#it ended up a bit darker than i intended hehe

[candy-and-medicine]

ok, i’m not done with the animatic, but i need to yap a little bit about it to find my motivation again so like 😔

the song i used was “bad idea” from the waitress which ( ・∇・) yea it’s THAT song hehe BUT IT’S STILL PLOT RELEVANT IT’S JUST LIKE WAY, WAY DOWN THE LINE IN THEIR ARC

i’m only using the ending bit of the song, so the 1st (actual) line of the video starts with “i know what’s right for me. it’s the only thing i’ve ever/i’ve never done”. this shows where ro and yagen differ in how they’ve made decisions so far in their lives.

yagen takes dr. pomatter’s line, knowing what should be good for him and not dwelling as heavily on the past, especially compared to the rest of his comrades. in general, he’s very rational and knows how to take charge of a situation in order to mitigate further conflict and harm both to himself and others.

ro, taking jenna’s line, self-sabotages herself all the time. while she knows what’s good for her, she falls into a habit of telling herself she’s not “worthy” of having it and draws away before her and the other party can get hurt. she knows she needs to heal, she knows the people around her can help her, but at the same time, this isolation feels almost comforting to her. this was how she spent a majority of her “childhood” after all.

the next line tho: “what if i never see myself ever be anything more than what i’ve already become?” unifies them.

yagen is taken back (in memory) to honnouji (ofc 😔). these were his last memories as a sword, falling victim to the roaring blaze before being lost to history. this line for yagen references that small bit of uneasiness at the back of his mind. how his manifestation relied on several anecdotes and speculations and later on how he was viewed by the saniwa as being a mere means to an end. he has a strong sense of loyalty, of course, but getting closer to ro has raised some doubts that were uncomfortably human. who was yagen toushirou? truly? was he bound by duty to always do his master’s will? even as a touken danshi? here is the sword fabled to be sharp enough to pierce through stone but to never harm their master. but what if the situation called for him to cut them down for their own good? what’s more important then: his master’s safety or the objective greater good? a role of a sword is to slice whatever its wielder intends to slice. but what is a sword if there is no one to use it?

ro, on the other hand, is also haunted by memories of her past. she goes back to the night of when she got cursed. her 1st kill, made out of anger, envy, and recklessness from her youth. from then on, she was fated to always bring harm to those she came to love. will she never move past this curse of hers? will she always be fated to be as lonely as she was before? and if this love, this final infatuation, wasn’t reciprocated, she would die being nothing more than what she already was. and without ever having known what it was like to love and be loved.

throughout the video, too, the way they get compared to each other can be seen in the lighting at the beginning. yagen’s always bathed in light, representing not only the flames he was lost in but also the way he always looks forward to the future. ro stays in the dark as she frequents memories of her past + this darkness reminds her of the cave she grew up in.

the lighting could also signify their effect on each other as ro’s color scheme is made up of warm, bright colors whereas yagen’s has cooler, darker tones!!

and i haven’t worked on this section yet, but the part where they chant “i need a bad idea” as they seek each other out 🙂‍↕️ delicious I MEAN WHAT WHO SAID THAT— 🤨

no but really!! the line they tread of saniwa/sword!! how they both know they shouldn’t do it, but seeking comfort in each other in ways dangerously close to crossing that line. and finally when they let it all go and fall into each other’s arms anyway b/c 😔 we were so busy worrying about what’s right for us, so why not be a little more selfish this time? and then they enter what i can only describe as a short lived situationship WHICH I DID NOT INITIALLY INTEND TO ADD BUT WHY NOT MAKE IT HURT A LITTLE MORE 💀

AND I HAVEN’T DRAWN IT OUT YET but there’s a scene where ro’s moon “tattoos” (one appearing for each failed love she was forced to coughdevourcough) get fully exposed by yagen and she in turn removes one of his gloves to reveal his burnt hands. the way they literally strip each other of their defenses and embrace these physical manifestations of their more scarring memories aaaaaAAAA

[korohpu]

There would definitely be hesitancy from all 6 Toa Nuva at first, yes, but I think it would dissolve sooner or later for each of them in their own ways.

Both Lewa and Pohatu, I think, would not take long at all until they privately approach their respective Turaga with some form of blunt "So, you've actually been my Toa-brother all this time, huh?" comment, fully intending it as way to bond on more amicable terms with someone they always felt a certain insurmountable distance to due to their difference in station. Matau would probably react quite positively to that, not having been called by that title in quite a while. He'd probably say something like "What can I speaksay, Lewa, Muaka's finally out of the bag, I indeed used to be quite a quickdashing Toa-hero, long ago. But don't falsethink that means I can't boss-order you around anymore, hehe." while grinning like an idiot. Then he'd tell Lewa stories about how silly his siblings could be sometimes for several hours. Onewa, on the other hand, would probably react to Pohatu's question by being a bit flustered for a few seconds, unsure what the subtext of the question is supposed to be, but would quickly understand that Pohatu would never intend to be insulting.

Onua and Gali, as you say, would think about it a bit more, hesitating because they worry it might come across as insulting, but ultimately end up having a mature, healthy heart-to-heart conversation with their respective Turaga, ultimately recognizing each other as equals in spirit, even if not in experience or authority.

Tahu would definitely take a bit longer to process exactly how he feels about Vakama now, especially how the Turaga's tale shed much light on Vakama's fallibility and some of the darker parts of his character. Ultimately however, he would come to relate much more to Vakama by recognizing that he, too, carried the burden of a leader, of making hard choices in tough situations without being certain of them, and also through relating to what it's like to have the bonds of unity with your siblings poisoned and restored again. Tahu would take a while to call Vakama brother (maybe not until after the ignition arc) but once he does, Vakama would be surprised by how relieved it feels to have his successor as Toa of Fire acknowledge that he does not judge his Turaga for his past actions.

And then there's Kopaka. We all know he's not the type to show his respect of others with words, preferring deeds instead. And when he does it with words, it's almost never face-to-face. And it's not like he can have a direct conversation with Nuju anyway. Though he might share his thoughts with the other Toa Nuva when they ask him what he thinks while conversing about what they learned from the Turaga. They in turn, might at some point tell Matoro, who then might implicitly convey things to Nuju. The next time they meet after that, Kopaka and Nuju just exchange an expressionless glance for two seconds (maybe with juuuuust a hint of a smile & nod) and absolutely everything is clear between the two.

While writing this I kinda realized that for the Turaga, telling the Toa Nuva they they too had been Toa once must have felt similar to a kind of coming-out experience. Most of them likely went into the whole thing with an anxious, trauma-fueled "please don't judge us too harshly" attitude, worrying that this display of honesty and vulnerability would undermine their image as wise leaders who always know best, and while it did communicate to the Toa Nuva that the elders they've been receiving orders and guidance from so far are no more infallible than they are, by having their false image of the Turaga dispelled, the Toa were finally able to truly *see* their elders as people, and ultimately ended up with an attitude of "actually I respect you even more now".

Honesty, and being yourself, always wins out over disguising yourself behind a mask.

After arriving in Metru Nui, the Turaga began to occasionally call each of the Toa ‘brother’ or ‘sister’, partially an acknowledgment of their past lives, partially to acknowledge the success that the Toa Nuva have earned, and largely as camaraderie in the bond that they share as Toa or former Toa.

Tahu outwardly acts like it’s only right that he’d be addressed as such, trying to make others believe that he accepts it in stride, but inwardly, he is humbled by the acknowledgment. The Turaga see through his bluster and appreciate his humility.

Onua outwardly quite humble and appreciative when it happens, but inwardly, he doesn’t quite see himself as being worthy of being addressed by such wise beings as the Turaga, who he holds in high esteem, so he usually comes off as a little bashful when he responds in kind.

The Turaga started being reluctant to call Gali ‘sister,’ largely because she reacts to the title, by pushing herself a little too hard to prove that she is worthy of the acknowledgment. She once to stayed up all night for two days while repairing an aqueduct in Ga-Metru, and when she could barely keep awake during a meeting with the Turaga, everyone immediately decided that Nolan’s should not call Gali sister anymore.

Kopaka typically glances at whoever called him this and slightly nods, sort of a polite acknowledgment, but those who know him best, especially Nuju, know that he is actually quite touched by the endearment, and he has to be stoic to keep up appearances. Whenua, having the best hearing, has multiple times heard Kopaka whisper ‘thank you, brother’ in response to Nuju or Vakama.

Takanuva started out being quite flustered when he was called brother by any of the elders, still being unused to being called brother, even by the other Toa, but as he grew used to his powers and his responsibilities, he began to accept it in stride. He still won’t return the title, since he still uncomfortable with the idea of calling any of the Turaga by that term, but he is still moved by the respect they show him.

Lewa was delighted when they started calling him brother, But he’s also somewhat amused, often laughing when they call him that. To Lewa, it’s still difficult to imagine these wise old beings as Toa heroes, so he can’t always keep himself from laughing. Even so, he never fails to respectfully return the honorific.

The Toa Mahri have varying degrees of acceptance of the honorific. Jaller is proud to carry the title, and Hahli is eager to prove herself worthy of the honorific (though not as much as Gali). Kongo is a bit smug about it, Nuparu takes it in stride, and Hewkii tends to get sort of ‘aw, shucks’ about it. All of them are somewhat muted in their response, mostly because Nuju was the first to call them brother and sister. They all understand that Nuju calls them that as much as he does in memory of Matoro, and his regret that he never got to see his friend as a Toa and call him ‘brother’ in person. The Mahri learned the bird speak for Brother and Sister, and they always call Nuju brother right back.

And the Turaga universally agreed never to call Pohatu ‘brother’ again shortly after the first few times. After then, he began exclusively referring to the Turaga as brother or sister, always with extreme enthusiasm that the elders often find exasperating and often demanding fist bumps from any Turaga he encounters for days after. Most of them just quietly stopped calling him that, except for Onewa, who continued occasionally calling him, brother, when he felt he had earned it, but after Pohatu found out that Turaga Dume had been a Toa, the seven had an official meeting where they unanimously voted not to call Pohatu brother anymore. Matau still occasionally calls him that, though, because he personally thinks it’s fucking hilarious when Pohatu tries to fist bump Nuju.

[girl-bateman]

Moodboard for anon (INTJ/Slytherin/Thunderbird/Chaotic Good)

[vargaslovinghours]

“...pretty sure I’m most of the way out of Vargas brainspace...”

Well, huh. Second verse, same as the first!

Was thinking quite a lot about their “first kiss” from Parent-Teacher Night - I realized afterwards that Edgar would almost certainly be wearing something much more suited to the occasion! If it’s going to be perfect, it’s gotta be ✨Perfect✨ 

Oh yeah, he can just do that. I actually had a lot of Hunchback-themed doodles, spanning probably a full page between my main and alt. notebook. I only realized very very recently looking back that I initially set it up to be a movie they see After but then doodled a bunch of stuff as if they could still share dreams, that’s not how that works at all!

I’ve gotten surprisingly good at drawing him just with my index finger lol. Sometimes a bad mood is best channeled through a judgmental Scriabin

I wanted to try out a bunch of different sitting and laying poses on the couch and made this for a base. They’ve got such long legs, it’d be all too easy to squish the other if one of them decided to stretch out hehe

Another Pearlcatcher Scriabin, as a test for my new notebook. Notebook did not make the grade, but he did turn out cute ♥ What a polite sit, folded wings and all. Wonder what element he’d breathe, hmm

More paper testing, ended up with a couple Edgar comparisons. I miss my old paper!! It’s hard to tell since I drew in the upper margin for the tests lol, false unlined

I might finish the present exchange minicomic yet, but if I don’t I’d hate to just leave it hanging! This is how I make doodle notes lol, the order is a bit all over the place. Edgar’s gift was a double scarf! It actually unbuttons into two matching scarves but it’s not immediately obvious so it just looks like a super-long scarf, made to be shared whether separate or together :) Plus a couple bonuses of Scriabin wearing his very terrible mask and the two of them sharing the scarf :D

Ambidextrous practice and an older idea of Scriabin being able to pronounce keysmashes lol, it’s good letter practice! Edgar is very disturbed, how are you making those noises with your mouth

King Edgar! Was feeling a bit saccharine, but could just as easily be about competing royalty, guess he won the battle for the crown. For now...

Pot calling the kettle black, there. Unjustified egoism? Unheard of!

The original-original sketch of this WIP, I don’t need a lot to go on for my brain to remember what I meant lol. I actually still rather like how the skeleton of his fingers are shaped, it’s a nice wide, stressed expression

I edit out most of my notes ‘cause they’re either this or memery lol. Puffed out cheeks are too cute!

I like Lady!Edgar quite a lot, obviously lol. I wanted to draw her in the cardigan because Edgar was cute in it and wouldn’t you know, that carries over! Edgar’s cute throughout his iterations haha. I feel the same about Lady!Scriabin as well, in one of my sketches I described her as “puckish” lol

Playful closeness, Edgar is not interested lol. I was mostly thinking about hip posing at the time, like meeting at one point and separating out from there. Tied at the hip!

Back to what I was doing before, nbd. The amount of unfinished kiss doodles I have....look, okay- I also think it’s funny that with unfinished blushes their faces end up darker than their hair lol

Speaking of - back when I was first practicing drawing kisses, the alignment was probably the hardest part. Convincingly making it look like the lips meet is hard! But then the reality of the situation occurred to me, Edgar’s not particularly practiced at kissing so maybe the combination our inexperiences would result in such a situation lol

Probably my favourite frame from Where are you now, he looks so intense even though he’s immediately going to pop into panic, ahh the contrast. I also originally used hard-edge vectors at a much smaller scale, but I intended soft and shined eyes from the beginning

Just pick him up and carry him like a teddy bear lol. Just wait til he kicks out his leg and they fall on each other lol

Spacefiller fluffy Scriabin. I keep wanting to draw flowers but I keep forgetting about flower crowns! I just like pinned back hair too much I guess

Oh no not a hug trap! Insidious, however will he escape

Someone gently touching Edgar’s face - I ended up liking how the sketch looked too much to want to finish it lol. Who could it be?

Brief return to the TGWDLM crossover, it hits randomly. I never drew the Apotheosis meeting Edgar, and it’s still not exactly how I’d imagine it happening (or what I’ve written) but I thought it was interesting anyway. Edgar’s always gotta be crying, that’s a requirement

A!Edgar is so cloyingggg, it’s never not weird

Definitely not

Fighting over symbolism. It took me a while to think it over fully, but I think the scariest part about Apotheosized!Edgar is that he’s not afraid to hurt Scriabin at first. He’s much closer to a stranger with Edgar’s face, but that’s kind of a big deal lol

Finally a lack of glasses that makes sense lol. Easier to just grab his face than point him in the right direction and hope he sees

Some Convalescence Scriabin mouth shape practice for funsies. My mouth expressions tend to be rather subdued and since he was both already on my mind and more prone to big expressions, he seemed perfect for it. I really like “E” lol, he looks so proud

Eye, or lack thereof practice, a bit torn at the outer edge. Kinda reminds me of Invader ZiM in a bad way lol, I might return to the spiral-looking socket instead if I draw them again, I like the weird smooth texture but it’s hard for me to pin down with pencils

A silly little idea of Scriabin flying into him and falling over lol. “Hey Ron. Hey Billy” lol. Edgar’s just given up entirely

So that’s September through mid February! I honestly didn’t expect to still be doodling them so often lol

[binniesthighs]

two tails | reader x minho |

Three 

Pairing: self insert, female reader x lee minho 

Genre: strangers to lovers, neighbors to lovers, fluff 

Tags: neighbors au, comfort fic, catowner!minho, catowner!reader, author!reader, bestfriend!seungmin, floristnpunk!jisung, gradstudent!jeongin, agedup!skz, slow burn, plot driven, gradual romance, lil bit of angst, strained parental relationship, explicit language, mentions of food and alcohol, mentions of previous kinda sad relationships 

Word count: 5.4k (y e e h a w) 

Tagging: @lauraneuuh​

Chapters 

P | ONE | TWO | THREE | ?

zeal noun 

: eagerness and ardent interest in the pursuit of something: fervor 

₍⸍⸌̣ʷ̣̫⸍̣⸌₎

Seungmin never liked your cooking, or at least, he’d often mumble this into his spoon while beginning his second serving. He was probably just being nice, or respectful. Your best friend of four years had never been less. 

