#it was going to be a slightly more pushed perspective but it just wasn't working for me so i settled for one that was less pushed

[phoenixtherobot]

pssst can i pls see a uhhh. Watcher Pearl? Or perhaps a moth of a Grian?

This (along with the Ren one) has been rotating in my mind since i got this ask and i finally just pushed through and stopped worrying about it being perfect! so here it is, many many months late!

[xioterep-art]

New POV! I got the idea all thanks to this playlist!

POV: you shock Scaramouche with your sudden dominance.. || 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 ♡

Bossy Scaramouche x obedient Subordinate Reader (what he thought)

Trigger warning: suggestive themes, violence, curses, slight nsfw (suggestive), bullying, dom reader.

Disclaimer: the art is not mine, it belongs to たなみ on pixiv!

You were the most obedient subordinate he could ever have, which was annoying him for some unknown reason. He finally got a brainless idiot human at his disposition, yet why was he so unsatisfied? Scaramouche couldn't understand the reason behind this. All he had to do was look at your dumb facial expression, and he would sigh deeply with his usual gloomy frown.

As usual, Scaramouche was sitting in his assigned office, working on some paperwork when you entered with some rapport in your hands, that dumb smile as always was on your face. Avoiding to look at your face, Scaramouche didn't want to get irritated more as he was already, all because of that arrogant bastard, Dottore.

"My lord, here's the rapport you asked for," you said quietly as you walked to his side. Humphing in response, he does not raise his head to look at you, and as his loyal subject, you understand very well what he wants. All he needed was to think, and you would already take action. From an outsider's perspective, it would look as if you two were communicating using telepathy.

Putting the rapport at his side, you stood silently next to him as you waited for an order, which was weird knowing that you were that talkative and annoying type of person who even in front of Lord Scaramouche would not shut up.

Scaramouche kept working without giving the order to leave. As he ignored your presence, you kept your mouth shut as you were strangely in a bad mood. Usually, when you are in his presence you seem to forget all your problems, yet, today, you feel annoyed, and it even surprised you.

Frowning slightly, you kept your posture straight, neither moving at all nor looking at what the sixth was doing. Just when you were minding your own business for the first time, you suddenly heard a sneer escaping his beautiful mouth that made you finally glance his way.

"This bastard! I am going to fucking kill him someday!" The Balladeer roared angrily. He is most likely talking about the second again, you assumed unfazed as you calmly stared at the scene of Scaramouche throwing things to the other side of the room.

You sigh softly with a smile that wasn't a smile, "quell down your anger, my lord..." You said as you walked up to the mess created by the almighty Balladeer and reached to clean it.

As you finished the cleaning, you stood up with the pile of papers in your hands when you suddenly felt a sharp pain in your forehead and soon enough you felt the hot red liquid sliding down your cheek. You froze while looking straight into Scaramouche's eyes. The pain became slightly unbearable as you squinted your eyes when the sixth lord stood up and walked up to you angrily.

"Put that shit away and fucking scram, stupid monkey!" He said as he kicked your side, venting his anger on you.

Now, you must admit that this got on your damn nerves. To be his stepstone every time someone messes with him is fucking annoying. Usually, you would take on his wrath gladly, yet this time you didn't feel like it.

What about you? Can't you feel anger or vent it? You don't even know what was wrong with you.

Snapping back to reality, you saw his hand flying towards you. He was about to push you but you grabbed it firmly, unfazed when your eyes met his deadliest glare.

"Fucking let go, now!" He articulates slowly, clearly pissed off. "No," You simply answered, which left him stunned for a moment.

Feeling the air becoming static, you sneered as you pushed him violently onto the desk. A loud noise was heard when he came in contact with the hard material, earning him a loud groan.

This completely took him off guard. His obedient dog was biting back! He couldn't believe that. Gasping slightly, he felt pain in his right side as it dumped into the edge of his desk.

That sure was painful.

Wanting to face you again, he put a hand on the desk for support, and as he was about to turn towards you, he was again being pushed against the flat surface.

Not understanding what was happening to him, he suddenly had to face you as you were looking down at him, sending shivers down his spine.

The way you looked at him left him breathless. This mean version of you was new to him. he had never seen this side of you, nor did he even give it a chance in his imagination.

The sixth Harbinger's stunned expression soon turned into anger, "what the hell you are doing?" he yelled, trying to push you aside, and of course, you were not budging at all.

You were a strong and talented Dendro swordsman recruited by the Fatui a long time ago, and you were assigned to Scaramouche on the first day since then you have taken all his anger and snarky attitude. Sometimes, he would treat you even worse than shit if you commit the slightest mistake, while some other times, he would act as if you did not exist.

If it wasn't for the admiration you held for him, you would have long ago snapped. Just like now.

You were between his legs with him pinned by you on the desk, one of your hands next to his head with your eyes squinted and a frown on your face as you kept looking at him intensely, stealing away his words.

Feeling the energy shift in the air, Scaramouche gasped as he felt something rolling around his wrists. It was your Dendro ability. Trying to fight back, Scaramouche squirmed under you yet the roots violently pinned both his wrists above his head in response.

"You are annoying, my lord," You said softly as you kept looking at him, "let go of me! you fucking dog!" He snaps back.

You chuckle as that free hand of yours caresses his white soft-looking cheek, "My lord is the prettiest, " you compliment him, "what a shame that such a beauty has a sharp and nasty temper..." You ease up the frown on your face as you lean more toward him, a dangerous glint in your eyes.

"W- What is wrong with you? back off!" He yells again, squirming around, his face flustered while looking away.

"You could've used your Electro power to stop me, Lord," you chuckled sarcastically, your breath now mixed with his, "I had enough of this, you see..." You vented as you bit his lower lip.

The frozen Scaramouche widened his eyes. The Balladeer seemed to forget how powerful he was and only used his legs to kick you off of him, his face blushing wildly.

Not letting go of his lower lip, you grabbed one of his flying legs and secured it by putting it over your shoulder.

"I think that lord Scaramouche needs some punishment, right?" You whisper in his ear in a dangerous tone, not caring anymore about the consequences to come.

[the-fluff-piece]

Invisible part 2

- a change of perspectives

Part 1

Part 3 coming soon...

This time, Sanji is incognito in a new body - hanging out with you!

He's getting to know you, and sees you in a new light.

This is leading up to part 3, where there is a happy end.

"...and that's why we should switch bodies!" Usopp ended his lengthy explanation and Sanji just stared at him.

A very grumpy Law sat in a shady corner, clearly uncomfortable with the whole situation.

"You need my body? For a heist? Why can't I just go with Nami-san?" he felt betrayed.

"Because you're bad at lying. This has to work. We need the lying mouth and the brawn" Nami said, and added with a pout:"please! For me!"

"Yes of course my Nami-swaaan! Anything you want!" Sanji heard his own mouth say before his brain even had a clear thought.

So, he ended up in Usopp's scrawny body. But he was proud that the sweet Nami-swan needed him. His body. Whatever happened to it would be fine.

They went on a super secret mission on a super secret island while the Sunny waited in a calm archipelago with a few villages.

Usopp's body felt so weak, Sanji tried a few Kicks but it didn't feel right- and everything in Usopp's many pockets clinked and clonked mysteriously. He just hoped they would not get attacked while his body was away, he wouldn't be able to protect the ship like that.

"Uuusoppp!" Someone called.

"Hey, Usopp?" Someone punched Sanji in the side, reminding him that for the day, he was Usopp.

"Oh, hey y/n! Uhm..what's up?" He said and tried to remember Usopp's mannerisms and speech patterns.

"What's up? You wanted to help me today, remember?" Y/n told him, beaming.

"Of course! I didn't forget," he lied, "But I've got so much to do today here..." he tried to think of excuses. He wasn't exactly in the mood to hang with her.

"You promised!" Y/n looked a bit cross at him, "and it's so important to me" she told him.

"Ok, what are we doing?" Sanji sighed. She may not be his type at all, but at that moment she was still a girl in need.

"We're finishing the book, silly" She said like Usopp had to know.

"Of course, the book" he said and followed her to the girl's room - a holy place on the ship that was usually forbidden to him.

He took in the sweet scent of female perfume and was delighted to see sexy clothes laid out on the beds. Meanwhile, y/n trotted over to a table and took out a big book, a small Box full of papers and arts and crafts materials.

The book looked like an album but much more intricate. The pages y/n had opened where full of pictures of the crew, handwritten comments and small memorandums of the places they had visited: dried leaves and flowers, tickets, maps.

"Remind me what we're doing again?" He casually asked.

"I'm making a scrapbook for Sanji, remember? Did you hit your head?" She raised her eyebrows.

"For me- uhm for Sanji? His birthday is months away!" Sanji said, wondering why she would do that.

"It's just to show him how much the crew loves and cherishes him. After I saw how cruel his family was to him, I wanted to do something nice for him" she answered, laying out her materials.

The mention of his family still stung a bit, but her sentiment was sweet. He didn't know she cared so much.

"You will help me with folding some decorative origami." She pushed a pile of small, pink sheets towards him.

"Uhm..." Sanji stuttered. His fingers were very dextrous, but he didn't know anything about origami folding, and these sheets were tiny.

"I'll show you again..." She said and sat next to him. She showed him how to make small, folded cherry blossoms. She taught him step by step how to do it.

He was not used to it and made many mistakes, but she was patient and gentle. He finally made a small, slightly crooked blossom he was not proud of, but she praised him like he just did something great. Smiling, she placed her hand on his arm and he couldn't help but feel good about his small accomplishment.

He never really noticed her, when she was not in danger or hungry she barely registered to him. Which he kind of regretted now - she was exceptionally kind and caring. Maybe he should try and talk to her more often.

When he sat beside her to fold the blossoms, he watched her artfully place the photos and memories on the pages.

He began to feel very cozy. Y/n hummed softly as she worked on a gift for him, smiling in the golden light that filled the room. He noticed how her eyes would light up with excitement, and he couldn't deny the charm in her enthusiasm.

He watched her as she lovingly filled page after page of their adventures and he couldn't help but wonder how much effort she had already put in - for him.

"Can I see?" Sanji was now curious for the rest, he couldn't wait for the finished book. He skipped through, pages and pages filled with carefully preserved memories. All the people theu met and helped. Y/n's commentary was emphasising the crew's friendship and his good qualities.

There was a photo from punk hazard. It showed Sanji, smiling, handing out food to marines and pirates alike. He couldn't help but notice the abundance of pictures she had of him. Could it be that she had a thing for him...?

Above she wrote: "Your great cooking brings everyone together. What would we do without you?" In small, precise letters. There were more pictures of laughing marines and happy giant kids. He knew that she liked to take fotos, but he never really noticed how much. Her message made him smile, he was indeed proud of his skills and the joy it brought. And he liked that she saw that.

"You did great!" His eyes got a little wet and he handed it back to her.

As he bathed in her attention, he couldn't help but ask her: "Do you like Sanji?"

He already got his answer by seeing her blush violently.

"As a fellow crewmember, of course!" She tried to gloss over the fact that she was red as a poppy by hiding behind the book.

"Of course" He chuckled. It felt strange to know that he had at least one secret admirer on the ship, even if she wasn't his type at all.

"There is absolutely nothing, I'm just being nice!"

It was kind of cute to see her so shy, but Sanji feared by making her reveal her secret, he had upset her.

"You know what would be nice now? Cup of tea and some cookies!" Sanji felt like it would cheer her up.

"Yes, that would be nice" y/n seemed relieved.

He was happy to take care of her. When he brought her tea and cookies, they ended up talking about everything, forgetting the time. It felt like he already knew her.

As the sun began to set, they finally finished the album. Y/n closed the book with a satisfied sigh.

"Thank you so much, Usopp! I wouldn't have been able to finish it without you" she said, giving him a warm smile.

Sanji felt a strange warmth in his chest at her words. He realized that he had genuinely enjoyed spending time with her, even if she wasn't Nami.

"It was my pleasure" he replied sincerely.

Y/n looked at him curiously. "You seem different today, Usopp. More... thoughtful."

Sanji scratched the back of his head nervously. "Well, sometimes you just need a change of perspective, you know?"

Sanji couldn't help but reflect on the day. He had expected it to be a tiresome chore, but it had turned out to be a surprisingly enjoyable experience. And he couldn't deny that y/n's company had something special about it.

You

When Sanji and Nami returned, victorious, there was a small celebration for everyone, including Trafalgar Law, he seemed to randomly visit more and more, much to Luffy's delight. The captain of the heart pirates sat next to you and since he was both creepy and frightening, you left him alone, instead talking to Usopp.

He had been unusually calm and polite these past days, but was back to his usual, loud self now. You made jokes and watched him shoot peas at Luffy across the table.

"You strawhats really are a piece of work" Law said next to you, looking unnerved and tired.

"Is it too loud for you, Tra?" You turned to him, trying to include him.

"Not exactly" He answered.

"I just hope that the constant body switching in this crew stops now" He pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Constant? " you asked.

"Yes, a few weeks ago, now once again." He leaned back, looking exhausted, "I should never have used that power on punk hazard." He crossed his arms.

"What do you mean - now? Who changed?" You couldn't believe they wouldn't tell you. But than again, you didn't tell anyone, either.

"Well, before it was you and Nami-ya, now Sanji-ya and Usopp-ya. I hope her scheming ends now " As he leaned back, you saw that Sanji was standing at the table with a tablet full of drinks, brows drawn.

Slowly, you processed what you just heard. Sanji and Usopp switched bodies. That meant...Usopp's strange behavior was because it was really Sanji.

Your heart beat frantically as you realized the reality: Sanji had been in Usopp's body. He knew that you had a crush on him.

A quick glance at Sanji revealed that he must have heard everything clearly. He looked confused and thoughtful, even though Robin was trying to get his attention.

"EXCUSE ME" you almost choked on your own voice, working hard to keep it together and get past Sanji to the exit. He let you pass, but gave you a strange look.

Trying to act as innocent and normal as possible, you walked out, closed the door to the dining room and ran to the girl's room to have a small breakdown.

Sanji

Y/n had left in a hurry.

"Hey Law, what did you just say about Nami switching bodies?" Sanji asked, a bit in shock.

"Just what I said. A few weeks ago I already helped Nami-ya by making a switch" He said dryly.

"When exactly?" Sanji asked.

"Three weeks if you have to know. In that town with the casinos." He answered.

Now he couldn't deny it anymore.

He never went on a date with Nami, no wonder she didn't seem to remember anything they talked about. It had been Y/n. They almost kissed.

