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red-as-mars · 3 years

Text

Speechless

Saeyoung Choi x F!MC

Word count: 4K+

Summary: In which Saeyoung meets the girl of his dreams... but she thinks he’s a girl.

A beautiful stranger looks at him from afar. Saeyoung noticed her since the moment she came into Jaehee’s cafe, as she unknowingly sat down at the table next to Saeran. His ears captured the melodic tone of her voice after she stood up to order a bubble milk tea and a waffle, just as he did one hour before. Hearing her laughing with Jaehee makes his curiosity spark, but something is stopping him—the emptiness in his stomach is not normal, not after gulping down several milk teas just to keep himself busy. Suddenly the air conditioner of the cafe is not enough. As he is about to run a hand through his hair, a guy sits right in front of him.

Suddenly, he remembers they are not the only ones in the cafe and that he almost, almost, messes up the wig he spent several minutes putting on—with the help of Saeran, much to the latter’s despise. He changes the route of his hand midair and awkwardly moves to grab his bubble tea, just to notice that there is nothing left. He smiles at the guy in front of him to try and erase whatever weird actions he had done as he thought about the stranger. There’s a light blush covering the guy’s cheeks and he can barely make eye contact with him.

“Noona, do you want me to buy you more bubble tea?” asks Yoosung, suddenly appearing by his side. He is way too happy to monetize from his ‘noona’ to notice how distracted Saeyoung is. He nods without truly understanding what the youngest told him, but he doesn’t care. All his energy is being used on trying to focus on the guy in front of him rather than on the pretty stranger, who is back at the table sipping from her drink.

“Saeyoung, I have been a fan of yours for a long time. Your cosplays are so amazing… and you are… so beautiful… I mean, you have set the bar too high! There’s no way I can go out with other girls knowing that you are my ideal type… so… will you be responsible for my singleness?”, says the guy way too fast for Saeyoung to understand him.

It takes him a moment to realize what he has just been told and, as soon as he gets it, he can’t help but furiously blush. No matter how long he has been cosplaying, hearing things like that still makes him uncomfortable, mostly when he knows that the girl they claim to love was born out of his will to mess up with Yoosung. He never thought that a simple joke could get this far—sure, he used a Tripter bot to gain several followers, but who would have thought that he would remain popular with the bot gone?

Just as the guy he was talking to, others had come to see him… her… and they were patiently waiting for their turn while ordering food and drinks. Even though she was against the idea of holding a LOLOL event in her café, Jaehee now seemed happy with the decent amount of customers giving her money while waiting for a chance to talk with pretty Saeyoung. No matter how embarrassed he was with all the attention, he had to act cool as the customers were focused on everything he said. He remembered Yoosung’s motivation before the event started (“Hyung, I am counting on you!”), and that was enough to encourage him to reply.

“Oh my, what are you talking about? There are plenty of girls more beautiful than me out there. I am nothing in comparison,” he replies in a cheerful, slightly playful, tone. Just as Yoosung comes back with his bubble tea, he manages to hear Saeran chuckle. As his attention moves to his twin, he locks eyes with the pretty stranger and his mind goes blank. There’s a light blush spread across the girl’s cheeks and it only makes her look more gorgeous. He knows she heard him when her lips break into a slight smile. He can’t help but wonder what she’s thinking, “but I really appreciate your words! They mean a lot, so thank you for coming to see me!”

He doesn’t really get embarrassed when posing as a girl, but there are some factors making him feel insecure. He can’t help but feel Jaehee slightly judging him as he unconsciously flirts with the guys. Or Saeran smirking as he writes down things to later tease him. Or Yoosung saying ‘noona’ every time he gets a chance just to remember the guys that they are close. Or how the stranger keeps on glancing at him every 2.35 seconds with a curiosity-filled gaze, making feel trail off mid-sentence. His nervousness is a vicious cycle. The more nervous he gets, the more flirty stuff he says while thinking of the stranger, but… as long as he can look at her, he doesn’t mind.

Even if that means being teased for the rest of his life.

______________________________________

Almost two hours later, the café is empty except for the beautiful stranger who remains seated a few tables away from him. As the number of customers decreased, she stopped gazing at him and instead focused herself on the screen of her computer, headphones covering her ears, as she slightly moved her head to the rhythm of the music. There are no more gazes, no more blushes, no more hearts skipping a beat or two—Saeyoung can’t help but feel like he’s missing something, but can’t he be more silly? Missing something he never had.

They are just strangers who happen to be at the same place at the same time. Tomorrow morning, she will have forgotten about him and keep on going with her life. There’s no way they are randomly meeting again in a city as big as Seoul. She must live near the café, but his apartment is on the other side of the city, near the river. Seeing her again would be more like a miracle.

“I didn’t think a lot of people would be interested in this kind of event,” says Jaehee, finally taking a seat next to Saeran after making drinks non-stop for three hours, “but I think I sold more than average.”

“Never underestimate the power of LOLOL!” says Yoosung, as if he didn’t just monetize from other people’s fantasies in the name of his guild.

“...or a wig…,” adds Saeran, drinking from his cup of black tea.

Saeyoung can’t help but glance at the stranger, but she is too busy on her work to hear what they are saying. He feels slightly relieved, as taking down his wig right now would only make things awkward. He doesn’t mind bearing with the itchiness on his scalp as long as he can keep on looking at her, the way she pouts as her fingers stop smashing the keys, the way her brows furrow as she unconsciously licks her lips, the way her eyes shine after blinking several times…

All her actions stop as her phone rings. She quickly picks up the call and a warm feeling invades his stomach as he listens to her voice once more. The warmth quickly goes away as he hears her say “I’ll be there in an hour”, collecting her stuff as she thanks Jaehee for her service. Before she reaches the door, she stops and with her, Saeyoung’s heart. What is she doing? Is she missing something? Or… no, that’s not possible. She turns around, takes a napkin from the counter and leaves the café.

Immediately, Saeyoung smashes himself against the table.

“…are you okay?” says Saeran, although his voice holds anything but worry. At this point in his life, Saeran is used to Saeyoung’s sudden actions so he’s rarely surprised by whatever his twin does. Was he okay? Well, he just missed the opportunity to speak with the prettiest girl he has ever seen… He barely manages to give Saeran a thumbs up.

“Oh no, the girl left some stuff…” says Jaehee, slightly worried. Without thinking about it, Saeyoung stands up and the next thing he knows, he’s standing right in front of the table where the beautiful stranger sat. He ignores the suspicious looks of his friends as he looks at what she left: her transportation card and… one of the banners they made for the event, featuring Saeyoung’s most-liked Instagram post. Surprisingly, his face is surrounded by hearts and he can’t stop his cheeks from burning.

Saeran takes the paper from his hands and looks at it, then at him. “...guess she came to see you.”

“What?! But she didn’t come close to her… him!!!” exclaims Yoosung, looking at the banner with his eyes wide open.

“Maybe she was shy. I mean, it is always intimidating to talk to someone you admire,” shares Jaehee knowingly.

Saeyoung is barely listening to them. His mind is focused on the hearts surrounding his face, triggering the memories of their discreet eye contact, the blush on her face as they looked into each other’s eyes from afar… His heart starts beating like crazy, skipping more than a beat. A sudden wave of adrenaline invades his body as he realizes something.

“So… this pretty girl… actually came… to see… me?” he asks, although he already knows the answer. Listening to the confirmation of his friends is enough to give him back his confidence. He puts on his coat as he takes the transportation card and the banner from Saeran’s hands.

“Wait—where are you going? You better not do something weird to her!” exclaims Jaehee.

“What do you mean weird? She’s not going anywhere without her transportation card, so I’m giving it back to her,” he replies as he storms out of the café. Before crossing the door, he adds “It’s just a girl helping out another girl!”

And he ventures into the coldness of the night.

______________________________________

Although there are a few bus stops near Jaehee’s café, Saeyoung is lucky enough to find her at the nearest stop. She’s waiting there with one hand hidden in the pocket of her coat and the other one holding her phone. As he gets closer, he can clearly see several pictures of him on her screen. He suddenly feels hot as he realizes that she’s looking at the pictures he’s tagged at, most of them from today’s event. He feels some warm weight on his stomach, just as if a cat had fallen asleep on his tummy.

He stands right behind her without moving, carefully thinking about the best way to approach her as he doesn’t want to mess up this opportunity. Just as he gathers enough courage to talk to her, a pair of buses arrive and the beautiful stranger looks up from her phone to get in one. Before she can walk closer to her transportation, Saeyoung quickly puts his hand on her shoulder to stop her from going away. She immediately turns around in surprise, red tainting her cheeks as she locks eyes with him.

“Wait—I mean, uhm, sorry if I startled you,” he slightly laughs, trying to compensate for the awkwardness of his actions, “it’s just that you forgot this at the café.”

He gives her the transportation card and as she is about to thank him, he shows her the banner with his face surrounded by the cutest doodles he has ever seen. The pretty stranger stumbles over her words as her cheeks and ears burn red from embarrassment. Before she can justify herself, the bus closes its doors and begins its journey. Saeyoung is in shock. Did he just make her miss her bus? He begins to apologize, but the stranger laughs it off.

“Don’t worry, there’s another one coming in about… ten minutes, I guess? I just have to wait for it,” she says and Saeyoung can’t help but think that her voice sounds ten thousand better when she is talking to him, “Thank you for bringing it to me. I don’t know what I would have done without it.”

That’s a lie, of course. Saeyoung knows it pretty well. She would have to pay the driver in cash and, maybe tomorrow, buy another one at the nearest convenience store. Nothing bad would have happened if she missed the card—someone else could be using it—and that made him feel worse, after making her miss her bus. Yet here she is, smiling gently at him as if somehow she was glad of having to wait some minutes for the next bus.

“I guess I will wait for you, then. I mean, if you don’t mind,” he manages to suggest calmly, although he is nervous inside, “It is already dark and there are not many people left. I would be preoccupied leaving you here.”

He is not saying the truth, but he is not exactly lying. He is just omitting information to avoid looking like a creeper. I want to talk to you for a little bit longer, is what he actually wants to say, but there’s no way he’s actually saying it. Not without blushing extra hard. When she accepts his company, he just stands by her side, trying hard to focus on what to say and not on how fast his heart is beating. She is the first one to talk, formerly introducing each other. Saeyoung can’t help but keep on repeating her name in his mind, enjoying how each letter combines into making the most pleasing sound he has ever heard.

“I, uh, well- I, ah,” he doesn’t really know how to start talking to her, not when she is looking so endearingly at him, ”I was just wondering why… why didn't you come to take a picture with me… when you were already there…”

The beautiful girl blushes slightly, gazing at her feet.

“I didn’t expect a lot of guys to be there. I thought there would be at least another girl besides you and me, but there wasn’t. Well, except for the owner, I mean,” she admits, playing with her phone in her fingers, “I thought it would be weird to be the only girl approaching you, so I waited until the guys were left to do it, but I got really shy at the end.”

Saeyoung’s heart is beating even faster than before. He can’t believe what he is actually hearing, but even though they just met, he trusts in her words, so his confidence increases.

“Well, you can’t go home without completing your mission, right?” he says while taking her phone away from her fingers and opening the camera. He positions himself beside her and makes a half-heart with his free hand. She looks at him in awe, clearly shocked at his actions, but doesn’t follow him. “Really? You are going to leave my heart waiting? Come on, people are staring at me weirdly.”

And that is enough to make her move. Their fingers faintly touch each other, but that’s enough to send warm waves through his body. He can’t help but wonder if she’s filling it too or if he's just crazy. All his happiness disappears as soon as he sees himself on the screen. He manages to snap the picture before his smile collapses, reminding himself that currently, he’s not yucky Saeyoung, but pretty Saeyoung, and that means the beautiful girl is interested in her, not him. However, there’s something about the glow in her eyes as she thanks him for the picture that makes him decide to ignore it and continue as it is. She asks for her Instagram username before the bus arrives. She’s quick to search herself on his phone, and waves goodbye before the bus departs.

Saeyoung is left alone at the bus station with his phone in his hand, looking at the feed of the girl. Somehow, when he sees her warm smile through her pictures, he doesn’t feel alone anymore.

