#if you do be shouting vine references

[whatarethooseshuri]

… so yesterday my sibling blew me up and I think I’m a demon now.

that’s ok, as long as you don’t destroy the world:)

[littlejuicebox]

Camping for beginners.

Written to sort of kill two birds with one stone. @coyote-mint this isn't Astarion soothing a baby, but it is Astarion giving Tav a break as she goes on a little, well-deserved vacation! @davenswitcher I also worked your storybook prompt in! Hope you two both like it; thanks for prompts! Special thanks to @chickywickers for helping me name the twins. :)

Summary: Tav/You are out of town and Astarion is full-time daddy duty without the nanny. In an effort to keep three children entertained, he decides upon camping in the backyard.

Tags/Warnings: all fluff, parenthood, children, dadstarion, the mildest reference to sexual encounters, mildest reference to bg3 events and trauma

Word Count: 2.5K

*

Astarion is pitching a tent in the ground, cursing to himself every few moments as he goes about the task. Once upon a time, he’d had Tav or Karlach… or perhaps even an unenthusiastic Lae’zel or an overenthusiastic Wyll to assist him.

But now, it’s him and three little boys in the midsummer heat. Tav won’t be back until tomorrow morning, after a week away visiting Shadowheart and Lae’zel in the Dalelands. It’s a sunny Sunday, and Winifred, the nanny, has weekends off.

So it’s all up to papa for a day longer. He’s sweaty, tired, and pulling from deeply hidden reserves of patience he didn’t know he had until now.

Astarion thinks he has never missed his wife more in all their time together. One more day. He can do it, right?

“Gale, hold this for me,” The frustrated father directs, guiding his ever-obedient and sometimes now shockingly stoic six year old to one of the tent poles.

Gale nods and follows his father’s instructions as his little brothers scream and run around the orchard with toy swords, wreaking havoc as usual. The younger Ancunins are a tornado of scraped knees and sticky fingers at any given time. Their parents consider it a win if the twins make it an entire day without breaking something.

Evander and Finnick are naturally more wild and unruly than their older brother ever was. Astarion is painfully aware that the streak of disobedience in the duo comes entirely from him. The twins test his patience far more than Gale ever had, and in the absence of their mother, the two have become almost completely unhinged.

Tav is the twin wrangler; they are softer with her – but then, she’s always had a way with the more surly, roguish types. Her unique charm somehow soothes them into compliance. Astarion lacks the same skills and is, unfortunately, paying for it this weekend.

The younger boys are straying too far away for Astarion’s liking, and as he hammers a stake into the orchard’s fertile earth, he shouts at the twins, “Evan and Finn, you two had better get your little behinds back—“

He stops and sighs; the twins are too interested in their make-believe and paying absolutely no mind to their father and his chastisement. Astarion resumes his task and without even looking back up at his eldest asks, “Gale, will you please contain them for a moment until we finish this?”

A lazy wave of Gale’s hand, reminiscent of Astarion’s own flippant movements when he speaks, and vines spring from the earth. The tendrils wrap around Evander and Finnick, holding each of them by the torso. A second tendril springs to life from the soil and wraps around the brothers, pulling them into its embrace just as the first tendril recedes. This process continues in a domino effect until the twins are but a few feet from their father, struggling against the vines and expressing their displeasure with grunts and screams.

Astarion lifts his head from the stake and watches the scene in a mixture of amusement and amazement, and when the boys are sufficiently contained he turns to smile at his eldest, “You really are exceptionally talented, you know that, don’t you?”

Gale smiles and nods before he looks down at the ground, unable to meet his father’s proud gaze as he says, “I know, Papa.”

The eldest Ancunin boy struggled in school all last year. His fragile confidence took a huge tumble, which his parents were working to restore to the best of their ability. Gale always required softer hands in comparison to his brothers; Astarion was still learning how to navigate this difference.

“Let go!” The twins shout in unison, short limbs flailing against the vines gently containing their three year old bodies.

They look like mirror images of one another, down to the dark wavy hair parted in opposite directions and vitiligo patches splattered across opposing green eyes. Evander’s is on his left eye, Finnick’s is on his right. Together, they look like a Rorschach Test.

Astarion’s patience is gone; part of him considers leaving the duo trapped in the vines until Tav returns. He narrows his eyes at the youngest Ancunins, pointing accusingly at them with the hammer, “You two asked to camp outside, and after very insistent pleas, I agreed. So if you don’t want daddy to pack up this entire thing and take you both back into the house, you are to stand there. Quietly.”

Finnick, the younger of the twins by a few minutes, wrinkles his nose in displeasure at his father, “Mean, daddy.”

A slow, long exhale escapes Astarion as he stares at the surly three year old with furrowed brows.

“My child, you have no idea how mean I can be, now hush so that your brother and I can finish this,” Astarion instructs, and then returns to work pitching the tent, ignoring the frustrated whines and protests from the twins all the while.

*

Around the small campfire, the Ancunin boys roast marshmallows on sticks as Astarion reads a tale from one of their story books. Apple is, as almost always, curled up next to Gale. The eldest Ancunin boy sneaks the dog marshmallows and his father pretends not to notice.

If that’s the most rebellious Gale ever is, so be it. The twins are a different challenge, entirely.

The story is all about slaying dragons, knights in shining armor, damsels in distress… the usual. The topic is exceptionally boring to the father of three, given all he’s experienced, but he’s gotten used to pretending this ridiculous droll is highly entertaining and throwing his voice for his kids amusement. 

And, plus, if the twins are entertained, they aren’t causing mayhem, which is all Astarion can ask for tonight. Tav will be back in less than twelve hours, he reminds himself.

All hail his wife, Lady Ancunin, the Hero of Baldur’s Gate, and the hero of this household. 

This weekend has Astarion regretting any moment he might have taken her for granted or not shown enough appreciation for her.

While the father of three continues to read, a sudden rustling at the edge of the orchard catches everyone’s attention. The three-year-old twins instantly cling to one another in fear and Apple’s head snaps up to peer towards the possible threat.

“Werewolf!” Evander shouts.

“Vampire!” Finnick continues.

Gale giggles and shakes his head, “No… it’s a raccoon. I can hear her. She smells the food.” 

Astarion’s nose wrinkles in distaste as his silver-haired son takes his plate of leftovers and meanders toward the edge of the property, but he chooses to remain silent and let his son feed the vile creature. With Gale around, it’s a wonder they aren’t overrun with vermin and rodents galore. Though, the feral cat colony the little boy single-handedly created is likely keeping the other animal population at bay.

Gale places the plate down, whispers something to the raccoon, and returns back to the campfire, nestling his head into Apple’s side as he settles back into the dirt.

“Papa… there aren’t really vampires and werewolves out in the woods… right?” Gale questions, his eyebrows shooting up into his forehead in concern as he thinks.

“Perhaps not in the woods right here…” Astarion responds, trying to figure out how to be honest with his children without frightening them entirely, “But they do exist… I’ve killed a vampire before.” 

At this the two younger Ancunins gasp and Gale shoots back up to sitting, his green eyes widened in shock as he asks, “You’ve killed a vampire before?” 

Astarion chuckles. Sometimes he forgets how little his children truly know of his past. He shuts the storybook in his lap closed and nods, a small smile crossing his face, “I have. Your mother helped me. Would you three like to hear about it?”

“Yes!” The boys all shout in unison, all coming as close to their father as they possibly can.

“Very well,” Astarion agrees with a grin, and then he launches into the tale of fighting Cazador, mindful to keep everything as child-friendly as a gorey battle can possibly be and leaving his enslavement entirely out of the picture. The children will learn about that later, he thinks, but now is not the time.

The boys are wholly captivated by their father’s tale until the twins begin to drift off, slumped against one another. Gale is the only one still awake when his father finishes the story. There is a moment of quiet at the end as his eldest reflects upon all that was revealed to him.

“Were you scared, Papa?” He finally asks, his fingers threading into the curled fur on Apple’s back.

Astarion nods in response, “Of course, Gale. But… I think you cannot be brave if you don’t feel a bit scared, first.”

The eldest Ancunin boy sighs. He has feelings about this that he has not yet been able to put into words. Gale’s general kindness and gentleness is such a stark contrast to many of the kids at school; he’d gotten himself into more than one scuffle. He was perceived as an easy target, because he knew better than to use his powers on the other children. As a result, Gale often simply let the other children attack him, not ever wanting to hurt anyone, even if it was in his defense.

Astarion had, more than once this year, gone to the school and threatened to retract their donations if the issue was not resolved. One of the child’s parents had been hit with a lawsuit after Gale returned home with a black eye. But come the start of next term, there was a strong chance this behavior would continue.

He and Tav had both lost countless hours of sleep over this very topic.

“How do you know…” Gale starts, and then stops with another sigh, staring up at the stars as he tries to find his words, “How do you know when it’s time to fight back?”

There is a moment of silence as the older elf considers this question. How do you know?

“If someone doesn’t listen when you ask them to stop, that is how you know, Gale,” Astarion responds, finally, his hand coming to ruffle the curls upon his eldest���s head, “And if someone is hurting you or someone you care about, and they refuse to stop when you ask them the first time, that is all the permission you need. Your mother and I will always agree with you if you are protecting yourself or your brothers in defense, little prince.” 

The silver-haired six year old nods with a yawn, his fingers still curled in Apple’s fur.

“Now come on, let’s get you and your brothers inside the tent for the night,” Astarion directs, picking up one of the twins and holding the flap open for Gale. He gets the two boys settled before returning to retrieve the remaining one and calling for Apple to join all four Ancunins. 

The fire is left glowing its final embers as the men all drift off to sleep.

*

You find the tent in the orchard after returning to a house filled with only your regular employees. Winifred, the nanny, and Pascal, the steward, are both clueless as to where your children and husband are this morning. When you enter the backyard, a snuffed fire and Apple keeping guard outside the tent not more than ten feet from the manor signal you’ve found your family.

You crouch and open the tent flap, only to be greeted by an adorable image. Astarion is on his back, one twin clinging to each leg and Gale nestled into the crook of his arm. All four of the Ancunins are still sleeping, seemingly exhausted from the night before. 

“Good morning, my little loves,” You greet in a soft murmur.

Astarion is the first to open his eyes and smile at you as he sits up, expertly maneuvering himself around three sets of other limbs.

“Welcome back home, Tav. We missed you. I think that perhaps I missed you the most.” Astarion greets, leaning forward to press an affectionate kiss upon your cheek and grabbing your hand to give it a squeeze.

“No, me!” Evander protests through a yawn as he scrambles to wrap his arm around your arm.

“No, me!” Finnick echos, sitting up and pushing a cluster of curls from his face to grin at you.

“I think it was me, mama.” Gale calls softly, his head still resting upon the pillow, eyes still shut.

You chuckle in response to this ridiculous argument before standing and lifting the tent flap entirely, “I missed you all, too. Alright everyone, let’s get inside for breakfast. I’m making pancakes.” 

A clamor of excitement from the Ancunin boys fills the orchard as your children exit the tent and begin the short journey back toward the house. Apple is running after them, her tail wagging excitedly because she knows she will get whatever leftovers the boys cannot finish.

As the children disappear into the house, Astarion grabs your hand with a mischievous grin, insistently pulling you into the tent with him.

“My love, the boys–” You begin to protest, but your husband cuts you off with a kiss pressed against your lips as his nimble fingers quickly shut the tent behind you.

“It’s Monday, surely Winifred is already in, hm?” Astarion questions, his mouth already trailing kisses along your neck, “She can handle the trio for… oh, twenty minutes?”

You gasp as the elf’s fingers slowly trail under your dress and up your thighs to grip at the flesh around your hips. And then you turn to meet your husband’s face as he pulls you into a kiss. Being in the tent reminds you of old times out on the road, all those years ago, and you quickly fall under the Astarion’s spell, just as you had back then.

Your husband breaks away from the kiss and begins to pull your dress over your head. He grins and roams his eyes over your body when you’re left in nothing but your underclothes, “And… not that it’s a competition, little love. But I maintain I missed you the most.” 

He doesn’t leave room for response as he pounces upon you, eager to show you just how much he missed you this past week. 

Less than twenty minutes later, the twins are back outside the tent, screaming impatiently for pancakes as an apologetic Winifred calls after them from the porch. Astarion groans and is forced to throw his trousers back on with a whispered, “We’ll finish this later tonight, hm?”

And then he’s climbing out of the tent, corralling the two younger Ancunin’s back into the house and buying you a moment to throw your dress back on before exiting yourself. 

When you enter the kitchen, Astarion has thrown his crumpled shirt back on and is already starting the pancake batter among a chatter of excited storytelling from the boys. Winifred is forcing the twins to wash their hands as they speak about the raccoon they thought was a monster and Gale asks you to confirm the two of you really killed a vampire.

At this last part you shoot Astarion a questioning look and he shrugs while flashing you an apologetic smile. He looks like the twins when they’ve been caught breaking something. You know you’ll have to follow up later, but for now, all you want to do is focus on your little loves.

They all missed you, and you missed them just as much. Perhaps more.

But it’s not a competition.

[yoongle--boongle--pie]

Pechsträhne Chapter 8

A/N: This one is lore heavy yall, unwind your red string, grab a notebook and a drink. I am trying to find a 'make-your-own' family tree website that works better on mobile for people to reference as we get DEEP into this stuff so if that's been an issue for yall-don't worry.

I'll see you on the other side~ Delyn

Chapter playlist- Youtube

Chapter Playlist- Spotify

Series Masterlist

_________________________________________

_________________________________________

Jungkook turned to her and shouted something unintelligible, but pointed with his eyes at her body below them. The pounding on the door egged her on, as she crawled over herself to lay down in the same position. Even though it was the last thing she wanted to do, she squeezed her eyes shut and tried to find her vines. They were weak, and spindly–but they were there. Persistent. Y/n latched herself onto their image and pulled herself towards the withering seedling with all she had left.

She must be drowning, she thought. The water poured from her mouth in heaving coughs, spilling out from her lungs and stomach. Each time she thought she had gotten it all, a violent wave would pummel her, knocking her out of focus and keeping her in a vice grip from where the back of her head was tethered in place. Something tugged on her skull from behind her eyes, leaving her entire body numb. There was no more water, and no more knocking. There was nothing.

Y/n lurched forward, barely missing a collision with Yoongi’s forehead.  

“Holy shit-” 

“Are you okay?” 

“Give her some space!”

Everyone was talking over one another, and Y/n couldn’t seem to focus in on any of them. Her vision was completely gone: Black and void like the day prior. She let herself be pushed backwards by three sets of hands against Yoongi’s thighs where she had just sprung from. Her deprivation of sense leaving her feeling more vulnerable than ever against who she had just escaped from.

“H-help p-please.” The words slurred out from Y/n’s mouth in a much more bumbling manner than she intended. It felt foreign already–moving her tongue and her jaw. She had to refamiliarize herself with what it took to move her actual body. Y/n left her eyes open and blinking. Unseeing. Every muscle in her body tensed at the fright inducing feeling of having to trust her friends to take care of her entirely–because she was as useful as a sack of flour at the moment. 

Jungkook brought their conjoined hands up to his cheek, and she felt the ghost of his lips brush across her knuckles as he murmured unintelligible words of reassurance against her skin. Yoongi kept his hands against her cheeks, smoothing over the skin with his thumbs. A cloud of warmth encased her head, and the familiar feeling of Yoongi’s sweaty forehead pressing against her own brought her senses down from their heightened state, their incessant buzzing in her head calming to a low hum. Long tresses of his hair tickled her skin, and she wrinkled her nose at them. After a few moments filled with a cacophony of their conjoined labored breathing, Yoongi lifted his head from where it had come to rest to check in on her current state. 

Light eroded at  the edges of her vision, blotching reality back into place. Out of focus images of her three friends huddled over her blurred into view, and she let her body go lax in Yoongi’s hold. Y/n waited for her vision to completely settle, the images coming into sharper focus with each passing second. Y/n couldn’t help it but let a sodden smile grace her features, her cheeks wet from where her real body must’ve imitated her spiritual tears.

 “Hi.”  She croaked, finding her voice again. 

“Fucking hell Y/n.” Yoongi ran a hand through his already tousled hair and brought it back down to rub pacifying circles against her cheeks. 

Y/n tried to pull herself upright, but barely made it six inches off the ground before collapsing backwards into them again. She mumbled out a few apologies, feeling ashamed at how helpless she seemed at the moment. Y/n moved to try again, lurching herself forwards with a grunt. Yoongi’s arms came around her shoulders and his hands clasped over her middle to keep her in place.

His words came out in pants. “Stop apologizing and just relax for a minute Goddamnit.” 

Y/n let herself be restrained. She didn’t have it in her to feel awkward or embarrassed about how close everyone was or how each of them insisted on touching some part of her skin: her hand still locked within Jungkook’s and Namjoon’s palm securely pressing onto the top of her thigh. If anything, Y/n didn’t want to admit just how much she relished in the feeling. The warmth of their touch being a tether to her unmoored mind, reassuring her without words that she was back in her body surrounded by the people she felt the safest with. Despite welcoming the moment of respite from the conflict she faced only moments prior, she couldn’t just lay here after what she had seen. It was her job to fill them in. 

“I saw…” Y/n swallowed one of her gasping breaths “so many of them. It was like I was just walking through the house but it was all smokey, and you guys felt like the ghosts while the ghosts felt like the real people. I saw my Oma–she helped me get away from them.” The tears sprang to her eyes from the memory of seeing her again, but she swallowed them down and out of reach. She needed to focus. 

“Get you away from whom?” Namjoon spoke first, sensing her turmoil and doing his best to guide their conversation forward.

“I don’t know. Not all of them anyways. There was this man who was absolutely heinous looking. Pretty much all muscle and bone.” Y/n closed her eyes to think of any signifiers to go off of, racking her brain of everything she could remember him saying. “He was stalking his brother–but the second brother didn’t sound anything like the first–he sounded like my Oma. Normal. Whereas the ugly one sounded like he had choked on the fumes from Hell’s gate.” 

“Did you recognize either of them?” Namjoon prodded further, ignoring her attempts at misplaced humor. 

Y/n shook her head, her breathing finally starting to find its normal rhythm. “No. The not demonic one spoke exclusively in German which makes me think maybe brothers from one of the first two generations. Yet he knew my name, which makes me think more recent.” 

“That doesn’t really matter in the spirit realm.” Yoongi’s voice scratched out from his vocal chords and into their discussion. “Every spirit on these grounds probably knows your name. There are people wandering these halls that have passed from this decade, intermingling with people from over a century ago. Family talks.” 

Y/n looked up at Yoongi as he spoke, his head bowed to look down at her with a clouded expression. He flicked the tip of his tongue to slide pensively across his lower lip as he weighed his next words on them. 

“Did you see anyone else?” Yoongi seemed to settle on that. 

“Patti, the other twin, and a shadow figure that crawled.” She held up a hand to tick them off. “They were who I was running from, and who had been–” Y/n jerked up with a gasp, making Yoongi recoil back with mutter profanities to avoid smashing into one another for the second time. 

Y/n let her eyes rake across the door in a frenzy. As if her brain was still computing that it wasn’t a dream, it dawned on her that only mere seconds had passed since her struggle with the ghosts. 

“Are they still there?” She squeezed Jungkook’s hand and jerked her chin in the direction of the door. 

Jungkook let his irises be consumed with black, and lowered his head to peek under the door frame. They waited with baited breath for him to make his assessment, with him even going as far as to inch towards the door to get a better look in the gap where the door hung above the floorboards. Jungkook funneled a breath from his nostrils and straightened his spine, returning to her side. Only this time he did not face her completely, keeping his body at angle to see both her and the door. 

“Yes.” 

Y/n and the two men next to her all felt the effects of his words: Namjoon’s fingers digging into the meat of her leg and Yoongi rolling off of his knees and to his feet in a low crouch. 

“What else did they say to you, Y/n? Did anything else stick out to you while you were in there?” Yoongi hurriedly poured through her brown paper bag, shoving it to the side when he had found what he was searching for and moving on to his left open chest. He was doing his best to retain a composed facade, but his set jaw and scrunched shoulders gave him away. 

Y/n didn’t take her eyes away from what any other day she would have taken as an unsuspecting door. “Oma said that he was coming for them, but shit hit the fan harder than it already had before she could tell me more.” 

Namjoon made a sound in the back of his throat. “He?” 

Their eyes met in mutual understanding. “Yes. Similar to what Heidi had said in the kitchen.” 

“Do you think it could be your dad? You had said you had thought he was the one she was referring to.” 

Y/n shrugged in Namjoon’s direction. “I don’t know. She had said ‘they first’. Maybe there is more than one person behind it.” Y/n sucked in a breath. “Maybe my mom is the other.” 

Yoongi stood abruptly, a handmade bundle gripped in his fist and a flashlight in the other. The sudden smell of citrus, rosemary, and frankincense invading her senses. He stomped to the door and without hesitation swung it open, turning on the flashlight and shining it in all directions out into the hallway from where he kept his feet planted within the room.

“No offense, but what does a flashlight do?” Namjoon gave a pointed eyebrow raise in Yoongi’s direction. 

“It’s working.” Jungkook answered for him, his brows furrowing and his eyes darting to follow things Y/n could no longer see. 

“Witchcraft doesn’t have to be complicated or traditional all of the time.” Yoongi huffed, and flickered the flashlight off. He made a point to spit out onto the hallway floor, and shoved the door back into place again. “It’s anointed. Works as a direct beam of warding when it would draw too much attention from the neighbors rather than dropping a smoke bomb and risking someone sticking their nose in our business. They can’t stand to be caught in the light from it.” 

“So it’s like a paranormal lightsaber?” Y/n felt a small smirk wiggle up onto her face. 

Yoongi slipped the flashlight into his pocket and returned to their huddle, shooting her a disapproving look. Despite the dry tone he spoke with, the corners of his mouth turned up in the slightest. “If that’s what you want to call it, sure.” He sat down on the edge of his bed so she could look directly up at him. “We should make a game plan for tonight. Whoever was involved probably doesn’t have the energy to manifest themselves into our dimension anytime soon–but that doesn’t rule out the dozens of others.” 

“Whatever our game plan is, I vote that it should include each of us getting our own lightsaber.” Y/n leant back onto the hand that wasn’t still entrapped in Jungkook’s. 

“I second that.” Namjoon nodded in agreement. 

Yoongi rolled his eyes. “The two of you can’t even see anything to know where to point it. It totally wouldn’t make your mom suspicious if you both started lighting up like fireflies at the dinner table.” 

“Uh-actually I’ve seen plenty of ghosts now. It would be efficient if I’m ever caught off guard again when I’m alone.” Y/n held up a finger as she corrected him. 

Yoongi scoffed, his eyes filled with sass. “The thing about that is you won’t be alone anymore. Not unless you’re in your room. Especially not after tonight.”

“Ugh–not you too. I thought you had my back about being independent.” 

“I think it’d be good for us all to have something like that.” Jungkook cut in, his eyes having never left the flash light peeking from the pocket of Yoongi’s pants. His face was colored a shade akin to hope–wistful even.

Yoongi paused, taking his time to survey Jungkook’s expression. 

“Okay.” Yoongi relented, his voice softer than before. “I don’t have any more. We will have to get more flashlights so I can make them. We can go into town to get a set of pocket sized ones.” yoongi gained more confidence in his plan, decided on it without any further external input.  “Everyone will carry one on them, and keep one in their rooms.” He held his arm up to fiddle with the watch on his wrist. “Wanna go now?” 

The rest of the three traded looks of uncertainty. 

“Right now? It’s closing in on 10pm…” Namjoon couldn’t hide the incredulous look erupting on his features. 

“Walmart doesn’t care.” Yoongi shrugged. “And neither will the ghosts.” 

_________________________________________

Walmart was nearly empty with less than an hour left until close. The disgruntled stares of each employee they had passed since the entrance, and the hovering late teen electronics employee didn’t seem to phase Yoongi as he strutted ahead of them. To any onlookers they probably looked like a group of college seniors doing a midnight snack run: all of them donned in comfy clothes, scraggly and tired as they waddled through the isles towards the tools section. 

Yoongi was comparing flashlight specs with Namjoon, the two far too busy bickering about which one had the best battery life to notice when Y/n nudged Jungkook's side. He made a small noise of surprise, and tilted his head with rounded eyes to regard her in a silent question. Y/n gestured with her finger for him to bring his ear down closer to her mouth, and he did so without question. 

“You wanna come pick out a few snacks with me? My treat.” She whispered up to him and beamed innocently up in his direction. He didn’t verbally answer, yet didn’t resist when she slipped her hand into his to tug him in the direction of the cold foods. 

Y/n never felt the urge to drop his hand as they perused the novelty ice cream pints, the weight of his hand in hers becoming second nature. But alas, she had to let go in the name of ice cream. Y/n held two flavors in her hand, having trouble deciding which to go for. She spun around to face Jungkook, who was staring intently at an unknown flavor behind the frosty freezer doors. 

“Which do you think I should get? Cookie dough or white chocolate raspberry?” Y/n held both small containers up for him to see the brightly colored descriptions, his face impassive as he scanned the labels. He held up an inked finger and poked at the one in her right hand. 

 “Cookie dough. That’s your favorite.” 

Y/n hummed, placing the white chocolate flavor back into the freezer. “After all these years you still remember that.” She shook her head with a chuckle. He let out an offended scoff.

“Of course I do.” Jungkook stated matter-of-factly. “I remember everything about you.” 

Y/n let the freezer door slam closed on its own and moved onto the next door, hovering a hand over it. “Everything?” 

Jungkook nodded, and spoke as if it was the most obvious thing in the world to him. 

“Everything.” 

Her breath hitched, and she left her hand clench and unclench on the freezer handle. His eyes were sincere, not a single cloud of doubt or humor speckling his russet irises. Y/n felt a flush creep up her neck, and her ears warm in conjunction to it. Jungkook cocked his head and one of his brows twitched in her direction. 

“Are you alright? Your face is turning red.” Even if they had made strides, he was still as blunt as ever. 

“Y-yeah. I’m fine. Just feeling a little tired, that's all.” She jerked the next freezer door open and pulled out another pint. “I think I might get two, actually.” 

Y/n emerged with a container so cold it made her fingertips numb, and held it up for him to see. She watched his eyes practically glaze over as they took in the picture, before jumping up to meet hers again. 

“You like mint ice cream now?” Shock made itself evident in his tone. 

She gave him a coy smile and shrugged her shoulders. “It grew on me once I learned the difference between mint species.”  

A grin bloomed across his face. “Finally- someone understands!” He took the container from her hands and shifted his weight from foot to foot in excitement. “It doesn’t taste like toothpaste. If it does the brand-”

“-Used the wrong kind of mint.” Y/n finished for him and pushed the freezer door shut with her hip. “Spearmint is toothpaste and gum. Peppermint is for desserts. It’s why candy canes and peppermint bark don’t burn my tongue like mouthwash or toothpaste. It’s smoother and sweeter.” 

Jungkook couldn’t hide his joy as he juggled the container from one hand to the other, sending her a lopsided grin that made her heart throb. “Mint ice cream is my favorite.” 

“I know. I remember stuff about you too.” Y/n started out of the cold aisle without checking if he was following. She didn’t feel like being called out on the flustered state he put her in again with something as effortless as a smile. 

Y/n heard the squeak of his sneakers on the tile behind her as he took to a casual jog to catch up. 

“Your cheeks are still red.” 

Of course she could never run from his observant eyes. Y/n quickened her pace and took a sharp turn into the snack aisle with him hot on her heels. They barely made it halfway down the chip section before Yoongi’s voice rang out from the end they had just entered from. 

“I look away for two seconds and you guys scurry off without so much as a word.” He reprimanded as he ambled down the aisle after them, Namjoon following in his footsteps with his hands in his pockets. 

“I wanted snacks. I just went through something traumatizing and deserve a special little treat.” Y/n pursed her lips and crossed her arms over her chest. “Or am I not allowed to process my emotions in unhealthy ways anymore, Mr. Therapist?” 

Yoongi clicked his tongue.  “I didn’t say that. I would just like a heads up next time before you two lovebirds disappear on me.” 

Y/n blanched, and she could very well see steam evaporating from her face. “W-we’re not–It’s not-” She couldn’t stop tripping over her own tongue. An accusation like this had never bothered her before, as they had been anything but few and far between growing up. She didn’t understand why suddenly she felt the need to defend herself against them. 

“Okay dad. Will do.” Jungkook rolled his eyes with a tiny teasing smile, appearing to be unbothered by his comment. 

“Ugh–how can you eat that stuff?” Namjoon unknowingly saved Y/n from melting into an embarrassed puddle on the spot with his disgusted outburst. His face scrunched in on itself as he pointed to the tub of mint oreo ice cream in Jungkook’s hand. 

“Because it’s good.” Jungkook over-enunciated the last word and wagged his head in Namjoon’s direction. 

Namjoon choked on his own spit. “If you think eating toothpaste is appetizing.” 

“IT’S NOT SPEARMINT, JOON!” 

“It doesn’t taste like that!” 

Y/n and Jungkook’s voices overlapped in indignant fury, and Namjoon just about sucked his eyes into the back of his skull with how forcefully he rolled them. “Whatever.” 

“Sorry to interrupt your riveting debate, but you guys should finish up. The store closes soon and I still need to anoint these and head to bed before your dad takes to the catwalk tonight.” Yoongi brushed past the three of them, reaching up over Y/n’s head for a bag of flavored potato chips and continuing down the aisle. Namjoon followed suit, snatching a black bag of white cheddar popcorn on his way out. 

Y/n called after him, her voice dripping with sass. “How can you eat that stuff Joon? It tastes like spiced packing peanuts!” 

The man in question didn’t bother looking back, just held up a brief middle finger at her which she stuck her tongue at. Jungkook cackled next to her, making her heart swarm with butterflies that migrated into all of the nooks and crannies of her ribcage. All of these new feelings her friends were nurturing from within were making her head hurt, and left her feeling disoriented each time they made themselves known. Y/n would definitely have to get a handle on it asap.

Taking a moment to let his laughter die down, they returned to their grazing of the snack shelves; handpicking out a few different types of candy, and a few bags of chips to try. After making a brief pit stop at the chocolate milk and protein shake selection and loading up on anything that caught either of their eyes, they circled up to the self checkouts where Namjoon and Yoongi waited for them. They appeared to be discussing the new greenhouse set up when they approached, Namjoon describing the construction team’s reign of terror on his petunias and other assorted flowers they had yet to transplant. 

Yoongi gestured for the two younger arrivals to follow after him, still listening to Namjoon’s complaints as he scanned his items. When Y/n moved to step around him to the next open checkout, Yoongi waved a dismissive hand in her direction and plucked the items from their hands to add to his order. He held a hand up to shush each of her protests with a “I’m trying to listen”, and she knew to give up fighting. As the pile grew he made a few comments about them breaking his bank account, but the comments held no actual heat behind them if his pink tinted ears were anything to go by. She just tucked the thought of paying for their next outing into her back pocket as consolation. 

They all packed into the raised Jeep Wrangler with different levels of coordination: Yoongi hopped into the driver's seat with ease, and Jungkook took the elevated step up in stride.  Y/n managed to grunt her way into her seat but did much better than Namjoon had in comparison–him somehow managing to bump both his shin and his forehead on the vehicle’s exterior as he clambered into the passenger seat, earning a disbelieving stare from Yoongi and a bark of laughter from Y/n. 

The wind from the open windows blew off any of the residual energy from her paranormal encounter out into the open air. The balance of chilled night air coupled with the warmed seats and soft piano music tinkling through the speakers made Y/n’s head begin to loll onto her folded arms that leant on the lip of her open window. Her eyelids drooped, her ears unable to make out any words from the hushed conversation batting in between the front seats. Her eyes briefly caught Yoongi’s from the rearview mirror, and he sent her a minute smile before her eyes finally gave up their fight to stay open. 

“Y/n–come on. You’re starting to get cold.” Y/n stirred from her slumped position, her eyes blinking open. An out of focus Jungkook blurred into her vision from where he stood outside of the car, her door propped open and a gray plastic bag hanging from his wrist.  

“What?” She bleated, her eyes languidly dragging in her surroundings. The car was still rumbling beneath her, but it was unmoving out front of the estate. The lights blared down at her from the ceiling, and the driver side door was left open. “Sorry…” Y/n moved at a snail's pace to slide from her seat, swaying slightly when her feet hit the gravel. 

One of Jungkook’s hands snapped up to her upper arm to steady her, and she smiled gratefully up at him in thanks. Namjoon was nowhere to be seen, but Yoongi was skipping down the stairs from over Jungkook’s shoulder with empty hands. Y/n guessed that he had dropped the rest of the goods in the kitchen and his room while he waited for her to wake from her nap. She took staggering steps towards the steps of the estate; her grogginess depleting her already low coordination levels. 

Jungkook kept in time with her, a supportive hold on her arm for each hike of her foot on the stone steps and through the propped open doors. He guided the two of them towards the kitchen, tiptoeing through the doors and towards the heap of plastic bags on the counter. Jungkook finished the trek towards the center island and dug through the bags with relaxed movements, yet Y/n’s steps lingered near the entrance. She couldn’t help but let her gaze wander over to the doors that separated them from the dining room. The image of the shredded man looming on the other side of the wood made goosebumps track across her skin–her brain still having trouble computing that what she had seen had been happening in real time, and wasn’t a separate place that didn’t have any true impact on her. That they were lurking around in the rooms at all times on the other side in an exact mirror to how she and her friends were. Any of them could be in here with us right now…she stilled, her muscles tightening their hold to lock her joints in place. 

“What’s wrong?” The sound of plastic bags rustling subsided, Jungkook’s voice taking their place. 

Y/n whirled to look at him with wide eyes, his voice startling her from her thoughts. “Nothing!” She took tentative steps towards the island and away from the door, but her eyes kept being tugged back to the dining room no matter how hard she tried to wrench them away. “I was just…Thinking. That’s all.” 

She finally managed to make it to the island and place her palms that were still warm from sleep onto its cool surface. Jungkook gave her a once over, his face an open book that’s title must have something to do with doubt or disbelief. He brushed past her and towards the dining room door. 

“Jungkook! Wait-” 

He didn’t listen to Y/n’s protests, swinging open the door and holding it in place to give him a perfect view of the dining room. Jungkook’s coal-like eyes did a full sweep from corner to corner, before backtracking into the kitchen and letting the door swing shut behind him. 

“Nothing in there to worry about.” He breezed past her and returned to putting away the snacks they had acquired. As he passed, she saw the glint of the edge of Yoongi’s flashlight sticking up from his pocket. The sight helped to soothe some of her racing thoughts. 

Y/n followed close behind him with her arms hugging around her middle, not keen on keeping much space between them at the moment. “Nothing to worry about as in ‘empty’ or as in ‘something is there but they don’t seem to want to kill me’?” 

Jungkook lifted the mint oreo container from the bag and onto the island top, grabbing the cookie dough pint out from the same spot and piling it into an already overflowing freezer. She thought for a minute that he was going to ignore her question–but to her surprise–his mouth opened the moment he bent to pull two spoons from the drawer at his hip. 

“Nothing that wants to kill you.” Jungkook held a spoon out for her to take; a rounded one that she had stolen from the Adelaide as a child and declared as her favorite when she was six. 

Y/n pinched the spoon from his fingers and fidgeted with the handle, content with watching him pop the lid off of the ice cream and drop it to the countertop below while she deliberated on his response in her mind. Jungkook glided to spoon across the flat top, the pale green treat curling up and over into the perfect glistening bite that he raised to wrap his lips around. He let the bite sit in his mouth, raising an eyebrow her way when she didn’t move to dig in after him. 

“Who is it? In the dining room I mean.” Y/n mimicked his previous action, the smooth mound of soft creamy peppermint melting on her tongue and leaving chewy pieces of chocolate cookie where it had once been. 

Jungkook took another spoonful, letting the spoon hang from his mouth before removing it with a ‘pop’. “I’m not completely sure. I see them in the dining room a lot.” He carved his spoon into the carton once more. “From their habits I’d guess one of the o.g Kim’s.” 

Y/n let out a small gasp around her spoon. “Really? Wouldn’t you be able to recognize them then from all the pictures?” 

Jungkook’s eyes widened naturally as his lips pulled around the spoon, reminiscent of a younger and much lankier version of himself. He dragged out an ambivalent hum. 

“Not necessarily. I can’t always tell who I’m looking at if they don’t interact with me.” 

“Huh. I thought you could just see everyone all of the time?” Y/n held her spoon over the opening of the carton, waiting for him to finish his strip before making her own.

Jungkook shook his head once. “No. I can only see them in detail if I’ve interacted with them a lot, or if they outwardly tell me who they are in some way or another. Or if…” His voice trailed off temporarily, but with a quick twitch of his head he pushed onwards. “Or if I was around when they died.” He swallowed forcefully, avoiding her eyes to poke around for a bigger cookie piece. “Otherwise they just look like shadowy figures or blurry faces.” 

“Oh.” 

They took turns digging into the ice cream, Y/n taking her time to think up her next question. He seemed to be in a talkative mood, and she wanted to seize the opportunity while it lasted. Y/n’s next bite had been unexpectedly soft, dribbling onto her chin and her shirt.

“How can you tell it’s one of the Kim’s then?” Her spoon made a clinking sound when she lowered it to the counter top. She spun around to look for a paper towel or napkin to dab at the mess she had made, finding her search unsuccessful. Jungkook reached behind him, tearing one off of the roll and passing it to her before he answered. 

“There’s two of them. They sit at the table late at night or early in the morning, and even though I can’t see what they are holding, I can tell from how they are moving that they are drinking a cup of tea together.” He cleared his throat, having swallowed his bite too quickly, “Kind of like how Mr. Kim and his dad had done before he passed.” 

Y/n waited to respond until she was sure she had scraped away the spot from her chin. “Even if you can piece that together, you still can’t see them yet?” 

“No. Because they haven’t interacted with me yet. They don’t seem to interact with anyone.” 

“Huh. Residual maybe.” 

Jungkook shrugged, scooping more ice cream into his mouth. 

Y/n picked up her spoon for her next mouthful, but this time Jungkook paused his scooping just as she had done before. It took her a couple bites to register that he was staring at her, his expression taking on the same unreadable nature it had earlier that day. Y/n slowed her motions, releasing the spoon from her mouth and putting it back on the counter next to where his hand rested with his own utensil twiddling between his fingers. Y/n brought the back of her hand up to her face to rub at her cheeks and chin, worried she had missed a spot. 

“Do I still have ice cream on my face?” She felt around, but found nothing out of place. 

“No you’re fine.” His eyes flickered down to her chin and back up to hers. He tore his attention from her face and back down to the ice cream in front of him. He brought his spoon up into the air to make another stab into the half empty container, holding it aloft just before he touched its surface. 

“Y/n, can I ask you some-”

Both of their heads whipped to the right when Namjoon made his less than coordinated appearance through the swinging dining room door. He beelined straight to the cabinets behind the two of them to rummage for his bag of popcorn, bulldozing through three separate cabinets until he found his target. Jungkook closed himself off, retracting back into his shell at his interruption. 

The interruption in question didn’t seem to notice anything out of the ordinary, popping open the black bag and leaning his elbows on the counter at the spot next to Y/n. Completely ignorant to his intrusion. He shook the bag, tucking his chin down to peer down his nose at its contents and taking a small handful and pouring it into his mouth. Each handful he took was unnecessarily noisy, the bag somehow managing to get louder each time his hand slid in to pull out more.  After his fifth handful Y/n couldn’t hold back the twitch of her eye.  

“Joon. Seriously.” 

“What? I’m not judging you for your abomination of a snack choice.” A piece fell from where he cradled a few in his palm, and he swept it into a pile onto the counter with his other hand. 

Y/n rolled her eyes. “That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about how ridiculously loud you’re being at the moment.” 

Namjoon scoffed, tossing in another bunch of popcorn into his mouth and reaching down to dust the white powder onto his pants. “It’s an aluminum bag. They crinkle.” He swallowed his bite, and swept the collection of dropped pieces into a cupped hand to walk it to the trash can. “What–was I interrupting something?” 

Y/n simply shook her head, and tossed her spoon into the sink with a sigh. 

“What?” He walked back over to where Y/n and Jungkook stood. 

“First you kicked me earlier today and now you attack my ears with the ungodly loud sound of your dishonorable taste.” 

Namjoon jerked his chin back, ignoring the jab at his preferences. “I didn’t kick you–what are you talking about?” 

“Yes you did,” Y/n faltered in her step towards the freezer, “at breakfast to keep me from  trying to follow Hoseok.” 

Namjoon knit his eyebrows together with a slow side to side motion of his head. 

“No I didn’t Y/n. I don’t care if you talk to him.” 

Y/n turned to Jungkook, narrowing her eyes in an accusation at him from around the open door to the freezer. “Was it you?” 

“No.” Jungkook’s tone was flat as he dropped his spoon next to hers.  

Y/n shut the freezer door and pinched her face together in thought. They were the only people sat across from her besides her brother. Well–the only people besides her brother and Jin. But what reason would Jin have to keep her from talking to Hoseok?

Y/n blew the thoughts away with a sharp exhale. The idea that Jin of all people would have any reason to keep them separated felt too out of left field. One of the men in front of her must be lying–and it probably was Jungkook. Tracking away from the fridge and back towards the kitchen island, she hoisted herself up onto the counter top to sit between them. 

“Whoever kicked me–uncalled for. Don’t do it again.” 

Both men on either side of her shared an unsure shrug, and Namjoon pulled out one of the stools with his foot and slid onto its cushioned surface. Jungkook settled for leaning back against the counter near the stove. The foot in the door she had had with him minutes before was now gone. They only had to endure a few more ear-splitting bites, their saving grace arriving in a pair of sweats and slightly out of breath.  

‘I see you all made yourselves comfortable while I had to hike uphill from the parking lot by myself.” Yoongi waddled over to the cabinet that Namjoon had pulled the popcorn from, snatching out his potato chips and sauntering back towards the hallway. “We need to move. On my trek back I saw your mom’s car pull in from up the hill–and even at my distance I could tell the energy in the car was all kinds of fucked up.” 

All of them came to life simultaneously, shuffling in a line along the banister and towards the steps. Y/n’s foot barely brushed the first step when an idea took hold of her, pulling her backwards for Namjoon to stumble into. 

