#i read the first 3 Harry Potter books in elementary school and then gave up

[capricorndeclan]

I might be the last person to make this connection but I’m reading a fic and I can’t help but notice that remus lupin gives me the same vibes as adam parrish and the reason it took me so long to make the connection is because my first fandom was trc and not harry potter specifically the marauders era until now and 😭 can’t help but scream at the similarities like gansey is james ofc and sirius is ronan!!! and then lily is literally BLUE LILY… I’m going insane but specially with the remus and adam thing like both of them are straight A students bc they’re really intelligent and at the same time they fear that if they’re anything less than that they won’t deserve a place in their school or in the world for that matter, they both have very complicated relationship with their dads and to top it all off they struggle with accepting help from others… they’re to prideful which leads to discussions with their heart of gold best friends… and wolfstar 🤝 pynch ok enough bc if I continue I might scream

[dropofgoldensun]

omg hiiiii i am here from cat (@luvdsc) wondering if you could offer any advice about college apps 🙏 especially about the uc piqs? thank you so much i hope ur doing well!!!!!!!!

yes yes hello friend !! 💝 miss cat directed you to me because i did my college apps last year !!! (yikes one year passed already?? why does that feel ages ago 🤧)

first of all, congratulations on making the decision to apply to college !! i know it’s been hard for a lot of people our age to figure out the college situation recently, so i’m proud of you for choosing to take the extra step this summer to buckle up and write those essays 💞

i’ve compiled a few tips on answering the PIQs (i was actually in the middle of typing this up when i received your ask haha), but some of them can be applied to other essays, as well !! they’re all under the cut (because, unfortunately, being brief is not my forte) 😊

(and for reference, the prompts i chose were #2 (creativity), #6 (subject), #7 (community), and #8 (anything) !!)

tip #1: understand the prompt.

before you even begin writing, it’s important to understand what the question is really asking. for the UC PIQs, this will look different depending on which four prompts you decide to do.

in question one, for example, they want to know about your skills in leading others, but notice that they’re also curious about your resolution abilities and teamwork experience. or in question two, they don’t want to know that you paint and that you love painting—they could be asking how resourceful you are, how you think outside the box when you have an idea.

once you know the question you’re going to be answering, you can move on to brainstorming!

tip #2: write down three (3) key takeaways.

these are like the most basic, not-even-a-sentence answers you would give to each question. so for me, in response to question eight (“what do you believe makes you stand out as a strong candidate for the UCs?”), my answers were perseverance, courage, and character. i had a story about that, so i wrote about my experience with martial arts.

i recommend you do something similar. decide on three things that you want to communicate to your audience, and write them in the footnote of your document. your goal is to cover all three points so that, if anyone were to read your essay, they would walk away understanding those three things about you.

i found this strategy really helpful for keeping my essay streamlined while writing—if a sentence didn’t relate to any of those main points, i would cut it since those words would take up valuable space in the word count. stay focused on what needs to be in this essay, and if you have extra words left in the word count later, you can add those details back in.

and once you’re done with your essay, make sure to refer back to your takeaways and check that you covered all of them sufficiently!

tip #3: highlight your stories.

i sent cat an ask a couple days ago with a few pictures of my response to an end-of-year college counseling survey that referenced this tip (you can find it here). basically i said that, when choosing what topics to write about, pick things that interest you! if you get excited talking about it, your audience should get excited about reading it, because they’ll pick up on the passions you have and then everyone’s excited !!! :D

i’ll tell you a secret: everyone you meet, everyone you see, has countless unique experiences that few others may have. me? i spend hours making mashups out of kpop songs. i earned my black belt years after a traumatizing experience during training. i get russian harry potter and spanish dr. seuss books from the library. and i created a collaborative online google photos album for my classmates that now has thousands of entries. although these aren’t necessarily unique to only me, they’re still special enough to the point where, when you put them all together, you get a better image of the person i am, and what i value.

so find a story, a habit, a hobby that makes you different, because i believe that everyone has them. give them some food for thought, or that one-liner that sticks in their brain and won’t go away. and remember: these stories don’t all have to be extraordinary—they should be about people or moments of special value to you, because that’s what matters.

personal tip: when i was brainstorming ideas, i decided that the best way to get ideas out there was to go on a rant (because sometimes it helps to just have a conversation with yourself !!) and i recorded myself, so i could replay what i said !! this was so so crucial to me finding my own voice for writing essays. notice the way you word things when you talk—a good line or two may make it into the final draft :)

i found it helpful to read sample essays as well! they give a lot of great ideas on the kinds of topics people write about. (also, it’s kind of fun, because who doesn’t love a good story?)

but the people reading your essay won’t be there to just enjoy your story; what they really want you to do is to tell them what you learned from your experience. they want to know whether you’re teachable and willing to grow both as a student and as a young adult. so make sure to take note of the life lessons you learned, experience you gained, character you built, etc.

minor tip on ending your essay: if you’re telling a story that happened in the past, then close with what you learned and how you can apply that to your life moving forward. if you’re telling a story that has no definite end yet (like a passion or dream you have), you probably don’t have everything figured out (and you can say that in your essay!), so it might be better to close with your hopes for the future.

tip #4: ask your family for help.

peer-editing is one of the most effective ways to detect errors and inconsistencies in your writing, because, after staring at your essay for so long, you might gloss over glaring contradictions. for all of my essays, i printed them out and asked my parents to help me revise them. we’d meet every other night (or every night, depending on how much time was left) to review and discuss improvements.

i actually kept some of those printed drafts (only the first and the final ones for comparison), and let me tell you from experience—you’re probably going to have a lot of drafts (i think the most i did was seven? but you don’t need to go that far!). this part of the process does take some time, so remember to be patient and kind to yourself :) these essays won’t happen overnight!

enlisting the help of others also helps keep you accountable. one of the struggles many seniors face while writing essays is just... setting aside time to do them. and even though the constant reminders from your parents will definitely get repetitive and a bit stress-inducing, i can tell you from personal experience that i’m so glad they did; otherwise, i don’t think i’d have my essays done in time :’)

while writing college essays is challenging, your family will be there supporting you each step of the way. chances are that they’ll have their own pointers to pass on to you, since they probably remember doing this process themselves! and, out of everyone in your life, they probably remember the most about you (because you probably don’t remember much when you were four or five), so they might have a couple starter ideas for topics when brainstorming. you can rely on them for their advice and their experience.

tip #5: self-editing.

here’s the part that takes the longest time.

use action words. this is probably something you’ve heard all throughout elementary school where they didn’t like you to say “said” because it was “boring”… but honestly, the difference between “doing my own version” and “infusing it with my personality” could go a long way. also, use words that you would actually use in an essay—then it’ll have your own special flair, and not sound like it’s taken from some stuffy 80s textbook!

here are some of the words i used (once again, you shouldn’t use these words if they don’t sound like something you’d write/say): potential, overlay, wrestle, launch, analogous, weave, infuse, experiment, outlet, revel, fascinate, satisfaction, pursue, expand, distinction, capture, range, archive, engage, beyond, build, adversity, cultivate, preserve, commit, explore, convey, naturally

also, be on the lookout for repeated words. i once wrote an essay without noticing that i used “hope” three times in the same paragraph. don’t do that! use synonyms :) personally, i tended to run short on synonyms, so i always kept a tab or two open on my computer reserved for searching up new words.

side note: unfortunately, during my search for synonyms, i discovered that thesaurus.com just didn’t give me what i was looking for. i highly recommend using wordhippo instead; it has so many more options and they’re grouped by the different definitions of your word! i found the synonyms i needed really quickly and it was very satisfying!

avoid the passive voice! my teacher gave me this tip for theses or any other college-level writing. here’s an example of the passive voice: “there was a large part of me that wanted to turn back.” that’s twelve words taking up precious space in your word count! instead, say something like, “i considered turning back.” you’ve just freed up eight words :)

tip #6: final revisions.

this is the step where you fine-tune your essays. meet that word count.

read your writing out loud. does it sound like you? it should. every writer has a different voice, and you need to ensure that yours is pervasive throughout your essay. feel free to use contractions—not only do they reduce your word count (this was a good thing for me, since i had a problem with getting under 350 words), but they also give a more casual tone to your essay, as if you’re telling a story to someone in the room.

next, pretend to be an admissions officer and have someone else read your essay to you. do you get excited hearing about this student who shares your name? if you do, there’s a good chance the real admissions officers will love your essays, too. this also gives you a chance to review to your essay as a whole. pay attention to the overall flow. is there a clear beginning and end? do you resolve the issues and overcome the trials you brought up? listen to it as if it’s a story, and take this time to enjoy what you’ve written. you worked hard!

final thoughts / encouragements.

oh my goodness, did we make it to the end? honestly if you did, thank you so much 🥺

okay but despite my relatively optimistic tone throughout this post, i’m still going to be honest with you—the college essay writing process is difficult. it requires you to look inside yourself and analyze the “why” behind some of the things that you love, and that isn’t easy to do at all. it’s intellectually and emotionally challenging, because not only do you need to use so much energy writing, but you also have to dig deeper to understand yourself, and that’s not easy, either.

but i wanted to encourage you, too. no matter what you may think of yourself at 12am, 2am, 4am writing these essays, believe you have a personality that others love and will love when they meet you. you are an interesting person with unique experiences who deserves to share your thoughts with others. you have so many people behind you, supporting you during these next few months. and when you find that you can’t write any more, remember to take time to care for yourself. have a warm shower. go to bed early. i could go on and on about why sleep is good for your brain but i’ll spare you the details in this post 😉

one last thing: keep the bigger picture in focus. remember, by december or january, you will be finished with most of the application process. that’s no small accomplishment. you can do it. 💝

i really hope you found tips that you were looking for, and that they’re applicable to your own PIQs and other essays !! if you have any other questions, feel free to send in another ask (i promise my response won’t be this lengthy LOL) 💘💓

oh, and if you feel comfortable enough reaching out about anything in particular, i’m only a DM away 💕 i wish you the best of luck on writing your essays and i hope you enjoy your final year of high school !! 💗🌸💟💖

[thechosenburrito]

Intro to Love: 1.1-Free on Sunday

Word Count: 1,555

Summary:

Xochi gets partnered up with some guy named Carson for a project only to be reminded that she has no social life.

Author’s Note:

This is my first original writing!  I’ve been wanting to write fiction geared towards actual young adults, 18-25, since I grew up on stuff like Percy Jackson and Harry Potter.  Unfortunately, I’m not 12 anymore so I need something geared towards an older audience.  Hope you enjoy!

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When you hate going to class as much as I do, you learn to turn off alarms in your sleep.  Once you figure that out, it's all downhill and you'll always be late to morning classes.  You'll end up like me: throwing on a hoodie over your pajamas and running to class in flip flops.

Being late to my morning class wasn't that big of a deal.  It was an intro-level psychology lecture.  A "gimme" class compared to my others.   Plus, the class was so big that no one would notice if I came late or even showed up at all.  Except for Fridays.  Fridays were quiz days and if you weren't in class in the first 10 minutes, you didn't get a quiz AND you got a 0.  No makeups.  No dropped quizzes. I was running full sprint across campus and with no breakfast in me, the only thing keeping me going was the sheer fear of dropping a letter grade because of one quiz.

I made it to the building where my lecture hall was and threw the doors open.  This was a mistake because they were way lighter than anticipated and I ended up scaring the shit out of myself and anyone who was responsible and wanted to spend their morning studying in the common area.  Their piercing glares and furrowed brows were completely warranted.  I felt my face flush red, but I'd have to be embarrassed later because the clock on the wall read 9:07.  The elevator doors closed right when I looked at them.  If only I had telekinesis powers.  I booked it for stairs and after about 10 stairs I remembered that I forgot to take my asthma medication the night before.  Not exactly a great technique.

This time, I didn't throw the doors open.  A TA walked up to me and handed me a copy of the quiz.

"Just in time," she whispered with a raised eyebrow.

I was not even remotely prepared to speak to a human being this morning.  I managed half a chuckle and muttered something along the lines of  "Yeah, I know.".

I quickly looked around the back of the lecture hall for an empty seat, realizing that the only empty seats were at the front of the class.  Because today couldn't get any better, the sound of the door was so loud I should've just thrown them open, to begin with.  The whole lecture hall turned to look at me. The professor even paused to glance my way.  My brain chose this time specifically to reflect on my current outfit choice.  

My navy blue hoodie didn't exactly gel with my orange and black jack-o-lantern pants.  And the flip-flops didn't exactly help my cause.  I knew for a fact that I didn't brush my hair while I was running out of my dorm, which meant I probably looked like I lived in that elementary school lost-and-found bin with my wild black hair sticking out all over the place.  Not to mention I was also red and sweaty from running here.  I had only one thing on my mind as I made my way to the front row in my surprisingly loud flip-flops: "I need to get my life together.".

I sat down in the front row and quickly started my quiz, doing my best to avoid eye contact with either of the people next to me.  It was easy enough and I finished fairly quickly.  I started to pack away my things, but then accidentally made direct eye contact with my professor standing 10 feet away.  I sighed a little.  I couldn't leave early without prolonged awkward eye contact with my professor which was too much for me at the time.  I sat back in my seat.  'Ok,' I thought to myself. 'This lecture end in 25 minutes.  It should be fine".

I was definitely not fine.  Sleeping 3 hours a night does not necessarily lend itself to early morning lectures.  I started nodding off, snapping myself awake when my head hit the back of my chair.  I imagined that this is what it was like to fight off a demonic possession.  I definitely would have been taken over by the demon because I completely fell asleep.  

I jolted awake with pain in my arm.

"Ow!" I  said a little too loud.

The professor was looking right at me.   Shit.  I slept through the question.  I racked my brain for something I could say that wouldn't make me look like a complete idiot in front of everyone.

"Um.. is it.." I felt a gentle nudge.

I looked over and the guy next to me gestured to his notes.  The word "hippocampus" was written and circled at the bottom.

"...the hippocampus?" I wondered aloud.

My professor raised an eyebrow, "Yes".

I sighed and slumped back into my chair.  I scribbled a note on my paper, 'Thanks, man.  You saved my life.', and nudged him on the arm.  He looked over, saw the note on my paper, and nodded.

"Alright before I let you go, I'll go ahead and assign partners for the Trust project," she announced, taking out a clipboard. "If you're in an odd-numbered seat, your partner will be the person to your left, or one number up from yours.  Once you find your partner, check with me or a TA so we can get your names!"

God, why can't professors make things simple?  I shouldn't have to do math to figure out who my partner is.  I stood up to check my seat number, 17, and to the left was-

"Hey, looks like we're partners," He stood up and started grabbing his bag.  "I'm Carson."

I finally got a good look at him once we were both standing.  When we were sitting, I couldn't tell that he was 6 inches taller than me.  It felt awkward having to look up to talk to him.  He was wearing a red flannel over a black t-shirt and jeans.  It was exactly something I would wear at any other point in time.  His thin frame made me extra aware of my potential food-baby.  His face did seem familiar.  Maybe I'd seen him around campus? I wasn't sure.  There were so many guys like him, I probably could've seen any one of his 'clones'.

I managed an awkward smile.

"I'm Xochi.  Nice to meet you!"

I did my best to give a firm handshake.  He definitely had a stronger grip than I anticipated, but 7 years of violin gave me strong hands.

We made our way to one of the TAs.  Carson turned to me.

"I'm gonna be real,  I have no idea what this project is about.  Do you?" he whispered.

I sighed and felt a little part of me die.  That statement alone meant that I would probably be doing this whole project myself.  I figured I didn't get the sharpest knife in the Cesar.

"Uh... when's it due?"

He checked his phone, "Email says it's due on Friday.  Same as Exam 1."

"Then I'll care on Thursday," I said dryly, already taking to account how much I was going to procrastinate.

I was being dead serious but I managed a laugh out of him.  His smile was surprisingly infectious and I felt a little smile bloom.  I quickly turned away.

I gave our names to the TA at the exit.

"Carson..uh.."

"Williams"

"Williams. And Xochitl Jimenez.  It's X-O-C-H-I-T-L."

The TA nodded and Carson and I made our way down to the lobby.

"I thought your name was So-chee. You spell it with an X?" he asked curiously.

I grinned so he wouldn't know it wasn't the first time I heard this.

"Yeah... It's traditional.  It means flower.", I replied with a half chuckle.

"Huh.  That's pretty cool.  Mine just means my dad's a car.", he smirked.

I couldn't hold back my laugh.

"Ok,  you got me with that one!"

Caron smiled and pulled out his phone to check his calendar, "We probably shouldn't leave all the work to Thursday 'though, just to make our lives easier.  I can't work on it today 'cause I have Tennis practice, or tomorrow because I have a tournament.  Sunday works 'though! I'm free at noon, but at 6 I'm grabbing dinner with my friend.  Does that work for you?"

"Let me check," I said in vain as I pulled out my phone, feeling a little pang in my heart.

I looked at my calendar and pretended to look through it intensely.  My personal calendar was empty.  No plans, no meetings, no activities.  He seemed so lucky to have all that going on. Friends, a hobby, people to talk to.  I could go days, sometimes, without speaking a single word until my parent's eventually called to check on me.  I used to have lots of friends in High School.  I'd known them so long, I didn't bother to make any new ones, and going to college left me all on my own.  I couldn't even bring my instrument with me.   Being a musician was my whole life and stopping cold turkey hasn't been doing my brain any favors.  No new friends, no hobbies, no one.  I really had nothing going on.

