#lady takes naps like nobodies business

[pdraxxi]

Moodboard for my (yet another) human warrior rook Althea. she/they/her shadow dragons faction.

[shalotttower]

The Art of Disappearing (part 2)

Title: The Art of Disappearing Fandom: Resident Evil Village Characters: Lady Dimitrescu x Reader (female) Summary: Lady Dimitrescu enjoys wine; you enjoy living. You pray to god those don't overlap. Word count: 1900+ Notes: Implied violence, implied death (not reader), tension, topics of disillusionment and loss of faith, WINE Part 1

You don't forget.

The small tube remains in your apron pocket for the rest of the day and the next, and every time you touch it ─ a gesture done without thinking ─ you're reminded of where it came from.

It's not that hard. Just a walk to the Lady's chambers. Just returning an item to where it's supposed to be. And if someone sees you, then you've simply found the mistress' missing lipstick.

In six months you've only seen Lady Dimitrescu when serving meals. Her shoes sometimes would pass by while you were cleaning the floors. You've never spoken a word to her before, or even looked directly into her face for more than a second. The idea of being in her private quarters, uninvited and out of place, is nerve-wrecking. But you promised. You gave your word, even though it was the only option possible.

At five in the afternoon, just before dinner is served, you go.

Lady Dimitrescu's chambers are located on one of the higher floors. Everything smells like jasmine here; sweet, heady perfume in the air with a faint trace of something bitter to balance it out. The red rug under your feet absorbs sounds, making each of your steps almost silent. You take a turn at a vase filled with wilting roses, then another near a painting of a woman who looks like Lady Dimitrescu herself but much younger.

To knock or not to knock? Your fist hovers over the door. What if she hasn't left for dinner yet? What if she's taking a nap? To wake her up seems like a grave mistake. You stand, awkward and quiet, with a tube of red lipstick in your pocket.

After another few minutes tick by, you decide to knock.

Nobody answers.

With a sigh of relief you enter, shutting the door.

It's spacious here; high ceilings, tall windows. The curtains are drawn back, allowing the sunlight to flood through.

Her vanity table is a beautiful wall piece, carved from dark mahogany and polished to a shine. Your reflection in its mirror is clear as day. A maid with tired eyes and hair styled in a braided bun. You're not here to gawk though. The faster you're done, the better.

You put the lipstick back where it belongs ─ there, done ─ and turn to leave.

She has a massive bed, you think in passing. Must be comfortable to sleep on; it looks like it could fit four people and have space left. A canopy of heavy curtains hangs from its frame, slightly open.

It wasn't open when you entered.

You didn't open it either.

Two golden eyes watch you in mild interest through that gap. Oh no.

"My lady," you croak out, and manage a curtsey. "I didn't know you were resting. Forgive me for the intrusion."

The words tumble out of you in a rushed mess of vowels and consonants. Lady Dimitrescu does nothing to acknowledge your apology, instead she studies you, in silence, in a way that makes thin hairs on the back of your neck rise. She's dressed for bed, you notice ─ a nightgown of dark silk and delicate lace. Finally, you snap out of this staring contest and bring your gaze to your feet.

"You're not one of mine."

The comment is so soft that you barely catch it.

"No, my lady. I work in the halls and dining room, mostly."

"And yet," she says. "You are here. Do you have any business in my chambers, or were you simply lost?"

It sounds like a joke but you're sure she isn't smiling. You curtsey again ─ deeper this time, anything to make amends and live yet another day under this roof with all your fingers intact.

"I found something that belongs to you, my lady. And only-"

You hear a gentle rustle. A scratch on a matchbook.

"Lift your head. I can't understand you if you're a puddle on my floor."

Slowly you do.

You've seen her while waiting, seen her while bringing out drinks and standing near walls, served her meals with hands that trembled and a bowed head; never for more than one second, never for more than half a breath.

Lady Dimitrescu sits at the edge of her bed with one leg crossed over another. A cigarette in a dark holder is perched between her fingers; she blows out a cloud of smoke which drifts towards the window. It smells expensive, unlike what your dad used to smoke. Your throat burns at the memory.

"Well?"

"I found your lipstick, my lady, and came to return it."

You're not stupid enough to mention Daniela. Something tells you this is a secret between you and her alone.

"Where?" Lady Dimitrescu asks.

Your brain scrambles for an answer. "In a... a corner of a hallway. Near a window, second floor. East wing."

You wonder if she believes you. The tip of her shrinking cigarette glows brighter as she takes another drag.

"Was that all, then?"

"Yes, my lady."

"Dismissed. Refill my glass before you go."

There's a bottle on a nightstand, and it's the prettiest you've ever seen in your life. A pattern of intricate metalwork decorates its sides and top, like vines curling around stems or branches woven together, so delicate that they'd look real if not for their color.

"...yes, my lady."

It takes forever to pick it up and pour.

The rich wine flows ─ a viscous syrup ─ dark like late July cherries meshed together in one liquid drop. It makes your head spin a little. You're too aware of yourself. How heavy the bottle is, how clumsy your fingers feel when handling glassware like this one, worth more than your body weight probably; how much gold is it alone? Five thousand lei? Ten thousand?

You try not to think about it, where it comes from. You don't want to be sick all over her floors, because then you're dead for sure.

"That will be all."

Happiness in castle Dimitrescu is short-lived and fragile, but you've learnt to cherish these few seconds when you can.

When your hand twist the doorknob, she adds as if in afterthought: "I rarely visit the east wing this time of the year. I wonder how it ended up there."

"I'm not sure either, my lady. Have a pleasant evening."

The door shuts close.

You've done everything in your power to keep your presence as faint as possible in these walls, so that you're forgettable in every single way, but still useful enough to keep around.

It's a simple formula which worked so far. So far.

You hope Daniela is happy with herself, now that her mother knows you exist.

---

There's not much to her.

Not many things to say, not many experiences to share. All that's known about her is what she wears: a maid's outfit, standard issue.

And her eyes, of course. She has very expressive eyes that convey more than she thinks. They hold a certain kind of weariness to them ─ not just physical exhaustion from labor or lack of sleep, but emotional fatigue which seeps deep into one's bones until they ache at night, when there are no distractions left. When there're no chores, no conversations, nothing except a room with two beds (or four) and another girl trying just as hard to sleep.

Is it going to be like that? Yes.

Will she never leave this place? Yes.

Does anyone miss her? If there's anyone left. She hasn't got a letter from the village in a while.

Does she still believe in god like her mother (they had a small altar at home, decorated with simple things like a fresh bun and candles in various colors), then her father, her grandparents? She wants to, but he's stopped listening long ago.

Is she afraid? Sometimes. But mostly she's just tired.

Pretty maids with expressive eyes aren't a rarity in Dimitrescu castle.

Most of them have a similar story: born in the village, a father who works in a field, a mother who stays home, maybe a sibling or two. The oldest girls in the family who always end up here. Their fathers couldn't provide for them, the harvest was poor, and so on until their mothers send them off to work for 'someone rich', because 'at least you won't starve, at least there's a bed and a roof, and you get paid'...

...but money stops coming one day; there's no word, no letter, and their mothers cry in the kitchen.

Poor, scared, desperate things.

---

"How did it go? Did you put it back?"

You're not surprised to find her in your room. She's sitting on one of the beds, flipping through an old journal you've hidden under the mattress. It's a book full of silly poems you used to write in your spare time, back when you thought those were important enough to preserve on paper.

Daniela's fingers slowly leaf through the pages.

"I did."

"And you didn't tell it was me?"

"I didn't."

Her face lights up. "Good. Now I don't have to eat you."

You stand in front of her, two hands clasped together over your apron.

Is there a code of conduct which applies to your mistress being in your room? Or do you just wait until she leaves? You're not sure; Daniela doesn't seem to be in a rush. She continues browsing through your private thoughts instead with intense interest.

Your handwriting is messy, untidy scribbles in pencil; you see her struggling at times to read them. There are smudges of graphite here and there where your hand rubbed on paper by accident.

You wonder how much of yourself is revealed there without any filter or censorship, or self-restraint.

"I like this one." Daniela says after a while.

She points at something. It's a poem about a girl who lives by a lake, and goes looking for rocks and pebbles along its shore every morning. She keeps them lined on her windowsill, and her family laughs at her because what is she doing, collecting trash.

It's a sad one, you realize. You've forgotten you even wrote it until now.

"Thank you, my lady."

"Is it about your home? Where you grew up?"

Her eyes flick between you and what's written down on the yellowing paper.

"My mother didn't let me near the lake," you reply. "She was too afraid that I'd drown."

That's not really what Daniela asked; she wants to know if this is about your life before the castle, your family ─ parents who gave birth to you (and sent you here), brothers or sisters who played with you when you were little. But it is also as honest of an answer as you will give.

You don't understand why she even asked. Curiosity, maybe. Yes, that's a feature constant enough in her personality. Curiosity which pushes her to poke around and wiggle herself into every corner just to see what's there. She'll find out, absorb and then move on.

There's something very innocent about it.

She can also kill you without a second thought, you think grimly, watching her.

Daniela gives you a funny look. Then huffs, apparently deciding that it's not worth getting upset over.

The poems stop around the mid-point of your journal, sometime during spring. The rest are blank pages from then on, it's been at least six months since you last wrote anything new. She shuts it close and places it on top of your folded blanket.

"You're no fun today," she comments while standing up.

You've never been a great conversation partner, that's true. But again, what is the exact definition of 'fun' here?

Before you can apologize for not being entertaining enough, Daniela waves: "Good night!", and then leaves through the door like any other guest would.

The journal lays on your bed, unassuming. You tuck it back underneath your mattress.

[sylverstorms]

Daniela x Maiden ---- Hunted Ch.10

Ch.1 Ch.2 Ch.3 Ch.4 Ch.5 Ch.6 Ch.7 Ch.8 Ch.9

As the fading sunlight casts its amber glow upon the towering spires of Castle Dimitrescu, an air of anticipation swirls within its ancient halls.

Because duchess Alcina is going away for a few days on a business trip. And that leaves her daughters in charge of the castle and its inhabitants. Naturally… 

Nobody can tell if that’s a good or a bad thing. 

The staff is divided. One one hand, the consensus among maids and cooks alike is that Bela will have the general command and things will run more or less the same as they do with her mother. On the other… Bela’s word ranges from meaning little to meaning jack when it comes to her sisters. And that’s where the first domino threatens to fall and take all others with it. 

The fact Alexia didn’t meet your eyes when you asked her what to expect for the following days is something you choose not to think about. 

You are lighting the candles in one corner of the main hall when you hear the telltale thunderous steps of the Lady descend the grand staircase, followed by her daughters. You tense a little, your breath growing a tad uneven, but you continue your task diligently, a safe distance from the massive doorway not to be noticed. You catch a few of the things they say, like Alcina’s instructions on how to answer the phone if Miranda calls and what temperature the wine cellar should be kept at. 

“Cassandra, Daniela, I need not remind you that we are understaffed.” she emphasizes. “I do not want to see that the maids’ number has dropped in my absence.” 

“Yes, mother.” they nod in unison, with one looking like she’s agreeing for the sake of getting this over with and the other gazing up at the statuesque woman like a puppy. A puppy straight out of the most chaotic pit of hell. 

“Bela, I want you to personally supervise the shipment from Duke tomorrow.” she continues, adjusting the chic fur cloak around her massive form. 

“Don’t worry, mother. I will see to it that everything is in order.” the blonde replies. 

You watch as Alcina’s key is slid into the lock and the heavy gates are opened with a mere light push of her gloved hands. Then, she turns to cast one last fond look upon her daughters. Despite all the oddities of this family, the things you know about them and how they came to be… this simple gesture gets to you. It hits your most vulnerable cord and the image gets burned into your brain. You will never unsee this. 

“Safe travels.” Bela bids. 

“We’ll miss you!” Daniela exclaims. It’s sweet, save for the fact that is not the tune she was singing yesterday, when she was jumping on her bed –and on you– going ‘yeeesssss, bless these business trips!’

The doors close behind Lady Dimitrescu. 

You count exactly five beats that pass in silence. 

“Slow and steady wins the race, mother!” Cassandra is the first to break character.

“Don’t worry about aaaanything~” Daniela sing-songs and at this point you have to feel at least a little sorry for Bela. 

Then you remind yourself the asshole stopped your escape and nearly broke your back on a table not that long ago. Every bit of suffering she endures from her sisters these days is a well-deserved slap straight from karma. You’re already feeling the score being settled as they giggle and cackle around her and all she can do is control her breathing and bring two fingers to the bridge of her nose. 

You shake your head and go about lighting the rest of the candles around. 

Or, more accurately, you try to. 

Because a wild buzzing later, you find yourself knocked forward as a familiar weight crashes onto your back. Daniela’s arms wrap around your neck and she practically demands a piggyback ride, painted lips hovering by your ear;

“How are you doing, Knight~?” 

Yeah, you sigh. It’s going to be a rough couple of days…  

–

–

On the second day, your early-evening nap is interrupted by a maid nearly breaking down your door to tell you the daughters summon you to the armory, asap. You actually have to ask for instructions as to where that even is, and your muscles grow more and more tense along the way. 

The door is left open, as if whoever is inside is waiting for you. Swallowing past the lump in your throat, you strain your ears to get an idea of what is happening on the other side, until you hear the distinct sound of Rhiannon’s and Daniela’s voices. Releasing the breath you weren’t aware you had been holding the entire walk to the armory, you rap your knuckles against the open door just to be polite, then step past the threshold. 

Alexia and Rhiannon are the first ones to catch your eye, standing next to Bela and Daniela respectively, while Cassandra examines the weapons mounted on the wall. You note that the sisters are dressed in their heavy winter gear, complete with scarfs and everything. Then you glance at the practical clothes the other humans in the room are wearing. 

“Um. Are we… going to war?” you squint. 

“I wish.” Cassandra huffs from the weapon racks. 

“We’re going hunting.” Alexia replies. 

“Who’s ‘we’?” your eyes widen, because you have a very bad feeling this includes you and– 

“We.” Daniela beams at you, gesturing around with her finger. “The temperature is at ten degrees tonight!”

“Nine.” Bela corrects under her breath. 

“Which is practically ten.” the redhead rolls her eyes dramatically. 

“Think fast.” Cassandra interjects, throwing you a hunting spear so fast you basically stop it from knocking you down rather than actually catch it mid-air. Your breathing quickens again. You just can’t catch a break with this family. 

She goes far easier on Rhiannon when she sends a crossbow and bolts her way. Lastly, she personally walks over to Alexia and hands her a leg sheath filled with throwing knives. The hazel-eyed beauty fastens them on like she’s done this a couple of times before. All the weapons are in excellent condition, sharpened and lethal.

“Alright, listen up.” the brunette begins, as if a captain emphasizing key mission points to her squad. “We will be traveling together at first, but we are still split into three teams. Our prey is a mutated coyote. You’ll know it when you see it by its crimson fur and two heads.” she explains. “My sisters and I can only chase it and hoard it to openings for you to kill, but we can’t land the final blow ourselves. That would be too easy. Your weapons have been selected based on your hunting experience to even the odds. Whoever’s girlfriend gets the kill wins and the victor picks our meals until mother returns.” 

“Whatever you do, don’t let Daniela win.” Bela huffs under her breath, as if to herself. 

“Hey, I heard that!” the youngest growls.

“Question; what happens if we don’t want to kill an innocent animal?” Rhiannon asks. 

“We knew you’d say that, so we picked this coyote for a reason. So far, it has killed over a dozen sheep!” Daniela says this like it’s a tragedy. Then, she carelessly adds “Oh, and one villager. Or was it a tourist…?” 

Rhiannon nods. “Sympathy is now depleted. We can go.”