Aside from the fact the he had a 70 pound golden retriever, never had you once seen a strand of that golden hair cling to the cloth of his winter coats. In the autumn, he would drive you in his hand-me-down ‘91 Mitsubishi to the city where you would tutor the English students just so you wouldn’t have to bear the cold of the subway. In the summers he would toss soju down his throat with you, sitting on the carpet of your living room and turning his head to the side with a hand raised to hide his glass. In the spring, he would remember your birthday--several months before his--and take you to coffee shops and bookstores, then the grocery store (which he knew you hated) and would buy for you the most expensive beef he could find. 

You would cook the meat for the two of you, and he would say that he liked it...even if you had charred it black on the edges. 

Seungmin flicked at the little aluminum tab on his beer can while he watched you murder yet another plate of perfectly fine vegetables on your stovetop. 

“At least it smells nice.” You flipped the circle of white onion. 

“It does.” He returned, nonchalant, flicking the beer tab a little poink. 

“You’re being uncharacteristically quiet. Too tired to complain about those dicks from the marketing team? They put you on a shitty pitch again didn’t they?” 

“Every pitch is a shitty pitch there. God, you wouldn’t believe the kinds of slogans that they make me say sometimes. It’s humiliating.” 

“Hey, you’re the one that took the pay raise over that job at that high school.” 

“Well, you didn’t have rent staring you dead in the face and a dog that’s practically active and sentient enough to be a real child.” He slugged down a sip of his drink. “I’m a single father you know.” 

“As if!” You choked out your laughter. “Since when did you turn into Hyunjin? You were never one for dramatics anyway.” 

“Go get your vegetables, they’ll burn.” He nodded his head to the stove. The thing was, they were already burnt. 

You salvaged what you could of the vegetables then placed them over your rice balls (not intended to be balls in the first place) and the chicken strips which had undoubtedly been seasoned just a little too much. You slid the ceramic bowl in front of him. At least it was steaming. That was a good sign. 

Seungmin nodded a little in thanks, then let out a less than obvious sigh before taking his first bite. 

“Spicy...but good.” 

The way that his breath sounded thin made it convincing enough to you that it wasn’t just “spicy.” 

He scrunched up his face in that adorably puppy-like way that you had long gotten used to. 

“Really. Tell me. It isn’t the pitches. Don’t pretend like I can’t read you.” 

Your best friend squeezed his eyes shut with a rather generous slug of his beer. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

“Whaaaat?” You whined a little while opening up your own can. “Oh my god. It’s that girl from the art division. She has a boyfriend doesn’t she? Dammit.” 

“No.” Your friend drew the disdain in his eyes up to you from the chicken that had made his nose start to run. He wiped at it quickly. 

“I hope it’s not my mother that’s getting to you. She’s too damn nosy for her own good and twice as cocky as she should be. Don’t listen to her. What did she tell you anyway?” 

Seungmin poked at his food with his fork then twisted a crispy-tipped red pepper. “Have you talked to him again?”

“--Minho?”

You shied at the memory of meeting him on his morning run two days prior. He would go out at nearly 8:00 on the dot every morning, just when the sun started to peek into the dewy pink and blue mornings.

“You should put on a sweater if you’re going to get up this early for those plants of yours. Don’t want you catching a cold.”

“Yes.” You answered your friend. A tiny ache pinged at your chest--and it wasn’t the kind that felt all twisted. “He asked me to watch the meteor shower with him this weekend. I hope I can cook something edible for him.”

Seungmin’s knee bounced, “Aren’t you at least at little suspicious of him?”

“Suspicious? Why would I be?”

“You hardly even know anything about him, or where he came from, what he does for a living--”

“--Now you’re starting to sound like my mother Seung. Relax. Besides, sometimes it doesn’t take much to feel...comfortable around a person. I mean, look at us! Soju nights started like, three weeks after we met. And I do know where he works. He works for a company that makes windows; fancy ones.” 

“Windows?” He cocked a brow. 

“He did say that it was kind of boring...” 

“I just--” Your friend sighed out, resting anxious hands on his knees. Here he was again, being nice and respectful, like always. “--You could get hurt if you’re not careful.” 

“What?”

“I’m saying, don’t get your hopes up.” 

“Geez Seung...” Your voice trailed off with a different pain in your chest. This was the kind that twisted. 

His expression softened, and he lent a hand to your shoulder, lingering, squeezing lightly. “Your mom...she told me to look after you...not like I do that already with you falling all over yourself and burning things...I don’t want to see you get hurt.” 

“Hm. Thanks.” 

“You’re also miserable to deal with when you’re sad. You make me blow my grocery budget with how much frickin’ ice cream and freezer tater tots you force me to get.” 

“You like those tater tots too though.” 

₍⸍⸌̣ʷ̣̫⸍̣⸌₎

Bomi purred in your lap swaddled into a little ball of white, orange, black and brown. She was napping, or rather, trying to nap with the way that her little cat-shaped eyes blinked slowly. You tried your best to soak every little moment of it up: you knew that with her, it would be fleeting. There was something supremely calming about being close to your little furball like this. After all the love that you poured over her in the form of useless cat toys and new cat food every week, this somehow made it all worth it. 

You tapped lightly at your keyboard, not too harshly, just lightly enough so that you wouldn’t startle your sleeping cat. The tips of your toes were cold, but you didn’t dare to move to grab a blanket to ruin the moment. Outside, a light spring rain befell on your small cement patio. Droplets of the warm showers patted at the roof of your home softly. 

Your eyes had grown tired and dry at this late hour, but the end of the chapter was near. One more time you hovered your mouse over the little notification bar, clicking at it for that one last push of motivation: 

~ 

Bomi needs to quit MESSING AROUND. Blaze is right in front of her!!! Ahhhh I want them to get together soooo bad 

Is Herbie okay?? Poor bb, its so cute how we would do anything for Bomi. 

Bomi: 

Blaze: 

*now kiss* 

Are we really getting to the end of Book 1??? This has been such an amazing story N/n, I always look forward to your updates <3 they make my Thursdays hehe 

I can feel like something big and bad is coming...oh no...I hope that Blaze and Bomi make it through  

~ 

A thankful little chuckle hummed on your lips, then you pressed enter to start a new paragraph. 

“Oh Bomi,” You exhaled, “If only Blaze knew how you felt too.” 

Chapter 27 

...The group journeyed through the cavern with flickering white flames dancing and casting shadows on the stone walls dripping in stalactites. Bomi held on to the hilt of her sword tighter with a sense of dread creeping up her throat. Blaze looked onward, much as he had been doing these days. 

His leg was wrapped in a bloodied bandage: a reminder of the battle won against the Boar in Hilgram. He had jumped in front of her as he had countless times before. 

“Hello??” Blaze’s voice echoed against the long and winding chambers of the cave. In his tone he was confident, but his shoulders still shook with an uncertainty. 

Herbie’s little hedgehog feet patted the damp floor, and he looked up at his Princess with fear in his soft black eyes. The little velvet banner wrapped around his body had been torn and tattered from one too many battles. 

Had it been darker, Bomi wondered if she had reached out for Blaze’s hand to find in him. She shook her head with her resolve, eyes painfully shut. It was only in the darkness that she allowed herself to want for him. 

₍⸍⸌̣ʷ̣̫⸍̣⸌₎

Today must be one of those spring-summer days.

Your warbled reflection chased after you in the blue glass of the university’s library windows. You had hoped that no one was on the other side watching you as you wrinkled up your nose to look like one of those devilish gargoyles that you had been writing of the night before. From the inside, rows and rows of books were lined up perfectly, however there were almost no students inside. It always did make you a little sad how few students would be there when you clocked in for your mandatory office hours.

Spring-summer days meant that the businesswomen on the sidewalks had exchanged with trousers with flowing skirts and little clicky ballet flats and each businessman had his tie and collar tugged down. There was a comforting warmth to the spring air that reminded you of your own college days when you and your friends--long gone now--had stayed up late to study, then would scour the buzzing streets for snacks. Things were much simplier then.

At the library’s entrance, budding tulips and geraniums of light purple hues were greeted by round bumblebees. Had the city not been as loud as it was, you could nearly hear the cicadas in the park on the east edge of the shining silver building.

You bowed slightly to the attendant at the desk who always would smile at you with adorable smiling eyes to match. She would often wear earrings of strange shapes that you had never seen before. She wore a lanyard too that had little cat paw prints decorating it; it was because of this you knew she was someone you could trust.

“Are you having a nice week?” You said to her customarily.

“Oh, I am. It’s always the same around here. My daughter will be having her baby soon! Sometimes I think that I’m more excited than she is.”

“You’ll have to tell me when that happens so I can bring her a gift, okay?”

The attendant smiled warmly, and nodded you off with a little oh, you don’t have to.

“Remember your key card this time?” She watched as you jingled around your own keys with the obsessive amount of plastic and silicon keychains.

You tsked. It seemed like nearly everyone in your life had now known how forgetful you tended to be sometimes.

“Yes. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be over there.”

Once more the two of you exchanged little bows and you made your way over to the back of the four storied library with the atrium of trees in between. There was a marble fountain encircled by the trees that had little oval shaped leaves. Two tiny birds, all black, bounced from branch to branch. It was your secret, but you had written about that fountain many times in your writing, but you were the only one who knew that it was real.

You tapped the reader to hear that familiar do-do doot along with the flash of the green lock. As always, the study room was a bit messy with eraser shavings sprinkled about and the odd dry marker laying next to the trashcan where someone had tried to toss it in, but had missed. The minute hand on the wall clock scooted right on to the 12.

“Are you busy?” That fluff on white hair peeked into your study room just like clockwork.

“For my favorite student? Do you even have to ask?”

Jeongin, the oldest and most attentive student in your class hopped in with his adorably boy-ish charm. Regardless of the fact that he was in the last year of his grad degree, it was impossible for him to look that old. You didn’t have the heart to tell him, but he technically shouldn’t have been in your class for undergrads, but you weren’t going to stop him.

“Why’d you decide to take this class anyway?” You would ask him.

He’d answer, “For fun.” with that cute little smile of his.

“I hope I’m not bothering you.”

“I just got here.” You pulled out a seat for him.

“Oh. Good. I was wondering if you could proof read my short story again. I’m having trouble with the ending. I just don’t think I understand all the way how to make it full circle like you said in lecture.”

He unzipped his leather backpack: obviously a gift from someone in his family that must have thought it would make him look his age. It didn’t. What didn’t help further was how he had adorned it with all kinds of keychains; much like your own keys. It was because of this that you knew he was someone you could trust.

His manuscript already had dozens of scribbles in his own handwriting with tons of question marks riddling the margins. 

“Let me take a look.”

You skimmed the pages of the short story--one which you had already read the week prior--for all of his new edits. The notes made it a bit hard to read, but you were used to how he would make a mess of his papers now. He leaned in close to you with glossy eyes that might have even twinkled a little like a cartoon. Both of his knees bounced furiously while he watched you read, and would look from the paper, to your face, then back to the paper, then back to your face...

“Is-is it good? Better?”

Jeongin had written a love story. His first one that you had known of. It was about a boy and a girl who had met on an airplane, and had been seated together. The two of them found out that they had shared so much about their two lives without ever meeting until this very moment. They had realized they went to the same high school, worked in the same building, and were travelling for the same reason: to meet up with someone that they had once loved. It was beautiful, tragic, and in some ways, familiar.

“I think that it’s wonderful Jeongin. The edits that you made to it from last week really help with the narrative flow as well as the vertical plot. You’re really good at asking the deeper questions behind the piece like “why are they really there,” and “why is it important that they are there.” All you need to do is tie it up.” 

“But howwww?” Jeongin slumped in his wheely chair. “What should I say?” 

“Well...” You tapped your pen to your lip. “The ending scene is when they land at the airport right? Why don’t you have your main character say something that calls back to all of their similarities and makes it seem like they’ve known eachother all along?” 

“But I don’t want it to seem like they’re going to forget eachother.” 

“They won’t. You established that they’ve both found something different than what they were looking for in the first place.” 

Your student’s face tangled up into concentrated knots and he puffed those thin strands of bleached white hair away from his eyes. 

“I could say...‘see you at home’? Or...maybe that’s too cheesy--” 

“--No it’s not! If you like it, I think that it also fits the story well. Its like, now they understand, and they’ve got something in eachother now that they hadn’t had before; also juxtaposing with your themes of travelling to make a reference to home.” 

“Damn, you’re much better at this kind of stuff than I am...” Jeongin wrote down the new ending on his print out. 

“Its just...what I like to do.” 

“I’m glad I came.” He grinned out with his mischievous and trademark smile. “How’s your story going by the way? Almost finished?” 

“Oh...” 

A heat rose in your cheeks. You had decided to tell Jeongin about Princess Bomi a few weeks back, but you had neglected to tell him exactly what the story was about. That was a secret better kept to yourself. 

“Its...good. I think. My readers seem to really like it.” 

“Maybe you’ll let me read it someday. I bet there would be tons of other people who would like to read it too, you know, outside of the internet.” 

“That’s what I’ve been told...” Hyunjin’s urgings echoed in your head. “Maybe...” Your eyes wandered to those scribblings of his. “How about we make a deal?” 

“What kind of deal?” 

“Once we get both of our stories sorted, lets submit them together. I’m sure people would like to read yours too.” 

“Mine?!” Your adorable student’s face flushed as deeply pink as the sweater he wore. “Oh no, no no no no no.” 

“I’m telling you it’s good! Its relatable, raw, well written. It never hurts to try. How about submitting it for the literary journal they do at the end of the semester?” 

“You mean the one that all the arts majors read and fuckin’ eviscerate?? Hell no.” 

“Hey, I could get eviscerated too by my chief editor.” 

Jeongin gulped with his terrified, brown, cartoon-character glistening eyes boring holes into his manuscript. 

You sang, “~Wanna go down together~?” 

“A-as long as we’re going down together...I guess it’s worth a shot.” 

“Alright then!!” 

He made a little sound of disgust, then shoved his papers back into his much-too-old-for-him bag. “That was all I needed to ask you for. Thank you.” He bowed with respect. “I won’t be bothering you for too long today.” 

“You wrote a good story Jeongin.” 

“Mm. Thank you.” His smile turned into a tiny flustered line. 

