#it was a conveniently lit tool placed alone on a table too

[mabelsguidetolife]

me, solving problems irl by improvising with certain objects: tee-hee inventory puzzle :3

[asocial-lobster]

Life Grows

The portal closed behind Legend, and he had to sit down for a minute, head in his hands. The ground was damp, the evening’s dew already fallen. The first few stars of the night blinked above the tree canopy, and Legend leaned back against the nearest tree trunk and looked at them. The cold of night was somehow amplified by his brothers’ absence, and he shivered, rubbing his hands against his arms.  What he wouldn’t give to be back in the Chain, sitting around the campfire and sharing stories from their adventures.

But that was the point, wasn’t it? And verily, it be the nature of dreams to end.

Legend opened his pouch and pulled out his ocarina. It wasn’t sparklingly blue like Time’s had been, but there was a beauty to its polished surface anyway. He gripped it with practiced fingers and put it to his lips.

The notes flowed from the instrument, dancing through the night. They rose and fell with the music, almost reminiscent of the waves which had brought him to Koholint Island long ago. Legend tried to imagine Marin’s sweet voice accompanying the melody. He didn’t quite succeed.

The Ballad of the Windfish came to an end, and Legend lowered the ocarina as the last note fizzled out. The night looked no different than it had before. Not a dream, then.

That meant he really was home again. His adventure with the Chain was over.

The weight of the realization hit Legend, and he curled in on himself. His brothers were gone. They were really gone, and there was no reason to think he would ever see them again. The goddess had only called them together because it was convenient to her plans in the first place. He knew better than to expect a favor from her.

Legend was the goddess’ chosen hero. Her tool. Her weapon. He was used to hardship, and he always carried on, no matter how bleak the circumstances.

But just for tonight, he could maybe put down the hero’s mantle. Just for tonight, he could sit by himself under the starry sky and cry. Alone like a hero ought to. Alone like he had been before brothers with comforting words and warm smiles. Before the Chain.

XXX

“Link!”

Zelda enveloped Legend in a warm hug. Her skirt swirled around them at the sudden motion, and her tiara was knocked slightly askew. Legend gave her a small smile.

“Hi Zelda.”

Zelda’s eyes darted to the empty space behind him.

“Where are your companions?”

“The adventure is over,” Legend answered and tried to ignore the burning feeling in his chest. “So I’m home until the next one.”

Zelda didn’t say that maybe there wouldn’t be a next one. They were both too familiar with the workings of Hylia to truly believe that. Instead, she studied him a little more intently. When they’d been young, they had been the spitting image of each other, but as they grew, so did their differences. They still shared the sharp jawline and fine features, but while Zelda’s hair had remained bright like the morning sun, Legend’s had gotten darker. Zelda’s eyes now held a wisdom beyond her age, and Legend’s held a reservedness. But despite that, there were few people who understood Legend as well as Zelda did. She had been there throughout his adventures. She was one of the few people who knew what Legend had seen. Who knew why Legend was no longer the outgoing and optimistic kid he had once been. One of the few people who didn’t judge him because of it.

“How long will you be staying at the castle?” she asked.

“No more than a few days,” Legend replied.

Zelda’s smile twisted into something bittersweet. She hadn’t expected anything more, but she had hoped.

XXX

Legend bolted upright, heart thundering in his chest. The room was dark around him. Only a sliver of moonlight snaked past the curtains. It lit the edge of a neatly organized table and the adjacent chair. He was home. His adventure with the Chain was over.

Hyrule’s shy voice still echoed in Legend’s ears. Ever since Koholint, his dreams had been unnaturally vivid, and this one had been no exception. It was difficult to tell dream apart from reality sometimes. His hands itched for his ocarina.

Legend set his feet on the cold floor and threw a bathrobe around his shoulders. He walked downstairs with a lit candle in one hand and the magical instrument in the other. The kettle boiled on the stove while he played the Ballad of the Windfish.

“Link?” came a soft voice from the stairs. Ravio had wrapped himself in a bathrobe – one of Legend’s, because Ravio firmly believed he was entitled to take anything in the house. His black hair was messy from sleep, and he hadn’t bothered to throw on his usual bunny-hood. He did carry his bunny plushie, though.

“I had another nightmare,” Legend said, because he never lied to Ravio. Especially not when the other man called him Link. He only did that when he was worried.

“About the Chain?” Ravio asked. He walked the last few steps into the kitchen and began riffling through the cupboards for tea and honey and mugs – two of them.

“Yeah,” Legend said. “I was back the day I said goodbye to Rulie.”

Legend had never been good with emotions. Not as a child in the royal castle, but especially not after his many adventures. Shove down your emotions to save Hyrule a few too many times, and it becomes all you know how to do. He was still learning how to be honest with others – and himself – about his feelings.

The Chain deserved a lot of credit for how far he’d come. Ravio deserved the rest.

When the Chain began falling apart, Legend made sure to have a heart-to-heart with Hyrule. He’d told his brother just how proud he was of him, just how much their shared adventure meant to him. It had been a conversation of great difficulty for Legend, but he’d shouldered through it. He owed Hyrule that much.

He hadn’t managed to find the words to say the same to the rest of his brothers. He wasn’t good with words or emotions. And now it was too late.

Sometimes, Legend wondered if his brothers hated him. He was often difficult to be around, snappy, grumpy, and sarcastic. Those last few weeks before the portal took him home had been especially bad. Legend’s grief at Hyrule’s departure had manifested itself as anger. He was ashamed of how often that anger had resulted in him lashing out at the others.

Ravio poured the tea into their cups and dumped a teaspoon of honey in each – a huge one for himself and a slightly smaller one for Legend. He grabbed the mugs, and they settled down on the couch together.

“Tell me about the dream,” Ravio prompted once Legend was securely positioned with a blanket over his shoulders and a steaming cup in his hands.

And Legend did. He told Ravio about Hyrule’s round face and boyish grin, which made him seem much younger than he really was. He talked about Time’s stern voice which was but a cover for his mischievous nature. He talked about Wind’s restless energy, about Four’s clever hands, about Twilight’s accent. He talked about how the Chain had begun breaking apart when Wild was called home by a portal, about how only Warriors, Twilight, and Sky had been left when Legend himself went home. Ravio had heard it all before, but he listened attentively anyway. He asked the right questions and poured more tea when Legend’s cup was empty. And gradually, as the words came more easily, so did the tears.

“I didn’t even say goodbye,” Legend cried a few hours later, when Ravio had brewed their third pot of tea. Ravio wrapped his arms around him. Legend shivered so terribly in his arms.

“I didn’t even tell them how much they meant to me.”

“Maybe they already knew,” Ravio suggested.

“I was always so mean to them. They hate me, I’m sure of it.”

“Link,” Ravio said and caught Legend’s eyes with his. The merchant’s eyebrows were pitched together in a way that somehow made him look both exasperated, amused, and worried.

“They don’t hate you,” he promised. “You may think you have everyone fooled with that attitude of yours, but you wear your heart on your sleeve. They know how much you love them. Trust me.”

“I wish I’d told them,” Legend whispered.

“I know,” Ravio said. “I know.”

XXX

The years passed lazily by. Legend had a thousand hobbies and odd jobs. He took up embroidering, then abandoned it. He kept a small garden where he grew various herbs. He dried them and sold them to the local apothecary.

He studied. Magic, medicine, language, art. Legend wanted to know everything.

He collected magic items like a crow collects shiny things, and he hid them around the house in an effort to keep them away from Ravio’s grabby hands. He secretly smiled when they appeared in Ravio’s shop the next day anyway.

A decade of living quietly with Ravio later, and Legend could almost convince himself the next adventure wasn’t luring just around the corner. Fifteen years. Then twenty. He was still being left alone by the goddesses. Legend’s heart started hoping, despite his mind’s warnings against such foolishness.

The dreams got better, too. They still seemed real, and he still kept the ocarina within reach on his bed table. The Ballad of the Windfish was pure muscle memory at this point, flowing freely from the instrument whenever he put it to his lips.

But Legend played other songs, too, sometimes accompanied by Ravio’s flute. Their kitchen was stocked with tea and honey for whenever he needed it.

Legend missed his brothers, of course. The oddest things could remind him of them. Autumn leaves falling from their trees reminded him of Wild. A scarf at the market reminded him of Warriors. Ravio’s awful attempt at scrambled eggs reminded him of Hyrule.

Sometimes, he wondered how they were doing. Warriors had been in pretty bad shape last time he saw him. He hoped the captain had gotten help since then. Maybe Time and Malon had kids now. Hyrule might have settled down somewhere. Maybe he had even learnt how to cook.

Legend smiled. It was impossible to know what his brothers were up to these days, but he hoped they were doing well. Legend was certainly happier than he could ever have imagined when he parted ways with them. And if he could turn out alright after everything he’d been through, then there was hope for his brothers, too. For anyone, really.

Life was such a strange thing, Legend thought. It had a way of growing around misery and grief. There was always more left to do and say and feel. There was always more happiness to be found, if one knew where to look for it. And Legend was lucky enough to have had eight brothers to guide him in the right direction. As well as well-meaning thief and excellent friend to share that happiness with.

Outside, the stars blinked like they had that first night after he’d gone home. Legend sipped from the cup of tea in his hands and smiled.