You test the spear’s weight in your hand. Its balance is great, yet it’s also one of the heavier ones and sure as hell won’t be easy to throw. You’re used to hunting with a recurve bow, so this thing is definitely going to be a challenge for you. Alexia still has the hardest projectile to land, but you suppose she must have some experience, on top of being paired with the huntress of the family. 

“Is there any chance that thing, like… attacks us?” Rhiannon asks Bela, who smirks. 

“Try not to think about it.” she speaks, but her eyes say something closer to ‘don’t worry, I won’t let anything harm you’.

“If push comes to shove, I’ll just let Knight rescue me.” Daniela smiles dreamily. You really want to argue that it should be the other way around.

“Oh, God. How do I get into team Cassandra…?” you joke. 

“Seren!” the redhead gasps, slapping your arm lightly. 

“I like her!” the brunette laughs, ever at the expense of her sister. 

What a crazy family, you muse, watching them interact. Whatever higher power paired the people in this castle together… it had a deep sense of humor for sure. 

With a fond shake of your head, you exit the castle behind them.

–

–

The skies are filled with clouds tonight. Moonlight comes and goes in soft waves, washing over the forest cradling the village one moment and vanishing soon after. 

The remnants of winter's grip linger, with patches of snow clinging desperately to the forest floor like white freckles. A canopy of trees spans far and wide before you that seems to come alive with whispers and shadows. Being here would petrify you, if you were alone. 

But you’re not alone. You’re surrounded by the giggles and comments of the most problematic group that’s ever grown on you in your entire life. Unfortunately, you happen to be their subject of interest at this particular time. 

“Honestly, Seren, I have to hand it to you. I never thought you’d be alive under Dani’s care for more than a week.” Bela comments. 

“‘Under’ Dani’s care.” Cassandra snickers, earning a growling glare from her younger sibling. You have to admit, the brunette contests with Bela for who can be the biggest bitch at times, but you are starting to see the sexy in that. 

“I can keep my teeth out of a human if I choose to, you jerk!” the redhead snaps. 

“No, I mean it’s a wonder she hasn’t offed herself after dealing with you for more than a month.” Bela’s lip twitches upwards, as if she’s trying –and failing– to keep a straight face.

“She tried, remember? You stopped her.” Cassandra adds more fuel to the fire. 

“I definitely remember.” you interject, eyeing Bela. 

“What? I was careful not to break any of your bones.” she says. 

“Oh, that was you being careful…” you grimace.

“In all honesty, if you’re here still that means she probably was.” Rhiannon adds. 

“You didn’t feel what I felt, Rhiannon.” you shake your head. 

“Unfortunately.” she and Alexia both say simultaneously. 

You roll your eyes at them, full circle. “Maybe it sounds good on paper but there’s no way you guys would have enjoyed that.”

“You don’t know Alexia very well.” Cassandra chuckles. 

The barrage of comments continues, shifting back to bullying Daniela. The sisters push and prod at each other like lion cubs, until they end up a few ways ahead of you, three dark silhouettes atop the hill your calf muscles are protesting to climb. Life must be a lot easier when you have superhuman stamina and levitate. You think. 

Bela turns around and flashes to Rhiannon’s side to help her up, but Daniela and Cassandra are too busy throwing remarks at each other’s face to care about Alexia and you. 

The spear in your hand feels weightier now than it did before. You stop for a moment to glance at the distance you’ve covered over your shoulder… and that is when a thought strikes you. 

If I were to start running now… could I escape?

Do I even have a chance...?

You have a map of the city and its underbelly in your mind thanks to Daniela. You will no longer be running blindly. Within seconds, an entire plan forms at the forefront of your mind. With a little luck, it’s doable. You know the Dimitrescus’ shared weakness now and you know of the nitrogen conducts leading to the factory from beneath the ground. Your eyes fall to the weapon in your hand. It’s both heavy and sturdy enough to pierce through. 

All you have to do… is use Daniela’s greatest vulnerability against her. All you have to do is show her how right she was to have zero faith in humanity. 

Your fingers have gone white around the hunting spear. 

Until Alexia’s hand comes to rest over one of your own. Torn, you look into her eyes for guidance and see her subtly shaking her head no. But she doesn’t know what it means for all of you if you stay. 

You don’t have long now. The melting snow all around you is a painful reminder of that. 

“Babe, hurry it up!” Cassandra’s voice calls from atop the hill. With one last lingering look, Alexia takes a step back from you, continuing her hike. 

Seconds pass –or perhaps minutes– pass, yet you feel frozen in time. A faint buzzing is what brings you back to reality, and by the time you turn around, Daniela is landing soundlessly a few steps ahead of you. Her bi-tone eyes fix on yours for a tense moment. 

“Knight? …All good?” she asks before she extends a hand towards you.

“Yeah.” you lie with a smile as you take it. 

–

–

For the rest of the trudge through the forest, you feel numb. 

The conversation around you flies right over your head and you only actively take part in it when you absolutely have to, in order to upkeep the pretense that everything is fine. But you’re not fine. 

You didn’t run when you had the chance to. You just let it go. 

An older you wouldn’t have missed the opportunity, no matter how slim it may have looked. But the fact remains; you hesitated. Your heart wasn’t in tune with your brain, not even close. And that disparity is what gets to you the most. Because above all the reasons why you need to go, why you want to leave, at the forefront of your mind was… 

Her.

Suddenly, the Dimitrescus bristle like panthers catching the scent of blood. Sniffing the air, you see their eyes shift into a darker, primal gold. Daniela, eager and impulsive, smirks and makes to dash forward, but her sisters’ hands descending on either shoulder grab her and nail her feet to the ground before she takes off. 

“One by one. Wait your turn.” Bela reminds her, voice deep with authority. Then she grabs Rhiannon’s hand and vanishes into the darkness first. 

The other two are barely holding themselves back from going in, but, albeit seething with anticipation, they do wait for the first pair’s attempt. In calculated grace, the blonde leaves her partner at a vantage point and half-slides, half-flies down the slope, forcing the coyote to back, growling, into a moonlit patch of the uneven ground. 

Rhiannon aims… and takes her shot. 

The arrowhead flies well over a meter above the beast’s two heads, embedding itself into a tree bark. The redhead struggles to pull back the string to reload, while Bela flashes behind the coyote so it doesn’t escape. The second shot is much closer, but the creature twists to the side with uncanny agility. It’s a good thing Bela does the same.

“Nice one! That almost killed Bela!” Daniela cackles.

The prey manages to slip away into the woods and Cassandra’s seizes the opportunity to pursue. You hear only a sharp “Let’s go!” and watch as she leaps high into the trees while Alexia runs after her. 

Their paths split for a moment, long enough for one to obscure herself while the other lands powerfully in front of the creature, freezing it in its tracks. The spot isn’t as ideal as Bela made it out to be light-wise, but Alexia’s coordination with Cassandra is something to marvel at. It only takes her a split second to jump out of her hiding position, casting a knife at the coyote’s neck. Unfortunately, the beast lowers itself the slightest fraction in the nick of time and the knife grazes its ear instead. 

Black blood drips onto the soil.

A powerful, enraged roar escapes the beast, at a volume that leaves you stunned in your spot.    

Daniela, however, grabs your hand and zooms towards the next opening. If you had eaten dinner, you’re certain it wouldn’t be sitting in your stomach for much longer. 

Still, you shake yourself out of the daze and take control of the adrenaline, calculating the weight of the spear versus your own strength. Without warning, the redhead lets go of you and you immediately duck into a roll to recover from the shift in momentum. The second you’re back on your feet you draw back the spear and aim, waiting for her to back the feral animal to a place you can see. It’s not as easy as it was with her sisters. The thing is now wild from being wounded, twisting about in erratic motions. 

Hold steady. You remember what your father taught you as a little girl, when he took you to your first hunting trip. Hold your breath as you line your throw… and..

The coyote jumps towards her, foaming jaws snapping. You feel something inside you click. 

The next second, your spear cuts through the air, straight into the animal’s neck. 

Its end is instant. Soundless. No twitching, not even a whimper. Its terrifying body simply collapses onto the dirt like no more than a ragdoll and you’re left there, staring, with your heart pounding in your ears, your muscles shaking. 

Something so horrific, so deadly, felled by a single spear. Felled by you. 

What an empowering thought. Suddenly, endorphins rush you and you’re lighter than you’ve been all night. You’re grinning when Daniela beams at you and leaps all over the place like an overexcited bunny, flies buzzing in every direction, poking fun at the sour expressions her siblings are wearing. 

“Ha! Bow down in the face of superiority, you two!” she points. 

“Don’t you mean the face of stupidity?” Bela crosses her arms. 

“What was that?!” Cassandra snaps at Alexia, smacking her arm in a slap that may as well be a caress with how she measures her strength. “Getting its ear like that, were you trying to pet it from a distance?!”   

“I couldn’t see shit back there!” the other woman says while rubbing her bicep. exasperated. 

“Thank you, thank you Seren! We’re having liver for the next few days~” Daniela laughs in a way that lights up her entire face, gluing herself to your side. 

For some strange reason, although you’ve done so much more than this together, the act makes your cheeks redden. You stare at her pretty face for a brief moment and realize that her joy is infectious. Her dimples and cleft chin and her mannerisms in general… she’s probably the cutest redhead in Romania. 

Meanwhile, Bela and Cassandra share a look and a miserable sigh. 

–

–

In the early hours of the morning, you’re in Daniela’s bed, keeping her company –and keeping the bed warm– until she falls asleep. The temperature wasn’t low enough to hurt her tonight, but the humidity has crept under her skin, bringing a certain level of discomfort it always takes her a while to completely shake off.

She’s nestled against you, hugging a monster teddy to her chest, her chin resting atop its head as she reads the novel lying on your lap atop the covers. You glance down upon it a few times, cautious of its contents. Thankfully, the scenes you happen to skim through are all suspense and romantic undertones. No smut. Yet. 

Then she turns the page to the next chapter, titled; Soulmates.

The word catches your eye. It seems to hold her attention, as well, and she draws in a small, unnecessary breath. 

“What a concept, no? Two people ideally suited to one another. Meant to be.” Daniela comments in a low voice. She seems the type of soul to be enamored by the idea, but the way she spoke the words, her aura in this moment… there is a certain weight to it all. 

“I don’t know if I believe it.” But it’s much more accurate to say you don’t know if you want to. Because being your soulmate… doesn’t that automatically condemn another person to a lifetime of hurt?

“I didn’t know if I did, either. Until I saw Cassandra and Alexia together.” she replies. “There’s no other person in this world that could match my sister like she does. She just gets her, in a way not even Bela and I can, at times.” 

You can’t argue with that. You’ve seen them, around the castle and especially earlier, how seamlessly they flow. Two seemingly polar opposites that connect like magnets. 

“And it was instantaneous, too. Before Alexia was brought to the castle, Cassandra and I saw her at the village, on our way back from a hunt. I think she was chopping wood for her house or something. My sister stared for half a minute. I never saw her look that way at a human before.” she reminisces. 

“And Bela?” you ask. 

“Bela is different. Thinks differently, functions differently. No amount of beauty would ever spark her interest and make her show favoritism.” Daniela explains. “The first time she heard Rhiannon sing to the wounded in the dungeons, she told Cassandra and I not to touch the ‘songbird’, though still, it was more along the lines of owning a pet than anything else.” she says. “But the way Rhiannon protected her family later on, it shattered Bela’s defenses. She was forced to see her then and everything else was a slippery slope from there.”

Through impossible circumstances, it seems her siblings really did find their perfect matches. Hearing of how their stories unfolded, you begin to think that maybe the notion of soulmates isn’t quite so farfetched, after all. Which inadvertently makes you wonder about Daniela and yourself. 

You are aware that in almost a hundred years she hasn’t felt genuine attraction towards anyone, no matter how she may have wished to experience it. She has been open about finally feeling that spark with you, and the way her body reacts to you can’t lie, but you don’t know if there’s anything deeper than that for her. 

And you’re alarmed by the fact you want to know.

Your heart beats quicker and you’re certain she can hear it. The pages of the book in your lap aren’t turning anymore, but her eyes are still focused on it. You wonder what she’s thinking, what world she’s lost in inside her head and what your place there is, if one exists at all. 

You wonder if she considers the two of you soulmates. Fated. 

“What about us?” you question, unable to bear the weight of leaving the question unasked. Still, you voice it as casually as possible, not wanting to add to the tension already building in the air. 

Daniela shifts slightly against you. “It’s scary to define us.” she speaks lightly, but the emotion locked behind the words is anything but. 

“Why?” But you already know the answer; It’s because of you. 

“Because whatever word comes to mind… may only be true for me.” she replies and you can’t explain why it’s like a stab to the gut. 

Daniela is extremely perceptive. When she saw you hesitate tonight, you have no doubt she saw your thoughts written all over your eyes. In fact, you’re sure she has always been aware of your pressing need to leave, your plans and calculations on how to, even if the real reason why eludes her. Yet she still took you on tours around the village when you asked. She showed you all the escape routes, walked you right over the nitrogen pipelines despite knowing they could one day be used against her.  

Now it’s clear to you why.

“And if I finally settle on ‘love’...” she says, voice low, “I’ll have to hold the door open for you.”

[ghostismybbygorl]

Alright more headcannons

Pt.1

Ale-ale-jandro

Actually hates the song alejandro by lady gaga. If rudy is mad at him he'll play the song in the car full blast to piss him off

He's 38

Hes got a BIG family. He has 7 siblings he's the oldest out if all if them

hes got a brother (36) with two daughters (6) (8)

A sister (32) with a son (10)

Twin brothers (25) one of them has a daughter (3)

A sister (20) who has a 1 year old girl

A brother (12)

A baby sister (7)

Hes roman catholic and goes to mass regularly with his family

His patron saint is St. Jude Thaddius

Him and soap will go to mass together

He's got a necklace of Guadalupe that his abuelita gave him before she passed. Every time he goes into battle he kisses the necklace and prays to his abuelita for protection

He has a tabby cat named diablo that he rescued off the streets. The cat's a total asshole to everyone but rudy.

Him and rudy are married but no one knows except for his family

This man can salsa dance like nobody's business. Dont get him near tequila or youll be learning how to dance the tango, salsa, square dance everything from him

He's a happy flirty drunk

When he's mad he'll forget how to say english words so he'll just stand there snapping his fingers trying to explain what he's trying to say but getting even more pissed because he can't remember the word.

Accidentally got high off of heroine one time. He was on a mission and somehow a bag of heroine opened up in his face causing him to inhale some. He said it was the best high he's experienced but swore to himself to never do any type of drugs after that experience in fear of getting addicted

Casually pops his neck and it'll crack LOUD

Takes a nap at 3:00 sharp. If he doesn't take his nap he will be bitchy for the rest of the day

He listens to latin r&b when he's relaxing and bad bunny when him and Rudy are alone together.

Being the oldest of the family hes a very nurturing person. When you're sick hes by your side with sopa de fideo, vics cream, and some medicinal tea

This man can and WILL cook. He used to cook with his mom and abuelita when he was younger

He loves to make tamales it reminds him of home

His family goes all out for Christmas everyone has stockings, they all get hella gifts, they sing, dance, bring over homemade food. They all will go to midnight mass and then open presents afterwords when they get home

He's always the best gift giver

His house looks like this and he still lives with his whole family (click the numbers i also have a link to the Pinterest boards if u wanna see more)

1, 2, 3

He has those candies that Abuelas give out

Rudy rudy

Hes actually savage af. He'll absolutely roast the shit out of you and hell say it in the most casual tone

Loves bad bunny

Hes 30

Hes a only child

He has the most obscene slippers

He drinks coffee religiously. He's a regular at starbucks. His favorite starbucks drink is the java chip Frappuccino with two extra shots of espresso and coconut milk

He loves del rosa cookies snd can open them without breaking them. He gets really upset if he does. It happened one time before and he was close to tears

 he loves diablo like its his own child.