“Y/n, what are you doing? Let's go.” Namjoon gave a gentle nudge of her shoulder’s forward, but she planted her feet and resisted with all of her strength. 

Then she heard it. A faint whisper called to her from the study, and she could’ve sworn she caught a glimpse of her grandmother’s eyes glinting at her through the miniscule crack of the pocket doors.

Y/n shoved past Namjoon and Jungkook, and slid open the wooden panels just enough for her to slide into. “You guys go ahead. I have something I want to do first.” 

“Like hell you’re doing anything by yourself.” Yoongi’s feet thundered down the steps after her, retreating the steps he had just made. He shoved his bag of chips into Jungkook’s chest and used his now free hand to stop the door from closing in his face. “Do you have a death wish?” 

“No.” Y/n pursed her lips, rethinking her statement. “Maybe–I’m going to eavesdrop on my mom. I just have a gut feeling.” Y/n disappeared into the dark study, surprising even herself with her sudden bravery when just in the kitchen she couldn’t bear the thought of being by herself. 

“Jesus fucking Christ–Joon: the flashlights are on your bed. In my chest I have the instructions for what I did to anoint them, just follow the steps exactly as they are written. Jungkook.” Yoongi turned to the youngest and held both hands up in front of his face. Jungkook seemed to understand the silent command, slipping the flashlight from his pocket and tossing it in a flying arch into Yoongi’s awaiting hands. 

“You both go do that. I’ll make sure she doesn’t get herself killed.” Yoongi spat, running his fingers through his hair and slipping after her into the pitch black study before either of them could protest.

Yoongi and Y/n faced each other in a crouch, their shoulders brushing against the wooden doors and their eyes locked on each other's from across the gap Y/n had left for peeking; reminiscent of the way her and her grandmother had done only a couple hours prior. Yoongi’s eyes shined at her with a dangerous glint, but they both remained silent. 

Her mother barged through the front door, aggressively throwing her keys into the ceramic bowl near the door in a huff. Y/n heard the sound of her mother struggling to remove her jacket, the fabric flapping about frantically and catching on her elbows. Yoongi had the best view–the side he was on enabled him to spy on her through the gap in the door. His eyes paused their survey, something entrapping his focus. 

“Do you need any help?” 

Y/n’s eyes bugged out of her skull, Jin’s voice sounding from the other side of the door confirming any earlier suspicions she may have had about his whereabouts. 

“No.” Her mother snapped, and Y/n watched the shadow of her feet glide across the floor in the direction of the hall and into her restricted line of sight. Her mother stopped just after the dining room doors, shifting to regard Jin over her shoulder.

“I apologize for being short with you–I’ve had quite a draining day today. Make sure he gets to bed safely.” Her mother’s steps resumed their path towards the hall, the shadow vanishing with her exit. 

When the two figures passed the crack in the door, she was able to get a better picture. Y/n watched as not one, but two sets of feet followed the same direction, only this time she heard them start a slow trek up the steps towards the second floor landing. Y/n concealed her gasp with the palm of her hand when they passed in front of the gap for her to catch a glimpse of the way Jin was carrying almost the entirety of their friend’s body weight. Hoseok did not sound good, and how he looked wasn’t much better off. His air curling and sticking to the nape of his neck with sweat, an old t-shirt hanging off of thin shoulders that’s collar looked soaked all the way down to his shoulder blades. Did her mom do something to them? It couldn’t be a coincidence that her and her mother got into a spat that ended with fingers pointed in their direction, and for her to return home late with the said guilty parties in tow; not to mention one in poor condition. Y/n watched their ascending figures until she couldn’t, unable to take her eyes off of Hoseok’s etiolated slump of a body against Jin’s side. 

“Can I get you anything from the kitchen before we get you settled?” Jin’s voice was not above a murmur. 

“No.” Hoseok ground out through his teeth, his steps dragging out behind Jin’s. “Just let me lay down please.” 

They said nothing else, just a few ragged breaths from Hoseok and a couple muted grunts from Jin while they crept the way to the top of the stairs, dragging their feet through the landing.

“We should really head back up to get this all finished before she finds us together.” Yoongi hissed.

“No. I need to keep going.” 

Without warning, Y/n shoved through the gap in the door and kept her steps light to follow after her mother. Y/n made it just in time to see mother’s shadow dissipate beneath her father’s office door, the light pooling from beneath the door much too dim to be able to tell where abouts in the room she moved. Y/n melted into the wall, Yoongi sidling up next to her with the flashlight gripped tightly in his fist. They shuffled on their toes down towards the edge of the door frame, and Y/n held her breath as she leaned forward to listen in on the muffled voices from the other side.  Yoongi did the same, spinning on the balls of his feet to leap across the beam of light to stand on the opposite side of the frame to face each other once more. Their ears virtually pressed into the wooden border to help the sound waves reach them with less difficulty.

“I made a few calls today–it’s settled. We may have to shovel more money into their pockets but that can’t be helped. Whatever it takes to get him out of here is fine by me.” Her mothers heels clicked across the floor, and she heard the faint whistle of air releasing from the leather office chair behind her father’s desk and assumed she had seated herself in it. 

“Alright.” Her father’s voice slurred, tracking sideways from his mouth and tumbling out without control of where the sound went. 

Her mother heaved out a breath. “He will need to be packed up and off well before dinner. Please try and see him before he goes, will you? We have an image to keep up with.” 

Only silence followed. 

“In other news, If you’d like an update on your daughters–Amelia is enjoying her time in France–says she met a boy.” Y/n heard a smile seep through her mother’s words. 

Her father croaked out a disjointed hum. “Did she now?” 

“Mmmhmm. Says he’s ‘nothing special’, but a mother knows how to read her daughter like the back of her hand. I suspect there will be a new addition at the Christmas table this year.” Her mother let out a tinkling laugh, her father’s much quieter one wheezing out from his chest. There was a palpable lull in their conversation before her mother spoke up again. 

“Y/n is…adjusting.” 

Her father grunted out a reply, but it was too jumbled for Y/n to understand. 

“No–I’ve made sure of it.” 

Anselm's first words were of a whisper too quiet for the eavesdroppers to hear. But his next ones were loud and clear. A cry into the night. “Mother, please. Do not lie to me. He says this is the only way.”

 The office chair creaked, and the sound of her mother’s shoes traveled further into the office. 

“Anselm, stay with me.” Her voice cut itself off and Y/n heard the rug from near the fireplace rustle with movement. “Would you like to see pictures Amelia sent me today?” Y/n had never heard her mother sound so desperate and warbled. It almost made Y/n feel sorry for her. Almost. 

A rattling cough barked out from her father’s chest, making both Y/n and Yoongi jump a few inches off of the ground. His vocal chords rubbed against one another as if coated in shards of glass: scratchy and inhuman. 

“Y/n…Come to me please. I know you’re there.” He coughed once more, and she heard one staggering step reverberate through the floor. “I can see you, Entlein.”

Yoongi grabbed her wrist, tugging her back down the hall with haste. Y/n thanked the gods that they had both taken off their shoes, and for the carpet muffling the way their soles struck the ground with each push up the stairs. Yoongi didn’t stop pulling her forward until he was shoving her in front of him and into her own bedroom, skidding in behind her and locking the door behind them. 

“There’s no way he could’ve actually seen me right?” Y/n panted, whirling to face him. 

“I don’t know Y/n.” His tone was frantic, and he signaled for her to stay quiet while he listened out for any creak, hum or groan to signify that they had been followed.

“Were they talking about you? She wouldn’t do anything shady to get rid of you–right?”

“Y/n–I don’t know! Now shush so I can listen please!” Yoongi’s words were intended to be sharp, but missed their shot like an arrow released from a bow that was tied much too loose.  He held his flashlight at the ready, and kept his back pressed against the door with his feet dug into the ground in front of him. Once Yoongi decided the coast was clear he slumped against the back of her door and slid to the floor. 

“Your dad’s voice–did it sound familiar to you at all?” 

“I mean yeah, it was my dad.” Y/n fixed him with an incredulous look. 

The glare he gave her was unimpressed, his eyebrows raised in a silent challenge. She thought back to her father’s final utterance–the way his voice had shifted and the hairs on her arms that had stood up in response. She replayed the sound again, except this time it began to overlap with the man from the other side–with even Hadwin’s snarls making an appearance from the crevices of her mind–each of their phrases piling one on top of the other. She could practically see the way his skeletal jaw shook with each syllable.

 “How nice of you to join us, Entlein.”

“I will kill you where you stand, wretched bitch.”

“I can see you, Entlein.”

They sounded the same. 

Y/n pulled at the hair on her head. Her own voice doing little to drown out the memory of their echoing voices.

 “Shit.” 

After trading a debrief with Jungkook and Namjoon for two anointed flashlights, she had been left to her own devices in her room to avoid any run-in with her father. Y/n couldn’t get herself to sleep a wink that night. The events from that day fully caught up to her now that she had no friends and no pint of ice cream to fend them off with. That’s how she found herself in her current predicament: Her back pressed against her closet door and one of her flashlights crushed between her fingers. She waited–holding her breath when her father’s steps stopped outside her door with a finger pressing dangerously close to the on button but never putting enough pressure to turn it on. If she had thought she was scared of her father before, then the only word to describe how she felt about him being just on the precipice of her space was pure terror.

When her father turned his way back down the hallway, Y/n launched into action. Scraping her chair out from beneath her desk and scrambling for an empty journal. If they had still had time before bed, she would’ve made Yoongi or Jungkook escort her to the cellar and attic to go through her childhood belongings for her handmade family tree they had scrapbooked as a family when she was seven. Each sister making their own with printed out photos they had butchered with children’s scissor’s into choppy edged shapes to fit into the small frames of each designated member. 

But they hadn’t had the time. Which meant Y/n had to do what she did best: figure it out on her own. 

The main branches had come to her memory with ease–their names and basic stories tossed around with as much reverence as bible stories were discussed in church. The set up may not have been as perfect as the custom hand designed map they had been given as children to fill out, but it got the job done. Once she had their names, she started to add her own notes. Underneath Hadwin’s lopsided bubble, she scribbled down a quick ‘X’ to mark his current…unsightly circumstances. She did the same with the twins, Annelise, and Patti. Her pen hovered over her sister’s name, her shaky hand making the ink wiggle onto the paper as she drew another ‘x’ beneath it. 

Once she had finished up with that task, she pulled out another sheet of paper and tried to jot down as many names of the Kim, Jung, Jeon, and Min line as she could remember and tucked the paper beneath her makeshift family tree. She followed each slanted line with her pen, notating each set of brothers that could’ve possibly been whoever she had seen on the other side. If Y/n wanted to get to the bottom of what was going on, she would need to brush up on her history–and she had just the person to go to for help. 

_________________________________________

Y/n’s eyes blinked blearily at the sun that started to seep through her blinds and onto her indecipherable words that careened off the paper into unintentional stripes where her hand had continued trying to write even if her brain had succumbed to an hour of rest. The sound of shoes scuffling on the carpet outside of her door brought her eyes open further. She lifted her head from where it had fallen onto her desk and stared at the shadow of feet as they drifted to the side and down the hall. 

Despite having almost no sleep, Y/n could feel the buzz lingering beneath her skin that charged her forward like the world’s strongest cup of coffee. She pulled her clothes in a speed that could have won her a record, and pulled open her door expecting to find Jungkook leaning against the wall between Yoongi’s room and her own–but found no person waiting for her on the other side. What she did find was a neon sticky note stuck to her door. 

“Meet me in the ballroom at 1. ~Your second ex husband :)” 

Y/n’s heart thumped in her chest, and she fiddled with the paper between her fingers. An unstoppable smile slithered her lips upwards, but she felt it wobble when her mind conjured up the ashen image of him from the night before–reminding her what her purpose was for today. The recollection only gives fuel to her already ever-present tenacity forth tenfold.

She raced back into her room, grabbing the makeshift list and family tree and shoving them along with the sticky note into her pocket. Y/n pulled out her phone from her pocket to dial Jungkook when a few missed text messages had her attention derailed to read them.

New messages in ‘The Most Annoying and Toxic Coworkers’

[Jungkook]: Namjoon will have to pick you up today. Your mom is home. 

[Zoltar]: Home and in the way. The foyer is a wreck. 

[Zoltar]: You’re going to want to make a pitstop at your brother’s room–whether for better or for worse–It wasn’t me they were talking about paying to get rid of last night. 

As she was reading a new message appeared, shoving the rest further up her screen. 

[Joon 🌱]: I’m on my way to get you. Prepare yourself.

Y/n didn’t have time to ponder what he meant with his message–for he was already rounding the corner down her hall. Namjoon’s face was slightly gray from what seemed to now be a mutual lack of sleep and he had both hands shoved into his pockets with his head slightly bowed. He picked his head up when he was a few yards out from her room, and his neck flushed. He was either already lying or preparing himself to. 

“Y/n–” 

“How bad is it?”  Y/n demanded, leaving no room for his bumbling attempts at dishonesty. 

Namjoon puffed out his cheeks and sucked in a breath. “She’s having cameras put up, so I have no idea what this means for us. And your brother is being sent to boarding school early–or late–however you want to look at it.” 

Y/n was beside herself at the news. Her anger rose in waves, her mother’s magnetic pull never failing to elicit a high tide in Y/n’s emotional sea. She did her best to shove it down: if she blew up right now it wouldn’t help her case in her mother’s eyes.  

“Why would she even bother–he will just be home in barely two months anyways?” Y/n met Namjoon outside Yoongi’s door, and didn’t bother stopping her strides to chat. Namjoon immediately kept in step with her, spinning on his feet to follow. 

“Well that’s the thing–I don’t think he’s going to the same one you did.” 

“What makes you say that?” They reached the top of the stairs, and Namjoon’s answer was pulled from between his teeth by the label on passerby’s uniform.

 Brighten’s Center for Boys–Est 1978, NY

“I looked it up. They go year round with only short week-long breaks here and there.” Namjoon’s voice was tight. 

The man’s shirt was bunched up, and damp despite the weather not being a degree over 68. He had a large taped cardboard box balanced on his forearms with Roland’s name scrawled on the side in black marker. Y/n skittered down the steps, swinging on the banister as she turned down the hall. New York? Steam billowed from Y/n’s ears when she swallowed down scathing choice words for her mother. Did her mom even want any of them around anymore? She recounted the way her mother had sounded so relieved to have him gone, and spurred herself on faster. 

Y/n passed her father’s office, and headed straight down the hall where she could see one of the bedroom doors propped open by another mover leaned up against a moving cart. She could hear her mother shouting out orders from her distance, and almost bit her own tongue off to keep from stomping in with guns blazing. 

“This pile can go–thank you.” 

Y/n rounded the corner just behind the man that entered to grab the stack her mother had directed him to. Her brother’s room was in shambles: half packed and bed stripped. She tried to not let her eyes linger around for too long, the sight playing much too close to how it had looked the days following her sister’s death. Her mother’s eyes met hers from over the mover’s shoulder, and Y/n saw her composure crack if only momentarily. Then like she did best, her mother patched it back up with indifference. 

“What’s going on here?” Y/n could feel Namjoon’s astonishment at how well Y/n managed to disguise her rage in her question. 

Y/n’s mother must have also been expecting an explosion, because the muscles in her shoulders visibly uncoiled themselves beneath her sweater. 

“An opening came up at one of the boarding schools we were looking to enroll Ro in. We couldn’t pass it up and risk him not having a spot in the fall.” The older woman crouched onto her knees to commence the daunting task of piling all of her brother’s stuffed dogs into a box to her right. 

Lies. Y/n though, but kept her words within herself. 

Y/n put one hand into her back pocket, and leant up against Roland’s now empty dresser. “And the men outside?” 

Mariah avoided Y/n’s stare, looking far too interested than necessary at a plush dalmatian in her hands. 

“They are setting up cameras at all of the entrances. Your father and I determined that it was necessary again with the uptick in guests for this year’s events.” 

Y/n pursed her lips, her hand drumming on the dresser as she nodded in feigned disinterest. Roland stumbled from his bathroom, still clad in a set of dog themed pajamas, and her mother found her conversational escape. 

“Did you sort through all of your toiletries?” 

Her brother nodded, his eyes wide and unable to look at the spot Y/n stood near his door. 

“Good. I will run those out to one of the movers to put in our car for easy access.” Mariah dropped the stuffed animal she was holding and hustled into the bathroom her brother had just left. Y/n’s eyes followed her as she returned with a firetruck red duffle bag over her shoulder and set off in search of someone to take it off of her hands. 

Y/n waited for a moment to see if her mother would return, and when she didn’t she let her gaze fall on her brother. Roland still stood in the middle of his room like a deer in headlights, looking just out of place as she suspected he felt. 

“How are you feeling about school? Excited?”  Y/n tried to keep her voice light as to not scare him off. 

Roland shrugged and pulled at the sleeves of his shirt. “I guess so.” 

“I was nervous the first year I was sent off. You’ll get used to it after a while.” Y/n sent him a reassuring smile that he only saw part of with his wandering eyes. 

Roland inched over to his bed, and lowered himself onto the bare mattress. His eyes flickered to the door and then back at Y/n. His shoulders curled in on him, and he couldn’t keep his feet still. He was nervous to be around her. Another stab into Y/n’s heart that they were more distant than ever. 

“Hey, I bet you’ll do great.” She had to rip the next few words from the depths of her soul, every cell in her body screaming at her not to. “You’re the next big brave owner after all.” 

Even though Y/n’s words sounded uplifting, Roland seemed to find them uncomfortable. 

“Why did they send you to boarding school?” Roland asked his questions with his eyes still checking the doorway for their mother’s return. 

“Well…” Y/n pushed herself from the dresser and bounced down onto the mattress next to him. “They just thought it’d be best for me–and I bet it’s the same reason for you.” 

Roland shifted in his seat at her answer, his hands tugging harder at the edge of his shirt. His mouth opened to say something else, but rerouted to instead utter something far too quiet for Y/n to understand. 

“You’re gonna have to speak up bud–the world is going topsy turvy out in the halls.” Y/n jabbed at his arm lightly with her elbow in jest, but he didn’t smile. 

“Did you leave because of me?” 

Y/n’s brows knit at the sudden inquiry, not expecting him to ask her such a thing. But it dawned on Y/n as she watched him shimmy in his seat that he might have been too young to grasp what had truly happened that night. And she doubted her mother had run to Y/n’s defenses if it had been brought up before.

“What? No!” Y/n blinked down at him, her mouth opening and closing to find the right words. “Have you thought that this whole time?” 

Roland shrugged, his head bowing in shame. “A little. I started the fight.” 

“Well stop thinking that. It wasn’t your fault what happened–Mom and Dad are the ones who lied, not you. You didn’t know any better.” Y/n turned her body to face him, trying her best to meet his avoidant gaze. “I mean it, Küken. I’m not mad at you.” 

Roland shyly peaked up at her, his hands stilling at his sides. “You promise?” 

“Pinky promise.” She held her smallest finger up for his to take, and gave him the most convincing look she could muster. He linked his pinky with hers, and Y/n shook it slightly with finality. 

Roland checked the doorway for the umpteenth time, still finding no sign of their mom he leaned back in. “Can I tell you a secret then? That will stay just between us?” 

“Of course. Whatever you want to tell me. You know I love a good secret that Mom and Dad can’t know.” Y/n leant in closer as well, wiggling her eyebrows mischievously. “When you get a bit older I can tell you hundreds of my own.”

Roland let out a small giggle, and grabbed for Y/n’s pinky again. “I mean it. They can’t ever know.” 

“I get it, stop teasing and spill before mom comes back.” She feathered her fingers against his ribs, effectively pulling bubbles of laughter from his throat at the tickling onslaught. 

“Okay-Okay! Stop!” Y/n removed her hands, and let him have a few seconds to catch his breath. Roland turned to completely face her, pulling his legs towards his chest to sit crisscrossed on the mattress.

“I don’t want to own the hotel. I never wanted to. But mom says I don’t have a choice.” 

Y/n’s stomach did flips in her abdomen, and she was glad she hadn’t eaten anything yet for it to find and evict. 

“Did she say why?” Y/n’s voice had an edge to it even though she tried to dampen it. 

“She just said that it’s tradition. That I was the only one who could do it.” He rolled his eyes, oblivious to how much this confession affected Y/n. “But what I want is to be a firefighter or a dog trainer.” 

“Why even hire movers if I have to take things to the car myself?” Their mother scampered back into the room, flustered from whatever trek she had taken. “Is everything alright?” Her back straightened at the sight of them huddled together. 

“Just peachy. I was telling him about how great he’ll do up in New York. He just got a little nervous, that's all.” Y/n gave her a tight lipped smile, brushing her hands off on her pants and pulling herself to her feet. 

“O-okay.” Mariah stepped out of Y/n’s way, letting her pass back out into the hall without stopping her. 

“If you need help let me know. But I’m headed out for the day.” Y/n saluted the two of them and took off down the hall in search of her body guard for this morning. She found Namjoon propped against the all a few doors down to give her and Roland some privacy–and despite her promise to her brother to keep what he had disclosed between them–she couldn’t wait to seethe about what she had just been told to Namjoon the moment they were alone. 

“How is he-” 

“Follow me.” 

Namjoon paled, and he fell into step with her rapid footfalls. “Got it.” 

Her face must have betrayed how livid she was again. Old wounds were being ruthlessly sliced open, and her mom’s hands were the ones holding the blade. Y/n dodged a man swinging a ladder over his head to swoop down to kick her shoes on, Namjoon barely making it underneath the metal in time to do the same. 

Y/n led the way down the stairs, barreling straight down the path toward the hotel. Y/n forced deep breaths into her lungs all the way through the courtyard and into the upper lobby as a means to hold in what she wanted so desperately to word vomit all over Namjoon behind her. She skidded to a halt at the front desk, but Jin was nowhere to be found-a different employee taking his place. Before Y/n’s thoughts could take a dark turn, she reminded herself that Jin had shared he didn’t always work on Wednesdays and settled herself on that, not having the mental capacity to start theorizing about whatever her mother's schemes had to do with them. Y/n tapped on the bell, and the well-kept woman greeted her with a dazzling smile. 

“How can I help you today?” 

“Would you mind checking the tour schedule for me? I work here, and I’m trying to see if my friend is on the schedule today. We are supposed to meet up for lunch, but he never told me what time.” Y/n returned her smile, and kept her voice inconspicuous. 

“Oh–sure! Let me check here…Who are you looking for?” 

“Jimin Park.” 

The woman’s delicate hands lifted from the keyboard, not even bothering to look any further. “I’m afraid he’s not on the schedule today. He called out this morning.” 

“Huh, darn. I’ll see if I can find him around then.” Y/n skipped backwards towards the propped open front doors. “Thank you!” 

Y/n sped down the hotel’s front steps, her feet kicking up dust when they met the gravel driveway. Much to Namjoon’s displeasure, she kept up with this pace down the entirety of the long driveway. She had an inkling at where she could find Jimin: both from something he had said the day he had lent her a hand with her shelves; and from a small nibbling feeling in her gut that whispered the location up at her. 

The Historical Society. 

It was a ten-minute walk on foot to get there. Once at the end of the driveway, they had made a left-hand turn to follow the road roughly a quarter mile down to the clearing in the woods that stood as the residential parking area. Y/n glanced both ways up and down the winding road, and led their march across asphalt towards a stubby, yet ornately painted wooden sign signaling that they had made it to their destination. Trekking through the small parking lot that was shrouded with trees and shrubs, she approached the covered entrance to the Historical building. The outside was made of cream colored stone, with the main body of the building rising into a twisted dome. Y/n ducked under the velvet divider with a ‘no trespassing’ jangling from the chain when she jostled it. Her and Namjoon stood huddled under the stoop while Y/n rapped her knuckles against the door. She huffed out one more big breath to recenter her energy away from negativity–not wanting to seem irate as to off put Jimin when he opened the door. But There was no movement, and Y/n tapped her foot with pursed lips debating on whether to knock again. She caught sight of the small round doorbell button, and pressed it down with two fingers. 

“Maybe he’s not here Y/n. We can go wait for him back at the house.” Namjoon tried to reason with a hand on her elbow when she pressed the button two more times. 

“No.” Y/n shook her head resolutely. “He’s in here, I can feel it.” 

Y/n missed the quizzical look he shot her, because her attention was stolen by the sound of the lock clambering on the other side of the door. The door heaved open to reveal a slightly off put Jimin–his dirty blond hair disheveled and his white button down crumpled in a few spots. 

“Y/n?” 

The woman in question sighed in relief. “Sorry to bother you Jimin, but I have a few questions that I was hoping you could help me find the answers to.” 

“I–” Jimin remained apprehensive, even if his eyes lit up when they flickered between her and Namjoon. “Of course. Come on in.” 

“Namjoon, will you be joining or will you be headed back to the greenhouse?” She spun to the towering man next her to find him already looking back up the road towards the house. 

Namjoon shuffled from foot to foot, an uneasy look painting his features. “I do really need to get to work for the day–will you be alright?” 

“Yup. I’ll let you know when I’m finished up here. Hopefully I’ll still have time today to help you inspect how the perennials are regrowing.” Y/n was already treading through the door that Jimin held open for her, stopping to give Namjoon a small wave with her hand still in her sweater pocket. 

Namjoon grinned sweetly at her. “I’ll hold you to that.” Jimin had already headed back into the entry room, far enough for Namjoon to feel safe whispering to her. “You better promise to text one of us to come get you if he doesn’t walk you back. And I want updates on whatever has got you in such a tizzy today.” 

“Promise.” Without thinking, Y/n tipped herself forward to plant a quick peck on Namjoon’s cheek and traipsed through after Jimin without so much as a second glance at the bumbling mess she had left him in. “Thank you for the escort. See ya later, Joon!” 

Y/n’s late night endeavors must really be pushing her into a manic episode, because she felt almost no shame in what she had done. If anything, she had an extra pep in her step as she followed Jimin past the empty tour line and into the main hall. He pushed on the golden handle, gesturing with a hand for her to enter first. 

_________________________________________

The vaulted ceiling let the main hall be broken up into two separate floors connected by golden winding staircases with matching banisters. Lining the rounded walls were artifacts encased behind protective glass, labeled golden plaques with titles and dates of each item creating divots in the surface.  The vast first floor was dedicated to the Wörner’s, a rotating exhibit that the members of the historical department selected each year. Y/n could see that with this year being a major anniversary, they had gone the obvious route of displaying them through the generations. Her eyes caught the array of pressed and displayed military uniforms, and splayed out historical documents with rapt interest. The second floor was still dedicated to the other families involved with the hotel with each having their own designated section: The Kim’s, the Jeon’s, the Jung’s and the Min’s. Y/n decided it would do her good to ask Jimin for a tour of the current exhibits when he was feeling a bit better–she’d have to settle on just her questions for the time being. 

“We can talk in my office.” Jimin came up beside her, his hands clasped behind his back and his voice light. 

He led the way, cutting through the line of boxed displays and down another grand hallway, the same black and white tiled flooring spreading outwards beneath their feet. Y/n admired the artwork displayed along the column lined walls, each piece collected from local artists and swapped at the beginning of the month. It looked like this month's theme was nature Y/n noted, her eyes examining an impressionist style piece depicting a scene from the state forest up the road. 

“They are for sale, you know.” His placid tone called from down the hall, a patient smile shining her way at where she had unknowingly stopped to admire another smaller painting of a flowery field. Y/n blushed, and scurried after him. She didn’t want to keep him waiting longer than he needed to. She brushed against him with her shoulder when she squeezed through the threshold, the crackling sound of Bach welcoming her with open arms.

 It looked mostly well kept, with some papers strewn about and a stack of books piled neatly at the end of a bulky rectangular wooden table. Its grain was handmade, a checker pattern with plaques of solid color separating the table into three distinguished segments. His monstrous bookshelves had each section labeled in a straightforward organizational system, focusing on topic or genre. In front of the shelves were two red cushioned armchairs, and a matching love seat. Y/n spied a few gray boxes stacked on an empty chair, their white tacked on label reading ‘photos and albums’. 

“You can take a seat wherever you’d like.” Jimin shut his door after them, floating over to one of the empty wooden seats at the table and pulling it out for her as an offer. 

Y/n thanked him, and sank into her seat without hesitation. Which he just responded with a pleased hum, taking two wide steps over to drop into the one across from her. Y/n felt her nose twitch, catching a whiff of something familiar that she couldn’t place.

“So what can I help you with today?” He beamed across the table at her, prodding her with a gentle quirk of his brows. Y/n’s brushed aside her concerns with whatever wax melt he had probably chosen, and focused on her task at hand. 

“I was actually hoping that you’d help me with some family history questions.” Y/n patted at her pockets with her hands, feeling for the papers and unsheathing them from her pockets. 

Jimin seemed caught off guard, and leaned forward onto his elbows to get a better look at what she was spreading out onto the table.

“Don’t judge me for how they look–it was just me, a spiral notebook and some scotch tape last night.” Y/n fidgeted with one of the corners with an abashed laugh. 

Jimin stood to get a better look, one knee propped on the chair below him and both hands supporting his weight as he slanted forward. His eyes took in her sloppy writing and wonky circles, and circled back to meet hers. 

“What kind of questions?” 

“Well…” Y/n cleared her throat, the realization that she can’t just tell him what had happened becoming glaringly apparent to her in that moment. “I want to make a more comprehensive family tree. The last one I had made was well over a decade ago and was just names and pictures. My goal is to make one with more specifics.” 

Jimin tapped his fingers on the table's edge, his tongue coming out to poke at his lower lip. “What are these ‘X’s for?” Y/n followed the direction of his pointed finger, and she scrambled for a reasonable response. 

“Oh–Those are some of the people I don’t remember as much about.” Y/n covered the lie with a chuckle, and scratched the back of her head. 

“Uh huh.” Jimin’s eyes glinted with hubris, but he didn’t call her out on her obvious lie. Y/n flushed once more, realizing that the person he had pointed at was her own sister. He fell back into his chair with a sigh, his pointer finger and thumb rubbing at his chin pensively. 

“You want to make one?” He regarded her with a few drops of skepticism, his fingers coming to a slow stop against his face. 

“Yes.” she gestured to the shotty one in front of her with a smirk. “One that doesn’t look like it was made by a toddler.” 

Jimin chortled at her comment, and rose from his chair and towards the exit to his office. “I’ll do you one better–give me one moment please.” 

He glided back out into the hall, leaving her alone in his office with just the soft sound of the record he had on his antique victrola. She could hear the sound of his shoes ringing against the tile getting further and further away and with each echoing step her heart sank: she wasn’t supposed to be alone. Y/n shoved her hand into her back pocket where her “lightsaber” was tucked, and let herself hold it at the ready in her hands to turn on at any sign of danger. But none came.

Y/n held her breath until the sound of Jimin’s steps returning down the hall let her expel it from her chest, but she did not yet let go of the flashlight until she saw his sandy head pop through the door once more. When he turned back around to face her, he had a lengthy black leather tube almost half his height. He rounded the table and propped it up against the side closest to her. 

“This is my personal copy of the Wörner family tree that I’ve been working on. I can order a second one for you to keep if you'd like.” Jimin unlatched the top, and lifted a gargantuan scroll of paper that was about as thick around as her head with how hard it was fighting to unravel the moment it was removed from its confines. 

Jimin laid the scroll horizontally on the table and pushed on the edge with his palm. The paper rolled away from his reach, spanning almost as good as the entire table and revealing its contents for both of them to see. It was without a doubt, the most concise family tree she had seen of her family to date. Each member’s birthdate, death date, and photo was displayed proudly along their branches, and small QR codes printed next to each name. 

“If you scan the QR code next to their name, it brings you to a website portal I’ve been putting together myself with any detailed information or photos I’ve been able to procure and assign to them.” Jimin pulled his phone from his pocket, scanning the square closest to him. “It’s still a work in progress.” 

Y/n tried to hold in a gag as Inga’s face appeared on his phone screen, reminding her all too well of the little girl she had seen last night. At least this version of Inga still had her teeth and eyeballs attached to her. He passed the phone into her hands, and let her scroll through the information he had already listed. 

Inga Wörner was born (along with her twin sister Heidi) to parents Ernst and Philomena Wörner in the fall of 1895. According to written accounts, she enjoyed hosting tea parties with her sister, drawing, and spending time outdoors–with emphasis on spending the most time at the lake or along the trails with her sister. Unfortunately, she caught an unspecified respiratory infection that led to both her own, and eventually her twin’s untimely death in spring of 1903. 

The grainy photo of a small girl–probably taken not long before her illness had consumed her with how similar she looked to how Y/n recognized her–filled Y/n with an unexpected wave of sympathy. She clicked on the ‘show me more’ option that routed her two a few scanned children’s drawings: a lopsided drawing of a calico cat, and the front of the estate that was clearly done by a child’s hand with her name drawn in big loopy letters along the bottom. Y/n had to skip over the sketched out image of the lake, unable to bring herself to look at it for too long without her skin crawling.

 She had only been a child when she had died–close to her sister’s age even. Y/n thought back to how her sister had shown up in her dream as a completely different person to who she had once been, and felt guilty for blaming the twins for their predicament: they were as much of a victim to whatever was happening as much as her sister had been. What a shame their legacy is being tarnished by something vile. By something out of their control. 

Y/n backed out of her file, and back to the camera button. She looked to Jimin for approval, and he gestured with his hand and an inviting smile for her to continue. 

“Be my guest.” 

Y/n handed him back his phone, and scrambled for her own–so she would be able to take screenshots of anything she had found interesting. Y/n lost herself in the map, finding herself unable to pull herself away from the photos or the information that was present, feeling drawn to take a peek into Heidi’s as well. 

Heidi Wörner was born to Ernst and Philomena in the late fall of 1895, the technical eldest of the set of twins (as she makes sure to point out in her journal entries whenever the topic is discussed). Heidi wrote extensively about things she enjoyed in a collection of personal journals and diaries. Some of the most notable things she recorded were her love of horseback riding, the family cat Gus (Asparagus), and Neapolitan ice cream. Heidi could be noted as an avid writer, documenting the day-to-day life of her and her family. Her meticulous testimony gives us a unique point of view of the adults in her life.

Y/n flipped through the plethora of photos of faded journal entries, the handwriting improving with each swipe. She shook out the mixed bag of feelings within her chest, and moved onto the next person on the page. Jimin settled himself on one of the red armchairs, crossing one of his legs and propping a book open on his elevated knee. Y/n worked in silence, taking photos or writing notes on her own makeshift document. Jimin lost in his book and tapping his fingers rhythmically against the hardcover, and the record playing through it’s next orchestra piece. 

There were a few people Jimin seemed to have not filled in yet, and each time an empty square popped up she would move to the next. Y/n made sure she was taking screenshots of the ones that did have short or cut off descriptions. The blank spaces left her more intrigued than those whose sections were full. She began to find similarities to the ones left blank as time went on: the common denominator that they belonged almost exclusively to the women in the family. This Y/n had to remind herself of, could most likely be attributed to the time they had lived in not being well known for their kindness towards women historically. Even if it didn’t surprise her, it still left her feeling the void where their stories should also be. When she hovered her phone over Adelaide, she was taken aback: for her section was also blank. There should surely be something about her somewhere–she had a restaurant named after her!. Maybe Jimin just hadn’t gotten to that side of the family tree yet, she reasoned with herself. 

Jimin felt her moment of pause, looking over her shoulder at where her phone lingered over the photo of Adelaide. 

“I haven’t finished everything yet. There’s been…” Jimin trailed off, his fingers fiddling with the cuff of one of his sleeves as he stood from his seat. “A lot of setbacks.” He avoided meeting her eyes, keeping his tone airy even if tension tried to ease its way through.

“Oh. Like technical issues or lack of substantial material?” Y/n laid her phone on the table next to Adelaide’s photo and waited patiently for his response. 

“Trust me–there is no lack of material about any of these people. There’s hoards of it in the basement archives,” Jimin sassily flicked a stray lock of hair from his forehead, “It’s more so along the lines of I have to get things I wish to share approved by higher ups and some of that information is intentionally kept from prying eyes; if you can understand what I’m implying.” 

Y/n chewed at her lip, giving him a subtle nod. “Anything interesting that you can share?”   

“Hmmm.” Jimin ran his tongue over the edge of his teeth, contemplating her question. “Not at the moment. But if I catch wind of anything that I think might interest you, I will be sure to reach out.” 

The record on his player clipped to a sudden stop with an ear splitting scratch, as if someone had taken their finger and pushed the needle to grate across the record. Y/n swiveled at the sudden interruption, but Jimin remained motionless with the corners of his lips twitching in cloaked displeasure. There was a muffled ‘tink’, and Y/n watched the arm land against the velvet lining on the box on its own accord. Nearly a full ten inches from where it had been tracking across the pressed record moments before. 

“Sorry about that–It’s so old–sometimes it just forgets how to act.”  Jimin’s voice was cloying, cutting through the tension the interruption had left hanging in the air. 

His shoes sounded sharp on the tiled floors careening straight for the large box and picking up the arm of the player. “If it keeps choosing to slip up, I will just have to turn it off and switch to a more modern approach.” He hovered the needle over the beginning of the vinyl, and dropped it into the grooves to restart it from the beginning. The music resounded through the space once more as if nothing had happened. 

“Much better.” Jimin purred, and floated back to her side. He placed his hands onto the edges of the massive sheet and tugged it towards him. The paper curled on command, rolling itself back up into a coiled cylinder for him to grasp in his hands. “I’m sure this must be boring you.” He gave her a syrupy smile–one that was borderline too sweet–and his voice lilted up an octave. “How about a tour of the exhibits? Or I can offer you something to read until someone comes to get you.”

Y/n didn’t try to fight it–she knew that he was too nice for his own good to tell her outright that he was upset by something–and she didn’t want to abuse that by forcing him further into whatever was bothering him. Y/n speculated that it had something to do with the record player most certainly not just being old.  

“A tour would be nice.” Y/n yielded to his intense smile he tossed her over the lid of the leather tube.

“Then you’re in luck, because that is my specialty~” He clapped his hands, his expression dwindling into something more playful. Jimin placed a hand on the small of her back, and herded her out of the office and into the hall. He tucked one hand into the pocket of his black slacks, and grasped one of hers in the other with a wink. 

Jimin set the pace, keeping Y/n’s normally rushed steps timed with the strings serenading them from the open door they had just left. They arrived at the ginormous circular room once more, and he steered them both towards the entrance to start them on the mapped out path that sprawled counter clockwise from the door and up to the second floor.

“We have it organized in timeline order for the most part: Over here being mostly about Matthäus and his sons.” Jimin gestured with his nose to a collage of black and white photographs of Matthäus, some of him as a child in Germany splattered between older photos of him in front of the hotel, and posing at the construction site with his family. 

They strolled forwards, a photo of his eldest son Friedrich standing next to Matthäus in a much less modernized version of the lobby. A newspaper clipping titled “WÖRNER SON TAKES OVER HOTEL DEEDS”. Jimin let her soak up the images on her own, only choosing to offer input where he saw fit. They traveled down from Friedrich’s section to his eldest son, Ernst.

 Y/n paused to take in the photo of him at the desk in the study, his pen scratching along a long piece of parchment with his signature pooling out from the ink. His brother stood next to him, in the process of clapping his brother on the back in revelry. But it wasn’t either of them she was drawn to. It wasn’t the proud faces of his father or the wrinkled face of Matthäus beaming towards his grandson. It was the blank and brooding stare of Adelaide Wörner from where she stood in the back corner. 

Adelaide’s hair was pulled up and out of her face, a few tight unruly curls falling onto her cheeks and across her forehead. They had the same shaped nose, Y/n observed with an upwards quirk of her mouth. She stood almost entirely concealed by both brother’s shoulders, but Y/n could feel the way her eyes bore into the parchment Ernst was hunched over. Y/n could feel her emotions–read her thoughts even. It took one scorned woman to know one.

Jimin pulled her forward, passed the family photos of Ernst and his older children and grandchildren playing in the first rendition of the concrete outdoor pool. Heidi and Inga were nowhere to be seen, having never got the chance to live long enough to see it. 

“Inga would have loved the pool.” Y/n couldn’t help but think of the young girl, her breath fogging up the glass as she leant up to get a better view of the photo. “If she loved swimming in the lake I can only imagine what she would’ve done with the pool.” 

Jimin shifted where he stood, but did not comment. Pulling her even further forward to Leon’s generation. One photo in particular struck her more than the rest. It captured Leon lounging on the front steps of the estate, his dress pants rolled up to his knees where his lower legs should be. Where they were was made apparent as she took in the rest of the photo. His two sons–Barret and Duane–each wielded a prosthetic as a makeshift sword with the shoes pointed at each other to commence their duel. On either side were a gaggle of boys in a line as if imitating a battle: Y/n recognized one of them to be Hoseok’s great grandfather Young-ho (they all had the same shaped smile that made them easy to recognize in any family photo), a stick poised in his hand to strike at the line of boys across from them, and pointed directly at one in particular across the line who looked uncannily like Jin.  Leon’s face was split in half with a grin at the spectacle, and their mother Magdelena sat huddled with a group of women, each with a baby in her arms and casting sideways glances at the boys. 

Y/n snorted, her finger coming up to point through the glass at Young-ho’s taunting sneer. “You could tell me that was Hoseok and Jin on the front lawn from fifteen years ago and I’d believe you.” 

Jimin leaned forward, and a full bellied laugh erupted from his soft lips. “Oh trust me, there’s more where that came from, it must be in their blood to get on each other's nerves. I’ll have to take you down to the archives to show you some of my favorites–these grounds have their fair share of guts and glory–but for each serious photo there were probably a dozen photos of each generation of children getting up to no good.” Jimin toed forward, leading her away from the photo to the next section with a teasing bite of his lower lip. “And you can bet that it always stemmed back to a Jung and a Wörner.” 

Y/n couldn’t contain her own shit eating grin, a hand coming up to clutch at imaginary pearls. “What? No. I  would have never guessed!.” 

Jimin rolled his eyes, and squeezed her hand between his own as his response. He piloted them into a sharp right hand turn, down another hallway that emitted a bright white light instead of completing the other half of the circle. This hallway was identical to the one leading to his office in build–but instead of paintings–this hallway was lined with rows of pristinely pressed military uniforms. 

“The families here have a lot of footholds in key moments in history.” Jimin started, pulling her closer to his side with their intertwined hands.  “You can trace their involvement in pivotal movements. The most obvious one being the civil war, starting with Matthäus, then trickling downwards.” They took slow steps past a well preserved Union Soldier Uniform, his musket and boots propped next to it. 