₍⸍⸌̣ʷ̣̫⸍̣⸌₎

STUPID NEW CAT FOOD. AGAIN. 

In one hand, you held the crinkled up grocery list with angry doodles of your cat folded into the corners of the page. You didn’t quite know if cats had eyebrows like the ones you had drawn onto your cat’s smug face, but you were for certain that this cat must’ve had them...and they were angry. 

Bomi had selfishly decided at the end of your week that she no longer liked the last brand of cat food that you had found on the shelves of the grocery store. It was the brand stored next to the one that you had nearly concussed Minho with. 

You were at your wits end. There must have been something wrong with your cat--to hell with her being a picky eater. Maybe she really was just a little alien inside there. A little alien that hated cat food. The image of you sitting at your dining table across from Bomi eating two plates of people food crossed your mind. She picked up the fork with her white paw and dabbed at her mouth with a cloth napkin. The idea didn’t seem the most out of reach. 

In your other hand was your phone opened to the maps app with the small blue dot leading you to the specialty pet store. 

“Damn spoiled, stuck up, good for nothing, pain in my as--” 

“Hey! Blossom??” 

Your head whipped around so fast you cracked the bones of your neck with a startling pop. You rubbed at your neck to ease the pain. 

“You okay?” 

At first you figured you must have dreamt him up in your neck-induced-pain. You cursed at your overactive imagination, still just as strong as it was when you had been small. 

Blaze in the flesh he was alllll the way from his battered Converse to his stupidly handsome curly hair. 

You laughed out incredulously with a hand still glued to the back of your neck. 

“Didn’t think that I would be seeing you around here again. Or at least, I was kind of hoping that I would.” 

He marched right up to you with that same smile you had pictured on Princess Bomi’s companion countless times before. Today he wore a leather jacket over the arms that you knew were covered in all kinds of flowers and vines. It hadn’t quite hit you yet that he had said he was hoping to see you. 

“Sorry if I startled you. I was just...really surprised.” 

“You’re fine, it’s fine.” 

You neck didn’t tell you it was fine. 

“What are you doing around here?” 

“Pet store.” Was all you could get out. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise to you, but for someone who worked at a flower shop, he did end up smelling an awful lot like flowers. It was a sweet aroma, much like your garden. 

“Ahh, I just got off.” 

You walked on, also not noticing that he had started to follow you a couple steps behind. 

“I realized I didn’t get your name last time.” 

“Oh. It’s Y/n.” 

He hummed with a smirk. “I do kinda like Blossom more.” He crammed his hands into his pants pockets with a wistful little sigh. “Pretty nickname for someone as pretty as yourself.” 

“Psh. Stop.” You had said it sarcastically, but you didn’t intend for your heart to skip as harshly as it did when he had said so. 

“You’ve got a pet then? Dog? Cat?” 

“Cat. Just one.” 

“I wish I could take care of a pet like that. Don’t think I would be too good at it though. I see myself as more of a plant person. They’re quiet, don’t do too much, and they sort of love you back in their own way.” 

“How's that?” 

“By growing. And flowering. Changing colors and looking good in your windowsill. Nothing too crazy.” 

“I...guess I can see what you mean.” 

He flicked at the black hoop pierced into his lip in the way that you certainly hadn’t forgotten; and you were one for forgetting much. 

“Mind if I go in with you? I don’t have a whole lot going on.” 

Jisung. You had also remembered his name. He carried Blaze with him in the way that he had that fiery glint in his eye like he knew he was getting away with something. He was brash and forward, and charming as all hell. The sunset of blood orange and cotton candy pink seemed to melt into his shoulders where he stood before you in the golden hour of the evening. A yellow carnation was tucked into the pocket of his jacket. 

“You don’t have to...” 

He had already made up his mind, and swung open the door to the pet shop neighboring the floral shop. You didn’t know how you had missed it. 

The squawking of birds chimed with the bells hung over the shop door. 

“You coming?” He held it open for you. 

You sheepishly entered before him, nearly tripping on the little incline to the entrance and catching yourself three seconds before disaster. 

Jisung prompted, “Lead the way.” 

Normally you would have been concerned over the cleanliness of the store, but that seemed insignificant compared to the way that he looked around all in his Blaze-like wonder. He widened his eyes at the rows of fish tanks and twiddled with the little feather cat toys at the ends of the isles. 

Granted, he seemed much more immersed in the kinds of aquatic plants and moss balls that they had rather than the cute bunnies and mice, but still, you couldn’t help but shy away when he caught your glances. 

“Glad that I joined ya Blossom.” 

₍⸍⸌̣ʷ̣̫⸍̣⸌₎

There was something about Minho that felt like a lullaby. He wore a lavender colored sweater when he arrived at your doorstep: of course it was pooling into paws at his hands as always. The collar dipped deep enough for you to see the tops of his collarbones, and they were gorgeous and curved. His eyes wrinkled a little under his wire framed glasses when he would smile: that of which would also look like the little grin of a bunny. Effortlessly his brown hair kissed his forehead. 

He would speak softly and carefully, and listen to everything that you had said to him as if it was the most important thing in the world. His feet were too big for your spare pair of house slippers and he had a tiny hole in his khaki pants right by the waistline. Minho greeted Bomi with a tiny “aigoo” and she let him sweep her up into his arms where he bounced her lightly. She would never let you do that. Traitor. 

“Your home is very...you.” He had complimented. You had no idea what that meant. 

His lips were pink and glossy with drips of that peach soju that you had bought in the hopes that he would like it. It turned out that it was his favorite flavor. 

You wanted so badly to kiss the peachy flavor off of those lips. 

He had laughed a little at your array of cat-related home decor, laughing the most at your dish towels that had two fat cats on them that looked like chefs. He said that he had seen a movie once and the characters reminded him of that. 

The two of you sat outside on your patio on the wire chairs that would imprint designs into the back of your legs. The air mixed with the smell of your citronella candle and the scent of the roasted duck that you had attempted to make for him. You really shouldn’t have tried to make something for the first time when it was also his first time coming over. 

Maybe he was just being nice, but he had said it tasted good. 

It did not taste good, but rather harshly of salt and too much rosemary. 

Bomi rubbed at his legs under the table and even hiked herself up on two feet to peek into his lap. As much as it hurt to see your traitorous cat act this way, it was because of this that you knew he was someone that you could trust. Minho gave her head scratches and insisted to help you with the dishes--a mistake on his part. It took all of two minutes before you had a mishap with the detachable sink head, and soaked through his sweater. 

“Maybe I just shouldn’t trust you with water then?” He chuckled while dabbing away at the fabric. 

“That probably would be best.” 

Minho was a lullaby in the way that he laid down next to you on that quilt you had made in a crafting class some years ago. All of the patches were disjointed the the color scheme made very little sense, but it was stull functional. He kept his hands folded to his chest with reverence. His chest rose and fell calmly, and his body heat floated over to you. His presence was something familiar and still something that you couldn’t place. 

“Are you getting tired?” He asked you gently. 

You lied, “No, just resting my eyes.” 

“Maybe we shouldn’t have had that much soju then.” He joked into the open air.  

“How much longer?” 

“At least thirty more minutes.” 

He was so warm. Warmer than any chill of the spring night. 

First you would have kissed the peachy flavor on his lips. Then you would have cuddled all up into that lavender sweater which you imagined to be even softer than cat’s fur--or rather--it looked like it could have been. 

“Do you know any constellations?” Minho pointed up to the sky. 

“Not really.” 

“Well, that one is Ursa Major...and over there...that’s Leo. Can you see that it sort of looks like a triangle?” 

“Yes.” You had said, but really you didn’t have a clue, you liked it more hearing him talk about them. “Where did you learn about constellations?” 

“Long time ago. I think it was in school, but, that was so, so long ago.” 

The cool grass under the quilt rustled when he had leaned back up to sit, then dragged quilt attempt #2 over your body and his. 

“It was getting a little cold.” He quietly announced. 

His simple action of doing just that heated up your whole body now knowing that the two of you were trapped together, inches apart. 

Minho tucked his arms to prop up his head. “Thank you for cooking for me. I haven’t had someone other than my mother cook like that for me in a long while.” 

“I’m sorry...I know that it was pretty inedible--” 

“--And thank you for allowing me to come over too. I...realize...I don’t really know what I’m doing that well. I kind of invited myself...I hope that I’m not putting pressure on you or anything...” 

“--Doing what well?” Your heart leapt into your throat. 

“I just haven’t done this in a really long time.” 

This. 

What the hell was “this?” 

“I’m not following...” 

“Letting myself do something fun. Something nice and relaxing.” 

 You had formed a painful little “Oh.” on your lips. Your idea of this was different from his after all. 

“--Something nice and relaxing with you.” 

Another “Oh.” formed, but this one was a thankful one. 

“Can I tell you something?” Minho’s voice was barely in a whisper. 

“What is it?” You looked over at him and he was wrapped in the navy blue light of the night. You could have sworn that you could see the faintest inkling of stars in his eyes. 

He looked back at you in earnest. “I’ve been...scared, too, since moving back out here.” 

“W-why?” 

“There was something in me that was telling me that moving out here wouldn’t fix everything, and that I would be stuck forever on those things that happened, and the things that made me unhappy.” 

“Minho...what are you saying?” 

“-Got my heart broken. Back then. As cliché as the sounds.” He laughed, and it even sounded a twinge embarrassed. “I ran away from it to here. I had figured that it would give me time to get it all back together again.”  

“I-I’m so sorry.” 

“Running is good and all when you can physically remove yourself from what’s chasing you, but some things...” 

Your chest felt heavy. “I know exactly what you’re talking about.” 

“You do?” 

The first summer cicadas had started their nighttime chant, and their hisses ebbed and flowed like sea waves. 

“I feel like...these expectations that my family has of me, my mother...I can’t ever escape them. They’re always there and burned into my head. I think of them even when I don’t want to: get a better job that “contributes”, get married, have grandkids...” 

You paused with your own eyes cast up to the sky. The massive expanse seemed unfathomable. 

“Why is it that we can’t ever be happy doing the things that are supposed to make us happy?” 

The first meteor flew past your eyes with the speed of light, barely slow enough for you to catch it. 

The second was a bit slower, and traced after it a millisecond of white spectral dust. 

“Did you see that??” Without thinking, you poked once at Minho’s arm. 

You couldn’t see, but he had grinned with a weak smile. “I did.” 

All at once, the sky was illuminated with brilliant streaks of light and their white hot heads that would fade and dissapear just as quickly as they arrived. They tore through the sky with astonishing speed and you traced the outline of each line as fast as you could. 

“There’s so many.” You wondered aloud. 

Under the warmth of the haphazard blanket, fingers twisted into yours: careful and tentative, soft and curious.   

Minho breathed out, “I feel pretty happy right now.” 

[redcameleon]

SSM 2020 Day 2

Prompt: Gravity

Summary: There’s only one force strong enough to break his chains: love. Curse mark AU where Sasuke was being locked up because he would go on rampages.

Rating: T.

A/N: I was trying to write this prompt from a different perspective. I probably could’ve made this into a multichaptered story, but I didn’t think it had that much potential. Ok, this is way longer than I had intended hehe. Regardless, hope you enjoy it! As always, feedback is welcome!

Sasuke tries to climb up the sides, as slow as he can, but he can never go past two steps before being dragged back down. He doesn’t know what is tying him down, but it feels heavier than gravity. He can’t remember how long he’s been trapped in this large pit.

The curse mark on his shoulder starts to activate, spreading though his whole body. His hair becomes longer, fangs protruding from the edges of his mouth, eyes landing on a darker shade, nails growing into claws, and wings sprouting from his back. He tries to fly out of the pit, but again with no avail, only manages to hover in the air three feet from the ground, feeling a force strong enough to hold him down. This has to be the nth time he’s tried to escape, always ending up with the same results.

He sinks back down on the ground in defeat, body shifting back to his normal human form.

.

.

Sakura carries a basket in her right hand as she treads through the forest, in search of a medicinal berry plant that is supposed to grow around the area. She peaks behind trees and bushes only to find other kinds of fruit plants or poisonous ones.

She kicks a pebble in frustration before she starts hearing a voice.

Please. Help me. She turns around and nobody is behind her. She walks a few more steps and hears the same voice.

Help me. She turns around again, examining the area around her, but again no sign of anyone.

As she’s lost in thought she accidentally missteps her foot and tumbles down a small hill, hitting branches along the way before stumbling into a large pit. She lies face down on the ground before she slowly gets up. She dusts her knees and hands when she hears a voice of a man.

“Who are you?” She immediate shoots up, looking for the source of the voice. She sees a silhouette cautiously approaching her from the dark. She gets up slowly, trying not to agitate the being. As the man approaches her, she’s able to trace his figure, wings spreading wide behind him, hair longer than his shoulder. As he steps into the light, she’s able to get a good look at him and widens her eyes.

“Did the universe graciously award me with free food?” The man tilts his head to the side, grinning sinisterly. He walks around Sakura, eyeing his prize.

“But you don’t eat people.” There’s no way a human would eat another human. At least that’s what Sakura believes.

“You think I won’t kill you?” The man threatens as he leans over to her ear. Sakura looks indifferent and it bothers him. All the people that’s seen him would either display fear or terror. But she doesn't seem to show any evidence of that. He quirks an eyebrow and walks away.

“What are you?” Sakura inquires. The man chuckles in amusement.

“You tell me.” He turns around to face her. He notices how she eyes him carefully.

“Were you the one crying for help?” He’s surprised by her question. He’s surely been trying to get out of this hole this whole time, but did he ever cry for help? Not that he knew of. “Your voice sounds familiar. I kept hearing pleas for help earlier.”

“Hn.” Deciding that she’s just a nobody, he shifts back to his normal form. Sakura watches in awe as the man standing before her now looks just like any other man. His dark raven hair just long enough to cover his ears, his skin white but just a tad bit tanned, his eyes as dark as onyx, muscles toned.

“Woah you can do that?” There are millions of questions swimming in her head. He takes a seat on his previous spot, leaning back on the wall. He’s definitely got little to no energy to harm her. She notices how weak he seems and offers him an apple she managed to pick before stumbling down. She walks over to him, carefully as to not give him any bad ideas.

She extends the fruit towards him. He eyes it carefully, debating whether or not he should take her offer. Before he could even decide, his hands accepted it. She kneels in front of him.

“Do you have a name?” A name? Sasuke can’t remember the last time someone calls him by his name.

“Sasuke.” Sakura gives him a warm smile.

“I’m Sakura.” Sasuke notes how interesting of a name it is. Sakura.

“Why are you down here? Can’t you get out?” She notices how large but relatively shallow the pit is. Surely a person like him would be able to get out easily.

“I can’t.”

“What do you mean you can’t?” His frustration starts to grow from her lack of understanding. Does he have to articulate the state he’s in? He abruptly stands up and summons his wings. He tries to fly out and as always, can’t seem to hover more than three feet above the ground before he gets pulled back and falls.

“I can’t.” He puts extra emphasis on the last word. Clearly, she should understand what he means by now. She doesn’t say a word as he sits back down and slumps.

“I’m sorry.” She suddenly perks up and jolts. “Wait I have an idea! I’ll go out and go back to my village to get some help!” Sakura beams up and starts to get up to climb. Sasuke chuckles dryly.