[fallen-stars-story]

Chapter 1 Snippet

Here’s my rough draft for an introduction/first chapter. Thoughts are greatly appreciated!!!

There was nothing in the world quite like working on cars or trucks. Especially when they were your own, your baby.

Most people see car repairs and upgrades and maintenance as dirty work, something that is expensive and physically strenuous. Nothing more than a hassle or an inconvenience.

But not Aria, no, never Aria.

There was something satisfying about taking something that was broken and fixing it, or taking something that wasn’t broken and just making it better. But it was more than that. There was just almost a magic to the smell of grease and oil, the sound of blaring work music and impact guns and the gentle clicking of a ratchet, and the focus required to accomplish anything. It didn’t matter what strife had settled itself deep into Aria’s bones, the garage would always serve her as a sanctuary.

Until the wrench slipped and she cracked the skin of her knuckles open on a stupid-motherfucking-piece-of-shit bracket.

But nothing could be perfect, could it? Such was life. Aria was happy to take the callouses and cuts and scrapes and burns if it meant clearing her mind in the same way that meditation might for some.

She wasn’t able to dwell on it too long, however, as she felt the distinct feeling of somebody right behind her. When she turned, the snarl on her lips danced its way into a smile. Haruka, the best friend that she had had for a majority of her life, stood thereーcrouched there, rather, as she had only lifted her truck up high enough for herself to stand under comfortablyーwith a dirty rag and a roll of electrical tape in his hands. He stayed silent as he roughly grabbed her hand and wrapped the rag around it and taped it into place. Her friend loathed using the rag and tape to patch wounds; it was unsanitary and it was a total mystery to him how she didn’t get more infections, but he knew her well enough to know that she’d simply scoff at the idea of using antibiotics and proper bandages. The band-aids will just come loose and get in my fucking way.

“Thanks.” She beamed up at him.

“Almost done for tonight? I’m hungry.” His voice was flat and quick, not unlike the hiss of a snake.

She raised a brow. “When aren’t you hungry?” She couldn’t hide the teasing in her tone. When she received no more than a vicious glare from his kelly green eyes, she sighed and pulled another rag from her back pocket to idly wipe the grease and oil and other miscellaneous fluids from her hands. “The exhaust is ready to go in. Hold it up while I get all the hangers and clamps on?”

He wordlessly walked over to one of the lift posts and held the button to raise the truck further. Running a still-dirty hand through her bangs, she rolled her eyes. Aria walked to her other love, her toolbox, and grabbed the step ladder hung up on the side and brought it over.

Damn Haruka and his stupidly extreme tallness.

Haruka may not have shared her love of automobiles and mechanics, well, that wasn’t exactly right; he damn near hated it. What Aria viewed as her peace, Haruka could only see as complete chaos. Sure, cars were convenient to use, but they were a hassle to own. Fuel, maintenance, repairs, breakdowns, insurance, et cetera, et cetera. He had never understood her passion for it, but there was no denying that he was an excellent helper. He was quick and after many years of watching her work her way around the shop, he knew what most of the tools were and how to use them.

Aria had already assembled the exhaust into one piece so he picked it up neatly off of the ground and slid the dual tailpipes over the rear axle before settling the pipe he couldn’t name to save his life up against the catalytic converter. He held it there while she tightened the clamp into place to hold it there before moving to attach the hangers to the frame, humming along to her God forsaken death metal the entire time.

It only took a few minutes for her to get everything into place and she was nearly vibrating with excitement as she raced to pick up her tools and lower the truck. She was dying to hear the way it sounded.

It should, if all of her research had been correct, be loud as all get up.

Haruka found himself also interested in it, though it was for entirely different reasons; when she had purchased the truck, she had initially deleted most of the exhaust system. But after a very expensive ticket, she relented into putting a new exhaust on. Being Aria, however, it couldn’t just be a stock system. It had to be over the top.

Once the truck was on the ground she hurried into the driver’s seat to start it. She poked her head from the cab, bottle green hair falling messily in front of her eyes, as she grinned widely at the other. “What do you think?” She tossed out over the roar of her truck.

It was definitely quieter but still significantly more obnoxious than a normal car. He shrugged.

She rolled her eyes once more before shutting the truck down. “Fine, crabby pants.” She stuck her tongue out at him before hopping out. “Let me clean up quick, then we’ll go and feed you.”

Despite being messy and chaotic in general, the young mechanic took time to clean and put her tools away. She liked her toolbox being organized. The box and everything it contained was extraordinarily expensive and she had already learned the hard way that the cost alone was enough to make losing tools a total tragedy.

Except for her ten millimeter sockets, as she had long since accepted that those would always go missing.

Once her toolbox was locked and wiped down, she headed straight to the large foot-operated sink to scrub the grainy soap onto her hands and up her arms. She checked her reflection briefly in the mirror to make sure that her face was clean as well. Thickly lashed eyes the color of pale honey proudly lit up to find that she was actually pretty presentable. She knew that she was a messy worker, so this was all around a job well done.

When she returned, she found Haruka to be standing there, arms crossed tightly over his chest and a scowl adorning what would be a really pretty face otherwise. She hadn’t expected any less.

“Let’s go. In the mood for anything in particular?”

When she had asked, it had been out of a place of general politeness. Haruka never wanted anything in particular. His appetite was peculiar and frankly, downright frightening.

They had gone to a nearby buffetーwhich they had gotten to by driving in her truck, windows rolled down so she could enjoy the sound of her fancy exhaustーas it was always their go-to restaurant.

With Aria’s help, Haruka was able to load up an unreasonable amount of plates with absolute mountains of varying foods, much to the surprised looks of anybody standing nearby.

Aria picked neatly at the salad she had put together while the other literally inhaled enough food to feed a family of ten.

Nothing new there.

She remembered her earlier conversation with Father Gabriel vividly and it had left her unsettled. Haruka was strong. They all were. But Haruka was especially gifted. He should be able to handle himself with ease. And in the event that he couldn’t, nothing would force Aria from his side.

“Father has a feeling that this year is going to be harder. It’s almost...ya’ know...that time.” She blurted out suddenly.

When he did no more than roll his eyes, she snarled. “This is serious, Haruka. If Father Gabriel is right, we need to be prepared. We only have a few days.”

He set his fork down and carefully wiped at his lips with a napkin. “I know that. I’m prepared.”

She frowned then. Of all his nastier traits, arrogance was the true star. It was what she feared would lead to something bad happening to him. She knew that it was a hypocritical fear, as his arrogance could only be paralleled by her own, but Haruka was her best friend. She couldn’t risk anything bad happening to him.

He sighed heavily and glared at her. “Demons will come forth from Gehinnom and for the next thirty-one days the target will be on my back. I’ll shoot the demons, maybe let you hack a few apart. What makes that different from the last few years of this?”

She rested her fists in her lap, flexing them open and closed, open and closed. “Father Gabriel thinks it’ll be worse.” Her voice was a low hiss as it pushed through her gritted teeth as she repeated herself.

He shrugged and leaned back into the booth then. “And Father Gabriel knows all.”

His sarcasm didn’t go unnoticed. In fact, all it managed to do was further anger Aria. She took a deep breath. Middle of a restaurant, she reminded herself. Getting arrested for throttling him through a wall in public wouldn’t help.

Neither spoke as they glowered at each other, seemingly unaware of the nervous woman who had approached with the intentions of clearing their table of empty dishes.

“Let’s go.” She ground out before sliding from the booth suddenly. Without a second glance towards him, she stalked out of the restaurant from the truck.

It wasn’t long before Haruka joined her, a lit cigarette already hanging from his lips. Her eyes rounded in surprise when she peeked up at him; for the first time in ages, he was smirking as he watched her.

“What?” She barked out, slamming the driver’s door shut as she scooted herself into her seat.

He turned his head from his own seat to look at her. Before saying anything, he took his time rolling the window back down and ashing his cigarette. When he faced her once more, finally, he found her face had flushed red with anger.

She was too easy.

“You’re afraid.” He said suddenly.

“Am not!” She shouted back, eyes blazing now.

“You’ve never lied before. Don’t start.”

“What if I am?” Her knuckles wrapped so tightly over the steering wheel that they went white with the strain. She didn’t like the way her voice was beginning to tremble and crack.

As quickly as his playful mood had come, it was replaced with something softer. “That’s dumb.” He murmured before looking out the window and away from her.

Her chest heaved with the exhale of a deep breath that she hadn’t realized that she had been holding. With a steadier hand, she turned the key in the ignition and started the truck up. “If you don’t get killed by a demon, I am definitely going to end up slicing you to bits.” She muttered as she started driving.

From the corner of her eye she saw him give a small shake of his head, deep hair swaying with the movement. “I would love to see you try.”

[sunevial]

Moving Day

This is once again another case of ‘not exactly a commission, but someone chucking money at me to eventually write about space and magic gays’, except this time, it’s from @hewhowalksbehind. 

Continuation of this.

---

Of all the things Venny missed most about Ylxret at nine thirty in the goddamn morning, it was automated coffee makers. Blearily pouring water down the little spout and pushing entirely too many shiny buttons, she eventually got the machine to start blinking. With a grumble, she slotted a floral patterned mug under the funnel and slumped against the counter. 