______________________________________

Saeyoung clicks the notification as soon as it pops into the screen. He contains himself from liking it when he sees her bright smile on the picture and actually refreshes the page waiting for someone to like it before he does it. Once the heart is coloured in red, he goes into the comments and writes the nicest thing he can think of. She’s quick to reply back.

They have been chatting nonstop for a while. They have met a few times, too, but calling it a date is way too much. They were going out not only as friends but as girl friends. Just one girl meeting another girl at the subway station to get lost on the streets of Seoul, walking several miles per day without even noticing. It was just them finding new restaurants to enjoy, going together to get their nails done—and even getting friendship bracelets that they wear all the time. It was like a dream come true… except she still thought he was she.

“Hey, are you even listening?” Saeran’s voice brings him back to the moment. “Of course you aren’t.”

“Yes, I am,” says Saeyoung, although it’s not true. Ever since he met her, he can’t help but keep his phone in his hand, ready to answer her texts, but she hasn’t been pretty active today.

“...you’re thinking about that girl, right?” he asks, although something about his tone tells him that he already knows the answer. “You shouldn’t hide anymore. You have been talking enough to tell her how you’re feeling. The real you, I mean.”

“It’s not easy. I don’t wanna mess this up,” Saeyoung confesses, gazing down. ”Before I do that… I just wanna know if she likes Saeyoung more than Saeyoung!”

“...what are you even saying?”

“I mean, how am I supposed to know if she likes yucky me more than pretty me? I look gorgeous in a dress, the competition is harsh enough!” his cheeks are burning. It is time to change the topic, “Wanna look into that store?”

“...that’s what I told you before…”

They are looking for new clothes for Saeran since Saeyoung accidentally mixed a red t-shirt into his pale clothes. Saeran is surprisingly picky with the clothing he chooses, so after almost two hours of searching into various shops in Hongdae, Saeyoung decided to take him to Apgujeong. So far they have visited three different stores and Saeran has (thankfully) picked some new clothes for him, although he is still searching for a vest.

As soon as they enter, Saeran starts touching the clothes, feeling the materials as he walks. He stops to pick up around three and, as he is about to enter the changing room, he stops. Saeyoung has been watching his twin so far, trying to calm himself down because of the lack of texts from the pretty girl, so he noticed how Saeran glanced at a shirt several times as he was choosing the clothes. Before Saeran can head back to pick it up, Saeyoung is already giving it to him. Saeran thanks him before disappearing behind the curtains.

Now that he is alone, Saeyoung starts walking around the store looking at the clothes. His style differs from Saeran, so many of the clothes are not appealing to him, yet there are some that he wouldn’t mind trying just for the sake of diversifying his style. As pretty Saeyoung, he dresses fashionable and mature; but as himself, as yucky Saeyoung, he wears whatever is clean—or less dirty, depending on whether he did his laundry or not. He can’t help but wonder what kind of guy the beautiful girl likes… or if she even likes guys. Up until now, he hasn’t really gotten information about that. Whenever he tries to find out if she would be interested in him—the real him—, she just changes the subject or answers back with another question.

He doesn’t know when he ended up in the women section, yet there he is. Standing in front of several accessories that he can’t help but think would look incredible on the beautiful girl. Soon he is busy looking at them all, trying to find the best one for her… but he can’t give her that as if it was nothing… maybe if he… bought two… one for her and one for him…

That would be nice.

He settles up for a pair of necklaces. Saeyoung is smart: he knows that if Saeran sees them, he won’t stop bothering him, so he is quick to go to the cashier to pay for them before Saeran comes out of the changing room. Yet as he gets closer to the cashier to pay, his heart stops as soon as he is greeted.

It is her.

The beautiful stranger is here, in front of him, smiling sweetly even though he is looking as terrible as he always does whenever he is not dressed up as a girl. She doesn’t seem to recognize him, but he keeps her head low as he pays for the necklaces. Oh my, he can’t give it to her now that she has seen them. It would be so obvious…

His face is burning red from embarrassment. He can’t believe that out of all the stores she could be working at, he just happened to come into the one… Then it clicks. Hasn’t she been answering lately because she is working?

“Would you like a bag for your necklaces?” her voice brings him back from his thoughts. He tries to hide his emotions by holding his breath. He says ‘no’ with his head, scared that she might recognize his voice even though he always makes sure to keep it higher than usual when he’s talking to her. There’s no way she’s recognizing him… right?

He slightly bows as soon as he pays, deciding to wait outside for Saeran as he might die from embarrassment if he stays close to her. Just as he is about to exit the shop, his phone rings. He waits until he is outside to answer the call.

“Hello?” he says, looking for the keys to his car.

“Saeyoung?” the voice on the other side makes him freeze.

He turns around and, on the other side of the window, there she is. His sun smiling back at him even though she now recognizes him as a liar. He wants to run away as she approaches him, but it is like his feet are stuck to the floor. He can’t move—and maybe he doesn’t want to. There’s something about her smile, the warm look in her eyes, that stops him from running away and hiding in his room for the rest of his life.

She’s now in front of him, but before he can explain himself… she’s hugging him tightly.

“Oh my, thank goodness you’re a guy! I felt really insecure whenever we went out because you’re so gorgeous and everyone looks at you in awe. But with your actual appearance, I can be the pretty one of the duo!”, she says brightly, surprisingly relieved.

Saeyoung is at a loss for words. Maybe, just maybe, a few tears are forming in his eyes. Why is she acting like this when he lied to her?

“...did you just call me ugly?” he says, but as much as he wants to sound offended, he can’t hold back a giggle.

“In comparison to me, yes, of course.” she releases him, and suddenly it feels cold outside.

“Can’t deny you’re beautiful,” he mumbles looking at his feet. They stay quiet for a while before Saeyoung gathers the courage to speak again. “I didn’t mean to hide my identity from you. It’s just that you were so happy with pretty Saeyoung that I didn’t want to ruin it.”

“Well, I enjoy it whenever I am around you. My opinion is not based on your appearance, you know,” she says, “To be honest, I kinda already knew you were a guy, but I didn’t want to mention it as I thought you had a good reason to keep it to yourself.”

Saeyoung meets her gaze, slightly leaning his head to the side. “Then why did you just call me now?”

It is now her turn to look away, her cheeks tainted in red. “You looked as if you were about to have a panic attack. I just wanted to let you know I am here for you. After all, we’re friends.”

“I wish we weren’t… Wait, I, uh, I mean…Gaaah!” he can’t believe he just messed up. “It’s just that… I think you’re… extremely pretty and I, well, you know, maybe I like you?”

He is pathetic and he knows it. She just came up to tell him all this beautiful stuff about accepting himself as he is, and he has to mess up? It’s almost as he subconsciously wants to auto-sabotage himself.

“Just maybe? Because I like you a lot,” she says, getting closer to him.

Suddenly his hands are not empty anymore. They had held hands before, but this time it’s different. It may be the fact that she is right in front of him and not by his side, that their chests are one step away from touching it other… or maybe that her thumbs are tracing circles in his palms, sending an electric sensation through his whole body.

“Saeyoung, I really like you. No matter if you're prettier than me or not,” there’s a playful grin on her face as she says so. He gulps, nervous that she is either being honest or playing with him. “For real, I liked you ever since I saw you, but all this time we have been going out… I think I have fallen for you. Really hard. So, please, if you like me, don’t just say maybe.”

There’s hope both in her voice and in her eyes. He can’t think clear anymore, not when she is this close, telling him something he thought he would never get to hear. He wants to tell her how much he likes her, for how long he has been waiting for this moment… but he can’t.

Not when his body is moving on its own, hugging her waist to pull her closer until their faces are a few inches apart. Not when his head is leaning to the side as he closes the gap between them. Not when his eyes close and he feels the warmth of her lips on his own.

Not when love has made him speechless and the only way to show his feelings is with actions.

#mysme saeyoung #saeyoung x mc #707 #mysme luciel #luciel choi #saeyoung choi #choi saeyoung #choi luciel #mystic messenger #mysme #mysmerbb #mysme reverse big bang

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set-wingedwarrior · 4 years

Note

Fancy a meeting on the bus/train on the way to work regularly AU? Bees of course :)

For some reason since I first read your request I immediately pictured Yang saying "Fancy meeting you here!", even if at first I had absolutely no idea of the context I could've used. Until recently, when an idea decided to sneak into my mind. So, there you go, maybe it's not exactly what you expected (wow, I'm doing that a lot lately) but hopefully you'll still like it. Enjoy!

AO3

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It became some sort of a challenge between them.

Since Yang started her new job, which unfortunately forced her to take a train every day, she noticed a woman in particular in the middle of that sea of commuters.

She was a beautiful cat Faunus, with cute ears on top of her raven hair, and every day she would sit in the same spot and read a book during the journey.

That was the first thing Yang noticed about her; she wasn’t able to read in any means of transportation, it made her nauseous, and the girl constantly reading in her same wagon did catch her attention.

Yang was a little envious of people able to do that, it would make her journeys much less boring. At least she had her music.

It was a little thing that made Yang show interest during a boring journey, but what kept it was everything else: the way she would keep a straight face all the time but her cat ears would betray her true feelings towards what was around her, and towards her readings. Her graceful movements. And, in general, how stunning she always managed to look so early in the morning.

Yang felt a little bad for her staring at first, but was it really so wrong to appreciate the presence of such a gorgeous woman? And besides, the blonde knew this wasn’t a one sided thing.

She was aware of her own beauty as well, and she noticed the way the dark woman would sneak a look up from her book from time to time despite trying to cover it with looking around, or outside the window, or by checking her phone. But Yang knew better.

And this is how it started; stolen glances taken from time to time, sometimes getting caught, sometime not. That became their game, and somehow they warmed up to each other despite never having a spoken an actual word to each other.

Sometimes they would smirk teasingly at the other if get caught, other times even pull faces, and after a while they started greeting each other with a smile the first moment they would share eye contact in the morning.

It was weird but comforting, a steady presence in each other’s lives, a way to make their journeys less boring and get a distraction from the real world, a little time of amusement before taking care of the day ahead of them.

It was a fun way to spend time during those uneventful train rides, until one eventful day did happen.

It started as usual the two of them doing their thing at the start of the day, until a man with red hair and bull horns climbed in their wagon.

They didn’t think anything of it at first, why would’ve they? He was just another person on his own journey, nothing unusual there. What was unusual though, was how he straight up went toward the other Faunus woman.

At first it seemed like he just wanted to take the empty seat next to her; instead he just stood up over her, looking down at her with some sort of smile he probably thought was charming.

“Can I… help you?” she asked, clearly uncomfortable. Yang thought that she never saw her face so expressive, if the pinned cat ears weren’t a giving away already.

“Actually, yes. I think I lost my number, could I borrow yours?”

The woman looked at him confused, while Yang internally sighed. That was awful.

He kept trying to have conversation and get something out of the other woman, who was clearly uncomfortable with the attention and trying to make him go away, and at some point Yang just couldn’t take it anymore.

She took a deep breath, and decisively walked towards them.

“Oh my gosh, Blake! Fancy meeting you here, it’s been so long!”

Blake’s confused expression would’ve betrayed her, if the man wasn’t too busy looking outraged at the blonde.

“Excuse you? We were having a conversation here-”

“Yeah yeah, sure pal” Yang carelessly patted him away on his chest and sat down next to the woman “Now if you’ll excuse us, me and my old friend here have a lot of catch up to do!” then turned to her ‘old friend’ “How’s life? My job is so boring, but Ruby’s always there for me to cheer me up!”

The blonde started rambling over her job and her little sister, and the man was so put off and confused from all that just happened that just preferred to give up this time.

Only when he was nowhere nearby, did Yang stop her rambling, letting out a sigh and asking with more serious voice “Are you okay?”

“I…”

“I’m sorry for stepping up like that! I just can’t stand people who can’t get a hint, I’ve had my fair share, and you looked so uncomfortable, and-”

“Hey.” Blake gently stopped the blonde’s rambling “It’s fine, really. I would’ve probably been able to take care of that on my own eventually, but the extra help isn’t unappreciated. Thank you.” She smiled, not the teasing or amused one Yang was used to. That was the very first genuine smile the blonde got to experience, and it made her heart leap.