“They won’t help you. No one will.” As if ignoring his words, she begins to climb, and not long after manages to pull herself out of the pit. She looks back again at Sasuke, still sitting on the same spot.

“I’ll be back! Don’t worry!” She quickly runs back to get some help. Sasuke goes back to devouring the fruit in his hand as one thought comes to mind.

So naïve.

.

.

Panting, Sakura finally arrives at her village and walks up to the first person she finds.

“Please you have to help me. There’s a man stuck in the bottom of a pit and we need to help him get out.” The man’s eyes widen at her words.

“At the bottom of a pit? You mean in the woods?” He violently points towards the direction of the forest.

“Yes yes! Now you need to help me! I’ll try to find another person to help us.” Suddenly the man stops in front of her path.

“Are you crazy? That’s no man! It- it’s a monster! He killed so many people!” Sakura’s excitement now turns to confusion before shifting to disbelief.

“No, that can’t be true.”

“Oh and have you seen this monster?”

“Yes! But he was-“

“It’s all just an illusion! Last thing you know, he’ll get on you and slash your throat!” Sakura subconsciously touched her neck. “I am not gonna let him get out of there!”

That can’t be true. Sakura isn’t gonna believe in what he says. There must be something more to it. Deciding that she needs answers, she goes back to find him. To find Sasuke.

She keeps repeating the man’s words. She runs back to the pit, and peeks over the ledge.

“Sasuke?” She sees him still sitting on that same spot, knees bent and head held down. He looks up when he hears her call.

“Well are you gonna help me?” He gets up, excitement is evident in his face.

“Um I have a question. How did you end up here in the first place?” Sasuke’s frown sets back in place. He looks at her and straightens himself. He tries to read her expression, and the way she’s crouched on the ground, just barely peeking over the ledge, as if she’s shielding herself. She doesn’t even bother to come down and talk to him. Instead, resorting to talking from a safe distance where she knows he can’t get to her.

“You’re afraid of me.” He concludes.

“What? No! I just have some questions that’s all.” He notices how flustered she is, way different from how she acts the first time they met. If she wasn’t afraid of him then, she’s clearly afraid now. Sasuke clenches his hands.

“Tch. You’re just like the rest of them.” He retreats back to the darkest part of the pit, the one that’s covered by shadows, and takes a seat.

Sakura realizes that man might have been wrong anyway. Sasuke is not a monster. It’s true that he might look like one when she first found him, but he hasn't shown any sign of intentionally wanting to hurt her. She’s not going to let that man’s words get to her. At least not until she hears Sasuke’s side of the story.

She slowly slides down the steep wall and lands with a thud. She confidently walks over to him and takes a seat beside him.

“Look, Sasuke. I’m just a little confused, that’s all. The way people call you, they called you a killer. I don’t want to believe them.” Silence fills the gap between them. Sasuke lets out a long sigh before he starts to explain himself.

“I never meant to kill them. I was just trying to protect myself. Two men were trying to rob me, and I suddenly was itching to kill them. The bad side of me came out and did it. Ever since then, that part of me would sometimes take over, even though I told it to shut up. So I was locked in here.” Sasuke brings his knees closer to him, sounding defeated.

Now that she knows his story, she only has one question left for him.

“Well, do you wanna get out of here?” Sasuke looks at her and struggles to find the answer himself. Should he? Maybe it was right for them to keep him here. So that he won’t be able to hurt anyone else. Sasuke thinks to himself

“I don't know.” She’s finally beginning to understand where he’s coming from. He’s the one who’s afraid. He’s afraid of hurting people, of not being in control of his own impulses.

Now that Sakura understands, she can finally make her decision. She stands up, resolve clear in her eyes.

“If no one’s gonna help you get out of here, then I’ll do help you. I’ll do whatever I can to help you.” Sasuke chuckles in amusement. This girl is surely still naïve that for a second, she makes the impossible sound possible.

“Tch. Good luck.” Sakura kneels back down in front of him, placing her hand on his shoulder.

“I don’t believe you’re a monster. And I’ll make everyone believe that. But you have to work with me.” Sasuke takes a good look at her. He tries to guess what she’s thinking. Her eyes, filled with determination and courage, suddenly make him believe that she’s capable of doing so. That he might not be a monster after all. He dismisses any positivity from his mind and shifts to face away from her.

.

.

True to her words, she tries everything she can to help him. And that begins by bringing him food. Visiting him from once to twice a day, she’d bring any food she can find. Meat, berries, fruits.

They’d make a small firepit in the middle and enjoy their meal together. She’d tell stories of her childhood, of the village where she grew up in, of her family, of her dreams. And he’d always listen.

Once or twice he’d be brave enough to share his childhood. How he lost his parents pretty early on. How it was always just his brother and him against the world. How he misses him.

Sakura takes note of how deep his emotions are. How he feels and observes things. How he’s very much a human being unlike what everyone says.

Some days, he’d transform to show him his other side. A part of him is always worried that his impulses would kick in and try to harm her. But Sakura would always argue that he’d only do that as self-defense. She always believes he would never try to hurt her. At least intentionally.

She’d admire his long hair, the skin that make up his wings. She’d bravely touch them, and he’d feel every small touch of her fingers, sending electricity through his body.

Other days, they’d be lying underneath the clear sky, stargazing. Even though their vision is blocked by the trees overhead, they can still make up the small beads adorning the sky. They notice the moon always shines the brightest, lighting up their surroundings, never leaving them in total darkness. As they lay there in silence and admiration, Sasuke instinctively looks over to her, marveling at his star. How could a small woman have all the courage in the world? How could she suddenly walk into his life and bring so much warmth? How could she have the power to chase away his darkness?

He doesn’t know when, but he knows his heart is no longer beating for just himself.

.

.

Sakura is just on her way to see him when she’s approached by four men. She’s barely at the ledge that leads to the pit when they warn her.

“Sakura. Step away from the ledge.”

“Sato-san. What are you doing here?” She notices how one of them is carrying a machete, while the others are carrying similar weapons. She suddenly changes her stance to a defensive one.

“He’s far too dangerous to be left alone. We know you’ve been trying to get him out.”

“But he’s not dangerous at all! He’s just misunderstood.”

Sasuke notices the commotion from up ahead and peers his ears to listen.

“Please, he’s a human being just like the rest of us!” She truly believes every word she says. Sasuke can’t believe what he’s hearing. She’s actually defending him. She’s the only person in the world who’s truly on his side now. He can’t describe the warm feeling in his chest.

“I’m sorry Sakura-san, but you need to step aside. We don’t want to hurt you.”

“No! I won’t let you get to him! You’ll have to go through me!” All fired up, she drops the basket she’s holding to the side.

One of the men sets aside his sword, afraid he might hurt her, and starts swinging his fists at her. Having received some self-defense training, she’s able to dodge every attack gracefully and lands a blow to his stomach. Staggering behind after her blow, he and another man starts lunging at her. She ducks to dodge a punch and jumps to the side to avoid the other man’s machete.

She’s able to get in a groove and dodge every single attack they throw at her, frustrating them even more. That’s when another man comes up from behind and swings his sword at her feet. He scrapes her ankle, succeeding in wounding her. She yells in pain before she falls back, blood oozing out of the wound.

“I’m sorry. You brought this on yourself.” Sasuke hears her scream for pain and his blood starts boiling. He’s not going to let them hurt her for defending him. He feels so hopeless being down there and not being able to protect her.

He transforms and starts flapping his wings. He manages to ascend for a few feet before he’s held back by that mysterious force. He uses all his strength to break free but it just keeps holding him back even stronger. His desperation grows when it starts pulling him closer to the ground. But he refuses to concede. He needs to get out. To get to her.

That’s when he gives a final push, and is finally able to break free. As if a rope has just been snapped, he flies out of the very pit that’s contained him for years and soars through the sky. Sakura and the four men watch as he flies up above their heads, awe never leaving her eyes.

Sasuke lands in front of her, covering her from their line of sight. Anger is now seeping through him. The men all fall to the ground, trembling in fear.

“You’ll pay for this.” He takes a step towards them. He hasn’t even noticed that Sakura has made her way to his side, grabbing his hand.

“Sasuke don’t!!” She tugs him forcefully. He glares at her. “Please stop.” He sees desperation in her eyes. But not just that. He sees sadness as well. But never fear. His expression softens and he transforms back to his normal self.

The four men take their chances and run from there as fast as they can. Sakura drops back to the ground, pain shooting up from her leg.

“You're hurt.” Sasuke eyes the gash on her ankle.”

“It’s fine.” She rips a part of her skirt and ties it around the wound, trying to stop the bleeding. Now that that’s taken care of, her attention falls back to Sasuke.

“Sasuke! You- you were able to get out!”

“Aa.”

“But how?” He’s at a lost for words. He himself doesn’t know how he managed to get out.

Sakura tries to get up but almost trips at the pain that shoots up her leg. Sasuke steadies her.

“You need help.” He instinctively tells Sakura to get on his back, swinging her arms around his neck and grabbing her legs behind the knees. He begins to walk towards her village.

“I’m proud of you.” She manages to whisper. He plays the words in his head over and over again, feeling a tug in his heart.

When they reach her village, they are greeted by a mob of people, all carrying swords, sticks, and fire. Standing in front of the crowd is the four men from back there.

“Not a step closer.” One of them pointed his sword at them. Sakura gets off Sasuke’s back and limps towards the villagers.

“Wait! Look, I know you guys are afraid of him. He might’ve attacked some people back then, but that’s not him. That’s not his true self.”

“He’s cast you under a spell, hasn’t he?” One of the villagers claims.

“No! I’m not under any spell. I’ve gotten to know him, his true self and he’s just a human being like all of us. He’s not some monster you can cage. He never meant to hurt any of those people. Please, just give him a chance. I promise he’ll never hurt anyone ever again.” Sakura pleads in front of everyone. A part of Sasuke feels calm now that someone has his back. But a part of him feels pained to see her like this, being casted out by her own village. If this is what his freedom means, then he’s willing to spend the rest of his life in that retched pit.

“Sakura.” Sasuke slowly steps towards her. Just then, an old woman appears from the back of the crowd. She slowly makes her way to them.

“So you managed to break free.” Their gazes turn to her, all equally confused. Except for Sasuke. Sasuke begins to flare.

“You! You locked me there!” He points at her, anger or something softer than that starting to become evident in his voice.

“I did. But you managed to break free.” Sasuke lowers his finger. “You’re only able to break free from your shackles the moment you learn how to love.” Sasuke’s eyes widen at this.

The old woman’s gaze turns to the pinkette standing next to him. Sasuke follows her gaze and can see how confused Sakura is.

“Dear, it’s you who has set him free.” How is that possible? Sakura questions herself over and over again. “You showed him who he truly is. And helped him learn to love. You were even able to control his emotions.” Sakura remembers then at the forest, when she was able to stop him from hurting those men. Sakura doesn’t realize the impact she has on him. She turns to face him.

Hearing all this, the villagers start lowering their weapons.

True to her words, Sakura did help him. She’s able to free him from his shackles. And she did it in the most selfless way possible.

.

.

end.

[ice-cream-nekogirl]

Out of My League (Midoriya Izuku X Reader X Bakugou Katsuki) PART 2

PART 2 to: https://ice-cream-kitsunegirl.tumblr.com/post/189171035414/out-of-my-league-midoriya-izuku-x-reader-x

Classes are almost over ya’ll~! AH! I can’t friggin’ wait!! Ah I forgot to mention that the reader her, a.k.a you and us are a BIT on the chubby side here.

Summary: You make the ultimate decision to go shopping with all of your classmates.

'Cause she's so high High above me She's so lovely She's so high Like Cleopatra Joan of Arc or Aphrodite...

‘She’s So High’- Tal Bachman

SECONDS AGO…

“(Y-Y/N)? Are you… okay?” He asked you as Uraraka, Iida and a few other classmates looked at you and you realized that you called him a little louder than you intended to.

“I uh…”

Oh God you were stuttering again, and it never ceased to amuse Bakugo. You were SUCH a dork it was almost endearing. “Uhhh… ummm… uhhhh… oh fuck it… Izuku I need to talk to you about something school-related…” You ignored the looks you were getting and the rather surprised look from Izuku and didn’t notice the shock on Bakugo’s face.

What did you need to talk to DEKU for? It was SO not school-related…

NOW…

“Oh! S-Sure of course…” But Izuku didn’t turn you down, he always came to you if you needed something, so he politely told his friends he’d be back as you gestured him to follow you out of the classroom. He couldn’t lie though; he was nervous and hoping that it wasn’t anything bad or alarming…

“Y-You wanted to talk to me (Y/N)?” He asked you politely as you nodded and sighed heavily, no stuttering, just tell him. “Uh… I-I uh…” Yet there you were, hearing only your heart from your chest as your face turned hot.

“U-Uhhh…”

STOP STUTTERING!

“Izuku will you go to the dance with me…?” You mumbled EXTREMELY quietly, and of course Izuku couldn’t hear you, he didn’t have super senses after all.

“I’m sorry?”

Dammit…

“Izuku will you go to the dance with me…?!” You raised your voice a tad bit, loud enough for him to hear at least as you closed your eyes, no way you couldn’t bear to see another guy reject you again. Except you just didn’t see how RED his face turned, and how fast it did as you heard him gasp out loud in absolute shock…

“H-H-H-Huh?! W-Wha…?! M-M-Me…?!” He was a stuttering mess, worse than you in fact as he was absolutely flabbergasted and you quickly opened your eyes to see. Oh my God the poor thing, you were almost worried that your question was going to sink in and kill him like cobra venom.

“A-Are you…? W-What uh…? I-I uh… d-did… a-are y-y-you you…?”

Poor Izuku lost the ability to form sentences, hell he could barely even speak at this point and you were both concerned and charmed by how endearingly befuddled he was. But despite how flustered he was, Izuku ALMOST looked a bit skeptical and even looked over his shoulder and every other direction to see if you were talking to someone else. But no… there was no one else, then again, who else’s name was Izuku?

“M-M-Me…?”

He pointed a very shaky finger at himself, wondering if you were really talking to him, him! Him?! Could you even see him? Were you just a figment of his imagination? There’s no way… he didn’t get asked out to dances! Let alone dates!

And there’s no way someone as cool as you would ever ask out a loser like him. One For All or not, you were still out of his league.

You couldn’t help but smile and giggle a bit, oh my God he really was cuter than an otter in a swimming pool.

“Yeah you.”

This felt just like 16 Candles and that was a classic movie in your mind, and then the more you thought about it, and the more you saw those hopeful, lovely green eyes of his, the more you realized that you wanted to have that 16 Candles kind of thing with Izuku.

He was always there for you, even when you were at your lowest and couldn’t even repay the favor. This time you would do that and go out with him and take him to that dance. If anything, he deserved to be at that dance more than anyone else did because he was the nicest guy you’ve ever met. “M-Me…? Y-You… y-you’re asking me… o-out t-to the… d-dance…?” Izuku was still in disbelief, but slowly starting to believe it because you wouldn’t deceive him like that.

Although he remembered the last time there was a school dance, he thought for a moment that you were going to maybe ask him out. But he was a little boy back then with big dreams, he was grown up now and thought more realistically. Except the big dreams of that little boy was… coming true? Like every other big dream he’s had has slowly been coming true.

Now his best girl-friend was asking him out to the dance.

