#idk who will read through this tho anyway OMG help...

[moonstruckmoony]

A Ravenclaw Lunch 🦅

Drew some of my favorite Ravenclaws on this platform. Although one isn't necessarily a Ravenclaw. (@traceyc-uk I genuinely thought he was a Ravenclaw when I first saw him lol but I saw your comment reply somewhere that your first playthrough was Ravenclaw so I think this counts… a bit? 😂)

This post is basically a peace offering (and a love letter) bcs I want to make more Ravenclaw friends 👀👉🏻👈🏻 definitely not because I'm obsessed with you guys' MCs

I swear it was supposed to be a silly doodle at first but idk how or when down the line but somehow it turned into this mega drawing. Took me weeks to finish it. I’m not happy with a few technical things especially lights and shadows… and some other things as well but I leave it be bcs I’m aware that I’m still learning 🥲 The rest I’m pretty satisfied with, I’m just happy that I got to finally finish this.

Front row (left to right):

Violet and Pearl Castellar by @vienguinn Omg HAPPY BELATED BELATED BIRTHDAY TO THESE BABIES! These 2 are some of my favorites and everytime you post I always open my phone real quick, your short comics are my comfort 🩵

Clora Clemons by @choccy-milky I cannot not draw Clora?!!?! I consider you a legend in this fandom tbh 👑 also I want to thank you bcs your fic and illustrations literally helped me go through my stressful period when I was at my lowest bcs of my new demanding job that I started half a year ago. I look forward to your post everytime and your Clora and Seb always heals my soul 😭🩵💚

Sally Salamander by @siboom777 Sally is just so wacky and unapologetically herself and I love her for it 🩵 Does she take commissions for toys tho?

Marvin Jerry by @runicxraven MY LOVELY SILLY ADORABLE LITTLE NERD 💗💗💗💗 I need more Marvin in my life honestly.

@najiang ‘s MC - I’m so so sorry I didn’t draw her full face😭, I tried my best to show her face as much as I can while still looking like she’s taking those sausages haha. But anyway please know that I love your art so so much and I kept going back to the curry one and the one where MC came across Amit with beard as adults (that one is hilarious). Idk if your MC has a name or you left it nameless? I assume it was the latter but if she has one I’d love to know!

Faustine Daemon by @faustinio27 Hey, a fellow INFJ! Winter is the same 🩵 I really love her story and especially her personality character sheet, you drew her expressions really well and I’m a fan!

Back row (left to right):

Oliver Lennox by @pixie-dustss Handsome boi 🥰 We’re friends already (I hope I’m not the only one who thinks that way 🫢) from TikTok and you made me a video for Secret Santa last year and I just found out recently that you’re on Tumblr too so I want to say thanks by drawing Oliver! 🩵🩵🩵

Aurélie Collins by @morelikeravenbore I loove this look for Aura, she just looks so chic with the hat and scarf 😭🩵 Sassy Ravenclaw bebe 🥰 My Winter has some French heritage (the lore is still rotting in my notebook bcs I haven’t had the chance to draw her family members 🥲) so I do hope they can be friends and Aura would teach her French bcs she can’t speak much of it 👉🏻👈🏻

Alistair Dusk by @speedysart Surprise! You commented on my last speedpaint on Tiktok yesterday and I want to spill this art so bad but I was almost done so I kept my mouth shut haha. I love the pretty boi’s hair and piercings, and the fact that you chose this blazer for him, I just love it he looks so dapper in that 😣🩵

Eleonora Russel by @zordanna I love sweet Eleonora and her fascination with the moon and stars 🩵🌌 Oh and I kept coming back to your “I feel like an orange” Tiktok bcs it’s so fluffy and it heals my stress… also I adore your art it’s super soft and painty and delicate 🥹💗

@traceyc-uk ‘s MC - YOUR MC. I SWEAR TO MERLIN HE’S ON MY MIND 24/7 LATELY. Not sure why, it’s probably bcs I kept re-reading your comics. Also bcs he’s an adorable little golden retriever (but also a fierce cat!😼) You’re super talented in drawing comics and facial expressions, I have a lot to learn especially in terms of layouting… last time I made a comic I hated the layout and the fact that it looks stiff to me, so your comics has been such an inspiration!

[urfavlarry]

I recently got into School bus graveyard and I COMPLETELY understand the hype, idk if im the only who does this... but literally the moment I was done I went to tumblr for fics, but there's like none?? So maybe some dating headcanons for the group!! ^^

Dating Headcanons for the sbg characters

Ashlyn Banner

best person to have a lazy day with tbh

i swear yall would be like “should we go out today” look at each other for 5 seconds and say “nah”

she would teach you some gymnastics and laugh when your just lying there complaining how you aren’t flexible

probably is more of a person that gives you gifts, or gives you a hug in stead of comforting you with words

she would be a bit awkward at first probably

also I don’t think she likes excessive physical touch cuz red confirmed that Ashlyn is autistic but when she gets used to you she would be okay with it but still, don’t go too hard on her

you let her play/stim with your fingers

you’re always there for her when she gets overwhelmed and she loves you so much for that

doesn’t call you that many nicknames probably a short version of your name but if your name is already short then probably just love or babe

if you speak another language she would definitely wanna know some words or learn with you

if it’s your mother language then she would be like “omg how was [your country] like!”

probably is a nerd in some sort of way

anyway probably a great girlfriend to have but only if you aren’t the type to be really really and I mean REALLY extroverted

Taylor Hernández

this girl is such a cutie!!

would plan dates, sleepovers, night outs..

drawing/picnic dates are a must

watching the sunset or sunrise together on the rooftop

calls you cute nicknames like sunshine, mi vida, sugar and that kind of stuff

is very affectionate

cuddles !!

shes the little spoon probably but if you’re feeling down then she will gladly be the big spoon

you would definitely braid her hair if you know how, if you don’t know then there’s another idea for a date! teaching you how to braid hair!

probably isn’t even that awkward at first probably a little bit shy but gets pretty confident later on

the best partner to have if you’re insecure

makes your insecurities disappear in a heartbeat

overall a 11/10 girlfriend !! we love taylor :D

Tyler Hernández

he is probably a tsundere tbh

acting like he doesn’t care but when you are alone he babies you sm

no matter if your bigger then him, stronger, smaller, it doesn’t matter, he babies you no matter what

don’t let the others know tho

isn’t afraid to show you off like girl bffr

holds your hand, has his hand on your waist, kisses you on the forehead, cheek or lips before class starts (even if you are in the same class)

uses nicknames like mi amor, mi reina/mi rey, baby ect.

nicknames with him are endless

movie night is a must

probably would take you to his baseball practice

has a separate album for you only

everyone in the group can tell he’s love sick like he looks at you with heart eyes

a jealous type probably

would beat up anyone and everyone who looks at you the wrong way

he’s probably touch starved and he hides his feelings from you because he just prioritises you over anything

you gotta full on force him to tell you what’s wrong but after a while he opens up to you normally

a 100/10 boyfriend the poor boys been through too much

Logan Fields

gardening dates!!

gives you flowers when you’re sad or just whenever to make your day!

stargazing dates

yapps your ear off about astrology (you let him tho)

calls you nicknames like bunny, hun, love

gives you honest opinions on everything

regrets his choices when you get grumpy afterwards

makes it up to you by cuddling you or kissing your whole face

introduces you to his grandparents

they approved of course because they just trust that he can pick himself a good s/o

hugs from behind!!

reads you a book when you can’t sleep

helps you with your work but doesn’t do it for you (Barron trauma)

best person to seek when you want comfort and or advice

gives you honest advice so if you were in the wrong expect him to tell you lmao

if you listen to music on vinyls or CDs then definitely brings you to a music shop and he will spoil you rotten

loves listening to your music taste no matter what genre it is he just wants to bond with you

he’s such an adorable and amazing boyfriend it mealts my heart !! :D

Aiden Clark

be prepared to patch this boy up every single second of the day

and also getting him out of trouble every single day

he is a wild one for sure

doesn’t mean he’s a bad boyfriend

loves showing you things he learned on his skateboard and he tries to teach you

does that thing where he holds your hands while your on the skateboard, tells you to jump and flips the board for you

that tik tok kind of shi

while on the topic of tik tok, does every silly couple tik tok trend with you lmao

yapps your ear of all day every day

not the best person to ask for advice from but he will hold you until you feel better!

best cuddle buddy

and hug buddy

if you don’t like physical touch then idk if you could have a relationship with him, he will CLING to you as if his life depended on it

loves it when you play with his hair

makes a playlist for you two

calls you nicknames like rockstar, doll, my love, bae, babe

definitely has you saved as “future wife🤭❤️” or “the mother of my kids🥵😍”

he be weird like that

loves to have you in his lap

idk he probably likes you ass sm, not in a sexual way but just lays on it, smacks it, squishes it..

only in private tho

honestly a pretty good boyfriend but he’s more of like your child then boyfriend

Ben Clark

a chill one for sure

hugs, holding hands are a must

listening to music through his headphones how he did with Taylor in that one episode

jealousy scale is um pretty high

you gotta reassure this boy because he’s just scared of loosing you

would fr fight 100 people at once for you if you asked him to

whenever he gets angry, you’re there for him when Aiden can’t and he appreciates that

loves it when you hold his hand and rub circles on the back of it

forehead kisses >>

probably doesn’t give you that many nicknames since he doesn’t speak, either a short version of your name, bae or hun

the best listener ever (not because he doesn’t speak)

when you start to yap and just talk about the most random things he has your back against his chest as he rests his chin on your shoulder

very chill and overall good boyfriend

[isthisclever]

Plaintext version of 39 Days thread

Post-episode Reddit threat on r/Survivor

blowmytorch23143: dude claire skaaaaaaated by that tribal. my heart was pounding omg

/ chrissydontwakeup: Well no way was Jeff gonna let her walk. C+J is  *the* drama this season. They’re not gonna wanna lose that. 

/ / blowmytorch23143: yeah ive beeen convinced for ages that the idols are prolly fixed to keep the faves around. some of these people its like, oh honey you did NOT find that on your own lol

/ / / ReadySurvivorOne [Top Fan]: If not purposefully, then accidentally for sure. Wentworth did a whole video after her second season about paying attention to the cameras to find hidden idols bc they always pan to the hiding spots for the ep. WILD.

damp_dreams69999: Glad they didn’t vote out claire. WHo cares if she’s a hoe shes hot

/ chipper_pippa: Misogynistic much? Do better. 

/ / damp_dreams69999: is it sxist if its true

/ GoldN_Ours: um hello did we even watch the same epp? it showed that she CLEARLY was telling the truth. old dude was creepy af

/ / damp_dreams69999: lmfao chill out its not that serious

/ / / GoldN_Ours: Claire’s convo with the bf was basically proof that she has been telling teh truth. He was dismissive and condescending, and he was WAYYY to excited that gillian and her sister were drooling all over him. mega douche and honestly, perv vibes all the way.

user1930188401: WOWOWOWOWOWWWWWW. Hate to see Phaedre leave but I’m super glad Claire survived tribal. She clearly needed to chat with her alliance tho. She wasted an idol when they had the votes already.

/ hrd2bsft: Yeahhhh that’s gonna cost her with the jury. Guess the important thing is she made it through to day 33. 

Silvvver_ lyon [Top Fan]: am I the only one who was super uncomfortable with that pre-vote convo? like…why did they have to drag her over the coals like that? 

/ user1012912318: for the views dawg

/ / Silvvver_lyon: kinda gross still idk. survivor has a misogyny problem anyway and this reeeeeally didn’t help 

yesimawitch: These suckers dont watch out, Jillian’s gonna win this game. 

/ Outplayaaaa: Right?!?! She is ALWAYS on the right side of the numbers. How???

/ whatsmyrageagain: Wonder if she knew Claire had found the idol. She was like *right there* when Claire snagged it at the challenge. That would make sense why she worked w Jamie and joe to protect her. 

/ / Outplayaaaa: I want her to win for the snark alone. 12/10 comedy.

/ / / yesimawitch: Gillian to Claire: “Fantasies aside, I don’t think the game would be a pleasant one with your two men at my back.” I C O N I C. 

justhereforthekarma12313: Am I the only one who hates J & C not talking?? God I know its all tv and its probably fake anyway but the way that man looks at her…

/ Heiiiidiiiii_isonreddit [Top Fan]: I want it to be real so bad. If they come back after the show and it was all an act imma riot

/ / user12334481: I’ll bring the pitchforks, you bring the torches

/ / / Tooney___lunes: I’ll bring snacks. all good riots needs snacks.

/ Levi_not_the_jeans: The way *he* looks at *her*??? If I had a woman who looked at me the way Claire does to Jamey…well…I’d still be gay af but I’d feel very good about myself ok?

angels__wear_red: *sigh* these two idiots make me believe in love. please for the loVE OF ALL THAT IS BEAUTIFUL AND JOYFUL DON’T CRUSH MY DREAMS!!!1

Read the newest update to 39 Days here.

[seongminiz]

that one was self indulgent for sure… but i’ll make some more if any of them inspire u but no pressure i’m just always here to talk about cravity hehe

pervy loser!wonjin who has a crush on u and is always writing u secret admirer notes at uni and buying u drinks and sweets to buy ur love and he thinks ur oblivious but u know.. u just love making him flustered and frustrated :3 maybe he “accidentally” sends u a video of him jacking off or an audio message so u call him up to help him through it<333

husband!woobin… he’s so domestic imo i feel like he’s sex in the kitchen after he’s made u like breakfast or smth, he’d put you up on the counter and eat you out from there, making a huge mess and then bending you over top of it to take you from behind afterwards<333 if he’s feeling a little freakier.. woobin with breeding kink.. lots of creampies.. fucking you full of his cum, going “i know you can take another one, baby” and going again, the overstimulation making u see stars😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

servicetop(?)!allen cuz i feel like i never talk about him that much UGH he’d be so cute though, begging you to ride his face, i feel like he’d be into spanking your ass while he eats you out but you’re still in control, grinding into his face, neither of u care if he can breathe or not, gushing into his mouth and he would lap it up so obediently… would want you to ride him after, you’d be pretty gone but he’d still take such good care of you despite the fact that he’s also ruined, holding onto your hips and fucking up into you as hard as he can even while cooing about how well u take him<333

- 🧁 anon

perv!wonjin .... i just see him as so much of a loser its insane .

disclaimer i did NAWT proof read any of this ofc but atp its a given

warnings for this part : kinda stalker-ish behavior srry :3 dubcon in some way ? idk i'll say it just in case

teasing him would be way too fun fun , talking to your friends about your 'secret' admirer and how you want to know who it is so bad whenever he's within earshot of your conversations bc he gets so flustered and obvious abt it , especially when he thinks you cant see him :') tho wonjin might be (read: def is) a perv n a loser , hes smart too , n it won't take him long to catch onto the little game you're playing . the cute little notes n 'love' letters he leaves you get gradually more depraved n explicit , detailing all the things he wants to do to you , n especially the ones he wants u to do to him - to the point you can barely brag about them to your friends anymore . the tables r turned , n now he's the one who gets to enjoy seeing you become a blushing mess bc of his notes .

until that too is not enough for wonjin . it's late at night , and he hopes you're already asleep so he can just delete the blurry, shaky video he just sent you of him pathetically whining your name as he touches his bulge over his sweatpants . but of course you leave him no time for regret , immediately recognizing the only person who would dare to send you something like that - you don't know how he got your number , but you don't particularly care abt that .

when a notification of a call coming from you pops up on wonjin's screen he almost has a heart attack . he scrambles to answer , expecting you to scold and berate him for crossing some sort of unspoken rule that had been estabilished between you two .. and you kind of do , though he can't fight the moan bubbling up in his throat the moment he hears your voice , and your intentions are to make him feel anything but bad about it . pathetic and disgusting ? sure , but that's as far as you'll go , talking him through his orgasm and promising - or more like threatening him - he'll have to repay the favor soon .

ANYWAYS !

husband woobin omg 💔💔💔 ik breeding is basically the only thing i talk abt when it comes to him but like ,, come on how can't i do that have u seen him .. just thinking abt husband woobin with an insane stamina who can go for so many rounds and cums so much , until you're reduced to nothing but a cum dump for him ☆_☆

pls i feel so bad abt not writing as much for allen (to be completely fair , my blog is veryyy minhee n seongmin centric 😭😭) but yeah he'd be such a good service top :( treating u so well n eating u out until u have nothing left to give him n then making u ride him :(( n fr at that point more than riding its just him trusting up into you n coaxing out of u all ur weak n soft moans </3

[royallygray]

Psst Royal

Do you wanna rant about anymore soul horizon lore? I would like to hear about soul horizon lore if you wanna ramble :D

Also would you like to read the essay I wrote about llkau Pearl's psychological truama and manipulation from her mother?

yes I am always down to rant about soul horizon lore. also YES I WANT PEARLS PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAUMA HEHEHEHEHEHEH

Anyways hello. I am normal sized again wow.

Okay so personally--FUCK I HAVE A MEGA STUPID ASSIGNMENT IM GONNA NEED TO DEAL WITH THAT IN SOME AMOUNT OF TIME--i have recently been obsessed with soul horizon divorcée quartet.