He was the one to propose to Alejandro. They where sitting on a couch watching tv when he just pops the question "you want to get married?"

He's scared of anything supernatural. Dont even get him started on horror movies he will legit start praying the hail mary

He gives great massages

He's hella lactose intolerant like reenacting world war 3 in the bathroom intolerant.

since he doesn't have a big family rudy and his family will celebrate Christmas together with Alejandros family.

He absolutely loves the cheesy telenovas

He has a iguana named pakko.

He lives in Alejandro house with his family

He gets really out going when hes drunk he'll start singing and dancing

Price

Religiously plays wordle

He'll bring his bearded dragon into work ever so often. It always creeped ghost out for a while but eventually grew used to it.

He like to put little costumes on his bearded dragon

HE HAS A FAMILY PHOTO OF HIM, HIS BOYFRIEND, DOG AND DRAGON IN MATCHING CHRISTMAS SWEATERS. (He paid ghost big money to make the sweaters)

He doesn't shave his beard at all during november and his beard will get hella long. He usually does this because he dresses up as santa for christmas and goes to children shelter to give children christmas gifts.

He's like hella good with kids, babies especially. If he sees a baby crying he can instantly make it stop crying its like magic dad vibes.

When hes drunk he'll reminisce about the past and tell the same stories over and over. He also gets really nostalgic with laswell

He's the one to throw the christmas parties he takes it hella serious its a requirement that everyone wears a christmas sweater

His house looks like this

1, 2, 3

He has those LOUD sneezes

He takes dad naps. He'll just say he's resting his eyes and then just knock the fuck out.

He saws logs when he naps

Has a squatty potty

Ghost

Knows how to sew and can pretty much make anything. Every year he makes little plushies for everyone for Christmas

He keeps it a top secret but he has a 7 year old daughter that he adopted. Her name is Samantha

When the team first met her they nicknamed her ghoul and she loved it

She has her own little ghost mask and she wears it around the base when ghost brings her to work

Price absolutely adores her and will often volunteer to babysit if ghost is busy with a mission same with laswell

He plays animal crossing in his free time. He says its relaxing or that hes "taking care of the kids island"

His house looks like this

1, 2 3 bonus his daughters room 4

You know the scene in parks and rec when ron swanson was drunk off of snake juice...yeah thats him drunk

He'll face time his daughter when he's away every day

He has chronic insomnia so he'll stay up days on end until hes tired and then he'll pass out on his bed and sleep for a whole day.

He lets his daughter pain his nails. He came in one day with hot pink nails 💅🏼

He has a tattoo of one of his daughters drawing and a tattoo on his ribs of his daughter's handwriting saying "i love you daddy"

His nipples are pierced

He's giving his daughter a puppy for Christmas

Laswell

Her and her wife have a daughter who's 10

She made price her maid (or i guess man of honor?). He was so thrilled and of course sobbed when he saw her walk down the isle

She met price at a football game in london

Shes 40

When shes talking to her wife she'll refer the task as her kids. "Hey do you want to come to dinner with the kids?"

She wears scarfs all the time

Laswells daughter and Samantha are best friends and they will often schedule play dates and sleep over

She gives out the most heartfelt presents. If you talk about something you want 5 months ago she'll buy it and give it to you on Christmas.

Her house

1, 2 3

When theres a party with the boys she, her wife, price, and his boyfriend will watch all the stupid shit they would do and laugh at them

She has a Pomeranian named Annabelle

She does yoga with her wife

She gets sleepy when she's drunk and will probably fall asleep on prices sholder

She loves the smell of rosemary

Soap

He has a apartment which looks like this

1 2 3

He has a girl roommate who keeps the apartment tidy and clean while he's gone. (he very much appreciates her and always cooks and does the dishes for her). She likes to roast the shit out if him when he's home.

He has chronic pain in his right knee which causes him to wear a knee brace occasionally

Hes smokes the elf bars vapes. His favorite flavor is the rainbow candy

He got a tattoo of a heart on his butt cheek. He has absolutely no clue when he got it

He loves tequila drinks

Hes a cocktail type of bitch. The boys will be sipping on bourbon and soap will be over here with like a lemon drop martini or some fancy cocktail.

He wears jockstrap underwear. He says it makes his ass look great but he also wears those funny briefs like the ones that has emojis or cereal theme

When he's nervous he'll start rubbing his stubble

As a April fools prank he grew his beard out and cut it like price's beard. He then proceeded to walk around with his hat and a cigar and act like him for the whole day. He later convinced everyone to do it the next year. Ghost somehow sewed a beard to his mask for this.

He snorts when he laughs hard

He will do any dare someone tells him to do. Gaz jokingly dared soap to snort smarties thinking that he wouldnt do it....he did it......he still smells smarties from time to time.

Ghost and him have matching tattoos if skeletons dancing

He likes to listen to indie alternative music his favorite artist is steve lacy

When soaps drunk he gets all lovey dovey to everyone and he'll start singing sea shanties and pop songs. 

He has a snack stash. Everyone will be debriefing and he'll just randomly pull out a snack and start eating

Hes always hungry and eating. His favorite snacks are gummies, oreos, and Takis 

He will eat ANYTHING i mean ANYTHING. He's tried the weirdest foods out of curiosity and from dares.

Absolutely love's Christmas he wears ungly Christmas sweaters the whole month of december. He has a whole closet full of them

He loves candy canes and will go through multiple boxes of them throughout the month

Hes a nail biter

He's the god father of ghosts daughter.

He has a shower beer after work (a/n: its when you drink beer while you shower very life changing highly suggest it)

Hes really good at soccer

He sleeps in the most random spots and funniest positions. Ghost has a whole folder of all the weird places soap has slept. Everyone will fuck with him in his sleep and do random shit to him here's a few photos of what he would sleep like and what they do

Gazzy

He gets chronic migraines

He is a very VERY emotional drunk. He'll be happy and dancing and next he'll be crying over his goldfish that died 7 years ago

When he's mad his atlanta accent will kick in.

He's very sensitive to certain textures he loves sof blankets and has them littered around his apartment

He's a Very picky eater like the pallate of a 5 year old

He LOVES auntie annes mac and cheese and will eat that on the daily (its his comfort food)

He's allergic to bee's

Loves foo fighters

He can play cello

He's has ocd and will freak out if things dont go his way. Price usually has ti calm him down if he has a freak attack

His favorite anime is darling in the franxxs

He has a whole squishmellow collection on his bed

He really likes to paint him and soap will often chill out in the common room and just do artsy shit together

He loves sending reaction memes

He taught price the woah and now throw the woah at him

If he sees soap the both will look at each other and then do the biggest most dramatic way of the whip

He makes secret handshakes with everyone. Hes still trying to get ghost to do one

He arranges the secret santa and he always gives the most ridiculous presents

He loves to do yoga with laswell and her wife

His apartment looks like this

1 2 3 4

[bananana-boat]

Eye floaties

I'm certain we've all experienced it at some point, wondered what it was we you're seeing just at the edge of you vision. I experienced it again just the other day, and it really got me thinking.

I was taking a break between classes, the late-summer is quite temperate here in the Appalachian mountains, and I found a little bench next to some trees that was just perfect for lying on. I was inspired by a poem I'd recently read, I can't recall which one exactly, but I believe it was a piece by Mary Oliver talking about the movement of the trees that one can only notice when lying under them. I humored my artistic side and I looked up into the canopy above me, a couple pines behind me, an oak and a poplar at my feet, trying to see what the leaves could tell me. They all seemed to dance in their own special ways with the wind. When I started looking closer, that's when I caught a glimpse of them out of the corner of my eye- the eye floaties.

You see, I have a theory about these little things. When I was curious in my childhood (which I often was), I had asked the grown ups around me, What are those little things? Answers would range anywhere from "eye floaties" (of course), to "bacteria", "sun spots", etc. I'm sure science has some sort of justified explanation to this phenomenon, but none of these answers have ever really sat well with me. And it wasn't until recently that I realized, hey, I'm a grown up.

And I have a better answer.

Those little spots you see floating in your vision sometimes can be described as Hidden Creatures. You might be skeptical at first, but soon I think you'll understand where I'm coming from. Have you ever felt a pair of eyes watching you? You find yourself walking down the street, the road is silent for once and nobody's on the sidewalk with you, but you just can't shake the feeling that there's something behind you? You can turn your back and look, but you won't see anyone.

Perhaps you're in the waiting room at the doctors office- there's that lady behind the counter paying you no attention, an old man on the other side of the room drifting off to sleep every ten seconds, but for some reason it just feels like there's someone else near you.

Or maybe even It's happened to you in a crowded place. You just stepped into the packed afternoon bus, happy to finally be in the air conditioning, when you begin to feel a dreadful feeling- like something just climbed up your spine and onto your scalp. With not a single bug in sight, you wonder if you're becoming delirious.

You, my friend, might have been in the company of a Hidden Creature. There are many different kinds of Hidden Creatures, but they are all, as you might assume from the name, hard to see. Some like to hide in the shadows, behind a piece of furniture, or under a parked car, just where the light can't reach them. Some exist right in your blind spot, waiting for you to turn just enough so they can carry about their business.

The ones I'm discussing today live in the air, and they have a very special way of hiding themselves. In fact, they hide in the most genius spot possible to hide- in plain sight. Whether it be some kind of magic that keeps them hidden or a loophole in the worlds physics is beyond me, after all I'm just someone rambling on the internet about a nap I took on a bench. I think it might be one of those mind tricks, like how you can see your nose sitting there between your eyes if you think about it, but otherwise it's just invisible.

You might be thinking to yourself, "there's no evidence of this" "no such things as Hidden Creatures" "you're just making stuff up". And that all might be true! But, next time you find yourself in a position where something peculiar happened and you just can't explain it, maybe you'll remember this post and think twice about the life that exists just beyond what you think you know.

[beachtoosandytranscripts]

3: Car Washes in Minneapolis, MN

“Welcome to Beach Too Sandy, Water Too Wet, a podcast featuring real reviews written by people who just need the world to know what they think. Between you and me, I wanted to like this podcast, but I'd give it zero stars if I could.”

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Beach Too Sandy, Water Too Wet, the podcast where we read the worst reviews in the most dramatic fashion.

Yeah, welcome, this is episode three.

Already, wow.

Already, yeah. I came up with the theme for this week, and it was car washes in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and you gave me a very mean challenge.

And I have no idea what I said, because I don't remember.

And that makes it so much worse.

What was it?

You gave me the challenge of finding a review written by a vegan of a barbecue place. That was awful.

That's very, very funny. Good job, me.

Yeah, good job. Well, but first we're going to go into our car wash reviews.

Right. And so exciting.

I'm going to go first.

Okay.

This is a review of Soapy Joe's Car Wash.

Oh, I looked at that place.

It was written by RS.

Okay.

And it was a one-star review, of course.

Sure.

And this is what RS has to say. Minnesota winters destroy the outsides of cars. Four-year-old kids with a $2-a-day Cheez-It habit destroy the insides of cars. Soapy Joe's is not the place though, to help with either. If your business is, you know, washing cars, then for God's sake have the ability to wash a car.

Makes sense.

If I go there, wait in line 15 minutes, only to find out that it will be another hour to have them clean my car, then maybe they shouldn't be in the car wash business. By the time you find out that it'll be forever for a full-service wash, you're at the front of the line and you can't escape.

Oh my God.

There's no turning back. So I get the cheapest wash, the one I don't need, and get the crap-tastic, fuck you, $6.99 version. The one where you drive it through and they pretend to dry your car.

I can do better at my neighborhood BP.

Oh, she's having a bad day. The lady or guy, do we know?

No, just RS. Yeah, this was rough.

Sounds like a bad time.

But like when you pay $6.99, then you're like, I could do better at my BP. Aren't the BP ones more than $6.99 anyway? But that's not all.

Oh, God, of course it's not.

You vacuum yourself. That's like going to a Starbucks and brewing your own coffee.

No, it's not, but OK.

It's disdainful of the customer.

I don't think that's how that word works.

I don't think so either, RS. But yeah, I don't think that's what happens. That's Starbucks.

$6.99. You pay $6.99 and then you have to vacuum your car.

It's pretty disdainful.

I'm no free market expert.

Oh, no way, RS.

But if you want to wash cars, wash cars. I mean...

That's basically what the free market boils down to.

I don't know what they're...

They hit it right on the head.

I say this every time, but I don't know what their logic is. I'm never going to understand.

There's no plot.

I mean, I'm just spitballing here. But here are some options. One, hire more people.

Two, do things better. Three, sell and get out of the business all together.

Why didn't they think of that?

End of review.

Do things better.

Do things better.

That's just rude.

RS needs to write a business management, like, Bible for everyone.

It's like the Michael Scott, like, manager book that he's writing.

Oh my gosh. What was the title? Who's managing who?

Somehow I manage and he's shrugging on the cover.

Oh, yeah, of course.

Of course somebody made an actual, like, replica of it on the Internet. Somehow I manage.

RS needs to get into that game.

And then he says over one billion sold. Okay. Anyway, RS needs to hopefully take a nap.

Or open up their own car wash.

Nobody needs that.

Well, maybe they can do things better and then sell and get out of the business. Before or after they hire more people. Three steps to business.

The free market indeed. All right. So I'm going to give you a review written—I keep doing this and I'm sorry, but it's a five star review.

Is that allowed on these?

They're just so he didn't have. Just let me do it.

And then if it's not, if it doesn't work, we'll let the fans decide.

We got the fans.

We'll let the free market decide.

We'll let the free market dictate what we do next. So Will G had this to say of the downtowner car wash in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

I went here with my mud covered jeep to give the piggy a bath. Inside and out. I have had this jeep five years and decided it was time to clean the inside, especially considering I sprayed mud all over the inside off-roading the other day. Fun, but messy.

Wait, this is the first time in five years they wash the inside of their car. That's disgusting.

Only because they sprayed the inside with mud off-roading. You know how it is, fun but messy. They went through this thing in detail inside and got it clean like the day I bought it clean.

Oh, man.

Five years go by, nothing needs cleaning in there and then all of a sudden just everything happens. Mud, energy drink.

This is actually uh Will's cry for help I think. Never in the five years that I've had this Jeep has that ever happened? Heck, in the 30 some years that I've owned cars, I've never had a can of soda explode in one.

I mean, really?

Wait, this was heat?

Yeah.

Like in Minnesota?

Maybe that's why.

The heat, but shouldn't the cold?

That happened to me one time.

I feel like that happens when it's really cold.

That happened to me with the diet coke that was in the car exploded.

Oh.

Because it was too hot.

It was hot?

Renee was in the car. We almost crashed into a pole.

I think that happens no matter what's going on.

It didn't have anything to do with the can of soda. Okay. I mean, really?

The day after paying $50 to have the inside detailed? Who hates me?

Anyways, the downtown people are awesome. They did a great job. End of review.

Wait, he didn't go back? Okay, but you know what I have to say? Good on him for getting a great clean and then writing that five star review despite the fact that it was ruined the next day.

Yeah, I think he just wanted to talk about that soda. I don't think there was any other reason. It was a good excuse.

Anyway, so that's Will's review.

Oh my gosh, Will.

I'm ready for it.

I wonder who hates him.

I mean, I kind of do. Just kidding.

Oh no. Well, I followed your lead on this one.

Oh, what does that mean?

I also found a five star review for my challenge.

Oh, oh God. So we are really...

Yeah, but that was fine for the challenge ones.

Oh, okay. So I'm just cheating. Got it.

That's what we're used to. It's okay. It's okay.

So this one, and I guess, you know, this balances things out because you'll just listen to the first sentence here. Oh, and I was inspired by last week's Monty review.

