my shipping brain which has shipped nothing in it’s life ever and decided now was time to read into this ill-fated, doomed relationship so in trying to look at them objectively, it seems that the start of Clover’s interactions with Qrow are about the latter’s relevancy. Which maybe we, as an audience, have also been questioning. If V6 proved anything, it was that team RWBY and JNPR are coming into their own and Qrow, who has been a guiding force for them these past few seasons, might no longer be needed in that same capacity. So what’s next for the mentor whose mentees are all grown up? Well, quite a bit of growth.

Ah, the infamous truck scene. Love it or hate it, Qrow and Clover have some dialogue here that moves the former’s arc towards something. There are two specific Clover lines I’ll point out as being significant:

“It’s a good thing they had someone to look up to, get them through it. Not everyone is so lucky.”

“Those kids wouldn't be where they are without you. You’ve had more of an effect on them than you realize.”

The crux of Qrow’s struggle is that he’s bad luck and he’s often so down on himself because he feels his presence hurts those around him, namely those he loves. That’s why I find the phrasing of these sentiments so interesting. Clover isn’t reassuring Qrow that he’s not bad luck. He’s reassuring him that he is an asset to his team regardless. That his guidance was something he should be proud of. He’s building his confidence in connection to others, which is exactly the thing Qrow is most sensitive about. And, ironically, what I find most compelling about his and Raven’s vastly different semblances in that they directly oppose their character’s foundational beliefs and functions. Qrow has always shown he’s wanted to be close to others. His semblance, as we know it so far, largely prevents that. And if a semblance is part of a person’s soul, than what does that say about our dusty old crow? (More on that...whenever)

“No one wanted me. I was cursed.”

This line hurts me so much. Let’s back up for a bit. Just a bit. This is a helluva moment in V6E4 because not only does it show us Qrow’s breaking trust and faith, it’s also ultimately what sends Ozpin into dormancy. It’s Qrow saying meeting Oz was the worst luck of his life that initiates his retreat into Oscar. Like the final twist of a knife in the gut. Qrow being one of his remaining generals likely plays a role in that dynamic, and I think these two need to have a reckoning soon.

But as V6 continues, we see Qrow spiral more. He tries to act like the leader but it feels forced. His heart isn’t in this fight anymore because his trust in Ozpin has been shattered. His ability to believe that the war is worth the effort is nullified. He drinks. He doesn’t care what the kids do. He stops really listening to them. This escalates when he tells them all to drop the fight in V6E9. It continues into E10, where he has a moment of panic in that they’ll all be caught and that he shouldn’t have dragged any of them into this fight. He says the state of the world is the fault of the older generation, of Oz and him and every other person who’s been fighting this war. He blames himself for dragging them along. But Ruby says they aren’t his responsibility. They chose this. So did he.

“But we could sure use Qrow Branwen on our side.”

The entire exchange in this episode is wonderful. It shows Qrow’s concern. It shows the team’s doubt. And it shows Ruby’s conviction. I loved her in these scenes because she took command in a way no one else could. Not even her uncle, a man she’d admired her whole life. Who she based her weapon off of, her color scheme. Ruby’s aim here is to reassure her uncle that he means something to this fight. He always has. Because he’s always been an inspiration to her.

Qrow’s recovery isn’t because of Clover, it’s been in the works since V6. Qrow fights Cordovin alongside them. He goes to Atlas with them. He could have, at literally any point, birbed out of there and gone to a bar to drink his sorrows away until his liver died. But he doesn’t. He remains in the fight. Because if there’s one thing we’re learning about Qrow Branwen right now, it’s that he’s never given up. Especially not on family. And, most evidently, he’s never given up on these kids. He might doubt their abilities, dismiss their plans. He might worry over their safety. But, and this is important, he never leaves their sides.

“I feel like they did all the heavy lifting.”

“But you were there to help when they asked for it, and you were there to catch them when the fell. Literally, if I recall.”

Maria, oh Maria, points this out to Qrow when he begins to doubt himself again. There’s a reason she’s here as a voice of wisdom. There’s a reason she was his inspiration. It’s being repeated, again and again, that Qrow has been important to these growing huntsman and huntresses. That he’s done his mentoring and teaching. That he’ll always be that for them. It, in my opinion, is effectively book ended by Clover’s points about how he mattered to the team. Why bring that up if it doesn’t culminate into something? He’s shared a lot with these kids. And they need to do more than lip service that relationship. But the one thing this, almost worryingly, solidifies is that Qrow’s continued arc is connected intrinsically to legacies. His idolization of Maria, his fight with Oz, his blame for the state of the world, Clover’s reassurance that he impacted the team, and, very importantly:

“What good is saving the world without another generation waiting in the wings? Hopefully they’ll leave Remnant better than we left it for them.”

I’ll start with this quote next time too but, for now, the parting shot of Maria and Qrow above that closes out their conversation--this is what made me realize Qrow’s recovery isn’t largely due to Clover. It’s largely due to all of this. And the fact that Maria and Qrow, two mentor figures, are framed side-by-side like this is a testament to the kind of legacies this show is all about. Legacies that are for better or worse. (with worse I’m referencing whatever legacies Cinder is part of with those lines this season)

----

I honestly want to leave this here as like, a peaceful end to this analysis but I have a lot of other things drafted in this breakdown so I’ll continue with them even if they’re a bit disjointed from this one to be...hopefully cemented together cohesively :) Hope this all makes sense and, obviously, that you enjoyed reading it!

#rwby #whew all done that part #qrow branwen #rwby meta #rwby 7 #one day the hiatus will take me but it is not this day...this day i still write

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shuahoonie · 5 years ago

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ragnarok. [tom holland]

PAIRING: tom holland x female!reader

SUMMARY: you and tom used to be something, even if it was never acknowledged. however things change, and people change. so what happens when you bump into him after avoiding each other for years?

WARNINGS: swearing! lowkey sad lol! some cheesy scenes! sexual innuendos! the ever so classic ‘bffs pining for each other’ trope! lol

WORD COUNT: 4k ish lol

SONG INSPO: the night we met - lord huron // do i wanna know (cover) - hozier

A/N: ok so i have a lot to say so bear with me!!! one, i have put off writing for quite some time now, well publicly that is, so this may come out like shit. next, the title has no correlation to this fic, but do you guys remember that one line in thor: ragnarok when thor was about to meet the grandmaster? the one when the soothing voice says, “where once you were nothing, now you’re something.” yeah... that’s how i got the inspiration for the title and the prompt mainly. you’ll know what i mean lmao. also, i was heartbroken when i wrote this ok? and it’s been sitting on my drafts so i might as well just put it out there right? heh. enjoy i guess.

gif credits to @peteparkrrs

“Where once you were something, now you’re nothing.”

You groaned and whipped your head back in frustration as the blank page from your laptop practically screamed at you. You didn’t know why you were writing-rather trying to write, a piece that wasn’t for work, nor why you were in the coffee shop that you perfectly avoided for the past two years.

One thing’s for sure though, you felt like a whole other being just took over you and started to pick up things that you stopped doing a while ago.

“This is a hundred steps back from what I’ve been achieving,” You sighed to yourself. You stood up to order a cup of iced coffee this time. The green tea lemonade wasn’t really working out and you know your body craves the caffeine more than ever.

Not really paying attention to the barista, as you were too busy eyeing up the selection of pastries, you started giving them your order out of sheer reflex. “Hi, can I get a medium iced-”

“Oh, hey, Y/N! I haven’t seen you here in a while.” The barista greeted you. You looked at the person who cut you off and realized it was the owner of the cafe herself.

“Oh, uh, hi Alyssa!” You greeted her shyly. You weren’t expecting to see Alyssa, especially when you’re trying your best to not be reminded of the past, but it was also quite foolish of you to think of it that way since she owns the place.

“So, same as always?” Alyssa asked you, in which you just nodded shyly. “Okay, so that’s a medium iced latte with caramel shot and a spinach and feta hand pie, yeah?”

You let out a soft smile, admiring how Alyssa still remembered your usual order. “I can’t believe after all these years, you still remember my order.”

“Of course, you were a regular,” Alyssa answered while ringing your order at the till. “I haven’t seen you here in a while, though.”

You cleared your throat, though you were expecting that you’re going to get asked this question eventually. “I was traveling for the past year for my work and I also had to force myself to find a place downtown since it was much closer to work,” You explained as you reached for your wallet.

It was mostly true though, you moved to the centre of the city because the north side was too much for you. Too many familiar faces, too many memories.

“Well it’s nice that you still remember this place,” Alyssa smiled. The cafe was the gem of the Northside. It’s a local cafe located near the library, usually, you’ll find students who are in deep with studying, couples on a date, business workers who just stop by for a quick cup of coffee, or just old friends just meaning to catch up. “Oh and don’t worry, this one’s on me.”

“Aly, that’s not really necessary,” You said, waving your one hand in dismissal while the other was ready to hand Aly your payment.

“Y/N, it’s totally fine! Think of it as a token of appreciation, yeah?” Alyssa reassured and you just smiled sheepishly, totally flustered.

Alyssa handed your order and in which you graciously thanked her. Aly just laughed and said that it was the least she could do.

There was a small pause. Aly asked, clearly hesitating, “Hey, so, I’m not sure if this is too invasive and you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but I haven’t seen you and Tom in here for a while. Did something happen?”

You froze at Alyssa’s question. Of course, she remembers Tom as well, you and Tom were practically inseparable a few years ago and this used to be your hangout place whenever you both had free time- hell, you made a lot of memories here.

You and Tom were here when you both decided to bail on your prom dates.

“Are you still cold, darling?” Tom asked as you held his coat tighter to your body. You were still wearing your prom dress when you entered the cafe, you were supposed to head straight home but Tom lured you in with a cup of coffee.

“I’m fine, Tommy.” You answered and gave him a small smile. “Shouldn’t we feel at least a tiny bit guilty?” You asked Tom as he handed you your drink.

You muttered a small thanks as you held the cup to your lips, taking a sip of your coffee.

You were silently thanking every god out there for letting you both find this cafe that was still open, especially at this late hour.

“Yeah, but they both left even before we bailed on them,” Tom pointed out as he quickly scanned the area for an open table. “If anything, they bailed on us.”

He found an empty table near the fireplace, gladly following him. “Maybe they thought we were boring?” You suggested.

“Darling, please,” Tom sighed “Tom Holland is never boring.” He grinned.

“Yeah, because Tom Holland is a giant dick.” You shot back.

“Correction,” He held his forefinger up “Tom Holland has a giant dick.”

You rolled your eyes and said, “You are disgusting.” Tom just smirked at you in response.

You and Tom spent so much time studying here. It even got to the point that you had to spend your birthday, studying at a cafe.

“Happy birthday, darling” Tom hummed as he sat the plate down on top of your growing tower of psych books.

“Tom,” you groaned, all of a sudden feeling shy. “I told you that I didn’t want to celebrate my birthday especially since I have a huge midterm tomorrow.”

It’s not that you hated birthdays, you actually like birthdays. You like giving meaningful presents, writing cards and going the extra mile. You like every aspect of it. You just didn’t like celebrating yours. Birthdays eventually lost its meaning to you since it didn’t hold that much value as it did when you were younger.

For you, it was just another day.

“Oh c’mon, y/n,” He pouted “I kept my promise and even gave you a shitty birthday card like you insisted. The day’s almost coming to an end, we have got to at least acknowledge it somehow.” Tom placed a single candle on the slice of chocolate cake that was currently sitting on top of your notes.

After carefully lighting up the candle, Tom pushed the cake towards you and said: “Make a wish, darling.”

“This is stupid.”

“It’s your birthday and I don’t want to hear another word. Now close your eyes and make a wish.” He demanded.

You rolled your eyes playfully but proceeded to close your eyes anyway. You racked your brain for anything, actually considering of making a wish.

Once you opened your eyes and saw that gorgeous smile that was plastered all over Tom’s face, you suddenly felt selfish for wishing such a thing.

“So,” You raised an eyebrow at him. “What did you wish for?” He asked inquisitively.

“I’m not telling or else it wouldn’t come true.” You proclaimed with a teasing smile hanging off your lips. But really, all you wished was for this to last longer.

You loved that you had someone like Tom and you know it was entirely selfish to wish that you could keep him in your life. Yet you couldn’t help it.

You and Tom were also here when he needed someone to hold on to, as he found out that his grandma died.

You told Tom that you’re going to be there for him, no matter what happens.

But Tom needed to be with himself for a short while, and you granted him that. You gave him time and space in order for him to grieve.

So when he texted you saying “let’s meet at our usual place,” You were already grabbing your keys and your wallet, ready to walk out of the door.

The cafe was quieter than usual because of the nonstop-pouring rain. You quickly ordered a small latte before spotting Tom, slumped over one of the booths.

You quietly slid next to him, waiting for Tom to say something. But he didn’t. He just took a quick glance at you before tilting his head back, though this time, he sat properly.

Not long, he moved closer to you and left absolutely no space between the two of you. He returned to his slouching position and rested his head over your shoulder. He then reached for your hand, always finding comfort with how intensely warm your hands were against his.

With fingers interlocked with yours, he spoke quietly “When you leave, you’d say goodbye, right?”

For someone who found love and comfort with the constant flow of words, it was ironic when you found yourself lost for it.

“Yeah,” you managed to breathe out. “But I would never leave you, Tom. Not now, not tomorrow, not ever.”

“I hope you don’t” He replied. “because I wouldn’t know what to do if you did.”

There were two promises that were made that day: You’d never leave and You’d say goodbye when you leave. You knew you broke a promise, but your pride wouldn’t let you admit that to yourself.

Alyssa knew that you and Tom spent most of your time here since she was mostly working whenever you both drop by. You snapped herself back to reality but found yourself in oblivion as you tried to find words in reply.

Alyssa seemed to pick up the tension that you were in and she immediately took all of it back and said her sorries. “I’m sorry, Y/N. I was just curious about what happened between the two of you. I was so used to seeing you both together and-”

“It’s fine, Al. If I’m being honest, I don’t know what happened either.” You replied, a sad smile playing upon your lips. “I guess some people aren’t meant to stay in your life forever.”

“Oh, honey, I’m sorry.” Alyssa apologized profusely.

“It’s alright, Aly.” You reassured Alyssa before grabbing your pie and coffee “Thanks for the coffee.”

You went back to your table. You were in a small booth near the bookshelves and the fireplace. It was also pressed against the glass window from where you can see the people passing by. This used to be your table.

You took a sip from your coffee and placed your attention back to the blank page that was staring right back at you. You recognized this feeling way too much; the peculiar feeling within you and writing.

You hated it. You hated this. You thought it was foolish of you to assume that everything was okay, that you were okay.

So you shut your laptop off, and instead pulled out your journal and pen.

When you feel like your thoughts are getting the best of you, you focus on one thing and just write about it.

You thought about your drive here: How many red lights did you encounter, how long it took you to drive here, how you saw that one dog owner who nearly lost their dog as the leash slipped off their hands.