“Y-you’re welcome.”

Silence followed them for a few moments more, broken only by the sound of the rails and the little background chattering of other passengers, until the Faunus spoke up.

“How did you know my name?” That was a rightful question. After all, outside that little game of theirs, they didn’t really know each other, figures having a proper introduction.

“Oh! Damn, that must seem very creepy huh?” Yang laughed awkwardly “One day you had your name tag showing, and I remembered.”

“So, you memorized the name of a total stranger?” there it was, that familiar teasing smirk of hers. But Blake wasn’t the only one ready to play.

“It would’ve been a crime to forget the name of such a beauty, don’t you think?” Yang knew she won the moment Blake’s face fell in surprise.

“Smooth, I’ll give you that. Miss..?”

“Yang Xiao Long, at your service.” Yang moved one hand at her chest and bowed, as much as being sat down would allow her.

Blake giggled “Well Yang, it was a pleasure but my stop is coming.” she said, getting her bag. Yang already knew of course; it was the one right before her own. “I guess I’ll see you around?”

“Same place, same time.” Yang shoot one last wink, and Blake stepped down from the train.

Yang didn’t resent her job for making her take that morning train ride every day anymore. How could she when, mere days after that, she got a date out of it?

#rwby #bumbleby #bumbleby fic #yang xiao long #blake belladonna #my fic #request #anon #ask

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sethrine-writes · 4 years

Text

Devil-sitter May Cry, Ch. 6

Pairing: Dante x F!Reader, Vergil x F!Reader (Undecided)

Words: 1474

Warning: Exposition, cuteness

Story Summary: Low on cash and desperate for a job, you reply to a flyer for a babysitting position. Little did you know that the opportunity to watch over two special boys would bring your life so much mayhem and adventure…and, perhaps, a chance at a family of your own.

A/N: Another shorter chapter. Also posting at cryptid hours because I am, myself, a night owl by nature and have no impulse control. Enjoy!

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Chapter 6 - Last-minute Services

You waited patiently at the front door of Devil May Cry, admiring the streetside that was aglow with twilight. Normally, you arrived during early to mid-morning hours, plenty of time for the sun to rise and brighten everything around it. Sunsets had an interesting way of making things seem so much more ethereal, even a normal city block such as the one you found yourself in.

Huh...that motorbike on the curb was new, wasn't it?

The door opened abruptly and interrupted your train of thought. You turned to greet who you assumed would be Dante only to falter at finding a woman standing there, smile bright and expecting.

"There you are! A bit late, but I take it you took the bus, right?"

You floundered for just a moment, completely caught off-guard at having someone new and unknown beckon you into the establishment.

"Uh, y-yeah, I took the next available bus I could after I got the call," you explained while entering the building behind the dark-haired woman, perplexed and a little wary at her presence.

Dante had been the one to call you in on such short notice, and yet a quick glance told you that neither he nor Vergil -nor their respective weapons- were anywhere to be seen.

"You should seriously invest in your own transportation, you know. It'll cut your travel time almost in half, something to consider in this line of work."

She turned abruptly toward you, stopping you in your tracks as her lovely heterochromatic gaze found yours.

"I'm Lady, by the way," she said, holding out her hand, "we've talked before."

Realization crossed your mind, and a sense of ease washed over you as you took her hand in a more formal greeting.

"Oh, for the babysitting job, yes! I'm so sorry, I didn't even realize...you sound so different over the phone."

"Phones are weird like that," she dismissed easily, pulling back and heading straight for the desk, beckoning you once more to follow her as she began shuffling through the mess of papers and bills scattered about.

"Alright, the boys have already had dinner, so the rest of the night should be pretty easy stuff. They get another hour or so of playtime, then a bath, V's nighttime stretches and meds, and then bedtime - ah!"

She turned quickly to you yet again with a startling flourish, brandishing an envelope she had apparently been searching for. You eyed it curiously as you placed your bag on the floor beside the desk, taking the envelope from her gloved fingers. It felt thick between your own.

"What's this?"

"Your week's pay! Dante did give you last week's, right? I can straighten him out in a heartbeat, if he didn't."

"It's barely the middle of the week," you explained in bewilderment, attempting to give the envelope back, "it's hardly fair!"

"No, no, take it! Think of it as an advanced payment," she explained, "for Dante and Vergil needing your services at such a sudden and late hour. Besides, this current job is paying very well, and it's best to give you your cut before the idiot blows it for something else."

She pushed your hands toward you insistently, her assured smile only slighting your worries minimally.

"Thank you," you said, your words enough to placate the grinning woman before you.

"No problem. Oh! I set out a blanket and an extra pillow for you. It's not much, but I'm sure the guys will remember their manners, next time, and offer you a real bed to take advantage of."

Lady pointed out said blanket and pillow neatly stacked on the worn leather couch with a tilt of her head. She then began moving swiftly towards the door, picking up some sort of massive weapon you hadn't even noticed upon entering the building that was propped up against the wall beside the doors.

How did she manage to carry that thing?

"Alright, I'll leave you to it," she said with a nod, giving a cheery two-fingered salute while walking out the door, clearly in a hurry.

"It was nice to meet you!" you called out just as the door swung shut, and for a moment, you were left in the quiet of the lounge, floating in an odd sort of limbo as to the quick nature of your first meeting with Lady.

An engine roared to life outside, the sound of a motorbike revving and tires squealing briefly against the asphalt almost startling you.

Ah, well...that little mystery made sense.

"Nero, she's here!"

Looking up toward the top of the stairs found an excited looking V waving down at you, of which you were quick to reciprocate with your own smile and wave. Not two seconds later, Nero came running around the corner, nearly knocking into V in his haste.

"Yes! Lady said you'd give us ice cream!"

"Did she, now?" you asked in amusement, moving to stuff your early week's pay into your bag as excited little feet made their way down the stairs.

"Mhm! I want sprinkles on mine!"

"Can I have an ice cream cone?"

"No, wait, I want that, too!"

Nero was practically dragging you towards the kitchen in his excitement, V happy to complete the train by holding your free hand and following along.

You could only hope their energy depleted itself over the next couple of hours, despite loving every minute of their creativity. As rambunctious as they seemed to be, it would be a miracle to get them to bed on time, and the last thing you wanted was Vergil reprimanding you on your terrible timekeeping.

---

Well, an hour past scheduled bedtime wasn't too bad, considering you expected even more trouble than that to get the boys down.

Luckily, it seemed bath time wore out V, for the most part, and it was a matter of calming Nero's high-energy self with relaxing bedtime stories from space-related books to finally get him settled.

They both had their own beds, rather spacious for their age, but it was easy to see why when Nero brought over his own pillow to V's bed and settled in snuggly beside his cousin for stories. It must have been an often occurrence, the boys finding comfort in sleeping next to each other.

You found just as much comfort at watching them both nod off, Nero much slower to do so, but his sweet parting of V's hair and his drooping gaze as he relaxed was such a precious thing to watch happen from your peripheral. By book three, Nero had finally succumbed to his own personal dreamland, no doubt filled with a nighttime sky just waiting to be explored.

For a long moment, you watched the two boys sleep soundly, taking the time to tuck them in further with their respective stuffies and gently brushing the hair from their faces. Your heart ached at the tenderness it brought about, a hand coming up to twiddle with the pendant around your neck almost absentmindedly.

A small sigh escaped you, and with quiet steps, you left their bedroom and slowly shut the door, finding your way back downstairs.

You checked the front door one last time, ensuring you had flicked both locks into place, then made your way over to the couch-

Where you were promptly greeted by Shadow popping up from behind the blanket and pillow set out for you. You'd never pulled your hand over your mouth so fast to stop yourself from screaming, you were sure of it.

"Jesus, you crazy demon cat! You're trying to give me a heart attack, aren't you?" you accused with curious suspicion.

The answer you received was a quaint little meow, one that was deceptively cheerful sounding and not at all representative of the ferocious visage she made when not parading as a house cat.

"Mhm, whatever you say," you groused, reaching out to pet along the length of her dark, shining fur still amazed at the tiny sparks of red that shimmered through after your touch. "So long as I'm off-duty, you got that?"

The following purring was cathartic just as it was playfully ominous, and you couldn't help but smile at the ridiculousness of the moment.

"Glad we could come to an agreement. You gonna keep me company for a while, or are you just here to threaten me with your cuteness?"

Shadow made a soft sound, jumping up gracefully on top of the pillow and settling against it. It was all the invitation you needed to sit on the couch beside her, the worn leather rather comfortable to relax into. Your hand found it's way to Shadow once more, her purring intensifying with each gentle stroke along her back you completed.

Perhaps this would be a good way to waste away your time, at least for a little while.

------

Tag List: @v-vic, @astridstark13

#dmc #devil may cry #dmc dante #dmc vergil #dmc nero #dmc v #dmc au #kid nero #kid v #reader #reader-insert #female reader #babysitter au

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thedyingmoon · 5 years

Text

~ A V X Reader set in an Alternate Universe wherein Nero supposedly beats Urizen that 16th of May. 🖤

~ This chapter is dedicated to the 49 people who liked the first chapter, especially @acieoj and @heaven-on-a-landslide . Thank you so much! 🖤

~ Cover made by yours, truly. 🖤

***

"Break this heavy chain

That does freeze my bones around!

Selfish, vain,

Eternal bane,

That free love of bondage bound."

The female tourist guide, who had been anxiously glancing at V from a distance, finally mustered up enough courage to approach him with a nervous smile. She cleared her throat, hoping to get immediately noticed without ever having to call his attention in a not - so civilized way.

Fortunately for her, her heavy and noisy footsteps against the rocky pathway proved to be very efficient for gaining attention.

V looked up from the wonderful world of William Blake's book of poetic sketches and smiled at her, adding to the poor woman's already escalating discomfort.

"Ahh, I,..." the lady stuttered, not sure how to address the dire situation to V.

He graciously decided to end her conversational torture. "You do look like something has been bothering you. How can I be of service?" he said, his low, raspy voice not helping with the lady's nerves.

"Yes, well." she began, then inhaled sharply through her nose. She then pointed at the bird on V's left shoulder, and the huge cat lying on his feet. "The other guests are getting anxious of your,... ahh,... pets."

Immediately picking up on the woman's concern, V nodded and actually laughed. The first time in about three weeks since that day. "I see. Don't worry." He stood up from the comfort of the wooden bench near the ruins of the temple, making his "pets" move away from him. He strode towards the woman, lips curled up in a devilish yet adorable smirk. "These are my loyal,... companions. They would bring no harm to any of the innocent people here. That,..." the tone of his voice suddenly became lower as he twirled his metal cane playfully. "I can assure you."

The lady let out a helpless laugh, then nodded. "Okay. Whatever you say." She hastily moved away from him to give herself a safe distance from V's famliars and clumsily pointed at the breathtaking horizon. "Well, now, enjoy your stay here at Delphi!"

As Griffon watched the retreating form of the tourist guide with laughter in its devilishly yellow eyes, V's green ones scanned the beautiful place. Delphi really was a marvel, an ancient beauty that must've took even the most vile of the Demons' breath away.

He closed his book, put it away for a while, and proceeded to explore the place, particularly the ruins of Apollo's temple, where the tourist bus dropped him.

"So, V,..." Griffon said, catching up to his master. "Are we going to look for that thing there?"

"Not this time." V answered. "For now, I need to take a rest and reflect upon our journey, so far."

It's true. V, and the rest of his familiars, have been on a vagabond tour around the world, visiting places like Delphi. First, he visited Egypt's infamous pyramids, then he proceeded to China's mysterious terracotta tombs. He also went to the Himalayas ( he didn't stay there for long, considering the weather ), then Norway. He had been to such places in just three weeks that he had to keep a separate journal where he logs in about the details of his journey.

It's not like he just wanted to or anything.

The truth was - he failed in his initial mission to merge with Urizen that fifteenth of May. Who knew that boy Nero had enough power within him to beat his demonic half? So, thanks to the boy, he could no longer regain his full self.