I gave a strained smile.

"Yeah. I think I'll be free then."

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Next Chapter: 1.2-Clinic Crashers

A/N:

It has been so much writing this!  The rest of the chapters I’ve already written will be posted soon!  Chapter 2.3 Will hopefully be out tomorrow or at least some time this weekend!

[kangtaebins]

Weird Asks That Say A Lot

I said I was going to just answer all of these bc of boredom,, and so here I am

1. Coffee mugs, teacups, wine glasses, water bottles, or soda cans? Teacups are aesthetically pleasing idc what anyone says

2. Chocolate bars or lollipops? Lollipops

3. Bubblegum or cotton candy? Cotton candy supremacy

4. How did your elementary school teachers describe you? I was told that I was a leader a lot, and was told that I was very intelligent. Ah yes, I suffered from gifted kid burn out in high school-

5. Do you prefer to drink soda from soda cans, soda bottles, plastic cups or glass cups? Look, plastic cups are the best. Specifically the ones with the lids and reusable straws

6. Pastel, boho, tomboy, preppy, goth, grunge, formal or sportswear? It truly depends on the day bc some days I would say goth and other days I’d say grunge, but most days- pastel

7. Earbuds or headphones? Earbuds

8. Movies or TV shows? TV shows bc- idk actually I’m just not a movie person

9. Favorite smell in the summer? I have a weird obsession with the smell of cheap sunscreen and I have no clue why

10. Game you were best at in p.e.? I hated gym in high school and rarely participated despite the teacher being irritated with me (truly she gave up after a few months bc I really did not care at all) HOWEVER- I went to town in volleyball and still enjoy playing volleyball v much

11. What do you have for breakfast on an average day? I don’t eat breakfast often,,, 

12. Name of your favorite playlist? Probably my Navy or Indigo playlist

13. Lanyard or key ring? Key ring 

14. Favorite non-chocolate candy? Anything green apple!!!

15. Favorite book you read as a school assignment? I actually genuinely enjoyed Romeo And Juliet tbh

16. Most comfortable position to sit in? I always curl up in a ball on the couch, but in a chair I manspread ngl

17. Most frequently worn pair of shoes? Nike slides <//3

18. Ideal weather? Between 50-70 degrees, sunny but not warm, being able to wear a hoodie and not be hot or cold

19. Sleeping position? I usually either sleep on my left side or on my stomach (my back once in a while when it’s hurting bc I’m a hag)

20. Preferred place to write (i.e., in a note book, on your laptop, sketchpad, post-it notes, etc.)? I write on my phone more than anything

21. Obsession from childhood? Hm- I was really obsessed with High School Musical as a kid. My friend and I would put it on and lip sync to the songs and pretend we were the characters

22. Role model? Is it- wrong to say myself? Bc I feel like that sounds arrogant but genuinely it’s bc I’m constantly trying to better myself mentally and learn and grow. Idk I just am proud of who I am and look to myself when I need to find motivation

23. Strange habits? Strange? Idk if it’s strange but I’m constantly twiddling with the hem of my sleeves bc I love the feeling of it

24. Favorite crystal? Citrine 

25. First song you remember hearing? WH- bitch idk tf

26. Favorite activity to do in warm weather? Stay tf inside in the air conditioning

27. Favorite activity to do in cold weather? Stay tf inside in the heat

28. Five songs to describe you? To describe me?? Girl idk I'm all over the place. How about songs that resonate with me instead,,, Alive by Khalid, Paranoid by Lauv, Phobia by Dvwn, Fake Smile by Ariana Grande, and Breathin by Ariana Grande

29. Best way to bond with you? Truly I'm not very difficult to get along with, just don't be an asshole. Talk to me about psychology, current events, say Soobin is the cutest to exist idk it's not that hard

30. Places that you find sacred? I- hm. I'm not like a church person or anything so idk. Maybe just anything really old or places with very detailed and unique architecture

31. What outfit do you wear to kick ass and take names? I don't own many clothes,,, let alone nice clothes. I also don't really dress to impress I'd much rather be comfortable

32. Top five favorite vines? Oh god if I h a d to pick???? The lipstick in the Valentino bag, they were roommates, it's an avocado- thaaanks, jared 19, and uh,,, zach stooppp you're gonna get in trouble

33. Most used phrase in your phone? Tbh it's probably "girl what-" or "no bc"

34. Advertisements you have stuck in your head? That 877-CASH-NOW ONE JFC

35. Average time you fall asleep? Between 11pm-1am

36. What is the first meme you remember ever seeing? Probably the troll face one or smth

37. Suitcase or duffel bag? Suitcase

38. Lemonade or tea? I mix them together!

39. Lemon cake or lemon meringue pie? Lemon meringue pie bc I don't really like cake

40. Weirdest thing to ever happen at your school? Y'all I- went to a hs/college mixed school,, I've seen it all. Weirdest?? Idk but one weird thing I remember was when we were making whistles in art and some dude made a penis whistle 😭

41. Last person you texted? My best friend :))

42. Jacket pockets or pants pockets? Jacket pockets

43. Hoodie, leather jacket, cardigan, jean jacket or bomber jacket? Hoodie 100%

44. Favorite scent for soap? I love soaps that smell like soap. Like ok duh I know that sounds dumb but yk what I mean? I don't want lemon or mint or whatever, I like the plain soap smell

45. Which genre: sci-fi, fantasy or superhero? Fantasy

46. Most comfortable outfit to sleep in? Oversized t-shirt, no pants. I question anyone that is comfortable sleeping with pants on-

47. Favorite type of cheese? Feta!

48. If you were a fruit, what kind would you be? I feel like I'd be a pineapple and I have no clue why

49. What saying or quote do you live by? Not necessarily a quote but more of a thought: live for yourself, enjoy each day, do what gives you joy

50. What made you laugh the hardest you ever have? I have had so many instances in which I have laughed so hard I peed and to even attempt to name one is impossible

51. Current stresses? Making sure my family gets their vaccines and stays safe

52. Favorite font? I don't think I have one? Anything except comic sans

53. What is the current state of your hands? What does this even mean 💀 I mean,, they're holding my phone, cold, and my nails are unpolished

54. What did you learn from your first job? That people are assholes but I'm capable of not giving a fuck bc life is not that damn serious

55. Favorite fairy tale? Is The Three Little Pigs considered a fairy tale?

56. Favorite tradition? Putting up the Christmas tree with my mom :( it's always a lot of fun

57. The three biggest struggles you’ve overcome? Depression, grief, and hopefully one day- smth I'm currently dealing with

58. Four talents you’re proud of having? Makeup!! But also: singing, crying on command, and tying cherry stems with my tongue

59. If you were a video game character, what would your catchphrase be? Sick of these bitches

60. If you were a character in an anime, what kind of anime would you want it to be? I don't watch anime so idk

61. Favorite line you heard from a book/movie/tv show/etc.? It's this line from Eleanor & Park: "Eleanor was right: She never looked nice. She looked like art, and art wasn't supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something."

62. Seven characters you relate to? Holy hell, 7?? Probably won't get that many but hm,,, Darlene from Roseanne, Hermione from Harry Potter, Emily from Pretty Little Liars maybe?? Idk I suddenly blanked

63. Five songs that would play in your club? As if it's Your Last by BP, anything from SHINee, anything from Ariana, also anything Rihanna, just a bunch of women tbh

64. Favorite website from your childhood? FUCKING WEBKINZ BRO

65. Any permanent scars? I have a few on my arms idk where they came from tbh, I also have one on my hand from my sister 🧍🏻‍♀

66. Favorite flower(s)? Sunflowers!!! I also really love lilacs 💔

67. Good luck charms? My dog's collar that I wear as a bracelet

68. Worst flavor of any food or drink you’ve ever tried? Licorice-

69. A fun fact that you don’t know how you learned? It takes repeating a piece of information 12 times at random to memorize it completely

70. Left or right handed? Right

71. Least favorite pattern? Fucking chevron- and realistic camo, and anything with the American flag

72. Worst subject? Yall im awful at history. American history, world history, all of it-

73. Favorite weird flavor combo? Either pickles and peanut butter or cheese and grapes

74. At what pain level out of ten (1 through 10) do you have to be at before you take an advil or ibuprofen? I'm stubborn but also always in pain so I've become numb to a lot of body pains. I have to be at like a 7-8 before I take smth otherwise I'd always be taking it

75. When did you lose your first tooth? I was probably like 5 I was definitely in Kindergarten

76. What’s your favorite potato food (i.e. tater tots, baked potatoes, fries, chips, etc.)? I fw baked potatoes

77. Best plant to grow on a windowsill? I have a love for succulents

78. Coffee from a gas station or sushi from a grocery store? Oh my- I don't drink coffee but coffee from a gas station

79. Which looks better, your school id photo or your driver’s license photo? Driver's license for sure

80. Earth tones or jewel tones? Jewel tones

81. Fireflies or lightning bugs? I say both,, but I think I say lightning bugs more

82. PC or console? PC

83. Writing or drawing? Both

84. Podcasts or talk radio? Podcasts definitely

84. Barbie or polly pocket? Barbie

85. Fairy tales or mythology? Fairy tales

86. Cookies or cupcakes? C o o k i e s

87. Your greatest fear? Losing people I love

88. Your greatest wish? To live comfortably and be a great mother

89. Who would you put before everyone else? My family

90. Luckiest mistake? Guessing on 90% of a test and getting an A 💀

91. Boxes or bags? Bags are easier to carry-

92. Lamps, overhead lights, sunlight or fairy lights? Fairy lights!!

93. Nicknames? Sam, Sammi, my sister calls me Sams, my best friend calls me Bub, and my gf calls me Baby if that counts- 👀

94. Favorite season? Fall omg it's gorgeous and has perfect temperatures

95. Favorite app on your phone? ✨tumblr✨

96. Desktop background? Its literally a pic of Soobin, Taehyun, and Beomgyu

97. How many phone numbers do you have memorized? Like 4-5

98. Favorite historical era? The one where white people learn their fucking place and stop being racist, homophobic, classist, sexist, all the -ists and -phobics,,,, so none. Fuck history :))

[toomanysurveys9]

Sick kids, assignment needs finished by tomorrow directly after work, and I have to work on zero sleep. WOO. :/

1. Rosehip tea: Which book did you love when you were younger? I loved Inkheart for a long, long time when I was in elementary/middle school. In high school, I really enjoyed Just Listen by Sarah Dessen, and just about any other book she wrote.

2. Oolong tea: Which book series could you read again? The Mortal Instruments. And I want to finish the Stephanie Plum series.

3. Rooibos: What is one of you favourite books? Same answer as above.

4. Strawberry tea: Tell me about your first kiss, if you had one. I was fourteen. We were at the roller rink with a couple of my friends and my brother. Obviously Jacob since he was my boyfriend. I was skating with my friend, and Jacob came up to me and gave me a quick kiss while we were skating. Lol. 

5. Apple tea: Tell me about your first break up, if you had one. I broke up with a guy after he went to juvie for stealing. He’s in prison now so there’s that. Lol.

6. Earl Grey: Which countries have you visited? I’ve only ever been in the U.S. which is where I live.

7. Chai: Where do you want to travel next? Tennessee. I would pick somewhere more exotic but we don’t have the money for all that.

8. Darjeeling: What languages do you speak? English. I wish I knew Spanish and ASL.

9. Hop tea: Do you have a favourite tea? Which one? I don’t really drink tea since it upsets my stomach most of the time.

10. Herbal tea: Which person would you chose to travel the world with? I can’t pick one person. I have two kids, and I would pick them both. And Jacob, I guess.

11. Nettle tea: Are you jealous on a person? Why? I am not.

12. Ice tea: Do you miss somebody? Why? I miss my grandma that passed away all the time. My Uncle Sam, who also passed away..

13. Yellow tea: What shampoo do you use? Whatever my mom buys which is usually the cheap stuff.

14. Peppermint tea: What is your favourite gif at the moment? I don’t have one.

15. Ceylon tea: Do you have a song you like, but have bad memories with? A few thanks to Jason. :)

16. Hibiscus tea: What is a song you can always hear? There’s a lot of those.

17. Flowering tea: What is a movie you can always watch? The Harry Potter series.

18. Pu-erh tea: What is a book you can recommend to others? The Stephanie Plum series are silly and fun, and she’s a kick ass bounty hunter, so what’s not to love? 19. Turkish tea: What is your favourite cake? Depends on my mood.

20. Green tea: What was the first movie you saw in a cinema? I don’t remember.

21. Blueberry-Muffin tea: Tell me a memory, which makes you smile. Watching Wyatt and Jacob play together last night. It doesn’t happen nearly enough.

22. Panda tea: Do you have pets? Which one? I have two dogs and six rats.

23. Butter tea: Show / Tell me about one thing i your room you find awesome. I don’t really know that we have anything in our room all that interesting, at least to most people. I love the guitar that used to be my Uncle Sam’s, but it’s sitting in my closet.. and my tote of books. I have so many books.

24. Hot chocolate: Do you have (a) stuffed animal(s) sitting in your room? Which one(s)? There are so many. Mostly that belong to my babies.

25. 24 flavors: What is your favourite word? I don’t really have one.. I say “fuck” a lot more than I should though.

26. Jasmin tea: Can you draw / paint? Wanna show me something? I wish, but I am not that artistic.

27. Kombucha: What do you order on a pizza? Whatever Jacob wants, or ham and bacon.

28. Cloud tea: Which movie do you want to watch next? I want to watch The Greatest Showman again.

29. Gunpowder tea: If you had the chance: would you go to space? Probably not.

[rachaelslibrary]

2020 Wrap-Up

What a year 2020 was.  And I don’t mean that sarcastically.  Negatives were being laid off from work, canceling my Hawaii vacation, canceling my wedding, cancelling my 3 week honeymoon in Europe, and just generally being in a shitty mood for 300 out of the 365 days in the year.  Positives were going back to work, not having to plan a wedding, and using our wedding/Europe money to buy a house instead.  We move in a few weeks and life is literally insane.

Another positive: I had a really good reading year this year and ended up finishing 39 books.  Considering my good reads goal was only 21, I’m very happy with these results.

So enough venting, here are all the books I read in 2020.

5 STARS

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab - really good and super unique premise, I enjoyed it immensely and it was very impactful, though I don’t know if it’s one I’ll reread because I was just exhausted and felt so bad for the main character throughout the story

Jade City by Fonda Lee - literally my FAVORITE book this year.  It was so good I can’t stop thinking about it.  It would be a great tv show on HBO or something similar, and I’m going to read the second book as soon as I can.

Skyward (#1) and Starsight (#2) by Brandon Sanderson

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas - I’m not sure why I gave this five stars to be honest, other than it’s one of my favorites in this series and has a special place in my heart

Where the Lost Wander by Amy Harmon - I was not expecting to like this book as much as I did but I was hooked.  It follows a family on the Oregon Trail, which I’ve always been a little fascinated with since I grew up in Oregon and we spent a whole year studying it in elementary school.  Parts of it are a little rough, but I still thoroughly enjoyed and couldn’t put it down.

The City of Brass (#1), The Kingdom of Copper (#2), and The Empire of Gold (#3) by S.A. Chakraborty - I literally can’t say enough good things about this series and it wrapped up really well.  GO READ IT.  The first two were rereads and the third book came out this year

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (#2), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (#3) and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (#4) Illustrated Editions by J.K. Rowling reread

Morning Star (#3) and Iron Gold (#4) By Pierce Brown - Seriously one of my favorite series of all time.  Can book 6 come out please??? reread

A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer 

4 STARS

Tiny Pretty Things by Sona Charaipotra - I picked this up because I saw it was going to be a show on Netflix and was interested.  Read the book first and liked it a lot, but the show is literally AWFUL.  I made it through an episode and a half before I gave up on it.

The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed - soooo good and insightful.  Very eye-opening and there are a lot of really insightful thoughts about police brutality and white privilege in general

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins 

Trail of Locusts by Rebecca Roanhorse - first book in The Sixth World series, I’m planning to read the second soon

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden - another series that I plan on continuing this year

Court of Lions by Somaiya Daud - second book in the duology and gets a higher rating because it was a lot more compelling and wrapped up the story well

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer - Don’t hate me for giving this 4 stars, I reread it in preparation for midnight sun and was pleasantly reminded that the books are ten times better than the movies even though they’re still cringey as hell. Reread

Incomparable by Brie and Nikki Bella - my only nonfiction read of the year

House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City) by Sarah J. Maas

Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare

Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas - reread

3 STARS

Sherwood by Meagan Spooner

Mirage by Somaiya Daud - first book in the duology and it’s a good start, but the second blows it out of the water, reread

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare - reread

The Selection (#1), The Elite (#2), The One (#3), The Heir (#4) and The Crown (#5) by Kiera Cass - super predicable but still a nice easy read.  The original trilogy is better than the two sequels

Alex and Eliza by Melissa de la Cruz - reread after Hamilton came out

The Dark Prophecy (#2) by Rick Riordan

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

2 STARS

Eragon by Christopher Paolini - honestly this book was a struggle to get through, and if I hadn’t been given books 2 and 3 in the series, I probably would’ve just DNF’d

1 STAR/DNF

Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer - I tried soooo hard to get through this but Edward’s thoughts were way too creepy.  I DNF’d it around page 150

[goingfalmouth]

7 moments from a Japanese elementary school

I’ve been teaching at my elementary for almost four months now. Let me show you seven funny, odd or thought-provoking moments of it.