“Yes! Yes I want to ask you out to the dance dork, that’s why I’m asking, I want to go with you to the dance, so… do you wanna go…? Or…” You resisted the urge to laugh as Izuku blushed even darker, and without even thinking he exclaimed, almost emotionally, “YES I DO!”

The one time he didn’t really have much of a filter, he just said ‘yes’. Because back then he hoped you would ask him out, and one year later it was actually happening. He wanted to go to the dance with you.

Your (E/C) eyes widened and you somewhat loudly gasped. Then reality came crashing down on you as you grinned widely, excitedly but nervously. You were going to the dance with someone…

“G-Guh-Guh-Great! I-I uh… that is awesome…! I am uh… we’re going to the dance~…!” Shaking your fists excitedly you forced that smile to stay on as Izuku looked just as, if not MORE nervous than you as his smile was equally wide, nervous and forced when it dawned on him…

He really had someone to go to the dance with…

“Hee-hee okey dokey! Wow…! That went better than I thought…! S-So uh…”

“Uhh….”

Oh God now neither of you could even talk to each other without stuttering like dorks, but you didn’t want to make this whole thing weird so you started talking again. Somehow…

“It’s in 2 days… so I uh… I will get ready until then… I guess I will… like meet up with you…?” You wondered outloud since this was completely new to you. You could cite everything from Game of Thrones and other things you loved, but you didn’t know the first thing about how dances and dates worked.

“O-Oh, yeah…! I-I will too…! I can… I uh will… be there at the dorms, a-and wait for you…” He knew almost everything about heroes, but absolute zero on what to do for dates or being asked out to a dance. Movies didn’t count, but dammit it was all he could remember whenever he watched those embarrassingly sweet romcoms with his mom.

The guy waits for the girl and then he takes her to the dancefloor? Is that how it worked? He would stick with that…

“Awesome! Hehe… well uh… I look forward to it Izuku…” You were still nervous, but genuinely excited as you meant what you said and you were glad that Izuku’s nerves softened a little bit and he seemed really happy. “M-Me too (Y/N)… I… I can’t wait…” He was excited, extremely excited but also… extremely nervous once the two of you went back into class and to your seats, with the heavy blush on both your cheeks which made nearly anyone who was paying attention, curious.

Hagakure knew though, judging by how shy and flustered you and Izuku looked she had to suppress a squeal and quietly fawn all over you both. You did it! You asked him out!!

You asked him out…

He was asked out…

Now you and Izuku were both freaking out. Oh my God he was going to need to wear his best suit and tie, maybe brush his hair and make sure he had good breath, and he couldn’t screw up the actual dancing. Oh my God what if he steps on your foot? What if he goes to the dance and later any cologne or deodorant he has wears off? What if his breath ends up smelling? What if he trips and makes a huge fool of himself and then worse, embarrass you?

Izuku wondered as he mumbled to himself anxiously much to the great concern of his friends Uraraka, Iida, Todoroki and Aoyama. “Um… Deku…” Uraraka wanted to ask what was up, especially since he looked so frantic, but the boy was lost in his own world.

And you were too as Hagakure saw how nervous you looked. Oh My God you needed to get a nice dress, and ugh you were NOT going to like getting heeled shoes but you needed to look your best. You had to shave your pits and legs, wash your hair and brush it for a change, wear deodorant and perfume and have a ton of gum for your breath. You needed to just do everything to look good and smell good. Especially smell good because hygiene was NOT exactly your strongest suit.

Yes. You were a girl and you didn’t have the greatest hygiene.

And yet that was the worst part because you actually asked a boy out to the dance and now you realized that you had a lot of work to do to make this dance a memorable one.

However…

That was Bakugo’s biggest concern and his biggest doubt. He didn’t know what the hell you talked to Deku about, but he was going to find out. He didn’t like how flushed you and him looked, but he wanted to assume and believe that one of you said something stupid and you and he got flustered since you were both giant dorks.

Still he was glaring at you, and then at Deku. He refused to even consider that maybe you or he must have talked to each other about the dance everyone was talking about. There’s no way you would ever ask him out to the dance when you couldn’t even do that for him last year, and there’s especially no way Deku could ever have the guts to ask you out.

Right?

2 HOURS LATER

“OH MY GOD WHAT THE HELL HAVE I DONE?” You asked Hagakure once class was over and the two of you were walking out of the class and now you were freaking out. Except Hagakure was too excited to let you fret about it. “You asked him out! Like you said you would! You did it! And he said yes!!” She was jumping cheerfully for you, and starting to fawn over how cute it was even though it did nothing to calm you down.

“I know! He said yes! No guy’s ever told me ‘yes’ to things! That doesn’t happen to me! Things like that don’t happen to people like me! What am I gonna do?!” You exclaimed and put your hands to your head nervously, because… it was true, no guy EVER looked your way and so now that Izuku actually took up your offer to the dance you had NO idea what to do now.

“(Y/N)…” Hagakure whined a little bit, “You’re so mean to yourself… but for now you need to get yourself a nice dress! Because Midoriya said ‘yes’! He likes you! But you gotta dress up nice to show off how pretty you are!” She didn’t stop encouraging you though, if Izuku said yes then that meant he HAD to have thought you were pretty.

So why not show him that?

“Tooru I’m NOT-“

“YES! You ARE. You’re pretty (Y/N)! And you’re gonna show everyone! C’mon! Let’s go get the girls and the rest of our classmates so we can go SHOPPING~!!” She exclaimed happily and full of energy as you could only weakly smile, “Yay…” You mumbled very nervously, but that didn’t sound like the worst idea…

Maybe she was right. Maybe you could stand to look a little pretty and feel pretty, you were going to a dance after all! 

Yeah… what the hell? It was time to allow yourself to feel pretty.

“Okay! Let’s go!” You pumped your fist in the air with a grin as Hagakure whooped highly with extreme joy. 

The girls were all totally on board, much to your surprise and light nervousness and then on top of that, the rest of your classmates were happy to come too, although clearly Bakugou was the most reluctant until Kirishima and Kaminari dragged him along while he kicked and screamed at them. You almost understood why he didn’t want to go though, because frankly you didn’t really want to either. The girls were almost too enthusiastic…

It wasn’t that you didn’t get along with the other girls, you actually liked them, but you weren’t used to hanging around them altogether since you mostly hung out with either yourself, or the boys. Hell, that was made pretty clear given that Izuku and Bakugo were your closest friends. And on top of that each of them were much prettier than you, skinnier than you, cuter than you, smelt better than you, somehow made different hairstyles look better than you…

Even Hagakure, and she was your closest girl-friend, but somehow even when invisible she managed to look and have a better figure than you.

And just like that the joy you had earlier flew right out the window... a temporary burst of confidence was all it was...

“What am I doing here…?” Finally, you asked yourself once you found that you were standing outside a store full of dresses that the girls all had gone into and you just couldn’t find the motivation to take a step inside.

“Yeah. What ARE you doing here?” However, you weren’t alone and you jumped a little bit when you saw Bakugou glaring right at you and you felt blood rushing to your face.

“H-Heeeeey… Bakugo…” You hesitated with a nervous smile, because while you had been on first-name basis with Bakugo ever since you were kids, after middle school you went back to last-name basis, and it pissed him off more than it probably should have as his eyes narrowed at you.

“Answer the damn question.”

You swallowed hard at his blunt demand, and you immediately stuttered, “I uh… umm… uhhh…” And you silently cursed yourself for letting that get the better of you, you couldn’t stutter because you knew Bakugou hated that. At least that’s what you always believed because he’s mocked you for it ever since middle school, and actually he’s mocked you for it since the 4th grade.

So you paused, letting yourself regain your composure and to your surprise, the blonde showed a surprising, rare amount of patience so you could collect yourself, “I have no idea really… it… sounded like a good idea at first but then I remembered… I never liked shopping.” Sighing, you slumped your shoulders the more you realized that yeah, you were so out of your element and you couldn’t believe you were here.

Bakugo’s scoff was almost comforting because he clearly knew how you were, “Yeah no duh, you’re over all this shit, always have been, always thought it was stupid, and it is stupid. Surprised you’re not at Hot Topic, that damn place has all that dumb stuff you’re into.” He almost snickered, because he knew you, you weren’t into this shit, and you weren’t exactly a mall-rat. 

You chuckled a little bit, almost laughing because you were starting to think that maybe you should just go back home, this wasn’t going to work, “You know what? You’re actually right…” You didn’t disagree with that, Bakugo was on the ball. It actually made you smile a little bit, yes he was still a jerk, but he cared enough to at least remember some things about you apparently.

“And what did you to say to Deku?”

Now that’s what he really wanted to ask, and your eyes widened slightly and immediately your face went aflame and your pits turned into the rainforest for some reason. Why did that make you nervous? This jerk, like that was any of his business. Yet the way he glared at you was more or less his way of saying ‘I don’t care if it’s none of my business, tell me now’.

“Ah I just… asked him about the dance… I asked if he was going… and to my surprise he said ‘yes’… which like… really shocked me.” That wasn’t a TOTAL lie, it was like 50 percent true, you DID ask Izuku about the dance and you were VERY surprised that he said ‘yes’ and you blushed just thinking about it and prayed Bakugo didn’t see.

He lowly growled in slight annoyance, but he actually believed that. He was feeling PRETTY fucking confident that you didn’t ask that nerd to GO to the dance, and he figured Deku probably grew some balls to go to a dance now that he had Todoroki and those three other extras (Uraraka, Iida and Aoyama) following him. “What a loser.” He muttered a bit, even though he himself didn’t want to go to the dance but those morons he called friends were forcing him to go. And deep down he did NOT want to admit that maybe it won’t be 100 percent horrible because he’s got actual friends to go with now.

You couldn’t really say anything to that, because for some reason what confidence you had earlier was all gone as you stood quiet, “So are you going?” He asked you somewhat roughly and you perked up again, face turning red and your pits sweating even more. Man you needed to see a doctor about that…

A snicker left you, and then a small laugh as if to try and see if that would make Bakugo laugh like it did in middle school, but it didn’t this time which you thought was kinda weird. “Come on Bakugou… me? It’s like you said, I’m over all that stuff… hee-hee w-what makes you think I’d actually go to that thing? I mean… look at me.” You were being self-deprecating and that pissed him off more than he was aware of. 

“Well… I guess I’m kinda obligated to go but it’s only cuz the girls are gonna basically annoy me into going…” You added and gave a rather believable answer since he was well aware that the girls liked to lull you around with them despite the fact that you weren’t always entirely comfortable with it and you couldn’t say no to them. 

“Well don’t go if you don’t really want to stupid. Don’t let those idiots force you into going to something that’s not even your thing.” He muttered in annoyance, it’s not like he cared about you or anything. 

You weren’t as bad as Deku was, or as bad as some of the other idiots in his class. And maybe it was that damn guilt that he couldn’t quite shake off once he remembered rejecting you last year at the last dance. On top of that, you clearly weren’t confident when it came to things like this, he knew that well. You were never confident about things, which is one of the many reasons he looked down on you, and he KINDA felt bad about that too. Maybe he shouldn’t have done that, because now you didn’t have any, and it showed when he had to reassure you. 

Your eyes went even wider and you were beyond surprised at Bakugo’s words. Was he trying to be nice to you? You didn’t know whether to be touched or scared of this act of kindness.

“Who are you and what have you done with Katsuki Bakugo?” Your confused smile turned into a snicker but all this did was piss him off as he angrily yelled at you, “HAH?! What the hell’s that supposed to mean Shitty Girl?!”

“There’s my guy…” You were instantly reassured once he screamed and showed off his usual, pissy self as you sighed in relief and smiled. “Well… this has been nice and awkward, I’m just gonna go with the girls now and see if I can come up with an excuse to leave.” While it was nice knowing Bakugo actually talked to you for a little bit, you really wanted to leave this awkward situation as you walked away backwards to go into the store and wave at him.

All you could see was his annoyed sneer though as he watched you go in, “Idiot…” Bakugo muttered as he left in a huff, ALMOST a little hurt that you cut what little conversation you and he had short because you felt weird around him. He knew you did…

You knew that he knew too, but you didn’t think much of it. He was just being a little nosy and weird about this dance, and you just told yourself that maybe it’s because he really didn’t want to go either. 

And yet here you were, looking around dresses that were WAY too small for your size as you groaned a bit and looked around in hopes to find the largest size which was somehow too small too. 

“Ugh. I swear to fucking God it’s like every single dress made is for the skinny girls. Look at all these motherfuckers…” You glared at a mannequin with it’s perfect, thin body, white skin and lack of face, ergo what was deemed ‘perfect’ because it had the right, plastic body, a complete lack of hair and no face which was all men liked. Just a perfect body with nothing gross about it.

Your body was far from perfect, with plenty of body hair where it was supposed to be, your pits, your legs, your crotch, and it was gross. You were gross and you knew it, but hey being gross is being human dammit.

“I hate you.” You said to the mannequin and scoffed as you went over to the larger ladies’ clothes to try and see if there was maybe a nice dress you could get there. And you made sure to stay away from the girls who COULD shop in the sections you had just left and rolled your eyes. Maybe you should just go home…

Yeah, you were going home.

Sighing you flipped your disheveled hair and headed right towards the entrance so you could just go home, maybe see Hot Topic and hit the food court afterwards and also get something sweet at one of the stands.

“Hey! (Y/N)! Where you going?!”

But you closed your eyes, groaning in annoyance when you heard Uraraka’s voice, who apparently caught you leaving and frankly you wanted to just leave but it seemed you had no choice now. “(Y/N)…!! I thought we were shopping together!!” Hagakure whined a little bit because you DID say you would go with everyone, except you didn’t think you would instantly regret it later.

Still you turned to face the girls with an awkward smile. “I’m going home. This isn’t my thing, I mean like none of these outfits fit me or anything and I just… yeah I’m gonna go okay?” You nervously put your hands in your pockets and you were getting ready to just leave. You wanted to leave.

But the girls, while they felt bad for kinda bringing you when you weren’t entirely willing, it’s also because they wanted to include you and make you feel like a part of their group. Girls looked out for each other. 

“(L/N)… wait don’t… don’t go just yet, I’m sure there are some outfits that fit you.” Yaoyorozu was going to try and make you feel better but you shook your head. “In case you missed it Yaoyorozu, not EVERY girl can have a perfect body like yours so… I doubt it…” You didn’t mean to sound cold, but it was true, you were being realistic and you felt some satisfaction when you put the smart girl in a box.

“Come on (L/N) there’s no need to be like that, don’t take that out on Yaoyorozu.” Jirou defended her friend, but at this point you were in no mood for this shit. 

“Fuck off Jirou. You don’t get it.” You coolly said to the girl who gasped in shock and looked taken aback when you prepared to leave again, “W-Wait! How about you let us help you?!” Yaoyorozu, once again, wanted to help you and admittedly… this shocked you.

You even turned your head with a surprised look on your face, “Yaoyorozu… you’re a nice girl… but… I don’t know… this…” You gestured to your body, letting some guilt show though because she was being so kind. “Is NOT easy to shop for…” 

She still smiled at you though, “Every shape is different. I myself have to find my own bras and dresses that can fit my assets.” She explained what sort of difficulties she had although you couldn’t help but think ‘you can just easily make your own though accustomed to your bust size…’

But it was nice to know that even she had her own troubles with finding clothes that fit, and it made sense. After all it was hard for you to find shirts too because not every shirt could fit those things on your chest as you smiled a bit. “Okay… here’s a challenge, think you can help me find a bra that actually fits me? Cuz I’m sure I’ve been wearing the wrong bra for YEARS…” The girls smiled and perked up when it seemed like you were in a better mood and more encouraged.