Scribbling made you feel that you were finally at one with your thoughts and drowned everything around you. You drowned the sounds of the coffee machine, the faint music playing from the speakers of the cafe, and the soft chattering of the people in the background.

Tom entered the cafe for the first time in two years, along with his best mate, Harrison. Tom didn’t know why, but he avoided this cafe at all costs. So it came as a wonder when Alyssa saw Tom prancing across the counter.

“Oh, hi Tom! Fancy seeing you here.” Alyssa greeted.

Tom was caught off guard when he realized that it was Alyssa who was at the till. “Uh, hi Aly! How are 'ya?”

“I’m well, you?”

“I’m fine,” Tom answered politely. Harrison just gave Alyssa a polite smile.

Tom hardly dragged Harrison to a cafe, this one especially. They have been friends for as long as they can remember but it was just never their thing. Sure they usually grab coffee together but never here since they all knew this was both of Y/N and Tom’s thing.

You, Tom, and Harrison were all friends. You all grew up together, went to the same school together, and hung out all the time. You and Tom just happened to spend a lot more time together so you two were a lot closer.

It wasn’t a big deal for Harrison though, he liked you two together. He never felt out place whenever you three are all hanging out because you’re all equally whack whenever you’re all together.

However, he definitely took pleasure in pestering the two of you with the question: “Have you two finally moved to the “boning each other” stage yet?”

It earned a handful of smacks from the two of you. Haz found no pleasure in that area just so everyone was clear.

Harrison definitely wondered what happened between the two of you. He expected that you two should’ve been dating now but something happened and all of a sudden, everything changed.

He tried asking Tom about it but he would always just dodge the question and then would move on to something else.

He also tried to ask you about it but you always gave the same answer, “Maybe life intended it to be this way.”

Haz tried stopped asking after that.

“Fancy anything, mate?” Tom asked Harrison.

“I’ll just have a large vanilla iced coffee, thanks,” Harrison answered.

Alyssa nodded as she attentively entered his order at the till. She then turned her attention to Tom and asked for his order.

Tom scanned his eyes over the menu. Nothing really changed much, except for the seasonal drinks that usually come and go throughout the year.

“Iced coffee with extra cream and no sweetener?” Aly asked Tom.

Tom became flustered, not knowing that Alyssa still remembers his order.

“Uh, yeah. Thanks.” Tom said, watching Aly in astonishment. “I’m surprised you still remember.”

“Yeah, well, you and y/n were regulars.” She replied absentmindedly. Alyssa then realized what just came out from her mouth and quickly apologized.

Tom brushed it off quickly, saying it wasn’t really a big deal. Tom instructed Haz to look for an empty table as he paid for their coffee. While waiting for their order to get made, Tom suddenly heard the familiar line from their favourite song. Well, what used to be their favourite song.

“I had all and then most of you, some and now none of you.”

You had this odd feeling wrapped around you. You felt uneasy and wanted to leave the cafe immediately. So you gathered your things and slung your backpack on your right shoulder while you held your coffee on with your left hand.

While you were making your way towards the door, you heard the line from the song that brought too many memories and stopped dead from your tracks.

This song brought that very specific memory that still crushed your heart into tiny little pieces.

“Hey, I’m sorry I couldn’t take you to the dance.” Tom apologized as he handed you the dripping plate. You wiped and neatly put them back in the cupboard.

“It’s not a big deal, Tom.” You replied as you continued mindlessly wiping the dishware.

You were in your third year in university and the student org was throwing a huge winter ball. Considering you were part of the org, your attendance was mandatory.

It wasn’t until the morning of the dance that Tom had to cancel on you. He had to take a late shift at the bookstore since his coworker called in sick. Tom hasn’t stopped apologizing since.

“It is a big deal!” He exclaimed, “You already bought a dress and everything! I know because Harrison was complaining about how you’ve managed to drag him across the mall, by the way.”

“That little snitch,” You grumbled, “remind me to smack him next time, yeah?”

Tom chuckled as he turned off the faucet and watched you finish clearing the stack of plates.

“You shouldn’t have to skip the dance for me you know?” He said softly.

“I know, but I wasn’t going to the dance both dateless and miserable.” You replied. “You know I only come to these things because you were always there to make it insufferable.”

You didn’t really mind as you were not entirely thrilled to go to the dance anyway. You can always just return the dress and get your money back. You also wouldn’t have to spend at least 3 hours of getting ready. The whole process of getting ready was exhausting enough for you, but as if every god heard your prayers, you had a reason to ditch the dance.

If anything, this situation was a total win for you.

Of course, you had to make up an excuse for ditching. Saying that you “had to take care of your little sibling at the last minute and none of the sitters could pull through.”

“Oh, what would you do without me?” Tom sighed dramatically as he pulled you close to him and wrapped his arms around your waist.

You rolled your eyes playfully before you looked up at him, “Don’t flatter yourself too much, Holland. Your head can’t possibly fit that big ego inside ‘ya.” You said as you softly patted his cheek and broke out of his touch.

“Take me back to the night we met.”

Tom shook the whole feeling off when he heard Ally yell their orders. Not forgetting to thank her, he grabbed the coffee as soon as possible and whisked his way to find Harrison.

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do, haunted by the ghost of you.”

“C’mon, darling.” Tom reached for your hand as he stood up and gave you that heart-melting smile he always carried with him.

“Tom, what are you doing?” You asked with a bemused smile but went along with it anyway.

You and Tom just finished watching the first Harry Potter film. Since you weren’t going to the dance anyway, you two opted for a movie marathon instead while your little sibling was sleeping soundly upstairs.

The excuse wasn’t a total lie.

“Don’t say I never do things for you.” He joked as he grabbed the throw blanket and tied it around your waist.

“And what exactly are you trying to do?” You teased.

“Shut up.” He mumbled and connected his phone through the speakers, careful with maxing up the volume.

As the soft melody slowly filled the room, he held his hand out in front of you and said, “Y/N, may I have this dance?”

You playfully rolled your eyes but you couldn’t stop smiling at the whole gesture. You took his hand briefly and soon enough, you had your arms wrapped around his torso while his arms were wrapped around your waist.

With your face slightly buried against his chest, as you two slowly moved through the song, you softly mumbled: “I like this song.”

Tom chuckled softly. “Yeah, I like it too. Wanna know where I found it?”

“Where?”

“On Harrison’s Spotify playlist. The name of the playlist was ‘when the time finally comes.’“ Tom answered.

“Oh, that’s cute.” You commented.

“That’s not even the ringer. Wanna know what the description of it said?”

“Shoot.”

“The description said, ‘for my two best mates who are blind enough to see how much they’re attracted to each other. you know who you are.’“

You wriggled yourself back to reality and quietly whispered to yourself that you are not going to do it now, and not in this place.

With your head down, you brisked up your way towards the door and accidentally bumped shoulders with someone.

As you looked up to apologize to the person you accidentally bumped into, you just wished you didn’t.

Because then, you were staring into a familiar pair of eyes and it took the colour out of the both of you.

“Take me back to the night we met.”

“Y/N,” Tom breathed out, completely astounded at the sight of his best friend- ex-best friend, standing in front of him.

You were equally shaken on the inside and felt like you stared at him for the longest of time. He looked older. He was definitely not the same boyish-Tom that you last saw. He had his hair swept back, making it impossible not to stare at his annoyingly perfect face. You also noticed that he was wearing glasses and you couldn’t help but wonder if he actually has prescriptions now or is he still wearing them for his fashion statement.

At that moment, you felt your heart clench a little. You miss the feeling you get whenever you’re around him. You miss Tom.

But things change, and people change.

When you found out that your work entails you to live at an entirely different continent for a year, you felt like you were thrown with a bucket of cold water.

You didn’t have the heart to tell Tom, but you had to. You owe him that.

“Hey darling,” He greeted through the phone. You can sense the smile on his face and that is enough to form tears in your eyes.

“Hey Tommy,” Your voice was strained, as you were fighting back your tears. “Listen, remember when I told you about the writing gig I had been obsessing on for months now?”

“Yeah, what about it?” He asked, “Are you okay, y/n? You sound like you’re-”

“-crying, I know. It’s just I’m so excited you know? Can you believe they’re flying me to New York?!” At this point, you didn’t hold back. Tears were streaming down your face and you were praying to make the pain go away.

Tom was silent for a while before he finally mutters, “New York?”

“Mhm.” You hummed in agreement, holding back your sobs. “Apparently, they want me to settle in as soon as possible so my flight is booked for tomorrow.”

“Is this your way of saying goodbye?”

“No.” You answered almost instantly. “I have the whole afternoon to kill so maybe we can grab breakfast together? Spend a couple of hours together before Harrison joins us for lunch.”

“Yeah, sounds good,” Tom said quietly.

“Okay. Bye, Tommy.”

“Bye.”

Tom didn’t show up for breakfast. You tried texting and calling him but, he didn’t answer. You figured maybe he slept in and would be joining you and Harrison for lunch instead, but you were wrong. He didn’t show up at all.

You were trying to keep a tight smile, at least for Harrison, but he knew. Harrison knew what you were feeling and instead just offered a shoulder for you to lean on as you waited for your flight to board.

You didn’t want to leave but you weren’t also going to put your future in jeopardy. It was an opportunity you couldn’t just simply pass up, especially not for someone who didn’t understand what it meant to you.

“Tom.” You barely said his name, as if it was going to burn your lips with acid as soon as it left from your mouth.

No one said another word after that.

Though you can hear the small chatter from the people inside the coffee shop, there was a deafening silence between the both of you.

The uncertain feeling crawled up on your skin and no matter how you shrugged it off, it wouldn’t leave you alone. Boy, it drove you mad. Mad at how he can just stand in front of you, with a sad look in his eyes, as if all of it was your fault. Mad at how quickly you can melt and probably forgive Tom on the spot if he asked so easily.

Tom didn’t have any right to feel sorry, yet you felt like he did.

#tom holland imagine #tom holland #tom holland x reader #tom holland fanfiction #tom holland fluff #tom holland fic #tom holland blurb #tom holland and reader #tom holland angst #tom holland imagines #tom holland x y/n #tom holland au #tom holland and you #tom holland x you #the girl writes i guess #txmhoellandwrites

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yellowhippo · 4 years ago

Text

𝚃𝚁𝙰𝙲𝙺𝚂 2 : 𝙳𝚊𝚢𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐

I move amongst the crowd, lost but entranced by the buzzing people and the honking of cars.

It's been a week since I last saw Jade walk away towards her school and here I am, still in the same busy city hoping for one last look from her before leaving. Every morning and late afternoons, I'd take a sit outside of a small library by the station. Maybe, just maybe, I'd get to see her get down or see her off before she leaves for home. No luck though. It's my bas anyway for not asking her time off from classes. Guess luck's just not on my side. One train ride was all I had.

One train ride was enough to wake my passion up and gear myself up for a fight.

"Here's the book you wanted to have extended." The granny who runs the library puts the book on the table with a homey smile.

I smile back and bow as I stood, ready to take my leave with the book securely hugged between my arms and chest. It was one of the many books you recommended me while we were on the train.

"Perhaps you would like that book to yourself, young man?" I look down to the granny as she pats my shoulder. "You don't have to return that here. But feel free to read here on your spot if you'd like. I barely have any customers except for that one young lady who frequents this shop. I haven't seen her for a week though. She loved that book as well. Kept borrowing it even though she's finished reading it. Gave her a copy as well as an early graduation present."

"Lady?" I ask as I remember Jade saying how she loved visiting a certain library with homey vibes and the kindest librarian too.

"Yes. She's actually from the school over there-" She looks over at Jade's school, sparking a fire in my heart. "-a double major, I believe. But you must forgive this granny. My mind is a fog and I don't remember much details. But I do know she's got green eyes that sets her apart from anyone else. Must not be from around here."

"Thank you, ma'am! I really am." Without control over my own body for some reason, I hugged the elderly as I stepped down the patio of the library.

"I'll visit again! Thank you!" I raised the book and waved it in the air as I ran backwards and waving at the elderly lady with a smile.

But I have been stuck in my dorm this whole week. With finals coming up and papers due in no time, I could not even leave for some fresh air. Let alone find a street for my dream home.

A heavy sigh leaves my lips as I stare back down at my laptop, only a page full, 19 more to go. Wanting to distract myself for a few minutes, I look around my room and spot a book by the window. I stood up and reached for it. A sad smile forms on my face as I caress the cover of the old copy of "The Little Prince" from the local library shop just down the street of this school. I miss the granny that owns the little library. The library rarely gets many customers, what with the books in her shop mostly classics and are outdated. Only a student or some tourist trying to find some gems come and go.

'I wonder how she's doing' I look out the window having the perfect view of the little library from down the road. Maybe I should visit? Work on my paper there. I'm pretty sure granny could use some company like I do. And I missed her muffins that she personally bakes in her room upstairs the shop.

Grabbing my bag, I pack my laptop and the stack of papers full of my drafts and notes. I also bring my copy of "The Little Prince" as I run out of my dorm and down the busy streets, the little homey library just a few puffs of breath away. My legs ache from unuse, but the awaiting warmth from granny and her place is worth the ache.

"Granny!" I greet as I see you sitting on the chair at your patio.

"Ah my little miss. I was just thinking about you." A crinkled smile meets me as I run to hug her.

"Me?"

"Yes you dear one. A young man has been frequenting my shop for a week and sits here with a certain book in hand as well." She stares at my arms hugging my copy of "The Little Prince" that she personally gave me after having borrowed it a number of times.

"Young man? Is he a student at my school too?"

"I don't think he is. Seems like he's not from around here either. Like you."

A name comes to mind. 'Ace?'

"Gonna get some work done?" Granny points to my bag and I nod with sigh.

"Let me get those muffins in the oven then." A pat on my head and she's off to her little home above the library.

As I was left to sit on the patio, I look around hoping to see that brunette mop of hair under a beret of tall and lean guy. My eyes drift towards the road leading to the train station but I see no trace of who I was looking for.

It's all that ever pushes me up my bed.

But it's also all that keeps me pushing my family away.

I want this dream to include my family. They may not see the future that I want to work on as they already have everything planned and laid out for me after I comeback from this 'vacation'. They think that this could help freshen me up and see that they are right. I do love my family as they love me, but we're not always seeing the same picture and it drives me insane knowing that we never will be on the same page.

"How's the vacation going, kiddo?"

"When are you coming back? I need to set the date for the company's turn over soon and you obviously need to be there, son."

"Hyung! Don't forget to bring a present home for me!"

Voice message after voice message greeted me back in my hotel room after I came from the library. I look at the book on my bed and open to the last page where the previous borrowers' names were, and the two most current ones were from a month ago.

'Jade Myers' A chuckle makes its way out as I read the name and remembered how Jade talked about this book. It's not a big favorite of hers, but she keeps finding herself grabbing it and reading again until the end.

[flashback]

"I keep wondering if the prince got back home and what he's doing." The old lady who sat beside you has left and as I sat back down beside you, you open a book to the final page.

"What's that about?" I jut my chin towards the book. "-a children's book?"