1. There are boys in my classes wearing T-shirts that say babydoll. While I’m not trying to shame anyone, you surely understand why it’s sometimes difficult to keep a straight face.

2. The kids use rulers a lot. Like, a lot. For drawing tables and notebooks on the worksheets, for underlining words and, most bafflingly to me, to connect answers when the exercise is formatted into two columns. Ain’t nobody got patience for that where I’m from.

3. The Japanese language works in syllables and there’s this thing called katakana pronunciation, where tawaa is tower, souru is Seoul and harii pottaa is Harry Potter. A girl was asking me how to spell kiyui in English and after five minutes of confusion I gave up and asked the Japanese teacher. Kiwi. It’s kiwi.

4. We play gesture games where the first in line gets a word (swimming, judo, playing the piano) and has to send it, silently, to the person behind them. One day, we started with cooking, and apart from correct answers also got badminton and kendo – Japanese sword fighting.

5. Elementary schools apparently don’t really do tests in English, but we did have a few, and once some kids finished early, every single one of them pulled out a book or a manga to read. Imagine my surprise and sheer delight.

6. We were writing about summer holidays and one boy had I slayed Hiroshima as his thing-I-did. He meant I stayed in Hiroshima, but the first version is admittedly much cooler and it took a lot of self-persuasion before I corrected him.

7. My last name isn’t easy, but my favourite attempt so far is by a fifth-grade girl who made haribokuma – a Harribo bear – out of Hrivnacova. I’m down.

 I’m finishing here, but do check in some other day – maybe I’ll have a new stash of moments.

[natsthinkitythinkthinkthonk]

Happy 32nd Birthday Nobuhiko Okamoto!

Personal Note:

I’ve been preparing for a while because I wanted to make this with a lot more thought. Sorry for the length of this post. I spent quite a bit of time on it, but I didn’t realize it would get so long! He is one of my top favourite voice actors (both English and Japanese) ever. To me, he’s a relatable, awesome, and passionate inspiration. He puts his all into every role he does, and he never gives up no matter who tells him to. 

I could probably go on about how much I like many of the roles he’s done, but that would be a whole other essay in itself. I even considered watching Corpse Party (the scaredy cat I am) because I heard he was in it. Yeah, I’m one of those people who gets drawn to anime when I figure out certain studios and voice actors are attached to it. I have watched a few episodes of some really bad anime because I heard he was in it. No regrets! Okay, maybe I have a few... I still haven’t watched them all though! I plan on watching a ton more, and that includes a few bad apples here and there.

Despite all the hurdles and adversity he faces, he overcomes it! He has had so many amazing roles, he sings, he’s good at shogi, and he’s just a good person. I respect him a lot. Honestly, I can’t word stuff too well, but I sincerely hope he continues working, maybe gets married and has kids (since he said he wanted to), and experiences all the happiness he deserves.

Table of Contents:

Top Roles (+ clips)

Trailblazer arrangement

Facts + Q&As

Music Recommendations

Additional Sources + other cool posts

Top Roles:

I watched to include even the ones that I didn’t watch entirely, so I put together a whole list. It’s generally not too strict in order, but I went from his good to his best. If I wanted to put a few words, I just included them in square brackets. In those, there will also be recommended clips if I feel the need to add any in.

* = ones that I haven’t watched completely (or up to its current point)

Rui Tatsumi* - Starmyu

Ivan Karelin* - Tiger and Bunny

Shin-ah - Akatsuki no Yona

[This character didn’t talk much, so he actually got to play a MOB character as well. I found this character kind of charming though.]

Mitsuo - Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou

[He’s the one who dropped the hot dog. Rest in Pieces. This anime made me laugh, and even though this character barely appeared, he made me laugh every time he did. Recommended clip: “Glasses”]

Gladion* - Pokemon Sun & Moon

[He’s actually the perfect choice to play this edgy boi.]

Yumeji Fujiwara* - Yumekui Merry

[RIP the can]

Makoto Kashino* - Yume-iro Pâtissière

[I just started this one]

Mizuki* - Kamisama Hajimemashite

[I watched six episodes of this one.]

Rei Ogami - Code:Breaker

[This wasn’t a very good anime, it’s a mediocre manga, but I still enjoyed it.]

Nikaidou Harunobu* - 3-Gatsu no Lion

[I watched around 6-8 episodes of this one. This character is a pure round boi, and I like the way Nobu portrayed this character. Recommended Clip.]

Io Otonashi* - Acchi Kocchi

[I watched around 5 episodes of this one. His bishounen game is very strong.]

Takeru Fujiwara* - Prince of Stride

[These anime characters run like how I run from my life responsibilities and problems. His bishounen game is also very strong. The strong and silent type is always popular. Sadly, I’m the quiet and extremely frail and weak type.]

Shouta Kisa* - Sekaiichi Hatsukoi

[According to Tumblr, he has never done an R-rated (18+) BLCD, but he has been in some shounen-ai anime.]

Issac Foster - Satsuriku no Tenshi

[My reaction to this anime. Don’t worry, I’m following this to the end.]

Ryousuke Kominato - Diamond no Ace

Ryou Kurokiba* - Shokugeki no Souma

Age - Sakasama no Patema

[Yeah, that’s his actual name. If you name your child something that stupid, I would personally like to have a word with you. This movie was really nice though.]

Accelerator* - Toaru Majutsu no Index

[I had to include his laugh to this]

Jurai Andou - Inobato (Inou-Battle wa Nichijou-kei no Naka de)

[And jail is just a building you live in! I can’t remember the context of this line.]

Kiyoharu Hyoudou - Welcome to the Ballroom

Yoichi Saotome* - Owari no Seraph

Eiji Niizuma* - Bakuman

[Recommended Clip]

Obi - Akagami no Shirayuki-hime

[When he looks into the mirror and realizes he’s missing his eyebrows.]

Takumi Usui* - Kaichou wa Maid-sama

Yuu Nishinoya* - Haikyuu

[Recommended Clip: ROLLING THUNDER!]

Rin Okumura - Ao no Exorcist

[He’s such a likeable protagonist. Recommended clip: Rin x Shiemi because they’re adorable]

Mikoto Mikoshiba - Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun

[This character made me laugh so much. He and Seo are my favourites. I haven’t seen another amazing anime with both Miyuki Sawashiro and Nobu. They’re my two favourites. I hope to see them acting together eventually (even if Mikorin and Seo never really communicated). Thanks to Nobu, we have a voice to this madly embarassed bishounen. Recommended Clips: Mikorin Clips, Mixer Clip]

Katsuki “Kacchan” Bakugou - Boku no Hero Academia

[Bakugou might not always be my cup of tea as a character, but his voice made me like him somewhat anyway whether he’s an asshole or not. There are a few scenes in season three that hit me with mad feels,, but even during season one and two, Nobu aced this role. This role is what shot him up to one of my favourite voice actors. Recommended Clips: Rage moments, Kacchan vs Deku audio segment (scroll down a little for this Tumblr post), Salty Bakugou S1]

Karma Akabane - Assassination Classroom

[While Bakugou is one type of crazy, Karma is another. Honestly, he’s such a sly, cunning, and mischievous character, but that’s what we all like about him, right?]

Trailblazer Arrangement:

This is my first time transcribing a song and arranging it! I improvised and made up some stuff (mostly guitar solos that just didn’t fit as well logically on piano). I usually don’t like (actually, I kinda hate) transcribing because it’s basically like trying to copy down a book that someone reads aloud (and you can’t look at the text). But it was worth doing this! He’s definitely not my favourite singer, but I’d still listen to him.

I didn't want to go with an original score for this one because I felt like I wanted to improve a lot more as a composer and artist (as if I'm qualified enough to be called those terms). When I make one for him, I want to go all out.

Facts:

I found some other interesting facts online. There are quite a few different sources. I’ll try to list them below all the facts (but I might link them to the actual facts as well. There are a lot, so there’s that.

All [Nat Notes] will be put between square brackets “[these]”.

These are all from THIS POST:

After graduating from secondary school, he entered some voice acting training courses associated with his agency (Pro-Fit) to pursue his dream as a seiyuu.

To be able to pay for his training, he worked at a 7-Eleven and a post office.

His family is very strict and conservative.

He was into video games when he was younger, but his parents were against letting him play video games and ended up limiting him to a one-hour per day time limit [THIS POOR BOI]

[Regarding his gaming] his parents told him, “If you want to play games, you can play shogi.” This ended up being the reason he started playing shogi.

He is a practicing Catholic [ironic since one of his most iconic roles is playing the son of Satan]

He’s a 3rd dan ranked shogi player, and he once aimed to be a professional shogi player.

He has a huge love for sweets. I follow his blog, and a lot of his posts involve sweets.

“His favourite [candy bar] would be Black Thunder chocolate bars (same as Kamiya Hiroshi and Ono Daisuke), and at one point, he always ends up buying Black Thunder by the box, stocking up on it, and eating up to 10 bars in one day, that his agency decided to restrict him into eating just one bar a day.” [let the poor guy eat his chocolate]

He is easily bullied by other seiyuu [check out the original post which has gifs of his mishaps]

“[While recording] …he ran away from the mic, forgetting that he was wearing headphones connected to the mic and ended up messing up the recording room, and the staff had to rearrange everything.”

He’s a big fan of Pokemon [He now plays Gladion in Pokemon Sun & Moon]

These are from “More Nobu Facts”

“As a student, he used to fall asleep on the train and miss his destinations sometimes. He thinks that it’s really comfortable to take a nap there.” [Yeah, you say that until you somehow end up in the middle of nowhere and wonder where you are and why you even exist.]

“He suffers from hay fever in the spring. Said that the symptoms kill him.” [You and me both except mine are year-round and gradually getting worse.]

“He played with Lego bricks when he was a kid.” [If he’s the type of person who left out the bricks and made people experience pain because of it, I will personally leave Lego bricks outside his door. Those things hurt when they’re unexpected.]

“He loves the indoor life.” [don’t we all…]

“He read the Harry Potter series.” [I did too! Not that I remember any of it.]

“His cute, foreign Furby only speaks English. Noburin stated, “English is very hard.”” [HOW DO PEOPLE SLEEP KNOWING THEY OWN ONE OF THOSE? I WOULD BURN IT IF I GOT ONE.]

“In elementary school, the girl he liked gave him chocolate on Valentine’s Day. He said he felt like crying from the shock.” [I haven’t experienced that. Was he happy because it was that girl who gave him chocolate or because he got free chocolate?]

“He was hospitalized before when he was a child due to a bad cold (or maybe the flu).” [Well, that diet sure doesn’t help, and I doubt screaming all the time is good for you. Weirdly, I can’t say anything more than that because I do both too except I scream internally while he does it as his profession.]

He tends to get sick within the first two weeks of October, right before his birthday. [I wish you luck!]

He likes to watch lightning and thinks that it’s cool. [I’M SO SCARED OF THUNDER]

During the summer as a kid, he liked to catch cicadas and dragonflies, and play with water guns. [SAME DUDE]

He was in the badminton club during secondary school.

These are all from his Q&A! [Part 1], [Part 2], [Part 3], [Part 4]:

I’m not going to include quotation marks for this one for the most part. I changed some awkward phrasing. I left out some questions from the original posts as well. Check the sources out!

Nickname: Pikorin

Favourite animal: Dog [Same. I love my dog, Penny. She’s my little sister. I have no shame.]

What are you fond of?: Squirrels [why?]

Description of your personality: Moody [Same.]

Favourite Colour: Black

Health and Beauty Routine: I drink two cups of milk in the morning and do squats two times a day. 

First thing you do in the morning?: Rinse your mouth

First thing you wash in the bath: Face

Amount of sleep you get: 4 hours on the weekdays, 10 hours on the weekend  [I wouldn’t live with that kind of schedule.]

Rain or sunshine: Rain!

What did you play as a child?: I slid down the slide and got many scratches. [I ran up slides a lot in elementary school]

Something you’re proud of: “I have a shiny legendary Pokemon.” [I ALMOST NEVER GET SHINIES. LET ALONE LEGENDARY ONES. THAT’S AN ACCOMPLISHMENT RIGHT THERE. The chances of getting one kinda vary, but it’s less than 0.1% I think.]

Favourite school subject: Math [Can’t relate. I’m dumb.]

Least favourite school subject: Civics

Best school memory?: I won a badminton tournament. [Can’t relate. I’m a blob.]

Previous part-time jobs: [...]post office, fast food, convenience store and then accounting, I’ve done different jobs.

If you could be reborn, would you be a man or woman? A woman!

Who was your first love?: We were in elementary school, in the same class. [Related post]

Any gesture of women unnerving to you?: My heart skips a beat when ousted or “shooed” by hand.  [He gets shooed like a bug XD]

Where would you go for a date?: Tokyo Disney Sea.  [You know you’re at the height of luxury when you can afford to take someone there. I want someone to take me to Disneyland or Disney World, or a Disney Cruise.]

Morning person or night person?: Morning person.  [Can’t relate.]

If you could drive to any time period, what would it be?: Jurassic Period! [If it just so happens you do, *pats* it was nice knowing you (even though he doesn’t know me). He’ll get eaten by a dinosaur.]

If you were stranded on a deserted island, what would you want there with you?: My Nintendo DS or PSP.   [Good luck without a charger or electricity. What games would he bring though?]

Favourite music genre: Anime songs [Me too fam.]

Do you play any instruments? No, playing the F chord on the guitar is my limit. [I like playing and creating music. I’m just not any good at it. XD He should try learning though!]

Favourite sports: swimming and badminton [I’m not good at swimming. I’m not good at badminton. I’m not good at sports.]

Sweets you usually eat: Macarons and chocolate-related sweets [AYE, that’s pretty much my taste too, so we pretty much have similar taste.]

Something you’re self-conscious about: The thickness of my eyebrows. [If his eyebrows were ugly, I would’ve commented on that already. XD (I usually say something along the lines of, “Is that a caterpillar on your face? It’s so thick and bushy! It looks like you took hair from your head and put it on your eyebrow! Maybe you can’t grow facial hair because all of it goes to those eyebrows.”)]

What will you do when and if only you became an invisible man one day?: Secretly observe Sugita Tomokazu-san. [Well, alright then. Fangirls have some competition? More importantly, Nakamura has competition!]

What’s the scariest thing to you?: In a sense, the most intimidating people. [All people are intimidating for me O^O’]

What is the title of the first game you’ve ever played in your life?: “Super Mario World”. [For me, it was Pokemon Pearl]

What would you be if you went into the fantasy world?: A witch. [Nobu, defying gender barriers. He’ll be a fabulous witch. I would similarly want to be a mage.]

What if I want to use a weapon to fight monsters?: Bow, crossbow. [I would want to use magic or a sword!]

Favourite season?: Spring. [I like winter because plants are dead (I have extremely bad allergies), snow, Christmas, my birthday, and New Year’s!]

At what spot do you like to linger around?: Starbucks. [Again, the height of luxury is when you’re able to afford Starbucks regularly.]

How’s your tolerance to alcohol?: I can’t drink much. [I don’t drink]

What good books do you usually read?: Original works that are adapted into anime. [I don’t read a lot. I’m an illiterate fool.]

What do you buy at convenience stores?: Fresh premium caramel roll cake. [I wish they had those in Canada…]

Favourite place in the country?: Okinawa. [I gotta go there someday!]

What countries do you want to go abroad?: Italy. [He recently said he wants to go to Italy for gelato and to be honest, I relate. Europe has good chocolate and cheese from what I hear.]

What are the challenges to your trip destinations like?: Pickpockets like to snatch! [He better watch out for those vans that say “Free Candy!” They might be meant for kids, but he might just stumble in.]

Are you nervous in public?: Recently it’s been okay; still nervous during events. [I’m always nervous in public. I would like to attend an event by the end of my life though.]

What would you tell your past-self (10 years ago)?: “Don’t give up and eat your dinner properly!” [I tell that to myself now XD If I were to send a message to myself, it would be something along the lines of, “What you feel, what you think, and what you believe is important. Listen to yourself. At the end of the day, you will figure out what to do. Don’t be afraid of being alone, and don’t be afraid to wander. Loosen up.”]

What would you message to your future-self (10 years from now)?: “The you in his twenties is having lots of fun. Are you having fun?” [Message for me ten years from now: PLEASE TELL ME YOU AREN’T AS DEEP INTO VOICE ACTORS AND ANIMATION. I BEG YOU, GET A LIFE.]

If the world was going to perish in 24 hours, what would you do? Gather all my friends and family, and have a BBQ party. [I would just write something in case it resurfaces. I would want to write my thoughts, opinions, and experiences along with the people around me.]  

Where do you want to work?: A place where I could grow. [Same!]

What are your thoughts when you look back at 2010? I issued a sex appeal to play [Usui], and worked hard to reach the targets! [From the amount of screaming fangirls, I think you did just fine.]

What is your current aim?: To be more playful and get more out of acting.

Finally, a message to the world: I’ll work hard from now on to make a voice that everyone will not have a hard time to listen to. Thank you for your support! [Thank you Nobu! You inspire a lot of people (including me) everyday!]

