#i want to believe the first option but like. we all read those first hundred pages. and maijo's track record os not the best | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

lowkeyclueless5137 · 11 months ago

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And ANOTHER P5 x Twst au :3

Oh god this is gonna be a trainwreck :v

But what else is new in here? :'3

Anyhow, I got like... Months ago an ask about another possible p5 x twst au and, of course, this derailed into shaping a whole thing.

Yet it wasn't enough for moi. It had a lot of holes in the plot and if you know me, you know that I gotta fill those up until I'm satisfied. :3c

So here we are✨

We are gonna reflect the whole time-line: top to bottom, explain every lore bit to the best of my pea brain's capacity and see what crawls out :v

How are we gonna do it? Well it's gonna be simple: we will go plot time-line wise and when things that do need explanation will pop out, they will be explained underneath the paragraph in smol text. If the marked section consists of a spoiler, it will be marked AND colored, which means it will be explained later, in a smol text, post the spoiler paragraphs.

Explanations will consist of:

plot irelevant information

games cannon points

the ooc lore that ties in the 2 games

time-line clearance :'3

I'm also gonna refer to the P5 protag as Ren Amamya, so yep. -3-

Fair warning: there will be spoilers for the whole P5 vanilla version along with Twst's latest story chapter. Since we are going cannon time-line wise, you can either go and read it until you don't want to be spoiled or you can simply read it after you saw your spoilers in the cannon games. :3

Now onto the fuckery! :D

We start off with how it all began :v

Ren's school had a letter exchange program, as a way to teach English to kids in a much more engaging and fun way. And what is a more fun way to learn a language than kids making a pen pal? He was in middle school at that time, pretty excited for this thing. They were given a few options as well.

Except that poor lil Ren didn't know how to write a school address from the options given. Instead, because of his excitement, he only wrote 'pen pal :3' in the bracket meant to have the address to send it to.

What Ren was unaware, was that, despite giving it in person to the mailman, the letter got lost among the hundreds of other letters meant to be sorted and sent.

It does get sent anyway.

And the answer is quite over everyone's heads.

You see, a few days later, Riddle was asked to pick up the mail by his mother. He would usually read the address, not expecting for anything to be addressed to anyone but his mother.

Watch his utter surprise when he sees a letter intended for 'pen pal :3'. Riddle was shook, but knowing that all the letters for his mom have her name on it and a fancy adress, the kid's brain makes the connection that HE is the one whom the letter was meant for.

So he hides it and keeps it to himself, until late at night. He uses a small light spell as he excitedly opens the letter. His mother always banned him from seeing her letters, so he believes this is also a very private moment.

And the contents were as follows:

'Hello! My name is Ren. I'm 7 years old. I live in Japan. I lika red and cads! What is your feivoriite color? Do u like cads? I'm exxcitd to be friends! -Ren'

Yes, it was short and yes, the errors were there amongst the sloppy writing, but it was authentic. The doodles did help Riddle understand that Ren liked cats actually. He even drew himself too! Even if it was a stick man with a lot of black for hair. And he even said he wanted to be friends! His very first friend!

Of course, being the very first friend, Riddle was over the moon. He didn't know how to even redact his letter. His mama always wrote hers, again, alone, without Riddle being allowed to see, thus the redhead believes that, again, it's a very personal activity.

And he got a letter. It would be rude to not respond to it!

So next morning, at individual study session, when Riddle is left alone, he pulls out Ren's letter. And uses it as an example. He puts Ren's address at the 'from' as he puts his full adress too, thus completing the destinations rubric completely. He quietly puts it in the mail needed to be picked up by the mailman and then off he was to continue his studies.

A few days later, Ren receives a letter with very nice writing. His parents think for a hot minute that their kid got a letter from a fancy school or smth. But no, it was from Ren's new pen-pal. The boy was so excited that he ran off the stairs and almost smushed on the ground. He left any breakfast he had on the table and almost spilled over a glass of water in his excitement.

Riddle's letter was far more difficult in terms of quality and English, yet Ren did make a big Boi effort to understand it. For the sake of pen-palling!

'Hello, Ren! I am Riddle Rosehearts. I am, as well, 7 years old (my birthday is in August) and I live in the Queendom of Roses. I am very happy that we will be pen-pals from now on! My favourite color is also red. And I do like cats, although I am not very sure what my favourite animal could be. I do want to ask: how is it in Japan? I never heard of such place. Is it nice? I would love to hear more from you and I'm very excited to be friends through the mail. -Riddle'

It took a lot to deschipher the letter itself, which only added more to the time for making another response.

Meanwhile, poor Riddle thought he made a bad impression for not adding doodles. He didn't really have time for such things. Yet, after a week, he gets a letter for him, from Ren and he's absolutely happy when he sees the response. Ren even made an effort to say that his pen-pal has very pretty hand-writing. As such, Riddle gets an idea of how Japan might look like, or at least Ren's little hometown. The redhead tried to research about Japan, but found nothing, thus assuming it was a local name for some country close to the land of the dragon. Meanwhile, Ren said promptly that his pen-pal is from the Queendom of roses, but everyone assumed he was referring to UK. No one questioned it, assuming that it was a thing in between the 2.

-they also believed such thing because in cannon of twst, time is reffered as our normal time

-in here, the time is the same for both worlds. Japan time is sage island time, so there's a small decalation of hour.

This letter routine continued. Ren was a fast learner, thus he had a quick evolution in his English, which gained praise at school. Meanwhile, Riddle was finding a warm and fuzzy spot whenever a new letter would come for him. Both found to grow very close to each other, like a brother you would tell all your Woes to. The letters came from simple things, to much longer ones, about one's week, personal problems or even funny side-stories.

Since Riddle was helping Ren with his studies, the latter found it fit to teach his pen-pal Japanese. This also shifted the contents of the letters, containing small notes in Japanese. Just how Ren's English looked sloppy at first, Riddle's Japanese was the same.

The letters also came more thick at one point. Ren would send small things, trinkets and candy, while Riddle sent in trinkets and pressed flowers. When the small objects were exchanged, Riddle unfortunately already was busted long ago for sneaking out to play with Trey and Che'nya. So imagine that Ren sending him such small trinkets, there was bound to be some sort of reassurance.

And while strawberry tarts were great, Riddle found Mochi to be his comfort food. It was small and was eaten easily. In his mind it was similar to a tart: comes in a big variety and it was given to him by someone he holds dear in his heart. Along with the fact that his first ever taste of one was always the strawberry flavour.

-he told Ren in a letter that he liked strawberries, so the latter made an effort to choose strawberry sweets.

Meanwhile, Ren was very happy with his own lil trinkets and things. He made a small glossary of all the pressed flowers as well, although at first he thought the 'sweet rose' was candy and ate it. Imagine his surprise when he discovered in the next letter that it wasn't supposed to be eaten. But it still tasted nice. :'3

-Riddle sent another 'sweet rose' for Ren's glossary after that, as to have the entire collection

This becomes a routine, that is followed all the way to high-school. Ren started first high-school and had to explain to Riddle how the Japanese sistem worked. Nonetheless, Riddle was expected to start his first year while Ren was around the middle-end of his. So there was that.

-Twst follows the European/American school model, thus it has some decalation with the Japanese school model.

Riddle also expressed his considering of taking on for the dormleader position once he got his acceptance letter. Ren, tho, said that it wouldn't be good to paint a target on his back so early. That maybe, first, he should gain a good reputation and trust of the others so he could be recommended rather than simply taking it by force. It would look far better in this case scenario, which would be easier to gain respect out of others once he does get the position. He makes some good points, which gives Riddle a much rounded idea of how he could raise as a much more respected Dormhead.

Trey inevitably thinks that maybe he managed to talk sum sense into the redhead, whom initially was dead set on taking that position. So for now, he got a bit of credit for this. :'3

Although, for Ren's end of the year, things get a bit messy. Like in the cannon of P5, he gets charged with assault for pushing off the man that tried to force himself on a woman. In his urgent letter, he stated that the man's name, which Riddle takes a note of for future reference.

Still, the redhead was worried sick for his friend. He did change his letters accordingly, in April this whole Tokyo probation would start, so Riddle still didn't finish his first year by then. Ren told him that for the time of the formalities of moving and getting enrolled into the new school, he won't be able to write, so Riddle could let off a worry if he didn't receive the usual letter.

-Ren had to pack things and move to Tokyo, thus, still waiting for the new address, he couldn't have Riddle write accidentally the same address and send the letter to the wrong place.

The night before Ren's first day of school, Riddle wakes up in a theater room. He was chained with ribbons by all limbs and a guy that was painfully similar to Jade, introduced himself as his brand new attendant. This Jade was strikingly different from the real one, mainly by the white hair in an undercut and the more punk appearance, which wasn't fit st all with the theatre's elegant presentation. Unfortunately, the master of this room was not availabile now, as he is tending to the other wildcard.

Despite that, Riddle feels like someone else is watching him. Like there are 3 persons in this theatre and one of them was the redhead himself.

Still... It was wierd af :'3

Imagine being in Ren's shoes. You have your brand new school day after a freaky prison dream. You are in your uniform, meet a kinda nice guy and together you head to the school, only to be found in front of a castle.

To add salt to the wound, they hear a scream from inside and rush in to see 2 guards dragging out a small, struggling guy. Ren recognised him as Riddle and the latter tried to free himself when the guards stopped to 'interrogate' Ryuji and Ren.

-the 2 exchanged photos with themselves at one point, after all they've been mailing to each other since 7.

Guess it's now getting Dormeo-ed and waking up in a dungeon cell. Riddle was freaking out since he was just heading out to PE, while Ryuji and Ren were just getting to school when they found themselves in this freaky place.

The redhead mentions how his magic didn't work out in here, to which the other to swipe it under the rug, in favor of finding a way out and trying to survive this crazy shit. :'3

Cue Kamoshida coming. Riddle is absolutely baffled that this is a PE teach. Like sure, Vargas had an obsession with muscles, but the man had sum decency, ya know?

The situation was overkill for Ren tho. Like this is the first time he meets his pen-pal, his brother in arms if you will, and he is now gonna get killed by his new PE teach who is in just a speedo with a wierd cape.

The first one on the line of execution was supposed to be Ryuji, but Riddle charged in and pushed a guard aside, which got him to be deemed as the first one on the chopping board.

Cue Ren's very epic awakening. Everyone is simply losing their shit atm. :3c

But that, clearly that had to be magic. Using that as a distraction, when the guards turned into your run-of-the-mill Jack-o-lanterns, Riddle spared 0 time in grabbing a sword and cutting one of those lil shits's heads. Ryuji stole the keys and together they closed off Kamoshida in the cell, trying to run away.

Cue realising that they are lost. :'3

So, instead of jumping on the other side of the river, they decided to look some more in here, try to find a sturdier bridge, because it was unclear if their adrenaline was yet to wear off.

They, unfortunately, stumble across a few cells with students that Ryuji recognises. The blonde explains to the 2 that these people are actual students at their school and he wanted to free them. Unfortunately, the keys didn't work and so they had to ditch them. Ren is very collected about this shit, preffering to not act rash in a situation where their very lives are on the line.

Riddle tho? Riddle sees it as unfair. And he's absolutely enraged. He insists to bargain with Kamoshida for the captive students, but, upon returning to the cell, they find no Kamoshida and that the whole door was blown away by smth. And not just anything, but something very powerful, as it left quite horrifying trails and marks. This gets Ryuji on board to finally ditch everyone else for now and try to get out before they get killed.

But, they have a run-in with a red-armoured guard, tasked with taking care of this 'intruders'. By how everything was shaped around, Ren looked drained from his transformation and Ryuji had a small halebard found on the ground to fend himself with. Everything was absolutely wrong and someone had to fix it before their heads get rolling. And Riddle deemed himself as more than fit for the job. He was well versed in the art of magic and his senses simply told him to protect his friends, to protect the people he holds so dear.

Cue epic af awakening.

With this new power, the redhead demands for Ryuji and Ren to run away while he deals with the guard. Because it didn't turn in any shadow, Riddle used that to knock off the guy from the horse and take the animal to ride and catch up with Ren and Ryuji.

Cue meeting Morgana, just as the 2 freed the cat-thing. Morgana introduces himself as a very skilled Phanthom-thief and as such, he sees some potential in the now 2 masked guys. So now they took it by steps towards the exit.

-the horse was also a shadow, so it had to dissappear, plus Morgana insisted to be discret.

Ryuji is lowkey all like: what's with the people burning alive and getting sick outfits????

The cat gives us drugs! (yes, I love that joke for sum reason) :D

Morgana also shows a demonstration of how personas work. Arsene was mainly using curse attacks and physical ones, while Judgement queen was had mainly fire and a tiny bit of bless, thus keeping the distance.

While escaping, the 3 return to Tokyo, which is bad, since Riddle was supposed to be at NRC. Everyone was, rightfully, freaking out about it. Thankfully the new badass outfits didn't come over as well. :'3

Riddle does look around and uses magic to change his uniform into something akin to a more normal school uniform. Cue Ren and Ryuji freaking out since that was actual magic and Riddle was not making shit up in his letters. Ryuji brings up that this is how the redhead dyed his hair so vibrant, to which Riddle replies that no, his hair is natural.

-In P5(not royal) universe, there are no wild hair colors. The dark blue is meant to represent a colder black. By Japan's standards, some would believe that a bright red hair could be either a delinquent or a J-pop idol. :'3

So Riddle does use magic again, to make his hair black, although still it retained a tint of red to it. It was absolutely sick for Ren and Ryuji, while Riddle was more concerned with getting himself back to NRC.

They re-meet Kamoshida and Ryuji with Riddle are immediately ready to square tf up. By sum miracle, the redhead understood perfectly Japanese, as if he was an avid speaker, which wasn't the case at all. No one brings it up, Ren and Ryuji assuming it was sum fancy magic shit.

-Cannon P5 has the group understand Morgana as a cat, so it can be expected that a more human language could be altered to be universally understood.

Riddle has to wait outside, which means the latter gets to explore around a bit. They exchanged phone numbers already and Ren with Ryuji asked the redhead to get them smth to eat post classes. Already they were through more than half of the school period, so it didn't take too long. Along with this, the 2 didn't want to catch the empty school shop, so Riddle was their errand boy for the day. :'3

On the way around, Riddle meets a nice tall guy who tells him where a cheap store is. That was a blessing for his already almost broke buget. :'D

The tall guy goes with Riddle to the store and with the extra given coins, Riddle decided to give them to the guy as a sort of thank-you, so he could complete his price for his food take.

Riddle has made a new friend: Yusuke! :D

Unfortunately both of them forgot to exchange phone numbers and only realised this when they parted ways already.

Ren and Ryuji are very happy with the food and together, the 3 discuss about what are they supposed to do. Ren offers for Riddle to sleep with him, but Sojiro might not allow it and Ryuji didn't have any space in his small place. They decide to sneak the redhead in when the latter shows them an invisibility spell he knows.

For the night, Ren and Riddle discuss a bit. The redhead admits that he was a few seconds, at best a minute or 2 before Ren and Ryuji came. Riddle also mentions about his freaky dream with the blue room, to which Ren is all like 'damn, me too'.

The 2 draw a few lines:

both are wildcards, whatever the hell is that

Igor is the master of both rooms

the theatre is not like the prison :'D

Ren got the short stick with the attendants/wardens

So they go to sleep.

And surprise, surprise, Ren is back in the Velvet room. With this opportunity, he asks Igor what is up with his friend and why is he also deemed as a wild-card. Igor says that he was chosen for another motive, but it has nothing to do with Ren's rehabilitation.

On the reverse side, Riddle asks about Ren's velvet room. Again, Igor wasn't here, but Jade says to not question his master's wishes, for they all have a purpose in 'delivering the perfect story' along with shaping Riddle in the 'worthy protagonist' he has to be.

When waking up and everything, Ren makes sure to spare half of his curry for his buddy, while Sojiro wasn't looking. As such, re-meeting with Ryuji, the 3 re-trace their steps post classes. Riddle was again sent through the city for things, meeting again with Yusuke and the 2 hanging out for a bit. This time they did exchange numbers. Yay! :D

They discover the metanav, the freaky app on all 3's phones. Riddle theories that since he came first, he has to also leave first, as to separate the 2 and thus return to their respective worlds.

-it was realised that since magic was common in Riddle's place, the latter was from a different dimension altogether.

This time, they re-meet Morgana, get more things explained and Ryuji promptly has an awakening post facing Kamoshida yet again. Really Riddle was getting impatient and wanted to behead for real the guy. Unfortunately Morgana said that if you kill Kamoshida in here, he has a mental shudown irl and actually dies.

This time, when they return to the real world, Riddle is back in twisted wonderland, while Ren and Ryuji are back in Tokyo. Their phones could still message/call one another, which only was used for them to confirm that indeed, they have to leave separately in order for everyone to go to their respective worlds.

Riddle had to call in sick for yesterday and today, which was plausible. He had a single room due to the Heartslabyul first years not being unable to divide evenly by 4. Trey was the first one to tell Riddle that he was really worried for him, while Cater managed to get him the lost lesson notes, from Jade.

-in cannon twst, the Heartslabyul dorm rooms for the 1st years are split 4 by 4. Riddle is still in his first year as of now.

Now, the redhead stood amongst first years at the one with an absolute perfect score at everything, including attendance, so it was pretty understandable that I'd he was sick he wouldn't come, as such no one really bothered to bring it up.

Still, despite all that, Riddle couldn't help but feel that someone was watching him. He tried to swat it off as being just over dramatic, but the feeling did not dissappear, whatever Riddle would try to force himself to believe.

Meanwhile, Ren makes a Gc, which is titled 'The Bois'. In here, Ryuji makes a list of people he saw in the palace and whom they should interrogate for future reference. They know that Kamoshida is abusing the students, as such they should be careful at how they could address the situation.

Riddle still was doing his best to help Ren and Ryuji with their investigations, via suggesting approach ideas or reminding them of rules and regulations that could be used as a shield for their actions.

Now there is a new routine, which also means that Ren, Ryuji and Riddle sync together when entering into the palace for investigations. Morgana came up with the code-name idea, so everyone was based off a motif from their own costumes, except Joker and Mona. So you have Skull and Rose, with their nice visual themes and then there's Joker and Mona. :'D

It's also time they discover what a wildcard could actually do. Both Riddle and Ren were spooked when their own negociations went a wierd way and gained new personas. Even weirder was the following velvet room trip, where the concept of persona fusions was presented. Ren told his buddy that he had to witness the gulittone execution, while the redhead said that he saw nothing, but heard a chainsaw for some goddamn reason.

Even so, you have Ann joining the group and expulsion hanging over Ren and Ryuji's necks. Now they did have a deadline and it was something that gained the loudest 'what' possible from Riddle.

The redhead tells the 2 that maybe they could avoid expulsion. They had to plead their case, because it wasn't legal to simply expel a kid with no backing motive and a proper investigation. And if there's a proper investigation, then Kamoshida could be shown as the absolute disgusting being that he is.

As such, their dead-line is given a bit more of a stretch, so that everyone could breath a bit in relief. Clearly they were forcing Kamoshida's hand and no doubt that he could find more 'plausible' accusations to give them. But that takes time. And they need that time for sure.

Cue these lil shits making a heist. :v

Ren was deemed as the main leader, while Riddle had to take over in certain situations. It was basically these 2 switching around. Riddle was a no-mercy fighting guy, while Ren was thinking more and stacking power.

Ann also had the brilliant shock of red to black that is Riddle's concealing charm. She brought up that, nonetheless, the guy was adorable and she definitely wanted to take him through the mall sometimes because there were so many pretty outfits he could rock. Riddle did not share the same excitement unfortunately. :'3

Ren and Ryuji realise that their buddy here has that cute charm that makes girls actually approach him.

Back in twst, not a lot of people noticed Riddle's absences. He wasn't that present post classes anyway, even so Cater did bring up that the redhead is pretty absent from the dorm post classes and/or clubs. The dormleader doesn't give it much thought, saying that perhaps he made a buddy and is hanging around. Trey seems to be pretty happy with this more outgoing change after all.

Meanwhile, our lil buddy here is getting traumatized by the horny castle. :'D

Kamoshida is horrible and Panther was more than happy to beat the shit out of him. Mona tried to be reasonable, but Ren said that if they leave the guy alive, then they could still beat him up to a pulp. >:3

Post that and the successful change of heart, the group wanted to celebrate. Ann made the great suggestion to go to this fancy buffet with the pawned money and treat themselves to their heart's content.

Riddle really didn't know how to prepare for such buffet. So he dressed up in smth nice and called it a day. Everyone had the same idea it seems, except Morgana, who is a cat.

Ann had a sweet tooth. And unfortunately she noticed that Riddle also had a sweet tooth, so the 2 indulged in the cakes and sweets, while Ren, Ryuji and Morgana went ham on the meat and other savory foods.

Then it came time to name their group. Upon a vote, it was decided to be named simple: 'The Phanthom Thieves of hearts'. Riddle brings up that it maybe they should lay down low for now, since clearly police would look into it. And Ren was on probation, so any bad light can be a fatal move.

Later on, Riddle hears from Yusuke, who tells him of this art exposition. And him having extra tickets, he was thinking of bringing his friend to see the art of his master, Madarame. The latter couldn't possibly decline the offer, so he gracefully accepted to come by in the weekend.

But before that, Morgana said 'let's go into the mementos' and we get introduced to the Monabus. :'D

The freaky part is when they encounter a stalker, whom, after defeat, accuses Madarame of exploiting them. It brings out a very wierd situation. Riddle offered to properly face the man in an interrogation, for he cannot actually be identified in this place, while the others listen in.

Indeed, the guy accuses again Madarame, saying how he wishes for nothing that he put effort in to be taken from him. Unfortunately, that got out of hand when his ex decided to break-up, thus the stalking. But now, seeing actual reason and realising how horrible his behaviour was, the guy begs of our groups to try and use their miraculous ways to save the children under Madarame's 'care', so they couldn't be exploited anymore.

Post that, Riddle mentions how he has a ticket to the art exposition, courtesy of Yusuke, his friend. There is also this wierd alcoholic reporter, who tries to get a scoop on Madarame, having all kinds of rumors on him. Coincidentally, Yusuke saw Ann and deemed her as the perfect model for his next art piece.

So there are 2 different plans of action:

The exposition one, where Riddle is gathering info about the paintings displayed, along with how Madarame himself acts around. Frankly, the old man was quite humble and kind, addressing to Riddle as Yusuke's friend and being happy about more youth attending a traditional art exposition.

Meanwhile, Ann is refusing far and beyond to pose nude for Yusuke, once the true intention of the painting is. In between us, Ren was pretty down to be a nude model. :'D

Still, our group finds the Madarame palace and BOI is that thing FANCY. All gold, abstract building and whoever decided to put pots on the roof. :'3

-In the P5 game, you can steal art pieces on the roof, who coincidentally look like pots

Riddle had a very familiar, yet foul feeling about this place, but he mostly kept it to himself, in favor of how to deal with this place. The pupil paintings were almost the last straw, but still, Yusuke was loyal to hell and back to Madarame. Simply telling him that this guy is bad won't do anything but to sour their already complicated relationship with the guy.

Still, they couldn't proceed further because of the peacock feather doors. So Ann FINALLY accepts the modeling gig, but with a catch: she took all the closet on her. :'3

Meanwhile, Riddle and Mona were meant to sneak in and open the door itself. Using an invisibility charm, the 2 had to both open the door and have Madarame see it open as well. Morgana wanted to lock pick it, but Riddle said 'nah' and straight up opened it with magic.

Unfortunately, neither was fast enough to catch that hefty thing and so it slammed on the shabby floor, which was heard through all the house. So the 2 knew that now either Madarame reaches them first or Yusuke and Ann.

-Yusuke assumed something bad happened or something got broken and thus wanted to assure for the well-being of his master

In a panic, Riddle and Morgana go and hide in the dark room itself, leaving wide open the door. Yusuke and Ann come first and out of instinct, Ann switches on the light.

Poor Yusuke is in an absolute shock. Hearing the footsteps of someone also coming, Riddle uses his magic to turn off the light along with turning Ann and Yusuke invisible. Yusuke wanted to yell, say smth, but Ann shushed him, just as Madarame entered the room. Yusuke saw first hand how the man actually acted around, quite arrogant, yet panicky that maybe someone actually stole a copy of the Sayuri.

Now that he was invisible, Yusuke also saw Riddle and Morgana, which was far more confusing since, for him, it was wierd that Madarame didn't even notice their presence altogether. Fleeing the place, the group came with the metaverse escape, once Morgana accidentally knocked off a painting and Madarame was convinced someone was truly there.

Cue Yusuke freaking out. He was in this metaverse place. In here, all the charms Riddle initially made were lifted, so cue the briliant shock of red hair again. :'D

Rose decided to got directly to the point: this is how Madarame views this whole art business and himself. As a museum of himself, where his vanity knows no limit.

The 2 had to re-meet with Joker and Skull. Yusuke has just a bad time overall and Riddle could only offer to step back and protect Yusuke, while the others fight shadows upfront.