"You don't know 'The Little Prince'?" You stare up at me in surprise, closing the book and faced the cover up as she points at the blonde boy on the cover.

"Never heard of him. Must be an obnoxious one?" I shrug as you gasp into your palm before hitting me lightly on the shoulder.

"What? No. See, it's about how the prince traveled." You whip your hands excitedly as you tell me the story, your eyes shining with every new adventure the boy has and with every new creature he meets.

[end flashback]

Like the Little Prince, you dreamed of the unknown.

Like the Little Prince, you've gone on your adventure.

After about an hour of working on my papers, granny came back out with a basket of her muffins. She sat in front of me with a smile and a caress to my cheek, her gentle eyes meeting mine.

"Did the man say anything?” I dropped my pen and closed my laptop, grabbing one of the steaming muffins and burning my fingers in the process.

“Just that he would be visiting again.” A knowing smile mixed with a curious look, granny offers me a napkin.

“Visit again? Soon?”

“Is this young man your lover, little miss? Your curiosity is leading me to think that you young ones are-“

I cut granny off with a wave of my hands and a shake of my head, a raisin choking me in the process as I hurriedly chewed wanting to deny the impression granny has.

“We’re not, granny. I just happened to meet him and he piqued my interest, that’s all.”

“Well, you might meet him again if you decide to comeback as well. I have a feeling he’s going to be another frequent customer while he’s here in town.”

I stared out on the streets, people to engrossed in their own lives that they don’t even have time for such trivial things like a visit at their local library shop and grab some rare finds. I can’t blame them. They have their own world to rotate about, pretty much like the Little Prince does. But at least he was able to travel and see other places that he thought never existed. At least before going home, he had no regrets.

It’s lightly raining outside. I was planning on coming back to the library and read the book there. Maybe even enjoy the company of the elderly librarian. She had this warm aura surrounding her that makes you want her company to be a constant. Even the library oozes the same aura as her. Homey. Warm. Home.

I grab the book by the window as I sit and read a few pages while waiting for my breakfast. Umbrellas scurrying as they open and close - the only view I have from my window and only the pitter patter of the rain on the window sill for my background noise. I smile sadly down as I see a picture of a lone rose. It had no one. Or maybe it did? I don’t really know. Every time I open a page to read, my mind travels towards that one Sunday train ride with Jade and I remember her stories. But her eyes screaming defeat. As if she has accepted a fate not her own. A fate that leaves her all alone in the end. Pretty much like this lone flower now.

But she has dreams. And I want to meet her again and tell her to go for it. Only she can create her fate. Only she can define the future she wants. She can still make a path for herself. She has so much more she can fight for. She doesn’t have to fight alone. She doesn’t have to end up like this rose. Is it perhaps the reason she keeps reading this book? She feels alone like this rose? I was right then. The prince was obnoxious enough to leave the rose all on its own. Well I’m not him. I’ve been fighting, and just when I was about to take my last fight before curling in on what people expect of me, Jade made me want to keep fighting. I want to return the favor in any way. Be her pillar. Be a different prince who’s brave enough to stand by her until she wins her fight.

Another lazy morning for me as my classes doesn’t start until the afternoon. It’s raining out just when I was about to leave campus and have breakfast at the library with granny. Hoping to maybe meet a certain gentleman who might become a frequent customer while he’s in the city. I wonder though. Ace, as far as I remember hearing his stories, he’s not one to stay in a place for too long. It’s been almost a month now since that day we met on the train. How long does he stay in one place? A week? A month? Somewhere in between? I hope I at least get to meet him before he leaves this town. A thanks, no matter how petty it might be, is still something I wish to give him. He made me realize that I should keep running for my dreams. There will be sacrifices and regrets along the way, but in the long run? It’s all for my happiness and contentment.

I just want to get out of this box already. I want to set myself free. I want to experience and realize on my own just like the Little Prince. I want to see what life can feed my dreams. I want to really live.

The rain is not stopping; instead it got stronger after a few minutes. Why rain today? Is he there? Probably keeping dry inside. Maybe he’s getting a taste of granny’s muffins as well and some tea. Should I run over there? It’s just down the street. I can always dry myself at granny’s. I can bring some dry clothes with me to change with before I leave for class. Granny’s going to be alone too. More people would be staying inside their own homes, hunched over a book, rather than a library no matter how cozy the library may be.

I decided to go for a visit. Ace or no Ace, I have granny and hopefully some of her hot chocolate and cookies. I dress lightly and put on my hoodie, my schoolbag on my shoulder and a change of dry clothes in a paper bag. I ran from building to building only stopping for a few seconds to shake myself dry. I laugh to myself as I should’ve brought my umbrella and spared myself from running like a wet chic under the rain. Well, this is what laziness does. Or just simply dumbness? I guess both? I mean, who wouldn’t bring an umbrella in this down pour? Obviously an airhead like me. Not wanting to climb the stairs back up my dorm, I continue running from building to building, shed to shed, keeping myself as dry as this downpour could offer. I’m reaching the library, just a few more roofs away.

“A-ace?” My words stumble out as I ran towards another roof, seeing granny’s patio just a few more strides away. Not noticing that I have walked out from under the roof to get a clearer view of Ace, he pulls me over the patio of the library, his hands on my head trying to keep me dry, though we both know it’s going to be a failed attempt. He opens the door and pushes me in as he soon follows.

“Hey!” I giggle as I cover my face from how he’s shaking his head dry splattering me with water as well.

“Hey to you too, Jade. So much for keeping yourself dry, huh?” He pulls my hood down as he points at my wet hair.

“Where’s your umbrella?” We gasped as we asked at the same time. We shared a chuckle and some shy stares that led us looking down the floor instead.

A shuffle from upstairs made us look up and saw granny with towels and some old clothes in her hands.

“Look at you two! Come quickly and dry yourselves upstairs. These kids-“ Granny pushes us upstairs as she drops a towel and clothes in each of mine and Ace’s hand.

“Oh come sit while you wait for her.”

“Thank you ma’am.”

“Please. Call me granny. The neighborhood kids all do. Would you like some coffee? Tea?”

“Some tea would be perfect. Thank you granny.” I sit as she waddles her way to her kitchen. The rain has dwindled down to softer pitter patter with occasional thunder from afar. As I look out the window, I chuckle to myself. Fate did its wonders.

“Where did granny go?” Jade appears from the stairs, the towel resting on her head as she dries her hair.

We both turn our heads as the smell of something sweet wafts from the kitchen.

“That enough answer your question?” I smile towards Jade with knuckles on my chin as she sat at the other side of the table.

“Oh?” She points at the book under my towel on the table with glittering eyes. “Did you borrow it from here?”

“No. I gave him his own copy.” Granny’s soft voice made our heads turn towards the kitchen. I stood in haste as I helped her with the tray, 2 cups of steaming drinks and a bowl of cookies with muffins on a plate.

“Gave? You have a new favorite customer now?” Jade pouts up at her as she places the hot chocolate in front of her the tea beside my book.

“Little miss, I don’t have favorites. But I do have those regulars. Now away with that sadness and make yourself warm and full.”

The two of them was a sight. The way granny pats her head and the way she automatically knows that Jade prefers hot chocolate over any warm drink. Jade in return seems relaxed. She looks free. I stare at the lovely scene unfold before me with a content smile as I sip my tea.

A comfortable silence envelops the room. Jade has her nose buried in her books. Granny was on the kitchen preparing lunch. As for me? I’ve been nibbling on a muffin as I read ‘The Little Prince’. Now I see what Jade sees. Turns out this kid, the little prince, was an adventurer of some sort. Probably Jade sees herself in him? In the rose left alone?

I look towards the seat in front of me and see my own rose I’d wish to keep by my side. But like the little prince, I have to leave. I’ve realized what it means to go back. It’s not entirely giving up but more of acceptance and finally growing up. My smile is serene when my eyes meet Jade’s as she lifts her head up from her book.

“What are you looking at, huh, little prince?” She snapped her fingers just inches from my eyes, a total contrast of her own that hides the adventurer within herself. A soul waiting for the door to open and to be let out and fly away. I can see that she’s held down by something which leaves her trapped in her spot.

“Just thinking how childish you are for liking children’s books at your age.” A chuckle and my tongue out, I shake my book in front of her and use it to block out her attack - throwing a broken piece of cookie at me.

“See? Mature.” I was able to catch the cookie and pop it in my mouth as I opened the book and hid my face from her, not before lolling my tongue out again to spite her further.

“Yeah and lolling your tongue out is mature?” A comfortable silence with the pitter patter of the rain and granny’s distant humming as the background noise.

‘Where will you go, little prince?’ I think to myself as Ace and I settle back down with the comfortable silence. His eyes differently shine from before. It’s not dimmer, just a different kind of shine. A shine that lost something but gained something new.

“Where to next?” I say out loud.

“Home.” He smiled as he closed The Little Prince and put his chin on his palm as he finished his cup of coffee.

“Home?” My face tilted in question as I closed my own book.

“Yes. Home.” He chuckled as he grabbed a piece of cookie.

My thoughts went haywire for a moment.

“You can’t give up!” Unknowingly, I stood up, both my palms slamming on the table.

“I mean – sorry.” I sat back down slowly as I fanned my face with my hands and hid my heating up face back on my book.

“Thank you.” Ace said gently as a hand pulls my book down, exposing myself to the unknown which is Ace.

“This isn’t me giving up. This is me fighting in a way that I don’t need to keep running. I’m fighting and ready to accept whatever may come.” He leans towards me, both his arms on the table as I stare back, mouth agape and face feeling hotter than before. “So. Thank you.”

“Thank you? For what?” I ask still breathless from my sudden burst out moments ago. I get a shrug as he leans away and continues reading ‘The Little Prince’, avoiding my question, with that serene smile of his I remember from when we parted just outside my school. I relax my tense shoulders as I smile down at my book. ‘This isn’t me giving up.’ His words play over and over my head like a mantra pushing me forward.

Jade and I left the library sometime after lunch, promising granny another visit on the weekend. I promised granny to be an early bird for her and help setting up the library for the day and in return, she promised to cook something I like. I earned a glare from Jade as she heard the exchange of promises with granny pinching her cheeks assuring her that she was still the favorite along with me. She stomped her way back to her school as granny and I watched laughing from the door of the library.

“And as for this little prince of ours.” Granny turned towards me with her warmest smile. She handed me an umbrella while I shook my head, refusing gently, as the rain was only a drizzle as compared to this morning. She huffed and grabbed my hand shoving the umbrella towards me, a finality in her look.

“Thank you, granny.” I awkwardly hugged and looked at her, my eyes meeting teary ones. She hurriedly wiped her eyes with her shawl while chuckling.

“It’s nothing. I guess this old lady will just miss you when you leave.”

A lump was stuck in my throat. In just a matter of weeks in this town, I felt like I finally found a niche, a home.

“Oh granny.” I wiped her cheek as a stray tear rolled down. “I’ll come visit once everything is settled back at home.” I cringed at the last word. Home? This was home already. A home which made me understand and see myself. “Besides we still have this weekend. I’ll be here even before your feet touches the floor when you wake up.” She hits my arm gently and shoos me off.

“Get back to your hotel now before the rain picks up again.” She wipes at her eyes and I hug her once again as I waved my hands and thanked her for letting me borrow the umbrella.

“You stay dry now, little prince.” She waved her hands, staying on her spot as she watched me with her warm smile, her eyes never leaving me while I turned the street.

As I bought a sandwich for dinner back in the hotel, I remembered what Jade had asked me as we were eating lunch with granny.

“Would you be okay going back home?” she asked as she chewed on her first bite. Granny then held my hand, her face contorts with worry. I place my other hand on top of hers and pats gently as I nod towards Jade.

“Yes, more than fine.” I think I finally found my purpose, thanks to my last stop.

“We’ll be here for you, alright?” Granny squeezes my hand in hers and I smile back at her. Not only did I find my purpose but I found a home that filled the void in my heart.

I’m complete. I’m alive.

“I’ve packed my bags.” Ace said as the three of them sat at the library’s patio, each nibbling on a muffin and their hot drinks keeping them warm.

“You’re going back home.” It wasn’t a question though Jade wanted it to be so badly and get a ‘no’ from Ace. His presence helped her after all to take brave steps ahead for her dreams.

“My family needs me and I think my I’ve traveled enough. I’ve found what I lost.” Ace sips his tea as he turns his head towards granny. “Granny, you have to tell me your secret recipe. No one would be baking these for me back home.”

Granny chuckles and nods towards Ace as she held his hand in hers firmly. The rest of the morning was spent with Jade showing Ace her favorite books and she would earn a chuckle from Ace.

“Just how many times have you actually borrowed these?” Ace finds himself endeared at the thought of Jade’s name almost occupying all the dates from the library card with her name from top to bottom of the list.

“I love reading.” She huffs as she grabs the current book, The Wizard of Oz, in Ace’s hand.

“You love reading children’s books?”

“I love reading because I feel like I’ve travelled and met all the people in these books.”

Ace smiles as Jade looks down at the books’ cover.

“You’ll travel too.”

Jade looks up at him and smiles.

“I think I’ve met one of them.”

“Met who?”

“The cowardly lion. Well a cowardly prince who’s now found his courage.”

When Ace gave Jade a questioning look, she pulled him towards one of the bean bags and sat facing each other. She proceeded to tell him the story of how Dorothy landed in Oz and met all these characters who think they lack certain things and finds themselves accompanying Dorothy to meet the wizard and hear how they don’t really lack on things. Their journey itself served its purpose with the help of Dorothy was they able to realize that they’ve always been complete.

Ace was smiling all throughout the storytelling as he reminisce the train ride they met and how passionate Jade was explaining how The Little Prince was no usual children’s book. Now he is seeing the Jade on the train, her hands busy flailing between them as she now explains how Dorothy and her new friends helped each other all throughout the quest to find the wizard.

The fire in her eyes never left. It was already there even before they met. All it needed was a rekindling to keep it aflame and alive.

Jade takes a deep breath after telling the story and snapped her fingers in front of Ace.

“Earth to Ace. Did you even listen?”

“Of course. It was the most wonderful journey I’ve heard.” Ace smiles serenely at her. “I beg to differ though. I am no lion. Cowardly, yes. But you on the other hand.” He points at a flower by the window as it absorbs the early sunrays. “You’re a hybrid of the flower from The Little Prince and Dorothy.”

She looks at him and tilting her head as she tries to understand what he just told her. He stands up and ruffles her hair fondly and walks towards a book shelf as he found the book Jade was talking about and started to read as he sat back down. The silence stretched until late afternoon with only a few people coming in to borrow or inquire about a book. Granny left them in their own bubble as she buzzed around quietly, smiling endearingly at the two.

* * *

It was early evening when the two joined granny in the lobby and helps her close the library for the night.

“Thank you for the help, you two.” She looks at Jade and Ace as she caressed both of their cheeks.

“You know I love helping you out.” Jade said as she held granny’s hand.

“Thank you.” Ace whispered as he leaned closer to granny’s warm touch, his eyes flicking from granny to Jade. “I need to get going if I want to hop on the last train tonight.” Leaning away, he sighs.