Additional Facts! [SOURCES WILL BE LISTED BELOW!]

He likes watching horror movies (especially with his friends Ryouhei Kimura, Kouki Uchiyama, and Yoshimasa Hosoya. Kouki is a scaredy-cat.) When watching a horror movie, he experienced scary unknown noises and used salt to ward away ghosts.

His birthdate is October 24, 1986

He is 168cm tall

He is affiliated with the agency Pro-Fit

He won: - Best New Actor Award at the Third Seiyu Awards for his roles as  Shin Kanzato in Persona: Trinity Soul, Ryuji Kuhoin in Kurenai, and Accelerator in Toaru Majutsu no Index (along with Yuuki Kaji!) - Best Supporting Actor Award at the Fifth Seiyu Awards for his roles as  Takumi Usui in Kaichou wa Maid-Sama, Eiji Niizuma in Bakuman, and Accelerator in Toaru Majutsu no Index II

He loves sweets... a lot: - He’s a qualified patisserie - Where his love of sweets came from [I can also say that is a good portion of his blog]

He tried to be rebellious as a kid but got “clobbered” by his mom.

He would purposefully wear long-sleeves while in the hot recording room for “My Hero Academia” so that he would be agitated enough to play Kacchan!

He adds chocolate to his curry sometimes

He gave Ayane Sakura the nickname “Ayaneru”

He often celebrates fictional characters’ birthdays on his blog for series that he’s involved with!

He was once told to give up on being a voice actor!

Thank you for not giving up Nobu!

Music:

月刊少女野崎君-俺の手でSPARKING!! 御子柴實琴(CV:岡本信彦) - Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun: Mikorin Character Song

Kamisama Hajimemashita: Mizuki Character Song

Welcome to the Ballroom: Kiyoharu Hyoudou Character Song

『 サクラメント』By Okamoto Nobuhiko Ending for Vatican Miracle Examiner

Promise - Kaichou wa Maid-sama: Takumi Usui Character Song

Restoration to 0 - Code:Breaker: Rei Ogami Character Song

Tiger and Bunny: Character Song

スタミュ Starmyu S2 Shadow & Lights 「沈黙のディアローグ」Ver. Tatsumi Rui

Blue Flame - Prince of Stride: Takeru Fujiwara Character Song

99.9% Noisy - To Aru Majutsu no Index: Accelerator character song

Oikaze ni Tsugu - Diamond no Ace: Kominato Ryosuke

Trailblazer - Ao no Exorcist

Kimi wa Hitori Janai

List of Links (Sources and other cool stuff!):

Some of the links were included in the actual facts themselves! If a source and other stuff is missing, they’re included above!

Voice Compilations:

25 Anime Characters That Share The Same Voice Actor as Boku no Hero Academia's Bakugou Katsuki

Voice Compilation [ 1 ], [ 2 ] 

Wikipedia:

Nobuhiko Okamoto

3rd Seiyuu Awards

5th Seiyuu Awards

Haikyuu Stuff:

Haikyuu Awards Basically, they got the fans to nominate for awards like “Who’s the best dressed?” Then the cast got to comment (and maybe get praised by the two female cast members)

“Imagination Game” - Seiyuu Event Long story short: to win a pair of Karasuno boxers, the voice actors must answer all the same character when asked something like, “Out of the Karasuno team, who’s the most likely to [blank]”

Cast Pictures

Drama CD: Why Noya isn’t popular with women (This one is because I fricking relate because I’m too short for this tall world)

“Who’s Best Girl?” - Cast Comments + Nobuhiko’s comments [video with cc]

Nobuhiko Okamoto & Yuuki Kaji being bros [ 1 ], [ 2 ], [ 3 ], [ 4 ], [That time they challenged a Guinness World record], [Nobuhiko’s message for Yuuki Kaji’s 30th birthday]

Nobuhiko’s athletic ability

Kouki Uchiyama, Daiki Yamashita, Nobuhiko Okamoto: [Comic] BNHA Cast Comments

Daiki lending Nobuhiko his jacket (this can potentially fuel Bakudeku fanfics. I can feel it.)

Nishinoya and Bakugou at Jump Festa

[cntcrtainmcnt-blog]

Okay so, classes are starting on Monday, meaning I’ll probs be slower(or faster, it’s also a definite possibility). In any case, I will most likely slow down when it comes to bringing new muses in so hopefully this is my last intro post in a while. If you’d like to plot with any of them, please like this or just message me!

EDWARD “EDDIE” HALE is a 23 years old CISMALE who looks just like LUKE BENWARD. He has been described as ALTRUISTIC yet SUPERSTITIOUS.

Eddie is the younger brother of Terrence, and from the moment he was born, he was expected to be just as good as his brother was. While he did try to live up to it at first, it also gave him some issues, mostly relating to confidence, since he was always compared to his brother and felt like he wasn’t good enough.

Being 6 years younger, at least, he was mostly the one Hale kid people knew in his school year. During that time, mostly in elementary school, it was a relief, since he had a break of living up to everyone’s expectations.

Then, the closer he got to high school, the more people started to hear about his brother and everything.

All through high school, he tried to just blend in, and not get linked to his brother. By that time, people knew all the things he did, Terrence was basically like a legend in their high school, and Eddie was definitely not the same type of character.

Every single time his brother brought a girlfriend home, he’d end up surprisingly bonding with her, enough to care and try to help them after his brother broke their heart. But he personally didn’t have a girlfriend until the very high of his senior high school year.

By the time he graduated, Terrence had moved out to Kola, looking for good job opportunities. Eddie still doesn’t know what happened in his mind, but at one point, he received a text from his brother asking if he wanted to move in with him in Kola and open a confectionery with him. Since he decided to not go to college and was just working a shit job, Eddie accepted. Not like his relationship with his parents was that good anyway.

So moved to Kola when he was 19, and he lives there in an apartment with his brother. Since he never studied, Terrence thought he’d be better running the front shop, greeting people, selling stuff, managing the employees, while he was working mostly backstore with finance and all that.

Not a day passes without him regretting his decision to move to Kola.

While definitely help you if you’re in trouble, even if he doesn’t know you or won’t get anything out of it.

STYLES MCKINLEY is a 28 years old CISMALE who looks just like BEAU MIRCHOFF. He has been described as GENEROUS yet SAD.

So Styles. Is. A. Sad. Puppy.

He was the second son, his brother being about 5 years older than him. When he was only 3, his mother passed away. He was told it was a certain disease, but he was never told what.

Anyway, he grew up looking up at his dad and his brother, and never really minded not having a mom. Although after a moment, he started getting upset whenever someone would mention his mom, and then they’d apologize when they learned about her fate. It’s not like he really knew her, and yes, it’s sad, but it’s something he’s gotten over a long time ago.

When he was 12, his father(43) remarried with a woman that was 24. It was... weird to have a step-mom this young, but it was weirder for his brother. Anyway, they already knew the woman, she was their dad’s secretary, and actually babysat both boys when they were a little younger. So she was already well acquainted with the family.

Anyway, a year later, she was caught cheating on her husband with no one else than Styles’ brother. That completely tore the family apart. His dad divorced, his brother was kicked out, and his step mom was fired and he never heard of her again.

And when he started high school, his father(who’d started abusing alcohol) was deemed ot good enough to care for him, so he went to live with his brother(who was now 19 and had a steady job in a restaurant). But that wasn’t the rockiest part of his high school experience.

See, Styles was a rather talented soccer player, and so quite popular. But unlike his friends(who tended to be cruel and manipulative), he was just the most caring person, he just never showed that side often. Or at least, people would mistake him as just another cruel boy.

Anyway. Early in sophomore year, they started picking on this girl, Louise, who was, really, just minding her own business. But they didn’t like that she was never mingling with people, and they really wanted her to like... do it with them. Well, Styles never said anything out loud, but she categorized him as one of them, and he totally gets why, since he never stepped in to stop it. Which he was kind of sad about because if he was honest, she seemed really nice and he thought he could definitely like her.

Well, he did end up stopping them, about a month and a half later. It was a party(which she surprisingly decided to go to), his “friends” had cornered her in a room. He was standing in the back at first, but when he realized what their intention was, he just want ahead and got them, not so pacifially, to leave. That was the beginning of his story with Louise, and honestly the end of his popularity(and soccer career, since he quit, refusing to play with such jerks).

At first, Louise and him were distant, mostly because he was grumpy he went from everything to nothing, but he quickly warmed up. And that was the beginning of a wonderful love story that would’ve lasted for ages, had it not been a horrible diagnosis.

It was during senior year, she was getting sicker and sicker, so she went to the doctors. And when she got her results, she was devastated. So was Styles, when he learned she had cancer, and it wasn’t an early stage, and it was almost terminal.

Well, anyway, they decided it wouldn’t stop them. The next year, while she was transferred to a better hospital and he decided he would go into medicine in a close by hospital, they did the most impulsive thing either have ever done, and they got married. She just wanted to live as much as she could, before it was too late.

She was strong, lasted for a very long time, but the more time passed, the more they realized the day was going to come. Louise passed away 3 years ago, when they were 25. Styles was devastated, but at least, he knew she had a good life. She had the life she wanted.

So he kind of knew he wouldn’t be able to stay in that town much longer after her death, so he decided to head back to Kola. He’s now a resident in oncology, and his biggest dream would be to help cancer patients.

TAMI SULLIVAN is a 20 years old CISFEMALE who looks just like SHANNON PURSER. She has been described as MAGNANIMOUS yet SELF CONSCIOUS.

Tami is the youngest sister of a pageant queen who went out to become a model. She was originally expected to also follow in those steps, but she had no interest in beauty contest, and much prefers imaginary worlds.

While her sister would always be out partying with friends, Tami would just stay home and read books after books. Literally never stopped, it’s all she did. So while she wasn’t so good in classes such as sciences or maths, she was skilled in English or Literature classes.

So she’s not really popular? Never has been? But she’s also got a bunch of friends. You know how it is, unpopular kids tend to bond together, and they nearly always have more genuine friends than popular kids. So she’s really happy being unpopular but with real friends.

She’s currently studying to become an editor, since she loves reading and it would be a perfect job for her. She would totally write her own stories, but she’s just lacking a little in the imagination skill.

While she lives well being unpopular, constantly being compared to her model sister has given her body issues. She knows all shapes are pretty, curves are pretty, people tell her she’s pretty, but it’s sometimes just really hard to believe when you’re sister is tall and skinny and poses on magazine covers.

TERRENCE HALE is a 29 years old CISMALE who looks just like GLEN POWELL. She has been described as AESTHETIC yet COCKY.

Born from two overachiever parents, Terrence was expected to do good. And while he had an immense ego and self-confidence, he was also surprisingly smart. So of course, when his brother was born, he was taken as a model.

To not look like a complete nerd, Terrence acted like a real brat in school, hanging with the popular kids. Hell, he was one of the most popular kid out there. He just made sure to study double the amount at home so his grades would stay up.

Definitely did a lot of shit, dated countless girls(often now more than a few days), did all kind of crazy dares, which ended up getting him suspended quite a few times, but also gave him a name in the school, which would end up lasting for years.

Once he graduated high school, he went on to study accounting in Kola University, keeping up the same game he played all through school, aka he was a frat boy who acted like he gave no shit about classes, but definitely had the best grades in the class.

After graduating, he didn’t really know what he wanted to do. He knew he would never go home, somehow being far from his parents felt good, so he just looked around for jobs, but nothing really interested him.

Until he was binge-watching all of the Harry Potter movies, with a gigantic bowl of candies. He then realized there weren’t that many confectioneries in Kola, and that was definitely something the town needed more. (he might have been high when that happened...)

It was really on an impulse that Terrence looked around for a place to rent, to found one, and called Eddie to know if he wanted to join. Honestly, that confectionery was going to happen whether he said yes or no, but he definitely wanted his brother to be a part of it. He was just always close to him, and he knew he was most likely looking out for a good opportunity career-wish.

The confectionery, called Candy Hale, was opened about 4 years ago, and its popularity keeps only increasing. Terrence mostly works the accounts, but he also doesn’t mind helping up front if needed.

[oddeyecadia]

what if it’s us?

a college/soulmate/librarian!pidge x dancer!lance au. yeah that’s a lot. also another attempt on writing a multi chapter fic. wish me luck. this will be the only chapter that i’ll tag for plance au week tho :( i hope that’s okay. i don’t think i can finish this in just a week or even month so yeah.

also posted on ao3 | ch. 2 ch. 3 ch. 4

___

The first time they met, they didn't know immediately. But Pidge, being the natural observer that she was, was the first one to notice a hint.

"Uhm, hey." Called a guy with slightly high pitched voice, tapping her shoulder lightly as she finished arranging some books on the library shelf.

She turned to him with a tired expression. Though, she didn't miss how an unfamiliar warmth suddenly bloomed in her chest when she met his gaze. They were blue, his eyes. A charming, ocean blue. For some unknown reason, her heart started beating faster than it should while all the scars and little bruises on her body tingled in a strange way.

Pidge paused for a second, trying to comprehend and understand what this strong feeling actually was. She seemed to be the only one between them who felt it. Though, it might just be her imagination, she swore she saw his eyes widened a bit when they met her hazel ones.

Shrugging internally, she came with a quick hypothesis that it was only just the heat making her body react very weirdly. "Can I help you?" Pidge finally asked the lanky guy.

"You're a student librarian right?"

"Obviously."

"Can you help me find this book? I can't remember the title but it's orange!"

Her mind was sent reeling as she wore a puzzled expression. Was this guy serious? She never thought she would encounter an elementary in a college student's body. These type of people were in a very nice rank in Pidge's most annoying people list.

She let out a sigh. "What type of book is it?"

"A anatomy one."

"Follow me." He did when the girl then started walking to the STEM isle.

Sound of their footsteps filled the library. It was a saturday evening, the place wasn't as busy as any other week. Students of Altea University didn't usually have a lot of classes on saturdays. Though, there were still a few groups of people roaming around, like the usual academic prodigies who liked to finish their homeworks and projects earlier than everyone else, the novel fans who would read harry potter religiously everyday, and some couples making out behind the tallest shelves. Oh Pidge hated those. Was it really that hard to keep their library kinks to themselves? Apparently not for she could already hear kissing sounds from when they passed the fiction aisle.

"Is that even allowed?" The guy behind her asked quietly, though it was loud enough for her to hear.

"Nope." She replied, turning to the STEM aisle and started looking for a book with a certain bright color.

"Aren't you gonna stop them?"

"Too lazy to. Besides that'd be so awkward."

"True."

As soon as their small talk ended, her eyes finally landed on the third shelf where an orange calculus book stood out. Her short arms reached for the object and showed it to the person beside her. "Is this what you're looking for?"

His eyes squinted as he took the book from her hand. "I think so." Moving it closer to his face, he examined the cover.

That was the moment Pidge saw it. Two bandaids were on this guy's right arm close to his elbow. They were placed very similarly to where she had two fresh cuts from yesterday when she crawled under her bed to reach for her lost game boy, her arm accidentally landing on a rough surface.

The concept of every person having a soulmate that would receive the same injuries and physical pain as them was very fascinating to Pidge, but she never really cared for finding her own. Her soulmate didn't actually gave her a lot of wild bruises, cuts, or injuries as a child. But things changed horribly when she went to college. On her first year, she started getting a lot of small bruises on her knees and slight pain on her limbs for no reason. She thought perhaps her soulmate joined a sports team or something. She got really curious at some point, desperate to know what the hell her soulmate was up to that they had to have a shit ton of bruises. Thankfully, the injuries started to appear less when she hit her second year of college. Though, the curiosity never left.

"Yup. This is it." The guy in front of her smiled once again. "Thanks..." His eyes quickly looked at her name tag and added "Katarina."

"Don't."

"What should I call you then?"

"Nothing. I don't even know you."

"I'm Lance. Might as well introduce ourselves, you're probably going to see me here a lot for a few weeks." There was a hint of stress in his voice, making her remember that it was almost the end of the first semester. He was probably one of those students who treated libraries like their second home when loaded with a shit ton of school projects to do.

"Wow. Productive."

"Yeah, I'm pretty studious." She could hear the sarcasm. "Anyway, see you around, Katarina."

Lance gave her another kind smile before he turned around and walked away, giving Pidge a good look on the bandaids on his arm once again.

Crossing her arms, she gave the similar cuts she had with him a gentle stroke using her fingers.

It could just a be a coincidence. It was very common for people to have cuts and bruises below their elbows. She didn't want to assume that quickly.

He couldn't be. ___

She would never take the pleasure of slouching for granted ever again. Pidge, for the umpteenth time this week, fell asleep on her study table back at her apartment earlier today. She was only supposed to take a quick nap but ended up sleeping for the whole afternoon. Now, she couldn't even look down without her neck and upper back feeling as though they had been burned with acid from the inside. She didn't miss a class though, that was a good thing.

"You okay, Pidge?" The guy across her, Hunk, asked with genuine concern when he noticed her oddly good posture and the discomfort in her expression.

Hunk was Pidge's physics partner. The two decided to work on their paired homework at the campus library, an hour before Pidge's shift started. "I'm okay. It's just– my back kinda hurts."

"What happened?"

"Took a nap on a very uncomfortable position, that's all."

"Want some pain killers? I think I have some in my bag."

She smiled with gratitude. He was as caring as ever. "No, it's fine. I already took one. But thanks, Hunk."