Yet Yusuke also awakens to a persona! Yay! Now we can kick that grandpa's ass! :D

After the whole escape, Yusuke is very down. Ren tried to comfort him, but ultimately Riddle got to send the message across: just because someone raised you, doesn't necessarily mean that you are allowed to excuse every mistake of theirs. You can admit that the person in question is bad, even if they had you since you were a baby.

-Since Ren talked sense in Riddle prior, the redhead is aware already of his own mother's wrongs and thus, is the best to talk with Yusuke about this

Yusuke is now determined to change Madarame's heart and have him answer for his deeds against all those innocent pupils he exploited.

But, Madarame's wary af and thus asked police to make an investigation of the place. The investigation proves to be futile, as no one could find any evidence, besides the lock being thrown on the floor. Still, they were drawing a few suspects, one of which is Yusuke. This puts on fire the group since if Yusuke is accused of breaking in, it's over.

Yet, Riddle gets his summer holiday now. He had to make sure his mother was out in town while he 'studied' in order to sneak out via metaverse. Even so, it hardly changed the routine, since Yusuke also had very lil time to slip up.

By the middle of June they manage to find the treasure, send in the calling card and have the heist. Yusuke gets even more traumatised by Madarame's greed and the group find out about a black mask roaming around.

The confession, of course, is followed by a lot of uproar from the public. Yusuke now was living the ✨broke✨ life and Ren, Ryuji and Riddle are roped in with Mishima onto investigating the maid service, discovering that Kawakami works it as a side-job.

We also see the fireworks! :D

But, later, Riddle notices smth wierd. They were followed, quite indiscretly, by a girl. Ren explained that she was the student council president and it could only mean bad things for them.

Riddle, being done and over with that feeling of being followed, confronts Makoto upfront about stalking them. Like damn, can't a guy have sum privacy and hang around in peace?!

Makoto confronts them back with them being THE Phanthom thieves. Of course, this puts the group in a tight situation as Makoto wants them to prove their ways by changing the heart of a mafioso boss. They need a name tho, so using the journalist Ren meet previously, they deduce the name of Junya Kaneshiro. Their problem was the need to see Kaneshiro in person and deduce the nature of the palace in question.

Riddle tho, stopped her, saying that he is the guy on the terrain and that Makoto shouldn't get involved with those guys directly. Makoto tho, dismisses him, which almost gets them caught off in trouble with Kaneshiro, but thankfully magic is a godbless in here and Riddle doesn't hesitate to use it in order to confuse the people around and thus avoided an insanely close bullet.

Still, in order to fully escape, they used the metaverse escape, getting yeeted in the fricking bank. Since Kaneshiro knows them now, they gained access oh so much before the 'bank owner' demands cash for their damage done in the club. And a quite exaggerated sum, which could put poor Makoto in a life long debt.

Cue awakening! Heck yeah! We have a motorcycle now! :D

Makoto has many shocks today. Magic, metaverse, personas, the very close escape from ruining situation... Really a lot. Even so, Ren reasons that there is a possibility that the cameras could've caught their faces. It would take a bit more to get the footage and identify them, but when that happens, no doubt that Kaneshiro would want a hefty payment to keep shut.

Still, with sum effort and a very nicely set calling card, the group pull it off. Kaneshiro drops for them sum info about the black mask, but it's not really helping them in this situation.

Cue summer holiday like pros and Riddle starting his 2nd year at NRC. This was marked as special, since last year he was named Dormhead, by the previous one, whom now is in his 4th year. Ren quietly congratulated his buddy, who insisted to be kept on the low.

Still, what Riddle didn't expect was the mountain of tasks that would get dropped on his shoulders. He had to oversee a bunch of things and along that, by sum unspoken rule, he was put in charge of confirming that every Dormhead would come to the entrance ceremony. So he wrote nicely a few notes for the Dormheads, handing them personally to themselves, vices or students who can safely take it to them.

All, well except Idia. Riddle brought this problem to Ren. Like how he could even get that guy out to attend the ceremony. It's not something hard. He could still bring his tablet and speak through it. He wasn't unreasonable. But attendance will be mandatory and to top it off, Ortho, the deemed younger brother of Idia, really wished for him to attend the ceremony. It's not like he was sick or anything. Ortho confirmed that his brother can attend the ceremony with no problems. So it's more of a 'get yo ass out and stay in a corner for 30 minutes' kind of thing.

The rest of the group suggest their own things, but it all boils down to 1 idea: go in person and confront the guy.

Despite Riddle expecting to have a shy guy that maybe needs a bit of a nice word of encouragement to get the things going, Idia was snarky. This guy wanted nothing to do with the 'Resident rule perfectionist' as he put it into words. And that, in turn, railed up Riddle too, which turned into a back and forth with only the closed door preventing Idia from getting his ass whooped into attending.

-being so absent during April and the end of the year, people didn't get to see Riddle as more than just a guy that follows rules to a T

So Riddle, upon Ren's guidance, guilttrips Idia into confirming his attendance for the sake of his brother, who was really looking forward to it. It was a success! :D

Except it wasn't, because Idia didn't show up, despite Ortho saying that he saw his brother in the ceremonial robes, leaving before him even, just how the dormleaders were required to. Add salt on the wound, this wierd magicless peep stumbles in, a cat-raccoon puts on fire the whole goddamn room.

And Azul is his partner in catching that cat. This night couldn't possibly get worse, could it? At least, being used to thief shenanigans, it is far easier to outpace Grim and catch the lil monster, not before collaring him first. It would've been easier if Azul didn't almost blast him off with a missed spell. :'3

Post all this, luckily Ren and him meet up to hang out. In the metaverse to blow off some steam, ofc. Riddle does mention about Yuu, but when Ren suggests to take Yuu himself over to this world, where they belong, Riddle responds that there is a chance that this stranger was brought by the dark mirror. Something was up with this Yuu and he isn't going to risk it until he has evidence that they could be truly sent back safely without them being brought back by accident again.

-Yuu mentioned their home when the mirror asked for them to be sent back, as such it was clear it was a place from Ren's world.

This gets reinforced when Riddle wakes up in the velvet room. He was never summoned there for anything than at first 2 times. He had to ask for different procedures that Ren discovered when he was summoned. So there's that.

But the velvet room this time was more eerie. Far darker around and the bindings were tighter, even hurting when the redhead tried to move. He called for Jade, but he didn't respond, nor was to be seen.

All Riddle knew was that someone had their hands on his seat back, tilting a bit as a way to gain his attention. The person in question spoke very quiet and softly about how this game is rigged and that Riddle should, under no circumstances, mingle in with the magicless human. The redhead is allowed to ask 1 question before their time runs out. And Riddle, naturally, asks who the hell is this person behind him.

The response is: Someone he should've meet much earlier.

Of course, the redhead shared this encounter with Ren. Something definitely was up. He wanted to bring it up with Igor, but Riddle insisted that this stays in between them. Who knows what velvet room shenanigans are truly going on?

First proper day of NRC school and Ren just calls in to check on his buddy, only to be hit with the 'these dumbasses charred a statue, broke an insanely expensive chandelier and almost avoided explosion by trespassing in an abandoned and, possibly, Hazzardous mine'. When Ace allegedly stole a tart, it was the last straw and Riddle collared him. He didn't explicitly kick him out, but the guy left the dorm puffing and huffing so he didn't stop him.

-the way Riddle phrased his nagging made Ace believe that he was kicked out

Ren just suggests that tomorrow he should talk with Ace and Deuce. And just make it clear that he expects the 2 learned their lesson and won't do that absolutely dangerous shit again.

It goes actually well! :D

Ren is also invited to the tea party. The others were a bit busy, hence Ren finally got to visit Riddle's world. There was fun and nice food, so he wasn't complaining. U-Ub

Ren also gets to see firsthand how it truly is in a place where everyone uses magic. The roses were turned red by a flick of a wrist, the dishes were flying off their table on their own, even Trey's Unique magic was amazing for Ren.

Ren also meets Yuu, the magicless hooman in question, along with Grim. Since Morgana also was there, Ren jokingly said that they are kinda the same. Yuu notes how, from Trey's Intel, they didn't expect Riddle to actually have other friends, outside the school. Well Che'nya was an exception, but still! It turns out Yuu was also from Japan, them casually mentioning how in their world, at least, there were those wierd mental shutdowns and sum rumors about Phanthom Thieves. It was very freaky and Yuu was actually glad they weren't there atm.

-Ren lied and said he was a magicless student studying around, coming from the Queendom of Roses as well.

Post that, Ren was pretty glad that Riddle called off the idea of bringing Yuu back home via the metaverse. So far, their idea of the thieves wasn't all pink and sugary, so there was a fair chance they would rat them out.

Post the party, Riddle and Ren talk as the redhead is 'getting back to school' the latter. Riddle does mention about the other Dormheads and how they kinda are in terms of personality. Not the most happy bunch, but NRC was notorious for stuck-up brats after all.

Discussing those matters, Leona's name gets dropped. And what you'd guess, the metanav picks it up. It halts the 2's convo as they realise that 'oh shit, the metaverse is not Tokyo exclusive'.

So until they reach the mirror chamber, they try different things. It does pick up 'coliseum', 'envy' and 'sloth', getting the 2 to come face to face with a more antique place, where gladiator fights were the main attraction. Still, they didn't venture too much. They had to talk with the rest of PTs about this palace.

It comes to a comune accord that this palace was something that needs to be dealt with. At least before inter-dorm magishift season starts. Azul was in charge of organisation so they had to take a leap of faith and get somehow a clue about what Leona might pose a threat to. His palace was cold and straightforward. Shockingly very easy to go through.

Their problem tho, comes with Medjed, back in Tokyo, taking upon a 'duel' with the PTs. For that, Alibaba, a misterious hacker, requested to have a heart change. So Leona's palace had to wait a bit more.

Everyone honestly was thinking that the desert tomb was mocking them with the endless heat, only to have back irl the autumn coldness. Still, they manage to change Futaba's heart, or more like she helps in changing her own heart. This does cause a collapse episode in the real world, something which Riddle can freely use some simple healing magic spells. Still, Sojiro, unaware, called in Takemi to check.

With Medjed dealt with, Riddle is informed of the string of accidents on the school grounds. Yuu, Grim and Adeuce were looking into it, so the redhead assigned Cater to also look a bit in this mess. Clearly, he knew Leona had something to do with this. His palace was straight out outing this thing, but Riddle had to play it right and not raise suspicions.

So he devises a plan to stop the sabotaging, all the while the rest of the thieves group go and steal the treasure. Riddle promised that he will confront Leona face to face, as such they won't need a calling card and make their presence also known in here.

-since Yuu knew about the Phanthom thieves in their world, a calling card would immediately raise suspicions.

Cue busting Leona at the magishift grounds, just as, in the metaverse, Ren was leading the heist.

Except that what wasn't taken in account, was Leona overblotting. This shook up the whole plan and not only did Riddle have to deal with an overBlot, the rest of the thieves got out with the treasure, only for the thing to crumble apart right in their hands.

Instantly, the metanav confirmed that the palace still was standing, so it was clear that now everyone meet in front of it, seeing the now abandoned ruins of the once prestigious looking coliseum. No more shadow readings, treasures or anything that would do with distorted desires. It was like a shell of it's former corrupted glory.

Riddle says that in the real world, Lilia came in between him and Leona and berated him so bad he actually overBlotted. Something like this was absolutely unexpected. And so far Leona was still preparing to play in the exhibition match. He had to return and arrange the Heartslabyul team, so the others decided to come too and keep an eye on the matches.

Magishift was, clearly, something that hyped up the whole group. It was also Futaba's first time outside, at a grand event such as this.

Still, Leona was acting like normal. He was sent to the infirmary to rest after this thing, while Yuu was sent there post getting bonked with the Disk.

For a few days, Riddle kept a close eye on Leona. The palace was in a state of decaying and the guy himself looked like nothing changed. No change of heart was made, but some sort of inner change was done by Leona himself. Something that compromised the whole palace.

After that, there is the Halloween event, where Riddle invited his Tokyo buddies at the open gates event. Magicam monsters like magicam monsters. Still getting a kick outta them. :v

The actual noteworthy thing is post that, when the endless Halloween night starts. In the land of the afterlife, Riddle could feel his personas brimming inside. It felt awfully like some sort of metaverse, but it wasn't his metaverse, more like some sort of extension.

And since WHEN did Lilia need glasses?! They were that hot pink, bedazzled with prints on their rims along with a colorful chain full of beads. Really standing out against his Halloween attire. Still, he said that it was his idea, as to cheer up Malleus for the inevitable end of this big school party. Pepaw, dunno if u have health insurance, but I'm sure af that Riddle doesn't give a damn about it. :'3

Following that, in Tokyo, people didn't really believe that much in the power of heart change. The thieves needed some big target to hit, but that could also be compromising. It does get into a heated argument, with Morgana ditching the group in a rage fit. Everyone is just all over the place. They decide to target Okumura and run into a spaceship palace! :D

Meanwhile, Ren and Riddle decide to solo investigate the mementos of twisted wonderland. They didn't really have a clue how to get to rotten souls, but Riddle suggested to try out students names. This mementos was an extension of the usual mementos, accessed through a cracked mirror and resembling an upside-down tower.

The 2 stumble upon the shadow of none other than Azul. It was surprising, since Riddle knew how greedy and perfectionist this guy was. He expected a more grandiose thing out of him, not a simple shadow.

Still, using the fact that they could easily change his heart and that also there was no trigger for overBlot rn, they do defeat the shadow. It was more as an experiment, to see if a change of heart actually works in twst or it is something else.

Azul had absolutely 0 change in his behaviour. Still he's scheemy and still he has that honey-sweet Demandour, appearing to be friendly and rope u in a deal.

In fact, a lot more people got roped in a deal. Ren wanted to say that they did worse, but Riddle reassured that this was absolutely no surprise: exams were coming up. With Azul as a dormleader now, along with his 'reliability' in the previous year, it was no surprise that the clients would come in more numbers.

So while the whole Octavinelle plot is going on, the PTs are managing the Okumura palace. They have Mona back, along with a new addition: Noir, or by her real name: Haru.

There are 2 things that result in this whole Aftermath: Azul Overblots and Mr Okumura dies live on press. This is pivotal, as the Tokyo public believes that the Phanthom thieves are criminals, while on the twst plan, Azul still is hunting for contracts, although he seemed to lower the actual conditions, to the point is outright too generous. It was a sign of desperation.

Haru needs sum time off to think. With the sudden public death, the voting was postponed at a later date, to firstly let this scandal die down and re-make the whole voting options. It proved as a good time for other prime-minister candidates to make PR moves and capitalise on the death of Okumura for the sympathy of the masses. The ballouts would be hosted in March now, Japan waltzing in the new year with a lack of a prime-minister.

So Haru spends the small winter vacation with Riddle, at NRC. It was away from all this Tokyo Chaos. The others still checked up on her, to make sure she was, at least, able to cope well with the situation. There was a nice atmosphere in the Heartslabyul gardens, nice tea and along those, Haru seemed to enjoy the company of the local small critters and flamingoes.

Of course, due to this, it was no surprise that a certain Floyd Leech would bust the calm, mostly since 'Goldfishie stood over!' and he wants to play with someone else. Esp since Azul and Jade always were with him during the winter break so it was boring. Last year's break was enough for Floyd apparently. :'3

Although Haru found it entertaining the said chase and the chaos Floyd brought, what she didn't quite appreciate was when Yuu and Grim crashed into Octavinelle in the middle of the night and Haru joined, not expecting to be put through a training camp. Still, there was nice food and Kalim seemed very kind at first glance.

Then evening rolled up and Kalim wasn't so nice anymore. Just how Yuu and Grim said, this guy had worse moodswings than Floyd himself. So they split up to investigate: Haru and Jade separate Kalim from the others, while the rest keep Jamil occupied.

On the Kalim side, things were going smoothly once Jade used his unique magic on the latter, now the whole thing boiling down to asking the right questions. Haru was perplexed that Kalim's willpower to keep his promise was so strong, but this is also what outed the whole thing as well if you count in Kalim's connections. It was ironic, really.

Meanwhile, Jamil takes note that Riddle is very precise in the board game, which made him quite the fearsome competition. The redhead doesn't ignore the given compliment, saying that is very simple to advance if you know the rules and don't loiter around thinking of the points, rather consider the penalties. Yuu also notes that the redhead had quite the longer hair, this time being braided around pretty nicely. Riddle says that he didn't really take in account his hair situation at all.

-Haru braided it for him as a sort of relaxing activity for both.

Regrouping back in the guest room, a plan is devised and put in action the very next day. Jamil is exposed and this guy has a breakdown and overblots.

Cue getting yeeted across Scarabia. It came as an absolute surprise, which, to Riddle and Haru's further horror, they discovered that, indeed, Jamil had a palace all along. Who would've suspected such humble guy to turn out like this?!

Haru has now rights to commit extreme violence in the real world. Haru is very happy. :3

Poor lil Kalim... He's devastated, but nothing much could be done about it. Haru has her lil pep-talk with him, which turns out on a nice note, with Kalim declaring that he will do his very best to improve, for the sake of Jamil and everyone else.

Jamil also got a pep-talk, but no one really has an idea if something stuck with the guy or if he's just playing along for the sake of getting out of it faster.

Following that and an oasis hangout, Haru decides that she should come back. She stood for 4, maximum 5 days and deemed that all of this small adventure helped her rewind a bit and clear out her head.

Post her leave, Riddle still had the rest of the holiday to spend with the freshly returned Adeuce. Still, Floyd didn't leave him alone at all. He did inquire to know if he didn't get bored of him post the Scarabia incident. They were put to hang out for days together, so how come Floyd didn't get bored?

-in cannon twst, Yuu called Adeuce before breaking out with the carpet, as such the 2 rushed in here as fast as they could.

The latter responds that he knows Riddle's getting more risks taken and that the redhead is mingling with forces he should fear. It wasn't a nagging, because for the end, Floyd says that he's curious of what would come out of all this and expects Riddle to continue this type of shenanigans.

Riddle wanted to ask what in the world is the latter on, but decided to leave it at that and mind his own business. He went to the velvet room, where the other Jade was patiently waiting for him and any questions he may have. The latter has only 1 question: does this Jade have a twin? The attendant hesitates before giving no response, Riddle taking it as a confirmation.

It verified Riddle's theory that this Jade has a connection with the actual Leech twin in real life.

Despite everything, Jade says that, unfortunately, he cannot disclose information regarding the other attendants or about his own position, which further vexes Riddle. Clearly he knew of the twin wardens from Ren's velvet room. And Riddle now knew that in this theatre are supposed to be another pair of twins. But it was only 1. This had to be some sort of parallel. Things so far seemed way too separated, yet they had to be connected. Riddle has never seen Igor, while Ren always was welcomed by the said misterious man. Riddle had 1 attendant, posing as the one and only, while Ren had 2, split into an equal duty.

With those aside... It takes a bit of time, before our group is blackmailed by Aketchi into clearing Sae's palace. It put this whole thing on fire for everyone. And if for Riddle it wasn't enough, for him, this year, Crowley gave him the duty of overseeing the organisation for the culture festival. Mountains of papers and a lot of places, with little time to even rewind for himself a bit.

Aketchi gets also aquitanted with Riddle, being quite taken aback by the fact that 2 wildcards are in the group. Sure, fancy pants... Sure... -3-

But, with all of those Woes and troubles, Ren suggests that the group should also take a break, in the form of the culture festival. An open gates event where they could take 1 break, preferably to clear their heads before the big heist day and to enjoy themselves. Riddle actually looked very forward to it. He liked when his Tokyo friends would visit him. So he marked down the date and he did everything in his power to clear it. Making sure everything was to a T, so that no unexpected worries appear on the last second.

It adds far more on his plate than Riddle would like to admit. But he had to push it through. He had to make sure everything went swimmingly. It all depended on him, the 3rd party that wouldn't be affected by Sae's change of heart. The palace was investigated in record time and add to it that Ren even offered to help the redhead with sum paperwork, so he could speed up the whole process.

What was a thing Riddle overlooked, was literally the other Heartslabyul students. He overlooked that some might mess up something. And when they did, it resulted in a quick lashing out, a collar taken down seconds after realisation settled in and a profund apology for the scare. Those signs also showed in the palace. The reason they advanced so quick was because Riddle adapted an approach of 'wanna negotiate or taste my gun'.

This problem was brought forth with Trey. Him being the vice, the others decided that he is the best person to snap Riddle out of it. Cater even offered to take some of Trey's duties off his shoulders so he could take some of Riddle's in turn and at least clear up some time. Adeuce were gone, an unbirthday party was planned literally 2 days before the VDC. Time was on fast forward and it seemed Riddle had a hard time keeping in the pace.

-Ace and Deuce were at the VDC camp.

Trey tho, swats off the others, saying that it's simply just a more hectic period. A lot of things need to have Riddle's presence or signature, so it's not far fetched to say that even if they wanted to help, there's very little they could do. Cater tho, insists that even that little help they could offer is better than no help, but Trey shuts down the idea, saying that he'll take care of it, the same way he did on Riddle's first year: have a talk with him.

And that goes as well as one would expect: down in the goddamn gutter.

To start off, Trey postponed the deemed talk, until before the unbirthday party. At This point Riddle was piling even more stress, after a morning call where his mother finally got to nag him about staying at school for the winter and also forgetting to give her the weekly report yesterday. It already put on the down mood for the day and that only added up when his dorm students reported that apparently one of the flamingoes escaped, a hedgehog had a bellyache and the roses will take a few extra hours to be re-painted because some first years accidentally turned them green and got lost in between the leaves.

Add to that the poor sleep schedule and the overall tiredness. He intended at first to stay in the lounge and finish some urgent papers he'll have to send over to the light music club, regarding their performance duration, when he fell asleep.

Trey woke him up a few hours later and told him about his slip, which made Riddle to spiral in a panic, asking why in the fresh hell didn't he wake him up earlier?! He had to send those papers today, because those are meant to confirm the presence of certain club performances and allow for the schedule of the festival to be posted. Those were PIVOTAL for the organisation. And he slept on them! Now he couldn't attend the unbirthday party, so he'll just postpone it post VDC.

Cue Trey telling him that already everything was set and they couldn't possibly postpone it, when only the redhead was missing from there. He tries to tell the latter that he should take a break, but Riddle panics, saying that he took a break just now and he destroyed all of his plans. He won't have enough time, he'll have to work even on the VDC day, thus he couldn't take his friends out through the festival. It was all a mess. His only free day was forfeit because he fell asleep. Everything just came in, crashing and burning.

Cue a breakdown and an overBlot. Surprisingly, a quite weak one, since already Riddle was still tired and it was easier to knock him out.

So while the redhead actually does sleep in the real life, Riddle wakes up in the velvet room, again being dark and eerie. This time tho, the bindings were a bit more loose and his hands were smudged with ink. He knew that behind him was, again, that misterious someone. Fortunately, Riddle had a theory and a name for the one behind him.

So he calls out for Floyd to come forth. The latter does listen and presents himself as Jade's twin and Riddle's initial attendant. He was quite different, with longer hair and an attire fit for an actor on stage more than anything. Floyd explains that he waited for this moment. For things to crumble down and allow him a moment longer in here. Jade was very limited in this situation and he adds that Azul's initial plan of sneaking in was busted by that pesky shrimp.

Riddle doesn't really understand what's truly going on, but draws one conclusion: the velvet room twins and the irl Leech twins are one and the same. And Floyd here says that he's supposed to be Riddle's true attendant. Then what's Jade's role? And what does Azul have to do with this whole ordeal?!

Floyd doesn't explain, saying that time ran out and that someone is waking up Riddle in the reality, thus their time is cut short. Nonetheless, if he has any questions or truly wants to see what was truly hidden from him, then he reccomends Riddle would seek him out in any world he deems fit.

When the redhead really wakes up, Trey was holding him, while Cater and Che'nya were also in sight, both ferreting around like headless chickens. Riddle asks what happened, to which he's told that he overBlotted. Now he's lost even more time with his 'temper tantrum' and the inevitable knockout session he had. It immediately ends with Riddle crying, saying that he cannot handle it anymore, that he wants to simply stop time to do everything.

Trey doesn't know what to say, but he tells the redhead that he needs to take a break and recover, weather he wants or not. It doesn't reassure at all the redhead, so Cater steps in, saying that he will talk with the club representatives that have performances planned and have them come here and pick up the papers, as to cut some shortcuts at least.

This reassures a bit Riddle and he only demands now for a bit of privacy.

And he uses that privacy to go to Ren. Now, the latter was a bit taken aback by the sudden visit, but indulges in and welcomes the latter with an awkward hug. He doesn't ask what happened, he just waits for the latter to explain. Riddle does tell in between sobs what happened. Due to stress and using so much magic to patch up for his shortcomings, he overBlotted. He really just wanted a nice lil hangout day before they pull the big heist, but everything was compromised.

Ren, as a gud friend, does 2 things: 1. Comfort his buddy and offer to come with him and help him out. 2. Plan Crow man's funeral in advance and prepare a bat for Clover.