“Come visit again when you can.” Granny smiled up at him meeting his sad eyes. Jade sniffs quietly beside him.

“I meet you crying and I’ll leave with you still crying?” Ace chuckles as he awkwardly reaches his hand out to wipe Jade’s tears. She shakes her head as she brings out a handkerchief in her pocket and wipes her own tears. Ace instead ruffles her hair with a smile.

“When I come back, I want my subject to ne happy.”

“I am happy?” Jade says. “I’m glad you’ve found what you were looking for.”

“Yeah my last stop brought me to her.”

Jade hid a blush as she looks out the window, stars already lighting up the sky.

Ace grabs for his coat as Jade and granny walked him out.

“Accompany him to the station.” Granny whispered as Jade stood with her watching Ace walk further.

“Hey, Ace!” She ran towards him and stood beside him. “Granny told me to accompany you to the station. It’s getting late. She doesn’t want you to get lost on your way.

“Of course she did.” He laughed as he looked back at granny and with a final wave, he turned and walked back to his hotel with Jade beside him. They ate a light dinner and checked out, his bag in hand.

With the moon lighting the road ahead, they walked to the station.

* * *

“Our last stop.” Jade said after Ace bought his ticket. He nods with a heavy sigh as he tries to meet her avoiding eyes.

“Just a pit stop. Our race will continue. Remember our bet?” He catches her eyes as she laughs at that.

“I remember.” She says quietly as her eyes move up to finally meet his.

It’s as if time stopped as they stood facing each other. They were once again inside their own bubble, like how they always end up when together. The announcement for Ace’s train leaving soon pops their bubble and Jade’s heart stopped for a second.

“Goodnight, Jade.” His voice was soft but he knew she heard him clearly. She squeezed on his handkerchief in her hand as he started to walk backwards towards the train doors, their eyes never leaving each other.

Tears threaten to fall on her eyes but she held back as she walked forward the train doors. The gap between the train and the platform separating them. A whistle startled them both with a guard telling Jade to move a little away as the doors would close soon. The two laughed as she took a step back.

“Goodnight, Ace. Goodnight.” The doors close slowly as the train engines roar to life. The train chugs away under the moonlight.

#bts v #bts tae #bts taehyung #kpop fanfic #story #slice of life #song fic

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loquaciousquark · 5 years ago

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Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E83 (Nov. 5, 2019)

A day late and many dollars short, but we’re here! Tonight’s preroll: minifigs & what I assume are tonight’s guests of Liam & Matt:

which is followed by lazy susan rotating the D&D minis from eldritch-foundry.com for the rest of the cast. Cute! Anyway, Dani is back and ready to rumble! Brian is briefly lambasted for only getting through mumblemumble questions last week, but it’s all smoothed over soon enough and we move right along.

Tonight’s announcements: Undeadwood finale is delayed one week due to some post-production tech issues. Should premiere Friday, Nov. 15. Brian marvels over Matt’s speech about God being just as feral as what he creates. Matt is also surprised. Marisha is apparently the living dice Snitch of both campaign 2 and Undeadwood - everyone wonders if it’s the seat, the chair, the floor, or some innate karmic sense Marisha herself creates. CR is also partnering with Operation Supply Drop for the month of November to support veterans. Matt announces (re-announces?) that they are partnering with Amazon to create a full second animated season, as well as two more episodes to the original season one. All backers will be able to still watch the full season one for free. Everyone is so excited & I’m excited for them. Good job, tiny D&D friend group. More details on the CR Kickstarter Updates page.

And now! Episode 83: Dark Bargains

CR Stats: Liam poured wine for 49 seconds. Brief sidebar as Liam expresses genuine nervousness being on the couch beside Matt; he normally talks behind his back on TM, since he’s not sure if Matt ever watches it, but now he has to watch what he says. Caleb’s smell has been mentioned 60 times. Matt acknowledges that he is clean and washed. [doubt] Nott’s death was the 60th knockout and 8th player death of C2. Half of those deaths were Frumpkin. Liam calls Frumpkin a magic fart with a weak wifi signal.

Our first question (23 minutes in, NOT THAT ANYONE’S COUNTING), reveals that Matt did design the HFB with some “big red buttons” for the characters to press, or want to press. He expected more group approval before some of them were pressed, though (the dreadnought). Liam wanted to clear all the corners of the Baldur’s Gate map.

Caleb fears Halas because he’s one of the most powerful mages ever, he fears the lab setup/experimentation angle, he still fears the siren song, and is scared of the grains of similarity he sees between the two of them.

Liam knows they’ve continually seen fun stuff come from shitty situations, but Caleb sees the story of the HFB as “you’re not welcome here; this is going to suck for YOU! You thought you were going to have fun here? Fuck you!”

Matt loves those climactic moments though, because he loves it when the dice tell the story. Liam loves that there was a day where Matt rolled terribly in Undeadwood and played it as being embarrassed to be around all these amazing people.

Matt enjoyed getting to dig into the backstory of his world. He’s had references to pre-divergence stuff before, and it was a big joy to give more context to some of the things the M9 have been encountering.

Liam: “[Caleb] is gambling big when he thinks there’s something of worth to gain.“ He’d heard of a long-vanished mage who was messing with time stuff, and thought there might be a chance this was him. Then, once they found the gem, he started feeling this might be the real chance he needed to start messing with the crazy stuff he wants to do with time.

The bound devil was a general temptation, but in hindsight he can see why Jester was drawn to him. Matt often builds scenarios and has no idea how they will react to them (and acknowledges that the M9 did not fully read the poem that would have given them more info here), and sometimes he’s right and sometimes he’s very wrong.

Caleb is very distrustful of other arcanists and always assesses their level of threat to the group. Liam does think Caleb has come a long way since the start of the campaign. “A lot is changing for him. He’s very reactive in a lot of ways. Whatever is laid out for him in the moment that he can take advantage of, or that he cares about...I don’t know. The Betrayer Gods coming back is so much more important, and I don’t know if it’s going to make him let go of that stuff. He has to re-evaluate. He has to. He’s like an addict who has a weak day.”

Brian comments that Caleb seems to be a clinic in self-forgiveness. He wants him to do well, but at the end of the day he wants him to forgive himself. He also points out that it’s possible to get addicted to grief, and he sees that in Caleb; he’s choosing to stay in that space, and we are watching what that does to a person. Brian feels that he forms an attachment to the grief because it is the only emotional connection he has to the family he lost.

Liam nods and says these are things he’s been thinking about for months and months. He does not and did not have the answers when he created the character, and is looking forward to seeing where he ends up. He is not railroading his character; he’s letting the other players affect his character so that Caleb can remain malleable.

Matt loves how it reflects how real people inform the lives and actions of their friends in real life.

Cosplay of the Week: @suchamantis on twitter for a Caleb/spellbook cosplay. It’s gorgeous work!

Brief derailment into Liam pulling a Bane out of his mug and Matt hypersensually smelling the winner’s dice vault. I don’t even know what’s happening.

Revivify in this campaign is being used as a CPR/AED type thing. If they fail, the DC goes up and a longer-form raise dead spell must be used out of combat.

It did occur to Liam that this is the second time his bestie has been killed by a treasure box. Would Caleb make the same sacrifice? Liam says in a spooky voice that nothing is as strong as the twin bond...but when Caleb goes into full-on survival mode where all emotions are pushed to the side, he doesn’t know what would happen. He knew he was with two very magical people who could work miracles and was focused on just getting her up the steps to them. Matt was sure everyone would figure it out and was shocked when no one checked it for traps.

The effect of the diamond on Nott being different from the diamond on Cad was flavor related to the Power Word Kill trap that was on the chest. He built the revivify around that imagery in the moment. A lot of Matt’s flavor text around spells is built around the moment, the characters themselves, their gods, etc. as much as possible.

Caleb is glad to find the signs of magic that may be able to return Nott to a halfling, but was way too concerned about the gem to think about anything else at that time.

Fanart of the Week: @acemasters4 on twitter for a beautiful pastel stylized portrait of Caduceus and mushrooms.

Ashley is almost here! Brian allllmost tells us how many days but refrains. COME BACK ASHLEY.

The Angel of Irons thread has been planned since the very beginning: everything with chains and hunger was planned. He pulled it together with Yasha when he realized they would mesh well. She had created her backstory, and as the campaign proceeded he was able to marry some threads together to make story points. Liam compliments Matt’s ability to weave character & world backstory together; specifically, the crystals in Caleb’s arms were Matt’s idea after Liam sent the first draft of his backstory to Matt. Liam loved it and ran with it.

Everyone is so excited that she is coming back and Matt won’t have to plan for her to be suddenly absent again.

In a moment that shakes my world, Matt is discovered to be wrong about what class of magic Cure Wounds is in 5e. The question is about how Halas’s comment on healing being necromantic is a throwback to older editions of D&D where CW was a necromancy spell, and Dani reveals to us all that in 5e it is now Invocation. Matt chooses to accept this as a deliberate throwback to older editions to emphasize that “man out of time” feel.

Chris Perkins apparently once described BWF’s personality as “Power Word Kill for someone’s joy.” He also apparently did MMA & figure skating, because why not.

Caleb’s reference to Jester suffering in the ruby was purely coincidental regarding her mother. He didn’t realize until it popped out of his mouth.

BWF talks about how he likes where the campaign is at. He has a weird gut feeling that something exciting is about to happen. “I’m finally invested in this campaign after 83 episodes.”

Everyone pauses to talk about how beautiful Matt’s hair is blowing in the wind. BWF tells a story about how based on how they were sitting in Undeadwood filming, Matt’s hair would blow ever-so-slightly in the A/C and people thought they did it on purpose.

Matt had a good time at Blizzcon! He was glad to see people gathering for the Hong Kong protests; he understands it’s a very complicated situation where the initial punishment was way too harsh and caused a ripple effect, but he was glad to see the space where the activism was welcomed in response.

Matt enjoyed cosplaying again for the first time in a long time, both at Blizzcon and as McCree for the Halloween episode. When he was buying adhesive a shop worker upsold him on an inferior product, which is why his beard started falling off during the show. Sad times, Matt. :(

And that’s all! Is it Thursday yet?

#critical role #critical role spoilers #talks machina #talks machina spoilers #long post for ts

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precuredaily · 5 years ago

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Precure Day 164

Episode: Yes! Precure 5 16 - “Komachi Abandons Being a Novelist!?” Date watched: 8 December 2019 Original air date: 20 May 2007 Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/5aTOPye Transformation Gallery: https://imgur.com/a/6k6SzS0 Project info and master list of posts: http://tinyurl.com/PCDabout

honestly this is true

Oh Nuts, what have you done? You’ve gone and hurt Komachi’s feelings with your bluntness and now all the other girls are upset at you. Meanwhile, Despariah has started making moves in Nightmare. How wil this end for our heroines?

The Plot

Komachi shares a draft of her novel, Pirate Hurricane with the other girls, and they all love it. Coco suggests she have Nuts read it, because he’s a voracious reader and might offer some good feedback. However, he returns and says he doesn’t understand what she was trying to say with the story and if the author has to explain the meaning, then it’s not very good. Okay he actually says “It’s worthless as a book.” Harsh. This upsets Komachi and she leaves for the day, while the other four scold Nuts for his rudeness. He maintains that he didn’t do anything wrong by giving his asked-for opinion, and feels no need to apologize. However, Coco can tell that he’s angry at himself for hurting her and wants to make amends.

Over in Nightmare HQ, a meeting between Bunbee, Arachnea, and Kawarino gets interrupted by Despariah herself, making her first full appearance:

She explains that the Palmier Kingdom should be in despair, but they cling to hope because of the Dream Collet, so they need to crush Precure, retrieve the collet, plunge the kingdom into despair, and then she will be satisfied.

The next day, Nuts receives a visitor at his shop: a tall girl riding a motorcycle who looks like an older Komachi. This is Akimoto Madoka and she has come to deliver some mamedaifuku from their shop at the behest of her younger sister, Komachi. Some banter between him and the other girls clues Madoka into what’s going on, and she takes Nuts’s side, explaining that Komachi is the type to sulk after having her feelings hurt, and that if she can’t handle this level of criticism, she won’t make it as an author. Nozomi, Karen, Rin, and Urara take objection to this, insisting that she’s really talented, can improve her writing with hard work and practice, that she resembles the main character in her story who never gives up, and that she can pull through because her feelings are that strong. Madoka says she’ll pass that encouragement on, but Nuts asks to go see her in person, so she brings him to the Akimoto residence and summons her sister.

Their reunion is awkward and Komachi berates her own work and herself for daring to feel happy about it. Nuts tries to encourage her by saying “Are your dreams so worthless that you’d sell them away for nothing!?” which is not a particularly helpful statement. The other four girls emerge from the bush they were hiding in to chew out Nuts again, and he tries to explain that he’s not mad at her, but before he can explain himself, they all get sucked into the pages of Komachi’s manuscript. They awaken on the deck of the pirate ship in the story, as Arachnea taunts that they’re all going to drown at sea and it will be an unhappy ending. She creates a Kowaina out of the ship’s mast and rigging, and the girls transform. However, the monster is very fast and manages to tie them up in ropes and thrash them around, flinging them into walls and floors and even the water. Mint blames herself for creating this world, but Nuts says she should be angry at being used, and that nothing will change if she just blames herself. He reiterates that she’ll improve at writing if she keeps practicing. Arachnea isn’t interested in this conversation and the monster whips around again, causing Nuts to drop the Dream Collet. He hurries to retrieve it but Arachnea lunges towards him at breakneck speed. It doesn’t look good... until Mint jumps in and retrieves him at the last second!

She insists that her story is not a tragedy and she determines what the ending is! She blocks Arachnea and the Kowaina with Mint Protection, Dream kicks at her while Lemonade uses Lemonade Flash to distract her, Rouge binds the Kowaina in its own ropes, and Aqua uses Aqua Stream to destroy the monster! Arachnea beats a retreat while muttering that the story is lame.

When they return to Komachi’s house, Nuts tells her that her story has lots of room for improvement, but he likes the main character, finds the idea good, and says that she can bring out the story’s potential if she keeps polishing it. Komachi vows to rewrite her story and invites Nuts to read her next draft.

The Analysis

The core of this episode is about how to deliver and respond to criticism. Nuts may be well-meaning in his remarks but his tone is very curt and tactless. Komachi takes his comments deeply personally and feels that she is a failure as an author. The reality is that, as an aspiring author, Komachi needs to get used to criticism, and that critique of a work isn’t inherently an outright condemnation of the work or the author. Since this is evidently her first attempt at writing a more serious work than a school essay, it’s inevitable that there are going to be a lot of problems structurally, narratively, in the pacing, tone, etc. Her peers all find her work to be good, because they’re not used to picking apart more long-form and complicated stories, but their praise makes her overconfident, and that’s when Nuts comes along and tears her down. I can completely understand why she’s hurt. I know I’ve poured my heart out in writing before only for it to come back marked up to hell and have lots of comments about flow, redundancy, and things like that. Having your hard work torn apart like that can hurt. But when done right, it’s a necessary part of helping you to improve your skills. At the end, Komachi realizes that her work has value and takes ownership of it, refusing to let Arachnea dictate the ending for her, which I love.