“Sure we can. I know not many of these clothes are really practical, but there’s a few that can actually fit and look good enough for your tastes.” Tsuyu said to you, frank as always as you smiled at the girls, nodding with a small scoff, “Tell me about it… okay… ladies, help me with my boobs.” You suddenly said to the girls, although your choice of words flustered Jirou but the girls looked ready to help you.

“Absolutely! Come on let’s see what we’re working with!” Ashido was the first to happily pull you in as you actually smiled a little bit and let the girls help you with your assets. It took less long than you thought as Yaoyorozu found you the perfect bra that actually fit, and for once it felt right and not just tolerable having that thing on your chest. That’s one issue taken care of.

You actually smiled when you saw the other girls apparently having trouble finding dresses too, as you each tried on a few other dresses that looked cute but weren’t quite ‘it’ for you girls. Jirou had on something cute that YOU liked but Ashido and Hagakure both shook their heads, much to her dismay. Although Yaoyorozu looked fantastic in just about anything, she and everyone else agreed that it wasn’t quite that right dress for her. 

Wow… you had a little more in common with these girls than you thought as you chuckled a bit when you looked at the bra that Yaoyorozu brought for you. You wanted to pay her back but she said there was no need for that, sweet girl… 

“And here you go (Y/N). You said that you need these?” She even gave you some bike shorts that you tried on as you nodded and happily accepted it. “That’s right! Thank you~. Because my legs chafe if I ain’t got no shorts…” You sighed a little bit, but seemed a BIT less sad about it. Yes, your legs were prone to chafing due to a little extra weight and thickness on your thighs. 

“You’re welcome!” She sweetly said as you smiled at the girl, although you didn’t find a dress yet, you were glad that the girls found you the important things you would need for BEFORE you wear a dress. And so all of you decided to go and meet the guys at the food court for lunch. 

“THANK GOD…” You threw your hands up once it was time for a lunch break, much to the girl’s amusement as they laughed with you and you grinned with them. Okay, maybe this wasn’t so bad as you hit the food court and waved at some of the guys that were there.

Oh there was Izuku! You happily waved at him and he instantly turned bright red as he looked away shyly, but he shakily and timidly waved back at you. God he still couldn’t believe YOU asked him out…

And then you waved at Bakugo with a bigger smile than he was used to seeing on you. What was up with you? He could only give you a sneer in return as you just giggled, classic Bakugo, never happy to see anyone. 

But you were in a good mood, and frankly you were glad to finally get some food in you. Well, more food, but still, you weren’t going to feel too bad about eating today. You gladly got whatever wasn’t recommended for you, a lot of things that weren’t healthy, fast food and even a few sweet desserts that you gladly put on the table in front of you. And you ignored all the looks other girls from other high schools were giving you when seeing the ‘fat fest’ on your tray. Bitches.

You didn’t care and the girls were actually glad you didn’t, you liked what you liked and they didn’t judge you for it. And neither did most of your closest friends either. Izuku sure didn’t, he was glad that you were eating in fact.

Sure it wasn’t the most recommended things, but that’s just how you were, and it was better than not eating. He sighed as he glanced over at you, his cheeks flushing the more he started to admire you a little bit, even as you wiped your face and burped after eating which made Hagakure and Uraraka laugh, while Jirou made a face. Izuku’s always been a little bit keen on you, but there’s no way a guy like him could ever off you what you deserved. You were amazing, unafraid in your own way, even on your lowest days he still admired you and thought you were brilliant.

“Midoriya? Are you feeling okay?” Iida asked his friend in concern when he seemed like he was distracted, again. “O-Oh! Y-Yes! I’m fine, sorry…” And Izuku quickly reassured him even though this kind of flustered him, but Aoyama and Todoroki saw through him a little bit more.

“What did (Y/N) talk to you about?” Todoroki never got to ask him after you had to talk to him in class today, and Izuku’s cheeks betrayed him by burning a bright shade of red as he shook his head, “N-Nothing really! I-It was just for homework! T-That’s all! S-She uh… j-just needed my help…” He couldn’t find it in him to tell his friends that he was asked out, because to be honest, he STILL couldn’t believe it…

Aoyama had a feeling that was the case though, he saw how flustered you both looked when you both came back into the classroom. And then he saw how you looked at Izuku often, and how he would look at you. “She’s a nice girl isn’t she? Lovely too.” Rather than asking him straight up, he instead asked Izuku if he found you pretty. The boy blushed even more as he looked down with a little smile.

‘Yeah… I think she’s awesome…’ He thought to himself as he looked over at you one more time as you took a huge sip of your drink.

“Now that’s a meal…” Kaminari chuckled when he saw how much you were eating, and he was a little bit impressed. “No kidding, why didn’t I take a tip from her?!” Kirishima was a lot less condescending about it though, he admired a girl who wasn’t afraid to eat. “I don’t think we should judge someone for what they eat…” Sero noted with a somewhat nervous smile. Despite being a healthy person, he wasn’t going to judge people for what they ate. However, Bakugo just tried to look disgusted, you never were the healthiest eater and that was a little bit gross. 

“Hey Bakugo why don’t you ask HER to the dance?” Was Kaminari’s next question since he saw him talking to you before you went into that store, but Bakugo angrily retorted, “Hell no!” He hated the way his face started to heat up at the thought. Him asking YOU to the dance? There was no way in hell that was happening, he wasn’t going to dance with you! And it’s not because he said he wouldn’t dance with you if you were the last girl on earth…

That’s right he said that… man… now that he remembered that, it was harsh even for him…

“(Y/N)’s great though! She’s funny, she’s smart and she knows who she is, plus she’s cute don’t you think?” Kirishima listed off all the best points about you as he had a pretty high opinion of you and considered you an awesome friend, but all this did was make Bakugo even madder. These idiots acted like they knew you better than he did, he knew you dammit.

You WERE funny and smart, but he couldn’t find it in him to say that out loud, and he was NOT going to dance with you because dances were stupid! He always thought they were and you did too! It was stupid! Everything about this damn dance was stupid! 

“NO I DON’T!” He shouted in response, much to the light surprise of his friends because although they knew you and Bakugo have been friends for a while they didn’t exactly know the full extent of your relationship. “That’s not very cool man. (Y/N) has a pretty face.” Sero wasn’t approving of Bakugo’s attitude towards you though, he never thought that was cool. After all you never did anything to him, why was Bakugo so pissy whenever you got involved in a situation or whenever you hung out with them?

“You idiots just shut up! (Y/N) is not just a ‘pretty face’, she’s weird, gross and annoying as hell! I am NOT asking her to the stupid dance!” He exclaimed to his three friends, but all of them looked mildly shocked and a little bit appalled to hear him say such things about you. Sero even made sure that none of the girls, especially you, could hear this. Some of the other onlookers did but thankfully they were all just strangers.

“Man that’s mean…” The tallest boy shook his head, starting to wonder how you and Bakugo were even friends to begin with. “Okay… jeez… ya know it’s so NOT manly to call a girl gross dude.” Kirishima gave his friend some criticism even though the blonde just glared and growled at him. “So… does that mean I can ask her out instead?” Kaminari asked that question once the mood got a BIT too grim for his liking, and Bakugo could call you gross all he wanted, he thought you were cute.

“Don’t even think about it Dunce-Face!!” And Kaminari jumped a bit in shock when Bakugo suddenly shouted for him to NOT ask you out? “W-What?!” He fearfully exclaimed because he was confused, did Bakugo like you or not? I mean make up your mind already! 

And that’s the thing, he refused to even think that he liked you. He didn’t! He did NOT like you.

Meanwhile, you just sat at your table with your gal-pals, slurping spaghetti noodles as you looked over at Bakugo’s table and wondered what it was he was screaming about. But you shrugged and just assumed Bakugo was just being Bakugo, and you got up so you could get a refill of (S/D) your favorite soda drink. 

You watched the liquid filling your cup and at the corner of your eye you saw a familiar face, oh it was that Shinsou boy, getting his own drink to put on his tray of food. 

That’s right he was part of the class now, you realized with a small chuckle and gasped when the bubbly soda suddenly overflowed from your cup and cold liquid ran down your fingers and already got sticky, “Oh God, oh God, oh God… ugh…” Quickly you grabbed some napkins to wipe it off, and you froze when you heard an amused chuckle.

And you saw Shinsou grinning right at you, clearly he thought that was hilarious as you pouted a little bit. “I know you. You have that telekinesis quirk.” He remarked once he recalled your familiar face and you ceased your pouting. 

“Heh, that’s me.” You replied neutrally with a little smile to be polite, and he was still smirking at you and pointed to the side of his mouth, “You know you’ve got sauce on your face.” He noted as you flinched and blushed in embarrassment, “Oh… shit… is it off?” You asked as you wiped it off with the sticky napkins.

“Yeah it is.” He was nice enough to tell you that as you scoffed, “Well you got a little something under here.” You decided to be a smart aleck and point to the bags under your eyes, just to point out the bags he had under his eyes, but he rolled his eyes and didn’t cease his grin.

“What do you call those things under your eyes?” He pointed out your hypocrisy as stuck your tongue out at him, “Shopping bags…” However, you couldn’t deny that you had bags under your eyes as you sighed…

“At least you can say you did shopping?” He asked you, tone a BIT more playful though since he could sympathize with that as you laughed, “Yeah you got a point there actually… and I’m not the type who goes shopping.” You pointed out with a smile, “You could have fooled me.” His smirk turned a bit more… flirtatious? No…

“Oh shut up! Like you’re the type who shops too, I mean I love the whole ‘I just got out of bed’ hairstyle but you can’t talk shit…” You tried not to laugh but you couldn’t help yourself as Shinsou chuckled a little bit. “Okay… you got me there. But you know, you and I have the same hairstyle.” He pointed out your messy hair though, while it wasn’t wild like his, it still wasn’t really brushed and was pretty messy. 

“Bedhead twins?” You shrugged your shoulders with a coy smile as Shinsou’s smirk turned into more of a smile. As Ashido watched you and him talking, her eyes brightening a bit.

“OMG Chemistry alert~!” She exclaimed cheerfully to the girls who stopped to see what she was talking about, and they saw it. You and Shinsou just talking to each other, and you were laughing and he was trying his hardest not to even though your laughter was oddly contagious. Hagakure gasped a little bit, as happy as she was that you asked out Izuku, this was kinda cute… 

And the other girls had no idea that you already asked out Izuku, but they were already starting to think that you were probably gonna ask out Shinsou? Even though you guys hadn’t really talked until now.

“Hee… oh God I forgot about my girls, hehe thanks for being awkward with me, I will see you later dude.” Once you remembered the girls, you took your drink to go back to them as he smiled and waved at you. “See you.”

As you walked away he watched you go with an amused little smile, what an interesting, funny person you were.

She's so high High above me...

TO BE CONTINUED...

[thepoedameronimagines]

Infuriating

summary: the reader is a sarcastic mechanic and fights with poe all the time because he causes so many problems for her. mid-argument, poe does the unthinkable. word count: 885 warning/s: none (or maybe poe’s a teensy-weensy ooc? idk) requested: yes a/n: it’s been how many years since i last wrote a fic... i hope i’m doing well (awkward smile). feedback would be nice, though please be gentle. i bruise easily *hides behind bb-8*

to the anon who requested this: i changed the plot a little bit hehe hope it turned out nicely c:

keep sending your lovely requests!

Stupid, stupid, stupid... Damn you, Poe Dameron! 

“Uh-oh, I know that look,” I heard Jasmille’s, one of my fellow mechanics here in the Resistance base and friend, taunting tone and saw her from my peripheral vision approaching me, “let me guess... It’s him again.”

“Who else in this goddamn base knows how to get me this riled up?” I growled, stating the obvious as I unintentionally jab the droid I was repairing on an area I was intended to fix. 

Jasmille leaned against my desk and crossed her arms. “What did he do this time?” she asked. 

I could tell you so many of the things he’s done, I thought to myself. I was about to tell her what went down in today’s meeting with the squadron and the general, when the door of our department opened and came in the last person I wanted to see today. I gripped the screwdriver I was holding tightly.

“‘Morning, everyone.” Poe said to everyone he greeted with a smile. For some reason, when his eyes met mine, his smile grew bigger. Please don’t come here, please don’t come here, please don’t come here, I prayed to myself. I patted the droid I finished fixing and informed it that the repair is finished. The droid beeped gratefully before leaving the repair wing. 

The second the droid left, Poe was in front of me. I narrowed my eyes at him. “What do you want, Dameron?” I asked through gritted teeth, wiping my hand to clean off the excess oil. “Came here to mouth-off again just like earlier?”

“What,” his tone was taunting, “I can’t say hi to my favorite mechanic? I thought we were friends, (y/n).” 

I rolled my eyes and faced my desk to organize my tools and some files on it. “Bugger off. I’m busy.” I told him. “And we are not friends.” 

Poe walked to the other side of my desk, stopping when he was across from me. “If we’re not friends, and most certainly we’re not strangers, then we have something.” he asked with a glint in his eyes. I glared at him when he sent a wink at my way. 

“We most definitely don’t have a something.”

“That’s not what it seemed like when we had a moment last time.”

I froze in place when he said that. I noticed that a few heads turned to our direction. I felt my cheeks heating up and turned away. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The pilot was still grinning at me despite my snarl. “Oh come on, (y/n). Don’t act as if our dates and that moment didn’t happen.” he said, chuckling, and walked beside me while I headed to somewhere in the room in hopes to get away from him. “You really need to loosen up a bit.”

“I’ll ‘loosen up’ when you leave me alone.”

“I’ll leave you alone if you agree to go with me somewhere. Just you and me.”

“What, like a date?”

“On a date.” 

I snickered. “Huh, not a chance.” 

Poe smirked, crossing his arms. “Then I won’t leave you alone until you say ‘yes’.” 

I glared at him. “You know what... I’ve had enough. You are so infuriating! There isn’t a day that you don’t come here and bother me with your so-called ‘suave’ exterior.” I barked out every frustration I felt towards him. I didn’t care anymore if anyone heard our conversation. The way he responded to my angry words with a calm and composed tone and a smile on his face as if my anger with him doesn’t seem to have an effect at all to him fueled my frustration even more. 

“Wipe that stupid smile off your face, Dameron, or I will---”

My words were cut off when Poe grabbed my face and covered my lips with his. I squeaked when he did so, my hands holding onto his shoulders for support. I tried to push him off, but his grip was strong; pulling me closer and putting more pressure on the kiss. I could see everyone’s shocked expression.

When he pulled back, we were both breathless. He leaned his forehead onto mine and slowly met my eyes as his thumb traces my cheek then down to my lips. The color of his eyes was darker than usual. For some reason, the way he was looking at me, sent sparks throughout my body. 

“You will, what?” he breathed out. 

My throat went dry. I searched my mind for more words to say, but when I didn’t, all I could do was swallow and shake my head.