Water was boiling, oatmeal was in the new saucepan, spoon was in the sink, bowls were…

She forgot to buy bowls. 

Fuck a duck. 

Groaning, she pressed her hands to her eyes and let out a long sigh. After a shopping trip that must’ve lasted an eternity, she had been running on fumes by the time she had a chance to pass out last night, but apparently even that wasn’t enough to calm her adrenaline addled brain. Her best guess was that she hadn’t fallen asleep until three, and even that was a generous estimate. To add insult to injury, her first night in her new apartment was plagued by restless dreams, fitful tossing and turning, and a blanket that was neither warm or cool enough.

At least the air mattress was comfortable. 

The air mattress was comfortable, and her new plush corgi was cuddly.

A steady drip of liquid gold splashed into the mug, the warm coffee revealing heat activated yellow and white circuitry lines weaving through the painted-on flowers. Not even bothering with milk or sugar, she downed the coffee fast enough to get away with only minor tongue burns and shoveled down instant oatmeal straight from the pot. Throwing both into the sink to wash up later, she scrambled into the shower just long enough to wash off yesterday’s sweat and rub away the smell of what felt like seven layers of deodorant. A fresh change of clothes later, a practical t-shirt and legging combo, and she felt half-way to being a functioning person again.

Which was really convenient considering that things would start arriving in approximately now.

Grabbing both wallet and keys, she quietly slipped out of her room and padded downstairs to the front lobby. Today was Internet access, a ‘do it yourself’ table and chair set, and the cushions for her couch. The couch itself was tomorrow, along with the bedframe and mattress, and the nightstand and dresser wouldn’t be for another week yet. Thankfully, unlike her very much not present bowls, she had remembered to buy a toolkit, so at the very least she would have somewhere else to sit by the end of today.

A quick peek outside confirmed that the Internet people hadn’t arrived yet, so Venny plopped down on one of the lobby couches and quickly scanned for any available wireless hotspots. It would’ve been laughably easy to tap into a password protected connection with a couple waves of her hand, but she knew better than to bum off someone. It was also probably very illegal. 

Eventually, she got ahold of a weak signal from the coffee shop next door, and her com link lit up with a happy beep. Her eyes flashed back and forth as she redirected the electrical signals within the device, ensuring that this much weaker and simpler form of wireless communication would end up being compatible. When she was fairly certain that it wouldn’t be running at a snail’s pace, she pulled and weaved the software code until the screen lit up and the holoprojector displayed a rotating band of images. Smiling triumphantly, she tapped on her email, she still had a hard time believing Toven still used email, and sifted through the various messages she had gotten over the past day or so.

Confirmation from her Internet provider, spam, start day and paperwork for work, coupon for shampoo, more spam…updated delivery day for her larger furniture?

“Due to upgrades in processing time, your order will instead be delivered today around ten AM, we hope to see you then,” she muttered under her breath, suppressing a loud groan and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. On the one hand, she’d have an actual bed by the end of the day if everything went right. On the other hand, this was one more group of people to talk with and one more group of things to do, and she was not convinced that all of the coffee in the world would make either of those things easier. Not much she could reasonably do about that, though, because her damn couch was coming whether she was awake enough to realize it or not. 

Whatever happened next didn’t seem to follow the proper passage of time. Sometimes it moved breathtakingly fast, other times painstakingly slow. All Venny could register through her brain-addled eyes was a never ending blur of paper signing, hauling packages, and telling people she had never met to put things down wherever they could find open space. By the time the last person was out of her apartment, and she could actually gauge the passage of time, it was exactly eleven twenty-four in the morning. She collapsed onto one of the new cushions, a nice olive green that she definitely didn’t remember picking out, and got to thinking.

Assets: She had Internet access that wasn’t siphoned off the coffeeshop.

Consequences: Her apartment was no longer able to accommodate carpet angels. 

Priority one: Bed needed to be set up. She’d like an actual bed.

Priority two: Get the couch out of the center of the living room.

Priority three: Actually build the table so she could eat without standing up.

Problem: She had the energy to do maybe half of the bed set up. 

Slowly getting back onto her feet, she shuffled towards the bedroom, though not before noticing her front door still propped wide open from all of the deliveries. She went to close it, getting about halfway there before the door across the hall opened, revealing Sol’s relatively incredulous face. 

“Morning,” she said, leaning against the doorframe and stifling a yawn. “Lot of noise over there for a weekend morning.”

“That makes two of us,” Venny replied, trying to put on as apologetic an expression as she could muster. “I didn’t wake either of you up, did I?”

She shook her head, lavender curls bouncing a little. “Nah, I’ve been up for a bit, and Clarissa could sleep through a hurricane if you let her.”

“Still gonna apologize,” Venny said, breathing a sigh of relief and laughing a touch. “You know, I didn’t think most furniture places delivered on weekends.”

“Learn something new everyday.” Her eyes glanced towards Venny’s now incredibly messy apartment for a moment. “You settling in okay?”

Venny chuckled, tapping the ground absentmindedly with a foot. Well, she could answer truthfully, she could answer in the socially acceptable way, or she could split it down the middle and hope for the best. “I think so, just need to get used to...all of this.”

“It’s not easy moving somewhere new, even harder when you’re all alone,” Sol said with a sympathetic smile, nodding her head and crossing her arms over her chest. “If you need help getting set up, I’m not really doing anything today.”

Venny blinked a couple of times, shaking her head even as every fiber of her being was saying ‘take up the offer’. As much as she’d love another pair of hands helping out, she’d already taken up enough of Sol’s time between the reading interruption and the grocery care package. Best not to take advantage of her kindness this many times in such a short period of time. Or maybe Sol didn’t care, that she just actually wanted to help and didn’t resent her for it, and this was just a combination of sleep deprivation and anxiety talking. Maybe it was both. It was probably both. “I think I’ve got it handled,” she replied, twirling a twist between her fingers. “Thanks for the offer though.”

All she got in return was an incredulously raised eyebrow.

“Or maybe I’m saying that because I don’t want to take advantage of your kindness again and seem really needy in a time of upheaval and stress,” Venny said with a defeated sigh.

“I wouldn’t be offering it if I didn’t wanna help.” Sol smirked just a touch. “I know my boundaries better than that.”

Venny could physically feel the tension in her muscles drain away as she slumped against her own door frame. “I promise I’m not this pathetic all of the time.”

“You said it yourself, a lot of upheaval and stress, and from what it sounds like, absolutely no sleep either,” she replied with a shrug, popping back into her own apartment long enough to grab her keys and phone. “Alright, where are we starting?”

 “Bedroom, cause I need a bed.”

The two of them quickly made their way to the chaotic bedroom, surveying the bed frame in its various parts and the mattress propped up against the window. Cracking open the new tool box, Sol set to work screwing everything into place while Venny sorted through a veritable hoard of metal rods and support beams. While she had no reason to doubt that Sol could wield a hammer and screwdriver, watching her work was, in a word, beautiful. Sol took to the various tools with a clear familiarity, handling them with delicacy and certainty as she aligned the wooden frame. Venny knew nothing about art, but she knew an artist’s touch.

“You’re pretty good at this,” Venny said, holding a level against the wood to see if any holes needed a quick re-drill or if something had been screwed in the wrong place.

“I’d hope so, I make things for a living,” Sol replied, wiping a little sweat off her brow.

“What kind of things?”

Sol returned with a playful smile. “You get three guesses.”

She allowed thirty seconds to come up with her answers, no small feat with how slow her brain was chugging along. “Artisanal woodworking.”

“Nope.”

“Artisanal metalworking.”

“Nope.”

“Designing prototypes for this exact style of bed frame,” Venny said with a shit eating grin that was probably more of a result of her being half way to slap happy. 

Sol rolled her eyes, closing one as she carefully twisted the last screw into place. “Okay, I’ll admit, second one was closer.”

“So what is it?”

“You’re not gonna believe me,” Sol said flatly, tapping the frame twice for good measure.

Venny pouted, planting her elbows on the footboard and resting her chin on her fists. “Come on, it can’t be that out there.”

“I promise I’m not joking.”

“You could say you build rocket ships and I’m so tired I’d believe you.”

Sol paused for almost ten full seconds. “Funny you mention that…”

“Get out, you make spaceships?” Venny’s head poked over the frame with eyes wide and excitement clear as day on her lips. “You’re with the Wisteria Space Program?”

“Technically I’m in the rocketry department, not the spaceship program, but same idea,” Sol said with a shrug, jumping to her feet and whistling. Similar to yesterday, the wind kicked up, swirling around the room almost as if it was having fun. The mattress slowly but surely floated off the ground, providing just enough lift for the two of them to set it on the frame without straining muscles or having to worry about wingspans. 

“Still, that’s so cool,” Venny continued, grabbing the sheets off of her air mattress and throwing them onto the bed. “I don’t even think I know anyone back home who does that. What do you even do there?”

Sol laughed, grabbing the sheet and stretching it over a corner. “I’d tell you, but that’s classified.”

“Is that a joke or is that actually classified?”

“‘I might actually get arrested for treason’ classified,” Sol said in a completely serious deadpan.

“Anything you can tell me?” Venny asked, head tilted as her hands quickly smoothed out her blue and white comforter over the bed.