-Ren is aware Trey is a vice and therefore could've taken some of the duties and papers with no problem from Riddle's intel.

Riddle feels like he's asking too much from the latter, but Ren admits that the redhead did so much for him and the rest of the Phanthom thieves, by covering their traces, prolonging their deadlines and helping out with anything possible. He feels it's only fair that he will be here, with a hug and a helping hand when in need.

What Riddle does add is that something is wrong with the velvet room. At least his velvet room, for apparently he has a wrong attendant and both he and the actual attendant are real life people. There's also a 3rd person roped in this and it's none other than Azul, whom at first Ren and Riddle had under a close eye due to odd behavior.

Ren admits that it's wierd, but for now, he says that it would be better to take a deep breath and focus on the now. Not on the what they should do next. So he calls in the rest of the group, filling them up ONLY about the overBlot news. Clearly Aketchi had to catch up with the whole magic shit, but Riddle made it clear that overBlot is an external factor and cannot mean that a person necessarily has a palace.

Aketchi suggests that they still have a week or so until their deemed heist day. They said a week, because Sae is out of town, as of now, and on the first day she returns to Tokyo, she'll get the calling card. So, from his perspective, all the previous overBlot cases share a similarity: they were triggered by something. So he asks for Riddle to re-trace his steps of the day, because something doesn't add up.

So the redhead does that. He starts with the usual, but reaches the end, adding that it was just like any other day lately, until he snapped. Ann does ask if by chance he got upset over something, maybe a discussion, a mistake, something that would usually be brushed off easily. Riddle admits that he didn't think much about it, but now that he recalls, he had in the morning a call with his mother, which did make him upset for the rest of the day. It totally flew by him since just so many upsetting things happened lately that he didn't even realise that the call was actually the one who started the string.

Now Ren knows that his buddy's home situation is rather a delicate problem, so when Aketchi proposes to feed Mrs Rosehearts's name to the metanav, Ren intervenes and tells that they will all take action if Riddle deems it fit. This is something very personal and as such, the latter gets to call the shots.

Riddle decides that he has to finally address the flags he kept ignoring. He knew from a long time that something was wrong with his mother. Ren did help him see that. So he hopes to clear everything up one way or another. And if this is the fastest option, so be it.

Still, it came as a heavy hit for Riddle when the metanav confirmed that, indeed, Mrs Rosehearts had a palace. Unfortunately, his hunch was right and Riddle didn't miss a beat on the other words needed for the navigation process.

The group is meet with porcelain towers, over which are engraved different words/scripts, flailing with their colorful velvety flags. They seemed to represent things like 'honesty', 'loyalty', 'kindness', 'wisdom' and the middle one, the tallest, being 'obedience'. The treasure itself was visible from afar, sitting in the place of the top flag of the obedience tower. The towers were way too apart to grapple hook from one another and neither did they have walk-ways or anything interconnecting them at first glance, protected by gigantic spiky walls. Still, they didn't stay much and returned immediately back.

Ren asks again what shall be the call. Riddle stays a bit to think about it, before he demands that the rest of the team take no action regarding this one. Their most pressing issue is the casino heist right now. So everyone leaves it on a heavy note.

Ren tho, wants to have a heart-to-heart with the redhead, asking on why he doesn't want to change his mother's heart. Riddle explains that his mother is a well-respected doctor. It's clear that if her heart gets changed, not only his own living conditions will be revealed to the world, but no doubt suspicious medical records or less than innocent acts could also come to light. He says he fears for the consequences.

Ren tho, begs to different and says that maybe Riddle isn't afraid of the consequences of his mother, rather he fears what he'll discover inside. He offers to assist Riddle in exploring the place itself, promising that they will not change the woman's heart at all.

Riddle tho, admits that if they are going to do this mission together, he wants someone else to tag along too.

As such, one could see the next day the redhead going to Octavinelle. It was a surprise to see him asking for Floyd's presence, not that the latter wouldn't give it in a heartbeat. Floyd was very eager to find out what does goldfishie need so bad out of him. Riddle himself brings up that he wants Floyd to live up to his attendant duty and assist him in a palace.

And while the latter firstly brings up how Jade or Azul would've said a flat no, he wasn't them. And he was still absolved of his position until further action is taken. Clearly he points out what Riddle would even benefit from his presence in there. The redhead does admit that he has little to benefit, but he doesn't doubt that, as an attendant, Floyd would bring on the table something no other persona user could.

Floyd's response still stays yes, although he almost hesitated when he heard a big condition was to not tell anyone about it. Nor Azul or Jade. Still, the answer was yes and that's what truly mattered for Riddle.

Watch Ren's surprise to finally meeting another attendant that wasn't a smol child set on beating him up. We'll... Scrap that, Floyd was tall af compared to the twin wardens. So in his mind, he concluded that if u are tall, you get a shortie attendant, but if u are short, you get a tall attendant. Ah yes... The math is mathing.

Still, Floyd was the same old loose cannon. He had a glossary of personas, able to summon only the ones that Riddle discovered up until now. You could say he was a pelicular flavour of wild card.

Still, first 2 times it was more of sneaking around, seeing the place itself. It was disturbing at best how much everything was in order, nothing amiss, not even a beat or step of a shadow.

A noticeable thing was that Ren also had to drag off the twin wardens to see places they demand to see. So Riddle found it fit to tag along with Floyd as to entertain the guy for a bit and give Riddle peace with the whole 'goldfishie' teasing. One pelicular thing was that Floyd didn't recognise Justine and Caroline, but the 2 knew Floyd as 'Tragedy' and were aware that Floyd had a twin.

Then, you have VDC day. The day that, despite Riddle's initial pesimism, it went well at first. Only some early morning work before the meeting hour. The rest of PTs arrived at the established hour, and St first it was sunshine and rainbows. Going around stalls, talking with each other and having a great time together.

Although, Riddle did passively mention that NRC's VDC representatives are led by Vil Schonenheit, a famous actor and model. The name rings a bell for Makoto, who remembers that while they went in mementos without Joker or Rose, they encountered a shadow of someone named Vil Schonenheit.

-Joker and Rose were investigating the Mrs Rosehearts palace at that time, so the others were allowed to venture through the weaker levels of mementos.

This puts a question mark for Riddle, since Vil didn't overBlot, nor anyone said that he had any change in behaviour. Even the VDC started like normally. Thankfully Riddle managed to smuggle in the rest of the group in order for them to see the performances. Ofc, a vote went to NRC.

Yet RSA still won. Goddamnit Rook. :'3

Everything seemed way too fine. Still they had time until Sae turns back, so the rest of the day was spent goofing around a bit.

At night tho, the 2 wildcards and the attendant are wrapping up their exploration progress. The palace was so in order that it was shockingly easy to reach the treasure, while still seeing every nook and cranny of it. Indeed, as Riddle predicted, faulty medical records, decease notes, organs files, important documents and other medical illegalities were represented towards the bottoms of the towers, where one would find the underground tunnels meant to connect the towers one by one.

Except that in the obedience tower it was someone meant to be kept there: Mrs Rosehearts's cognitive Riddle. A puppet made out of porcelain, just like the towers, representing that just like this palace, Riddle was a product of work in his mother's eyes. The only things truly noticeable were the cracks through which roses would grow out and the strings that were attached to the ceiling, moving via a complicated mechanism over how it was dictated. Some were broken and thus the puppet was left discarded, in a corner of the room, hoped to never be noticed again.

Riddle knew well enough that Crowley had to inform his mother about the overBlot. Clearly she didn't outright tell him, but in her mind, already the redhead was a failure, a defective puppet. The puppet himself seemed to perk at the newcomers and as such he wanted to challenge them, for they aren't allowed to go further.

Rose demanded that this will be a battle in between him and... Well... Himself. So Joker and Floyd will stay on the sidelines as the 2 engaged in battle. Despite the puppet's best efforts, Rose still won and held the cognitive Riddle at rapier's point. He hesitated, which made the puppet mad and demand on why is he spared, why is Rose so weak that he cannot finish a given job.

Rose responds that, fortunately, he learned his wrongs and whatever his mother sees in him as 'obedient' and 'loyal', was truly something that died long ago. Because of this, now the cognitive Riddle is discarded and not wanted anymore. Because he disobeyed. And now is not worth to try and fix anything. The damage already was done and for once, it was a necessary evil.

So he cuts the puppet's head off, making it to shatter in a pile of shards and wilted flowers, who disappeared slowly. Joker does ask if they should go forward, but Riddle says that it's enough. That they won't return here at all. He got what he wanted and there's no more reason to go forward.

Floyd does ask why he is so prompt on not changing his mother's heart. The reply is simple: despite everything, Riddle still loves his mother. And if he makes the change of heart, he'll basically condamn her to jail, to a humiliating punishment. And he he only wants her to at least live in peace. It is no doubt that her actions will catch up with her at one point, but Riddle would rather first cut all the necessary strings in the real life before the punishment will befall her.

And even if he loves her, this was truly a more cruel punishment than simply changing her heart.

So this palace is left alone, to exist on its own and wait until it will destroy itself.

Except that shit cannot be easy at all, because the very next day, Riddle had a club meeting when they get busted by Charons. Despite putting his best fight with magic, the redhead is put down anyway, not after scorching a good chunk of the sports field. :'3

Oh, the other overBlot victims are here, which for some reason has Vil. Riddle asks what happened with Vil, to which the latter responds that he overBlotted, as a consequence of his actions. Not much detail it is given, nor Riddle pushes for more.

-At the end of chapter 5, everyone agreed to keep the overBlot a secret, as Malleus fixed the stage as well.

We are seeing Idia again! Not really the best place to meet your high-school aquitance, but anyway. :'D

Ortho was very happy for the fact that the others are here and they can play video-games together and hang out. Idia explains that they are here only for a few tests, so it won't take long until they'll be back to NRC like nothing happened.

Despite expectations, Idia allows for the others to have their phones, but they didn't have any signal, nor Internet access. Any photo/recording attempt was shut down immediately, rendering these things as absolutely useless.

What was not useless tho, was the metanav. Riddle discovered that since the thing worked with no problem. Neither his messages with the PTs were affected. He could still send them like normal. So it was no surprise that the others were shook at the news that their 2nd wildcard was in the magic FBI rn. :'D

Still, Riddle managed to look over the palaces history. Leona and Jamil still holded their decaying palaces, while Azul and Vil had no more mementos locations, nor a palace.

So with a wild thought, Riddle puts in Idia's name. The guy was pretty apathetic and despite his shy Demandour, he was snarky and mean when provoked. Add to that his high position in STIX.

It's not a hit.

So Riddle puts instead Ortho's name, not expecting much from a robot.

It's a fucking hit. And not just any simple one, but am entire palace.

Of course, Riddle has a hard time guessing what Ortho's distortions would really be. He guessed right that the latter has the entire world as part of his cognition. But what was surprising was that it was distorted as a torture room. He never expected for the kind robot boy who is so happy and cheerful every day to see the world as a horrible place meant for suffering.

Of course, Riddle had a few hours to himself as the results are rounding up post the VR tests. Those were literally the only tests done. As such, Riddle took the liberty to wonder through that palace.

He finds the ruins. A former shell of what it was supposed to be, depicted as a grueling place, where many lost their lives and lie there as decaying corpses. There wasn't any putrid smell, rather it was smelling like Sea-breeze.

This was a sign of overBlot, but something didn't add up at all.

Cue going back to the real world, just as alarms were blaring. This put Riddle on the spot as he firstly found the emergency door and opened it via magic. He did summon his magic pen insanely easy, so changing in his dorm uniform, Riddle got out on the main hall.

Which had him immediately bump into Idia. And not just any bump, the 2 barreled into each other. Of course, Riddle was ready to pin the latter to the ground and almost stab his staff into him, but then he noticed that Idia didn't wear his STIX attire, rather something more similar to his usual school uniform, with a few differences: the hoodie was fully opened and on the left leg it was a holster for a silver revolver. Idia also noticed the redhead holding his phone with the metanav still opened.

Pretty much is that spiderman pointing meme.

Idia insists that he has no time to waste, but Riddle says that he needs to come with him and find the others. Something is going on in the tartarus and currently, the 2 had vastly different priorities.

But, those get put aside when hacked Charons find them and are ready to blast these 2 off. Riddle wanted to use magic, but Idia is more faster in pulling out the gun itself. The redhead expected for Idia to shoot in the Charons, which wasn't that much of a smart move.

Watch his utter horror when Idia puts the said gun to his own temple and shoots with 0 hesitation. Instead of blood, it is heard a glass shattering sound as there is a boom of light and blue flames, before Riddle could clearly see a persona, in real life, which Idia used to put the Charons in their place.

It goes more like:

Idia: look... I know it's wierd, but you'll 100% forget it, so just roll with it for no- Riddle: YOU HAVE A PERSONA?! Idia: Yeah yeah... Detai-... wait... HOW TF DO YOU KNOW ABOUT PERSONAS?!

Screaming 101 with these 2 doofuses. :'3

Still, Riddle insists that they have to find the others, but Idia refutals that it's no doubt futile. Still, while they argue, the others find them, including the group led by the French he-man. Yay! Everyone's in here! :'3

So they bust in the main command room, dragging Idia by the scruff to also follow. Naturally, the whole situation is presented and so everyone has to split up. Idia additionally went with Azul and Riddle.

Upon entering the Tartarus, Riddle immediately was turned into his thief attire, sign that he stepped into a cognitive world. He's so fricking confused and Idia is also losing his shit about it.

Azul's all like: you 2 are done screaming or I'm gonna miss my appointment at 17 too?

The latter clears it up for the 2: they are both wildcards, but they hail from different sources of will. Riddle's persona was manifested because of his rebellion spirit awakened, while Idia hailed from the lineage of death itself, his will manifested as the embrace of inevitable end. As for Azul himself, he's simply an attendant of a 3rd wildcard.

Clearly, Idia and Riddle lose their shit at this new information, but Azul says that mayhaps they should mind their current business, prevent the gate of the underworld from being yanked open and allowing Ortho to crawl out. Riddle, naturally, is very confused, to which Idia explains that the Shroud's curse is a sign of godhood. Except that this godhood is limited by the mortality itself and the sacred duty of guarding the underworld. Ortho was lost long ago to the tartarus, thus his godhood coming in full swing and hence by the real Ortho breaking out without anymore mortality chaining him down, it brings out only calamity. As such, Idia had no other choice but to accept his status as a wildcard and give his own godhood in order to seal his younger brother away. This was the backstory behind Idia building Robo-Ortho, as a way to cope with everything.

Azul, unlike Floyd, doesn't summon any persona, nor shows how his attendant self looks like. He keeps it 'humble' and insists to not give it too much thought about it.

Cue going down and finally facing the true Ortho. The other 2 teams already did do their damage, so it was time for the last 3. Idia had to summon his best persona he had: Hades, which paired with the thunder spear, was enough to knock off Ortho back into the underworld.

Except that he also dragged the robot body and Grim down, which Idia couldn't allow. So you guessed it, the leap of faith. :3

Vil saves them tho. Idia managed to grab Grim, initially saying that he confused him for Ortho. The reason he did that was because grim coughed out Ortho's memory card, which is what Idia felt as his brother.

But old man Vil! Old man Vil! :D

Returning back to NRC, Malleus does one thing right and returns Vil's youth. Lilia was also there, mostly to supervise Malleus, yet he still gave a greeting to Azul, who responded as well before he was bodyslammed by the twins.

For Riddle tho, in a few days, he had to help with the casino heist. Immediately that one goes in the gutter as they are forced to split up and Joker is caught by the police.

But despite that, Riddle still made a slip for 2 days, staying overnight and helping Sojiro with the cafe, while he and Sae got back Ren, via a switcheroo. Get bamboozled, Aketchi. :3

-Post Futaba's palace, Sojiro was made aware of the phanthom thief business along with Riddle's presence and the magic :'3

So the group's new target? Shido! Riddle recognises the name as the name of the man Ren said he got him on probation in the first place, so clearly this makes things personal now.

Usually, the leadership decisions were taken in between Riddle and Ren, but since now it was personal, Ren had full leadership role now.

So they don't waste time. March was just around the corner and so they didn't have much time until the ballout counts will commence. So there was little one could do in this situation. They had a tight deadline and they had to cater to it.

Despite initial expectations, Idia returns after a week, with the brand new Ortho. It seems like, finally, Idia chained Ortho's godhood and real self in the robot body, thus returning his 'mortality' and allowing him to roam the world freely. With that, Idia also offered to repay Riddle for his immense help. And as a fellow wildcard, Idia accepted to join in the Shido operation.

Everyone else in the PTs are losing their shit when they see just how Idia summons his personas. No badass outfit and straight up giving people heart attacks. :'D

Idia and Futaba are now friends tho. :D

Despite expectations, when hanging out in Tokyo, Idia was pretty used to Japanese culture and used a charm to hide his flaming hair and blue lips. When asked about it, Idia admits that it's not his first time in Japan. Although he initially was on Tatsumi Port Island when he was around 8 to 9. That was the time when he sealed originally his brother. And forfeit his godhood for the greater good.

He explains that gods are chained down by the mortality or the cognitive nihilism as a way to prevent them from bringing calamity. The real world would crumble apart along the cognitive world if a god were to fully roam around the normal people, for it couldn't stand an imense power without reprecausions.

Still, the Shido palace has us facing Aketchi again and finally seeing his true look and his real persona: Loki. There's little to do against the cannon so I guess we say bye-bye to the sketchy detective. :v

For the calling card, Idia aided Futaba in hacking on with the video and everything. He wasn't a tech genius for nothing, so finally meeting his match in programming is smth that gets both Idia and Futaba really fired up. Plus they both like animes and can bond over the burden of social anxiety.

So the day of the big heist comes. Shadow Shido is not smth to play around with and everyone realises it when the shadow sees Joker as the deemed leader, so he separates him from the others and takes him on a 1 vs 1.

Joker ofc wins and they have to make a run for it. They think Skull bit the dust, but nah, he's alive! So all is well. :D

Except that once Shido does confess, nothing really changed in the public's opinion. They still wanted Shido to be prime-minister, but with the guy dipping out, clearly it was chaos in the political world.

Meanwhile, back in NRC, Lilia announces his sudden retirement. With things getting so messy back in Tokyo, Riddle didn't pay so much mind to it. Idia did do his part and filled him up on the necessary points, including the bigass farewell party.

So that's going to gutter when Malleus goes delulu and overblots, trapping everyone in their dream worlds. Unfortunately, for Riddle, he finds himself in the Velvet room. Except that Jade wasn't here, but Floyd. The latter admits that he summoned Riddle here as to avoid him falling victim to Malleus's unique magic and get wrapped in a fantasy.

Riddle does ask what is he supposed to do now. He needs to reach Ren somehow, he needs to fight the overBlot and get it over with, but he's bound to this damn chair and Floyd cannot do anything about it.

The latter admits to it, but also adds that these bindings were set for him by a fake god, who wanted ultimate control. And it all dials back to the first wildcard who defied fate: Idia.

Idia's attendant is Jade, the supposed macabre Comedy that Idia has to deal with. With Ortho falling into tartarus and thus being freed from his mortality, Idia had to forfeit his godhood. But that wasn't the entire story. Idia worked with Igor, the master of the velvet room. An entity that lives in between dream and reality. It was a loophole where gods could retreat and live peacefully, yet in solitude. Clearly, not a lot of deities liked the idea, so they either confined themselves by mortality, roaming among normal people or went into the cognitive world, seeking to have their control in there.

One such instance was a rogue entity that created the TV world. Azul was the interlude in between comedy and tragedy, as such he was the deemed attendant for that wild card: Lilia. Being such an old wildcard, Azul had time to shine as an attendant, as such, Igor deemed him to take over the twisted wonderland's velvet room. As powerful as Igor was, he knew that when it came Floyd's turn, there was going to be a tragedy. And it truly did when the fake God of control proposed a game, locking away Igor and denying Azul's soul from entering the velvet room. Jade was forcefully put to be an attendant, as such Floyd had access inside only when Riddle would start to crack from his expected evolution. As such, when tragedy truly struck Riddle, Floyd was able to freely go in and out of the velvet room, releasing his twin from his forced place as an attendant.

-Azul used the contracts to cover his soul with multiple ones as to try and by-pass the said ban condition

The magicless world was meant to have same fates as twisted wonderland. It was a reflection of fates and circumstances that was broken with Idia, maintained by Lilia and now it was Riddle's turn to either maintain the streak or do something else. And Floyd advises that he wants to see what Riddle truly thinks of this binds for now.

And Riddle, trying to break out of his seat, he manages to rip off the ribbons. They still left some nasty marks, but Riddle was free and he felt liberated. Still, he has to warn Ren about it, so he demands for Floyd to lead him up to Ren's velvet room.

The latter says that he currently cannot do this. Something is blocking him. The best he could do is reunite with his twin and Azul and get free from Malleus's dream spell before doing something more rash.

Meanwhile, with Idia and Ortho managing to find Silver and Co after promptly getting trauma dump by the war, Azul also manges to find the group, snapping Lilia out of it (via roundhouse slapping the Mcshit out of him).

-the dream version of Lilia was the general Lilia, henceforth he had to be shook awake from this.

We also finally see Azul's attendant look for the first time. He was more or so resembling some pirate mixed with mafia aesthetics if one wants to pinpoint. But maybe it's because of the frilly blouse. Unlike the twins's hetercromia, which allowed for 1 gold eye, he kept his blue eyes, them changing to gold whenever he summoned a persona or got extremely mad.

So we get to fight Malleus via different dream planes thanks to Silver's Unique magic! :D

Still, once Malleus was snapped out of it, there was one problem: back in the real world, Riddle still was in his thief attire, sign that something was wrong. Lilia admits that he never saw such thing, but Idia says it's akin to the dark hour, which wasn't supposed to happen. The dark hour was abolished, thus separating the cognitive and real planes for good.

Riddle concludes that he needs to go to Tokyo ASAP. But Grim ate Malleus's blot stone and went ravenous, into a gigantic beast.

So Idia and Lilia reassure that they could handle this. Riddle should go and hunt down that pesky god of control that made this mess of their worlds. And for their sake, to beat it up extra hard. >:3

Azul is the one that opens the velvet room prison door, telling Floyd to go as well and tell Igor that he did everything in his power to stop this. The latter doesn't want to go, but Jade and Azul insist that Floyd pulls to the end with his job as an attendant. This is what all of their siblings want.

Idia be all like 'wait you 3 are ACTUAL SIBLINGS?!' Sure... That's what's bothering u rn?

Nonetheless, thankfully Riddle comes into the prison at the time the fake Igor already left and Ren fused the twins into Lavenza. Now that's someone that Floyd recognised as 'his youngest sister'. Lavenza was also happy to be back, yet the threat of the false god hung over everyone's necks right now. Now free in Ren's world, it made the metaverse and the real world to crash into one another. Riddle confirms it by saying that in his world, already this is happening as well. Idia and Lilia are taking care of the overBlot Grim that is causing havoc.

So with finding all of PTs and roaming the new reality/palace of masses, we get to fight the false God.

Now, for the grand finale, imagine a double awakening. Both Arsene and judgement queen evolve into Satanel and Chernaborg respectively, ending with 2 bullets shot. One is through the false God's head, while the other goes through the chest, both killing it and making it to desintegrate as everything crumbles back to normal.

The Aftermath consists of Yuu coming back to their world as the false god originated from twisted wonderland thus by swapping places with Yuu, it allowed for them to defy fate and tip it in their favor of starting that ruin chain. Grim was merely created as a product of that magic exchanged as Idia explained later.

Speaking of Idia, he doesn't have many plans for his 4th year, but he said that Ortho kept insisting to visit around, so he guesses he'll comply to the wish and maybe travel in between his internship and work.

Lilia is still retiring, although he said he'll just go to his favorite town, Inaba, and live in there quietly. He promises he'll visit the Briar Valley from time to time tho. At least Malleus, Sebek and Silver get reassured that in the end it will be alright.

For our Octa trio, the 3 still have to finish their given lives in here before they will fully go back to the velvet room. Doesn't mean they won't stay over at their other siblings more often than not.

As for Riddle and Ren? Well, Ren was bailed out of juvi and will go back to his hometown. And Riddle is settling himself to move out on his own and simply cut ties with his mother for good. Now the 2 do visit each other, via the shells of the palaces that had their rulers ob irl. Those are pieces of metaverse that cannot dissappear and thus are their gateway in between the 2 worlds. Still sometimes the 2 also plan to visit Tokyo and see their friends too.

In the end, everyone was free!

And that's it! :D

It was fun to make a plot line where you don't only include a different take on the usual elements you keep using, but also add sprinkles of lore that tie in much more stories and hint at the other persona games.

Other than that, I'm pretty proud of how everything flowed out.

And a smol tag of @grandstrangerwhispers ! Thanks for permission to use your ask idea for this! Hope you enjoyed this extremely long trainwreck. :'3

Welp! Until next time! Buh bye!