“These next two uniforms belonged to Ernst and Leon from their time serving in World War I. But note the difference in size.” Jimin pulled her to a stop, taking his pocketed hand out to gesture between the two outfits in front of them. 

Y/n did as directed, her eyes sweeping from one to the other. The one on the left hand side was of the normal size, decorated and proud with a nicked helmet dangling from the neck of the mannequin. But the other towards the right, Leon’s: was much shorter. Only just brushing on five feet–it couldn’t be any taller than her brother–with the lower legs torn and folded over themselves. 

“It’s so small…” Y/n’s finger’s traced buttons through the glass. 

“That’s because Leon served when he was barely twelve. A lot of young boys lied about their age to get into the world wars, but world war I had some notably young participants. It must be a Wörner thing to dive head first into trouble: because his sons did the same thing come the 1940’s.” Jimin barely gave Y/n time to gape at the uniform of the small boy, sliding forward to the next two uniforms. “Barrett and Duane both lied about their age to enlist. Though they were much closer to the allowed age then their father had been, it still stirred quite the uproar amongst the family when both potential heirs shipped themselves off to battle without telling anyone.” 

“Sounds like Bear.” Y/n snorted. 

Barret–or Bear/Bär–was one of her great great uncles she had actually been able to have her own experiences with. He was the one to start their tradition of animal nicknames, for his name is derived from the German name Baraold. This translates roughly to “brave as a bear” or “bear strength”. And what a fitting name for him it had been. She had only seen him a few times around the holidays during his last few years, but he was without fail a force to be reckoned with each time. Her most prominent memories of him consisted of his insistence to do things that his doctors definitely didn’t want him too: like eat copious amounts of twinkies and spam, and swipe alcoholic beverages from vacant seats as he rolled by with his walker. He had always been one to bend and play with rules, something she had to agree with Jimin must be a Wörner thing. 

They continued past the next two average sized suits, passing a  handful of other uniforms until they reached the end of the hall. “Then you have the Korean war, Vietnam…one of them was always doing something.” Jimin tutted, guiding her to a door at the end of the hall. “However, the parts of history I find the most interesting don’t always have to do with the big wars America loves to dwell on. I prefer learning about the people themselves, and what made them make the choices they did.” 

He unlocked the door with a badge from his pocket, and dragged Y/n in after him. This room was much darker, and almost completely void of anything on its walls. Jimin let out a dry and tired chuckle, and watched as Y/n turned to take in the empty space.

“It’s empty?” Y/n breathed out, regarding Jimin with a tilt of her head. 

“Unfortunately. It’s almost May when we really start to pick up steam, and this exhibit is empty.” Jimin left the door only barely cracked behind them, leaving the only light to be from within the empty glass cases and the distant echoes of Bach trailing after them. “I did have stuff in here–an entire exhibit planned. But your-” Jimin cut himself off, forcing a disheartened smile on his face. “-but I wasn’t able to get it approved. The problem is, I can’t seem to find anything else worth filling it with.” 

Jimin stepped impossibly closer to her, resting his chin on her shoulder from behind while she looked at the only two articles pinned to one of the walls. A photo taken of Ernst along with his two surviving daughters, and Adelaide in a crouch, sharing a hand written sign with a young Leon in a wheelchair. All of them taking to the streets of New York during the March for Women’s Suffrage dated spring of 1919. 

The article next to it, described Ernst and Friedrich filing a lawsuit against an ex contractor on the basis of discrimination against an active employee: a picture of Il-sung Kim- the first Kim hired on the property as a financial adviser-posing with both men on the front steps of a courthouse. A highlighted excerpt beneath the photo a quote from Ernst taken on those very front steps: 

“My father always said that many of the best things to come from The United States of America were from the people that came across its borders. For if my grandfather had been treated with any similarities to that which you choose to treat others that strike at your feeble minded sense of comfort, our hotel would have never been given the chance to exist. He came from overseas, fought for your freedoms with his own hands, and made it his mission to keep doing so for everyone and anyone who comes after. And that is our job as Wörners; lest you never forget that when you walk through our doors. You spew hatred in the name of our Lord, yet you forget where you come from yourself: most of us took the same path as this fine gentleman next to me. If you have a problem with our philosophy and who we choose to stand for, you may take it up with God–for he will be the one you see before your descent into hell for using his name in vain as a means to punish other good men on the basis of sameness.”

Y/n was still, frozen by the two images and marks they made within her. Never had these ever been shown to her, nor their stories shared across the dinner table with the same emphasis that they had been done with the tales of war heroes. Y/n realized as she looked at those two photos–that perhaps she didn’t even know them at all. That perhaps things had been shoved under the rug and avoided, for what reason she couldn’t guess. Maybe it was the fire their passions lit in her belly that made the knowledge dangerous: because if anything this would make her more insufferable to her mother.

Jimin shifted behind her, his next puff of air fanning across her exposed neck from where his chin rested on her shoulder. 

“Y/n–there’s so much about your family they choose not to tell. There’s true glory, and true darkness. But they avoid both for the sake of not creating enemies. But In my personal opinion: if doing the right thing makes one an enemy, then they were never a friend in the first place.” Jimin took small steps back, and Y/n felt a rush of cold air replace the warmth that his closeness had brought. When she turned back to find where he had gone, she could barely make out his outline in the dark room. His eyes reflected the light from the display case back at her from his spot by the door, and he held it open for her with a tight-lipped smile. 

Y/n was breathless, unable to piece together whatever riddle he was giving her this time. “What does that mean, Jimin?” 

He shrugged, holding a hand up in submission. “It’s just something I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about. With everything going on around the hotel and all.” 

Y/n followed, as if in a trance. The information overload left her hazy–something he seemed to have a knack for doing lately when he got lost in these cryptic moods. Before she could make it through the door, he stopped her with a feverish hand on her forearm. 

“Whatever you decide to add to your own family tree, I would take extra care to note where you find any…” Jimin’s eyes glanced down the hall with trepidation “...gaps. Sometimes empty spaces can say a lot about what the others around them expected from them. And always keep in mind who has been in charge of writing the story that they had been excluded from.”  

Jimin released his hold on her, letting her shuffle through the opening first. Y/n took a moment to find herself again from the strange aura that had taken over her while Jimin bolted the door behind them closed. She took in a few of the trees swaying outside of her windows and took a deep breath in time with their dancing, grounding herself back in the present from whatever limbo state she had been pulled into within the empty exhibit. When he turned back to face her again once, his face had done a complete one-eighty: His eyes were scrunched into crescents from where his friendly smile pushed his cheeks up into them, and he grabbed at her hand once more. 

“I think it would be lovely if you joined me for a treat at the cafe. I didn’t get to eat breakfast this morning with all of the household commotion, and I think my stomach might eat itself if I don’t get something in it.” Jimin’s voice took on a slight whine, and he hauled her past the uniforms and towards the building's exit. 

Weaving through the displays in the main room, Y/n registered that the record player had stopped again from within his office. The space in sound no longer taken up by music was filled with their echoing footfalls. Her eyes honed in on the image of Adelaide as they passed, and the fire in her burned brighter–whatever her and her friends were uncovering wasn’t just for Y/n’s own personal gain anymore–no. This went further back then Y/n. It had something to do with all of the blank sections on that family tree that someone had decided wasn’t worth filling. The empty exhibit. Inga and Heidi. Adelaide. Matilda. Every inch of Y/n’s skin felt like it was on fire with the embers of rage smoldering within her, and she had to stop herself from crushing Jimin’s hand to cope with how hot it burned.

Y/n wasn’t sure if she was imagining it, or if it was just the residual weird energy from the empty exhibit: but she could’ve sworn she counted three sets of shoes instead of two reflecting off of the glass they whizzed by. Her ears must’ve been playing tricks on her too. Because while waiting for Jimin to set up the locks on the front door, there was certainly another indented set of large boot prints that crunched at a low decibel behind them up the dirt path back up to the estate. She gripped the flashlight tightly from her sweater pocket, but whoever it was decided to stay otherwise unseen. 

And this she decided fell in their favor. For if they crossed her now, she would find a way to end them on the spot with her light if she could. 

_________________________________________

_________________________________________

Previous chapter

Next Chapter

taglist: @rkive-joonie

[via-l0ve]

Hi I want to request Spn boys dating someone who is a few years younger than them (They almost have to be in crowley and castiels case) and they sometimes use slang that they don't get at all. I loved the way your wrote Gabriel in latest work so could you add him.

I understood that reference! (SPN pref!) 🩷

A/n: hi anon! i love this idea!! i hope you enjoy :)

warnings: swearing, modern vine/tiktok references

Dean:

“no, y/n!! you don’t understand! this is important, you could’ve died back there!! you need to be more careful! i’m tired of-“

“no need to shout. no need to yell. shut your eyes, take a deep breath.”

“…”

“aww look! you’ve gone all quiet.”

“what the fuck was that?”

you take it to your advantage when he’s arguing and just slip in some vine references (idk if anyone understands that one but i love it.)

“y/n, you want avocados on your toast like a heathen?”

“it’s an avocado! yayyy!”

“are you having a stroke? it’s just an avocado.”

one time a demon came through and a fight broke out and the table broke

“the tables broken. i’ll have to go out and get a new one in the morn-“

“oh no!! our table! it’s broken!!”

“…i just said that.”

the poor man is SO confused

Sam:

side. eye.

he’s flabbergasted

let’s say he’s mad about something okay?

he’s ranting and ranting and then he turns to you

“woah. calm down there jamahl. don’t pull out the nine!”

he’s giggling tho

he thinks it’s entertaining how you just say things for fun and it confuses everyone in the room

also also also

he tells you the most depressing news about the world and you go

“oh. slay.”

“slay? i just told you 20 people died y/n are you okay? are you high?”

“i wish i was.”

“what.”

lmfao i’m sorry but imagine in the middle of a hunt you get punched in the face by a demon or something and he turns to you and

“you okay?”

“oh! oh! call an ambulance! call an ambulance! but not for me!!!”

and then you kill it.

he falls in love even more.

Castiel:

poor baby is so confused

“where are you going, y/n?”

“wouldn’t you like to know, weather boy.”

“w-what? weather boy? i’m an angel of the lord-“

it’s not even vine. if you use slang he is so confused

“she thought she ate that up.”

“ate what up? what was she eating y/n?”

“no… no she wasn’t eat-“

you do it just to mess with him lol

“cas, you’re such a snack.”

“huh?”

your humor makes him so confused

“cas! look at this video of a gerbil running up to the camera and it freezes right on his dumb face.”

“y/n you concern me.”

“i was laughing for ten minutes.”

crowley:

he is so confused

he thinks your dying

but he also just goes along with it

any vine references he giggles a little bit ngl

he thinks you’re so funny even if he dosent get it too much LMFAOO

he gives you the look every time you reference something.

“was that a vine thing?”

he says meme like sebastian stan

“mee-me.”

“was that a mee-me?”

“meme, crowley.”

“oh. meeh-me.”

“no🩷.”

i’m cackling

i feel like he sucks at texting bro.

“hey bestie how was ur day?” - you

“good bestie i am not your bestie i am crowley your lover”

“use punctuation.”

he dosent understand your new language but he tries to keep up.

[vampirevatican]

Haven’t finish shark bait and haven’t yet been plagued with thoughts BUT consider the shiver with a chronically online sacrifice. Always quoting some vine or TikTok or tumblr or so on. Like imagine about to be sliced and their finally words are “this might as well happen. Adult life is already so weird” and then they survive only to say “mother trucker dude that hurt like a buttcheek on a stick”

bestie, i've been thinking about this and the first thing on my mind was me recently making a habit of saying "my tummy is doing the 23 skiddo". anyway without further ado,

tiggy

he finds it extremely funny and i promise you he joins in

which causes you to do a crash course on human pop culture

and now he's reciting niche internet memes, vines, tiktoks, and youtubers

much to gw's annoyance at times, to lee's fascination so you also teach him, and rhin at best finds it endearing but other times he may agree with gw

my favorite. as posted, "i dont fight for my respect, bitch, i fight for dick." but also, "baby girl im finna rock yo shit!" and he'd be grinning while saying it, we know this

as for vines... "what up im tiggy, im 25, and i can't read" or "that was legitness"

gw

i feel like he'd look on in disbelief, awe, and then burst out laughing

like, wow.. pretty ballsy for a human, or shit... do we have another tiggy on our hands?

we all know he loves tigs, so when the sacrifice is just as calmy unhinged it interests him a bit

when you get tiggy in on it to tho he surely mutters about how you shouldn't have been posideon blessed... we know he doesn't mean it tho

all that to say there's a chance he can join in on the mess too, but it's very subtle and it's like an inside joke with you three

for the gw folks, "so no head?" and he just breaks some shit in his room or storms off to the barracks

"don choked me today, so im starting a fundraiser to kill the sea witch. the benefits of killing her is i'd get chokeheld way less."

NO WAIT SHOW HIM "my main goal is to blow up" AND HE IS LOOSING HIS SHIT, so is tiggy but i swear that's his favorite

rhin

hit him with the "im 27" when he celebrates yall's 1 year anniversary and i promise you he is caught between laughing and sighing

he's already the mom friend, the calm collected amidst the chaos, so meeting a human like this def doesn't put him off but he defo grows into finding it endearing

favorite, if he joins in, is him and gw arguing and he just yells "THAT'S MY OPINION"

because him and gw are foils in my mind, him shouting that mid fight is something that a. is already unexpected and b. is enough to make gw nearly laugh and settle down the argument into a conversation

he sees you do anything? "...wow"

another fave fitting him, "but imagine how tired we are. imagine how tired we are of it." and i swear he uses it in meetings.

lee

you have to teach him the references he will not shut up about them

unlike tiggy he doesn't use them at random but picks out favorites to memorize and starts from there.

as someone who likes leeneb, he totally tells neb about it and they start making references together and you couldn't be more proud

teching lee and the first thing you say together "do i give a fuck. no, not one. how many fucks do i give. zero. exactly, so therefore your comment is both of you snap your fingers irrelevant."

building his confidence in bdsm and him being on at least speaking terms with the doctor but also teasing him for not being fit for bdsm truly, "im sorry, not everybody fits in the bad bitch genre… its a genre… not everybody fits on the roster."

[clevercatchphrase]

Cheers to a decade

My blog is 10 years old today. I have some thoughts.

On Januray 22nd, 2015, I made this tumblr blog. I remember it being my second semester of my senior year in college and feeling lost and depressed in my dorm room. Despite being in the class of 2015, I had technically graduated the winter prior, having come in to college with enough AP credits from high school to be ahead a semester. I remember not being ready to become an "official" adult yet. Despite having a degree, I didn't feel like I had enough choices in my future, so I stayed an extra year (3 semesters) and got a second degree before finally just being too sick of college life to stay there any longer.

I made this blog to practice art, but in truth, I think it was to distract myself from existential dread of being bottle necked into an occupation I didn't want with little to no choice of upward movement. I can't remember my exact thoughts, but I have a strong feeling it was along the lines of "if I can't get a job I like with my entomology degree, then I will practice art and try my luck as a freelance artist!" Not that freelance is any easier than an hourly paid 9 to 5, but at least it let me feel like I had more options.

It's so surreal scrolling back to that very first year. I posted a lot more frequently and did a lot more doodles and sketches and figure drawings back then. I didn't care about scheduling or queuing posts. I saw a cool tutorial? Neat, I'm reblogging this right now. just pumped out a 2 minute doodle of an animal, and it's going up on the blog immediately. I did more art challenges. Heck, I made a 50 day art challenge for homestuck and DID it! I made my very first long form song comic less than a month after creating this blog. It was for kingdom hearts set to the song "king" by Lauren Aquilina (which was almost certainly inspired by the LoZ song comic made by caffeineandcarpaltunnel set to the same song 2 years prior. (and I don't even play loz, I just liked the song)). I can't help but question myself; "where did all this motivation go?" "Where did all that passion go?" "Now I only post one piece of art a week and queue all the other stuff in november only." (Well, I didn't start doing that last thing until 2022, so I guess I can always revert my neurotic habits). But then I have to remember that until the summer of 2016, I didn't have a job. I didn't have bills. I lived in dorm rooms and off of college loans that funded my meal plan. Any time I wasn't studying or hanging out with other Cepheids (shout out to the 3 of you who know what that means) I was undoubtedly on the internet, enjoying what the 2010's web had to offer.

Can you believe youtube hadn't officially been around for 10 years at that point? musical.ly hadn't merged with TikTok yet because TikTok hadn't even been created in 2015. Vine still existed. This blog is even older than Undertale's official release.

I can't help but think of my life in "chunks" or "eras", some based on where I lived at the time, some based on the state of the world at the time, but a majority of it based on the media I was obsessed with at that time. (For example, 1998 to 2002 I refer to as the "hawaii era" because my family was military and we were stationed in Hawaii.) Shorter eras can also exist within bigger eras, like 2016 to 2020 is my zoo era, because I was a part time zookeeper, but it exists within my undertale era, which is still ongoing (this hyperfixation has a choke hold on me). So whenever I am given a date, I cross-reference it with what era of my life it occurred in, comparing it to my mental state and what was happening with my life. This blog started in my homestuck era (which went from early 2011 to late 2015) and it fucking showsssssss.

Another example; some of the earliest art on this blog was for Kingdom Hearts, because I am a KH fan. KH3 released in 2019. My blog had just turned 4 years old THREE days prior in 2019. KH3 will be SIX years old three days from today. 2019 was before the pandemic. I was still at my zoo job. Ghost switch wasn't even 1 year old yet. It's this kind of mental math that I am constantly doing for everything all the time whenever I have a date to compare to. Why do I do this? I have no clue. To measure up progress or advancements? To contrast what I've accomplished in that same amount of time versus what others have achieved? I don't know, but I've always done it and I will never stop. The endless forward march of time bewitches me so in this way.

Looking at the years and dates, remembering how it overlapped with my time in college and the memes of the early 2010s, which reminds me of my college era (fall 2011 to spring 2016) which brings up a whole well of other memories, like the world ending in 2012, the let's players I'd watch because I didn't have a gaming console or tv in my dorm, the basketball concessions I'd volunteer at to pay for my ticket to go to the student-run convention in the spring, the libraries and computer labs and dining halls, and shitty dorm room thermostats in winter and it's blaring fire alarms that would go off at 3 am because people microwaved popcorn wrong, and the time it rained so hard on campus that the basement hangout zone flooded.

Man... this whole thing got melancholic. I thought it would be nostalgic, but now it feels like I'm doing an elephant walk for my own blog (again, shout out to the three of you who knows what that even means). I don't know if my past self would recognize or approve of who I am now. And yet, I also can't say i've changed all that much. I still live at home with my family because I can't afford a house of my own. I still keep up with the youtube channels I subscribed to in 2013. I still check in on the webcomics that went on indefinite hiatus in 2010. I still use the same deviantart account I made in 2007. I still log on to my neopets account that I made in 2004.

This blog has been with me through a third of my life.

I don't know what I'll do when I finish Ghost Switch. (which will still take me 6 more years to finish, don't worry, I'm not going anywhere soon). Maybe i'll go back to posting shitty little doodles that I drew quickly in 2 minutes to practice figure drawing. Maybe I'll finally learn to code and make that visual novel I've been brainstorming since 2017. Maybe I'll make more (shorter) webcomics with my own OCs. Maybe I'll sit down and actually seriously think about professionally editing and querying a few of those novel drafts I wrote for nanowrimo, which I've also done for 10 years now, too. Maybe I'll come out of the closet and finally embrace the fact that I am a furry and draw nothing but anthro wolves and dogs.

Last year, I pulled out 10 old composition notebooks that I used as diaries for the years 2005 to 2010. This covered the beginning of seventh grade for me, to the end of 11th grade. Rereading these journals was simultaneously the most hysterical things I've ever written as well as the most depressing shit I've ever written, but that's just middle and high school for ya, babe. Still, I bring it up because when I look back on the past, I never know what I will think or feel about the past in hindsight. Seeing so many informative and hilarious posts from those early years fills me with great joy and also great sorrow, because those times are gone now. The internet landscape has changed so much, tumblr included. I do wish I could go back, sometimes. To go back to being so care-free, to relive those highs fandoms gave me when everything was new and exciting and happening Right Now, to be less stressed out about the state of the world, to laugh at stupid nonsensical rage comic memes.

But I also want to stay right here. To be proud of how far I've come, to appreciate what I've accomplished so far, and to remind myself that Today is good, too. I don't want to waste all my time wishing to go back to the past, because in 10 years from now, I'm going to wish I could come back to Now.

Do I even think tumblr will still be around in 2035? Probably. We're kinda like a roach like that, and also i've got some posts queued for 2033 that i need to see go live for The Bit.

Anyway, to end this reflection on a more positive note, thanks for hanging around for so long. We're all stuck on this glue trap together, but I'm glad I'm with you. These last 10 years have been interesting and wild, both on and off the internet, and I hope the thrills don't stop anytime soon.

[atsucry]

Beyond the Thorn Vines

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝐈𝐈𝐈

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝐈𝐈

Malleus Draconia x gn!reader

warnings: Incredibly boring. Actually this chap is jst like PURELY info dump so like if ch. 4 is out you can like siim over this and move on. COUGH COUGH this was made on a deadline.

content warning: none

3:12 pm, Royal Sword Academy. Dorm room

"Could you stop it with that?!" You reprimanded your friend, balling your fist and slamming it down on the bed by the side of your lap. As you read, Che'nya has been swishing his tail back and forth nonstop over the book and flipping the pages.

He laid floating above your canopy bed, enjoying the elevation over ground. And when he bent backwards to face you; it was an uncanny sight.

"You've been analysing that for a while now, don't tell me you have trouble with comprehending the material!" The cat snickered.

"Ya know…you could ask for my help," he suggested. "If you want!"

You slouched back into your pillow, holding the book open over your stomach. "Oh please, you'd word it as more complicated than it already is." You hadn’t noticed, but your eyebrow started slightly twitching.

Taking a double look at the page, you found that you still hadn't understood it, not one bit! It had messed with your head all morning, that or it was just Che'nya's interruptions.

The feline flipped over on his stomach and looked at you with owlish eyes, resting his head in folded arms. "Hm, Tomorrow's Magi-shift against NRC. You comin' to watch or are ya just gonna watch from the sidelines?"

"Ugh," you let your head drop to the side. "but the headaches…" You grumbled in displeasure. It was one of those headaches that would feel like knives that stabbed into your cranium. An awful one Indeed. You swear that one of these days you would pass out from the severity, though, hopefully not sooner or later.

"I'll get ya headphones if the whole stadium is too loud—!"

"It's not the noise!" You shouted in a whisper. Somehow you could never watch past anything near the championship round, so you never really saw who the winners were. Though you were certain that it was always RSA. NRC hasn't won against you all for 99 years.

Your friend grinned from ear to ear, a bemused noise left him and nodded his head from side to side akin to a bobble-head figure. "By-the-bye," he interrupted. "If you want to get rid of that 'awful headache' as you say…" Che'nya had always been the type of friend who you could never anticipate what action they might pull off next. But you could always tell If it leaned on more mischief or genuine goodwill.

"You should try seeking someone."

What he said was so stupidly blatant that it might've been a bigger, mind crushing headache than the ones you got occasionally.

"I've already tried that! I mean—of course I'd go to a doctor for migraines that won't go away. Who wouldn't—"

"That's not what I was referring to, silly," He chuckled, pressing his fingertips against his lips to…attempt to conceal the mockery. "But take it as ya will."

You raised your brow, He looked at you knowingly. His intentions weren't quite clear to you, but you could only hope for it to be rational, but what were you kidding?

"...Are you withholding information from me? Or what?"

"Aha! no no! not at all! I'm only suggesting, as any good friend does," He said with a dismissive hand wave, ascending down slowly at the foot of your bed to lay down, stretching his arms before flipping to face you.

"...You sure do love messing with me, don't you?" Your friend only responded in an amused shrug. "Well, I'll be off. Knowing you, this conversation won't go ANYWHERE till you turn over every rock. Buh-bye!" Che'nya's laugh resonated throughout him, trembling. He disappeared starting from his tail, his body followed. His legs were next and then his head—leaving behind a grin before it poofed away too. He frequently crashed at the Heartslabyul dorm to meet up with his childhood friends, his ability to turn invisible helped him stay low.

"Oh..that cat…" You wondered if Che'nya's teasing had a grain of truth to it—was there something more to what you were seeking, something you hadn't yet realised? The idea nagged at you, even as you tried to push it aside.

You managed to push yourself off the bed, tidying the sheets and led yourself to the front of your door, turning the knob to head for somewhere, anywhere. Though, no clear intention really presented itself to you. 'What to do with myself…I suppose a change of scenery could do me some good. For once. Not that I had anything else to do.' You thought to yourself.

After a few minutes well into aimlessly wandering, you stood at the threshold before walking inside, the mouth of the library engulfing you and its doors magically closing on their own—crashing in with a loud thud. The smell of old parchment welcomed you.

It seemed to only be you here. And the librarian.

You made a beeline for the literature section, the bookshelf was curtained in dust. Most thought of old things as borish, so it's to no one's wonder that it hadn't been touched.

You pulled out a book from the fourth shelf using a ladder, a book of turquoise leather binding and a golden spine. The cover had an engravement of a simple rose, peculiarly, its centre spiralled inwards and sometimes shone at you. You read the title: 'The whispers from no end, the collection.' It was a small thing. No bigger than your hands by 2 inches. The cover was still intact and wasn't actively rotting away in your hand…deducting that you were its first reader in ages. Atleast that's how you thought it worked.

Its charming cover attracted you, almost as if handing itself over to you. you slid down the ladder to make your way to one of the desks as you already began flipping through the pages.

You settled for a random page and began reading.

And when shadows swirled

around a solitary candlelight,

aware that it was seen

only by virtue of its glow.

At an opportunity to take leave

it scampered toward the exit,

yet with every step,

a cold breeze pushed it back.

In a moment of realisation,

it retreated into the depths

of the desolate manor,

unfurnished and shrouded in darkness.

You murmured the lines to yourself, jotting down notes for dissecting later. The notes didn't necessarily have to be done neatly, but just legible enough for you to understand.

From the right of you, you heard a sudden crack. Your eyelids burst open as you picked up the sound of glass shattering, but the windows in front of you seemed intact—The mystery of it confounded you.

Your eyes landed on the book you had just picked up, bringing it up close to your face once more to inspect it. It shone yet again in your eye, forcing you to jar your head and avoid the ray. At once, you picked up on a glass bead at the centre of the spiralled rose.

A crack ran along the delicate glass, atypically managing to break itself with no external force, that's what you thought, anyhow.

Your attention was engaged to the peculiar object, it almost lured you in. "...What could've possibly happened to you?" despite being something inanimate, you spoke to it as if you were referring to something that was animate. People would wonder why they'd always catch you doing this.

Your fingers ran along the fissure, untill it cut the tip of it. Pulling your hand back to your body, pinching the fingertip and swiping away the droplet of blood. Your blood seeped into the glass. Dropping the book and leaving it open.

It was that awful jabbing headache again. You've had almost enough of this tantalizing torture. But there was little to nothing you could do. "And if I had sought medical help, I'd have to down another useless pill."

Knowing that practically every item in here was laced with magic, you knew that you must have managed to involuntarily trigger something. And with such an anomalous appearing cover nonetheless.

"Agh…No, wait! Ack! I already have a curse on me—! I don't need another!"

With the senses that you had left, you managed to clasp the book shut with a loud slam—the pressure and force could've compressed the pages back into its former crisp and straight state. And by luck, your troubles were gone—and it only puzzled you even more so than answering anything.

Even the library seemed to hold its breath, anticipating another sudden outburst to happen. But nothing came after. And this became your telltale sign that it was time to leave.

Cautiously picking the book back up, you checked to see if it would come back alive, which it didn't—fortunately. You didn't bother to ask the librarian if you could borrow it—not wanting to show that you have…broken it.

By then, the hallways were painted in orange hues that reflected off of the pristine marble pillars and floors, your heels clicked against the tiles and echoed throughout. You eventually made it to the grand staircase that led up into the dorm rooms, though quite a hassle to walk up—since by every stop you'd have to catch your breath—it was gorgeous nonetheless.

You stumbled a bit on the way, but you ultimately made it back to your room safe and sound, removing your shoes— lugging the book onto your desk and crashing into your bed—Allowing yourself to melt into the sheets. Inward and outwardly exhausted.

"I can't exactly sit here and do nothing…can I…? Haha…" You chuckled to yourself. picking yourself up and sitting down at the edge of the bed, swinging one leg over the other. "'Go seek someone' He says! I've already gone to a doctor before, and if it did work, I wouldn't be complaining now!" You sighed into the palm of your hand.

“Every time I think I’m getting somewhere, it’s like I hit a wall. What am I even missing?”

“Well, at least the day's winding down,” you said, shifting uncomfortably on the bed. “Maybe a break will do me some good. It’s not like I’m making any progress here.” With a resigned sigh, you pushed the thoughts aside, resolved to get some rest. You lay back on your bed, letting the soft mattress calm you.

As you closed your eyes, the room fell silent, save for the faint echoes of your own thoughts drifting into the night.

Note: HEYEYEY srry for the lobg update i was dealinf with problems, my bad gng🙏 APOLOGIES FOR ANY WRITING ERRORS😊

[yoongleboonglepie]

Pechsträhne Chapter 8

BTS x Reader

Series Masterlist

Chapter playlist-Youtube music

Chapter Playlist-Spotify

_________________________________________

A/N: This one is lore heavy yall, unwind your red string, grab a notebook and a drink. I am trying to find a 'make-your-own' family tree website that works better on mobile for people to reference as we get DEEP into this stuff so if that's been an issue for yall-don't worry.

I'll see you on the other side~ Delyn

_________________________________________

_________________________________________

Jungkook turned to her and shouted something unintelligible, but pointed with his eyes at her body below them. The pounding on the door egged her on, as she crawled over herself to lay down in the same position. Even though it was the last thing she wanted to do, she squeezed her eyes shut and tried to find her vines. They were weak, and spindly–but they were there. Persistent. Y/n latched herself onto their image and pulled herself towards the withering seedling with all she had left.

She must be drowning, she thought. The water poured from her mouth in heaving coughs, spilling out from her lungs and stomach. Each time she thought she had gotten it all, a violent wave would pummel her, knocking her out of focus and keeping her in a vice grip from where the back of her head was tethered in place. Something tugged on her skull from behind her eyes, leaving her entire body numb. There was no more water, and no more knocking. There was nothing.

Y/n lurched forward, barely missing a collision with Yoongi’s forehead.  

“Holy shit-” 

“Are you okay?” 

“Give her some space!”

Everyone was talking over one another, and Y/n couldn’t seem to focus in on any of them. Her vision was completely gone: Black and void like the day prior. She let herself be pushed backwards by three sets of hands against Yoongi’s thighs where she had just sprung from. Her deprivation of sense leaving her feeling more vulnerable than ever against who she had just escaped from.

“H-help p-please.” The words slurred out from Y/n’s mouth in a much more bumbling manner than she intended. It felt foreign already–moving her tongue and her jaw. She had to refamiliarize herself with what it took to move her actual body. Y/n left her eyes open and blinking. Unseeing. Every muscle in her body tensed at the fright inducing feeling of having to trust her friends to take care of her entirely–because she was as useful as a sack of flour at the moment. 

Jungkook brought their conjoined hands up to his cheek, and she felt the ghost of his lips brush across her knuckles as he murmured unintelligible words of reassurance against her skin. Yoongi kept his hands against her cheeks, smoothing over the skin with his thumbs. A cloud of warmth encased her head, and the familiar feeling of Yoongi’s sweaty forehead pressing against her own brought her senses down from their heightened state, their incessant buzzing in her head calming to a low hum. Long tresses of his hair tickled her skin, and she wrinkled her nose at them. After a few moments filled with a cacophony of their conjoined labored breathing, Yoongi lifted his head from where it had come to rest to check in on her current state. 

Light eroded at  the edges of her vision, blotching reality back into place. Out of focus images of her three friends huddled over her blurred into view, and she let her body go lax in Yoongi’s hold. Y/n waited for her vision to completely settle, the images coming into sharper focus with each passing second. Y/n couldn’t help it but let a sodden smile grace her features, her cheeks wet from where her real body must’ve imitated her spiritual tears.

 “Hi.”  She croaked, finding her voice again. 

“Fucking hell Y/n.” Yoongi ran a hand through his already tousled hair and brought it back down to rub pacifying circles against her cheeks. 

Y/n tried to pull herself upright, but barely made it six inches off the ground before collapsing backwards into them again. She mumbled out a few apologies, feeling ashamed at how helpless she seemed at the moment. Y/n moved to try again, lurching herself forwards with a grunt. Yoongi’s arms came around her shoulders and his hands clasped over her middle to keep her in place.

His words came out in pants. “Stop apologizing and just relax for a minute Goddamnit.” 

Y/n let herself be restrained. She didn’t have it in her to feel awkward or embarrassed about how close everyone was or how each of them insisted on touching some part of her skin: her hand still locked within Jungkook’s and Namjoon’s palm securely pressing onto the top of her thigh. If anything, Y/n didn’t want to admit just how much she relished in the feeling. The warmth of their touch being a tether to her unmoored mind, reassuring her without words that she was back in her body surrounded by the people she felt the safest with. Despite welcoming the moment of respite from the conflict she faced only moments prior, she couldn’t just lay here after what she had seen. It was her job to fill them in. 

“I saw…” Y/n swallowed one of her gasping breaths “so many of them. It was like I was just walking through the house but it was all smokey, and you guys felt like the ghosts while the ghosts felt like the real people. I saw my Oma–she helped me get away from them.” The tears sprang to her eyes from the memory of seeing her again, but she swallowed them down and out of reach. She needed to focus. 

“Get you away from whom?” Namjoon spoke first, sensing her turmoil and doing his best to guide their conversation forward.

“I don’t know. Not all of them anyways. There was this man who was absolutely heinous looking. Pretty much all muscle and bone.” Y/n closed her eyes to think of any signifiers to go off of, racking her brain of everything she could remember him saying. “He was stalking his brother–but the second brother didn’t sound anything like the first–he sounded like my Oma. Normal. Whereas the ugly one sounded like he had choked on the fumes from Hell’s gate.” 

“Did you recognize either of them?” Namjoon prodded further, ignoring her attempts at misplaced humor. 

Y/n shook her head, her breathing finally starting to find its normal rhythm. “No. The not demonic one spoke exclusively in German which makes me think maybe brothers from one of the first two generations. Yet he knew my name, which makes me think more recent.” 

“That doesn’t really matter in the spirit realm.” Yoongi’s voice scratched out from his vocal chords and into their discussion. “Every spirit on these grounds probably knows your name. There are people wandering these halls that have passed from this decade, intermingling with people from over a century ago. Family talks.” 

Y/n looked up at Yoongi as he spoke, his head bowed to look down at her with a clouded expression. He flicked the tip of his tongue to slide pensively across his lower lip as he weighed his next words on them. 

“Did you see anyone else?” Yoongi seemed to settle on that. 

“Patti, the other twin, and a shadow figure that crawled.” She held up a hand to tick them off. “They were who I was running from, and who had been–” Y/n jerked up with a gasp, making Yoongi recoil back with mutter profanities to avoid smashing into one another for the second time. 

Y/n let her eyes rake across the door in a frenzy. As if her brain was still computing that it wasn’t a dream, it dawned on her that only mere seconds had passed since her struggle with the ghosts. 

“Are they still there?” She squeezed Jungkook’s hand and jerked her chin in the direction of the door. 

Jungkook let his irises be consumed with black, and lowered his head to peek under the door frame. They waited with baited breath for him to make his assessment, with him even going as far as to inch towards the door to get a better look in the gap where the door hung above the floorboards. Jungkook funneled a breath from his nostrils and straightened his spine, returning to her side. Only this time he did not face her completely, keeping his body at angle to see both her and the door. 

“Yes.” 

Y/n and the two men next to her all felt the effects of his words: Namjoon’s fingers digging into the meat of her leg and Yoongi rolling off of his knees and to his feet in a low crouch. 

“What else did they say to you, Y/n? Did anything else stick out to you while you were in there?” Yoongi hurriedly poured through her brown paper bag, shoving it to the side when he had found what he was searching for and moving on to his left open chest. He was doing his best to retain a composed facade, but his set jaw and scrunched shoulders gave him away. 

Y/n didn’t take her eyes away from what any other day she would have taken as an unsuspecting door. “Oma said that he was coming for them, but shit hit the fan harder than it already had before she could tell me more.” 

Namjoon made a sound in the back of his throat. “He?” 

Their eyes met in mutual understanding. “Yes. Similar to what Heidi had said in the kitchen.” 

“Do you think it could be your dad? You had said you had thought he was the one she was referring to.” 

Y/n shrugged in Namjoon’s direction. “I don’t know. She had said ‘they first’. Maybe there is more than one person behind it.” Y/n sucked in a breath. “Maybe my mom is the other.” 

Yoongi stood abruptly, a handmade bundle gripped in his fist and a flashlight in the other. The sudden smell of citrus, rosemary, and frankincense invading her senses. He stomped to the door and without hesitation swung it open, turning on the flashlight and shining it in all directions out into the hallway from where he kept his feet planted within the room.

“No offense, but what does a flashlight do?” Namjoon gave a pointed eyebrow raise in Yoongi’s direction. 

“It’s working.” Jungkook answered for him, his brows furrowing and his eyes darting to follow things Y/n could no longer see. 

“Witchcraft doesn’t have to be complicated or traditional all of the time.” Yoongi huffed, and flickered the flashlight off. He made a point to spit out onto the hallway floor, and shoved the door back into place again. “It’s anointed. Works as a direct beam of warding when it would draw too much attention from the neighbors rather than dropping a smoke bomb and risking someone sticking their nose in our business. They can’t stand to be caught in the light from it.” 

“So it’s like a paranormal lightsaber?” Y/n felt a small smirk wiggle up onto her face. 

Yoongi slipped the flashlight into his pocket and returned to their huddle, shooting her a disapproving look. Despite the dry tone he spoke with, the corners of his mouth turned up in the slightest. “If that’s what you want to call it, sure.” He sat down on the edge of his bed so she could look directly up at him. “We should make a game plan for tonight. Whoever was involved probably doesn’t have the energy to manifest themselves into our dimension anytime soon–but that doesn’t rule out the dozens of others.” 

“Whatever our game plan is, I vote that it should include each of us getting our own lightsaber.” Y/n leant back onto the hand that wasn’t still entrapped in Jungkook’s. 

“I second that.” Namjoon nodded in agreement. 

Yoongi rolled his eyes. “The two of you can’t even see anything to know where to point it. It totally wouldn’t make your mom suspicious if you both started lighting up like fireflies at the dinner table.” 

“Uh-actually I’ve seen plenty of ghosts now. It would be efficient if I’m ever caught off guard again when I’m alone.” Y/n held up a finger as she corrected him. 

Yoongi scoffed, his eyes filled with sass. “The thing about that is you won’t be alone anymore. Not unless you’re in your room. Especially not after tonight.”

“Ugh–not you too. I thought you had my back about being independent.” 

“I think it’d be good for us all to have something like that.” Jungkook cut in, his eyes having never left the flash light peeking from the pocket of Yoongi’s pants. His face was colored a shade akin to hope–wistful even.

Yoongi paused, taking his time to survey Jungkook’s expression. 

“Okay.” Yoongi relented, his voice softer than before. “I don’t have any more. We will have to get more flashlights so I can make them. We can go into town to get a set of pocket sized ones.” yoongi gained more confidence in his plan, decided on it without any further external input.  “Everyone will carry one on them, and keep one in their rooms.” He held his arm up to fiddle with the watch on his wrist. “Wanna go now?” 

The rest of the three traded looks of uncertainty. 

“Right now? It’s closing in on 10pm…” Namjoon couldn’t hide the incredulous look erupting on his features. 

“Walmart doesn’t care.” Yoongi shrugged. “And neither will the ghosts.” 

_________________________________________

Walmart was nearly empty with less than an hour left until close. The disgruntled stares of each employee they had passed since the entrance, and the hovering late teen electronics employee didn’t seem to phase Yoongi as he strutted ahead of them. To any onlookers they probably looked like a group of college seniors doing a midnight snack run: all of them donned in comfy clothes, scraggly and tired as they waddled through the isles towards the tools section. 

Yoongi was comparing flashlight specs with Namjoon, the two far too busy bickering about which one had the best battery life to notice when Y/n nudged Jungkook's side. He made a small noise of surprise, and tilted his head with rounded eyes to regard her in a silent question. Y/n gestured with her finger for him to bring his ear down closer to her mouth, and he did so without question. 

“You wanna come pick out a few snacks with me? My treat.” She whispered up to him and beamed innocently up in his direction. He didn’t verbally answer, yet didn’t resist when she slipped her hand into his to tug him in the direction of the cold foods. 

Y/n never felt the urge to drop his hand as they perused the novelty ice cream pints, the weight of his hand in hers becoming second nature. But alas, she had to let go in the name of ice cream. Y/n held two flavors in her hand, having trouble deciding which to go for. She spun around to face Jungkook, who was staring intently at an unknown flavor behind the frosty freezer doors. 

“Which do you think I should get? Cookie dough or white chocolate raspberry?” Y/n held both small containers up for him to see the brightly colored descriptions, his face impassive as he scanned the labels. He held up an inked finger and poked at the one in her right hand. 

 “Cookie dough. That’s your favorite.” 

Y/n hummed, placing the white chocolate flavor back into the freezer. “After all these years you still remember that.” She shook her head with a chuckle. He let out an offended scoff.

“Of course I do.” Jungkook stated matter-of-factly. “I remember everything about you.” 

Y/n let the freezer door slam closed on its own and moved onto the next door, hovering a hand over it. “Everything?” 

Jungkook nodded, and spoke as if it was the most obvious thing in the world to him. 

“Everything.” 

Her breath hitched, and she left her hand clench and unclench on the freezer handle. His eyes were sincere, not a single cloud of doubt or humor speckling his russet irises. Y/n felt a flush creep up her neck, and her ears warm in conjunction to it. Jungkook cocked his head and one of his brows twitched in her direction. 

“Are you alright? Your face is turning red.” Even if they had made strides, he was still as blunt as ever. 