What's Monty again?

Oh my gosh.

What did he do?

Monty. He gave us the full Monty.

Wait, what was he? Was he reviewing? Oh, he's reviewing the stadium.

Yeah. What was it? Onion?

I don't even remember.

Uh, hashbr- no. Potatoes?

I don't remember.

Garlic fries. Garlic fries. Garlic fries!

I was close with the potatoes, just saying.

Okay, tell me. Oh, God, you're like really getting set up here.

I'm ready. This is this is Marlowe's review.

Marlowe.

This is not Marlowe's review. No, this is Jason's review of Marlowe's ribs. I can read my own notes.

Wow, you must—this is, I'm so excited to hear what you came up with.

From Memphis, Tennessee, by the way, when I was looking at barbecue places, I went I went to Nashville, Atlanta, and finally found the best one in Memphis.

Okay, I'm ready.

I used to be vegan until I came to Marlowe's.

What?

True story.

Are you serious?

I see that's where I was kind of like this might be cheating because technically now he's not a vegan.

Well, he was.

But he was when he went there.

Time is a construct.

Oh, yeah. In the free market, it doesn't matter what kind of food you eat.

Everyone's learning a lot about business today and philosophy.

Yeah. This is a podcast. That's what it's all about.

All right. True story. I was traveling through to check out Graceland.

I had been vegan for four years.

My God.

We got picked up in the pink Cadillac and taken to the restaurant. I asked the driver how the black bean burger was. He laughed.

When I walked in, something changed.

Oh my God.

I ordered pretty much one of everything. My girlfriend thought I was kidding. After I ordered, she said she couldn't eat all that.

And I quickly informed her that I was eating it.

It's not for you.

As I was eating, the server came over. My girlfriend told the server that I was vegan until just now, after four years. And the server didn't believe her.

No, because why on earth would that make any sense?

Exactly.

That's not a thing.

He was vegan until just now, for four years.

Until he ordered literally one of every item on this menu.

Literally the server was carrying plates and plates and plates over. It's like so annoyed.

And also, wouldn't you get so sick if you haven't eaten meat in four years?

Oh, it seems like a bad idea. But let's have a quick rundown from Jason about what he ate.

Oh, are you kidding?

OK, all caps, all of these food items and all of these reviews of food items are all caps. Brisket to die for, pulled pork to die for, pulled chicken to die for. This isn't all caps.

Well, the last word is cornbread, non-Yankee cornbread and amazing Mac and cheese. The bomb barbecue ribs, the best I've ever had.

Oh, the best he's ever, the most, the one that he's ever had because he's fucking vegan.

Fried pickles, amazing. Marlowe's doesn't play around. Their meat is cooked perfectly.

How would you know?

That's what I was thinking this whole time. I'm like, this guy hasn't eaten meat in four years. And then all of a sudden he's a meat expert.

Well, not because he spelled meat M-E-E-T.

No, are you serious?

I'm not kidding. It's got a fantastic flavor and smoke ring. It doesn't need the crutch of barbecue sauce.

It's not dry. I mean, Marlowe's is what I have compared every barbecue to since. It has turned me from vegan to carnivore and literally ruined barbecue for me because I compare everything I eat to Marlowe's, which is what he had just said.

But okay. Last year, I rode my motorcycle from Los Angeles to Memphis specifically to eat at Marlowe's.

I'm kidding. So wait, this vegan suddenly decided to eat barbecue and buy a motorcycle and...

Christina! He walked in and everything changed.

I— it must have.

Literally everything. I'm not retired by the way. It was just that important to me.

What?

I checked into my hotel, walked over to the store to pick up a beer and some guy tried to mug me at knife point.

Wait, hold on. Where did this come from?

Oh yeah, this is where it gets even juicier. He literally rode his motorcycle to Memphis to get this barbecue.

From Los Angeles.

From Los Angeles. Was there.

I'll just let that one slide, okay.

Went to go get a beer and was mugged at knife point.

Oh, my God.

I decided not to dine in after that. So I just ordered the food delivered to my room and barricaded myself inside. I couldn't make up my mind, so I ordered the above mentioned, brisket, pulled pork, chicken, pickles, mac and cheese and ribs.

Yeah, thanks.

I was in heaven. The mood of this has shifted very suddenly, like very back and forth.

I am having a hard time following this.

I couldn't finish about 85% of it. So I hope the cleaning crew at the hotel ate the rest.

No, they did not. They didn't eat the food you left behind. That's disgusting.

Marlowe's literally changed my life. I now own a smoker and barbecue ribs, pork and chicken a lot.

I'm not, was not even gonna say it, but I just the whole time was like, this is that guy who buys a smoker and then tells everyone he knows about his smoker. And clearly I was right. Okay.

Yeah, no, that's what Jason's become. I will ride back one day to eat it again. Consider opening up a restaurant in LA?

End of review.

I don't want to ever run into this guy, so.

Could you imagine?

No. And I just feel like I'd know instantly when I saw him, who he was. Also definitely the owner of this place wrote that.

Yeah, right? Although I did look at his history and he does review other things, like most of them are vegan restaurants, even still.

Wait, are you being serious?

Yeah, like he's— vegan restaurants in LA.

Wow, this guy is crazy town.

He's changed.

I've changed.

Yeah.

After that.

Yeah, there's just...

That was really-

I'm ready for some barbecue.

That was a lot. I know I am actually a little hungry right now.

I know. Thanks, Jason.

Thanks, Jason or Marty's or whatever.

Marlowe's.

Marlowe's. I guess in LA is the only place you would see a vegan riding a motorcycle. So maybe that makes some sense.

No, I don't know. I still don't think it does.

I'm grasping at straws. Anyway, well, that was a very successful... That was like extremely successful.

What, his trip to Memphis?

Yes. No, the restaurant's attempt at converting vegans. No, you're stepping up to the plate of my challenge.

Yeah. I did find some other ones, but they were like, oh, this place actually has vegan options. I had the black bean burger and it was great.

Did you know fried pickles are vegan?

Oh, I was actually wondering that while you read that.

And that's what people wrote reviews about fried pickles and stuff, but they were very boring and it's kind of like, okay, I know where to go if I want a vegan barbecue place.

That's gold. Okay. So we're going to announce our challenge in next week's theme after this little spiel we do to tell you where to find us on the Internet.

You can find us on Instagram and Twitter at Beach Too Sandy, on Facebook at Beach Too Sandy, Water Too Wet. Our website is beachtoosandy.com.

You can find us, I guess, wherever you're listening now or on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play, anywhere you listen to any podcatcher, anywhere you listen to podcasts. And please leave us a review if you can. That would be super great and helpful and would help us kind of kickstart this thing.

All right. So now it's time for you to give us our theme for next week and I'll reveal your challenge.

Oh, God. Okay. So the theme for next week is tech stores in Jacksonville, Florida.

Does that make sense?

Yeah, it definitely does. Have you been watching? What have you been watching?

The Good Place?

Like that's exactly what I thought of.

He doesn't need to steal. Doesn't Jason's? And Jason.

Oh, maybe it's all in my head. Yeah. I think Jason robs a radio shack or something.

No, he robs a bar. But Atypical. What's his name?

Sam works at a. Oh, that's probably just mixing shows together and getting something good. That's a good one, though.

I like that one.

So what is my challenge? Because I'm nervous about that.

Well, because of Jason's wonderful food related review, I was very hungry when I thought of this. You are going to find a review of a candy store that mentions broccoli.

Oh, my God. OK, that's fun.

Yeah, I think so.

I like it.

I'm expecting someone who really hates broccoli and just needs to tell the world.

I'm going to eat that broccoli candy. All right. I will work on that.

Sounds good. Until next week.

See you then.

[countrymusiclover]

12 - You're from the Future?

Part 13

She's Human or Weapon

@tyrionsprincess30 @groovy-lady @bigbendyhorns @logolepsic-insomniac @the-big-bad-klaus

Hearing loud roars through the house wakes me up from my nap in my room. I struggle to get out of the bed since I am 7 months pregnant. Charles and I had been trying to have a child years after the school closed. A year ago we managed to finally get the two pink lines. Walking down one of the staircases I see a man I didn't recognize laying on the floor. Then Hank is hanging upside down on the chandelier. Foosteps entered the room seconds after where I saw Charles carrying a glass with alcohol in it making me glare at him slightly. He started drinking when I had a miscarriage but I know the main reason was because he failed his dream of opening a school. "Professor, Mrs. Xavier?" The stranger asked where I twirl some loose hair. "We're not married, sir." Charles pointed his index finger holding the glass up. "Get off the bloody chandelier Hank!" He flipped off landing on his feet now turned into full beast mode that hasn't happened since Cuba.

"Who exactly are you?" I questioned walking down the stairs creating some gold energy from my left palm. The stranger has dark brown hair and eyes. He raised his hand showing bone like claws appeared outside his skin. "I'm Logan and you're Golden Flare. Some call you Rora" Raising my brows at him I don't recognize that name so why would he call me that. "Why are you here?" Charles sniffed wiping his nose sitting down at the end of the stairs. Logan glances between us both replying. "I was sent here for you from the Future-" I cut him off twirling hair between my fingers with a sarcastic tone. "You're from the Future...like you're not bluffing?" Charles shakes his head holding his clear glass in both of his hands. "Tell whoever it was who sent you that - I'm - we're busy." Logan fought his sentence with a correction. "Well that's gonna be a little tricky. The person who sent me was you and her. 50 years from now." Charles and I finally glanced to one another with pure confusion written on our faces. Time travel isn't possible even though mutants exist. "Like in the future 50 years from now?" Charles started laughing and I joined him resting a hand to my forehead.

Logan nodded his head yes as an answer shoving his hands in his jacket pockets. "If you had your powers you'd know I was telling the truth." Charles parts his mouth opened and I closed my eyes entering a small part of the man's mind seeing death and war. Shaking my head I sniffed back some tears. "I know you too, Aurora. You were experimented on by Sébastien Shaw from a young age and the only way to calm your mind is by releasing all of your powers at once." Whipping my head around to Charles he takes my hand in his giving me a silent nod. He's the only person I had ever admitted that too. Nobody else knew about my releasing trigger except him. "Alright you've peaked our interest. What do you want?" He asked Logan intertwining his freehand with mine, taking a sip of his drink. "We have to stop Raven." Hank slowly returns to his human form and I stepped off the last step feeling the baby kick against my belly lightly. "What does she have to do with this...meaning the future?" Logan gives me a weak look rubbing the back of his neck answering. "She's the creation of the war."

He started explaining that Raven's ability to turn in her blood was used to hunt down all mutants. Sitting on the couch resting my hands on my belly Charles refills his glass coming to sit beside me. "So what they took her power and weaponized it?" Logan nodded yes in reply. "They were just targeting mutants. Then they began targeting everyone. Even the humans who would have children and grandchildren. I've been in a lot of wars." Running my fingers through my hair I lean back into the cough feeling Charles drapes his arm over my shoulder. Laying my head on his shoulder he kissed my hair when I spoke up. "So you're looking Erik aren't you. Because he's - he's not the man who saved my life anymore." I chuckled getting pulled to my feet by my boyfriend who pulled me up the stairs until Logan called out again. "You're just gonna give up!" Charles rolled his eyes pulling me upstairs and into his bedroom. He rummaged through drawers finding the serum and some gauze. Leaning in the doorway I cross my arms over my chest looking at the carpet sadly. "Charles, when the baby comes will you stop taking so much - you know cut the alcohol back possibly?" He doesn't lift his gaze injecting himself in his left arm. Once it's all gone he sits it on the table staring at a picture of his sister. She's in a bar smiling his direction holding a drink in her hands.

"Aurora I - a child deserves a father who can-" I cut him off stomping over to his chair. Resting my hands on either side of the armrest of his chair eyes locked onto his blue ones. "This child has a wonderful father and that's you. How many times must I say you don't always need to take the serum. If it's about the voices I get it, Charles.." Grabbing his hands in mine I squeeze them making him give a weak stare back to me. "I have them too remember. Shaw's voice tormented me for years until - till I met you. And once you said that you would do anything to prove your love to me. Drop down on one knee with my mother's necklace to propose or wait until marriage - which we obviously didn't but I-" He cuts me off bluntly cupping my face in his right hand tears in his eyes. "You love me, Aurora...you still love me?" I could hear the shaking in his tone when asking the question. It was rare for us to openly admit we loved each other. It was like this special moment if we heard the other ever say it. Wrapping my arms around his neck I climbed into his lap where he grunts from the new weight. His other hand resting on my hip so I don't fall off. "Yes, yes, yes I still love you. Charles nothing in this world could make me stop. Not even you being an addict...now we owe it to ourselves, to Raven, to...our child to stop the war." He buried his face in the crook of my neck mumbling. "I'll do it for you and for our baby."

Comments really appreciated ❤️

[reikuto]

RANDOM HIGHSCHOOL AOT HEADCANONS

WARNINGS! — lots of cursing sorry!

CHARACTERS! — eren and armin

A/N! — this was just for fun so don’t take any of it too seriously lmfaoo. hope you enjoy!!

GENRE! — comedic? modern au

ARMIN ARLERT

avoids eye contact w/ppl because omfg it’s just really intense sometimes

stutters a lot cause he speaks 90mph when he’s excited about something

constantly tucking his hair behind his ear because it’s always in his face when he’s trying to get work done this is where ponytail! armin comes into play.

only ever pulls his hair into a ponytail when he’s in the comfort of his home because the kids at school are assholes.

slowly pushes his glasses up with a deadpan expression whenever someone says something incredibly stupid or ignorant.

rolls his eyes ALL the time. at this point it’s just instinct. can you blame him? he’s friends with eren, jean, and connie. that pretty much just speaks for itself.

subconsciously picks up litter in public. environmentally conscious king!!

“careful, don’t step on the snail!” type of person

guilty of baby talking all sorts of funky animals

“awww who’s the cutest little thing!”

“armin, that is a literal possum.”

collects funky seashells he finds at the beach and keeps them in a mason jar. only the people he deems worthy are allowed to see them

idk how but this mf can nap anytime and anywhere. like how the fuck does he fall asleep while jean and eren are screaming over call of duty bruh

quick ass reader. checks out books and checks them back in like it’s nobody’s business.

close friends with the librarian; sometimes she lets him check out six books instead of the library’s max limit of five. not to brag but yeah, it’s pretty badass

always shares his lunch with eren because the brunet has terrible eating habits. and yes, it’s an everyday thing.

holds the title for being the best study buddy in the group. need flash cards? on it! need help with a mock exam? no problem! need someone to go over the material with you? he’s already on his way! ugh, he’s the best

most likely a part of student government; maybe like the vice president cause he’s just responsible like that

EREN JAEGER

this BOY. oh my word

CANNOT stop picking at shit; picks at his cuticles, picks at the skin of his lips, picks at his scabs, like STAWP. PUHLEASE

narrows his eyes when he’s thinking so it looks like he’s always glaring angrily at shit.

never ties his fucking shoes. EVER. settled on just buying a shit ton of slip on vans so he wouldn’t have to worry about that shit anymore

eats with his hands when he’s alone (a habit that carla would NOT approve of)

his shit is EVERYWHERE. but in a neat way? his room is clean; no dust, no piles of dirty laundry, no hardened socks laying around. it’s just unorganized asf,,, but like, he still knows where everything is

i feel like eren would play soccer, idk, it just feels right

mfs is covered in bruises but it’s NOTHING compared to the bruises his teammates have from when eren misses the ball and practically drills his foot their calves

VERY loud. headass fucking roars whenever he scores a goal. in hindsight, it’s a bit much, but all the other students fucking love it. they’ll literally be screaming with him and the school they’re against cringes at their sheer volume.

mf doesn’t know what deodorant is. he be smelling like straight ASS after his games and he wants to be all over his friends

“eren get OFF, we’re SUFFOCATING over here.”