#twisted wonderland #twst riddle #p5 x twst #persona 5 #Guess it's time for new au :3 #There are smol references to my other P5 x Twst aus #BUT no P4 or P3 aus references unfortunately :'3 #This was so fun to write tbh #Like I decided to go in all directions possible :'3

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guiltywisdom · 1 year ago

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I’ve been inquiring into Orthodoxy for a few months (coming from protestantism) and I don’t know for certain yet if I will choose to convert, I guess because I have a few hangups. I attended Divine Liturgy at my local parish for the first time last week and intend to continue worshipping with them and talking to the priests there, but I figured I would bring my questions to you as well.

I’ve been watching interviews and talks from Dr. Jeannie Constantinou, who seems absolutely brilliant and I love her. I’ve heard her explain at least 5 different times now this notion of “phronema,” basically the mind of the Church (the mind of the Apostles, as taught by Christ) and how the Eastern phronema is so different from the West because of the West’s emphasis on human reasoning. I appreciate mystery; mysticism and apophatic theology is what attracted me to Orthodoxy in the first place. But while denouncing Western appeals to reason and emphasizing appeals to Tradition and the mysteries therein, two examples she brought up were same-sex marriage and universalism, basically saying that no matter how reasonable an argument one might make, it’s not Tradition and therefore invalid.

While I’m honestly not sure what to believe about homosexuality (I have pro-LGBT leanings personally but am unconvinced either way I guess), I believe in a “Biblical Universalism,” the idea that Hell is temporary and ultimately corrective rather than punitive, like a furnace to purify gold of any dross. It makes the most philosophical sense to me, I see it in the Scriptures, and (most importantly in this context) I see it as historical.

I’ve read a summary of the points brought up in the book “Universalism, The Prevailing Doctrine of the Christian Church During Its First Five Hundred Years” by John Wesley Hanson and found them to be very compelling. It seems to show that universalism ought to have been preserved in Tradition, but for many reasons did not, and instead the idea of eternal torment in Hell has solidified.

Now we’re in a spot where the likes of the brilliant Dr. Constantinou is saying that, no matter how reasonable a stance like this might seem, we cannot rely on our own reasoning, as she appeals to the Apostolic Tradition. Truly, I don’t want to be prideful or arrogant, and I wish to conform my thinking in all ways to Christ. But it seems that such a stance should have been Tradition all along.

Please, how can I reconcile this? I think I want to participate in the Orthodox life. I like your worship, your prayers, your fasting, your asceticism, your mysticism, and (the bulk of) your theology. I think Orthodoxy is likely the closest to ancient Christianity. But must I take your tradition as wholly infallible? Is this an issue I need to humble myself on and conform to, or can I truly be welcomed if this is my view?

Tradition isn't "wholly infallible" because, for the most part, it was created by man. In general Orthodoxy teaches that, although we do have all we need for Salvation, some things we do not know for sure and that sometimes we must rexamine said tradition for new truths. Homosexuality wasn't really explored by the early fathers because homosexuality as we know it didn't exist. I think people see the Bible (and the words of the Church Fathers) as too black and white rather than something nebulous and deep. A common belief in the Orthodoxy of the people is something called "Hopeful Universalism" wherein those who believe it (myself included) argue that because God is infinitely loving and good then he would likely wish to reconcile all sinners to him but that we cannot know for sure and that free choice presupposes that there must be an option for those who might never choose to reconcile. You'll find that Orthodoxy has a lot of variation in belief, just ask about our infinite arguments over if Toll Houses are literal, a metaphor or heresy! I think you're a lot like me my sibling in Christ and I'm still here! Keep at it my friend.

#replies #asks #homosexuality

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atinylittlepain · 1 year ago

Text

2024 Jan 14th

THE ARCHIVE

Captain's Log is a weekly dispatch from yours truly. New issues will be up every Sunday, with a smattering of whatever has been marinating for me that week. Book recommendations, grief thoughts, music, art, wranglings with writing. We'll see! But my guarantee to you is one new issue, every Sunday babyyyyyy

{ If you enjoy Captain's log, consider sharing it, leaving a comment, or a little tip. }

In this issue:

meditations on writer's block

The Lost Month of the Lost Months

Two (2) book reviews

One (1) soup recipe

I hate writing! (I love writing)

Some of you have heard this story already, and for that I apologize. For the rest, I entered college four years ago with the full intention of being a creative writing major. I was going to write the Next Great American Anything. And then I took the first two courses of the major, an intro to literary theory and an intro to poetry class, and by the time I was done with those two classes, I no longer wanted to be a creative writing major. Blunt force scalpel, prying apart the jaws of words and work until all we were left with was loose teeth and gummy mush.

And because I was eighteen, and very angry all the time I did the very angry all the time thing of turning up my nose and stomping in another direction. I didn’t write, not counting APA-style papers, for three years.

To cut this story short, a constellation of events were strung together in the last year to make it very necessary, very crucial, for me to write again. So I did, and I wrote a lot, and most of it was bad, and some of it was good. It wasn’t difficult to keep writing. I would finish with one idea and leap over into a new one with little effort. I would start things with little worry for whether I would finish them, because I always did. Now, as we inch further into the new year, this is no longer the case.

Writer’s block always seemed like such a bourgeois phenomenon to me, someone who mostly sees writing as manual labor, as muscle and will. I didn’t get blocked because writing wasn't an optional thing, until I did get blocked, and writing has since become a despondent wife lingering in my doorway, bemoaning my neglect.

And believe me, I have fought against this new development tooth and nail. Renouncing fic because I thought it was getting in the way of other writing, picking fic back up because at the very least, I could write it, if nothing else, then renouncing fic all over again. Threatening another three year writing death, then limping to my friends with my tail between my legs asking them if they really (really?) thought I was good enough to keep going. And throughout all this fighting, all this squirming and prickling, very little writing got done.

When you read articles asking writers what they think about the dreaded block (as I did with all the rigor of a hypochondriac consulting WebMD) they tend to scoff, turn up their perfect writer’s hands and flick the thought away. And for the longest time I thought this was only a sort of peacocking, a tough guy, too cool for school flippancy because they’re so great, so brilliant that they never even consider that they could be blocked. But I recently read another article (yes, it has gotten that bad) and I realized that it wasn’t that these writers don’t believe in the block, just that they call it by other names. Time to rest, time to read, time when the idea is there and gumming up into something more real, more realized in the mind. In this way, writing becomes a kind of muscular expanding, and subsequent contracting. I’m not blocked. I’m just contracting, curling up close and tight around a couple ideas that could be next.

I’m reminded of this past July when I was working on my first novel. A good day was five thousand words, and a minimally decent day was a cool thirty-five hundred. These days, if I can sit down and get a good five hundred, it’s the greatest mercy. And I do realize, for the record, the irony of this, writing about how I’m not writing. Humor me.

Currently, there are three ideas for three different novels I’m letting work between my teeth. When I got home after traveling for New Years, sodden and weak and wan, I lurched forward into one of these ideas with a zeal that tore the whole thing to pulpy shreds, a new wound to nurse. So now, mostly I’m reading, and doing some of this writing that isn’t really writing (don’t tell anyone). And finally, I’m not fighting it, as much. The time to expand will come, eventually. For now, everything else is a gift.

Reading Dispatches

I read two books this week. One I liked, and one I didn’t.

Really, truly, I wanted to like Bad Fruit by Ella King. A few friends recommended it to me, and it’s certainly got that trendy femme-tesque aesthetic going on. Promising at first - a crazy mother and her mandatory rituals, familial trauma being passed down through visions, spoiled juice, a fuckass father in a recliner, and an older man with the disposition of a golden retriever - but the writing fell flat. Outside of the main character, an eighteen-year-old who acts as her volatile mother’s pet doll, all the other players felt half-drawn and underbaked, much like the plot. Sadly, I would not recommend this one.

I always get existentially bummed when I finish a disappointing book, but My Husband by Maud Ventura was a zippy little upswing, exactly what I needed. Think Stepford Wives meets The Golden Notebook - a stark and unblinking examination of the ends one woman takes to maintain her marriage. It contradicts itself at times, as it perfectly should, and demands a careful reading to pick through all of the woven neuroses of the main character, who is only named in the epilogue. And the epilogue is a perfect turn of the blade. A good one, a short one, and I can see myself revisiting it to pick up things that I missed on the first read.

The Lost Month of the Lost Months

We’re in the bottleneck of it now. That disorienting time where you can still smack the taste of Christmas in the back of your mouth, but we’re already halfway through (!!!!) with January. The snow is gray and crusted over, if there even was any this year, and the airports have emptied out, family back wherever they come from. January, my friends, is the Lost Month of the Lost Months. We have reached critical mass for Lost Months, which is both bad news that we are in the thickest, soupiest muck of it, and good news that there is an end, just maybe not in sight, yet.

I have no advice, no sage words to make this suckfest better. This is simply a public service announcement from me to you that I’m in the suckfest with you, and I’d bet money that all the rest of us are too. A reminder for who needs it, these are the Lost Months! If you make it to February, you’ve done great! Promise! Nothing else matters. There is no failing in the Lost Months, just doing the best we can.

The only good thing about January, of course, is that it’s national soup month. In my clinical opinion, soup does help during the Lost Months. Here is a recipe that I make frequently during this time of year and have perfected over many years of getting perpetually sick with something snotty and achy and undefined from November through February.

CHICKEN SOUP THAT PROMISES NO MIRACLES BUT TASTES PRETTY GOOD

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

½ of an onion (you can do the whole thing, but I don't like onion very much)

5-6 carrots cut into thick coins

3-4 celery stalks diced

8-10 cloves of garlic minced or chopped (up to you)

1 tsp of salt

A two-inch knob of ginger finely diced (optional, but i like it)

About a ½ teaspoon of red pepper flakes (more or less, however spicy you like it)

1.5-2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts of thighs or a mix

6-8 cups of low sodium chicken broth (6 = more stew-ish; 8 = more broth)

1 parmesan rind ( if you don’t have this, you could also put in a big spoonful of miso paste and dissolve that in the broth, also this is optional but is a nice little touch)

3 fistfuls of spinach roughly chopped (optional for health)

1 bunch of parsley, just the tops of it, chopped (also optional)

1 Half to a whole lemon

Instructions

Get a big pot, heat the olive oil in the pot over medium-high heat

Add in your onion, carrots, celery, and salt and cook for 5-7 minutes until everything is looking a little softer, stir occasionally

Add in your garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes and cook for another 1-2 minutes, stir frequently

Add in your broth, chicken, parm rind (or miso) and bring to a boil - then cover and let simmer for thirty minutes

At thirty minutes, pluck out the chicken and shred it with two forks or, like however you want to handle that - take out the parm rind (if using) and add the chicken back in

Add in your spinach, parsley, and lemon juice - taste and season as needed

TO SERVE: I like to do mine over a little rice with some parm on top - or, can’t go wrong with a grilled cheese (with pickles, love you, try it) on the side

Enjoy your soup and take heart that you have lunch or dinner for the next few days made

#captain's log #issue no 1

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kaitidid22 · 2 years ago

Text

Fanfic: Oblivious (Conrad/Billie)

Summary: Conrad and Billie formally tell some of their favorite people about their relationship status. (Canon-friendly, pure fluff & set between 6x11 and 6x13)

A/N: Pre-"I Love You" musings.

Oblivious

“We need to tell Kit,” Billie said.

She was typing, barely paying attention to him as he crawled into the bed next to her. Gigi had insisted that they both put her to bed that night and convinced them it was only fair that Billie and Conrad each read two books, for a grand total of four. They had agreed despite the two-books-per-night rule—likely because they were both enjoying the cuddle time so much.

Conrad knew it was still novel for all of them. For Gigi, having Billie spend the night in their home was a huge change. Sure, it had happened in Gigi’s lifetime, but rarely and mostly unplanned when Conrad hadn’t wanted Billie to drive so late, so Billie had been a morning surprise at breakfast for Gigi. And Gigi had spent the night at Billie’s home hundreds of times, but being able to wake up, run down the hall, and climb into bed between Billie and Conrad was something that Gigi took advantage of nearly every morning—as if she was afraid the option was going to disappear.

It had only been a week, though, since his and Billie’s first date, and her conversation with Gigi. So, Conrad told himself that Gigi would get used to it, and, over time, it would be less novel. For now, though, Billie and Conrad were always careful to leave the door locked until their pajamas were back in place.

Billie, for her part, seemed predisposed to read as many books or sing as many songs as Gigi requested every night. Conrad suspected Billie liked it as much as Gigi did, and he loved watching the two of them together. He had known they were close, obviously—he had watched that bond form from the time Gigi was born. Conrad wasn’t sure what had changed, but it all felt different, deeper.

Maybe Billie had stopped hiding some of the adoration she felt for Gigi as much in front of him once their mutual feelings were acknowledged and understood and accepted. Or, maybe, it was simply a product of the conversation Billie had had with Gigi about being a family. Or, maybe, the change was in Conrad himself when the blinders had dropped from his eyes.

All Conrad knew was that as he listened to Billie read to his daughter, he had to push down raw emotions that had tried to rise in his throat. He had slid his arm behind Gigi to place his hand on Billie’s back and played with the ends of her hair. He had decided, as his girlfriend and daughter leaned against each other next to him on Gigi’s bed, that he would be perfectly happy if the entire world outside the house disappeared.

He believed that he could easily spend the next forty years—or however long he had left—with no one and nothing else outside of their little trio. He knew that wasn’t healthy. He didn’t care.

As fun as the hour-long Story Time had been for all of them, though, it had left Billie hopelessly behind on her administrative paperwork. So, she had brought the hospital-issued laptop to bed with them. The move broke another one of Conrad’s cardinal house rules: no screens in the bedroom. But Conrad didn’t mind. The rule was more about leading by example for Gigi than it was for his own mental health, and he didn’t want to do or say anything that discouraged Billie from being in the bed next to him.

He took the chance to study Billie, running his eyes over her where she sat propped against his headboard. Billie was the type of woman who wore silk and satin pajamas to bed, which Conrad had known long before they started dating. He had dropped Gigi off at Billie’s in the early mornings too many times not to have caught her still in pajamas.

She had always looked luxe and relaxed and warm and like she would be slippery under his hands, and those pajamas had started to be a problem for him long before he could admit to himself why. For so long, he had told himself that the urge to touch was about the silk and satin, about how soft the delicate fabrics looked, and had nothing to do with the body underneath them.

You’re such an idiot, an amused and disgusted voice said in his mind for the eightieth time since Billie had let him kiss her on her front porch.

She also usually hadn’t been wearing a bra when she answered the door in her pajamas. And that had been equally torturous and heartwarming for him. Because, while it had messed with his mind and made his heart race and palms sweat, it had also reminded him that stony, suspicious, reserved-to-the-point-of-cold Billie Sutton was one hundred percent comfortable with him and his daughter and perfectly at ease being vulnerable in front of them.

Realizing that had made him want to gather her up in his arms and just hold her tight to him. He had given in to the urge a couple of times under the guise of saying good morning. She had laughed at him because he really wasn’t the type of person to initiate hugs, and he could tell being the exception for him had confused her. But she had also always squeezed him back warmly and led him into her kitchen to press a cup of coffee into his hands. And he had loved that, too, making her smile, even if she had been laughing at him.

He had loved Billie, and he had done it for so long that it felt like that love had been sewn into the fabric of his soul. And it had spanned different shades and hues over time—appreciation for a friend who cared for his daughter at a time when he had been falling apart; which had morphed into bone-deep affection for his favorite person; and, at some point that he couldn’t quite figure out, that had turned into wanting to see her every second of every day and hating the time they were apart so much that missing her had become a physical ache in his body.

The first time Billie had spent the night, she had pulled her pajamas out of her weekender and tossed them on the bed. Conrad had taken one look at them and grinned.

“What?” she had asked as he had stood smiling at her in his bedroom.

He had shaken his head. “You have no idea what your pajamas do to me.”

Her brown eyes had narrowed on him, that brilliant brain trying to decipher what he had meant. She had glanced at the pajamas, where they lay on his bedspread, and then back up at him. “What?” she had finally asked.

He had crowded against her, setting his hands low on her back and pulling her hips against his. Her breath had hitched, even though they had both known that Gigi had still been up and playing in her room. She could have come in at any moment, so they had needed to keep it G-rated.

“Your pajamas,” he murmured. “Are really hot.”

“My pajamas,” Billie had repeated, incredulous.

“They look soft,” he had said, leaning closer until his lips had been a scant breath away from hers.

“They are soft,” she had agreed, and her voice had dropped to a deeper register. “How long have you been thinking about my pajamas?”

“Think about them? I dream about them.”

“I see. How long have you been dreaming about my pajamas?”

“A very long time.”

Her lips had curved in a coy smile. “You can touch my pajamas all you want, Conrad.”

He had known it was stupid, but relief had slipped through him at the words. Hearing them had felt like tacit agreement from her, permanent permission to keep her in his bed, in his life, forever.

“In my defense,” he had murmured against her mouth, still not quite touching, “you don’t wear a bra under them. And that is really, really appealing.”

“They’re pajamas, Conrad. Of course, I don’t wear a bra under them.” Then she had leaned back to look him in the eye, and he had seen the memories stirring behind her eyes. “We sit and have coffee.”

“What?” he had asked, trying to buy some time.

“When you drop Gigi off in the mornings. Sometimes you have time for coffee. We sit and have coffee and talk. And the whole time you were checking out my pajamas?”

He had laughed nervously. “Yeah. Those are really great mornings. Some of my favorites.”

“Conrad!”

Conrad had always known that Billie was beautiful, of course. He had perfect twenty-twenty vision, and Billie was the kind of beautiful that no one could really miss. But, at first, she had pissed him off too much for that beauty to fully register with him. It had faded from notice to just one more detail about her.

Billie Damn Sutton was arrogant, genius, snarky, a lost cause, and, oh right, beautiful.

He wasn’t quite sure when that had changed, when he had become hopelessly conscious of how gorgeous she was, but he thought it had been sometime around Gigi’s second birthday. So, by his own estimation, Conrad had been tortured by her heartbreaking beauty and an overwhelming need to touch her for nearly four years.

“Conrad?” Billie prompted him, glancing at him as he remained silent.

“Hmm? Oh, Kit. Yeah.” He stirred, coming back to the present moment, and shoved an arm behind his head. “You’re right. We should tell her this week. Do you want me to talk to her?”

The sheet had fallen to his waist as he moved his arm into position, and Billie’s eyes zoned in on the exposed skin. He watched her study him, dragging her eyes across his bare chest down to the edge of the sheet and back again. Heat began to rise in her gaze, and his stomach clenched in response.

Conrad knew what he looked like. He worked very hard to look how he did, and he loved that it worked for her.

Amused and more than a little turned on, he smirked up at her. “Earth to Billie,” he said.

She turned back to the screen, fingers poised to type, but they remained still, hovering. Then she sighed, a rough noise, and shut the laptop with a loud click.

“I’ll be right back,” she muttered.

He sat up as she threw back the covers and left the room, listening to her footsteps pad down the stairs. She was only gone for a few moments before he heard her coming back and moving down the hall.

When she reappeared in the doorway, the laptop was gone. And she shut the door, flipping the lock as she said, “I don’t want Gigi to wake up and find that in here.”

Before he could respond, she had crossed the room, climbed onto the bed, and ripped the sheet off of him. Her pajamas were very, very soft under his hands.

~*~

Conrad knocked on the open door of Kit’s office, unsurprised to find Bell leaning against her desk. “Got a minute?” he asked when they looked up.

“Of course,” Kit said warmly. “Come in, come in.”

Bell straightened and moved to stand behind his wife. “Conrad.”

Conrad smiled at them both. “So, there’s something I need to tell you.”

“You’re dating Billie,” Kit said, face lighting up as bright as a Vegas marquee.

“Rumor mill already got to you, huh?” Conrad asked, with a bashful laugh.

“No, no,” Kit said. “No one tells the boss anything. You just look—”

“Happy,” Bell finished for her. “And we couldn’t be happier for you.”

“I look happy,” Conrad repeated, looking between them. “So, of course, I must be dating Billie?”

Kit and Bell glanced at each other. “Aren’t you?” Kit asked. “It’s not just a rumor, is it?”

“No,” Conrad said. “I mean, yes. We’re dating. But—”

“Oh, that’s a relief. Billie looked like she was on cloud nine when I saw her yesterday.” Kit hurried to add, “That was helpful. You know, in putting the pieces together and all.”

“Yeah,” Bell said. “She didn’t even lecture me the other day when I called Sasha by the wrong name.”

“Who’s Sasha?” Conrad asked, hands finding his hips.

“New scrub nurse,” Bell said, with a shrug. “Billie’s a bit protective.”

“Well, that’s neither here nor there,” Kit said, standing from her chair and coming around with open arms. “Congratulations, Conrad. I’m so glad it all worked out in the end. I know how long this has been coming.”

Conrad stiffened in her arms. Kit let go, pulling away to look him in the eye, though she kept her hands on his upper arms.

“How long has it been coming?” Conrad asked, voice cracking slightly.

“Erm.” Kit glanced at Bell again, confusing marring her face. “Years, really.”

“Years,” Bell agreed. He, too, looked confused, crossing his arms over his chest and studying Conrad’s face, as if digging for clues.

Kit let go of Conrad’s arms. “Is everything all right?”

“You are aware that everyone knew you were in love with each other, right?” Bell asked.

“So I’ve been told,” Conrad said. “But you two knew?”

“Well, of course,” Kit said.

“But…can I ask how?” he asked, laughing nervously. “Everyone just keeps saying they could see it, but I don’t get it. Did Billie talk to you about it?”

“Lord no,” Kit said. “That girl plays things so close to the chest that Churchill couldn’t get a clue off of her. Took a long time for me to figure out how she felt.”

“To be fair,” Bell said. “I think it took a long time for Billie to figure out how Billie felt.”

Kit laughed, the sound a beautiful peal in the large, spacious office. “Too right, Randolph. Poor thing was so confused for so long.”

“You were much more obvious,” Bell said to Conrad.

“To be fair,” Kit said, tilting her head to the side with a soft smile as she met Conrad’s eyes, “we knew you better.”

Bell shrugged. “That is true.”

“The first time,” Kit said on another peal of laughter, waving her hand at Conrad, “that I caught you gazing moonily at her was— When was it, Randolph? Three years ago? Two? I came home and told you over dinner.”

“We were having ravioli,” Bell said, nodding slowly. “I do remember that, yes. I think it was three years ago.” “Okay,” Conrad said. “Well, I regret asking. As fun as this is for me, I actually came to find out if there’s anything we need to sign. Forms to fill out? Anyone else we need to tell?”

“She’s not your supervisor,” Kit said, waving dismissively. “We’ll have you both sign a letter saying it’s consensual, put it in your files, and move on.”

“Finally,” Bell muttered.

“Ignore him,” Kit said. “He’s in a mood.”

“Why?” Conrad asked.

Bell let out a rough breath. “I’m pulling back from surgeries.”

Kit huffed and moved back to her desk chair.

Conrad studied Bell’s face. “Do you want to talk about that?”

“No,” Bell said, calmly. “I hate it. But it’s the right thing to do. So, I’m dealing.”

Conrad clapped him on the shoulder and squeezed firmly. “You’ve got this, Bell.”

“Thanks,” Bell muttered. “Go write your letters.”

~*~

Billie’s nervous energy had been climbing the closer they got to the long weekend. By Friday afternoon, she had been buzzing around since dawn, and Conrad had finally given up on trying to distract her. Instead, whenever she had started up again, he had simply taken her hand in his, locked his eyes on hers, and listened to the stream-of-consciousness rambling about bedspreads and river rafting. It was the only thing that seemed to work.

It didn’t hurt that, every time he had done it, she had leaned forward and kissed him, whispering, “Thank you.” He had been putty in her hands by noon.

Billie went to the airport around four p.m., returning with a travel weary Trevor and his duffle bag. She had invited him down from Baltimore for the long holiday weekend and had been stunned when his only response had been “Yeah, sure” like the invitation was commonplace between them.

Conrad had resisted the urge to point out that she and Trevor spoke several times a month and that Trevor was far more relaxed about the relationship than Billie. Conrad didn’t think that would be helpful.

“Dr. Hawkins,” Trevor said.

“Trevor,” Conrad said in welcome.

“Took you long enough to get your head out of your ass.”

Billie sighed roughly. “Dammit, Trevor. You lasted less than two minutes.”

“I’m just saying,” Trevor said, pointing at Conrad. “He’s the most oblivious of men.”

“He’s not wrong,” Conrad muttered.

You are such an idiot, that voice rang in his brain again.

“We talked about this in the car,” Billie said, stern.

“You talked about this in the car,” Trevor pointed out. “You said, ‘So, Conrad and I are dating now.’ And I said, ‘Fucking finally.’ And you said, ‘You’re so funny, Trevor. And so keen in your observations.’”

“Not how I remember that conversation,” Billie said calmly.

But Conrad could see that she enjoyed Trevor’s snark. And Conrad wondered if Trevor could see it in Billie’s face, if he knew Billie well enough to spot the way the corners of her mouth tilted, even as her lips pursed.

