#mira is still so new of a writing subject that I probably fucked her up SORRY HALLE

[frenchy-and-the-sea]

34 (how they act when they're nervous) + Zephyr

I think these have gotten away from me as like. A concept. But I think this highlights the idea that, uh, Zeph drinks hard and gets distant and weird when she’s nervous pretty well, despite being, you know, long as shit.

Including the Tea Party crew, with Mira, the aasimar cleric belonging to @colonelcupquake and Fàilbhe, the faun druid belonging to @kombits! With my genasi drunk monk, Zephyr. Obviously.

3000 words.

—-

“You’ve noticed her shaking too,”said the words in Fàilbhe’s book.

He flashed it quickly Mira’s way, just long enough for her toread, then gestured to where Zephyr was sitting, cross legged and silent, aboutthirty feet away. She had taken a post by the road when they stopped to restand take their midday meal, and had neither moved nor said a word since; thelatest in a long string of oddities that had started since they set out for herfamily’s estate two days ago. Mira stole a quick glance at her back, thenturned to Fàilbhe and lowered her voice.

“A couple of times,” she whispered back. “Like she’s cold, eventhough she says she isn’t. And she keeps grabbing her flask every time ithappens. It’s probably empty by now.”

Fàilbhe shook his head, and scribbled furiously in his notebook. “Sawher steal a wineskin from my pack.”

“She what?”

Fàilbhe shrugged. “Not worried about that. Worried forher. Acting strange. Wine isn’t going to help.”

Mira frowned, and chanced another glance over her shoulder towhere Zephyr sat, picking slowly at her lunch and staring intently down thelength of the road.

“What do we do, then?” she asked softly.

“Nothing,” Fàilbhe’s book said. “Watch and wait.”

—–

The waiting lasted until halfway through Mira’s midnight watch,when she caught a shadow creeping along out of the corner of her eye.

She didn’t turn her head, but her hand went slowly to thewarhammer at her hip as the figure stole over to where Fàilbhe was curledaround Delia just outside of the light of the fire. The dog’s head rose up asit approached, and Mira heard the faintest thump-thump-thump of a tail poundinghappily against the earth. The figure froze and made a gesture that Miracouldn’t quite make out; Delia just yawned in response, then dropped her hadback onto her paws and fell promptly asleep again. In the darkness, Mira hearda soft snort, and then saw the figure duck behind Fàilbhe’s turned back andbegin rustling in something that she could not see. One of Fàilbhe’s eyes slidopen, and found Mira’s across the camp. She nodded slowly, then fixed herattention back onto the fire as the rustling stopped, and she heard the figuresteal quietly into the woodline beyond.

She counted to thirty in her head, slowly, then stood andfollowed. As she passed Fàilbhe, she heard him push upright with a sigh, andtake her place at the edge of the fire.

Zephyr was not hard to find. Even with only half a moon to lighther way, Mira spotted her silhouette tucked up in the low branches of a widecoral tree after a few minutes of walking, her unbound hair caught up in aconstant, unfelt breeze. She had another wineskin in her hand, which she wasnursing slowly as she stared up through the treetops at the darkened sky.

Mira waited for a few long moments, then stepped forward into theclearing, deliberately shuffling her feet.

“Is this why we can’t ever get you up in the morning?”

Zephyr shot upright, one hand already clenched into a fist. Herunfocused stare landed on Mira a few seconds later - a few seconds too long,Mira thought with a frown - and then narrowed.

“I thought you were supposed to be on watch,” she sneered, andtook another, longer draw off of the skin before tucking back against the tree.“So much for any of us feeling like we can sleep soundly.”

Mira felt annoyance twinge at the back of her neck. “When there’sa thief in our camp? Yes, I think you’re right.”

Zephyr paused, head cocked her way, and Mira braced herself foranother burst of anger. Instead, the genasi tugged her wineskin a littlecloser, and put her eyes everywhere but in Mira’s direction. “He wasn’tdrinking it.”

“That’s beside the point and you know it.” Zephyr mutteredsomething in a soft, airy language under her breath. “Zephyr, please.”

“‘Zephyr, please,’” she mocked, and kicked at a piece of bark sothat it scattered over Mira’s head. “Merciful gods, you sound like my mother. Ididn’t realize that I had to ask for your permission too.”

The annoyance lingering at the back of Mira’s neck suddenlyflashed to life again, bright and angry as a hornet’s nest. Zephyr turned totake another draw off of the wineskin, and without thinking, Mira surgedforward, pushed up onto the bough and plucked it neatly out of her hands.

She landed hard in the dirt, knees buckling with the impact andwith a sudden, giddy rush at what she had done. That vanished as somethingshifted in her periphery, and she turned to find Zephyr on the ground too now,and stalking forward with both fists clenched tight at her side. Her lips hadpulled back into a ferocious animal snarl, and the wind that toyed with herunbound hair suddenly seemed more tornado than gentle breeze.

Mira clutched the wineskin to her chest and took a generous stepbackwards.

“Are you going to hit me?” she asked, the words tight and spillingout in a rush that she tried to hold them as steadily as her ground. “Over wine,Zephyr? Really? Is that all it takes for you?”

For a moment, it seemed like Zephyr had been fully deafened by herfury; her fists came up in a fighting stance, one already cocked back for aswing, and Mira felt the familiar panicked rush of adrenaline that always camebefore a fight. She latched a hand around the grip of her warhammer, and bracedherself to run.

Then Zephyr stumbled, her unsteady feet not the usual conjuredsort but the brutally honest stagger of a true drunkard, and the lines of furycutting across her face suddenly fell slack. She blinked, once, twice, and thenMira watched realization pool behind blue eyes that had been steely with angernot two seconds earlier.

The next step she took was backwards, and came with a lowering ofher fists.

“I’m….” she stammered, eyes darting back and forth between thewineskin, and Mira, and the camp beyond. Then she cleared her throat, squaredher shoulders, and without another word, Zephyr turned neatly on a heel andfled back into the boughs of her tree. This time, when she tucked herselfagainst the trunk, she put her back firmly in Mira’s direction.

Fight and adrenaline fled almost immediately. Mira sagged aroundthe wineskin pressed to her chest, hoping the sound of her heartbeat didn’techo in the half-empty container. Half-empty, her mind pointed out.Zephyr’s night had been a bad one, and coping alone had been her first and onlyanswer. Mira’s stomach suddenly knotted around itself, and climbed up into herthroat.

Slowly, as movement and strength returned to her limbs, she creptover to where Zephyr had pressed herself into the long, snaking shadows of thetree. She saw blue eyes flick back to meet her, then snap away with a quicknessthat seemed to imply a sniff of disdain. Don’t bother, the motion said. ButMira still had the wineskin in her hands, and it still felt too empty by half.

She hauled herself up onto the branch beside Zephyr, leaving afull foot of empty space between them.

“I’m sorry,” she said softly, settling herself over the edge sothat her legs dangled. “I wasn’t trying to upset you. I…. we’ve been worriedabout you. You’ve been acting strangely since we left the aerie, and thenFàilbhe said you were stealing the wine they gave us from his pack and I…"

She trailed off, hoping Zephyr would pick up the conversation onher own. When she continued staring forward, silent, Mira sighed and held thewineskin towards her.

“Are you afraid of going home?”

This time Zephyr looked over, a bonfire heat suddenly blazingbehind her eyes.

“I am not afraid,” she hissed. Mira recoiled, and somethingabout the motion sent the fire scattering out of Zephyr’s stare. She huffed andsank back against the tree, tucking both arms close to her chest. “Not in theway that you think, anyway.”

Mira waited for a moment, watching as Zephyr stared daggers intothe darkened woods. Then, slowly, she shuffled over, closing nearly all of thedistance between them and offering the wineskin again. Zephyr’s gaze flickedsideways, hard as iron. Then she sighed.

“My mother is a sorceress,” she said finally, plucking the wineneatly out of Mira’s outstretched hand. “A proper magical one, you see, not thehaggish sort you always read about in stories. She used to travel when she wasyounger, and that has, apparently, made her very powerful. I wouldn’t know,myself; I only saw the fruits of her labor when I found enchantments on my doorto keep me locked behind it, or when she compelled the few guards that didn’toutright dislike me to tell her how I’d gotten out that night.”