But, it wasn't entirely the boy's fault. As a matter of fact, it all rooted from one foolish decision that changed his life forever.

It was all because of his desire to gain more power in order to defeat his twin brother.

And now, he had no choice but to search for a different kind of power - any kind - this time, to save himself.

To prevent his human flesh from crumbling.

Thus, started his vagabond ways alongside Griffon, Shadow, Nightmare, and -

"The Yamato really does wonders, huh?" Griffon said, then chuckled, ruffling his own feathers in delight with tiny shakes. "Who knew it would go directly to you and not to that kid Nero?"

"For one thing, I' am the rightful owner of the Yamato, not the boy Nero." V answered as he skipped some rocks along the pathway that led to the ruins of the temple. "I think it was fitting that it answered to me. But, as grateful as I' am that it was returned to me," he said, stopping at what looked like the remains of an altar. "I must not abuse my fragile body by using it over and over to transport us. You see," he began tracing the remains with the tip of his cane. "It consumes way too much of my,... demonic power. I must be wary of that fact."

"Aha, so that's why we had to hitch that stinkin' bus ride with that awful bitch! Didn't know how to keep her mouth shut!" Of course, Griffon was refering to the tourist guide who called him a pet earlier.

"Now, be nice to our little human." V reprimanded the demonic bird. "We will 'hitch' on the same vehicle on the way back."

"Ugh! Not again,..."

As Griffon threw tantrums for every tourist in the remains of Apollo's temple to see, V's eyes wandered at the altar and thought of that beloved story his mother read to him a very long time ago. He closed his eyes and searched through his tired mind for the right words, finally arriving at some that gave his heart a little ache of nostalgia.

"As she comes to the city, hollow hands empty,

Eyes open to what lies in wait for her,"

As V recited the very few lines he could remember of that beloved poem from his childhood, Shadow started purring, rubbing his legs with her huge form like she was a normal house cat. V smiled, knowing that he had, at least, one interested audience. Then, he went on.

"She does not weep nor wail,

In her eyes, home has always been burning."

All of a sudden, Shadow stopped purring. In fact, she stopped moving. She has become rigid, looking like a statue in front of V. He and Griffon noticed this and took note of her glowing red eyes that slowly turned bright blue.

V's eyes widened in surprise.

"Curious." He muttered under his breath.

Griffon flew towards him and whispered, "She's acting hella weird. What do we do to her?"

V smiled and took a sideways glance at Griffon.

"Then, we'll have the perfect opportunity to put your new skill on display for the audience."

"What?! Right here?!"

"Right here." V answered, not once losing his resolve. "Right now."

"And what's in it for me, huh, Shakespeare?"

"I will,... forever be,... in your debt." V said, holding up his right arm and using his cane to point towards the bright, sunny, sky.

"Okay! As if I could refuse."

"I' am truly grateful."

"Yeah, yeah." Griffon huffed, then flew towards the sky, high above the ruins of Apollo's temple.

As V watched the demonic bird flew around the air, he could not help but regret his decision. He yearned to see this place. It was, after all, the place from that precious story, as told to him by his beloved mother. Of course, he wanted to stay, to bask in the warm, sunny weather, to learn the ways of the locals, to be able to speak their native tongue, to know the rich history of the land, to dive into the hidden knowledge and wisdom Apollo has to offer,...

But, as the situation called, they, he, must act immediately.

And as V glanced back at his dark, petrified familiar, he noticed that the atmosphere was slowly turning heavy. Griffon was beginning to work his new magic.

"Alright, you weird folks!" The bird said as he flapped his wings, summoning all the power he had. "Party's over! Go home!"

Griffon spread his wings, letting power in the form of electricity run through them, and folded them once more. As he let out a guttural sound, he spread his beautiful blue wings once more, releasing a different kind of power that made his eyes white. But, this time, the electricity didn't land on the ground like what always happens when they're fighting against other Demons. The almost unnoticeable currents reached the clouds and crawled throughout the sky, instantly enveloping the immediate vicinity with darkness.

As the people looked up, they realized that it was going to rain. But, another flap of Griffon's wings summoned numerous lightning bolts from the sky that crashed to the ground, narrowly missing everyone by mere inches.

After a minute of his stormy display, Griffon flew down back beside V, knowing that his mission was a success, which was an understatement, considering the fact that none of the tourists were hurt.

"Okay, Shakespeare, coast is clear." He said to the man, feeling proud of his new skill.

"Thank you." V smiled at the bird, then turned back to Shadow, who was literally melting. "And now, for the task at hand,..."

V closed his eyes, then held out his left hand in front of Shadow. The action instantly triggered a reaction from the rigid Demon, making its form disintegrate and fall to the ground like shattered glass. With a different gesture of his hand, V made the shattered glass rise up once more from the ground, letting it take shape, forming jet black vines that grew and grew until they were as tall as the pillars of the temple. One last hand movement from V made the vines grew equally dark roses of all sizes.

As Shadow morphed into multiple vines, V took a step back, waiting and waiting, until the largest rose sprout out from one of the vines. He and Griffon watched in awe as the black rose opened, revealing something inside. He took a step forward and pulled it out of the flower. It was the Yamato, and it was glowing in a very unusual way.

"What is wrong with that thing?" Griffon asked as he looked at the Yamato and its radiance. "Did that thing go like that before?"

"If memory serves me right," V began, unsheathing the sword and letting the blinding blue light from the blade splash around his surroundings. "It did so, just one time when,..."

All of a sudden, the light became even more blinding as the sword became warmer and warmer in V's hands.

"Whoah! No wonder that cat's acting weird!" Griffon shrieked, hiding behind V. "You made her eat a laser sword!"

"Hush." V said, seemingly unaffected by the light of the Yamato. "It beckons me. It seems that it wanted me,... someplace else."

"Will you go, V? You still haven't recovered from your last journey!"

"I know." V answered as he positioned the sword high above the air. "But, I also know not to ignore the Yamato's call."

And with two clean swipes, V managed to create a portal that led to some place that seemed to softly glow, like a warm sunset. Or sunrise.

"Let's go." V said, calling both Griffon and Shadow back to him and entering the portal.

***

🖤🖤🖤

#devil may cry 5 #v #amwriting #work in progress #griffon #shadow #i see my future before me #yamato #apollo #v x reader #v x you #chapter 2

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etlunainmorte · 5 years

Text

🖤 I See My Future Before Me 🖤

***

“Break this heavy chain

That does freeze my bones around!

Selfish, vain,

Eternal bane,

That free love of bondage bound.”

Fortunately for her, her heavy and noisy footsteps against the rocky pathway proved to be very efficient for gaining attention.

V looked up from the wonderful world of William Blake’s book of poetic sketches and smiled at her, adding to the poor woman’s already escalating discomfort.

“Ahh, I,…” the lady stuttered, not sure how to address the dire situation to V.

He graciously decided to end her conversational torture. “You do look like something has been bothering you. How can I be of service?” he said, his low, raspy voice not helping with the lady’s nerves.

“Yes, well.” she began, then inhaled sharply through her nose. She then pointed at the bird on V’s left shoulder, and the huge cat lying on his feet. “The other guests are getting anxious of your,… ahh,… pets.”

Immediately picking up on the woman’s concern, V nodded and actually laughed. The first time in about three weeks since that day. “I see. Don’t worry.” He stood up from the comfort of the wooden bench near the ruins of the temple, making his “pets” move away from him. He strode towards the woman, lips curled up in a devilish yet adorable smirk. “These are my loyal,… companions. They would bring no harm to any of the innocent people here. That,…” the tone of his voice suddenly became lower as he twirled his metal cane playfully. “I can assure you.”

The lady let out a helpless laugh, then nodded. “Okay. Whatever you say.” She hastily moved away from him to give herself a safe distance from V’s familiars and clumsily pointed at the breathtaking horizon. “Well, now, enjoy your stay here at Delphi!”

As Griffon watched the retreating form of the tourist guide with laughter in its devilishly yellow eyes, V’s green ones scanned the beautiful place. Delphi really was a marvel, an ancient beauty that must’ve took even the most vile of the Demons’ breath away.

He closed his book, put it away for a while, and proceeded to explore the place, particularly the ruins of Apollo’s temple, where the tourist bus dropped him.

“So, V,…” Griffon said, catching up to his master. “Are we going to look for that thing there?”

“Not this time.” V answered. “For now, I need to take a rest and reflect upon our journey, so far.”

It’s true. V, and the rest of his familiars, have been on a vagabond tour around the world, visiting places like Delphi. First, he visited Egypt’s infamous pyramids, then he proceeded to China’s mysterious terracotta tombs. He also went to the Himalayas ( he didn’t stay there for long, considering the weather ), then Norway. He had been to such places in just three weeks that he had to keep a separate journal where he logs in about the details of his journey.

It’s not like he just wanted to or anything.

But, it wasn’t entirely the boy’s fault. As a matter of fact, it all rooted from one foolish decision that changed his life forever.

It was all because of his desire to gain more power in order to defeat his twin brother.

And now, he had no choice but to search for a different kind of power - any kind - this time, to save himself.

To prevent his human flesh from crumbling.

Thus, started his vagabond ways alongside Griffon, Shadow, Nightmare, and -

“The Yamato really does wonders, huh?” Griffon said, then chuckled, ruffling his own feathers in delight with tiny shakes. “Who knew it would go directly to you and not to that kid Nero?”

“For one thing, I’ am the rightful owner of the Yamato, not the boy Nero.” V answered as he skipped some rocks along the pathway that led to the ruins of the temple. “I think it was fitting that it answered to me. But, as grateful as I’ am that it was returned to me,” he said, stopping at what looked like the remains of an altar. “I must not abuse my fragile body by using it over and over to transport us. You see,” he began tracing the remains with the tip of his cane. “It consumes way too much of my,… demonic power. I must be wary of that fact.”

“Aha, so that’s why we had to hitch that stinkin’ bus ride with that awful bitch! Didn’t know how to keep her mouth shut!” Of course, Griffon was referring to the tourist guide who called him a pet earlier.

“Now, be nice to our little human.” V reprimanded the demonic bird. “We will ’hitch’ on the same vehicle on the way back.”

“Ugh! Not again,…”

As Griffon threw tantrums for every tourist in the remains of Apollo’s temple to see, V’s eyes wandered at the altar and thought of that beloved story his mother read to him a very long time ago. He closed his eyes and searched through his tired mind for the right words, finally arriving at some that gave his heart a little ache of nostalgia.

“As she comes to the city, hollow hands empty,

Eyes open to what lies in wait for her,”

“She does not weep nor wail,

In her eyes, home has always been burning.”

V’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Curious.” He muttered under his breath.

Griffon flew towards him and whispered, “She’s acting hella weird. What do we do to her?”

V smiled and took a sideways glance at Griffon.

“Then, we’ll have the perfect opportunity to put your new skill on display for the audience.”

“What?! Right here?!”

“Right here.” V answered, not once losing his resolve. “Right now.”

“And what’s in it for me, huh, Shakespeare?”

“I will,… forever be,… in your debt.” V said, holding up his right arm and using his cane to point towards the bright, sunny, sky.

“Okay! As if I could refuse.”

“I’ am truly grateful.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Griffon huffed, then flew towards the sky, high above the ruins of Apollo’s temple.

But, as the situation called, they, he, must act immediately.

And as V glanced back at his dark, petrified familiar, he noticed that the atmosphere was slowly turning heavy. Griffon was beginning to work his new magic.

“Alright, you weird folks!” The bird said as he flapped his wings, summoning all the power he had. “Party’s over! Go home!”

Griffon spread his wings, letting power in the form of electricity run through them, and folded them once more. As he let out a guttural sound, he spread his beautiful blue wings once more, releasing a different kind of power that made his eyes white. But, this time, the electricity didn’t land on the ground like what always happens when they’re fighting against other Demons. The almost unnoticeable currents reached the clouds and crawled throughout the sky, instantly enveloping the immediate vicinity with darkness.

As the people looked up, they realized that it was going to rain. But, another flap of Griffon’s wings summoned numerous lightning bolts from the sky that crashed to the ground, narrowly missing everyone by mere inches.