“Since I’m dating Billie and all, maybe you should just call me Conrad.”

As Trevor’s eyebrows rose on his forehead, Conrad held out his hand. After a moment’s hesitation, Trevor stuck his hand in Conrad’s. To no one’s surprise, he tried to crush Conrad’s hand in his own, but—having expected it—Conrad didn’t even wince, squeezing right back.

“So, what kind of paperwork do they make you fill out to date the Chief of Surgery?” Trevor asked, once he had dislodged from Conrad.

“Not much,” Billie said. “I’m not worth the hassle of filing.”

“You’re worth every hassle,” Conrad said, leaning over to kiss her.

“Oh,” Trevor said, sounding irritated and slightly disgusted. “You’re one of those cute couples.”

Tiny footsteps pounded down the stairs. “Trevor!”

“Hey, Gigi,” Trevor said, as always looking a little surprised by the girl’s enthusiasm.

Since moving to Baltimore, Trevor had come back to Atlanta to visit several times. But he had always claimed specific reasons for his trips—a potential seed fund investor wanted to meet; his friends were having a party that he couldn’t miss; he really missed “real” barbecue—never that he missed Billie or wanted to spend time with her. And, yet, somehow he had always managed to convince Billie he had needed to stay with her to “save money” as a poor, broke ex-doctor still trying to pay off his loans. And Billie had always said yes because she wanted him around. Eventually, on one of Trevor’s trips, she had brought him to the Hawkins house for dinner.

No one had expected Gigi to imprint upon Trevor like a baby duckling, least of all Conrad. And he would have been worried—as much as Conrad appreciated how Trevor had come through for Billie in the end, Trevor really was a dick a lot of the time—if Trevor hadn’t seemed so damn terrified of Conrad’s tiny, six-year-old daughter.

“Did you see the way Trevor jumped every time Gigi said his name?” Billie had asked him the following day at work.

“That was hilarious,” Conrad had said, bracing his hands on the counter as they waited for the CT scans to load. “What did he think she was going to do to him?”

“I’m never letting him live that down,” she had murmured.

“Gigi wouldn’t stop talking about him at breakfast,” Conrad had muttered. “Trevor designs new medicine. Trevor goes whitewater rafting.”

“She does appear to have a little bit of a crush,” Billie had said.

Conrad had groaned. “Not yet. She’s too young.”

“She already has one on James,” Billie had pointed out, laughing as he had groaned more loudly.

Conrad’s amusement had faded as the mental image of Billie and Dr. Yamada invaded his brain. He had accidentally caught sight of James kissing Billie’s cheek outside her office a few days prior, and, for some reason, his brain had seemed intent on reminding him every few minutes. He had shoved the mental image to the side but had been too distracted to remember what they had been talking about.

“Thank you for letting us come,” Billie had said, eyes locked on the screens.

Conrad had eyed her profile, able to read the tension there only because he had known her so well. “Billie,” he had said. “You’re always welcome. Trevor, too.”

Billie had finally turned to face him. “You know what I mean, though,” she had said gently. “Thank you for being there. For me.”

He had known how hard it was for Billie to express those kinds of emotions. And a wave of aching affection had risen in him.

“Of course,” he had said, tilting his head and smiling at her.

“And you could have invited Cade,” she had added, dropping her eyes to the floor. “I should have said that when I asked.”

Conrad had felt his face freeze. Inviting Cade had never even occurred to him. Should it have? he had wondered. But as he had considered it, his whole being had shied away from the mental image of Billie and Trevor on one side of the table, with Conrad, Gigi, and Cade on the other.

Before he had been able to force out a response, the machines had whirred and beeped, and Billie had gone into doctor mode. “Well, there’s our problem right there,” she had said, pointing at what had looked like a shadow to Conrad. “Your patient has a bleed.”

“Operate?” he had asked.

She had hesitated, waiting as the next set of scans filled the screen. “It’s small enough it might resolve itself.” The next set of scans had appeared. “How’s his blood pressure?”

“Fine. Under control.”

Billie had nodded. “I don’t want to crack his skull if I don’t have to. Let’s give him a round of steroids to reduce the swelling, then we’ll do another set of scans in a few hours. We might have a wait and see on our hands.”

“On it,” Conrad had said. “Thanks, Billie.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” she had said, heading for the door.

Conrad had watched her hips sway as she walked through the door and had told himself he wasn’t watching at all.

After dinner, Billie had curled into Conrad’s side in the armchair, watching as Gigi jumped up and down on the couch cushion next to Trevor.

“Do you have a girlfriend?” Gigi asked.

Trevor, watching her bounce with wary (if a little amused) eyes, shook his head.

“Do you want a girlfriend?” Gigi asked.

Trevor shook his head again. Conrad felt Billie stifling a giggle next to him.

“Why not?” Gigi asked.

“I’m pretty busy right now,” Trevor said. “You shouldn’t have a girlfriend if you can’t treat her right.”

“What does treat her right mean?” Gigi asked.

Trevor’s eyes flicked to Billie and Conrad. Conrad ignored the S.O.S. but Billie stepped in, “How your dad treats me, sweetie.”

“Like a queen!” Gigi yelled.

Billie snorted. “Sure.”

“Hey,” Conrad said on a laugh, squeezing Billie’s side in censure. She kissed his cheek in response. “I try.”

“You do great,” she murmured to him.

“Can Trevor put me to bed?” Gigi asked.

Conrad looked over at the couch again as Trevor threw an increasingly panicked look towards Billie. Stepping in, Conrad told his daughter, “Bubble, Trevor and Billie have to head home. It’s you and me tonight.”

Gigi’s mouth dropped open. “You’re not staying tonight?” she asked Billie.

“No, sweetie. Not tonight.”

“Please,” Gigi said, with a big fat lower lip.

“I’m sorry, sweetie,” Billie said.

“We don’t have enough beds, Bubble.”

“Billie can sleep with me,” Gigi said.

A smile flickered over Trevor’s face, and his eyes dropped to his lap.

“Billie sleeps with me,” Conrad said in a faux serious voice, not bothering to explain to his daughter that he and Trevor would never share a bed.

“But you and your dad are coming to my house tomorrow.” To Trevor, Billie added, “They’re coming to dinner after the river trip.”

“So, you finally got some furniture?” Trevor asked mildly.

Billie winced, and he laughed.

“Can we stay the night over there?” Gigi asked, eager.

Conrad exchanged a look with Billie. Technically, Billie did have enough beds for all of them to stay at her house—though Gigi likely would insist on sleeping in the bed with Billie and Conrad.

It’s up to you, Conrad’s eyes said to her.

Billie looked over at Trevor, and Conrad saw he had been watching them. “We’ll talk about it,” Billie said.

Gigi cheered and turned back to Trevor. “Billie sings the best bedtime songs. Daddy’s better at reading because he does all the voices. But he can’t sing.”

Conrad wondered if Billie noticed the way Trevor’s eyes lit up. “Oh yeah?” Trevor asked. “What does she sing to you?”

“All sorts of things,” Gigi said. “She really likes Etta James and Miranda Lambert.”

Trevor blinked and looked at Billie. Conrad didn’t even try to suppress his grin as Billie said, “What can I say? I have facets.”

~*~

Marshall stared between them from his side of the dining table. “You weren’t dating before?” he asked, squinting at them.

“No, Dad,” Conrad said, tamping down on his irritation.

“I thought you just weren’t telling anyone. Testing the waters privately, so to speak.”

“No, Dad.”

Marshall still squinted at them, studying their faces.

“He was dating Cade for almost a year,” Billie said, gentle teasing in her voice as she took a demure sip of tea.

“He was still dating Cade?” Marshall asked, incredulous. At the look on his son’s face, Marshall sat back in his chair, clearing his own expression. “I mean, of course he was, and I knew that. Because I pay attention.”

Billie rubbed a hand on Conrad’s back.

“And, yet, you thought I was dating Billie,” Conrad said, dry.

“In my defense, you’ve been in love with her for a few years,” Marshall said.

“That’s a strong word,” Billie murmured, standing and walking her teacup to the sink.

After a tense moment, Conrad heard the water flip on. Conrad sighed, the sound a rough release of breath.

“Did everyone know?” he asked his father, resigned.

“No,” Billie leapt in to assure him. “Of course, not. People are just teasing you.”

“I don’t think so,” Conrad muttered. “Kit knew without me even telling her.”

“Rumor mill,” Billie said, coming back to sit next to him.

Conrad remembered Devon knowing without being told that Conrad had ended his relationship with Cade. And why. “I… really think everyone knew,” he said to Billie.

She gave him a sympathetic look.

“I don’t think the rest of the board cares very much about your love life,” Marshall said to Conrad. Then he turned to Billie. “Though they likely care about yours.”

“Mine?” she asked, surprise evident in her voice. “Why?”

“You’re the Chief of Surgery,” Marshall said. “A five-story portrait of you is on the side of the hospital. You’re a walking, talking advertisement for Chastain. They sort of watch what you do.”

“Where were they last year when she was getting attacked in the media?” Conrad muttered.

“Calling an emergency meeting to try and fire her,” Marshall said with a shrug. “They were wrong. Kit and I blocked it.”

“Are you serious?” Conrad asked. “They were going to fire her?”

“That surprises you?” Billie asked, calm even as she slid a hand onto his thigh under the table.

The weight of her hand on his leg was comforting, centering, cooling the edge of the anger that had taken over.

“We’re a little off topic here,” Marshall said, glaring between them. “Did you file the appropriate paperwork?”

“Kit said there wasn’t paperwork,” Conrad said. “We just need to write a letter stating the relationship is consensual and both sign it.”

“No,” Marshall said, pulling out his mobile. “That’s not good enough. Billie’s career has already taken too many hits this year. We have to get ahead of this with the board. I’m calling Kit.” He yanked the napkin off his lap and stood from the table, phone to his ear. He walked to the sliding glass door and opened it to step out onto the deck as he said, “Kit. They just told me. What do you mean no paperwork?”

“This is going well,” Conrad said as the door slid closed behind his father.

Billie buried her face in his shoulder.

“My own father didn’t know I was still dating Cade?” Conrad asked, staring into the distance.

“Conrad, how many days has he been in the U.S. in the past year?” Billie pointed out. “He didn’t even spend last Christmas with us.”

“That’s true.” Then Conrad blinked into the distance. “You spend Christmas with us.”

“Yes,” Billie said, voice patient. “Hi. I’m Billie Sutton. Your daughter’s godmother and giver of the best presents.”

That was true. Gigi always loved Billie’s gifts more than Conrad’s. To be fair, Conrad couldn’t afford a telescope that could see past the edge of the galaxy.

But that wasn’t the point.

“We all went to your dad’s for Thanksgiving dinner last year,” Conrad said, speaking slowly as the puzzle pieces began falling into place. “You spend every holiday with us.”

“Yes,” Billie said. “We’ve been doing that for almost five years. What’s the matter?”

Conrad turned to her, and he could feel that his face was white. “How am I such an idiot?”

She blinked at him. “You’re not an idiot,” she said, voice as gentle as the hand she laid on his cheek.

“Billie,” Conrad said. “My own father thought you and I were already dating.”

She bit her lip. “But we weren’t,” she said, in a too perky voice, with a cute little shrug.

Conrad hesitated. “Is that why you were around so much for us?” he asked quietly.

Billie jerked back away from him. “No,” she said, sounding offended.

“I’m sorry,” he said, surprised by the vehemence. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.” He stopped, not sure how to fix it when he didn’t know what was wrong.

“Conrad,” she started, then stopped and seemed to gather herself. Tucking her hair behind her ears, she tried again. “All of this… Everything between us started because I loved Gigi. You and I were friends by the time Nic died, but… even that was more about Gigi than us.”

Conrad had to admit she was right. He had come to adore Billie as a friend, but that had been after Gigi was born, and he had witnessed the way she had let all her walls down to his kid. He had gotten to see who Billie was by proxy.

Before Gigi, Billie had been a cold enigma whose walls had a single door marked Nicolette Nevin Only. After Gigi, Billie had been a gushing, effusive Super Auntie, who never ran out of patience or arms for cuddles, and tackled even the most invasive of questions with a calm, serene composure that Conrad had envied at times.

“I acted like your friend,” she said, “because I was your friend. Your best friend, and you were mine. I came to Christmas because you invited me, and I loved the idea of watching Gigi open all of her gifts. I brought you guys to Thanksgiving because you’re my family, and my father adores Gigi as much as he would a grandchild. I leapt at the chance to spend any and all time with Gigi because I liked spending time with Gigi. If you had never kissed me, I would still spend time with Gigi and come to Christmas. I would be here for both of you as long as you let me be here.”

He didn’t like that. He didn’t like the idea that she still felt like he let her. He wanted her at holidays. He wanted her with Gigi. He wanted her. Always. And he had carried that feeling around for a long time before he could admit to himself what it was. Even when he had been labeling her as best friend in his mind and aloud to anyone who would listen, he had known the feelings were too much, too big, too overwhelming, to be encompassed by those two words. And he had told himself he was satisfied anyway, like someone standing in a kitchen that was on fire feeling thankful that the coffee had finished brewing.

Yes, Billie had been his best friend—had been, still was, and always would be. But that simple affection had nothing to do with the other part, the part that was in love with her and depended on her and couldn’t stand not seeing her.

She finished her thoughts quietly. “I had already come to terms with the idea that we were never going to be together. Nothing I ever did had an ulterior motive.”

He felt that like a blow to the chest and suddenly understood the hurt in her eyes.

“No,” he said. He reached out and put a hand over hers. “Not what I meant.”

Billie’s eyes searched his. “Then what did you mean?” Billie murmured.

He meant to reassure her. He meant to tell her that she had been his best friend, too, and that he knew she would never have leveraged Gigi’s love or friendship with Conrad for something more. Instead, a wholly different idea came out of him.

“Kit told me the first time she caught me mooning after you was three years ago.”

Shock at hearing the words leave his own mouth left Conrad staring at Billie, and he saw the moment they landed by the confusion that crossed her face. And then she started laughing, muffling it with her hands so that she wouldn’t wake Gigi. He groaned and let his head hang on his neck.

“See,” she murmured after her glee had quieted. “I knew I wasn’t reading you wrong.”

“What?”

She sighed, though she was still smiling, and stood to begin clearing the dishes. His father’s voice drifted in from the deck through the sliding glass door, muffled and unintelligible.

“Gigi would have been, what, three?” she asked.

“I guess so,” Conrad said, embarrassed but comfortable enough to be embarrassed with her.

“That’s right around when you started dating Marion.”

“Dating is a strong word.” Conrad shifted in his chair, watching Billie move around his kitchen. “And I’m guessing this was before that. Probably around the time I came back to Chastain.”

Billie paused in what she was doing and glanced over her shoulder at him.

“Is that what Kit said?” she asked.

“No,” he admitted. “But getting to see you every day again had a very… uplifting effect on me.”

Billie gave him an affectionate look. “You already saw me almost every day when you were working concierge,” she said. “If anything, I saw you less once you were back at the hospital.”

“But seeing you was always planned before,” he said. “At Chastain, I could just accidentally run into you, or wind up working with you, or spot you from down the hall.”

Billie turned to stare at him. “I had no idea that you…” She shook her head, clearly unsure how to even finish that sentence. “And you never said anything?”

“I was very confused,” he said, almost apologetically.

A small smile played with the corners of her mouth as her shoulders relaxed again. “Me, too,” she said, simply.

Then she turned back to the sink and finished rinsing off the dishes. “For a while there, I was sure you felt the same way about me. Wanted to be with me like this, how I wanted to be with you. That wasn’t until after Marion, though,” she said. “And then you asked Cade out, and I decided I had been reading you wrong.”

He watched her open the dishwasher and start placing things inside. Then he stood and gathered the remaining plates and cups from the table, leaving his father’s mug where he’d left it. Marshall seemed immune to the effects of caffeine, drinking it at all hours of the day and night.

“You weren’t,” he said faintly. “You didn’t. Read me wrong.”

The smile she sent him this time was real—wide and happy—and he felt it in his bones. “I know that now,” she pointed out.

“I’m sorry I made you question that,” he said, regretting so much of the past year. “I just…”

“I know,” she said, serenely as she took the dishes out of his hands to load into the dishwasher. “I think it was good for me if I’m being honest. Which I do try to be.”

When she straightened up again, Conrad wrapped his arms around her from behind. “I know you do.”

It was one of the things he admired about her—the fact that she was honest even when she was wrong, even when she knew she was at fault. He felt her take a deep breath.

“Until last year…” She shook her head. “Until everything with Trevor, I kind of thought you were the only friend I had. But then it all went down, and I felt so alone.”

“You’re not alone. A lot of people love you.”

I love you. I’m in love with you, he thought, barely keeping the words inside.

Conrad was aware of how he felt. He had been in love before, and he recognized the feeling. But he wasn’t ready to acknowledge it out loud.

His hesitation wasn’t about penance. Though he had screwed up a lot of things over the last couple of years, he knew. And it wasn’t about being unsure of Billie’s feelings for him. She had sacrificed too much and given too much of herself for him and his daughter to not love both him and Gigi completely and totally. Billie was in love with him. He knew her too well to doubt it. Billie was much too careful and caring of a person to have started this with Conrad—with Gigi’s tiny heart on the line—and not be in love with him.

But Conrad had promised Billie slow. And, even if Kit, Bell, and his father were all perfectly happy to label Conrad’s feelings out loud, slow and measured this relationship would be.

“I know,” Billie said. Her hands rested against his arms where they crossed over her stomach, the palms of her skin soft and warm against his forearms. “But I’m not sure I would have figured that out if we’d been together. I would have just leaned on you.”

“How do you do that?” Conrad asked.

“What?”

“Always find some life lesson in hard things.”

“About eight years of therapy,” she said, trying to make light of it. “And a lifetime of bad choices to draw upon.”

He rested his cheek on top of her head. “I wish you had leaned on me more.”

“I leaned on you plenty,” Billie said.

Her head dropped back to rest on his shoulder. Her hand petted his forearm like she was trying to soothe him.

He brushed a kiss to the shell of her ear, and she gasped in surprise at the sensation. A shiver rolled through her body and reverberated through his where they were pressed together. His arms tightened around her in response, and her fingers flexed around his forearms, nails lightly digging into his skin.

He was capable in that moment of two thoughts: One, that Gigi was asleep, and it was late enough that she probably wasn’t going to wake up. Two, that Billie was warm and soft and right there, when he still had so much time to make up for missing out on.

So, he spun Billie around, capturing her mouth with his, pouring everything he felt for her into the kiss—all the words he wasn’t ready to say yet. She met his urgency with her own, her fingers sliding into his hair and scraping her nails against his scalp in a way that had him shoving her against the counter trying to get closer. Their tongues tangled, and a tiny sob left her that made him growl against her mouth.

And then the sliding glass door opened loudly behind Conrad, and Billie jerked away from him. They were both panting, and Conrad dropped his forehead to the soft flesh between her neck and shoulder as he remembered Marshall existed and was in his house.

He loved his father, he did. But why did Marshall never know when to fuck off?

“Well, look at that. You’re right,” Marshall said dryly. “It is different between you now.”

Conrad straightened and turned to face his father. “What did Kit say about the paperwork?”

“She’ll have forms for you both tomorrow.” Marshall pointed a finger at Billie. “And you need to meet with the board and explain the situation.”

“What situation?” Conrad asked, spreading his arms wide. “I’m not a situation.”

Marshall gave him a wry look. “Son, you have been a situation since the day you were born.”

Billie started to laugh, turning her face into Conrad’s chest to stifle it. And Conrad gazed down at her with delight.

“Finally,” Marshall muttered, and Conrad sighed.

~*~

As Conrad flipped the completed page onto his done pile and stared at the blankness of page twenty-eight, Devon came into the break room and spotted the giant stack of forms. Devon opened the door to the shared fridge and reached in for one of his green juices.

“Did you get to the part with the affidavits?” Devon asked.

“Not yet,” Conrad said, tense. “Billie is meeting with the board now.”

“The board,” Devon repeated, clearly surprised.

Conrad set his pen down and leaned back in the chair. “The board,” he repeated, letting his irritation seep through to his tone.

“Leela and I didn’t have to do that at least,” Devon said. He paused to think. “But they did make her record a video saying she wasn’t being coerced.”

“A video,” Conrad said, getting up to walk to the coffee pot. “That’s intense.”

“It felt like overkill at the time. But they said anyone could write a letter or fill out a form. And, honestly, looking back I don’t really care.” Devon shrugged. “If someone took advantage of Leela, I would lose my mind. So… I get why we needed to do it.”

“I only have to fill out the forms,” Conrad said, pouring himself another cup of coffee. “Billie has to fill out the forms and confront the board of directors.”

“Poor thing,” Devon said.

“I wish there was more I could do,” Conrad said, taking a sip of his coffee. He set it down on the table and folded his arms across his chest. “But all I can do is fill out the next twelve pages to the best of my ability.”

Devon gave him a sympathetic look. “They sent my forms back three times asking for corrections.”

“Jesus. Really?”

“Just be prepared,” Devon advised.

The door swung open, and Billie walked into the room in a cloud of palpable anger. Conrad caught the murderous gleam in her eye and dropped his arms as he braced himself for bad news.

They said no, he thought wildly.

He told himself he was leaping towards the worst conclusion, that the board had no reason to take exception to their relationship. As Kit had pointed out, he wasn’t in Billie’s reporting structure. There was nothing in hospital policy that prohibited them from dating. But Billie so very rarely lost her temper (when it wasn’t about a patient) that his heart was pounding.

“Don’t you surgeons have your own fancy break room with an espresso machine?” Devon asked in a teasing tone.

Billie glared at him, and Devon took an involuntary step back. “That group of people,” she said, “could single-handedly set me back three years in my self-development. Did they win? No. But they are the worst.”

Relief swept through him, and Conrad grinned giddily at her. “The worst.”

“They are the most odious—”

“Yes,” he said.

“—self-indulgent—”

“Yes.”

“—entitled—”

“Mm-hmm.”

“—judgmental—”

“Yup.”

“—assholes I have ever had to deal with, all gathered in a single room,” Billie finished.

Devon’s eyes were wide, and his lips had parted in shock. Billie very successfully gave the impression of being forever measured, calm, cool, and collected to the world. Sometimes Conrad forgot that he was one of the few people who got to see the other sides of Billie—the sides she deliberately hid from the world.

“Wow,” Devon murmured.

Conrad spared an amused glance but was too busy adoring his girlfriend to say anything to Devon. Conrad loved getting to see Out of Control Billie. She so rarely made an appearance.

“But it’s done.” Billie blew out a breath. “And they’ve given us their probationary blessing,” she said through clenched teeth. “As long as we don’t engage in ill-advised public displays of affection. That is a direct quote, by the way.” Conrad chuckled at her wrathful tone, and Billie gave him an arch look as she said, “Which, of course, means that I’ve been thinking about doing this for an hour.”

Stepping forward, she grabbed Conrad by the neck of his scrub shirt and yanked him down to kiss him. He leaned in eagerly, wrapping his arms low around her hips and pulling her more comfortably against his body. Her arms twined around his neck as the kiss softened, deepened, became more about saying hello than sticking it to the board.

“I’ll just go,” Devon said. “Good luck with your paperwork.”

Neither Billie nor Conrad—mouths busy—bothered to answer.

#fanfic #billie sutton #the resident #billie x conrad #conrad x billie #gigi hawkins #cobillie #conradbillie #conbillie

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emotionalsupportaudino · 9 months ago

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I literally cannot stop thinking about the current tour of Hadestown and how, despite seeing it three times (once totally legally before, and the first touring cast) and having listened to the recording probably hundreds by now, this is the first time I've ever been sold on Hades and Persephone.

There are moments where I just am in the middle of making my coffee or doing homework where I stop and relive Epic III in my head, it's going to live there rent free for the rest of eternity.

Now this Hades was phenomenal just to start with. Absolutely banger. Persephone was a shift where I realized how hard she went from slurring her words to complete clarity. In act 2, there were several scenes where she wasn't doing anything where i couldn't keep my eyes off her (like flowers, because I was realizing that she was sleeping with the workers. I never noticed that before because my eyes were so firmly on Eurydice). But Hades was playing the big booming villain and he was doing it well and that was all I wanted.

And then Epic III. For the first time, as I watched, I saw him physically trying to escape the emotions that Orpheus was actively trying to put him through, and for the first time as everything crescendos I heard him scream "no" in this furious, desperate voice. I lost it.

Like imagine you're Hades, you're doing your job, this fucking twink comes up to you and starts singing a song at you that yOU WROTE like he wrote it, saying how alike you are, and he let his girlfriend get so screwed over she left him for work. And like your wife is siding with this guy over you. And then everyone's like YEAH LISTEN TO THE TWINK, BOSS. I too would be pretty mad. Orpheus is a fuck up.

Hades was getting some depth I was sorely missing in other portrayals just from every choice the actor was making.

And then "His Kiss, the Riot."