He needed a smoke, fast. He headed outside.

Lighting his cigarette in the cool night air cleared his head. What a mess, he thought, So I was on a date with Y/n in Nami's body, and she hung out with me in Usopp's body. How stupid. And on top of all that, she likes me.

He breathed out smoke. Actually, he had felt really comfortable with her. His time with her was enjoyable. It was effortless to talk to her, she was kind and gentle with him. Made him feel safe.

She also liked him. He kind of liked her, too. She wasn't his usual type, but still cute, in her own way. But she's not the kind of lady he always dreamed of.

He rolled the thoughts around in his head. But first things first, he needed to clear the air between them. Be a man.

He knocked at her door, no one answered.

"Hey y/n, open up!" He said.

"Go away!" She sobbed.

Now he's made her cry, great.

"Don't cry! I am not mad! In fact, I'm flattered. Let's stay friends, though!" He put his ear against the door and heard another loud sob.

"Just don't cry anymore!" He couldn't bear it, it made his chest clench and his stomach turn to hear a girl cry.

"Please, leave me alone now!" Her voice was barely audible throught the wood. It felt wrong to leave her alone now, he had to do something. He sat down and leaned against the door.

"I am sorry I never really noticed you, that wasn't fair. But I'm here now." He listened for an answer.

You

"Sanji, you're not helping!" You cried through the door.

"Let's talk about it. I know you've been in Nami's body for the day we went shopping. You know I hung out with you these past days as Usopp. I can't return your feelings, but I learned that we can be good friends. I want to spend more time with you! And I'm not mad or weirded out. I swear from this day forth, I'll be the best friend you ever had!"

It wasn't the best idea to get comforted by the guy who broke your heart, but in this second he was so sincere, you couldn't help but feel a little better.

You opened the door - he almost fell on top of you. Both of you chuckled nervously.

"Yeah, let's be friends" you agreed, doubting that your feelings for him would vanish anytime soon.

-----

So since all of you have had so many great ideas I chose to write ALL THE ENDINGS!

Chose between

- Sanji or Zoro

- Law or Sanji

- no one (coming soon)

Taglist

@sophsgloom @nim-rose @iloveartofcartoons-blog

[geesegooseblog]

The Flower Dance - Harvey x Farmer

Chapter 1 : A Thoughtful Gift

Tags: n/a

A/N: hello my loves! It’s been a long time between stories, but in typical me-fashion I have two assignments due and haven’t touched either of them, so have a Stardew Valley fluff fic! This is also my first foray into first person perspective, so any notes are much appreciated and, as always, if you would like a tag for the next chapter let me know!

CW: n/a

Word count: 1.8k

🌸🌸🌸

The quiet hum of the waiting room in Doctor Harvey's clinic was a sound I never thought I'd grow to like. I was often in the clinic for more severe injuries - a laceration from my sword or a broken bone from a dangerous encounter in the mines - but today it was sheer clumsiness that landed me here, holding a ziploc bag full of ice cubes against the back of my head. That's the last time I swing a pickaxe in the quarry without wearing a helmet.

"I'm starting to think you're doing it on purpose," Maru mused, chuckling softly to herself as she sorted the paperwork she was filing behind the front desk. "What is it, like, the third time this week you're in here? If you wanted to see Harvey, you could just come in to say 'hi'. No need to injure yourself."

"Very funny." I responded sarcastically, my eyes fixated on the wall opposite me. Even though she was my closest friend in this town, Maru sure knew how to get on my nerves. "If it wasn't for my mishaps, where would Harvey get all of his work from? Annual checkups? I think not."

"Ooh, someone's getting flustered over there..." Maru chuckled again as she glanced over at me, fixing her glasses flush against her face a push against the bridge. She quickly changed the subject. "You gonna go to the Flower Dance tonight?"

I shifted slightly in my seat at the mention of the Flower Dance, an indicator that I had, in fact, been thinking about it. I had missed the last Flower Dance the year prior by staying back at the farm - large events like that had never been my strong suit. As the months approached to tonight's dance, however, I grew more and more fond of the idea of attending. With the renovation of the community centre, I knew for a fact that Mayor Lewis had planned a big celebration for this year's dance, shifting it from its normal morning start time to an evening event. I cleared my throat once and shifted my glance to Maru.

"... Maybe." I muttered, trying to play off my nerves coolly. That reaction only garnered a smirk from Maru, who spoke again.

"I know Harvey's gonna be there... maybe you can stop playing around and ask him. I know he'd like that."

"Maru, will you please keep your voice down?" I begged in a sharp whisper, shifting in my seat to face her. "I don't want Harvey to hear this."

Maru shrugged her shoulders, her smirk still plastered on her face. "Fine. Keep kidding yourself. Did you at least get my text?"

“Yes, I got the text.” I answered back quickly, my voice raising slightly from a whisper. “It’s in my bag, but it won’t be much of a surprise if he overhears us!”

As if on cue, the double doors beside Maru's desk opened, and an all too familiar voice spoke calmly to his patient.

"Now, like I said, George: if you have any concerns you'd like me to take a look at, I'm more than welcome to make a house visit next time."

The doctor came out through the doors pushing George in his wheelchair, Evelyn close behind the two of them.

"You're a good man, Harvey," Evelyn said kindly as she took over the handles of George's wheelchair. "We'll see you tonight."

I shared a quick smile with Evelyn as she took George through the clinic's front doors- George grumbled something to himself as they disappeared out the doors together. My gaze shifted to rest on the doctor, and I felt my cheeks grow warm as I saw him turn his attention to me. The way he looked in his white coat was nothing short of handsome, and the way his ginger hair was neatly groomed made it more so. Harvey looked over at me and sighed, taking the makeshift ice pack against my head into account as he put his hands into his pockets.

"Another accident?" He asked softly, although a hint of amusement could be heard in his voice. I gave a sheepish smile in return, feeling a little embarrassed at him seeing me like this.

"Come on back, I'll take a look at you." He said with a polite smile as he turned on his heel and headed back through the double doors. I grabbed my backpack from my feet and followed quickly behind him, catching a glance at Maru as I passed by. I watched her mouth the words 'ask him' as she gestured towards the doors, which was met with me gesturing a hand under my neck for her to cut it out. I followed quickly behind the doctor, the double doors closing behind us with a soft 'click'.

We made our way into his office. I set my bag down at the base of the small bed in the room and took my usual place right in the middle of the bed, my legs hanging off the side as I looked over at Harvey.

"What happened this time?" Harvey asked calmly with his back turned to me, grabbing some equipment from a drawer in his desk to check my vitals.

I lowered the bag of ice from my head and placed it gingerly next to me on the bed. "I was down in the quarry today. I guess I wasn't paying attention. I swung back a little too hard... hit the back of my head with the side of the pickaxe."

I heard Harvey chuckle softly to himself as he shook his head, the sound of his laugh made my cheeks grow warm.

"What am I going to do with you?" He asked as he sat down in his swivel chair, wheeling it over to me as he took out a small torchlight from his breast pocket. He shone the light in my eyes and made me look over the room in different directions, asking typical questions to ensure I wasn't too badly hurt; my name, the date, where I was, that sort of thing. After a few seconds, he smiled as he turned off the torchlight.

"Well, it's not a concussion," he started, his voice methodical yet kind. "I've said it before and I'll say it again: You need to be careful when you're working."

"I'm fine, Harvey," I replied softly. "I guess I've been... distracted."

Harvey smiled warmly. "I can understand that. It happens to the best of us. If you need any help with it though, you're more than welcome to talk to me about it."

The comment made me smile up at him. "Really? You’d do that?"

"Sure! You can always book an appointment for a consultation regarding your mental health, it's what I'm here for."

"... ah."

I sighed softly to myself, remembering where we were. I felt a nervous feeling growing in the pit of my chest, and I remembered what Maru had said earlier. My window to ask about tonight was here, and I knew I’d be kicking myself if I didn’t at least try. As Harvey turned back to his desk to scribble down some notes, I spoke up softly as I grabbed my backpack.

"I, uhm," I began nervously. "I hope you don't mind, but... I've brought you something."

Harvey's ears perked up, and he swivelled his chair around to look back at me, a surprised expression on his face.

"Oh? What is it?"

I rummaged around in my backpack, my fingers taking a few seconds to finally grab at a small bottle. I got my words out quickly, my nerves getting the better of me as I pulled out a small bottle of wine.

"Well, a little birdie may have told me that you like your wine. I had some grapes left over last summer from the harvest and I didn't know what to do with the excess so I..."

I presented the bottle to Harvey with a nervous smile. It had a small sticker on it with my handwriting, reading 'For the best doctor in Stardew Valley'.

"... I made you some."

Harvey's eyes widened in surprise as he saw the small bottle of wine in my hand, his smile widening in both delight and astonishment as he reached out and carefully took the bottle. He was touched, not having expected me to make such an effort.

"I'm... this is...." He trailed off as his voice caught in his throat, clearly at a loss for words. After a moment, he cleared his throat and smiled warmly. "You've made my day..."

I chuckled sheepishly as my gaze drifted to the floor, shuffling in my seat at his compliment.

"Nah... it's the least I can do," I insisted. "I'm in here almost weekly, I'm probably taking your attention away from your other patients when I come in."

"Nonsense," Harvey insisted. "This is wonderful. Thank you."

There was a comfortable silence between the two of us, and it took me a moment to snap back into my thoughts as I cleared my throat.

"Right, well... I best be off. Those crops won't water themselves."

I made my way off the bed, pacing quickly to the door. At that moment I remembered what Maru had said again. If I didn't take my chances and ask Harvey about tonight, my window would be closing. I stopped in my tracks and turned around to face him, leaning against the doorway as I tried to be casual.

"So... I heard Mayor Lewis talking about the Flower Dance happening tonight? The one that's happening down near Marnie's Ranch? Are you, uhm... are you gonna go?"

Harvey nodded once, a small knowing smile crossing his lips as I mentioned the dance. 

"Yes, I do believe I will be attending. The dance has been a tradition here in town for years. Have you picked out a dance partner?"

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion at the doctor. "Dance partner?"

Harvey nodded once more. "It's customary for the bachelorettes of the town to have a partner in mind when attending the dance. There's a 'singles only' dance after dinner where you have to pick someone out to dance with. It's meant to symbolise true admiration to be chosen..." Harvey cleared his throat once before continuing on softly. "Not that... I've ever really participated in it."

"You're kidding," I said, leaning against the doorway with my arms folded. "You've never been asked to the dance?"

He shook his head once. "Never. But, y'know..."

His glance drifted to the bottle of wine in his hand, a soft smile growing on his lips as he looked back up at me.

"I still hold out hope."

The implications of his words were not lost on me, and I felt my cheeks start to blush as I smiled down at him.

"I'll... keep that in mind when choosing my partner. See you tonight, Harvey."

"See you then."

With that, I turned on my heels and headed quickly out of his office, flinging my backpack over my shoulder as I raced down the hallway. I had a newfound confidence for the night that couldn't be matched, and I made sure to high-five Maru on my way out the front door for the tidbit on the wine.

[haikyuucollective]

Part 2/? - The "World" and His "Star"

Hi again! We're back with Akaashi and his lovely thoughts. Last time we left off on akaashis first encounter with Bokuto, and I'd like to pick up right where we left off.

After being starstruck by Bokuto, we see akaashi showing up to the Fukurodani volleyball team tryouts, showing wordlessly how he decided to choose Fukurodani between the two high schools he was pondering over attending. While his choice may have been partially influenced by the fact that he has received a scholarship from Fukurodani, it was obvious that even with that knowledge he had still been on the fence; however, seeing a certain someone on the court seemingly gave him that final push.

We see how Bokuto takes an immediate interest in Akaashi as well, most likely thanks to the fact that he mentions his position as a setter. Without hearing anything else, he jumps to ask Akaashi to help him practice, to which Akaashi agrees to. They seem to practice for hours* due to a panel directly showing the darkness outside of the gym. However, this fact doesn't seem to bother Bokuto, the thumping of the Mikasa balls slamming onto the ground highlighted.

*Akaashi is seen mopping the floors when Bokuto approaches him, implying that their practice had already ended as they were cleaning up. The sky is shown in the background as well, signifying it still being day. It goes to show that this practice was not during club hours at all, but rather it being extra work the two chose to do voluntarily for hours on end. These guys were practicing for a *while*.

I'd also like to remind everyone that Akaashi is a fresh first year! As stated earlier in the chapter, Akaashi isnt a player that particularly stands out. He also wasn't someone who was particularly motivated with volleyball either, unlike Bokuto here. This practice must've drained him to hell and back, especially since he was participating in it with Bokuto of all people.

And, of course, it did. We see poor Akaashi, hunched over and tired, quietly validating Bokuto while internally screaming. Also, Bokuto is still pronouncing his name wrong and I find that silly.

However, despite his about-to-pass-out composure, Akaashis mood visibly lighten when Bokuto compliments him.

Having his inner monologue more longer and advanced than what he actually speaks is an interesting characteristic of Akaashis. From the readers perspective Akaashi had always seemed more calm and slightly reserved, his face usually passive. Being able to read from his perspective and see what he's truly thinking opens doors for Akaashis character; we now know that he isn't just someone who's quiet, but he's moreso someone who is selective of what he says. When he gives his thanks to Bokuto, he's not simply saying thanks to be polite. He genuinely does thank Bokuto for his compliment.

Seemingly the day after their practice, or perhaps after multiple had already taken place, Komi and Konoha come by Akaashis classroom to inform him that he didn't have to play with Bokuto if he didn't want to.

However, Akaashi politely takes down their offer claiming that, "Its actually rather fun to practice with a star player"(furudate 331) to Konohas and Komis dismay. They even go so far as to ask if akaashi is "also a secret weirdo,"(furudate 331) which is hilarious.

The topic of Akaashi being a secret weirdo is actually(no suprise here) very interesting to me. This could be because it fits Akaashis character extremely well, with his cool exterior being the ultimate camouflage to hide his 'weirdness', although most likely not on purpose.

As I would love to continue writing, my eyes are drooping and I feel a power nap needing to clock in. Please stay tuned for the next part coming very soon!