Sol thought for a full minute, arranging pillows and plushies absentmindedly as she paced around the small room. The wind followed her, catching her shirt and blowing it in every direction imaginable, almost as if it was thinking alongside her. “Physics. Lots of physics.”

“Dang.”

A knock sounded at the door, and for the second day in a row, Venny opened it to find Clarissa standing there with a large smile on her face. She had no gifts in hand this time around, but she was scrolling through her phone. “Sol texted me she was here helping out, you done stealing my roommate? I need her for something of vital importance.”

“I offered,” Sol called as she emerged from the bedroom.

“She still stole you!” Clarissa shouted back, though with a laugh and smile on her face. 

Venny returned with a grin of her own. “We should be done pretty soon. Though if it’s really that important, I can take care of the rest.”

“It’s not important, she’s just trying to get me to set up a dating app,” Sol said with a sigh and an accusatory finger. “Because my roommate is a nosy bitch who insists on setting me up with every girl she happens to meet.”

“It’s not every girl.” Clarissa huffed indignantly.

Sol’s face told a much different story with how frustrated those eyebrows looked. “You’ve specifically set me up with three of your exes, a girl from your class, and the florist down the street.”

“All I’m saying is that she’s got a great personality and an even better ass.”

“Then why don’t you ask her out?!” Sol exclaimed, throwing up her hands.

“Because I’m already seeing two people!”

It might have just been Venny’s ears, but she swore she heard laughing from somewhere else in the apartment. 

“Alright, alright, you can have your roommate back,” Venny said, holding back a belly laugh as best as she could. Never in her life had she’d been so grateful to hear two women loudly arguing about female love interests. Her family had been concerned with her moving to Toven, knowing that not every place was as accepting of non-heterosexual identities as Ylxret. New Haven had a better track record than most, though, and conditions were certainly getting better as time went on. If nothing else, seeing her two neighbors argue about sapphic love affairs in the hallway was a good indicator that she had nothing to worry about here. “Hope the app set up goes well.” 

“I’m not setting up the app,” Sol declared with a flat tone, going over to the boxed up table and cutting away tape like a woman scorned. “I’ll get a date on my own damn time.”

“I mean, if you’re looking for someone else to add to the list, I’m into women,” Venny joked, smiling at Clarissa. She watched the pink haired woman’s eyes light up, and hastily threw up her hands. “Not that I’m looking for a relationship, I’ve just moved and I think that might’ve been me not having normal social barriers up due to lack of sleep.”

Sol audibly groaned in the background. “Damn it, you’ve given her ideas.”

“Well that’s even better! You’re new in town and need to see the sights, and I know a great little place Sol could take you for lunch,” Clarissa said, pulling out her phone and rapidly texting. “I’m sending you the directions now.”

Venny blinked a couple of times, finally just realizing the full ramifications of what she had just done. At least she knew now never to open her mouth when she was this sleep deprived, or at least, not do so when possible romantic relationships were involved. Feeling the heat rapidly rising to her face, she shot a glance to Sol, desperately trying to find a way out of this increasingly awkward situation. 

With a sigh, Sol pulled out her phone and rubbed her temples. “I’m really sorry about this.”

“Don’t be, it’s my fault,” Venny said, smiling sheepishly. “I’m really not in the place to be thinking about that anyways.”

“Then think of it like a friendly social,” Clarissa said with a large, not at all innocent smile, eyes darting first to Venny. “You need to meet people-” Her eyes flashed towards her roommate. “-and you need to get out more. Win-win situation!”

Sol’s eyes narrowed in challenge. “Clarissa-”

“Venny, what do you think?” she asked, smiling wide and oh so sweet. So this was a game for them both, a sort of give and take war between them, and this is the moment where she was supposed to choose a side. Her next move decided the winner of this match between these two equally stubborn individuals. 

She was already on the edge of the diving board, might as well take the jump.

“What’s the food like?” Venny asked, putting on her best innocent smile. 

Sol sighed in defeat, grumbling and pulling out her phone. “Stir fry and dumplings. Let me know when you’re free.”

Clarissa grinned with a smile that could split the sea. “It’s a date!”

[virryth]

Doctor!AU Junhui

happy carat day~ the world’s sweetest, brightest, funniest boy, hope people see the other sides of him that i do ;-;

tw// mentions of mild domestic problems

Read Doctor!AU Jihoon | More Junhui au | More SVT au

2.3k | Fluff | Bullet | Not proofread

Mascot of the pediatric ward

Loves loves loves kids

The kids love him too, Dr. Wen is literally doctor of the year if you ask any of these kids

He’s not the only doctor in the whole ward, but he’s the most loved by everyone--the kids, the parents, nurses, techs, scribes, anyone and everyone who’s ever worked with him

And he’s loved for many reasons, Junhui has a way of getting kids to tell him many things

Treating children is a gift, they can’t always say what bothers them nor answer any medical questions. Their attention span is virtually nonexistent and they’re impatient, so what Junhui is able to do is truly a talent

Pediatric doctors must know how to create a non-threatening environment (even with sharp tools laying around) and ease their patients into a relaxed and cooperative state in order to treat them

Dr. Wen excels at his job

Speaks to the kids in this calm, innocent voice that ease their minds, all the kids not only listen to but also follow his words

Ever since Junhui was transferred to the pediatric ward, the amount of complaints from patients, parents, even nurses and doctors dropped exponentially 

Bitter medicine? Dr. Wen has a way to get the kids to drink up

Homesick? He’s here to keep them company if he’s free

Everyone knows his skill is a talent, but he doesn’t think so. He’s just here because he likes children and hates seeing them in pain

The less patient there are in the ward, the happier he is, children shouldn’t be frequenting hospitals when they can spend their free time outside in the playground

Some kids get so attached to Junhui they wouldn’t go to bed if he didn’t personally come and say goodnight

One of the residents, Zhennan, brings his baby brother to work sometimes because he didn't have a babysitter, and little Haohao is so fond of Junhui he keeps leaving the playroom to ask for piggy-back rides and airplane rides from the doctor (here!)

Zhennan, sulking but trying his best to be nonchalant: he loves you more... that’s fine;; i guess

Junhui, holding Haohao on his shoulders: noooo please take him back i have to work :((

Goes to work in scrubs like all the attending doctors but,,, he looks Extra Good™ 

Obviously because of his blessed good looks, but also he just has this natural air of royalty 

wears the white coat because the kids like to dig up candies in his front pockets (he always keeps them stocked)

Hair gelled back, forehead for days, bright eyes and a beautiful heart-shaped smile that lit up the entire ward

Honestly looks so expensive some days like he’s just in scrubs but the way he carries himself speaks a whole other story

People assume he probably drives an expensive sports car and owns a million dollar mansion but then they see him crouching down on the floor ruffling a kid’s hair and pinching his cheeks and they’re like… he’s just made of good old father material

Lowkey has a fanclub in the hospital

He kept to himself and doesn’t wander to the other wards often, except to visit Jihoon from ER or Wonwoo from Psych on consultation calls, but generally he’s in the pediatric ward or walking around doing his rounds on patients

Like most hospitals, people come to the nursery all the time to see babies and ease their stress

Let’s just say that recently more people have come for purposes besides looking at babies

Dr. Wen is so careful and gentle with his hands and words that the nurses ask him to administer shots to the crybabies when they’ve run out of options, and even though it’s not really his job, he likes to help out any way he can

Smiles a lot when he’s with the kids, a whole six feet something crawling on the ground, if he must, to communicate with them 

There’s a no running policy in the hospital but the kids are an exception and so is Dr. Wen

He’s a cHILD

Will play tag with them if they asked because he wants them to spend their time like how they would in a playground with their peers

Has fallen multiple times catching kids or just plainly tripping over himself to prevent them from falling

Actually acts like a child sometimes that doctors and nurses take care of him with parental eyes

Nurse Seungkwan is always like, “doctor please don’t drop the child.”

Dr. Wen holding a kid from up top like, “don’t worry, he likes airplanes :D”

But Seungkwan knows how much Junhui treasures each and every patient, so he lets it slide...for now

It’s still a handful dealing with Junhui though poor Seungkwan someone get him a drink

You only know him from the rumors, something about a very handsome doctor from pediatric that loves playing with children, your colleagues visit that section of the hospital sometimes just to catch a glimpse of him

It’s really not your business, you were never gonna see him anyway since you work legals for the hospital, handling lawsuits and medical jurisdiction and whatnot

Until a case comes up that pertains to one of the outpatients the ER admitted

Apparently, after receiving emergency care, the patient snuck to the pediatric ward to see her son who was hospitalized at the time, but she didn’t have any visitation rights from the child’s father and thus the father sued the hospital for letting this happen

It’s a simple case and can easily be settled, but the child’s father was adamant about meeting the mother with the presence of the hospital’s legal team as well s an attending doctor, so here you both are

You thought words didn’t do Dr. Wen justice, you didn't think any doctor could look this handsome 

Isn’t there another job title for someone born with those looks? Like actor, or model?