After a minute of his stormy display, Griffon flew down back beside V, knowing that his mission was a success, which was an understatement, considering the fact that none of the tourists were hurt.

“Okay, Shakespeare, coast is clear.” He said to the man, feeling proud of his new skill.

“Thank you.” V smiled at the bird, then turned back to Shadow, who was literally melting. “And now, for the task at hand,…”

“What is wrong with that thing?” Griffon asked as he looked at the Yamato and its radiance. “Did that thing go like that before?”

“If memory serves me right,” V began, unsheathing the sword and letting the blinding blue light from the blade splash around his surroundings. “It did so, just one time when,…”

All of a sudden, the light became even more blinding as the sword became warmer and warmer in V’s hands.

“Whoah! No wonder that cat’s acting weird!” Griffon shrieked, hiding behind V. “You made her eat a laser sword!”

“Hush.” V said, seemingly unaffected by the light of the Yamato. “It beckons me. It seems that it wanted me,… someplace else.”

“Will you go, V? You still haven’t recovered from your last journey!”

“I know.” V answered as he positioned the sword high above the air. “But, I also know not to ignore the Yamato’s call.”

And with two clean swipes, V managed to create a portal that led to some place that seemed to softly glow, like a warm sunset. Or sunrise.

“Let’s go.” V said, calling both Griffon and Shadow back to him and entering the portal.

***

🖤🖤🖤

***

#devil may cry 5 #vitale sparda #i see my future before me #v x reader #v x you #chapter 2 #the tattooed poet #revised

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crimsonblackrose · 4 years

Text

I’ve spent a lot of time waffling this year back and forth between traveling or not. On the one hand I’m heading home in March and I should be saving my money to help get me through until I find a job and have health insurance and try to figure out what it means to be an adult in America. (I’ve realized I’ve spent most of my independent adult life in South Korea and as well as most of my adult job experience in South Korea and it’s going to be a weird transition which I’ll discuss in some later post.)

A lot of that really concerns me, I’m leaving what is essentially financial stability and all these other things to go home to great unknowns and the idea of just staying in Korea and saving my money for a rainy day seems like the smart move. I also need to pack. I have 5 years worth of my adult life in South Korea that I need to go through. But maybe first I should watch “Tidying up with Marie Kondo?” (ah that’s procrastination at its finest right there)

But on the other hand I don’t know when I’ll be able to travel again after I’m in the States. It feels like I’m jumping feet first into cement and I’m not sure when I’ll be able to break free. I’m sure I’ll be able to travel within the continental United States, but branching outwards again seems like it’ll take awhile to work up to. And that’s what made me decide to go. The next step was where. I wanted to go to Hong Kong or New Zealand but both places seemed like it wasn’t the best time to go. And surprisingly France was fairly cheap for around when I could take vacation days. So I decided for the first time since moving to South Korea to leave Asia for a vacation and go, not to the States, but to Europe. I double checked a couple times that there weren’t any travel warnings and there were month old notices about the strikes but it seemed no one had updated those to say that things were unsafe. I downloaded Citymapper, purchased some travel wifi, and the Paris Pass, and prepped my plans which I then sent to my parents. Here’s the plan, edited a bit from what I sent my parents to be more accurately reflect my trip: Paris 2020.

A lot of my friends in South Korea are in a similar boat as me. A lot of them are planning to go home soon or are in the midst of moving, so many many of them are staying home this winter, or they’ve already made plans. I figured if I was going to go I had to go on my own.

I’ve traveled alone before. I’ve traveled all over Korea on my own, as well as Japan, Thailand, and Taiwan. I knew that one of my professors that took us to Prague would be in Paris around the same time so I made plans to meet up with her, but that was it. The other person I thought I knew in Paris actually wasn’t in Paris or even France at all. So I read some blogs and figured, as long as I looked like I knew what I’m doing, stayed busy, booked a hotel in a good area then I should’ve been fine. I also figured it’d be a good test run for moving back to the Chicago area. In Korea I can just leave my phone on a table and it’ll be there when I get back. There aren’t really pick pockets, so you can walk around with your bag open and more often than not be fine. There’s CCTV everywhere so if something happens you just have to pull footage, it deters a lot.

Even though it was technically going to be a 6 day trip it was actually only 3 full days in Paris. The cheapest trip I had an option for that I felt comfortable doing had an overnight layover in Osaka and I’d loose a day on my way back from Paris. So I tried to cram as much into those 3 days as possible. A lot changed from my original plan due to the days places were open, the changes in hours due to the strikes and my limited amount of time. I originally planned to spend my last day at Disney, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I tried finding all the unique Parisian Disney things online to get myself hyped up and make a list of goals, only to find almost nothing that didn’t require a reservation months in advance. I couldn’t find blog posts or Instagram posts raving the unique Disney Parisian foods or snacks or souvenirs like they do for Tokyo Disney and Disney Sea. So I scrapped my plans to go. Which with how exhausted I was by the time Monday rolled around was probably for the best.

I was in Paris in early January while the strikes were happening. This will probably get posted several months later at which point I hope they’ve been resolved. Public transportation was still accessible however it was very limited. Depending on the train, the services were drastically cut or not running at all. This meant buses were crammed pack full of people, especially during rush hour times in the morning and evening.

It made getting around really difficult but not impossible. A lot of people I talked to mentioned how due to the strikes; Uber and taxi’s had hiked up their prices. I didn’t use Uber or taxi’s to get around and instead relied heavily on the app: Citymapper. I tried using Google maps only once to try and get to Versailles and it suggested I take a metro line that wasn’t working that day, which I only realized after buying the tickets and making my way to an empty platform.

The one thing I would note about Citymapper is to double check everything. If you can, look up the address then copy and paste it into the search, or make sure the name of the place is correct and in French. Because in English we called Versailles the “Palace of Versailles”, but when I typed that into my map it sent me to the wrong place around Viroflay. It suggested I take the big out of town train down to Viroflay, transfer on a mini little local tram, and then walk the rest of the way to a green looking area that was not in-fact Versailles. (Which is what led me to Google mapping it and end up with tickets going for a line that wasn’t running.)

The little grey you-are-here symbol on the left with the clock is the actual Palace of Versailles known in French as Château de Versailles while the other one to the upper right is where Citymapper originally tried to send me. They’re a good 40 minutes away from each other, 50 minutes if you try to walk it. Thankfully I could take the bus but I wasn’t sure if I needed exact change, which I didn’t have. The machines only took coins or a card so I was concerned the bus would be the same. Which meant I also had to hike around to find somewhere where I could break a bill and get 1.90 euros in change to pay for the bus to Versailles. I did eventually make it but it was frustrating how much time I lost.

It was however, the only time Citymapper let me down. It was pretty accurate the rest of the time, though the bus back to the airport did not come nearly as often as it said it would but I can’t hardly fault the app for that one. I was in the right spot and I was very early so I wasn’t too upset.

Generally getting around you can get a train pass. They have card passes like most cities that you can tap to get into the station or on the bus. Or you can get a little paper card that you feed into the reader every time you get on or go up to a turnstile.

Sortie means exit. Follow the signs to get out of train stations or anywhere else you might be.

Because I paid for 3 days of the Paris Pass it meant that I got 3 days of public transit access between zones 1-3 which sadly did not include Versailles. It is possible, but expensive, to get a pass that includes more zones. It included practically everything else in downtown Paris that was working. For everything else I bought on board (the bus generally) with exact change. For the airport Roissy bus I purchased my ticket down to Opera at the information center in the airport and back to the airport from Opera directly from the bus driver at the bus stop. It was about 13.90 euros which is more than Citymapper quoted, but it might be cheaper if you have a pass.

For every other bus it was about 1.90 in coins which I always made sure I had exact, then would take the ticket they gave me and fed it into the feeder. No one scanned to get out or used the readers to leave the buses or trains so I now I just have a large pile of tickets.

In case the reader doesn’t work you have to show the ticket you are using to the bus driver. Because this occasionally happens you need to write your name on the pass and the dates it’ll be used.

Nom: last name prénom: first name

Other popular ways of getting around which Citymapper included locations of were scooters and bikes. It was really nice to see the Strike safe options as well as what my options were.

Usually what I did was a combination of a bus and walking, a lot of walking.

Citymapper also have some fun Easter eggs.

Depending on the location I could play a mini game where I tried to slingshot myself (not actually myself) to the destination. And there was a Cheshire cat that tended to move around the map.

Before I left for Paris I tried to look up ways to stay safe. A lot of them reassured that you could in fact, as a woman travel safely in Paris on your own you just needed to look like you knew where you were going, be careful of pick pockets and be extra careful at night. A lot of touristy and not so touristy places also warned to be aware of pick pockets, even a small English friendly cafe I went to had signs up everywhere warning people of pick pockets.

There are a couple scams I read up about. One was people trying who ask if you dropped a piece of jewelry and someone else will root around in your bag while you talk to the first person. Or they will try to sell you the jewelry. Another similar one is to hand you something or start drawing your picture or try to give you something and then demand money.

I didn’t run into any of these. Instead I ran into “Petition Pick Pocket” a lot. Usually someone would ask me

“Do you speak English?” and then would go into a spiel about how they were collecting signatures to help some cause or another. It was usually handicapped people. To which the first time this happened as I was walking away from the Eiffel Tower I responded: “I don’t live here.”

To which the woman responded that it was an international thing. To which I said again, “I don’t live here.” and quickly walked across the street with one of the men who was a vendor selling Eiffel Tower souvenirs near the area who had thankfully called out to me that I could cross since there wasn’t a sign. Super grateful to him for giving me an out to the situation.

This is a common scam that gets used a lot in different countries. I’ve run into it in Seoul, near the church in Myeongdong, I just hadn’t realized what it was at the time. In that case it sort of made sense due to the location as the woman wanted to gather signatures to do something about abortions. But again, it’s really strange that she’d pick a non-Korean person to gather a signature from. Just like the one’s in Paris it doesn’t make sense.

Why only ask English speakers? If you want change made for your petition and for any governmental official to actually care it has to be done by locals. Almost no government or political thing I know of is totally chill with you coming up with a list of signatures from random people who don’t live in the area and who aren’t citizens.

If you just need random signatures that aren’t locals you could just do it yourself with random different names and trying to write differently. You don’t actually need to petition. But the whole point of petitioning is to get support from locals, not tourists/visitors.

They don’t explain fully what it’s for. The idea though is for it to be something that you’d be a horrible person to turn away from. Helping poor babies or children who need assistance. Usually something that will earn you all the dirty looks if you refuse. But how do I know exactly how it would help? If it’s not explained well but in a rush of words how can I be sure I’m not being tricked like people commonly are when people suggest ending women’s suffrage (their right to vote but it sounds like they’re suffering so sometimes people get tricked). If you run into other organizations then they’re more than happy to talk your ear off if you’ll stand still long enough to listen. But these don’t.

So how is it a scam and not just things that don’t make sense logically? Generally there’s about two ways it can go. But the beginning will be the same. A person with a clipboard (in all cases I ran into it was a woman) will ask “Do you speak English?” and then ask for you to sign a petition of some kind. Either when they manage to foist the clipboard and pen into your hands to sign they’ll take the time to root around in your purse or bag while you can’t see it because you’re attention has been directed to the clipboard, or they’ll ask for a donation and try to shame you into giving something because it’s for a good cause. Either way if you run into them it’s best not to converse and just walk away as fast as you can or pop into a shop.

I’m super grateful for the guy near the Eiffel Tower who I got to walk with. But the absolutely worst time I had with them was waiting for the Roissy airport bus. I waited for maybe 20 minutes with a growing amount of people around me also waiting for the bus and they came in droves every couple of minutes. Because I looked like I was alone they came up to me at least 5 times within that twenty minute period specifically and stopped. Most of the time if I just shook my head and didn’t look at them they’d go away, but I had one who gave me the dirtiest look when I refused to talk to her after she’d tapped my shoulder. I couldn’t go anywhere, I needed to take the bus to the airport. So I just held my stuff close and tried to make sure nothing was accessible. They finally left me alone when another actual tourist asked me if I spoke English and was going to the airport and started telling me the awful time she’d had trying to find the airport bus.