“Y-yeah. I’m fine. Just feeling a little tired, that's all.” She jerked the next freezer door open and pulled out another pint. “I think I might get two, actually.” 

Y/n emerged with a container so cold it made her fingertips numb, and held it up for him to see. She watched his eyes practically glaze over as they took in the picture, before jumping up to meet hers again. 

“You like mint ice cream now?” Shock made itself evident in his tone. 

She gave him a coy smile and shrugged her shoulders. “It grew on me once I learned the difference between mint species.”  

A grin bloomed across his face. “Finally- someone understands!” He took the container from her hands and shifted his weight from foot to foot in excitement. “It doesn’t taste like toothpaste. If it does the brand-”

“-Used the wrong kind of mint.” Y/n finished for him and pushed the freezer door shut with her hip. “Spearmint is toothpaste and gum. Peppermint is for desserts. It’s why candy canes and peppermint bark don’t burn my tongue like mouthwash or toothpaste. It’s smoother and sweeter.” 

Jungkook couldn’t hide his joy as he juggled the container from one hand to the other, sending her a lopsided grin that made her heart throb. “Mint ice cream is my favorite.” 

“I know. I remember stuff about you too.” Y/n started out of the cold aisle without checking if he was following. She didn’t feel like being called out on the flustered state he put her in again with something as effortless as a smile. 

Y/n heard the squeak of his sneakers on the tile behind her as he took to a casual jog to catch up. 

“Your cheeks are still red.” 

Of course she could never run from his observant eyes. Y/n quickened her pace and took a sharp turn into the snack aisle with him hot on her heels. They barely made it halfway down the chip section before Yoongi’s voice rang out from the end they had just entered from. 

“I look away for two seconds and you guys scurry off without so much as a word.” He reprimanded as he ambled down the aisle after them, Namjoon following in his footsteps with his hands in his pockets. 

“I wanted snacks. I just went through something traumatizing and deserve a special little treat.” Y/n pursed her lips and crossed her arms over her chest. “Or am I not allowed to process my emotions in unhealthy ways anymore, Mr. Therapist?” 

Yoongi clicked his tongue.  “I didn’t say that. I would just like a heads up next time before you two lovebirds disappear on me.” 

Y/n blanched, and she could very well see steam evaporating from her face. “W-we’re not–It’s not-” She couldn’t stop tripping over her own tongue. An accusation like this had never bothered her before, as they had been anything but few and far between growing up. She didn’t understand why suddenly she felt the need to defend herself against them. 

“Okay dad. Will do.” Jungkook rolled his eyes with a tiny teasing smile, appearing to be unbothered by his comment. 

“Ugh–how can you eat that stuff?” Namjoon unknowingly saved Y/n from melting into an embarrassed puddle on the spot with his disgusted outburst. His face scrunched in on itself as he pointed to the tub of mint oreo ice cream in Jungkook’s hand. 

“Because it’s good.” Jungkook over-enunciated the last word and wagged his head in Namjoon’s direction. 

Namjoon choked on his own spit. “If you think eating toothpaste is appetizing.” 

“IT’S NOT SPEARMINT, JOON!” 

“It doesn’t taste like that!” 

Y/n and Jungkook’s voices overlapped in indignant fury, and Namjoon just about sucked his eyes into the back of his skull with how forcefully he rolled them. “Whatever.” 

“Sorry to interrupt your riveting debate, but you guys should finish up. The store closes soon and I still need to anoint these and head to bed before your dad takes to the catwalk tonight.” Yoongi brushed past the three of them, reaching up over Y/n’s head for a bag of flavored potato chips and continuing down the aisle. Namjoon followed suit, snatching a black bag of white cheddar popcorn on his way out. 

Y/n called after him, her voice dripping with sass. “How can you eat that stuff Joon? It tastes like spiced packing peanuts!” 

The man in question didn’t bother looking back, just held up a brief middle finger at her which she stuck her tongue at. Jungkook cackled next to her, making her heart swarm with butterflies that migrated into all of the nooks and crannies of her ribcage. All of these new feelings her friends were nurturing from within were making her head hurt, and left her feeling disoriented each time they made themselves known. Y/n would definitely have to get a handle on it asap.

Taking a moment to let his laughter die down, they returned to their grazing of the snack shelves; handpicking out a few different types of candy, and a few bags of chips to try. After making a brief pit stop at the chocolate milk and protein shake selection and loading up on anything that caught either of their eyes, they circled up to the self checkouts where Namjoon and Yoongi waited for them. They appeared to be discussing the new greenhouse set up when they approached, Namjoon describing the construction team’s reign of terror on his petunias and other assorted flowers they had yet to transplant. 

Yoongi gestured for the two younger arrivals to follow after him, still listening to Namjoon’s complaints as he scanned his items. When Y/n moved to step around him to the next open checkout, Yoongi waved a dismissive hand in her direction and plucked the items from their hands to add to his order. He held a hand up to shush each of her protests with a “I’m trying to listen”, and she knew to give up fighting. As the pile grew he made a few comments about them breaking his bank account, but the comments held no actual heat behind them if his pink tinted ears were anything to go by. She just tucked the thought of paying for their next outing into her back pocket as consolation. 

They all packed into the raised Jeep Wrangler with different levels of coordination: Yoongi hopped into the driver's seat with ease, and Jungkook took the elevated step up in stride.  Y/n managed to grunt her way into her seat but did much better than Namjoon had in comparison–him somehow managing to bump both his shin and his forehead on the vehicle’s exterior as he clambered into the passenger seat, earning a disbelieving stare from Yoongi and a bark of laughter from Y/n. 

The wind from the open windows blew off any of the residual energy from her paranormal encounter out into the open air. The balance of chilled night air coupled with the warmed seats and soft piano music tinkling through the speakers made Y/n’s head begin to loll onto her folded arms that leant on the lip of her open window. Her eyelids drooped, her ears unable to make out any words from the hushed conversation batting in between the front seats. Her eyes briefly caught Yoongi’s from the rearview mirror, and he sent her a minute smile before her eyes finally gave up their fight to stay open. 

“Y/n–come on. You’re starting to get cold.” Y/n stirred from her slumped position, her eyes blinking open. An out of focus Jungkook blurred into her vision from where he stood outside of the car, her door propped open and a gray plastic bag hanging from his wrist.  

“What?” She bleated, her eyes languidly dragging in her surroundings. The car was still rumbling beneath her, but it was unmoving out front of the estate. The lights blared down at her from the ceiling, and the driver side door was left open. “Sorry…” Y/n moved at a snail's pace to slide from her seat, swaying slightly when her feet hit the gravel. 

One of Jungkook’s hands snapped up to her upper arm to steady her, and she smiled gratefully up at him in thanks. Namjoon was nowhere to be seen, but Yoongi was skipping down the stairs from over Jungkook’s shoulder with empty hands. Y/n guessed that he had dropped the rest of the goods in the kitchen and his room while he waited for her to wake from her nap. She took staggering steps towards the steps of the estate; her grogginess depleting her already low coordination levels. 

Jungkook kept in time with her, a supportive hold on her arm for each hike of her foot on the stone steps and through the propped open doors. He guided the two of them towards the kitchen, tiptoeing through the doors and towards the heap of plastic bags on the counter. Jungkook finished the trek towards the center island and dug through the bags with relaxed movements, yet Y/n’s steps lingered near the entrance. She couldn’t help but let her gaze wander over to the doors that separated them from the dining room. The image of the shredded man looming on the other side of the wood made goosebumps track across her skin–her brain still having trouble computing that what she had seen had been happening in real time, and wasn’t a separate place that didn’t have any true impact on her. That they were lurking around in the rooms at all times on the other side in an exact mirror to how she and her friends were. Any of them could be in here with us right now…she stilled, her muscles tightening their hold to lock her joints in place. 

“What’s wrong?” The sound of plastic bags rustling subsided, Jungkook’s voice taking their place. 

Y/n whirled to look at him with wide eyes, his voice startling her from her thoughts. “Nothing!” She took tentative steps towards the island and away from the door, but her eyes kept being tugged back to the dining room no matter how hard she tried to wrench them away. “I was just…Thinking. That’s all.” 

She finally managed to make it to the island and place her palms that were still warm from sleep onto its cool surface. Jungkook gave her a once over, his face an open book that’s title must have something to do with doubt or disbelief. He brushed past her and towards the dining room door. 

“Jungkook! Wait-” 

He didn’t listen to Y/n’s protests, swinging open the door and holding it in place to give him a perfect view of the dining room. Jungkook’s coal-like eyes did a full sweep from corner to corner, before backtracking into the kitchen and letting the door swing shut behind him. 

“Nothing in there to worry about.” He breezed past her and returned to putting away the snacks they had acquired. As he passed, she saw the glint of the edge of Yoongi’s flashlight sticking up from his pocket. The sight helped to soothe some of her racing thoughts. 

Y/n followed close behind him with her arms hugging around her middle, not keen on keeping much space between them at the moment. “Nothing to worry about as in ‘empty’ or as in ‘something is there but they don’t seem to want to kill me’?” 

Jungkook lifted the mint oreo container from the bag and onto the island top, grabbing the cookie dough pint out from the same spot and piling it into an already overflowing freezer. She thought for a minute that he was going to ignore her question–but to her surprise–his mouth opened the moment he bent to pull two spoons from the drawer at his hip. 

“Nothing that wants to kill you.” Jungkook held a spoon out for her to take; a rounded one that she had stolen from the Adelaide as a child and declared as her favorite when she was six. 

Y/n pinched the spoon from his fingers and fidgeted with the handle, content with watching him pop the lid off of the ice cream and drop it to the countertop below while she deliberated on his response in her mind. Jungkook glided to spoon across the flat top, the pale green treat curling up and over into the perfect glistening bite that he raised to wrap his lips around. He let the bite sit in his mouth, raising an eyebrow her way when she didn’t move to dig in after him. 

“Who is it? In the dining room I mean.” Y/n mimicked his previous action, the smooth mound of soft creamy peppermint melting on her tongue and leaving chewy pieces of chocolate cookie where it had once been. 

Jungkook took another spoonful, letting the spoon hang from his mouth before removing it with a ‘pop’. “I’m not completely sure. I see them in the dining room a lot.” He carved his spoon into the carton once more. “From their habits I’d guess one of the o.g Kim’s.” 

Y/n let out a small gasp around her spoon. “Really? Wouldn’t you be able to recognize them then from all the pictures?” 

Jungkook’s eyes widened naturally as his lips pulled around the spoon, reminiscent of a younger and much lankier version of himself. He dragged out an ambivalent hum. 

“Not necessarily. I can’t always tell who I’m looking at if they don’t interact with me.” 

“Huh. I thought you could just see everyone all of the time?” Y/n held her spoon over the opening of the carton, waiting for him to finish his strip before making her own.

Jungkook shook his head once. “No. I can only see them in detail if I’ve interacted with them a lot, or if they outwardly tell me who they are in some way or another. Or if…” His voice trailed off temporarily, but with a quick twitch of his head he pushed onwards. “Or if I was around when they died.” He swallowed forcefully, avoiding her eyes to poke around for a bigger cookie piece. “Otherwise they just look like shadowy figures or blurry faces.” 

“Oh.” 

They took turns digging into the ice cream, Y/n taking her time to think up her next question. He seemed to be in a talkative mood, and she wanted to seize the opportunity while it lasted. Y/n’s next bite had been unexpectedly soft, dribbling onto her chin and her shirt.

“How can you tell it’s one of the Kim’s then?” Her spoon made a clinking sound when she lowered it to the counter top. She spun around to look for a paper towel or napkin to dab at the mess she had made, finding her search unsuccessful. Jungkook reached behind him, tearing one off of the roll and passing it to her before he answered. 

“There’s two of them. They sit at the table late at night or early in the morning, and even though I can’t see what they are holding, I can tell from how they are moving that they are drinking a cup of tea together.” He cleared his throat, having swallowed his bite too quickly, “Kind of like how Mr. Kim and his dad had done before he passed.” 

Y/n waited to respond until she was sure she had scraped away the spot from her chin. “Even if you can piece that together, you still can’t see them yet?” 

“No. Because they haven’t interacted with me yet. They don’t seem to interact with anyone.” 

“Huh. Residual maybe.” 

Jungkook shrugged, scooping more ice cream into his mouth. 

Y/n picked up her spoon for her next mouthful, but this time Jungkook paused his scooping just as she had done before. It took her a couple bites to register that he was staring at her, his expression taking on the same unreadable nature it had earlier that day. Y/n slowed her motions, releasing the spoon from her mouth and putting it back on the counter next to where his hand rested with his own utensil twiddling between his fingers. Y/n brought the back of her hand up to her face to rub at her cheeks and chin, worried she had missed a spot. 

“Do I still have ice cream on my face?” She felt around, but found nothing out of place. 

“No you’re fine.” His eyes flickered down to her chin and back up to hers. He tore his attention from her face and back down to the ice cream in front of him. He brought his spoon up into the air to make another stab into the half empty container, holding it aloft just before he touched its surface. 

“Y/n, can I ask you some-”

Both of their heads whipped to the right when Namjoon made his less than coordinated appearance through the swinging dining room door. He beelined straight to the cabinets behind the two of them to rummage for his bag of popcorn, bulldozing through three separate cabinets until he found his target. Jungkook closed himself off, retracting back into his shell at his interruption. 

The interruption in question didn’t seem to notice anything out of the ordinary, popping open the black bag and leaning his elbows on the counter at the spot next to Y/n. Completely ignorant to his intrusion. He shook the bag, tucking his chin down to peer down his nose at its contents and taking a small handful and pouring it into his mouth. Each handful he took was unnecessarily noisy, the bag somehow managing to get louder each time his hand slid in to pull out more.  After his fifth handful Y/n couldn’t hold back the twitch of her eye.  

“Joon. Seriously.” 

“What? I’m not judging you for your abomination of a snack choice.” A piece fell from where he cradled a few in his palm, and he swept it into a pile onto the counter with his other hand. 

Y/n rolled her eyes. “That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about how ridiculously loud you’re being at the moment.” 

Namjoon scoffed, tossing in another bunch of popcorn into his mouth and reaching down to dust the white powder onto his pants. “It’s an aluminum bag. They crinkle.” He swallowed his bite, and swept the collection of dropped pieces into a cupped hand to walk it to the trash can. “What–was I interrupting something?” 

Y/n simply shook her head, and tossed her spoon into the sink with a sigh. 

“What?” He walked back over to where Y/n and Jungkook stood. 

“First you kicked me earlier today and now you attack my ears with the ungodly loud sound of your dishonorable taste.” 

Namjoon jerked his chin back, ignoring the jab at his preferences. “I didn’t kick you–what are you talking about?” 

“Yes you did,” Y/n faltered in her step towards the freezer, “at breakfast to keep me from  trying to follow Hoseok.” 

Namjoon knit his eyebrows together with a slow side to side motion of his head. 

“No I didn’t Y/n. I don’t care if you talk to him.” 

Y/n turned to Jungkook, narrowing her eyes in an accusation at him from around the open door to the freezer. “Was it you?” 

“No.” Jungkook’s tone was flat as he dropped his spoon next to hers.  

Y/n shut the freezer door and pinched her face together in thought. They were the only people sat across from her besides her brother. Well–the only people besides her brother and Jin. But what reason would Jin have to keep her from talking to Hoseok?

Y/n blew the thoughts away with a sharp exhale. The idea that Jin of all people would have any reason to keep them separated felt too out of left field. One of the men in front of her must be lying–and it probably was Jungkook. Tracking away from the fridge and back towards the kitchen island, she hoisted herself up onto the counter top to sit between them. 

“Whoever kicked me–uncalled for. Don’t do it again.” 

Both men on either side of her shared an unsure shrug, and Namjoon pulled out one of the stools with his foot and slid onto its cushioned surface. Jungkook settled for leaning back against the counter near the stove. The foot in the door she had had with him minutes before was now gone. They only had to endure a few more ear-splitting bites, their saving grace arriving in a pair of sweats and slightly out of breath.  

‘I see you all made yourselves comfortable while I had to hike uphill from the parking lot by myself.” Yoongi waddled over to the cabinet that Namjoon had pulled the popcorn from, snatching out his potato chips and sauntering back towards the hallway. “We need to move. On my trek back I saw your mom’s car pull in from up the hill–and even at my distance I could tell the energy in the car was all kinds of fucked up.” 

All of them came to life simultaneously, shuffling in a line along the banister and towards the steps. Y/n’s foot barely brushed the first step when an idea took hold of her, pulling her backwards for Namjoon to stumble into. 

“Y/n, what are you doing? Let's go.” Namjoon gave a gentle nudge of her shoulder’s forward, but she planted her feet and resisted with all of her strength. 

Then she heard it. A faint whisper called to her from the study, and she could’ve sworn she caught a glimpse of her grandmother’s eyes glinting at her through the miniscule crack of the pocket doors.

Y/n shoved past Namjoon and Jungkook, and slid open the wooden panels just enough for her to slide into. “You guys go ahead. I have something I want to do first.” 

“Like hell you’re doing anything by yourself.” Yoongi’s feet thundered down the steps after her, retreating the steps he had just made. He shoved his bag of chips into Jungkook’s chest and used his now free hand to stop the door from closing in his face. “Do you have a death wish?” 

“No.” Y/n pursed her lips, rethinking her statement. “Maybe–I’m going to eavesdrop on my mom. I just have a gut feeling.” Y/n disappeared into the dark study, surprising even herself with her sudden bravery when just in the kitchen she couldn’t bear the thought of being by herself. 

“Jesus fucking Christ–Joon: the flashlights are on your bed. In my chest I have the instructions for what I did to anoint them, just follow the steps exactly as they are written. Jungkook.” Yoongi turned to the youngest and held both hands up in front of his face. Jungkook seemed to understand the silent command, slipping the flashlight from his pocket and tossing it in a flying arch into Yoongi’s awaiting hands. 

“You both go do that. I’ll make sure she doesn’t get herself killed.” Yoongi spat, running his fingers through his hair and slipping after her into the pitch black study before either of them could protest.

Yoongi and Y/n faced each other in a crouch, their shoulders brushing against the wooden doors and their eyes locked on each other's from across the gap Y/n had left for peeking; reminiscent of the way her and her grandmother had done only a couple hours prior. Yoongi’s eyes shined at her with a dangerous glint, but they both remained silent. 

Her mother barged through the front door, aggressively throwing her keys into the ceramic bowl near the door in a huff. Y/n heard the sound of her mother struggling to remove her jacket, the fabric flapping about frantically and catching on her elbows. Yoongi had the best view–the side he was on enabled him to spy on her through the gap in the door. His eyes paused their survey, something entrapping his focus. 

“Do you need any help?” 

Y/n’s eyes bugged out of her skull, Jin’s voice sounding from the other side of the door confirming any earlier suspicions she may have had about his whereabouts. 

“No.” Her mother snapped, and Y/n watched the shadow of her feet glide across the floor in the direction of the hall and into her restricted line of sight. Her mother stopped just after the dining room doors, shifting to regard Jin over her shoulder.

“I apologize for being short with you–I’ve had quite a draining day today. Make sure he gets to bed safely.” Her mother’s steps resumed their path towards the hall, the shadow vanishing with her exit. 

When the two figures passed the crack in the door, she was able to get a better picture. Y/n watched as not one, but two sets of feet followed the same direction, only this time she heard them start a slow trek up the steps towards the second floor landing. Y/n concealed her gasp with the palm of her hand when they passed in front of the gap for her to catch a glimpse of the way Jin was carrying almost the entirety of their friend’s body weight. Hoseok did not sound good, and how he looked wasn’t much better off. His air curling and sticking to the nape of his neck with sweat, an old t-shirt hanging off of thin shoulders that’s collar looked soaked all the way down to his shoulder blades. Did her mom do something to them? It couldn’t be a coincidence that her and her mother got into a spat that ended with fingers pointed in their direction, and for her to return home late with the said guilty parties in tow; not to mention one in poor condition. Y/n watched their ascending figures until she couldn’t, unable to take her eyes off of Hoseok’s etiolated slump of a body against Jin’s side. 

“Can I get you anything from the kitchen before we get you settled?” Jin’s voice was not above a murmur. 

“No.” Hoseok ground out through his teeth, his steps dragging out behind Jin’s. “Just let me lay down please.” 

They said nothing else, just a few ragged breaths from Hoseok and a couple muted grunts from Jin while they crept the way to the top of the stairs, dragging their feet through the landing.

“We should really head back up to get this all finished before she finds us together.” Yoongi hissed.

“No. I need to keep going.” 

Without warning, Y/n shoved through the gap in the door and kept her steps light to follow after her mother. Y/n made it just in time to see mother’s shadow dissipate beneath her father’s office door, the light pooling from beneath the door much too dim to be able to tell where abouts in the room she moved. Y/n melted into the wall, Yoongi sidling up next to her with the flashlight gripped tightly in his fist. They shuffled on their toes down towards the edge of the door frame, and Y/n held her breath as she leaned forward to listen in on the muffled voices from the other side.  Yoongi did the same, spinning on the balls of his feet to leap across the beam of light to stand on the opposite side of the frame to face each other once more. Their ears virtually pressed into the wooden border to help the sound waves reach them with less difficulty.

“I made a few calls today–it’s settled. We may have to shovel more money into their pockets but that can’t be helped. Whatever it takes to get him out of here is fine by me.” Her mothers heels clicked across the floor, and she heard the faint whistle of air releasing from the leather office chair behind her father’s desk and assumed she had seated herself in it. 

“Alright.” Her father’s voice slurred, tracking sideways from his mouth and tumbling out without control of where the sound went. 

Her mother heaved out a breath. “He will need to be packed up and off well before dinner. Please try and see him before he goes, will you? We have an image to keep up with.” 

Only silence followed. 

“In other news, If you’d like an update on your daughters–Amelia is enjoying her time in France–says she met a boy.” Y/n heard a smile seep through her mother’s words. 

Her father croaked out a disjointed hum. “Did she now?” 

“Mmmhmm. Says he’s ‘nothing special’, but a mother knows how to read her daughter like the back of her hand. I suspect there will be a new addition at the Christmas table this year.” Her mother let out a tinkling laugh, her father’s much quieter one wheezing out from his chest. There was a palpable lull in their conversation before her mother spoke up again. 

“Y/n is…adjusting.” 

Her father grunted out a reply, but it was too jumbled for Y/n to understand. 

“No–I’ve made sure of it.” 

Anselm's first words were of a whisper too quiet for the eavesdroppers to hear. But his next ones were loud and clear. A cry into the night. “Mother, please. Do not lie to me. He says this is the only way.”

 The office chair creaked, and the sound of her mother’s shoes traveled further into the office. 

“Anselm, stay with me.” Her voice cut itself off and Y/n heard the rug from near the fireplace rustle with movement. “Would you like to see pictures Amelia sent me today?” Y/n had never heard her mother sound so desperate and warbled. It almost made Y/n feel sorry for her. Almost. 

A rattling cough barked out from her father’s chest, making both Y/n and Yoongi jump a few inches off of the ground. His vocal chords rubbed against one another as if coated in shards of glass: scratchy and inhuman. 

“Y/n…Come to me please. I know you’re there.” He coughed once more, and she heard one staggering step reverberate through the floor. “I can see you, Entlein.”

Yoongi grabbed her wrist, tugging her back down the hall with haste. Y/n thanked the gods that they had both taken off their shoes, and for the carpet muffling the way their soles struck the ground with each push up the stairs. Yoongi didn’t stop pulling her forward until he was shoving her in front of him and into her own bedroom, skidding in behind her and locking the door behind them. 

“There’s no way he could’ve actually seen me right?” Y/n panted, whirling to face him. 

“I don’t know Y/n.” His tone was frantic, and he signaled for her to stay quiet while he listened out for any creak, hum or groan to signify that they had been followed.

“Were they talking about you? She wouldn’t do anything shady to get rid of you–right?”

“Y/n–I don’t know! Now shush so I can listen please!” Yoongi’s words were intended to be sharp, but missed their shot like an arrow released from a bow that was tied much too loose.  He held his flashlight at the ready, and kept his back pressed against the door with his feet dug into the ground in front of him. Once Yoongi decided the coast was clear he slumped against the back of her door and slid to the floor. 

“Your dad’s voice–did it sound familiar to you at all?” 

“I mean yeah, it was my dad.” Y/n fixed him with an incredulous look. 

The glare he gave her was unimpressed, his eyebrows raised in a silent challenge. She thought back to her father’s final utterance–the way his voice had shifted and the hairs on her arms that had stood up in response. She replayed the sound again, except this time it began to overlap with the man from the other side–with even Hadwin’s snarls making an appearance from the crevices of her mind–each of their phrases piling one on top of the other. She could practically see the way his skeletal jaw shook with each syllable.

 “How nice of you to join us, Entlein.”

“I will kill you where you stand, wretched bitch.”

“I can see you, Entlein.”

They sounded the same. 

Y/n pulled at the hair on her head. Her own voice doing little to drown out the memory of their echoing voices.

 “Shit.” 

After trading a debrief with Jungkook and Namjoon for two anointed flashlights, she had been left to her own devices in her room to avoid any run-in with her father. Y/n couldn’t get herself to sleep a wink that night. The events from that day fully caught up to her now that she had no friends and no pint of ice cream to fend them off with. That’s how she found herself in her current predicament: Her back pressed against her closet door and one of her flashlights crushed between her fingers. She waited–holding her breath when her father’s steps stopped outside her door with a finger pressing dangerously close to the on button but never putting enough pressure to turn it on. If she had thought she was scared of her father before, then the only word to describe how she felt about him being just on the precipice of her space was pure terror.

When her father turned his way back down the hallway, Y/n launched into action. Scraping her chair out from beneath her desk and scrambling for an empty journal. If they had still had time before bed, she would’ve made Yoongi or Jungkook escort her to the cellar and attic to go through her childhood belongings for her handmade family tree they had scrapbooked as a family when she was seven. Each sister making their own with printed out photos they had butchered with children’s scissor’s into choppy edged shapes to fit into the small frames of each designated member. 

But they hadn’t had the time. Which meant Y/n had to do what she did best: figure it out on her own. 

The main branches had come to her memory with ease–their names and basic stories tossed around with as much reverence as bible stories were discussed in church. The set up may not have been as perfect as the custom hand designed map they had been given as children to fill out, but it got the job done. Once she had their names, she started to add her own notes. Underneath Hadwin’s lopsided bubble, she scribbled down a quick ‘X’ to mark his current…unsightly circumstances. She did the same with the twins, Annelise, and Patti. Her pen hovered over her sister’s name, her shaky hand making the ink wiggle onto the paper as she drew another ‘x’ beneath it. 

Once she had finished up with that task, she pulled out another sheet of paper and tried to jot down as many names of the Kim, Jung, Jeon, and Min line as she could remember and tucked the paper beneath her makeshift family tree. She followed each slanted line with her pen, notating each set of brothers that could’ve possibly been whoever she had seen on the other side. If Y/n wanted to get to the bottom of what was going on, she would need to brush up on her history–and she had just the person to go to for help. 

_________________________________________

Y/n’s eyes blinked blearily at the sun that started to seep through her blinds and onto her indecipherable words that careened off the paper into unintentional stripes where her hand had continued trying to write even if her brain had succumbed to an hour of rest. The sound of shoes scuffling on the carpet outside of her door brought her eyes open further. She lifted her head from where it had fallen onto her desk and stared at the shadow of feet as they drifted to the side and down the hall. 

Despite having almost no sleep, Y/n could feel the buzz lingering beneath her skin that charged her forward like the world’s strongest cup of coffee. She pulled her clothes in a speed that could have won her a record, and pulled open her door expecting to find Jungkook leaning against the wall between Yoongi’s room and her own–but found no person waiting for her on the other side. What she did find was a neon sticky note stuck to her door. 

“Meet me in the ballroom at 1. ~Your second ex husband :)” 

Y/n’s heart thumped in her chest, and she fiddled with the paper between her fingers. An unstoppable smile slithered her lips upwards, but she felt it wobble when her mind conjured up the ashen image of him from the night before–reminding her what her purpose was for today. The recollection only gives fuel to her already ever-present tenacity forth tenfold.

She raced back into her room, grabbing the makeshift list and family tree and shoving them along with the sticky note into her pocket. Y/n pulled out her phone from her pocket to dial Jungkook when a few missed text messages had her attention derailed to read them.

New messages in ‘The Most Annoying and Toxic Coworkers’

[Jungkook]: Namjoon will have to pick you up today. Your mom is home. 

[Zoltar]: Home and in the way. The foyer is a wreck. 

[Zoltar]: You’re going to want to make a pitstop at your brother’s room–whether for better or for worse–It wasn’t me they were talking about paying to get rid of last night. 

As she was reading a new message appeared, shoving the rest further up her screen. 

[Joon 🌱]: I’m on my way to get you. Prepare yourself.

Y/n didn’t have time to ponder what he meant with his message–for he was already rounding the corner down her hall. Namjoon’s face was slightly gray from what seemed to now be a mutual lack of sleep and he had both hands shoved into his pockets with his head slightly bowed. He picked his head up when he was a few yards out from her room, and his neck flushed. He was either already lying or preparing himself to. 

“Y/n–” 

“How bad is it?”  Y/n demanded, leaving no room for his bumbling attempts at dishonesty. 

Namjoon puffed out his cheeks and sucked in a breath. “She’s having cameras put up, so I have no idea what this means for us. And your brother is being sent to boarding school early–or late–however you want to look at it.” 

Y/n was beside herself at the news. Her anger rose in waves, her mother’s magnetic pull never failing to elicit a high tide in Y/n’s emotional sea. She did her best to shove it down: if she blew up right now it wouldn’t help her case in her mother’s eyes.  

“Why would she even bother–he will just be home in barely two months anyways?” Y/n met Namjoon outside Yoongi’s door, and didn’t bother stopping her strides to chat. Namjoon immediately kept in step with her, spinning on his feet to follow. 

“Well that’s the thing–I don’t think he’s going to the same one you did.” 

“What makes you say that?” They reached the top of the stairs, and Namjoon’s answer was pulled from between his teeth by the label on passerby’s uniform.

 Brighten’s Center for Boys–Est 1978, NY

“I looked it up. They go year round with only short week-long breaks here and there.” Namjoon’s voice was tight. 

The man’s shirt was bunched up, and damp despite the weather not being a degree over 68. He had a large taped cardboard box balanced on his forearms with Roland’s name scrawled on the side in black marker. Y/n skittered down the steps, swinging on the banister as she turned down the hall. New York? Steam billowed from Y/n’s ears when she swallowed down scathing choice words for her mother. Did her mom even want any of them around anymore? She recounted the way her mother had sounded so relieved to have him gone, and spurred herself on faster. 

Y/n passed her father’s office, and headed straight down the hall where she could see one of the bedroom doors propped open by another mover leaned up against a moving cart. She could hear her mother shouting out orders from her distance, and almost bit her own tongue off to keep from stomping in with guns blazing. 

“This pile can go–thank you.” 

Y/n rounded the corner just behind the man that entered to grab the stack her mother had directed him to. Her brother’s room was in shambles: half packed and bed stripped. She tried to not let her eyes linger around for too long, the sight playing much too close to how it had looked the days following her sister’s death. Her mother’s eyes met hers from over the mover’s shoulder, and Y/n saw her composure crack if only momentarily. Then like she did best, her mother patched it back up with indifference. 

“What’s going on here?” Y/n could feel Namjoon’s astonishment at how well Y/n managed to disguise her rage in her question. 

Y/n’s mother must have also been expecting an explosion, because the muscles in her shoulders visibly uncoiled themselves beneath her sweater. 

“An opening came up at one of the boarding schools we were looking to enroll Ro in. We couldn’t pass it up and risk him not having a spot in the fall.” The older woman crouched onto her knees to commence the daunting task of piling all of her brother’s stuffed dogs into a box to her right. 

Lies. Y/n though, but kept her words within herself. 

Y/n put one hand into her back pocket, and leant up against Roland’s now empty dresser. “And the men outside?” 

Mariah avoided Y/n’s stare, looking far too interested than necessary at a plush dalmatian in her hands. 

“They are setting up cameras at all of the entrances. Your father and I determined that it was necessary again with the uptick in guests for this year’s events.” 

Y/n pursed her lips, her hand drumming on the dresser as she nodded in feigned disinterest. Roland stumbled from his bathroom, still clad in a set of dog themed pajamas, and her mother found her conversational escape. 

“Did you sort through all of your toiletries?” 

Her brother nodded, his eyes wide and unable to look at the spot Y/n stood near his door. 

“Good. I will run those out to one of the movers to put in our car for easy access.” Mariah dropped the stuffed animal she was holding and hustled into the bathroom her brother had just left. Y/n’s eyes followed her as she returned with a firetruck red duffle bag over her shoulder and set off in search of someone to take it off of her hands. 

Y/n waited for a moment to see if her mother would return, and when she didn’t she let her gaze fall on her brother. Roland still stood in the middle of his room like a deer in headlights, looking just out of place as she suspected he felt. 

“How are you feeling about school? Excited?”  Y/n tried to keep her voice light as to not scare him off. 

Roland shrugged and pulled at the sleeves of his shirt. “I guess so.” 

“I was nervous the first year I was sent off. You’ll get used to it after a while.” Y/n sent him a reassuring smile that he only saw part of with his wandering eyes. 

Roland inched over to his bed, and lowered himself onto the bare mattress. His eyes flickered to the door and then back at Y/n. His shoulders curled in on him, and he couldn’t keep his feet still. He was nervous to be around her. Another stab into Y/n’s heart that they were more distant than ever. 

“Hey, I bet you’ll do great.” She had to rip the next few words from the depths of her soul, every cell in her body screaming at her not to. “You’re the next big brave owner after all.” 

Even though Y/n’s words sounded uplifting, Roland seemed to find them uncomfortable. 

“Why did they send you to boarding school?” Roland asked his questions with his eyes still checking the doorway for their mother’s return. 

“Well…” Y/n pushed herself from the dresser and bounced down onto the mattress next to him. “They just thought it’d be best for me–and I bet it’s the same reason for you.” 

Roland shifted in his seat at her answer, his hands tugging harder at the edge of his shirt. His mouth opened to say something else, but rerouted to instead utter something far too quiet for Y/n to understand. 

“You’re gonna have to speak up bud–the world is going topsy turvy out in the halls.” Y/n jabbed at his arm lightly with her elbow in jest, but he didn’t smile. 

“Did you leave because of me?” 

Y/n’s brows knit at the sudden inquiry, not expecting him to ask her such a thing. But it dawned on Y/n as she watched him shimmy in his seat that he might have been too young to grasp what had truly happened that night. And she doubted her mother had run to Y/n’s defenses if it had been brought up before.

“What? No!” Y/n blinked down at him, her mouth opening and closing to find the right words. “Have you thought that this whole time?” 

Roland shrugged, his head bowing in shame. “A little. I started the fight.” 

“Well stop thinking that. It wasn’t your fault what happened–Mom and Dad are the ones who lied, not you. You didn’t know any better.” Y/n turned her body to face him, trying her best to meet his avoidant gaze. “I mean it, Küken. I’m not mad at you.” 

Roland shyly peaked up at her, his hands stilling at his sides. “You promise?” 

“Pinky promise.” She held her smallest finger up for his to take, and gave him the most convincing look she could muster. He linked his pinky with hers, and Y/n shook it slightly with finality. 

Roland checked the doorway for the umpteenth time, still finding no sign of their mom he leaned back in. “Can I tell you a secret then? That will stay just between us?” 

“Of course. Whatever you want to tell me. You know I love a good secret that Mom and Dad can’t know.” Y/n leant in closer as well, wiggling her eyebrows mischievously. “When you get a bit older I can tell you hundreds of my own.”

Roland let out a small giggle, and grabbed for Y/n’s pinky again. “I mean it. They can’t ever know.” 

“I get it, stop teasing and spill before mom comes back.” She feathered her fingers against his ribs, effectively pulling bubbles of laughter from his throat at the tickling onslaught. 

“Okay-Okay! Stop!” Y/n removed her hands, and let him have a few seconds to catch his breath. Roland turned to completely face her, pulling his legs towards his chest to sit crisscrossed on the mattress.

“I don’t want to own the hotel. I never wanted to. But mom says I don’t have a choice.” 

Y/n’s stomach did flips in her abdomen, and she was glad she hadn’t eaten anything yet for it to find and evict. 

“Did she say why?” Y/n’s voice had an edge to it even though she tried to dampen it. 

“She just said that it’s tradition. That I was the only one who could do it.” He rolled his eyes, oblivious to how much this confession affected Y/n. “But what I want is to be a firefighter or a dog trainer.” 

“Why even hire movers if I have to take things to the car myself?” Their mother scampered back into the room, flustered from whatever trek she had taken. “Is everything alright?” Her back straightened at the sight of them huddled together. 

“Just peachy. I was telling him about how great he’ll do up in New York. He just got a little nervous, that's all.” Y/n gave her a tight lipped smile, brushing her hands off on her pants and pulling herself to her feet. 

“O-okay.” Mariah stepped out of Y/n’s way, letting her pass back out into the hall without stopping her. 

“If you need help let me know. But I’m headed out for the day.” Y/n saluted the two of them and took off down the hall in search of her body guard for this morning. She found Namjoon propped against the all a few doors down to give her and Roland some privacy–and despite her promise to her brother to keep what he had disclosed between them–she couldn’t wait to seethe about what she had just been told to Namjoon the moment they were alone. 

“How is he-” 

“Follow me.” 

Namjoon paled, and he fell into step with her rapid footfalls. “Got it.” 

Her face must have betrayed how livid she was again. Old wounds were being ruthlessly sliced open, and her mom’s hands were the ones holding the blade. Y/n dodged a man swinging a ladder over his head to swoop down to kick her shoes on, Namjoon barely making it underneath the metal in time to do the same. 

Y/n led the way down the stairs, barreling straight down the path toward the hotel. Y/n forced deep breaths into her lungs all the way through the courtyard and into the upper lobby as a means to hold in what she wanted so desperately to word vomit all over Namjoon behind her. She skidded to a halt at the front desk, but Jin was nowhere to be found-a different employee taking his place. Before Y/n’s thoughts could take a dark turn, she reminded herself that Jin had shared he didn’t always work on Wednesdays and settled herself on that, not having the mental capacity to start theorizing about whatever her mother's schemes had to do with them. Y/n tapped on the bell, and the well-kept woman greeted her with a dazzling smile. 

“How can I help you today?” 

“Would you mind checking the tour schedule for me? I work here, and I’m trying to see if my friend is on the schedule today. We are supposed to meet up for lunch, but he never told me what time.” Y/n returned her smile, and kept her voice inconspicuous. 

“Oh–sure! Let me check here…Who are you looking for?” 

“Jimin Park.” 

The woman’s delicate hands lifted from the keyboard, not even bothering to look any further. “I’m afraid he’s not on the schedule today. He called out this morning.” 

“Huh, darn. I’ll see if I can find him around then.” Y/n skipped backwards towards the propped open front doors. “Thank you!” 

Y/n sped down the hotel’s front steps, her feet kicking up dust when they met the gravel driveway. Much to Namjoon’s displeasure, she kept up with this pace down the entirety of the long driveway. She had an inkling at where she could find Jimin: both from something he had said the day he had lent her a hand with her shelves; and from a small nibbling feeling in her gut that whispered the location up at her. 

The Historical Society. 

It was a ten-minute walk on foot to get there. Once at the end of the driveway, they had made a left-hand turn to follow the road roughly a quarter mile down to the clearing in the woods that stood as the residential parking area. Y/n glanced both ways up and down the winding road, and led their march across asphalt towards a stubby, yet ornately painted wooden sign signaling that they had made it to their destination. Trekking through the small parking lot that was shrouded with trees and shrubs, she approached the covered entrance to the Historical building. The outside was made of cream colored stone, with the main body of the building rising into a twisted dome. Y/n ducked under the velvet divider with a ‘no trespassing’ jangling from the chain when she jostled it. Her and Namjoon stood huddled under the stoop while Y/n rapped her knuckles against the door. She huffed out one more big breath to recenter her energy away from negativity–not wanting to seem irate as to off put Jimin when he opened the door. But There was no movement, and Y/n tapped her foot with pursed lips debating on whether to knock again. She caught sight of the small round doorbell button, and pressed it down with two fingers. 

“Maybe he’s not here Y/n. We can go wait for him back at the house.” Namjoon tried to reason with a hand on her elbow when she pressed the button two more times. 

“No.” Y/n shook her head resolutely. “He’s in here, I can feel it.” 

Y/n missed the quizzical look he shot her, because her attention was stolen by the sound of the lock clambering on the other side of the door. The door heaved open to reveal a slightly off put Jimin–his dirty blond hair disheveled and his white button down crumpled in a few spots. 

“Y/n?” 

The woman in question sighed in relief. “Sorry to bother you Jimin, but I have a few questions that I was hoping you could help me find the answers to.” 

“I–” Jimin remained apprehensive, even if his eyes lit up when they flickered between her and Namjoon. “Of course. Come on in.” 

“Namjoon, will you be joining or will you be headed back to the greenhouse?” She spun to the towering man next her to find him already looking back up the road towards the house. 

Namjoon shuffled from foot to foot, an uneasy look painting his features. “I do really need to get to work for the day–will you be alright?” 

“Yup. I’ll let you know when I’m finished up here. Hopefully I’ll still have time today to help you inspect how the perennials are regrowing.” Y/n was already treading through the door that Jimin held open for her, stopping to give Namjoon a small wave with her hand still in her sweater pocket. 

Namjoon grinned sweetly at her. “I’ll hold you to that.” Jimin had already headed back into the entry room, far enough for Namjoon to feel safe whispering to her. “You better promise to text one of us to come get you if he doesn’t walk you back. And I want updates on whatever has got you in such a tizzy today.” 

“Promise.” Without thinking, Y/n tipped herself forward to plant a quick peck on Namjoon’s cheek and traipsed through after Jimin without so much as a second glance at the bumbling mess she had left him in. “Thank you for the escort. See ya later, Joon!” 

Y/n’s late night endeavors must really be pushing her into a manic episode, because she felt almost no shame in what she had done. If anything, she had an extra pep in her step as she followed Jimin past the empty tour line and into the main hall. He pushed on the golden handle, gesturing with a hand for her to enter first. 