“come on, guys, gimme a hug, i scored the winning point!”

popular with the ladies; bitches cannot get ENOUGH of this tanned, green eyed mf

eren is kind of emotionally constipated though, so he’s kind of blindsighted by soccer and trying to pass his classes to give any of them the time of day.

he’s totally not a virgin though. who tf told you that, cause they were 100% not lying. was it jean? he’s a liar!

[procrastinatingsapphictrash]

Migraines

Word count: 1679

Genre: Hurt/comfort 

Pairings: Natasha x fem!reader, platonic avengers x fem!reader

Warnings: Some swearing (let me know if I need to add more)

Request: hi~ was wondering if you’d do a natasha x reader with a dash of platonic avengers when reader has chronic migraines but hasn’t told nat so ends up in random places to try and sleep them away and the others keep finding her and then nat figures out she’s hiding something and feels hurt but ends fluffy wanting to take care of reader next time? you can choose who and change any part you want!

Summary: Reader gets really bad migraines and is constantly being found by the team when she wants to be alone, however her girlfriend Natasha doesn’t know what’s going on. 

A/n: This request was for @casperlikej​ so I hope you like it! Also I would like to mention that I know next to nothing about migraines so this probably won’t be super accurate but hopefully it’s ok to read anyways. I’m queuing this to come out on Sunday so that over the weekend I can work on the friends to enemies to lovers three part series and get that out soon (no I have not forgotten about that request). I am only like a sixth into that series but so far I’m super proud of it so I can’t wait to get it done! Also if anyone has ideas, feel free to request anything because I like having multiple fic ideas to think of at all times. Anyways I’m rambling now but I hope you enjoy this fic!

You hated being away from Natasha because although you had only been together for a few months and only known her for half a year you were sure you loved her but sometimes you just couldn’t stand pretending to be okay in front of her so you would hide yourself away. Currently your favourite place to hide was a nice rocking chair near the medbay area that was tucked away in the corner of a room. Barely anyone ever went by and the few that did never seemed to notice, giving you the anonymously you needed in order to curl up with your head in your knees and try to calm your head down. 

“Y/n? What are you doing here?” You hear Tony’s voice ask and you startle. 

“Oh, um, I’m just spending time with myself.” You respond lamely as Tony raises an eyebrow. 

“You never spend time by yourself,” he points out, “whenever you want to get away from us you always spend time with Natasha.” 

“I am alone sometimes.” You say starting to get annoyed. 

He scoffs. “No you aren’t, is everything ok between you two?”

“Everything is fine, just leave!” You snap at him. He hesitates in leaving the room but ultimately goes without saying another word after seeing how intensely you started glaring at him. It takes longer than usual for your migraine to go away because usually staying level headed helped but at least you yelling got Tony out of the room and to stop asking questions.

---

It was only a few days later that you got another migraine. You excuse yourself from the room you were sitting in with Bruce, Tony and Nat, mumbling some bullshit about needing to go to the store and ignoring Tony’s worried look on your way out. You knew that Tony would come looking for you in your old place so you decide to hole up in the room near the pad Thor uses whenever he visits earth. Today wasn’t a very bad migraine because you were able to catch the signs early but it still takes slightly over an hour for your head to stop pounding. You’re about to leave the room and go back to find the others but just to your luck Thor happens to arrive today unscheduled, something that only happens every few weeks. 

“Lady Y/l/n!” his voice booms happily as he steps inside, “it’s so good to see you, but what are you doing here, I wasn’t aware I had informed anyone of my arrival.”

You laugh slightly at his formal way of speaking and confused expression. “You didn’t, I just happened to be here because I was trying to be alone for awhile.”

“Are you feeling unwell?” He asks, looking concerned. 

“Not at all,” you reassure him, “in fact I was just about to go back to the others when you arrived, shall we find them together?” He nods eagerly, holding out his arm for you to hook onto like a true gentleman.

---

The next time you try to hide away you’re talking to Steve and he isn’t getting your subtle cues that you want to leave so he just keeps talking. You think he is talking about some sort of mission but honestly you don’t know because it physically hurts your brain to pay attention. You want to yell at him so badly but you can’t bring yourself to because he isn't trying to hurt you at all and he’s too nice to be angry at. 

“You agree Y/n?” You manage to make out. 

“Yes.” You say, not knowing what you’re even agreeing to.

“Great, I’ll go talk to the others, see you tomorrow for the morning training!” He says before walking off. You groan out loud as soon as you can no longer see him, partly because of how much your head hurts and partly because you accidentally told Steve that morning training was a good idea. This time you just plop yourself on the nearest couch and hope nobody finds you. 

---

You stumble into Bruce’s lab calling out for him. It had been over a week since your last migraine and encounter with Steve, one of the longest breaks you’ve had within recent memory but that came back to bite you in the ass when today’s was worse than ever before, even blurring your vision a little because of the pain. 

Bruce stands up from behind a pile of boxes. “Y/n, what brings you here.” 

“Pain meds now.” You order in a weak voice. He looks curious but doesn’t question you, heading towards a back cabinet and pulling out a bottle of pills. You immediately take two and swallow, ignoring him scolding you that you should only take one. Luckily since Bruce invented them himself it only took about five minutes for them to kick in. 

“Sorry, I had a really bad headache.” You tell him which is a half truth. 

He looks at you in concern. “Are you sure that was only a headache? It looked bad.” 

You wave him off, heading towards the door because you didn’t want him to ask anymore questions. “I’m fine Brucie, thanks again!” He sighs and shakes his head as he watches you leave, worried but deciding it’s not his place to badger you about it. 

---

Since every time you got a migraine you always ended up around one of the others you made a plan so that you could avoid everyone because you knew that one day your luck was going to end and Natasha would be the one to find you. You knew that she wouldn’t be mad at you or anything since you can’t control them but the relationship is still new and you don’t want to badger her with any of your problems. 

That’s why as soon as you start to feel a migraine coming on you hoist yourself up into the vents above your (sort of) shared room with Natasha where you had left a blanket and some pillows to relax with… only to find Clint waiting for you there. 

“I was wondering who had left these up there.” He says, seeming like it was a perfectly natural thing for him to be in the vents above your room. You decide not to question it, only sighing because you know that conversation would take up too many thoughts that you don’t have space for right now. You’re just so fucking done with your migraines and want them to go away. 

Clint notices your sadden expression and is serious for once. “Y/n, what’s going on?”

“I get these stupid fucking migraines and it only seems to be getting worse and I don’t want anyone to think I’m weak and I want Natasha but I don’t want to bother her with my problems.” You unload, holding back tears.

“I’m not going to lie to you, I don’t know how to make you feel better,” he confesses, “however why don’t you try to take a nap in your own bed and if you really don’t want Tasha to find you I can keep her distracted.” You nod and he helps you back out of the vents, climbing down after you. 

“Clint?” you say as he’s leaving the room and he turns around, “thanks.”

---

Clint makes his way to the common room where he sees Steve talking to Natasha. 

“Hey guys, what’s up?” He asks with a smile, faltering when he sees Natasha looks upset. “Nat, what’s wrong?”

“I think Y/n is going to break up with me.” She says, her voice thick with emotion. 

Steve frowns. “I told you not to jump to conclusions, maybe you should just talk to her.” Natasha just shakes her head, looking down and taking a deep breath, trying to regulate her emotions. 

“Y/n’s going to hate me for this,” Clint says as two pairs of eyes turn to him, “but you should go to your room, I promise that she’s not planning on breaking up with you.” 

Natasha noticeably brightens. “Are you sure?”

Clint nods. “I’m sure, she said not even five minutes ago that she wanted you. She’s going through some shit right now that you should talk to her about but she wouldn’t break up with you.” 

“Thanks.” Natasha replies, before hurrying to your shared room, worried about you after what Clint said. 

---

You curl up on the bed and let a few tears fall out and before long you are full on sobbing. You always try to stay strong and not cry but you just can’t deal with the migraines anymore. The bed shifts behind you and you sit up straight looking behind you. Natasha is climbing on to it and looking at you with a worried expression on her face. 

“I thought Clint was going to keep you busy.” You say, sniffling to try to stop your tears.

“He must have lied because he told me to come here.” She responds. 

“He’s an asshole.” 

She gives a small laugh. “Normally yes, but he did the right thing, I want to help you with whatever is upsetting you.” 

“You shouldn’t have to deal with me like this,” you tell her, “my migraines are my problem that I have to deal with.” 

She moves across the bed and puts her arms around you. “No sweetheart, I’m here with you.” You start to cry again, this time while it’s slightly from the pain it’s mostly because you feel so overwhelmed with how much she supports you. She pulls you in tightly to her chest, and plants a kiss on the top of your head. 

“I will always be here for you if you need something ok?” she says. “But now you need to rest.” 

“But-” you start to protest before she cuts you off. 

“No buts, you need sleep.” She says while shushing you. You wiggle back, trying to be as far into arms as possible before you slowly drift off, the pain of the migraine going away and all you can feel is warmth.

---

Taglist: @fayhar @stephanieromanoff @stop-drop-and-drumroll @acertainredhead​ (if you want to be added, comment, send an ask, or message me)

[whaleofatjme1920]

For the red string event!! I can guess you probably have a decent amount of these to do, so no pressure and honestly don't even worry about this if you don't want to do it! With that being said here we go!

--

[Anni, romantic, she/her, creepypasta/mh please]

Hello! So I suppose I'll start off simple, here are just some main things about me that may prove to be useful! I am best described as that one sarcastic asshole, like think of movies and I'd be the one side character that is constantly cracking sarcastic comments. Yeah, i'm being fully blunt here with how I am, my personality is somewhat of a acquired taste. I can be very charismatic though and people say i'm unique and very based with my opinions and beliefs. I'm someone who can come off a little cold/rude but I really don't mean to, I just kinda have vomit of the mouth sometimes and my empathy isn't the highest that it could be....

On a happier note, I am like a gremlin which means I'm pretty fun to be around. I'm also a klutz, ngl I have almost taken myself out by tripping over my feet, falling out of trees and falling up the stairs. I honestly could use someone that just keeps me out of trouble and stops me from doing impulsive things....like someone save me from myself please. I also have a habit of stealing peoples clothes, like the shirt i'm wearing right now isn't even mine....beware of any hoodies or flannels you may have...they might just vanish....

Lastly random stuff. I find smells like rain, cigarette smoke/campfire smoke, and vanilla comforting...weird mix, I know. I love going for walks specifically at night, i'm a entp and leo sun, and I love naps.

Now I offer you one of my shiny, plastic MVP trophies from my years of swimming, a cool shiny ring, a pair of socks with fat cats on them, and a freshly baked, homemade brownie!

[Disclaimer: The Red String of Fate event is a special event I'm running from August 12th, to whenever I feel it necessary to end - right now, I'm giving it to the first week of September! Check out rules HERE]

Yue Lao has managed to place the ring in one of his jewelry drawers, perhaps for a lovely lady of the courts to wear as it seems a lovely gift. The cat socks, while not appropriate for official business in heaven with the Jade Emperor, but he likes them all the same. The brownie is also a lovely touch, and while he does not let his cat nibble on it, he lets her take a whiff to which she starts purring. The trophy, however, does not feel like it is actually for him. Where would he place it? Instead, the God decides to use it as a gift for your soulmate, someone who, like him, would be proud of your achievements.

He searches around for a loving match for you, someone he thinks would light up your world like nobody else. He's seen quite a few men he thinks would suit you well, but one catches his eye over anyone else. A young man that seems to be just as carefree and wild as you by the name of Toby. He begins to tether the two of you together with a red string that's a tried and true classic, one that has birthed kingdoms from the love planted by it. He takes the trophy you've given him and places it carefully in a basket attached to his old friend's back and whisks the cat off to earth.

Bao's tiny paws flutter across the earth as she holds the treasure on her back. She moves quietly through the alleyways to the edge of the forest where the man and his group are hiding out. She can hear her God's voice in her ear, guiding her to his location. The red string that's just materialized on his finger is enough to give her direction, but she enjoys hearing his voice all the same. She wonders what you will think of being fated to someone like him.

She quietly walks along the mid autumn ground covered in fiery leaves and broken off branches left from a storm that fell not too long ago to find an odd little cabin in the middle of nowhere. The string loops around the side of the house to an open window, presumably to give the man inside of it fresh air. She climbs upwards, careful to not jostle the package too much to see a man in yellow sleeping. There's no red string attached to him, so she disregards him. She moves out of his room to the one directly across from it, where the string leads to. Softly, she steps in and sees her target. Purring, she hops up onto his bed and onto the proxy's chest, resting for the night.

In the morning, Toby awakes to a pressure on his chest. He can feel the low purr of a cat and almost smiles before wondering why on earth there's a cat on his chest. He quirks a brow up and then looks in the basket resting on her back. Hesitantly, he reaches in and plucks the trophy up to read it. There's a name alongside the achievement it's for. His eyes leave the plaque to see the cat's awoken, her curious jade colored eyes looking at him widely. She nudges her head against his palm before she leaps off his chest, earning a very concerned "hey!" before she runs out. In the kitchen, Masky can be heard making a small sound of surprise at the cat running through the living room and out of the cabin.

It's a little awkward, what happens next. Hoodie mentions Toby's string and Toby has to mention it to the boss. He has to find out who this trophy belongs to. Who will it lead him to? Kate almost laughs when she wakes up and sees it.

"It's a red string of fate, you dummy," she giggles before sliding a plate over to him for breakfast. "Whoever's on the other end is your soulmate."

After receiving permission to pursue this all the way, Toby leaves his group for a bit. He follows the string with his car, watching as it winds and guides him to you. His heart flutters, and every now and then, he can tell you're getting a little anxious too. The flashes of light that aren't from him must certainly be from you. He travels hours before finally needing gas, and might as well get some candy from the gas station too. He thinks he's the only person in here. After all, who else would be up this late at night and on such a silly quest like him?

He's bending down to get a can of monster when he fells his string tug, like you've just opened a door. His head pops up before he begins to scan the aisles. He knows you're near, and judging by how your string is tugging, you know it too. The two of you reach the counter together. The cashier isn't there, talking with someone in the backroom, which lets the two of you just stew in each other's presence. Toby glances at you, not blushing, he's not shy, but he is just a tad cocky.

When the cashier comes back, she smiles. "You two make a lovely couple."

[bethanysnow]

“I didn’t give it” (A fic for @maneskinbrainrot​ )

Måneskin was invited to perform for New York Fashion week with Gucci. Paraded around by the luxury brand was not a exactly- fun - thing for them to experience, but it paid the bills. Their manager knew this about them, so it wasn’t a big surprise for her to get a text message from Thomas saying they were ‘escaping’ and would be back by dinner. They were in New York City after all! Play tourist for a while in a country they felt a little more safe not to be spotted in. Especially on fashion week where all the art hoes came out of the woodwork. A couple Italians were nothin! With some rudimentary googling Vic found a cafe and a thrift store to barricade themselves in for the next hour or so. The streets of New York were messy and smelled funny, but were alive. The ground hadn’t been smoothed flat with a millennia of people. The brick buildings rose into the sky and the skyscrapers tore holes into heaven. 

People around them didn’t give them the time of day. No one was shouting their name. No one knew who they were, and if they did no one gave a flying fuck by the looks of it. It really was heaven. They loved their job of course, music was their life. But fame was bitter, grainy and left something stuck in their teeth. Here it was like they were nobodies. Not that they minded of course. Vic led the way to the thrift store she had found online, under a block of apartments was the glass window front. A green awning with golden letters of the store. The neon open sign was lit up so the band walked in. A brown countertop near the front of the store was personless. Racks on racks of clothes covered the floor. 50s-60s ball gowns hung from the ceiling beams. The air was musty just in the way vintage thrift stores tended to be. History on all sides by the articles people have worn. Rock music left the speakers pinned to the walls, playing Arctic Monkeys, Queen, and others. 