THEYRE. SO FUCKING SPECIAL TO ME. BECAUSE THEYRE LOSERS

OMG OMG I NEED TO EXPLAIN THE EEP

WE DONT CARE ABOUT THE EEP WE CARE ABOUT SCOTT AND CLEO AND PEARL AND MARTYN

Scott and Cleo are canonically married. why did I do this, you may ask? tax benefits. and they were living with each other anyways. and also idk how marriage licenses work but it makes the pay a whole lot like even-er because Scott's a doctor and Cleo's a teacher

Well they're a college professor. idk how much more college professors get paid and I am too lazy to google it

hold on actually

ok so according to the first results: 96k to 300k per year which makes the second result so fucking sad like. the second result is 30k-97k a year. like. rip

compared to high school teachers: 45k-100k per year. Jesus Christ. and then the second result is 38k-46k.

rip teachers honestly

AYY SCOTT IS LOADED. I THINK. I DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH SHIT COSTS I HAVE NO LIFE EXPERIENCE I AM A BLOB FLOATING IN THE WIND DESPERATELY CLINGING TO LIFE

330k-630k. Yahoo. scott has it good. he's a surgeon because... I said so. he's like a surgeon but also a doctor. I think. mostly a surgeon tho but I am going to call him a doctor for the rest of this because in my mind he wears the coats. like a lab person. with cyan hair

SO. WHERE DO WE ACTUALLY BEGIN WITH THE LORE.

Well. It starts in elementary school. I... don't actually have lore for Cleo and Scott for this part but I do for Pearl and Martyn! So Pearl and Martyn are the same age, and they went to Evolution Elementary and Middle. They're in the same building. People just call it Evo

Also Jimmy barely made it through that school bc the year after he graduated it got shut down bc it was hosting cult activities. hmmm. weird

All the Evo gang went to Evo Elementary. shocker. And Lizzie.

And then they graduated, and they went to Hermit High Academy. Which I love. All the Hermits are there, except for Joel and Skizz (THEY WEREN'T HERMITS WHEN THIS STARTED AND ID ALREADY DONE THIS BACKSTORY), Cleo (she was at EEP), Gem, and Scar.

Also EEP stands for Empires Education Program. I love the EEP. All Empires people went there.

The two significant years-

hold on hold on hold on. okay. so.

Year order. we need this

also my sibling once told me that I text like someone with ADHD and I cannot help but feel like that's relevant here.

hello it is now a completely different day and place (I'm at the kitchen table and it is midnight)

(It has been thirty minutes I'm in my bed again and I am going to fall asleep. I need to take my meds. I have now taken my meds. now if I wanted to I could just fall asleep. I'm gonna keep talking here.)

In the Empires Education Program (which is referred to by people who want to mock it and also the attendees of it as the eep. Others say Empires or E E P (separated letters)) there are two years of people attending that we care about.

Everyone that was in Empires or SOS, minus False, Pearl, Jimmy, and Gem is part of the EEP.

The secondary year we care about (the grade below) has Oli, Owen, Mog, Eloise, and a few others unnamed (prolly from Witchcraft) because I refuse to make this class smaller than Magic School Bus's.

Everyone (minus Pearl, Jimmy, and Gem) in Empires S1 is in the first year of EEP. The second year has everyone else (minus False) that was in Empires S2 and SOS.

The primary year we care about (the most plot relevant people are here) has Scott, Cleo, Lizzie, Joel, Shelby, Katherine, fWhip, Pix, Sausage, and Joey. You might notice that Cleo is in here, and they are not part of this group. Cleo is in here because I said so. Also I needed a place for her to be besties with Scott. And Cleo would be a great addition to this crew, just saying.

... genuinely it is a completely different day and I am in a separate building and I have no idea what my ultimatum here was

Anyways. Martyn is a vigilante, Pearl's a villain, Scott's a doctor, and Cleo's a professor.

The funny thing that I'm absolutely in love with is how they semi get along. but mostly don't.

see. Scott and Pearl had that whole scene where Pearl literally ran out of magic and started ripping it out of Scott's soul. Magic is part of your soul, so it comes from a similar place as your soulbond.

And so Scott and Pearl have a well justified rivalry. And also after they broke the soulbond -- OH I JUST REMEMBERED THE REALLY FUNNY SHIT -- they both became Worthy, Scott significantly earlier than Pearl.

I still gotta explain the Worthy thing dammit

Anyways the really funny shit is that normally, when you reject your soulbond, you essentially function exactly the same as a person without a soulbond except you've got a weird tattoo, and you will die at the same moment that they do.

EXCEPT the divorce quartet are part of the Eighteen (which irl are just the life series members), and this means that the rejection doesn't work. It works at first, and Pearl and Scott have silent minds for the first time ever, and then they hear the slight whisper of the other one's voice and just. they're suffering.

It's funny as fuck, imo, because I'm the sadist author that makes the characters suffer. hehe

essentially, the telepathy hurts more after they rejected it than before. And also they also have the normal consequence of "if the one dies, then the other one dies too" which normal soulmates don't have.

But because of the rejection not working, the four of them realized that they're Winners. And they all figure out that they're Winners because Pearl believes that Mortality mythology (aka life series canon events) is real.

And Martyn was like "hah Pearl you're crazy"

and Pearl straight up goes "Jimmy's the Canary"

and the three of them stare at Pearl

because EVERYONE has heard the legend of the canary. It doesn't fucking matter who you are.

And Cleo's straight up like "holy shit"

And Scott knew the entire time bc he shares a brain with Pearl except he semi didn't believe it but he knew that Pearl believed it

But now they figure out that Scott is the Stars (2nd winner), Pearl is the Moon (3rd winner), Martyn is Mars/water/The Tower (4th winner), and Cleo is Pluto/fire/Death (6th winner).

And then perhaps Grian just walks out of the house and is like what're y'all talking about.

And then Pearl just stares at him. because she remembers what his soulmark is.

It's the sun and the earth. which is the missing duo of winners.

and Pearl is like. Grian. You're a winner.

and Grian's like "wtf are you on"

"like of mortality mythology"

"wat"

Scott: so is he the sun or the earth

Pearl: probably the sun. have you seen that face

Grian: wtf

Martyn: welcome to divorce club, Grian

Pearl: Martyn stfu

Martyn: yeah I'm scared of you so I will actually do that

Also Martyn and Pearl are besties

also I gotta write the scene where they divorce bc it's actually rly cute. not like Scott&Pearl and Martyn&Cleo but like. Scott and Martyn are cute. And Pearl and Cleo are cute. And Cleo and Scott<3 and Martyn and Pearl are like besties. so.

yeah

they. them. they're the perfect combination of like. a lot of shit. because all of them are morally gray.

hey that's almost my name

My name is actually a play on the phrase "morally gray", fun fact

Since Pearl is literally a villain. Martyn is a more hero aligned vigilante. Scott and Cleo, while being civilians, do actively help Pearl by giving her potions and shit since she and Martyn can go to the Nether to get the ingredients, and Scott and Cleo have a permit to brew potions.

Like. Scott and Cleo are like passive and will not get outed in the grand scheme, but technically they break the law daily. And I love them so much for that. Like. They know WAYYY too much to be civilians. Not even JOEL knows as much, and he's the motherfucking husband of Riptide, who is the sister of Scarlet AND Sparrow. AND the Canary.

Anyways. Um. If you want to ask any clarifying questions, I would be more than happy to answer those.

This was rly incoherent and I'm sorry abt that but y'know :D

THANK YOU PERI @periwinklepaint FOR THE ASK :D :D

[wildtornado-o]

Forthing and Ferris for the character asks! :D

Ask Meme!!

Forthing

First Impressions - Unfortunately I don't remember too much of my initial impressions of him bcs they were so long ago BUT Vaguely. I can remember being like "Oh this poor new guy is probably not going to last long..." and then "They need to stop bullying this poor guy just because he's ugly." Basically just me thinking he was going to have something unfortunate happen to him like Laurence's other lieutenants had, and not wanting to get too attached jic despite liking him. I think I doodled him once but it didn't rlly look like him.

Opinion Now - I love him SO MUCH he's my dirty little alley cat my best friend who gets pushed in lockers my beloved slug that people keep stepping on <3 <3 He really deserves so much more love from the fandom methinks shfks he's so silly. I love how salty he is about his relationship with Tem when compared to Ferris' because like, it's so valid of him to feel like that but also you WERE rude to Laurence so like. Deserved but not for as long as it went on.

Favourite Moment - Either the scene where Laurence feels bad so he sends him off to search the island with Temeraire and finds turtle eggs and gets very happy about them and Tem is like "I cannot believe he is Talking to me EWWW" or the scene where he gets proposed to the Russian girl (I forgor her name) and She looks away like... erm... while her mom is amused and the other guy is laughing because everyone does Not think he is suitable. It's so sad tbh :(( this poor man. Always going through it.

Idea for a Story - Ok I'm not an author but I would love absolutely anything to include his son, this man is a Father I would love to see more content including that sdhfks

Unpopular Opinion - I don't know if I have any?? I just really really love him and (possibly?) think about him more than other people might. Also I think he is attractive. Sorry.

Favourite Relationship - His relationship with Ferris of course <3 <3 they're so kismesis coded LOL. I just think there are so many good antics that can come from them as enemies, friends, or lovers. Pretty boy Ferris and his mangy boyfriend. So O'Malley and Duchess coded to me.

Favourite Headcanon - I like giving him heterochromia sometimes. I also like the idea that he and Ferris are together but hide it under a guise of hating each other.

Ferris

First Impressions - I didn't think too much of him other than wanting to see more of him and Granby interacting because I'm a sucker for Lieutenants being friends. And then when he got dismissed the service I was like "Oh no!! Anyways-" and when he appeared again I literally forgot who he was UM. I am so bad at keeping track of characters I'm so sorry Ferris :((

Opinion Now - I love him and I feel so bad for him this poor poor boy. Congrats on the depressed dragon tho! I can't believe I forgot about his existence. If it helps make up my sins when I first read his name in my reread I was like "Omg!! Ferris!! Can't wait to see the horrors persist!" He's one of the characters who I just enjoy doodling thoughtlessly, much like Granby is.

Favourite Moment - UM either when he finds Laurence in Australia in hopes of working with him again (All of Laurence's crew are so loyal I love it sm (execpt for Martin. wtf Martin. And Dunne and Hackley ig)) or when Dyhern marries the woman he was into.

Idea for a Story - I'd love to see more of him and his family, maybe their reactions to him being dismissed. I know they were disappointed in him but I would like to see what exactly went down.

Unpopular Opinion - I also don't think I have any for this. Idk if it's unpopular but something about his ending was a little unsatisfactory to me tho.

Favourite Relationship - His relationship with Laurence, I love it so much. Guy who has no hopes of being brought back in to the service because of the reasons he was dismissed, yet chooses to be with his Former Captain anyways, because he was that much of a wonderful captain to him. His relationship with Forthing is a close second.

Favourite Headcanon - He and Granby are close friends and like to hang out together. I just really love the idea of them being besties.

[marsbar17]

DVA and Bridgette tonight queen 🤭🫶

IVE BEEN OBSESSED WITH THIS SHIP LATELY OMG

Anyone else obsessed with mekamechanic you should read this fanfiction by The_Big_Oof on AO3

Anyways on to the headcannons :)

CONTAINS: NSFW further below

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

《SFW》

• This ship just works so well because they're both awkward nerds in their own ways like dhdhjsja

• D.Va is obviously the most loser gamer out there (i say this affectionately :3) who's social skills are probably terrible because most of her life is portrayed on social media

• Brigitte is very family-centered and her godfather is literally in Overwatch with her, that must make relationships awkward pffff, also she's just a big buff lady who's very kind-hearted and shy

• They probably got together due to other peoples' influence, Tracer definitely takes most of the credit for getting them together

• Brigitte loves HARD, she's head over heels for D.Va, every action she takes has D.Va in mind, she watches all her streams from start to finish, she puts D.Va's feelings and happiness above her own

• D.Va is centered a bit more around herself due to all the pressure of fans and Busan's expectations of her, she has a harder time remembering that Brigitte has needs and wants aswell, but she gets the hang of it over time

• Their love languages are definitely gift giving and quality time

• Brigitte will buy anything that reminds her of D.Va, bunny plushies, keychains from her favorite games, snacks and drinks that she likes, literally anything

• D.Va just likes being around Brigitte, gaming together in eachothers rooms, fixing up Tokki after a tough mission, working on one of Brigitte's projects, sitting beside eachother at meals, they're always together

• They go on little arcade dates and fast foods dates where they set up picnics in really pretty spots and just eat junk food pffff

• They're also the type of couple to just go on walks through town, where all the shop owners know them by name and ask Brigitte to fix their shit

• D.Va likes being able to carry Brigitte while she's in her mech, she likes being tall and strong :)

• Literally everyone in Overwatch knows they're dating, how can you not when they're like a highschool couple cuddling in the hallways

• Brigitte definitely calls D.Va bunny, kanin (bunny in swedish), and darling

• D.Va calls Brigitte baby and jagiya, idk she doesn't seem like the type of partner to use a lot of pet names

《NSFW》

• They're both switches but Brigitte probably tops more often

• D.Va is the more dominant one though, we support power bottoms on this blog

• Honestly they're too sweet for any kinky shit, D.Va is definitely into toys tho

• She's got a small collection, nothing too insane or huge just a bunch of dildos and vibrators because why not

• There favorite positions are missionary and riding, I use those a lot but like yes

• Kisses during, a lot of kisses and body worship

• Brigitte makes sure that D.Va knows she's fucking beautiful, and D.Va makes sure Brigitte knows that she's pleasing her so good

• I can't think of any more hrhdjks they're too sweet man

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you for reading my mindless rambling shdhjaka

If you like my work liking and reblogging takes like 30 seconds and really helps me as a creator. Requesting ships or other things also really helps me and I like it a lot, so please do!

Have a good day :)

[discoveredreality]

hey again!!!

also crimson rivers is FULL of angst like i’m nearly finished and i’m STILL scared of it like i cannot bring myself to finish it

how are you today?

i’m trying to do a maths exam practise but it really doesn’t make sense so please help me god😭😭

anyways i hope you have a good day? or had a good day? (idk whatever time it is where you are!)

- 💝

hi anon!

yes omg i'm only up to chapter 5 or smth. i will start reading it properly because although i love the audiobook i can't tear through the fic like i normally would lol. fingers crossed i will be catching up to u soon!

omg same babe same. i have been doing these maths practice exam and they are so hard i have no idea what's going on and how anything i ever learnt will help with it😭😭

it is 8am rn. for context i live in australia so. and the reason i am up this early is because even tho it's easter break for us i have tuition. the same teacher who is giving us all these practice tests omg

praying that u will survive. sending virtual hugs <3333

hope u have an amazing day/had an amazing day too lol <333

[kxmikomrade]

oh ho ho

why hello there

I just read through a bunch of the stuff you have about yourself, and now you have to deal with me <3

so first of all: i saw that you really liked blue period, and I was wondering how you'd recommend it? I keep on wanting to watch it but my mind goes "but you have this thing" and "what about the other three animes you're watching" but who cares! It looks really pretty tho. Also me and my partner are going to watch Bungo Stray Dogs together (eventually-) bc it's his favorite anime lol.

ok next point: WATERMELON IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE FOODS I LOVE WATERMELON. MINT CHOCOLATE CHIP ICE CREAM IS THE BEST. and i agree, winter and autumn are the best seasons. rain. rain is nice :).

third and i think final thing: you're learning japanese, you say? ok, i have a few questions for you. what are you learning it on? (i'm learning it on the demon bird app, aka duolingo). what words have you learned? what do you know about the grammar/word structure? and the scary one: have you started learning the terror that is katakana? (if no, it's just another alphabet with the same order and sounds, except different characters. i hate katakana :,>) because i can't type in japanese on my chromebook, i'll just use the romanji. But expect me to send you random hiragana and have you say what it is!