She took another deep draw of wine, and must have seen Mira’swide-eyed stare in her periphery, because she nearly lost the whole mouthful inone very undignified snort.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that. She never used anything on me,as far as I can tell. I guess she still wanted me to have something remotelylike dignity left. But I…” She hesitated. “I think it will be different, if wego back. I have never left like I did last time. Certainly not for as long. Andif she decides that she would like me to stay this time, well…”

She shrugged, but any nonchalance the motion might have hadvanished with the stiffness of her shoulders. Mira just looked on, silent.Zephyr had never been quite so open before. More than that; she had neverdeigned to answer anything so directly, had never spoken about herself asanything more than deserving of the highest praise and respect, and she had certainlynever done so with such genuine worry scoring the undersides of her words.Mira briefly considered taking the wine back, but Zephyr had it clutched in herhand like a holy symbol, and she greatly preferred her fingers in their currentorientations.

“Still,” Zephyr went on, clearly trying for casual, “if we don’tget my mother’s aid, then we let the world end. So, here I am. Stealing yourwine.”

She shot Mira a sidelong look as she said it, but all of the drysmirking in the world could not hide the way her eyes drifted just a little toofar past, off into the darkness, where she didn’t have to convince anyone ofher ease. Mira felt her heart catch in her throat.

She reached out and dropped a hand onto Zephyr’s bare shoulder,which jumped like a startled cat’s.

“We won’t let anything happen to you, Zephyr,” she said firmly.“Fàilbhe and I, we’ll make sure that nothing happens to -”

“Oh, please,” Zephyr muttered, and rolled her shoulder to dislodgeMira’s hand. “What are you going to do, exactly? Storm the estate? My mother isnot some cheap conjurer, Mira. She’s stronger than you and Fàilbhe combined,and she commands the entire martial force of a city. You would have to be verypersuasive, or very lucky, to even think -”

“Then perhaps we will be lucky.”

Zephyr paused, startled out of speaking by the force in Mira’s words.Then a deadly scowl crawled across her face, and she snorted under her breath,tucking into the shadows of the tree once more.

“Of course you will.”

“We will,” Mira insisted. She scooted herself the last few inchesacross the branch, until her thigh was pressed against Zephyr’s, and she couldfeel the phantom breeze that stirred her hair. “You don’t belong locked up insome room all day. You belong out here. Up there. Up, with thesky and the sound of wind pounding in your ears. You’re like me, Zephyr!You’re one of the Winged Mother’s children. She protects that for all of us.”Mira’s smile twisted wry. “Even the ones who don’t know her yet.”

Zephyr rolled her eyes - rolled her whole head, really - andturned to Mira with a word already half-formed on her lips. Then she paused,and Mira watched as a curious series of expressions stole their way across herface, like shadows over the moon. Thoughtful turned to terrified turned to aweturned to several hundred other things at once, all in increments, like everyemotion fit just a bit too tightly to remain. Her hands, still clutched aroundthe wineskin, had gone white at the knuckles.

Eventually, she caught Mira staring, and the strange, flutteringexpression snapped closed like shutters drawn in a storm. She turned away andtook another swig off of the wineskin.

“Well,” she said after a moment, her voice soft and unsteady, “Isuppose that I can use all of the help that I can get.”

Mira smiled, more broadly than she had in the last several days, andput a hand on Zephyr’s shoulder. She snorted, but didn’t shrug it off thistime.

They sat in companionable silence for a few long minutes, takingturns staring up at the darkened sky as Zephyr slowly but steadily wore throughthe rest of the wine. As she was tipping back the last few swigs, Mira clearedher throat.

“You, ah, probably shouldn’t drink much more of that,” she saidgently. Zephyr snorted.

“I’m a big girl, Mira. I can handle it.”

“Oh, of course,” said Mira, nodding. “I’m not worried about you.It’s just, well…that’s the wine the aerie gave us, right?”

“Yes,” Zephyr said coolly. “Is that a problem?”

“Well, no. I mean, not really. It’s just that, since it’sceremonial, it’s…it’s really more of a tincture than proper wine. We temperit with certain ingredients to bring us closer to the Winged Mother, and…”

“And?” Zephyr’s eyebrow rose. “Mira, what did you temper it with?”

“Um…griffon piss.”

Zephyr’s throw sent the wineskin hurtling into the center of theclearing, sending wine scattering across the ground with a dull thud. Shewheeled, purple-faced with fury, as Mira scrambled back out of her reach,laughing almost too hard to breathe.

“I’m kidding!” she wheezed, holding out a hand. “I’m sorry! Ididn’t think you would actually believe me!”

Zephyr just stared back, her brow a collection of furrows andhard, angry lines as her gaze shot between the wineskin and the still-gigglingMira. They softened only slightly as realization took hold.

“That’s not funny,” she sneered. “You’re not funny! It’sjust…it’s disgusting, is what it is! You’re disgusting!”

Her indignance only made Mira laugh harder, and when Zephyrdropped from the tree hard enough to nearly knock Mira out of it, she took thescrapes and bruises as earned.

—–

Fàilbhe was still sitting by the ire when they stumbled back intocamp, Zephyr still storming, Mira still picking twigs out of her hair. Hiseyebrow arched as Zephyr stormed off to the far side of the camp, mutteringunder her breath. Mira just smiled and offered him a quick thumbs up behind herback. It hadn’t been her swiftest or most graceful conversation, certainly, butfew things with Zephyr ever were.

“Thanks for waiting,” she said as she stepped back into the ringof firelight, hiding a yawn behind a hand. “I can take over again.”

Fàilbhe smiled and shook his head, then pointed to her bedroll andmade a shooing gesture. She opened her mouth to protest, but he turnedpointedly back to the book in his hands.

“Fàilbhe.” The faun’s ear twitched, but he didn’t move. “Fàilbhe,c’mon.”

“Oh, let him stay if he wants,” Zephyr’s grumbling came fromsomewhere behind them, along with a dragging sound as she appeared from out ofthe darkness with her bedroll dangling from a hand. “If he would like to sit upall night being eaten alive by flies, he can certainly be my guest.”

She tossed her bedroll down beside Mira’s without a word, thencrawled inside and pulled it up to her ears. Fàilbhe did look up now, frowning,and turned to write something in his notebook.

“Zephyr,” Mira said over her shoulder as he held it out towardsher, “Fàilbhe says -”

“That I have next watch, yes,” came the muffled voice from herbedroll. “I heard his furious scribbling from over here and guessed what hemight be on about. Hold your applause, please.”

Fàilbhe gave Mira a long-suffering look, then scrawled in hisnotebook again.

“She seems to be back to normal. Good job.”

Mira hid a small laugh, and then a slightly larger yawn, behind ahand. Fàilbhe raised an eyebrow and made another, more insistent gesturetowards her bedroll, and this time, Mira didn’t have it in her to fight him.Yawning, she waved him goodnight, then staggered her way towards the sleepingfigure curled up beside her bedroll. Zephyr had made a big show of being casualabout where she had thrown her bedroll down, but the bare few inches between itand Mira’s seemed a touch too well-placed to be an accident.

Smiling to herself, Mira shucked the rest of her armor into a pilebeside her pack, then crawled gratefully inside. Her head had barely met thepillow when Zephyr’s voice hissed out of the gloom behind her.

“Mira.” Her voice was so low that for a moment, Mira was certainshe had imagined it.

“Mhm?”

“Don’t tell Fàilbhe what I told you unless things go badly,alright? He’s got enough on his mind already.”

“Mm. ‘kay.” Mira couldn’t quite conjure the energy to fight withZephyr now either. “I won’t have to, though. It’ll be okay, Zeph.”

“I know,” said the voice behind her, too small and quiet by far.Mira felt her heart suddenly pound harder in her chest as something shiftedbehind her, and muffled the last word almost entirely away.

“Thanks.”