Junhui doesn’t look thrilled to be here and he’s a little jumpy, and at first you chalked it up to him feeling nervous, but then you noticed him glancing and smiling reassuringly at the little girl beside him... he was just worried for the child’s mental state

The meeting wasn’t pretty, at one point her parents were so heated in their argument that the child visibly recoiled, Junhui had to stop the parents and asked to be excused with the child

The meeting ended in a settlement, and you thought it could have been handled better without aggravating the little girl, but it wasn’t your place to speak so you held your tongue

It wasn’t Junhui’s place either, but he got angry regardless because his first priority is his patient’s wellbeing 

You have to admit, it was a pleasant surprise compared to some of the doctors you’ve worked with who cared more about not getting sued 

You thought he was a pretty great guy

Such a pity that this would probably be the last time you see him, right?

it’s not

Out of all the people to get snowed in with on a particularly late shift, it’s Dr. Wen from pediatrics

Just your luck that none of your friends were working a shift--Mingyu from dermatology dipped at noon when he heard about the snow storm, and Vernon from ortho was chilling at home on his off day

Just your luck that you decided to go sit outside the infant wards to wait it out, running straight into Dr. Wen who just got off work

And it’s not that you’re... awkward around Junhui, there just isn’t much to talk about between you two

You’ve met up a few times for lunch since you had mutual friends and had casually moved on to a first-name base, but you never really spent time alone with him 

So you were somewhat surprised when he offered to wait with you instead of his other friends who were also snowed in

“It doesn’t look like it’ll stop soon, we might have to wait it out till morning.”

“Oh, well, at least I have company,” you smiled.

It was strange, you really don’t feel awkward with him as you usually would around others

Maybe it’s because he deals with kids, he seems so carefree and welcoming that the silence between you two is just comfortable 

or maybe his pretty smile just puts you at ease

And it’s because of this easy space that you got to know him a lot more that day

You found out he became a doctor because of his little brother 

He likes to cook sometimes, though he’s limited to basic midnight-snacks type of meals

He plays piano, and he’s admittedly more shy than he looks

He also has a really easy way to get you to open up

and his laughter is so warm

Junhui learns a lot about you, too, and the more you talk, the more you regret not having this conversation with him sooner

When you met up for lunch the next week, scribe Chan and nurse Seungkwan could visibly feel something was going on

Chan, when Jun was out of earshot: is it just me or is something different between you two? 

Seungkwan: be quiet and eat your food before Jun-hyung gets mad at you

Chan: eyyy i’ve never seen Jun-hyung get mad mad

Seungkwan: hmm you know what, I’ve worked with him for years but I haven’t seen it either

Chan: right? I mess up on my charts sometimes and would have gotten strikes if it was with another doctor, but Junnie-hyung never got mad at me

Seungkwan: I wonder how scary he is when he’s mad,,, but can such a carefree guy be upset over anything?

You: what do you mean? of course he can

Chan: 

Seungkwan:

Chan:

Seungkwan: wait--

Chan: you’ve seen it?!

Junhui, coming back to the table confused as to why Chan and Seungkwan are looking at him with their eyes wide opened: what? why are you so quiet? what did i do? D:

To think Junhui has never gotten angry at anything until his patient was put in harm’s way,,, you’re grateful to be able to see how much he cared for others. You thought he was truly kind.

Slowly, lunches turn into dinners, and your friends faded away in the background

Since your work schedule aligned on most days, you would get off work at the same time as Junhui, and it became almost routine that you go out for dinner together out of conveniency 

Then conveniences turn into plans, and soon, you were spending almost all of your free time with Junhui

You like how he sees the world through these rose-colored frames, his view so optimistic and childlike

But you also see the hardworking side of Junhui, the lack of sleep and stress he faced pulling double shifts and on-calls to make sure the kids always have someone in case of an emergency

Of course he has worries no matter how carefree he may seem, everyone does, and you’re thankful he’s learned not to shoulder every difficult thing alone, because now he shares them with you

On such days, you always bring breakfast and spend your early morning with him so he can have a little break

He gets a little defensive when you ruffle his hair, “I’m not a kid you know? I have a pretty cool image to uphold around this part of the hospital.” 

but he welcomes the comfort and warmth you bring 

he doesn’t have a cool image everyone knows he’s a kid

Junhui appreciates your every moments with him, and didn’t realized he had grown to see you as someone special until his little brother asked him one night if he has a favorite person at the hospital

the first person he thought of was you, except.. you weren’t like Wonwoo or Seungkwan or Chan or Jihoon

You’re a friend... but you’re also not

To him, you were more than that, and he felt silly it took him this long to realize

He didn’t call it a date the next time you hung out, but he held your hand for the first time (and giggled to himself afterward, thinking you didn’t see, but you did)

Then Junhui picks you up to and from work whenever he can, holding your hands in the car, holding your hands on dates, holding your hands when he introduced you to his little brother

Your lunches together was almost like a parade as everyone now knows that you’re dating Dr. Wen Junhui from pediatrics

Nothing has really changed, except Mingyu was sulky when Seungkwan and Chan proudly said they witnessed this budding relationship, and the infamously intense Dr. Lee Jihoon from ER gave you a thumbs up when you worked with him on a case

Junhui speaks highly of you to anyone he meets, and though the attention makes you a little embarrassed, you love that side of him that isn’t afraid to speak his mind

There’s a deep maturity to him that isn’t often seen until he’s ready to show it, and you’re glad to be able to see this side of him

There’s the other side of him too, the one that sneaks up on you for a warm hug, squeezes your hand in between passing, and kisses you behind closed doors

Occasionally he’d just sit with you when you come to visit, taking the time he spends with you as a break from his hectic schedule

He would lean on your shoulder for comfort and play with your hands as you tell him about your days, chatting about the future and losing count of how many cats you’ve named together

When you saw him nodding off to the soft vibration of your voice, you felt a surging sense of comfort, of familiarity that only exists in your small bubble of happiness 

Junhui feels like home, and you never want to be anywhere else

-V

Read Doctor!AU Jihoon | More Junhui au | More SVT au 

[argentnaivety-a]

@the-owlchemist​ said: Take a guess who's lent back in their chair, fast asleep, and with beak slightly agape? There's a soft cooing noise coming him as his head hung down against his chest. He'd conked out while waiting for a piece of equipment to finish calculating something for an experiment.

        Tasked with a simple duty of watching to make sure nothing was burning on the stove, Silver was absent from Noctus’ studious experimenting. He left them be. After Noctus had lit up earlier with an idea about an alchemic chemical transfusion ( whatever that was ), he encouraged them to pursue the idea and see if it would work. It took a lot longer than either of them expected, but with Silver’s help watching the boiling jams and cleaning up from the takeout dinner they had together, Noctus was hopefully able to make some progress. 

        He had glanced over quite a few times, catching the other writing notes and fiddling with an assortment of fragile tools. If only he could lean over their shoulder and watch them work; of course he didn’t for obvious reasons. Silver instead got himself distracted in that time. It was a strange feeling to help out in this way. It wasn’t a mission fighting rogue badniks or a task to help rebuild a part of a damaged building. By pouring the jams into their jars so they could be sealed later and then cleaning up every spot of mess on the kitchen counter after he was finished... Silver was taking care of Noctus, wasn’t he? In a way. 

        A soft smile edged his lips at the thought, only for it to curl into a smirk the moment he looked over his shoulder to see such a sight as the alchemist dozing away in his chair. Not a surprise in the slightest. 

        Silver stepped over to him carefully and leaned over to look up at their eyes- softly closed. The cooing caught his attention, as quiet as it was. And adorable it was too. Silver hummed in thought. This would be a quick trick with his psychokinesis, however... As the ability created many conveniences it also eliminated the many simple pleasures that he so often chose to avoid. This wasn’t going to be one of those times.

         He stepped closer and carefully ( and quietly ) scooted their chair a bit farther away from the table. He lifted Noctus’ hands and set them on their lap. Tucking his own face against their cheek for a very brief and soft moment, the psychic put his hands underneath their knees and back, lifting them from the chair. Hopefully Noctus’ head didn’t move enough to knock them out of their sleep, but it did naturally lay against Silver’s chest as he carried them into their bedroom. 

         His psychokinesis opened the door for him as well as shut it behind him. It lifted the corner of their blanket and allowed Silver to gently lay them down on their side. The blanket handed itself to Silver so he could lay it down on them. 

       Quite the picture it was, seeing Noctus so peacefully asleep like this. If only he could watch over them like this forever. Perhaps not in a surreal sense but a simple one; the light of day was inevitable, right? Silver leaned over and nuzzled his head against the side of Noctus’ before placing a kiss on their cheek. 

        He would go out and sleep on the sofa so he wouldn’t disturb their rest. At this point the two had taken naps together plenty of times but he had never slept in Noctus’ bed before. The gesture just seemed a little too far for him. Maybe one of these days? It just felt like it needed to be something where he was invited... 

       Then again, to have the other wake up and realize they were alone. A feeling he knew the owl felt too often with him in the past. Let this be a night of firsts, hm? 

       After turning off the lights, Silver walked over to the foot of the bed and uncuffed his boots and gloves, setting them neatly aside together on the floor. When the cyan markings faded at the removal, he used the faint light of the moon in the window to crawl himself over to Noctus and lay on his side beside him. He laid on top of the covers, for some reason, maybe since he didn’t want to impose... a silly notion really. But when he heard those sleepy coos, he knew he was as close as he needed to be, and he too dozed off into a restful sleep.