P.S. sorry for no indents. Tumblr hates me

Citations

Furudate, Haruichi. "Haikyu!!" Shounen Jump, April 4th 2019, vol. 37 Chapter 331

[deer-carcasses]

somewhat an analysis of Alastor

I've been going over this multiple times while it was just some rambles in my notes, but I finally decided it might as well see the light of day. if you do read this all, thank you. if not,,, understandable. it's a lot.

if this whole things is not coherent at all and does some weird jumps, I'm sorry. I took multiple breaks writing this over the span of the whole day. it was even more of a mess, I promise this is the slightly cleaned-up version.

especially the later parts get less cohesive in my eyes since I had to take longer breaks in between them. they also might jump around more. but now, in case you do want to read this; enjoy.

obvious spoilers ahead

let's start with the most interesting aspect for me: we barely know Alastor. sure, we know a little about his backstory, and get snippets of interactions here and there, but it wasn't until well into the show that we got to know his character better. ep.5 was where we see something deeper than the shallow persona he puts on for everyone. he's been more of a helping hand to make the plot progress in an interesting direction than a character with obvious deeper meaning. I don't mean to say that he was not well-written, quite the contrary, I mean to point out that he seemed more like a tool in the story than a character we are supposed to connect with on deeper levels.

we all as viewers had no idea why exactly he was there, to begin with, he said it was for his own entertainment but even then, this seemed like an awful lot of work for him to come out more or less empty-handed most of the time. it's an unfair deal for Alastor if you ask me. and honestly, he does bring little less than "entertainment" to the table until then. being used to show that he is helping yes, but mostly doing it so he can pull someone else down with his help. double-sided blade. he loses, but whoever he helps also doesn't win.

let's talk about ep.5 though. in this episode it's the first time someone truly irritates him. he didn't really care much for Vox - seemingly finding his entire obsession rather funny and never seeing him as a true threat. and Sir Pentious he didn't even truly remember. but with Lucifer that changes. Alastor doesn't just see him as bothersome, he sees him as important enough to go out of his way to prove he is better than the literal king of hell himself. at first, you could argue that he's once again doing it for his entertainment. seeing how much he can push before he needs to get back in line. but looking closer, his body language betrays him.

the way Alastor holds himself shows a true disdain for Lucifer that is, from a viewer's perspective, totally unjustified. Lucifer did not start their weird rival dynamic, it was Alastor who from the beginning on looked down on the king. maybe it's a personal reason, maybe it's just the fact that Alastor is more than well aware that no matter how much power he gets, there's no way to get above Lucifer. his omnipresence might simply be an annoyance to Alastor because he knows as well as Lucifer that the king hasn't shown his face in a long time and his reputation and power over all of the pride ring, over all of hell, still stays in place. no real threat could shake Lucifer's power into crumpling and this thought alone might bother Alastor because he had to fight for his power, to keep his power. (see Vox having presumably more power with the modern media and all that before Alastor disappeared)

and there's also of course the whole bantering going on in Hell's greatest Dad. Are Alastor's words genuine when he speaks to Charlie, or is it just a tactic to get under Lucifer's skin, maybe not seeing his powers crumble but seeing the king's nerves being reduced to nothing by his hands.

I personally don't think he was being entirely truthful. he might not have straight up lied about everything, but I don't think he truly wishes Charlie to be his daughter. Charlie herself is more than a little surprised by how Alastor suddenly treats her, and that alone is proof enough for me that he wasn't being honest in his words. if it were true, wouldn't he have at least a slight fatherly touch towards her all the time? Later on, Angel Dust even somewhat points out that Alastor has never acted like this by asking what his [Alastor's] deal is. It shows me that no matter how badly he tries to make it seem real for Lucifer, it's not real for anyone else simply because they all know how he normally acts around them.

continuing to Mimzy for a short moment; she is proven to not be a reliable narrator at all so I don't want to really take what she tells about Alastor all too seriously. she even concludes her little tale about the radio demon with "That's the story most people know." which does not make it any true. something I thought is very interesting is that the only two people who might have any idea of how truthful Mimzy is in her story are both gone. Niffty, though she also does not seem like the most reliable narrator, is not part of this conversation, and Hus kates himself out of the scene almost in the same moment Mimzy starts talking about. Husk leaving is more important since he obviously knows more about not only Alastor but also the deal Alastor is bound to. Husk and Alastor might equally hate it, but Husk does seem to care about Alastor at least a little. warning the overlord about Mimzy and how she is known for only showing up when she needs something, and I'm sure Alastor is more than aware that Mimzy wouldn't show up simply to catch up with old friends, but still. the sentiment of Husk seeking Alastor out to warn him, and even mentioning how he [Alastor] has been gone for a while now, is in itself caring, especially when moments later the viewers find out how much more Husk seems to know about Alastor. it even seems as if he is aware of limitations, mentioning how it's "Big talk for someone who's also on a leash." coming from Alastor's deal, even if Alastor himself is ignoring them [see the line "Who in their right mind would cross me?"]

the whole fact that Husk even seems to know so much about Alastor's deal is confusing in a way. I can't see Alastor willingly going to Husk and telling him about not only the deal he made with someone above himself but also about the limitations of said deal, it just doesn't make sense for the character we know Alastor to be, and even when finishing the show my opinion doesn't change. it's even more prominent how he later hides away.

after this scene, Alastor isn't seen catching back up to Charlie, Vaggie, and Lucifer to continue annoying him simply by his presence. his outburst having left him apparently on edge - showing that he isn't as calm and calculated as he likes to pretend. he obviously struggles with his own anger, be it at Husk for bringing up that he knows about Alastor's deal, or himself for ever getting into the situation in the first place.

later we see Alastor taking care of Mimzy's problem -the loan sharks. he's not seen using his powers like he did when Sir Pentious attacked though, he willingly transforms into something eldritch to devour the threat instead of simply using the tentacles, which would've been just as easy for Alastor. in my eyes that's him getting rid of the last restlessness about his outburst at Husk. choosing to do it himself, showing he still has free will over what he does and doesn't do. if not proving it to Husk then proving it to himself that he can choose to do this. he goes all out, he even comments on it himself how he needs to let off steam and later on how he's important here and willingly choosing to be here, helping ["It's time to remind everyone [Husk] why I'm here."] Alastor needs Husk to know what happens when you cross him, and when you doubt him. because he took the comments about how long he's been gone and that he's also on a leash personally. I don't even think it's necessarily because Husk said it, it's that someone in hell said it. not a soul in hell is allowed to think that Alastor, the radio demon, is not strong enough to win every fight he chooses to start.

let me come back to Mimzy once more, as if this one scene scratching the surface of what lies underneath his smile-bright persona revealed by Husk wasn't enough we get Alastor being all buddy-buddy with Mimzy, who is not only acting like a friend to him but is also introduced as such. a normal friend to someone who is so obviously not normal.

but even with his more friendly behavior towards her, he ends up sending her away after the hotel has to suffer under the problem she brought along. ["I can't have that here."] If he was genuine with what he said then, why did he phrase it like that? I might be reading too much into it, but Alastor normally picks his words wisely enough to not let too much slip, and the sentence "I don't want this here." would've been better fitting for the situation, but he says can't have that here. new question, what can't he have here? Mimzy herself? someone who knows him better than the residence with maybe a habit of blabbering? or was it just the fact that it's her problems that he needs to fix? that he can't have her bringing more work than there already is at the hotel?

now making a bit of a jump, going from ep.5 to ep.7 this episode makes me mostly wonder about what Alastor could ask from Charlie later on based on the deal the two of them made. in terms of character, it gave us little besides his dynamic with Rosie and the entirety of cannibal city. though this was also not really anything new, more just what we already knew about Alastor in a new dynamic

there is one scene I do want to talk about though. his whole little speech around smiling. him actually standing by and admitting that he is hiding behind his smile did take me a second to actually realize what just happened, I did skip back to it because I was a little stunned by the absurdity of it all. after some thought it made sense that he might not mind it, Charlie does not know him well enough for this off-hand comment to truly affect anything for him, still it made me wonder. why would he reveal it to her? was he simply so sure that she wouldn't use it against him or did he think she wouldn't even think of using anything against him in this kind of way?

so it confirms that yes; Alastor uses his smile as a facade and also as a way to show he is above others who cannot hide behind a smile like he can. his smile means indifference to himself, neutrality. for him showing anything but the indifference that his smile represents is vulnerability. weakness.

let's move on to the actual "highlight" episode of "What We Learn about Alastor" ep.8

this surely was not the first time he got humbled badly by someone in a fight. it's what he wants to avoid most, the mask slipping, everyone seeing that he can be defeated, that he is not this otherworldly powerful being that not a soul in hell [or heaven] can touch. there had to be at least one very significant moment where he was powerless in a way. where he had to strike up a deal with someone higher, the one now binding him, now having him on a leash.

Alastor went into the fight with Adam overly confident, underestimating Adam's powers to the point he barely got away. he is, after all this, still a mortal soul. a sinner. Adam on the other hand was the first man which gives him roughly the same power Lilith must have. that in itself makes me think Alastor lasted a good deal longer in the battle than I would've thought. pure angelic powers far surpassing his own and he still 1) got away in the end and 2) was able to get in a few hits.

let's quickly touch on the fact that when Adam broke his microphone he seemed to be completely stunned, apparently not having thought that he could easily break his possession without any real resistance. I personally don't think his power is necessarily in the microphone [the was the simply gave it away to Charlie in ep.7 being my proof for why it can't be. he would never abandon his power just for Charlie to sing a song for a few cannibals] but what if it maybe is some kind of amplifier for it? maybe it's also pure placebo and Alastor was simply too stunned that Adam would go for the piece of equipment instead of for a deadly blow right away. the microphone surely was a confidence boost, feeling of being 'on air' the feeling of having his broadcast behind him while doing his everyday tasks giving him the boost he sometimes needs, his ego being constantly stroked by the knowledge that there would be countless sinners bowing to him if he simply said the words into his microphone. no longer being able to do that made him stutter in more ways than one, being momentarily careless, not prepared for Adam to strike again, deadly this time. he lost where he was in his performance, in his own show, and it made him mess up.

one interesting sentence is when Adam comments on how Alastor is just a mortal soul. "You should know better than anyone what a soul can accomplish when they take charge of their own fate." which makes me want to believe that's exactly what Alastor did, taking charge of his own fate. but the thing is that we know he did not. he made a deal with someone, and he doesn't have the ability to take charge of anything about his own being anymore. he's as much on a leash as he has Husk on one. that would only mean that he isn't at his full potential, held back by the deal he so desperately wants to get out of, and is actively looking for a way to get out of it. which turns this line into something else completely. Alastor reveals that he knows what he is capable of, but cannot parade his power due to his deal.

another interesting detail is his ears before he dissolves into his shadow. they are pinned back, showing not only agitation or fear but disorientation. he opens his mouth for no sound to come out and it frightens him to have come into this situation at all.

a big part of his mental disintegration in this moment surely is also the fact that if he had died at this moment, if Adams's hit was slightly more fatal, he would've died bound to the deal still. Alastor would have gone without being able to fulfill his own goal - getting rid of the chain around his throat. getting control back over his own afterlife. if he had died at Adam's hands, he would have died being possessed by someone else which we can assume is what Alastor sees as the lowest he can fall. the people bound to him by a deal mean nothing to him as it seems, we only ever got to see those who were needed for the Hotel.

while also, dying in this moment would have proven to everyone that he stayed to protect the hotel, his friends, but retreating and not being killed in a heroic death-wish battle be had proven to especially the audience that Alastor is not ride or die for these people.

in his breakdown ballad, we can finally see where he went to to lick his wounds. his entire breakdown also shows once again how scared he truly is of being inadequate. this wasn't just a reminder from Husk that he is indeed also on a leash, being pulled to where whoever holding it wants him to go, this is a rendezvous with death, barely escaping the situation that would have proven that he is too weak, at least while being bound by this deal he is [no longer] profiting from.

the place not only reeks of death for him, like he says in his song, but it also reeks of shame at the fact that he had nearly not made it out alive. it would've been seen as a noble act had he truly died in this scene, he had not died protecting himself, he had died protecting others. it is worse than dying on a leash even since at least almost no one knows about that, it would allow him to save some face. but dying for these people? he cannot even stand the thought of it.

in his mind he needs to keep up the smiling facade, the indifference in this smile he holds obviously so dear, for eternity. him dying should not allow the indifference he stands for to evaporate, he needs to play the act even after being killed in his afterlife.

even if this now ends rather abruptly, my work here is done. see you next time I start writing and simply don't stop for a while.

it truly is "Good to be back on the Air." with a newly cleaned-up space to talk about fandoms

this might be edited later on, nothing major, maybe just to have some actual continuity in it.

[kyaa-q]

01. take a break

bahng chan x fem!reader - established relationship (they're both dorks and very much in love) a/n: just realized that "break" might imply like taking a break in the relationship but that's NOT it. it's literally just two adults having different lives but finding comfort in each other warnings: it's a little angst but mainly fluff? the reader is an academic so feelings of anxiety and feeling overwhelmed obviously but i think that's it. word count: ~8k synopsis: You are passionate about your field, but you'd be lying if you said that being in academia wasn't stressful, especially lately. Thankfully, you have Chan, the best person in your life and probably the only thing keeping you sane, although he's been having some problems himself with work too. What if all you both need was a break?

“I can swear you’re in the exact same position as you were when I left this morning.” You jump, startled by someone gently taking your headphones off, the statement almost as gentle. “Have you moved at all?”

Your boyfriend is smiling at you, a smile that is as if he’s caught you doing something bad. “Chan-“ you blink and realize when did it get so dark? Confused, you glance at the clock on your laptop. “Oh my- it’s 11pm?! Shit-” You stand up clumsy, rubbing the blurriness of your vision off your tired eyes and quickly go for a hug. He chuckles, hugging you back. “Hi baby. I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you coming in.”

He makes circles on your back with one of his hands, the other caressing the back of your head. “Yeah, I could see that.” He pushes you back a little, still holding you and kisses your cheek. “The question still stands, though.” He raises an eyebrow, glancing at your laptop screen and back at you. “Have you actually not moved at all? Have you even eaten?”

You chuckle, pulling him closer again and snuggling on him. “Of course I’ve eaten. I made some quick pasta for lunch.”

“For lunch?!” His voice is high pitched for a moment, showing his surprise. He squeezes you lightly without realizing. “You’ve had only lunch the entire day? You do know it’s eleven, right?”

“It was 3pm only a moment ago, I swear!” You rise your read so you can catch a glimpse of him, which he returns, looking at you tenderly. “I didn’t realize it was so late, I got a little caught up I think…”

The corner of his mouth lifts just slightly. “You think?”