[saedii-gilwraeth-simp]

Operation Arsinoe and Billy - one-shot

Hell yeah new fic time. This is just a quick one shot to act as a seperator from my previous fic to my next one but I love it nonetheless

Operation Arsilly Bilsinoe Arsinoe x Billy (Junoe)

Objective: Get our dumb chaotic bisexual professor friends together because their pining is fucking Jules you can’t write that fucking annoying.

January 17 - Jules

For someone currently getting a needle through her ear, Arsinoe is smiling. She had decided that despite being a professor of political science, a new set of earrings (her eighth) would be a good look to come back to the school year with. Jules just thought she was trying to impress someone.

Probably the “cute” law professor down the hall. Arsinoe and Billy were friends but it was Jules’ job as Arsinoe’s best friend to set them up, since they so obviously wouldn’t do it themselves.

But she couldn’t do it herself. She needed help. And what better help than someone who was close with both her subjects?

January 30 - Mirabella

When Jules Milone had told Mirabella Queen that they had to work together to get her sister and friend together, Mirabella had sighed. She knew that meddling with Arsinoe’s love life was never, ever a good idea and that Mirabella should respect her privacy. Alas, Jules did not seem to understand this concept.

So, Mirabella agreed to help, if only to keep Jules from completely enraging her sister with her lack of subtlety or tact.

February 2 - Jules

Arsinoe was up early the first day of the new university term, waking Jules with the sound of their dog returning with Arsinoe from her run. Jules’ kitten, Camden, climbed on her chest and pawed at Jules’ face until she opened her eyes.

Day one of the plan initiate.

Jules threw herself out of bed and super casually entered the kitchen where Arsinoe was sitting on the bench eating toast while scrolling through her phone. Arsinoe acknowledged her with a smile and went back to scrolling.

“So, back at school today? You happy to see your students?” Arsinoe shrugged and nodded, her face still stuffed with Vegemite toast. Jules turns away and feigns picking her nails. “Are you excited to see some members of staff, such as, oh I don’t know, Billy Chatworth,” Jules smiles at the slight choking sound Arsinoe makes behind her. Jules schools her face into concern and turns to face Arsinoe. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah I’m good. And I guess it’ll be good to see some of my work friends.”

February 6 - Mirabella

She was spying on her sister. She probably shouldn’t have been but when she sets things up, like a coffee date between two unknowing participants, she wants to see the results.

She had texted Billy and Arsinoe separately to see if they wanted coffee and luckily, both professors had free time that Tuesday morning. So it was a little devious but if it meant she would beat Jules into getting them together faster, it would be worth it.

The two met in the cafe, as though they were surprised to see each other and sat for nearly an hour before they went their seperate ways. Mirabella smiled and went to drive away when a knock came from the passenger side. Mira jumped and turned her head to meet her sisters irritated eyes. Arsinoe didn’t do anything other than glare at her and then walked away. Message sent.

February 11 - Jules

She was lurking near Arsinoe’s classroom, texting Mirabella to tell her that her most recent attempt was underway. The bell went and bored university first years poured out of Arsinoe’s classroom. Jules watched down the hall as Billy left his classroom, coming straight down the hall. Blending into the freshman, Jules stuck her prosthetic leg out, effectively tripping Chatworth into Arsinoe’s doorframe. Jules quickly walked through the crowd but she didn’t miss Billy smile slightly and walk into Arsinoe’s classroom.

Jules watched and waited and Billy didn’t leave for another half hour. When the two exited the classroom, It was together, both chatting amiably, but Jules didn’t miss the way Billy’s usually flat hair was pushed back or that Arsinoe’s hair, which had been in a ponytail when she left the house that morning, now was down on her shoulders.

They walked away and Jules listened until their footsteps retreated. She left the alcove she was hiding in, only to be met with her best friend’s annoyed posture and face.

“First Mirabella and now you. Explain. Now,” Arsinoe doesn’t seem angry but she also didn’t seem happy. Jules showed no sign of faltering before she responded.

“I was just here looking at classes. Thought I might take a Poli-sci class. Recreationally, y’know,” she says casually. Arsinoe’s eyebrows pinch together before her face goes calm.

“You can sit in on my fourth year class if you want. And don’t think I don’t know that you’re lying to me. I’m going to figure it out,” Arsinoe says and then turns on her stilettos and stalks away.

February 14 - Mirabella

She gives Arsinoe chocolate. It was a talent she picked up in high school to forge handwriting (not that anyone needs to know why) and it was paying off because Arsinoe was receiving chocolate from Billy, or so she thought.

Jules and her were crouching behind a wall where the teacher’s pigeonholes were, watching Arsinoe approach her own to get her daily letters. Arsinoe smiles and pick up the box of chocolates. Jules and Mirabella smiled at each other.

“What are you two doing?” Mirabella and Jules jumped and stood, turning nervously to be met with none other than Billy Chatworth. He glances around them to see Arsinoe and frowns. “Why are you spying on Arsinoe? Are you struggling to speak with her?” He asks. Mirabella sighs internally. Why must Billy be so intuitive? Of course if he wasn’t, Arsinoe probably would even notice him, let alone be attracted to him.

“We were just…” She struggles to form an excuse.

“Mira, Jules, what are you two doing here?” Arsinoe’s voice joins the conversation. Mirabella and Jules wince and turn.

“Hey, Arsinoe,” Mirabella says, trying to come up with an excuse. She was good at forgery but a terrible lier. Arsinoe raises an eyebrow. She transfers her gaze to the man standing behind them.

“It seems the entire education faculty has left you gifts, Chatworth. You might want to get onto that before Pietyr notices,” Billy nods and rounds the three, entering the office. Arsinoe turns back to them.

“If your going to spy on me and forge a love letter, do it with more subtlety. Have a good day both of you. I’m sure you can find the exit of campus relatively easy. Goodbye,” she pushes between the two of them, walking off in the direction of her classroom.

June 19 - Jules

“We need to plan this better. Arsinoe’s figured us out every time and you could probably assume she knows what we’re up to,” Mirabella says. They sit at Mirabella’s kitchen counter, a notebook full of crossed out plans and ideas in front of them. Mirabella’s head leans on Jules’ shoulder in slight defeat.

“Maybe we just need to lock them in a room together,” Jules said. Mirabella pointed at the notebook. Oh right, they had tried that. They probably should have considered the fact that Arsinoe could pick locks at the time. “Maybe we should just give up. They don’t seem to be taking the bait. I mean, Arsinoe kicked me out this morning just so she could have a guy over without me having to share a wall with her. She seemed serious about him and I think I would have noticed if it had been Billy.”

“We can’t give up. Billy and Arsinoe are destined to be together,” Mirabella asserts.

“How do we know?”

“Can’t you tell just by looking at them,” Mirabella finds a photo of the two she had taken during a ‘recon mission’. They were an extremely cute pair, smiling at each other like they had just pulled off the worlds greatest prank.

“Ugh, fine. I say we try locking them in a room together again, but this time an electronic one, like the uni has,” Jules says, drawing the lock on the page, circling the places where pickable locks weren’t there.

“Let’s do it,” they locked eyes and Jules ignored the butterflies at seeing Mirabella’s smile. Now was not the time.

June 25 - Mirabella

They were sitting outside the door of the room she has shoved Arsinoe and Billy in, waiting. Jules was listening with her ear pressed against the door for signs of something. Mirabella was watching Jules’ mouth. She was thrown by her recent crush on her sister’s best friend, it had been a long time since she had liked anyone like that, not since she broke up with Bree last year. It was proving troublesome for their mission. She was trying to get two people to fall in love, not fall in love herself.

“Jules, what if they got out somehow?”

“They haven’t. They’re talking. I just can’t tell what they’re saying,” Jules leans against the door further.

“Jules,” Mirabella starts, making the brunette turn her head. “Did you maybe want to go for coffee after this?” Jules turned to her, watching her closely with her mismatched eyes as if trying to figure her out.

“To plan another move?” She asks, making Mirabella shake her head.

“No, just to talk. Kinda like… like a date,” Jules goes completely still and then her cheeks go bright red.

“I would like that, immensely- oof!” Jules grunted as her and Mirabella fell backward into the room. Billy and Arsinoe stood above them, smiling like a couple of little shits.

“I take offence that you thought I couldn’t hack this lock. But hey, success anyway,” Mirabella’s eyebrows furrowed.