[ladyoutlier]

Halo Beautiful

[Read on AO3] | [Week 1]

Week 2: Aziraphale is missing his halo. Gets Crowley to help him look for it. Demon goes on a mad search but comes up empty. When he returns, Aziraphale presents him with a new ring that was once his halo.

It was inventory day at Aziraphale’s bookshop. A day which the angel very much dreaded for it was the day he had to face the list of books he had begrudgingly allowed pass out of his door. It could put him in a very sour mood if he let it, and when he was alone with his records, it was a very easy trap to slip into. 

For this reason and this reason alone, he invited the demon he had teamed up with to prevent the End Times over as company. Despite the rather dreariness associated with the task, Crowley was quick to agree to join him. Although maybe that shouldn’t have been that much of a surprise. Crowley wasn’t one to put up much of a fight when it came to spending time with Aziraphale.

As such, he strode into the shop just as the sun began to breach the horizon on one lazy Sunday morn. Not many people were out. Those unfortunate enough to work on the weekends that were headed out for the day. Drunks on their way home after a long night of partying. It was the hours of scaddatling. Hurrying somewhere as to not be caught out at this time. Appropriately, Crowley took leisure with his step. He liked to swim against the current.

“Morning, angel. Another glorious day where the world wasn’t reduced to rubble overnight,” he said as he met Aziraphale inside.

“I just might wish it was by the end of all this,” Aziraphale replied with a rather sour look on his face.

“Should leave the gloom and doom to me. Doesn’t really suit you.”

“It’s these days that really make me wonder why I run a bookshop.”

“Beats me. Probably should run a museum. Monkeys see but can’t touch.”

“Oh but books are meant to be read.”

“You say that and then use every tool at your disposal to scare away sales.”

“No one has any care for things nowadays,” Aziraphale began as he straightened up a pile of books. “Just toss around priceless collections of information like they’re playthings.”

As the stack became slightly more tidy, the angel swept his hands clean, and led Crowley to the room in which he kept all his records. Paper was a common sight in a bookstore, but this room seemed to have more pages than all of the books out in the store front combined. Generations of running a shop resulted in quite a bit of paperwork. An amount which rivaled that of Heaven’s and Hell’s combined.

“Are there even book museums?” Crowley wondered more to himself than anything as Aziraphale searched for his ledger. “There must be, right? But I haven’t seen one. Not the type of thing you just pass by while walking down the street.”

Aziraphale let out an exasperated breath as he pulled the ledger from a shelf. Despite his numerous miracles to keep the shop dust free, a significant amount of the stuff poofed out as he set the book of records down. He ran his hand down his face. The angel suddenly looked a lot more tired as if, perhaps, he was exaggerating for dramatic effect.

“This might just be the longest day there ever was, and it’s only just begun,” he said, collapsing into a seat.

To see Aziraphale in such a funk was quite irregular even for a day such as this. The angel never liked to see how many books he had sold, but he typically was more sad about the sales than horribly irritated. Irritation wasn’t a thing Aziraphale often showed. He wasn’t one to have a short fuse.

“You feeling all there today?” Crowley asked, having picked up on those details. “You just don’t seem as bright as normal. Er, not bright as in smarts. As in your natural glow is a bit on the dim side.”

Aziraphale brushed off the cover of the ledger, and the dust from it disappeared out of existence. He took a short breath, closed his eyes, and turned to Crowley.

“Ah, I was hoping you wouldn’t notice that, dear. Really foolish of me considering that you’ve got quite the eye for details. You see, I’ve seemed to have misplaced my halo. It’s not the best way to start the day off I must admit.”

“Not like those Frisbee disks hold much purpose other than working as team jerseys. And even with that, wing color’s got them beat. Easier to tell an angel from a demon by looking at the color of their feathers rather than trying to spot a halo.” Crowley shrugged, and then, noticing Aziraphale’s still stoic demeanor, continued on a bit more seriously. “It’s got to be around here somewhere. Plenty of nooks and crannies for it have gotten into. With all your clutter, this place is a lost and found paradise. Might take half a decade, but we’ll find it.”

Aziraphale’s eyes brightened and a smile grew on his face. His little pouty fit had swayed Crowley once again to lend him a hand. “Oh, so you will help me look for it?”

“Sure. Better than watching you manage finances all day. Er. Where’d you see it last?”

“On top my head.”

“Well, that doesn’t really help, does it?”

“I’m certain it is somewhere within these walls. I only ever physically manifest my halo as an, um, improvised reading light.”

“Course you do. A reading light. Yep.”

“It’s much more convenient than using a miracle. Specifically because, until recently, to use one for reading purposes would have been far too frivolous of behavior. Upstairs wouldn’t send me a disciplinary letter for using my halo.”

“Can’t relate. Don’t have a halo, and Downstairs was never that strict on anything like that. Selfishness is an inherently demonic quality. Encouraged frivolous behavior if anything.”

“What did happen to your halo, Crowley?”

“Shattered,” the demon replied rather emotionless. “Now, where do you want me to start looking? Not going to find anything just talking.”

“Oh, um, yes very well. I’ve searched most of this room before you arrived. Yesterday, I was looking through some boxes I received back in 1993 from Sri Lanka. Perhaps, that would be a good place for you to start while I finish here. Towards the back of the shop.”

“Yeah. Sure. On it.”

With that, Crowley turned and left Aziraphale. He had thought search for your halo had meant search for your halo together, but apparently that’s not what Aziraphale had intended. He, seemingly, was more set on the split-up-and-search-for-clues method. Whatever. It didn’t matter.

It mattered so little that his walk wasn’t at all the tad bit huffy as he found his way into the depths of the store. Aziraphale’s shop had a strange quality to it. Particularly, it seemed to be much larger on the inside than the outside would suggest. This, of course, wasn’t something Crowley, of all people, was that unfamiliar with. Still, the towers of books became a bit like a labyrinth this far in.

The demon, in his grumpy state of mind, didn’t focus on any of this. Rather, he made note of how Aziraphale owned far too many candles for someone with so much flammable material lying around. The bookshop’s fiery demise during the End of the World was likely long overdue. He’d have to introduce the angel to those quaint, little LED ones. No real flame. No real fire hazard. And the best part, no more worries keeping him up at night. Although he didn’t need to sleep, it was a real bother not being able to get some shut eye in when he wanted.

A stack of wooden crates beside a droopy leather couch dictated that he had arrived at his destination. Stray bits of straw packing material littered the floor. Despite it obviously being a mess, it was a mess in the most tidy way possible. Really, that description could be applied to all of Aziraphale’s shop. Crowley rolled up his sleeves and plunged his hands into the open crates.

Why was he even doing this? The answer was clear. It was for Aziraphale of course. But he was in the mood to complain. Maybe all this wood fluff wouldn’t show on Aziraphale’s clothes with them being roughly the same color, but for his more nightly palette, he’d be brushing himself off for the next century and still be finding the odd straw particle. 

And what if he did find the angel’s halo? The thing would probably sear his hand clean off. Nothing more holy than a halo. Consecrated ground had nothing on one of those glowy rings. 

Although, the more he thought about it, he couldn’t remember a single time he heard about a demon getting a hold of a halo. Not really something that happened. Minus him and Aziraphale, angels and demons never really were in that close of proximity to each other, so a demon taking an angel’s halo, as far as he knew, had never actually happened before. So what would happen if he found it? He actually had no idea. Aziraphale, at least, hadn’t seemed that worried about it.

He could hardly even remember how halos worked. Did they still glow when apart from their angel? If so, he was wasting his time looking through these crates. The light shining from it would’ve lit up the whole box. Then again, if they did continue to glow, he could hardly imagine how Aziraphale had lost it in the first place. A literal doughnut made of light was hard to misplace.

He moved aside one box, having inspected it for the missing halo, and moved on to the couch. There were more crates, but with how much muck had gotten on him from the first one, he wasn’t excited to get to the rest. Even a miracle likely wouldn’t remove all the fibers from his clothes. Life just had those little irritations that never really ever fully went away. He would know. He invented a lot of them.

He tore the cushions off the couch and threw them to the side. If he had done this in the typical person’s home, Crowley would likely find objects such as coins, hair clips, tele remotes, and food crumbs scattered amongst the exposed surface. However, this was not any ordinary person’s home, and all he found was a spare bookmark with a lovely golden tassel attached to one end.

He sneered as he picked the bookmark up and set it on a nearby end table. That was about the only place a halo could be hidden in a couch. He tossed the cushions back on. It looked much more disheveled than when he began, but he didn’t really care. He dropped to his knees and cranked his head to look below the aged piece of furniture.

The distinct sound of approaching footsteps became audible just as Crowley was about shoulders-deep underneath the couch. He pulled himself out and swivels around to see Aziraphale, who was looking rather uneasy himself. The angel opened his mouth for a moment, furrowed his brow, and then shut his jaw again. His eyes glanced around as if he was plucking the correct words from the air. Crowley pulled himself up and took a few curious steps towards Aziraphale.

“Something on you mind?” he asked, throwing his weight to his back leg.

“Ah, yes quite a lot actually. Would you—that is could you—oh how do I word this?”

“You’re the one that’s read every version of the dictionary twice over for fun. You tell me.”

Aziraphale took a breath and held it for a moment, allowing time to just stagger still for the minute. He took one step closer to the demon as he released the breath.