_________________________________________

The vaulted ceiling let the main hall be broken up into two separate floors connected by golden winding staircases with matching banisters. Lining the rounded walls were artifacts encased behind protective glass, labeled golden plaques with titles and dates of each item creating divots in the surface.  The vast first floor was dedicated to the Wörner’s, a rotating exhibit that the members of the historical department selected each year. Y/n could see that with this year being a major anniversary, they had gone the obvious route of displaying them through the generations. Her eyes caught the array of pressed and displayed military uniforms, and splayed out historical documents with rapt interest. The second floor was still dedicated to the other families involved with the hotel with each having their own designated section: The Kim’s, the Jeon’s, the Jung’s and the Min’s. Y/n decided it would do her good to ask Jimin for a tour of the current exhibits when he was feeling a bit better–she’d have to settle on just her questions for the time being. 

“We can talk in my office.” Jimin came up beside her, his hands clasped behind his back and his voice light. 

He led the way, cutting through the line of boxed displays and down another grand hallway, the same black and white tiled flooring spreading outwards beneath their feet. Y/n admired the artwork displayed along the column lined walls, each piece collected from local artists and swapped at the beginning of the month. It looked like this month's theme was nature Y/n noted, her eyes examining an impressionist style piece depicting a scene from the state forest up the road. 

“They are for sale, you know.” His placid tone called from down the hall, a patient smile shining her way at where she had unknowingly stopped to admire another smaller painting of a flowery field. Y/n blushed, and scurried after him. She didn’t want to keep him waiting longer than he needed to. She brushed against him with her shoulder when she squeezed through the threshold, the crackling sound of Bach welcoming her with open arms.

 It looked mostly well kept, with some papers strewn about and a stack of books piled neatly at the end of a bulky rectangular wooden table. Its grain was handmade, a checker pattern with plaques of solid color separating the table into three distinguished segments. His monstrous bookshelves had each section labeled in a straightforward organizational system, focusing on topic or genre. In front of the shelves were two red cushioned armchairs, and a matching love seat. Y/n spied a few gray boxes stacked on an empty chair, their white tacked on label reading ‘photos and albums’. 

“You can take a seat wherever you’d like.” Jimin shut his door after them, floating over to one of the empty wooden seats at the table and pulling it out for her as an offer. 

Y/n thanked him, and sank into her seat without hesitation. Which he just responded with a pleased hum, taking two wide steps over to drop into the one across from her. Y/n felt her nose twitch, catching a whiff of something familiar that she couldn’t place.

“So what can I help you with today?” He beamed across the table at her, prodding her with a gentle quirk of his brows. Y/n’s brushed aside her concerns with whatever wax melt he had probably chosen, and focused on her task at hand. 

“I was actually hoping that you’d help me with some family history questions.” Y/n patted at her pockets with her hands, feeling for the papers and unsheathing them from her pockets. 

Jimin seemed caught off guard, and leaned forward onto his elbows to get a better look at what she was spreading out onto the table.

“Don’t judge me for how they look–it was just me, a spiral notebook and some scotch tape last night.” Y/n fidgeted with one of the corners with an abashed laugh. 

Jimin stood to get a better look, one knee propped on the chair below him and both hands supporting his weight as he slanted forward. His eyes took in her sloppy writing and wonky circles, and circled back to meet hers. 

“What kind of questions?” 

“Well…” Y/n cleared her throat, the realization that she can’t just tell him what had happened becoming glaringly apparent to her in that moment. “I want to make a more comprehensive family tree. The last one I had made was well over a decade ago and was just names and pictures. My goal is to make one with more specifics.” 

Jimin tapped his fingers on the table's edge, his tongue coming out to poke at his lower lip. “What are these ‘X’s for?” Y/n followed the direction of his pointed finger, and she scrambled for a reasonable response. 

“Oh–Those are some of the people I don’t remember as much about.” Y/n covered the lie with a chuckle, and scratched the back of her head. 

“Uh huh.” Jimin’s eyes glinted with hubris, but he didn’t call her out on her obvious lie. Y/n flushed once more, realizing that the person he had pointed at was her own sister. He fell back into his chair with a sigh, his pointer finger and thumb rubbing at his chin pensively. 

“You want to make one?” He regarded her with a few drops of skepticism, his fingers coming to a slow stop against his face. 

“Yes.” she gestured to the shotty one in front of her with a smirk. “One that doesn’t look like it was made by a toddler.” 

Jimin chortled at her comment, and rose from his chair and towards the exit to his office. “I’ll do you one better–give me one moment please.” 

He glided back out into the hall, leaving her alone in his office with just the soft sound of the record he had on his antique victrola. She could hear the sound of his shoes ringing against the tile getting further and further away and with each echoing step her heart sank: she wasn’t supposed to be alone. Y/n shoved her hand into her back pocket where her “lightsaber” was tucked, and let herself hold it at the ready in her hands to turn on at any sign of danger. But none came.

Y/n held her breath until the sound of Jimin’s steps returning down the hall let her expel it from her chest, but she did not yet let go of the flashlight until she saw his sandy head pop through the door once more. When he turned back around to face her, he had a lengthy black leather tube almost half his height. He rounded the table and propped it up against the side closest to her. 

“This is my personal copy of the Wörner family tree that I’ve been working on. I can order a second one for you to keep if you'd like.” Jimin unlatched the top, and lifted a gargantuan scroll of paper that was about as thick around as her head with how hard it was fighting to unravel the moment it was removed from its confines. 

Jimin laid the scroll horizontally on the table and pushed on the edge with his palm. The paper rolled away from his reach, spanning almost as good as the entire table and revealing its contents for both of them to see. It was without a doubt, the most concise family tree she had seen of her family to date. Each member’s birthdate, death date, and photo was displayed proudly along their branches, and small QR codes printed next to each name. 

“If you scan the QR code next to their name, it brings you to a website portal I’ve been putting together myself with any detailed information or photos I’ve been able to procure and assign to them.” Jimin pulled his phone from his pocket, scanning the square closest to him. “It’s still a work in progress.” 

Y/n tried to hold in a gag as Inga’s face appeared on his phone screen, reminding her all too well of the little girl she had seen last night. At least this version of Inga still had her teeth and eyeballs attached to her. He passed the phone into her hands, and let her scroll through the information he had already listed. 

Inga Wörner was born (along with her twin sister Heidi) to parents Ernst and Philomena Wörner in the fall of 1895. According to written accounts, she enjoyed hosting tea parties with her sister, drawing, and spending time outdoors–with emphasis on spending the most time at the lake or along the trails with her sister. Unfortunately, she caught an unspecified respiratory infection that led to both her own, and eventually her twin’s untimely death in spring of 1903. 

The grainy photo of a small girl–probably taken not long before her illness had consumed her with how similar she looked to how Y/n recognized her–filled Y/n with an unexpected wave of sympathy. She clicked on the ‘show me more’ option that routed her two a few scanned children’s drawings: a lopsided drawing of a calico cat, and the front of the estate that was clearly done by a child’s hand with her name drawn in big loopy letters along the bottom. Y/n had to skip over the sketched out image of the lake, unable to bring herself to look at it for too long without her skin crawling.

 She had only been a child when she had died–close to her sister’s age even. Y/n thought back to how her sister had shown up in her dream as a completely different person to who she had once been, and felt guilty for blaming the twins for their predicament: they were as much of a victim to whatever was happening as much as her sister had been. What a shame their legacy is being tarnished by something vile. By something out of their control. 

Y/n backed out of her file, and back to the camera button. She looked to Jimin for approval, and he gestured with his hand and an inviting smile for her to continue. 

“Be my guest.” 

Y/n handed him back his phone, and scrambled for her own–so she would be able to take screenshots of anything she had found interesting. Y/n lost herself in the map, finding herself unable to pull herself away from the photos or the information that was present, feeling drawn to take a peek into Heidi’s as well. 

Heidi Wörner was born to Ernst and Philomena in the late fall of 1895, the technical eldest of the set of twins (as she makes sure to point out in her journal entries whenever the topic is discussed). Heidi wrote extensively about things she enjoyed in a collection of personal journals and diaries. Some of the most notable things she recorded were her love of horseback riding, the family cat Gus (Asparagus), and Neapolitan ice cream. Heidi could be noted as an avid writer, documenting the day-to-day life of her and her family. Her meticulous testimony gives us a unique point of view of the adults in her life.

Y/n flipped through the plethora of photos of faded journal entries, the handwriting improving with each swipe. She shook out the mixed bag of feelings within her chest, and moved onto the next person on the page. Jimin settled himself on one of the red armchairs, crossing one of his legs and propping a book open on his elevated knee. Y/n worked in silence, taking photos or writing notes on her own makeshift document. Jimin lost in his book and tapping his fingers rhythmically against the hardcover, and the record playing through it’s next orchestra piece. 

There were a few people Jimin seemed to have not filled in yet, and each time an empty square popped up she would move to the next. Y/n made sure she was taking screenshots of the ones that did have short or cut off descriptions. The blank spaces left her more intrigued than those whose sections were full. She began to find similarities to the ones left blank as time went on: the common denominator that they belonged almost exclusively to the women in the family. This Y/n had to remind herself of, could most likely be attributed to the time they had lived in not being well known for their kindness towards women historically. Even if it didn’t surprise her, it still left her feeling the void where their stories should also be. When she hovered her phone over Adelaide, she was taken aback: for her section was also blank. There should surely be something about her somewhere–she had a restaurant named after her!. Maybe Jimin just hadn’t gotten to that side of the family tree yet, she reasoned with herself. 

Jimin felt her moment of pause, looking over her shoulder at where her phone lingered over the photo of Adelaide. 

“I haven’t finished everything yet. There’s been…” Jimin trailed off, his fingers fiddling with the cuff of one of his sleeves as he stood from his seat. “A lot of setbacks.” He avoided meeting her eyes, keeping his tone airy even if tension tried to ease its way through.

“Oh. Like technical issues or lack of substantial material?” Y/n laid her phone on the table next to Adelaide’s photo and waited patiently for his response. 

“Trust me–there is no lack of material about any of these people. There’s hoards of it in the basement archives,” Jimin sassily flicked a stray lock of hair from his forehead, “It’s more so along the lines of I have to get things I wish to share approved by higher ups and some of that information is intentionally kept from prying eyes; if you can understand what I’m implying.” 

Y/n chewed at her lip, giving him a subtle nod. “Anything interesting that you can share?”   

“Hmmm.” Jimin ran his tongue over the edge of his teeth, contemplating her question. “Not at the moment. But if I catch wind of anything that I think might interest you, I will be sure to reach out.” 

The record on his player clipped to a sudden stop with an ear splitting scratch, as if someone had taken their finger and pushed the needle to grate across the record. Y/n swiveled at the sudden interruption, but Jimin remained motionless with the corners of his lips twitching in cloaked displeasure. There was a muffled ‘tink’, and Y/n watched the arm land against the velvet lining on the box on its own accord. Nearly a full ten inches from where it had been tracking across the pressed record moments before. 

“Sorry about that–It’s so old–sometimes it just forgets how to act.”  Jimin’s voice was cloying, cutting through the tension the interruption had left hanging in the air. 

His shoes sounded sharp on the tiled floors careening straight for the large box and picking up the arm of the player. “If it keeps choosing to slip up, I will just have to turn it off and switch to a more modern approach.” He hovered the needle over the beginning of the vinyl, and dropped it into the grooves to restart it from the beginning. The music resounded through the space once more as if nothing had happened. 

“Much better.” Jimin purred, and floated back to her side. He placed his hands onto the edges of the massive sheet and tugged it towards him. The paper curled on command, rolling itself back up into a coiled cylinder for him to grasp in his hands. “I’m sure this must be boring you.” He gave her a syrupy smile–one that was borderline too sweet–and his voice lilted up an octave. “How about a tour of the exhibits? Or I can offer you something to read until someone comes to get you.”

Y/n didn’t try to fight it–she knew that he was too nice for his own good to tell her outright that he was upset by something–and she didn’t want to abuse that by forcing him further into whatever was bothering him. Y/n speculated that it had something to do with the record player most certainly not just being old.  

“A tour would be nice.” Y/n yielded to his intense smile he tossed her over the lid of the leather tube.

“Then you’re in luck, because that is my specialty~” He clapped his hands, his expression dwindling into something more playful. Jimin placed a hand on the small of her back, and herded her out of the office and into the hall. He tucked one hand into the pocket of his black slacks, and grasped one of hers in the other with a wink. 

Jimin set the pace, keeping Y/n’s normally rushed steps timed with the strings serenading them from the open door they had just left. They arrived at the ginormous circular room once more, and he steered them both towards the entrance to start them on the mapped out path that sprawled counter clockwise from the door and up to the second floor.

“We have it organized in timeline order for the most part: Over here being mostly about Matthäus and his sons.” Jimin gestured with his nose to a collage of black and white photographs of Matthäus, some of him as a child in Germany splattered between older photos of him in front of the hotel, and posing at the construction site with his family. 

They strolled forwards, a photo of his eldest son Friedrich standing next to Matthäus in a much less modernized version of the lobby. A newspaper clipping titled “WÖRNER SON TAKES OVER HOTEL DEEDS”. Jimin let her soak up the images on her own, only choosing to offer input where he saw fit. They traveled down from Friedrich’s section to his eldest son, Ernst.

 Y/n paused to take in the photo of him at the desk in the study, his pen scratching along a long piece of parchment with his signature pooling out from the ink. His brother stood next to him, in the process of clapping his brother on the back in revelry. But it wasn’t either of them she was drawn to. It wasn’t the proud faces of his father or the wrinkled face of Matthäus beaming towards his grandson. It was the blank and brooding stare of Adelaide Wörner from where she stood in the back corner. 

Adelaide’s hair was pulled up and out of her face, a few tight unruly curls falling onto her cheeks and across her forehead. They had the same shaped nose, Y/n observed with an upwards quirk of her mouth. She stood almost entirely concealed by both brother’s shoulders, but Y/n could feel the way her eyes bore into the parchment Ernst was hunched over. Y/n could feel her emotions–read her thoughts even. It took one scorned woman to know one.

Jimin pulled her forward, passed the family photos of Ernst and his older children and grandchildren playing in the first rendition of the concrete outdoor pool. Heidi and Inga were nowhere to be seen, having never got the chance to live long enough to see it. 

“Inga would have loved the pool.” Y/n couldn’t help but think of the young girl, her breath fogging up the glass as she leant up to get a better view of the photo. “If she loved swimming in the lake I can only imagine what she would’ve done with the pool.” 

Jimin shifted where he stood, but did not comment. Pulling her even further forward to Leon’s generation. One photo in particular struck her more than the rest. It captured Leon lounging on the front steps of the estate, his dress pants rolled up to his knees where his lower legs should be. Where they were was made apparent as she took in the rest of the photo. His two sons–Barret and Duane–each wielded a prosthetic as a makeshift sword with the shoes pointed at each other to commence their duel. On either side were a gaggle of boys in a line as if imitating a battle: Y/n recognized one of them to be Hoseok’s great grandfather Young-ho (they all had the same shaped smile that made them easy to recognize in any family photo), a stick poised in his hand to strike at the line of boys across from them, and pointed directly at one in particular across the line who looked uncannily like Jin.  Leon’s face was split in half with a grin at the spectacle, and their mother Magdelena sat huddled with a group of women, each with a baby in her arms and casting sideways glances at the boys. 

Y/n snorted, her finger coming up to point through the glass at Young-ho’s taunting sneer. “You could tell me that was Hoseok and Jin on the front lawn from fifteen years ago and I’d believe you.” 

Jimin leaned forward, and a full bellied laugh erupted from his soft lips. “Oh trust me, there’s more where that came from, it must be in their blood to get on each other's nerves. I’ll have to take you down to the archives to show you some of my favorites–these grounds have their fair share of guts and glory–but for each serious photo there were probably a dozen photos of each generation of children getting up to no good.” Jimin toed forward, leading her away from the photo to the next section with a teasing bite of his lower lip. “And you can bet that it always stemmed back to a Jung and a Wörner.” 

Y/n couldn’t contain her own shit eating grin, a hand coming up to clutch at imaginary pearls. “What? No. I  would have never guessed!.” 

Jimin rolled his eyes, and squeezed her hand between his own as his response. He piloted them into a sharp right hand turn, down another hallway that emitted a bright white light instead of completing the other half of the circle. This hallway was identical to the one leading to his office in build–but instead of paintings–this hallway was lined with rows of pristinely pressed military uniforms. 

“The families here have a lot of footholds in key moments in history.” Jimin started, pulling her closer to his side with their intertwined hands.  “You can trace their involvement in pivotal movements. The most obvious one being the civil war, starting with Matthäus, then trickling downwards.” They took slow steps past a well preserved Union Soldier Uniform, his musket and boots propped next to it. 

“These next two uniforms belonged to Ernst and Leon from their time serving in World War I. But note the difference in size.” Jimin pulled her to a stop, taking his pocketed hand out to gesture between the two outfits in front of them. 

Y/n did as directed, her eyes sweeping from one to the other. The one on the left hand side was of the normal size, decorated and proud with a nicked helmet dangling from the neck of the mannequin. But the other towards the right, Leon’s: was much shorter. Only just brushing on five feet–it couldn’t be any taller than her brother–with the lower legs torn and folded over themselves. 

“It’s so small…” Y/n’s finger’s traced buttons through the glass. 

“That’s because Leon served when he was barely twelve. A lot of young boys lied about their age to get into the world wars, but world war I had some notably young participants. It must be a Wörner thing to dive head first into trouble: because his sons did the same thing come the 1940’s.” Jimin barely gave Y/n time to gape at the uniform of the small boy, sliding forward to the next two uniforms. “Barrett and Duane both lied about their age to enlist. Though they were much closer to the allowed age then their father had been, it still stirred quite the uproar amongst the family when both potential heirs shipped themselves off to battle without telling anyone.” 

“Sounds like Bear.” Y/n snorted. 

Barret–or Bear/Bär–was one of her great great uncles she had actually been able to have her own experiences with. He was the one to start their tradition of animal nicknames, for his name is derived from the German name Baraold. This translates roughly to “brave as a bear” or “bear strength”. And what a fitting name for him it had been. She had only seen him a few times around the holidays during his last few years, but he was without fail a force to be reckoned with each time. Her most prominent memories of him consisted of his insistence to do things that his doctors definitely didn’t want him too: like eat copious amounts of twinkies and spam, and swipe alcoholic beverages from vacant seats as he rolled by with his walker. He had always been one to bend and play with rules, something she had to agree with Jimin must be a Wörner thing. 

They continued past the next two average sized suits, passing a  handful of other uniforms until they reached the end of the hall. “Then you have the Korean war, Vietnam…one of them was always doing something.” Jimin tutted, guiding her to a door at the end of the hall. “However, the parts of history I find the most interesting don’t always have to do with the big wars America loves to dwell on. I prefer learning about the people themselves, and what made them make the choices they did.” 

He unlocked the door with a badge from his pocket, and dragged Y/n in after him. This room was much darker, and almost completely void of anything on its walls. Jimin let out a dry and tired chuckle, and watched as Y/n turned to take in the empty space.

“It’s empty?” Y/n breathed out, regarding Jimin with a tilt of her head. 

“Unfortunately. It’s almost May when we really start to pick up steam, and this exhibit is empty.” Jimin left the door only barely cracked behind them, leaving the only light to be from within the empty glass cases and the distant echoes of Bach trailing after them. “I did have stuff in here–an entire exhibit planned. But your-” Jimin cut himself off, forcing a disheartened smile on his face. “-but I wasn’t able to get it approved. The problem is, I can’t seem to find anything else worth filling it with.” 

Jimin stepped impossibly closer to her, resting his chin on her shoulder from behind while she looked at the only two articles pinned to one of the walls. A photo taken of Ernst along with his two surviving daughters, and Adelaide in a crouch, sharing a hand written sign with a young Leon in a wheelchair. All of them taking to the streets of New York during the March for Women’s Suffrage dated spring of 1919. 

The article next to it, described Ernst and Friedrich filing a lawsuit against an ex contractor on the basis of discrimination against an active employee: a picture of Il-sung Kim- the first Kim hired on the property as a financial adviser-posing with both men on the front steps of a courthouse. A highlighted excerpt beneath the photo a quote from Ernst taken on those very front steps: 

“My father always said that many of the best things to come from The United States of America were from the people that came across its borders. For if my grandfather had been treated with any similarities to that which you choose to treat others that strike at your feeble minded sense of comfort, our hotel would have never been given the chance to exist. He came from overseas, fought for your freedoms with his own hands, and made it his mission to keep doing so for everyone and anyone who comes after. And that is our job as Wörners; lest you never forget that when you walk through our doors. You spew hatred in the name of our Lord, yet you forget where you come from yourself: most of us took the same path as this fine gentleman next to me. If you have a problem with our philosophy and who we choose to stand for, you may take it up with God–for he will be the one you see before your descent into hell for using his name in vain as a means to punish other good men on the basis of sameness.”

Y/n was still, frozen by the two images and marks they made within her. Never had these ever been shown to her, nor their stories shared across the dinner table with the same emphasis that they had been done with the tales of war heroes. Y/n realized as she looked at those two photos–that perhaps she didn’t even know them at all. That perhaps things had been shoved under the rug and avoided, for what reason she couldn’t guess. Maybe it was the fire their passions lit in her belly that made the knowledge dangerous: because if anything this would make her more insufferable to her mother.

Jimin shifted behind her, his next puff of air fanning across her exposed neck from where his chin rested on her shoulder. 

“Y/n–there’s so much about your family they choose not to tell. There’s true glory, and true darkness. But they avoid both for the sake of not creating enemies. But In my personal opinion: if doing the right thing makes one an enemy, then they were never a friend in the first place.” Jimin took small steps back, and Y/n felt a rush of cold air replace the warmth that his closeness had brought. When she turned back to find where he had gone, she could barely make out his outline in the dark room. His eyes reflected the light from the display case back at her from his spot by the door, and he held it open for her with a tight-lipped smile. 

Y/n was breathless, unable to piece together whatever riddle he was giving her this time. “What does that mean, Jimin?” 

He shrugged, holding a hand up in submission. “It’s just something I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about. With everything going on around the hotel and all.” 

Y/n followed, as if in a trance. The information overload left her hazy–something he seemed to have a knack for doing lately when he got lost in these cryptic moods. Before she could make it through the door, he stopped her with a feverish hand on her forearm. 

“Whatever you decide to add to your own family tree, I would take extra care to note where you find any…” Jimin’s eyes glanced down the hall with trepidation “...gaps. Sometimes empty spaces can say a lot about what the others around them expected from them. And always keep in mind who has been in charge of writing the story that they had been excluded from.”  

Jimin released his hold on her, letting her shuffle through the opening first. Y/n took a moment to find herself again from the strange aura that had taken over her while Jimin bolted the door behind them closed. She took in a few of the trees swaying outside of her windows and took a deep breath in time with their dancing, grounding herself back in the present from whatever limbo state she had been pulled into within the empty exhibit. When he turned back to face her again once, his face had done a complete one-eighty: His eyes were scrunched into crescents from where his friendly smile pushed his cheeks up into them, and he grabbed at her hand once more. 

“I think it would be lovely if you joined me for a treat at the cafe. I didn’t get to eat breakfast this morning with all of the household commotion, and I think my stomach might eat itself if I don’t get something in it.” Jimin’s voice took on a slight whine, and he hauled her past the uniforms and towards the building's exit. 

Weaving through the displays in the main room, Y/n registered that the record player had stopped again from within his office. The space in sound no longer taken up by music was filled with their echoing footfalls. Her eyes honed in on the image of Adelaide as they passed, and the fire in her burned brighter–whatever her and her friends were uncovering wasn’t just for Y/n’s own personal gain anymore–no. This went further back then Y/n. It had something to do with all of the blank sections on that family tree that someone had decided wasn’t worth filling. The empty exhibit. Inga and Heidi. Adelaide. Matilda. Every inch of Y/n’s skin felt like it was on fire with the embers of rage smoldering within her, and she had to stop herself from crushing Jimin’s hand to cope with how hot it burned.

Y/n wasn’t sure if she was imagining it, or if it was just the residual weird energy from the empty exhibit: but she could’ve sworn she counted three sets of shoes instead of two reflecting off of the glass they whizzed by. Her ears must’ve been playing tricks on her too. Because while waiting for Jimin to set up the locks on the front door, there was certainly another indented set of large boot prints that crunched at a low decibel behind them up the dirt path back up to the estate. She gripped the flashlight tightly from her sweater pocket, but whoever it was decided to stay otherwise unseen. 

And this she decided fell in their favor. For if they crossed her now, she would find a way to end them on the spot with her light if she could. 

_________________________________________

_________________________________________

Previous chapter

Next Chapter

[ellies-little-thing]

STAPP I COULD'VE DROP MY CROISSANT! (e.w.)

My masterlist <3

pairing: ellie williams x fem!reader

Warnings: Roommate Ellie ,Modern Ellie; swearing; fluf; arguing; Ellie is mean;  smut; reader is referred as she/her; reader has a vagina; drinking; violence (a punch or two) Kind of proofread, English is not my first language.

Author's notes: I love mean Ellie. I dont know if this is very good, i tried my very best and had fun with it. Enjoy! I hope you like it! Likes, reblogs, comments and feedback are always welcome! <3 (sorry, i have vines living in my head rent free)

NSFW MINORS AND MEN DNI

w/c: 23k

You are in your second year of university and your roommate, Ellie, is the worst roommate anyone could ever have, really. Whether it’s pestering you while studying, not doing the dishes, the TV being too loud or yelling at the people she’s playing video games with, at 3 AM.. it’s always SOMETHING. Tonight, just like always, she didn’t do the dishes and the TV volume was set too high to the point where you couldn’t concentrate on studying. You took the TV remote and muted the volume. You can't handle it anymore. She's been doing this for months and feels no remorse. You're tired of this and decide to do something about it and confront her.

“Hey! What was that for, you asshole?!” Ellie yelled, taking the remote back from you.

“I'm trying to study!” You say clearly annoyed.

"Then put some noise-canceling headphones on and stop stealing the TV. It’s a school night, remember?” Ellie rolled her eyes, putting the volume back up and pausing whatever you were watching. "Can't you go study in the library?" She asked, taking a snack out of the fridge.

“You put on the fucking headphones, and stop being so loud and annoying!” You shout at her.

"Nah, you go study somewhere else!" Ellie pointed towards the door, holding up a bag of snacks and opening it loudly. "Besides, I'm just gonna eat, it'll only be about 5 minutes." She takes out a tiny chocolate croissant and eats it.

“You're impossible...” You pinch the bridge of your nose.

"Nah, but you are with all your studying. I mean, we're in college! This is supposed to be the funnest time of our lives! When else are we going to get to stay up, eat junk food, and watch movies as much as we want?!" Ellie turned up the TV, which was the main cause of your annoyance with her.

“Yeah, we’re in college to get a degree that isn't exactly cheap!” You threw a pillow at her to lower the volume.

“Hey, stop! I could've droped my croissant!” Ellie ducked to avoid the pillow, picking it up and throwing it at you in retaliation.

“Oh, so you want to throw stuff! Fine!” You catch it and throw it at her hitting her square in the face. Ellie put the TV on full volume. “I can play this game better than you can! Can’t study now, can you?”

“I'll unplug it!” You threaten her.

"Try it." Ellie said, leaning back against the couch, eating her snacks, and waiting for you to try something. You get up and walk to the plug. Ellie’s eyes follow you as you walk over to it, but doesn’t say anything, just eating her snack. You unplug the TV. “You’re so lame.” Ellie says under her breath, finishing her snack. You unplugged it without saying one word and went back to your books. Ellie rolls her eyes and plugs the TV back up, pressing the on button and turning it up even louder than previously.

“Fuck you Ellie!” You say angrily.

"You know you love me." Ellie says smugly, laying back and stretching her arms over her head, eating her snacks, seemingly content now that the drama has started.

“If only you could be that lucky.” You respond, happy with your comeback.

“What was that?” Ellie turns her head towards you, taking the last bite of a chip before reaching for another bag and speaking with her mouth full. You take the remote from her and mute the tv. Ellie reaches for the remote, batting your hands away and unmuting it again. "You're being really rude, you know?" Ellie says in between bites from a few more chips.

“You are the one being unbearable!” You shout at her.

“Unbearable? Oh, you are SO adorable! I’m just trying to eat my snack and watch TV! It’s not my fault you’re the one here with the stick up your ass!” Ellie says, her tone and language being increasingly foul with each sentence.

“I swear Ellie, I'll punch you one of these days…” You are very seriously debating it.

“Oh, big scary Y/N is going to punch me because I’m too much fun to be around! Whatever shall I do!” Ellie sarcastically says, throwing her hands up in dramatic fashion before rolling her eyes. You take the remote muting the tv and putting it in your pocket before going back to studying. “Hey! Give that back!” Ellie says, quickly jumping up from the couch and trying to grab the remote in your pocket.

“No!” You yell.

"Give it back right now or else!" Ellie says, trying to dig her hand into your pocket to retrieve the remote.

“Or else what?” You look at her with a challenging look in your eyes.

“Or else you’re gonna have a fight on your hands!” Ellie says, her tone and demeanor shifting from playful and annoying to something more aggressive and serious. “So. Give. It. Back!” Ellie says, pushing her hand further into your pocket. You secure the remote so she isn't able to take it from you. “Hit me then.” You challenge her.

“Oh, I would love to!” Ellie says, stepping forward and slapping your face, though clearly not putting 100% effort into the slap, but still enough to sting. You were actually a little surprised she had the balls to slap you, so you slap back her as hard as you can, and bolt into your room still having the remote with you and lock the door. Ellie's head whips back from the impact of your slap, before her expression filled with rage. She runs up to your locked door, banging on it incessantly, yelling at you to give the remote back. You cry in silence so she doesn't hear or notice. Your face was stinging quite a bit.

"I know you're in there, Y/N! I'm not going to stop until you open this damn door!" Ellie yelled, banging harder and harder. "GIVE ME MY REMOTE BACK!"

“No! Fuck you! Go watch tv with your friends!” You are so angry now.

"I don't NEED friends when I can just annoy you instead!" Ellie says, her voice rising in pitch with the rage she feels. "OPEN THE DOOR!"

“Oh that's right, you don't have any friends because no one likes you!” You spit back at her.

"Oh, you're gonna be really sorry you said that." Ellie says, slamming a shoulder into the locked door. You ignore her as she continues banging on the door, and tries to kick at it. “OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW!”

“No! I don't think I will!” You stand your ground.

"YES, YOU WILL!" Ellie continues banging and trying to kick the door open. "OPEN THE DOOR OR ELSE!"

“Or else what? I'm not scared of you!” You say as rage fills your body.

“Or else I’m going to MAKE you open this door!” Ellie says, banging and trying to kick harder. “YOU THINK YOU’RE SAFE IN THERE?”

“What are you gonna do?” You ask her mockingly.

Ellie stops banging on the door and grins in a predatory way. “You know that window of yours can be unlocked from the outside too, right?” Ellie says, her tone and expression showing she was capable of anything if you didn’t let her in.

“Yeah, and we are on the fifth floor you idiot!” You laugh at her.

“Oh, don’t worry, I won't die. Maybe cripple myself a little, but I can still live.” Ellie says, her voice filled with sarcasm as she smiles. "Let me in, or I'm coming in anyway."

“No.” You continue, not budging.

"I said I'm coming in one way or another!" Ellie says, attempting to unlock the door from the outside. You open the door so she can see you step on the remote and break it in front of her. Ellie watches with a smug expression as the remote is being broken, but then rage builds up inside her again as her remote is destroyed. “YOU STUPID PIECE OF SHIT! YOU COULDN’T JUST GIVE ME MY REMOTE BACK!?” Ellie yells, kicking at the door.

“You can have it now, it's all yours.” You pick the pieces of what was once a remote and  then throw it at her and close your door, locking it again.

"Oh, no! It's too late for me to keep the remote now! You broke it, you dumb ass! So now I just need to come in and teach you some manners instead!" Ellie says, kicking harder and harder at the door. “Go be annoying somewhere else!” You shout through the door.

"No, no I don't think I will." Ellie stops kicking and leans against the door. "You know, it's really easy to kick this door open. Don't make me do it, it might hurt."

“Then you'll have to pay for the repair!”

"Oh? You think I can't afford the repair, huh? How poor do you think I am all of a sudden?" Ellie says in a mocking tone. "And besides, you started this! It's entirely your fault the remote is broken, not mine!"

“Oh it's my fault you are waking up half of the dorm right now?”

"Uh, yeah!" Ellie says with a sneer. "This wouldn't have been an issue if you weren't being such a baby by not sharing the remote! Or better yet, going to the library!"

“Fuck you Ellie.”

"Awww, are you losing your cool? Are you upset?" Ellie taunts you, knowing what she was saying was getting under your skin.

“Go to bed.”

"Aww, no way! I'm not tired! I'm too busy annoying you to be tired!" Ellie says with pride.

“Whatever…”

"Yeah, hide in your room, little baby Y/N!" Ellie yells. You open the door and flip both of your middle fingers at her.

"Oh, is your voice too tired to not talk to me while you give me the finger? Do you need your nap, baby Y/N?" Ellie taunts you again with a smirk on her face.

“I'll punch you, I swear.” You really want to.

"Oh, I can't wait!" Ellie says, still leaning against the door with a smirk, as if baiting you to attack her. You get closer to her and punch her in the stomach. Ellie steps back as you punch her in the stomach, gasping. "O-Ow! What's the problem with you?!" Ellie leans over, rubbing her midsection as she catches her breath.

“I said I'd do it and so I did.” You say, smirking.

Ellie, still recovering from the punch, glares at you with a scowl. "You hit me?! You shouldn't hit me! Or anyone!" Ellie says, acting like you committed some kind of great sin.

“Like you didnt slap me just now!” You shout at her filled with rage to the tips of the hairs in your head.

"Well, that's different! I'm Ellie! I'm allowed to hit you! In the grand scheme of this world, I'm a lot more important than you are, Y/N! I’m popular and smart, so me hitting you is totally fine!” Ellie says with a haughty expression, as if her status and reputation in the world gave her the right to hit anyone she pleased.

“Sure you are Ellie, sure you are.” Ellie was the class clown and very popular with the girls. You can't lie, she is beautiful and charismatic when she wants to be.

"Ohhhh, is that sarcasm I hear?" Ellie says, rolling her eyes. "You better watch your tone, Y/N! This is Ellie you're talking to.”

“Oh, you're getting smart now? Didn't know you were able to perform miracles!”

"Oh hey, I've always had a few brain cells, just decided not to use them with you, Y/N. You're just not worth the effort.” Ellie says, still smirking.

“Then leave me alone.”

"Nah, I need to teach you some manners first!" Ellie says, pointing a stern finger at you.

“You're such a child…” You say, swinging your head from side to side looking at her.

"Oh wow, I thought you were a bit more mature than that! Saying mean, bad words like that!" Ellie said in a sarcastic tone.

“Yes Ellie, you act like a kid.” You’re not wrong here.

"I DO NOT!" Ellie said defensively, before letting out a huff and crossing her arms.

“Well. you sure look like one right now.” Ellie, frustrated, kicks her feet and looks away, acting like she was offended you called her a child. “Even throwing a temper tantrum… impressive.”

Ellie rolls her eyes. "I am not having a tantrum. A tantrum is what a two-year-old has, I'm a lot older than that, thank you very much!"

“Then what do you call knocking at my door, almost breaking in and shouting at me to give you the remote?”

"I would describe that as just wanting my damn remote back." Ellie says with a smug expression, not realizing she was just describing herself throwing a tantrum.

“Go away!” You almost screamed at her.

"No. I will not go away." Ellie says with pride, not leaving and not willing to back down.

“FINE. Do what you want, I'm going to sleep.”

"Oh, but I don't want you going to sleep." Ellie says with a smirk, blocking the door and not letting you leave.

“I'll punch you again.” You are very serious about this and will do it again if she continues with this attitude.

"I dare you to try." Ellie said, not backing down and staring you dead in the eyes, as if provoking you to attack her now.

You punch her and go back to your room. Ellie falls to the floor, holding her face as her eyes immediately start to water up.  "O-Oh, my god! You actually hit me! I-I'm bleeding! You're gonna pay for that you... you little..." Ellie curls up onto the floor, holding her face and still crying from the pain.

“You're not bleeding.” You say, not even looking back at her.

Ellie wipes at her nose, and it clearly is bleeding a bit. "You hurt me! I can't believe you hurt your roommate! I can't believe that's the person you are! I... I..." Ellie trails off, trying not to completely freak out and cry now that she's actually injured.

“Just leave me alone and stop harassing me!” You close your bedroom door.

Ellie lays on the floor, still holding her injured face and waiting for you to come back and apologize. "Wow, the pain is killing me..." Ellie says quietly to herself, rolling over onto her stomach. "I can't believe that's the person I live with.. I know I'm not a saint, but... I'm just a bit annoying sometimes.. I'm not someone who resorts to violence!" Ellie says, burying her face in a pillow as she cries.

You look at your knuckle and you see a bit of blood. You feel a bit guilty as you lay down on your bed. Ellie keeps crying into the pillow, making sobbing noises and sniffling as she tries to quiet herself. You get up and knock on their door. At the knock on the door, Ellie sits up and wipes her eyes. "Oh... Y/N is that you?"

“Yes, it's me…” You say reluctantly.

"Oh, uh... you gonna say sorry?" Ellie asks, the hope of an apology clearly in her voice.

“Can I come in?”

"Awwww, please do!" Ellie says, sounding like a little kid begging for their parents to let them do something. Ellie, still on the floor and wiping her face with the pillow, opens the door to let you in. "Come in."

You have an ice pack on your hand for her as you enter. "Oh, thank you. I appreciate the help." Ellie says with a small, genuine smile. "Here, let me see that..." Ellie takes the ice pack and places it onto her swollen face.

“I did punch a bit too hard, sorry.” You apologize.

"It's ok. Just don't do it again please, or else, I'll probably have to punch you back." Ellie says, smirking at you and putting the ice pack away. "Now, uh, can we talk about why you were so mean to me earlier? You know, the remote issue?"

“I'm tired of you never letting me have any peace.”

"Oh, I get it now. Why didn't you just say so? I can be annoying, that I completely understand! I just wanted to have some fun, I didn't mean to go overboard." Ellie says, patting your shoulder. "But I guess I did, and I am sorry for that. You know I can be a little over-the-top sometimes. I don't mean to get on your nerves."

“But I did tell you, like a million times!” You're getting angry again.

"Oh, right. You did, didn't you? My bad, I guess I just didn't really take you all that serious, if I'm being honest." Ellie says with a shrug, as if she could help herself. "But, I'll try to be a bit more considerate, Y/N. I don't want to push you over the edge again."

“Ok, i'm gonna go to bed now, good night..” You say dryly.

"Oh, yeah, you're gonna go to bed? Without making me a quick snack?" Ellie asks, her tone becoming mock-complaining. "Y/N, you better make it up to me in the morning! I'll see you!" Ellie says jokingly, smiling at you and waving goodbye.

You just go to your room and try to sleep. You close the door to your room and lay down, waiting to drift off to sleep. But, something keeps nagging at you in the back of your mind. You feel guilty for hurting Ellie, and you're starting to wonder if she's ok. She's been such a bad roommate for so many months now. She has been bad, really bad. But...  she doesn't deserve to be hurt either. You don't want her to keep annoying you, but you certainly don't want to hurt her in the process. You debate with yourself as you lay in bed, unsure of how to move forward.

You wake up the next morning, feeling refreshed and ready for the day. As you start to head to your first class, your mind wanders. You can't help but wonder how Ellie is feeling, if she's ok right now. You head straight to class, determined to put the Ellie situation in the back of your head. You spend your day focusing on your own studies, trying not to worry about Ellie. When you come back to your room at the end of the day, your mind begins to wonder again. After all, she is your roommate, and you do have to live with her for the rest of the semester. Ellie might be annoying, but she is still a person, and she can be nice sometimes. As you enter your living room, you see Ellie sitting on a chair, reading a book. She looks up as you enter, then looks away awkwardly. "Oh, uh... you're back! How was class?" Ellie's voice sounds a bit strained, like she was trying to sound relaxed, but still tense and nervous. “It was ok.” You say to her. You can see her face is a bit bruised where you punched her the night before.

"Oh, nice. Hey, you know, I feel kinda bad now. What happened last night..." Ellie says, not sounding that confident as she spoke. "Not that I was really hurt, but... y'know what, nevermind. I was annoying, I had it coming, end of story." Ellie says, sounding like she was expecting you to be angry with her.

“I just want to be able to rest without you making noise all night long. And for our dorm to not be a complete chaos as you leave stuff everywhere.” You explain to her.

"Yeah, yeah, I completely understand that." Ellie says, nodding with genuine understanding. She didn't like making your nights so uncomfortable, but it was just her nature to be loud and annoying. "Hey, can I ask a favor of you?" Ellie says, with a slightly nervous expression.

“What?” You ask with a tired look on your face.

"... Could I borrow your remote for tonight?" Ellie asks with a sheepish smile, not wanting to ask, but still not wanting to just barge in and take it. "I know I've been annoying, and now that I know you just want to relax, I'll be quiet. But I... I don't want to just sit in my room, bored out of my mind. So... Could I have it back? Only for tonight, I'll give it back tomorrow morning, I promise."

“Sure, here…” You hand her your remote.

"Thank you." Ellie takes the remote from you and gives you a small smile. "Have a nice night. I promise, I won't make a peep."

“Good night.” You say as you walk to your bedroom. You go to bed, feeling like tonight will be quiet for once. Ellie stays up in her room, watching TV and enjoying the remote for herself. 

You wake up the next morning, feeling good and refreshed to see this new and improved Ellie. Now that she's being nicer, hopefully, this will be a fun and peaceful rest of the semester. As you get ready for class, you hear Ellie wake up too. But, just as you expected, not a single peep is heard from her. She must have been serious about not being a nuisance, and you're glad for that. As you take your seat in class and open your notebook, you see Ellie sitting nearby, also starting her day. Seems like things are on their way to improving in the roommate department.

As you and Ellie spend the class doing your work, you feel a slight awkwardness in the air.