The reading of those lines, especially "Beautiful. Poisonous." fucking killed me. I saw a man trying to do his best, trying to undo his mistakes, trying to understand how to untie the knot he wove. I watched a man genuinely believe that the thing he was doing could be the right thing, not understanding why it wasn't, genuinely believing he was doing what he could to end the suffering of people, making sure they were warm and fed and just not getting it.

And I understood for the first time "Beautiful, poisonous" actually meant "optimism, pragmatism." What Orpheus is fighting for is beautiful. For love and hope and the power to make your own future together, come what may. Diving into uncertainty, together. But it's poisonous. It's going into a world where there's no certainty. There's not enough to go around, not only because of Persephone, but because the rest of the gods seem to have abandoned this world. To a world where Hermes is the only god around and he's more than willing to let people fuck you over rather than step in. Where you're at the whims of the wind and fate. You may have a beautiful future, but if you misstep, that future is over in an instant.

Anyway I got his signature and I actually told him that I really loved that line read and he said that he said poisonous so quietly it wasn't getting picked up well by the mic so he put it really close to his face so that scream in Epic III blew out the crew's ears it was so loud but like. It was so good. Sorry crew, it was worth it for that read.

Also Orpheus is a little bitch, what was he gonna do if he turned around and she wasn't there??? What was it gonna change, Orpheus??? You had two options, one was a guaranteed bad outcome (she isn't there and you have to go back, she is there and she gets stolen back) and one that had a 50/50 outcome, (you make it to the end, she's not there, you gotta go back again, she IS there and we all go home happy because we don't watch you betray her AGAIN). I will take the 50% chance over the 0% chance ANY day.

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rikomoriyama01 · 1 year ago

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AFTG tfc ch1 Re Read by cavan

(i do not remember any details so its almost like im reading it first time lmao) tumblr does not give me read more cut off option so deal with this i guess sorry #CavanrereadAFTG if you need to block it chapter 1 "She'd beat him to the hell and back if she saw him sitting around and mopping like that" is quite violent way to phrase "she woudl be displeased to see him .." so was neil casually beaten by his mom or we only on page 4 of neil backed up trauma management and im already thinking about scene where this boy will finally brek open and admit how much he wants normal life and not having to hide his emotions and you know live a little without this whole batman personal covering his face already hit by brain made connection about how exy is what took rikos life away from him and how it's the thing that kept neil alive through the worst of his here i am making it about this little cunt already but what else were you expecting of me?

learning new things about English language always nice! neil "its cool my mom died i can finally stay in one place for a bit" how had this boy not murdered this woman himself is beyond me fr ,, please go away" neil wymack already adopted you just haven't got the adoption papers yet I wonder if Janie Smalls is taller than Andrew Minyard "her best friend found her bleeding out" okay but - who is Janie's best friend is it one of foxes? what if it's seth ? Makes sense for it to be seth nvm friend explained to me that potential recruit means she was not at palmetto at the time " Typical of a fox " see riko would make amazing fox that's boy self destructive af in all of my head cannons

broadening my vocab nice nice Notorious for their tiny size i know it's bc there only 9 of them but i will stay believing it is bc everyone is short math time, had not seen kevin in 8 years neil is 18-19 now so he was 10 ok will remember Neil: i need to be very sneaky about my past wymack: do you need a pen? neil: i can't play for you because you signed kevin day wymack: ....... ??????? I LOVE HOW ANDREW WAY TO SAY HI IS FUCKING CRUSHING NEILS LUNGS AGAINST HIS SPINE ????? forgot how radioactive they are bc of how cute they are welp things align riko broke kevins hand andrew beat up neils internal organs for no reason at all! i love when all my ships are fucked up

assailant here is the word i keep using but spelling "assultant" lmao , man im learning so much ,, Andrew was blamed for kevins recent transfer" - kandrew is strong with this one ppl in universe just assumed kevin fell in love on first sight and they ARE RIGHT

i cant tell if im here to study cannon or english but like i know what those words mean but i don't know their definitions does that make sense? OH THIS IS SO CUTE I WILL DRAW THIS FUCK YES LETS GO he slammed motherfucker with his own racket dfghsdjfhgg Hernandez is literary the only normal person over the course of those 3 books andrew *assults someone as hello* wymack: Andrew's a bit raw on manners / my dude with this reading speed it will take me half year to go through those books but im having actually a lot of fun here neil: i already said i can not sign with you wymack:OK BUT YOU STILL NEED TO EXPLAIN WHY KEVIN DAY IS THE ISSUE HERE did kevin heard it lmoa i wonder if kevin heard the ,, do you need a pen - YoU sIgNeD KeViN DaY no wonder kevin was bitch to neil he thought the lil bitch hated him on the start lmao Andrew was only here because Kevin day never went anywhere alone here you go with your raven programming <3 YEARS SINCE THEY'D WATCHED NEIL'S FATHER CUT A SCREAMING MAN INTO HUNDRED BLOODY PIECES Kevin / Dark hair and green eyes, black number 2 neil saw that number and wanted to retch He and his adopted brother Riko Moriyama wrote the numbers one and two on their faces with markers, tracing them over and over anytime they started to fade. ok so were they drawing their own numbers? it sound like kevin was drawing his number too also this is the only mention i think of riko being reffered to as kevin,s brother in the books anyway I have case to make assuming kevin and riko were doing those numbers form young age pre 10 ... it just makes sense the system they use would be Arabic not roman i just can't imagine small kids knowing roman numbers when they were neglected in nest i think this is best case i can make for it. friend provided proof that in book the four tattoo neil get's is introduced as "4" so ok arabic canon moving on Riko nad Kevin were inducted to national court 1 year pre aftg story starts They were champions and neil was a jumble of lies and dead-ends on one hand it's funny how desperate they all are to sign neil on other hand i deeply believe they just see the desperation in his eyes, we know that neil wants it and those contact lenses do not hide it , they know that he wants to say yes, they are just confused about what the fuck makes him say no (kevin's bitchiness) or at least i would make this be the case if neil didn't just got assaulted and if they didn't literary phrased it as ,, we are not living without you signing this" like .. kidnapping with extra steps much ???? playing like he has everything to lose is not excuse for you all to harass this poor man like that OK HOLD ON A SECOND "He'd remember the scrimmage interrupted by that man's murder"

what man what murder the man nathan butchered for them? did nathan murdered someone during game?

WHAT HAPPENED

the moment kevin would start looking at him funny- he already is ngl im only on page 12 and i just hate neils mom i have no phrasing for it but the fact that every choice neil could make for his happiness is meet with ,, mom would be sooo mad" is really frustrating to read about... what is the point of even being alive for this boy fr???? i wonder if theres any specific place they would have been safe it? kind of would be fun to have au where neil and his mom go to japan and end up getting protection form yakuza F BOMB 1 F BOMB 2 COMBO fuck i love those characters so much okay like all of them It's about second chances, Neil. Second, third, fourth, whatever, as long as you get at least one more than what anyone else wanted to give you"

David "idealistic idiot" Wymack wymacks sincerity is what lets foxes trust him , wymack is the first adult in their lives that understands Savge yank of her hands in his hair here we go fuck he has so much guilt over trying to live a little this is so un fair "I'm sorry"he gasped out between wet coughs. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry"

#aftg #all for the game #tfc #the foxhole court #nora sakavic #neil josten #kevin day #andrew minyard #riko moriyama #CavanrereadAFTG

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indie-bard-maiden · 3 months ago

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~The Depths~

(the siren/mermaid/pirate descendent story, apart of my short story collection 'The Ballad of Hollowfaye' also available to read on wattpad)

A siren must save a mortal from revenge. Again and again.

Genre: YA Fantasy

Word Count: (to be determined)

(PT 2)

Yonderyear

Alix Kane's POV

"So, you saved me?"

I grabbed his hand and pulled him deeper into the forest, "You are alive at present, are you not?"

He tripped over a well-meaning twig and grasped onto my arm to keep himself from busting his face, "Well, yeah, but you--you pushed me into the water? I thought you were trying to kill me."

"Oh, please, Pat, if I were trying to kill you, I'd do it in a far more creative way than letting you dive face first."

I could feel him staring at the back of my head. He cleared his throat and whispered, "How would you do it then?"

I punch a tree limb in the face, and keep it moving.

"Well... Let's see... I'd probably start by sucking the Siren's kiss out of your throat and watch you choke to death on the oxygen you're no longer able to breathe."

He pulls his hand free of mine. I turn back to face him, confused. He's staring down at me not with fear or shock in his eyes, but confusion.

"I'm sorry, the what?"

"The Siren's Kiss, kelphead."

He shakes his head, probably trying to free the kelp from his hair, "What the hell. Wait. Wait. Wait just a fucking second. When you kissed me, that's what you were doing? Giving me a Siren's Kiss?"

I nod condescendingly, widening my eyes for emphasis. This one was slow. I'm used to being the stupid one. I can't believe this is how other people feel around me when they have to explain the most obvious things in the world.

"Well, yeah, Patty, I wasn't kissing you because I find you amusing."

He rolls his eyes, "Hm. No offense, but I don't find you amusing either, Al. I'm more of a Nobody's kind of guy. But gun to my head, if I had to choose, it'd be dudes. Final answer. Only in a kissing and cuddling kinda way, not in a 'Let's bone' kinda way."

We stare at each other emptily for a moment before we turn back around and begin our trekking again. "Huh," I mutter, "I understood less than zero of those words. New record for me."

"What? You don't have asexuality where you come from? Or gays? Your land is just full of boring heteros breeding all over the place?" He sounds bored even just saying it.

For once I get to educate someone. It's new territory for me: knowing more than someone else.

"Actually, sirens are all asexual. We love in our souls; we mate to keep our species going. It's not usually romantic at all." I clarify, "Well, unless our mate is some other species. I've heard our love deepens into levels we've never known when our mate feels love like that."

He snorts, "You have... mates... like real life mates...?" He punctuates his question with a giggle.

"I haven't met mine personally yet. But yeah. Sure. Mortals do too, I've heard. Haven't you ever just seen someone and KNOW they're who you're meant to be with? Even if it's just the feeling that you have to be friends with them, that you have to get to know them, that you need them to be apart of your life?"

His footsteps paused and I glanced over my shoulder to see if he'd fallen in an ice lagoon or a sinkhole. He hadn't. But he'd felt it alright. The feeling I'd described, I mean. It was all over his hesitation.

"Whatever. Where are we going?"

"Funny you should ask," I look between two identical land corals. "I don't know. Far away from anywhere so nobody will find you. Of course, that's going to be difficult though because they can travel through water particles in the air, and in streams, and ponds; not to mention that Sirens can walk on land without any help... So... We kinda have an unsurprising lack of options."

"How many people are looking for me? What do they want?"

"Hard to say, and revenge."

He groans, "Because of that Pirate Dude from hundreds of years ago?" He rests on a rock. "I don't even know the guy. And it's not like I'm going around raping everyone I meet or cooking their skin in a soup or whatever. This is so unfair."

"Sorry. Everyone from Iyael is like this. We hold hundred-year grudges, and we'll travel immeasurable distances to exact our revenge."

"So what you're saying is at this point I might as well hide in the ocean and wait for them to get to me."

I laugh. Then I stop. And I turn to him slowly. He's resting forward on his knees.

"You. Are. Not. A. Kelphead." I laugh manically. His head snaps up at me, and he raises an eyebrow.

"No?"

"NOPE! Not at all. You might be the most smartest mortal I ever met!"

He shrugs, blushes, "Well... I don't mean to brag... But I'm not failing any of my classes. Only by one point, but still." I grab his hand and pull him up, "Okay, wait, why? I don't get it."

"We're throwing you back into the ocean."

He pulls free at once. Stares at me with wide eyes. Takes a step back.

"What? No! Are you crazy? They'll find me as soon as you push me in."

I nod, "And what? What are they going to do? Drown you? I gave you a Siren's Kiss. You're safe."

"They could--I don't know-- EAT ME???"

My mouth falls open. I shake my head. "That is so racist, Patrick. When I've thrown you into the water, you should reevaluate your harmful language, maybe consider if speaking these stereotypes is helpful for anyone."

"Wait, so, okay, I'm sorry. Sirens don't eat people? I thought that was pretty common lore?"

"It's called a 'stereotype', and no. We don't. Not since the Third Era. You know, the war between the mermaids and the sirens? They tried to imperialize us. Took control of our rations. We barely survived the food rationing which was basically nothing and had to resort to luring for food instead of solely for romantic nights."

"Oh..."

"Yeah, it's old news. We did get the legend of the Warrior Spirit Sybil though. That's an even longer story. All you need to know is you're going into the ocean, and you're going to like it. I don't want to hear a single complaint from you."

He sighs and groans all in one breath, "Fine. Can I complain about it now at least?"

The disturbance in the air irritates my connection with the water at once. I grabbed his hand. "No time. Now, this is going to feel a little weird, but just float on. Okay?"

I don't let him respond. From the core of my chest and out, I become one with the water particles around us. Because I was holding him, willing him to materialize with me, he became one with me.

Invisible to the naked eye, we float at high speed, looking for the closest water source that pours directly into the ocean. There were none in sight. Only the ocean is a few miles away. It wouldn't be difficult to reach. Maybe that is what they wanted.

As soon as we floated down the rocky cliffs, flowing into the ocean around us, I will us back into our natural bodily physicalities. Patty throws up immediately.

"What the fuck was that?" Only, he surprises himself. He was talking underwater. He gawps at me. "What the fuck is this?"

"If you're that worried about that, don't look down."

"What? Why?" He looks and throws up again. The gunk goes all over his gray tail before it floats back into his face. He throws up again for good measure.

"Would you chillax? You'll get your mortal body back when we survive this."

He tries to swim to the surface without using his tail which only makes him float around in circles. He whines, "We? There is no ~we~. They're not trying to kill you, they're trying to kill me."

"Okay. You. When you survive this, you'll get your bottom arms back. Now, okay, let me think. I could feel someone before. They're hidden now. They're still here though. A strange feeling."

I'd spoken all too soon. Maioni swims through the crashing waves of a waterfall near enough to us. She looks half-impressed, half-eager.

"You. I guess I could've guessed."

She nods towards Pat, "You made this way too easy."

"You're not killing him. I won't allow it."

"Okay, and who the shell are you, anyway? Making demands, swimming around here like you can just boop orders at people! I don't have to listen to you. We're killing him tonight, and there's nothing you can do."

I swam closer to her, "Now, Mai--"

"Wait. Can I speak? I mean, may I, your honor? I mean, may I request the bench? Approach, I mean..."

We both stare at him a moment before Maioni whispers out of the side of her mouth, "Is this one braindead?"

I sigh, "I haven't been able to figure it out for sure. There is a possibility."

She sighs back, "Okay... So killing him would either be morally wrong or a mercy killing. Give me a second to decide."

Patty throws his hands up, "Whoa, whoa whoa, first of all, I am not braindead. My brain is actually very much alive, thank you."

"Unlike your brother." She draws her knife made of sea glass out from her scavenging bag tied around her waist. Pat draws in a deep breath, all the sass dies away in an instant.

I whistle, "That was low. Though I can't say I'm surprised since you definitely killed him."

"I DID NOT KILL HIM! FOR THE LAST SEA-FOAMING TIME!"

"No? Then, who did?" I pull the knife from her hand, and let it float down to the sea floor. She narrows her red globes at me, curling her webbed-fingers into a ball.

"Me."

The voice takes us all by surprise. Swimming stagnantly behind Pat... Elspeth... A different Elspeth... Green hair chopped just below her ear holes. Not a very good sign. Her eyes, what used to be black globes that would reflect only the brightest stars, are now pale white and matte. Also a terrible sign.

"She's gone through the change." Maioni whispers horrified.

"What change?" Patty murmurs.

"When a Siren loses their mate... They can choose to forgo all morality--sell their souls to Noelani. It's the only way to escape the pain of the loss. Nobody ever does it though. Not even then."

Maioni laughs coldly, "And if you think that's the worst part, listen to this: Noelani are barren sirens who survive off their own kind. Your kind. All kinds. They thirst after the taste of souls and life and happiness."

Patty scoffs and glares at me, "And I thought you said that was a stereotype."

"IT IS! Look at what you're trying to group ALL sirens with." I turn back to Elspeth and hold my hands up in apology, "No offense."

"I believe you mean, 'Full offense', Alix. There's nothing left of her."

Elspeth doesn't blink. For a second I forget fish don't have eyelids. That means I haven't blinked. That means I look as scary as her when my eyes don't close for minutes on end. Her grayish skin caves in around her ribs with each breath she takes. Her claws curl into sharp points. Her teeth are even sharper. Great for eating meat. Great for ripping Maioni and me to shreds.

"I don't understand," My heart aches in realization. This is ELSPETH. My best friend. "What mate?"

She actually laughs. At least, it's what's left of her laugh. Just a skeletal corpse of it.

"You really have to ask. Have I ever loved more than one person?" But this didn't make sense. Elliott... Why would she kill her own mate...

"Why would you kill your own mate?" Maioni is smart and asks my question aloud.

Elspeth's eyes move to Pat. Pat is frozen. There hasn't been an expression on his face for as long as I can remember. I see only the suffering, the pain, the loss. A much different cold void than the one inside Elspeth.

"I went there to protect him. To tell him I'd keep him safe no matter what. That if Maioni showed up, I'd kill her before I let her touch him. Only I didn't get to say any of that, because there he was in his hot tub. Suckling on some other girl's tongue. His mouth all over her the way it was all over me. Like he couldn't tell the difference. Like there was no difference. Like he was my mate, and I was nothing to him." Her voice is a cold, low rumble in the current. Just an echo of what's left of her.

"So you killed him." Patty is so small when he speaks. So, so tired and so, so small.

She nods slowly, "Yes... And now I'm going to kill you."

She smiles for a beat before she jets through the water. She would've nearly reached him too, if Maioni hadn't gotten between them. Elspeth unhinges her jaw, nearly taking Maioni's face off. She chomps and bites and gnaws.

"Get your knife!" I shout.

Maioni huffs through her struggle, "I would if you didn't let it drop into the damn sargassuming sea-beds!" I don't know why I froze. I realized then, I should be helping her.

"Pat, you go somewhere safe." I glance behind me, thinking that's where he'd flinched.

No sign of him. I peer questioningly up to the pier, then the waterfall, then to everywhere all around me. Nowhere. He's gone. He's deserted us. I can't say I blame him, but my heart still thumps painfully for a moment.

I shake it off and stream through the water without a single element of grace, forgetting all about my future friend's betrayal. I haven't a weapon or any fighting skills at all. All the warriors nowadays are trained in the Southern Ocean of Iyael, a place I'd never gone to because of a lack of said fighting skills.

So I do the only thing I know how to do. I swim behind Elspeth who's winding her claws into Maioni's arms, she's overpowering her more and more every second I waste. I reach for her chopped her, curling it through my fingers, knotting what's left of the tendrils in my palms, I twist, I pull, I yank, I do everything I can think of to pull her off.

"O' for the love of Sybil and Lucien, it's about time!" Maioni screeches. Her arms are dripping pearlescent blue blood. They fall limply at her sides. She won't be able to use them again. Not for a while.

Elspeth turns into me, barely fazed by my schoolpond defenses. She lunges at me, I swim above her, my hand trapped in her hair. She follows, lapping at my tail, and my fins rebuttal by whipping her in the face. There. A single cut on her cheek. Oozing the blackest substance I've ever seen, even blacker than squid ink, blacker than the darkest cave at the bottom of the sea.

She growls. The whites of her eyes dilate and vibrate in her skull. Venom drips from her fangs.

"You're going to feel the sting of my wrath in bites all over your body. Then Maioni next," she turns to look at her, and my gaze follows. Maioni is green all over, and not in a good way. Her eyes flinch closed. She sinks ever so slowly. Her arms still glued to her sides, unable to keep her up, "Buuuuuut, she'll be too easy. Maybe I'll make the mortal watch as I tear her into pieces, show him what The Goddess of Destiny has planned for him."

She grunts. Eyes wide, taking me in. I think for a second the Goddess of Destiny has struck her down for her blasphemy. But then her head falls back. Right into Pat's chest. She looks up at him, dully, sensually, as he wraps his arm around her stomach. Only then do I see the knife he's forced through her pelvis, right through the middle of her spinal chord.

"You were..." he whispers, "nothing to him," He rips the knife downward.

Her eyes slowly fade to black. Like a spotlight fizzling out. I gasp and cover my mouth with my hands. He lets her go, lets her fall, and falls she does, in slow motion, like the currents want to guide her to the Hereafter peacefully, like they want her journey to the deep to be the last warmth she feels in this life.

"Pat..." My throat can barely form the cry without clenching and shredding into bits.

He shakes his head, his tail flitters. He had to do it. I can see it all in his face. And maybe he deserved the right. Elliott never killed. Elspeth had. Patty never had... Until now... Morally wrong or a mercy kill?

"Maioni," his voice is soft in the water, barely there. He swims over to her, and I flinch. But then he wraps his arms delicately around her and pulls her up to me. "What do we do?"

I stare at him for a second. It's all I can do. He's everything I said he wasn't. Or is he?

"N-nothing," I wipe my cheeks. "It's a stun. To make the feasting easier. The prey can't escape if it can't m-move."

I quickly take her in my arms and feel a little relief when I know she's free from his grasp. I drag us both to the surface. It's nearly dark now, the moon's uglier twin setting against the horizon. I fight the waves and the rising crests of the water. There's a cave behind the waterfall. I carry her there. Once I've pulled her onto the shore, I will my tail to begone. And there, my bottom arms take its place.

She takes shallow breaths. Her lungs still paralyzed by the venom.

"Is she going to be okay?" I screech at his voice. He's got his bottom arms back too, and he's standing over us. I gulp before I nod, slowly.

Maioni winces as he kneels beside me, beside her.

"I'm sorry... About your friend..." He mutters though he doesn't sound too sorry.

"Not now," I grumble. I pick up Maioni's arm, and then the other.

The wounds haven't healed, and they won't. Any wound we have can heal in water if the injury happens out of water. These weren't. She'll have these scars for life. I'll remember the scars of tonight for the rest of my life.

"I had to kill her. She was going to kill us. She killed my brother." He places his hand on my shoulder and I scream. No words, just a baritone ripping out of my lungs.

"I SAID NOT NOW!" And my tears are falling. I can't help them. "LEAVE US!" I knew I couldn't keep her safe against him. He still had her knife. He was better on his feet than I was.

"But you said..."

Oh. He was waiting for his kiss. I grab him, scorch my lips against his, and suck. And suck. And suck... I suck until he's fighting me off. Only when he stops fighting do I set him free. He falls face-first into the sand and coughs. Gags. Then forces himself up onto his knees.

"Now go. I never want to see you again. GO!" He wastes no time in arguing. He jumps back into the water. And he's gone.

I grab ahold of Maioni's hand and interlock our fingers. I can't stop the howl of my cries. My face buries into the crest of her neck. I wait, impatiently, for the moon to rise. I wait, impatiently, for my friend to return to me. I wait, impatiently, for the pain of my loss to leave.

BACK TO MASTERLIST? CLICK ╰┈➤ˎˊ˗ HERE

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to like, reblog, and/or comment if you liked or hated it. Spill the tea. Share your thoughts directly with the source (me.)

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bupbupsippycup · 11 months ago

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Kaleb and August are here to meet some criminals in a cemetery at night, trying to get some more information about Kaleb’s descendant. Kaleb walks over the graves carelessly, which bothers August.

AUGUST: Don’t walk over the dead. Spare them the humility they wore in life, at least treat them with respect after they’ve passed.

KALEB: Why should I care? I respect those who respect themselves. There’s nothing left in their bones that says they give a damn about what we do now.

AUGUST: Do you want to be remembered as an uncaring machine?

KALEB: Who says I’m gonna die? Maybe I’m the first true success in immortality.

Kaleb gives him a sinister smile. August looks incredibly sorry to see such a twisted face.

AUGUST: If yours is the only option, I’d rather an untimely death.

Kaleb growls affirmatively.

AUGUST: I’m very sorry for you. No-one should have to endure what you’ve endured.

KALEB: Don’t apologize to me! You know nothing. Maybe I enjoy what I am.

AUGUST: Of course you don’t. It’s no secret. You tried to die for so long, but look now! You’ve gone and found evidence of your relative, and it changed something in you! You told me this yourself, surely you want to find them?

KALEB: I don’t know what I want…

Kaleb jolts, reminded of a conversation from hundreds of years ago. The gang-member Ten’s voice appears in his head.

TEN’S MEMORY: “That’s the worst thing of all, kid. You gotta do something about that.”

Kaleb looks at August, wondering if he was trying to get Kaleb to recall the moment when he was introduced to cybernetics by the gang-member, Ten.

KALEB: Did you ever read about an old gang-member named Ten?

August watched Kaleb curiously.

AUGUST: … No, I can’t say I have. Who is Ten?