A ghost of a smirk crossed Poe’s features. He tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. “I’ll pick you up when your shift ends.” He kissed my forehead before walking away with -- I could’ve sworn I saw this -- a bounce on his step. 

When his retreating figure disappeared, I exhaled a breath that I didn’t know I was holding. I ran my fingers through my hair, thinking about the turn of events that happened, boy, what did I just get myself into? I looked around and met everyone’s surprised and curious gazes. After a second, they went back to their work trying not to meet my eye anymore. 

I wanted to die out of embarrassment.

[adoringdo]

EXO Theory Pt.7 - We Got That Power!

This is now so late up, and it’s because I’ve had so many different things going wrong, mainly my laptop being a piece of crap, but I finally wrote this out and I really hope this doesn’t crash again haha. Also I actually just kept changing my mind about what I thought, and that was pretty annoying so I kept putting this off. Anyway, let’s explore EXO’s new MV, Power, shall we?

<<– First Part  |  <- Previous Part |   * Theory Masterpost

Sequence of Events

MAMA/History/What Is Love - Miracles in December - Romantic Universe - KoKoBop - MAMA 2016 VCR - (Parallel Universe) - Lucky One - Overdose - Love Me Right - Wolf/Growl - Lotto - Coming Over  -  Pathcodes/Call Me Baby - Monster  - Sing For You  - For Life - Parallel Universe  - RF_05 - Power - The Eclipse - MAMA 2016 Performance 

Every time I’ve written this post up I’ve started from the beginning of the MV’s narration, but, as I’m getting quite bored of this, I’m going to now start at the end, with the clip of Baekhyun in the water.

As well as being ridiculously pretty, Baekhyun is pretty important to my theory of the EXO story, as well as obviously in this music video. The ending where he parachutes to ‘Earth’? and is in the water as he is here, is interesting, mostly because (as I’m sure we’re all aware) links nicely to the EXO graphic novel that was included with the album.

I don’t have the album (sadly I’m poor) and I wouldn’t be able to buy as many albums as necessary to complete the novel anyway, but some people are nice enough to scan in online so I’ve read it from here (x) and come to some lovely conclusions haha.

So at the beginning of this comic we see a flash-forward it would seem of Baek falling just as in the MV and saying ‘It could have been wrong from the beginning. I guess it went to my head.’ which is telling us that something’s gone wrong, and it seems to have been Baekhyun’s fault, something made him too egotistical or sure of himself? Well this doesn’t line up very well with what we see of him in the music video - he saves the day almost, right? Well maybe not. Hehe, I’ll come back to this later on.

Throughout the comic we see the members (only 8 sadly, I really don’t see why they couldn’t have added Lay to the comic at least?!) working together to infiltrate some trucks? I’m gonna be honest, I am quite confused about parts of this comic But they’re working together, D.O and Baek at the helm of the operation, with the other members seemingly carrying out tasks that they’re told to do (or so they should be, doesn’t seem like anyone really listens.. which isn’t surprising)!

Now as I’m sure you’re aware, the members in the comic book are seen wearing the same clothes as in their Pathcode teasers.

Originally I put the Power MV right after the Pathcodes, but as I kept writing this out it made less and less sense to me, so I moved it to where I had originally intended to put it, just before the Eclipse. The events in the comic, where it is flashbacking, is clearly set within the Pathcode era and so the question becomes how do they get together and what is it they’re exactly doing here?

Well, in the Pathcodes we see all the members separated and getting signs throughout about something ominous happening. I spoke about this I think in the last part? And in Baekhyun’s especially there’s the moment when he removes an earphone and hears someone say the words ‘Someone’s looking for you’. I just went through all my posts and I actually have never spoken about Baek’s Pathcode properly I don’t think? That’s crazy. Anyway, I love Baek’s Pathcode, it’s the most interesting (other than Soo’s maybe) imo. So in his Pathcode, he hears this creepy voice. There are a few possibilities as to who’s talking to him. Remember, in my theory Pathcodes are a bit complicated because the members think they’ve escaped, but they realise towards the end that they haven’t. 

They realise this because of Kyungsoo. (Forgive me if I have gone over this before, but I can’t really remember and I tried skimming my posts and couldn’t see anything that really went over this part of my theory!) In many of the Pathcodes, the members see an image, an allusion, to light disappearing and they get scared. We see it in Tao’s, Sehun’s, Chen’s, Chanyeol’s, Kai’s and Lay’s. And in Xiumin’s we see him get a message in the TV Screen by an image that looks like a wolf:

I think I wrote about this in Part 6? that I think Soo really worries about the Wolf part of the story because he got betrayed and hurt in it my another Guardian (Luhan).

So the wolf image that I think D.O is sending Xiu here is significant, as it’s a symbol of betrayal with him, and is signalling back to a time when the members were truly divided.

I wasn’t sure whether to include this here, but I might do so. Back when I started writing these theories and was trying to figure out the initial order of the MVs (back when Monster and Lucky One had just come out), the Wolf MV was really frustrating to me. Obviously the actual video is kind of not important, but the movie thing that came with it (and Growl) kind of had a story. Part of it is just a cheap Twilight rip off, I get that, but I thought there had to me more because it otherwise didn’t make sense. So I started researching wolves generally: their symbology, their associations in dreams, the mythology around them, and I came across the fire wolves/dogs (Bulgae) in Korean mythology. They sounded really cool and they had this description regarding eclipses:

Now this is kind of a common theme in many cultures around the world, like the Vikings, but it’s kind of interesting that Wolf could also be linked to an eclipse, the most symbolic thing in EXO’s mythology now. You know, it could just be coincidence, but I dunno.

Anyway, so the message Xiumin receives could also be alluding to the eclipse as well as having a deeper meaning (which is possible as XiuSoo have a strong connection imo!)

Suho doesn’t get a warning lol because he’s too trapped, he just gets trapped by his own power. Baekhyun gets the voice, that is probably Soo, but then he reacts by also making it darker.

And ends up getting trapped also.

So now the question really becomes how do the Pathcodes relate to the comic? Do the contents of Pathcode come after or before that in the comic flashback? Well one way i think to really know is through Kyungsoo himself, who unlike the other members, gets three changes of clothes in his PC teaser.

Firstly he gets the blue and black jumper.

This is the first one we see I think, as it’s the one I believe he’s wearing when we see him awake at the very beginning of the teaser. 

Then we have the black suit when he’s in the car.

This is the one that corresponds to the change of time from 09.00 to 09.01 in Colorado, which is important as it’s the same time (when accounting for time zone differences) as the first member’s teaser, Kai.

And then thirdly, we have the outfit Soo is wearing in the new graphic novel pages, and the one he was wearing when he looked through the looking glass (hello, Alice) and sees the other members Pathcodes!

I used to think that these were taking place over different days, but after the Power MV and the Parallel Universes teaser, as well as this idea from kaizzi, I started to think that maybe these are three different versions of Kyungsoo. And this makes so much more sense, and honestly has rejuvenated a lot of my faith in this theory that I briefly doubted when I saw Power and the comic tbh. So, firstly I want to talk about this Red-Shirt-Kyungsoo™ universe.

In the comic book we see Baekhyun say ‘Or maybe // Something has been wrong from the beginning’. This could be applicable to either the Pathcodes or the end of Power, or even both. I mean, at this point, the timeline’s so messed up by the revelation of these Parallel Universes, not to mention that two of the powers, Tao’s and Kai’s, involved bending time and space, that is anything even linear in this story anymore? God knows, and so I sure don’t! But, personally, I took it to be referring to the Pathcodes as the beginning, because I do believe they mark the ‘beginning’ of a new sequence; ‘The Betrayal’. 

I think the Pathcode teasers come after the events we have yet to see in this graphic novel series. It said ‘To be continued’ so hopefully we’ll see more of this story with the members tracking down these trucks or whatever and potentially see exactly what Baekhyun is referring to when he says ‘it went to [his] head’. And so when Kyungsoo is looking through this door, I don’t think he’s seeing a parallel universe, he’s seeing the one that Red-Shirt-Kyungsoo™ is actually in, and is communicating with the members to be wary of Baekhyun, and warning them they’re still in the Dream. (Yes, I do think it’s still a dream state, even with the Parallel Universes... we can have both things happening simultaneously, I really do think so!). And so that’s basically my theory for Red-Shirt-Kyungsoo™ world. 

Next I’ll speak more about Suited-and-Booted-Kyungsoo™ and the theory with Kai!

I think I’ve spoken endlessly about the significance of cars, and how who’s driving them is important, so I won’t go into it again. But the fact that this is taking place (imo) at the exact time as Kai’s Pathcode is the more important fact here.

At the end of Kai’s Pathcode we see him teleport away. This is the first time since MAMA in my sequence of events that Kai uses teleportation, his power. Now, the reason I think this is super significant, I went over in detail in my MAMA 2016 part (x) but basically Kai has been hiding his real power from the Red Forces since the beginning because this ability is the key to travelling between the worlds/planes and capturing the Heart of the Tree of Life. There are two MVs in particular that really highlight this avoidance. KoKoBop and Lucky One.

I’ve spoken about Lucky One before, but basically the only power we don’t see evidenced is Kai’s. Instead, he has a lil’ dance. 

Very nice.

And then in KoKoBop, we still don’t see Kai use his power. I know this might be a little controversial but hear me out.

I think in KoKoBop we see Kai using some ex-member powers.

Like, since when is Kai’s ability levitation? It’s not. This is closer linked to Kris’ power imo.

And this may be a little out there, but I kind of always thought the car moving by itself was similar to Luhan’s power, telekinesis. At least, it’s nothing to do with teleportation.

KKB is set right after Romantic Universe in my theory, and at the end of RomUni we see Kai driving the car that had previously been squashed. Now I took this to kind of mean Kai taking some control and choosing to hide his power, or sacrifice it, even. So in KKB I think he’s being kind of cheeky by referencing a number of powers that aren’t his, especially by reading the ‘Space Movement’ book that’s pictured above - that can be linked to his power, yes, but also to the movement between universes/worlds, and to a lesser extent Tao’s power which would also be connected to space-time travel.

(Also, small sidenote, but I also see no real evidence for Sehun using his powers in this MV, and I think the link to Chen’s is very tedious. I don’t really have reasons for this, but I think it’s kind of weird. Especially as Sehun and Chen later become counterparts. But I don’t want to really delve into any of this right now just pointing it out as I never got around to properly finishing my KKB theories!)

So yeah, Kai using teleportation in Pathcode is kind of a big deal. And what triggers it is even more important. Right before he teleports he gets this flashback to Overdose: 

We see here, a glimpse of himself at the edge of the maze, Tao looking at his own reflection, D.O getting the box of sand, then the sand falling upwards (in reverse) and Chen witnessing light dimming.

Light dimming. Yep, I’m going there. This is a very specific set of images. It’s showing they’re still trapped, that time isn’t moving how they think, they might be in a different world (reflection world) and D.O receiving the box. As well as the light going out which I’m sure I’ve mentioned more than enough what I think that means. So, pretty deep. And then he teleports. But where to? To the one who sent him the image.

And this is why Kai’s power’s so important, because he can travel between worlds. And he travels here to meet Soo in a different plane, but the same time, because Kai can’t really control time, right, that’s Tao’s power.

And now the most interesting of Soo’s outfits imo, the Blue-Stripe-Turtlenecks-Why-Is-Soo-Always-In-A-Turtleneck-OMG-I-Hate-Them™ one. So this is the one we see (I think at least, I’m gonna say so) him waking up in.

Why is this so significant? Because I kind of think that in this parallel plane Kyungsoo is actually waking up here. He’s escaping the dream. At least the Red Forces dream, and that’s why he’s able to finally open his mind.

And we immediately see him surrounded by nature, greenery and trees, and we get this image in a sequence shortly after.

Which is showing half a dried up tree. In this Blue-Stripe-Soo™ outfit I think we see one version of Kyungsoo escape and start to think about the half of the Tree he’s meant to be guarding. And I think it’s here that he might fully realise that it’s Baekhyun. Before this moment we have a few instance of Soo paying attention to Baek because he might not trust him, and he probably had an inkling. But D.O’s not impervious to the RF even if he has more power than the others in resisting that kind of stuff, he couldn’t think about it clearly until now. This is what I think. And then he decides to take action.

Here we see a representation of Soo’s meddling. I used to think the 3 marbles in his hand were him, Kai and Xiu, and I kind of still think that. But another part of me is thinking it might be a bit different. 

So, the yellow I think could be the planets aligning, and the red the two worlds that they originally landed on (the two that look alike and have the same ground... you know the narration by now). The green in Soo’s hand, are the three Kyungsoo’s we meet in this teaser. Blue, Red and Suit, who are now directly affecting the situations. I mean, they kind of have been, but up until this point I think it’s always been that Kyungsoo has been just observing. Now meeting Kai, being in command (kind of) in the comic, and actually escaping in one of the realities, this is direct action. This is important.

I mean this is a theory I literally just thought of, but it’s pretty neat imo.

But let’s go back to the comic now. Baek says ‘it went to my head’. I think this is referring to him knowing that he is the Heart. I think it’s pretty clear in the Power MV that he knows his power is now important. I mean, we get this fucking wonderful clip that made me pretty much die.

Like, sorry, but I called this haha. Bitch he’s the sun, ahaha.

Anyway, no, but he is important as hell! And he knows this. But when does he realise? Some time after Pathcode, what he considers the ‘beginning’, as that’s where Baekhyun flashbacks to. 

I’m not sure where to really begin theorising with this information, but there are two things I’m sure of when Baek’s referring to himself messing up. Firstly, I think the message (the voice) he gets in his PC teaser is so vague compared to a lot of the others, and so much more spookier, that I’m sure it’s even more important. Like, ‘someone’s looking for you’ could be the RF or it could be his members. He doesn’t know, I don’t know, nobody does. Sure, he acts scared after this fact, but maybe that was even a mistake, maybe him letting the little light flecks surround him at the end was a mistake. I dunno.

The other thing I’m sure of is that it’s connected to him finding out he’s the Heart. I’m now so convinced of this theory, everything that is released honestly strengthens this so much it can’t not be true at this point. So it has to have something to do with this MV and this ending. It’s too significant that Baek hides his power (with EXO-L aww) and can release the others. And that he falls to the water at the end.

Going back to that, I kind of love this ending because it’s so vague almost. I think I have a theory about this, I won’t go into it in too much detail because it’s kind of out there. But it’s linked to the dream state. Yes, I think they’re still in it during Power, and in fact when Baek falls at the end I think it’s him falling to a deeper kind of level of the dream (think Inception), This is all I really have so far without going into a billion MVs and I wanna talk some more about the meat of the Power MV.

For the most part, this MV is self explanatory. But there’s some interesting parts. I’ll be going backwards though because I’m liking this. 

Right before the Baek falling bit, we have this amazing (!!!!!) sequence.

(This gif takes all justice away from the clip TT)

Obviously this is just so awesome. I’m a really big fan of EXO’s Powers and it’s just so cool to look at. I even really like that Chen’s lightning is orange for some reason? Hehe, but it’s just so cool. But the importance is with Chanyeol here, I think, because as you can see in the gif he’s at the front of the group for this part. For some reason, I’m really stuck on this idea even though I think it’s kind of unlikely. But I kind of think this is linked to the beginning of the MV:

Yeah, I think the end of the MV is them blowing up the door at the beginning. I know this sounds crazy, but I just don’t think it’s that crazy. For mainly this reason.