That’s another note: Nuts, at the start, was not being a very good critic. He basically said “It’s bad and I don’t know what you’re trying to accomplish.” He didn’t give her much guidance on what to improve, and he didn’t really recognize this until confronted. He knew he hurt Komachi, he wanted to make amends, and during the climax he was able to say “If you keep practicing, you’ll get better at writing” and finally at the end he told her aspects of the story that he liked, and areas she could improve upon. That’s how you go about criticism, and that’s what I try to do in my reviews is to say “I didn’t like this because X and I think it would be better if Y.” Sometimes I may not have a better idea, but I’ll at least try to justify my dislike. Nuts has to fight his own visceral reactions in order to help Komachi improve as a writer, and that represents growth for him. He cares about people, he’s just bad at showing it, and Nuts and Komachi’s relationship through these two seasons will be another big one to explore and watch develop. I like his body language throughout. He keeps his arms crossed or in his pockets, he’s usually looking down, he knows he screwed up but he’s too proud to admit it. At the end when he finally talks to her and gives her positive feedback, he can’t look her in the eyes, because he’s still embarrassed, but his eyes are pointed up. It’s progress.

Next order of business is Akimoto Madoka. She looks a lot like her younger sister, which is to be expected, but she’s taller, has a fuller figure, has lighter colored hair, and her hairstyle is more practical than Komachi’s mullet, as Madoka just wears a typical bob cut.

Madoka has a very easy-going personality, really embodying the “cool older sibling” trope. She’s first introduced riding a motorcycle, and she instantly bonds with Nozomi and co, while being unphased by Nuts’s initial rudeness. She is very astute and quickly picks up on the strife between Nuts and Komachi. The only time she seems to get at all upset is when the gang is making a big commotion, and that’s because they all got sucked into Komachi’s story. She serves as a good foil for her somewhat timid sister, and knows how to push her in the right direction. She’s an enjoyable character who I’d like to see recur. I believe she makes a few subsequent appearances but I don’t remember how often, so we’ll experience that together.

Let’s change sides and talk about Nightmare! This is our first full look at Despariah, and wow is she something. She wears a white mask resembling a traditional Japanese doll, her long golden hair is styled in an edo fashion, shaped like a fan with four tendrils emerging from gem on her forehead, and two side locks that come down to her waist. She wears a dark colored dress with a kimono collar, and huge shoulder pads. Her shoulders are extremely broad while her waist is very narrow, giving her inhuman proportions. She commands your attention and you can tell she’s in charge. There’s still some mystery to her appearance even here, because she’s only seen sitting at her desk, and most of the time she’s distorted by the effect of the screen she’s displayed on within Nightmare HQ.

brutal

I appreciate how she cut into the corporate bickering and explained, in no uncertain terms, where the problem was with their operation, despite having already conquered the Palmier Kingdom and supposedly plunging them into despair. Bunbee needs some hand-holding to follow her logic, but it comes down to defeating Precure and retrieving the Dream Collet so she can gain immortality and crush the hope of the rest of the world. She means business.

Arachnea’s plan this round was pretty inspired, especially compared to some of her lesser hits like luring the girls into the sewer for no reason. Sucking them all into Komachi’s book and using her own created world against her? That’s twisted! And she really hammers in the idea that she is in control of the narrative now and they’re all going to drown, trying to attack Komachi’s self esteem at the same time as literally attacking her. I respect that, in the sense that you respect a good villain plot, because it’s better than pure physical attacks. Also there’s a moment, where Arachnea sees the Dream Collet on the ground, that she LUNGES and it’s pretty incredible.

All of these elements combine to make another fantastic episode. I had forgotten just how strong the first half of Yes 5 was, and I’m really glad to be revisiting it for this project. They’re doing a good job at balancing out a lot more main characters than in previous shows, even if it’s at the cost of memorable supporting characters. However, there’s room for diversity in this franchise, so a different spin on the idea is fine. It’s working very well so far, after all!

Next tine on Precure Daily, Rin has a crush! Also it’s time to sell a Precure-branded toy that otherwise has absolutely nothing to do with the show. Look forward to it?

Pink Precure Catchphrase Count: 1 Kettei!

#Precure #Pretty Cure #Yes! Precure 5 #YPC516 #PCD164

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rxyllum · 6 years ago

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All of Our Days

Summary:

Small snippets of life after the war.

(Based off of my “rayllum headcanons” post)

—

Pairings:

Rayllum

—

Notes:

This started off as a small drabble, but ended up being much longer, a bit over 5,000 words. Please note that most of this was written last night after school cuz I had bits of inspiration I didn’t want to lose (so several parts might be a bit rushed).

I’ll probably go back, add a few things, and edit it later, but for now here’s the final version of the first draft.

—

All of Our Days

—

It started off simple. A small, slowly growing flame that often diminished to the point of almost non-existence.

But it was there, and when Rayla first realized what was happening she pushed the feelings as deep into her subconscious as possible.

They had a mission, they had to return the dragon prince to his mother. Nothing more, nothing less.

Their time together would eventually end. She wasn't going to fall in love.

• • •

Callum didn't know exactly when he began developing feelings for Rayla. He just knew that it was a silly crush, and it would pass eventually.

After all, who wouldn't like the sarcastic, smart, funny, intelligent, cute, awkward, amazing, talented elf in that way.

When the crush wasn't fading, Callum began to grow concerned. It was as if, with every passing day, his love grew and grew.

He'd fallen down a deep hole called love, and he wasn't sure he ever wanted to leave.

• • •

When they first revealed their feelings for each other, it was completely by accident.

The dragon prince had been returned to his mother, and the dragang had finally returned to Katolis, where Harrow had managed to escape Viren's curse and return to his rightful place at the throne. Peace negotiations were being made, and a formal celebration was held at Katolis' main ballroom, where several political leaders — both human and elf — had gathered for peace treaty negotiations.

There had been several people around their age as well, and they even managed to get a message out to Ellis, who joined Ezran in exploring secret passageways and stealing jelly tarts throughout the night.

The problem was the elves and humans around Callum and Rayla's age. The elves were the children of high-ranking Xadia elves, and the humans the children of nobles.

Callum had left Rayla for a split-second to grab the two of them drinks (moonberry juice, of course) when a random human girl approached him, laughing flirtatiously at something he said. The dress she wore was much more extravagant than Rayla's (there was no way anyone was getting her into one of those frilly ball gowns, and it had taken Claudia hours to convince Rayla to wear the corset-less sea foam colored one she had on), and Rayla's heart seemed to burn at the sight of Callum's awkward laughter and silent glance he sent her way.

It was a plea for help, one she'd seen several times on their short journey together.

And so, Rayla approached them, taking one glass of moonberry juice from Callum's hand, and then replacing the empty space with her own hand.

The girl seemed to falter at the sight of the elf, who simply smiled in return. The humans could hate her all they wanted, but that didn't mean she had to give them valid reasons to hate her.

The conversation dwindled, and the human girl eventually left to join her other human girls, whom Rayla could clearly hear gossiping about the stuck-up elf that had interrupted her conversation with the prince, who was close to marrying age.

Seeing how awkward the conversation with the other girl had made him made a spark of jealously fill her chest, and she gave his hand a comforting squeeze, which he returned.

They didn't separate after that, not until Harrow approached them and asked Rayla to find Ezran, as both princes were needed for a diplomatic address. Rayla nodded, quickly saying farewell to Callum and making her way out of the ballroom and to the secret passage Ezran had shown her earlier.

"It's the best one to steal jelly tarts at events," he'd told her. She could only assume that's where he and Ellis had made their base.

Sure enough, he was there, and she sent him off to find the king. Ezran and Ellis stealthily slopped our through a ballroom vent as Rayla made her way to the less conspicuous entrance, a ways away from the party.

When she exited and let a tapestry fall over the hidden doorway, she heard voices.

"I can't believe they let elves into the castle!"

"I know right? And that one who was hanging out with the prince, how on Earth did she manage to earn his trust?"

"Probably some weird voodoo magic they use in Xadia."

She bit her lip. The voices were coming from around the corner, in the passageway that led back to the ballroom.

"Are you sure you saw her come out here? What if she never left the ballroom, then we'd be missing the king's speech for nothing."

"Oh hush, she's out here. We just have to find out what she's doing and ruin her reputation so that the prince sees she's nothing but a lowly elf who doesn't deserve his time."

She turned to face the tapestry, maybe Rayla could just hide out in the passageway until they left. Unfortunately, they had different plans.

Before she could make any decision, the girls turned the corner, spotting the elf standing there awkwardly.

There was a long moment of silence, before Rayla lifted her chin, and began walking past them.

A hand flew out to stop her shoulder, sharp, filed nails digging into her exposed skin.

"You're that one elf girl, correct?" she asked.

Rayla recognized her as the one who's been talking to Callum.

"I'm sorry?" Rayla replied, suddenly aware of how much her accent stood out compared to the girls.

The girl rolled her eyes — which were a surprisingly sharp blue — and went on to mimic her voice, "'Ah-m soh-ray', oh shut up. You know what I mean."

Rayla stared at the girl in surprise, before commencing to look them up and down.

She could easily take them out, even without her weapons — which were tucked away back in her temporary room. A simple sweep under the legs and they'd be out of commission. They were the ones who'd chosen to wear heels instead of flats.

But if she did that they'd undoubtably twist the story, saying she attacked out of nowhere, and the humans would be outraged and war would start again.

And so, she remained silent, throwing a small glare over her shoulder.

The girl's grip on her shoulder tightened, Rayla ignored the growing pain. She survived having a binding slowly crushing her wrist, this was nothing.

"I mean, really. What does the prince see in an elf?"

Her hand released Rayla's shoulder, leaving several small, red lines forming thin crescent shapes. What happened next was worse than the pain.

The girl reached to the thin, see-through layer that stretched across the surface of her dress' base. In one swift, clean motion that suggested she'd done this before, a large tear was ripped in the expensive material.

One of the other girls gasped, "Kathleen—"

"Oh, please, Charlotte, as if the elf would risk telling anyone. If she does we'll just play the victim rout, should be easy enough."

Rayla simply stared at the dress, slowly taking several steps backwards. The now-loose fabric dragged along the ground, and Rayla's foot caught onto it, the sound of ripping fabric filling the air as she fell back and hit the wall behind her.

"You know, rags really do suit you," the blue-eyed girl continued, the one the other girl had deemed Kathleen.

It was a blur on what happened after that, but Rayla did recall a simple notion filling her mind.

Don't lash out, don't lash out.

An elf couldn't afford to hurt them.

It ended when Rayla's fear got the better of her, and an arm flew out, hitting the nearest object — or in this case, human.

When Rayla opened her eyes, she saw the shocked faces of four girls. Kathleen's cheek was a bright red, and a thin line slowly began to grow where Rayla's hit had sliced open the girl's cheek.

The look of confusion slowly gave way to that of anger. Of pure, blistering rage.

She hoisted up her dress, turning on her heels and making her way down the hall, her three friends following, their voices hushed and terrified.

Rayla took in a deep breath, swallowing back the tears that threatened to escape her eyes. Rayla slowly pulled herself to her feet, slowly looking down to examine the damage.

Her dress was a mess. The jewels that had been carefully sewn into the hems were loose, several had scattered on the floor around her. The lower parts of her dress had huge gashes exposing her legs. The cuffs that had been positioned on her arms were bent, one was missing. Her necklace, one made by Runaan's boyfriend for the occasion, had been forcefully yanked off of her neck and lay shattered on the floor, where one of the girls had "accidentally" stepped on it.

And so, Rayla collected the fallen gems, slipped them into her pockets, and began making her way away from the ballroom.

It was cold out. Scattered leaves lined the entrance to the garden. Callum had mentioned the place once before, when she'd seen a drawing he'd done of it. It looked much different in autumn, when the flowers weren't in bloom and all of the plants were dying.

Rayla found herself falling to a sitting position on a bench, her eyes stinging as she tried desperately to hold back tears.

She would not cry. She would not cry. She would not cry.

A sob escaped her lips.

Rayla hates crying. The feeling of pain in her chest was an immense, crushing feeling, and the tears blurred her vision to the point of blindness.

She really was pathetic to think she'd be able to attend without some jealous, racists ruining it for her.

Her breath fogged in the air around her, and the cold pricked painfully at her skin as wind raced through the empty garden.

She didn't know how long she sat out there, alone, but when someone finally found her she'd cried out all of her tears.

Callum dropped his suit's jacket over her bare shoulders, blocking the chilly air from hitting her and providing her with an extra layer of warmth. He sat next to her on the stone bench, letting his head fall into his hands. They sat in silence for several minutes, neither of them wanting to break the comfortable silence they were accustomed to. They'd walked all the way to Xadia together, they were used to silence.

"We missed you at dad's speech."

Rayla nodded.

"He mentioned you. The brave elf who helped escort us safely to and from Xadia, returning the dragon prince to his rightful home."

She nodded again.

"A few minutes after the speech ended a girl around our age came in screaming about an elf attacking her."

"Kathleen?"

"Yeah. She was bleeding."

They fell into another silence, before Callum unconsciously moved closer to Rayla, trying to obtain any possible heat.

"I'm guessing there's a second side to the story."

Rayla had thought she'd cried enough tears, but her eyes had other plans. At what Callum said, tears began flowing all over again.

"She ruined your dress, didn't she?"

"I'm sorry," Rayla managed to choke out, "they'd cornered me, and I panicked! Okay? I didn't even know what I'd done until it was over!"

Callum wrapped his arms around her shoulders, "She'll be banned from all future events. When people see what she'd done to you they won't be able to protest."

"And why would they believe the word a lowly elf?"

"You're not— Rayla, you're more than just a 'lowly elf', you helped end a war!"

Rayla turned to face the boy at her side, "And what does that matter to them? There are centuries worth of hatred that isn't just going to be undone by some silly treaty!"

"Then we'll make them understand somehow," Callum suggested, "that'll be our next adventure, re-associating the two races and ending the stupid superstitions about bloodthirsty monsters."

Rayla laughed, "Because I'm positive they'll listen to an awkward prince and his elf friend he loves to annoy."

In response, Callum smirked, "You know you love me!" he teased.

"And you know you love me too!"

"Of course I do!"

The two suddenly paused, realization dawning on what they'd just accidentally said.

"W-wait!"

• • •

So far dating in secret was a huge success. The only others who knew were Ezran and Bait, which made sense, since they were the most epic group of friend on the face of the Earth.

Ezran had freaked out when they told him, saying "finally!" and "it was about time" without hesitation. He then declared that it was a "Romeo and Juliet" scenario after they explained how their relationship would work.

"Are you sure this place is safe?" Callum asked, his voice cracking as he narrowly avoided a spider web that just happened to be in the middle of the path.

"Ezran explores these passages all the time, we'll be fine."