Kimu-san, yahho! Anata ga kakkoii to karai desu yo! (i promise you it's a compliment <3)

try to tell me what that means, and expect more random japanese in your future :)

anyways have a lovely day byeee <3

when i saw the 'oh ho ho' i heard french venti LMAOOO 💀💀

omg new moot guys NEW MOOT !! u match my vibe so <3

BLUE PERIOD IS SO SHHEHEHEHHE esp if ur an artist like myself, it gives u a different and probably more professional view of art ^^ For wat i like abt it, i'd say da characters and how theyre written. The main character is pretty relatable. Theres another character who has family issues and may be trans (or genderfluid? it isnt confirmed but she was born male, currently dresses feminine and hates it when people uses her dead name). Another one who was born a 'Genius' but doesnt really understand art, hes only doing it bcs its basically wat he can only do. Another character who'm gets compared to her older sister and so on. Even minor characters have well written stories I suggest u watch da anime THEN read da manga from da beginning :>> Sanaol may partner- jkjk ur prob fil but imagien having a partner 😭 my lonely ass could never U SHOULDD WATCH BSD!! I LOVEEE DA ENDINGS ITS SUCH A VIBE AND DA OPS R BANGERS UGH THE CHARACTER DESIGNS AND PLOT I WANNA 👊 ITS INTERESTING BUT I SUGGEST ALSO READING THE MANGA FROM THE BEGINNING SINCE THE ANIME SKIPS ALOT OF THINGS AND IT MIGHT GET U CONFUSED 😭😭 Also, hes so true for that, hes DEF a keeper 💪 unless hes a mori/fukuchi stan then ew no

YESSS WATERMELON AND MINT CHOCO CHIP ICECREAM LOVERSS <333 Honestly, cold weathers >>>>>>

Im currently just memorizing da basics; hiragana and katakana before i continue off where i left off in grammar and vocab (i'll most likely start over since its been arounf half a year and i have goldfish memory 🥲) Ive already memorized hiragana, now im going with katakana but im focusing on art lately since i just got my stylus back so im prob not gonna do it for awhile but i'll try to before may >:DD I currently only use 'Write it Japanese!' app on mobile, its REALLY useful, idk anything to help with grammar but my jp speaking friend recommends da book 'Minna no nihongo'. She used to be my jp study buddy but shes been VERY busy with uni lately so :'''D AND YES BBG (can i call u dat??) LETS PRACTICE TOGETHER <33 tbh it would be better if we use hiragana/katakana/kanji (i literally dont know kanji SOBS) since it helps us learn!! AND DAT WOULD BE FUNN

From just my understanding: 'Kim-san, Yahoo/hello! Youre a cool person [smth smth]'

from google: 'Kimu, Yahoo! It hurts to think you're cool' (pls get ur shit together google 😭😭i couldnt call my friends bitches lovingly bcs of u)

YES I'LL BE EXPECTING THEM <33 I HOPE U HAVE A LOVELY DAY TOO HON

LMAO WAT DO I CALL U?? I WANNA ADD UR MOOT TAG

[m1ckeyb3rry]

LMAOOO casually drops 200k wc avg…classic Mira but ooooh yes I’ve def seen some stuff floating on your page about it from the occasional asks! It’d be really funny if the bllk one followed your typical wc projection inaccuracy although reaching orv levels is probably a stretch HAHA

MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH ummm I’ve let myself get too comfy in the crack/stupid loserverse ummm hahahaha ummm wait WHAT??? I did not that fact you really said “let me put my two faves against each ofher” it would go hard tho….

LMAOOO OOPS ok well either way it’s still funny I love the miraverse…..miraverse chigiri >>>>> circling back to the drunk Kira moment it’d be funny if reader was like “huh….when did you shrink….” LMAOOOO

No because niko gives such sidekick vibes it’s so funny but SHSKSJSJ I will shut up about oaeu for the time being to help you resist temptation it’s time for you to do some doom scrolling on tiktok /j

FR SHSHAJA they’re all just ganging up on him and he’s also a first year right??? Damn theyre fr bullying a child IM CRYING THE VISUAL OF KARASU BEING TALKED DOWN stop im imagining that alpha wolf meme I can’t

I’m laughing so hard that was fr my first thought like “they really gave him the extra eye sparkles” ONE MORE GOAL GUYS please I need the match to go faster only because seeing it chapter by chapter with no goal is lowk agonizing (it’s fine all together I’m just impatient when flipping through the panels) PLEASSEEE BARCHA MANSHINE SNEAK PEEK IM BEGGING someone give otoya a little spotlight too kaneshiro please I know you’re reading this

- Karasu anon

LMAOOO it’s so insane because 200k is so long for most people but for me it’s like okay regular that’s calm 😭 and yeahhh for a while my tumblr was solely asks about ship in the harbor tbf it was/is a very interesting story in my humble opinion…that y/n was hollyhock y/n before hollyhock y/n and she was also 10x more interesting somehow?? which is saying a LOT 😰 PLSSS nah imagine the bllk fic ends up at 500k that would be insane i’d have to have crazy plotting skills for it to get that long (or an idea i’m really inspired for 🙂‍↕️)

EEK i always forget that people who joined me in my bllk era don’t know i am FAMOUS for angst!! i neverrrr used to end my stories happy in almost all of them either reader or the love interest died it was literally to the point that pomegranate ink was considered me being kind to my readers since both yuta and mc lived 😭😭😭 nah because it was honestly a really fascinating concept wherein hak was soowon’s guard and shinah was a legend from reader’s province who comes to protect her in the palace after an assassination attempt and when hak kills shinah it’s not because he wants to but because he has to DJFNSJSKSNSN omg it’s a very insane story idk if the bllk fandom could handle it honestly especially if it’s rin killing nagi…like what would they even do

MIRAVERSE ON TOP FR omg miraverse chigiri is such a king i have this vision of may and reo being that really annoying couple that posts cute tik toks and do adorable trends together but then immediately after they post reader and chigiri stich the video recreating it while laughing and making it goofy because they’re menaces 😩 and PLSSS “nagi did the changes in elevation compress you a bit?? your hair is less voluminous too…”

NIKO IS LITERALLY JUST THERE TO RELAX and erm it may be a tad bit late…

I HAVEN’T STARTED WRITING YET JUST FORMATTING BUT SEEING IT SITTING ALONGSIDE THE REST OF MY WORK IS TORTUROUS 😭 i have to resist temptation though…i have to…

NOOO POOR KIYORA IS A BABY he should be hanging out w hiori bruh free him ‼️ SEISHIRO NAGI SAVE KIYORA ASAP 😭 omg no literally the alpha wolf meme is exactly the vibe i was going for FJSKFJSJ it’s canon dw i’m just going to manifest in there

HAHA we are on the same page idk what that was all abt…anyways agreed i think pxg will be one of the most hype games to read all at once but chapter but chapter is exhausting 😭 OTOYA SPOTLIGHT he literally scored a goal OFF SCREEN??? wtf 😓 and ofc yk i need my man to get his screentime back please it’s been too long since we last saw nagi in the main manga and he’s so hot in the manshine jersey can we get him back kaneshiro please i’m begging on my knees for a return…a mention…even a single panel…😩🙏🏻

[sunmoonjune]

omg it feel like it’s been YEARS since i was last here 😭 i’m on my last year of uni and no one told me i wouldn’t even have time to scratch my head wtf why are there so many assignments and projects ?:):£

i missed interacting with you and your fics omg finally got a little break and finished 4 of my assignments think i deserved a break

SO I GOT TO READ THE NEW SATOSUGU FIC!!!:)&/!;>|^€]!~

i’ve literally been having the worst cramps recently too and omg that was such a comfort fic :(( the way they were so worried and comforting mc ESHSHDBB

megumi was adorable too like wtf come here RN lemme give your forehead a lil smooch a little KITH das my baby wtf

the way they were so worried when she fainted <33 i fainted once cause of my anemia in front of my dad and he thought i was pretending so he kept telling me to get up while watching tv and i was just on the floor 😭

BUT ANYWAYS i’ve missed your writing so much omg so glad i got to read a bit on my break it’s kind of like a motivation for me !!

so good and so detailed idk how you manage to do it your creativity is out of this world give your brain a lil kith from me <33

anyways stay healthy drink lots of water and take your time with your writing because the end results are always worth it!!

- 📚

📚anon my beloved!! it's been too long <33 I hope your last year of uni is going well! I def know how stressful that final year can be :')) if you're having finals soon I wish you luck <33 take some breaks and drink some water while you study!

I missed reading your asks sm too :'D they're always SO much fun to go through <3

I also am having cramps as I write this (haven't even started shark week yet >:( ) so I def understand the feeling bubs :') I literally cannot help but write satosugu as the softest squishes even tho they def show that SO little in canon xD

and gumi!!! he's my precious son I swear like let that child be happy fr he absolutely deserves a lil kiss on the forehead

NO omg that's so sad :'( passing out is definitely very scary so I'm sorry that happened lovely </3 I hope this fic could be a little bit of comfort for that feeling at least :') I definitely haven't met very many ppl who take my anxiety over health stuff like that seriously so it was probably a bit of a vent fic xD

hehe I missed writing too!! I'm hoping to get back into over my break soon since I really missed interacting with you guys and writing on this blog :D thank you as well omg kith kith <33

I hope you're staying healthy as well my dear!! drink some water and get lots of rest when you can <33 thank you again :}}

[rayofmisfortune]

XNJDNFF I MEAN IF YOU INSIST JESTIE!! ALSO HIIII

.english left the chat im cringing from just reading through the post again omg

Anywhoosies, don't take me as a reliable source of transformers know how I've literally only watched prime and the new movie (also bayverse but i barely pay attention when they play em on tv??).... Okay fine and im trying to watch through armada, also theres this one hasbro dvd with a transformers and strawberry shortcake episode in my... Šuplík how do I say that in english again i aint brainind today oh lord.

ANYanywhoosies! Starscream.

Second in Command of the Decepticons, backstabs Megatron at every opportunity he gets but always crawls back to him whenever he's in a tight spot. Loyal to no one but himself (until season 3 ehm) Anyway what I wanna yap about is from starscream's lil arc in season 2. Screamer, quite literally, had so many opportunities where he could "join" the autobots? He was a rogue, he left the decepticons. He was on his own. Starving and almost always in need of medical help. (Exaggerating, but he did get himself into... A.lot of situations let's say) AND WHEN HE GOT INJURED?? WHO DID HE CALL FOR HELP?? Not the decepticons oh nonono. (Megs would probably pound him into a pancake, but if we ignore bucket head. I think knock out wouldn't be too against patching starscream back up? They get along quite well when it comes to decepticon comradely standards) he called th3 AUTOBOTS because his faction's sworn enemy (not really since at the time he wasn't a part of any faction, keep in mind) was more likely to provide him with thr help he needed than his own which he's been in the co-leading position of for millennia (???) totally doesn't have to do with the constant beatings from megatron for the smallest of things oh no no no definitely not nope this 'con definitely cannot fit any trauma in himself naaaah

Anywho when the autobots do come to his aid (he always sent a message with like, "have important info. Bring medkit." Or something along those lines) they're never willing to help him unless he proves to be useful to them via the information he provides. Which honestly sits so wrong with me since Ratchet is a trained experienced field medic and surely seeing a fellow cybertronian in need of repairs would take some priority over petty grudges concerning alliances? Idk that just always angered me whenever EVEN THO STARSCREAM IS CLEARLY BLEEDING ENERGON ALL OVER THE PLACE AND CAN'T SO MUCH AS MOVE WITHOUT JOSTLING HIS INJURIES, Ratchet would rather turn around and leave him to deactivate...... That actually presents a very nice plot point, starscream enters stasis due to how low on energon he is (he's starving and scavenging for scraps in abandoned mines) and the Bots take him to their base for a transfusion snd repairs, plus some interrogation and insider deceoticon intelligence☝️I MEAN PLEASE

There was also this one time where Starscream saved Arcee from Airachnid when he really didn't, have a reason to. And he just, he leaves, he doesn't do anything to her, he just skiddadles out of there 😭 AND ARCEE NEVER BRINGS IT UP TO ANYONE LIKE HUHHHHH???????? PLEASE THAT COULD'VE BEEN SO GOOOOOD

Im most likely not making any sense its 1am i should be heading to sleep actually i think uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Someone's got to start double checking my own tags after me

U mean to tell me i has a post tagged as #ray's rambles instead of #ray's ramblings???

IT'S BEEN A WEEK???

Omg it's been a week

Hi hello what happened to Ray complaining daily about the stupidest shit just to get some form of attention look at this loser sitting with their half assed knock out doodle binging the entirety of tf prime while reading tf idw comics and tf fanfiction

Smh smh truly a loser, anyway who wants to hear me rant about the many many missed opportunities for starscream switching sides in transformers prime? (No dont make me started on breakdown i can and will cry he did not deserve what happened to him)

[gayspock]

im just gonna do a big dump like i did with the last trek movies <3 soo first contact liveblog! wrow!

- first of all i havent seen these little guys in such a long time now! so im going to sayy hiyaaa to them all when they appear!

- i also dont kno ANYTHIN abt this movie going in. wrt, like, trek movies- shit i dont know much at all abt the tng ones... ive heard a few bad rumblings, but i cant remember anything specific? well. except for the fact. i knwo data has an emotion chip put him in at some point somewhere. 🤷 which makes me fume.... & i know kirk eats shit in generations. however thats abt it. i think ive not heard anything specifically BAD abt fc though, so :33

- i will say one thing i do worry mysself with the tng films, and i guess why i havent been inclined to watch them... mm. sigh. i mean this isnt such a hot take on tumblr dot com, no sir, but i dont really care THAT much for picard. fr fr - i dont, despite all the jokes, but it isnt THT serious like... i think he has the blueprint for someone i could actually be obsessed with, as a character, but im simply not fond of how he is used narratively. in tng i always took issue with that: how stories meant for other characters, kind of wrapped up as the captain picard show a lot of the time, especially when others were really robbed of so much depth; and similarly, times where i just was not fond of the way he was framed. i think its deffo more of a personal inclination, absolutely, but mmm...

- and see obviously tos does centre kirk in that way but im not so... mad about that? because it is, like, a scaled down cast: kirk, bones and spock are the main characters and it doesnt pretend any differently you know? i think my problem is when its like... an ensemble show. and moreover i think i also just dont care so much for a character, with picards personality, being at the helm of a show either. i think i'd be obsessed with him if he wasn't- but mm.... i dont know. i dont know.

- and i think the thing i am concerned abt is how the tng movies will kinda focus on him entirely and like. that IS my assumption but i guess it just hasnt made me so motivated to watch them - among other reasons why i havent finished the tos movies, alongside. and i think that its deffo like- THIS IS .... you know again. deffo more of a personal tastes thing. though there's faults there, they're definitely starker for me given my proclivities but overall i dont think its like. tng is like a terribly done show wrt the way it handles picard or that the movies would be if they centred him. its just not sth im gonna care abt i guess so why force it?

- and its like- when i say centre him... again its like i dont know. idk if thats the best way to articulate it. and furthermore, i guess- i guess my perspective of tng is also a little inherently warped overall bc i didnt enjoy it as much as many do . i know this to be the case <3 but mmhm... teehee.

- okay actually starting the film now

- OMGGG WOW<3 THE MATRIX LOOKING SILLYYYYYYY 😁

- also dear lord. i got the same shock when watching the tos movies initially- but the budget, or at least.... the money put into, like, the way its shot always kinda rattles me a little. like omg we're getting some funny little angles and special effects arent we. oh teeehee. oh youuu guyyssss must be having so much fun!!! <3

- WHAT THE DICKENS

- BEVS... YOUR HAIR. NAURRR!!! TROI! YOUR HAIR! NAUURRRRRR SAY IT ISNT SO!

- im going to throw up. why is him fucking blasting opera music with his eyes shut as the glasses shake so funny. bald man anxiety.

- sniff sniff. also i dont like this enterprise design. i feel like shes just a little dark.... a little grungy. and dont get it twisted oh im a grunge girl im always a fan. but goodness me. isnt it a little sniff sniff SAD?

- data said hell? data? sniff sniff...

-THAT IS NOT ADAM SCOTT IS IT YOU ARE LYING TO ME

- HE SCARED ME SO!!! HIS STUPID LITTLE VOICE SCARED ME SO TERRIBLY LIKE GOOD FUCKING HEAVENS.

- also that other bloke looked weirdly like chris pine. the hell.

- ANYWAYS CRAZY FOR ADAM SCOTT . HE KNOWS HOW TO PLAY A MAN HAVING A FUCKING ANXIETY ATTACK. THERE'S JUST SOMETHING ABOUT HIS VOICE THAT SOUNDS LIKE HES IN A CRISIS. LIKE INHERENTLY.

- OH THEIR UNIFORMS OH-

LOH WORF I LOVE YOUR LITTLE ONESIE, SO HELP. I KNOW THEYRE ALL WEARING THEM BUT THERES SOMETHING ABOUT IT ON HIM THATS GIVING MOM ITS MY TURN ON XBOX

- MAYBE ITS BC HES A BIG STRAPPIN LAD SO ITS JUST.... TUGGING CERTAINLY. IM NOT SURE. THE WAIST LOOKS REALLY HIGH UP ON HIS AND ITS FITTING WEIRDLY IT LOOKS TODDLERSQUE FOR REALS

- im crazy for riker and worf. because its like riker is just a bloke isnt he just. we love riker hes our big funny bloke. but in the vicinity of worf he has this sleeper agent "im justt a little guyyyy you wouldnt hit a little guy 😁" mode that activates sometimes. but only then and never anytime else bc it would never ever work otherwise bc its soooo not a good fit on him. unless worf is there acting as his little guy lubricant so it DOES fit right and proper

- i love bullshit time mechanics.

- can i say the soundtrack guy is having the time of their fucking life. like do do do do do. like literally no so true girlie pop.

- OH SAY WHAT YOU WILL ABOUT PICARD. THAT MAN KNOWS HOW TO WEAR A FUCKING COAT! DASHING TODAY, SIR. I CAN BARELY VCONTAIN THE URGE TO SLAP YOUR HEAD.

- THAT PRETTY LADY SAID A BAD FUCKING WORD?

- e

- e

- e

- e

- e

- e

- e everyone remember 19 minutes in where data does the funny fucking jumo that just sent me insane ofr soem reason

- i have to clip it when im dome watching

- data babygirl i cant tell how i feel about this outfit its like really like it does serve cunt but im not sure about it for you and furthermore i cant see a gilet without those tory memes coming to mind. sorry....

- "please, no lectures about the prime directive" with all due respect data just fucking fell from the ceiling in a lego figure pose and snapped to the ground and just stalked at her despite an onslaught of bullets AND you were all talking quite loudly about the fucking enterprise without checking shit... girlies we cant pretend we cant i love it i love silly trek logic but oh please!