KALEB: I met him on my homeworld. He was trying to hide from the Syndicate after he took a prisoner against orders, who spilled some information about Ten, proving that he wasn’t loyal to them. They tracked him down eventually. I saw him die… He was my introduction to cybernetic enhancements… I’ve always respected him for that.

AUGUST: Ah, so you can respect another! Do you see now? As unusual as the circumstances were, you still found a mentor that you could look up to, and aspire to be!

KALEB: I didn’t want to be him, it ended at respect. More than anything else, I wanted to choose who I was for myself, and that’s what he taught me. I was grateful, but his death... changed me. I wanted to tear his killers apart for all the world to see. I wanted to avenge him... I still do.

AUGUST: I think I understand. I’ve lost more friends than I’d like to count, but I go on, nonetheless! I go on, believing in my heart that I shall meet these people again! Energy cannot be created or destroyed, and what can a soul be except energy?

Kaleb looks upon August as if being told a bad joke.

KALEB: So you think I still have a soul?

August looks him square in the face, full of pride and assurance. He speaks vigorously.

AUGUST: I’m certain of it, Kaleb.

#wattpad #apexlegends #fanfic #titanfall #apex legends

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demonicgod · 1 year ago

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[Asks from "Otherkin Ask Meme." Check my #ask game tag for the rebloggable ask meme, by user princeoframs]

This is really long so please only click the read more if you feel like dealing with a very very long post.

All art is sourced from the Grand Chase wiki.

Are you otherkin or therian?

Otherkin. I'm a fictive of Heitaros Cratsus from Grand Chase that identifies with his source in some soupy ass ways.

What are your kintype(s)?

Specifically, I identify as fictionkin of Heitaros Cratsus from Grand Chase. Related to that, I’m demonkin and divinekin/hearted. Most of those probably make sense enough, but because of my exomemories, it’s a bit more complicated to label whether divinekin or divinehearted is more accurate. My title was the Demonic God, which denoted how much power I had accrued during my time in Elyos. I literally fistfought three Goddesses and brought them to such a standstill their only option was using the last of their life force to power a magical laser bomb to kill me. Then, I spent the next few hundred years busting out of the Underworld and eating the divine reactor they slammed me with because I wanted to become a new Creator. I technically succeeded for maybe a few hours at most; so it’s difficult as a result to figure out whether I am divinehearted (that is, aspiring to divinity, but not being divine) or divinekin (seeing as I technically succeeded at becoming Creator, even if it was for a fraction of my life). I could say both, but my relationship to divinity is also fluid (especially considering my presence in a body that is not necessarily divine and is, in fact, a sack of meat appreciating the divinity of the world).

What was your awakening like? When was it?

My first awakening was when the body was in middle school. This was long before we understood that we were plural, so my awakening was muddied by a lack of clarity regarding our more-than-oneness. We came out of some religiously-exacerbated trauma with me splitting off in middle school as basically a parody of the devil. I was an asshole, and that identity kind of followed me through a dormancy to when I woke back up from it in late 2021. I still ID with that to some degree (I even mention it on my about page), but I ID a little bit more with Heitaros, because that’s the face that I found most comfortable, and it resonated with me. It was blistering at first, and the realization of a face in the context of the system made it a lot easier for me to not be so much of a rube all the time lmao.

When did you first hear about the kin community?

I believe we heard about the kin community first sometime in the middle of high school, through someone else we knew in the GC fandom, funnily enough lol.

Do you experience phantom limbs astral limbs?

We prefer the term “astral limbs” to describe appendages we don’t have that are not part of the human package. That said, I have four wings. They’re bat-like, and the bone/external membranes are a dark blue. The inner lining is a glowing bright blue, meanwhile. Both are the same color as my true body.

Do you experience any other shifts?

Yeah, I experience shifts relating to my true body (what’s my blog icon right now; I've included the full piece of art below too because it's the best official art of it). This involves a lot, including everything from my teeth to my claws. It’s just as disorienting as wing shifts considering I live in a twink’s body, lol.

What’s your favorite shift you get? Why?

Almost any of them count, but there are a few that make me feel particularly connected to my past life. My true body is one I miss a lot, but the body I took from Baldinar also has some particular meaning to me because I can sometimes use it to drag him into front lol. Also, I just like how I look wearing his features.

Tag who did it better lmao.

What’s your least favorite shift? Why?

Arguably, the same as above because sometimes intense shifts give me intense emotional pain. It's like having a head full of bees. Disorienting, confusing, and a little bit irritating, all at once. It tends to come with a little sauce side of dysphoria too, because the body's presentation doesn't match up with what I want to look like.

The only shift that makes me kind of uncomfortable is the shift I get of Kyle's body. He's in our system and comfortable around me, but it's just a little weird going from himbo to twink to sad Kingdom Hearts reject.

Can you make yourself shift?

Sometimes. Depends on who else is in front with me and what the state of the body is. With enough picrews I can kind of force a shift to my stolen body, though.

Do you have shift triggers, or do they happen randomly?

My shift triggers are usually emotional in nature, but active triggers are generally the same as my active front triggers. So, usually if I need to be in front, someone can jam me to front by engaging with those triggers, some of which make it easier for me to also induce a shift.

Do you have memories?

Yes. Practically my whole life. Some of it is just impressions, but some things are more in depth. These are also kind of front triggers for me, too, so the system will ask me to tell them more about my memories if they want or need me in front (hence me writing “fanfiction” about my source). My co-host is really good at this, and that's arguably the reason they're co-host; they'll regularly remember something about another headmate and then ask another to "tell them a story." They got like 300 pages of shit out of me by doing that lol.

What’s your favorite thing about your kintype? (The species, creature, etc)

The power. Not to sound too wild or anything lmao, but in my past life it took so much just to take me down, and the limited time I had with divinity was only better. This is a double-edged sword, of course, because I live in a chronically ill body (that is also a squishy twink), so yearning for that is kind of dangerous, but at least in-system that means no one is willing to fuck with me (at least in a “physical altercation” kind of way).

A good shift, especially if it comes with respites where I'm shifted in my sleep, leaves me feeling rejuvenated. It's like a reminder that no matter what, I still have worth and am still a force to be reckoned with. It feels like electricity, like a really good stretch after a long rest. I have no clue if anyone else can relate to this, but I hope it makes some sense.

Do you think kins are spiritual or psychological in nature?

Yes. Both. And sometimes neither. Sometimes one or the other. But for me, I’m a psychospiritual entity in a system that is disordered and engages in spiritual explanations. In other words, I don’t fucking care lol (/lh). It doesn’t matter to me, because I’m both, because my experiences can’t be boiled down to such a binary.

If you're one, the other, both, or neither, that's also not my business to pry. This shit is too queer to worry about splitting hairs.

Does anyone know you are otherkin? Friends, family, etc? If so, how did you tell them?

Yeah, most close family and quite a few close friends. Most online friends know, too.

Do you have any friends who are also kin?

Yeah!

Do you meditate?

Sometimes, but honestly at this point meditation is difficult to do in ways we like because of ADHD, dissociation, and the fact we basically dissociate all day at work and can’t easily build meditative strategies because of how that takes it out of us mentally.

Do you get kin dreams?

I actually decided to get better at lucid dreaming to try to have more, to be honest. Our sys used to be super into lucid dreaming, so I’m mostly just getting old muscles back up to snuff. It's been hit or miss all in all.

Even non-lucid kin dreams are usually really good though. Cathartic and a little bit sad to wake from, but you get over it when you're used to 'em.

Do you wish you were your kintype? Why or why not?

Depends. Would I still get to interact with my system? Would they be stuck in that body with me? If yes and no, then I would love to have my body again so I could actually squeeze the hell out of my headmates and also do the flying stim called “get up really high in the air and dive like you’re freefalling so you can parachute last second.”

Do you own any gear? If so, what items do you have and do you like to wear them?

Uhhhh skip.

Give a controversial opinion/your stance on some type of discourse.

This is purely because I’ve known a lot of misinformed kids before, but I think as a community we should be a lot better at being forthcoming about information and not being so quick to malign anyone that uses the term “KFF.” That term cropped up in my hiatus from the community (that hiatus being because people were bitching at psychological-related kintypes in all my fucking spaces), and by time I came back, no one could do anything but bitch about “KFFers” and never seemed to say anything more than the same BS I see in the plural community. It was only after almost two years back that we FINALLY found out what that’s “supposed” to mean, and it’s such a nonsense useless term that people I used to hang out with absolutely used it in a “misinformed but not bad-faith” kind of way (the “that would semantically be called a linktype but whatever” sort of KFFer). I get that there are people that want to make our community look bad, but y’all… those bitches have always been coming into our tags and spaces and planting fake blog posts to screenshot for r3ddit karma. Cringe is dead, spend your energy blocking/moving on and making otherkin dictionaries (like the cool people that finally helped me understand what the fuck y’all were bitching about lmao).

What makes you feel closer to your kintype(s)?

Just being me. I'm stubborn as Hell when I need to be, especially when it comes to things that better the system's situation, and that usually makes me feel like I'm trying to reclaim some of my old power. Boundaries are power, to be fair.

But if we want to get more specific, it's mostly front triggers that tend to get me feeling closer to my kintype, sure, but also writing about it as well. Anything that forces me to think about it and makes it easier for me to interface with headspace, basically.

What are some things that validate you?

We had a friend in college that said our voice sounded androgynous, and I know that's mostly gender euphoria speaking, but as someone who loves how I sound when I front? Yeah.

#demonkin #divinekin #otherkin #fictive #fictionkin #source talk #heit talks #this is what i did instead of working on art #but to be fair our joints feel like they need a whole can of wd40 after our shift today #and this is an excuse for me to appreciate my source art #some of it is uh #give or take in quality #but ykw i will take what i can get

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kbandtrash · 2 years ago

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Fell From the Sky (Hwayugi-inspired AU) (Part 4)

~Rachel~

Masterlist

When Cha Hun fell from the sky and landed at your feet, you had no idea he’d bring your entire world crashing down with him.

Cha Hun x Reader

(It has been a year almost to the day since part 3 lol if anyone actually reads this series I'm so sorry but I promise the next part will be the last one)

Warnings: mentions of violence, near-death experience

Word Count: 3.3k

“I think I fell in love with a human,” Kwangjin said, avoiding your gazes. “And I don’t know what to do about it.”

You and Hun exchanged worried glances with each other; you had never expected this, especially from Kwangjin.

“Your options are the same as ours,” you stated solemnly. You can continue meeting her in secret, you could descend to be with her…”

“Or I could come forward,” Kwangjin said. He didn’t like any of those options. “It’s so dangerous to visit the human world, but I’ve worked too hard to give up now.”

Two predicaments of love was too many. Hun leaned his head on your shoulder and you felt him sigh.

“How did you meet her?” you asked.

Kwangjin smiled. “Unexpectedly,” he answered.

The morning came hard and bright, without mercy. This was not the first time the boys had all ended up passed out at your house, but perhaps it felt more dangerous because there was some intent behind it this time.

Hun helped you pick the clothes that would aid your cause the most--that is to say nice, but not nice enough to appear prideful. Humble, but not humble enough to portray you as disposable. Luckily, the place the boys lived was close to you, so it wasn’t hard to stop at their place to pick something similar for Hun to wear. The others wanted to look nice as well, but they didn’t have the same pressure that the two of you faced. Everything had to be perfect, but those standards changed constantly and were nearly impossible to predict.

You approached the gates of the palace, and the boys stood supportively behind you and Hun. For the first time, you laced your fingers with his in public.

“Ah, I want to tease you,” Hwerseung sighed from behind you.

“Let’s see a kiss for good luck,” Seunghyub suggested cheekily.

You turned around to give him a dirty look as Hun protested vocally, but Jaehyun furthered the request. So the two of you looked at each other and rolled your eyes. Two hundred years had passed, and what was the point of waiting any longer? So you obliged their silly demand, and as short as it was, it made your heart race. Perhaps soon you might get to do that whenever you wanted.

The stupid grin on Hun’s face must have matched yours. You felt confident now.

“Let’s go in,” Hun said. You nodded.

But the doors swung open on their own, revealing the court. The aura was a stark contrast from the joy you were sharing with your friends.

Your heart racing at a different beat, you looked again to Hun for reassurance. We’ll be fine, his expression seemed to say, although you could tell he wasn’t sure he believed that. So you entered the court and the gate closed behind you.

“The elder gods were of a particularly bad temper that day,” Kwangjin recalled solemnly. “Even though lately, they’ve been less oppressive about courtship in the heavens, they’re still volatile, and these two just ended up with the short end of the stick that day.”

“Did they force her to descend?” Hwan asked.

“No, she’s not descended like us,” Seungseok reminded him.

“They tried to end her life altogether,” Hun said, finally speaking up.

“After all we’ve done for you?” one of the elders scoffed. “We gave you a second chance at ascension, and this is how you repay us?”

You tried to argue your case, but they were having none of it. “It’s been nearly two hundred y--”

“Your responsibilities to us outweigh your personal desires,” another deity snapped.

“Your arrogance is astounding,” another chimed in condescendingly.

You fell to your knees in a desperate bow. “Please,” you begged,” this is the only thing I’ve ever asked of you.”

Hun knelt next to you. “She has been nothing but obedient since the day she entered the gates of the heavens,” he pled, “and so have I.”

A discontented murmur raced through the council.

“Is this what you call obedience?” the eldest of the gods sneered, standing up and drawing their sword. They looked down at you and the eye contact sent chills down your spine. This was the end, and you knew it. “How impertinent.”

“The elders were much angrier with her than they were with Hun, and they quite nearly killed her in their rage,” Kwangjin recounted solemnly. “We heard the commotion, and this could have been stupid of us, but we couldn’t do nothing. We opened the doors ourselves to try to intervene.”

Cheolmin’s eyes widened in shock. “And they still let you all live?”

Kwangjin wanted to laugh, but he couldn’t find it in himself. “We had to beg for our own lives before they would allow us to beg for hers, and even then, it didn’t look good for any of us.

“Until you stepped in,” Hun recalled.

Kwangjin lowered his head humbly. “I had my own reasons as well, you know that.”

“But it doesn’t change the fact that you saved everyone.”

Kwangjin looked up again, and there were tears in his eyes as he smiled. “I offered my status in the heavens as collateral,” he said. “I said I would descend if they would save her and leave the rest of them alone. Normally, I don’t think they would take a deal like that, but they were intrigued.”

Kwangjin’s phone buzzed on the table, interrupting the story.

“Ah, is it already that time?” Hwan asked, checking his watch.

“I can just tell her to meet me at home today,” Kwangjin said, unlocking his phone to answer the text.

“Why? Your wife hasn’t met Hun yet?” Seungseok wondered.

“She always meets you here after work,” Cheolmin added. “She’ll get suspicious.”

“We met once,” Hun said. “She helped me pick out the coat (Y/N) wore today.”

“That sounds like her,” Seungseok said with a smile, which quickly fell. “Does that mean she knows about (Y/N), too?”

“Not in detail, but she knows why I look after her,” Kwangjin answered, setting his phone down. “She’s coming like normal, so we should wrap up our story quickly.”

The memory of the eldest deity’s sword piercing through your body woke you in a cold sweat. Your clock told you it was nearly 3 am, but you were wide awake now. The nightmare that had woken you felt too real to have just been a conjuration of your imagination, but it felt too far away to be true. As you grasped for the details of your dream, they disappeared, leaving a headache behind in their place.

Everything about the previous day had been so strange and so familiar. Truthfully, nothing about your life felt quite like it fit. You felt out of place from your surroundings and the people you knew, and now that you looked for them, all your memories were just out of reach. You had a feeling that Hun knew the answers because he was the only thing that had felt like he fit, maybe ever.

You curled up in your bed, trying to neutralize your pounding head by squeezing it between your arms. Tears leaked through your closed eyes as you tried to reach through the empty space to find something to hold onto, but it was trying to grab water. You knew there was something you missed terribly, and you felt it every day, but there was nothing you knew to be missing.

Kwangjin’s restaurant made it feel better, and Hun had made you feel almost whole again, but that made no sense. You had never met him before--even though you had been in love with him for centuries.

You had been in love with him for centuries.

Centuries?

Images surfaced in your mind of a place, sunny and bright, where you had spent a long, long time. You knew it as somewhere you used to call home--and he had been there with you. That was the time you missed so much, and your heart ached more for it.

While you still had the picture in your mind, you reached for your journal and wrote down everything you remembered. It felt more like an imaginative retelling of a dream, but you could feel it resonate in your heart as something that used to be part of you.

You woke up hours later with your journal and a pen still in your hand, the pages covered in not much more than chicken scratch. What of it that you could read was nonsense, and most of it was either, “I miss you,” or, “I love you.” Shaking your head and sighing, you closed the journal and set it back in its place on your nightstand. You must have slept terribly.

Looking at your clock, you realized you still had a few hours before you had to get up, so you gratefully wrapped yourself back up snugly in your sheets and dreamed another dream.

Your grip on his hand and on reality became looser by the moment. Hweseung had tried to use some of his divine power to heal you, but it was pretty much useless against a wound inflicted by the elder gods. Your skin was ashen and cold from the blood loss, and even though Hun was shaking, he felt warm.

“Just a bit longer. You just have to hold on until sundown,” he encouraged you.

“I’ll never see you again, will I?” you whispered.

“I’ll find a way,” he promised. “I won’t let you be alone for long.”

His skin glowed in the golden hour of the sunset. You kept your focus on his eyes; his beauty distracted you from the pain, both from your wounds and from the thought of what would happen next. Your eyes welled up with tears as you fought for the strength to hold him in your arms.

The light was fading from the sky.

Kwangjin returned to the courtyard, the few things he was allowed to take with him wrapped up neatly in a bundle. “You’ll make it,” he assured you as he knelt down next to you. “I’ll make sure of it.”

You nodded weakly. “I’ll repay you,” you promised.

He shook his head. “There’s nothing to repay.” He set his hand on Hun’s shoulder and then pulled him into an embrace. “Make sure Seunghyub eats enough. He looks too thin these days for how much he does.”

Hun realized the shift that was about to occur within their little group meant more than just you and Kwangjin going away. Responsibility was going to shift, and Kwangjin was leaving one last gift of guidance to help Hun manage it.

“Hit Jaehyun over the head if you need to--he needs to sleep whether he feels like it or not.”

Hun bit back a laugh with the tears that were threatening to spill.

“And even though Hweseung is cute, he knows it and he’s dangerous. Don’t let him get away with too much.”

You laid a light hand on top of Hun’s knee. “Let them help you, too,” you admonished. “Don’t be alone.” You reached for his arm and stroked it with your thumb. “Please.”

The last rays of the sun disappeared, and without knowing whether he accepted your counsel, so did your dream.

You called into work sick, although it was ridiculous that you had to do that in the first place. You were a divine being; they should be shaking with fear and begging you to bless their company with good fortune.

With a pass of your hand over your burned coat sleeve, you restored it to its original state. You now recognized it as something Hun would have picked out for you, and it was now even more precious to you.

Having your memories stolen and your power repressed had never been mentioned as part of being sentenced to live on earth. You were done. You were far more powerful than you had ever let on, and at last, you were going to use it. However, now you were surrounded by mortals, and your anger made it hard to control your power, so you had to get out of here fast.

But you were not leaving without him.

Seungseok could feel you coming as soon as you got to the nearest subway station, and he was rightfully terrified. He knew he wasn’t the one who was going to get hurt, but he understood that that kind of power required a ridiculous amount of control, which you might not have right then.

“Hyung!” he shouted to Kwangjin. The store had yet to open, thankfully. “Hyung, she knows.”

Kwangjin understood what Seungseok meant by the sudden pallor of his face.

Hun was woken up by the buzz of Kwangjin’s wife’s phone, which was left for him in case of an emergency.

“Hun, you have to come by the restaurant now.”

He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked around for his slippers. “You have three trained employees, and I am not one of them.”

“Hun,” Kwangjin snapped as the door to his restaurant flew open, “(Y/N) is here and she needs to talk to you now.”

Hun pulled the phone away from his face and looked at it. Had he actually just heard that? “I promised her I would tell her everything, remember? I can’t just go there because she’s curious.”

“No, you won’t need to tell her anything. She knows.”

This had to be a cool, wishful dream, because there was no way you had magically remembered everything overnight, not with whatever block they had placed on you. But, then again, you were determined and very powerful. If it could happen to anyone, it would be you.

“I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

He was still too tired to decide if this was real or not. His senses were all working fine, and his sense of balance was definitely correct. He definitely felt awake. The cold on his face outside definitely felt real, but even when he got to the restaurant and felt your aura, looked into your eyes, it felt impossible.

“You took too long,” you joked, really seeing him this time.

“I came as fast as I could.”

“No,” you said, shaking your head. “You took too long coming to find me here.”

He had left you alone on this world too long, you were right. He hoped you would let him make up for lost time, and he was not disappointed as you pulled him into your arms.

Your energy was wide open in allowing him to feel all of your emotions. He was worried that it was so strong that the humans might feel it, but at the same time, he knew that this was only for him.

“We have to go back,” you said. “I need to make sure they know they made a mistake.”

Hun hid his face in your shoulder. “I just want to hide here for a little bit.”

“The longer you’re here, the longer the others are in danger,” you reminded him, but your tone was understanding. “I can’t let anything else happen to them.”

He held you just a little tighter for a moment. “Okay.” he conceded. “I think the kids want to talk to you first, though.”

Cheolmin, Hwan, and Seungseok had been watching you not so subtly from the kitchen. Now that you knew who you were, you recognized them, too.

“Oh, I do know you boys,” you noted. “Where’s the fourth one?”

Hun cut in. “He’s ours now. You know we’re always best when we’re five.”

Oh, that was uncommon. “You’ll have to tell me that story another time,” you said, “after I get some revenge.”

Hun held you at an arm’s length to take you in. “You’re very different than you were before they forced you out,” he remarked.

He was right about that. You used to take anything, do anything asked of you. You were so quiet, especially as the time led up to your plans to come forward. He was relieved to see you changed like this.

“I’f fighting for you now--for us. Things are going to have to change.” You looked back over at the boys in the kitchen, and over to Kwangjin sitting at a table pensively. “You don’t want any part of this, though, do you?”

Kwangjin almost laughed as he shook his head. “I’m happy here now. I wouldn’t mind a visit every now and then, but I would never go back if I were given the choice.”

You looked back at the kids. “And you?”

“It’s been hard,” Cheolmin stepped forward, “but I think I would have to say the same.”

Hwan nodded. “It may be a bit boring, but it’s safe.”

“We get to choose what to do with our own lives now,” Seungseok said, “and that was something we would never have gotten to do as divine beings.”

“Our only duty is to ourselves and the people we love,” Kwangjin agreed.

The sentiment was so wonderful that you wished you could join them, but as you looked back at Hun and you thought of your friends and all the other divine beings you had met and loved, you knew your fate was going to be much different than that of Kwangjin and the boys.

“We should go.”

Hun nodded in agreement, although he was starting to think that being human would be a pretty nice deal, too. “There’s just one thing I want to do first.” You raised an eyebrow and he glanced over at the other boys. “Maybe not in front of them, though, maybe.”

“Whatever you’re about to do, please go far away, because I don’t want to know,” Seungseok said, averting both his eyes and his whole body from the two of you. “I’m already getting so much TMI from the energy you’re both spewing right now.”

“Message received,” you laughed. “We’ll return and report once we win our fight.” Cheolmin opened his mouth for one more request, but you beat him to it. “And I will personally make sure that Dongsung stays safe.”

The boys exploded into touched whispers. “She remembered his name,” Cheolmin said with a sniffle.

“He’s our precious baby now. We take good care of him, too,” Hun told you.

“Even Hweseung?” you asked, surprised. “He’s not jealous?”

“Especially Hweseung.”

Now that your power was freed, you noticed that there was a lot that you didn’t think was there before. It was entirely possible that the elders had sealed away your power, and now that you felt the full extent of your broken seal, you were almost sure that had happened, because you felt as powerful as an elder god.

So, as you and Hun walked hand in hand out of the restaurant, you used some of this new power to take you to your apartment in an instant. You took advantage of your privacy immediately. You pulled him as close as you could get him, and you kissed him almost like your life depended on it.

He wasn’t expecting it, but he leaned into it, losing his bearings as quickly as he had gained them. This new confidence of yours was dangerously attractive, and he was a little scared he wouldn’t be able to keep up with you now.

It really would be nice just to hide here for a bit like a human, but the sooner you returned to the heavens, the sooner he would be able to marry you properly, and then he could be all yours.

As his heart pounded and he gasped for breath, he told you it was time to leave. He kept to himself that if you didn’t go now, then it was going to be hard for him to keep controlling himself.

You were still almost as close as two people could be. He leaned his head forward so his forehead touched yours, and the next time you opened your eyes, you were back in your old house in the heavens.

Part 5

#n.flying #n.flying x reader #cha hun #cha hun nflying #nflying cha hun #cha hun n.flying #n.flying cha hun #cha hun x reader #n.flying fic #n.flying fanfic #n.flying fiction #n.flying fanfiction

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aceing-on-the-cake · 11 months ago

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So I'm really hoping this doesn't start a fight because that is not my intention at all, I do get your point, trust me, it terrifies me as an American to sit here with those options.