“Let’s put it this way. I’ve just had the strangest idea for where my halo might be.”

“And where’s that?” Crowley lifted an eyebrow.

Aziraphale smiled and nervously lifted his hand. He slowly raised it to Crowley’s face and then past it to his ear. Crowley followed the angel’s movement with his eyes, but the rest of his expression remained quite frozen in place.

Neither of them moved for a second, instead looking at one another in hopes to gain something from each other’s eyes that they didn’t already know. Aziraphale pulled his hand away, and in a quick shuffle of his fingers, displayed a glowing white ring that didn’t look unlike a wedding band.

“It seems,” Aziraphale began rather flustered. “That it was behind your ear the whole time.”

“Was this whole thing a trap to practice one of your magic tricks?”

“Not—not exactly. Crowley, I’d actually quite like for you to hold onto it. Since you don’t have your own halo, you can wear mine. It would mean a lot to me.” He placed the ring-sized halo into the demon’s palm. “Not sure you could wear it over your head. I didn’t think that was much your style anyways, so I made it a bit smaller. So you can, um, wear it on a finger.”

Crowley stared at the halo in his hand. It didn’t burn like he feared it would. Rather it produced a very comfortable warmth. A warmth that reeked of Aziraphale in the best possible way. He didn’t deserve this. Something so absolutely precious to an angel. He didn’t deserve to hold onto it.

“Why?” he replied. “You’ve only got one of these things. Why would you want me holding on to it?”

“Well, they are just silly Frisbee disks as you called them.” Aziraphale did a little shake of his head. “You mean an awful lot to me, dear, and I figured this was an appropriate way to tell you the lengths of that.”

“Hope you didn’t expect me to get you anything.”

“Your company is more than enough. You’ll keep it then? For me?”

“Yeah, course. I mean, yes absolutely. Wow. Wasn’t expecting this today.”

Aziraphale took the halo and slipped it onto Crowley’s finger. A finger that was appropriately named for wearing jewelry, and also a finger that typically only one type of ring is ever worn on. As he let go of the demon’s hand, the ring halo continued to glow but much more dimly. Dim enough that the odd passerby wouldn’t even notice that there was anything extraordinary about it.

“It looks wonderful on you, dear.”

“So I take it you don’t have any finances to do today then.”

“I thought that would’ve been the giveaway. I haven’t sold a book in fifty years.”

Crowley looked up from his hand to Aziraphale. His face relaxed back into a wide grin. “Of course you haven’t. Really you should go with the museum idea. Would save you a lot of trouble.”

“And forgo all of the tactics I’ve learned to keep away sales? I’d think not!”

They both laughed at that. Something important had happened, but things were not all that different because of it. Perhaps, they were now closer than ever. Specifically, physically at this time, and Aziraphale seemed to notice that as his laugh trailed off and he caught himself watching Crowley continue his.

 There was nothing he could imagine rather doing in this moment. This was one of those fragments of time that would engrain itself as a long-lasting memory. As if impulsed from that, Aziraphale pulled Crowley into a hug. The demon stopped laughing and became rigid, but he soon relaxed and melted into Aziraphale’s embrace, wrapping his arms around the angel as well.

The rest of the bookshop was a still silence. Candles that really shouldn’t have been there continued to burn. Sunlight poured in a bit more from the windows. And in the center of it all: an angel and a demon whose identities had become a bit more muddled into one another's.

***

This work was a part of my discord Weeklies event. If you’d like to learn more, click here.

[phanboyo]

Woof so close to the deadline, i can’t believe i finished it. It wasn’t supposed to be half this long, but it just kept going and going and GOING.

@skulking-around-the-phandom‘s prompt: Danny goes intangible through the ground to avoid a painful impact and discovers something very strange beneath Amity Park…

complete; 8,152 words

Danny gasped as his breath clouded in front of him and then sighed. Another ghost attack. It really wasn’t that big of a deal, nothing different from usual, and that was exactly the problem. Maybe it was a good thing that he had fallen into a routine of sorts, but the part of him that forgot all about Desiree kind of wished for something unusual to happen.

He raised his hand. “Mr. Lancer can I use the restroom?” Danny was already out of his seat before Mr. Lancer replied. He transformed in the hallway and shot up through the roof to find Technus closely examining a floating overhead projector.

Danny floated there for a moment, clearing his throat when it became obvious that Technus hadn’t seen him come.

“Oh, ghost child! What a surprise!” Technus said, completely unsurprised.

“I know that’s a piece of junk, but that doesn’t mean you can take it,” Danny said, putting up his fists.

“But if it really is junk, then I’ll take it,” Technus lit his hands up “and you take this.” Technus blasted Danny, who for once had the sense to turn intangible before hitting the ground.

Danny expected to open his eyes to dirt and complete darkness, but instead saw a large chunk of metal illuminated dimly by an old flickering light on the wall. Danny blinked and took a step towards the metal. Upon closer examination, it appeared to be some sort of door, shut tight with a crank like on a submarine or a bank vault. He shook his head.

“Technus first, weird old door later.”

Danny shot back through the earth led by his fist, and was pleasantly surprised when it hit a waiting Technus square in the jaw. “Well that was convenient,” Danny said. He blasted Technus while he was recovering from shock and quickly sucked him into the thermos. The lack of Technus’s presence caused the overhead projector to crash into the ground, smashing into a few jagged pieces. Danny stared at it.

“Not my problem,” he decided, rushing back to class before someone came over and blamed him for the theft.

Danny couldn’t focus much on class after that. He was thinking of the door underground. What could it be? A secret government facility? An ancient UFO, buried by centuries of dust? Maybe it really was a giant underground bank vault. How much money could be in there? Or gold?

He told Sam and Tucker about his discovery after class. Tucker was fond of the UFO idea but he also wouldn’t say no to a bunch of gold bricks, which, Sam reminded, was stealing. Sam thought that it was probably just a reservoir or part of Amity Park’s sewers, which made a lot more sense but also made Danny a little bit disappointed. She was probably right.

Once the final bell rang, Danny was finally able to go back down and investigate. His hopes were significantly lower after Sam’s comment, but he figured he might as well check it out anyway. It took a minute to find the door again, but before long he was back. The door had unsurprisingly remained unchanged. He approached it and put a hand against it. He felt nothing, so he put an earthquake against it. Again, nothing. The light from the old incandescent bulb on the wall was too dim to make out much, but lighting his hand with ectoplasm, Danny could see through the green light that the door was incredibly rusted. He decided that if he wanted to know what this was, he would have to go through the door. So, taking a deep breath, he stepped through.

And was met with darkness. He took another step. Still dark. He kept stepping forward until suddenly his eyes were assaulted with a light much brighter than the dim flickering bulb outside the door. He blinked and looked around. He was in a small grayish room with two large switches on either side and another, much smaller door directly across from him. Danny didn’t know what he was expecting, but it wasn’t just a small boring room.

He walked through the door on the other side into another small room, though this one had three normal-looking doors with faded labels above them. Over one of the doors Danny could make out “rec…all.” whatever text was in the middle had been too faded and scratched out. The labels above the other doors were similarly unreadable. Looking at the doors, Danny wondered for a moment if it really was an old government facility.

Using the handy-dandy “eeny meeny miny moe,” Danny walked through the door to the right.

The room was largely white and metallic. It had an examination table in the center, accompanied by a tray with surgical tools whose sharp points shining in the light made Danny shiver. In the back was a large steel box, which Danny assumed was a refrigeration unit, as well as a counter with beakers, test tubes, and a microscope among other things. There was a sink and a few glass cabinets with various chemical containers and medical supplies, and sitting in a wheeled stool at the counter was man in a white coat who appeared to be in his late forties, reading a book.

He didn’t seem to notice Danny’s presence, so Danny cleared his throat, causing a small clank from the chair as the man jumped and turned to him.

The man froze when he saw Danny and the two just sat there staring at each other for an awkwardly long time, neither moving, neither blinking.

“Hi,” Danny said finally.

The man blinked. “How did you get in here?” He asked.

Danny glanced behind him. “The door?”

“But—” the man blinked again. “You’re from the surface?” He stood slowly.

“Yeah,” Danny responded, taking a step back warily.

“Incredible,” the man said, tapping a finger on his chin. “So the exposure to radiation has caused you to glow, among other things, I’m sure.” He began to circle Danny, who was beginning to feel quite uncomfortable. “Your hair is naturally that white?”

“Um, yeah.” Danny responded. “Who are you?”

The man stopped. “Oh, where are my manners? I suppose it’s been quite a while since I met anyone new. My name is Harold Dire. And you are?”

“Danny Phantom. What did you mean by ‘exposure to radiation’?”

Harold looked somewhat shocked. “Well, er,” he scratched his head. “You know. Nuclear fallout. From the bombs dropping.”

Danny raised an eyebrow. “Bombs? Nuclear fallout? What are you talking about?” Had bombs dropped somewhere near Amity Park and Danny somehow hadn’t noticed? He was pretty sure he would notice the detonation of a nuclear bomb.

Harold looked at him with some mix of pity and distress. “You mean you don’t know?”

Danny suddenly got really really worried.