"Easy for you to say, you're an epic, badass, monster-slaying assassin. I'm just a guy with a sketchbook."

"Oh hush, you love being the guy with the sketchbook."

"That would be true."

The hallway Ezran had showed them was similar to the one that led to Viren's old evil lair, only much more rarely used. Dust littered the floor, aside from small, Ezran-sized footprints that covered the length of the passageway. Unlit torches lined the wall, and Callum had originally suggested that they used the candle they had for light to ignite them, only to be shot down immediately. There was too much dust and too many cobwebs, it would be asking for disaster.

The room that the passageway led to appeared to be a part of some old shelter, a bunker designed for if war ever broke out or someone invaded the castle. It was obviously now unknown to anyone in the castle other than Ezran and the two of them. Ezran had a way of finding every one of the castle's secrets.

"There's meant to be an exit to a secret garden somewhere in here," Callum mentioned, "Ez told me that behind one of the walls is a staircase leading out to a small, hidden courtyard. There were several other passages along the way, some of which lead out of the castle and city."

"You mean like right here?" Rayla asked, pressing in a stone on the far wall. The bricks began receding to reveal a staircase like the one Callum mentioned.

"How did you do that?!"

"There was a jelly handprint."

"Of course there was."

The two entered the small staircase, ignoring the small passageways and stairs that branches out from the one they were currently on. Eventually moss began appearing on the stone steps, bits on light seeping in from what appeared to be a loosely concealed exit that was covered in roots and vines.

Rayla carefully parted the greenery, her breath catching in her throat as she took in the area around her. Flowers and various plants filled the area, a small tree was growing in the far corner, a small pond formed underneath from the lack of any drainage area.

Callum set their candle down to the side on the steps before following Rayla out of the stairwell. The walls towered high above them, with a few crumbling windows revealing what appeared to be more hidden passages.

"Wow," was all Rayla could manage to say.

"I think this might've been a medicinal garden at one point," Callum mentioned, walking over to one of the green plants that seemed to break out of a border of stone that appeared to be separating different garden plots, "that's aloe, normally used for treating burns and several skin conditions."

"Was it for the bunker below?"

"I guess, this courtyard is really small and not visible from anywhere in the castle, it might've been an emergency area, since there's only roof paneling above it looks like it was made to be practically invisible from the outside. Not even the guard areas can see it."

"It's beautiful here."

"Yeah."

"And, this means no one will be able to find us!" Rayla happily exclaimed, "Which means I won't have to worry about Runaan's unavoidable lectures that would come with dating a human."

The elf smirked, leading to Callum pouting.

"Hey, humans aren't that bad!"

"According to you, a human!"

Callum shoved Rayla's arm, and the two laughed.

He leaned over and pressed a small kiss on her cheek, "I love you."

"I love you too."

• • •

Runaan knew.

She had been careless, talking and laughing with Callum like they always did, like what people were used to, then she made the unconscious mistake of reaching out to take his hand. She held his hand, like they always did when walking in hidden passages with no one around to see.

Their conversation had been about something stupid, and then they began talking about art, which eventually led to Callum talking about plans King Harrow had for them to take a diplomatic trip to Xadia. They'd be able to return to her home when she and Runaan left in a few weeks.

She'd turned into a ball of joy, "That's amazing, Callum!"

The stupid elf then forgot that they were meant to be "just friends" and kissed him. Right then and there.

She'd let her guard down, and didn't realize Runaan was walking towards them, from far down the hall.

"Rayla?"

The sound of his voice made her freeze. She'd turned toward the direction of the sound and saw Runaan standing there, a faint look of bewilderment crossing his face.

Rayla had then dropped Callum's hand, and began to run, trusting Callum to do the same.

Callum hadn't run, and later told her that Runaan wanted to speak with her.

Here she was, a week later, still avoiding the elder elf at any possible moment. She'd been avoiding sleeping in her assigned room, instead rotating through random guest rooms that were never used and running every time Runaan appeared.

Today was a problem, however. Runaan decided to chase her.

It was inevitable, really. But she was not ready for this conversation.

Runaan was far more experienced than her, they both knew this, but she knew the layout of the secret passageways better than him.

The only problem was that there were no entrances near where they were.

Oh, for the love of Xadia—

Rayla turned a random corner, making her way out to one of the guard walkways, and jumping over the wall, using her daggers to quickly scale down the wall and into the training courtyard, ignoring the baffled looks of those around her as she ran.

Runaan caught up to her in one of the empty hallways.

Her legs we pulled out from under her, and she went crashing to the floor.

"Rayla," Runaan shouted, "would it kill you to stop running for just one second and listen?"

She rolled onto her back, staring at her mentor with a silent fear in her eyes.

Runaan sighed, "Come in, let's go to a more private place."

The walk back felt like an eternity, and Rayla felt her cheeks redden at every thought of what he'd seen and what he was going to try talking to her about.

They reached her room, and Runaan closed the door behind them, leaning on it casually as if to say "you aren't getting out of this."

The silence was deafening to Rayla.

"So, how long has this been going on?" Runaan finally asked.

"Maybe six months or so, since that one event when my dress was ruined."

"And just how long were you two planning on hiding it?"

Rayla remained silent.

"Rayla—"

"I don't know! Okay?" she shouted, her hands wrapping around her chest in a false sense of comfort, "I don't know how any of this will end, I was just sort of hoping things would find a way to work."

"You do realize that people won't be happy with this."

"Yeah."

"There'll always be someone trying to find fault in both of your actions."

"I know."

"If you ever decide to try having kids they'll face all kinds of discrimination—"

"Okay, ew. Please don't say anything like that ever again."

Runaan let out an emotionless laugh.

"Never change, Rayla."

• • •

When they decided to go public with their relationship, Callum had just turned 17. There had been countless rumors beforehand, so it wasn't that big of a shock to anyone (King Harrow had known for almost as long as Runaan, but had decided to let them tell him when they were ready).

There was an outrage, as expected. A mob of protestors appeared outside of the castle gates the very next day, and the two lovebirds decided to run off to their secret garden with Ezran in order to avoid the press.

"So, are we still going to raid the kitchens tonight?" Ezran asked, pushing through the curtain of vines and joining the other two in the small courtyard, Bait clutched securely in his arms.

"Of course! What else are we meant to do on a full moon?"

"You two are ridiculous," Callum signed, letting a hand rest on his forehead, "Ezran, you're the crown prince, just ask for some jelly tarts to be brought to your quarters and you'll have a plate in the next ten minutes."

"But that takes the fun out of it!" the younger boy protested, Rayla nodded in agreement.

"Besides, sooner or later the baker will come to a realization that the sweets disappear only on the full moon, we have to collect as many as possible before they discover our plan," Rayla explained.

Callum rolled his eyes, "Rayla, you know I love you. But why do you insist on using your spooky, magical, epic full-moon mode on stealing jelly tarts?"

"Well, I'm not an assassin anymore, what else am I meant to do with my magic?"

"I don't know, something cool?"

"My dear brother, are you suggesting that stealing jelly tarts in the middle of the night isn't cool?"

"Um, that's not what I meant—"

"I think he is, Ezran," Rayla accused.

Bait croaked in agreement.

"Fine then, we won't share any of our loot with you tonight!"

"But Ez!"

Callum ended up helping with their theft that night.

• • •

When Rayla next returned to Katolis, their reunion played out how it usually did. Callum was waiting at the gates when her group of elves arrived, and as soon as she saw him she was sprinting to close their distance. In the next second they were in each other's arms, Callum spinning the elf around before kissing her.

You'd think that by their reunion it had been years since their last meeting. No, Rayla had only been gone for a couple of months.

It was just how they'd grown used to seeing each other again.

The two of them spent around an hour at the castle, talking, before heading off to the city.

The streets of Katolis' capital were crowded with people. It wasn't a surprise, really, considering the fact that the now-annual festival for peace between humans and elves was today.

The late-summer air was filled with the feint chill of winter, though the extra layer of Rayla's cloak dismissed any bit of cold lingering in the air. Callum had painted over her markings with a tan oil, and the gloves on her hand were a much more advanced disguise than the ones she'd used when traveling with the two princes. There was a prosthetic fifth finger, sewn into the glove so that whenever she moved her pinky the extra finger moved as well.

Callum's disguise was much more simple, he'd found a way to create a sort of wig, so that his hair was a dark black instead of brown, and changed into much cheaper clothing. If anyone were to look at them they wouldn't see the crown prince and his moonshadow elf girlfriend, but two random people strolling the streets.

Music drifted throughout the street, with a clearing up ahead holding a dance area. The concrete was covered in various chalks and paints, and there was a group of children creating their own messy artwork on the cobblestone.

"Callum, look," Rayla suddenly said, getting her boyfriend's attention.

In the window of one of the several shops was a painting. It depicted two people, one was a human boy, and one was very clearly a moonshadow elf, or what she assumed the artist thought moonshadow elves looked like. They faced each other, foreheads touching and their hands cupped around what appeared to be a small star, illuminating their faces in a soft glow.

Callum bought the painting on their way back to the palace.

• • •

"So when are you going to ask Rayla to marry you?"

The question came as such a surprise that Callum choked on his moonberry juice.

"I'm sorry?"

"You two have been dating for years now. When are you gonna marry her?" Ezran asked again.

He asked it so nonchalantly, before going back to eating another jelly tart.

He turned to look at Rayla, who was currently on the other side of the dining room, conversing with their dad as if he wasn't even a king. It always amazed Callum at how quickly the king took a liking to Rayla, treating her more like family than an elf assassin that once tried to kill him (though she never actually got around to killing him).

"You're eighteen now, you know. Most princes get married at sixteen," Ezran mentioned, stressing the fact that yes, today he turned eighteen. He was officially an "adult".

"Ezran!"

And so, the next several month were spend in a complete and utter mode of panic.

For once he was actually glad Rayla had to return to Xadia for the next month, because he didn't know how he would be able to act around her. Ezran must've known his words had an effect on him, because he kept finding a tray of jelly tarts at the foot of the door that led to Ezran's room most nights.

Still, Callum wasn't able to sleep soundly and act normally until he'd managed to plan out every bit and piece of how he'd propose to Rayla — if that ever even happened.

He accidentally proposed to her a year later.

It wasn't supposed to happen the way it did.

He'd gotten the ring ready and everything, and was confident in his decision, sure. But he just didn't want it to happen in that exact way.

It was meant to be a perfect day. They'd go for a walk through the castle gardens, spend the whole day out in the sun and possibly go swimming before having a late lunch and—

Well, none of that really mattered anymore.

They didn't even make it outside.

When walking through the castle halls, they managed to walk past the place where the two of them first met and, well, it just sorta slipped from his mouth.

"Hey, remember the one time you tried to kill me when I was walking down this very hall?"

"Oh, that was here, right! I'd almost forgotten."

"I'm glad Ez and I aren't dead."

"Me too."

"...ugh I can't do this anymore."

"What?"

"Nothing, I'm just stressed about how I'm going to ask you to marry... me...."

He'd trailed off as he realized what exactly he'd said.

Rayla said yes, of course. But still. It wasn't the best way to ask someone to marry you.

• • •

It isn't until years later, we'll after they're married and happy when the subject of children came up.

It took forever for Rayla to get pregnant, and when it looked like she was, she and Callum didn't tell anyone except Harrow, Ezran, Amaya, and Runaan. They didn't want to get the kingdom's hopes up; after all, despite the portion that hated their relationship, the majority seemed to actually ship them. Ezran discovered this when he accidentally found a "black market" dedicated to fanart and fanfiction for his brother and friend.

When it became clear that Rayla definitely was expecting a child, she and Callum cried. They began worrying about the smallest things. Callum wanted to be there for the child, able to live and see them grow, to fill in a needed place that he'd only ever known from Harrow (it occurred to Rayla that Callum didn't know anything about his birth father, other than that Sarai never ended up staying with the man). She was worried about being there for the child as well, worried about not being able to live up to expectations, and not wanting to leave only for someone else to take her place.

Several months later, the child was born.

It was a cold night at the beginning of December, and when she came it was all too clear what her name would be.

After all, it wasn't every day a child was born on the same date as their grandmother.

She was small, much smaller than she would've thought, with fuzzy hair bordering on white, with the occasional dark streak running through it. From what she could tell of her eyes, they were currently a mix of blue and green. She knew that as her daughter grew they'd grow to become a bright emerald green to match his father's. The small trace of horns that had yet to grow in could be felt on her small head. She had five fingers on each hand and five toes on each foot, and slightly pointed ears with such pale skin she looked like a ghost.

To Rayla and Callum, their daughter Sarai was perfect in every way, shape, and form.

When Callum left the room to speak with Harrow about all of the small details about the birth (she was a new princess — that was kinda a big deal), Rayla was left with the baby girl.

She moved a small tuff of hair off of the child's forehead, spending time taking in every little detail she could. Small thoughts began filling her mind, about the hate she would eventually receive, how she'll grow up seeing that no one around her looked all that similar, or how no one but her mother seemed to have horns or markings.

A sudden cry bubbled up from the baby, as if Sarai had sensed the unsettling thoughts that drifted throughout Rayla's mind.

"Shh, don't cry," Rayla whispered, holding the child closer, "I know everything is new, and scary, and you have this weird old elf looking at you."

Rayla started to cry, she didn't exactly know why, but once she started, she couldn't stop.

"There are going to be people out there who try to hurt you, because you're different, because you're special," the child's cries slowly faded as Rayla was talking, the baby helplessly opening her eyes and attempting to stare at her mother, "but you're more amazing than any of them will ever be. You know why?"

The child couldn't understand any of this, Rayla knew. Perhaps the words were more for herself than anything else.

"Because you're surrounded by people who will love you, and care for you, and hold you tightly in their arms whenever needed. You're a miracle that most say shouldn't be able to exist. But you're here!"

The baby's eyes closed, and by the soft breaths Rayla guessed that she'd fallen asleep.

"Because your father and I love you so, so much," Rayla leaned down, pressing a soft kiss against her daughter's forehead, "welcome to your life."

#tdp #the dragon prince #rayllum #tdp rayla #tdp callum #dragon prince #tdp runaan #king harrow #tdp headcanons #fanfic #headcanons #tdp fanfic

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thefreshfinds · 5 years ago

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JOHNNY QUEST THE REBEL:

Johnny The Quest’s rhymes are beyond any listener’s wildest dreams. While others use their music to speak on artificial topics like sex, drugs & their drip, Johnny Quest the Rebel uses his natural skill to not only put the hating n-ggas to sleep, but he also conveys an influential message. If it isn’t through clever punchlines & entendres, then he gets personal — telling his own story for others to relate to. However Johnny Quest the Rebel is one who believes that one should F.R.Y.D (F.ollow R.each Y.our D.reams) because he knows what it’s like to feel lost & unsure of how you are. Wholeheartedly he defines as one who’s empathic, truthful & real. The “Rebel” side comes from a daily challenge of having an active role in life. “I believe that one of our purposes is to unravel the world.” he goes on to say. On the whole Johnny Quest the Rebel is the voice who demands the world to give up the answers because often we are left wondering “why?”