“What are you talking about?”

“You and Jules obviously. All we had to do was string you along for a time long enough for you to have crushes on each other and then even longer for you to ask each on a date. You really tested our patience,” Arsinoe steps over them and they sit up.

“What are you talking about?” Jules asks. Arsinoe sends her a sharp smile.

“You think I didn’t know what you two were up to months ago? Please. So Billy and I hatched a plan to get you two together and we succeeded,” Mirabella frowned, looking at Billy, who shrugged.

“But… we were trying to get you two together,” Mirabella says, still evidently confused. Arsinoe smiles wider.

“Billy and I have been together since last December. We just didn’t get to talk much over the holidays because he was away. You two just assumed we weren’t, which is on you. Have a good coffee date,” she takes Billy’s hand and they walk down the hall together.

Mirabella look at Jules. Jules looks back at Mirabella. Sure, they got played, but all’s well that ends well.

[fallen029]

About Life: Precept

Previous Chapter

"Okay, so first off, I want to be the one to name the baby."

"You're kidding, right?"

"Why is that something to kid about, Mirajane?" Laxus asked as he stood there, in the middle of his living room, glaring over at her. "I'm being very serious."

"And I'm being very serious too," she kept up as, seated on his couch, she held a pen over a notebook, waiting to write down some rules that she actually planned on following. Because that was not one of them. "You don't get to name the baby."

Another two weeks had passed in which Laxus had left on a job and Mirajane considered just what the future might hold for them. While he spent his time keeping his mind off things, Mira got inundated with Lisanna and Lucy's concerns and complaints over the whole thing as well as all their awe and mystique over Laxus Dreyar actually seriously considering having a baby with her and it was just a busy two week for Mirajane.

A very two busy week.

Then Laxus got back to town and came to the guild to inform her that he wanted her to come over to her house on her off day, so that they could get to discussing things on a more serious note. So Mira was then forced to take an off day (they were actually rare for her) and headed on over.

Laxus' apartment was...nice, to say the least, but also rather sterile. She had to imagine this was more due to him not being around often to enjoy it, but still, it just felt off. Nice still, though, which wasn't a surprise considering she more or less knew the amount of jewels he was pulling in, considering she'd taken to filing most of the jobs up all the hall in those days.

As they sat down to the write the rules and stipulations down, however, Mira and Laxus found themselves hitting a snag right out of the gate.

"I'm the father," Laxus reminded her as if that, for some reason, had anything to do with it. "I should be able to name him. Or her. It. Whatever you want to say."

"I want to say whatever name I pick out."

"Mirajane-"

"Laxus, I'm going to be the one raising this kid, remember?" she asked as she clicked the pen a few times in annoyance. "Saying that name? Constantly? For the rest of forever? And you, what? Even if you're going to be in the baby's life, still will only see it every month? Every two? In what world would you have a bigger affect from a name you don't like than I would?"

He only stared, for a long moment, trying to think up something to combat this, but he was coming up blank. What she said made sense. It made perfect sense. And he hated it.

Deflating a bit, the man said, "Well…don't I get some kind of say? If I'm claiming this kid?'

"Should I put that down then?" she asked. "That you're definitely claiming the baby? Or is there some other stipulation with that?"

"What kind of stipulation could there be?" he asked knowing damn well, back at that restaurant, he'd decided that if it looked anything like Mira's doofus brother… "Mirajane?"

"I don't know," she said slowly as, thinking, she came up with a few. "I mean, if it doesn't look like you, like at all, would that bother you?"

"Is it still mine?"

"Obviously."

"Well, then that's a stupid thing to ask."

"What if it, like, decides it doesn't like magic? Later? When it grows up? Would that bother you?"

"I thought the point of me and you coming together was for it to be a powerful-"

"But if it rejected that?"

Kicking some at the floor, he only grumbled out, "I'm not some sorta dictator, you know. I'm not...Ivan. If I had a kid and it didn't… That's part of life. You don't get to control the way someone else thinks."

"Well, unless your Bickslow."

Right, because Laxus really wanted to think about him at the moment…

"Yeah," he said with a bit of a frown. "Unless you're Bickslow."

"Okay, so," Mira hummed as she thought some more. "Oh! What if it was a girl?"

"What if what was a girl?" he asked as he looked up at her. "Bickslow?"

"No, Laxus. The baby."

"Huh?"

"You said," she reminded slowly as she locked eyes with him, "That you were doing this to further your name, right? If we had a daughter, that wouldn't exactly help you any in that. So should I write down that if we do-"

"Fuck, Mira, make me sound like more of an asshole."

"You said-"

"I've been saying this whole time that if it were a boy or a girl that would be fine with me," he complained. "Or at least I've been talking about them both. So that's a pretty shitty question."

"Well, I was just wondering."

"A girl can add to a legacy, she just can't carry it," Laxus told her simply. "So whatever happens after she's here and has my last name is her problem. I've done my Dreyar civic duty. She-"

"About that-"

"You can name the damn kid whatever you want," he told her in a deadpan sorta way. "But it's getting my last name."

They glared hard at one another for a few moments over that one before, with a sigh, Mirajane moved to write it down. Before, yes, she'd had the idea to dupe him on that one, but they'd discussed beforehand that anything that gotten written on that notebook was binding and they were both going to agree to it.

"What if I cross my fingers?" Mira had asked when he present her with the notebook.

"Then I'm thinking you're too immature to have a baby in the first place."

He had her there.

And in the current moment as, early in the game, Mirajane was giving up and conceding the last name issue to Laxus.

She won on the actual name thing though so, really, they were still pretty even.

"What other things do you think we need to discuss then?" Mirajane asked after, in that pretty print of hers, she wrote down the last name rule. "Hmmm?"

"Well… I guess we should talk about pay."

Making a face, Mirajane stuck out her tongue some as she said, "You're not a...stud, Laxus. I'm not going to pay you for your-"

"What? No." And he tried not to choke. "Mirajane, I meant once the kid gets here. Paying for, you know, incidentals and life in general and-"

"Oh."

"Oh? That's all you're gonna say? Gosh, Mira."

Humming some then, she said, "Well, I guess I hadn't thought about it. You know? I planned to be the one to care for the baby. I have a lot of savings. It's not like I'm not prepared."

"Yeah, but… I mean, I could help out," he said then. "Not that I want to be, like, in the kid's life daily or anything, I'll probably be off on jobs a lot, but when I'm home… I'd bring it gifts, at least, probably. That's what I always wanted Ivan to do for me. When he went far away. And my kid can't be running around, poor as a church mouse."

"Poor as a what?"

"They'll need shoes and shirts and, I mean, I wouldn't wanna spoil the brat, but-"

"You're kinda getting ahead of yourself."

Yeah. He had that tendency.

"I'm just saying," he told her then with a frown, "that I don't want it to be an issue if I want to slide you some jewels. For taking care of my kid. Will it be?"

"So long as you don't make it an issue."

"Why don't you just write it down then?" he asked. "An amount? Can we figure one out? And I'll give it to you every-"

"Laxus-"

"I just don't want," he told her tensely then, "for this to get all mangled and twisted. If we're going to do this, let's get anything that might be a bump in the road out of the way so we don't have to cross any unknown bridges. That's what this meeting was for, right?"

She gazed at him for a long few seconds before saying, "I mean, I don't think I'll be in the position to turn down jewels, you know. When the time comes."

Nodding his own head, Laxus agreed, "When the time comes."

It was only once that was written down that Mirajane found a new thing to bring up.

"You won't throw some sort of weird fit, will you?" she asked him. "When the baby gets here and you don't, like, like the way I parent it? Or something?"

"I mean, you're not going to shove a lacrima in it because it's sickly and hope it does soon so that you can harvest it, are you?"

"Mmmm….nope."

"Alright then."

"And," Mirajane kept up, "I also was concerned about...um… You know."

"I know?"

Nodding, she said, "If… When I find someone that I...actually want to be with...romantically…after the baby is-"

"Oh, uh," Laxus stammered as he coughed into his hand a bit. "I'm not, you know, anything to you, Mira."

"Other than hopefully the father of my child."