- Is it me or is geordi fucking built right now

- tHE LOOK DATA IS GIVING HIM....-

- i think data should be allowed to just call him a fucking freak if he wants to. you know picard barely holds back when saying shit to him. i think data should just say something completely loathsome and when picard is like p. pardon he should be like you heard me you bald little twat.

-HELP troi is so funny. i hope they let her be her funny self.

-"captain. we might have to consider the fact he was killed in the attack." WHY DID SHE SOUND LIKE A MOTHER GENTLY TELLING HER CHILD THAT THEY CANT GO TO MCDONALDS. AND WHY DID PICARD RESIGN LIKE A KID WHO JUST REALISED THEYRE NOT GOING TO FUCKING MCDONALDS. GIRLS...

- yes YES YES ITS THE DOCTOR HIIIII HHIII. i missyou on voyager. sorry i havent been watching voyager i just kept getting vaguely frustrated with it. do you understand? kiss on the lips if you understand?

- THE SHEER AMOUNT OF SWAG ZEFRAM POSSESSES. YOU'RE TELLING ME THIS IS THE SAME BLOKE FROM TOS?

- YOU KNOW HOW, LIKE... sooo often shows will write prequels for characters and the such and they'll just butcher them entirely. how did this get it backwards. you made him fuck righteously whereas his later self is what one may call a fucking menace.

- OH SO DATADOES HAVE THE EMOTION CHIP? HUH. <- guy who did not watch generations

- again i dont care it makes me mad i already rambled abt why i dont like it but fucking whatever grrrr.

- so when they assimilate you into the borg do they not assimilate your ass with it

- sorry that was mean but if you cannot see from this blurry screenshot the borg costumes really fucking squashed their tushes right in like help...

- BESITE DATA DID YOU JUST SNAP THAT BLOKES NECK?

- BESTIE DATA LOBOTOMY TIME...

- ALSo geordi without his visor is odd getting used to it BUT i will say his facial structure is really nice. not tht it wasnt before but obvs the visor hid his cheekbones a little bit there

- im actually insane for zeffy's bejazzled backwards cap. im actually dripping with lust for it. no wonder solkar was so quick to gape fo rhim.

- WOWWWW THEY SAID THE NAME OF THE SHOW

- lily is also sooo pretty.... sorry to stop it at all to say that but she is like hell.

- also im not sure how i feel about there being a "borg queen". i think i found it more interesting when there borg were leaderless and just sort of...spread. i mean thats the vibe i always got. that all being said she's uhm. hehehehe. well uhm she is. (twirls hair)

- actually put a pin in that i do have an oc that i did wanna repurpose for FOREVER into a trek borg oc of some descriptor ...maybe one day girlies

- WHY IS THIS...

- MA'AM WOULD YOU PLEASE STEP AWAY FROM MY BESTIE.

- I DONT WANT TO SEE DATA CREAM HIS FUCKING JUMPSUIT?

- every time they try to give picard a swaggy moment it just flops for me. theres just something so utterly swagless about him. and you see theres the thing yes. i mean many different things when i say swaggless. sometimes its a pathetic little man all alone and wet and he's mine. sometimes thst means cradling him sometimes that means affectionately poking him with sticks. sometimes it means zefram from tos as opposed to the zeffo ofthis movie. but with picard its like you just dont have swag/. yuou will never have swag. its fine. you can be a little swagless man. but trying to have swag it just does not work.... so dont trye girlie. just be bald and look pretty.

- the NOODLE processor? :3 hahaha i have one of those its called my TUMMY. lol. jk i know you said neural, picard, but i like to be silly. dont you like to be silly?

- WHY THE FUCK IS BARCLAY HERE?

- lily just looking up, horrified, at worf, and him being like "I am a klingon🧍‍♂" whys that so funny to m

-YESe YES

- YES YES YES THESE BIG SILLY SUITS ARE EXACGTTTLLYYY WHAT IM LOOKING FOR OH TEEEHEEEE. ALSO STOP IT PICARD DONT MAKE WORF GO INTO ZERO GRAV DIDNT YOU HEAR HE WILL GET A POORLY FUCKING TUMMY

- ALSO data just going mental is my favourite but i will say sigh again i hate emotion chip data thats not my little fucking guy...

-...

- ....

- .......

- . theu are not bsout to make data shag....

- TW ON MOVIES FOR DATA HABING SEX PLEASE

- DOCTOR SOONG INITIALLY FOR YOUR BAD FATHERING TECHNIQUES I SENTENCE YOU TO 5 YEARS IN JAIL. HOWEVER FOR GIVING HIM A FUNCTIONING COCK AND BALLS I COMMEND YOUR BRAVERY BUT I WILL SENTENCE YOU TO BE SHOT IN THE HEAD.

- also i again say: i dont know how if eel about the borg queen. i get it for, like, the purposes of a movie? it makes sense to have her as a character. but again conceptually i dont know... i find it boring. i think it removes some of the inherent intrigue of the borg itself.

- and even WEORSE WHEN YOU HAVE HER HORNY FOR MY DEAR DATA MY GOODNESS FUCKING ME HELP

- EVEN IF IM A LITTLE HORNY FOR HER MYSELF LIKE LISTEN

- IM A LITTLE GUY

- AND DATA IS A LITTLE GUY SO SURE SO TRUE BUT YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN LADIES!

-literally lily get his ass get his ass GET HIS ASS

- my maths lecturer once parodied his little speech he makes to lily there if anyones wondering

- "actually i never read it" CAN WE LITERALLY KEEP LILY CAN SHE BE PART OF THE CREW NOW. OBSESSED WITH HER.

- the way i sobbed so bad in st iii when they blew up the enteprise but with this enterprise im like LOLLLLLL

- "DATA?" RESPECTFULLY DID YOU ONLY JUST REMEMBER HIM NOW, JEAN LUC?

- HES BEEN GETTING SLOPPY

- ZEFRAM BLASTING HIS TUNES I LOVE HIM SO BAD

- okay thank god hes staying behind for data but nonetheless this is so funny like oh god yes data is ina pretty tricky situation but i think he did get ridden robo style

- HELP I DOTNKNOW WHY BUT ITS SO SCARY TO THINK OF HIM AS BEING YOLKED

- LIKE OMG NO... PUT THEM FUCKING GUNS AWAY! FREAK!

- ALSO SORRY BUT THIS ENTIRE SCENE IS SO FUNNY WITH THEM ALL JUST TUGGING EAH OTHER DOWN LIKE HELP . WHY IS THAT LIKE. TICKLING ME SO . IM OBSESSED IM INSANE LIKE ITS THE BIG CLIMAX AND ITS LIKE JUST PULLING ON YA DAMN TROUSERS

- THE FACT HES KIND OF JUST HOLDING HER WRIGGLING TECHNO SKULL AND JUST SNAPPED HER SPINE OUT IS KINDA FUCKED YEAH. I MEAN SHE WAS A BIT EVIL WERENT SHE. BUT THAT WAS LIKE MY GOODNESS FUCKING GRACIOUS.

- data got that cursed dick by the way all the girlies to take it for a spin its like.... look where they fucking end up . my goodness fucking me! what are you....

- OMG HIIII ZEFFY HERE;S YOUR BOYYYFRIENDD LOL

- do you guys ever think... my goodness how old is zefram supposed to be again. hes not gen z is he. good fucking lord hes younger.

- HIII SOLKAR OH MY GODDDD LITERALLY STUNTING ON THEM WHAT DID I SAY HE REALLY DRESSED TO IMPRESS

- (zefram and solkar shaking hands) and picard is like "i think its time we made a discrete exit" . alright? fucking homophobe?

- CAN WE NT GET HIM A FUCKING HAT OR SOMETHING. WHAT IF HIS FUCKING WIRING GETS A BIT CHILLY....

- OKAY WHEW thats ending. i enjoyed it. its nice. :3 i liked the tos films more bc of my bias but it was cute.

- though again. sigh. i rlly wish the others guys would get a focus for once. i think thts again one of my things yknow. like goodnessss meeeee.... can i not hear from my little guys? sniff sniff. and- i'd talk more of it but its SO late now you must understand. wwellit is not but i have a train to catch in like 6 hours and im not ready LOL

[unfriedough]

ahem ahem ahem

i just started rewatching avatar tla (i watched it as it was passinng on nickelodeon but never saw the entire thing and paid attention, deadass on ep 4 but i dont wanna lose this idea 💀)

but i have a story prompt that in no way follows the plot 😃

zuko is permanently exiled, no hope of coming back, and he's on his own. he's wandering through a forest looking for how the f to survive, and he meets y/n, an earth bender whose small village was entirely wiped out but she escaped. she teaches him to actually relax, a kind of hakuna matata thing, and they either vibe or romantically vibe

-porygon

‘Relax!’- Zuko x female!reader

Masterlist <3

An: GOOD DAY FRIENDS. Omg i finally have something to give y'all! I’m sorry this took forever, I’ve been very lazy and unmotivated. Anyways thanks for the request bestiee <3

Sorry if I went a bit off track tho haha *cries*

Also the ending was written at like 1 am don't come at me ksgife

Summary:

Read the request <3

Warnings: sick, idk poor writing, not proof read.

Your feet danced along a tree branch, before guiding you to another. Humming, you pranced along the surrounding nature, basking in what’s left of the dwindling sunlight. Content, you sat down and watched as the sun resigned, the moon overpowering the sleepy star. Everything was perfect - until your peace was diturbed.

SNAP!

Your eyes instinctively landed on the source of the noise. A boy - looked to be rocking a horrid ponytail - angrily stomped onto a twig, before dropping to the ground, covering his face and groaning in annoyance. He huffed, before staring at the sky sadly, as gentle tears streamed down his face.

–

The next day, he awoke to a blanket coating his body - it was so cold. Confused, he rubbed his head and looked around to find a picnic basket. Crawling to it, the boy opened it to find a few earth kingdom snacks. He had just noticed he was hungry, the loud growl of his stomach alerting him. Quickly, he stuffed his face with the food, and chugged down the pure water.

The next day, he awoke to a blanket coating his body - it was so cold. Confused, he rubbed his head and looked around to find a picnic basket. Crawling to it, the boy opened it to find a few earth kingdom snacks. He had just noticed he was hungry, the loud growl of his stomach alerting him. Quickly, he stuffed his face with the food, and chugged down the pure water.

Little did he know, you were watching.

–

The next time you left him a gift, you left a coat, unfortunately, your name was on it.

When he inspected the coat, he located the tag - only to find the word “YN’S” scribbled on it with a black marker.

“Yn,” he tested the sound on his lips, humming afterwards.

Yn.

–

The night was cold as the boy laid lifelessly on the green grounds. Carefully, your shoes led you to his sleeping body, as you slowly set down a tent kit and a fishing rod. As you looked back at him, he was wide awake. He sat slowly, as you tried to retreat.

“Who are you,” he exclaimed, getting up and inching towards you.

A sheepish grin adorned your face, as you desperately tried to think of any sort of excuse.

“Well?”

Deflating, you huffed, deciding to introduce yourself.

“The names yn, nice to meet you.”

“Yn.” he turned his head to look at the coat - which he was using as a pillow, “You’ve been giving me stuff.”

“Yeah,” you said, kicking your shoes together.

He had no business making you feel so flustered.

“Thank you,” the boy said, almost inaudible.

“It’s alright, ...” tilting your head to the side, asking the question.

“O-oh, it’s Zuko.”

“Well hi Zuko, pleasure to be your acquaintance, but unfortunately, I’ve gotta split, see you!”

“Yeah…”

You walked off into the woods, and Zuko watched you as you departed, his eyes never leaving your figure.

“Yn,” the firebender mumbled.

–

And then the next night, you returned, with a few goodies to help. Once you stumbled into his campsite, his tent was set up. Setting down your snacks, you called out his name.

“Zuko,”

A few birds chirped, but no one responded.

“Zuko?”

You knocked on the green tent, and yelled something about letting yourself in. Carefully sliding the sheet open, a lifeless teenager laid - presumably unconscious. You gasped, crawling closer to feel his pulse. A sigh left your trembling lips when a beat shook your two fingers. Thankfully, that day you had brought a first aid kit. Quickly, you went outside and grabbed the pack, as well as the coat and a small bucket of water he used for laundry, before running back into the tent. You sat next to Zuko’s unconscious body and slowly brought his head to your lap. Brushing the hair off of his forehead, you placed the wet coat sleeve onto him. You noticed a bit of squirming, before his eyes shot open and he sat up rapidly - effectively slamming his head into your chin. Your head flew back as you gripped your chin, moving your jaw around to check for severe injuries.

Zuko looked around rapidly, only to find you sitting there. He curled a brow, before sneezing. He rubbed his nose afterwards, stopping when he heard a giggle.

“You have an adorable sneeze,” you laughed, covering your mouth.

The ill teenager's eyes widened, as a crimson red blush overtook his features. Inching closer to him, you stabilised his head between your two hands, then placed one of them on his forehead, feeling his temperature. He was defineitley sick.

You reached to wrap the coat around him - before remembering it was wet. You pushed him back so he was laying down, and told him you’d be right back.

–

A few minutes later, you returned with some clothes. You slid some into the tent, and told Zuko you would wait outside for him. After getting dressed, he stepped out and walked over to you.

“What in the formal is that?” you smirked, pointing at the knot at the front of the robe.

“A knot?”

“No, that’s a fire nation knot, firecracker, you need to tie an earth kingdom knot.” of course, you had some awful neighbours. These people were banished from their own homes, and decided to reside in your town after the fire nation murdered the majority of it.

You waltzed up to him, and went to unknot it, before the idea crossed your mind.

You jumped back, stuttering and apologising, whilst he just laughed.

“It’s okay, you can do it.”

Gulping, you walked back up to him and carefully unknotted the tie. Once it was loose, you tied it in a similar fashion to yours. Looking back up to his eyes, you noticed his eyes on you.

Whatever you were about to say died in your throat, no noise exiting your mouth when you opened it.

His hand cupped your cheek, and Zuko leaned in ever so slightly, eyes on your lips, before looking back into your (e/c) eyes, as if to ask the unasked question. Your reply? Crashing your lips into his. He stumbled back, barely finding his balance again, and wrapped his hands around your waist. You tugged his collar, pulling him impossible closer to you.

Eventually your lungs begged for air, causing you to finally pull away. You stared into his brown eyes, as he gazed at you longingly.

Your short admiration session was cut short when you sneezed.

“Oh my god. We’re idiots.”

And that’s how you ended up here, cuddled in your small hut, on the soft, brown sofa, fast asleep, and comfortable as ever.

–

As you got to know Zuko, your boyfriend, you realised he had troubles controlling his temper. I mean, you got where he was coming from, daddy and mommy issues? Seems like a lot huh. So you resorted to teaching him to just relax.

“Do we really have to do this?”

“Hey you said you wanted to try being nicer, this is the way.”

Huffing, he followed you out into the forests, until you found your spot. Coincidentally, that’s the spot that was the reason you both met. How romantic.

The firebender stood in the middle of the location and watched as you earthbender some rocks up around him and yourself. He quirked a brow at your behaviour, before his jaw dropped.

You punched through each and every rock, whispering something before throwing a fist.

As soon as all the rocks had fallen to the ground, you bent new ones for Zuko.

“Okay so, you whisper something that makes you mad or sad, or something, and then you punch it. As if to like, eliminate it? I don’t really know.”

“Okay, easy enough, I guess.”

He said, attempting to break a rock, only to realise he couldn’t.

Laughing, you told him to use his bending, not his strength. He wasn’t an earthbender after all.

The incognito firebender used his flames, at a low flame size, and destroyed the rocks. Feeling ten times better after each fell to the ground.

And so began a session where you would bend rocks out, then take turns cracking them until you both felt calm.

“See, I told you it would help.”

“Shut up,”

But within Zuko’s head, it wasn’t the rocks, or the punching that helped. It was you. The way you looked at him like he was the only person in the world, after any small accomplishment - like just breaking a damn rock!

And to you, he was.

Maybe that’s why you ran away from the town with him, joining the avatar (and co) to defeat Zuko’s dad.

Or maybe he was just kinda cute.

Yeah, probably the latter.

An: DID THAT ENDING MAKE SENSE? NO. AM I GOING TO FIX IT. IDK.

Side note, I know some of yall (including myself LMAOO) are taller than Zuko (he’s 5’4), personally I just imagine he’s taller, but if you want to be taller that’s cool too. Wait I got off track - at some point I said ‘looking back up to his eyes’ and I’d just like to clear up that that’s because she was looking down at the knot.