Ellie looks back at you a couple of times, maybe sensing the tension. But, she hasn't made a sound or even gotten close to trying to annoy you. Maybe she's learned that you don't respond too favorably to her usual shenanigans! You try to ignore the tension between you and Ellie, just focusing on your course work and getting through the class. As you hear the bell ring, signaling the time is up, you pack up your stuff and begin to head out. Ellie does the same, not saying a word to you, but not really seeming mad either. For a moment, you wonder if this is going to start a new chapter for your roommate relationship.

As you get home that night and head into the living room, you see Ellie playing a video game with a friend. Ellie is completely focused on the game, and doesn't seem to notice you come in at all. While she continues playing the game, she and her friend laugh and exchange jokes and stories as they play together. Ellie actually seems like a fun and nice person when she's not trying to get attention.

You go to your room, not wanting to intrude on Ellie's good time. She seems like she's enjoying herself and having fun, and you don't want to ruin that. As you go to your room, you wonder if Ellie will eventually come to you to talk to you about anything that's been going on with her. A part of you is secretly hoping she will, but you don't want to assume that or get your hopes up. You go to your room and spend your time studying, focusing hard on your tasks as you try to keep your mind off of Ellie. Ellie doesn't seem to interrupt you at all this time, either. Maybe that's just the way she's gonna be now? Calm, quiet and not annoying at all? You know it's probably too early to assume that, but a part of you is optimistic that she's going to behave that way from now on. A small part of you is actually sad that Ellie has gotten a bit quieter. I mean, sure, she was super annoying and it's nicer to get some peace and quiet. But, you enjoyed her presence, and now that she's so quiet, you kinda just feel... lonely and bored.

You hear Ellie's friend leave, meaning that it's just Ellie by herself again. Ellie seems to be just sitting in her room, trying to find something to keep herself entertained without bothering you, which is... really sweet of her, actually. You don't see it often, but Ellie genuinely wants to give you the space that you need, which is incredibly thoughtful of her. You start to think that Ellie must be mad at you for punching her or something, given how quiet she has been just recently. It's not like her to want to be alone that much, unless something has gone wrong. You wish you knew what was up, but you don't want to just assume anything and make Ellie madder.

You send Ellie a text, asking if she's alright. She sees the text, and texts back. "Yeah, I'm fine. I was just being a bit obnoxious... thought it'd be best if I just be quiet. I don't wanna bother you so I'm gonna be silent from now on if that's what you prefer." It seems like Ellie actually is taking your complaints to heart and going to be more considerate now.

“Oh, ok... thanks.” You respond. You expected a more heated message from her.

"No problem." Ellie texts back, seeming to appreciate the acknowledgement. She sends you a small smiley emoji, and texts you back a bit more. "Oh, and, uh... sorry for all the noise. For what it's worth, I wasn't purposely trying to bother you. I just get energetic sometimes, and forget how loud I am. Anyways... thanks for being so understanding and sorry for annoying you."

“Sorry for punching you so hard.” You respond. "It's fine, I probably deserved something like that for being so annoying." Ellie seems to be understanding of why you got so pissed off with her, but she's still a bit sad about it. "Just hope that doesn't make you hate me... because, uh, yeah." She sends you another emoji, of a nervous and awkward smile. "I'm gonna let you get back to your studying, I should be fine. Just don't beat me up again, yeah?"

“Okay, good night.” You don't know what else to say.

"Good night. Sleep tight..." Ellie replies with a small emoji of a smiling moon. Maybe Ellie isn't trying to annoy you as much, but she's still your roommate, and she still wants to know you and have a connection with you. She really does care, even if she's not the best at showing it.

The feeling of guilt doesn't seem to go away. You feel like you hurt Ellie's feelings with your outburst, and that thought won't just go away now. Maybe you should see if Ellie is okay with everything, and try to make up with her. “Are you sure you're not mad?” You text her again.

Ellie texts back. "I was a little hurt at first, but you know what? I'm fine. Really, don't worry about it. Besides, sometimes I need a harsh reminder to be more considerate to someone else, you know? It's no big deal." Ellie seems understanding of your feelings, and isn't mad at you over the situation. Her words certainly make you feel a bit better, though.

You lay in your bed, thinking things over. Ellie seems to be understanding of your feelings and not mad at you, and she's even promised to be more considerate. Yet you can't sleep, your thoughts still swirling with the whole Ellie situation. Shouldn't you try to make up with her? You can't keep being mad at her, you'll ruin what you have. Maybe you should go apologize to her, and see if she's willing to forgive you.

Just as you're about to fall asleep, you hear Ellie coming out of her room. You peek out of your room, and find Ellie going back into the living room. As she shuts the door, you can't help but wonder if maybe she's up to something. You get up, pretending that you're heading to the bathroom. You enter the living room and see Ellie in a seat, on her phone with a stern look on her face. She doesn't seem to hear you come in, and you don't want to disturb her.

“Hey?... can't sleep?...”

Ellie looks at you as you speak up, caught off guard by your voice coming out of nowhere. She seems a bit embarrassed and guilty, like she thinks she got caught doing something bad. "Oh! Uh, hello. I was just... trying to find something to do while I couldn't sleep." Ellie smiles nervously, then looks back down at her phone. "Don't feel like you have to stay awake, either. I know I already ruined your sleep schedule this semester, so just... go spend the rest of the night in bed."

“What's the matter?” You ask her.

"Oh, well, I'm just a bit guilty because I know I've been bothering you all semester. I was just wondering if you would forgive me." Ellie looks up from her phone, giving you a guilty expression and looking almost like she's about to start crying. It seems like the guilt of hurting you is seriously starting to get to her, and she wants you to know how sorry she is.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't be so loud and annoying all the time, and..."

“It's fine, let's just forget about it.” You give her a small smile.

"Thanks, and I will. I know that I can be a loud dumbass a lot of the time, I'm honestly surprised you haven't punched me more." Ellie seems more relaxed now, feeling relieved that you won't hold it against her for too long. It's so weird hearing her swear so casually and sound so chill. It's like Ellie is a completely different person to the one you've known. "Hey, can I borrow the remote back? I want to finish my show before bed, if that's okay."

“Yeah, sure, keep it.” You say trying to give her a sympathetic smile.

"Thanks, Y/N. You're cool." Ellie takes the remote back, and you hear her changing the channel on the TV. Ellie seems pretty content to have the remote back, and you wonder how long this new chill version of Ellie will last. You go back to bed, leaving Ellie to enjoy her show in peace. You wonder if maybe this is the new Ellie, a more calm and considerate version of her. If that's the case, then you two could have a much more friendly relationship from now on, like roommates who are actually friends. You go back to bed, and think about Ellie and if her recent behavior changes are here to stay.

After a few days, you start to see the new and improved Ellie in action more and more.

Ellie seems quieter, but in a good way. She's considerate and thoughtful, and you can tell she's trying to behave differently. As you spend more and more time with her, you find yourself getting used to this version of your roommate. She's still your roommate, but now she doesn't annoy you, and you don't feel annoyed by her. Things are looking up, and you wonder if Ellie's attitude change is permanent.

“Hey, morning.” You say quietly.

"Morning, Y/N." Ellie is in the kitchen, having breakfast just like always. She seems like she's in a pretty good mood, and smiles at you as you come inside. Ellie's new persona sticks out like a sore thumb to you, almost like she has an entire new personality. She's nice, considerate and actually quite charming. It's a stark contrast from what she was when you first shared a dorm, and it's pretty surprising. "How was your sleep?"

“Good, yours?” You ask a bit hesitant.

"I slept pretty well too, thank you." Ellie smiles at you, seeming totally normal and... nice. You're still getting used to the idea of Ellie not being an annoying person, but you're starting to think this is who she really is. Maybe her annoying nature in the past was just her acting out due to not getting enough attention or something, who knows. 

"What are you doing today?" Ellie asks.

“Nothing really, it's the weekend and I don't have any plans.” You tell her.

"Just some relaxation, huh?" Ellie smiles at you, seeming to not mind at all not having any plans. She's become surprisingly chill about things, you never really see her annoyed or angry about stuff nowadays. You think she's enjoying her weekend, maybe just having some coffee and enjoying her time. You wonder if you two could be... friends? It's not impossible, is it?

“This feels weird…” You say not looking at her.

"Weird? What's weird?" Ellie looks up from her coffee, looking at you with a genuinely confused expression on her face. "This is who I am, I guess? I'm trying to be nicer these days." Ellie isn't being hostile, you think she really is just genuinely asking what you mean, trying her best to understand.

“I have never seen you act like this.” You say to her.

"Like... normal?" Ellie is caught a bit off guard by your comment. She still doesn't seem mad about it, though, more confused than anything. "But yeah... this is how I'm gonna be from now on. Hopefully, at least. I'm trying, I swear." Ellie smiles at you again, seeming completely sincere too. She seems genuinely surprised by the fact that you notice this change in her behavior now too. Maybe she thinks this is the default way of acting.

“Thanks.” You say still not very confident with it all.

"No worries. I gotta try to be a better person, it's important." Ellie smiles back at you, and finishes her coffee. Ellie looks a bit exhausted, actually, like she didn't sleep too great. But she's still not acting annoyed or annoying, just... normal. You wonder if, with Ellie acting like this, you two can go back to being friendly roommates now?

"Why are you looking at me so strangely?" Ellie asks, noticing your stare.

“Nothing, sorry I'm gonna go sleep a bit more.” You say trying to make it seem as if you were not staring at her just now.

"It's fine, I understand. You can always catch up on some sleep." Ellie smiles at you, and you notice a faint blush on her face. She's still a bit awkward when being nice, it seems. "I'm gonna go to campus to study, if that's okay." Ellie says, finishing her coffee. She seems like she's getting comfortable in this new role of being nice to you, and not being so defensive about how you think of her.

“Ok, bye.” You say as you go to your bedroom.

"Seeya. Sleep well." Ellie nods at you, and leaves with her stuff to head to campus. As she leaves, you start to think about this new Ellie. She still has her personality, but is no longer annoying you. This could work, right? Ellie and you finally have a friendship, the kind of friendship you've always wanted out of your relationship. Maybe things are looking up with Ellie.

You don't know how Ellie's annoying nature seemed to put you off, but now it seems like she's just... normal? She's not so bad anymore. As you get into bed, you just can't seem to shake this feeling that somehow, Ellie is up to something. What if it's all an act? What if she really is trying to change and be better? As you lay in bed, you think about Ellie's new personality and what it means for your relationship. You're still a bit confused as to why her behavior changed so heavily, it even catches you off-guard from time to time. You think about telling her that she can stop with the act now, but... is it really an act? Maybe this is really Ellie from now on. It's hard to tell, and that uncertainty makes you a bit uneasy.

You hear Ellie coming in from campus, as you stay in your bed and pretend to be asleep.

"Huh... She's back?" You think to yourself, wondering what happened while she was away.

You can hear Ellie put her stuff down and head towards the bathroom. "Y/N, I'm just taking a shower, then I'm going to bed, alright?" Ellie says from the bathroom. She seems pretty convincing as she is this more considerate role, and you just nod and tell her it's fine to use the shower. As Ellie showers, you're back to thinking about your relationship. Things seem better, and you wonder if you and Ellie can be better friends in the future. Maybe she's really trying to change for you, and it's not just an act. Your thoughts are cut short, when you hear Ellie talking to herself in the shower. You stay perfectly still in bed, trying to listen in on what Ellie is saying. You can hear her talking to herself, her voice soft and gentle. She seems to be talking to no one in particular, just saying words out loud to herself. "I just have to keep this up a little longer..." "I can do it... I know I can." The tone is still gentle and peaceful, which means she could just be talking to herself about being nicer.

“A bit longer?” You think to yourself. Your curiosity is getting the better of you, and you can't help but keep listening to Ellie to find out what she's talking about. You listen closely to what is being said, and you can hear her say: "I just have to maintain this, keep it going... I'm just gonna keep being nice." Ellie seems to be trying to stick to this new nice version of herself, and it seems like an active effort that she's putting into it. You wonder if she's trying to change for herself or for you. You keep listening in, and you begin to think that Ellie is trying to change this part of herself for you. However, you notice her start to whisper something new. "I know you don't think I can do it, but I know I can change... I can be a good roommate to Y/N..." Ellie is whispering, but you can hear her clearly say your name to someone. Who could she be talking to at this late hour, and could this be because of you?

You try your best to be as quiet as possible while you listen in, waiting to hear if Ellie will say anything more about you and the fact that she's changing for you. However, Ellie just keeps talking to herself. "I just have to keep doing it, this new me will stick eventually. She'll see, and I'll prove to her that I changed." Ellie seems to be talking to herself, but she seems really determined to change and be a nice roommate. You hear the door to the bathroom close, and a few moments later, Ellie walks into her room, looking all fresh and clean. Ellie is still a bit groggy after her shower, so you decide to stay in bed and pretend to sleep. Ellie goes back into the corner of her room, and looks around to see if everything is in place. She gets comfy in her bed, and you can hear her softly say. "Goodnight, Y/N..." You hear Ellie lay down in her bed, and you try not to move too much while you pretend to sleep. The whole "new Ellie" thing has you curious. She's nice to you now, and she's trying to be your friend. You wonder if Ellie really is trying to change for you, if "new Ellie" is the real Ellie.

You wake up in the morning, and as you get up to shower, you see Ellie still asleep in her bed. Ellie looks peaceful, like she slept well last night. "Ellie seems to be really trying to stick to this new version of herself, maybe she really can change for good?" You think as you head into the bathroom. After the shower you get dressed for the day, and you feel like today could be a good one. The fact that Ellie changed overnight is still confusing, but she seems genuinely nice to you now. Ellie is still asleep in her bed, looking peaceful and content. You think that she is really going to change. Maybe you two can finally be friends, after all these months. You decide to go for a morning walk, and as you get out, you notice that the sun is shining bright in the sky. It's a good day for a walk. Ellie is still asleep as you leave, and you think about how much nicer she is lately. You wonder how long she can stick with this change before she goes back to her old ways, or if she really has changed at all.

After a bit, you come back from your walk. It was a good start to the day, and you feel pretty great. As you come in, you see that Ellie is still asleep. She seems calm and content, still happy to be the new Ellie. Ellie seems to still be sticking to her new personality, and you wonder how long it'll last. Maybe she'll stick with it, and be the new Ellie permanently. Or maybe this is just a phase, or it's an act? Ellie still being asleep and looking so peaceful makes you a bit worried, though. Does she even sleep well as this new Ellie?

You decide to stay in the living room and just relax. Ellie is still asleep in her room, and you wonder how long she's been asleep for now. Maybe it's better to let her get some rest, you think to yourself, since you wonder if this new Ellie even sleeps well when she's so nice. You just watch videos on your phone for a bit, just relaxing and thinking about how different Ellie seems now. You watch videos for about an hour or so, and suddenly, you hear Ellie wake up from her bed and come out. She looks tired, but still a bit refreshed too, like she's had a good amount of sleep. Ellie comes out, stretching a bit, and you wonder if she slept well. She sees you, and her face lights up with her new normal-ness.

"Ohhh, good morning!" Ellie says with a nice smile.

“Morning…” You say, still confused. She seems to be in such a good mood today, you wonder if this change in her behavior is permanent. "How was your sleep?" you ask, looking up at her. Ellie's new and improved mood seems to still be present, and you hope that this is how she will be from now on.

"It was pretty good, how was yours?" Ellie responds. She's still acting all friendly and approachable, looking at you like you're a stranger that she's just met. You wonder if maybe she's trying to give you a chance, or just trying to be polite. Ellie is acting so differently, it's difficult to tell if this kindness is really genuine.

“Fine.” You’re still suspicious of her.

"Good, I'm glad. So... what are we gonna do today?" Ellie asks, looking at you. She seems to be waiting for your response, and she seems genuinely curious at what you're doing today.

“Don't know, nothing planned, you?” You ask her curious.

"Not really. I probably should go to campus and catch up on my studies, though." Ellie says, looking back at you. "I'm happy for you to tag along, if you want company." “Sure” You say, still unsure about all of this.

You leave the apartment together, and head off to campus. As you walk together, Ellie starts to talk again. "So... how are you? You seem nice too." Ellie seems to be asking with genuine curiosity, her tone coming off a bit like she's awkward about asking. She's clearly not used to being nice, and you wonder if this new Ellie will even last.

“I'm sorry but, i have to ask…” You needed to know this.

"What's up?" Ellie responds, looking at you curiously. Ellie seems like she wants to hear what you have to say, and she seems to be asking honestly.

“Are you really trying or just pretending?” You just need to know and hear it from her mouth.

"Well... I am trying, definitely. The last months have been... a bit tough. I've realized that I've been a mean and horrible person. So, I'm trying to be better and nicer. For me. But also for you.." Ellie looks down while saying this, clearly thinking about your question a lot. "I can't guarantee that this is how I'll be for good, I'll probably keep slipping up. But I am trying to be a better person. I hope that's good enough for you."

“Thanks for the honesty.” You give her an awkward smile.

"Yeah, of course, I want to improve. I don't think it's fair for me to keep being horrible to everyone, especially since you're trying to be nice to me. You're my roommate, we should be nice to each other." Ellie smiles at you, as she looks forward while walking. "Is there anything else you want to ask me?" Ellie asks, clearly wanting to answer any and all questions you ask of her.

“Why were you so mean before?” You ask her, looking at the floor as you two walked.

"I dunno... I don't really know why I'm so mean to everyone. I think life kinda made me be like that, you know? It made it hard for me to be nice or pleasant to anyone. It still feels weird when I'm actually being a nice person, but I'm glad I'm improving, at least." Ellie keeps looking at you, hoping to make you understand. "I just wanna be better, I don't want to be a horrible person anymore."

“It's just so weird to see you now, sorry.” It really is weird to see a completely new person in Ellie's body. It doesn't seem right.

"You don't have to apologize. I know I'm being pretty nice, it's probably weird to see me like this, after how horrible and mean I've been to everyone." Ellie says, looking down slightly. "I wanna be nicer though. I do." Ellie is acting weird, but it seems to be because she's not used to being nice like this to people, and not because she's trying to put on a facade or fake it. Ellie is really trying to be nice, but it seems difficult for her still.

Your phone buzzes and you get a text from your group of friends. “My friends just asked me if i wanted to go to a party tonight, you want to come?” You say trying to change the subject.

"A party? Tonight?" Ellie says, a bit shocked by the question. "Well... sure. Sounds a bit sudden, but okay. Are you going?"

“Yeah, my friends are really pushing me to go to this one, not sure why.” You explain.

"Well, why not go out and have a good time? Don't let them push you too much, but also it's okay to have fun." Ellie says, trying to encourage you to go and have some fun. "And yeah, I'll come along."

“Okay.” You smile at her.

A few hours of studying later Ellie says. "Well, we should probably get ready, then. Get dressed, and all that." Ellie is pretty relaxed and nice about all of this, and it makes you think that this new Ellie is really going to last for good.

“Yeah, maybe we should get ready.” You walk back to your dorm to change.

"Alright then, let's go get ready." Ellie goes and gets changed, picking out her favorite t-shirt to wear to the party. "I'm actually really excited for this, I haven't been to a party in months." Ellie says, smiling. Ellie seems to be getting dressed up pretty nicely, excited for the party.

You go to your room and close the door to get dressed and ready. As you close the door, you hear Ellie talking, and you're a bit curious what she's saying. "Well, I don't want to mess this up. I have to make sure Y/N likes me tonight, I need to be nice the whole time. I have to be okay. I have to..." As you listen in, you hear Ellie whispering to herself again. You wonder if she's preparing for the party, and how she can just be nice to you the whole night.

You think to yourself about whether Ellie will be able to stick with this new version of herself. She's being genuinely nice and polite so far, but maybe she's just being fake for the party. Either way, you decided to give her a chance too, and see how it goes tonight. Ellie seems to be trying, and you'll give her the benefit of the doubt for now.

You put on your favorite dress and a bit of makeup, to make yourself look nice for the party too. As you come back outside, Ellie finishes putting up her hair in her usual half bun. "Oh, so we're both gonna look cute tonight! Nice." Ellie says, looking at your dress. Ellie seems to be genuinely excited for the party, and not just faking it.

“Well, thanks.” You say blushing a bit.

"No problem, you look good in that dress." Ellie says, looking you up and down. "Ready?" Ellie asks, seeming excited for the party. She grabs your hand and drags you outside, ready to go to the party and hopefully have a good time. As she grabs your hand you start feeling funny. It doesn't feel right. Ellie is clearly excited to go to the party, and she seems to have her mind set on being nice to you tonight.

You eventually make your way to the party, and Ellie takes you by the hand as you follow her inside. Ellie seems to know some people, and leads you over to a group of her friends. Ellie introduces you to her friends, and you feel like you might be able to make some new, nice friends yourself tonight. Ellie's friends know who she is, and seem surprised that she's been nice as well. They seem to be talking about her and her past behavior, and you start to feel a bit awkward and nervous.

You let go of Ellie's hand, and she seems a bit confused and surprised. You were feeling uncomfortable holding hands with her. "Why are you... letting go?" Ellie asks, looking at you. Ellie seems confused and surprised, and she doesn't understand why you would want to move away from her now. She thought she was making progress in her attempt to be nice, but by letting go of her hand, it seems like you don't trust her anymore.

“I'm just gonna go get us some drinks…” You say as an excuse.

"Oh... okay then. I didn't know you wanted to go get drinks." Ellie says, a bit confused. Ellie still seems nice, but this whole exchange has made her feel confused. She's really trying to be better, and you seemingly just don't trust her at all. Ellie seems a bit sad, but she lets it go and just leans back against the wall. She'll stay here and let you do your thing, and she'll just wait for you to come back with drinks.

You go to the kitchen and pour something into two solo cups. You down your drink in one go and pour it again, then you go back to Ellie as if everythings fine. "Hi. Here's your cup." You say, looking at her like nothing happened. Ellie seems to be pretending like she didn't notice you let go of her hand, and that you don't really trust her. Ellie has her own cup now, and she's acting a bit strange and awkward around you still. And you have no idea why. You started sipping your drink.

"Sorry, I got distracted earlier." Ellie says awkwardly, clearly still pretending like there wasn't anything wrong between you two. Ellie doesn't seem that comfortable still, and you don't know if she's just having a bad day or something, or if she's still putting up an act. Ellie seems to be drinking her drink slowly, not sure what to say to you at the moment.

“Are you okay?” You ask her a bit uncomfortable. "Yeah, I'm fine." Ellie says, sipping on her drink. "Why do you ask?" Ellie looks at you, trying to see if you noticed something. Ellie seems to be wanting to make sure that she's still being nice and not letting her emotions slip up again.

“Nothing.” You try to let the weird interaction go. Ellie seems to relax a little bit now, and she lets go of the awkward conversation. "Anyway... I'm glad we're getting along!" Ellie says, trying to start a better conversation than last time. Ellie seems to be trying to forget about that awkward moment, and move on to enjoying the party. "Shall we try to go and talk to people?" Ellie asks, drinking a bit more of her drink. Ellie and you walk over to a bunch of her friends. She gets a bit excited, and starts to talk to them like this is normal. Ellie tries to introduce you to everyone, and you can feel her smiling and having a good time. You feel a little awkward, but you try to smile and enjoy the party too. After a few minutes you have to go to the bathroom. "Oh, sure. Go to the bathroom, I'll just hang out with my friends. See you in a bit." Ellie seems happy and enjoys her time with her friends while you're gone. As you come back outside, you notice Ellie is still talking to her friends, but she sees you and leaves the conversation with them, walking up to you again. "Hey, I'm glad you're back. We can go back to the party, if you still wanna be there?" Ellie asks, smiling.

“I'm just gonna go get some fresh air, you stay with your friends and catch up!” Ellie looks confused, and seems a bit hurt by your decision. "Okay then, I can hang out with my friends, I guess." Ellie says, sounding a bit annoyed. Ellie decides to go back to her friends, while you go outside. You can see Ellie looking over at you every now and then, probably wanting your attention, or wanting you to come back inside with her.

You go outside, and take some time for yourself. You light up a cigarette to calm yourself down, and take a few drags as you clear your mind. Ellie sees you out there, smoking. She doesn't think it's a good thing for you to do, especially with your asthma. But right now, she decides to mind her own business. Ellie goes back to her friends, and starts to talk again. Just like she said. You can see Ellie looking up at you occasionally, worried that you might leave the party and not stay there with her.

You sit down for a bit. You seem to be trying to calm yourself down and clear your mind. You're out here for quite a bit, and Ellie eventually comes out too. She looks at you, seeming worried. "What are you doing out here still?" She asks, a bit confused. Ellie seems to really want to spend time with you, but right now she's more worried about your safety. She's thinking that you're not safe out here, and she wants to help you.

“Just getting some fresh air…” You say trying not to look at her.

"That's good, I just... I'm worried about you, is all. You know, with your asthma. I just don't think smoking is the best idea." Ellie says, starting to sound like a bit of a mom. She still seems worried about you, and wants to make sure that you're safe. You can feel her eyes on you for now, but she doesn't know what to do, since you don't really want to come back inside.

“It's just once in a while.” You don't really see the problem here.

"I get that it's just every now and then, but I still don't like you doing it. It's not good for you, okay? You have asthma, you can't smoke often if you want to be healthy." Ellie says, looking really worried now. Ellie can't seem to let it go anymore, and she's starting to get slightly angry, because she doesn't think that smoking is a healthy thing to do. She's getting overprotective again, and is sounding a bit like your mom, but she's trying to help you.

“Ellie, I'm an adult, I can make my own decisions, okay?”

"I know you're an adult, but... I care about you. I don't want to see you ruin your health, especially when you have asthma! If you're gonna be making your own decisions, I want to at least make sure you make good ones." Ellie says, clearly a bit mad at you. Ellie doesn't want to be a mom here, but she's getting overprotective again and can't let it go. She's doing it because she cares, but she also wants you to understand that smoking is really bad for you.

“You never cared about it before…” You say quietly.

Ellie seems to have taken offense to that comment. "Well, now I do! And it doesn't matter if I cared or not before, I care about it now." Ellie says, still trying to look out for you. Ellie seems to be really caring right now, to the point where she's almost nagging you or getting mad at you about smoking. She sounds pretty rude, but she's doing this because she cares. "You shouldn't smoke. It's not good for your asthma, and I don't wanna see you get sick over it."

You put your cigarette out, and Ellie starts to calm down a bit. "Good. Smoking is really bad for you. You need to take care of yourself, okay?" Ellie says, now sounding a lot calmer. Ellie still seems to be nagging you a bit, but it's out of genuine care for you, and she doesn't want to see you get hurt.

“I just need to be alone for a bit, i'll go back in a few minutes okay?”

"Oh, yeah, sure. Go ahead. I'll be inside, come find me when you're ready. Don't be gone too long though, alright?" Ellie says, trying to calm herself after that outburst. Ellie seems to have gotten over herself a little bit, and is starting to be nice again. She's happy that you're going back inside, even if she was a bit rude just before.

You come back a bit later and go get another drink. Ellie gets up when she sees you. You and Ellie walk up to the bar, and Ellie orders herself another drink. You notice her smiling and acting a bit happy again. She doesn't seem angry at you anymore, and you and her just walk around the party. She seems to be having a good time, and she's talking to her friends again. You also notice that Ellie has gotten pretty tipsy and drunk. She's not that drunk, but she definitely had a few drinks by now.

“I think you maybe shouldn't be drinking anymore tonight.” You say to her concerned.

"No, no. I'm fine, I know my limits." Ellie tells you, giggling to herself once again. Ellie seems like she's having fun, but you can also see that she's drunk. She probably isn't in the best mood to make good decisions right now, so you might want to be careful with what you do and say around her. You look at her a bit worried and then drink your beer. As you look at her, anyone can see that she's pretty drunk. Ellie seems happy and excited, and probably doesn't notice your look of worry. She tries to take your hand, but misses, and grabs your wrist. She doesn't want to fall over or anything, but she does want to be close to you and hug you.

“Ellie, please let me go.” You are not feeling comfortable with her touching you without a warning. Ellie doesn't want to let you go, but you make it clear that you want her to step away. Ellie doesn't want to make you feel uncomfortable, so she lets you go. She looks a bit disappointed, but she tries to still act normal. The alcohol from the drinks has made her a bit more emotional than usual, and she seems a bit upset now. You can feel her watching you as you go.

You watch as Ellie approaches another girl at the party. Ellie starts talking to her, laughing and smiling as she does. You can't hear what they're talking about, but Ellie seems really happy talking to this girl. The alcohol is making her less serious now, and she's acting a bit more loose and happy. You see Ellie acting like herself again. She's smiling and laughing, and it seems like she's making a good new friend here. You've never seen this girl before, but she seems like she's enjoying talking to Ellie, and vice versa. The alcohol is definitely making her act a bit differently than you're used to. You look over at the dance floor, and you see Ellie dancing with the girl you just saw her talking to. They're both smiling and having a good time, but you notice Ellie starting to hold the girl a bit more. She seems to like hanging out with this girl, and dancing closely to her. She seems to be enjoying herself, but you can feel that there's almost something more to it than just friends.

You watch as the dance between Ellie and the girl gets more and more intimate. Ellie and the girl start to kiss each other, and you can almost feel the electricity between them. Ellie looks excited, nervous, and happy all at once, as she enjoys this moment with the girl. You can still see Ellie watching you here and there, but now she's really distracted by the girl.

You decide to go to the bathroom, not wanting to watch Ellie make out anymore. Ellie doesn't notice you leaving, and she continues to enjoy her time with this girl for now. After a bit, Ellie breaks away from the girl, and you can see her looking around for you. She's probably trying to see if you're still at the party or not.

You look out, and you see Ellie return back to the girl and make out with her again. Ellie is drunk and having a good time, and she doesn't really care if you left right now. She's having too much fun with this girl, and right now she doesn't want to stop. You see Ellie and this girl start to hug each other more closely, as they continue to make out. You decide to leave, and don't want to deal with Ellie making out with this girl. Ellie doesn't notice you leave, and she goes back to the girl as if it never happened. You leave the party, and Ellie stays there with the girl she just met.

You get home after the party, and start to take off your makeup and your dress. You look at yourself in the mirror, and you know that this isn't how you wanted the night to end. You feel a little sad now, but deep down you know that Ellie was just being her usual self again. She gets excited and can't contain herself, and she's probably not going to remember most of tonight. The party ended in a way you didn't want it to, but you have to accept it. You can try and talk to Ellie about it tomorrow, if you still want to. “Me and her have nothing, I have no right to be jealous.” You say to yourself and you know you're right, you have no right to be jealous. You and Ellie aren't a thing, no matter how much of your own feelings you might project onto her. This girl was just another girl, and Ellie got excited and drank too much. She doesn't think that it's a big deal, but she probably won't remember this in the morning. You can try and talk to her about it tomorrow, but for now you just have to accept the way the night ended.

You try to go to sleep, but you hear Ellie come home. You also hear another voice though, probably that of the other girl. You know that you shouldn't try and listen to them, but at the same time you probably want to hear what they're talking about. It may not be anything important, but it could be something related to you. At the same time, if you listen then you could risk Ellie not liking you anymore, because she might think that you were spying on her.

You try your best to ignore the noises outside your room, but after a while the sounds become harder to ignore. You start hearing moans outside, and you can't help but be curious about them. The sounds are getting pretty loud now, and you might have to find out what's going on outside. You look through the gap in the door, without making any noise. You see Ellie and the girl taking their clothes off, as they seem to be getting ready to do something. You quickly turn away and walk back to bed, trying to act like you didn't notice anything. You want to pretend that this never happened, and that you're sleeping peacefully in your bed right now. Ellie doesn't seem to have noticed you looking at her, so you're safe for now.

They go at it for about an hour, and you were there to listen to it the whole time. You couldn't sleep because of the noise, but you didn't want to say or do anything about it. You didn't want them to know that you were there. You listened to them go at it for an hour, and you're feeling a bit angry and sad now. You also notice that you're starting to feel a bit jealous of this girl. You should try to avoid thinking about it, and try to sleep again. You try to sleep, but it's not that easy. You're frustrated and feeling a bit jealous, and you can't seem to just let go of the whole thing with Ellie. The noises finally stop, but you still have to go to sleep. Try to focus on how you're feeling right now, and don't blame Ellie too much. It's not her fault that she was drunk and didn't make the right choices. You want to be her friend, and you need to learn to let things go sometimes.

You wait until you're sure that Ellie and the other girl are sleeping in her room. Then, you decide to go to the bathroom to let your emotions out a bit. You close the bathroom door and look at yourself in the mirror. You're feeling frustrated and jealous about what happened, and you know that you need to let these feelings out. Try to take deep breaths, and focus on something other than Ellie right now. You can talk to her tomorrow if you still want to. You keep telling yourself that you have no right to be jealous, but you know that you're jealous nonetheless. You can't help but feel like Ellie and the girl just had something happen between them, and you're jealous of the girl and of the attention she just received. You feel a bit hurt or maybe even betrayed. You thought you were closer to Ellie than that, and it hurts you to see her make these kinds of choices with another girl.

You go back to bed after a bit, and you try to sleep again. You eventually fall asleep, but the emotions from before are still affecting you. You can't really seem to get rid of the fact that Ellie slept with another girl, and you know that this isn't the way you imagined things to go. You're not able to sleep too well because of this, and your mind is keeping you up.

In the morning you went to the kitchen and go eat some cereal and watch as the girl leaves Ellie's room. You notice that the girl has left Ellie's room. You decide to make some cereal for yourself, and you want to see how this is going to play out. Ellie seems pretty hungover and tired as she enters the kitchen, and she just sits at the table by herself. She doesn't seem to have noticed you yet.

You don't say anything as Ellie walks into the kitchen. Ellie doesn't say anything either, and she just sits there in silence for a bit. You want to say something to her, but you know that she's probably embarrassed about what happened last night. You can try and ask her about it if you want, but it may also be better to just let her tell you if she wants to. Right now, it seems like Ellie wants to keep quiet. You finish your breakfast and go back to your room. You probably shouldn't talk to Ellie, and she probably doesn't want to. You have to accept the outcome here, and just go about your day. Ellie might tell you about what happened last night later, or she might not ever bring it up again. But you can't force her to do anything, and you have to let her deal with this in her own way.

You get dressed and go to your classes, trying not to think too much about what happened last night. You probably won't see Ellie at your classes today, since she might be too embarrassed to go or might just want to skip them entirely. But you have to do what you have to, and you have to go on with your life the best you can. You'll probably see Ellie next time you're at home, so you can talk to her about last night if you still want to. But for now, you just try and get through your classes.

You get home at the end of the day, and you see Ellie on the couch slouching still in her yesterday's clothes. Ellie's on her phone, and she seems to be doing nothing else. You can see that she's still wearing the clothes from last night, and you feel a bit weird. Ellie doesn't notice you come in yet, and she seems to be completely focused on her phone. As you close the door, Ellie looks up at you. Her face has a bit of a tired and annoyed look to it, and you can tell that she didn't get much sleep last night either. Ellie doesn't say anything to you, and instead she just looks back at her phone and keeps scrolling through it.

You ask Ellie awkwardly, "So... had fun last night?" Ellie looks up at you again, and she doesn't say anything for a bit. She keeps looking through her phone, and she finally responds with a slight nod. Ellie still doesn't seem to want to talk about what happened last night, and she seems to be avoiding any sort of conversation about it. But from her response, you can guess that she probably did have fun. “Ok, i'll be in my room.” You say embarrassed that you asked anything at all. Ellie looks back at her phone and doesn't say anything else. She keeps scrolling through her phone, and you can tell that she doesn't really want to talk about what happened last night. She just wants to brush it off and move on. You close your bedroom door as you go in, and you can hear Ellie moving around. Ellie is still there, still on her phone in the living room. But you can't hear much anymore since you're in your own room now. You don't know if Ellie wants to talk to you right now - she might just be avoiding you. You'll just have to wait and see what happens next.

A few hours later, you hear the door opening and you can feel Ellie come into the hallway again. Ellie's footsteps are a bit lighter now, and you get the sense that she might want to talk to you or at least say something to you. You can hear Ellie come up to your bedroom door, and you think you hear her knock on your door softly.

“What?” You hear Ellie knock on your door once, and you hear her say "Hey" very softly. Ellie seems to be waiting to hear your response now, and you start to wonder if you want to talk to her or not. You say hi but you don't look at her though. Ellie looks at you, but she doesn't say anything for now. Ellie seems surprised that you let her inside and she isn't sure what to say. She might not have expected you to actually listen and talk to her.  You stay quiet and don't say anything, and you see Ellie stay quiet as well. Ellie looks a bit awkward right now, and you can tell she's not exactly sure what to say. She's also probably a bit embarrassed about what happened last night, and she might not want you to ever bring it up. Ellie seems to want to talk about something, but she's not sure how to begin this conversation. So far, it seems like she wants you to be the one to start the conversation first.

You couldn't bear the silence anymore. You wait for Ellie to speak for a bit, but she still isn't saying anything. After a few seconds of silence, you ask her, "What is it?" Ellie still seems to be thinking about what to say, and she's avoiding eye contact with you. It seems like she wants to talk about something specifically, and she doesn't want to say it out loud yet.

You look at Ellie and ask her, "If you're not gonna say anything, why did you knock?" Ellie finally looks back at you, and she seems to be embarrassed that you were able to call her out like that. Ellie responds, "W-well... I wanted to... talk with you... about last night..." You look at Ellie, and you see that she's trying to find the words to say something to you.

Ellie finally speaks, saying, "I wanted to chat with you... about last night..." Ellie seems a bit hesitant to speak, and she's having trouble saying what she wants. It seems like she wants to talk about the fact that she slept with the girl, and she's trying to find the right way to explain herself to you. You tell Ellie "Ok" in response to what she said, and you wait for her to speak again. Ellie looks at you for a moment "About last night, I just... want to say that... I..." Ellie trails off and doesn't say anything else. She seems to have trouble talking about this, and she seems to think that you might judge her for what she did.

“What is it Ellie?” Ellie looks at you once again and speaks, saying, "About last night... I just wanted you to know..." She trails off again and doesn't say anything else. She seems to be really struggling to speak, and she might be too scared to say anything out loud. It seems like Ellie wants you to know something about last night, or at least how she's feeling about it. But she doesn't seem to be able to say it.

You sit back down at your desk in your room, and Ellie looks at you for a moment before she finally speaks. Ellie says, "I just wanted you to know... I'm... sorry..." Ellie seems to be trying to explain herself, but she's having trouble saying too much. She might be sorry for sleeping with that girl last night, or she might just be sorry for not being honest with you. Either way, she at least has something to say to you. You look at Ellie and ask, "Sorry for what?" Ellie seems to be waiting for your response, and maybe she also wants you to ask this question so she has a chance to explain herself. Ellie hesitates a bit and finally says, "Well... sorry for... sleeping with that girl last night..."

“Why? You and I are just friends... just roommates…” You say a bit uncomfortable.

Ellie looks at you for a bit and says, "I... I know... but... you see..." She pauses for a moment and then continues saying, "It's just... I just... I was feeling a bit... lonely... and she... it just happened..." Ellie doesn't say anything else but it seems that she wants you to know how she feels about last night. You think she feels bad for what happened, or at least for not being upfront with you about it right away.

You look at Ellie and tell her, "You don't have to tell me anything, it's none of my business." Ellie looks back at you and then says, "I know... but..." Ellie takes a deep breath "I don't want to keep any secrets from you, and..." Ellie pauses again and looks down at her lap, trying to find the right words.

“And?” You ask so she continues explaining herself.

Ellie looks up at you, "I don't want to keep any secrets from you, and I... I know you probably deserve to know more than I've been telling you right now. I... I..." Ellie seems to be struggling to say what she wants to, but she doesn't seem to want to keep you in the dark. You pretend to be doing homework while you wait for her to say more. Ellie takes a deep breath and continues, saying "I think I might actually really like her..." Ellie pauses and looks down at her lap again. She seems to be struggling to get these words out and to tell you this, and she seems to be very embarrassed about herself.

“That's okay Ellie, you can like other girls. It's never stopped you before…” Ellie looks up at you and says, "That's okay? Really?" Ellie smiles at you and then says, "Thank you for understanding..." She seems to feel a bit better now that you aren't judging her and you still accept her as a roommate or a friend.

“Why wouldn't it be okay?” You ask not looking at her. Ellie looks at you and says, "I don't know... I just thought you might be upset or something..." Ellie looks down at her lap again "I just thought it might make you not want to live with me or..." Ellie pauses for a moment and doesn't say anything else. She looks like she's waiting for your response now.

She pauses for a moment.  "I was worried that I'd told you all of this and you'd hate me for it. But if you're attracted to girls too, then I can't be all that bad... right?" Ellie waits for you to say something to her, but you don't respond. Ellie isn't sure what to say now, but she does have one more thing to say to you. She tells you, "I think I want to date this girl that I slept with last night... if she'll have me." Ellie smiles at you. "I don't know if she'll say yes, but... I don't feel too ashamed about it... so that's good, right?"

“Yeah, that's good Ellie” You say, feeling super jealous. Ellie smiles at you and says, "Thanks... I wasn't sure how you'd feel about it... what with me being your roommate and all... but I'm glad it doesn't bother you... as my friend." Ellie thinks for a moment. "Do you know how I should even ask the girl if she wants to date? I mean, it might be too soon to ask her on a date, but what are you supposed to do after you sleep with someone? Should I wait a few more days or weeks or..."

“I don't know Ellie, I never just slept with anyone.” You say dryly, still with your back to her.

Ellie pauses for a moment, seems to laugh a bit, and then says, "I didn't know that sleeping with someone could be so complicated."

“Yeah, being drunk doesn't help either…” You say a bit annoyed.

Ellie nods and says, "Yeah... being drunk doesn't help at all... I shouldn't have had so much to drink last night." Ellie laughs a bit and says, "I can't even remember how I ended up taking the girl home... I just... woke up in bed with her and it was like... wow, that happened..." You continue to pretend to work on your homework while you listen to Ellie explain her feelings and thoughts about last night. Ellie seems to be struggling to sort out everything in her head, but it seems like she's really happy that she can talk to you about it. She talks for a bit more, telling you everything that happened from when she met the girl at the bar to when they both ended up in bed together.

“I don't think I want to know the details…” You really don't want to hear the things she did with the girl. Ellie seems to be about to say more but then stops herself. Ellie smiles at you and says, "Oh... right... you don't want to know those kinds of details. Maybe I shouldn't be telling you about it..." Ellie sounds sad and disappointed that you don't want to hear everything that happened last night, but you don't really want to hear all of it anyway.