You try to punch him playfully but he holds you stronger on his embrace, you both laughing. You take a deep breath and allow your body to relax in his arms. His familiar scent surrounds you and makes you dizzy. Would it be humanly possible to melt into someone else’s body? You both stayed like that for what seemed an eternity and a second at the same time, as time didn’t exist.

Academic life was hard. Researches and papers felt like never-ending tasks, quite literally. There’s this one specific thing you have to read about, but to understand this one thing you have to understand another three different topics that are important. So you get to that and then there are more and more references you need to check, also there’s that author that might have a different perspective and… Before you know it’s 11pm. The day has passed and the feeling of not having done anything adding to the already existing stress starts to sink in. Your thoughts are racing, the anxiety spiking as you start listing the priorities you gotta do tomorrow. Have I achieved anything today? And yesterday? There are a few errands that you need to get done by the end of the week and –

This all goes through your mind in less than a second, and Chan senses it. Suddenly, he’s holding your face, cupping your cheeks and keeping your eyes to his level. “Hey, it’s okay. What’s going through your mind?”

You can’t help it when your eyes start watering. “There’s so much to do.” You let out instantly, “so much to read still and it never ends –“ You’re not sure of anything anymore. Why are you so stressed? You take a deep and long breath. “Why is there always more? Why can’t things be as simple as thing X happens because of phenomenon Y because nature said so, thank you for your time?”

He coos, holding back a smile.  “Oh my poor smart baby,” His eyes full of overwhelming affection and admiration that warms your own heart. Still holding your face in his hands, he starts to kiss you everywhere, while compliments and words of admiration keep leaving his lips. “So smart” Kiss. “And intelligent.” Kiss. “And so-“ Kiss. “So-“ Kiss. “Pretty.” Kiss.

You’re giggling now and doing your best to push him away. “Okay! I get it! Stop!” He does the opposite and doesn’t stop, only kissing you more until there’s no spot on your face and jaw that he has not pecked, and you’re both laughing out loud. He pulls you closer one more time, hugging you tight and you squeak. “I understand how important this is for you,” he starts saying before letting you go. You exhale, fixing your hair and clothes. Chan takes his backpack you didn’t even see from the ground and places it on the couch, “but you really need to take care of yourself, Y/N. One meal isn’t enough and spending the whole day staring at a screen isn’t good for your eyes eith-“

It’s your turn to raise an eyebrow and he catches your smirk. “Oh, really? Tell me more about how one meal isn’t enough and how staring at a screen for too long isn’t good, Mr Bang Chan.”

He mimics your expression. “I hope you’re not insinuating anything?”

You shrug, smirking. “If the shoes fit.”

He laughs, pointing his finger at you. “Careful.” He walks back close to you and glances at the laptop again on his way. “Are you done? For tonight, I mean.”

Your shoulders fall. “Not really…” You’re hesitant. The whole thing has been stressing you out too much and after a whole ass day working on it without making any progress, the frustration is very real. Should I keep going? Can I stay up until what time without fucking up my entire sleeping schedule? Chan can see the engines spinning in your head and if he knows that if he waits a few more seconds, smoke might as well start coming out of your ears. He rushes to you, putting his hands on your shoulders and leveling his eyes to yours, trying to catch your eyes.

“Hey hey, it’s fine.” He puts his hands on your shoulders and squeezes them little, comforting. “It’s really late, right?” You mumbles something that he deduces to be an agreement.  He continues with a comforting and soft voice. “So I can go first, make some meat for you and, while I do that, you can start wrapping things up.” He pauses for a moment and he can see you thinking. “Tomorrow you’ll feel more rested and it’ll definitely be more productive, don’t you think?” He tries again.

He is right, of course. It’s so late and obviously there’s nothing you can do now that it could be productive, plus spending the whole day working is starting to play a tool on you, and you know you won’t last long. You hum, still stubborn because admitting that the best thing to do right now is to wrap everything up and continue tomorrow doesn’t make the guilt go away. Finally meeting up with his gaze, you see a growing, bright, genuine and hopeful smile on his face. You can’t help but giggle “Alright! Fine! You’re right! Understood, sir.”

He laughs and kisses the top of your head. “Sir? I like how that sounds.”

You pinch his arm, both with wide smiles. “Stop! I understand! I’m finishing it in a few minutes and I’ll go to you.”

“I win!” He steals a quick peck on your cheek and heads to the kitchen. You notice your cheeks hurt after smiling for so long. Not only that, but something else hurts. What is it? My heart? You place your hand over your chest and feel your heartbeat racing. It’s not hurting, you realize. You’re happy.

“You didn’t win shit, Christopher!” You yell. “I’m just tired and you happen to suggest it!”

You can hear his loud laugh from the other room.

Ten minutes later, you’re sitting in the kitchen watching Chan’s back while he’s humming some song you don’t recognize while finishing to cut some mushrooms. He was just so… perfect. Everything that he did, from the way he spoke, the way he acted, the way he saw the world and the way that he was just so… him. The way he existed and breathed and- “Which one is that?” You ask suddenly, cutting your own trail of thought before you could zone out too much, only by watching your boyfriend’s pretty back and hands while cutting some damn mushrooms.

“I haven’t showed this one to you yet.” He answers, finishing it quickly and putting it all in the pot. “It’s a track I made a while ago not really with anything in mind. But Han is working on this song and when I heard it, I immediately thought it’d fit, still…” He turns to you not stopping to stir the meat and mushrooms in the pot. “It’s still so… raw, you know? I know it has potential, but it’s not quite there yet.” He sighs heavily. “I’ve spent the past week working on it, it still feels like something is missing and it’s so frustrating.” He pauses and stares at nowhere, you know his thoughts are back to the studio, analyzing what could possibly be missing on this track.

You smile at him fondly, resting your head on your hand and elbows on the table. “And you won’t stop until you’re satisfied.” It wasn’t a question and you both know it, of course. He shrugs, holding back a smile. He knew it had potential, he knew that that specific track would work better than any other, so he was not going to give up until he finally achieved what he knew it to be possible. What he knew he was capable of doing.

“It’s not like we have a deadline or anything so I’m taking my time. Han isn’t in a rush either, although Bin threatens to beat me up at least three times a day for.”

You raise an eyebrow. “Oh, really? Why?”

“Apparently, seeing me frustrated makes him even more frustrated. He says that if I don’t figure something out soon, he’s gonna steal my laptop and run away with it so I can, quotes take a god damn and stop frowning for the love of god.” He tried to copy Bin’s way of speak and you laugh.

“He’s got a point.” You say and it is Chan’s turn to raise an eyebrow.

“Should I be worried? Are you running away with my laptop? You know I got it saved in other places yeah?” He says, as if he suddenly needed to convince you that it was not worth the trouble.

“I mean that maybe that’s what you need.” You say, trying not to laugh.

“Someone disappearing with my stuff?” He says and, for a moment, he does consider the fact that you might steal and hide his laptop. You laugh, while he takes the pot out of the oven and serves you a plate.

“A break, dummie.” You take it and look at him worriedly when he puts all the content on your plate and sits on the chair in front of you. “Aren’t you eating?”

He shakes his head and lean his chin on his hand, with a fond smile on his face that it makes your heart swell. “I’m not hungry.”

You furrow, “Not being hungry is not an excuse to not eating and you were the one who taught me that!” You were already standing up to get him a plate as well when he grabs gently your wrist, still smiling.

“Love, it’s okay. I mean I’ve already eaten” You stare at him, trying to find a trace of lie but all you can find is love and affection and you melt under his touch, he holds such an effect on you. He slides his hand down and intertwines his fingers with yours. “Sit back and eat well, yeah? I made it for you.” You simply nod and sit back, not letting go of his hand. You’re still holding hands over the table, his thumb caressing the palm of your hand.

“I don’t like the idea of you working all day, coming back and still having to take care of me.” You mumble. He raises his eyebrows surprised. “At work you’re always watching over the boys, the crew, the staff, everyone! And when you get home there’s me being a burden.” You meet his eyes, he blinks, confused waiting for you to finish your thought when you pause. “But who takes care of you, Chan?” Your eyes start watering again, but not from sadness and you know it. It’s from the overwhelming love you feel, and how you wish you had the power to protect him from everything in the world. It’s from love.

“Ohhh no! We’re not doing this!” He stands up quickly and grabs his chair with him, swiping it to your side so he can sit closer and look at you directly in the eyes. He places one leg at each of your sides, caging yours between his, also taking his hand into his “You.” He squeezes your hand. “You are the answer. You’re the answer not only for this matter but for any and all matters, do you understand me?” You’re holding his gaze and his hands, both are steady and firm, keeping you grounded. “You should never feel like a burden and I-“

“Chris, I don’t want you to comfort me.” You quickly interrupt him, letting go of his hands only to grab his face instead, just like he did to you earlier. You sit at the edge of your chair, getting closer and closer. “I’m not saying this for you to comfort me.” You say it again. Can I transmit the same feeling of security and steadiness to him as he does to me? You try, hoping that all the certainty of your feelings that you hold in your heard might be passed to him through your eyes. “I’m saying this because I love you. I love you so much, and I want to take care of you too.” How can I put all my feelings into words?

He leans his face onto your touch and kisses the palm of your hand. “You do already, Y/N.”

You roll your eyes, cupping his cheeks and bringing his eyes to meet yours again. “I’m serious!” He cups your face as well.

“So am I!” Now you’re two weirdos almost touching foreheads, holding each other’s faces. “You’re my safe place, do you understand that?” He emphasizes his words by squeezing your cheeks and moving your head slightly. “You give me comfort. Even if I have the most stressful, frustrating and upsetting day of my whole life, I know it’ll be okay. You know why?” He pauses, intensifying his gaze and you feel like your eyes might pop out. “Because I get to walk through that front door and find you, always here.” His grip is lighter and at this point your hands have fallen from his face to your knees, at the mercy of his feelings. You don’t answer, absorbing his words as if you could breathe them in or assimilate them through your skin. “Because I have these hands to hold.” He continues, now dropping his hands also to your knees, gently picking yours. “Because I have these arms to come back to.” He motions to your bare arms. He smiles slightly when he notices the goosebumps on your skin and you feel your cheeks heating up a little. “Because I have these shoulders to lean on if I ever need to. Because I have you. Actually, no.” He interrupts himself, and his speech is steady. “It’s because the world has you. Because this universe has you and I get to live in the same timeline as you. Because you, in all your mercy, have allowed me to be part of your life.” You rolled your eyes back, laughed and almost had tears falling down your face, all in one phrase and he holds back a smile. “That’s it. Because you allow me to be part of your life. And, even if I have the worst day ever, nothing matters when I’m with you and everything is perfectly fine again.”

You’re both silent for a moment. His hands are warm against your cold skin, a coldness that does not reflect the way you feel inside. You feel like there’s a Sun burning in your chest, and you wish you could rip yourself open only to give that burning star to the man sitting in front of you.

“Understood?” He asks. You bring his hands closer to your face and lips, kissing them tenderly and resting your face in them. He watches, caressing your skin. You mumble something against his palm and he chuckles, “Hm?”

“You have me.” You say again, louder and clearer this time, with eyes still closed focusing on the comfort of his touch.

“Excuse me?” He hesitates briefly and you open your eyes, meeting his slightly confused look.

“You corrected yourself when you said you could go through hard times because you had me. Then you said it wasn’t because of that, but because I allowed you to be in my life.” You pause for a moment.

“Okay. And?” He says and you continue, kissing his knuckles once more.

“And I’m saying you have me. I am yours. I just wanted to make it clear.” You finally open your eyes and find him staring at you. “I’m yours. You have me.”

With no surprise, he leans closer and your lips meet his, soft and warm. You rest your hands on his bare chest you smile. You can feel his heartbeat under your palms, as fast as yours. Good. I’m not the only one.

“And I love you.” You whisper between the kisses, suddenly realizing you hadn’t said it.

“I love you more.” He whispers back and deepens the kiss suddenly, stealing your breath away and making your head spin. He lean back and breaks the kiss as sudden as he deepened it. The sudden movement made you whine involuntarily, but he chuckles. “And because I love you, I need you to eat well so you have energy.” He stands up again and grabs the chair, ready to go back to his original place in front of you at the table. You hold his hand before he can walk away, looking up at him as you’re still sit. He looks down at you and the view is stunning, you don’t think it’s fair someone to look this good by just standing. His lips are puffy and his cheeks are a little rosy, his eyes are dark and shining with mischief. Have I died and I’m being welcomed in heaven?

“Why are you like this?” You let out before you can think about it, turns his head slightly, confused.

“Like what, love?” His voice is deep when he answers.

You let your breathe out, one that you didn’t notice you were holding. “It’s so unfair.” You start, and you know it’s pointless to try to size words now. To him, you, your life and your thoughts are all an open book. “You’re such a good person. What did I do to deserve you? Why do you still stick with me?” You say, instead.

He lets go of the chair and reaches the side of your face, caressing it. “Have you not heard anything I said in the past 10 minutes?” His tone holds a hint of humor, you both know, but it’s soft. His eyes are darker, hiding something you can’t quite tell, but it makes your heart skip a beat.

“You’re such a good person.” You repeat, as if he didn’t say anything. You lean onto his touch and close your eyes, trying to crave this scene into your head so you may never forget it. Chan watches you patiently, allowing you to use his hand for your own comfort while he stands in front of you. “It makes me want to hide you from everyone and everything that could potentially cause you any type of harm.” It’s silly, but it’s good to say it out loud. When you look at him, he’s smiling and his dimples are showing.

“I don’t think you can do that, sweetie.”

“I can, actually. It’s called kidnapping.” You quickly turn to bite his fingers lightly. He’s too immersed on you that he does not see it coming and squeaks, stepping back and holding his hands next to his heart, his face in an exaggerated shock.

“So we went from stealing things to kidnapping in only one night? What’s next? Murder?” Before you can reply, he continues. “Also, don’t get offended baby…” He goes to the other side of the table dragging his chair with him, and lets his body fall on the chair. “But I’m just a little stronger and bigger. I don’t think you could kidnap me that easily.” You turn to him, consciously avoiding the undertone in that statement. With the fork in one hand, you reach for his hand with the other over the table. He meets your hand instantly and you don’t know if it was conscious or if it’s just part of the habit now.

“I work smarter, not harder.” You say shrugging it off and taking a bite of your dinner.