"Right. Right," he agreed with a nod of his head. "Other than that. So…as long as they don't try to shove a lacrima down my kid's sickly throat to harvest it-"

"Laxus, if you want to talk about it-"

"It'll always be my baby though," he said then before, staring across the room at her, he asked, "Right?"

Mira didn't break his gaze as she nodded along. "Right. If that's what you want."

"And whatever...relationships I'm in-"

"I'm not in love with you, Laxus," she assured him. "And I don't plan to be."

"Well, make sure you never are, okay?" he ordered then. "This is just what it sounds like. Two people who want a baby, getting a baby."

"You're preaching to the choir."

Again, their eyes met, but that time it was Laxus who changed the subject as he asked, "So about..."

"About..."

He nodded towards a door on the other side of the room and, though Mirajane didn't know for certain what was on the other side of it, she had a good inkling.

"Oh." Finally, Mira blushed a bit and looked off before saying, "I, uh, I know when I'm… Around when we should… And I've heard of a potion you can take that makes you even more… So it shouldn't take us very long to-"

"Then there's no sorta...spell or something we can say that-"

"That magically puts a baby in my stomach? Seriously, Laxus?'

He shrugged a bit before saying, "I wanted to make sure I'm getting, you know, the full ride here."

"The full ride, huh?"

"The full ride, Mirajane."

It was such a tense moment.

Before Mirajane ruined it was giggles.

Laxus only rolled his eyes.

As he came over finally, to join her on the couch, Mirajane only sobered a bit before asking, 'Should I start finding out about any buried secrets in your family that might pop up?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like… I know that you were sick as a kid, but-"

"Not hereditary." He patted at his chest. "Dreyars are a good breed."

"And your mother?"

That got him to frown, shifting on the couch as he was already uncomfortable there. "Excuse me?"

"Is she alive?" Mira didn't look to comfortable asking. "Or-"

"No. She's not."

"Then-"

"And she won't have any affect on-"

"But she didn't die of some sort of crazy illness, did she? That the baby might-"

"No."

"So-"

"Let's move on."

"Okay," Mirajane hummed again, as to keep them both in a good place. "Well, you mentioned something about...diseases when I first asked you about-"

"I'm clean."

"But-"

"Would I have let us get this far without it?"

"I was going to say will you be between today and when we-"

"I think I can keep it in my pants till then, yeah, Mira."

"Good." Grinning over at him, she reiterated, "So no diseases or anything. Now, about your Dreyar attitude-"

"My what?"

"Do you feel like that's because of your upbringing? Both you and your grandfather? Or perhaps something subconsciously that-"

"My up- Mirajane-"

"I'm prying for a good reason this time," she insisted. "Not just to be nosy. This is for the future of my child."

Laxus considered her silently before saying simply, "I'm my own person, nothing like my father or grandfather, and my genes will only bring your child god-like qualities. Anything wrong with him would come from the stock that you bring."

It was Mira's turn, finally to say, "Excuse me?"

"You're from the boonies, aren't ya? And I've seen your brother. You, even. There's something off there. So upbringing or genetics, Mirajane?"

Making a face at him, she retorted, "Fine. I won't ask those sort of questions anymore."

"Thank you."

They both sat there then, for a few moments, before eventually Mriajane got to her feet.

"Are we done here then?" she asked, the one lording over him then. Laxus only blinked up at her though.

With a curt nod, he said, "I'll hang around until it's, you know, time for us to-"

"Good. And then, hopefully, we can go another nine months without talking?"

"Yeah," Laxus sighed as she headed to the door then. "Hopefully."

Next Chapter

FF

[the-call-from-the-light]

Putting the Damage On, Chapter 1 Notes

Putting the Damage On on An Archive of Our Own

I began writing this Star Wars sequel trilogy fan fic as an exercise to get me back on track after finishing a graphic novel script and floundering while I decided what “serious” project I wanted to work on next.

Nearly 100,000 words later, I’ve honed my fiction writing skills -- including pacing, rising tension, plotting, mystery reveals, character development arcs, action, and just plain old getting the fucking words on the fucking paper (or screen).

This has been a great benefit for me. I have an MFA in Creative Writing, but because I’ve always considered myself (and was considered by my teachers and professors) a “natural writer,” I never worked on those fundamental building blocks. As I write now, I find that complications that enhance the conflict in the story and even twists that I hadn’t planned beforehand come to me in wei wu wei fashion. Wei wu wei is a Taoist concept that means, loosely, “doing by not doing.” (Taoism informs my conception of the Force greatly, btw.) What was once effort becomes “effortless” as your skills are strengthened.

I’ve also had great pleasure in creating, as it’s known in the fic world, an Original Character. OCs are notorious for being self-inserts in fanfic, and Miranda Galan, former Jedi and classmate of Ben Solo (who calls her Mira), is something of that, I admit. She’s conspicuously literary, often quoting from Shakespeare and other poets (she lives on Gaia, an Outer Rim planet that is Earth, if it were in the Star Wars galaxy); she is Filipino and looks like a Platonic Ideal version of me; she always wears black; her worst trait is the same as mine -- vanity; and her favorite band is the same as mine -- The Smiths. But she’s also a lot that I am not -- unabashedly sexual, athletic and graceful, a pretty serious recreational drug user, and far more morally flexible.

My mental image of her is the Filipina supermodel Charo Ronquillo. Because why not?

As for the two other main characters of the fic, Ben and Hux -- it’s tempting to forget that they are villains, since in this story Ben is Mira’s romantic partner and Hux, as in the films, is often played for comedy. But that has been another skill to hone, though one I think I have done less successfully -- making sure villains stay villainous even as they’re humanized. I try to keep in mind that were Ben and Hux real people, I would be repulsed by their acts and disgusted at any bit of sympathy toward them because of their childhoods, while also knowing that in storytelling that is, on one level, mythic, being able to sympathize with a villain is a psychological benefit of fiction. It is a place where we can understand everyone, without being put in the same moral danger that we would be if we were to do so in the real world.

Chapter Title Song Notes - “The Kids Have Run Away”

The chapter title is from “Regret” by New Order, which came out in my sophomore year of high school. So it always carries an air of nostalgia for me, one appropriate for a chapter when a friend from your youth contacts you after many years. But there’s a strange, simultaneous feeling of longing after an adult life that comes along with it, which is how I felt when I listened to it when I was fifteen. No other song makes me feel both a teenager longing for adulthood and an adult longing for youth the way this one does.

Here is the summary and the beginning of the first chapter after the cut. I hope you’ll read it if it piques your interest!

Eight years ago, Miranda Galan survived the Jedi Killer. Having escaped the fate of the other students, she has been hiding on the Outer Rim planet Gaia. But now Kylo Ren has found her, but his intentions are not what she fears: The Supreme Leader, still tormented by Rey’s rejection during what should be his moment of greatest triumph, seeks the counsel of someone who once knew him. But his return to her life places them both in danger — Kylo Ren of seeking the light, and Mira of falling into darkness.

Putting the Damage On

CHAPTER ONE

The Kids Have Run Away

Gaia, Late Spring, 36 ABY

I’m making breakfast when the comlink beeps. His comlink, the private, secure one I set up according to his precise instructions on the same day as when he found me again. I’m slicing fruit, and my fingers are stained red with dragonfruit juice.

“Good morning, Supreme Leader,” I say, not looking up.

He doesn’t answer immediately. I lick some of the juice from my thumb and finally raise my eyes, and there he is on the little holoprojector in my kitchen, ten inches tall, the black of his clothes throwing off  the contrast of the hologram. His image fritzes and wavers for a couple of seconds, and then comes into focus. He is seated, uncomfortably it looks to me — but then the Ben Solo I knew was always uncomfortable in some way — his elbows on his knees, the fingers of his gloved hands interlaced under his chin.

With a flick of my fingers, I direct the holoprojector to zoom in on him, so I see just his shoulders and face. That face. Scarred and exhausted, now. Beautiful Ben, we called him in the girls’ dormitory of the Temple, giggling under our rough coverlets at night. We got away with more than the boys, since there wasn’t a matron at the Temple until well after it opened to students. The dark-haired nephew of Master Luke was a favorite subject then — we took bets on who was going to spar with him next.