Anyways - as always, hope you enjoyed this story, SEE YA! <3

[saintobio]

SY YN is gonna be my favorite yn of all fics I’ve read. Her character is complex. She’s very human and very relatable. She’s weak and strong at the same time. She’s proof that a kind and generous person is also capable in doing foolish mistakes yet brave enough to own them. There are only two things I see she made a mistake is first, she didn’t divorce Gojo immediately after finding out Sera and continuosly hoping for Gojo to love her at the end and second, her hiding Sachiro and faking the abortion. That’s it. Can’t understand the hate to yn and would like her to end with Toji cause that’s what she deserves. I am really disappointed with Utahime. But knowing yn, she’s definitely hurt because she feels like, Utahime chose Gojo over her, their friendship isn’t that much value for Utahime to disrespect and betray her like that no matter what Gojo and yn’s status is. Of course Gojo has a fair share of it too. He’s always the same, he always do what what he think isn’t right but still do it anyway. Always delaying in communicating things. I need to calm my nerves. Geez

Anonymous said

the previous ask about yn calling gojo her husband yn baby i really love u pls pls pls just get over gojo properly saint can u write me in as yn's bff I CAN FIX HER i can be her bestest friend in the whole word her therapist her maid her girlfriend her platonic soulmate whatever it is she NEEDS a proper support system that can steer her on a better path and not be associated with gojo, aside from her own family and toji. im taking back what i said about gojohime happening being painful, what's more painful is yn being this way. i hate how almost no one sees how she's literally coping terribly with everything and i also hate how she's refusing to get help from someone she knows or a therapist... it seems like she's giving up on life and sachiro is literally her only lifeline. i hate seeing her as a mess rn and for the future chapters of sy... saint i'll beg on my knees for yn's happiness and sanity 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽 plsplsplspls my god this fic is always making me cry because i feel so sad for yn and in a way, im always in her position to feel that no one is on my side, everyone is against me and just kept on bottling my feelings till it explode later on :"))))) i wasn't fond of reading jjk self-insert fics but i came across sn and fell in love with yn's character. from the start of sn till now, im always on her side (though i do criticise her for some of actions because im aware that she do make mistakes) and yn is literally one of my four comfort characters in life aaaah she's the only reason why im willing to put myself in misery (from the fic) again and again im so sad

Anonymous said

I will always be on yn’s side, like wtf no one but her and sachi should have a happy ending, like I really hope Gojo’s relationship with uta crumbles, he needs to grow and learn on his own and not get his dick wet with every woman that gives him attention 🙄

Anonymous said

Saint, im gonna be completely honest. I dont think I can read chapter 8 🥲 and why do I imagine yn getting a literal broken heart medical diagnosis after all this ends. I dont think I can hold on to gojoyn endgame SY7 is so painful I have puffy eyes for the past couple of hours now. i dont think I can go on anymore (tho of this is a lie bc I have you on my notifications and I just wanna hurt someone) I just want yn to have eternal rest and see her mom. I have mixed emotions bc omg idk, i just dont know. Your heavy angst is godtier writing that I literally have no idea what to feel but cryh the fuck out of my tear glands. I just hope we can all get through this (especially yn, poor girl)

Anonymous said

i knew people were going to question why yn broke down after finding out about satoru and utahime. okay… as someone who experienced having a close friend and an ex suddenly getting together… it’s different if it’s someone you know and trust. i know she told satoru to move on, but of course, she never told him to move on WITH MY BEST FRIEND. i also read someone say before that toji and satoru aren’t even friends but utahime and yn are… and not only friends but BEST FRIENDS. so before anyone compares it, IT’S DIFFERENT. give yn a break… y’all have been invalidating her feelings ever since sn. 💀

Anonymous said

I don't think yn feeling betrayed when utahime and satoru got together is invalid at all, I mean if my best friend got together with my ex husband who is also my baby daddy, I too would feel betrayed. Especially with all this drama is going on, the least she could have done is wait for satoru and yn to sort out their feelings and then try her turn with satoru.

Anonymous said

This chapter hurt so bad. Y/n definitely has every reason to be sad or hurt. There’s a difference between dating ur exes rival than sleeping with your exes best friend in my opinion. Utahime’s loyalty lies with Yn. In which she just broke by sleeping w her ex husband knowing all the damage he caused her (vise versa). Toji doesn’t owe gojo any loyalty so in my lil head it’s different . IM SO MAD FOR YN SHE HANDLED THAT BETTER THAN ME LMAOAOOAOAOAOA I would’ve been throwing hands cuz wtf.

Good chapter as always saint 🥲 you always know how to pull at my heart strings .

Anonymous said

ofc yn doesn’t own utahime or gojo and they can do whatever they want, but friendship requires loyalty too and imo, that means not hooking up with an ex on an ongoing basis and hiding it. i don’t think it’s fair to expect yn to keep being friends with utahime after that, especially considering yn said she wanted to get rid of anything that reminded her of gojo and move on. yn in the story is definitely a better person than i am lmao if i was in that situation i doubt i would care about him breaking utahimes heart.

also, just something i was wondering!! utahime mentions she’s falling in love with gojo — how long have they known each other at this point, and are her feelings more infatuation/wanting to fix him than actual love? sorry if you already answered this somewhere and i missed it.

yn is very emotionally flawed, we can’t deny that. she also makes questionable decisions, but her character is just innately unselfish that you feel bad for her sometimes 🥲 at least that’s how i feel when i have to write her pov i’m always like “damn, it’s ok girl you got this”. anyways, still so glad to see yn defenders in the ask box!! :)))

*edited bc i forgot to answer the last question. for a couple of months now, like 4-5? it’s not actual love. just infatuation and “i can’t stop thinking abt you” type of admiration

[chaninfused]

I . literally don’t know where to start oh my god.

before I start rambling under the cut: IF YOURE READING THIS GO AND READ EVENING STAR I BESEECH THEE 🗣

ok OK you know how excited I’ve been for a new installment of es and let me tell you- IT DID NOT DISAPPOINT !! like when I woke up yesterday and saw the post about posting part two I SHRIEKED (silently) I will forever lose my mind over this series there’s nothing you can do about it 😌

anyway time for real feedback let me just say. Kat. I am OBSESSED with your writing like you don’t understand. I am obsessed. And this fic reminded me of that cus omg !! YOUR STYLE NEVER MISSES 🗣 from the very start like the way you described mc waking up. the disorientation the confusion the panic it’s just so scrumptious 😙👌🏻 I was truly so engrossed in reading and that was evident in my STRESS omg I wanted to physically reach in and grab those two and just SPRINT out of there 💆🏻‍♀️ it was truly getting serious.

The suspense !! mc running through the forest and then reuniting w chan !! it was all just written so beautifully <3 and oh my goodness that part where chan finds mc in her room ✋🏻 I was stressed as HELL but im glad it all went well in the end sdhjksld I said this in my feedback for pt 1 and I must say this again—reading this felt like watching a movie. Perhaps the bg music played into it but I know that it was all thanks to the way you went about writing those scenes. You paid so much attention to detail and it shows cus every sentence was crafted so beautifully. There’s a certain flow ?? dynamic ?? to your words that just pulls the reader’s mind through the scene it’s like seeing something through a camera. I’m trying to say that your camerawork is excellent ig 👁 LMFAO SDHJFKSLDFS

There was this line, “stories of heroes could be immortalised by ink and tongue, but things like safety were only temporary” that I just really really liked. Nothing particular I just think it’s nice so i’m drawing attention to it 😌

Speaking of lines I also liked this part “No; Chan wouldn’t just be pointing fingers - he’d be pointing a sword at whoever’s name you let slip” cus it’s 1) funny 2) clever 3) sums up chan’s character pretty nicely GHFSDJKLSD

I must say minho’s first line is the most iconic tho I IMMEDIATELY knew he was gonna be my favorite character and I know I’ll suffer because of it 😔✋🏻 but that’s okay everything for mister snarky mage

Pardon the incoming minho rant btw I JUST REALLY LIKE HIS CHARACTER DGHFJKSD 😭 him helping mc from a distance and then his introduction—just immediately threatening the One Guy With A Sword. Absolutely a moment for the history books I must say. Also his backstory ?? whatever history he has with mc ?? I am utterly and absolutely shaking with curiosity I need to know 1) what happened 2) WHO LEFT HIM SO HURT 🔪

I may have been all heart eyes over knight chan but it seems that my agenda has changed 😔 as it often does when minho appears.

ALSO WTSFDFGSDHGSDJ I NEARLY FORGOR

HYUNJIN ????????????????????????????????????????????????/ HYUNJIN I KNEW IT TJHKDFSHDJFKSLD;KDSJGHSJDK he was suspicious from the very start smh I can’t defend you for this one bestie 😔 I say this fully knowing I’ll be over here kicking my legs if he shows up again it’s just the hyunjin stan in me I cannot stop her she’s embarrassing ✋🏻

Oh also I said something that I want to elaborate on/clarify further—that the way you described minho shows the familiarity shared between him and mc ☝🏻 this could just be the overthinker in me but like you focused on how his features had changed and matured rather than introducing them (if that makes sense 💀) so like, as readers, we got a general description of him, but then this focus nicely depicted the relationship he and mc have. They haven’t seen each other in years but still he’s familiar yk familiar enough that mc would notice the growth in him after so long- IDK IF ANY OF THIS MAKES SENSE BUT I JUST WANTED TO EXPLAIN CUS !!!! YOUR WRITING WAS WONDERFUL OKAY 😤

Anyway idk what else to say cus my brain is just a big ol’ keyboard smash atm 😔 im so excited for what comes next (MORE MAGE MINHO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and now I honestly feel inspired to go revisit my wips and finish writing so sdfhgjsdf thank you :P

This was overall an amazing wonderful exciting installment of the series thank you for blessing us, kat 🤲🏻🤍

☾⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: evening star ; two *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

⋆*･ﾟ story preview. ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:

pairing(s): knight!chan x princess!reader, mage!minho x princess!reader featuring: prince!hyunjin and others. story summary: you were soon to be married to a well liked and nobel prince from one of the wealthiest kingdoms. however, when the engagement ball takes a turn for the worst, you’re to try and reclaim your kingdom with the help of your knight and best friend chan, as well as the mage who you have a secret history with.

⋆*･ﾟ part two ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:

wordcount: 13.9k chapter warnings: blades, mild violence, some injuries note that these warnings are specific to this chapter. if you read something you think should be tagged, please send me a message/ask. a/n: hihi! sorry for the long wait but she's here!! i did have to repost this for reasons which i won't get into, but anyhow. happy reading! taglist: @kpop--etc / @freckled-felixlee / @foivetimesacharm / @tremendousminyoongi / @wearethethunderousones / @chrisishungry100397 / @freckledquokka / @starrylino / @soulssung / @scarsnfevers / @sahazzy / @djeniryuu // unable to tag some :(( --- m.list | one | two | tbc...

It's cold.

That's all you can seem to think about as you slowly come to, the heaviness in your head tempting you to keep your eyes shut. Your ears are ringing dully, and your limbs feel heavy, the way they had years ago when you had first tried to swing Chan’s sword.

The memory blurs in your brain as you try to push yourself up. Your shoulder is killing you - you must have fallen asleep with your arm at a strange angle, but for how long? How long had you been on the staircase for your shoulder to hurt like this? There was nothing to indicate the passage of time that had passed, though the moon was viewable through a small cutout in the staircase. It shown down through the gap, cold moonlight casting an eerie blue glow over you

Deep breath in, deep breath out. Repeat.

As the ringing in your ears start to die down, an unsettling feeling overcomes you. It was quiet. Too quiet. There were no footsteps, no distant chatter or sounds of the quartet playing. There didn’t even seem to be any nightlife - the sounds of crickets and owls that you were positive almost always accompanied the night were no where to be heard. Had it always been this quiet?

As if the world was desperate to prove you wrong, the sound of clattering footsteps makes its way to your ears from below. There was the familiar footfall of the palace servants - more rushed and skitterish than normal, but the sound of their shoes on stone was one you had grown up with.

And then there’s the heavy sound of boots, creating a dull thud with every step.

“To the ballroom! Now!”

It was an unfamiliar, gravelly voice - none of the guards you knew sounded like that. None of them sounded that demanding. As the steps come nearer, you can make out panicked whispers and muffled crying.

Pushing yourself up, forcing your weak legs to hold you up, you scramble up the staircase, away from the noise. With each forced movement, whatever power had fatigued you seems to wash away.

Some part of you - the part that had grown up on adventure stories and fairy tails of princes saving princesses - wanted to run down and help whoever was crying. But you knew that wasn’t the smartest of ideas - and the castle staff, knowing their kind hearts, would tearfully scold you for putting yourself in danger for them.

The sound of your shoes on the stone stairs reverberates in your ear. Kicking them off, you continue barefooted up the staircase.

It was a good idea - not only were your steps quieter, but the cold floor beneath you was grounding. It shocked the drowsiness out of your system, heightened your senses.

And thank god for that, fpr had you continued on with your shoes, you may not have noticed the voices from the second floor until it was too late.

“Find her! She can’t have disappeared into thin air!”

Were they talking about you? So whatever had happened had been to target you?

The thought makes your blood run cold, a sudden wave of dizziness hitting you. To your knowledge, you had never been made the sole target for anything, and all the drills and procedures that you had been taught- they all revolved around someone escorting you away, someone protecting you.

But right now? You were alone, unsure who the enemy was and had no way to contact the only person you trusted. You didn’t even know where he was.

Your mind jumps to your mother - where was she? Was she alright? The last time you had seen her, she’d been in the ballroom. There had been plenty of guards in the ballroom. Hopefully, she was alright.

“Have you checked her room?” A new voice - familiar, but not enough that you can put a face to it in your panic.

“Yes, sir. She isn’t there.”

You wait, holding your breath and pushing yourself flat against the curved wall of the staircase as you wait for the men to move away - anywhere but down the staircase. It seemed an eternity before the one in charge replies.

“Fine. Go find some men and comb through the forest. If she somehow escaped, she can’t have gone far. Not in heels and a ball gown.”

“Yes, sir!”

Hearing their footsteps fade, you take the last few steps up to the top. To leave the temporary sanctuary offered by the darkness of the staircase seems like leaving the only safe haven you know, but you also know that almost nothing was ever permanent - stories of heroes could be immortalised by ink and tongue, but things like safety were only temporary.

Your bare feet pad across the cold floor, the lack of echo each time your feet hit the ground alien to you.

It was tiring and absolutely terrifying to look over your shoulder every few steps - what if, in that split second, someone appears in front of you? Or what if you look back, and someone is there? You weren't sure who the men were, who they worked for (if anyone at all), nor were you sure what they wanted.

Despite there having been men above and below the staircase, you manage to make your way down the hall without being spotted. When the door to your bedroom finally comes into view, the adrenaline increases in your veins - this was it, this was the last sprint. As soon as you're in, you can lock the door and then figure out your next move.

Taking a deep breath, you set off on a run to the door, feet falling hard against the ground.

Just as you reach the door, the sound of footsteps from down the hall reach you. You start fumbling the door handle, hands suddenly uncooperative and breath erratic and heart beating in your ears and the footsteps are speeding up, getting closer, closer, closer-

The door opens, and you barely manage to push it shut behind you as you stumble in. Spinning around, you throw yourself back against it, fingers struggling to lock the door based off of muscle memory.

You can hear the lock slide home, the click calming your nerves ever so slightly.

Finally, you were safe once again, your room providing temporary solace. And familiar, it could have been, had your room not look like it'd been torn apart.

The blankets on your bed had been pulled off, and the wardrobe doors thrown open. Closet doors had also been opened, and you could see the gaps in your clothes where someone had pushed them apart. And at the center of your room - the flowers you had been gifted earlier in the day, spilling over the edge of the table, the vase knocked over.

Whoever had come looking for you had really looked through everything, you thought, face warming despite all. But it should be the last thing on your mind, you chide yourself. There were more important matters at stake - like your life, and whatever on earth was going on.

Running to your open wardrobe, you rummage through the mess that had been left behind for something to change into, grabbing at the darkest thing you could find - a dark, velvet dress. You quickly undress, letting the stained tulle gown fall and bunch around your feet. Stepping out and kicking it aside ungracefully, you struggle to pull the velvet dress on while simultaneously digging around for something that wasn’t heels - it takes longer than you had thought to locate some riding boots. You crouch down, pulling at the laces.

How long would it be before someone was going to return to check your room? If you were still here, what would happen? Could you fight them off by yourself? ...No, probably not. You might be able to fling a few measly knives, but you had never been in combat of nay kind. If anyone returned, if anyone found you, you’d be helpless.

And then what? Would they take you to the ballroom, where it seemed they were gathering everyone, or would they lock you in the dungeon? Or would they ki-

Like a deer who had heard a twig snap, your body freezes when you hear your door rattle. Every joint in your body feels like it’s been locked in place, and your breath unable to leave your lungs. Had you overthought this all and imagined up the door rattling? Or was someone really outside, trying to get in?

It rattles again, a catalyst for movement as you crawl to your bed - an unsightly scene for a royal, but you couldn’t care less - and reach under the bedskirts. Your hand grasps at nothing until finally your fingers wrap around the string of the drawstring bag you had handed Chan earlier that morning. Pulling it out, you could hear the metal daggers sliding against one another, the harshness of the sound amplified against the stone even through the fabric of the bag.

Click.

Your breath is caught in your throat, trying so hard to force its way out that you feel like you’re about to puke. The drawstring bag seems to be stitched shut, your fingers prying helplessly at the string and the material.

Over your raging heart, you can hear the door shut softly.

Someone was in your room.

Hands shaking and sweating, you finally manage to tug the bag open, and you pull it wide, not caring for what noise it made - if someone was in your room, they were bound to find you anyways - and you reach inside, hands sliding against cold metal that sends shocks up your your arm.

Like some twisted nightmare, all you can see is a pair of black boots before you feel yourself being pushed over onto your back, the stranger putting his weight onto you and pinning your hands above your head with one hand, the other covering your mouth.

Eyes squeezed shut, you thrash around, kicking and twisting, yells muffled despite all your effort. The grip around your wrist was secure, preventing you from even twisting your hand around and nicking the person’s hand with the small dagger you had tried to hard to retrieve.