“Calling Changbin to knock me out isn’t working smarter. You know that, right?” He replies instantly and you start coughing, caught by surprise by the accuracy of it and almost choking on the food. He laughs and stands up quickly, coming back with a cup of water the second after. You thank him, but your hand now feeling empty.

Can he read minds? “He wouldn’t say no. It’s for the greater good.” You shrug again, pretending to be unaffected – which you clearly wasn’t.

“And what is this so greater good?” He sits back and crosses his arms, and you feel his stare at you burning your skin. He knows the effect he has. He’s so hot it’s annoying. You clear your throat and goes back to eating, but you can swear his smirk grew wider.

“You. Taking a break. That’s the greater good.” You say after one or two bites. Still, unable to meet his eyes, as the room is too hot out of sudden. All you can do is just hope that your face isn’t as red as you feel it is. “It’s really good.” You glance at him quickly, pointing at the food, turning your eyes down back to the plate. He’s enjoying your embarrassment and it only makes you feel your skin get hotter.

“I’m glad.” He’s sincere. “It’s not like I’m overworking, though. Why would I need a break?”

“Your parameters of overworking aren’t exactly the best to decide it.” The words leave your mouth before you can think them over, but you don’t regret it. You finally get the courage to look at him and he’s still smiling, unaffected, clearly having fun.

“Ouch. What does that even mean?”

“Overworking for you is like… Not being able to walk because you’re too tired for not sleeping for three weeks because of some comeback or something.” He ponders for a moment and you watch him, he raises his eyebrows and makes a face that says Yeah, actually. “You should allow yourself to have some breaks even before you reach your breaking point. No pun intended.” His eyes are back to yours. “Maybe that’s what you need. A break, some space to breathe and allow your mind to relax.”

“I am relaxed, though.” Chan says.

“You know what I mean.” You point the fork at him and he raises his hands in a sign of withdrawal. You hum, approvingly. “Have you ever thought that maybe that’s what you need to finish that song? A little bit of inspiration?” The question is genuine, no judgments whatsoever and he knows it, it just came to your mind.

Chan looks away from you for a second, thinking about what you just said. “I don’t know if inspiration is the right word. I just… I don’t know why I’m stuck.” He shrugs, “I’ll get over it eventually.”

“As you always do.” The words come out naturally and he smiles.

“You have a lot of faith in me, huh?” He comes closer to the table again, resting his chin on both his hands over the table.

You try not to get affected by how stunning he is and how hot his smirk looks. “You’re Christopher Bahng Chan. You can do anything.” And, from the bottom of your heart, you mean it. Chan reaches your hand over the table again and you allow him, intertwining your fingers together. He doesn’t reply and neither do you, so you just focus on finishing the great meal your incredible boyfriend had prepared just for you, as good as it’d be if it was a meal prepared by a famous chef in a fancy restaurant. Actually, it tastes better.

You wake up a little groggy and confused to the sound of your ringtone. Where’s the damn phone? You stretch your arms and legs on the bed, trying to find the phone when you finally find it on the ground. You reach to it to see Chan’s name on the screen. What time is it?

“Morning, sunshine.” Is it even possible to hear the smile on someone’s face? “Did I wake you up?” His voice is gentle, knowing that he did. You groan a little, with the face still buried on the mattress.

“What time is it?” You muffle.

“It’s seven right now, love.”

“P.M?!” You jump, sitting straight. PM?! How could I’ve slept so much?! You hear his laugh on the other side while you get up and start fold your sheets.

“No love. t’s 7 AM.”

You breathe out, blinking in the dark room, letting yourself fall onto the bed again.  “Do you want me to have a heart attack?!” You stretch and sit back. “Wait, isn’t it Sunday?” You check your phone while on the call. “It is Sunday.”

“It is Sunday.” Chan repeats and you can hear him smiling.

“Chan.” You say, trying to get your thoughts in order. It’s 7 in the morning. Of a Sunday. Why am I awake at 7 in the morning of a Sunday?

“That’s me.”

“Why are you awake at 7 in the morning on a Sunday?” You question instead. “It’s literally the only day you can sleep in.” You rub your eyes, as your vision is getting used to the darkness.

“I had some plans.” He says simply.

You look around your room. Could you go back to sleep after that? Was it worth to try? “And why are you calling me at 7 in the morning on a Sunday, may I ask?”

“You’re fully awake now?” He asks back.

“What?” You groan, standing up. You head to the window, giving up on the thought of going back to sleep. “I guess so? Why do you a –“ you finally pull the curtains, allowing the sunlight to come in and blinding you for a moment.

When your eyes adjust with the light, it’s hard to not see the fancy black car on the street with the handsome man casually leaning on it.  The view stands out. He’s wearing a black shirt and dark green shorts, you can see the fluffy slightly curly dark hair and when you meet the man’s eyes. He smiles and waves one of his hands, keeping the other one on the side of his face. Of course it’s Chan.

“Morning, sunshine.” The smile you hear matches the smile you see on the face of the man standing in the front of your building.

“It’s too early and I’m confused.” You let out. “What –“

“I know.” His voice is so soft and gentle, caressing your skin even though he’s meters away. He takes a step and turns away, placing his phone on his shoulder so he can keep talking to you while having both of his hands free. He opens the car and grabs a paper bag and a cup from inside. “I have coffee and croissants for you.” He waves them to you.

“Chan, why didn’t you simply come in? You literally have the keys.” You say tired and exasperated. Chan didn’t need to call you to come to your place. He had stopped doing so a while ago and, even though he felt awkward in the beginning, it made you extremely happy. He had started treating your apartment – your home – as his home too.

“Because we have plans” He says. “And there’s a chance that if I were to go in and saw you sleeping comfortably and all tucked up in your bed, I would simply give up on them and stay in bed with you.”

“That doesn’t sound like a bad plan to me.” That had been a plan of yours so many times. He follows your smile.

“It doesn’t.” He laughs and puts the bag and the cup back in the car, closing the door with his foot. “But again, this isn’t our plan for today.”

“Is it not?” You tilt your head, visibly so he can see. You’re speaking staring at him directly.

“The coffee is getting cold.” He warns simply.

You shift and comes back inside. “I need answers!” You’re looking around, lost and dizzy, still waking up. “What do I need to do?”

“Come here?”

“I need to know where we’re going!”

“You will know. In time.” He’s having so much fun.

“Chan, I need to know what to wear!” You start going around your wardrobe, you don’t have many items anyway.

“Oh, true.” He hums. “Yeah, okay.” He sounds defeated. “I don’t want you suffering with bugs or mosquitos. We’re staying outside today, that’s all I can say. So… I don’t know.” He pauses.  “Maybe pants so you don’t get bit?”

“Should I bring sunscreen too? A bag? Should I bring a backpack? What do you mean with staying outside?” Your thoughts are racing and confused, as it was expected for a Sunday morning. “Should I have planned anything for this?” Your heart skips a beat. “Oh my God, what day is today?”

He laughs. “Hey, breathe! It’s okay! There’s no special date today!” You exhaled, relieved. “Don’t worry about bringing anything, I got everything.”

You find some baggy pants and a white top. That will have to do it.

“Thank God.” You say without thinking – forgetting things were your specialty and, although Chan knew it and never blamed you for forgetting birthdays and stuff like that, it never stopped you from feeling guilty every time it happened. You grab the jacket laying on your chair. “Give me 5 minutes and I’ll be right there, okay?”

“Take your time.” He says and, before you can hang up, he adds “Seriously. Take your time.” You walk back to the window and looks at him, waiting. He says, “The cup is empty. I wouldn’t give you cold coffee, we’ll get fresh ones on our way.”

You raise your eyebrow, “Wait, did you seriously lie about the coffee just to make me walk quicker?”

“Maybe. I love you.” He sends you a kiss and hangs up. You reply with an offended and shocked face before you turn around to walk towards the bathroom to wash your face.

What does he have in mind?

“Lying about the coffee was a stretch.” You say, entering the car on the passenger side and kissing him on his smiling lips.

“Was it though? I wasn’t planning on it, but the cup was here from yesterday. Also, how else would I get you out of the bed in…” He checks his watch. “Whoa, 10 minutes? That’s a record.”

You roll your eyes. “You could’ve said my handsome boyfriend was waiting for me outside. I would’ve made it here in 5.”

“You know that’s a lie.” He says and leans to put the seat belt on you. You jump on him, kissing him all over his face. “As if coffee didn’t come first.”

“I’d quit caffeine completely if you asked me to!” You say, dramatic, and he laughs.

“Liar.”

“I’m serious! Is that what you want?” Your eyes are wide open. “Okay. Fine. I’ll quit caffeine. I’m never drinking coffee ever again.” You say, decisively, while he finishes putting your seat belt and leaning back on his seat.

“Why would I ever want you to suffer like that?” He starts putting his own belt and turning the engine on.

“You’re my caffeine, I don’t need anything else.” You smile batting your eyelashes.

“Is this you trying to flirt?” He raises an eyebrow, and smirks at you “Why? Because I’m hot and keep you awake?”

You say instead, “I mean you’re my priority and I’ll do anything. You want me to stop caffeine? Fine. Sugar? That’s okay. Water? Food? Who needs those things? I can –“

“I don’t know where this is coming from, but if anything, I want you to drink more water and eat better, not the other way around.” He glimpses at you, smirking. He’s so handsome when he’s driving.

“Ouch. Okay. Fair.” You give up and turn to face the window for a moment. “Wait, whose is this car?” You start looking around, it smelled like it was brand new. Plus it was definitely hella expensive. “Did you steal it? Is that why we needed to leave soon? Are we running from the police?” And you look at the street, looking for sirens.

He laughs. “Why? Can’t this be my car?” He plays to be offended and you stare at him.

“You barely spend money on anything for yourself.” You say. But he did say that the empty cup was here already… He’s smiling.

“I did buy this one, though.” Your eyes shoot at him.

“There’s no way.”

“It is. I was kinda tired of asking the company for cars and drivers. It’s good to have a little bit of autonomy.” His smile is gentle, not mischievous, and you can’t find a trace of lying.

“Oh my god, you did buy it.” Your mouth falls open. “What the f – That’s so cool.” You can’t help but laugh. Chan did it, he bought a car for himself. “Oh my God this is so cool! This car is amazing! When did you buy it? Why did you choose this one? Wait, when did you buy it? Why am I only knowing about this now?”

“Are you capable of just enjoying today without asking questions?” He gives you a side eye and smile.

You cross your arms. “I just found out my boyfriend got an expensive ass car and is taking me to God knows where. I have the rights to ask questions.”

“We’re going to a coffee shop get you fresh coffee.” He takes the turn and at that moment and you see yourself in front of your favorite coffee shop. He turns his face to you and signalizes with his head. “One americano for me, please. I’ll wait here.” Giving him a break from the questions, you’re about to open the door when you realize that, after leaving in such a rush, the only thing you brought with you was your phone. Everything else was at home – including your wallet. “Hello?” He waves his card in front of you. “Go ahead.”

“But –“ You start saying before he interrupts you.

“Baby, it’s just a coffee. You’ll get me something another day, okay?” His smile is soft and you know it’s not an empty promise, since you both are always paying for each other.

“Why did I forget the god damn wallet?” You mumble grumpily as you leave the car.

“Thank you, love!” He says louder before you close the door.

“Okay, so where are we going?” You take a sip of your iced coffee and hand it to Chan, letting him take a sip of yours while you hold it. Both his hands are busy: one on the wheel, and the other laying on your knee.

He takes a big sip and then you bring it back to you. Indirect kiss. You glimpse at the GPS on the screen to know where you’re heading to, but all it says it’s that it’s almost two hours away. “Thank God it’s not raining today.” It’s all he says.

“You’re really not going to tell me?” You take a sip of your drink.

“You won’t stop asking questions? You’re making it seem like it’s bigger than it actually is.”

“You’re the one not wanting to tell me! What if I had plans today?”

His eyes widen open and he turns to you, tensing his grip on your knee slightly. “Did you?” You reach him the cup again, allowing him to have another sip from your drink while you have one from his.

“Eyes on the road, driver.” You point forward and he instantly looks straight. “I didn’t.” And you add. “But I could.”

He visibly relaxes. “You scared me. I thought about doing this yesterday but you said you’d hang out with your friends to a pub. Since you didn’t say anything I assumed you didn’t have anything today.” He was right. You were supposed to go out with your friends last night… You reached him his drink, allowing him to have a sip from his americano for once.

You shrugged it off. “I canceled yesterday.”

He shoots a look at you again arching his eyebrows. “Why?”

“Just didn’t feel like it.” The hand on your knee gently squeezes it.

“Liar.” He says simply, and suddenly the ice in your cup seemed interesting, so you avoid his eyes.

You stayed quiet for a few minutes, before speaking again. “Alright. I just… I don’t know, okay? I have this huge essay due Tuesday and have barely started it! I’d feel so guilty” You mumble the last part. He caresses your knee, reassuring.

“Oh, baby.” His voice is sad. “Did you get anything done?” And you know it’s as important to him as it’s to you.

“I did, actually!” You smile, assuring him. “I’m okay. It’s fine, really. I really didn’t feel like going out to drink anyway, the work wasn’t just an excuse.” You aren’t lying, and you can see his eyes jumping from you to the road repeatedly.

“Great!” He gently taps your leg. “Thank God! Because I could really turn around and go back to your apartment if you wanted to, but I really think that’s for the best.”

“And that is…?” You put your empty cup on the cup holder of the car, letting your hand land on his. His hand, holding and squeezing your knee eventually, now turns around and holds yours back, his thumb caressing the back of your hand.

“Day off for both of us!” He replies, brightly. “You’ve been drowning yourself in papers and researches lately, more than ever. One day I might get home only to find you buried literally in mountains of papers and papers.” Your heart aches when he refers to your apartment as home. His home. “What would I tell people then? Oh sorry, my girlfriend died from reading too much? Her brain got so big from being so smart that the body didn’t follow and it just shut down?” You both laugh.

“What about you, Sherlock? Your sleeping habits are the worst I’ve ever seen and that’s not even an exaggeration! And you literally work almost twice as much as I do.” You add. “What will I do when I go to the studio and find that your headphones have melted into your head? It might be changing the shape of your skull and you don’t even know.” You poke his head playfully, after you placed the other cup between your tights, and you run your hand through his soft hair.

His eyes widen, playfully. “Is that possible?” You laugh steal a quick kiss on his cheek, right on his dimple. “See? That’s why I said today is a day off for both of us, and not only for you. I was thinking about what you said the other day, about me needing some inspiration…” He doesn’t the sentence.