I didn’t ask what happened to him that first time, when I saw his face again after so many years. I had heard — the girl, the battle, the death of Snoke. Of Luke.

“Mira,” he says. And then nothing. My name. The one I hadn’t heard anyone speak in eight years, until that first call from him came through.

“To what do I owe the pleasure, Supreme Leader? Or are you calling on Armitage’s behalf? Is he too shy to call me himself? Tell him of course I’ll go to prom with him, he just has to ask.”

His lip curls so slightly that I felt the change of expression more than see it. “What is your obsession with General Hux?” he asks. “The man is an ass.”

I shrug. “What can I say, I love a tall ginger. Tell him that, would you?” I plop the cut dragonfruit into the food blender. “Hold on, this is going to be loud.”

“What is?”

In way of answer, I turn on the blender, talking to him all the while it runs because I know it will frustrate him. “You probably have somebody or a droid or something to do this for you, right? When was the last time the Supreme Leader made himself breakfast?”

“Stop — I can’t hear —”

“You probably are one of those guys who drinks those horrible blue milk protein shakes, aren’t you? Too busy to eat, what with a galaxy to command and all.” I turn off the blender.

“I sense that you’re somewhat hostile to me, Mira.”

I frown. The way he says my name is the same as when we were younglings in the Temple, talking as we sparred with staffs or practiced our calligraphy. As if he hadn’t brought the Temple down into a pile of rubble and fire. As if he never were a Knight of Ren. As if he weren’t the fucking Supreme Leader of the First Order.

As if he weren’t talking to me because he can’t talk to someone else.

I pour the juice into a glass. It overflows. Again, I lick red dragonfruit juice from my skin. “Ben, what do you want?”

[skywalkerwitch]

You asked ,You got it.

Part one-Lesson learned

Sebastian Stan X Hispanic!Reader

Part One Summary: Y/N loves history from Ancient mythology to world history.She attends her third year of college in the City of New York.Her roommate Lorena suggest that her Greek mythology likes her as he has been giving her a hard time since the beginning of the course, but Y/N denies any of her allegations and tells her she doesn't even like his class, but Lorena knows she's lying to the core.During her Greek mythology lab, her Professor Mr.Stan suggest her staying after the afternoon lab is over after arriving to class late after.Only for her surprise to not be punished in the traditional way.Could this be the start of a romance or Y/N worst nightmare?

Professor AU!

Word Count: 3735 (lol sorry)

Warnings! NSFW, Language and a little bit of Dom/Jerk Seb (:

     It was a typical morning, nothing new apart from the new rug your roommate Lorena bought last night.I woke up exhausted from all the studying for my  Greek mythology class as if it wasn't the only class I had, I loved the class, but the professor was a pain in the ass since the course started in September and now it is November nothing really changed. I left the mess of books on the floor to take a quick shower and get ready for another pain in the ass school day.

I got out and put on a black skater skirt and a maroon long sleeve sweater and let my Y/H/C air dry since it will get wavy later in the day and apply a little bit of makeup, just fill in my eyebrows some mascara and my deep red lipstick.I gathered my shit and made my way to the kitchen were Lorena had breakfast ready.

"Buenos Dias Y/N", Lorena greeted me.

"Buenos Dias Lorena, what did you make for breakfast?"

"Well, I made chorizo con huevo and I made us some chamomile tea".

"Yummy", I sarcastically answered as I made my way to grave a plate from the pantry

"Que te pasa Y/N?you don't react to my food like this", Lorena said as she knew something was wrong.

I served myself some chorizo and grabbed a cup to pour tea on it, then made my way to the table was Lorena sat across from me."Nada is wrong, it's just I had a lot of homework to do for Professor Stan's class, he has a been a jerk to me since the course started I've only been nice to him, but he still treats me like shit."I tell her as it was bothering me to be treated like shit.

I start to eat the chorizo when all of a sudden Lorena blurs out"He probably likes you, but he doesn't know how to approach you since he is a Professor after all".In disbelief I respond "Yo no creo, he hates me nada mas "," He is good looking and shit, but he still treats me like if I was basura".

"Ayy no te hagas Y/N, te gusta the maestro", Lorena says with a smirk on her face.

"Lore, don't say that,esta guapo, but he does not like me like that".

"Oye chica, you never know? Yo, e vista la forma que te mira Cuando sales de su class".Lorena thick Cuban accent comes out from the dead and winks at the witty comment she made.

"LORENA!!!!",I yelled at her and threw some of the chorizos at her direction landing on her long brown hair.

"Que?, It's the truth, If you guys get together you guys have my total support."She smiles at me.

"Whatever mujer".I roll my eyes at her as I sip on the cup of tea.

“Bueno yo ya acabe, son las 9:30 and I need to pack my books When you are done  we can start making our way to campus we don't want to be late don't we?”Lorena winks at me again and leaves the kitchen.

I finish my tea and breakfast and wash the dirty dishes before she comes back ready to go.

While washing the dirty dishes Lorena's comment ran through your head what if he did like me?

The thought of it gave you a shiver down your spine.

“Y/N are you ready?’Lorena yells at me from the doorway.

"Si,deja y me seco las Manos and grab my backpack and sweater".Rushing to grab all of those you almost forgot your phone that was charging in the living room."Few that was close", I say with relief.

“Pendeja, you need to start charging that phone in your room”.Lorena says as she closes the apartment door.

"Perdon, I forget to charge it in my room". I stick my tongue out at her rudeass comment.

"Y/N, ay babosa what can I do with you, now vámonos que se nos hace traffic rumbo al college en esta Ciudad".

“Let's go”.

    During the drive to school Lorena still convinced Mr.Stan likes you brings back the topic.

”Y/N yo estoy convencida de que a él le gustas y a ti a él, no me puedes hacer tonta”.

"Lorena, why are you still with that? I turn to face her as she drives.

"I just know, and I'm never wrong", As cocky she is, she was never wrong about things and it was scary.

"Well for your information I don't like going to his class, I love the subject but not him", I cross my arms and scoff at her.

"Ay, no te hagas que no te gusta ir a su clase, más bien you have him twice a day nena more exciting at night".She reminds me of the god damn lab that takes place during the night more around 7:30 p.m to 8:50 p.m

"Oh fuck I forgot about that shit! Damn, I hope my partner has finished the stupid lab report over ancient Greek warriors or else I will kill him". While I was too busy complaining I didn't notice we arrived on Campus which only led me to groan in displeasure.

We get off the car and grab our stuff and make our way towards the front entrance of the massive campus.

“Aja exactly 10 am”.Lorena looked at the time on her phone.

"Ughhhhhhhhh, I don't want to go to classsssssss Loreeeeeee". Already annoyed by me she pushes me into the according to building and all the way to the classroom where you can see the professor write on the board for the morning lecture. 

   His face concentrating on the board as he writes today's assignment soo mesmerizing everything about him was beautiful his beard, his hair, the way he dresses and his fucking gorgeous blue eyes.I don't notice I'm staring as Lorena holds me still.

“Y/N stop daydreaming and get your ass inside, I can see Tommy in his seat already you can ask him if he finished the project”.Lorena pushed me inside the classroom and left running to hers.

“Bitch wtf?” I mutter under my breath.

"Good morning Miss Y/L/N, I see you have to be forced to come to class now".Mr.Stan greets me and you can't forget his sarcastic comment in the morning.

“Morning Sir”.I roll my eyes and make my way to sit next to Thomas.

"Hey Y/N, you early today".Thomas says with his smooth British accent.

“What do you mean?” I ask as I set my binder and book on the table.

"You do know we are the only ones in the class, don't you".Thomas looks at me as If I was lost or stupid.To my realization, we were the only ones in the class."Well, this makes it a first", I chuckle as he smiles at me.I notice Mr.Stan rolls his eyes at us as we laugh.

Everyone starts entering the class as it's almost time to start and sat next to their partners and took out their finished project research paper.

"Tommy, did you finish your part of the written part of the project?" I ask Thomas who had a worried facial expression.

“Shit! I have everything except the citations, Y/N do you think he will notice ?”.