Just as they were about to go back to their work, the library was bombarded with a familiar obnoxious voice. "Hunk!– Oh hey, Katarina." Shushes and groans filled the room as all eyes fell on who caused the disturbance.

"Sorry." Lance whispered, suddenly being aware of where he was.

"You guys know each other?" Hunk asked quietly as Lance approached them.

"No." She said. "Yes." He said.

The one who told the truth was him. Lance wasn't kidding when he said he and Pidge would be seeing each other more often in the library starting last week. Every night he would be greeting her, wherever corner of the library she was, with that bright smile of his. Sometimes he would come with his friends for a group study, sometimes he was with his group mates for a project, but usually he would come alone to borrow some textbooks.

It had been almost two weeks since he started his daily visit. He never missed a night, and every night he would always find something new to talk about. Pidge never really liked human interaction, especially with strangers. Lance on the other hand, seemed to love initiating small talks with everyone, even with Pidge who looked small yet very intimidating and tired of everybody's shit 24/7.

It was annoying at first, but she got used to it very quickly. He just wouldn't stop until he'd get even the slightest acknowledgement. Every night she'd learn something new about him for he was very talkative.

Lance was a nursing student, had a pet cat named blue, loved rain, grew up with a lot of siblings, and apparently he had a one direction phase. Pidge learned all of these in just two weeks of daily small talks. She wouldn't admit it but she would love to learn more.

"Hunk, can I borrow your keys?"

The big guy sighs. "Lost yours again?"

Lance scratched the back of his head, letting out a few nervous laughs. "Yeah. I'll try to find it later. Please?"

Hunk then gave what seemed to be his apartment key to him with his famous disappointed face.

"You're Hunk's roommate?" She asked Lance. "That explains his lack of sleep."

"Hey." The loud mouth whined with a pout.

"So are you guys friends?" Hunk asked once again as Lance sat down beside him, carefully keeping his posture straight and perfect as if he was one slouch away from breaking his back.

"Yes." He said. "Acquaintances." She said.

Putting his hand on his chest, Lance gasped dramatically. "Katarina, c'mon. I've told you some of my deepest secrets, we're not just acquaintances."

"You having a harry styles fan account when you were 15 isn't a deep secret. Also, can you please stop calling me that?"

"You haven't told me your nickname yet."

"It's Pidge." Hunk interrupted.

"Hunk!" Pidge whisper shouted, looking very betrayed.

"What? You said you didn't want him to call you Katarina. And same, cause you don't look like a Katarina."

A sigh. "Only my friends can call me Pidge, though."

Lance let out a victorious chuckle. "Well, I'm your friend now. Deal with it, Pidge."

The blue eyed wore a proud smile after finally calling her by her nickname for the first time, as if it was some kind of achievement. Like a promotion but in Pidge's life. The room then went silent– well, it became a little more quiet with Lance's mouth shut –after a few seconds of unimpressed staring from Pidge.

The silence made their senses focus more on their surroundings. Pidge could hear pages turning, pencils on paper, and quiet chatters. The lighting of the place made it easier to read but the mood just screamed sleep. The smell of books and wood helped her mind relax. Though, the random smell of mint was so strong that it hurt her nose. Where was it coming from anyway?

"What is that smell?" Hunk asked what she was about to.

"Yeah, it's so... minty." She added.

"Oops. Uh, it's salonpas. I put some on my back and neck, hopefully to ease the pain."

Hunk spoke. "Something happened in dance practice again?"

A brow of hers lifted curiously. "Dance practice?"

"He's part of our university's dance team."

"I sure am! We're more like a pep squad though, we do a lot of awesome stunts. But no, nothing happened during practice. Or to me in general."

"So... it's your soulmate's?" Pidge found herself asking, the thought of their similar elbow cuts flashing through her mind, causing her heart rate to rise a little.

"Yup. I'd always feel back and neck aches whenever exams are near, and finals are coming up, I bet my soulmate's back with their over studying bs. They probably never sleep, or they do but not comfortably. God, I can't wait to meet them so that I could tell them how unhealthy over studying is. Don't they know prioritizing studies over health isn't always good cause–" Pidge couldn't even focus on Lance's little rant as the cogs in her brain worked to make the conclusion for her hypothesis.

Their similar cuts, the small bruises on her knees that would appear out of nowhere and the slight pain on her limbs that she would feel for no reason, Lance being part of a dance team that did a lot of stunts, him having back aches whenever there were exams, a time where her studious ass was on it's peak, always ending up sleeping on her desk.

Realization hit her like a space ship crashing on land. Suddenly it all made sense. She knew that it was possible because of the elbow cuts she saw on him when they first met. But these connections just proved her assumptions were right after all. There was no denying it.

Lance was her soulmate.

Oh god... Lance was her soulmate.

The cute guy that had been trying to befriend her– and succeeding –for weeks was the person the universe was telling her she should be with.

Wait.

Did she just thought Lance was cute?

Oh no.

There's just too much to take in. Pidge's hands started sweating as Lance finished his rant. "I've said this multiple times but I just can't wait to meet my soulmate, and take care of them because they clearly aren't taking care of themselves that well." His eyes met hers and his face soften at her shocked expression. "You okay there, Pidge?"

"Huh?" She finally zoned in. "Y-Yeah. Just fine." When she gave Hunk a glance, she immediately noticed the obvious grin that was forming on his face. Bless him, it was clear that he was trying to hide it, but he was failing so bad.

From the looks of it, Hunk also figured it out. She shook her head very slightly. Don't tell him yet.

Lance did not seem to notice Pidge giving Hunk a begging expression for he said. "Mmkay. If you say so." He stood slowly, again keeping his posture as to not hurt his back even more. "I'll be resting in our dorm for a bit before practice starts. See ya guys later!" He walked out of the library humming a mess of tunes, like some kind of a remix. Probably, a song their dance group used for a routine.

Pidge let out a sigh of relief when he was finally out of sight. Though the tension in her breathing came back as soon as she faced Hunk.

"So..." He said a little too enthusiastically. "My flirty roommate and my snarky physics partner. A perfect match."

"Ugh." Was her only response.

"You didn't tell me you've met your soulmate?"

"I just found out. Like right now. I mean I've noticed things but I just didn't want to make conclusions that quickly."

"When are you going to tell him?"

"Never. Let him find out on his own." Besides, how was she supposed to tell him anyways? Hey, we're soulmates, I was the one who gave you those back aches. or Thanks for the bruises, dude.

Would he believe her? Would he even be happy to know it was her? Pidge had seen Lance flirt with girls in the library multiple times. She knew his type and it wasn't nerdy girls with a 13 year old boy's body.

She wasn't even sure if she was okay with him being her soulmate. Still, the thought of rejection made her heart sink.

"I hate to break it to you, Pidge, but Lance might not be dumb, but he's very slow. He wouldn't know unless someone tell him."

"Fine." She knew she had to tell him sooner or later anyway. "I'll tell him when I have evidence."

"Pidge, this isn't a thesis report. And aren't his- or your back aches enough?"

"Well I can't just tell someone we're soulmates without a strong evidence right? Plus, this–" She pointed on her upper back. "is internal. There aren't any marks or anything. Therefore, it wouldn't be as convincing." Excuses. Pidge had mastered making those a long time ago. She really just wasn't ready to tell him.

It worked for Hunk though. He shrugged. "Alright. True. You win. But when you tell him, I need to know what happens. Always update me."

[everythingshawnmendes]

A Heart’s Memory (Teacher!Shawn Mendes x Reader)

A/N: I read something like this in a Harry Styles fic, I really don’t remember from where though. If you are the writer and want this removed, with all due respect contact me, I am in no way shape or form trying to plagiarize.

Summary: Shawn is an elementary school teacher and has a son with his wife who unfortunately died during childbirth. Y/N has a daughter the age of his son and they go to school together. Little does she know her kid’s teacher is her first love from school.

5k+ words

tag @xmanorianx @shawnsassymendes

Inspired from this: 

“Can you ever stop loving someone?

You never stop loving. Once you love someone, honestly, truly, you will never be able to un-love them. At that time your old love will not feel so strong, but it is a heart, and it will never let you forget something that ever made you happy.”

Shawn sat back and admired his newly decorated classroom. It was August 30th, the day before school would start again. He taught the 2nd grade, the grade his son Thomas was in.

Teaching elementary school made Shawn so incredibly happy. He loved kids, and what he loved even more than them was his role of leading them through the beginning of their lives and making sure each one of his students was happy. Childhood was really a crucial part to anybody’s happiness and life, and he wanted to make sure every child felt like home in his classroom. He decorated the room with plants, planning on assigning one to each student so they can water it and let it grow. In the corner, he put blankets and bean bags for naptime, because the lucky 7-year-olds he taught were granted a nap time twice a week after lunch. He also purchased new games, books and coloring sheets for downtime. He also hoped to get a pet fish or hamster, so they can look after it together, but he would have to check out the dynamic of the group before that. One year, his class and he had a goldfish and it was truly a part of their class; another year, they had a betta fish and the students completely neglected it and Shawn had to be the one feeding it everyday.

He also put posters across the walls, bright colorful ones to mask the dull white that surrounded the room. He checked out his class list. He was very happy, since from a special request, most of his students from 1st grade that he taught last year will have been moved to his class so they can do 2 years together. He wasn’t one to choose favourites but there was this girl that was best friends with his son Thomas, that he absolutely adored. Witty, comical and yet very understanding, Rose was for sure one of his most prized students.

He checked the cabinets to make sure there were cookies and cups. The first day of school always ended with a teacher-parent meeting. He was never really nervous for those, since he knew that he was a good teacher, and everybody else seemed to think so too.

Shawn closed his classroom door, waved goodbye to his colleagues and went to the school yard where he left Thomas. The end of summer breeze was certainly there, but he was warm enough in his thin button up shirt. 

“Hey buddy, we’re leaving!” He ran up to his son, who was sliding down a slide that was Shawn’s height.

“Daddy I don’t wanna go! Rose is here.”

“Oh hey, Rose, didn’t see ya there!” Shawn waved at the smiling girl behind his son.

“Hi Mr. Mendes! Is Tommy gonna be in our class this year?” She asked, two (your hair color) French braids falling down on her shoulders.

“No unfortunately. Rules say it wouldn’t be fair if a kid had their parent as a teacher.” Shawn made an exaggerated pouty sad face.

“No!”

“It’s okay Rose, we will see each other at recess. And lunch. And second recess.” Thomas said affirmatively.

The two slid down the slide to join Shawn on the pebbled ground.

“Wait a minute.” Shawn frowned. “Rose, how’d you get here?”

“I Apparated, duh.” She said, making Shawn chuckle. The saying sounded vaguely familiar, but he just brushed it off, assuming he just watched Harry Potter too many times. “My babysitter drove me.” She pointed at a car in the parking lot, in which sat a woman on the phone.

“My bad. So will I be seeing your parents tomorrow?” He asked her.

“Hmm… I think my mommy will come!”

“Alright cool! I’ve never met her actually.”

“She’s the best. I’m cooler of course, but shh don’t tell her I said that.” She smiled even wide, her smile making Shawn melt.

The three walked to the parking lot, Shawn racing them to the fence and letting them win, feigning being out of breath.

“Beat ya!” Tommy shouted as he watched his dad stagger up to him, clutching his chest.

“Yes, you did! My man.” Shawn exclaimed, picking his son up and twirling him in the air.

They both waved goodbye to Rose and got on the road. They didn’t live very far, only a couple minutes away. It was a neighbourhood school after all, none of the students living over twenty minutes away.

On the way home, Thomas told Shawn a story about a game he played, but Shawn zoned out a bit.

He thought about what Rose said about her mother saying, which lead him to think about Thomas’ mom.

He got married to her and had Thomas, but unfortunately, she passed away from a mishap during her C-section. They were both so young. He pushed the thoughts away from his mind. It was very hard to get over at first, but he had quite a distraction since Thomas was still to be taken care of. They were quite happy, Shawn remembered. But she was gone, and it had been way too long, and the memory of her became very foggy. He wished Thomas could grow up with a mother, because even though he gave his son everything, all of his love, a child deserves a mother’s too.

“And then BOOM! Thomas the train crashed into the station!”

Shawn snapped out of his trail of thoughts and grinned at his son through the mirror.

“You’re kidding!” Shawn exclaimed.

“Nope.” Thomas said, before looking out the window, the TV episode clearly replaying in his head.

Shawn shook his head, smiling and pulled up to the driveway.

“Alright buddy, what do you want for dinner?” He ruffled his son’s head as they took off their shoes in the entrance, Shawn picking up a bunch of toys left astray.

Thomas pondered a while, as if this decision was as important as choosing a wife.

“Lasagna!”

“I think we can make that happen. Wanna help me?”

“Okay!”

+

Y/N turned her key in the doorknob and opened the door.

“Mommy!” Rose came running down the stairs to hug her mother.

“Rosie, hi darling.” Y/N kneeled down to hug her daughter tightly.

Y/N was a full-time single mother and worked her ass off everyday. She was a private optometrist, having her own clinic. Her hours usually extended from 9-6, which is still pretty late as Rose finishes school at 3. Y/N was a terrific mother, and Rose was the center of her world. She knew when to be soft, when to be harsh, what to teach and how to teach it. The only thing was she worked, to give Rose and her the most comfortable life possible.

Y/N got pregnant with Rose the last year of optometry school by her then-boyfriend. He left them and ever since then, Y/N had been on her own. She was definitely not as strong as she made her look, but Rose was her drive in life. Ever since then, she had worked so that she could be where she was today.

She lived in a comfortable home, not too big since they were only two, plus their cat. Rose had a babysitter from 3-5, as Y/N could almost never make it to pick Rose up when school ended.

When Rose was even younger, and Y/N’s clinic had only started and she had to work longer hours, Y/N would often bring Rose to her work. Now though, they had a much nicer schedule. Y/N’s clinic was popular enough for her to hire another optometrist to work the evening.

“Hi Sam, thanks so much.” Y/N hugged the babysitter goodbye. “So, what were you up to today?” She said, taking off her blazer and going to pull out a dinner out the fridge that she had prepped during the weekend.

“Can you come to the parent-teacher conference tomorrow after school? I wanna you to meet my teacher.”

“Wait, are you gonna have your last year’s, the one you absolutely adore?”

“Yeah! Mr. Mendes!”

“Hmm. Okay love, I’ll try.”

+

Shawn dressed up a tiny tad fancy for the first school day. It was elementary school after all, the dress code was very very flexible, but he wanted to make a good impression on the parents. He had a weird feeling in his stomach as if someone he knew was going to be there and he wanted to look his best, but he shook it of as nerves. He opted for a cool printed blue shirt and added a jacket on top. 

His day had been amazing, his students rushed in when the eight ’o’clock bell rang. They took their seats, and they played games, then designed their own name cards to stick on their desks. Shawn had lunch in the teacher’s lounge and chatted with the school secretary Amanda, a cute blonde he went out with once. The afternoon, he taught his students how to play chess and discussed on the subject of getting a pet, which was warmly welcomed.

“Can we get a dog?” A boy asked.

“How are we gonna keep a dog in a school?” Rose giggled. “We need an animal that won’t run around everywhere and won’t mind being in a cage at night when we’re not here!”

Shawn nodded.

“Wait, but don’t be sad Ollie.” Rose whispered to the boy who suggested the dog idea. “The dog was a really good idea. I actually really want one too, but my mommy doesn’t wanna.”

The day ended, and Shawn and the kids cleaned the class for the parents. The ones whose parents couldn’t come went home, and those who stayed colored on the paper cups their parents would drink coffee from later.

Thomas came from the other class to join his dad. He was sitting with Rose who was fast at work, decorating her cup with flowers. Her mom loved flowers.

A couple parents started walking in, greeting Shawn and then sat by their children. When only one or two chairs were empty, Shawn decided to start. He opened his mouth to greet the socializing parents but was interrupted by a woman’s voice by the door.

“Hi, is this- hey Rose!” Y/N said, spotting her daughter.

Shawn turned around and his insides came to a halt.

By the door stood a woman who looked no different than any other woman, that yet stood out to Shawn as if she was the only one he has ever seen. With soft (your hair color) hair that lay delicately on her shoulders, she had a smile that Shawn had seen too many times. Y/N, his first love from university. Her voice had not changed one bit, still honey-like smooth, and bird-song like melodic. She laughed when Rose ran up to her, and Shawn’s heart felt a pang. He hadn’t heard that laugh in over a decade, and yet the sound of it entering his eardrums again brought everything back and triggered a series of memories. Shawn ogled her. God, she was beautiful. She wore simple high-waisted work pants matched with black heels. Shawn smiled weakly, remembering something she once told him about loving loose pants, because it felt like she wasn’t wearing any. He was surprised to see her in heels though, because in university she absolutely swore off them. Well, things must’ve changed since they last saw each other, Shawn thought. Yes, things have changed. But the fluttering sensation his heart used to make around her did not fade away.

Y/N stood back up, placed a strand of her hair back and scanned the room for the teacher she had heard so much of. Her gaze laid on Shawn and she swallowed. Her university best friend turned lover looked ethereal to her right now. He looked exactly the same, and completely different. He was a man now, no longer a student boy; and yet all of his features were familiar. The brown of his eyes, the soft brown curl of hair that always fell in front of his eyes.