“Did you finish the song?” Your hand slid down, laying behind his neck and massaging him gently.

He makes a tsk sound. “Not yet. But it’ll be fine.” He turns his head to you and smiles fondly. “It is fine now.”

You kiss his cheek again. “Eyes on the road.” He chuckles and does as he’s told. “So?”

“So.” He smiles and continues, keeping his eyes on the road. “Maybe inspiration isn’t really the word I’m looking for, but just fresh air, you know?” You hum, of course you know. “Maybe I just need to do something different, look around in different places, maybe I’ll find what I’m looking for.”

“And do you know what you’re looking for?” You keep putting pressure on his neck and he tries to lean into your touch slightly, making your heart swell.

“Not really.” He says simply.

“But you’ll know when you see it.” You say in a calm voice. Again, it wasn’t a question.

“But I’ll know when I see it.” Chan says back and holds your gaze for a moment, then turning it back forward. You press the button and open your window glass. “Baby the A/C is on, wh-“

You lean on the door and rests your arms and head on the now open window. Feeling the strong wind on your face and messing your hair, you close your eyes and take a deep breath. You put one of your arms out the window, and watch your fingers dance with the strength of the wind.

“You okay?” Chan asks after a moment, caressing your leg gently.

You turn to him, still keeping the arm outside, and smile at him. “I’m enjoying.”

He smiles back. He takes his hand off your leg and you pout secretly, he opens his own window and switches hands on the wheel, keeping one arm out the window just as you. You turn to appreciate the landscape. There are a few houses here and there, but it’s mostly trees and you love it. You’re far from any city now, and you love it.

Chan turns the music on, putting The View on speaker and you can’t help but laugh. “Too cliché?” He asks, looking for other songs.

“No!” You take his phone away from him, locking the screen and giving it back. “It’s perfect.” And you kiss him on the lips, only for two seconds, tenderly and softly, and sits back on your seat.

“Eyes on the road?” He says uncertain, predicting what you’d say next, but smiling. You show him thumbs up before leaning back onto the door. “Head inside the car, please!” You hear him saying as you sing I like the view right now from the top of your lungs, to the whole world to hear, followed by Chan’s wonderful laugh.

The road is straight and empty, and it seems endless until your eyes can reach. It could as well be endless and you wouldn’t mind. Suddenly, two hours seemed too short.

And it was, indeed, too short. Although the road wasn’t always straight. At some point, you started heading upward the hills, taking so many turns you just hoped the GPS never stopped working or else you both would stay lost in the woods. The trees closed around and everything was green green green, but before you could think about asking for a stop to explore around a little bit, Chan takes another turn and you see an open space with two other cars parked. “A parking lot in the middle of the woods?” You can’t help but ask out loud.

He laughs, parking the car perfectly and with no difficulty. He turns the engine off and gets off the car, and before you can even finish unlocking your seat belt, he’s already by your side opening the door for you and reaching your hand. You accept and hugs him as soon as you stand up, throwing your arms around his neck and looking up to him. “Am I getting any information now?”

He wraps one of his arms around your waist and closes the door with the other, he leans on the car and pulls you closer standing between his legs. “The way you speak, people will think I tricked a pretty girl into bringing her blindly to the woods. How would that sound?”

“Didn’t you just describe what happened?” You tilt you head.

He laughs and gently puts a strand of your hair behind your ear, letting his hand rest there. “It’s not much.” He says, softly. “We’re having a day off. A little bit of hiking, being around nature, a picnic… There’s a point that apparently you have an open view of the entire world.” He whispers this last part in your ear and you chuckle, his warm breath tickling your skin. “Wouldn’t you like that?”

“The entire world?” You whisper back in an exaggerated awe.

“I know, right?” He follows. “But that’s it. Just you and I today, and our only job today is to enjoy the nature.”

“And each other.” You complete his phrase and he smiles, knowing you got his goal and you never felt so grateful. Being around nature was healing, and being with Chan was even more. You lean closer and bring your lips to his, allowing yourself to melt under his touch. One of his hands lays on the back of your head and the other palms your back, pulling you closer and closer. It’s not enough. You want to dive into him. You want to merge your body to his. Having him hugging you tightly and conducting the kiss, you feel like you’ve been holding your breath your entire life and now you can finally breathe. “I love you, have I told you that?” You whisper into the kiss, making he laugh.

He leans toward you once more, kissing you fiercely for a moment and then leaning back. You whine at the loss. “Hmmm.” He looks away and pretends to think, tsking. Both his hands are on each side of your hips, his hands softly caressing your body over the top. “I don’t think you did.” And he looks back at you.

“I love you. A lot.” You say quickly, and he tsks again.

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear you. What did you say?” He smiles, turning his ear to you. You have the urge to yell you love him, and you almost do, but when you lean closer to his ear and breathe in, you whisper instead.

“I love you, Bahng Chan.”

And maybe he thought you’d scream too, because your whisper clearly caught him off-guard and he blushes slightly. He cleans his throat and gives you the most tender kiss on the forehead. “I love you too.” He mumbles in your skin. “So let’s enjoy today, yeah?”

Honestly, you don’t know if it’s something in the air. Maybe it was the trip set that you in a good mood. Maybe it was only your eyes, your imagination, but you couldn’t help but think the sky looked bluer than usually. Maybe it was the fresh air and the smell of wood and leaves flying around. Maybe it was the cold breeze that crossed that made your whole body get goosebumps. Or maybe it was the coffee from you had with him earlier, that somehow tasted better than any other coffee you’ve had your entire life, even though you ordered the usual. Perhaps the birds chirping and the wind blowing the tree, maybe the rays of sunlight crossing the layers of leaves and branches until they reach the ground, that made it all seem like a painting. Maybe that’s all it. These might be the some of the reasons why you feel the way you feel right now.

But then you’d be fooling yourself. You know what it is, in fact. It was him. Chan had this effect on you from day one. He had the power to set you in a good mood regardless of the circumstances. Because you felt like the world shone in a different light when you were with him. That, by his side, the sky would always look bluer and the sun would always shine brighter. Because his touch was electrifying and your body reacted to the most tender and light of his motions, giving you butterflies from his smile. Even the coffee. You had it with him, and anything experienced next to him would feel like the best of your life. The birds were chirping and you could hear the rustle of the leaves, but, truth be told, if you had to choose only one sound to hear for the rest of your days, it’d be his laugh. The sunlight diving through the branches was indeed pretty, but you didn’t notice much other than how his skin looked under the golden light.

Bahng Chan is the reason why you’re feeling the way you’re feeling right now. Because you could be in the middle of the woods, in the depth of the ocean or thrown somewhere in the desert, in a busy pub or on the top of a mountain… Anywhere really, and if you were with him you’d still feel the same.

[jaybirdhitman]

Another drabble time, this one is shorter and more of a reflection o your part of the bots. I do write these drabbles in like, a vacuum, pretending the other groups don't exist just so that way their interactions with each other don't get spoiled.

Band guys this time, Twi, Aura and Umbra

You hadn't been traveling on the road that long with the bots, but they had already shifted your view of synths as a whole, just slightly, in that short time. You had been so surprised by how human they were. It was unexpected to you from the synths you'd seen and met, until you were staying with them.

It was small at first, catching them practicing their music. Actually practicing, and making mistakes. You had thought that it was just something they could do and were programmed for, but you had learned quickly that they had taught themselves how to play their music, their instruments. That they actively wrote and changed the music. It was fascinating to you, the way Aurora cursed after messing up a riff and then slowing himself down to play it slow and work through it. When Twi would play too hard and accidentally drag a sour note from his guitar, or accidentally snap the steel strings that they then had to fix, going easy the next time. Seeing Umbra re-play sections until they were satisfied that it was perfect, pushing themself hard enough that they almost shut down because they forgot to charge, but just had one more bar to do.

That had just been the start, and that had made you look closer at them as a whole which is what had you finally see the mannerisms that weren't learned or programmed, but just simple were. Synths could have subconscious actions, who knew?

Aura talked with his hands a lot, motions large and in constant movement going faster the more excited he got. His whole body would follow suit of his hands, rays spinning like a fan as he bounced around the space, sometimes leaving the ground for seconds longer than normal from those shoes of his. You'd even seen him knock things off counters or smack one of the others with his movements, and each time he'd be surprised, like he hadn't even noticed he was gesturing so much.

Twilight was more subtle than the Sun, but you noticed the seemingly subconscious mannerisms in them too once you were looking. How their hat always emoted with them and never seemed to be still, how they'd move their fingertips in the rhythm of one of his riffs, or even how he would slightly sway or rock when having to stay in one spot for long periods. Twi often hummed, not even realizing he was until it was pointed out to them and you'd even caught them on a few occasions flapping his hands over an art project, his hat following suit.

Umbra wasn't subtle, but simply more subdued it seemed. Their actions were never big or grand, but they couldn't be covered as something else either. Their rays were in constant movement, the magic they ket the metal afloat above their faceplate beyond you but mesmerizing to watch as they spun and pulsated. They'd always carry their drumsticks tucked in their boots, and you'd later found out it was so they could spin them and do fancy tricks when thinking or needing to get out energy or stress. You'd even found them finger or foot tapping on occasion, usually when deep in thought.

It was cute all their mannerisms, and you realized early on it had endeared you to your newfound companions, and found yourself mimicking some of their actions yourself subconsciously.

It made you happy to see that they were more than you had initially thought, and it saddened you to think that others would never get to see that realness and have their perspectives changed like your own had been.

Maybe with time it would happen, and you hopped it would for their sakes. The world deserved to know synths were so much more and you hopped maybe you'd find a way to make that happen someday, to have others see them how you now did.

Alive.

[ask-thebrothers-kaiba]

which one tends to reinforce the importance of not bottling things up?

[ Oh, this one makes me excited for some reason!

If we're solely basing this question on where I believe my muses to be, then let's dig a little further into where I'm placing them.

Canonically, Seto and Mokuba are adopted at ages 10 and ~6, respectively. I currently have Seto in the range of 20-30 (verse-dependent), and Mokuba sitting at 16-26 (also verse-dependent). That's where I stand with my personal lore, so let's say for the sake of this parenting ask, Seto is nearing his thirties and Mokuba is in his upper twenties. Makes sense for them, I think - I feel Mokuba would be more open to starting a family sooner than Seto might. Both of them are serious about this topic, but they express it in slightly different ways. This isn't the experience of ALL children, I know, but many kids experience bottling up their emotions by using anger as a cover and pushing the people they love away. That's where these ideas are flowing from. If you have a more specific idea in mind, I'm always open to suggestions!

My ideas are as follows:

MOKUBA is very uncomfortable with the idea of his child bottling up or forcing their feelings down. When he notices this behavior, he immediately starts to worry to the point he'd panic if he didn't keep himself together, because "Where is this coming from? Am I not doing enough? Have I failed them as a father? Why do they feel like they can't open up to me?". Much too familiar. Like Seto, he feels entirely responsible for this, even if it has nothing at all to do with him. He would have to settle his fears in his own mind first, perhaps with the help of his partner and a conversation with Seto about how to handle the situation, before bringing it up gently with the child. Mokuba knew if he freaked out about it, they'd never speak with him, so he holds back his anxiety for this rather-uncomfortable conversation. Ultimately, though, uncomfortable conversations were worth having, and he is successful in finding out what's going on and how he can help. Mokuba would knock on their bedroom door and wait for approval to enter - he would ask to sit next to them, and place a gentle hand on their shoulder even when they refuse to look at him. He takes a deep breath before speaking. "Hey. I know you're going through something, and I don't know what it is, but you know I'm here for you, right? I'm never going to judge you for how you feel or make you face anything you aren't ready to face... But you're still my baby, and I want to make sure you're okay. I want to do everything in my power to help you, and that means I'm not going to leave you alone. I mean, I will for a little while if you need me to, but... I'm here. Always. I love you."

SETO finds himself deeply frustrated and acutely guilty when he's met with his child's cold shoulder and cross attitude after what seemed to be a minor disagreement between them. Evidently something much deeper was going on that he hadn't caught onto in the moment. Part of him felt wounded; he had tried so hard not to reach this point with them and it happened anyway, and another, now more tender part of him wondered if he'd genetically predisposed them to this way of being - or perhaps he just wasn't trying hard enough to escape that part of himself. Perhaps it was a trait self-evident on him, like a scent that continues to linger long after a mess has been wiped away. Even in a longstanding, committed relationship Seto finds himself unable to communicate freely to his partner about concerns that directly targeted himself as the problem (from his perspective, anyway; it couldn't possibly be the child simply going through their own motions, it had to be his fault somehow. He knew this would happen.). For all the work Seto had done to self-improve and do better by others, he maintained the position that if he ever truly became the source of his loves'* pain, he would take on those burdens fully, and corrective action would quickly follow suit. Seto would ultimately keep these thoughts to himself, his partner would notice and respect his boundaries, but they'd know what this was about. After some deliberation, Seto would meet his child where they stood - he would get on their level, take their hand if they wanted, and he would be direct: "Tell me what's going on in that brain of yours. If it's my fault, I need to know. I love you, and I'm prepared to fix whatever I broke. Don't keep your feelings to yourself. Talk to me." There was no way on this earth he would allow his own child to end up the way he did, no way he would allow himself to fail them the way he'd failed Mokuba, and he'd make damn sure to take any action necessary to ensure his child lives a happier, healthier life than he and Mokuba ever had.

*"Loves" referring to the people Seto deeply cares about, not just romantic loves. ]

[syrinsappho]

I'm going to say something slightly controversial about 13 and Yazmin...

I had recently watched a video essay about how Thasmin (the 13th doctor and Yasmin Kahn) was queerbating, and I have some of my own strong opinions on the topic. Spoilers ahead:

Firstly, Yaz isn't the first queer character in the series, nor the first queer companion. I can only speak on New Who since I haven't seen all of the classic stuff yet, but that goes to Jack. You could argue Jack wasn't a companion perse, but even then, Bill was literally the season before 13's meeting with Yaz.

Secondly, just because something seems retroactive doesn't mean it is, was, or is bad even if it was. Yaz's build up to obsession over the doctor is very much apparent throughout her second season, and only grows stronger throughout all of Flux. The way people show emotion and compassion are different for everyone, so while some people may pick up on things immediately, others may miss them entirely. Though I saw it coming from earlier on then others, not everyone did see it coming, but that's not a bad thing either.