The band split up to look for a clerk of some kind. A store wouldn’t just be open by itself- right? 

Damiano went down a long aisle of what looked to be 70s memorabilia by the avocado green and bright yellow clothes. A neon red glow caught his attention. Making his way to the back of the store the glow came from a neon sign bent to look like a naked lady. Strategically placed ribbon over certain areas. A paper taped to a hanger with ‘XXX Lingerie section’ printed on it piqued his interest. Even more so when he looked in to find a beautiful woman laying on the red shag carpet cuddling up to a nighty asleep. 

“‘Scusa- Miss? Are you- do you work here?” Damiano asked quietly. Her eyes shot open and looked at where the voice came from. She held a hand to her heart, taking a breath.

    “Sorry! No uh, my best friend works here. I am just visiting, but I can help I guess. Whatsup?” She said getting up. Brushing off imaginary dirt from her hands as she reached her full height. She was shorter than him, her hair was slightly a mess from an interrupted nap. She’s cute. Damiano was lost in admiring her beauty until he blinked and she was waving her hand in front of his face, unaware that he was staring. 

    “Earth to dude, you ok?” She chuckled though still slightly concerned for his wellbeing. 

“Sorry- I'm Damiano, I’m here with friends of mine and we were checking things out. What was your name? I didn't catch it.” 

    “Cuz I didn’t give it.” She winked and Damiano’s blood pressure went higher. Attractive and a flirt too??? Fuck! 

He grinned at her as she was about to put the nighty she was using as a pillow up back on the rack. Damiano took his shot. 

“You know, it might look good on me. What do you think?” Holding it up against his body, the white silk ending just above the waistline of his pants. Leaning on the clothing rack he tilted his head to catch her eyes looking at the garment. “Look better on you though-” Whispering as her face froze and flushed a bright red. Quickly grabbing it and putting it back where it belonged she cleared her throat. 

    “No- uh I don’t wear that kinda stuff. But on you sure. You looking for anything specific?” 

“Besides your number? ...I was looking for some shirts honestly” She nodded and pointedly ignored his previous comment. 

The rest of the band were busy debating on a pair of corduroy pants Ethan was wearing as Damiano showed up with another person in tow. Introductions were made of who they all were and the woman offered some suggestions to the debate going on. But Damiano couldn’t help himself. 

“So Bellissima we have a gig going on later tomorrow if you want to join. Be our plus one as it were-” Vic raised a brow at that. Asking some random girl to go with them to something was one thing, but to ask a random girl to a gig at fashion week was another. And to top it off, a runway of one of the most well known luxury brands in the world. Her concerns were met with their singer giving her a look that meant he knew what he was doing. Or at least he thought he did. 

To Damiano's surprise the woman in front of him shrugged, looked at her phone checking something and said sure. SHE SAID SURE! That was enough for him. Soon the whirlwind of the band and their new found friend were busy trying on clothes and dancing through the store. Thomas' foot got stuck in a platform boot as another person walked into the enclave that they had made that afternoon. The woman that they had met earlier smiled and introduced them as her best friend- I.E the one who actually worked at the store. Explaining what had gone on and the fun chaos that had happened since. 

The day started to wind down and the band had all gotten texts from their manager telling them to come back to the hotel. Picking out their favorite pieces, it all was thrown onto the counter. The woman placed everything in bags, handing it to them once finished. 

As Damiano was to leave the woman he had met stopped him. 

    “You forgot something-” 

“I did?” Checking for his phone or wallet or whatever he could have misplaced. 

    “Yea here- hold on” She ripped out some paper from behind the counter and wrote on it slipping it into his front pocket. With a wink they left. Getting back to the hotel he pulled it out finally after it was burning a hole in his brain.

it read-

‘###-###-#### y/n <3 P.S. Nice music btw. L’altra dimensione slaps.’

[kyun-toast]

[ATEEZ] as University Students

a/n: I love college AUs but I'm British so I thought I'd chip in w some painfully British uni lad ateez

Hongjoong

Besties w his tutor

Got his life down on lock

One of those ppl that are always on top of their work, have acc done the reading and gets good grades but is still rlly cool and has a social life ygm

But thats only bc he lives in the library

Has a designated seat and there's an unspoken rule amongst the students that that's HIS spot, nobody sits in it

Often seen napping at said library spot

So well dressed. He’s one of those students that always catches your eye around campus or lecture halls

Bc he’s just so well dressed for a uni student running on 0 hours sleep and red bull

Probs studies smth like joint honours music and philosophy

Also Vice President of smth like filmsoc

Friends with the baristas at Starbucks bc he’s just in there for caffeine all the time

We all aspire to be like student hj, just more sleep pls

Seonghwa

Voted most eligible bachelor amongst students

Famous around campus just for being so pretty

He’s one of those ppl you see on like the first day of uni and it’s an instant crush

But you’ll never be able to do anything abt it you just have to admire from the other side of the lecture hall

Actually speaks up in seminars bc he’s done the reading sat next to hongjoong in the library

He looks like he’d play tennis for uni and varsity tickets would sell like crazy bc so many ppl have crushes on that man

He’d bring his lil meal prep packed lunches to uni lol what a little sweetheart

Been pictured in the uni prospectus at least once

Hongjoong makes him go w him to freshers fair for his society to use as bait so he stands there handing out leaflets for a soc he’s not even part of

Yunho

Doesn’t know what’s going on half the time he’s just happy to be there

This is v evident in lectures. Professor could be going on and on in a stats class and he’ll just sit there smiling

His gaming setup takes up most of his room and is also where most of his money goes

Texts u at 4am like hey u wanna get pizza

And you know he’s up at that time bc he’s been gaming all night

Still gets good grades despite the fact that all he does is game?

You ask him how he does it and he’s just like idk?

You are perplexed.

All soft in cute jumpers and hoodies but one day you’ll see him suited up at a formal and wow heart eyes

Super fun at parties too, have u seen that man dance?

You have multiple videos of him twerking

Yeosang

That mysterious boy at the back of class that doesn’t speak a lot but whenever he does its always smth smart af

Types really loud on his macbook

Looks like he doesn’t have any friends

But outside of lectures he’s always w friends that look equally as mysterious and cool

No one on your course knows anything abt him

But you see him at a house party once and he’s just stuffing his face w food having a great time

Feel like his alcohol tolerance is super low

Two shots and he’s out cold

And then you’ll see him again at some niche soc social like basket weaving or smth

Works part time at a cool clothing store like allsaints or cos

Chicken shop connoisseur, knows the best places in town

San

Actually studies rlly hard, i can tell he always gives 110% on whatever he’s set his mind to

Soft student always in oversized hoodies, spinning pens, v enthusiastic and pays attention in lectures

But when hes w wooyoung oh man

The enabler, 110% attitude towards drinking too

Pours drinks w 80% alc 20% mixer

“my mother didn’t raise a quitter”

Type to sprint home from the club bc he doesnt wanna waste money on uber

Will make animal friends otw and bring them home

You wake up and come downstairs the next morning and theres just a pigeon in your living room

On the athletics team which is why he may find it instinctive to run home when he’s drunk

San would like for there to be a greggs on campus

Mingi

ALWAYS napping in lectures, seminars, during lunch, in the library, u name it

Knows the best spots for it tho.

You didn’t know there was a secluded spot w bean bags under the stairs at the back of the library until mingi told you

Never missed 9am lectures but will nap through them instead

Gets freshers flu every year and the cough lasts for months

You hear someone cough in the room over and ur like oh, well there’s Mingi

Gives you the best advice at 4am in the library

Also best cuddles

Studies smth like aerospace engineering but regrets it bc he didn’t know what he was getting himself into

Considers dropping out every exam season but always pulls through w good grades?

Wooyoung

Bnoc thats all i have to say

Has like 4k followers on ig

Always running around campus for no reason

Woo and san together at parties u know its going to be buck fckin wild

Always got ppl swooning over him but he just wants to have fun!

No time for relationships! Only alcohol!

When he studies tho? £3 meal deal and writes 2 sentences kind of guy

Business management OR marketing student I can feel it in my bones

The type to tell u funny stories in a silent library and it takes everything in u to stop laughing

Ppl will look over at you two and youre just holding your breaths on the verge of exploding

Security will kick u out at one point

Tight w the local kebab shop bossman

Jongho

Brings everything in a backpack to uni like a year 7

Need a hole punch? Ask jongho. Painkillers? Jongho. Assortment of multi coloured pens? Jongho

Writes the best notes

They're all colour coordinated in different folders for different modules

All the office ladies dote on him bc he’s so sweet

They all offer him tea and biscuits

Youngest but is the voice of reason in the group

Wy will be like do u wanna get drunk in the library

And jongho is like bro ur deadline is tomorrow are u ok

The type to be filming all the other guys when theyre up to some questionable stuff for the memories

Feel like he’d be on committee for whatever course he’s studying

I get pharmacy vibes from this boy

Got job offers lined up for when he graduates

[jingyismom]

Happy birthday Lan Jingyi!

word + mood prompted minithreads part 1:

river + sleepy

The sun is high and insects buzz all around their boat. It's too hot to be anywhere right now, but Jingyi supposes the river isn't the worst place to be. He squints up at the disciple steering them.

"We're not gonna hit any rapids or anything right?"

She shakes her head with only a slightly pitying look. Jingyi ignores it. How is he supposed to know river topography? He's not a fish.

Mm. Fish.

"Sizhui, are you hungry?" 

Sizhui does that thing where he is Not Rolling His Eyes. "No, Jingyi, I am not hungry half a shichen after eating."

Jingyi sighs. It's too hot is what it is. He yawns.

"Well if there's no excitement and no food, I'm taking a nap."

Nobody says anything. He takes this as enthusiastic support, and stretches out against the side of the boat.

"Wake me when something interesting happens."

"With Jingyi asleep, how could anything be interesting?" Sizhui deadpans. 

Jingyi lets his fingers trail in the cool water, smiling. He reaches back to lazily flick droplets at his friend and listen to the quiet, indignant sound he can't keep from making.

"Such a good point," he says. "Wake me when you miss me."

There's a beat of silence. 

"Then don't go to sleep."

Jingyi huffs into his sleeve to hide his embarrassed flush.

"Can't hear you. I'm asleep already."

"Apologies."

Jingyi can hear the grin in his voice. It's nice. He sleeps. 

~

ramen + anxiety

The dorm is far too quiet, and it's driving Jingyi out of his mind, but he knows he can't put on music and do calculus at the same time. It just doesn't work. Not that his brain and calculus work all that great anyway, but the point is, he's trying. Really, he is. 

His phone buzzes and he grabs it so fast he almost fumbles it across the room. It's a text from Sizhui.

"What are you eating?"

Jingyi lets his head drop to his desk. What time even is it? Like 6?

He checks. It's 9pm.

"Ramen," he types back, defeated. It's all he has.

Or at least, he thinks he has a packet left. He's not sure. He's been too busy to keep track. Between classes, and training, and service hours liberating old ladies' cats, he's hardly had time to breathe. And now he has a test, not a quiz, a TEST, and it's tomorrow MORNING, and he doesn't even know what he's doing with half the material.

And it's 9pm. And he /thinks/ he has ramen. He may just starve.

He stares at his textbook for another interminable period of time until his phone buzzes again. It's Jin Ling, this time.

"come downstairs. bring ur miserable ramen."

Jingyi shoots out of his seat and throws on a sweatshirt. He's not entirely certain he wants to deal with whatever Jin Ling has in mind but it's better than sitting here staring into space. He grabs the ramen and half runs downstairs.

The teeny tiny kitchen is full of people. Sizhui is chopping vegetables. Zizhen is boiling water and heating oil in a pan. Jin Ling is sitting at the table, arms crossed, bowls and utensils and more packets of ramen spread like tarot in front of them. 

"...Hey," Jingyi says, a little overwhelmed.

"Hey!" Zizhen calls, jiggling the pan as Sizhui throws something green into it. "Heard we're having ramen?"

Jingyi sinks into the chair across from Jin Ling.

"Yeah,” he says, grateful beyond words. "It was all I had."

~

rabbits + longing

"You shouldn't slouch," says Sizhui, "you're supposed to be setting an example."

Jingyi motions vaguely at the little disciples filing off the practice field, then leans his head on his fist. "They're not even looking."

"Hm."

It's disapproving sound. Jingyi glances at him sidelong.

"What, no speech?"

Sizhui gives a little shake of his head.

"Am I too pathetic for dignity? Is that what you're saying?"

Sizui frowns hard. "No. Of course not."

"I am," Jingyi insists. 

He sprawls on his back along the low wall on which they're sitting. "I'm pathetic. I can't think. I can't eat. I can't even teach basic sword forms. Sizhui, how am I supposed to be a person anymore."

"Jingyi," Sizhui pleads. 

"No, I'm serious. All I can think about is-- is his hair. And his smile. And you know, you know how sometimes he just-- he smells like rain? How does he do that? I'll never even know because he hardly knows I exist. How am I supposed to exist?"

Sizhui sighs. Deeply. 

"I don't know what to tell you. I wish I did."

"I just--" Jingyi breaks off, horrified by the crack in his voice. "Oh fuck, I just really...I want...I don't know."

Pressure builds in his chest, familiar over the last few weeks. He feels like he might burst. He presses his hands to his eyes, determined not to cry over this. Well, not again.

"You know, Hanguang-jun would say that the world itself is enough to live for, even when it's hurting you."

Jingyi peeks at him out of one eye. "Did he say that? When?"

"Last year," Sizhui says, looking at his hands.

He doesn't have to say more. Last year was especially hard for Sizhui. An extended family trip with his undead cousin helped, but really, how much can something like that improve things? 

"Well, if Hanguang-jun said it..." he says, wry. It's a common refrain, but not entirely reassuring just now. "Still, I--"

"Hanguang-jun!" Sizhui says, standing.

Jingyi scrambles to follow, straightening his rumpled robes. "Hanguang-jun."

HGJ is striding toward them out of the trees. Jingyi hasn't seen him alone since Wei-qianbei came back. He hopes everything is still okay.

"Sit," he says when he reaches them. They sit. HGJ stares at them, then glances around the empty field. "Behind the wall, on the ground."

Jingyi exchanges a glance with Sizhui, but they both clamber over it to sit behind. HGJ walks around it, stately, and then goes to his knees in front of them.

Jingyi stares, breathless, absolutely certain they're about to receive some great cultivation secret, perhaps even the key to immortality. HGJ is so serious, and careful, and has never asked him to join him somewhere private before. This is it. It's happening. He doesn't know what it is but it's happening right now.

"Be careful," HGJ says. "Do not frighten them." 

Jingyi nods. He'll be so careful. He doesn't know who not to frighten but he'll work on it-- he's generally not very intimidating anyway, it should be fine.

HGJ leans toward him. He extends his arms.

And deposits two small, round, perfectly white bunnies in Jingyi's lap. 

"H-- Hanguang-jun?"

Jingyi stares at the creatures. They're warm, and look very soft. They seem sleepy.

"When you feel better," HGJ says, "Sizhui will show you where they live."

Jingyi looks up at him, at the serene expression on his face, and his earlier resolve crumbles. 

"Th-thank you Hanguang-jun," he says, wiping tears and snot off his face.

"Mn."

HGJ stands and takes his leave. Sizhui pats his arm. The bunnies nuzzle his hands.

~

affection + congee

After one of the most miserable nights of Jingyi's life, the rising sun shines into his eyes. He rolls over and pulls the blanket over his head. Everything is awful. His head hurts. His face hurts. His throat hurts for some reason? He can barely breathe.