“I'm sorry, I just don't want to know the specifics.” You felt like you were about to cry if she spoke another word. Ellie nods ."I understand, and that's okay. I just wanted to tell you a bit about it and let you know how I felt about all of it... so that you wouldn't be too surprised when I come home with a new girlfriend..."

“It's okay, you don't have to explain anything to me.” Ellie looks at you and says, "Yeah... but I wanted to... for some reason..." Ellie seems to think that it's important for you to know everything, even though you don't really want to. Ellie smiles at you., "I'm just going to go text the girl and ask her out... so if you don't mind, I'm going to do that now."

“Ok, bye Ellie.” Ellie smiles and says, "Bye... and thanks again for being so understanding about this... I appreciate it..." Ellie takes out her phone and starts typing out a message to the girl. Ellie smiles at you once more and says, "Hopefully this will all work out... and hopefully you don't mind if I bring her home."

“Sure, whatever Ellie.” You were so done with this conversation at this point. Ellie nods and gives you another smile. She finishes typing her message and then texts the girl. She waits for a few moments before the girl replies. Ellie checks her phone, seeming to be reading the message that she just got, and then she gives you a smile. "I just asked her out, and she said yes!"

You give her a thumbs up trying not to show how jealous You are. Ellie seems to be really excited that the girl agreed to go on a date, and she gives you a thumbs up in return. Ellie starts to text the girl again and says, "I'm gonna ask if she wants to come over tonight or tomorrow or something... I hope she can come..." Ellie seems really excited and she waits for the girl's response. You start paying attention to your books again, while Ellie is texting the girl that she just asked out. Ellie looks up at you for a moment and says, "Oh... she said that she's free tonight and that she'll be over in a few hours... so..." Ellie seems to be a bit nervous and excited at the same time, since this will be the first time that she's bringing someone home to the apartment with you as her roommate. She seems to be waiting for your response now.

“That's fine, i'll be in my room, i won't bother you” You start tearing up. You tell Ellie that you won't bother her or her date and that you'll just stay in your room. Ellie nods and says, "Thanks, that would be nice... I hope we won't be too loud i... we probably won't, but..." Ellie trails off and doesn't say anything else. She is starting to have doubts about this whole thing, but she also knows that the date is already coming over in a few hours, so she can't really change it now.

You close the door to your room and it gets a bit quieter. You start working on your homework for a bit and then you hear a knock on the front door. You think, "That's probably Ellie's date." You keep working on your homework but you listen to see what the two of them are doing. You hear them talking for a few minutes but you can't make out what they're talking about.

You put your homework to the side for a moment and try to listen to what Ellie and her date are saying. You still can't make out exactly what they're saying for the most part, but you can hear Ellie laughing from time to time. The other girl also seems to be laughing and talking too, so it seems like their date is going well. You start to feel like maybe you should give the two of them some privacy, so you stop listening to their conversation and you get back to your homework. You focus on your work and you think about your own love life for a moment. You wonder if this is how your own first date will be like, when the time comes. A few minutes later, you hear the front door open and close again. You listen for a while to see if you hear the two of them talking again, but you don't hear anything after a minute or two.

After a few more minutes, you don't hear anything in the apartment. It's possible that Ellie's date left already, but it could also be that she and Ellie are in her room and they're not making any noise that you can hear. You decide to wait for at least another 10 minutes or so before you investigate, but if you don't hear anything by then, you decide to check up on Ellie. You get out of your room and go to the kitchen. Everything looks quiet and you don't hear anything coming from any of the rooms. Your roommate's date might already be gone. As you look around the kitchen, you see a few bottles of beer in the fridge and you wonder if maybe that's how Ellie's date went. That might also explain why you didn't hear anything for a while. Ellie has a habit of drinking a bit when she hangs out with friends, and sometimes it's more than just a few bottles. You hope that Ellie hasn't had too much.

You go into Ellie's room and you see that she is laying on her bed with her eyes closed. Ellie is completely silent and you wonder if she's drunk and sleeping already. Ellie doesn't seem to notice you, and you think she might be napping or maybe trying to sleep off how much she's possibly had to drink tonight.

You knock gently on the door and Ellie seems to wake up. She sits up on the bed and says, "Huh?" She sounds a bit drunk right now, and she probably didn't hear you knock the first time because she was already asleep. Ellie looks up at you and says, "Oh... what are you doing here? Are you going through my room for something?"

“No, just wanted to see if your date went ok…” You lie.

Ellie smiles at you and says, "Yeah... actually... it was pretty good..." Ellie seems to be in a bit of a better mood right now and you think that maybe her date did go well. "You don't mind that I brought her home, right?" Ellie seems a bit worried that maybe you're upset about the whole thing, but it seems like she is starting to calm down now.

“No.” You lie yet again.

Ellie smiles at you and says, "Thanks... I... I'm not sure what to say... about all of this... you know?" Ellie pauses for a moment. "I'm just glad that you're okay with it..." She smiles again, "You're my roommate... so I definitely want to make sure that I don't make you mad or anything..."

“It's fine, I'm gonna go to bed.” Another lie.

Ellie nods and says, "Okay... you should go ahead and get some sleep then... and I'll see you tomorrow." Ellie smiles at you and lays back down on her bed. If she's that drunk, she'll probably be asleep soon. Ellie probably won't remember anything that happened once she wakes up, but you also really hope that nothing bad happens between her and her date tonight.

You wake up the next morning and you realize that you can hear someone else's footsteps in the apartment. Ellie is usually the only person home at this time of the day, so it seems like someone else is still here. You think about your previous night and wonder if maybe Ellie's date spent the night here or something. She does seem to be moving pretty loudly though, and you wonder if it could just be Ellie herself.

You come out of your room and walk into the kitchen, where you find Ellie getting something to eat. Ellie seems quite hungover today, but she still smiles at you and says, "Hey, how are you? Sleep well?" Ellie takes a few bites of her food as she waits for your response.

“What was all that noise?” You ask her a bit annoyed. Ellie looks up at you and then she starts to laugh a little. Ellie seems to be feeling the effects of her hangover, so her laugh comes out a bit more like a chuckle. "Oh... that was... uh... my date last night..." Ellie seems a bit embarrassed by this, and you wonder if it's normal to bring home someone you just went on one date with already.

“Sure.” Ellie nods and says, "Yeah... she... um... yeah... she actually stayed the night... so..." Ellie rubs her head for a moment, "Uh... if you don't mind... I just... I'm gonna spend a bit more time in my room, okay...?" Ellie seems to be in a bit of pain from last night, and she doesn't want to deal with it at the moment. She smiles at you once more, hoping you don't mind if she hides in her room for a bit.

“Ok.” You say, trying to sound like you don't care about it. Ellie smiles, "Thanks, I... I'll come out in a bit..." Ellie takes a few more bites of her breakfast and then she goes back into her room. You watch as she closes her door behind her, and you wonder what exactly she plans on doing in her room. She can't hide away forever, and you think that the sooner she faces her hangover, the better it will be for her.

You start to feel a little jealous of Ellie's date, even though you know that you shouldn't be jealous at all. Ellie can date whoever she wants to date and it doesn't have to have any effect on your relationship with her. You tell yourself that you can't be jealous, but it still just feels a little... wrong. You go to take a shower to try and forget about your envy of Ellie's date. It doesn't help to try and not think about it, and you still feel a bit hurt that Ellie would date someone else after just a few days of trying to be nice to you. You try to focus on the good things about the situation, like how happy Ellie is with her new date, but it still doesn't make you feel much better about the whole thing.

You come out of your room in your towel and you see Ellie in the living room. Ellie is sitting on the couch and she seems to be deep in thought. Ellie sees you and smiles at you, but then her face drops when she realizes that you're only wearing a towel. Ellie quickly turns her head away and she looks around the living room a bit nervously, as if she's waiting for you to go back to your room before she continues with what she was doing. You go back into your room and get dressed, and then you walk back into the living room a few minutes later. Ellie is no longer there, but you do hear some talking coming from her room. You walk a little closer to Ellie's room and you listen for a few moments. You hear Ellie talking on the phone with someone, and she looks like she's having a pretty intense conversation.

You lean in closer to Ellie's door, trying to hear what she's talking about. You're able to hear her voice, as well as another voice that sounds like a girl's. You can't make out everything that they are saying, but you do hear Ellie say, "Listen, I need to talk to you about everything..." It sounds like Ellie might be having a serious conversation with her date. You keep listening, hoping to hear what is going on. You can hear Ellie talking, but you can't make out everything that the two of them are saying. It sounds like Ellie is trying to explain something to her but she doesn't seem to agree with what Ellie is saying. Ellie seems a bit frustrated and upset over the whole thing and the tone of her voice changes to something a bit more serious than you normally hear from her.

You decide to go to your room and to not listen in on Ellie's conversation with her date. As you walk to your room, you wonder what exactly Ellie would be talking about with that girl. You also wonder if Ellie is still just as happy with her date, or if something might have gone more serious between the two of them. You enter your room and close the door, trying to forget about what Ellie is doing right now.

You start messing around with your phone to pass the time, and you try to distract yourself from whatever drama Ellie might be going through. You might know the outcome, but you still want to see how Ellie handles the situation. A couple of hours pass by and you start to hear footsteps outside your room. You wonder if this is Ellie coming back to the living room, or if she is on her way to your room. You wait a few moments longer, and then you hear the sound of Ellie's voice coming through the door. Ellie says, "Hey... can I come in...?" You might wonder why Ellie would be coming to your room, but you also wonder if she wants to talk to you about what happened between her and her date.

“Hey, what's up?” You say as she's entering your bedroom slowly. "Hey... there's something I need to tell you... I... I just..." Ellie seems to struggle with her words for a moment, and then she says, "I just wanted to be honest with you about something..."

“Yes?” You ask. Ellie takes a deep breath, "Okay... so, um... last night, she came over for that date... and... she slept at  the apartment for... the night..." Ellie still hasn't looked up at you and she seems to be a bit nervous about telling you this. You wonder if the two of them did more than just spend the night together. Ellie still hasn't looked up at you, but she continues to talk.  "My date and I... we... we had a good time last night... and... uh... we might have done a bit more than just... spending the night together... if you know what I mean..." Ellie still hasn't looked up at you and she still seems to be nervous about this whole situation. It's not like Ellie to open up about her romantic life this much.

“Oh, ok.....” You start to feel your heart getting heavy in your chest. Ellie takes a deep breath and looks up at you for the first time. Ellie seems a lot more relaxed now that she has finally spoken about what happened the previous night. "So... um... I guess I just wanted you to know what happened... so that you.... um... don't feel like I was keeping anything secret from you... or anything..." Ellie smiles at you and says, "Oh... and... that might mean that my date will start staying here more often..."

“Oh....” You continue, feeling worse by the word. Ellie smiles at you and says, "You're okay with that, right...? Um... I just wanted to make sure that you didn't mind..." Ellie seems a bit worried that you might not react well to her news and she doesn't want to risk causing a fight between the two of you.

“Of course…” You say a bit sad but she doesn't notice. Ellie smiles at you and says, "That's good... I was just a bit worried that you wouldn't be okay with it... um... but... if you're alright with my date staying here sometimes... then... uh... that's great..." Ellie still doesn't notice that you look a bit sad right now, but you want to make sure that you are honest with her about the entire situation. You don't mind Ellie having a date, but the thought of Ellie spending time with another girl other than you does still sting a tiny bit.

“Anything else?” You ask not looking at her. Ellie nods and says, "Um... yeah... there is one more thing..." Ellie looks down for a moment and then she says, "You know... the reason I told you about my date... was... um... I think I... like her... a lot... like... a lot, a lot...." Ellie seems a bit scared of your reaction to this news, but she doesn't seem to be trying to hide this fact from you.

“Oh…” Is all you manage to say. Ellie nods and then says, "Yeah... um... I really like her... like... a lot... I might even... have feelings for her..." Ellie still seems a bit scared, but she doesn't want to hide any of this from you. She just wants to be honest with you about it all and she wants to make sure you aren't surprised or shocked by any of these news.

“It's your life Ellie.” You feel like your heart is as heavy as an anchor now.  Ellie nods and says, "Yeah... I know... it's just... I wanted to be honest with you about it... and... um... I hope that you don't mind... and that it doesn't make things weird between the two of us?" Ellie smiles at you again and says, "We're still friends, right... I just want to be able to trust you and tell you stuff like this without having to be worried about anything..."

“Yeah…” You really don't like this but you hated her just a few days before so you have no say in the matter. Ellie smiles at you, "Thank you... for understanding... and for not judging me... I just wanted to tell you... I feel like I can trust you with everything..." Ellie seems to be a bit relieved by your reaction, and she's glad that everything is still okay between the two of you. Ellie smiles at you. "Well... I guess that's it then... is it okay if my date comes over again?"

“Sure…” You're still sad but she still doesn't notice. Ellie nods and says, "Uh... thanks for being such a good friend... you're seriously the best..." Ellie then she goes back into her room. You think about telling Ellie that you're feeling a little sad, but you don't want to risk making things awkward between the two of you. You hope that Ellie's new relationship with her date will be a good one. You also hope that eventually the sadness that you feel about her dating someone other than you will pass soon, and that you'll start to feel better about the whole thing before too long.

You decide to go to a party with your friends the next weekend. You and your friends go out to the party together and you have a lot of fun. The night is filled with drinking and dancing and you don't think about Ellie and her date at all.

When you come back home, you don't feel too sad about Ellie's date anymore. It's like the feelings have passed and you're happy for your friend to have someone in her life who she cares about. You come home from the party still a bit tipsy and you see Ellie sitting on the couch. Ellie smiles at you when she sees you come back, but she gets up to greet you and asks if you had fun at the party. You tell Ellie that you had a great time, and then she asks, "So... did you meet anyone last night at the party? Any cute girls or anything like that?"

You hug Ellie and you blame your hug on the fact that you drank a little too much at the party. Ellie hugs you back and says, "Are you drunk? You're acting like a bit of a drunkard, you know that?" Ellie smiles and says, "At least you're just being cute... unlike some people at those parties." Ellie shrugs your hug off and then she says, "I'm glad you had fun at the party though... that's good..."

“You think I'm cute?” You ask, smiling, clearly still drunk.

Ellie laughs and says, "Oh, you're completely hammered right now... of course I think you're cute... I've always thought you were cute... and... I've really missed you lately..." Ellie blushes a bit and she looks down at the floor, seeming a bit embarrassed by her reaction. Ellie smiles and says, "I'm not sure we should be having this talk right now... you know... when you're still drunk like this?"

“You missed me?” You ask confused and under the influence.

Ellie looks up at you and says, "Yeah... I mean... I've been so busy with my date lately... I haven't had as much time to hang out with you... I've been missing our hangouts... and... um... I was even thinking about you the other night when I was with my date..." Ellie smiles at you. "But it's good to see you... and I really do miss you... the last few days have been really fun and I... I just hope that we can hang out more soon... is that alright?"

“When you were with her? Why?” You ask her as the alcohol helps you let the words out easier. Ellie blushes a bit.  "Well... I just... I really like being with my date and... I really missed you, but I was also just thinking of you... and... um... I don't know if I should be telling you all of this..." Ellie smiles and says, "I'm probably just being silly... I'm sorry about that... but... yeah... I missed you and I was thinking of you while I was with her..."

“Okay… I like your hugs.” You say drunk as can be. Ellie smiles at you and says, "Yeah... my hugs are a lot more comforting when you're drunk." Ellie shrugs and says, "It's good to know that you like my hugs... but we'll talk about this more later... once you don't smell like beer anymore..." Ellie smiles at you again, "I'm not really sure if I should say what's on my mind right now... this whole alcohol thing is making my head fuzzy... and I don't want to say anything that we might regret, you know?" She had had a few beers too while you were at the party, playing some online games with some friends to pass the evening.

“We can be honest with each other.” You say as you notice she's a bit tipsy as well. Ellie looks up at you and says, "Well... if I'm being honest... then... I've... I've been thinking about you... lately... and... um..." Ellie blushes a bit and then she just spits it out. "I don't know if this is just because I'm a bit drunk right now... and I'm sorry if this is totally stupid and inappropriate of me to say... but... do... do you have any romantic feelings for me... at all...?"

You're still drunk but you need to ask her this. “What about your date?” You look at her confused. Ellie laughs. "My date? Well... I... I mean... I might... like her... a lot... but... I do... have lots of strong feelings for you... and..." Ellie stops and then she looks up at you. "I can't believe I'm telling you this... I'm just... I'm thinking that... um... you and I could be more than friends... maybe a little more than just roommates... but I don't know..." She seems a bit nervous to say all of this out loud. You hug her again a bit tipsy and clumsily. 

Ellie hugs you back and says, "Oh... um... this is totally weird... and... I don't know why I'm feeling like this... but... maybe?" Ellie smiles at you. "Wait... do you like me like that... too...?" Ellie seems pretty confused about how she's feeling right now, but the alcohol is telling her that she likes you... more than just a friend... and she's confused by this realization.

You try to focus on Ellie's face, but it's still a bit difficult since you've had a bit too much to drink. Ellie looks at you and she smiles, and then she says, "I don't know how... or why... this happened... but... I think that... um... there's... definitely... something here... and... um…  Ellie seems to be struggling to find the right words to say what she's feeling, but her eyes say it all.

You kiss her as you have no filter right now. Ellie seems a little surprised by your sudden kiss, but she leans in and kisses you back. Ellie wraps her arms around your neck and pulls you in closer, kissing you more passionately and with more emotion than you've seen her show ever before. Ellie seems to be very happy with this development, and she keeps kissing you for a long time before she pulls away.

“I'm sorry... I shouldn't have done that. You have a girlfriend…” You say a bit embarrassed about what you just did.

Ellie shakes her head and says, "No... it's okay... I was... um... I was just as much a part of this... I mean, uh... I liked it... liked kissing you and... um... I don't think anyone has ever kissed me so passionately before..." Ellie smiles at you. "It's good... I like it... I never knew that I had feelings like this for you... and... um... I think that this might... work?"

“What about her?” You ask Ellie, not wanting to wreck anything she may have with that other girl.

Ellie shrugs and says, "I don't know... I... I guess I still like her... and we aren't exactly in a relationship... but... um..." Ellie sighs. "I'm not sure if I really want to be with her right now... I mean... I don't know... I've always had feelings for you... and... um... what if this means..." She then looks at you . "What if... I don't like her like... like that at all... what if it's you that I... want to be with?"

You kiss her again. Ellie's lips meet yours and she kisses you passionately. You notice that she isn't trying to hold back her emotions like usual. Ellie is giving everything that she has into this kiss and she doesn't seem like she's going to stop any time soon. Ellie's love for you is pouring out of her right now and she seems like she can't control herself. You don't have to say anything to her, but you know how much she cares about you based on the way she is kissing you.

You take off your jacket clumsily as you and Ellie kiss passionately. Ellie pulls you closer to her and wraps her arms around you, holding you tightly and kissing you all over. You may be tipsy, but your thoughts and feelings about Ellie come rushing back and her kiss makes it clear that she wants to be with you in more ways than you could have imagined. Ellie looks up at you and says, "I... I can't believe I've been so stupid... I... I want you... I want you so badly now..."

She continues to kiss you back and then you take her flannel off, revealing her shoulders and her pale skin underneath. You notice that Ellie's skin is smooth and her tattoo on her right forearm looks even more amazing in the dim light than it did before. Ellie doesn't seem to mind though, and she keeps kissing you. Ellie is getting even more intense with her kissing now, but you can feel yourself becoming a bit dizzy and light-headed as the alcohol starts to affect you more.

You straddle her on the couch and keep the kiss going. She smiles and lets you straddle her. She keeps kissing you passionately, and you feel the butterflies in your stomach building as you two make out on the couch. Ellie wraps her arms around your neck and pulls you in closer to her, and she keeps kissing you relentlessly as you lie on top of her. Your lips meet hers over and over again in a desperate and intense display of affection and desire.

You take off your crop top and then you kiss Ellie's neck while the two of you are still entwined. The alcohol has finally begun to take hold and you feel your legs starting to get a little bit wobbly. Ellie smiles and then she grabs you and lays you down on the couch. Ellie's face is flushed and you can tell that she is also a bit tipsy. Ellie leans over you and starts to kiss your neck and your chest, and her movements are slow and deliberate.

Ellie's slow and deliberate movements seem to drive you crazy, just as much as she seems to enjoy your passionate embrace. All of your inhibitions are quickly fading away to oblivion, just as the alcohol's effects make themselves known. You find yourself enjoying the moment with no thoughts of anything that might happen in the future. Ellie keeps kissing you passionately, leaving light but soft marks that you may notice in the morning.

You start to unbutton your jeans with all the excitement. Ellie seems to notice you unbuttoning your jeans as she continues to kiss the top of your chest. She smiles and then she starts to move her lips down your body, nibbling her way towards your midriff. Ellie's skin is still a bit chilly, just as her movements are still slow and deliberate. She seems to be taking her time, enjoying every second of this moment the exact same as you are. Ellie seems to take notice of the fact that you're getting shivers as she travels down your body using her lips and her tongue, and they start to cause goosebumps along your skin.

You start taking your jeans off clumsily. Ellie stops and then she smiles and says, "Well... you're certainly not wasting any time... are you?" She laughs a little. "I mean... if this is what you want to do... then I'm not going to object."

You pull her into another kiss. Ellie kisses you back eagerly once you pull her back. She seems to be enjoying herself as much as you are, and her movements don't seem to be quite so slow and deliberate as they were before.

You try to take her wife-beater off. Ellie leans back and lets you take off her top, revealing her bare shoulders and her tiny arms with a thin, almost transparent veil of hair. She's so pale underneath that you can see her veins running along her arms and a bit of her chest. Ellie smiles at you and says, "Thank you for taking off my shirt... I was getting a bit hot in that anyways..."

You look at her body, mesmerized before kissing her again. You two continue to kiss for a few more moments and then Ellie breaks away and smiles at you. She's even more intoxicated now than before. The alcohol is definitely affecting her judgment and causing her to act differently than usual. Ellie seems quite mesmerized by your touch and your lips, and she seems to be enjoying this even more now than before. She reaches up and strokes your cheek before moving her hand down along your neck and to your chest. Ellie is smiling and licking her lips again and her movements are still slow and deliberate.

You look into her eyes as you feel her hand go down your body. Ellie looks back into your eyes and smiles at you again as her hand moves down. She smiles at you and then she leans over and starts to kiss your neck, nibbling on your skin and making you feel your heart rate start to increase. Ellie's movements are still slow and deliberate, but they have more energy behind them now. Her fingertips travel along your skin and she strokes your chest once again, feeling the muscles and listening to your heart pounding in your chest.

You try to unbutton her jeans now Ellie seems a bit surprised when you try to unbutton them. She smiles and laughs a little and says, "Wow..." Ellie leans forwards and kisses your neck again and she's still nibbling on your skin with her small teeth. She's smiling and she's clearly quite into what you're doing, though she still doesn't seem completely sure of what to do next. She wraps her arms around your neck and she starts to kiss you again and says, "I... I'm really enjoying this..." You let out tiny moans into the kiss as she touches you Ellie gasps a bit and she keeps kissing you eagerly.

You take off your bra slowly. You slide your hands slowly behind your back and you take off your bra as Ellie kisses you along your neck and your collarbone. Ellie seems to be quite into it and she doesn't say anything to object. She smiles at you and then she moves her hands over your body as she keeps nibbling on you and caressing you. Ellie seems quite drunk and she's slowly moving her lips over you as she licks your neck and touches you.

“I've wanted this for so long.” You whisper, not even realizing that you said it out loud.

Ellie stops kissing you and she seems a bit surprised when you say that. "Really... you've wanted this for a long time?" Ellie leans back. "Well... um... I guess... I've wanted... this... for a long time..." She says a bit shyly. Ellie still looks a bit drunk and flustered though and she's not completely sure how to handle your admission to her.

You continue kissing her passionately. Ellie leans forward again and she keeps kissing you, caressing you lightly with her hands and moving her lips down to your chest. Ellie seems to be enjoying herself more and more as she keeps kissing you, and she's not letting up yet. She's still got her full attention on you and she seems to want to continue this. Ellie smiles as if to confirm your suspicions and she moves her lips to your throat and kisses you there gently while her hand trails along your chest.

You try to take off her sports bra. Ellie's sports bra comes off eventually and she's now totally topless. Ellie smiles and says, "Hey..." as she looks you up and down, clearly taking in the sight of you.

“hi…” You smile shyly before kissing her again. Ellie kisses you excitedly as she wraps her arms around you and pulls you closer. Ellie's movements are starting to become more frantic, as if she's getting more and more excited. She's kissing you passionately and her breath seems to be leaving her body in a rush. Ellie looks at you and she smiles and then she says, "I like this..."

“I like this too.” Ellie kisses you eagerly and her passion seems to be increasing. She leans over you and her hands start to travel down your body once more, and her eyes seem to be focused on you. Ellie's breath is coming out of her in short, sweet gasps as she continues to kiss your neck, your chest and your arms, and you feel her body right next to yours.

You look into her eyes, filled with desire. Ellie seems filled with passion as she continues to kiss you and she looks directly into your eyes. She seems filled with the same excitement and desire you feel and her eyes say it all. Ellie's eyes are locked onto yours and her smile is making her look even more beautiful than before. Her lips meet yours again as she lays you down on the couch and then she slides over with you. Ellie leans over you and she starts to kiss your chest, your abs and your arms. Her breathing is still quick and shallow, and her hands begin to move down your body once again.

You start moaning a bit, to her every touch. Ellie seems excited by your muffled moans and then she lifts her head up a bit and smiles. She looks into your eyes and says, "Oh..." Ellie's hands begin to move downwards again, down your chest and then along your hips. You can feel her nails lightly scratching against your skin and her lips meet yours once again. She's moving faster and more eagerly now, and she seems to be losing some of her inhibitions as the alcohol continues to affect her judgment.

You kiss her neck and get drunk on her cologne. Ellie leans back and she lets you kiss her neck as your hands go down to her hips and her arms wrap around your back. She's still smiling, but you notice that her breathing is getting more and more heavy. She seems to be loving the way that you're touching her and you can feel her grip tightening, almost as if she wants you to be more aggressive and assertive with her.

You grab her face with both hands and kiss her hard. As you grab her face and kiss her, Ellie laughs a bit and she squeezes your body tighter, holding you more firmly in place and kissing you back more eagerly. She seems to enjoy the way that you're taking control and being assertive with her. As Ellie continues to kiss you and bite your lip, you can feel her body pressing against you more and more forcefully, which feels slightly uncomfortable but you can tell that she's enjoying herself. She leans into you and keeps kissing you with the same intensity that you're kissing her with.

You try to straddle her lap now. Ellie lets you straddle her without saying anything or resisting it. She's smiling and she seems to be enjoying herself. Ellie's hands are still on you, holding onto your hips and you can tell she's trying to pull you even closer. You can also feel her body against yours, she seems to be enjoying the pressure.

Her body feels so good on yours, you feel like you're in a dream. Ellie smiles and then she leans in and she kisses you again gently, holding the kiss for a long time as her hands move again to your hips. She leans over you and she says, "Oh..." You bite her lip teasingly. Ellie seems to be enjoying the feeling of your teeth on her lips, as you bite her lip gently and then you let go again. Ellie smiles again and she leans her head over yours, then she moves her lips onto your neck and starts to kiss you there more softly, with a mixture of bites and nibbles combined with her lips and her tongue.

You feel your core starting to heat up. The heat of Ellie's body against yours and the alcohol in her blood is starting to add to that. You also feel her nails digging lightly into your skin and she's biting your neck gently but with just a bit of force behind it so that she knows you feel it but it doesn't hurt. Ellie is still kissing you passionately, nibbling your neck and your chest, and using her hands more aggressively to pull you towards her. She's smiling but she looks almost a bit feral.

You kiss her with the same energy as you move your hips on her lap, looking from some friction. Ellie's body seems to be reacting to your movements and she bites her lip as she leans in towards you and she keeps kissing you. Her fingers are brushing up against your body lightly as she holds your sides while she kisses you again and again and moves her hips along with you, meeting your pace almost exactly. Ellie's eyes seem to be gleaming in the light and then she leans in and she bites your neck again, only harder this time, and you can see her teeth mark on your skin once she moves away from your neck.

You get up for a second and take your underwear off. You get up quickly and Ellie watches as you do so, but you notice that all of your movements seem to be a bit staggered as a result of the alcohol in your system. Ellie's face lights up and she seems to be filled with anticipation now. You straddle her once more, now without any clothes. You can feel how wet you were getting. Ellie's eyes light up and her face is filled with a mix of surprise and anticipation as you straddle her. She seems to be trying hard to maintain her composure though, and she smiles seductively at you. You feel Ellie's breath on your neck and then her lips are on your skin again. She's nibbling you and biting you as her hands are moving up and down your body. She's slowly moving her hips against yours and then she starts to move even more enthusiastically.

You start moaning as she keeps biting you. Ellie hears you and she smiles. She seems to be enjoying herself tremendously and her hands are now grasping your sides firmly. You feel her breath on your neck as her lips and her teeth move along your skin.

You move your hips faster on her lap trying desperately to create some friction to ease the feeling of how incredibly turned on you are right now. Ellie's eyes turn towards yours and she's smiling as she's keeping her hands firmly on your body and your hips. She's now fully into the moment and the sound of your moans seem to be filling her with delight. You can feel her breathing on your neck as her lips bite you again gently, and you feel her body move up and down against yours as she follows the pace that you set with your hips.

You can feel her hand on your thigh, really close to where you want it to be  and you can feel her fingers gripping it. Ellie moves her hands along your body and then she leans back just a bit so that she can look you in the eye again. She smiles as she holds your gaze and then she leans forward.

You kiss her neck and keep the movements going. Ellie keeps up with your hips and she moves in rhythm with you. She leans back over your face, her eyes glinting seductively as she does so. She leans forward and her hair falls forward onto your arm as she nibbles your neck. She smiles and kisses you on your hand before leaning back and taking a quick breath. Then she leans back forwards and she moves her body against yours with more force.

Her hands are moving along your body again and then she moves away for a bit. She leans back a little just to enjoy the sight of you and she's clearly still very intoxicated. Ellie's eyes are gleaming in the light and she's smiling at you, "Wow... you seem to be enjoying this quite a lot..." You look at her panting and your face is blushing more by the second.

Ellie smiles and caresses your waist and your thighs as she looks at you, and then she leans over your face. She's panting a little but she's also very excited and she's smiling at you. She moves with you again, following along with your hips and you can feel her breath on your neck and her lips nibbling your body.

Ellie moves you down onto the couch and then she leans over you and she starts to kiss your shoulder and your chest. Her fingers are moving along your body more firmly now and she's breathing more heavily as she kisses you, but you can also hear her laughing and she's still smiling. She seems to be having a lot of fun. Her fingers begin to move further down your body and she smiles at you before whispering, "Wow... I think I... I like doing this..."

“I like you doing this…” You respond. Ellie smiles and then she seems to be struggling with her words as she speaks. Her face is filled with a bit of embarrassment and she leans back on top of you. She looks down. "I like this too..." Ellie kisses you again and you can feel her breathing heavily on your neck.

As you try to take Ellie's boxer's off, Ellie smiles and says, "Ah... um..." Ellie seems a bit surprised but then she leans over and she helps you take her boxers off. She's lying on top of you again and she seems to be enjoying the intimacy of what's happening. Her eyes are filled with a mix of excitement and a bit of shyness, but she's clearly not resisting as her fingers are moving down your body again and she's still nibbling lightly on you. Ellie's hand slowly begin to move towards your lower region, her fingers making small movements and caressing along your thigh.

You moan as she touches you. Ellie smiles and seems to be a bit surprised but pleased. She leans back and she continues to nibble your body again, while her other hand moves even further along your thigh and into your pussy. As she feels how wet you are her eyes went wide. “Oh, you’re really enjoying this…” She smiles as she kisses you once more. She starts triling small circles around your sensitive bud and looks at your face as she does it to see your reaction. Ellie has just taken your breath away again and now she's nibbling on your neck once more. She seems to be having a lot of fun now and she's not showing any signs of holding back any longer. You can feel her breath on your neck as she bites you.

She starts kissing down your neck to your chest and your breasts. She fondles one of them and sucks on your nipple and makes you moan. She smiles mischievously as she now sucks your other nipple a bit harder and nibbles on it a bit too. She's loving seeing you like this. All along as she's doing this her finger continues on your pussy, massaging your sensitive clit. You can't hold back your moans as she touches you, it just feels too good.

Ellie starts kissing down your stomach now and you can feel goosebumps forming on your skin. She smiles as she sees you shiver. Her fingers travel a bit lower than your bundle of nerves and she collects some of your wetness as she continues to make you moan. You can feel her leaving wet kisses along your belly as they make their way to your beautiful cunt. Once she reaches it she gives it a long lick to taste you and moves her tongue to your clit wanting to make you feel even better that you already are.

When you feel her tongue on you you roll your eyes due to all the pleasure as you arch your back. Ellie is happy to see you enjoying yourself and doesn't want to stop any time soon. She moves her tongue faster and faster as she feels your wetness growing on her fingers. She starts moving them around your entrance, you look down at her for a moment and she looks like a starved woman eating you out. You start feeling one of her fingers trying to enter your hole.

Ellie cant wait to see you all fucked up from her fingers being inside you. She starts inserting her middle finger slowly inside you, not to hurt you and stretch you slowly as you adjust to the intrusion. She starts pumping it in and out as she's still flicking your little clit with her tongue. Now you understand why all the girls want to be with her. She definitely knows what she's doing.

She's so concentrated on your clit and the sound of your voice that she closes her eyes. As one of her hands is taking care of you she lets her other one travel down her own body and touches herself as she is getting famished. Her core is throbbing and she can't stop herself from rubbing her own clit. Your moans only make her more turned on. A bit later she feels all the wetness she's producing and starts fingering herself, moaning into your pussy. You've never seen Ellie so eager and you're loving it. The vibrations of her moans into your cunt just make things feel even better. You put your hand on her head and tug at her auburn hair so she doesnt stop what she's doing.

She then starts prodding at your entrance with a second finger and inserts it without warning, making you gasp. She looks up at you as she does it and laughs to herself once she sees your reaction. She starts moving her fingers again “You like that?...” She smirks. All you can do is nod. “I knew you liked me all along, you just didn't want to admit it…” She moves faster now making you moan even more. She sucks your clit one last time before coming back up and kissing you passionately. She muffles your moans with her lips and you kiss her back letting your tongues intertwine. She is kissing you hungrily and doesn't want to stop. As the kiss quickens, so do her fingers, making you get closer to your release.  She looks you in the eyes as she inserts a third finger inside you. You frown your eyebrows as she does it trying not to look away from her green eyes. She smiles as she sees your whiny face. “Fuck… You feel so good baby.. I'm gonna make you cum, yeah?” As she says this she starts going faster and hitting the spot that makes you go crazy, making you moan louder than before and roll your eyes to the back of your head. She bites her bottom lip as she watches your reaction to her three fingers inside your tight hole. She keeps her pace going as she watches you reach higher and higher  closer to your peak. 

Your mind is starting to go blanck as the pleasure she's giving you makes you feel better than ever before. When you feel like your orgasm is about to wash over you you look back at her in the eyes. “Fuck… Ellie i’m… I'm gonna….” Before you could finish your sentence You feel your orgasm starting. Ellie cant take her eyes off of you, she's completely intoxicated. “That's it, cum for me… cum on my fingers…” You feel your body reacting to her words and you can't hold it back anymore. You cum as she's fingering you with all her skill.  “That's it… give it all to me…” She says looking down at your cunt filled with her fingers. her eyes shine as she sees all your cum. 

She slowly helps you come out of your high as she kisses you and starts moving her fingers slower until she eventually stops. She takes her fingers out of your cunt slowly, mesmerized by all of your cum. She then brings them to her mouth and sucks every last drop of your juices. She moans as she tastes you, it's like she's been starving for weeks. After, she kisses you so you can taste yourself on her tongue and lips. She smiles while she kisses you and caresses your face and hair. She gets up for a second and comes back from the bathroom with a wet warm towel to clean you up. She then lays beside you on the couch and holds you in her arms as you two cuddle for a bit. You hug her back tightly and don't want to let her go ever again. Her body feels so warm and soft against your skin. Both of your breaths start to slow down as you hold each other.

Ellie looks at you, her eyes are shining, she never felt so linked with anyone like she does with you in this very moment. You look back at her with love. You never knew you could feel the way you do about her ever. She is the most important thing to you at the moment, just like you are hers. A few minutes into the cuddle she says quietly in your ear. “I think I might love you…” Your heart starts beating harder now as you hear her words. You hug her tight and nuzzle your head into her neck. “I think I have loved you since the start…” You whisper to her. She holds you tighter and kisses your forehead. She covers you both with a fuzzy blanket and you both fall asleep holding one another. Maybe you never hated each other after all.

[t3ddyd0ll]

wyatt and emil with a negative rizz darling. Has no idea how to ask for attention it love other than shouting “PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PELASE PELASE.” Chronically online darling with severe brain rot, constant mentioning stupid tiktok, old vines, newer trends. Darling thats tries to tell a lame joke or pickup line and stutters through it all. Completely fucks up the wording. You feel me??(( WDJEJWOSKIW

yesssss hehe

wyatt would find this so so entertaining. they also are chronically online so they could truly keep up with darling!! would love to snuggle up together and waste time on tik tok or youtube, love to reference things and find new things to talk about on what's happening in the digital world!!

and their calls for attention and flirting would be sooooooooo endearing. wyatt would get such a kick out of this and tease darling about it a LOT.

emil would be confused on a lot of the references but would do his best to keep up. he'd think it's kinda interesting that darling has so much knowledge on this other side of things that he doesn't, and would enjoy stalking their accounts to find out more of their tastes and secrets :)!

with the attention seeking and jokes/flirting, emil would also find this very entertaining. he'd do things to make darling trip up even more, and would tease darling about it WAY worse than wyatt would. wants to see darling blush and try again and again to get it right

[hurtfortea]

Was doing some writing exercises and...

So, I decided to use a three random word generator to get, well, three random words to create scenes from. Strangely, they all turned out kind of whumpy! Perhaps this is just a sign that I am a very dark minded person, but hey-

Figured I'd share.

Prompt #1: bulb, offender, proposal

"Stop! You have nowhere left to run. Put your hands on your head!" She shouts, coming to a stop a couple paces behind him. He freezes at the end of the hall, slowly lifting his hands. They link together behind his head as he stares at the concrete wall in front of him. "Get down on your knees!" She demands. He turns to face her instead, looking strangely relaxed, despite having a gun pointed at him. "I said get down!"

He sighs. "I want to make you an offer."

"You don't have anything I want." She snaps, eyes narrowing.

"Oh yeah? How about your life? Look down."

Inexplicably, her throat tightens, and her eyes slowly trail from him to the ground around her feet. She keeps her gun pointed ahead, though. There are vines all over the floor, some sprouting strange little buds. One, with its stem crushed under her foot, is pointed up at her, its little pedals parted slightly. There's a bit of, barely visible, green gas seeping from it. Slowly, she lowers her gun.

"What's your offer?"

Prompt #2: error, whisper, analysis

"No, no, no," she says, watching the monitor freeze, an error warning popping up at the center.

"It was never going to work," a voice whispers in her ear, and she whips around, but there's no one there. Slowly, she turns back to the computer, running her fingers through her greasy, unkempt hair.

"I'll figure it out. I have to."

Prompt #3: refer, urgency, steep

"My doctor told me to come to you, please, you're the only one who can help us!"

The man frowns, his wrinkles accentuated by the expression. "The operation won't be easy. I'll need proper payment."

"I'll give you anything you want! Anything!"

He leans closer, his eyes lighting up a sickly yellow. "Even yourself?"

Prompt #4: compensation, pain, poll

He curls further in on himself, clutching his broken body.

"We need to decide on what to do with him." One of the men standing over him say.

"Ah, we seen dis shit before. No one ever gets away with the cover up. The secret will come out eventually, ya?" Another asks.

"You've been watching too many movies, Lonnie."

"Nah, he's got a point. How 'bout we take this guy to the nearest hospital, and he can agree to keep his trap shut. Eh? Right, buddy?" The man prods him with a foot, and he groans, nodding slightly. Anything, if they'll just get him some medical attention.

"Pah, if you haven't fucking noticed, there's a reason we're driving on the back roads! If we go out to town, someone's gonna notice none of us are fuckin sober!" At this point, he can hardly tell which of them is speaking.

"Alright, you've got a point. How about we just call someone then?"

"What's to say he doesn't talk?"

"Screw it, how about we just pay him? What do ya say, kid? Wanna make some cash?" They nudge him again, and he releases a low whine.

"Let's vote on it, ey, lads? Everyone for doin nothin?"

It's an excruciating couple of minutes before they come to a decision, and he flinches when something drops on his face. It feels like paper. His eyes open to see bills. Dollar bills.

"Dere ya go, bud, that should cheer ya up."

"Good luck, pal!"

"Don't go yapping."

With that, they leave him. He listens to the sound of their car as it starts and then speeds away. The crickets sound loudly in the forest around him, the sky near black. He wonders if they called anyone.

[eravicis]

Solo Leveling // Legends Never Die

Title: Chapter 10 - Grind Series: Solo Leveling ( I Alone Level Up ) Pairing: Sung Jin-woo/Original Female Character Rating: Mature Chapters: 10/? Word Count: ~6304 A/N: It only took… three years… haha… did you miss me? ;; It's been so long that I wonder if people will like this chapter… hope you like it! ><;

Again, I will tag the appropriate tags at the beginning of each chapter to avoid general spoilers.

*agasshi (아가씨) - miss *halmeoni - granny/grandmother *eomma - a casual reference to mother/mom

I tried adding some introspection, but I think that's hard to do in that situation.

Summary: Jinwoo is faced with an ultimatum, and Yoona stumbles her way into an "easy" way of grinding through the system.

—  x  —

AO3

Lizards.

It's a slang term that refers to the people who betray other party members, saving their own skin and leaving them behind. It's not the same as the situation with Jinwoo or Yoona in the Double Dungeon since they had volunteered to be left behind so as not to drag down the party in their escape. These people, however, save themselves for their own personal gain.