And I know that America does affect the rest of the world oftentimes and not just us. I get that it's scary to consider someone like Trump becoming president, but you've gotta realize, we're scared too.

I am terrified. I am so damn scared everyday man. We have states who are declaring cells on a petri dish have rights that would supersede mine as an AFAB person. We have states across the nation practically burning books. We have children being beaten to death in schools because they were trans. My little brother is a trans high schooler.

My little brother is a trans high schooler.

We have bills like KOSA that are being pushed to pass by both groups, blue and red, that will effectively put us in a surveillance state that could honestly rival China's.

I haven't been had a PCP in two years because my options are food and a roof over my head or getting my wrists looked at. They ache daily. They're getting to the point where I can't use them at the end of the day sometimes.

But if I become homeless they're working on being able to put me in prison and if I end up in prison I am legally the equivalent of a slave.

So my wrists ache.

And all of this has occured under Biden. And some of it literally within just the past few months alone.

Meanwhile he's been sending my money, because I pay taxes, to pay for another country's free healthcare and to kill tens of thousands of people. My wrists ache and my brother is at risk everyday he goes into school but I know where he is. I'm terrified but I have a roof over my head and food.

I'm so scared, but I don't think I could live with myself if I didn't try to stop what people with my name and my money are doing.

A man just set himself on fire because he believed the same.

And like I read and hear Europeans telling us to protest a lot (especially the French, I hear the French telling us to take to the streets a lot) and the thing is we have.

We have taken to the streets in hundreds of thousands multiple times, across multiple states. We have shut down highways from one side of the country to the next. We have called and called and emailed and sent letters and told the people who are supposed to be working for us that we don't support any of these things. That these are not things we want. That we're terrified and we want them to stop.

And they aren't listening.

At this point the only thing they have listened to and paid the barest of attention to, is us pulling the final card and stating we refuse to take part in a system that's going to treat us and everyone to this hell scape.

Don't get me wrong, this is a game of chicken.

This is us having done everything else first, this is us pleading and protesting and calling and doing everything we can to get them to do what they say they do and act as our voice.

But people are dying in mass. I have children being popped like balloons from being run over by tanks playing in repeat in my head. I think about Hind laying for 2+ days surrounded by the rotting bodies of her family because the paramedics had to make sure they were allowed to go get a six year old who's worst crime might've been not brushing her teeth and knowing she's dead. She's dead, she's fucking dead, they're all dead.

And I have blood on my hands. I didnt put it there myself, and I certainly didn't want it but I was born here in this god forsaken country and that means they're putting blood on my hands whether I wanted it or not.

So yes, this is a game of chicken. We are effectively holding the detonator switch to a bomb and saying "Neither of us wants this, but we need you to listen. We just want the killing to stop. We just want to be safe." because we don't really have any other choices.

None of us want Trump, but I don't think Europeans realize Democrats and Republicans are basically becoming the same coin whose sides argue they're two completely different coins, but they're not.

We already have state and God merging, across state after state, and Biden isn't stopping it/able to stop it.

We already are attacking other countries because of this genocide.

We're already in a fascist hellscape. Biden and Trump don't change that.

So at this point the only goal is they listen. The goal is to get them to just stop killing people, and then we can move on, we can try to rebuild, we can try to move forward with less risky moves.

But this is effectively the only option they've given us left.

Threats are only as effective as your ability to back them up. They aren't listening to our calls because they thought the "you have to pick us no matter what we do because we're not Trump" would work. They aren't reading or counting our emails because they thought the "you have to pick us no matter what we do because we're not Trump" would work.

They are building cop cities to militarize the police so we can't go to the streets. Like they are turning cops, into a military force, across state after state after state, trained in urban warfare, so they can make it so we can't even go to the streets without risking our lives.

I...what options are you saying is left? The calls aren't working. The emails aren't being read. They're trying to criminalize taking to the streets. They are effectively, shutting their ears and trying to tie our hands in every way they can.

There's no good options left. There are no safe options left.

I get people who are voting for Biden because they're terrified of Trump.

I get the people risking it hoping this desperate game of chicken will pay off.

I get the people who have given up and say it doesn't matter and are just not voting.

I get lighting yourself on fire if it means you don't have to look at your hands stained with the blood of families and children and women and men you didn't choose to kill but whose blood lives there nonetheless.

When you are faced with impossible options there is no right choice. I'm sorry other countries have the chance to be fucked up because of it, but there is no right choice. Every option fucks us up in some way, or might fuck us up in some way.

I'm sorry it scares you guys too.

I'm sorry because we're scared too, and we're terrified, and we've tried everything else.

We've tried, literally, everything else.

so cute to hear americans say "i'm not voting for genocide, i can't vote biden". you do know your third party choice won't win, right? you do know that voting blue is literally your only option if you want to live past 2025, right? you do know that trump will continue the genocide, right? you do know that trump will take it further and possibly support the invasion of other countries, right? you do know the plan the republicans want to put in place if they win, right? you do know that trump supports putin, right? you know that trump is currently preaching about merging the state and god, right? you do know that if blue doesn't win the actual entire world is fucked, right?

#free gaza

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sparklyjojos · 3 years ago

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finished Disco. haaa, the ending was much better the second time around (maybe because the first time I was really exhausted while reading, and also this time I knew some Unfortunate stuff was coming and could prepare)

some details felt new to me, like all the suricate comparisons for Nils, and I'm not sure if it's just my poor memory or if Maijo edited some stuff later, I'll have to check (I'm assuming the translation is based on the 2-volume edition, and the one I read first was the 3-volume ebook)

maybe I will write more thoughts later, but for now... if you need me, I will be recovering emotionally by staring at this glorious page from the annex. wait why doesn't Nils get a page this is bullshit

#maijo and jdc stuff #sparkly reads english disco #'what unfortunate stuff' something something gay character connected to abuse of children something something #also the mortifying unclearness on whether the narrator's love towards [redacted] at the end is meant to be familial or... not #i want to believe the first option but like. we all read those first hundred pages. and maijo's track record os not the best

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gladerwolfstarkimagines · 3 years ago

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Imagine being Lin Beifong’s daughter and Korra having a crush on you

You entered President Raiko’s party late and hurried inside hoping to avoid your mother’s wrath by appearing as soon as possible. Being Lin Beifong’s daughter and employee meant she was twice as hard on you as anyone on the force, so she would not take your tardiness well. You were waved into the building by guards who recognised you on sight and rushed into the ballroom. You saw the party was already in full swing and braced yourself for all the fake smiling you’d have to endure when a young woman appeared across from you. “Avatar Korra” you nodded in recognition of the girl who grinned at you. “Miss Beifong” she smiled in greeting “you look as beautiful as ever...you legs alone seem to go on for years in those trousers” she commented glancing at them and you blushed. “Funny I just had a similar thought about your biceps”. Korra beamed “ow you can’t really see them in this thing but I’d be happy to give you a closer look”.

You couldn’t resist a smile and your blush grew to have such a beautiful woman flirt so blatantly with you. Korra was always like this around you and you enjoyed it greatly even if it wasn’t professional. Korra was a breath of fresh air in Republic City and you enjoyed her confidence and humour. You liked the avatar a lot but you had no intentions of pursuing anything beyond flirting with her. For one thing she was young, cocky, beautiful and THE avatar. You supposed she had hundreds of boys and girls queueing up for her and didn’t want to just be another name on her list. You’d heard about how the previous water tribe avatar had been a hit with women and apparently that was a trait Korra shared. She was the avatar, who wouldn’t be weak to her charm? Still you tried to behave so aimed to change the topic of conversation.

“I think we should join the party seeing as we’re both very late” you smiled slyly and Korra smirked “I didn’t think Beifongs were ever late. Are you really trying to tell me you’re not perfect?”. The girl was insatiable. “We all have our secrets” you replied and Korra’s grin only grew. “Mysterious, intelligent and beautiful...you have to let me lead you into the party. As the Avatar it’s my duty to serve the people”. “Well who I am to get in the way of that” you smirked rolling your eyes as you took her outstretched arm. Korra led you into the party proudly and you enjoyed being on her arm. Still you were in work mode, so you only stayed by Korra’s side for an appropriate amount of time before excusing yourself so nobody would get the wrong idea. Korra never failed to make you smile or blush but you wouldn’t let it progress no matter how much fun it would be. So you allowed the flirting and lingering glances but stopped it from going any further.

You saw Korra pretty regularly as she was always in trouble with the law in some way or another and not a month after the party President Raiko banned her from Republic City. It was something he’d likely take back pretty soon but still she had to leave so you and your mother went to help her however you could. The avatar didn’t seem too bothered by the President’s command and still had that cocky smile on her face. She let you into Tenzin’s home and explained how she was leaving tomorrow to go look for air benders anyway. She read out the names of some known airbenders in the earth kingdom and you paused as one was familiar. “Wait did you say Opal? Is she from Zafou by any chance?” you asked and Korra nodded “yeah why?”. Your mother tried to silence you but you didn’t notice, too excited. “She’s my cousin!” you burst “This is so great, i’m so proud of her”. “Wait so Suyin is your sister?” Korra asked Lin and your mother nodded “yes. Which is something I wished to remain a secret but clearly that is not an option anymore” she said shooting you a look. “Well this is great news” Korra smiled “you have to come with me!”. “What!” your mother cried and Korra sighed “if she’s your niece then you can help us recruit her! We need all the help we can get”. “No way!” Lin cried “I am not seeing my sister ever again if I can help it, y/n can go if you want a Beifong so badly”. Korra looked at you and smiled “that does sound appealing, what do you say y/n? Want to come on a field trip with me?”. Korra held out her hand to you and you blushed, hoping your mother didn’t notice. You knew you probably shouldn’t go. Being in close quarters with Korra would certainly challenge your restraint but you hadn’t seen your extended family in so long and this was the perfect opportunity to go visit. Plus Korra looked so good when she smiled at you like that. “Sure” you said taking her hand “someone has to keep you out of trouble”.

You met Korra and her friends at Future Industries the next day and were soon flying to Zafou. Korra came to stand beside you on the deck and leant forwards flexing her arms right in front of you. “I’m glad you agreed to come” Korra smiled and you nodded “me too, it’s been forever since I’ve got out of Republic City”. Korra’s eye glinted “does this mean I’m going to witness holiday y/n? It’d be fun to see you let your hair down and go wild”. “If you’re lucky maybe you will” you smirked and Korra nodded “i’m looking forward to it” and winked before leaving you alone once more. You stared after her as she walked away and Korra must’ve felt your eye on her because before she disappeared back into the ship she turned and caught you red-handed watching her. She smiled widely a chuckle slipping from her lips and you turned around sharply, blushing vividly. Agreeing to this trip may not have been a smart decision at all.

When you touched down in Zafou Korra had you right beside her in pride of place. You recognised your aunt immediately and she addressed Korra first before she spotted you beside her and she did a double-take. “Y/n?” she asked and you grinned “Aunt Suyin!” and rushed forwards to hug her. Your aunt wrapped you in a hug and then quickly tugged you to go find your cousins, momentarily forgetting the avatar was here. She summoned all your cousins and they rushed to greet you...well some did. Bataar junior didn’t look impressed and Huan just glanced at you not particularly bothered but the twins and Opal were very welcoming. “It’s so good to see you again!” Opal cried and you nodded taking her hand “it is! It’s been far too long and I can’t believe you’re an airbender now!”. Opal nodded “trust me it was a shock to us all but i’m so excited to learn airbending”. “Well Korra can definitely help you with that” you said gesturing to the avatar who nodded confidently “of course, anything for y/n’s cousin” and you blushed slightly but managed to hide it.

You enjoyed your time with your family greatly and got along well with all your cousins. You participated in Wei and Wing’s power disk game and being a good metal bender yourself almost won the match. You noticed Korra watching you and briefly tried showing off before getting wiped out. The twins noticed Korra watching and invited her to join but she declined explaining she couldn’t metal bend. Your cousins rushed to assure her she could learn and volunteered to teach her. Korra seemed very excited at the idea and agreed before she turned to you “wait a minute y/n why did you never offer to teach me?”. You could tell she was only feigning annoyance so you shrugged “what can you blame me for wanting something over the almighty avatar?”. That stroked Korra’s ego and she smiled lazily “no but I’ll certainly get my own back in some way”. “Ow really? How”? you challenged her and the girl just shrugged. “I’m not sure yet, but be on your best behaviour Beifong” she smirked before rushing away.

Korra went off to train with your cousins and you were relieved hoping this would be a time for you to cool down and recover but no. Opal caught you and invited you to catch up with her in the gardens. You of course obliged your cousin but found yourself seated directly in view of Korra’s training with your cousins. You tried focusing on Opal but your eyes kept getting pulled to the avatar as she picked up metal bending remarkedly quickly. You noticed Korra had spotted you and she appeared to be putting on a show, trying valiantly to challenge your cousin entirely for your benefit. It was a clever strategy and soon Opal trailed off just letting you admire Korra. Your cousins were experiencing first-hand just how skilled the avatar could be and you saw them breaking out in a sweat with how hard Korra was pushing them.

After a while they began trying to score past one another and Korra got an idea. She *accidentally* bent a disk near you and your cousin Wei teased her for being sloppy. She just shot them a lopsided grin and jogged over to you. “Ladies” she smiled looking straight at you “i’m sorry I didn’t see you there”. “Ow really?” you asked and Korra grinned “yeah I had no idea you were here whatsoever...which is odd considering how every eye is drawn to you whenever you’re nearby”. You blushed going red and Korra’s smile grew “I’ll leave you to your chat. Opal, Y/n” she nodded at you both in turn but winked when she met your gaze. You watched her run back to your cousins and found Opal staring at you. She immediately pushed you squealing “you didn’t tell me you were dating the avatar!”. “I’m not and keep your voice down please” you begged seeing the smug look on Korra’s face which told you she’d noticed Opal’s reaction. “But she was very openly flirting with you” Opal retorted and you nodded “I know we do that a lot but it’s just our friendship. I’d never let it go further because she’s the avatar! She’s not after a relationship she just wants a fun fling and I can’t give her that. Trust me the avatar will get bored of me and move on soon enough”. “Ow yeah?” Opal asked looking to where Korra was still putting on a show for you. Korra scored a point and shot you a smile. You blushed vividly and Opal laughed “I don’t think she’s not going cold on you any time soon”.

At the end of the week your Aunt Suyin threw a party to celebrate Opal’s progress and avatar’s arrival. It was magnificent and you hadn’t seen this much earth kingdom food in...well forever! You made sure Korra and the others were all okay and socialised with your cousins greatly enjoying being with your family. Bataar jnr told you about his machines, his girlfriend Kuvira traded military expertise with you, Wei and Wing quizzed you about all the pro-bending in Republic City, you teased Opal about her crush on Bolin and even Huan showed you some of his paintings. You were absolutely thrilled your family still felt like a family after all this time and hadn’t been this happy in a long time. However all that excitement can be draining. Towards the end of the night you began to grow tired so went outside for some fresh air and quiet. You were relaxing in the picturesque moonlight when you were disturbed. “Well your aunt certainly knows how to put on a spread” someone called and you jumped to find Avatar Korra making her way over to you on the abandoned balcony. She was wearing a beautiful blue dress and her eyes shone in the dark light. “She does” you smiled “never let it be said Beifong’s don’t know how to put on an event”. “That’s for sure” Korra agreed coming to sit right beside you. “The city is so beautiful” she commented before she turned “as are you”. “Thanks” you blushed “you look very beautiful too”. “There’s no way I can compete with you in that outfit” Korra smiled “Beifong’s apparently always look stunning as well as being great hostesses”. “Have you been checking out my aunt then?” you replied and Korra laughed “of course not, I only have eyes for you”. “Sureeee” you laughed but Korra nodded “I do I promise! You’re all I think about and why wouldn’t I? You’re the most interesting girl I’ve ever met. I’m crazy about you”. You blushed under Korra’s intense gaze but didn’t look away. “I....I don’t know what to say” you finally spoke up and Korra shrugged “well then how about we don’t bother talking anymore?”. Time seemed to freeze and you viewed the present in slow motion as Korra cupped your cheek gently and leant forwards. You liked the way her hands felt on you and instinctively leant into her before your brain caught up with the situation. “Wait! Korra I can’t” you said your heart hammering in your chest and the avatar frowned inches away from you. “You can’t? why? Do you not find me attractive?” Korra asked. “No of course I find you very attractive, i’ve never seen a human being I find more attractive than you” you admitted very flustered. “Then what’s the problem?” Korra asked and you sighed “the problem is I don’t just want to hook up with you a few times and be done with it. I know some people like that kind of thing and i’m sure as the avatar it is the perfect option but I’m not like that. Casual one night stands just aren’t my thing so I’m sorry I have to decline. Please don’t ask me again” and you rushed away. Korra called after you but you clearly wanted to be left alone so she didn’t follow you. She hung her head in her hands at how messed up things had gotten.

When Korra had allowed herself to wallow for a bit she came back inside to find the party over. She made her way to her shared room and found Asami waiting. “Korra where have you been we were all worried sick and...” Asami started when she caught sight of Korra’s expression and stopped abruptly. “What’s wrong?” Asami asked and Korra sighed “you gave me terrible advice that’s what!”. Korra explained the situation more and Asami felt awful. Being more experienced with relationships Korra had come to Asami for advice on how to approach her feelings for you and it hadn’t worked well. Given Korra’s past approach of blurting out her love for people without a second thought, Asami advised Korra to try a different approach with you but she hadn’t meant it so literally. Instead of being serious or passionate Korra had been entirely flirty and forward with you. No substance just fun. So you’d wrongly gotten the idea all Korra wanted was a fun fling when she actually was madly infatuated with you and wanted far more long term things with you. Asami wasn’t sure what she could do but seeing Korra so distraught she knew she had to try and help her friend.

So Asami made her way to your room hoping you wouldn’t mind such a late-night visit. Asami knocked on your door and heard movement inside. There was a pause before she heard you call “who is it?” nervously. “It’s Asami” she called back “I need to speak to you”. The door opened slowly and Asami saw you looked upset. “Did Korra send you”? you asked quietly “because she didn’t do anything wrong I just need some space”. “No she didn’t send me but I am here because of her, I need to confess something”. Your eyes widened in confusion but you nodded and let Asami into your room. The minute you turned to face her Asami burst “It’s my fault! Korra came to me when she realised she liked you and asked me for advice. She was terrified of messing this up and doing what she did with Mako...with him she’d blurted out a lot of intense things right away and so I told her to do the opposite. I suggested she just toned down the seriousness and had fun with you. Flirt a little and try and gauge how you were feeling before she confessed her whole heart to you. But it seems she took my advice too much and now you don’t think her intentions are good at all which is not the case! Korra very much likes you for more than just your appearance and she has for a while”. You stared at Asami at an apparent loss for words “so Korra was...what acting?”. Asami shrugged “kind of, she was putting on this cocky flirty front when she’s actually a lot more emotional and sweet...she didn’t mean to come across so forward she was just following my advice which backfired horribly. I’m so sorry it upset you I promise that was not her intention at all. If you want to blame anyone blame me”. You assured Asami you weren’t upset with her and spent the next half hour understanding how the situation had gone so wrong. You were very excited by the end of it and couldn’t wait till morning to speak with Korra. Asami told you she was in their room and wouldn’t mind you disturbing her so late.

So you rushed to Korra’s shared room and knocked on the door lightly. Your stomach was bubbling with butterflies and you weren’t sure what you were going to say when you saw her. The door didn’t open so you knocked louder hoping Korra wasn’t asleep. Still there was no sound from inside so you frowned and decided she must be asleep. You didn’t want to wake her so started to retreat from the room when you heard a loud thud from inside. “Korra?” you called through the door “are you okay?”. You got no reply and were growing more and more concerned when you heard something smash inside followed by a grunt of pain. “Korra?” you yelled through the door and began bending the metal of the lock. The door swung open and you saw the room was an utter mess. Naga was unconscious on the floor and by the window...four people had a struggling Korra in their arms. She looked very weak and wasn’t putting up much of a fight so you figured she must’ve been drugged. “Korra!” you cried rushing into the room. You had no idea who these people were but you weren’t letting them take Korra. You launched into a flurry of attacks and managed to land a few hits on the earth and water bender. The air bender sent a gust which knocked you back but you were quick on your feet and pursued them leaping out of the window. You yelled as you chased them quickly attracting the attention of the guards who sounded the alarm. Suyin appeared as did her guard Kuvira and they helped cut the quartet off. “You have nowhere left to go, let her go” you glared and the leader just smiled “never”. You looked at Korra lying limp at their feet and felt rage take you. “Then i’ll drag her from you myself” and ran at him.

3 hours later

You were sat in the infirmary beside an unconscious Korra waiting for the effect of the drug to wear off. Everyone else had gradually retreated to bed but you couldn’t sleep. The adrenaline from the fight was still pulsing through your veins and was only overshadowed by your worry for Korra. You’d won the fight with the help of Suyin, her guards and Korra’s friends but still the drug they’d used hadn’t worn off. Your eyes fell to her for what felt like the hundredth time and you sighed “please wake up”. Finally Korra listened. With a loud gasp Korra jolted awake and you scrambled to your feet. “Korra breath! You’re okay, you’re safe just breathe!” you commanded and Korra slowly began to calm down. “Y/n? What happened?”. “The White Lotus, I didn’t realise it was them at first but i’ve been briefed on them. They tried to kidnap you when you were a kid and they tried again tonight”. You saw Korra shiver at that and frowned. “But never mind them” you sighed wrapping an extra blanket around her shoulders “how are you feeling?”. Korra frowned “okay...a bit groggy like i’ve come out of a really heavy sleep but it’s not too bad. It’s getting better. How are you?” she asked and you froze “me?”. “Yeah” Korra said offering you a small smile “you don’t look like you’ve slept a wink”. You chuckled softly “I haven’t. I wanted to see you wake up first and make sure you were okay. I haven’t been able to rest since it happened...I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw them with you I was so angry but you’re okay now and that’s all that matters". Korra smiled at you "yeah I'm okay now...thanks to you". It wasn’t the usual cocky smirks she sent you. Instead it was a sweet tired smile but it made your heart hammer in your chest just as much. "Do you remember much?" you asked and she shook her head. "No I remember something hitting Naga. I went to look at it when one hit me too. I backed away from the window as the world began to spin and then everything went blurry...the next thing I remember was seeing you in my doorway. You attacked whoever had me and I fell. I remember being unable to move and seeing you send rocks flying through the air. You were terrifying" she laughed "a woman possessed". "Of course I was they were going to take you! I know I might have sent mixed messages last night but I like you Korra. I was coming to tell you that. Asami explained to me what happened and why you behave as you do around me". Korra blushed at that "what were you coming to say to me?". "Well I was coming to ask if it was true, did you really put on a mask around me, acting all confident and promiscuous?". Korra nodded "yeah...I meant everything I said to you I wasn’t lying about my attraction but I was doing the opposite of what I'd usually do because my last relationship didn’t work out well. I came on too intense too quick so I tried to take a more fun carefree approach but that didn’t work. I'm sorry I offended you or made you think I was only interested in you for one thing. I do think you’re gorgeous but that's just one of many things I like about you and by no means the most important". Korra blushed looking down and you found her adorable. How had she hidden this side of her so well? "So is this, you know, the real you?" you asked double-checking. Korra nodded "yep, this is me. I'm emotional, reckless and I always say the wrong thing. I have no tact and just say what I'm thinking. Now you can probably see why I was trying to act so put together and impressive before. They're much more attractive qualities". "Maybe" you shrugged "but I think this side of you is just as attractive, more so actually because it's real and it's beautiful. You're wonderful Korra exactly as you are". Korra stared at you in shock and you just smiled at her. "I...I..." she babbled and you smirked "how about I kiss you to save you having to speak?". "Yes please" the avatar breathed and you gently placed a hand on her cheek and kissed her. The kiss was sweet and Korra seemed uncharacteristically shy. She pulled back blushing vividly and you smiled at her reaction "how was it?". "Good...amazing" she replied and you smiled "great". Korra looked up at you but blushed as soon as she met your eye and you smiled taking her hand softly "I like you Korra and that kiss was good for me too, if you’d like to make it a more frequent thing we could go out on a date sometime?". "I'd love that!" Korra agreed before wincing "too eager?". "No it was adorable like you" you smiled kissing her forehead "now it really is late. You should try and get some rest, something tells me the next few days are going to be very long and strenuous". Korra nodded "I agree, goodnight y/n". "Goodnight Korra" you smiled and closed her door softly. The avatar wasn’t a womaniser but a shy bashful passionate woman. You were pleasantly surprised and couldn’t wait to see all the different layers of her left to discover.

____

Korra is 100% one of those people that’s all talk but is actually a huge softie romantically. Asami is one lucky lady (althought she’s also amazing so Korra is lucky too).

Also why is there so little Korra content out there? Her and Huan Beifong are very under-represented in the fanfiction game and I am personally offended by that 😂

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