Starting his musical journey in two different points of his life — Johnny Quest the Rebel first got his big break in 2000/2001. He recalls the first time he freestyled with his older brother & cousins in his Grandma’s basement, saying that they all grew up pretty humble. So Johnny figured if he could be a kid star like Bow Wow then they would never have to worry about money. As he grew up & did a couple of group projects, it wasn’t until he hit rock bottom in 2012 when he started to use music as a therapeutic process to help battle with anxiety & depression. “Music, amongst a few other things, helped me re-instill my confidence & got me out of my low.” Johnny Quest the Rebel adds “It always has, even as a listener, but I just owned that I wanted my music to do for others as it had for me.” After hearing responses from his music, Johnny decided to take music seriously. He was going to live his dream & wake up the people! Till this day he’s thanking his lucky stars. To define Johnny Quest the Rebel’s sound, would be more of a renaissance style. It has all the main components of our golden era of hip hop: storytelling, being the voice for those who are afraid to speak & genre defying — testing all sounds solely to reach different audiences. DREAM gives you a snippet of Johnny Quest the Rebel’s versatility and star power. “You will hear me express how it feels to have a dream even that moment when you realize you can really make it happen.” he adds. “Find your dream & pursue it with 1000% effort, 10x the amount you personally thought you could give.” All in all DREAM sheds some light on Johnny Quest the Rebel’s journey & gives people who have dreams some inspiration to keep going. Like the famous writer Marsha Norman says, “Dreams are illustrations from the book your soul is writing about you.”

The Break Down:

1. Dream: Stomping into your circadian rhythm, Johnny the Quest keeps one alert in the first song “Dream”. Before the beat drop, an high pitched voice echoes out “Dream” over the white noise. Then the beat fuses in beside the familiar voice with sprialing hi-hats, an 808, reverse & futuristic sound effect. However once Johnny booms in saying “all I had was a dream” that’s when things go in full effect. As the beat continues on, Sunnie sings the chorus with effortless passion & sensuality, “If I close my eyes a little longer, baby everything will be ok *insert vocal run to “ok”*/In fact that don’t kill me, it only made me stronger/Well I say turn a dream into tomorrow/And turn tomorrow into today. Johnny Quest the Rebel then uses smooth yet minimal auto-tune for the cut-throat bars he’s about to spit. Ultimately, Johnny Quest The Rebel leads by example that anything is possible if you work hard for it & advices others to do the same. Sometimes we wait for opportunities to come but we should go and find them instead. An example can be seen from this very line from Johnny: “All about the timing, not the diamonds or the risk/But a young Rebel said I need to shine too/Hunting down dreams cause they won’t find you/.../If it glitter & it golden let it blind you.”

2. Truth or Dare: “Truth or Dare” levels up as the second track with a finely tuned violin chord & 808’s that are guaranteed to stick with you from the very beginning to the end. Ultimately the wise MC speaks on his undying hunger to accomplish his goal to make it. “Young Pixar, for my dreams I will risk all. Only way is up when you’re coming from a pitfall.” Even when he’s lived in a nightmare, he still rose with the sun & made things happen. Not only for himself, but for his people as well. Johnny Quest the Rebel also feels highly blessed & favored to be living his dream. Fading out is a voice that says “Don’t wake me up.” & then the famous phrase (and album title) “Dream.”

3. Projects 2 Mansions: “Projects 2 Mansions” breaks the rims off the speaker with it’s stormy base (& yes! It really does sound like it could come off an 90’s sitcom). As the base goes ham, the background leaves some space for the twinkle effect & hi-hats to work it’s magic. The reverb here is the “oooh” & “yeah” that’s highly pitched but also mesmerizing. As Johnny Quest the Rebel questions the listener “Is this everything that you’ve dreamed of? The most hated on I dream love.” he also uses punchlines & metaphors to speak on his luxurious life, living his best life with the homies & gives the haters something to think about. “Hustle like Russell, back when I had to bag a Kimora.” Johnny Quest the Rebel also spreads the word on how it happened (& if you do this too, who’s to say that it won’t happen as soon as tomorrow!?) “Cause I done paid my dues, I swear they cost a lot/.../Only reason that I’m here, somebody paid for me/Don’t get caught up in these streets & be somebodies prey homie. Instead of a 9 to 5, he’s doing what he loves. But to get there is pretty simple: Dream first, hustle second.

4. In My Zone: “Channel surfing on electric waves,” Johnny Quest the Rebel gives us some insight on what pushes him on a daily to achieve his dreams. “Catch Johnny on the star track/..All white but I’m all black/90’s baby so I’m all that/Searching for my bag of chips on different continents. Trying condiments. Even when the going gets rough, Johnny Quest the Rebel advices all in the song to just stay in your zone because eventually it will all pay off. Believe it or not, he’s been through the drafts. Still, he can never be taken out. In unison a feminine voice says in the back “In My Zone.” during certain parts (& the vocals even resemble the singer, The Weeknd’s range). The beat also has a chill-wave feel to it & just cruises into your cerebral cortex.

5. JOHNNY TSUNAMI (SKIT): This short excerpt sounds as if it comes from the greater times when technology was on the rise. At first the interviewer explains who Johnny Quest is & ask then goes on to ask him the question, “Why this quest for the perfect wave?”. Gracefully, he stays composed & gives the best answers to this one which are followed by a couple more.

6. Top of The World: As he takes a hit & answers how to catch the perfect wave — Johnny Quest the Rebel, the beat goes ham with laser beams & hi-hats. While on a “surf board with a dream catcher,” the MC goes to say that this first verse was a favorite because he left some gems that most people won't understand on the first listen. “I love when people listen them come back weeks or months later & are like, “Oh that’s what you meant”. This song also falls in as his favorite one off the project as well, “It came together so smoothly & it’s a dope song.” he adds “I wanted a record that I was able to stay true but that could be listened to in different spaces that everybody could get on they wave.” For me, I interpreted this song’s message as a P.S.A for those who are afraid to break out of their comfort zone. Don’t say you’re going to do something. Just do it. Even if you fall, brush yourself off. Try again. After all, you create your destiny. An example can be seen in these lines: “Life’s a b*tch & I treat it like a model..Now they’re calling me the Native Sun/Waves speaking in my native tongue/Talk back with a body language/English probably is a second language.”

7. www.(420 Reprise): Paying contribute to his right hand Mary Jane, the beat takes a sultry approach( which could be contributed thanks to the fumes or the lighter that sparks up in every song off of Dream) & finds a way to our “Blaze it Up” playlist. As the guitar strings make an appeasing tune, Johnny Quest The Rebel speaks about his daily ritual: to smoke & drink water. Yet he also lets us in a little & speaks on the best piece of advice he’s received from his lady “She tell me not to worry ‘bout what they say/Master your high, grasshopper till you feel like Sensei/And then you treat the world like it’s your dojo/ You gotta give back where nobody can steal your mojo.” At the end, the guitar goes into solo & nails what a guitar riff should sound like.

8. 20/20 Vision: In midst of the snaps, snares & twinkle sound effect — Johnny Quest the Rebel sings in auto-tune “I see in 20/20 my vision, so clear, so clear.” According to the MC the profound message is that any/everyone who has a dream is going to see their vision before anyone will support it or believe it is possible. “Shit this record might make someone quit they day job.” Johnny adds. As long as you keep your focus & work ethic intact then the sky is the limit.

By: Natalee Gilbert

LINK(S):

1. DREAM: https://soundcloud.com/jquesttherebel/sets/dream

2. Instagram: @jquesttherebel

#soundcloud #freshfinds #music #musicblog #rap #listen #banger #musicians #hip hop #follow #johnnyquesttherebel #dream #mixtape #unsignedhype #motivationalquotes

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otomechuchu · 5 years ago

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Personal GUIDE - Love and Producer EN (Mr Love Queen’s Choice) - EVENTS

Let’s look at Events.

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Check out my other walkthroughs here

PLEASE DON’T STEAL, COPY OR POST ELSEWHERE.

Click here for my first draft (summary of everything)

Click here to go back to the Complete Detailed Collective Guide (sections)

EVENTS

Events happen often enough. In the beginning of English release, it might be slow, but it should pick up over time. During events, you can get free SR cards and maybe SSR cards if you’re lucky. Events vary in content and are done differently. Some can be limited Wish Tree cards, double item drops, some can be collect items from doing Shoots, or from doing Strolls, etc. or other things. It really depends on the event.

The Recommended tab will show current events, campaigns, and Packages/Evol Supply deals (costs real money).

In this case the Firework Day event is happening, where you get limited Cards (Karma) from the Gem tree.

Another “event” like thing is the Daily Stamina (mentioned under “Daily Quests/Missions”), where you get 30 Stamina twice a day, if you’re in-game at the specific hours.

Last up is more of a Startup Campaign. The Bingo card where you do more “difficult” missions to help you get started with the game. These aren’t difficult, they just take a little more time. Examples are “use 1000 Stamina” or “have 50 friends” (I don’t remember what they actually are, so these examples aren’t accurate). The final reward from this is a R card of “Gavin.”

Because events are time limited and different from each other, I can’t really say much more.

There is one event that happens every month: Double Elite item drop. 3 chapters on Elite will give the chance of double item drops (the chapters change every time. Example could be ch 1, 4 and 10).

Want to support the blog? Feel free to Become a Patron for as little as $1/month~ Or Buy me a coffee ~

Check out my other walkthroughs here

#otome #game #personal #guide #walkthrough #how to #how to play #elex #chinese #love and producer #mr love queen's choice #mr love queens choice #mr love

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saints-and-poets-maybe · 6 years ago

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Okay so y’all remember in Twilight how Bella and Edward were lab partners in biology class?

(Stay with me, I have to have some outlet for my inexplicably encyclopedic knowledge of Mormon Vampire Smut.)

That one scene established that Bella was actually a rational human being and, for a teenager and especially by Forks standards, scientifically competent, to Edward’s total disbelief.

My question is, why on earth was that gem of a plot hook dropped?

Sure, we got Bella the wannabe paranormal investigator for about three chapters, but that consisted solely of late-night googling and some woefully-underappreciated mushroom ravioli before she was “unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.” No, thanks.

We could have had FOUR BOOKS of Bella the scientific skeptic, taking up a Badass Normal role in the Cullen coven to be a decent character in her own right, instead of simpering, submissive self-insert fodder. Have some plot threads that I guarantee would have improve the series 10,000%:

Option 1: Bella starting out in total disbelief, annoyance, and maybe even fear at the way Edward and his family keep things from her. Remember, the books start out establishing her as an intellectual rival, even with his improved vampire cognition, so there’s a lot of potential here. Instead of Edward just, like, outing himself and his family, she’s slowly convinced of the Masquerade as she’s bit by bit (ha) challenged by things that get harder and harder to explain through conventional means. It’s easy to still write this into a budding romance. Tell me Bella doesn’t try to get a scraping of Edward’s cold-ass, uncomfortable hands to look at under a microscope, only to find that his skin is impenetrable. Dun-dun-dunn!

Besides, the Cullens canonically know that telling her outright, or even allowing her to find out, would sentence her to death via Volturi, so there’s zero reason this should happen in half a book for both plot and practical reasons. Imagine the tension when the Cullens are scrambling to keep Bella alive without being able to tell her or warn her. That’s well within character for both parties at the beginning of the series; the Cullens are aloof and insular albeit well-meaning, and Bella is stubborn as hell with a big-ass truck.

(Fun fact: the first draft of New Moon had Bella finding out Jacob was a werewolf on the last page of the book. If you can conceivably sustain the “best friend is a furry” plot in a sequel to the “boyfriend might be a vampire?” story, you can keep the whole masquerade going for longer than 100 pages, even with an actively curious heroine.)

Eventually, after actual drama and discomfort (and possibly a breakup that’s initiated by Bella’s hurt and frustration over being lied to, instead of by Edward being an infantilizing ass), Bella’s curiosity wins out. Because of the pieces of the puzzle she’s uncovered up to that tipping point, the collapse of the Masquerade immediately puts her at risk of execution or turning--the same end result as we got in New Moon. Where this timeline differs is that her own initiative, rather than reactivity to Edward’s melodrama, got her there, and her own initiative grants her agency in the events to follow.

Option 2: Bella ends up bonding with Carlisle because none of his adopted children actually have an interest in human science or medicine. Lord knows Mr. I Love Emo Piano was too busy pining after high school students to get through medical school, so I’m sure Carlisle would have been thrilled that Bella could at all understand his work. Sure, there’s no way Bella could catch up on Carlisle’s five hundred years of medical practice, but expand on her knack for biology by giving her an interest in the mechanics of vampirism. It’s Word of Meyer that vampires are the science to werewolves’ magic; exploit that by applying Bella’s natural abilities.

This point fixes a significant proportion of the narrative issues with Breaking Dawn. In canon, Bella is a starving, terrified bystander to her own impending death by vampire fetus, and that state of affairs really leaves no option but forced envenomation and subsequent torturous transformation. But if she’d spent the last three books coming to a better understanding of how vampires work, then a) she’d probably have figured out the blood thing on her own, or failing that b) she could have developed a means to give birth without dying, or c) known enough about vampire physiology to have had advance warning on becoming Edward’s baby mama in the first place.

Regardless, any of these paths would have given her options, something Bella as a heroine was sorely lacking for the entirety of the series. Sure, there was an author-imposed “which hot boy will I pick?”, but at no point was Bella faced with a dilemma of any real meaning. In-story, she was railroaded through her own series by forces outside her control. Either preserving the Masquerade or apprenticing Bella to Carlisle would have resulted in Bella facing choices that impacted her own mortality, a theme that could have been so rich in a book about immortals pretending to be human. Instead, she never had a chance, and that’s a tragedy.

Here’s the kicker: none of those things are mutually exclusive with a Hot Vampire Boyfriend. You can have escapist paranormal romance without sacrificing the dignity and resourcefulness of your YA heroine. You can have steamy beach sex without taking away her independence or her devotion to the one she loves. And you can have a attractive, conflicted boyfriend without making him a manipulative codependent. Instead we got Vapid Mormon Bella where proximity to a cute boy liquefied her critical thinking skills and her fashion sense.

#twilight #long post #writing #bella swan

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betweensceneswriter · 6 years ago

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Chemistry Test, Part 8: C***-Blocker

Lallybroch Library Prompt Exchange!

Prompt #33 Modern AU: Claire auditions for a role opposite Jamie who has been cast as the male lead in a TV drama.

Previously–Part 7: Laughing Man

Master Post

“Murtagh, man, I love you. But why in hell are ye here?”

The walls were thin and Claire could easily hear the heated conversation from within the bedroom, even though they had closed the door behind them. She sat gingerly on the couch, looking around the small apartment.

It was neat and clean except for the suitcases and backpack next to the door; those must be Murtagh’s. Once Jamie had rushed around opening all the windows, the smell of burnt haggis had dissipated, only to be replaced by the smell of city—exhaust, ancient brick, and sadness.