It seemed like they were only targeting women who were on their own.

This of course doesn’t mean don’t talk to strangers who ask if you speak English. It does mean to have your guard up though, especially if they’ve got a clipboard. In my case outside of the bus stop waiting for the airport more often then not people were lost and needing directions. But because people are use to the “do you speak English” being a lead to getting pick pocketed a lot of people weren’t getting helped. One guy near the Eiffel Tower asked if I knew anywhere to buy a jacket nearby because on the coldest windiest morning he was out as if he’d packed for a business meeting somewhere tropical rather than France in winter, and we both realized there was nothing nearby except one tourist spot selling sweaters. Also due to the strikes a lot of Parisans would ask me about when the bus was coming but due to my lack of French I’d lead with a sorry? Which usually they’d re-ask in English except one guy who went “sorry? Sorry?! Sorry!” as if he’d never heard such a ridiculous thing before in his life before leaving in a huff. And then there was the Puerto Rican mother who had had the worst luck with finding her way around because no one would answer her or stop to help her when she asked for help and who became my airport travel buddy. Thankfully after a lot of asking she did eventually get help but it was after finding non-Parisians who could speak Spanish or English. Sometimes I’d also just have concerned people with tourist maps walk up to me and show me the map and I’d confirm on my phone and point them in the right direction or in cafes when people realized there was no wifi and thus they couldn’t look up their directions as they had hoped.

Anyway just be very careful and make sure all your stuff is zipped up and you’re guarding it well and avoid people with clipboards asking if you speak English trying to collect your signature.

I don’t always write about how my flights to places went. I’ve had awful flight experiences and great experiences. There’s airlines I love and airlines I hate. And generally an airline named after the country it’s from are pretty decent. There is one that’s pretty awful that I hope I never fly again, but that’s besides the point. I took a couple different airlines to and from Paris. I took Korean air to Osaka, and KLM to Amsterdam and then out of Amsterdam. But my Air France trip from Osaka to Paris was magical.

I sat in a row with two women, one Japanese who spoke fluent English, and one Korean who was doing her best. I tried to help with small things like soup and snacks with the words I knew and the woman was delighted I knew some Korean. Lo and behold after some chatting she lives in the same city I live in in Korea and was flying with her daughter who spoke more English but was seated in a different row. On my left side was a French family of four with two small children. The small eldest boy kept getting lost in his wanderings of the aisle so I’d put out my hand and would point towards his row, to the point whenever he’d toddle over he’d first look up at me, confirm it was me, and then head into his row to his seat. It was quite cute. It was also a pretty stressed family since they had two small children who did not want to sit for a 10 hour+ flight and at least one of which kept jumping off to go into the aisle, where he nearly got crushed by the flight attendant with a trolley. (I awkwardly had to put my hand on the guys back because I didn’t know any other fast way to stop him from crushing the kid, but thankfully this was greatly appreciated since he hadn’t seen the child playing in the aisle.)

But the magic of the trip wasn’t just the strange community I felt in my area with small children in the aisle or being walked back and forth down the aisle followed by their parents, as a little girl did followed by her super tall multi-lingual French dad.

The magic resided near the bathrooms and in the fact no one seemed to care if you were up and out of your seat. On most flights there seems to be some annoyance to if you’re up and about. You’re constantly in someones way or in their bubble of space if you’re up. It’s only acceptable if you’re out of the way and waiting for the bathroom. But this Air France flight I was on did not care. No one batted an eye, no one complained, no flight attendant told anyone to remain in their seats or to go back, unless there was turbulence and it was unsafe. In fact the area around the bathrooms was made into what felt like, as a young Japanese boy said to us, a party.

Rather than go up and down the aisles multiple times offering water and snacks they set it up near the bathrooms as a self serve area, which some people knew and others didn’t. It took me awhile to get use to the idea. People stood around helping themselves to water, juice and soda and chatting with the people around them. Organically moving to adjust for new people or to let others pass or the flight attendants access their supplies. But there was never any pressure to return to our seats, something I doubted the Japanese boy ever did since every time I came back he was still there, chatting with someone new. About part way through the flight snacks were brought out and at first I thought it was the attendant preparing to walk them down the aisles and returned to my seat only to realize it was self serve. So what had been a big box of sandwiches and momiji manju, when I returned with my seat neighbor and her daughter was now just mars chocolates and ice cream. There was also self serve packets of soup and hot chocolate.

I really greatly enjoyed that flight. I liked getting to chat with other people on the flight who were extremely friendly. The family to my left even gave me a Japanese rolled up cookie part way through the flight. I’m sure to some people having the kids in the aisle and unable to sit still was annoying, especially for the people in front of them and behind them but sitting off to the side was totally fine and I had a very peaceful and fun flight and I hope to one day get to enjoy the magic of that self serve snack and drink section again.

When I was in junior high school and high school we had two options for languages. Spanish and French. Before we decided on one we had to take both for a 1/3rd of a semester. The majority of my grade took Spanish, but on the very first day I was determined that I would not take Spanish. Not because of a lack of interest in the language or a true love of French but because the teacher spoke in monotone without any inflection whatsoever and I feared I’d fall asleep in his class and fail. So I took French and I took it for the entirety of high school, becoming one of the few kids in Independent French which was like self-study where we read and translated books. You would think because I was in French club and in such high levels of French classes that I’d drop into Paris without any concern for the language. But I’ve been in South Korea for 5 years. And in college rather than continuing French I dabbled in other languages like Japanese and a short stint in ASL. All of this has made my French super rusty to the point I sat on the flight shaking my mental language piggy bank for the French I remembered. Bonjour (hello/good morning), Excusez-moi (excuse me), s’il vous plâit (please), au revoir (goodbye), ça va? (It’s okay?), Je m’appelle Lauren. (My name is Lauren) Je suis américaine. (I am an American) Parlez voux anglais? (Do you speak English?) merci beaucoup (thank you very much).

It was better than I feared. But still, on my flight there was a mini French course and I threw myself into that in the hopes of jogging my memory. I remembered more than I had expected when confronted with the games and quizzes. The little song we did for the months of the year was still there and I remembered about half of the days of the week. But when confronted with actual sentences while I did well with the tests and quizzes they didn’t stick. Which meant most of my interactions started with a French greeting, and then delved into my request in English or stumbling to read what it was I wanted to order, and then ending in a French thank you. Which is kind of disappointing. It makes me wonder how I would’ve fared if I’d gone on the French trip in high school. (

Though no one else signed up for the French trip while I was in high school so I don’t think it would’ve happened anyway.) But like most major cities there was a lot of English around and people who spoke English.

Reading blogs made it sound like you needed to announce loudly to every single person you saw Bonjour! or they’d instantly shut off and treat you with disdain. I found as long as I said bonjour first before stating what I wanted I was usually fine. I didn’t have to say bonjour to every staffer I possibly saw which was what one blog I read suggested, after all usually they were busy. I did however say it to the front desk of my hotel every morning and tried to remember to switch to Bonsoir whenever evening rolled around. But I also had wifi that worked 90% of my trip so I didn’t get lost and usually was in touristy areas so I could ask an information desk for help with whatever I was lost with. The only time I ran into “rude” Parisians was when they were super busy and I didn’t find it that rude. It was just more of a bored or quick tone. But I do agree with saying hello or good evening in French and a nice merci in there to help show some respect to the country you’re visiting.

I’m actually really glad I went to Paris this January. I had a really good, though exhausting time.

A Solo Trip to Paris I've spent a lot of time waffling this year back and forth between traveling or not. On the one hand I'm heading home in March and I should be saving my money to help get me through until I find a job and have health insurance and try to figure out what it means to be an adult in America.

#france #how to get around paris #paris #public transit #public transportation #scams to be wary of #solo travel #transportation passes #travel

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bites-kms · 6 years

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Home Sweet Home

For the last 4 years, I’ve been living what I like to call a “gypsy style”. The first time I left my parents house, I was 25 and I went off the whole way: I moved half way across the world. I moved to Ho Chi Ming City seeking for an opportunity to grow, betting on a love story and eagerness to eat the world. The brief was simple and clear: find the perfect location. In a city where there are more bikes than people, having the chance to sneak around and conquer the streets -and the heat- by foot felt like winning the lottery. By this I was earning independence and I was keeping my freedom, without needing to resort to any kind of transportation but my will and my feet.

It was the first time I was making that amount of money (1500 usd/month!) and I felt rich. I didnt mind about the apartment as long as it felt cozy and it was well located. It was our first apartment together. Yes, we lived together in Montevideo before but this was finally “ours”. We didnt have an oven, a challenge we learned to overcome. I ended up fixing the bathroom cabinet with some wrapping paper I went and bought on a stationary store near by. It was a serviced apartment with the sweetest cleaning staff who came three times a week and the lovely “e-moi” doormen. Those people were part of my Vietnamese family. I didnt care about not having a couch, or having mismatching knives and forks. I didnt care we didnt have proper utensils. It was actually better: the only thing we needed to carry away with us the day we would leave were the fridge magnets. We made tv-weekend marathons, and locked ourselves indoors during rainy season, with only one window on the “living room” from where we could stare and admire the rain drops and thunderstorms. We had ants and/or termites eating our rented furniture and food. But, regardless... 44 Ngyuen Phi Khan was paradise. I loved it there. It was casita. I was extremely happy. I really didnt want to leave.

A year and 2 months later, I struggled for 2 weeks, homeless, spending free nights in Arlanda Radisson Blue Airport, a lot of money on an Airbnb in Huddinge, Greater Stockholm Area until a miracle happened thanks to Fabrizio and Sodertorn University: I found my 14 months home in Sweden: Kanslivagen 13 at Riksten. At the beginning, it was quite a struggle: a dirty kitchen, and an even dirtier toilet. No control over the heater and a cold winter approaching. I lost the only bus that passed by multiple times and mis-matched the pendeltag that took me to civilization. Until, one good day, I finally made it my home. It was my first and only student apartment but I managed to make it super cozy with just the desk, a chair, a bed, a kitchenette with a bar that were already there and a DIY table I painted myself. I couldnt resist the urge of going to Ikea and armed myself with local artifacts made in Sverige - which of course they later crossed oceans to reach my following destination. It was far away and small, so I didnt have many people over, only my friend Angelica for a couple of blog lunches and Flor the moment I first moved in and the moment I needed to move out. When my parents arrived, the air mattress occupied the whole room. It was with great joy that I slowly made it a home. A cozy place. A Swedish place, with candles, love for food, memories with neighbors - other Erasmus exchange students- and a lot of Ikea products. When the ICA, the local supermarket opened on its corner, it changed my life completely. And when the spring sprung, that was also a game changer. Although it was wonderful waking up to a snowy window and a white forrest, seeing the flowers bloom through the snow and getting the bus slowed down due to a deer crossing the road was something I’ll never forget. I was so sad to leave when I couldnt renew my lease.

After 3 month living in Flemingsberg, in an apartment I didnt feel like my own, sleeping on the living room where the TV was and using the bedroom to put down all my luggage, I moved back to Asia. This time, to Singapore. I bounced for a month between what it used to be my home with my person to my rented serviced apartment the company chose for me, few blocks away from my new job. Trying to find a place where to feel safe, where to grow, where to dare to be myself again while dealing with a broken heart was difficult. Choosing not moving back with him was one of the toughest yet wisest choices I’ve ever made. I first saw and loved a place in River Valley, not too close yet not too far either from his place, but the agent was not willing to negotiate. Found one right next to his friend’s place, a few blocks away, 10 to 15 minutes walk from his. And that’s when I formally decided and moved in to 524 Kampong Bahru Road.

The apartment had a weird distribution: at first it got me excited, later on I thought of multiple ways to make it better. The kitchen was nice. It was the only time in my life that I had Smeg appliances and they were as good as they looked. I had a bomb shelter, a quiet view to a green little forrest, a pool I hardly ever used and a voodoo master and/or witch who was living right next to me with tons of cats by some temple ruins (I believe the only ruins on that central part of the island). Kampong Bahru was my shelter, my hood and also my cave and prison. I didnt get furniture, because again, I knew I was moving, I knew this was temporary. I already got all my utensils from Stockholm so I only needed some details. Only few people were able to come and I’m happy they were all meaningful people and friends I met in Singapore: Lari, Hersheys, Lizi, Sameer and stop counting. I wish I had a better place and opportunity to host all those wonderful souls I met along the way.