"If this was straight..." is an argument heard a lot, and for me personally it's a stupid one (more about that later), but if you look at their relationship from the perspective of a straight one, it wouldn't be as shocking, and no one would say anything about this being left field. Queer people can have a "straight" attraction to someone of the same gender. (See *1)

The shortcomings from their relationship is common amongst LGNTQIA+ relationships, and expected amongst any relationship with the doctor. Internal rejection is very much something a lot of queer people face, myself included. Especially queer people on the ace spectrum, which many people believe the doctor to be on. And while the doctor admits to having those feelings, she is scared of losing her. That fear is not something she gets over. She let's it take over and they end off with a bittersweet goodbye.

I don't argue that who had used queer baiting in the past, but I do argue that this arc is very much NOT queer baiting. The connection feels genuine and worried about from both sides. The doctor even questions what they are in one of the earlier episodes (Arachnids in the UK anyone?) 13 has always been closed off, when she gets emotional she pushes away. She knows that about herself, and also knows that she will change. She knows that she's lost people in the past, and will continue to do so in the future. Her backing away, even though she loves Yaz, is the most expected outcome in their connection, because if she didn't it would only result in them both being hurt in the long term. The worst part about the doctor will always be regeneration. (See *2)

As a person on the aro/ace spectrum, this is the kind of representation I love in queer media. The kind where it is "baiting" by being replaceable, because it's still a love story. I like representation where the heavy words are the love story, and the queer is just an adjective. Stories where queer people are just people are just as good representation as stories where queer people are overly queer.

Oh and, most importantly... YAZ SAYS SHE LOVES THE DOCTOR. And the doctor is also non-gendered, galifrey doesn't really use gender like we do anyways.

There is a sort of understood difference between loving someone in a "gay way" and loving someone. It's a hard explain, but it's one you understand if you do. People love in different ways, and the way that love gets shown is often times decided to be based on whatever type of relationship they're in, but people can also break those standards. I think we shouldn't call it gay way and love because that's semi homophobic, but pure love breaks gender, doesn't care about anything. And it feels like that love for the doctor is pure, obsessive, but pure. As Clara would put it, the doctor is an addiction.

The doctor can't always grow from past mistakes. Because of how regeneration works, a character arc doesn't mean the character will stay that way *coughs* Missy anyone? *coughs* Regeneration will always change the doctor, and its not just physically. So the doctor often times has to relearn emotions and how to process them. We see this most notably with Capaldi and Clara. Regeneration is a renewal, and sometimes renewing something means pulling out the old cpu for a non outdated one. Change is good, but the doctor can't always keep effort they put into one regeneration to the next. They can hope they will, but hope isn't the same as knowing.

Either way, I personally believe it isn't queer baiting, though I can understand how people do see it that way. Not meaning to invalidate anyone's opinion on the matter, I'm just stating my own point of view on it. I think their relationship is toxic and harmful and poorly timed, but I also think it's real. Which makes the bittersweet even more bitter. I would love to hear others opinions on this though!

[thededebean]

His perspective.

It was just as busy as every evening on the subway. All the professionals are getting on and off the train at 5:00 p.m like me.

Most of the men are in their business casual attire, others are smartly dressed in suits and ties. Though definitely outnumbered, there are women leaving work at these hours as well. In order to fit into the 9 to 5 lifestyle downtown everyone has to look their best. I don't fancy myself as a fashion icon but I pay a good tailor to sharply customize my suits. Today is a suit jacket and button up with looser fitting dark slacks.

I hop on the train and find a post to hold on to since all of the seats are taken. I typically zone out after a hard day's work making sales and pushing paper. Corporate stuff.

Luckily there is air conditioning because on this hot summer day even underground, it can get extremely warm with all the people bumping up against each other.

I'm all the way at the end of the Green line so it'll take me about 45 minutes, the perfect amount of time to disassociate.

I let my mind drift thinking about a date I have planned for the weekend. It's always in the air how these things turn out. When I date I date for love and marriage. Though it's been awhile since I've had fun after breaking up with my ex. I reckon I could blow off a bit of steam.

As the train rumbles along, I find myself inhaling an intoxicating lavender.... Or maybe vanilla perfume in my daze. I have the urge to adjust myself, So I do. As I reach down my hand glides against the bottom of the person in front of me. I noticed that my cock has become stiff as I become more aware of my surroundings snapping back to reality.

I look down and notice the back of a blonde woman's head, not much shorter than I.

Realizing this is the person's ass I just grazed against, I lean down to apologize.

She looks back at me smiles and then continues looking forward.

Suddenly the train jolts as we go around a corner, and the blonde in front of me is forced crashing into my body with hers. I could feel our body heat mingle with sparks.

Looking around to see if anybody was in the same predicament, I noted that everyone else had recovered their positions from the jolt. But yet the blonde still kept her body pressed to mine.

I became hyper aware of our body's position over the next several minutes. The train was crammed, but this somehow felt more than circumstantial the way our bodies were pushing into each other.

I was holding the overhead bar but there was no place for the woman to hold on to so I felt like I needed to provide her stability.

I felt her hand grab onto my thigh while she faced forward. She wasn't pushing me backwards away from her. Every time we jostled her fingertips grabbed my body a little tighter.

Looking over her shoulder I found myself being able to see directly down her white button up blouse. Her cleavage didn't fully fill her cups. In each of them I could tell her body was aroused based on their perkiness. Her nipples were pushing through the fabric straight ahead.

Painfully aware my cock had been pressed against her bottom, I pushed my hips into her slightly to assure there is no extra space between us. She continued kneading my thigh and began to push back harder into my hips.

I glanced around at the still full train, No one seemed any wiser that we were occupied with each other.

The motion of the train was hiding or slick body movements cleverly.

At the next train stop in the shuffle of people getting on and off. She turned around to face me and we made eye contact quickly before she blushed and looked away.

She was now pushing her thinly clothed chest into mine. Her hand grasped my belt buckle as the train continued. Surely this would give her better balance. I stepped one foot around her stance to better support her as well. My cock, I could feel was leaking precum and my tummy was tightening with her fingertips grazing the inside of my pants. Every turn and bump she slid more hand inside.

Looking straight ahead my eyes became flittery for a second before reminding myself of composure.

Any second now the blonde could close the gap and have her hand play with me. This was driving me mad. This was so naughty and no one was the wiser around us. She was teasing me in a way I hadn't ever been. I was practically begging for her to touch my cock without saying a word. My hips instinctively started to rock and just as another big jolt happened she lost balance and I grabbed her hips to push her harder into me.

I slowly started to pull up her skirts so my leg could go in between hers now. The further her skirt went up the further her fingers went into my pants. She finally glazed the tip with her soft fingers and teased my cock head. Coating her hand with my pre-fun juice.

Her hips widened and she started to slowly grind on my leg. I bent my knee slightly so she could get a better angle for herself.

She kept her own pace and I could hear her breathing heavier with the friction. She lifted her hand out of my pants and licked her fingers like she had just taken her hands out of a potato chip bag. For all anybody knew that's what she was doing. Rummaging for spuds.

At the next stop, I once again turned her around to face away from me by grabbing her hips and twirling her.

She reached in between us and unzipped her pencil skirt part way down. It was my turn to get touchy inside her clothes.

I quickly moved my hand down the back of her skirt, untucking her thong from her crease. The further my hand went down the more bent forward she became.

I could have tried to straighten out her posture, but by this time I noticed a couple of tall men surrounding us.

I made eye contact with each of them who seemed to hungrily obliged to our goings on. I caught the man directly facing us in front of the blonde gaping down at her chest from his angle.

They were creating a sort of shield around us. I never performed in front of a group before, but this felt protected and mutually beneficial somehow.

I slid my fingers past her asshole and in between her lips. The trains rocking helping my quest to tease her like she did to me.

With her bent forward I was not providing much stability. She grabbed onto the waistbands of two of the gentleman to her sides. No doubt grazing the inside of their pants as well. She started off so shy with me and now held the attention of a blockade of six men.

As I continued to work my digital magic, never piercing her hole, one of the men snarled at me and motioned a thrust in my direction. I glanced around at the rest of the train, unzipped my zipper, pulled out my glistening rod from the hole and positioned myself to her entrance. I let the nature of the train take its course to assist with my penetration.

She was absolutely gushing as I filled her hole. The little slut. Her face was pushing into one of the men. She reached and unzipped his fly, springing his cock into her face. It took her no time to fill her mouth with his member. Just like that, an after work spit roast amongst strangers.

Both of us took turns thrusting into her. And the men on both sides started to use their hands to massage her. One reached underneath her hips and it other into her shirt from what I could see.

I felt her tremble and explode at least three times over the next several minutes.

I quickened my pace as I was getting closer to coming. She was deep throating the man in front, and started to choke as I went faster.

Short quick thrusts deep into her was all I could give and I exploded inside of her on the final thrust.

As we approached my final stop, I pulled out of her. And gave her my pocket square just as I was hopping off the train. As the door closed I noticed another man moving into my position. The train continues on the track back the way we came from. And I wonder...

Did she purposely miss her stop so I could fuck her?

[gunkreads]

Ehhh.... debating making a big post about Oppenheimer here (I'm gonna). Seeing a lot of sentiment against the movie that I don't want to engage with. I watched it last night, which is super weird for me since I 1: don't really watch movies, 2: almost NEVER go to theaters, and 3: wasn't super really stoked about the movie in the first place.

It being a big-budget Nolan movie, I was going to be disappointed if I walked away thinking it was anything less than "good", and I wasn't disappointed. It's got a nice dense story structure while staying both complex and concise, it's pretty visually striking, it's paced very well (especially for a 3 hour movie), its actors all do a very good job convincing you that they're famous for a reason, and I now know the locations of each and every hair follicle on Cillian Murphy's face.

On the other hand, it pulled off the perversely beautiful feat previously reserved for directors like Michael Bay and Guy Ritchie of inverting the relative horniness of sex scenes and explosions. The sex scenes have, yknow, the appropriate amount of narrative weight, but they're just downright weird in ways that feel jarringly unintentional compared to the rest of the movie. The explosions, on the other hand, are downright fetishistic. It's a movie about the biggest bomb. It'd be weird if they weren't.

Lots of discourse going around about the topics the movie doesn't address--specifically the effect on the lives of the bomb victims. To this I say "yeah". It was a narrative decision to basically ignore the victims in favor of the titular character's perspective, and I believe the movie does suffer slightly for it. It definitely brings the moral values of the narrative into question. However, the complaint seems to boil down to "the movie didn't focus on what it should've focused on", which is a complaint you could go crazy making. The movie isn't a documentary. If it were, this decision would be really, really bad.

But it's not a documentary; it's a mythologization of history. Cillian Murphy's Oppenheimer isn't a person who does and says things; he's an archetypal representation of the effects of the things he does and says. It's about him. Does that mean you lose a huge amount of perspective, to the extent that the most important groups in the real-life story are spurned? Yes. Does it mean you get a narrower, more detailed focus on the main character? Yes.

Does it mean the movie calls him a good guy? Absolutely fucking not. The second thought I had leaving the theater (after coming to terms with how in love I am with Cillian Murphy) was "I don't like the way that man treats his wife!" And that's just one of his many "mistakes" that the movie tactfully blames squarely on Oppenheimer himself. He's really not presented as "the good guy all along". The narrative is very, very aware of how inexcusable "getting caught up in the moment" of designing a weapon of mass destruction is.

Probably the most interesting theme of the movie was the interplay between science, politics, and poetry, the way each is the same as the other, and the role charisma plays in all three. Fictionalized-Oppenheimer is simultaneously a scientist and a politician, which makes him a poet by necessity. I don't really know of a way to discuss this without going into pages and pages of description of the way the medium of film works, so just suffice it to say that all the media involved in a movie are pushing the interrelation between these three concepts.

Also, Matt Damon is always fucking fantastic. Sorry for being basic.

[animehouse-moe]

The Ancient Magus' Bride S2 Episode 2: Birds Of A Feather Flock Together II

A newer studio taking on an established product is a fickle thing. The slightest changes create ripples as you go. Whether those turn into waves or die out before they can reach land I couldn't say, but I think so far this second season under Kafka has been subject to turbulence through these early episodes.

I think the largest culprits are ability and direction. The second episode was far weaker than today's in terms of direction, but today's isn't without its shortcomings. There's a large presence of CGI today, but the direction can really help with it given how its used. That said, I still stand by my earlier statement on a prior episode - Kafka is overzealous with their limited production capabilities, and the CGI is the easiest way to see that.

The cafeteria scene is an odd but good example of it. CGI pervades almost the entirety of it through the background students. In most scenes (like this one) you won't really notice it. The trick they use is that the first layer of the background is 2D students, but past that you get into 3D. Take a look at the brown haired student on the right edge of the screen, they're 2D. Then, look at the student just slightly to their left in the background with the blonde hair, they're CGI. In moments like this it's not bad at all, but the issue lies in its introduction.

Ambition outweighs experience and they aim for an excessive cut of showing the life of the cafeteria, where you get a good look at the fact that everybody is CGI. It leaves a somewhat bitter taste in your mouth since it wasn't something that was required, and their 3D work is not up to par.

Moving on from complaints, there's also a lot of good direction this episode, most of which centers around perspective and Terasawa's penchant for odd angles. I really like how they approach it because it changes rather static conversation and interaction into very strong perspective pieces that focus on scale.

And then there's pieces like this that take perspective as a literal sentiment. There's quite a few of them throughout the episode and it's quite enjoyable that they express the emotions and thoughts of characters like Chise and Elias without showing their faces. In a way, it reminds me of how Visual Novels approach their layouts, making sure the user feels immersed and engaged in the content, though in this case it's putting us in Chise's position.

Now, one thing I really wish they stuck longer with was this camera angle. I'm a sucker for wide and full shots, so I was really hoping to see the table engage in dinner and interaction through a single cut. I also think it would have worked really well in concert with Chise's experience with it. Plenty going on, almost too much to follow as you find out what everyone's like. But, I do understand the limitations that are in place with Kafka, so I don't really mind that much.

Moving on once more, Kafka's work and interest in intense lighting through highlights and shadows is really great, it adds a lot of drama and emotion to scenes like this. Plus, the character posing and work is really great to create a sort of disturbing feel to the scene despite the character featured being the one afraid of Chise and Elias (saying that they're "not human", even though their character design features snake eyes).