He feels like a boiled cabbage. He knows he should be getting up, Hanguang-jun will expect him to be at breakfast with everyone else, but he just can't. Not yet.

He pouts to himself, whimpering pathetically as he pictures Hanguang-jun’s disappointed face. He can't survive it.

He hears the door open, and forces himself upright, trying not to list to the side.

"Up, 'm up," he says, and tries to get out of bed.

He can't really see out of his watery eyes but he assumes it's Sizhui come to collect him.

"Aiyo, get back in bed you little nuisance, your thumping around will wake the whole inn," comes a different voice entirely. Brisk hands push him down and pull the covers over him. "That yao really did a number on you, huh? Who's ever heard of a sinus infection curse?? Bad luck."

"Not luck," Jingyi says, mulish. "Pushed Jin Ling out of the way."

"I know, I know," Wei-qianbei goes on, and Jingyi thinks he might be dreaming what he says next. "You were very brave, we all saw. Jin Ling is grateful."

Jingyi frowns. "That doesn't sound right."

Wei-qianbei chuckles. "Just take it. And this, here, it'll help you feel better."

A spoon appears in front of his face, full of something pale.

"Wei-qianbei," he says slowly, "is this...your congee?"

A snort. "No. Hanguang-jun made it, just for you."

Jingyi blinks up at him. "He did?"

"Mhmm," Wei-qianbei nods, his mouth pressed tightly closed.

Jingyi has a feeling he's being made fun of. He pouts, but takes the spoon and puts it in his mouth.

"Wow. Good."

"Of course it is, I made it."

Jingyi gapes. "You--"

Wei-qianbei ruffles his hair. "Someone had to take care of you and I drew the short straw. Eat up, and you /will/ feel better, alright?"

"...alright." Jingyi concedes. It seems to be helping already, somehow. "I will."

"That's a good little duckling."

Wei-qianbei laughs at his grimace and pats his shoulder.

"You look more like yourself already."

~

part 2 of these minithreads posted in a reblog later today <3

[annaofthenorthernlights]

Cruising beyond sunrise

This is my fanfic-contribution to the Frozen Fanzine Volume 5: Summer lovin - organised by @frozines! Hope you enjoy - happy frozine everyone ❤️

Pairing: Kristanna, modern AU setting

Rating: G

Summary: Anna and Kristoff set out for their individual summer jobs on a cruising ship along Norway´s coastline. Meeting "accidently" on the way to Hamburg´s harbour, the journey spins off "kristanna-slow burn-style..."

Chapter 1 / 4 (find the complete fic on AO3)

Somewhere in Southern Germany

For Anna, the invitation for this summer job came right in time. All her family would not be there during those long following weeks. Her parents were abroad on business reason, and Elsa had decided to join the summer camp of the philharmonic orchestra. She was a fabulous harp player after all. But then, Anna felt lonely. After breaking up with that unfaithful brat of a boyfriend… It had already been so many weeks since the disastrous night, where she had walked right in the middle of things, with him being served in the most intimate ways by his secretary… Yack! Anna´s eyes still filled with tears of fury and disappointment when the scenery flashed back before her inner eye.

Her suitcase was finally packed, and all her music devices sorted and stored neatly within her luggage. Anna was ready to depart and embark on the summer trip of her life! If only she wouldn´t feel so lonely… Ah, well, soon she would be surrounded by lots of people and fun programs. She was ready to go!

Somewhere else in Southern Germany

Normally, Kristoff would not travel inland by plane. But the ticket was paid by the shipping company, and he was kind of short on time. So, he would accept the offer and was on his way to Munich airport. He had mastered his finals and until starting his new job, he could just as well earn some money with this summer occupation. It might be a good start off into his career. Still, being surrounded by numerous people all day long, that was not his vision of a quiet and peaceful summer. With a sigh, he stuffed the ticket in his travel bag.

His suitcase was packed, and all his literature supply sorted neatly within his luggage. Kristoff was ready to risk the wave of vacation feeling washing over him.

***

The flight from Munich to Hamburg would take approx. 1 hour. Already they were delayed due to rain and maintenances still going on. Kristoff tried to relax in his seat, but then this size of airplane was not built for big guys like him. He tried to stretch and stretch his legs into the aisle without hindering the still boarding passengers. He desperately hoped they would take off soon, so he could leave this cocoon like cage after their landing. So, he flicked through the plane magazine to distract himself, when he noticed a person stopping just by his side. The woman was about to store her bag just atop of his head. She was small, tiptoed to the upmost maximum and stretched to the extent that Kristoff thought she was about to do pull-ups while dangling at the storage box. Some sort of moaning and sighing noises came to his ears, but nobody seemed obliged to help the tiny lady.

“You need help up there?” he asked, peering up from his seat.

“Huh?” the young woman glanced down between her arms and smiled at him. “That´s very kind of you, thanks, but I manage.” She then somehow shrank back to her normal size and stood there, with a shy grin and pulled up shoulders.

“I´m sorry, but may I…?” She pointed to the window seat.

“Oh, yes, sorry.” Kristoff made some efforts to peel himself out of his seat. For some reason, he seemed stuck. This was ridiculous and he swore under his breath, in his mind strangling the architect of this seating construction.

“Oh, you know what? Don´t bother yourself. Just hang on.” And with that, before Kristoff realised what was happening, the young lady started to climb over his legs, holding on with one hand to the backrest of his seat and with the other to the seat in front of them. Within a jiffy she´d swung herself with ease into the seat next to him and wriggled herself into a cosy position. Of course, she was small and delicate of figure. She could move in here like a little fish in the water. For a short moment, Kristoff envied the small person next to him. But then, excuse me, how rude was her behaviour. He couldn´t help to clear his throat and then stare back at his magazine. What else was there to do?

“Oh no!” The girl exclaimed.

“You´re alright?” Kristoff asked vaguely, glancing over briefly.

“I left my mobile up in my bag, and I thought of listening to some music.” She gnawed on her lips and was about to get up.

“Would you mind? I´m so sorry. But you don´t need to bother yourself again. I can just as well…”

“No. No. That´s totally fine, really!” Kristoff pushed himself out of his seat as fast as he could before someone could climb over him again for the second time within two minutes…

“Oh thanks! That´s so kind!”

After the energetic neighbour had plumped herself back into her window seat, Kristoff turned his attention to his book that he had fished out of his bag before sitting back again.

After the plane had taken off, the flight continued in a peaceful manner, for the girl had plugged her earpads and was listening to music all the time. Only the snack break would stop her from napping with little snores or then happily humming along to the songs. According to the tunes that emerged from her lips, she had to be listening to ABBA.

It was hard concentrating that way, but after a while Kristoff got used to it and for some reason the humming didn´t bother him as much anymore.

And when the plane finally landed, he was off as fast as possible to escape that tiny place and the crowd of people that were all around him.

***

Anna stood at the docks in awe. She had never been on a ship like this one or seen anything like it from close up. Excitement filled her and the thought of being part of this adventure for the next two weeks. The change of tapestry would do her good, she was sure. Since that dreadful time of new year, Anna hadn´t been able to go anywhere or participate in any activity really. The shock of catching Hans, cheating on her in such a horrifying way, had kept her ensnared for weeks. Her family hadn´t been of much help. Of course, they´d been helpless as well. In their ways, leaving her alone, for a good reason, Anna understood them. Finally, she had found relief and regained her composure by repeatedly talking to her aunt Gerda, who had shown her so much appreciative value and heart-care!

“Hi there. Are you alright?”

The friendly voice next to her interrupted her thoughts. Anna turned to face a lovely woman with big almond shaped eyes and ebony skin. Her hair was an impressive bunch of black, neatly combed into a braid that fell all down over her chest.

“Oh, hi. I´m sorry. I´ve never been on a ship like this and had to take a long look first.”

“Yes. It´s quite impressive, isn´t it. By the way, I´m Honeymaren.”

“Oh, I´m Anna. Nice to meet you. Are you going to work here, too?”

“Yes, I´m the 1st hostess and here to help if you have any questions. So, what are you going to do aboard?”

“Me? Oh, I´m here as a fitness instructress.”

“Ah. That is fantastic. Welcome aboard Arendelle lights! Come on, I will show you around and sign you in, alright?”

Anna was so grateful to have met Honeymaren. First, she seemed so kind and then, Anna would have a safe contact in case of an emergency on her behalf. She was about to get a bit nervous, though. If only she would not mess this up and make a fairly good job here!

Her cabin was alongside the other staff lodges, and she loved it. It was cosy, furnished and the bullseye-window was so cute!

The passengers would check in only the next morning, and for tonight there would be some sort of welcome party for all the ship-staff. Anna was looking forward to this event immensely. She desperately hoped to find some nice people to hang out with for the next two weeks and not being left on her own.

***

“Good evening, Dr. Bjorgman. Welcome aboard Arendelle lights. I hope you´re satisfied with your cabin and all?”

“Yes. Thank you. All fine.”

“That´s great. Have you met the captain yet?”

“Yes, I have. Thank you.”

“Wonderful. Well anyway. Enjoy your stay aboard and if you need anything or have any requests, don´t hesitate to contact me. Alright?”

“Yes. Thank you. As a matter of fact, that might well be the case since this is my first cruising tour you know.”

“Ah. Don´t worry. You´re not alone there. Our fitness instructress is new to this , too. You two might just as well stick together then?” Honeymaren smiled and winked sheepishly.

Dr. Bjorgman didn´t get it but was wondering how long he was supposed to endure this event, when the hostess put a hand onto his arm and waved with the other.

“Oh. There she is. Just hang on a second, I´ll introduce you. Hey Anna! Over here!”

Kristoff followed Honeymaren´s gestures and spotted an auburn-haired girl, who waved back into their direction excitingly. The humming girl! She hurried towards them, stopping abruptly upon seeing him. Her eyes widened and she pressed her lips together, pulling up her shoulders while stepping up to them.

“Hi there!” Anna lifted a shy hand to greet them both, constantly looking back and forth between Honeymaren and the man standing next to her.

“Hi Anna. May I introduce? This is Dr. Bjorgman. Dr. Bjorgman, this is Anna, our fitness instructress. You two might have business to talk?” With that, Honeymaren left them to themselves, she was needed somewhere else.

Silence.

“So, I hear this is your first cruising trip, too?” Kristoff asked awkwardly. Meeting the sportive lady again had not been on his mind to be honest.

“Yes, indeed. Goodness… Had I known.” Anna put a hand to her chest and shook her head, obviously embarrassed. “Seriously, I´m so sorry for bothering you on that flight and isn´t it funny, we sat right next to each other? But I was so nervous getting here. I mean excitingly nervous, not nervously nervous, you know?”

Her expression seemed truly apologetical, but friendly and enthusiastic.

No. He would know nothing about the feeling of being excitingly nervous.

“Yeah, sure. Don´t worry.”

They were standing, looking at the people mingling and grabbing drinks from the bar.

“Would you know what we are supposed to do now?” Anna asked uncertainly, gnawing on her lips.

She was nervous after all.He could tell.

“Frankly, I don´t know. For my part, I don´t like such functions. But I guess it´s part of the job.”

“Oh. I love meeting people. I´m just kind of unsure where to start.”

Why not getting her over to that bunch of people and then take a leave?

“We could grab a drink at the bar and join the party?” offered Kristoff with a sigh. Anna nodded feverishly and smiled at him, grateful for his suggestion.

So, when they got to the bar, the barkeeper greeted them with a friendly nod, offering them a “welcome drink”.

“Hellloooo!” A cheering voice sang into their ears from behind and Kristoff and Anna turned to look at a rather little fellow with light hair and big eyes. He grinned broadly and shook their hands enthusiastically.

“Hi! I´m Olaf and I love meeting you all!”

“Oh. How nice! And what are you doing here?” Anna beamed upon meeting someone so refreshing.

Olaf´s face lit up even more at Anna´s remark and he explained, “I´m responsible for the evening entertainment. And youare…?”

“Oh. I´m Anna. I´m the fitness instructress.”

“Aha. That´s lovely. And who is that funny looking grumpy head?” Olaf leaned towards Anna, conspiringly glancing in Kristoff´s direction.

“Oh. That´s… Dr. Bjorgman.” Anna shrugged, unsure of how to address the medical crew member respectfully. But Olaf wasn´t satisfied.

“Gosh, no. That´s too complicated. We are family here!” He waved a hand demandingly at Kristoff. The latter sensed his chances, repressed an amused chuckle, but smirked at the little one.

“It´s Kristoff.”

With that, he waved his goodbyes, wished them a nice evening, and left.

Maybe this wouldn´t be so bad after all. So far, they all seemed to be a friendly bunch of guys. And Anna was safely left in good hands with this Olaf.

This way, Kristoff felt less guilty… If you like to read on... find the complete fic on AO3

[goldenlaurelleaveswrites]

Fang’s Big Day

I wrote this because @blueberryrambles wanted to see the wedding from Worry and this ended up happening. I never planned on writing this, it just happened. That being said I had a lot of fun writing it, and I hope you have fun reading it! 

If you prefer to read on AO3 click here.

If you want to keep track of the parts, here is the master post for this fic. 

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Fang couldn’t wait. He had been waiting so long for this day to come. And now it was finally here.

His big day.

The day he would get to wear the flower crown Marinette had made for him. And carry all the pretty flowers. And he got to be in charge of all the flowers! All by himself.

He was even going to have his picture taken with his dad and the rest of the family! And there was going to be a party!

He couldn't wait.  

A commotion at the other end of the room drew his attention.

The big man who always snuck him extra treats, and the nice lady who always gave the best chin scratches, were following Marinette around as she paced. He didn’t understand what any of them were saying, but he did know that Marinette was agitated. He liked Marinette, and he didn’t want her to be upset.

Especially on his big day.

He made his way over to her, careful not to dislodge his flower crown or rumple her fancy dress; it wouldn’t do to ruin her clothes when she had dressed up for his special day.

Gently, he laid his snout on her foot and nuzzled her. It seemed to work because she stopped fretting and knelt to scratch his head.

“Thak you, Fang.”

                                                            ***

He was very careful to keep his steps in time with the music as he trotted down the aisle. After all, his dad was a musician. He was a good boy, and he didn’t want to disappoint anyone.

Which was why he was sure to shake his basket of flowers as hard as he could to scatter the blossoms onto the floor.

Over the past few months, he had learned a great deal about flowers. There were lots of different types of flowers; some were meant to sit in jugs on tables to block people from each other’s view, some were meant to be carried around, and some were meant to be left on the floor for people to walk on. He had learned so much about flowers in fact, that some might even call him an expert.

And as flower girl, his first job was to make sure there were enough flowers for Marinette to walk on.

                                                         ***

Fang was getting bored.

He had been sitting at the alter, perched on the step beside Marinette and Luka, for what felt like ages. And nobody was showing any interest in the flowers. It didn’t help that the lady, the officiant, apparently, whatever that meant, had been talking for ages.

Things had started out well enough.

The aisle had been thoroughly covered in flowers by the time he had made it to the end, and Marinette had seemed thrilled when she came down the aisle. She had been practically glowing, no doubt with pride for his job well done.

There had been a small hiccup when she tried to hand her bundle of flowers to her friend, but he had been quick to correct her mistake. He didn’t make hold it against her; she had undoubtedly been a little nervous standing in front of all those people, and the flowers had ended up in his basket in the end.

Her friend had seemed annoyed, but as flower girl, the flowers were his responsibility. It was his job to make sure they were well taken care of; he had been the one entrusted with the job after all.

There had been another ruckus when partway through whatever the lady, Marinette, and Luka were loudly discussing — he still wasn’t entirely sure why all the people sitting in the chairs were so engrossed in the conversation — the blond man who always smelled like stinky cheese had raised a fuss.