“Shut- Shut up, y/n, it’s me-”

Your body stills at the all too familiar voice. Eyes snapping open, You find Chan leaning over you, face flushed and eyes wide. He was panting, as if overpowering you had taken all the strength from him.

He releases your wrists, bringing a finger to his lips. Be quiet.

When you nod in response, he lifts his other hand from your mouth.

Without another thought in mind, you reach up and pull him down on top of you, hugging him tight despite your shaking limbs and burying your face into his shoulder. He smelled of the forest at night, the smell of earth and wood mixing with sweat and Chan.

“Chan, I thought you were someone else-”

Your breath rushes out, words barely squeezing past the sob in your throat.

Seeing Chan’s face made you want to cry; you wanted to be held, to be cradled in his arms and have him whisper words of comfort in your ear, for him to stroke your hair and tell you hey, everything’s alright, this is all just a bad nightmare and you’ll wake up soon.

He does stroke your hair - you feel his hand come under you, holding your head to the crook of his neck. He pats your head, hand running over your hair rhythmically until the adrenaline in your veins dissipates.

The smell of forest and night and Chan, the feeling of fabric between your nails and your palm, the sensation of being held by someone safe - it grounded you, each rattling breath shaking out the fear from your mind.

Slowly, your hands open and release his shirt. Even with your arms loose around his torso, Chan continues to hold you, and then you feel it, adrenaline leaving the room for your senses to recover.

His arms around you are strong - you’ve always known that he was strong - but they’re tense, as if he was restraining himself from holding you any tighter than he already was. You can hear his breaths, forcibly steady and controlled, and his hands are shaking against your hair as he calms you down, leaving an onlooker to wonder who it really was that needed the comfort.

He gulps, and you think he’s about to say something, but he pulls back. Still on top of you, he looks down, his bangs hanging and brushing against your forehead. He seems to be scanning your eyes, your face, for something that you couldn’t quite figure out. Injuries, perhaps? Or was he trying to see if you were still scared?

With each passing second, you can see his eyes soften. Simply looking at you, it seems, was enough to ground Chan.

“Did- Did you lock the door?” you break the silence after a while, and Chan blinks rapidly.

As if suddenly remembering that he was straddling your hips and leaning over you, he throws himself to the side, rolling into a kneeling position. He nods minutely, glancing across the room to the door. Though it stands silently, though you can't help noticing the feeling of impending doom it seems to radiate.

You push yourself up from the floor, retrieving the dagger you had discarded upon recognising Chan. The metal is unnervingly cold against the palm of your hand, and you quickly drop it back into the bag.

"What happened?"

Chan is across the room, peering out one of the two windows in your room. His eyes flick to you, and quickly back out the window when he catches you staring at him.

You shake your head, still trying to piece it all together yourself. "I don't- I don't know. I was going back to my room-"

"Why?"

"To change my dress - There was an accident-"

"Accident?"

"Yes, I knocked into someone- No, they knocked into me- Oh, I can't remember, but my dress got stained, so I was told to go back to my room and wait for a new dress. I was- I was on my way to my room, and then everything started getting all... weird, and it was like the castle was moving - I couldn’t - I couldn’t walk fast enough, and I was scared, and the torches kept moving and-" It was all mixed up in your brain. You could picture it all happening, could see yourself talking to the maid, could see the hallway, the fire and dancing shadows on the wall-

"Breathe, your highness. You're safe right now. I'm here." Chan had, at some point, made his way over to you. He had his hands on your shoulder, his thumbs rubbing circles into your skin. "Now, have you been in your room all this time?"

“I-” shuddering breath in, shuddering breath out. “No. I only made it to the stairs before I... before I fell asleep.”

Once you had calmed down, Chan starts the questioning. What do you remember seeing? How long were you asleep? What did you hear? You had expected this to happen, and tried to recall all the details.

The story, though short, slowly unravels, and Chan shares his side too. He had been making his rounds, ensuring everyone was stationed where they were supposed to be when he noticed the change in the atmosphere - everything had gone quiet. He’d found one of his men on the ground - unwounded, but asleep, and Chan couldn’t wake him up. He would have kept trying, but then he saw the group of men approaching the castle.

“There were too many for me to try and beat. And I didn’t know how many more there were, and it was just- there were too many risks.” Chan had regret painted all over his face. You knew how much it must have hurt him to walk past his men, all on the ground, and be able to do nothing to help them. “But they said it had worked. And I don’t know what it is, but from the looks of it...”

“Magic.”

The word hangs in the air, a dark cloud that could bring anything from a light shower to a thunderous storm. No one really knew what the nature of magic was - after so many years of separation between the magical and non-magical, there was little interest in educating the non-magic folk of what magic really was. Magic was wild, something you nor Chan could fully comprehend.

“What I don’t understand,” Chan starts, pacing around the room, “Is why you were the only one who woke up. I mean - I assume I was outside of the spell’s perimeter, but you, your highness... Everyone was asleep, when I made my way here. No matter how hard I tried to wake them, no one would open their eyes. They were all breathing, though.” A reassurance, for himself or for you, no one knows.

You had an idea about why you were awake. A voice, a memory, a boy from long ago. You were sure he was connected to this somehow, that he had somehow tried to protect you - he had told you to run, had he not? That had to have been his voice.

But you knew that mentioning him to Chan right now wouldn’t be the best of ideas. Chan - always protecting you, always ready to cut down anything that could be a risk to you - was already sure magic was the root of whatever trouble you were now in, and to tell him that the reason you woke up was most likely because of someone’s magic?

No; Chan wouldn’t just be pointing fingers - he’d be pointing a sword at whoever’s name you let slip.

So instead, you shake your head. “But what now? We can’t stay here and wait the spell out,” you reason. “Besides, I heard the men moving everyone to the ballroom. We- We can’t even stay here.”

The realisation settles in your mind, a cold blanket that seemed to freeze you in place.

You had… never spent a night outside of the castle before. Chan had, of course, but he had been out with people who were able to protect themselves, able to take care of themselves.

But what were you, if not a princess who had grown up sheltered by the castle? And sure, you theoretically knew your way around a blade, but you could barely do more than hit within two meters of your target.

"...And I know we don't have time, but we'll figure this out, okay?"

You would be nothing more than a burden on Chan; extra baggage that he had to carry and take care of, whether he wanted to or not.

"I won't let anything bad happen to you or our kingdom. I promise."

Sometimes, you simply wished for a life free of the responsibilities you and Chan had.

"Your highness?"

It was hard to shake the thoughts from your head, though you tried - too much was at stake right now for you to get lost in your own shortcomings.

"Y/n," comes Chan's voice, closer and softer than it had been a moment ago, drawing you away from all the possibilities of the past, present and future. "I know this is overwhelming, but I need you here with me, okay?"

He raises a hand, palm cupping your cheek and thumb swiping under your eye - had you been crying? You hadn't even realised.

"I'm here," you tell him, and despite your voice betraying you, you really were present. Wiping away at your tears, you take a deep breath. "I'm here," you say again, more confidently this time.

"Good. Now,” Chan takes a breath that seems to rattle his body as much as you felt rattled. “Go grab that dagger from above your bed."

It takes a moment for your feet to move; once they do, it was like everything was being sped up.

You had to get up on the bed to reach the dagger. You go to step on your pillows, almost falling as they move under your weight, and kick them out of the way. They fall onto the floor with light thumps, and you reach up for the dagger.

“What about the prince?” You ask as you unhitch the blade from where it was mounted. The light catches on the star etched at the hilt, flashing as you move off the bed and back to Chan. “Him and his men aren’t familiar enough with the castle to-”

“With all due respect, my only responsibility right now is you,” Chan replies. He isn’t cold or dismissive, but his tone tells you he wasn’t going to compromise your safety for anyone else. “There are too many unknowns right now for us to try and find him.”

He’s standing by your window, peering out of it from the side. You sneak a glance out, curious as to what he was watching.

Nothing. He was watching nothing.

All was still outside your window, which overlooked the back of the castle. The forest was dimly lit by the moon, though you could see the shadow of clouds inching closer and closer. The only thing that seemed to move - even the trees seemed like they were still, unmoving against the wind that moved the clouds.

“Are we… Are we going?”

He nods silently, solemnly, before turning on his heels with what seems to you like newfound determination. Had he been thinking all this time? Trying to come up with a plan?

Well, you’d probably know had you not been so caught up in your thoughts before.

“Now listen, your highness.” Chan is busy rummaging through your bag of knives as he talks. “It’s just the two of us, so I should be able to fight should anyone come at us. But in the case that someone gets to you, you use the dagger, all right? And if you don’t have your dagger, use your body. Fists, elbows, knees. Connect with the throat, with the eyes. You might not be strong enough to faze an armoured person with a hit to the torso."

You nod, repeating the words in your head. Dagger, fists and elbows, throat and eyes.

“These will be too loud if we’re to carry them around, and we don’t have any harnesses on us.” He balls the bag up, sliding it and the daggers across the floor and back under your bed. He turns to you next, hands on your shoulders and looking into your eyes with a fierceness that almost shakes you. “If we get separated, you run into the forest, okay? You aim for the forest, and get as far in as you can. I’ll find you.”

Brows furrowing, you shake your head. “You- You say that like I’d leave you behind.”

“You have to, if I get caught- If I’m fighting someone. If you have the chance to run, you run, okay?”

You continue to stare at him, at Chan, who had been by your side all your life, who was asking you to leave him behind if the situation called for it.

“Promise me, your highness. If I tell you to go, you go, okay?”

He’s looking at you with such seriousness, with so much will and determination and need for you to to promise. And, were you to look closer, look longer, you’d see the fear in his eyes.

What was it that he knew, that he had thought about that you hadn’t quite comprehended about the situation yet? Surely it wasn’t so bad that Chan would have to… sacrifice himself, right?

“Y/n, I need to know you’ll be safe if I-”

“I promise.” The words manage their way up and out your mouth, leaving a vile taste behind. It was both a truth, and a lie. I promise I’ll be safe. I won’t leave you behind.

—

The plan had seemed simple when Chan had talked you through it, and perhaps it was naive of you to take his words at face value. You definitely thought so now, as you almost run into Chan for the third time as he stops abruptly at a corner.

Ahead, you can hear the sounds of voices - not hushed, but far enough that you can't make out any of the words. They slowly grow louder, louder, footsteps drowing out the words, and then all the sounds fade out all together.

“Okay, let's go.”

After a moment of silence, Chan moves again. You follow closely behind, glancing back every few seconds to make sure that no one had walked around the corner.

You were near a staircase, you knew. Another small spiraling one, not unlike the one you had fallen asleep upon.

Chan stops before the entrance. He pokes his head in, cocks his head slightly to the side - you wait, heart beating in your ears until Chan gives the all clear.

The pair of you descend the stairs, the cold entrapped in the small, stone-walled space sending shivers down your spines. You spare but the smallest thought to curse yourself silently for forgetting to bring coats - but this wasn’t a planned outing, really. Who had the luxury of time to remember coats?

As yellow torchlight can be seen reflected on the walls of the staircase, Chan turns his head to speak to you in a hushed voice.

“Once we exit the staircase, we’ll head straight for the back door. Once outside, head straight for the forest. If we get separated, meet near the clearing where you practice-”

Chan disappears from your sight, thrown to the left with a grunt of pain.

“Chan!”

You quickly descend the last few steps, turning to find Chan on the floor, an arm over his head protectively. As you go to take a step towards him, mind gone in your panic to see if he’s alright, your feet leave the ground.

“Let- Let go of me!”

The person behind you has a hand around each wrist, pushing your arms against your chest as they lift you off your feet. You’re kicking and yelling, the dagger in your hand useless with what little range of motion you have.

As if you were but a pillow, the person - a man, you guessed, from the grunts in your ear and the thick, muscular arms around you, - carries you over closer to Chan.

“It wouldn’t do his highness any good to leave someone so devoted to the princess alive-”

You freeze as dread feels your veins, your mind, every part of your body, filling you in a way that seemed to offset your balance.

His highness? He couldn’t mean- no-

The man moves you to the side, jerking motion pulling a cry from you. He pulls his leg back, prepares to kick Chan. You shut your eyes tight as you can, turning your head away - to see Chan in pain right now, to see him be hurt, would crush your spirit.

“Don’t worry, some of your buddies will be joining you soon,” the man says, before bringing his leg forward and-

A sharp curse is yelled into your ear before you feel yourself fall, eyes staying shut until you feel the body behind - no, beneath you, make impact with the ground.

The man’s arms loosen around you just enough for you to pull an arm free. The dagger, held so tight in your hand that you feel like it’s hilt would be imprinted into your palm, swings behind you blindly. There’s a shout of pain before the tip skids along the stone ground.

Whatever damage you had done was enough of a surprise for the man to release you.

You roll off of him, being sure to keep the blade of the dagger away from you, and scramble to your feet. Eyes wide, you take in the scene before you.

Chan, still on the ground, was pulling the man towards him by the foot; had he stayed on the floor on purpose to pull the perpetrator down with him?

“Chan-”

“Go, y/n!

You stare in horror as the man, getting dragged slowly but surely towards Chan, starts to come back to his senses and recover from the initial shock of the fall. Chan, while not lacking in the muscle department, looked like he would be done for if he took another few hits.

And yet he wanted you to leave him.

It was his job, you knew, but still-

“I’ll be right behind you! Just go!” Chan yells, half frantic and half commanding, eyes jumping haphazardly between you and the slowly awakening man. “You promised!”

You had, and yet you had also promised yourself you wouldn’t abandon him. But what use were you if you stayed?

Chan wouldn’t be able to use his sword, not at that close a distance. You knew enough about battle to know that. So you do the only thing you can for him in that moment.

“Here!”

Before Chan could even look at you, you slide the dagger in your hand towards him, hilt first. It glides across the ground, metal against stone filling your ears, and as it passes the man, a brief image of him grabbing it and diving forward at Chan flashes in your mind.

But he doesn’t grab for it, and the dagger comes to a stop at Chan’s knees. He looks at it in shock, confusion, then back at you and nods.

Now, go, his eyes seem to say.

A strange calmness had settled in Chan’s face, as if he had come to some final decision, had accepted something.

A pit of newfound discomfort makes its home in your stomach, but you do, this time. You go slowly at first, one step back, two, and then you turn your back and run.

You can hear grunts and yells as you run away from Chan and the other man. You can hear him yelling to let anyone nearby know that the princess was getting away, but you don’t turn back to see if anyone’s following you. Part of you feared you would lose your footing if you did, the harsh sounds of your running steps a driver to keep you going, and the other feared the potential scene you had left behind.

It was awfully difficult to run in the velvet dress. Though no where near the heaviest dress you had worn, the way the skirt’s layers moved against your legs seemed to act like a barrier. You fought on, pulling it up to free your ankles of the resistance. The echoes of your steps fill your ears, heart beating against your chest, in your ears, as the wooden door you had come through this morning finally becomes visible. As if in response to your near success, you can hear the sounds of more men coming - the clunking of armour, of swords being unsheathed, of incoherent orders being yelled.

You push the door, the velvet of the dress catching on the old wooden door; though reinforced with iron bars, the door itself had stood sturdy for as long as you can remember, and though well maintained, time had brought forth a few chips. It stood strong, even now, and your face scrunches up in effort - had it always been this heavy? - until finally, finally it groans open.

Cold night air slips through the gap, drying your eyes and piercing your already pained lungs further. You step out, one foot, then the other, and the door slams shut behind you.

The vast silence that greets you is deafening.

Despite the breeze that had slipped through the door, the air was still. Lack of wind didn’t make you any less cold, and you feel a shiver run through your body as you scan the horizon.

The forest behind the castle seemed frozen in place, and had it not been for the eerie way the clouds floated above the trees, you’d have no trouble believing someone had stopped time in its place.

Draped in the blues and purples of night, the stone stairs that lead down the east side of the castle and to the stream that separated the castle grounds from the forest looked colder than ever. You had fallen on them once when you were younger, the cold biting into your palms when you had gone to brace yourself. To fall again now might mean more than just scratched up hands and knees.

You hands fist at your sides when you feel the unnerving thoughts fill your mind. Into the forest, Chan had said. As far in as you can go, and he’ll find you.

He’ll find you. He would always find you, unless-

You take a deep, bone-rattling breath in and let the pain of cold air in your nose ground you. Pulling your skirts up once more, you make your way down the stairs.

Steady but fast, you descend the stairs. Each step reverberates through your body, the sound of your own breathing in your ears.

You didn’t dare to concentrate on anything other than placing one foot before the other and not missing a step - a tumble would be detrimental to everything, would put you at risk, would make Chan’s sac- would mean that Chan had stayed behind to fight for nothing.

Your boots make contact with grass, the soft surface of the new ground unsettling to your legs. One step, two, a glance behind. The door stood dark and unmoving - had the men not seen you leave it, or were they occupied elsewhere?

It mattered not - you take a deep gulp, cold air filling your throat, your lungs, before you start running towards the stream. Just past there, and you would be at the forest. While you had yet to explore the entire forest, you knew most of it, and you were certain that at the very least, you knew it better than the men who were attacking the castle.

The men who were attacking the castle… His highness, the man had said.

You were in denial, you knew, but there was only one person that you were aware of that held that title.

Your throat seemed to close up at the thought - the prince had been nothing but kind to you and your servants, had done nothing but try to get to know your land better… and it all could have been an act.