The little light on the end of this thingy is red here.

But in the next scene it’s orange.

Chanyeol has a red eye for some reason in this MV? I think the first arm thing with the red light is Chanyeol. I really don’t know. But I’m so stuck on this idea. Like why else would he just have a red eye in the video? And it wouldn’t be the first time that an EXO MV has finished as it started:

At the start of RomUni we see the car get crushed, and at the end it gets uncrushed.

In Sing For You we see members disappear at the start, and reappear at the end.

Overdose begins and ends with Kai (or Lu) within a maze, never able to get out.

I mean, come on, it’s not too much of a stretch, right?

=)

But that’s what I think, that the members might even be stuck in a loop of fighting the RF, and even getting their powers back. A theme of the MV in my opnion was the members and the RF restarting over and over again until they ‘won’. Especially during the part (I can’t gif it it’s too long) when the members keep adding one by one to shoot at the robot, before Chen like saves the day pretty much.

Speaking of Chen, what a bamf in this MV. By far my fave in here. I don’t really get it, but boy, he really does have that power.

Another person I wanna talk about is Sehun. I feel like out of everyone Sehun is the one I have the least ideas about when it comes to this story. I’m not entirely sure what his role is, ever tbh, but he kind of did some stuff here. Mainly, shooting at D.O.

He’s also on a walkie talkie of some kind so I wonder who he’s talking to. But I think this is important because, like I mentioned in part 6 (x), this is the only real time that we are seeing Soo vulnerable. And it’s not just once. It’s twice we see him fall scared like this, and he also has that scratch on his face (that switches sides sometimes haha). This is just so unlike how he is in the rest of the story.

But then we also see him leading an attack on the RF robot.

Like I dunno. Soo confuses me in this MV.

Because there’s also these two things:

We see Soo and Sehun’s orbs highfiving? And we also see the EXO-L kittie playing with Soo and Chanyeol’s orbs? 

Sehun who (probably accidentally I will admit) fires at another member, and Chanyeol who has a red eye, reminiscent of the RF and also Kris/Lu in the Wolf Drama vid. And Soo who’s out of character for the most part. I’m half convinced this whole MV is a simulation of sorts, much like KoKoBop. This is the simulation of the First War on EXO Planet, and the Red Forces keep losing, so they keep restarting. By this point in the story I think all the members are kind of aware what’s going on with them being trapped, and the war ongoing, so I think they’re just messing around. Acting different than they usually would to kind of purposefully mess up the sim. If the RF can’t predict how they’re going to act, the RF can’t win.

Except that at the end, Baek leaves them. Hmm...

But let’s finish where we started cos I think that’s all I really have to say about the actual MV (other than I really like it, and the song, but the stage is soooo good it might be my fav title after LMR now!). Let’s go back to Baek.

I’m very excited to read more of the comic, I think that holds so much potential story that could be explained better than in the MVs! And I want to know what happens next. The possibilities are just endless. I’m not sure I have my theories right, you know, but it’s just so fun to ponder and make little connections and try and link it altogether. I’m also really hopeful that Lay will return to the story. I know I haven’t really spoken about him, but I’m still kind of convinced he’s gone to a different world (I wrote about this here (x)), and that’s why he’s absent here. He’s too vital to keep missing out of the story!

Anyway, this got soo long, I spent the whole day pretty much writing this and getting kind of confused. Thanks to everyone who sent such lovely messages asking to read this and motivating me to write it! And thanks for reading this far if you did, it’s nice to know I’m not just babbling to myself haha! Bye for now though! ^^

-> Next Part

[safrona-shadowsun]

Handle With Care

A delivery had made its way to the Courier’s doorstep sometime in the night with nothing more than a brief set of instructions that read as follows.

“For the Gravekeeper in the Ruins of Lordaeron.”

Enclosed was an intricately hand-crafted tea set to either replace or add to the weathered table setting in the ruins.  Although it was a kind and genuine gesture toward the Gravekeep, there was more malicious intent embedded in arranging for the Courier to deliver it personally.

(Image Source) 

Stepping fresh from the bath, Safrona stilled in her bare steps as she felt the evening breeze flow against her, the sheen curtain of the balcony of the Ledgermaine suite billowing gently to draw her attention fully. “I know I shut you…” she chided the glass door in a mutter, stepping over to quickly rectify the mistake. Yet another surprise awaited her in the form of a simple chest, tied off elegantly in a crimson ribbon. “Really….?” she questioned incredulously, already searching for the smooth, magic-tinged metal of her datapad. Apparently someone waited until the dead of night to prompt the Courier for delivery. No notification, no organization, no return address.

Annoyed as she was, her work ethic took precedence. A package was in need of transport, and she had been trusted with its care, personally. Lifting the lid of the chest to assure someone was not trying to use her services for something too incriminating, she was almost amused to see the finely crafted tea set within, tuxedo black and ivory bone. Paying little mind to the details of who she was delivering to, Safrona re-dressed in her riding robes and drew on her scarlet cloak, setting out to fulfill the payed request.

It was only when the Scarlet Courier landed, when she found herself wandering through nameless gravestones in the Ruins of Lordaeron that she began to see less strange a circumstance in delivery, and more herself being moved like a pawn upon a game board for another’s amusement. As the fog would divide to reveal the lone shambling figure of the Forsaken Gravekeep, Safrona felt a bit of bile make itself known in the back of her throat. Someone made a cruel move indeed…

What tasted worst was the familiarity, the way the dead grass crunched beneath her booted feet, the sick-sweet smell of peacebloom that still tried to grow under the permeating fog of death, spoiling the natural. The ethereal chatter of Lost of Lordaeron was at first inseparable from the creak of branches, or the rustle of leaves, but her darker, driven senses were drawn in to hear them as more, too aware of what became a lament, a whisper, a question. The Gravekeep was listening too, head tilting, before turning slightly to pull Safrona into the view of those haunting, lantern eyes.

Vacant yellow eyes, illuminated like fireflies. Safrona looked away.

This was ridiculous. The thing should have been in the ground, Safrona thought, as she had intended just a few scant years ago. Dead. Forgotten. Was this some mean-spirited meeting brought on by Bwonsamdi? Had she erred since her joining among the Perished, earned some punishment to be drawn here, made to face this? Was it a test, then? Were not the Undead abominations in the eyes of Bwonsamdi, even? Her frame of thought continued to spin silently, make sense of the intention, the delivery, seek guidance beyond the weeping sound of forgotten souls. There had barely been anything left of Annaliese Handhour to resurrect in the first place, burned as she was to rid all sign of the malefic Sha, and yet someone saw it fit to put some mockery of her together…somehow. A soulless construct, perhaps meant to be put to rest again. Perhaps this was her task, setting things rig–

“~~Hello~~” the Forsaken greeted in her resonant singsong, snapping the Courier out of thought. The thing spoke. And smiled her split-cheeked smile, pallorless. Shambling forward to stand before the staring Courier, the Keeper’s ragged garments hid the mismatched state of her form, though her ungracefulness did not seem to lessen her strange cheer. All that held its touch of deathly elegance was the veil of shadow that was her spectral hair, and the train of Lost of Lordaeron that followed her steps. Still, despite her state of undeath, Anna’s face had always been prone to gentle expression, and it was no different than now. “My ghosties tell me we have a visitor! It’s not quite so often we have the living he–” 

“You have a delivery,” Safrona stated quickly, firmly, devoid of her usual practiced smile, fingers balled tight into fists at her side.

“A…delivery?” Anna echoed.

A gesture behind the elf confirmed the answer. “A delivery.” The Voidwalker that accompanied her in the Glades set the gifted chest down finally, and for some reason she could feel her hold on it weakening, as if her magics were lessened in the closer presence of the Keeper. Or perhaps she was simply worn, ready for sleep hours ago. Habits for the living. She watched with dwindling patience as the Gravekeep inspected the beast of the Void that served her, rather than the box.

“Oooh now, you aren’t quite a ghost, are you?” The Voidwalker was of course largely unresponsive as Anna tittered, terribly interested in how it came to be. Forsaken blinked at Hathkath, and the Voidwalker stared back blankly at Forsaken. At long last, the demon uttered a single line with all the deep baritone it could muster, a touch of befuddlement in its own voice, as if it were to convince itself of the following: “I am the Voiiiiiiiiid….”

“Ooh dear,” Anna murmured, blinking once more owlishly, perplexed. “Maybe you’re more a haunt than I thought…”

A deep inhale and slow exhale, and Safrona dismissed the demon, “Just… open the box, alright?”

Straightening as much as her disheveled parts would let her, the Gravekeep seemed to murmur coercively to the ground she stood on. Then, padding her bony fingertips together in a delightedly silent clap, both Courier and Keeper watched as assisting skeletal hands broke the surface of the soil to crawl up the sides of the chest to unlatch it for their requester. “Oh marvelous…marvelous and…!” There was an unneeded gasp as the gift inside was revealed, Anna reaching in to delicately take the handsomely crafted tea kettle in hand. “These are….new?!”

“…you could…have opened the lid yourself,” Safrona informed with a slight frown as the deathly hands waved their goodbyes, and dug themselves back into the earth below the Gravekeep’s feet. “That was…really just….”

“Lovely!” The Gravekeep finished blithely, now beaming as she brought out a teacup in the other hand. “Oh look at this then! Not one. Single. Crack! Hehee…” 

“Little miracles, I suppose,” the Courier replied a little dryly. “And, business is at its end, I suppose. So I’ll be on my way, yes?”

“Oh no! No no, you’ll have to stay. And have tea.” Anna nodded to confirm this rather sagely. “You did do such a marvelous job…delivering this to me! That…is what you do?” A little titter. “Madam deliverer! Allow me to repay the kindness with some tea!”

“…not a tea drinker.” Her decisive walk away was hindered by the dozens of skeletal hands following in her wake, trying to grasp to her feet, echoing the desire for her to stay. 

“But you muuust! Simply must! I have a lovely rose hip tea you’ll be dying to try!”

In the land of the Forsaken, what were innocent words from the Gravekeep was cause for concern in the Courier. “Sweet shadows fine, fine…as long as you’ll let me put some whiskey in the cup, because…trust me, I need it…”

“…whiskey. Is that a sort of tea as well…?”

“….gods help me.”

{ A challenge to write, certainly. Saf will be…disturbed for a while afterward – I expect there will be some impressions too. I look forward to see what @sanguinesorceress has in store for these two next… }

{Mentions of @theperished-wra }

[abybweisse]

Sorry for asking this, another sebastian centric ask from me, also sorry for the multiple asks, and my great timing hehe, but what do we have on sebastian? As in personality, demonic looks, culture/hell/status, family/friends(?), attitudes towards characters/species? I have looked at your demonology too! I think what I've seen is really good, as in amazingly good and thought out! Feel free to refer, link, just briefly explain, etc. I don't want to bother you too much hehe

Well, I can give only my interpretation and extrapolation of canon, really, and others might (and some surely do) view him quite differently.I'll answer this in multiple posts, since it's hard for me to keep up with the questions when I can't see them. (I'm on my iPhone.)1. Personality: he doesn't lie, doesn't condone lying, and seems quite loyal. However, if he could get the earl to give up on that quest for revenge, Sebastian would be pleased enough to eat sooner rather than later ;) We've seen him act quite bravely, and this makes me liken him even more to Marquis Naberius as the story moves along; Naberius is considered (in grimoires) to be the "most valiant of demons". Fitting that he's the earl's Knight on the metaphorical chessboard. Some people don't see any development in his character or think he has emotions, but I (and many others) do. The first time the earl disappears (chapter 3), Sebastian doesn't seem worried about the earl and instead comments on the tea going to waste. That nonchalant attitude continues through chapter 4, with Sebastian concerned more with the time on his pocket watch than the possible state of his master's health and well-being. He even comments how the earl looks like a simultaneously ugly and beautiful caterpillar, all tied up and helplessly wriggling. The arc ends with him apologizing for not making dinner on time; he's simply failed to uphold his "perfect butler" aesthetic.In the Jack the Ripper/Red Butler arc (what I consider the first true arc), he willfully subjects his master to humiliation (the party dress) and places him at the mercy of a rather unsavory man (Druitt). He then playfully omits important info regarding his findings on the final suspects; he basically says "you knew what you signed up for when you made a deal with the likes of me". However, things change a bit when he tries to shield the earl from the gory crime scene... and when he begs his master to protect himself.The Curry/Yellow Butler arc is more light-hearted in many ways, and it gives us our first glimpse of the demon finding noteworthy value in a human being... Agni, of course. People are easily impressed by Sebastian and seduced by his charm, so he tends to think they are beneath him and intrinsically weak. For once, perhaps, Sebastian is just as impressed with a human as Agni is with him. Agni is (as Sebastian even says) the first person to call him a friend, like a peer, and this seems to resonate with him.Noah's Ark Circus arc takes us on the darkest journey yet. Sebastian starts to question the earl's harsher decisions, like burning Kelvin's manor with all those children inside. However, this is after the demon plays with his intended meal... placing him in harm's way (snakes) to make the "game" more interesting... and having the earl beg to be saved from this living nightmare (the reconstructed ritual scene).Despite all the death and chaos, the Phantomhive Murders arc is relatively light. The earl knows he's being tested by the queen, but his life is not under direct threat. Not fearing for his master's life, Sebastian is quite playful again. Then there is one scene which shows his "soft" side. We've seen it once before, when he sees the earl asleep... and he seems to compare this to a cat, while he contemplates the pros of being a butler. This time it's more pronounced; the hardest thing he has to do in this arc is, possibly, to leave his young master in the care of another. His request for Arthur to take good care of the earl is almost plaintive. "Ah, yes, he's most adorable when he's asleep" (recalling those previous "warm fuzzies") gives way to a serious plea for Arthur to protect the precious youth.The Campania/Luxury Liner arc shows quite an interesting dynamic between earl and butler. Those cinematic records show them struggling to get settled into their new lives and new roles. Sebastian's injuries in the previous arc were somewhat expected, and the earl's reaction was staged. Not so here... as the earl's life was in danger, Sebastian went into emergency mode and was himself severely injured, and the earl's worrisome reaction was genuine. (Ahem... hey. Sebastian. Your bravery is showing again.... And earl. Are you actually concerned, now, for the well-being of a demon?)The arcs continue to get progressively darker, as the Green Witch arc shows not only what happens when a demon thinks his master might die (again) -- that demon carries him to the nearest person who can help, much like a parent might rush their sick kid to the nearest emergency room -- but also shows us (again) what would happen if the earl lost sight of his ultimate goals. Only 90% serious, he says....Here we are in the eighth (and possibly last) true arc (Blue Sect), and this demon now freaks out at the slightest scent of blood. The tiniest needle mark in his master's arm is cause for extreme alarm and another "emergency room" visit with Sieglinde, even though the earl says he feels fine. The only person to consider Sebastian a friend is now dead. Sebastian now *wishes* he could lie to the earl, even if it's just to calm his master's growing fears. Forget playing around with each other or trying to trip each other up; this is no longer some game to pass the time until the contract is fulfilled. The earl has known fear on many occasions; over these last three arcs Sebastian is finally learning how that truly feels.Sebastian has more emotional range and depth than even he realizes.I'll address the rest of your ask soon.