Shawn swore at himself internally. Of course, Y/N was Rose’s mother. Rose was the reincarnation of her, and all her mannerisms, her quirks. They had the same hair color, the same eyebrow shape, the same sense of humor, the same curiosity. He wanted to kick himself for not having realized the uncanny similarities. He gathered everything he had in him and approached her.

“Hi.” Y/N said, looking up at him. She chuckled. “Sorry I’m late, I wish I could just Apparate haha. I should’ve known it was you Rose was talking about when she spoke of a certain Mr. Mendes who loved to play guitar and had a mini Canada flag in his pencil holder.”

“And I should’ve known you were Rose’s mom. She’s just like you, it’s unreal.” Shawn said. He couldn’t help but glance down at her lips, and see they remained just as blossom-like, pink as they once were.

“Well, I’ll go take a seat. Maybe we can catch up after?” Y/N said hopefully.

“Of course.”

Y/N walked to Rose’s desk and sat down on her tiny chair, pulling her daughter onto her lap happily.

Shawn cleared his throat, suddenly way more nervous about this than he was twenty minutes ago. He proceeded to welcome everyone warmly, and talked about himself a bit, then his plan for the year, as well as some fun field trips he would like to take the kids on if the school decides to fund them.

In brief, Shawn thought the parents had taken a good liking to him. As they left one by one, he was greeted by handshakes and smiles. He saw Y/N in the corner of his eye looking around the classroom carefully. He knew she wanted to hang back and talk to him, and he was happy she did.

Thomas and Rose were in his little game corner, already cracking open the brand-new Monopoly game Shawn bought yesterday.

“I love what you did to the classroom.” Y/N turned around to Shawn, as he leaned back on a desk.

“Thanks, it’s really nothing. Just thought it’d be more pleasant to learn in a colorful class, you know?”

Y/N smiled at him, eyeing him. Finally, she said:

“I just can’t believe we bumped into each other like this again. How long has it been?” She asked almost breathlessly, as if amazed by the lapse of time that has passed.

“At least 8 years.” Shawn answered back incredulously. Y/N took a seat on the desk beside him, crossing her ankles.

“Damn.”

“So what have you been up to? How’d you have Rose?” There were so many questions Shawn had. They had gone from being inseparable to complete strangers, and a part of him wanted to make up that time. A part of him remembered her way too clearly now.

“Well. Since university, I’ve gone to optometry school. Got pregnant with Rose during my last year. When I graduated, her dad left us, so I worked my ass off to try to get my name out in the market. Worked for a couple clinics, before opening my own. And now I’m here!”

“I’m sorry about Rose’s father. Do you still have contact with him?” Shawn asked subtly.

“No, um we haven’t spoken since he left.” Y/N looked down, before looking back up at him. “And you? Thomas is a great kid.”

“Haha thank you. Um I’m widowed actually.”

“Oh shit, I’m so sorry.” Y/N put a hand on his arm.

“No no, it’s okay. It was a long time ago, I’m over it. But she was cool, you would’ve liked her.”

“Man, we’ve just got the best luck huh?” Y/N chuckled lightly, nudging his elbow playfully.

Shawn laughed with her, reddening slightly at the contact.

Y/N watched their two kids play.

“Rose loves Thomas, you know. Every day she’ll come home with some story about some shenanigan she pulled with him. He takes after you.”

“Thank you. And Rose is an absolute delight to teach.” “Really?” “Yeah.” “That’s great.”

They sat there for a while, just looking at each other and talking about nothing.

Everything had changed and yet, their conversation felt as if they had never lost contact with each other.

“Well, look at the time. I better get going, don’t want Rose to go to bed late and be sleepy for her second day of school!” Y/N stood up.

For a second, Shawn debated whether he should hug her goodbye or not. Who was he kidding, he couldn’t, they were good as strangers now. And that hurt him to think that.

“’Course. And don’t you worry about that, there’s a scheduled naptime for the kids tomorrow after lunch.” He smiled.

Y/N rolled her eyes.

“So lucky! I could’ve done with some scheduled naps when we were at school.”

Shawn chuckled. A vague image of Y/N laying on top of him, in nothing but underwear and a flannel, fast asleep, flashed across his mind.

“Rosie! We gotta get going hun.”

“I’m- I’m not even ti-i-ired.” She yawned. Y/N kissed her cheek laughing.

“Sure, you aren’t. Bye Thomas! It was really nice seeing you again, Shawn.” She waved.

“As for me. Oh! Will you come to the end of summer barbecue? I’m grilling.”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world. I’ll look out for it in the school newsletter?”

Shawn would’ve given her his number, but nodded.

“Rose’s mommy is pretty.” Thomas said, once the two girls were out of earshot.

Shawn laughed.

“She is.”

+

The rest of the week passed very quickly. Although Y/N and Shawn didn’t see each other, they were all they thought about.

Y/N sat at her desk, fiddling with her glasses. Why did she feel all jittery at the thought of Shawn? Her mind wandered about, thinking of how nice he looked. He was always cute, when they were in university he was already very good-looking. But now? Oh my fucking lord. He was a man. Y/N shook her head and shrugged her shoulders, feeling herself get all warm.

She stood up, checked the clock and walked over to her next patient.

“Hi, how are you?” She smiled cheerily to the squinty-eyed old man in clear need of glasses.

Shawn sat at his own desk, eyes skimming over some exam sheets. The kids were currently playing (2nd grade was definitely a tough year) and he decided to take this time to try to sort out which examinations would be appropriate to give his students in the near future.

His eyes stayed unfocused on the text before him though. Instead, images of Y/N flowed through his mind. Man, he hadn’t seen her in years. She was beautiful when they were together in university, but now. God. She still had that youth glow and shine to her, but everything seemed to have matured, grown sharper. She was a woman now. He smiled to himself. He was really proud of her.

“What if, Shawn, what if I don’t make it?”

Shawn looked down at her, who was laying on his lap. He continued running his fingers through her hair, but turned the TV down.

“What do you mean, not make it?”

“You know. What if I fail at like, life? What if I don’t finish this degree, and then like become a secretary?

“Listen. You are the brightest person I know, Y/N. Seriously. You’re so fucking smart, sometimes I just look at you and go «What the fuck?»”

Y/N smiled, and Shawn’s hand stroked her cheek.

“Thanks.” Y/N kissed his hand.

Boy, have they come a long way. Shawn went pink, thinking about what happened after that little conversation they had. How Y/N trailed kisses a little further up his arm, then to his neck; Shawn shifted in his seat and focused on what was in front of him.

“Mr. Mendes, can I go to the bathroom?”

+

Friday rolled around the corner in a flash and before he knew it, he was out in the school yard holding a ladder still while Amanda attached big helium balloons onto the huge banner that said, “Welcome back to school”. He watched Rose and Thomas fast at work in the sandbox, constructing what weirdly looked like a temple.

“Enjoying the view?” Amanda teased.

Shawn looked back at her.

“Wha-oh um. Haha.” He frowned to himself.

“So, why didn’t you call me this week?” She said, hopping off the ladder.

“Oh um.” Shawn scratched the back of his neck. “Thomas, was sick.”

“Oh no!” She looked over his shoulder to see Thomas running full speed toward them.

“Yeha, he made um a fast recovery.” Shawn reddened. He turned around. “Hey buddy!”

“Hi daddy. I’m hungry, when are we eating?”

“Uuum.” Shawn checked his watch. It was 4:30. “Can you wait another half hour?”

Thomas nodded. Rose appeared at his side.

“Hi Mr. Mendes!”

“Hi Rose! Your mom thinking about swinging by?”

“Yeah I think so!”

And with that, the two kids ran off to help themselves to lemonade at the drink table that Amanda had unnoticeably went to go help out at. Shawn cleared his throat and took the ladder back to the storage room.

What the hell was Y/N doing to him? He didn’t expect them to get back together anything, so why was he getting so nervous and excited each time the prospect of seeing her came about? He glanced at himself in the mirror. Somewhere deep down wanted Y/N to look at him though. He wanted to catch her staring, so he can see her cute blush. And with that, he unbuttoned a button on his grey shirt. 

+

Y/N threw her purse over her shoulder and fumbled in it for her keys.

“Bye Gina!” She waved at her assistant, who lowered her glasses.

“You’re out early.”

Y/N leaned over the counter, smiling.

“Gotta go to my daughter’s school barbecue thing.”

“Ooh nice! You’re going to get tipsy on the free sangria for the parents, huh?”

“Maybe.” Y/N drummed her fingers on the desktop happily before walking out into the parking lot and hopping into her car.

Getting into her house, she ran up the stairs to her closet. Picking out an outfit she hadn’t worn since she became a mother, she looked at herself in the mirror.

Then sighed. What in the world was she doing? She was wearing a body suit with cut outs at her waist and shorts that Katy Perry sang about in “California Girls”.

“I’m way too fucking old for this.” She muttered to herself, taking off the ridiculous outfit.

Why was she so preoccupied about how she looked? She never gave a shit about her appearance. Hell, most of her life was spent in sweatpants, although that still attracted men’s attention..

It was Shawn. The back of her mind wanted to look good for him, wanted to see his gaze linger a little bit on her..

She checked her phone, 4:30. Slipping a simple black maxi dress on, she made her way to the school. 

Man, she felt like a teenager again.

+

It was a very pleasant evening. The air was warm, and a calm breeze carried it to wrap it around everyone’s shoulders like a cozy blanket. The sky was still sunny, but everyone knew that soon the sun would be setting much sooner. It was a quarter past five, and Shawn stood at the grills along with the gym teacher and were working on burger patties, hotdogs, corn and vegetable skewers (Shawn knew those would be untouched, but maybe he could bribe the children to eat them with dessert.)

Y/N had arrived fifteen minutes before they got the grills started and chatted merrily with Shawn. It only took them those few minutes to warm up and shake the formalities away. If anyone saw them now, they would indeed believe that they were once best friends in university. Not lovers though, because the two tried their best to keep their eyes to themselves.

But it was so hard to. Shawn forgot how good Y/N looked in dresses. And the one she was wearing highlighted every part of her, but flowed in the wind so she looked effortlessly beautiful. It was always like that with her. She never really had to try and Shawn would find her mesmerising.

And Y/N couldn’t really stop the pinkening of her cheeks. They laughed, teased each other slightly (friendly banter you know, nothing more), occasionally bumped shoulders.

Now, Adam the gym teacher had gone to chat with the other adults and Y/N stood beside Shawn, cooking her half of the grill.

“You know I hate the stereotype that only men can barbecue. Like, do you know what bomb-ass chefs women are?” Y/N said, flipping nimbly the corn on the cob to leave pretty, checkered black but not burnt sear marks.

“So are we not going to address that lonely sausage on the ground you dropped?” Shawn rose his eyebrow at her, clicking his tongs.

“I was distracted! Too busy fake-laughing at your terrible dad joke.”

“Suure. That laugh was genuine.”

Y/N eyed the drinks table, which did not go unnoticed by Shawn.

“Wondering if there’s some spiked punch over there for the parents and teachers?”

“Ooh, you read my mind, Mendes.”

“See you’re still a booze fanatic.”

“Hey, alcohol is a mom’s best friend. In moderation of course.”

As if on cue, Rose and Thomas came up to them with their ketchup smeared paper plates.

Y/N looked at the two children. Shawn watched her expression, one of pure adoration. He remembered once being on the receiving end of that look.

“What’s up guys?” Y/N chirped.

“Can we have dessert?” Rose beamed.

“Did you have a bit of veggies?” Y/N raised her eyebrows.

Rose looked up at the sky, shuffling her feet.

“Yes.” Thomas said.

“Gimme your plates, both of you, ya naughty kids.” Y/N teased, putting a vegetable skewer on each of their plates.

To Shawn’s surprise, Thomas ate it along with Rose. Normally, he had to hide it in dishes like smoothies or blend it into homemade pasta dough, so that his son would get his daily dose of vegetables.

Then, the two ran off to help themselves to sweets at another table.

“Well, I think all the kids have eaten. We can probably start now.” Shawn said, waving at the parents.

“Mhmm, I’ve been eyeing everything since the start of this thing.” Y/N said, helping herself to a hotdog and corn. “Ketchup?” She said, holding up the bottle.

“Oh yeah, thank you.” Shawn said, holding his plate to her so she can apply ketchup on his burger.

Y/N slipped the lid open, a bit of the condiment slipping onto her finger, then added a nice layer of it onto Shawn’s food. Closing the lid with her middle unstained finger, she set it down and sucked her index clean.

Shawn felt warm once again, vague memories of what her mouth can do crossing his mind.

They loaded their plates and went to take a seat at a picnic table where sat the principal, the secretary Amanda and a couple other parents.

They sat beside each other, chatting casually with the others. Their elbows touched lightly every so often, whether it was when they were using their knives and forks, or when Y/N would move her arm to tuck her hair behind her ear, or when they both rested their elbows on the table to listen to the conversation and Y/N’s right would coincidentally touch Shawn’s left.

“Ooh, I completely forgot about the drinks table. Want anything?” Y/N said gently, getting up.

“Yes please, thanks!” Shawn watched her walk away.

He was about to half-shout to her that he wanted a margarita, but seeing her pick up the jug with limes, he trusted that she knew his favourite summer drink.

“So, Shawn I never got that phone call back from you.” Amanda leaned closer to him.

“Oh, I’m so sorry! When are you free, we can go to dinner.” Damn Shawn and his polite Canadian self. But once again, he didn’t know why he was closing himself off to her. She was perfectly okay, nice, pretty.

“I’m free tomorrow night.” She said.

“Cool, I’ll pick you up at 8.” Shawn smiled, his jaw slightly uncomfortable at the not-so-genuine smile he gave. He told himself he was being stupid though, and that whatever tiny, miniscule feeling he had with Y/N was just surprise of having found each other again.

Y/N came back, setting a cup beside his plate.

“Welcome.”

“Thanks.” Shawn chuckled, clinking his cup to hers in cheers before they both downed the contents.

“So, Y/N. It’s so nice seeing you here, you’re like never around school.” Amanda said.

“Oh well, I have a lot of patients, but I try my best.” Y/N answered politely.

“What is you do again?” Amanda said, voice bright.

“I’m an optometrist.” Y/N responded. “And you?”

“I really like your dress, seems expensive.” Amanda complimented, disregarding Y/N’s question back to her.

Y/N laughed. “No no, I got this at Walmart actually. It was on sale, they actually have cool stuff.” She answered.

Amanda didn’t completely hide her distaste. Shawn breathed out, looking around for a way to end this weird one-way passive-aggressive exchange. Lucky for him, and Y/N, Rose came up to her mom, hugging her.

Y/N gladly pulled her up on her lap, and wrapped her arms around her little middle.

“Hi Rosie.” She said, bouncing her slightly on her thigh.

“Rose here, is a model student.” The principal turned around from his conversation once he spotted her.

Y/N looked positively gleeful.

“Ooh, are you Rosie?” She turned her head to look down at her daughter, kissing her temple. Shawn’s heart felt warm, his brain making an “aww” feeling.

“Maybe.” Rose giggled.

Y/N held onto one of her little hands, as the other one reached around her mother’s plate for any food.

“Uh uh uh no, you cannot drink this.” Y/N said, pulling Rose’s arm back.

“Why?” Rose pouted.

“Because I don’t think you will like it.” Y/N laughed.

“But-but how will I know if I never try?”

Y/N looked at her daughter.

“Okay, stick your tongue in, see if you like taste for yourself.”

Rose stuck the tip of her tongue in the liquid, and immediately pulled back, frowning.

“Ew!” She said, making the whole table laugh.

“Told ya.” Y/N said, squeezing her daughter’s side.

“I would personally never feed my kid alcohol.” Amanda whispered to Shawn, and his laughter died down. He glanced sideways at Y/N who thankfully did not hear because she was too enamored with her child on her lap.

“Well, she had like a quarter of a lick, it won’t do anything.” Shawn pointed out.

+

Four drinks later for Y/N, and one for Shawn; they found themselves in a heated soccer match against their two children. Y/N had kicked off her sandals and was running barefoot, her dress flowing behind her. Thomas had the ball and was blocking her, who was making exaggerated arm movements to make him laugh.

Shawn was covering Rose, who was desperately trying to get to her teammate.

“Pass it!” Rose cried. “Thomas, we can lose to my mom! She’s the worst at soccer.”

Shawn laughed and looked at her, and she took this opportunity to escape and go join Thomas.

“Shit.” Shawn whispered to himself. He jogged up to what seemed like a leg wrestling match, with Rose and Thomas desperately hogging the ball and Y/N wiggling her leg in between them to try and take it away while unable to contain her laughter.

“Shawn come help me!” Y/N said through tears of laughter. If it hadn’t been for the drinks, she still would be in this state. She was a child at heart and had fun in anything.

Thomas had gotten a hold on the ball and began running toward Y/N and Shawn’s empty net. Rose was tugging on the back of her mom’s dress and seized Shawn. The three tumbled forward, knocking Thomas too in the process; all wheezing of laughter. Y/N rolled off Shawn giggling, Thomas picking himself up and dusting off the front of his shirt.

Shawn gave Y/N a hand up and admired her flushed skin.

Thomas stifled a yawn.

“I think it’s time to go home, huh buddy?” Shawn said, giving his son a piggy back ride.

“It’s probably Rose’s bedtime too.” Y/N said, taking Rose’s reaching hand.