The man had been shouting something about Marinette and soles —though he wasn’t entirely sure what fish had to do with the situation — and people had started gasping. Luka, Marinette, and all the other people standing at the front had looked angry. The people in the chairs had been gasping.

He had been angry. Just who did this guy think he was, ruining his big day?

Marinette had shouted something at the man, who had eventually sat back down and started sulking. Marinette could be as fierce as any croc worth their scales when she wanted to be, but for good measure, he had been sure to growl and hiss anytime the man looked back up.

But that had been a while ago, and nothing particularly interesting had happened since. He was tempted to just curl up and take a nap, but Marinette and his dad were counting on him to take care of the flowers.

Napping would just have to wait. He had important responsibilities to see to.

                                                      ***

Fang gnawed at what was left of the last of his dinner. He was content, stomach full of roast chicken and croque-en-bouche. The food had been delicious, but even the decadent food couldn’t distract him from the way the photographer had treated him.  

Taking the pictures had been fun, even if the photograph seemed scared of him. But it hadn’t lasted nearly long enough. After what had been plenty of group shots, as well as shots of various groups, and a couple of just him, Marinette, and Luka, he had been rudely ushered away by the photographer.

He wasn’t used to being told what to do, except on rare occasions by his dad. The fact that the photographer had shouted at him when he tried to join Marinette and Luka for more pictures had added insult to injury.

He growled at the empty plate in front of him, still disgruntled.

He should have been in those pictures.

It was his big day.

And he was the flower girl.

                                                       ***

A third helping of dessert, and several guests taking pictures of him, had helped him forget about the rude photographer.

Now he was on the prowl for something to do; he had already checked on all the flower arrangements and gotten belly rubs from his dad.

He made his way through the room towards the dancefloor. It had been busy throughout the night, surely there would be something for him to do.

By the time he made his way to the dancefloor, there was a big gaggle of women gathering a little bit away from Marinette. He was confused. Marinette wasn’t facing the people; she had her back turned to them, with her flowers held out in front of her. He edged closer to get a better look.

Suddenly, Marinette’s bundle of flowers went sailing through the air. Towards the women!

His dad had been very firm in what his job was. As flower girl, he was responsible for the flowers.

He knew what he had to do.

Mouth wide open in anticipation, he scrambled towards the women, where the flowers were headed. He watched as they seemingly inched through the air. He ignored the women as they began to scream and run away from him; he had to focus on getting the flowers before they fell.

They were his responsibility.

He hissed in glee as he caught them in his mouth, and with his tail waving proudly, he made his way back to Marinette to present her with the flowers that she dropped.

Maybe he would even get an extra treat for saving them.

[cheri-translates]

Headcanon - when someone strikes up a conversation with you

This work, 当有人找你搭讪, was originally written by 君兮耶君兮 on Weibo, and she has given me permission to translate it 🌸

[ VICTOR ]

The fortnightly report in LFG is happening this afternoon. Dressed in elegant and intelligent work attire, your high heels click against the floors of LFG as you head towards Victor’s office.

Victor’s still in a meeting, so you have no choice but to wait for him in the office. A new intern carries a stack of documents and knocks on the door, and you give him an apologetic smile. “CEO Victor is still in a meeting.”

The intern waves using his free hand. “That’s okay, I’ll wait here... may I know who you are?”

Apart from Goldman, nobody else in LFG knows about your relationship with Victor. As of now, you aren’t ready to disclose it to everyone yet.

“I’m the person in charge of a TV production company.”

After hearing your self-introduction, he scratches his head and makes a request.

“Ah, I’ve heard of you. Miss, would you like to give me your phone number? I could let you know in advance if CEO Victor is in a meeting, so you can save yourself the trouble from making a trip here.”

You knit your brows. “I don’t think that’s necessary.”

“I happen to be responsible for addressing queries related to investments. If you don’t mind, we could talk about it over dinner?” Hearing your rejection, he immediately fires a second invitation.

“She minds.”

A mildly displeased voice drifts from the doorway. You turn, not knowing how long Victor has been standing there.

Surprised, you rush over to pull on his arm.

“I’m really sorry, I have dinner plans with my boyfriend,” you tell the intern.

Blood drains from the intern’s face. After saying a quick goodbye, he leaves the office hurriedly.

You lift your head and shoot him a smile. “Teacher Victor, are you jealous?”

He responds with a dark expression. “No.”

With a puff of laughter, you continue teasing him. “If that’s the case, I’ll have dinner with that boy then?”

“You dare to do that?”

It’s unusual for him to wear his emotions on his sleeves. Clearly, the attempt to steal what belongs to him has left him infuriated. 

However, basking in the happy fact that Victor is jealous, you fail to notice it, and even tug on his arm. “Teacher Victor, you were jealous! Teacher Victor, your ears are red!”

“You’re prohibited from laughing.”

Presented with this rare opportunity to mock him, you won’t let go of this chance so easily. “Little Vic is just too adorable! Let Big Sister shower you with affection!”

“Looks like you aren’t clear-headed.”

You reach out to pat his head, even courting death by tousling it. 

“No more pudding this month.”

?!

“Great Victor, I was wrong QAQ”

[ GAVIN ]

Recently, there seems to be a dip in Loveland City’s security, resulting in a spate of daylight thefts. Unfortunately, you were one such victim.

You didn’t tell Gavin about this, because he has been away on a mission for a week. The last time you were on the phone with him, he mentioned that he’d still need another three days. Not wanting him to worry, you decide to report the incident to the police station. The person who attends to you is a young police officer.

“Please describe in detail the situation during the time of the incident.” The police officer requests, his face slightly red.

“I was walking along Finance Street on my way home when a motorcyclist snatched my bag from behind.” 

You do your best to convey everything that happened to the police officer, who then informs you that he will contact you should there be any developments in the case. Because of that, he takes down your phone number.

After a few days, you receive a call from a foreign number. Thinking it’s a business partner, you answer without hesitation.

“H-hello. May I know if you’re that lady who reported the daylight theft incident? We’ve caught the motorcyclist. C-could I ask if you... you have time this afternoon to drop by the police station to con-confirm that it’s your bag?”

Only after a moment do you realise that the person stuttering at the other end of the line is that police officer.

“Sure, I’ll go over at 5pm, is that okay?”

The officer’s voice seems to perk up. “O-of course! See you later then!”

You treat it as him simply being happy to have solved a case, so you don’t put much thought into it. After work, you head to the station and confirm that the suspect caught was indeed the person who had stolen your items. After filing in documents and retrieving your bag, you realise that apart from your money, everything else is intact.

Just as you’re about to leave, the police officer suddenly appears with a rose in his hand. “Miss, I... I like you. Will you... be my girlfriend?”

The confession, which came out of absolutely nowhere, leaves you stunned.

“What are the both of you doing?!”

Before you can react, a chilly and clear voice cuts through the air. It’s Gavin, who has just made his triumphant return!

The moment you see him, the many days of longing courses through your veins, and you lunge towards him, wrapping your arms around his neck, nuzzling your head into his chest. “Gavin, you’re finally back! I missed you so much...”

Gavin’s firm arms gently encase you, and his eyes brim with affection, his voice containing insuppressible tenderness. “I’m sorry. I came back late and caused you to worry.”

Shaking your head, you rub your tears onto Gavin’s clothes.

“Why are you at the station? Did something happen?” Gavin comes to his senses and looks at you worriedly. You explain everything to him.

“How are you? Are you hurt?” Mother Gavin’s first priority is always you.

Even after telling him that you’re completely fine, he still turns you around twice, verifying your state for himself before he relaxes.

“Captain G-Gavin, this is...” The police officer’s voice interrupts, his face pale as he looks at Gavin.

“This is my wife.”

The tone he uses with others is colder by several degrees, completely void of the warmth he has when talking to you. His glares piercingly at the rose.

The police officer visibly trembles. “I won’t disturb Captain Gavin and... Sister-in-law then.” He hugs the rose to his chest, dashing away from the scene.

You tilt your head upwards with a massive grin. “Captain Gavin~ Jealous?”

He coughs softly, rubbing his neck as he faces the side, with no intention of replying.

Seeing this, you tug on his tie, forcing him to lower his head. Quickly, you plant a kiss on his lips. The tips of his ears turn red, and his gaze shifts around unnaturally.

With the joy of someone whose prank was a success, you ask, “So, Officer Gavin, can we go home now?”

Gavin smiles, taking your hand in his.

“Mm, let’s go home.”

[ LUCIEN ]

Ever since you got into a relationship with Lucien, you’d attend his seminars when you have time to spare, becoming a regular guest in Loveland University.

After submitting a report on Friday and seeing that it’s still early, you prepare to head over to the university to make up for lost sleep listen in.

Walking into the large seminar room, Lucien gives you a slight smile from the lectern. After giving him a wave, you look for a seat and settle down.

Biological concepts of cells and molecules are gibberish to you. Paired with Lucien’s unique and gentle voice, you soon grow drowsy, your head bobbing. Seeing this, Lucien inconspicuously pulls open the curtains, inviting the sharp sunlight into your eyes. 

Suddenly, someone pokes your back from behind. 

“Classmate, wake up.”

You whip your head around - it’s a bespectacled male student.

“It’s really hard to keep up in Professor Lucien’s classes. You’ve got to pay serious attention!” He gives you a small smile.

You nod, straightening up to show that you’d definitely listen carefully. But not taking a nap on this beautiful summer afternoon seems to be a waste of this conducive environment. Very soon, you start dozing off again.

The boy sitting behind you proves to be stubborn. Whenever your head bobs slightly, he’d poke you gently to wake you up.

With his amicable reminders, you get through an incredibly “cheerful” lesson. After the class is finally dismissed, the boy gives you yet another poke.

“Classmate, could you give me a way to contact you? Next time, we could sit together during Professor Lucien’s class so I can wake you up when needed.”

You shake your head. Just as you’re about to reject him, a strong arm forcefully tugs you several steps backwards.

Turning, you see that Lucien’s standing behind you, holding a bundle of files. He wraps an arm around your waist and pulls you to him.

“Student, do you need anything? It’s been a while since class ended ^-^”

You know that when Lucien smiles this smile, things aren’t good. He’s definitely jealous again. 

“P-professor.” The male student stares at the hand around your waist, realisation dawning on him.

“Wife, you didn’t tell me that you were dropping by my class. I would have reserved a seat for you.” Lucien crinkles his eyes as he looks at you, but all you feel is coldness creeping up your spine. 

You laugh awkwardly. “...hahaha there's no need to. I was in LFG just now, so I came over since I have nothing on in the afternoon. There’s no need for special treatment...”

“I shan’t disturb Professor and Professor’s wife. I’m leaving now!” The student senses that something is odd, and immediately makes a strategic retreat.

Seeing that the hindrance is gone, Lucien sets the files down, trapping you in between his arms and the table. He nibbles on your earlobe gently.

“I think I saw a little butterfly and that boy interacting constantly during the lesson. How is the little butterfly planning to explain this?”

[ KIRO ]

It’s a rare occurrence for Savin to give Kiro a full day of rest. It happens to be Christmas, so the both of you have arranged to go stargazing at Lake Misty.

Dressed in a fluffy red dress, you arrive at Lake Mistry early. Chancing on a booth selling sparklers, you decide to buy some to give your little sun a surprise.

“How much is this?” You ask the boss, holding up a box of sparklers. 

The boss is a young man. Upon seeing you, a blush tints his cheeks. “It’s $2 a box.”

You rifle through your pockets, realising that you don’t have cash on you. “Do you accept payment via WeChat?”

The man eyes light up, and he immediately says, “Miss, you could become a member by adding me on WeChat. This way, I’ll sell you a box for $1, and if you buy two boxes, I’ll give you another one for free.”

Hearing such a great deal, you agree. Just as you take out your phone and input the amount needed for the sparklers, a warmth envelops you from behind.

“Good evening, Miss Chips~ I’m sorry I’m late QVQ”

You turn to see Kiro, who is wearing a baseball cap and a mask.

“You’re not late at all! Ki... Mr Chips, look, I’m buying sparklers~”

“That’s great! Let’s go play~”

Although he’s talking to you, his eyes are fixed on the young man. For some reason, you feel a chill run down your spine. Soon after, he takes your hand in his and leads you away from the shop.

-

It looks as though the stars are right at your fingertips. You wave the sparkler in your hand exuberantly, while at the same time telling him about what happened at the booth earlier. Kiro seems to ponder on it for a while, but soon joins you in setting off the sparklers.

Three boxes of sparklers turn out to be insufficient, and they are expended quickly. After going for a stroll together, shoulders pressed against each other, Kiro sends you home.

You sense that the smile on your little sun has a hint of viciousness in it. But you shake your head, rejecting such a notion. After all, Kiro is so adorable, right?

-

When he’s back at home, Kiro flips open his laptop, fingers flying across the keyboard. He enters a string of code, then pauses. 

He wears Helios’ fiercest smile on his lips. 

-

The next day, in a phone repair shop:

“Sorry, we’ve never come across a phone virus which deletes WeChat contacts. I think you should check with another shop,” says the repairman to a certain young man.

[ SHAW ]

Hearing that there would be a performance in Live House tomorrow evening, you asked Shaw for a ticket. However, he claimed that all tickets had been sold out, and there weren’t any left for you.

-

This morning, while taking Shaw’s jacket for him, a well-preserved ticket falls out of the pocket. Picking it up, you wave it in between your fingers. “Shaw, what's this?”

Shaw freezes. He didn’t think you’d find it so quickly.

You give him a teasing glance. “And you still said there weren’t any tickets left. Did a certain person prepare one for me in advance?”

Although there’s a slight flush on his face, he grits his teeth. “I happen to have another ticket. If you don’t want it, forget it.” While saying this, he reaches out to snatch the ticket back.

You retract your hand quickly, glancing at the arrogant boy whose intentions have been uncovered. “Who says I don’t want to go? I happen to be free tonight, so I’ll reluctantly watch this little brat perform~”

“Do whatever you want!” Shaw heads out for practice, but it looks more like he’s fleeing the scene.

-

In the evening, you arrive at Live House. It’s even more crowded and bustling than usual. Finding the VIP seat matching the ticket in your hand, you wait for the performance to begin.

Although that brat has a sharp tongue, it can’t be denied that he is incredibly popular. The fangirls flock in throngs. You purse your lips, planning to head backstage to look for him.

When you stand up, a group of ruffian-looking men block your path.

“Miss, do I have the honour of offering you a drink?”

You furrow your brows. “Sorry, I have something to attend to, so I’m leaving.”

“Don’t do that. Our meeting has been decided by fate. It’s just a drink.” The man standing at the forefront doesn’t intend to let you go.

“Miss, it’s lucky for our Big Bro to even notice you. Don’t refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit!”

Just as you’re at a loss for what to do, a voice appears from behind, almost bringing tears to your eyes. “Hey, what are you doing?!”

You instantly rush to Shaw, and this enrages the man. “Grab that girl and bring her to me!”

Shaw contacts security, an expression full of distaste. “Why would they let such rubbish in here. It really contaminates my eyes.”

Then, he pokes your head. “Why are you so useless? If I didn’t come look for you, who knows how you’d end up.”

You were already feeling scared and sorry for yourself. Hearing what Shaw said, your eyes redden. “Then don’t appear then! Don’t bother about me then!”

You twist around, prepared to leave. Shaw pulls you back, his voice slightly frantic. “Fine fine fine, I was wrong. Don’t cry.”

Your wipe at your eyes while pushing him away, wanting to leave.

He grips your wrist tightly, then draws you into his arms. “All right, stop crying.”

-

Loveland TV reports that yesterday, three men have been struck by lightning. One of them has suffered severe injuries, and it’s truly lucky that they didn’t lose their lives.  

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More translated and original works: here

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[ Permission to translate ]

君兮耶君兮: You can - just note the source of the author