“Your landlady is quite a lonely woman.” It was Murtagh’s gruff voice speaking. “She talked my ear off, but she was more than happy to let a godfather into his godson’s apartment.”

“Why didn’t you call? Or simply mention you were coming?”

“I ken how much you love a surprise!”

“A birthday party, maybe… or a gift,” Jamie said incredulously. “Not an extra inhabitant for my already too small apartment, especially when…”

Claire heard Jamie drop his voice, but it wasn’t low enough. She blushed as she heard his words.

“God, man, do you see her? I’ve been anticipating being with Claire again for weeks!”

“Oh, aye, she’s nice to look at. But Jamie, lad, I couldna imagine you being here for months or years and not coming with you!”

From @outlanderamerica

“But why does it matter if I’m here this morning? Were ye planning to bring her inside and immediately tear off each other’s clothes? God’s tooth! It’s not even noon yet!”

Claire chuckled. As embarrassing as their first encounter had been, she had managed to develop some affection for Murtagh in the last two weeks as she and Jamie talked daily; hearing his gravelly, acerbic voice making comments in the background of their calls, learning of his dry humor from his godson’s descriptions, feeling grateful for the role he’d played in parenting when both Jamie’s mother and father had died while he was still a teenager.

“I canna say what would have happened. But Murtagh, I haven’t been able to make love to Claire in two interminable weeks!”

Claire blushed. They’d felt such a connection immediately, instantly. Her heart leapt on hearing Jamie call it making love. Not having sex, not shagging, not fucking, not doing the rumpy-pumpy, not bonking...

He wanted to make love to her. She couldn’t wait for it either.

Of course, what Jamie didn’t know was that Claire Beauchamp had been his fan for far longer than he’d known her, an admirer from afar. It was two or three years ago that she’d found that little gem–the TV-MA show he’d done when he was in his late twenties.

Frank kept asking her why she repeatedly watched the three seasons of Island Fever. Claire lost herself in the story of a young woman, ironically named Carlie, who traveled out to the Marshall Islands as a volunteer nurse. Immersed in a foreign culture where Carlie was a fish out of water, she floundered. And then Carlie met, made friends with, and fell in love with a young man named Campbell, played by none other than James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser.

God, she’d fallen in love with him just as the young actress in the role of Carlie had, this lean, muscular, tanned Scotsman, with that furiously curly red hair. Jamie Fraser wasn’t an Ed Sheeran red-head… Not pale and orangey. His hair was closer to burgundy, and he was rugged and manly even when he was playing a 22-year-old adorably devoted virgin.

Her favorite episode in season 1 was “Restraint,” where the young couple were engaged and still trying to wait. It was crazy how sexy not having sex could be.

Although Frank hated how many times she rewatched Island Fever, his eyes would brighten if he came into the room and saw her viewing that scene where Campbell and Carlie walk out to the beach at dusk shortly after their surprisingly sudden engagement. Those were the nights where Frank was guaranteed to get some, even though Claire was certain that he’d known the truth--that even though he was with her, she was with Campbell MacReid…

@frockflicksfeed

Even now, Claire felt sheepish yet aroused at the memory of Jamie’s perfect ass in the honeymoon episode as he gently undressed his new bride. She was lovely too—god, what was her name? Claire had often imagined herself standing before him as he knelt, kissing her belly, running his hands over her hips and drawing her lacy panties down to the floor. She pretended it was she to whom Campbell said, “What would you like?” as he lay next to her on the bed; that it was her body that made his eyes widen in discovery and darken with desire; that she was the one blissfully blinking in surprise, not expecting a virgin to know enough to bring her to climax their first time together.

And she teared up almost every time that Campbell smiled at Carlie and said, “Virgin blood,” as he drew the blade of his fishing knife across his thigh and reached for the nuknuk.

But it was Jamie Fraser, not Campbell MacReid, that Claire started to admire as she watched interviews with the actor on YouTube. He was thoughtful, kind, and protective of his co-star. A gentleman who ushered her out of cars and was her constant cheerleader. That was when Claire had started to wish she could meet this man she had long admired. So when there was open casting and she sent in her audition tape and got a call back, she started to think that it was fate.

As if it was fate, Jamie had responded to her with equal enthusiasm, on one wild, romantic night. He wanted to make love to her.

Suddenly Claire had an anxious thought. A few months from now and that would be her nude body in front of the camera. With him.

On camera? Touching him? Kissing him? On camera? For the world to watch? Her heart dropped and she felt slightly nauseated.

The men were STILL talking.

“So if I understand this correctly, you were thinking young Jamie needed an outing?”

“God, Murtagh.”

“You were gazing at her round arse and thinking you needed to inspect it further?”

“You make me seem a lecher!”

“And then you came to your apartment, fully expecting to be naked in minutes…”

“Hush, man!”

“So that explains why you’ve greeted your godfather so rudely? Embarrassed me in front of the lass? Dragged me into the bedroom as if I’m a wee lad about to get skelped?”

She knocked hesitantly on the bedroom door.

“Since I can already hear your whole conversation, don’t you think you might as well come out and sit comfortably?”

Both men stepped out sheepishly.

“I didn’t want to reunite with you just to lose you immediately to an argument,” she said, directing her gaze at Jamie. “And it’s probably best that we didn’t just fall into bed right away,” she added, smiling at Murtagh. “Since the haggis is burned, since it’s just around noon, don’t you think the three of us should go out for lunch?”

Murtagh nodded and Jamie smiled at her. But Claire shuddered involuntarily at the look on Jamie’s eyes.

She used to imagine that expression of desire and admiration directed at her. But this was real.

Part 9 - Eating Out, Part 1

How’s that for convoluted? In a story about Claire and Jamie as Cait and Sam trying out to be Leo and Kate in a gender-reversed TV show based on Titanic when Claire’s a little bit of a stalker because she used to watch and lust after Jamie (like you and I currently do with Outlander) when he starred on a non-existent series based on my current book. Honestly, it was all a shameless plug for you to check it out. :) It’s sweet & hot & much improved from the fanfic rough draft!

Island Fever on Amazon-Kindle and Paperback

#betweensheetswriter #BetweenSceneswriter #Chemistry Test #Claire x Jamie #Jamie x Murtagh #c***blocker #convoluted #Island Fever

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ad-drew · 6 years ago

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The Shaman Society | An Excerpt, Part 4

Second draft is coming along well, got through a couple more chapters. Cutting stuff that doesn’t need to be in a scene or a paragraph and suddenly things flow so much better is a wonderful feeling. In any case, here is another excerpt featuring a couple new characters for the first time (at least in these excerpts). This one’s a bit longer, but oh well. I try not to give too much away in these, but there’s some small spoilers are inevitable.

Also, I’ve noticed other writeblrs including tag lists on their updates, and I was thinking of doing the same, if anyone out there would be interested. Just let me know and I’ll be sure to tag you when I post another excerpt or any other information regarding my WIP.

---

“Oh, come on!” said Christine, with a snorting laugh. “You totally are!”

Rei pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger, exhaling a quiet grumble. “For the last time, I am not a magical girl.”

“Is that so? Let’s see…” Christine raised a hand, counting off each point on her fingers. “You’re part of a secret society that fights evil monsters. Check. You’re powered by a magic gem. Check. You can magically change your outfit on a whim. Check! You even have a mystical companion!” She gestured behind them, where Asami followed a few steps back, glancing between the pair of them with an amused smile. “Check, check, and check!”

Rei cringed. For as long as she could remember, Christine had loved the magical girl genre. If the series featured flashy action, cutesy girls fighting evil, and overdrawn, pseudo-sexual transformation sequences, Christine consumed it the same as the air she needed to breathe. So much so, she could point out every single similarity to Rei’s new “secret identity,” as she called it. Oh joy.

“I swear to hell,” she said, with a stern shake of her head, “if you start comparing me to Sailor Moon, I’m gonna puke.”

Christine held a hand over her mouth, suppressing a giggle. “Personally, I’d say you’re more of a Sailor Jupiter, but that’s just me.”

“What is this ‘Sailor Moon’?” said Asami, leaning in to join the conversation.

“Oh, a character from an anime,” said Christine. “Have you seen anime? Actually, do ghosts even watch TV?”

Asami’s brow puzzled together. “I have not heard of anime, no, but when I was with Rei’s mother, I did enjoy some television programs from time to time.”

“Oh, awesome! What about movies? Have you seen Star Wars?”

“I’m afraid not. But I would be happy to watch it sometime.”

“Heck yeah!” Christine pumped a fist into the air. “Movie night with a ghost!”

Asami raised a correcting finger. “Actually, we prefer ‘spirit.’”

“Oh, sorry. Spirit.”

Rei watched the two with a quiet smirk. Good to see them getting along. Definitely an improvement over Christine’s stuttered babbling yesterday, when Rei had first introduced her to Asami. Not that she could blame her. Meeting a ghost and learning about a secret, magical monster-fighting society wasn’t something most people expected to deal with on a given Saturday afternoon.

Fast forward to Sunday morning, when Christine’s initial shock had vanished in place of overwhelming fascination and intrigue, which wouldn’t have been so bad if she hadn’t then vehemently tried to explain how Rei now was, in fact, a magical girl.

“Oh, speaking of which,” said Christine, giving a quick look around, “should we be worried about people noticing Asami? I mean, pasty dead women in kimonos aren’t exactly common around here. Plus, she’s literally transparent.”

Rei followed Christine’s look. A long row of buildings lined the street, packed with various small businesses and boutiques. The center of Milton wasn’t exactly a booming hub of activity, but it did have most of the essentials. She spotted the local bakery, and the dry cleaner’s next to it. Duskwell Theater lay farther down, across the street from a barber shop. Among the steady flow of cars driving by, several handfuls of pedestrians strolled along either side of the street, enough that walking in the company of a plainly visible dead woman might be cause for alarm. If they noticed her, of course.

“There’s no need to worry,” Asami said, with a bright smile. “I can be seen only by those I wish to see me, and right now that includes you and Rei.”

Christine lifted a brow. “Oh, well that’s handy.”

The trio rounded the corner of the Fresh Mart grocery store when another group of girls nearly walked into them. Christine yelped and shuffled out of the way, while Rei performed a poor excuse for a pirouette to avoid a shopping bag to the face. The only real casualty of the near-collision was a cup of frozen coffee one of the other girls dropped when trying to dance out of Christine’s path. The plastic cup exploded when it hit the sidewalk, splashing a mess of mocha slush across the girl’s pristine white shoes.

“Oh gosh, we’re sorry!” said Christine. “I swear, we didn’t see—”

Christine’s voice froze mid-breath. Standing across from them with mouth agape, staring down at her mocha-painted shoes, was Jessica-freaking-Palmer. Of all the shitty people to run into—could have at least had the decency to spill that coffee over the front of her stupid crop top. Tammy and Sarah, Jessica’s usual flunkies, stood on either side of their ring leader, both carrying multiple shopping bags and glaring at Rei and Christine with upturned noses, as though they’d stuck their faces over an old toilet.

“My coffee!” said Jessica, with a contemptuous groan. Her gaze flicked upwards and found Christine, who shrank back a step. “My God, watch where you’re going!”

“Seriously, you’re the worst,” added Sarah.

“Yeah!” Tammy said, with an indignant stomp of her foot. “What the hell’s your problem?”

Christine swallowed, grabbing at the hem of her leather jacket. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—”

“No, don’t you apologize to them.” Rei stepped in front her, scowling at the three girls. “They’re the ones with the problem.”

“Says the psychopath.” Jessica pointed at her own face, where a thick nasal splint taped across her nose. “I have to wear this for another week thanks to you. I’ll be lucky if my nose isn’t crooked!”

Rei couldn’t help herself. She flashed a grin and said, “Well, that’d be an improvement, wouldn’t it?”

Jessica’s jaw fell open in a silent gasp. “You—you—!”

“Aww, what’s the matter? Tongue-tied already?” Rei’s smirk widened, goading Jessica into taking a step forward. That’s it; give her a reason. “Guess you never were any good with words. You up to a solid D+ now in English?”

Before Jessica could lunge, Tammy pulled her back by the shoulder. “Forget it, Jess, they are so not worth it. Just let them go make out or whatever.”

Jessica looked to Tammy, back at Rei, and again to Christine. With a disgruntled huff, she backed off. “Ugh, fine. Got better things to do anyway. But this isn’t over.” She pointed at Rei. “Don’t think you get a free pass when you get back to school because your folks went and died, got it?”

Rei’s face burned. Red flashed in front of her eyes, and the entire street corner blurred around her, blood pumping so loud through her skull the only thing she heard was thunder between her ears. Tammy and Sarah both screamed. When her vision cleared, Rei had Jessica pinned against the brick wall of the grocery store, one hand to the back of her neck, the other wrenching her arm backwards at an awkward angle. Jessica shrieked, tapping her free hand against the wall in futility.

“What did I say?” She yanked Jessica’s arm harder, causing the girl to squeal with a desperate sob. “Next time it wouldn’t be your nose! How about an arm!”

Tammy and Sarah jumped on her. She fought them, maintaining her grip even as the two girls started smacking the side of her face. They pleaded at her to let go, but she ignored them. Insult her grandparents, huh? Insult their deaths? That was worth another broken bone. Maybe two.

A third pair of hands grabbed her. “Rei, stop! It’s not worth it!”

Christine’s voice cut through the mayhem, and Rei lost focus. Her grip slipped from Jessica’s arm. Finally, Tammy, Sarah, and Christine dragged them apart. Jessica recoiled away from the wall, eyes wild with tears. A small line of blood cut across the side of her forehead. Rei stepped back to the edge of the sidewalk, chest heaving.

Tammy and Sarah ran to their friend’s side, but Jessica pushed them off. Still staring at Rei, she clutched her arm and scrambled to her feet. “What the fuck is wrong with you!”

“Shit, you’re bleeding,” said Sarah, pulling her friend along the sidewalk. Jessica didn’t fight this time, hurrying along after her. “Come on, let’s get out of here!”

“Fucking freak!” Tammy shouted, scurrying after the other two. “Screw you and your dyke girlfriend!”

When the other three girls were gone, Rei calmed herself to the point her lungs stopped gasping for air. She swallowed, looked to Christine. “I’m sorry. I was—what she said—”

“No, it’s fine.” Christine’s focus shifted into a somber stare at the ground. “I get it, believe me. They’re awful.”

Rei’s fingers gave an involuntary clench. Awful didn’t cover it. Loser, freak, dyke—those were the tamer things Jessica’s posse had called Christine over the past three years at every goddamn opportunity. Those, Christine would brush off with a smile and awkward laughter. The worse things? Those left her crying in the bathroom through entire classes. Those left Rei showing up on her doorstep with two pints of mint chocolate chip ice cream when Christine was too miserable to leave her house. Those made Rei want to bash Jessica’s stupid, smug face into a locker until she choked on her own teeth. One day, maybe she’d get the chance.

Fucking Jessica Palmer.

#amwriting #writeblr #writerblr #wip #the shaman society #excerpt

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