“Hey, are you sure you can drive?” Shawn looked over at her.

“Yes..” Y/N giggled.

“You lightweight.” Shawn poked at her.

“Am not! But I can do with a lift.”

This did not go unnoticed by Rose.

“Can we have a sleepover?!” She asked.

“Please?” Thomas pleaded.

“I don’t want to be a bother, Shawn-“

“It’ll be my absolute pleasure. I have an extra bedroom and I think I still have a pair of Rose’s pyjamas in the laundry basket from the last time they hung out I think.”

“Okay then! You sure though, that we won’t be any trouble?” Y/N’s voice turned serious.

“I promise Y/N, you would never be a bother.” Shawn looked into her eyes.

Suddenly the cooling night air turned hot again.

+

Thomas and Rose were both in his bedroom on the floor in sleeping bags, and were playing a board game. Y/N and Shawn didn’t mind too much because they knew they would probably fall asleep very soon anyway so they let them stay up a little longer.

Y/N had changed into one of Shawn’s sweatpants and t-shirts  and was cozied up on the couch with blankets. The pants were a bit loose on her, but she tightened the waist the best she could and the t-shirt looked unbelievingly good on her.

Shawn handed her a mug of tea and joined her on the sofa.

They flicked through old photo albums and reminisced.

“What really happened to us?” Y/N asked him, head resting on the back of the couch.

“Honestly, now that I think of it, I don’t even remember. We just got so busy.”

“Well, I’m happy we bumped into each other again. You were one of the people I got along with the best.” Y/N smiled.

Ten minutes later, sat Shawn with Y/N asleep on the other end of the couch, wishing his night tomorrow could be just another cozy one with Y/N with full of meaningful yet fun conversation and tea, instead of a dinner with Amanda.

Part 2

[callioope]

Writer’s Meme

Tagged by @grexigone , thank you!!!

1) How many works in progress do you currently have? Two fic that are up on AO3 (Learning Curve and How to Lose a Spy in 10 Days). Like, 30+ ideas rattling around in my brain/hanging out in my brainstorm docs. I daydream a lot but have trouble disciplining myself to sit down and write them. Unclear what will become of these neglected plot bunnies. Undecided if I’ll continue after finishing Learning Curve.

Um. I also have like 3 original ideas that I abandoned when rebelcaptain took over my life. Plus 1 finished work that I was querying, again until rebelcaptain took over my life.

2) Do you/would you write fanfiction?  lol if you’re here you know the answer to that is yes

3) Do you prefer paper books or ebooks? Paper books. Nothing like holding a paperback, curled up on the couch, sipping hot chocolate (or tea!). That being said, I actually do most of my reading on my phone these days.

4) When did you start writing? Also third grade, like @grexigone! I wrote my first fanfic with my best friend Laura--it was something about Jacen and Jaina Solo and involved magical, invisible creatures that escaped from their cages. It was also third grade when I decided I wanted to be an author when I grew up. Sorry, nine-year-old self. Still working on that (sort of).

5) Do you have someone you trust that you share your work with?  Yes! For fic -- the lovely and wonderful @allatariel & @theputterer have beta’ed Learning Curve. Before these two, my poor fiance served as a sounding board and pseudo-proofer (he proofed mainly for plot/believability on Whatever I Do, I Do It To Protect You). (So blame him for any plotholes I’m just kidding he was a lifesaver for that fic.) and my wonderful sister @jessseri was so involved in plotting The Last Stark that I sort of consider her a co-writer on it (she also looked it over before posting). 

For original works, my best friend Dan is the master of finding all plotholes, and my friend Andy has also read my finished novel. oh my god, and my dad repeatedly asked me for it, I did share it with him eventually and that was terrifying. It went okay though. He likes to hound on how unnecessary my prologue was (a feeling my college prof shared) but otherwise he was positive. 

6) Where is your favorite place to write? My beautiful, wonderful, desk that I bought about ... probably a year ago at this point... it is (fake) gray wood and an L-shape and it was the desk of my dreams and i did *so much shopping* to find it and then one day there it was, in one of those google ads. 

also the couch or on my porch. I move around sometimes to try to get inspiration flowing.

7) Favorite childhood book? When we say “childhood” how young are we talking here? In elementary school, my sister and I were obsessed with the book There's a Hippopotamus on Our Roof Eating Cake by Hazel Edwards. We bought it online a few years ago for nostalgia reasons and this book is so bizarre???? Idk what we were thinking??? or what my dad must have been thinking when he was reading it to us? Here is a quote for you: He watches. I know he does. It’s supposed to be talking about how the hippo on the roof watches their television but like it’s so creepy sounding. ANYWAYS. I was also super obsessed with Animorphs in 4th-6th grade, Harry Potter for ... ever. Oh! And I liked Jane Yolen’s Pit Dragon trilogy? That’s middle school, is that too late?

8) Writing for fun or publication? Both. I mean, aspirationally at least, for the latter. But like I said in question 1, I haven’t done anything with original works in over a year and a half.

9) Pen and paper or computer? Computer, but pen and paper if I get raging inspiration or if I’m trying to break writer’s block. Quite a few ideas are scribbled down on post-its at work.

10) Have you ever taken any writing classes? I have a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing. So, uh, yeah. I’ve taken a few.

11) What inspires you to write? lol like, anything? it just depends. Reading: Whatever I Do was inspired by a line in the Rogue One novel; when Jyn first enters the temple she thinks of her mother. So my mind naturally went, okay but what if Lyra WAS there. Music: whenever I listened to “The Way We Move” by Langhorne Slim & the Law I got such a clear image in my head that it nagged me until I wrote it. 

For fic, I also like the idea of filling a void. I lost interest in Harry Potter fic after the last book came out; the story had closure, in my mind. But Rogue One gave us so very little, and I thought there was a lot more to explore there. This is why I’m really happy there isn’t more canon material. I really like writing and reading all the varying what ifs. It could have been this way, or that way, or -- maybe a combination of ways! I love that. (Also why I’m not a huge fan of prevalent fanons. Unless they’re sort of silly/fun, benign ones. One set standard sort of kills things for me.)

For original stories, my best, most interesting (to me, at least) are all based on dreams. Every single one, even the one I finished. That was based on a dream I had my sophomore year of high school -- 2004?? I think??? It took me over ten years to write the damn thing. (and a million drafts) And actually, the scene that I dreamed isn’t even in the story anymore. But it gave me two of the main characters and the setting.

Tagging: @theputterer, @allatariel, @skitzofreak, @siachti, @estherlyon, @ruby-red-inky-blue, @threadsketchier, @caffeinosis 

The usual disclaimer: sorry if any of you have already been tagged, no pressure if you don’t want to do it, & MOST IMPORTANTLY if you see this and haven’t been tagged and want to do it, consider me tagging you!!! I want to tag ppl who haven’t been tagged; I’m just really bad at paying attention to who has been tagged and who hasn’t. Tag me so I can see your answers!

[an-infinity-of-possibilities]

every odd number for the weird asks, darling 🥂

Hey darling :) always happy to see you in my notes

1. coffee mugs, teacups, wine glasses, water bottles, or soda cans? Coffee mugs... Coffee addict here and my addiction also applies to coffee mugs

3. bubblegum or cotton candy? Bubblegum :)

5. do you prefer to drink soda from soda cans, soda bottles, plastic cups or glass cups? I don't really drink soda in general but when I do I prefer in glass cups :)

7. earbuds or headphones? Headphones :)

9. favorite smell in the summer? Hmm... That's a good one. I'll say sea side and rain? I don't know haha maybe my apple trees too

11. what you have for breakfast on an average day? On average? coffee which isn't really breakfast but yeah... Sometimes smoothies

13. lanyard or key ring? Lanyard. I always lost my keys so I actually have three lanyards just so I won't lose them or let them out of my sight

15. favorite book you read as a school assignment? As a school assignment? Either Mrs Dalloway or a book from Québec called Marie-Tempête

17. most frequently worn pair of shoes? Cheap black shoes from walmart. They are really comfortable but nothing special

19. sleeping position? On my left side? BUt I do move a lot in my sleep so yeah

21. obsession from childhood? Harry Potter, Anne of Green Gables and Princess Diaries

23. strange habits? I don't know ? NOthing comes to mind right now haha Bringing a book with me at all times?

25. first song you remember hearing? Either Bed of Roses or Wanted Dead or Alive by Bon Jovi... It definitely was a BOn Jovi song

27. favorite activity to do in cold weather? Staying inside with my blanket, a good book and hot cocoa. I shouldn't be Canadian.... I absolutely hate the cold. Can't stand it

29. best way to bond with you? Sharing music, book, movies :)

31. what outfit do you wear to kick ass and take names? Oh dear... Hmm power suits? I absolutely love suits. I probably have too many of them tbh

33. most used phrase in your phone? Probably "idk" haha or like sorry. Something like that

35. average time you fall asleep? When do I ever fall asleep? haha probably 2 am if I had to say an hour but my sleep schedule is a little messed up

37. suitcase or duffel bag? Suitcase

39. lemon cake or lemon meringue pie? Lemon meringue pie :)

41. last person you texted? My friend about a book she told me to read a while back

43. hoodie, leather jacket, cardigan, jean jacket or bomber jacket? Can I say two? hahah I mean I am more often wearing hoodies because it's considered more appropriate to wear inside and I am always cold... But when I am outside I always have one of my leather jackets

45. which genre: sci-fi, fantasy or superhero? All three? But if I had to pick only one absolutely? Fantasy

47. favorite type of cheese? I don't think I have a favourite type of cheese? I don't eat that much of it tbh

49. what saying or quote do you live by? It's actually a A.A Milne quote from Winnie the Pooh. Please don't judge. My mum surrounded me with Winnie stuff when I was younger. It's " You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." Something I try to remind myself everyday.

51. current stresses? Life hahah Nah but seriously a bunch of little nothings. My flat, I am stressed my grades won'T be good this semester. My car ( which is fine and has been for over a month), my cat having difficulties getting used to the new place... Loads of small little things.

53. what is the current state of your hands? They are clean and I just put lotion on them so they smell like vanilla. B But also A mess? Haha Up until two weeks ago I was working not only a very physical job but also one that messed up my hands. I have cuts everywhere on them and even a new scar cause of it. They will be fine in a week or two :)

55. favorite fairy tale? Oh gosh that is a difficult one.... I would probably go with... The little mermaid tho? But it changes depending my mood

57. the three biggest struggles you’ve overcome? Hmm.... That's a good one. Accepting who I am is one of them for sure. Standing up for myself ( I am better at it but still I could improve). Choosing my health over what I was expecting of myself. OVer my plans when I dropped out of uni

59. if you were a video game character, what would your catchphrase be? :O No idea, I don't feel I have any real catchphrase? I'D probably the sude character who curses a lot tho hahah

61. favorite line you heard from a book/movie/tv show/etc.? Again good one. There's so many. I love quotes. I'll go with... " We accept the love we think we deserve" from Perks of being a wallflower. I mean... It's true. Anyways... In my experience it is. When my self esteem was at its lowest.... I dumped my very good girlfriend cause I thought I didn't deserve her love. That she was too good for me.. To end up with a guy who was a violent narcissistic asshole... I didn't wanna leave him cause I thought that was exactly what I deserved that I could never do better. I did leave him in the end. but yeah...

63. five songs that would play in your club? - Dancing Queen by Abba -Poor Some Sugar on me - Def Leppard -Every Time We Touch - Cascada ( Don't judge I have good party memories with that song ahah ) - The Ketchup Song - Las Ketchup (Cause memories hahah) - Believe - Cher

65. any permanent scars? Loads ahah I have a big one on my back that almost goes from side to side from my heart surgery. I have one on my right side... again that surgery. It almost looks like a star. I have on my lip from when I was learning how to climb table when Mum wasn't looking. One on my finger from work when I was working in dried cranberries factory. One on my ankle from whe I fell in the ditch when learning how to bike without the little wheels. One on my knee cause I am just that talented that I fall over nothing x) A new one on my hand from work... Seriously the list goes on hahha but I do have scars.

67. good luck charms? My necklace. I never take it off unless I absolutely have to. It used to be my mum's but she gave it to me when I was going through a rough patch in high school.

69. a fun fact that you don’t know how you learned? Hmm... Nothing comes to mind? Sorry If I ever think of something I will be sure to let you know

71. least favorite pattern? Polka dot? I don't know hahha

73. favorite weird flavor combo? Cheese and maple syrup? haha

75. when did you lose your first tooth? I don't remember? I was in elementary school for sure... But I do remember the dentist had to take it out himself cause I had waited too much before I told anyone my tooth was moving hahha

77. best plant to grow on a windowsill? My cacti? haha

79. which looks better, your school id photo or your driver’s license photo? School. On my Driver's license I look like a murderer

81. fireflies or lightning bugs? Fireflies

83. writing or drawing? Both? hahaha BUt writing if I have to choose

85. fairy tales or mythology? Mythology. Both are great but... Mythology is the best

87. your greatest fear? Spiders? But if we're talking about like... Life fears? NOt being enough

89. who would you put before everyone else? My little brother. My little sister ( sometimes) and my parents.

91. boxes or bags? Boxes

93. nicknames? Fae, Fa, Fancy, Fancy Rodger, Roger.

95. favorite app on your phone? Music app haha I mean I cannot live without music soooo

97. how many phone numbers do you have memorized? At least a dozen? Mostly cause everyone in the family has the same phone number since forever.... I have no memory whatsoever so I am even surprised I know these ones.

Thank you for these asks Darling :) There was a lot but I enjoyed writing them haha Took me a while. I had an hectic week but I promise I love these things I am just very bad at timing my stuff haha

[mew-mew-mothertrucker]

Cold Storms - Chapter 1

Hello everyone! So this is my first fanfiction I’m posting anywhere in a few years. I used to write a lot but then some stuff came up but now I want to do it again. So here is the first chapter of my first multi-chapter fic in like 3 years. I present to you chapter 1 of Cold Storms

Chapter - 1

Word count - 10793

TW - Mentions of child abuse

Summary - Virgil is the new kid at Summerville Elementary school in Mr. Sander’s 3rd-grade class.

Fun Facts about the chapter - Virgil’s last name is the short form of the Greek name Thanatos, meaning "death." Also, All facts about New Mexico are true

Virgil looked up at the building. Red brick, a flagpole in front of the school surrounded by a beautiful garden that was fenced off from the kids. A few park benches and two main entrances. It was the first day of school, and around him were mothers and fathers saying goodbye to their little ones.

Don’t think about mom he internally said to himself.

He walked up to the door and found his name on the slip of paper that assigned kids to the classrooms of the small elementary school

Virgil Than - Room 301 Teacher - Thomas Sanders

Virgil adjusted his usual black and purple hoodie he wore to cover the bruises from his father and walked into the cool building outside of the warm sun. He gripped his hands on the straps of his backpack as he walked past the office and into the hall that was labeled “3rd Grade” with a cheesy kid’s sign, bright yellow and covered in small people that were any shade of skin and dancing. He found room 301 and sat outside of the room. The bell rang and he stood up, waiting for other students. The first kid to come up and stand next to him was in a pair of jeans and a black polo shirt. He had on a pair of glasses and was holding a rather large book for an 8-year-old to be reading. The kid leaned on the wall next to Virgil and didn't say anything to him. The next kid to come up was wearing a bright blue t-shirt with a cat on it and a pair of glasses.

“Logan! You’re in Mr. Sander’s class too?”

“Yes, it would appear that was, Patton,” The kid with the large book said.

The kid in the blue shirt-Patton- looked at Virgil. “Oh, are you new here?”

Virgil nodded, feeling his heartbeat quicken. “I-I just moved here”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you! I’m Patton, and this is Logan!”

“M-My name is Virgil,” he said the last part quietly.

“Sorry, I didn’t catch that,” Patton said.

“V-Virgil,” he said a bit louder.

“Oh, like Publius Vergilius Maro?” Logan asked.

“Wh-who?”

“Nevermind,” he said, looking back into his book. Virgil looked at the cover, it was covered with Gladiators and the book was clearly about Roman history.

Another kid walked down the hallway, a shirt from The Lion King on. “Patton! Are you in Mr. Sander’s class?”

“Yeah, wow looks like all three of us have the same class this year!” Patton said to the new kid. “Oh Roman, this is Virgil, he’s new!”

Roman looked at Virgil, clearly unimpressed by his tattered hoodie and ripped jeans. “How...nice,” he said before getting in line behind Patton. Virgil sighed. A teacher walked up to the door and opened it, gesturing for the students to come in.

“Hello, you four seem to be the first ones in, I have organized you all into groups of four, so find your name tag and get out all the required materials out of your backpack and place them in the desks, you bags can go over there in some cubbies” The teacher said, pointing at some cubbies that had a large green sign with “Bags” on it, decorated with small cartoon backpacks. Virgil got out his items and went to look for his name, finding himself sat next to the three students he had just met.

“Wowie guys, look at this, we are all together!” Patton said.

“This seat is...suitable enough,” Logan said.

“Well at least I’m next to you two,” Roman said.

Virgil sat own, next to him Patton and across from him Logan. Roman sat in the fourth seat, and slowly more kids trickled in until the last bell rang. The teacher closed the door and walked to the front of the class.