And when the time to move had finally arrived, regardless of my attempts to sell my beloved stuff, I ended up donating all of them to the Church. It was a symbolic fresh start. It was a metaphorical cleansing. Donating all the things I love to people that need them would provide those items with more love from their new owners. And that was all that mattered: leaving Singapore - with all that it implies - full of love, with a smile and in peace.

And now... after this crazy roller coaster that started years ago on the 15th of September 2014, after 1405 days, 6 countries, and endless miles in my millage account - although not as many as the tears this ex-pat life decision costed me- I can finally say I reached home. A table.. that’s the power of a table. I bought a massive furniture that connects me to my roots, to my pleasure of cooking and eating, of celebrating, of creating. It will allow me to host parties, dinners, thanks and friendsgivings. It’s creating a little anchor. It’s baptizing my home. So... this is it... I’m staying. NYC, you’re home now.

I needed a moment to soak everything in. I looked at my living room. I saw the water tank outside my window. I winked at the Crysler building between the clouds. I laid over by the edge of my bedroom door. I took a big, deep breath and a massive glance around. I looked up, in compliance with all those people who I met along my way and helped me reached here. I thought about my parents and the Nonos. I know how proud they are of me. I’m proud of myself.

I made it. I’m living the life I dreamed of. Without knowing it, I knew I wanted to come to NYC (who doesnt want to live here once during her or his lifetime?) and I always thought it was very unlikely. But... I guess the other pitstops were just trampolines for the big jump.

The NYC jump. The grown up jump. The jump that lead me home.

That blind leap of faith.

I felt it this Saturday, when after some long, stressful hours I could managed to assemble this beautiful Ikea Fanbyn Bar Table (that’s what I call “full circle”) by-myself!. I later placed the 4 beautiful stolls I found on the streets of Greenpoint, which we later hand crafted, refurnished and upholstered with my Dad, the wonderful art piece my talented friend HC gifted me in Singapore, with the 2 vases I got on my blog ventures in Sweden, only then, I could definitely say this is it. I’m home.

#home #decor #diy #greenpoint #newyork #love

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enravel-blog · 7 years

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meanwhile, in salt lake: who will mummify whom?

We take our coffee in the mummification room. Ron, a professorial salesman, regally crosses one leg over the other. He’s a harmless but incendiary sexagenarian, an up-rolled-sleeves raconteur. His silent counterpart Bernie is a bit younger, swathed in an army-green sweater the size of a dirigible and palming loose change somewhere inside of it. There’s a hidden slink of ten nickels while a thick chemistry slides down my throat. Ron says, “That formula you smell is our trade secret. It has an extremely small molecule. If I put a drop on your finger you’ll taste it within 30 seconds.” I resist the deep urge to request a sample. The pair seems capable of soft-selling me my own death.

Next door in the pyramid, Montu, newly dead, calls out from the altar. His blue parrot body is tucked into a Tupperware container with a motion-sensing device, which has a recording of him saying his own name. Ofrenda, cage trinkets and birdseed, earthly glees he left behind, are laid out. White plush carpets the 27-foot-high copper pyramid oriented true north next to a highway underpass. The vaulted ceiling is a galaxy of vaguely Egyptian icons. There are white leather sofas and, to my delight and fear, a Panasonic camera on tripod next to a steel pasteurization tank.

Ron and Bernie are going to mummify Montu when he’s procedurally ready for transference. His future state dots the room in a collection of dignified mummiform pets, including a standard gold poodle, a Doberman named Butch, and several stray cats.

How sure, we have to wonder, are Ron and Bernie, leaning over the long table to start each fresh evisceration, that a neighbor isn’t missing a calico? They seem like the kind of folks who might embalm anything that strolls past the live peacock in the yard.

I send my friend the pyramid’s address. If I don’t circle back this afternoon, she could go ahead and call over to the Salt Lake City authorities, tell them I had an appointment at Summum.

Like name suggests, Ron and Bernie practice the sum total of all religions. As Ron leans back in a rolling office chair and constellates dogma across continents, languages, time—he’s clearly spent whole days in certain Santa Monica bookstores— he takes luxurious nasal in-breaths between string theorizing Greco-Roman archetypes and meditation rituals. He scatter plots the mechanics of all beliefs about consciousness onto one another in a very logical story of the impossibility of their singularity. In Hermeticism, all religions flower from one true theology. As above, so below, and back again. With Ron as guide I envision the flagship Summums at the mouth of the new age, gathered round a dish of lavender crystals, asking what comes first. They’re asking how to revere and shatter a charge simultaneously. Bernie has yet to speak, while Ron is wrapping up somewhere near Joseph Campbell and pure math.

In the mummification room (where Montu will join us shortly) pet bodies wait with looped rubber hoses and neat rows of metal tools. This chrysalis lab of lanolin, gauze and resin, down the street from a Panera and the Church of Latter Day Saints, is also where Bernie keeps the books. Summum requests and accepts donations, in the several thousands, for pet mummification services.

“Let me show you something,” Ron says, as we cross the yard and he hand-cranks open a garage door on the pyramid. June light falls onto Corky Ra's fifteen-hundred-pound gold sarcophagus. “We mummified him ourselves,” Bernie says nostalgically of Summum’s founder. We gaze at the towering Corky and Ron moves an empty wine bottle behind the sofa.

“Corky could walk through walls. His favorite word was consider,” Ron begins, the word in his mouth like a macaroon. We sit in the comfortable leather sofas and Bernie takes a corner of the pyramid. Ron would have made an excellent academic or bible peddler.

Romanticism, idolizing the hero, leads to nationalism. To borders, walls.

“In 1975, Corky was doing his relaxations in his basement den when a sound, which came for several months as a ringing in his ears, began to move to the center of his mind. The next thing he knew he was transported to a pyramid and was speaking with divine extracelestial beings, totally different mind you from extraterrestrials, who expressed soundlessly to him that they were the Summa, the highest Individuals who exist on all planes within the different universes that are going on right now.”

In a first-person zine Corky later penned about the encounter, he writes: “I had never seen such extremely attractive people before.” See Corky sprawled in astral gel on a clay floor, jetlagged from interdimensional flight, entranced by androgynous cheekbones. Divine lips are delivering seven ancient principles to an anxious Mormon.

“No, no no, the Mormon church was definitely not happy with master Corky,” Ron says. At the word master I scan the room. “But he had to break from them. He was the appointed catalyst, the new Moses. A messenger comes along every so often when the brew is just right, and they of course then have to take the hero’s journey.”

When he got back to his basement Corky rewrote the Kybalion, an existing 1908 text hinging on the idea that everything happens as a result of one’s mental state. He kept the book’s main principles: vibration (everything is in motion), the rhythm in motion swings between opposites (to every cause an effect), and gender is a mental state not connected to physical sex. The only thing he added, based on what the Summa told him, was the principle of Creation: nothing and possibility come in and out of bond infinite times in a finite moment.

“Montu, hi Montu!” the dead bird calls out. Bernie is walking past the altar to join us on the frothy penthouse sofa, where I’ve spread my belongings into a purposeful moat around my body. I take the break in Ron’s portraiture to admire the milk silo and video setup.

“The camera is for Summum TV. We broadcast meditations on the internet,” Ron says without elaboration. “And we use the tank to ferment wine, which becomes nectars, or publications of consciousness. We imbue them with different meditative vibrations, like sexual ecstasy and such, the way the Catholic church transmutes wine with the blood of Christ and then they can give it to children, to anybody, and not get into trouble.”

Ron and Bernie don’t keep membership records, but based on the number of wine nectars they’ve distributed, they assume about 250,000 people have received Summum.

Bernie, like the night-blooming cereus sometimes called Christ in the Manger or Princess of the Night, opens now.

“I consider Corky a contemporary of Buddha or Jesus, or Osho, any of these masters. He was hard. He wouldn’t cut you any slack. He would call you out, get way down in there to the motivations going on behind the things we do. Corky took honesty to a level that most people couldn’t deal with.”

I ask him to tell me about the first time they met.

“I was coming out of a screening of Close Encounters of the Third Kind and there was a business card on my windshield with a note that said, I’ve been in touch with advanced beings and I present on it at the University of Utah.”

“Corky believed that the mummification process is crucial to stewarding the transference of the spirit when the body retires. When you’re going to make a journey, you can prepare for that journey, like arrangements for a trip. You’re going to find yourself in very weird surroundings when you die. But if you are being mummified, people are going to be communicating to you, saying, ‘You’ve passed away. You’ll be seeing weird things now, but just relax, be calm. We’re going to read to you your spiritual will, something you wrote when you were alive. It will help guide you. We’re going to be taking care of you.’ And the preserved body is very important. It guides you from this address to the next one.”

Ron, who was a ski buddy of Corky’s, adds, “Plus your spirit can come back to that body any time for information. If I take your body down to the crematorium”— he mentions his day-job as a funeral director--“if I burn your body up, it’s gone. It makes it a little bit more difficult.”

In the eighties, when grooming in general reached new heights, Corky was conditioning Ron for mortuary school in California. To date, Corky is the only human that Summum has mummified.

“When Ron and I are mummified, Corky says he’ll be there on the other side to help with the transition,” Bernie says.

Who will mummify whom?

“We’ll mummify each other,” they both say.

Mathematically, two quantities are in the Golden Ratio if their ratio is the same as the ratio of their sum to the larger of the two quantities. Everyone in the pyramid is calculating. We come in and out of bond infinite times. It begins to feel like a lovers’ spat.

“Who knows though honestly, I’m the oldest out of everybody, I’m the ancient dog around here,” Ron says, and Bernie starts in, “I mean you never know what can happen, I could get hit by a bus or whatever. As long as I’m not smooshed all over the place and you have something to work with.”

“What-ever. Either way,” Ron says generously, “at some point in time we’ll all die, and there will be a choice. It’s each individual soul’s right to take their boat wherever they want. Creation is going to give you your heart’s desire, it doesn’t really matter what it is, but at some point you won’t have desires, and you’re able to walk away from this life and move on down the river.”

We’re standing in front of the altar. Montu’s batteries are on the fritz, as if he’s gotten the message and has moved on.

Ron says, “Anyway, that’s an old story Corky told us a long time ago.”

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amethyst-traveling-mermaid-blog · 8 years

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Paris. Disney. London. Harry Potter. Oh my.

As you might have seen from my other socials I had the most lovely spring break. It was filled with incredible experiences. Some that I thought I would never experience.

Paris

We started our journey by taking a bus from Nijmegen to Paris. We rode the bus all night and arrived in Paris in the morning. When we arrived, we needed to ride a train to the heart of the city. We were able to navigate the train system with the help of a kind man who told us what side of the tracks to be on and when to get off. We exited the train at the Eiffel Tower stop and then the fun began! We bought a crepe filled with Nutella and made our way to the Eiffel Tower. After a short walk we were able to watch the sun rise as it illuminated this beautiful city, and the Tower. We sat in the grass looking at the tower, in awe of the magnificence of it. There are not enough words to describe how stunning the tower is.

Afterwards I rode a double decker bus that drove around the city and showcased the entire tourist district. The bus tour was a hop-on, hop-off styled adventure. It allowed us to ride the entire route, seeing the spectacular city from a different vantage point. Since we only had a day to explore the tourist district, we rode the entire route first, then repeated at specific stops to see the ‘must see’s’ on my list.

The city is majestic. It is filled with beautiful art and rich in history. I loved it. Seeing the incredible art and immaculate details was something that I have dreamed of. I wish there was more time to be spent in the glorious city.

After the busy day of tourism and seeing an ancient world colliding with a modern world, we spent the next day at Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney Studios.

Disney forgets nothing! Every detail, every actor, every moment was filled with magic. I felt like a child again, jumping up and down waiting for the gates to open. Riding the rides and wanting to conquer the entire park. I was lucky to meet Jasmine and Aladdin, ride Disney-Paris exclusive rides, and blew kisses to Peter Pan and Flynn Rider. Happy to report Peter Pan caught my kiss and Flynn Rider winked. #Magical

After a wonderful day filled with magic, rides and parades, we went back to the hotel and relaxed and tried to catch up on sleep.