Jinwoo recollects a conversation he had with another Hunter named Oh. He clarifies that because being a Hunter is dangerous, it's expected that risk and injuries come with the job. However, the problem with the job is that their current electrical technology loses its functions once it enters the Gate. Or rather, it's more like there is no technology that's able to connect to the other side of the gate. Thus, people cannot watch what's happening inside the Gate from the outside. (It's been said that humans and hunters have yet to develop the necessary tech to withstand the transport through the portal due to the high mana density.)

This makes it very difficult to prove a crime has been committed inside the dungeon. Without the security of technology to monitor inside the dungeons, there is no way to stop a hunter from committing any sort of crime. So the weaker someone is, the more expendable they become. However, if someone is strong, people seek that strength and will cling to them.

But, if a hunter says that they're useless or even get in the way, then, like a lizard leaving its tail behind, a person can end up being cut in more than one way.

And it's this specific warning that repeats itself in Jinwoo's mind as Jinho panics, watching their exit disappear. Even if they tried to stop them from trapping them within the boss room, the attack force was ready to strike them down if anything changed.

Paying attention to details wasn't needed, hm? Jinwoo suddenly understands what Hwang Dongsuk means. 

Dropping the bags onto the ground, he muses that this giant spider monster, the boss, is nothing like his traumatizing experience in the Double Dungeon. In fact, there's a feeling that perhaps this is fate that he gets this opportunity to test his current abilities on a C-Rank dungeon boss.

"That's mine," he says, his dagger summoned to his hand as he prepares for combat.

And for the first time, he smiles with confidence.

—  x  —

The destruction where the Gate opened is disastrous.

There's shouting in the distance, but what remains of the park is gone and, instead, is littered with debris and wounds on the earth from the blasts in the ensuing battle. What people could be saved are pulled off the field and the only people left are some Hunters trying to fend off the boss.

Yoona runs as fast as she is able to get closer. But from a distance, she could only watch who she could assume to be the healer dropping to the ground from mana exhaustion. The only person left standing appears to be a tank, holding his shield up. In front of him is a plant-like creature, tall and massive, that stands easily four stories tall, wood and vines making up its form between its bark. It stands in front of the blue portal, wavering and threatening to allow more creatures to escape the dungeon. Its build is very similar to that of a stocky golem, a four-legged creature with a tree trunk for its face. Glowing green eyes gleam from between its bark as its front arm lifts and quickly drops it.

But the back of the head of the tank bracing for impact is familiar, someone she didn't expect to see so soon on the frontlines.

"Adrien!"

His head doesn't turn, bringing up his shield to block an incoming attack from the large plant-like golem.

Yoona doesn't want to assume, but it looks like she has caught them between waves. This also means that they don't have much time for Adrien to catch her up on what's happened thus far. This creature looks like they're the last one of the group that's managed to escape the dungeon's gate.

The healer passed out, exhausted, with her health low to the point that it's in danger. Yoona sees both of their health bars above their heads, like a video game, and the corners of her mouth twitch. Honestly, how much is the System making her see this as a video game instead of a life-or-death situation?

Clearly, someone has a terrible sense of humor.

She doesn't even think when she utters a healing spell with the wave of her hand, the sparkling glow that comes from her fingers shimmering over Adrien, who's about to take another blow to his shield. He manages to brace it in time as he is enveloped in the healing glow of her healing magic. He sinks into the earth under its forceful weight, cracking and breaking the earth around him, a grunt before he changes it into a yell to shove the creature off his shield.

Yoona slides into place beside the healer, looking over the healer's condition. She's weak, dripping in cold sweat, and exhausted from mana exhaustion, on top of the low health. She waves a hand over her face and utters a heal to watch most of their injuries disappear and finally breathe without the distress.

The creature shudders, stumbling back from how Adrien threw it off-balance.

He spares her a glance back with a small grin. "Much thanks for the assist."

"Of course," she responds with a grin, happy to see her friend again. But this isn't the time to play catch-up.

The creature slams its large hoof-like feet down on Adrien's shield again and he gets shoved deeper into the earth.

"Need help?"

"A little," he grunts and shoves the creature with more strength again once Yoona has finished healing him to full.

Huh, finished healing him. Is there something he should be aware of? Above all else, healed him to full? This is Yoona that came to his aid, right? But, she has… white hair?

The idle thoughts disappear when the golem drops its foot back down on the shield in a rushing force that Adrien gets pummeled, disappearing into the earth under his buckler like a hammer hammering a nail into the ground.

Setting the healer away from the battle, Yoona pulls her staff out from her inventory in a shimmer of electrical golden light and it swirls around her in anticipation of what's to come. With a grin, Yoona twirls the staff in her hand. No longer does she feel intimidated by such a daunting and seemingly overwhelming creature from the Gate, but Yoona is excited to test out just how powerful this new staff of hers is.

—————  x  —————

(!) 𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 [POISON] is ineffective against TREE GOLEM!

—————  x  —————

A pity, Yoona thinks. But it confirms that it's a golem rather than a living creature. She had a feeling that the area-of-effect poison would be ineffective against it. Idly, if she was a fire mage, she could probably do some really intense damage. Well, if this were a video game that's based off of elemental properties like a certain little pocket monster series.

Still, she casts a buff spell on herself, which buffs all of her physical and defensive stats temporarily, and takes off running.

The golem notices her and turns in her direction.

It's too slow to respond when Yoona runs until she's just in front of it, and then jumps straight up. With more strength than she realizes she has when she becomes level with its face, Yoona takes this opportunity to stab the golem in its eyes with her spear.

With a roar, it pulls its head away from the offending weapon.

With the strength she now has, thanks to her recent level gain, she pulls back and her staff-turned-spear cleaves clean the head of the golem off of its trunk body. And in nanoseconds, Yoona watches as its vines move swiftly to grab for its head. 

In the same momentum, Yoona doesn't give it a chance to recover, and she twirls in mid-air, grabs an ax from her inventory, and drops its blade down into the center of the trunk where its head once was. With how much force she applies to the ax, she continues the motion with several strikes from her left to her right and back again before the ax breaks from fighting against the golem's trunk.

As it shatters, it disappears into the air in a fit of blue light and sparkles when she releases it.

With its trunk cleanly cut open from her ax, it exposes its center, the core. Different from the monster's magic cores that drop from a monster's defeat, this one is what controls this creature. From somewhere else, its monster magical core will appear.

Dropping down onto the staggering headless body, Yoona lifts her spear and points the sharp blade at the core. Without pause, she brings it down and breaks the jewel-like blue orb, breaking it into near halves.

With a broken groan of wood grinding, it stumbles and drops to its knees, shaking the earth.

—————  x  —————

(!) 𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 You have leveled up!

—————  x  —————

She blinks at the notification. Really? How easy is it really to level up like this? Still, she's not going to complain if it means she's leveling up. However, she wishes with every level up, she has something more than that to allot more points into her stats.

Maybe she's going about this wrong. Idly, she makes a mental note to look over the interface again later.

Canceling the effect of her buff spell, Yoona jumps down to the ground where Adrien is busy digging himself out of the hole. He blinks when he realizes the golem is down. His head swivels, blinking repeatedly when his gaze lands on Yoona.

She twirls the staff and replaces it back inside her inventory in a flash of light, making her way over to him. Her gaze subtly narrows when the hairs on the back of her neck lift and she tries to resist the urge to look around, aware that she's being watched. Yoona needs to feign ignorance or else, it's possible that those watching would figure out she's been Reawakened.

"Need a hand?" she asks again. It's amusing considering he's about halfway out of the hole and is still waist-deep inside it.

"Yeah," he says, holding his hand up from the hole. She braces his wrist and pulls him out with surprising ease.

Yoona lets him go as Adrien blinks, looking her over and dusting himself off while she looks at her hand and flexes her fingers. How curious; normally, Adrien is considerably heavier than he looks because he's muscular. Plus, equipped with the gear, he's a size that someone of her frame would have trouble moving. 

"Yoona?"

The incredulous tone comes when comprehension dawns on him.

She turns her head to face him, giving him a small smile.

"No, wait," he says, shaking his head in disbelief and lifting a hand to her and the other to his head, "you can't be her—last I checked, she had black hair and her healing spells literally couldn't heal me to half health, let alone to full." He drops his hand and crosses his arms across his chest with a scrutinizing stare.

"Who are you?"

"Haha." Yoona averts her gaze and nervously forces a laugh, wondering how she's going to explain to Adrien that she experienced a Reawakening and is capable of getting stronger? Hell, she wonders if he would even believe her. Much less believe her about her ability to see now an interface that she calls her own personal video game. Even if the consequences of said video game mean the end of people's lives.

Adrien arches a brow.

"A-ny-way, we should head inside the gate and kill the boss before any more of those creatures respawn," Yoona says, holding her hand to her eyes to peer at their surroundings when there seem to be no more creatures around that have otherwise escaped. However, in doing so, she can't seem to see who it is that's watching her, but she can sense that there are two B-Rank Hunters nearby. They weren't there earlier when she took down the golem, but definitely after.

Maybe if she really tried, she could probably throw a dagger in the direction just to scare the living daylights out of them.

He squints and then stares at her for a moment longer before hefting a heavy sigh. "Alright, I'll let it slide this time but—!"

"—… But what?" She looks hesitantly in his direction. Honestly, lying has never been her forte.

"You owe me some kind of explanation other than what I can only assume is… whatever I think it is."

This time, Yoona's wariness drops and she's left surprised. Taken aback by his vague wording, her brows quickly furrow when her thoughts start running. Assumptions like he's on the radio with the UK Hunters Association or perhaps, the people that she senses that are nearby might have something to do with it.

There's a sharp look in his eye that warns her to leave it at that and radios that all is clear and that he's heading into the Gate.

He gestures with his head for them to head inside and with one final cursory glance around, Yoona follows.

Inside the Gate, a forest with high temple walls greets her with tall trees and high underbrush. They stand in a clearing in the middle of a forest where its canopy shrouds the floor of the forest in shifting shadows. The temple walls make it feel like a maze and the canopy of the trees is the ceiling.

"Damn," Adrien swears.

Yoona has seen her fair share of Gates and sometimes there are new ones to explore. This one is a meld of the typical forest dungeons often found through a Red Gate—a dungeon that locks its Hunters inside until all of the hunters have died or it's cleared—and a typical dungeon. Generally, each one specifically has limitations, much like typical dungeons where there is a direct or a maze-like path to be explored upon entry.

"What? This dungeon isn't to your liking?" Yoona asks, somewhat amused.

"It's fine," he shrugs weakly. "But, I just realized, how are we going to clear the dungeon and beat the dungeon boss by ourselves? We're not exactly high-ranking Hunters."

Yoona feels it's probably safe now to tell him about her recent changes.

"But!" Adrien takes a few steps forward, casting a glance in Yoona's direction with an arched brow. "Something tells me that something happened to you after we left that hell of a place." He steps close to her, relieved and with bright eyes.

Placing a hand on her shoulder, he gives her a watery smile. "You made it and—" he squeezes her shoulder, "—I'm really glad you did."

Yoona smiles, nodding, and placing a hand on his to give him a reassuring squeeze. "Yeah," she says, feeling a strange lump forming in her throat. "A lot happened."

Adrien quirks a crooked smile, pulling Yoona in for a tight hug. Yoona forces the lump down her throat, appreciative of his genuine care for her welfare. It's been far and few between since people often wanted something from her or found her more of an inconvenience. But Adrien has always been a friend first and foremost, even after they found out their ranks as Hunters.

So when he pulls away, he clears his throat and straightens, giving her another look over.

"Hm."

He glances around the dungeon. Scratching his head, he crosses his arms across his chest and arches a brow. He returns his attention back to Yoona.

"So," he begins, giving her an expectant look.

Nervously, Yoona laughs and averts her gaze.

"You took down that golem with no problem—you wanna share something with the class? Or namely, I don't know, me? Cause I feel like I need to know something before we die trying to clear this dungeon." And then he arches a brow. "And weren't you… hm, I dunno, shorter?"

He makes a gesture hovering over her head and to where she comes up to his shoulder.

Lifting her gaze up to the taller, Yoona clears her throat and places a hand on her hip. She tries not to think about how her height correlates to Adrien. (But, she was definitely up to his chest before, no, wait, smaller? And now, she comes to his shoulder?) "Well, remember the double dungeon?"

The sound of the forest rustles in the back and the humidity is palpable that Yoona wipes at her brow. Even Adrien adjusts the armor he wears as he readies his equipment, sensing the change in the atmosphere. Again, Yoona pulls out her staff with a shimmer of light.

He twirls his sword in his hand before raising his buckler, moving ahead of her as they start venturing into the dungeon. "Is this a rhetorical question?"

Ah, right, stupid question but she honestly blames nerves. She isn't sure how he'd take the news, but she feels like she owes him that much, having been one of the few people who experienced the double dungeon. Adrien is one of the few people that's stuck with her since she started working as a Hunter.

"Wait." He turns his head to give her another look over and looks dumbfounded. "Did you get a Reawakening?"

"Focus, Adrien!" 

He shakes his head. "Talk and cover for me—surely, you can do that, can't you?"

Yoona makes a face but moves after him, positioned behind him for any attacks that would come from the front. She supposes old habits die hard and follows as she sighs, finding she isn't nervous about the dungeon, but rather how he'd react to her news. After all, she hasn't even told Jinwoo about it yet. Maybe it's just easier to tell Adrien since he was there—at least, he was there before she "died."

"There's not much to tell you except I might've Reawakened."

She resists the urge to grimace and slap herself on the forehead.

"'Might've? Might've? ' So you're telling me that your white hair has nothing to do with your highly probable Reawakening?"

Ah, she really can't fool him, can she? Foolishly, Yoona thought she could back out of telling him the truth, but she's come this far. The guilt that Adrien knows before Jinwoo manifests itself in her chest, clawing at her, but at the very least, she owes Adrien. He was there and it's not fair of her to keep this from him when it's all too obvious that he can see the changes.

She scratches her head and sighs. "Alright, so I—sort of, yeah—had a Reawakening, but when I got tested by the Monitoring Division, there was no change in my evaluation."

This is the truth, despite Adrien sparing her an scrutinizing look, opting in lieu of investigating around the corner of the dungeon. Somehow, she has a feeling he doesn't believe her. This is proven true when they clear a couple of floors of the dungeon, most of it emptied when the Gate opened earlier and let them roam outside in their world, and all Adrien does is sigh in the most exaggerated manner.

Dramatic, really.

"I'm serious!" Yoona decides to emphasize. "I was evaluated to still be an E-Rank when they came to the same conclusion you did. They were there when I woke up."

Adrien, again, remains skeptical, but decides after a moment more that he seems to believe her.

Their investigation through the dungeon is anti-climatic, finding that most of the monsters have already left the gate, leaving only the boss deep inside the dungeon. However, there's an odd tingle down her spine at the feeling when she approaches it. Nerves? Anxiety? No, it's probably something like excitement? Oh, yes, that's it.

It's been awhile since she got to test out the limits of her newfound abilities that she's excited about fighting this dungeon boss.

The boss, in the end, is at a higher level than the previous bosses she's fought before.

No, she's wrong.

There's more than one boss at the end, and she's positively giddy.

"But, something did happen while I was down there, and I don't know if you'll believe me," Yoona starts, wondering if this is okay. Telling Adrien before she's telling Jinwoo feels somehow wrong and her grip tightens on her staff before she relaxes again.

But Jinwoo wasn't there.

Would he understand?

"You won't know until you try and tell me, right?" Adrien shrugs. He relaxes now that they've cleared the dungeon. It seems the Gate has already released every creature from the dungeon out into the world. He sheathes his blade and continues to navigate the maze. "And at this point, I can almost believe anything can happen. If we can stumble upon a rare double dungeon that has S-Gate monsters inside it, then anything is possible."

"You think there's more than that out there?" Yoona blinks, incredulous. "And do you think our luck is really that bad?"

"Why not? These Gates only started showing up ten years ago and we still don't know everything about them or why they started showing up. Plus," Adrien pauses briefly to give her another glance, "anything's possible now. I really hope that we're really not that—" he grimaces, "—'lucky' to encounter another one of those dungeons."

Yoona presses her lips into a thin line, furrowing her brows. It's like a conspiracy theory, one that seems common on the internet. She can only imagine why they would come to this conclusion.

Especially when their theory holds true: at the end of this dungeon are two large creatures that she could guess as two boss monsters.

She senses it before she sees it in the next room over. They enter a cavernous room with large trees encompassing the sides and their long branches filling the ceiling and covering the sky. Large tiles and building pieces of an ancient civilization are littered into pieces on the sides, giving the impression the ceiling caved in and its debris is left in the middle of the room.

Movement in the corner catches their attention that Adrien barely lifts his shield in time to brace for impact.

"Adrien!"

It's an explosion of energy and debris that shoves Adrien from where he once stood, his feet sliding along the ground as he explodes into the wall of the temple. Smoke covers him that Yoona can't see whether or not—

Another movement on her other side that she barely lifts her staff in time to brace for impact and she's sent flying into the other wall in her own explosion of debris.

She coughs out, surprised, and barely moves in time when another movement in the smoke catches her off guard that she drops, crouches, and then lunges with her staff.

It barely nicks whatever is attacking her, taking advantage of the brief smoke to hide itself from her view.

But it's strong, sturdy, and she knows she hit it.

It takes a moment more that she dodges the next impact, jumping forward to duck into a roll that takes her a few steps closer back to the center of the boss room.

"Adrien! You doing okay?!"

"Oh, never better! Ugh," he groans as he manages to pull himself from being pummeled by whatever it is that is attacking them.

What on earth is this boss?

No, Yoona sensed two earlier—

The smoke finally clears as she hears the growling, low and deep, that she makes the connection that it's what she had speculated—two bosses.

Well, she speculated one mini-boss and the actual boss but watching as the two jaguar-like creatures circle them told her otherwise. One is slightly smaller than the other with both sporting inky black coats and four large black wings along their back. While they don't have paws, they have talons, moving with surprising dexterity and quiet that Yoona swears they probably also had some kind of paw pad.

And they're both triple her height.

They circle her now as Adrien comes to the center of the arena. Yoona couldn't help the small smile she makes, an excitement she didn't know she could have in the face of danger manifesting in the face of a new challenge. Her grip on her staff tightens and then relaxes again, ready to move in the next moment she's ready.

Now, it'll be a little odd working with Adrien since she's Reawakened, but it can't be helped.

"Adrien, we're going to work together to take them down, right?"

"I'm pretty sure I'm the only one here that can help, so yeah!"

Even though she's not looking at him as they have their backs to one another, she can practically hear his eyes roll at her rhetorical question.

But she doesn't get to explain her plan when both of the jaguar-like creatures lunge and it takes all of what strength she has to take the weight of its force against the staff. It's heavy and she barely manages to brace for it. But feline creatures move just as fast as she's able to manage and the second paw comes that she barely manages to angle the staff just enough to block the paw.

However, she isn't quite right and its claws manage to just cut through her clothes that it draws blood.

Yoona winces and thinks of the buff skill that shrouds herself in a brief aura of red.

—————  x  —————

[SPELL: 𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐍 𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑 has been activated.]

[Your SPEED and STRENGTH have increased by 30%.]

—————  x  —————

It's a little soon but she wants to take care of this quickly and before her [Fatigue] becomes a problem.

—————  x  —————

[EFFECT: "𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐋𝐘𝐙𝐄": The opponent will be paralyzed at a certain rate.]

[EFFECT: "𝐏𝐎𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐍": Whenever a spell is cast, foes within 25 ft. of the caster will lose 1% of their health per second.]

—————  x  —————

She pushes back, sending the creature back that it's surprised, unable to find ground at the accelerated speed that comes from [Burn Booster.] The tip of the spear slices through one of its front legs that it cries when it's sent flying into the wall. And in one fluid motion, Yoona turns on her heel with the ease of a dancer to skewer the other that's digging its claws into Adrien's shield, right into its chest.

It reels back with a screech, realizing that this one is the mini-boss when she pulls her spear free to find that there's a red jewel adorning its neck.

"Cover me!"

Adrien tries to read what Yoona commands when she ducks, the other one coming forward from behind her once more with another lunge. He grunts from exertion at the weighted momentum when his shield barely manages to connect with the attacking Alpha. And while he's distracted, Yoona turns to spear the boss creature right into its breast. But it misses the mark of its heart and she braces herself.

Just like its partner did, it rears back with another screech and she pulls her spear back.

—————  x  —————

[EFFECT: 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐋𝐘𝐙𝐄 has been activated.] [EFFECT: 𝐏𝐎𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐍 has been activated.]

[The foe's resistance was too high. The effect(s) was canceled.]

[Fatigue: 39]

—————  x  —————

Damnit!

Yoona watches as Adrien falters, thinking victory is at hand when the other jaguar creature manifests and pounces. He barely manages to raise his shield in time as he's sent to the ground, barely able to withstand fang and claw as he's pummeled. His health bar rapidly falls when Yoona utters another [Heal].

—————  x  —————

[EFFECT: 𝐏𝐎𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐍 has been activated.]

[The foes' resistance was too high. The effect(s) was canceled.]

—————  x  —————

This immediately draws both of the jaguar creatures attention to her.

Damnit!

Sparing a glance back at Adrien, she finds him knocked out, but alive and breathing with his health in the clear. With his shield resting on his chest, at least, he's mostly protected for the moment that she diverts her attention back to the prowling jaguars.

How did Adrien get knocked out when she healed him to full? What's more, wasn't he just fine moments ago?

Yoona backs away from the two approaching prowling predators as both of their wings shimmer. The hairs on the back of her neck tell her that they're only going to get faster. There's no way that their only attacks as boss creatures are fangs and lunging claws.

She twirls the staff in her hands, making sure they both can see it, but she's vastly outnumbered. 

Just as she guessed, their wings shimmer and they both seem to take turns lunging as they begin to bounce off the walls. They become faster and faster and she's not able to block each of their attacks. Each one becomes heavier and heavier that she has a hard time keeping up until she's getting hurt. She can hear her health plummeting.

—————  x  —————

[EFFECT: 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐋𝐘𝐙𝐄 has been activated.]

[The foes' resistance was too high. The effect(s) was canceled.]

[Fatigue: 58]

—————  x  —————

Yoona isn't built to directly take hit after hit like this. And she's getting incredibly tired taking such heavy blows that she can tell if she tried taking any more of a beating, she won't make it. Why are they so fast and somehow, hitting her so goddamn hard ?!

And then, she sees it: her opportunity to break through.

—————  x  —————

[SKILL: 𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐄𝐃 has been activated.]

[Your SPEED has increased by 30%.]

—————  x  —————

They both jump at the same time and she jumps up higher the moment they cross over one another. With one flick of her wrist, she swings the spear clear across the backs of their neck to the bone of where their spine connects their skulls. Instead, she meets resistance as she slices through the fanciful accessories adorning their necks.

But, it's deep enough to cause serious damage that their cries are enough to make her wince. She lands with another flick of the staff-turned-spear and braces herself, not wanting to give the jaguars any room to breathe. Yoona lunges, going after the jaguar on the right as it falters.

"Heal!"

—————  x  —————

[EFFECT: 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐋𝐘𝐙𝐄 has been activated.]

[𝐃𝐔𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐎𝐍 𝐁𝐎𝐒𝐒(𝐄𝐒) are paralyzed.]

[EFFECT: 𝐏𝐎𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐍 has been activated.]

[The opponent will lose 1% health per second.]

—————  x  —————

Rejuvenation floods her, relieving her of the built up fatigue as she begins to flick through her weapons repertoire to slice through the first winged jaguar. She summons forth an ax and slices through the tendons of their legs; summons a sword to finish the job as she cleanly beheads it; and, summons a claymore to double tap as she downward slices through its heart.

Taking that same claymore, she swings with a force the other winged jaguar isn't prepared for. It isn't able to move as it takes the blade straight through its heart. She sheathes the blade back into her inventory and summons the sword once more to behead the jaguar.

She drops to a knee, dropping the sword down to the ground as she hears pings going off once more.

Finally taking a breath, Yoona returns to standing as she swings her braid back and wipes her brow. She picks up the sword and returns it back into her inventory to draw out a dagger. Yoona is going to earn some money for all of her efforts, otherwise; there's no point in being a hunter. And plus, no one else is here, right?

Well, except Adrien and she pauses before going to the corpses of the creatures.

She makes her way over to Adrien, kneeling beside him to check both his pulse and his breathing. Thankfully, her initial glance at both the health bar and mana bar seem fine and he's not in any danger. But she does feel a small bump at the back of his head that matches the small little icon next to his health bar. Ah, did he fall in a bad way that either conveniently or inconveniently knocked him out?

Yoona isn't sure whether or not she's lucky or not that he didn't see how she took out the dungeon's boss. With a sigh, she decides to leave him be for the moment so she can go ahead and extract the mana crystals. The faster she does this, the sooner they can leave.

Using the knife with the precision and training Yoona gained from med school, she cuts out the crystals and stows them in her inventory. As she does so, all she can think about is how this will finally pay for her schooling and finally, start to get herself out of the negatives. Maybe if there's any extra, she can send some to Jinwoo…

At the thought, she hopes he's doing okay, lifting her gaze up at the sky as though her thoughts would reach him.

—  x  —

"Of course you'd betray me; I'm weak."

Jinwoo expects this, but color him surprised when Jinho decides to take his side. It didn't take very long for the words he knew were coming from Dongsuk. Is this really how these people are going to do this?

"Have you… ever killed someone before?" Their eyes gleam menacingly as they stalk toward Jinwoo and Jinho.

Jinwoo doesn't even get the chance to properly think of a reaction when the System seems to do it for him as it pings.

—————  x  —————

[An urgent quest has arrived.]

—————  x  —————

He flinches, at first, thinking the System is simply acting up, but then he gets blasted into the wall behind him.

That's not what really hurts, but rather the reminder of the anger and disappointment he felt back in the Double Dungeon. The Quest Info screen fizzles, like it's losing signal in comparison to where his mind has gone. Disappointment claws at him, irritated that he forgot. Anger burns inside of him until he feels like yelling at the world.

How?

Somehow, he remembers what Yoona told him before.

" To stay angry? I think you can stay as angry as long as you want ."

" Look, anger is okay, grief is okay, spite is okay ."

How? How? How? How?

HOW? 

HOW?

The simple question buries him, enraging him that he's this foolish, this weak STILL to think that he had any kind of trust in another person. He wants to scream, wants to yell, seething in the frustration and helplessness he once had. After all, at the end of all of this, he's at fault.

How could he have…

Forgotten what kind of place this is?

That this place is governed by the strongest, by the "Survival of the Fittest" principle?

His hand grasps hold of the stones next to him, slowly pulling himself out of the rubble as a cool fury washes over him. Jinwoo hasn't been thinking clearly until just now, but he's clear now. After all, time and time again, in all of these dungeons, he's overcome death that he could almost consider it a friend. And yet, he's recovered each time. Going back in despite the possible dangers, he's mistaken that these places were safe.

He was wrong.

The System is telling him, forcing him to commit murder.

They're a THREAT.

Steel steadies his hands when he found that the answer was easy, almost surprised at himself at just how easily he accepted what he's about to do. It's asking him to either kill them or die. Why would it give such an ultimatum if it didn't have something else in store for him? Or perhaps, the system would become complicated if he were to die because he refused to take a life.

This is neither a coincidence nor an act of goodwill and it's obvious now: the System needs him. And what it needs is for him to become strong, to steel himself against all possible foes that he may face in the future. It needs him to be strong.

Jinwoo lifts himself out of the rubble despite the blood covering part of his vision. A cursory glance at his health tells him that they took out just a little under half damage of his total health. That's plenty for what he's going to do now.

Ultimately, the System isn't trying to make him stronger, but rather, he can tell that it simply wants a more powerful version of himself.

Ah, now that he knows what it wants… if the System is going to use him, then he's going to use the System.

He stands and begins walking over toward the murderers.

"Since you guys are playing around with people's lives, I'm assuming that you're also prepared to face the consequences." Jinwoo cracks his knuckles at his sides, energy sparking across his frame in his silent fury. The System is forcing him to quickly accept the fact that these people aren't worth his time, worth the effort of keeping them alive.

"What is this idiot going on about?" asks the one Hunter with a buzzcut.

"Since you call yourselves hunters, I'm asking if you're prepared to become the hunted."

"Dongsuk, I'll take care of him," says a brown haired hunter that has his hair pulled into a ponytail. He approaches Jinwoo with a confident swagger that he even has the nerve of putting his arm around Jinwoo's shoulders.

"Look, man, it seems like you still don't fully understand the situation at hand."

In Jinwoo's right hand, electrical blue lightning flickers as he resummons his dagger.

For one single moment, he thinks of Yoona. Jinwoo thinks of Yoona, a healer, who tries her best to save lives . Yoona, who's becoming a doctor.

And Jinwoo takes his first life with a single flick of his hand.

[hugemilkshake]

Yet this is a part 3 to my developing story about my Parton OCs and the powdered basil torment officially starts now so have fun!

The Watchful Witch

-Platonic-

Part 1, part 2, part 4, part 5, part 6

“Powdered Basil, and Travelers you should all meet the witch! Or well the witches little helper and their helper! Oh Powdered Basil your going to love Y/N Cookies assistant!” Bubbling Oil Cookie took Powdered Basils hand and started to drag him along. The group followed suit afterwards

The street had cookies of various kinds wondering around, some were normal, some were faeries and then others looked like something the group had never seen before.

After a minute two cookies came into view, one was taller with a big witch hat on and the shorter cookie with a puffy jacket on.

Bubbling Oil practically dashed over, dragging poor Powdered Basil along. “Y/N Cookieee!” Bubbling Oil cheered.

Y/N Cookie turned around and greeted them, the cookie next to them also turned around. “I see you dragged the wolf back in” “Well the only reason why the wolf is even here is because we have travelers!” “Can you not call me a wolf-”Powdered Basil was cut off by Y/N Cookie

“Well greetings travelers, I am Y/N Cookie, and this is my helper Adele Penguin Cookie” Adele Penguin grinned before rummaging through a pocket and pulling out a pretty dull rock. Before walking over to Powdered Basil and Giving it to him.

“It’s very nice to meet you Mr Basil! I’ve heard a lot about you!” Adele Penguin smiled. Powdered Basil took the rock and he looked… confused…?

“What.. is this?” “It’s a rock! Its a sign of respect” “…I… see…” Powdered Basil sounded a little… put off. A bird soon flew down and landed on his shoulder chirping a few things.

“I’m terribly sorry to cut this meeting short but there’s something going on with the woodland critters” Everyone looks at him “Awwww your leaving so soon? Oh well… I guess you have to do your duties… well it was nice to see you again” Bubbling Oil pouted

Powdered Basil soon walked away in a hurry leaving the group with the three other cookies. “Well travelers, you should follow me, you should meet the other patrons. They are quite lovely to be around” Y/N Cookie spoke. The group soon walked down, closer to the town center.

Wizard Cookie soon asked a question “Y/N Cookie, I heard you were a witch… is that true?” “In some form, yes it is. I was baked by a witch to watch over the patrons and make sure their souls don’t become tainted by darkness.” Everyone collectively nodded. Soon put group of cookies started to ask questions about the patrons and the kingdom itself as they started to approach the town center

Here’s an Adele Penguin reference for you :3

……

…..

….

…

..

.

Woodland critters scattered about as Powdered Basil walked through some vines that hid a little clearing of Little trinkets

“…why… why did he give me this…? I’m… I’m Not supposed to get things… but… the others get things when they help people…” Powdered Basil looked at the rock in his hand

“…it… it… IT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE!” He shouted as he threw the rock at a glass vase, shattering it instantly.

[cookieeks-art]

Here’s a little project I worked on last year, but kinda, forgot to post? It’s a fake Red shoes art book spread for Edda! The composition, and art styles used, is mainly based on Snow White first page, and Arthur's second page from the actual art book, including of course the artist featured in them (aka Jeon Mi-jin (전미진) who drew the art that the art on the first page and the drawing to the top right on the second page is based on, Kim Sang-jin (김상진) aka Jin Kim who drew the art that the first drawing and the four lower drawings in the second page are based on, and Choi Minjeong (최민정) who drew the the art that the top middle drawing on the second page is based on.) (I had to use Google translate to get the names in the Latin alphabet, so I apologise if there’s any mistakes, I tried to keep the Korean name order for all the names, with the exception of Jin Kim.) [EDIT: I took a closer look Arthur’s first page today and realised that it served as a bigger inspiration for the first page that I drew then I remembered when first posting this, so shout out to that page as well which have two drawings made by Jeon Mi-jin and Choi Minjeong respectively.]

If you’ve been around for a bit you might also notice that two of the drawings on the second page are redraws of older sketches, which I mostly did as a fun treat for myself, since I find redrawing old art pretty fun. I also took this opportunity to give Harriet’s clothes a small makeover, taking some inspiration from Snow herself, a bit from the shapes of Drottning Kristinas gowns (like the drape around her shoulders and how puffy their arms are, and the general shape of the collar), and most likely from looking at details of other dresses I can’t recall at the moment (I do specifically remember looking up images of historical lace collars to get an idea of how they could look, but I don’t remember if I looked at a specific site or what sites I could have looked at in that case). I tried to keep it relatively simple with some spots for details, but looking at it now I’m not entirely sure how well it would fit the movies vine fashion wise (both Regina’s and Snow’s dresses both feel pretty modern to my amateur eyes looking at the cuts and shapes), then again I guess I can always say that the fashion is different kingdom to kingdom I suppose.

Also small shout out to Kay @the-moonlightknight who was someone who helped years ago to actually put words to Eddas personality back when I had to make a reference sheet for a discords event, which is the reference I went back to and used small parts of when writing the text for the first page.

(ID in alt and under the cut)

[ID:

Two fake Red shoes art-book pages depicting my oc Edda and Harriet (A pale chubby woman, with deep eyebags, brown hair and grey eyes).

The first shows Harriet, dressed in a blue dress with lace and snowflake themed embroidery, wearing a crown and matching necklace, with her hair up in a ponytail, is looking forlornly at the viewer, her hands held before her. Edda, dressed in her casual while fluffy shirt, dark muddy red skirt and bodice, and brown leather boots, is looking to the side with a lopsided smile and holding out her knife. Cookieek is written under both of them. Behind them is a wavy dark red graphic with a pattern of thin leaves. In the bottom right corner is two patterns running side by side, one of simple tight stitches, and a more detailed snowflake inspired embroidery pattern. To the upper right of the page is a block of text titled “Edda & Harriet”, and reading: “Edda is a wise woman in the woods that Arthur stumbles upon after entering Frode kingdom to search for it’s missing princess. Edda is also the identity taken on by said missing Princess Harriet after she was able to leave the castle behind. Her life as a mistreated princess has left her jaded and with a distain for nobility and royalty, but her escape has given her hope for a better life. In leaving the identity as Harriet Edda has made a big change in her way of dress, as well as letting the mask she’d been forced into as a royal slip. She’s determined, eccentric, and considerate, with a hunger for magic knowledge. At first she doesn’t realise she’s falling for Arthur, taken in by his ridiculous yet sensitive personality and his way of smiling, but when she does she’s sure she can’t tell him at risk of making things uncomfortable between them. She doesn’t realise that a lot of the ridiculous things Arthur has done has been to show love for her, and that they are both just as willing to sacrifice themselves for the other.”

The second is a page with drawings of Edda and Harriet. The first is a grey scale drawing Harriet looking mentally exhausted, with a thousand yard stare in a profile view. Second is a head shot of Harriet crying in a blue frilly nightgown as pale hands with long nails grip the sides of her face, tips of light brown hair hovering above her. Third is a drawing of Edda sitting and talking to someone while smiling as if she’s about to laugh. Fourth is a collection of greyscale drawings of Edda making a few expressions, such as: 1, looking intrigued while grinning sinisterly with a shadow over her eyes as she holds her chin, 2, looking in awe of something with shine in her eyes, her hands hovering in front of her, 3, looking embarrassed and startled, a blush across her face and her fist held to her chest, 4, scowling deeply with a dark shadow over her eyes. Cookieek is written under all of the images.

End of ID]

[penumbramewtwos]

Short story around the time of Unova's capture, and of Okita's origins.

PLEASE READ THE TW TAGS BEFORE READING!!!

Hearing nothing but echoing corridors, Gary Oak was sure he was done for after his trip into an infamous Aunuran desert Trapinch hole. With his head bound, he knew he wasn't out of the woods just yet. He hears a familiar craggy voice address him as he's pushed onto a chair and bound in an unknown room.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" Said the unknown voice, Gary's ears piped up as the man continued.

"Just as nosy as your grandfather in the pursuit of knowledge, rest assured your nosiness ends here."

After the statement from the unknown man, Gary's head covering had been lifted off, revealing a dark room with a spotlight upon himself. He knows this man… Not only from the Kanto region, but as the head of Rocket industries in Aunura, Giovanni.

"tch, well well, I knew that old man stink was bound to be you. This whole place smells of retirement home and failed yakuza." Gary quipped.

Giovanni, looking the same as he did back in the mid 2000's aside from the hair dye running down his face, leaned in from his wheelchair towards Gary to offer a deal out of this place alive. "I know what you've been digging up… Our team has taken the liberty of confiscating your 'findings'. Rest assured, you won't be publishing any of them; in fact, you'll do as I say or you'll end up more dismembered than that arm you collected."

Giovanni leaned back in his wheelchair, with a large grin on his face creasing his crows feet even more. Gary was unphased by the threat and smirked back at the acquaintance as he spoke back in a nonchalant manner, "I heard on the grape-vine you're getting back into the genetics commissioning game, and had to check it out for myself! Seems like whichever geneticist you hired this time can't even get one of those creatures to form properl-"

"Enough talk!" shouted Giovanni. "There's one more thing, seeing as you're so interested in our development"

Giovanni leant forward once more with a stern look on his face, as Gary remained stonewalled. "Your skills will be needed here one day, 'Professor Oak', I know you've been collecting and studying Arceus plates for medical research for some time now."

Gary's eyes shuddered in anger, "WHAT MAKES YOU THINK I W-"

"You despise the thought of pokemon in pain, and I'm giving you an opportunity to t-"

"Yeah yeah… So you'll put them in pain so I can take them out of it… Sounds completely ethical to do that to an innocent creature, Artificial or not…"

Giovanni paused and smirked as he leant back in his wheelchair. "So you know of the pokemon Mewtwo, and it's origins"

Gary Squirmed within his bound state in a fit of fury, "Why are you making so many!??! Some of them are still alive out there! The ones your disgusting cronies buried and chopped!"

"It doesn't matter, those ones are merely unable to form, as you put it yourself, Gary… We're nearly there, and I will have one obey my commands if it's the last thing I do on this Earth!" Givovanni coughed loud and hoarsely at the end of his statement. No one would tell if it was just his talking or the musty dark room that caused it.

Just as Gary was squirming around in his bindings, he'd been slowly able to get a pokeball to finally drop from his pants pocket, unleashing his Arcanine. "Grrrrwaarrh!!!"

In what felt like a flash, Arcanine chomped it's way through Gary's bindings and shoved Giovanni backwards into the wall with it's hind legs with no hesitation. Gary grabbed a hold of his Arcanine before using a teleportation device he refers to as 'Escape rope'.

Two Team rocket grunts charge into the room to assist the frail Giovanni as his phone rang, "Sir you need to see the medic! You shouldn't take thuds like tha-"

"I'M NOT AS DECREPID AS YOU ALL THINK!? Nghhh…"

Groaning from the incident, Giovanni reaches into his inner jacket pocket and pulls out a black rotom phone, answering it in a huff. "This better be good news! Have you found more DNA from the Unovan experiment, Drake!?"

Through the video call is a bright, curly haired woman with a piercingly defiant voice. Some of the team rocket grunts refer to her as 'the clown', as a smile has barely ever wiped off her face. Except for those few who tell tales of a grim reality behind the mask… "It's always good news! You just don't know how to take progress, ahahaha!!!"

Giovanni stared blankly into the phone's camera as she cackled, before continuing, "ahah… Well, not only did we get the rest of the samples, but we got the main cretin themselves here! Well, we let it go after we t-"

"YOU LET IT GO!?!?!? THAT WAS OUR CHANCE TO CLONE HUNDREDS OR THOUSANDS OF THEM, YOU FUCKING IMBI- what!?" As Giovanni began to unleash his tirade, the clown, known formally as Professor Kana Drake, showed him a fogged up glass and metal chamber with what appeared to be a nearly complete foetus of a mewtwo.

"I hope you're read to listen or you wont get your kitty cats!" She widely grinned and giggled through her words.

"We let her go, as we still don't know how she even got pregnant in the first place"

"P-Pregnant!?" Giovanni spluttered, "They're pokemon? They are meant to have"

"Yes, Eggs! Ahahaha! We thought it best to let her go and hope that she is found again with another baby just for us, Gio!"

She laughed more and more maniacally before continuing "This one will be a sure thing, fuse it with a docile psychic pokemon or psychically gifted human and it'll be too indecisive to think for itself!"

Giovanni grumbled with reluctance, putting more faith in the eccentric genetisist. "Drake… Once you bring it back here, I'll take care of the other component…"

"Hahahaha!! Of course sir! I knew you'd understa-"

Giovanni had hung up before she even had a chance to finish. He leans forward again, almost lost in thought. A grunt goes to ask about his condition before they're cut off by Giovanni. "Have the Gym leaders of Symphony come to their senses yet?"

The grunt blankly stares at him before checking his watch in a hurry "a-ahh! sorry sir, right away! … … Their last email reads… uh…'Get fucked, we own the gym by law, no 'protection' money will be paid… Sincerely, Ai and Amare Spes… P S … How do you plan on forcing it from us? Your pokemon are undertrained and undervalued'."

Giovanni must have been infected with the clown's disposition as his smile widened, wrinkling his elderly face as he looked at an email on his rotom phone.

"Well, how about that… According to my intelligence division, they've frozen an embryo in recent days… How lucky for us".

[strawbubbysugar]

I don't know how to explain it but your Y/N gives me vine energy

Like I'm waiting for them to start quoting the Burger King Foot Lettuce vine from memory(yes that is a thing I do too so I can judge-)

They wouldve been a teenager right around the time of vine so they can absolutely quote almost every single popular vine from heart

They force the daycare attendant to watch a full hour long compilation so that their references make sense

Now Sun won’t stop coming up behind you and shouting “TECHNOLOGY”