"Fuccckkk Thomas ! how could you forget, let's hope he doesn't  say shit to us, you know how he is with me".

"I'm sorry Y/N, this is not my specialty" Thomas innocently apologizes

"It's fine, whatever he does he do anything to you he had to go through me first".

“My hero’”.Thomas gives me a side hug in adoration of my willingness to stick out for him. I grab my written report out of my binder and combine it with Thomas part while we wait for the professor to collect it.

Mr.Stan made his way down the row of tables to collect our papers, and as he arrived at our table and took our papers and read the title.

"Ah, Hercules, one of my favorite warriors, let's hope you guys don't mess up his name in this report or I'll have to fail you, especially you Y/N." He says with a serious look on his face and made his way to his desk. He left you with a shocked expression on your face.

‘What the fuck is his problem”.Thomas whispers as he looks at my angry face.

"I don't know what his problem is with me, but as long as he doesn't mess with you it's all fine".

“ I understand your concerns for me, but he shouldn't treat you like this.��Thomas looks at you with a sad expression on his face.

"Tommy you're like a brother to me and I won't let anyone say shit to you, I don't care what he does with me,"I tell him to stop this worrying from getting into his head.

Mr.Stan stands up from his desk and starts to set up the overhead.

"Now can everyone be silent, today we will watch a video over the demigods for the entire morning class period, but keep in mind you have to take notes as I will be asking questions in our afternoon lab". His voice was loud and harsh as said his statement.

He turned off the lights, and I made myself comfortable beside Thomas as he placed his backpack on my head to rest.

"Can you pass me the notes?, I'm too lazy to do so myself", I ask him as I yawn.

“No problem love I got your back.”

"Thanks, Tommy".I smile at him as he opens his notebook and starts writing.

A loud BANG! wakes me up in a flash as Mr.Stan lands a pile of textbooks in front of me.I face him right up and stare at his deep blue eyes with an annoyed look on his face.

“ No sleeping in my class do! Make it the last time you do that”.He says with the angriest tone in his voice.

"Yes sir", Still sorta drowsy I still manage to give him an attitude in my response.

I had to stay awake for the rest of the stupid video.Thomas had been quiet since the Professor yelled at me. I could see the guilt on his face in not being brave enough to defend me.He hated him for always picking on me ever since the first day of school, but remained down low about it.

As the class ended I grabbed my shirt and rushed my way out of the classroom and made my way to the next lecture.

Calculus physics based what a way to calm down my anger lucky me I had the most chill Instructor this year Prof.Downey he was very laid back and talked shit about Prof.Stan when I had enough of his bullshit.Not to mention I had one of the coolest friends in his class Anthony Motherfucking Mackie, now he was definitely cool me down. 

 "Hey there girl" Anthony waves at me and pats the seat next to him.

"Hello, Anthony how are you, man?"

"I'm doing just fine, what with the sour face, did prof.Douchebag piss you off again?" He laughs at the obvious response.

I playfully punch his arm and fakes a pained face. "Yes, you jerk I hate his guts, he always pisses me off." I don't watch the tone of my voice I can hear Prof.Downey chuckle from his desk.

"Lower it down will you Y/N, but he is not like this in my class, he's always cracking jokes and is nice to everyone I don't know what his problem with you."He crooks his eyebrows and changes the subject.

"Anyways is Lorena still single or nah?" He asks as he reminds me of his crush on my roommate.

“You asshole, yeah she still is available” I laugh at his victory face expression causes us to burst out laughing even louder and we can feel everyone's faces staring at us.

Prof.Downey stands up and signals us to be quiet as the class is about to start.

"Hey, don't forget to give me her number after class alright Y/N".

"No problem Mackie, Now let's get our work done"

"Oh yeah, I forgot", he laughs as we turn around and face the board

The instructor starts the lecture and the both of us like good students pay attention to the subject.

                                   ________

 After three lectures and me trying to aid Anthony in talking to Lorena for the longest time of my life, that boy was such a coward when it comes talking to girls he likes, it was almost time for my last lecture of the day when I remember what it was as the sun was no longer out.

"Fuck me ", I thought to myself. I had to go and tolerate Prof.Stan for one hour and a half and then I get to go home.Instead, I decided to go in late what is there to lose?

 I took my time walking around campus until I knew I was ten minutes late.I headed towards the labs.I knew my ass was fucking late when I entered everyone ready to partner up to analyze the sculptures.

I made my way to see Thomas waiting for me hoping not to be seen by the professor, but someone caught up to me and turned me around.

"Ah Miss.Y/L/N you're late to my class, what makes you think you can do what you want?  Mr.Satan mad as hell snarled at me.

“I'm sorry Sir there was a lot of--”he cuts me off.

“I don't want to hear it, I need you to stay after class”

"Yes, sir".Rolling my eyes at him I walked away from him to meet with Thomas.

"Jezz Y/N, why did you come to class soo late?" Thomas asked as he started analyzing the sculptures on the lab table. I shrugged my arms and took out my notebook from my bag and started to work on this stupid shit.

  As class had ended I had to stay behind with my douche bag of a teacher, I promised Thomas I was going to be okay before I gave him a hug and he left home.Mr.Stan sat on his desk staring at Thomas and I disgusted at our goodbye, he waited for everyone to leave.I waited for everyone to leave home for him to speak to me.Once everyone left he stood up locked the door and walked in my direction.

“You know I don't like my students being late to class”.Mr.Stan walked around me as if I were his prey.

"That's funny it seems to me you only care about those who please you, and certainly I don't because you hate me".  I can feel my body tense up as the words leave my mouth Mr.Stan shot his face straight at me as if what I said hurt him.and he makes his way back to his desk

"What makes you think I hate you Y/N?" calling me by my first name He asks as a smirk forms on his gorgeous stupid face.

That does it and it gets my blood boiling to where I don't know what I'm about to say."Well you have been a huge asshole since we started back in September and It's November now and  you are still mean and horrible to me" I can feel the hot tears start running down my face,"I don't want you to be mean to me I really do enjoy your class, but you just make it difficult to like it. "I can feel the relief out of my chest Mr.Stan in shock at my words he just stares and me.

"And now if you excuse me I have to go"I wipe the tears off my face and make my way towards the door when I hear a loud "NO", it was Mr.Stan stopping me from leaving."I don't want you to go", He pushes me out the way and picks me up "What the fuck let me go!!" I hit him on his back.

Oh boy, he was strong no matter if how much I fought he was not going to let me go.

He sat me at his desk and grabbed me by the hips I tried to move but his grip was too tight to move out of.He looked at me straight in the eyes and he opened his mouth "I'm sorry for being such a jerk, but ever since I saw you I knew you had my heart".Without thinking I cup his face and crash my lips into him.It took him by surprise but he kissed me back once his mind processed everything

  His hands started to trail up my skirt than to my panties making his way to my wet pussy.

“Fuck you're soo wet.” He growed

He inserted his index finger inside of me and I moaned in his mouth as our lips were still connected.I could feel my legs shiver as the pleasure his finger was giving me increased.

"Turn around "Mr.Stan demanded.He took his finger out of me as I turned around.My body shifted to where now my back was facing him and I rested on his desk.He pulled down my panties to my ankles and teased my clit with his fingers causing me to moan.I could hear him unzip his pants I turned my head and saw his huge erection that made me gasp.Mr.Stan arched my back and teased my entrance with his tip without warning he entered me.

He felt so good inside of you only a "Dios mio" escaped out of your mouth as he pounded into your pussy stretching it as you adjusted to his length.

“You have no idea how long I have waited to have you like this”.He hissed into my ear as his thrust get harder.

“Ahhh”, I moan as I'm close to orgasm.

"Fuck I'm close", I cry out, but he stops and pulls out.

"You will cum when I say you can," Mr.Stan says then aggressively he shifts me so that we now face to face.

“Now princess let me fuck you as the mean teacher hard as the mean teacher I am and let's see if you can earn your orgasm.” I realize his words refer to me calling him a mean asshole now I had to be punished for it in his mind.