“I had expected there would be some loss of history or news with the collapse of regular society but this is beyond what I ever would have guessed.” He began pacing and put a hand to his chin again. “It’s like the whole of society has some sort of repression.” He looked back at Danny briefly. “Or perhaps the only ones who were old enough to remember have been killed. It stands to reason that… shorter lifespan… ages ago…” he began muttering.

Danny clapped his palms together. And Harold looked up suddenly as if he had forgotten that Danny was still in the room. “I’m gonna ask again. What are you talking about?”

He looked at Danny. “Right, well… you might want to sit down.”

Danny remained standing.

“Okay, well, we were attacked a little over 40 years ago, before your time.” Danny rolled his eyes. “Russia finally did it. They bombed us.” Danny blinked.

“Russia.”

“Yes, precisely. You know what Russia is?”

“Yes, I know what Russia is.” Danny shook his head. The man was obviously crazy. Maybe this was some kind on underground insane asylum, for the people to were too crazy to be locked away in regular mental hospitals. Then again, the guy was wearing a lab coat. Maybe there was some sort of patient uprising. Or maybe he really had just been down here for a few decades, afraid that the Russians were gonna get him.

“So you’ve been down here alone for how long?”

“42 years,” he said, putting a finger up. “And I’m not alone. There’s Henrietta, and Lilly, and Andy, and Eve to name a few. Oh, I should introduce you! They’d love to meet you!” He paused. “Actually they’d probably incredibly wary and distrustful of a strange person from the surface who broke into the shelter, but you’re only like, thirteen, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“I’m fourteen actually”

“So how did you break in? Are you alone? Do your parents let you break into fallout shelters all by yourself?” Harold opened the door and left, beckoning Danny to follow.

“Um, well I just sort of found it while I was… fighting, and—”

“Fighting? Who were you fighting? Looters? Gangs? Super-powered mutant monsters? But you’re only fourteen.”

“Um, actually pretty close to the last one.” Danny ran a hand through his hair. “And I know I’m young, but someone has to protect the town. Might as well be me.”

They walked through the ‘rec… all’ door and Harold looked at Danny skeptically. He obviously thought Danny’s logic was flawed. “We will be continuing this conversation later, but for now,”

The walls of the room were a deep red color and they were walking on a grey carpet that had probably been plush and light before years of use. There was a pool table near the center of the room and a couple of chairs and a couch pushed to the walls, in one of which a woman about Harold’s age sat stitching something. There were a surprising number of bookshelves around the chairs. There was a card table, where two older folks were playing, and in the corner was a girl Danny’s age leaning over an old fashioned jukebox.

Everyone was frozen in place, staring at Danny.

“Let me introduce you.”

There’s more but i dont want Tumblr to have a seizure again so you can read the rest here on FFN or here on AO3

[theprismaticintrovert]

Health, Happiness, Serenity, & Strength

Monday, June 25, 2017

           Friday was a good day to start off the weekend, mainly because I took in so much beauty in just one day. We went to Lake Como for the day and took a tour of the little town which was gorgeous and a lot different to visit compared to all of the other lakes I have visited back home. Along with the trip to Lake Como, we took a boat ride out to another village known as Bellagio, which was an hour away. Bellagio was very different from the town of Como because of how peaceful, stunning, and diverse it was compared to all of the other villages we were passing through when we were on the boat ride. Friday was just the start to both a passive and peaceful weekend.

           I woke up Friday around five in the morning and just could not go back to sleep. Trying my hardest to go back, I failed and decided to just start typing into my personal journals. Once it was eight thirty, I slowly got up from my bed and took a quick shower to change into my clothes for the day. Carlos and I tried our hardest to get ready as quick as possible and try to grab breakfast. That was a bust because we were supposed to meet up with the girls for espressos around nine in order to be ready to leave with our advisors around nine forty to Lake Como. We were not ready until nine twenty, there was no way we were going to have time to order and chug espressos in only twenty minutes. We got up quickly and power walked our way to the San Gottardo Apartments where the girls live (soon to be our new home since we were in the process of moving there). Once we got there, we immediately walked a few blocks to the bus and got on – ready to start our adventure in Lake Como.

           Lake Como is the third largest lake in Italy and the deepest lake in all of Europe by being four hundred meters deep. It has been a world-renowned touristic site and vacation spot to many wealthy people as well as aristocrats. Celebrities like Madonna, George Clooney, Gianni Versace, Sylvester Stallone, and much more have or have owned villas there. John Legend got married at a villa there and Beyoncé even vacationed there. So I felt closer to her as possible just by seeing the exact gorgeous villa she stayed at (from boat distance of course). But before the boat, a few group members and I were able to take a tram up to the top of a mountain and were able to see the entire lake and villages across. It was a beautiful blue and green scenery that you just didn’t want to take your eyes off of. I almost could not believe I was even there, like how could someone who has never traveled in his lifetime be able to take in all of this. After thirty minutes of sightseeing and taking photos, we ate some delicious pizza at a little restaurant on a hill that overlooked the lake. It was a beautiful sight to see while I was chewing my cheesy Margherita pizza; breathing and feeling the beautiful breeze that was passing through. It could not have been more perfect.

           Next, we got on a boat and were on our way to sightsee all of the little villas that Lake Como had to offer, then we had a stop in Bellagio to see the place around. Getting on that boat especially after having a bite to eat was kind of a mistake because I was beginning to feel extremely seasick. I am the kind of person who can develop motion sickness quite easily, I mean I almost had to vomit on the flights from Los Angeles to Milan even with the slightest of turbulence. The boat ride was about an hour long but we were able to see the Star Wars Villa, the villa where the 007 movies were filmed, and much more celebrity-owned villas. It was all beautiful, but forgetting to take my Dramamine was a huge mistake, let alone leaving it in my apartment. Arriving at Bellagio was like a prayer had finally been answered because I was on the verge of leaning over on the boat to throw myself off into the cool water because I could not handle the bumpy ride of the boat against the waters.

           Once we arrived in Bellagio, the boat was docked on a pier that was lined up with stores, galleries, and restaurants. The tour guide and our advisors gave us exactly an hour and a half to explore whatever we wanted of Bellagio since it was a small little peaceful village. The first thing Alexa, Nely, Carlos, and I saw was a long stairway leading upwards to more stores and restaurants. The tour guide warned us that it was a very long and tiring staircase, but also very worth it to see. Me still feeling sick, we decided to walk around first before we decided to climb any stairs (plus Nely was wearing wedges). Once we hit the end of a block that had a ritzy hotel with a fountain in the front, we turned to the right only to see more staircases – only these looked way shorter. We began walking up the steps to look at the little shops that were aligned all the way to the top. Once we made it to the top my friends noticed a gelato shop, while I only noticed a church – a beautiful gray cobblestoned church. I walked inside only to see beautiful marble pillars, old brown wooden benches, and a concrete cobblestone table that had candles aligned in rows. Then there was a white piece of paper in both Italian and English translation that reads:

Luce una candela per qualcuno che ha bisogno di salute, felicità, serenità e forza

Light a candle for someone in need of health, happiness, serenity, and strength

I lit one for the only person I could think of. Someone who has cared deeply for me for as long as she could, someone who has helped me when I got sick, was not strong enough to move on, someone whom when I came out of the closet too, she made me feel more loved and comforted as possible, and someone who has taught me all of the tools I need in life to succeed. In case you are wondering what those tools are, it is working hard, remaining humble, and to do more of what makes me happy. This dear person has been my best friend for as long as I can remember (birth) and she herself needs all of the things she has given to me because without knowing it, they could be taken away any moment. So I asked God not only for forgiveness in all of the sins I have committed in the past - but rather for guidance. Guidance to help me get through all of the hardships, struggles, and any casualties I may face in my lifetime. It’s hard to go through something tough, but it’s even harder to stick with it, plus the mistakes and faults we make along the way only make it seem more worth it.

           After twenty minutes of prayer, I finally went back outside and made my way to the gelato shop. My friends were no longer there, but I did not panic, I stayed calm and looked at my surroundings. I realized something, I felt safe; so all I did was walk around the entire village of Bellagio and did my own explorations. I finished in less than thirty minutes because of how small it was and I had enough time to sit by the lakeside in the damn scorching heat. I felt at peace, and I did not know if that was because I attended church for a little while or if it was because I explored on my own in my own way with no interruptions. Sometimes you just need a little time to yourself and that’s okay –it’s honestly quite rewarding!

           Finally, to conclude today’s blog, Lake Como and the village of Bellagio was full of utter beauty that was illusory to my eyes. Mainly because I still could not believe I was on a boat in the middle of Europe’s deepest lakes or that I walking on cobblestone stairways and pathways in a gorgeous village with lovely citizens and tourists. Nonetheless, it all had to end and our entire group had to take the one-hour bus ride back home to our apartments. Upon arrival, our advisor told us to immediately run to our apartment and grab our things so we could move into the new apartment we were being offered. With eager enthusiasm, we practically ran home to finish the last of our packing because we had not done so. Our new apartment was not like the last one, not to be mean but it was bigger and much more modern. The other one was a lovely Italian apartment, but it was a shoebox and it was a great experience to have slept in that room for a week but Carlos and I both knew that to be in the same building as everyone else in our class was a lot more convenient. We had an extremely comfortable weekend as we were getting settled in and getting ready for our day trip to Venice and the start of classes for the Summer!