Yet some part of you wanted to believe he was better than that - better than someone who acted kind and gentle, who spoke fondly of their men, their friends, just to sympathise and get on your good side. But he had said it himself, no? That with the lives of their people in their hands, there are things that royals need to sacrifice?

The maelstrom of thoughts is pushed from your head when your feet meet new ground once again. The stream is shallow and unmoving, and yet dragging your feet through the water seemed to require a great deal more energy than ever before. It’s cold, the width from one side to the other large enough that despite your boots, your feet seem numb by the time you reach the other side. Your skirt, though you had held it as high as you could manage, had been caught by the river in the crossing and now seemed to drag behind you as you trudge through the last stretch of land to the forest.

And just in time.

Shouts from the castle reach your ears as you step between the trees, and you turn to see silhouettes of men, flames from their torches lighting up the sides of their face. Too far away for you to make out if the three of them were your men or not, yet close enough that they could see you should they descend the stairs.

So you push aside the small slimmer of hope that these were Chan’s men and scurry into the forest.

It was dark, twigs and leaves on the ground catching on your dress as you make your way in, and yet you found an odd comfort in the shadows of the trees. If the people chasing you were in fact from another land - you refused to even think that they might be your people - then being in the forest that you had explored since you were young would, theoretically, put you at an advantage. You might not know the entire forest inside and out, but you knew it well enough that you were confident you would be able to evade the pursuers.

At first, you follow the path you normally take when you go off in the early mornings to practice your knife throwing. Down between the two trees, perfectly lined up with each other, past the boulder that Chan had once chased you around - Chan- no, don’t get distracted - and down the steady slope, the well-trekked path obvious for it lacked foliage and branches in the way.

It was obvious.

So without a second thought, you turn to your right and dash madly in between the trees, losing yourself in their shadows.

No one had really ever travelled off the path, especially not this close to the castle grounds. The ground was far more uneven than the path before, sticks catching on your skirt, hitting the leather of your riding boots - you could feel the small thumps. Even your sleeves, though not wide, caught on the lower branches as you tried to push them out of the way. There was little to light your path but whatever moonlight managed to slip past the trees, highlighting the odd patch of forest ground. Leaves and rocks, roots and fallen branches. You tried to avoid what you could, tried your best to keep your footing, but it wasn’t long before you tripped.

Hands met the ground and a jarring pain shoots up your left arm. You try to stop the cry of pain from escaping your lips, your mouth opening in pained silence as your left hand gives way and you fall onto your side.

The ground is rough through the velvet of the dress, rocks digging into your shoulder as you cradle your arm to your chest. You give yourself only a second, two, to collect yourself. Your wrist hurt, the initial sharp pain dulling down to a strong throb that made you feel like your veins were about to burst with each pulse.

You push yourself up, forcing your legs to carry you further across the forest.

It feels an age before you finally come to a stop, hand against a tree to support yourself as laboured breathing hurts your chest, your head almost woozy from the adrenaline, the exhaustion, the panic and the confusion and the fact that you just didn’t know what was going on and if Chan was even-

Snap.

You force yourself to hold you breath mid-inhale, force your muscles to freeze and your mind to quiet down and your ears to listen.

Snap. Snap.

it wasn’t coming from directly behind you. You gulp, turning your head to your right, squinting against the darkness in some hope it would make your vision clearer.

There’s someone there, and even silhouetted from a distance, you can tell they’re in bad shape - one hand held a sword, the other their side, and with each step forward, a limp becomes more noticeable.

They raise their sword hand in greeting and it takes you a second to process.

Chan*.***

You trip in your haste to get to him, barely managing to regain your footing before your next step propels you forward. You’re stumbling across the ground and you feel the twigs get caught in your skirt, feel your feet kick them out of the way, but you don’t bother to hold your skirt up. The pain in your arm was holding you back from doing so, yes, but the sheer fact that Chan was alright and was here and that you’d found each other - that fact was enough for you to push forward.

You seem to reach him before he does you, your eyes drawing instantly to his left side - a hand was holding a piece of fabric to his side, and as your eyes scan him, you notice he had only one sleeve; he’d torn one off, using it as temporary gauze to stop what you can only imagine to be bleeding. The sword was held loosely in one hand, and to his thigh, your dagger was strapped.

“You’re a mess,” you whisper into the night, heart aching. Your fingers reach out, first for the wound at his side, then to cup his face, but they move ever so minutely that when you stop yourself - you’re a princess, damn it, and Chan was your knight; such acts weren’t befitting of your positions at all - Chan doesn’t even realise you had moved at all.

He chuckles, despite his appearance. Chan drops his sword and lifts his hand to your head, pulling something from your hear and flicking it away. “You’re one to talk.”

You pout, suddenly self conscious and try to clean off whatever dirt had clung to your dress. “Well, you could hardly expect me to look presentable, given the situation.”

“Ah.” Chan grimaces, as if suddenly reminded of the present. “The situation. We- We should get going, deeper into the forest and find somewhere to hide for the mean time.”

“Will you be okay? How bad is the wound?”

He nods, face set in a smile. “It’s nothing life threatening - just a graze,” he comments. “Just a bit of blood-”

He’s cut off as you reach for the dagger strapped to his leg.

“What are you-”

Reaching for the hem of your skirt, you drag the blade across the fabric. It rips with a satisfying sound. Dropping the dagger onto the forest floor, you continue to tear the fabric from the bottom of your dress. Your face burns - standing in front of Chan with your skirt pulled almost to your waist to tear the fabric… you somehow still had the mind to feel self-conscious.

“You can’t just hold that the entire time,” you explain with a final tug to the skirt. It falls back around your legs, higher than before. With a gulp and furiously burning ears, you wrap your arms around Chan’s torso, pulling the fabric around his waist twice before securing it with a knot. “There. Now your hands are free.”

Standing back, you smile at your work.

“Okay, let’s go,” you say and turn.

Though you were ready to move, Chan doesn’t budge. Your muscles relax in confusion, head cocking in question.

His eyes are on you. They’re dark, shadowed by his features, silhouetted by however much moonlight manages to trespass the trees, but you can feel his gaze.

“You’re not…” He gulps, taking in a shuddering breath that causes him to wince, and slowly exhales. “You’re not injured, are you?”

Eyes softening, you feel the urge to cup his cheek again. You shake your head gently. The pain in your arm was easing - it was nothing worth him fretting over.

But how could he, bleeding as he was, still be concerned for your wellbeing?

“I’m fine.” A gentle smile tugs at your lips, and you eye the makeshift bandage around his torso. “Start worrying about yourself more.”

Chan's concern falters and he scoffs. “It's my job to worry about you, your highness.”

He was right, you knew. It was his job, had been his job for as long as you could remember.

“We should get moving, though.” Chan breaks the silence that had fallen between the two of you. “If I were in their shoes, it won’t be along until I either loop back around or send out a full search party to cover the entire forest.”

“So what do we do?”

Your question is met with silence. Chan’s eyes had fixated on a spot on the ground, though you knew he wasn’t really looking at the ground. He had zoned out, the way he does when he gets lost in his thoughts.

Giving him his moment to think, you collect the dagger from the ground. It’s clean, void of any violence it may have taken part in. The blade shone in the night, edges sharp and though cold, the weight of it in your hand brings you an odd sense of comfort.

It reminded you of a time in your childhood when you’d carried an identical blade through these woods.

“I think I know where we can go.” It’s a rush of words as the idea fills your mind, as your brain tries to figure out the kinks in your underdeveloped plan. “He would help us. I know he would.”

An incredulous look passes Chan’s face, so theatrical and comedic that you almost burst out laughing despite the situation.

“’He’? Who is ‘he’?” Chan, so perplexed by the fact that you were acquainted with a boy outside the castle, is frozen in place. “Do I know this person? Why- How do you-” He clears his throat, composes himself, and tries to regain neutrality on his face. “I apologise, princess, but I… have been with you for years, have barely left your side when outside the castle walls… so please forgive my confusion at the moment.”

Though you’d not seen him since that night long ago, you knew he was here. Knew he had stayed in your kingdom, and knew he resided on the outskirts of the town. Any and all businesses who dealt in or with magic were to send official notice to the castle regarding the purpose of their business. Along with a variety of other contracts, it was a method through which the use of magic could be indirectly monitored. The practice had been picked up by all the kingdoms, and any one found to profit off of their magic outside of what they had agreed to would be punished.

You had spied Minho’s name, once, in one of the books that kept such details. An address had been scrawled next to it, and though you had read it out of interest, you had never expected to remember it, especially in a situation like this.

But a mage, you realise, would be the last person Chan would turn to. And how were you to explain how you knew him? How were you to explain why he would help you, without having Chan go off at you about how stupid your decisions had been?

So instead, you take in a slow, deep breath. Tilting your head back to look up at the moon concealed by trees, you exhale. It shone bright, a beautiful sight in the treacherous night.

“Do you trust me, Chan?”

He doesn’t miss a beat, voice filled with absolute certainty as he crosses an arm over his chest and lowers his head into a bow.

“With my life, my princess.”

You and Chan were fortunate enough to not run into anyone as you made your way around the castle grounds. The adrenaline pushes you, keeps your legs working and your ears on high alert. Many times, he had pushed you against a tree, his arm or even his body pressed against yours at the faintest possibility of running into anyone.

You held your breath in these moments. The proximity at which he held you left little space for you to even inhale as deeply as you needed to calm your breathing, and besides - the sound would be too loud to hear anything over it.

When the trees finally start thinning, your legs are heavy and your lungs feel something akin to having had inhaled a thousand thorns.

The forest ended at the top of the hill. To your right, the gates to the castle, the long road up hidden by the night. Before you, the town lay spread out. The houses clustered, divided at intervals to form the many streets. Lit windows were few, and yet you thought that you could almost, if you tried hard enough, hear the hearty laugh of men at pubs.

“Your highness, are you alright? On the edge of the forest may not be the wisest of places for us to rest, perhaps we should-”

Shaking your head, you gather your skirts once more and lift your head. “No, no rest. I was simply sentimental, for a moment. I apologise - such feelings will do us no good right now.”

An expression of confliction crosses Chan’s face, so brief that when you look at him, he looked impassive.

“So, where does this… this person live? Where are we headed?”

The address tumbles from your lips, pulling from Chan a strained look.

“That’s on the other side of the town-”

“But we’ve few, if any other choices,” you reason. “We can’t possibly return to the castle nor can we try and make it to the next town over with nothing on us. We don’t even have money, Chan.”

“Then the people of the town-”

“Will insist on helping us, I know, but I will not take advantage of their kindness when such a thing could put them in danger.” The words come out with much more force than you had intended, the subtle escalation of your conversation with Chan having taken the better of you.

But Chan is seemingly unaffected by it. He regards you with a thoughtful gaze, eyes dancing with both amusement and respect. “Very well. Across town we shall go, your highness.”

Tonight was a night of many firsts for you. The first time you had ever had to flee your home, the first time your life had ever been in danger, the first time you had ever genuinely feared losing Chan.

The feeling had been so alien to you, so impossible to ever fathom, so unnecessary to even had imagined in the past, that as you walked through the sleeping streets of the town you had grown to love so much, you had to resist holding onto Chan like you had when you were a child. It would be silly now, to hold his hand as you had in the past whilst sneaking around the castle. This wasn’t a game anymore; the consequences of being found by the wrong people wasn’t forced study in the library. It was worse, much worse.

So why not hold his hand? Keep him close, know he’s safe - not that you would be able to do much of the protecting, you knew.

But as it had been in the past - when one was in trouble, so too would be the other.

Your fingers flex at your side now, itching to reach out and hold onto Chan as he peers around the corner to ensure no one was there.

He tenses, the same time the sound of a girl's laughter reaches your ear. Footsteps are fast to fade, alongside the quiet murmurs of a man, loud in the soundless night. Lovers, perhaps, heading home together as the night grows old.

A quick gesture of the hands from Chan indicates that it was safe to move. The two of you dart out of the small alley you had been hiding in and enter the town square.

Another first to add to the list; never had you seen the town square bathed in the silver light of the moon, street lamps flickering orange and crossing at the center of the square. Perhaps it was your circumstances, but the emptiness of the town square leaves an uneasy feeling in your stomach.

Chan leads you around the edge, behind empty stalls and shrubbery. Your footsteps echo off the walls of the buildings, playing back into your ears as if to emphasise the emptiness of the town.

“Half way there,” Chan mumbles as he enters a dark alley.

Had that alley always been there? Had any of the roads you’d taken always been there? You knew, realistically speaking, they had been - and yet you could not recall ever having seen them before. Perhaps the street that the bakery had been on, you’d seen before - but the alley that smelt of old blood and meat, the alley that had crates of empty glass bottles stacked by the door. How did Chan know of these roads, of these many paths? Had he memorised the map of the town, the many streets that had never existed to you before now?

It was his job, you supposed, to know these things. And yet the sheer ability to know his way across the town amazed you. Had he ever walked these roads before, or was he simply relying on his mind’s eye, on the chance of an accurate mental recall of the many maps he’d studied?

The scenery had changed - houses were few now, the paths between buildings more dirt and stone than they were stoned tiles, like they’d been in the town square. As you and Chan make your way down the street, Chan a hand on his sword the whole time, you can’t help but marvel at the contrast present in just this one town. Had you not walked here with your own two feet, you would have believed this to be a whole new place. The town you were familiar with had tiled floors, had flowers blooming on the balconies and children in pinks and blues, greens and purples. Not the browns and creams that hung from laundry lines at the front of the houses in the night.

“Up ahead,” Chan breaths, and your eyes scan the distance.

It wasn’t hard to spot, really. The only lit house in the dark street, windows warm with yellow light. There was a sign hanging by the window, but you couldn’t make out the words - weather had gotten the better of the paint. It swung feebly with a passing breeze.

“I trust you, your highness.” Hushed words leave Chan’s lips, followed by a resigned sigh. “I just hope your own trust isn’t misplaced. If they so much as look like they’re going to hurt you, I’ll-”

“He won’t, Chan.” You place a hand on his arm. After a moment, you feel his muscles relax, and Chan moves towards the lit house.

He… won’t, right? You believed he wouldn’t - The last time you had seen him, he had been afraid. He hadn’t hurt you, though you knew he could have. He had listened to you, and you to him, and he had accepted what little help you could offer. You wanted to believe that people were good - that kindness would be remembered.

And yet, back at the castle, his highness-

“There’s someone inside.” Chan, nearing the lit window, holds a hand out to stop you. “I can’t be sure, but it seems to only be one person.”

It’s him. You swallow nervously.

How had the years changed him? Had they even changed him? Would he recognise you at all?

Chan was right. There was someone in the house, their silhouette faint against the window. They were moving around, though it was near impossible to tell what they were doing.

“Are you sure this is the house, your highness? And if so, are you sure this person can be trusted? We don’t know what will happen in the next few hours-”

“Well, we’ve little other choice.” Your statement is all you manage to get out before you push past Chan’s hand. It was now or never - dawdling by his door wouldn’t change the current situation.

Chan makes a shocked sound of protest as you push past him, but he doesn’t move to stop you - only to follow you, and you’re aware of his hand securing it’s grasp on his sword.

Standing in front of the door, you could make out the sound of running water. You raise a shaking hand, fingers curling uncertainly before you squeeze them into a fist and rap on the door. Three quick knocks, breath caught somewhere in your throat as you wait for a response.

Chan speaks up from behind you, voice urgent. “Your highness, please step back-”

The door swings open abruptly, causing you to flinch back in shock.

The heart is a funny thing, really. How can it hold so many emotions at once?

Looking at Minho after so many years was strange. It was like he hadn't aged at all, and yet he looked like he had matured twice as fast as you. His face, though as angular as it had been that night so long ago, was now more jawline and cheekbones, as opposed to malnourishment.

“Lower your weapon, knight, or else I’ll blast you from my door.”

He speaks with a tired drawl, though you see the way his eyes quint in suspicion.

“Minho, it’s me-”

“Yes, I saw you,” he cuts in, eyes still trained behind you. “Not as flashy as your friend’s sword, unfortunately.”

It’s a cold response, not at all what you had expected, but you turn all the same and glare at Chan.

“I told you he wouldn’t hurt us, so-”

“He just said he would blast me from the door-”

“Because you’re waving a great, big sword around, idiot,” Minho says with a roll of his eyes. He’s leaning against the door, body blocking the rest of his house.

“I’m her highness’ knight,” Chan states defiantly, as if challenging Minho. His gaze lingers on Chan for a second longer before he looks at you - really looks at you.

It feels like ice piercing through you, his eyes reading every thought in your head. He knows why we’re here, a small voice in your head tells you. But how could he possibly know that?

“’Her highness,’ huh.” Minho lets the words sit on his tongue, lets it mull over in his head as he regards you. His gaze falls briefly to the dagger in your hand. “Well, I don’t suppose that after all these years you just decided to spontaneously come by in the middle of the night to see how I’m doing, so it’s probably best I invite you in,” he concludes with a sigh. “Tell your knight to sheath his sword, or it’ll be as existent as his sleeve there.”

“We- We don’t have sheaths on us,” you explain hesitantly. “Or anything, really. Just his sword, and the dagger. Not even any money.”

Minho looks down at you - he was taller than you and held himself with such an air of indifference that you couldn’t bare to maintain eye contact. Were you right to come here at all? To ask for help, and, despite your position, have nothing to offer in return?