The next day was a travel day. We waited to get on a bus and then we were headed to London!

London

This city has a piece of my heart. When we arrived everything was amazing. The sun was shining. In the Netherlands, it has weather similar to the Pacific North West; so it was incredible to have the rays of sunshine. We walked to a park and had a picnic breakfast and relaxed on a bench. Before I realized it, I fell asleep lounging in the sun! I was bumming, and it was great. One of the best cat naps I have ever taken. We then made our way to find ourselves the hostel where we were staying, and then explored a little more to find some lunch.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing, enjoyed pub food and planned our adventures for London.

On March 1st, Ash Wednesday, we went to a Ash Wednesday Church service in the morning. It was so wonderful to step back into the Lord’s House again. In Nijmegen, I haven’t found any English speaking services so I have been limited to online sermons in my room. Anyways, it was a lovely service where we discussed that Lent is a time to perform a spiritual health check. It was lovely and the church was beautiful. It was a cherished moment to be in the Lord’s presence in his holy house again.

After the service we headed to Piccadilly Circus to explore and go to Ripley’s Believe it or Not! Museum. What an odd place! It was neat to see the different displays and creations. My favorite part was walking through a dark mirror maze.

We finished there and walked to Trafalger Square, and admired the massive bronze statues throughout the square. We also stopped by the M&M store and looked at all the different colors and types that were there.

In the afternoon we went out to do a Harry Potter walking tour. It was incredible to cover the city by foot and see the spots that inspired J.K. Rowling and locations for the movies. Our tour guide kind of looked like a younger version of Hagrid which added to the charm.

After the tour we got some grub and headed back to the hostel. We walked past the ticket booth that was recommended by Hagrid, and there were Disney’s the Lion King tickets on sale!!!! I was so so so excited because I had heard such stellar reviews of the performance. So we snagged some last minute tickets and then headed to the theater!

The Lion King was perfect. In every way. The actors were incredible, the band was spot on and I enjoyed every minute of the performance. I was in the standing section and was thankful to have the back where I could sway and dance freely when my favorite songs were performed. The performance was magical.

After the theater we finally made our way home. On the way home we were walking, talking about how cool it would be to see the Big Ben at night. We turned the corner and THERE IT WAS. In all it’s glory. We talked with some security guards who informed us that Parliament was still in session, but said we should go the next day to the citizen’s meeting if we could. After thanking them for the advice, we headed back to the hostel. We rested, getting ready to embark on a bus tour just like the one in Paris.

Thursday and Saturday we did the bus tours and listened to the live action commentary provided from one of the staff. He taught us how to improve our British accents as well as taught us common phrases. We also listened to tips and tricks to get the most out of London. The tour was hilarious and we had free transportation to all of the major attractions. Big bonus. We tried Nandos, a Portuguese restaurant which was absolutely divine. It was recommended by a friend back in the Netherlands. So delicious. 15/10 would recommend.

On Thursday, we finished our day by walking through a park where I twisted my knee. How excruciatingly painful it has been to walk since! However I am thankful that I can still walk with the help of a brace.

On Friday, we relaxed and stayed in the hostel where I laid with my knee propped up and with ice on it. I was able to catch up on some homework as well as some reading.

Saturday we wrapped up all of the tours and stopped by Whole Foods! I absolutely love Whole Foods so it was great to go and shop for supplements and I purchased some chia and flax seeds. YAY WHOLE FOODS!

Sunday (Mar 5) was the day where we returned back to Nijmegen. While I was sad to leave this glorious city, I was excited to get back and finish the rest of the semester. And do laundry. So excited to do laundry. Which is very weird for me. But it was exciting to be able to settle back into a routine again.

Back in Nijmegen I have tried to get my knee to heal and okay to walk again. I can walk with the brace, but it is still sore and swollen. Not fun. But the vacation was splendid and I want to return. Soon.

This was the most magical spring break I have ever been able to experience. So incredibly thankful I was able to experience this.

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rueur · 8 years

Text

Morning Pages #9 (13.01.2017)

Friday 13th Jan - 9:13 a.m.

So typing out the date just made me realise that it’s Friday the 13th, and I definitely have to go to the Laundry Bar tonight just because of that. I got drunk last night, and watched Girls, and was kind of outraged at how many attractive guys Lena Dunham gets to make out with. I should get into television writing, eh, and write a character just for me. Like Mindy Kaling as well.

Vacuuming yesterday went very very well, I should mention. No vomit, but Romy did hide under the bed for the next two hours or so, long after I’d switched the vacuum off. And I woke up to Bruno’s vomit this morning, for no reason. He just felt like vomiting, I guess. I emptied the rest of the pretzels into a big bowl and waited for Marcus but he never showed up. The bus came by and he just didn’t get on it, he said. It was an off day for him. I understood and I sympathised, but it didn’t stop me from having an off day myself for the rest of the day. Really. I sent some explicit photos to Ikaros out of pure boredom, and then went out and bought under twenty dollars worth of food, and then made myself a sandwich for dinner. After dinner, I knew I wanted a drink. So I used the lemon I found on the way down to the apartment, and some ice, and drank some otherwise straight white rum. I ended up passing out on the couch at around 9, and waking up at 4 a.m., realising that it was very cold outside and that the balcony door was still open. One cat had pissed on the rug again and I just couldn’t deal with anything at that point, I just went straight to bed. My legs feel really weird right now, like my muscles feel tense. I have to go to rehearsals again today too. I really don’t want to. I don’t like this show we’re working on, and I have a very minor part in it anyway. I don’t like Paul. I don’t think he’s a great person to work with on creative projects. He’s taken control over our latest one, picked the theme himself before doing any real work with us and seeing what concerns we hold, what kind of ideas we would want expressed in a show. He’s also not as physical and interactive as Emily or Martin were. First Impressions is supposed to be a very tactile group, very hands-on. Paul does everything from a distance and I don’t love that. Kat has also said some things about him, like this one time we had a girl with learning disabilities come and join our group for a few sessions after Paul began his reign. This girl, I forget her name now, was obsessed with anime (namely Pokemon and Dragon Ball Z) and kept offering inane suggestions along the lines of monologues taken straight out of those TV shows being used in our original productions. It was very disruptive and everyone kind of acknowledged that amongst themselves non-verbally, but we also kept in mind the fact that First Impressions is supposed to be a very inclusive group. It was also obvious that her knowledge and interest in those shows acted as a connection for her to the real world. I don’t doubt that she used those shows to talk to people, have something in common with them and make real friends. I felt a little bad for her; I also knew it would be impossible to develop a show with her. Martin would usually talk to the parents of children like this and see if they could figure out some kind of inclusive but still productive path. To be quite honest, I don’t know how Paul dealt with this issue. All I know is that after one session, he spoke to all of us when that girl and her mother weren’t there, asking how we felt about her. That placed us all in a very awkward position where we were forced to complain about how her learning disability affected us. It was a horrendous experience. The next week’s session, she wasn’t there. She never came back. I have no idea who spoke to her mother and what they said, but I know it was way too abrupt for it to have been good. Since that incident, I’ve been wary of Paul.

Another reason why I don’t want to do the show is because rehearsals are scheduled every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 1-5 p.m., which would’ve been fine for me if I was still living in South Morang but I’m not right now, so it’s just an abominable pain. It’s inconvenient as anything, especially if I’m really doing nothing for four hours. My role in this thing is so tiny that I have no idea why I need to be there so long at all.

I’m just complaining at this point, I’m sorry. My legs still feel really really weird. Still complaining. I had been typing this lying down, so I just moved to the living room to try writing someplace else and in a different position. I feel light-headed, not light-headed because I’m hungry though. I think I took care of myself enough yesterday, foodwise. Today it’s probably just a slight hangover: a bit of a headache, tired joints, a little fatigue. I bought greek style frozen yoghurt with figs and raspberries for when Ikaros comes over on Sunday. He was supposed to come over on Saturday, but because we’re meeting up with Lauren and Jacob on Monday, he said he’d come over on Sunday. I was a little sad about this at first, but then realised it’s probably a good thing, no definitely a good thing. It means that I am free to go out on Saturday night, I guess. I don’t know with who. Maybe just on my own again. Maybe this time, I’ll actually get to dance with some girls. Selwyn is still talking to me on Snapchat. I might ask him what he’s doing on Saturday, I don’t know. He seems like a douche, though.

Malith said he might come out tonight. I don’t know if he will though. I hope that he does. I want him to. We haven’t gone out, just him and me, in a long long time. I think the last thing we did together, just us two, was go and see Adam Hills? Or it was that time we walked from Thornbury station to my house on a whim. Either time was incredible fun and I miss having that fun with him. I’ve recently realised though, that he has that fun with everybody. He seems to have a lot of people who care about him, more people than I’ve got, I feel. That’s just because everyone is very busy all the time now. Toni and Sam are always working, Ikaros is working, and I used to be always working and if I wasn’t always working, I was always studying. This is a very rare period of inactivity for me. If anything, it’s kind of sweet that I get to at least spend it away from home, in Northcote. Being here on my own actually feels like I am doing something, gathering new experiences before the new semester starts and I go on my way to fulfilling the learning requirements of my degree. I can’t wait to graduate, but at the same time I am terrified of what life outside of school will be like. It’s taking everything in me to stop myself going straight through to my masters. I know I’ll do that eventually, but I just want a year or so to myself, to see what I can do. I want to see what adult life is like. I want to move out properly, hopefully with Ikaros. I want to write professionally, and I will see what steps I have to take to get there.

I’ve just been trudging through these morning pages for the past few days, and thinking about how they’re going to work when I’m back at uni and facing 6 a.m. starts. Would I be typing on the train? I think it would be a good idea if I kept my data plan for the year, maybe a smaller plan like 3 GB a month rather than 7. It’s been a godsend having internet on my phone, and having a phone that can actually access the internet. I do miss the simplicity of my old Nokia brick though, and taking photos on it was something else. The picture quality was so low it was actually interesting. The camera on my new phone is horrendous. The front-facing camera has a knack of distorting anything that’s at the edge of the screen, and the landscape setting is completely skewed and stretched out. It takes a minute to focus after you press the capture button, so you’re holding the phone there weirdly, wondering if it’s taken the photo or not. I told my brother I might lend him my iPod so that he can keep using the internet while he waits for a new phone, but I don’t know if I can give up my iPod because otherwise I wouldn’t be able to take any decent photos at all, and I’m the kind of person who takes photos very liberally out in public. Not selfies, but things that I see that I want to share with people. Once, I saw a spider hanging onto the outside of the window on my train, and I posted a photo of it on Facebook and captioned it ‘fare-evading scum’ and it was a big hit. PTV (Public Transport Victoria) has always made such a huge deal about persecuting fare-evaders and at the time of the post, there were a whole bunch of new ads showing fare-evaders as blurred out, or fuzzy non-humans, basically dehumanising them like there was going to be a new genocide. Death to fare-evaders! It’s ludicrous (great rapper) how extreme they got with it. It was reminiscent of those piracy warning ads they run at the beginnings of DVDs, with that dangerously upbeat music. ‘You wouldn’t steal a car’, so on and so forth. The extremism of those ads just makes the message you’re sending sound really comical rather than serious. It was the same deal with PTV. Back when they were still called Metro, they had another ad campaign that gained global recognition for being equal parts adorable and informative: Dumb Ways To Die. It’s a song, and now two apps and I feel like everyone is on the way to forgetting that it was coined by a transportation service and it’s original message was that you have to be safe around trams and trains. Don’t you just love it when that happens? When something fantastic comes out of the mundane. I think that’s why everyone’s in love with memes right now, because they usually take something like stock photos and road signs and people cooking, and they find something obscure in all this mundanity and they turn it into something flexibly hilarious. By flexibly hilarious, I mean that thousands of other people can play around with this one image and somehow make it even more hilarious than that first original isolated image. Modern comedy.

#morning pages #stream of consciousness #9 #13.01.2017

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