I guess to put a bow on the technical side of things, there's a lot more creativity with this episode than the prior (though there's also more potential for it). Regardless of that though, Kafka and Terasawa are reaching for concepts beyond their means, which is a commendable thing as they attempt to push their creative ability, but I don't think the place to do so is on the continuation of a series. And just before I move on, I just want to share some of the great shots and symbolism that stipple the episode.

They use birds rather frequently in an outdoor sequence to represent Chise and Elias and I think it's pretty cute/well done.

And this cut of Narcisse reaching out to touch Chise on her shoulder is really well done. The best animated work on this episode is absolutely the character expression. In that sense, I'd love to see Kafka go for a slice of life as a follow up to their work on Maho Yome.

Alright, with that out of the way it's time for the story. I really like this episode for what it establishes with both sides of Chise. I think one of my favorite pieces is the obsession with her eyes. The episode frequently makes use of that and separates Chise into herself and Joseph. Really great work in that regard that produces scenes like this.

Of course, the whole episode isn't just Chise, Elias is there as well. And what I really like about this is that they examine the relationship between the world's two rarest mages by giving us the stories of other pairings within the world. We've been getting stuff about Alice and Renfred, but today we get the beginnings of Rian and Tory's relationship. It makes it far easier to understand the workings of our main pairing by cross-examining them through others, like we get to do in this scene where Alice and Chise visit (or rather, find) Renfred and Elias.

It's really great to see them explore Chise and Elias' relationship in this fashion because it helps give a frame of reference. Mages and magic make for a mysterious world, so giving viewers more detail really puts into perspective the idiosyncrasies you might not otherwise pick up on, and that the characters themselves are most certainly unable to express.

Saying that, I really enjoy listening to the ways that Elias comes up with expressing emotions. Always odd but definitely understandable in their own fashion.

Getting going again, just a little piece that I left out, but I really enjoy how Chise views the world, and within the context of this season, school. She's always looking for out for people that she can relate to, and you can tell from the story that she feels empathetic for Lucy and Philomela. It's a nice piece to keep in so that we don't get too absorbed in the more uppity and passive nature that Chise expressed this episode. Sure, she can make friends and be happy and things can go smoothly, but that doesn't erase her personality and desire to reach out a hand to those in need.

Also, forgive me if it's already been stated, but are Lucy and Philomela sisters? The resemblance is very strong I feel.

And I guess that brings me to the end of my train of thought. I vastly preferred this to the prior episode, but it's clear to see why with how much more digestible content there is within. There's more for viewers to take in, and there's more for the staff to be creative with. I think if this is the level of quality that MahoYome rests around for the rest of the season I'll be pretty happy, but I'd be somewhat concerned if we begin to sink into the not-so-great work on episode 2.

[pannman]

Ace Alastor Week Day 1 Fic

I really enjoyed telling this one from Alastor's perspective. I don't see many fics do that. I think it makes him seem more human. I mean, i know he's a demon, but I liked showing more emotion with him. Yet still keeping him true to his character.

A friendly conversation

Alastor leaned on the bar and swiveled the whiskey in his glass. He preferred never to get drunk. It made people do preposterous things. He did enjoy a slight buzz. Husk, on the other hand, was chugging the bottle like the bottom was the finish line. Angel was out "working," and the other inhabitants of the hotel were all asleep. Despite his feline friend's actions, he held his liquor well. Probably practically immune by now. Alastor didn't plan to make much conversation. He was content with simply enjoying the moment, but Husker was annoyingly talkative tonight. "So why do you lay off the booze?" Husk asked with a bit of slur to his speech. Alastor cocked an eyebrow. What a personal question. He should know better by now. "What do you mean, my friend? I'm sharing a drink with you now." Husker didn't drop it and he continued to ask his pesky questions. "Nah, you know what I'm talkin' about. I've never seen you drunk. Not once." Alastor began to tense up. Despite his bluntness and social demeanor he had secrets he preferred to keep. Especially one specific secret that he didn't know how he felt about it himself.

Husker was too intoxicated to notice the discomfort he had caused or maybe he just didn't care as he continued "so what's the matter?" Alastor tried to pretend he was calm about the situation. "I guess you could say I don't like how alcohol makes me behave when I've had too much." That drunken cat was still not satisfied. "Whats that mean? You strip naked, you go home with strangers, you jump off the roof? Lots of people 'behave' differently" Alastor decided to give him a little information and hopefully he'd be fine with just that. "I get loose with lips is all. I have things I prefer not to discuss with others but I have a tendency to say things I regret later on. And that's all." Husker seemed to catch on that Alastor didn't want to talk about this anymore. His decision to keep discussing Alastor's personal life was not the way to go.

"You got any flings?" Alastor tried to control the building static as he gripped his glass with his claws digging in uncontrollably. "Hmmm... no." He responded coldly. Husker popped open another bottle and downed it in a second. Alastor's eyes flickered at the number of empty bottles. It must have been the drinks making him this bold. They do call it liquid courage for a reason. Husker now quite a bit more drunk decided to ask another very personal question. A question that Alastor never wanted to hear. "So how come I never see you with anyone?" Alastor became very open about his building temper. "Tsk. Tsk. Is this a friendly conversation or an interrogation? Why don't you drink more? Why don't you throw yourself at others like a certain lewd spider?" He said in a mocking tone. "Is there anything else you wanna ask me about? My childhood perhaps? How many times did I get the belt? Why don't you just chug the last bottle and knock yourself out already?!? At least I'll get some sweet silence!!!"

Husk stood there stunned for a minute. He looked slightly scared. Alastor suddenly noticed why when he realized his horns had grown and his eyes had turned to radio dials. It was likely his voice had changed its tune as well. He tried to push back down these feelings he was having. He wasn't really angry. He was scared. But he didn't want anyone to know that. "My apologies dear Husker I must've had a little too much I-" but Husk interrupted him "-No, I'm the one who's had too much. My bad. I shouldn't have pushed you. I'm sorry." Alastor felt a tinge of regret now. He felt the sudden urge to speak and he didn't push it down this time. "The thing is I don't really care for the sins of the flesh. I'm not... I've never been... I think I'm... I don't quite know the word to describe it, I suppose." Husk placed his bottle down on the bar counter. "That sounds like you might be asexual." Alastor looked at his friend revealing the pain in his eyes. His usually bright and wide smile now slightly dropped but not completely. "What exactly is... asexual?" Husk enlightened him in the simplest way he could. "It means you don't feel attracted to other people sexually. Some people who are asexual don't like sex, some don't mind it and some enjoy it."

Alastor had never known there were other people who felt the same way he did. He had always wondered if something was wrong with him. But now he was finding a weird comfort in the idea of not being alone. Something he had gotten used to over the years. Being alone. He wasn't bothered by it usually but there were times where his intrusive thoughts took over and he would often distract himself with senseless violence. He and Husker had a very long talk that night. He promised to keep his secret for him. And Alastor went to bed that night feeling a little lighter. Like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. And all he needed was to let someone in. Just once.

[genork-the-fandork]

Hero

Word Count: 738

Prompt: "Survival"

Featured Characters: Minoru Hinata & Falcomon

A/N: I mentioned this scene in the drabble for yesterday, but Minoru finding that suspicious mushroom popped into my head when I thought about this prompt. So why not follow Takuma with Minoru? That was the logic, haha. Theoretically, this little snippet takes place between Parts 2 and 3, if I'm following canon logic (and I guess I was). It shouldn't be too spoilery, but here's a warning just in case!

@surviveweek

Minoru lay spread-eagle on the floor of the classroom, staring at the ceiling. The peaceful—if slightly nervous—breathing of everyone around him should have been enough to lull him to sleep. Unfortunately, his thoughts were much louder inside his skull than Shuuji's snoring. And boy, were the gears turning tonight. The faint strains of moonlight shining in through the window couldn't even distract him from his thoughts.

Okay. Minus Kaito and Miu, they had just about everyone that was at the shrine. They still had no clue if the Professor was okay, but they weren't risking the fog, not with the way Falcomon and the others stayed away from it. And after they saw how it got to Fangmon, well… they definitely weren't risking that.

So what was next? How were they going to get through this without the only real adult supervision they'd had? Shuuji seemed to be having a hard time accepting he was the oldest—he had a similar expression to Ryo about all of this.

Ugh. It was getting stuffy in here. Minoru rolled onto his side and pushed himself into a sitting position. He needed some fresh air. And less snoring.

He tiptoed out of the room, trying his best not to step on or disturb the other boys. In a way, he was glad Saki made such a fuss about her and Aoi sleeping in a different room. Less people to step over if he had to pee. Slipping his hands into his pockets, he stepped down the hall and went down the stairs. The floorboards creaked a little under his feet, but he tried his best not to make too much noise. Minoru really didn't need to be yelled at tonight.

Outside held an entirely different atmosphere. If you ignored the possibility of some dangerous monster lurking in the woods, it was almost peaceful. The moonlight lit up the springy grass around the rundown school, dispelling most of the creepy shadows. Plus, no snoring and no stuffy air of a bunch of sweaty boys. Perfect for some thinking.

Minoru plopped down on the grass, releasing a breath. Most of the tension in his chest drained out, but he still felt a knot of apprehension. Yesterday had put everything into a lot more perspective than even the incident with Dokugumon. Then, he and Takuma and Ryo had been able to work together, and they'd even had Labramon to help out. Dokugumon hadn't been all that smart, just tough. Fangmon, though, was a different story. Tough as nails and intelligent. He'd known exactly what he was doing. If there were monsters like that willing to go after them, they were in trouble. And he wasn't sure if Falcomon's new evolution into Diatrymon would be enough next time.

No, he wasn't going to be all doom and gloom about this. The group had enough of that with Ryo's panicking. He had to stay strong. Breaking down wasn't going to get them out of this.

"Minoru?"

"Hey, Falcomon," Minoru ventured, recognizing the voice even before he turned his head. "Couldn't sleep either?"

"I heard you leave and wanted to make sure you were alright." Falcomon lowered himself so he was sitting as well. "Is something wrong?"

"Nah, I was just thinking." He looked out toward the forest again. "I really wanna make sure everyone gets out of this alive, y'know?"

"Yes, that's understandable." The bird peered up at him surreptitiously. "You don't have to do so on your own."

"Aw, I know that. I've got you and Takuma on my side." Minoru grinned and wrapped his arm around his partner, hugging him. His expression fell into a softer, more pensive smile. "I just hope that will be enough."

Falcomon leaned his beak into Minoru's chest, the best reciprocation of a hug he could muster, considering they were sitting. "It will be."

"Of course it will." Minoru masked his worry, as he always did, by spreading his arms out and kicking his legs up. "I'm a hero, after all! And heroes can do anything!"

The creature beside him chuckled, and though his beak lacked the necessary structure to form a smile, he seemed to be doing so. "I certainly believe in you, Minoru."

"You know what else heroes need? A good night's sleep! Let's go, Falcomon." Minoru leaped to his feet, leading his partner back inside for some much needed rest. He couldn't be a hero without sleep!

[thelittlemage-arts]

Searching

Another Minder drabble. This time, in her perspective.

I rarely have to leave the tower and gather my assets, but Longarm Prime believed that whatever information this con had was necessary. Cypher was busy taking care of a high-value target on the outskirts of Iacon.  So this was good practice. I can still get the job done, even if I detest it. I didn't expect him to want a debriefing before I even started the actual work. 

"The target was easy to locate and flush out but was uncooperative, leaving me little choice but to rely on a more…ugly method," I explained. Longarm looked mildly disappointed, which was expected. Not everyone could retrieve information from just the processor, more so if said processor belonged to a now offline target. It was risky, and the chances of losing the information increased the longer the target was deceased. Corrosion sets in, and if you aren’t a memosurgeon, you’ll likely have your time cut in half just to do things manually. 

It didn't take long for him to dismiss me, and I was going to my habsuite to crack open this cranium in peace. 

"I want to know what a little thing like you has hidden within…." I began the procedure, cutting away at the top of the head to reach the processor. 

I wasn't a memosurgeon. I dont have the tools or the training. I was, for lack of a better word, self-taught. But I'm good at what I do. So small wires were attached to the golden orb and the surrounding areas before plugging them one by one into my computer. Everything booted nicely, and there wasn't much in the way of a firewall between me and this mech's memories—his knowledge.

"You're an old one, with how easy it was to break in." I looked down at the lifeless head on my desk, mouth open. 

"Oh, don't worry, I'll preserve your memories; at least a part of you will be timeless," I reassured the con. 

The further down I go into the streams of data, the more I begin to think that this was all for nothing. Pointless little tidbits, drinking with friends, complaining about the fact that he has to register so on and so forth. Nothing that would have made him a target for intelligence. A target for some rookie police officer high on authority? Yes, absolutely, but not me. 

"Why on Cybertron would Longarm want me to ... .oh?" 

There it was. A little glimmer. A treasured memory. But the lines of data were inadequate in portraying the raw emotion this mech felt. I could ignore it and keep on. But primus, am I curious. 

The panel on the back of my head opened; there was a transfer port there. I could connect myself to this con and see what he saw ... .it also would be easier to sort through the memories. The only danger was the possibility of emotional imprinting. But I wasn't worried. My conviction is more substantial than some grunt's emotions. 

I think I know why Longarm wanted me to find this con. To better understand why they continue to fight for a mech who perished some stellar cycles ago. This was my first time seeing Megatron, and it was through the optics of a Mech he had once saved. The devotion was on par with my own. But his was close to obsession. It was sad. To devote your whole life…and then to be left with only the burning defeat and the loss of your beloved leader. I do pity the poor thing. Drinking must have helped ease the pain. 

"You sad little thing…the Tyrant would never love you." I tsked, pushing past these golden memories…ah there it was. Locations of his friends in hiding. "Boring." Oh, something about a warehouse full of weapons and drugs. "Oh? All this for the cause? I doubt your beloved Megatron would approve of you seeding the streets with drugs." 

Nothing else was of any use. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't slightly disappointed in that little fact. 

"How sad, you died for nothing, the only interesting thing was Megatron, and he's also  very much dead." I did as promised and saved the acquired memories on a separate file. I'll return to it later, and perhaps there was something that I missed. Something further down, or some type of context clues I can find under closer inspection. But my time was running out. Nothing else in this head mattered. It was more or less history. From the day he was put online to the rebellion, the war. And now this. Everything was history.  

"You put up a fight…to be brave? To be worthy of Megatron's gift to you? What gift? He saved your life, and  instead of doing anything remotely productive, you decide to smuggle weapons and drugs." I huffed, motioning in the direction of the severed head. "But, I did make a promise. Your friends are safe."