“Hello students, I am Mr. Sanders, but you can call me Mr. S if you want to, and let me personally welcome you all to this 3rd-grade class! This year we will be going over how to become a better reader by looking at context clues how to read and write in cursive,, multiplication and division, food changes and state history! Now, how about we start off with a game of getting to know each other!”

Virgil felt his heart rate increase and his palms became sweaty. “We are all going to write 10 facts about ourselves on a piece of paper that I will read out loud to the class with the student next to me, even I will be answering this question! Now we will be answering a few questions that I will put on the board. While I write them out, could you all please get out a piece of paper and a pencil?”

Virgil lifted the top of his desk with the other students, getting a pencil and a piece of paper. While some students let the desk close in a crash, Virgil gently let his down and looked up at the neat handwriting on the board.

What is your name?

What is your birthday?

Do you have any pets? If so, describe them

Who do you live with?

What is your favorite movie?

What is your favorite holiday?

What is your favorite toy?

Do you have a favorite book? If so, what is it?

What is your favorite color?

Do you have a best friend? If so, who is it?

Virgil looked at the questions then back at the paper.

Virgil Than

April 24th

No

My dad

The Black Cauldron

Halloween

When Virgil got to number 7, he didn’t know what to say. His father had never gotten him any toys. The only toy he had was a stuffed animal that his mother had gotten him before the incident and he couldn’t stand to look at it. He just decided to go with the toys he saw on TV when his father was at work

Hot Wheels

Yes, Alice In Wonderland

Purple

No

When Virgil was done, he flipped the paper over glanced around at the rest of the class. Girls in dresses, boys in t-shirts and jeans, he was the only one in a jacket.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and jumped, looking up to see Mr. Sanders looking down at him. The teacher seemed to be concerned with Virgil jumping but brushed it off.

“Hey there, you done?” he asked. Virgil nodded and he took the piece of paper. Soon, everyone was finished and Mr. Sanders walked up to the board.

“Okay class, I will read out by answers now. My name is Mr. Sanders, my birthday is April 24th, I have no pets, unfortunately, I live with my husband, Terrence, my favorite movie is the Lion King, I love Christmas, I have this stuffed animal that one of my dearest friends gave me a few years back that I hold close to my heart, My favorite book is actually in the Harry Potter series, my favorite color is red and my best friend’s name is Joan.“

Roman Patton and Logan all looked at each other when Mr. Sanders said his name and something unspoken passed between the three. Virgil was curious, the 24th of April was also his birthday, why did they all look like that?

“Now, I will select a random piece of paper from the pile let’s see Uh can Virgil please come up here?”

Virgil got up and shuffled over to the front of the classroom, feeling all eyes on him. He stood nervously next to the teacher's side as he read out the answers and when the teacher was done, he shuffled back over to his seat.

Now the other three kids at his table were all looking at him weirdly. Mr. Sanders called on a girl named Amber to come up and read her answers. Next, to him, Patton wrote something on a paper and passed it to Roman. Roman read it and wrote something then passed it to Logan, who read it over and passed it back to Romac who passed it to Patton. Amber’s paper was done and a girl who looked exactly like Amber walked up after Mr. Sanders called out the name Rosanna.

Patton quickly wrote something back and passed it to Roman. The paper went through the three as Virgil tried to pay attention to the other students.

“Can Patton please come up?” Patton got up and walked over to the front of the room and stood next to Mr. Sanders, smiling at the class.

“Okay buddy let’s see, you were also born on April 24th wow that’s 3 of us now, aw you have a large husky dog, okay you live with your parents and a baby brother, your favorite movie is Winnie the Pooh, your favorite toy is a Winnie the pooh stuffed animal, you love the book Highway Cats, your favorite color is blue and your best friends are Logan and Roman, awe that’s so sweet.”

Slowly the pieces clicked together in Virgil’s head. It was confirmed after roman and Logan had been called up. All of them had the same birthday.

Mr. Sanders asked the class who was buying lunch what they wanted and sent the order to the cafeteria. Virgil did his work, writing out cursive A’s until lunchtime, where him and the rest of his class got in line and walked to the cafeteria. Virgil had a brown bag filled with a sandwich he made himself and some chips, along with a water bottle. He sat at a table, all alone. The only other students were all in the third grade as well, but he didn’t know anyone, so he sat and ate the ham and cheese sandwich slowly, watching what other students did. Soon, everyone who had ordered lunches were sitting at table and Patton walked over.

“Hey, Virgil! Mind if me, Roman and Logan si with you?”

Virgil shrugged and gestured to the seats, due to his mouth being full. Patton smiled and sat down, Logan with the same book next and Roman last, sitting as far away from Virgil as possible.

“So Virgil, where did you move from?” Patton asked.

“New Mexico”

“Ah yes, New Mexico, land of enchantment. Hatch green Chile is grown there and is very popular among locals. The state capital is Santa Fe and the largest cities are Albuquerque, Las Cruces, and Rio Rancho. It is the background of many movies and T.V shows and has oil in the southern parts of the state. Turquoise is found there a lot, as well, being one of the most common gems in jewelry there” Logan recited as if he had been waiting for that to be Virgil’s answer.

“Uh...yeah”

“Well, that’s interesting,” Patton said.

Roman had yet to say a word, just poked at his pizza that looked more like cardboard painted red and covered in paper.

“Anyhow, we were wondering if you would like to be our friend,” Patton said.

“Why?”

“Well, you have the same birthday as us silly! We’re all friends because of that!”

“So you want to be my friend because I happened to be born on April 24th?”

“Well of course!”

“No, thank you”

Patton frowned.

“Well, if you don’t want to…”

Roman was the first to leave and go sit at another empty table. Logan went after and Patton looked at Virgil sadly before getting up and joining the other two. Virgil almost regretted it but then the voice in the back of his mind came up. You shouldn’t get close to people when you do they get hurt. And besides, they would soon learn how messed up you are

Virgil finished his sandwich and threw away his trash before spending all of the recess after lunch sitting against the school, alone, watching as a pair of twins from his class played foursquare with three other kids who weren’t in his class, boys from other classes and a few from his class playing basketball, and finally his eyes landed on Patton Roman and Logan, all playing on some of the equipment, laughing and yelling at each other, Logan’s book neatly placed next to the steps leading up to some slides. Virgil got up and spent the rest of the recess in the classroom, alone.

[got-to-tomago-blog]

MADISON’S QUESTIONAIRE

*PERSONAL DETAILS*

Nicknames? Maddie. Although I guess technically Madison is a 'nickname' ;)

Where do you live? Right next door!

What’s your age? 17, dancing queen

Hair color? Dark brown

Eye color? Darker brown

Height? really short, like 5'2"

Date of Birth? December 29

What’s your star sign? Capricorn!

Element? Earth probably.

How many siblings? one (1)

How many pets? zero but I already have a bunch of cat names planned out for my future two cats

Obsessions?

    I want to wipe out all the sad ideas that come to me when I am holding you    I want to erase every nasty thought that bugs me every day of every week

Bad habits?

     When my fingernails get too long I pick at it, I procrastinate a lot, and I also get random ticks (ie drumming my fingers, clucking my tongue it goes on)

Phobias? I would say death, but honestly, it's probably life

*ABOUT YOU* What makes you happy?

     Being with friends I trust. Watching an entertaining show/movie/gameplay

What really irritates you?

     Apathetic people.

What makes you sad?

    Me. Capitalism. The pressures and expectations that society puts on individuals.

What makes you angry?

    People who don't care about other people's feelings. When someone says that it's required to stand for the Pledge of the Allegiance. The rampant racism and sexism and honestly discrimination in general that we humans seem naturally so inclined to.    

What makes you scared?

    The thought of how our universe and everything in it will disappear and we humans will only be a blip in that timeframe. But perhaps that isn't really scary.

    New answer: Trump. Guns. 

Who is your best friend? 

   I have like three best friends outside of bdrp: Rose, Abigail and Riley.

Ever broken a bone?

    Nah. The closest is when I twisted my ankle.

What was the last CD you bought?

    I myself haven't bought any. But like as a family, pretty sure it was Legally Blonde.

What was the last book you read?

    Throwback to middle school with the Raven Boy series.

Who was the last person you spoke to?

     The bus driver haha.

What was the last thing you ate?

    Cookies (that Riley gave me) and yogurt. 

What was the last thing you drank?

    The answer should be water, but it's juice.

What’s the best thing you’ve ever bought?

     I'm young I don't really pay expensive things. I would have to say that of the things that I know that I bought is the book Battle Royale.

What’s the worst thing you’ve ever bought?

    I bought a lot of food in my life, some pretty crappy.

What’s the best thing you’ve ever been given?

     I love my parents <3. They got me a violin (several but they sold some back), my Bose headphones, and my drawing tablet (that I should use more).

What’s the worst thing you’ve ever been given?

    Idk my parents sort of know what we want and my grandparents can't really give me anything and I don't remember bad gifts from elementary school friends. But our family gifted ourselves a guitar which my mom wanted but promptly said that the strings hurt her fingers so probably that. 

What are your future goals?

    Happiness, success, and love. 

Describe your bedroom?

     It's pretty small and the walls are yellow and pink with a sticker tree with birds it's pretty cool. I have a bed, dresser and a lil vanity table that has a lot of random stuff on it. 

Who do you consider the most beautiful woman in the world?

  Lupita Nyong'o, Song Ji Hyo, Ashley Moore, IU, Emma Watson

Who do you consider the most handsome man in the world?

  Taron Egerton, Avan Jogia, Lee Jong Suk, Song Joong Ki, Dave Franco

Favorite thing to do on a hot summers day? 

  Eat ice cream

Favorite thing to do on a snowy winters day? 

  Eat ice cream (but inside)

If you were granted 3 wishes, what would they be?

  To use the popular loophole, wish for more wishes. If that's not the case, my wishes would be: world peace, no need to sleep, and the ability to focus on what I want to without getting distracted.

If you could go back in time to see or change something, when would it be and what would you do?

Well, if it was possible for Riley to get professional help without trying to commit suicide that would be awesome. 

/

Doing the extra credit my freshman year for English so I would get an A instead of a 89. Sitting with someone else in sophomore year math class so it would be entertaining and I could avoid the only B I'm gonna get in math during high school. 

/

Doing something about Ryan my freshman or sophomore year. Doing something about Joey.

/

Regretting less. 

What’s the first thing you think about when you wake up?

  Going back to sleep. 

Do you believe in the after-life?

  Yep.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years time?

  I'll be 27, but that also gives me no sense of time. Probably at a nice office job or graduate school.

What’s the funniest joke you’ve ever been told? 

  Nice shoes, wanna fuck? 

or: This fibonacci joke is as bad as the last two you heard combined

Any hidden talents?

    I once fell asleep while standing. 

Dream job?

  My dream dream job would probably be being a popular actress but also 1) that would never happen and 2) that sounds stressful. So my other dream job is being the position right under the CEO of a very successful company.

Who is your hero?

  you <3

Describe yourself in 3 words: 

  Nice (get it? if not I can explain it to you in discord), smart, passionate

*FAVORITES*

Favorite color? Purple and black

Favorite number? 25

Favorite animal? Pandas and cats.

Favorite sport (to play)? Lol. 

Favorite sport (to watch)? I watch football a lot actually. But have you /seen/ badminton games of professionals it's insane

Favorite Show(s)?

  Too much honestly. KShows: Running Man, the Genius, Problematic Men. Western: Miraculous Ladybug, Misfits, Project Runway and Big Brother as my guilty pleasure

Favorite movies?

  Excluding Disney movies because I love all of them, I highly recommend the Cabin in the Woods, Truman Show, 10 Things I Hate About You, and Old Boy. From there, it's like a tree with tons of movie options.

Favorite band?

  The rubber ones that can change into shapes

jk, the only 'bands' I really like are Kpop, so 2NE1 (rip), BTS, Blackpink and Big Bang.

Favorite song?

  I love Savages by Marina and the Diamonds, Crybaby by Melanie Martinez, and Whistle by Blackpink.

Favorite room in the house?

  My bedroom's pretty cool, I just don't spend a lot of time in there

Favorite food? 

  Chocolate. I also like a large variety of fruit

Favorite drink?

  Apple juice hands down. Besides that, there's this Korean drink called 2% that's really good.

Favorite place?

  Bed? Wizarding World in Orlando Studios, Florida was pretty awesome, and South Korea has some great places. And of course, our expensive home Disney World.

Favorite cartoon character?

  Blossom from Powerpuff girls, Kim Possible from well, ya know, and to continue this trend, Wendy from Gravity Falls.

Favorite day of the week? Saturday.

Favorite day of the year? December 28

Favorite season? Fall

Favorite Holiday? Christmas

Favorite girls name?

  Madison (haha) but I also like the name Victoria. ngl Petrana is a pretty good name too.

Favorite boys name? Ryan

Favorite country? South Korea? Countries are pretty problematic tbh

Favorite smell? Dollar bills ;)

Favorite sound? Fire crackling

Favorite accent? Gonna be stereotypical here and say British.

Favorite Ships (in or our of BDRP)?

  Too much to list in bdrp so I'm just gonna go outside BDRP.  Percy/Annabeth, James/Lily, Spartace (from Running Man), Jungwan/Dukseon (from Reply 1988). I’m not a huge shipper tbh.

Favorite Fandoms? 

  All the fandoms I'm in are basically my favorites (except Gravity Falls to a certain point cuz that fandom has a very big 'weird' side). Disney of course, Harry Potter, PJO/Heroes of Olympus, Miraculous Ladybug (a bit). The Genius, Undertale, Cuphead (to another certain extent I don't play it but man the art is gorgeous), Bright Sessions (!)

*PREFERENCES* Coke or Pepsi? I don't drink either, not a huge fan of fizzy drinks

Pen or Pencil? Pen

Day or Night? Night

Cat or Dog?Cat

Summer or Winter? Winter

T.V. or Radio? Radio (gotta listen to those tunes in the car)

Brains or Beauty? Brains

Cup or Mug? Cup

Tea or Coffee?Tea (i'm not a huge fan of coffee either ngl)

Gold or Silver? Gold

Brush or Comb? Comb

City or Country?City

Early or Late riser? Late late

Blond or Brunette? This is bias against black haired people 😔 so blonde

Scary or Romantic movies? ooOooo idk this one's tough. If it was books it would be romance hands down, but since it's movie I'll say scary

Board or Computer games? Computer games

Half full or Half empty? Half full

  Happy and poor or Sad and rich? man this was tougher than you would think. But since it's based off how I don't think I could actually be 'happy' while poor, I will choose happy and poor. 

Glasses or Contacts? Glasses.

Flowers or Chocolates? Chocolate

Love or Money? Love

Hugs or Kisses? Hugs

~~

And there you have it!

[phaltu]

WRITING MEME

tagged by @amillionsmiles thank you!! this was so much fun

1) How many works do you currently have in progress?

I started a new multi-chapter work and I have like 6 one shots I’m working on simultaneously cus I keep getting dumb ideas orz one’s almost done tho so...go me?

2) Do you/would you write fanfiction?

whom

3) Do you prefer paper books or ebooks?

both!! I will read off a fucking stone tablet  or specifically shaved back hair patterns  if I need to. I just want all the words

4) When did you start writing?

Since I was really young! I talked a lot so writing was a great outlet for when I wasn’t able to Shut The Fuck Up. My elementary school friend and I had a good thing going where up until Yahoo! Messenger died, we’d send each other plots and huge story chunks in purple size 20 curlz font. As for fan fiction, I have a notebook in my room that has dirty inuyasha fanfic I wrote in gr5 (he kissed my OC) and then I published H*talia fic in the summer before Gr11....lol...

5) Do you have someone you trust that you share your work with?

There are two people I’d like to specifically shout out... C, who watched Voltron specifically so she could read over my University AU, and @hartfulloflove​ who will read all my stuff and be my sounding board despite having only watched a couple of episodes.

6) Where is your favourite place to write?

my utmost favourite place to write is under my blanket at 2am on my iPod because then I can like hyper-focus.

7) Favorite childhood book

Harry Potter was the first full book I read. I think Witches by Roald Dahl was really formative for me as was Velocity by Dean Koontz. I read it at age 12 and was inspired to make people as paranoid as that book made me.

8) Writing for fun or writing for publication?

I write scripts for production, but other than that I write for fun! I’m very big on visual story telling, so fanfic is probably gonna be the only writing of mine that I “publish”. The rest you’d see through short films/animations etc :)

9) Pen and paper or computer?

computer, I like to restructure a lot and it makes my life easier lol

10) Have you ever taken any writing classes?

I took a script writing class in second year university. The teacher was a grade A jerk but also gave me some of the most formative story telling advice of my life

11) What inspires you to write?

For original work: I like creeping out people! My entire thesis revolved around what exactly it is about monsters that terrify us, and what evokes strong fear in humans when they consume media. I like blood and guts and gore and all that but I feel the most effective horror is the one that latches on to your brain and leaves you feeling paranoid for a week.

For fanfic: I like making people laugh! Or smile or generally be excited about work. Fanfic is a labour of love for me, specially since it gives me a chance to explore things I normally wouldn’t while making a horror short. With my fanfic, I like brightening up people’s day or atleast providing them with some form of entertainment. Also, my friends and I do dumb shit all the time so AUs are how I validate them. LOL

tagging (feel free to ignore if you like!!):

@arahir @hartfulloflove @longhairpidge @flusteredkeith @commodorecliche @bathands