A defeated sigh leaves him before he steps aside. “Whatever. Hurry in, then.”

He steps aside and after a moment’s hesitation, you make your way into his house.

It was cozy, unlike the great stone walls of your home. Sure, the library fireplace was warm and comforting, but the sheer size of the castle and all of its many rooms were nothing compared to the small space Minho lived in.

Dried plants hung over the window, each bundle a different kind. The table was laid not with the remnants of a meal well eaten, but with more plants and glass bottles, books opened with feathers marking different sections, and a range of things you barely had time to try and identify before you were ushered further into the house.

A fire blazed low in the corner of the room, opposite a messy looking kitchen. The sink was filled with unwashed dishes and more glass bottles, which you had only ever seen in books before. Few chairs were scattered around the room - wooden chairs that you assumed to belong to the table out front were occupied by books and blankets, and a long, two-person sofa had been turned into a makeshift bed. In the corner between the sofa and the fireplace, two wooden doors lead off into unknown areas of the house.

“Well, do sit down,” Minho says with a wave of his hand. Static seems to fill the air as items move from the chairs to the floor, neatly stacking themselves upon one another. “Having the princess and her royal knight standing about my living room is making me quite… anxious, for lack of a better word.”

You watch in amazement as the blankets fold themselves up.

“You’re a magic user?!” Chan whirls on Minho, eyes wide in shock. There’s an edge of something akin to fear or anger - you can’t quite place it, distracted instead by the way the room accommodates for two more people.

“What, your princess didn’t mention that I’m a mage?” Minho retorts, amusement in his eyes. “Shame. But that seems the least of your problems, if you’re coming to my door at this hour. Now, sit.”

An invisible force maneuvers you and Chan down into the sofa. Chan falls with an indignant sound - was this his first time encountering magic? You’d never talked to Chan about magic, before. Nothing beyond stories of faeries and witches, curses and potions.

“Minho,” you begin, before Chan could say anything to worsen a relationship you were surprised had started off on such bad footing. “We- we need you help. I need your help.”

You meet his eye, and for the first time that night, Minho holds your gaze with a seriousness that felt befitting of the situation. Was he aware, after all, of the situation? You were sure that the voice you had heard earlier that night had been his. But no matter how you tried to rethink the situation, there was nothing you could think of that would explain why he had told you to run.

Perhaps you had imagined it, in your drowsed, sluggish state, but you search his face all the same, for any sign that he had sent you the message, had been aware of the potential danger you had been in.

He turns away, a shrug of his shoulders the only sign that he had heard your request at all.

Minho moves to the sink, and in a surprising act of normalcy, picks of a sponge and turns on the tap. He begins to wash his dishes.

Chan glances towards you - this person who you had believed would help obviously showed no care about whatever predicament you were in.

You fidget nervously at the velvet of your dress. Minho places a soaped up plate in the adjacent sink.

“I was hoping-”

“If you knew where to find me,” he suddenly says, his back still towards you and Chan, “Then you’ll know I run a business. Magical assistance in exchange for payment. And, as I recall, the pair of you are quite penniless at the moment.”

“Her highness is still the royal princess.” Chan sounded like he was speaking in court, stating facts as if to argue their case. His voice was clear, rock solid despite your wavering faith in Minho. “Whilst we may currently be in a difficult situation, rest assured that your assistance, should it be provided and adequate, will be rewarded fittingly.”

Minho doesn’t reply to this. He continues to wash his dishes. In the silence, you look around the living space.

Unlike your own home, the walls of Minho’s house were bare of any intricacies. Simple wood, with no grand photos of family members hanging - though, knowing Minho, you’d be surprised if he even had any. Across the fireplace mantel were jars of what seemed to be dried up herbs, sticks of what you recognised as cinnamon, and- were those egg shells? A strange assortment of things, you mused.

“Your highness,” Chan whispers. He leans in towards you, sofa shifting under him, and raises a hand to cover his mouth. “Perhaps your trust- Apologies. Perhaps we are unwelcomed here. It may be best we leave as soon as possible, if this boy refuses to help us.”

“He’s the same age as us, Chan.” Well, you think he is, anyways. “Please - just give it another minute.”

Despite your hopes, Chan seems to be right. The only thing dissuading you from the belief that Minho wanted nothing to do with your recent events was the fact that he hadn’t blatantly turned you away.

The sound of water eases and shuts off. Minho busies his hands - with what, you couldn’t see.

“Was there trouble? At the palace?”

You’re surprised by his question - so he was willing to help? Or, at the very least, hear you out?

“Yes, how did-”

“What makes you say that?” Chan says, and a jolt ran through you. Never had Chan spoken over you so forcefully before. He doesn’t meet your eyes and instead frowns at the back of the mage’s head.

Minho doesn’t answer immediately. He continues whatever other task he had started, back to you. After a few seconds, he turns and grabs for a tea towel. He leans back against the sink, wiping his hands.

“Well, is it not the most obvious thing to have happened?” With a forced smile at Chan, Minho discards the towel behind him. “Why else would you and the princess be at my door, penniless and on foot, at this hour? If not for trouble at the palace, surely you would have opted for a horse or two, and if you knew I ran a business, surely you would come with some form of payment.”

The points, while well made, seemed to do little to ease whatever suspicion had overcome Chan - it didn’t take much to guess what those suspicions were concerning, and you turn to Chan with a resigned look.

“It took you some time to formulate such an easily deducible answer,” Chan muses aloud.

“Well, then why ask such an obvious question?” Minho retorts and all of a sudden the temperature in the room seems to drop. The air seems to fizz, and a stroke of fear enters your body as he returns Chan’s glare with his own pointed look.

He pushes off of the sink and walks forward.

He doesn’t carry the same angry threat that you’d seen come from Chan when his men were out of line. No glowering, no fists at his side, no long strides to advance upon his opponent. He seems to simply walk across the room instead, his head held high and jaw clenched ever so subtly, never breaking eye contact with Chan. He stops half-way - he doesn’t need to make the full distance. Chan abruptly stands up and makes his own advance.

“Chan, honestly*-***”

“I don’t quite appreciate the way you’re regarding me, knight.” Each of Minho’s words seems to be accentuated by the flicker of the fireplace flame. They’re spoken clearly, carefully - not quite a whisper, but then again, it didn’t take much for him to be heard in the silence. “The implications you’re making, while subtle, are not left unknown to me, human.”

The two of them, knight and mage, are in the middle of Minho’s living space, the tension so high that you didn’t know who to fear for.

“I’ll have you know something, mage*.***” Chan snarls. “I don’t trust you. Not one bit; not at all.” He’s breathing down Minho’s chest, a snarl you’d never seen before turning the face of someone you’d grown up with into someone almost unrecognisable. “I’m only here because her highness believes strongly that you will help us.” He jabs a finger into Minho’s chest, though the latter only raises a brow. “However, it is my job to keep her safe and even if I respect her opinion of others, it does not mean that her and I are of the same mind.”

He’s breathing heavily by the end of it, the tips of his ears red. You had risen from your seat at some point, the waves of unease in your stomach turning turbulent. Your eyes dart back and forth between the two of them.

“And I’ll remind you that it is my house you are standing in and it is my assistance that you are seeking.”

Minho is no where near taller than Chan. The two stand face to face, and yet it was like the mage was looking down at Chan. The scary calm that had taken over him, the careful control of his emotions and his magic - you could feel it in the air, feel the static you had felt earlier, only this was cold. Cold, chilling static, like that of winter waters or thick snowfall.

He doesn’t break eye-contact with Chan. He blinks, he takes steady breaths, he keeps his chin raised, but he doesn’t falter.

After what feels like an age, Chan turns and walks past Minho. You take a step after him, fearful that he was about to leave out the front door, but he simply places himself on one of the vacated stools. He was out of Minho’s point of view, and though the latter was still in his, Chan crossed his arms and closed his eyes, leaning back against the wall.

It seemed impossible for you to exhale fully, much less take a deep breath. You had expected some resistance from Chan when he inevitably found out that Minho was a mage but whatever had happened in the last few minutes was beyond anything you could have imagined.

“Minho, I-” You turn hastily away from Chan and to Minho, who had not moved. He looks at you now with troubled eyes. Gulping, you take in the deepest breath you can manage and exhale through pursed lips. You try again. “Could we perhaps take this elsewhere?”

A tired, resigned smile makes its way to Minho’s face. “Perhaps that would be best.”

It turns out, you discover, that one of the two mysterious doors led out to a garden.

The door shuts quietly behind you as you breathe in the night air. Minho’s garden, while no larger than his living space, seemed to house a variety of plants. Flowers of differing colours, shapes and sizes filled the majority of the space, alongside some recognisable vegetables - tomatoes and lettuce, though few, seemed fresh and ready to harvest. All the plants, you notice, seem to shine in the night. Taking a step closer, you almost let out an exclamation as one, two, three glowing creatures dart in and between the flowers.

“They maintain the garden for me,” Minho says, as if it explained everything. You turn to him, having forgotten for a moment that he was with you. “A marvelous help, they are, especially when I’m away on business.”

He picks up a basket, hanging it off his arm and walks up to a purple flower. You watch as Minho inspects it before pulling a pair of scissors from the basket and cutting the flower off its stem.

“Minho, I wanted to apologise for-”

“There is no need. I don’t seek an apology from you - nor the knight, I might add, before you berate him for his behaviour.” His basket was quickly filling with flowers, though you note there’s no more than two of each kind. “It is not uncommon for me to hear such things, for it is not easy to place your faith in things you do not understand. Though, I confess, such things are less common now. Do you mind?”

He hands you the basket - now filled with so many things that you wouldn’t know where to start if he were to ask you to remove a flower from the lot - and picks up another. This one he begins to fill with produce.

“But he is still my knight, and I ask for your assistance not just for myself but for him as well. Tonight-” You break off, and Minho spares you a glance over the shoulder before he returns to his carrots. “It is perhaps unfair of me to ask you for your help, after all these years,” you finish, an increasing hopelessness somehow making sense of itself in your mind.

A decade, perhaps, it had been since you last saw him. You had every possible means to seek him out after parting, had an abundance of ways you could have assisted him - for you knew, even if he had rejected help the first time, that to do something was better than nothing, and yet you had kept quiet about your encounter. For his own safety, one may have reasoned, but in hindsight it seemed a child’s selfishness was what kept him a secret. Something for you to know, and no one else. Not the maids who tended to you every day, or the queen who asked you what you had done that afternoon, or Chan who was by your side whenever possible.

Minho had returned to stand before you, the second basket full of tomatoes, lettuce, and a range of root vegetables. The hem of his pants were speckled with dirt, and a smudge of it ran over his cheek.

“You saved my life, y/n. I think you underestimate the consequences of our meeting far too much.”

It was like the child you had met so many years ago was back before you, a vulnerability in his eyes that you couldn’t quite understand. You, who had always been sheltered, had always had your safety assured, prioritised, and the child who had been covered in dirt and bruises, twigs sticking out of his hair and so tangled up that you’d had to sit him down and carefully undo all the knots.

The way Minho looked at you now almost scared you - if your request had been not for help, but for his life, you were sure he would have said yes.

Unable to hold the truth in his gaze any longer, you busy yourself with readjusting the basket in your hand, carefully easing the petals away from the rim as to not crush them.

“The last thing I wish to do is to hold that over you, Minho,” you say softly. “It was wrong of me to come to you for help when I fear that asking it of others would endanger their safety. You too are part of this kingdom, and I cannot simply treat you different because of the past.”

“Can’t you?” He sounds wistful, you think, the words almost musing, so soft and quiet that you weren’t sure if they were meant for only your ears, or for no one’s at all.

Then, as if there had been no sentimentality at all, Minho flourishes his hand and the basket of flowers levitates out of your grasp. “I’ll help you - but first, it would seem a good night’s sleep would do you well.”

The door swing opens as Minho nears it, and he gestures for you to enter the house first. The flowers follow you in, Minho bringing up the rear.

Chan, who’d been pacing by the fire, looks up abruptly when he hears you come in. Relief seems to wash over his features, and you give him a strained smile.

“Minho said he’d help us.” You lay a hand on Chan’s arm, and the tension seems to leave his body at the confirmation of your physical presence. “We can rest here for the night, and figure everything out tomorrow.”

“On that note - here, to help you sleep.” A small opaque bottle floats its way to you. “Just light a match, drop in there and leave it in the room. I’m sure the night’s events will leave your mind running when given the chance.”

You take the jar in your hands, feeling its weight as the magic disappears. Peering inside seemed pointless - the opening was just small enough for your finger to fit in; barely enough light could enter the jar for you to see its contents.

“And a salve, for any minor wounds you may have.”

This time, a red jar lands by the sink. It’s even smaller than the bottle, barely the size of your palm. Though Minho doesn’t look at him, you know that he had taken note of the wound at Chan’s side.

“You can take my bed, y/n. The knight can sleep on the floor, or something. I don’t really care.”

“You little-”

Minho ignores Chan, moving to grab a satchel from the table. Your eyes follow him, the way he truly seems to disregard Chan’s presence as he walks past him and towards the front door.

“And you? Where will you sleep, then? I insist you keep your bed-”

“Oh, I won’t be sleeping tonight.” Hand on the doorknob, he turns to you with a glint in his eye. “The moon is full. It’d be a waste to do something as mundane as sleep tonight. I’ll be close by, and there are protective charms on the house. Worry not.”

The door shuts behind him before you or Chan can even protest.

—

Chan’s wound had stopped bleeding. Though he had played it off as a simple graze, you were relieved to see it wasn’t too much of an understatement. The initial redness that surrounded the wound had frozen your mind with fear, but after taking a wet cloth to it, you discovered that it was mostly dried blood that had spread.

The salve Minho had given you smelt resinous, like wood that had been left out in the rain. Your face scrunches up as you scoop a small amount up with your fingers. Setting the jar down next to the chair Chan was sat on, you steady yourself with a hand on his knee and run the salve over his wound. He flinches at the sensation, muscles tensing under your fingers, but keeps his shirt held up.

“You don’t think he’s tricked you into poisoning me, do you?”

You spare a glare at Chan.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” you say, though you know he was just trying to ease the tension.

Though Minho hadn’t returned since he’d left, you could still feel Chan’s discomfort with the situation. He too seemed to sense that you wee troubled - you had caught him shooting you anxious glances as you’d prepared to treat his wound.

“You know, he told me not to berate you.” Having finished applying the salve, you push yourself up from the floor and dust your skirts off. Chan avoids your eye, fixating instead on straightening his shirt and picking at the torn fabric under the flickering light of the fireplace. “Just because he says he doesn’t seek an apology, doesn’t mean that he shouldn’t get one.”

Chan’s jaw clenches, and he looks up you through furrowed brows. “Are you ordering me to apologise to him?”

Your jaw drops at his words, helpless against the hurt that they bring you. For him to bring status into this, to make it seem like he would rather be anywhere but here - his words from earlier echo in your brain: I’m only here because her highness believes strongly that you will help us.

“Chan, that’s not at all what I-”

“I don’t feel like I’ve anything to apologise for,” he says, voice edged with annoyance. “I don’t trust him. I have spoken my truth - but I won’t interrogate you for yours.” His voice is gentler, resigned. “Though, I admit the mage is right. You should rest, your highness. It has been an eventful night, and you will need your energy for tomorrow.”

It felt wrong, to leave and rest without resolving the tension that had formed between you and Chan. A part of you didn’t understand why he had been so aggressive towards Minho, why he was so against the idea of his help… and yet you knew it was wrong of you to expect Chan to understand your thoughts and feelings when you had given him nothing to help form an understanding of your relationship with Minho. To Chan, you realised, Minho was simply an unknown stranger who possessed the abilities to have aided the night’s chaos.

But it felt wrong to reveal your and Minho’s shared history with Chan. Afterall, it wasn’t only your story to tell.

So you take a deep breath, try to catch Chan’s eye one more time, before murmuring a small goodnight.

Minho’s bedroom, located behind the second of the mysterious doors, was dimly lit by a a candle sitting on the corner of his desk. There was a single, unmade bed next to it, and a set of drawers at the other end of the room. Another door (which you presumed led to the bathroom, for you hadn’t seen one in your time here, and what home had no bathroom?) stood in the corner, next to the drawers. There was a window,

It was a small bedroom, void of anything unnecessary.

Placing the bottle Minho had given you on the table, you search for a match. His desk was covered in books and papers, and it’s not until you brave a small box on his desk that you find the matches. You do as he had instructed - striking one, you watch as the corner you stood in lit orange before dropping it into the bottle.

You had been skeptical that dropping a match into such a small space would work - surely, the fire would be extinguished, right? - but you’re mildly surprised when a soft, sweet scent arises. It reminded you of home, of late nights spend in the library reading stories of knights and princesses, witches and curses. A familiar drowsiness overcomes you.

It doesn’t take long for you to find yourself sliding under Minho’s covers. Your mind spares a moment for you to feel embarrassed at the act of sleeping in not only someone else’s bed, but in a man’s bed, before it lets the exhaustion take over.

This time, you don’t fight the heaviness of your body like you had so many hours ago.

This time, you let it consume you.

---

a/n: hi hi! thank you for reading. comments, throughts, feedback, questions - all of these (and more) are appreciated! if you want to be added to the taglist (or alternatively, removed) please let me know &lt;3