Without wasting any time he spreads my legs and enters my pussy one more time.His mouth hungry for my lips, his hands on my waist pull me closer to him as he goes in deeper in me.I hold on to his shoulders and neck as moans escape my mouth.His lips move from my lips to my neck and start sucking on my sweet spot, my nails clench into his clothed arms he groans as I dig them into his skin.

“Do you like the way my cock feels inside of you?”,He asks as he places his forehead on mine and thrust even harder.

A weak “Yes” comes out of my mouth.

"Yes, what?"

“Yess Sssir”.

"That's better".

I can feel his cock twitching inside of me as he was close.My walls tightened around him.

"Cum for me Y/N, cum on my cock princess" he kissed me hard as his thrust turned sloppy the We both came out of highs, he came inside of me feeling him fill me up.

He pulled out and rested his forehead on mine and looked at me with a smirk on his face, he was all sweaty his shirt stuck to his skin.I was a mess as well but dayum he looked like a god.

“Are you still mad at me?” He asks as he cleans himself up and pulls his pants up.

"Why are you asking as if you just did not fuck me?" I scoffed at him as he hands me a towel.I got off the desk and pull my panties back up and cleaned myself up and the desk, I grabbed my shit off the floor.

"We should do this again".He grabs me by my waist, but I push him away.

"I don't want this to become normal to you", I tell him as I make my way to the door but he blocks it again."I know you are crazy about me too, trust me I am too about you", he presses himself on me.

”Can you please move, you got what you wanted now I want to go home and forget this ever happened”. He moves out the door and I leave the lab building as quickly as possible.

 It's dark outside with only a few people still on campus.I made my way to the front and took out my phone and called an uber. The uber came a few minutes later, once I arrived home Lorena was in the living room passed out I closed the main door and made my way to my room.I slammed my door room, I threw my shit on the floor and jumped on my bed face down into the pillow."What have I done".I thought to myself, but whatever happened with Mr.Stan today was still going through my head.I  shiver at the thought of it.I stood up and made my way to the shower to wash off the sex.

   I got out the shower and put on an oversized t-shirt and panties, I brushed my teeth and hair and made myself comfortable in my bed.Still thinking about today's events I turned off the lights and charged my phone to the nightstand. "Shit, whatever happened today was all my fault I asked to be fucked and that's what I got, now I have to face the consequences."I grew. I shifted myself to the right side of my bed and fell asleep.

A/N: I really wanted to put more gifs , but the stupid shit didnt let me attach any dirty one ;( Can you guys reblogged this with some dirty gifs attached to this :) and sorry if this kinda sucks I promise the next part will be better than this.

 Tag list:

@blackwidow-romanoff @breenieweenie @persephone-is-here-omg   @retroasgardian @themanwithovtfear @ssweet-empowerment

[hannahsfanficsforyou]

A Whole New World Pt.5

Me and Aaliyah walk down from Fairy Hills towards the guildhall. “Hmmm I guess we should get a new job today, maybe chill for a while though, and meet some new people. I feel like not a lot of people know us yet.” I say “Even though I’m not really one for socializing with people I don’t know... We should anyways just because we are part of a guild and everyone is friends there yeah? We are newcomers so we should take the effort to try to meet them, it’ll be good to have friends who can help us if we need it.” I also add kicking a rock while trying not to dirty my new cute romper I bought yesterday.

“Aaliyah we look so cute, I’m glad we got new clothing, and now that we wear these bandanas no one will look at us weird because of our crystals or.. What did that old dude call it, umm lack something? Lacrima I think which I guess is like a type of crystal here maybe a magic crystal. I feel like we should go to a library or something here to read about magic and I don’t know the whole country and city we live in too, everything feels similar to our world but I know it’s different with all this magic.” 

We walk into the guild hall and both take a seat at the bar again. “Hi Mira! I’ll take a drink and I can pay this time!” I say while flashing some of my money. Mira giggles “I’ll take it the job went well yesterday!” She says while placing a mug on the bar in front of me. “Oh hell yes it did, Aaliyah was awesome, of course I provided moral support, everything would be boring without me.” I say while putting my hand on my chest dramatically. Aaliyah snorts “oh right like you could survive without me either” I gasp “oh of course I couldn’t” I laugh and take a sip of the drink, my eyes light up “Damn this is delicious, mmmm I’m gonna have like 3 more” Aaliyah sighs “You always over do it, I’ll just take a water” Mira nods and hands me another glass full of the drink and a water to Aaliyah. 

After I finish my second glass my body starts to feel warmer, I touch my face “Arhg who turned the heat up in here, I feel dizzy too, someone get me a fan damn it” I say my words sounding slurred. Mira looks at me with a mischievous glint in her eye “Can’t hold your liquor huh Hannah, don’t want to over do it” Aaliyah looks at me “liquor?! Hannah you got drunk here already?” 

“WHAT! I know what alcohol tastes like! This wasn’t alcohol? Why do I fee like this... heheh I’m really glad we are here, I like it here” My vision blurs as I slur out random thoughts. huh so this is what being drunk feels like, I hope this is legal, Mira wouldn’t have given me alcohol unless she thought I was though, “I don’t want to go to prisionnn” I whine. “Ahhh it’s so hot, stupid romper” I say while pushing my sleeves down and pushing the top down to my waist so my top is only covered by my bra “Ahh that feels so much better” I say giggle grinning while taking another drink. 

“Good god Hannah what the hell is wrong with you put your clothes back on” Aaliyah scolds while looking embarrassed of me but I just laugh louder drawing more attention, some people laughed and held their cups up to me while I heard others saying “Whoa look at her guild mark why is its color changing” I guess they just noticed since my shoulder is exposed now. I ignore them and down some more of my drink and suddenly a coat is thrown on me. I try to look up but someone puts their arm on my head and I twist to try to see, it weighs heavy on my head and when I see a tight fitted shirt that allowed me to see the details of the person abs underneath, I blush.

“Oh what a mess we have here, drunk so early in the day?” I feel like i recognize the deep husky voice but I don’t look at the mans face I keep staring at his chest, and with his arm on my head hes so close that I can smell him and “wooow you smell really good” I say as I press my face against the chest next to me “what body spray do you use” I mumble my face still in his chest “Oi! What are you doing?!” He says soundly genuinely shocked. I hear Mira giggle behind the bar and I look up with drunk hooded eyes as I run my hand down his chest. “Hehe you have realllly nice abs, hunky lightning man, you know I would say our chemistry is electrifying?” I laugh a bit too loud at my own joke, the alcohol had turned into liquid courage, bringing out my more intense personality that only my close friends get to see. 

“Oh god damn it Hannah, sorry I’m taking her home.” Aaliyah says as she pulls me away from Laxus and drags me off, his coat still on me “God you are going to regret this when you are sober... And now we can’t do a job” She says while shaking her head as I giggle and trip over my own feet while walking back to our dorms. “Mmm this jacket is SO soft, and it smells like him too.” I say as I stumble while Aaliyah drags me along. We finally reach my dorm room and she plops me in my bed, she brings me a glass of water and I drink some before snuggling into his coat, “Mmmm I wish this was himmm in my beddd with meee” I sigh and I drift into a drunken sleep.

POV shift

Aaliyah sighs at Hannah’s body curled up on the bed with Laxus’s jacket. “Well I guess I’ll find something to do without her until she wakes up. She was saying how we should go to a book store or something to learn about this place more so maybe I’ll buy a book or two for us, I got nothing else to do anyways.” 

Aaliyah makes sure Hannah is still sleeping and makes her way out of the dorms. She walks back into the city and wanders around for awhile “Jeez I should probably just ask someone where the bookstore is instead of wandering around... I don’t even know the area well yet.” She mumbles and while distracted by looking around accidentally bumps into a man. “Oh I’m sorry I didn’t mean to bump into I wasn’t paying attention.” She quickly says and they make eye contact, whoa damn hes good looking, oh thank god Hannah isn’t here or she would start teasing me about this, she thinks while blushing as he smiled at her “no my apologies I wasn’t being aware of my surroundings as well as I should have.” He says while maintaining eye contact.

“Actually can you tell me how to get to a bookstore, I’m new and haven’t really gotten to know the city yet.” Aaliyah says looking a bit sheepish. “Oh, I was headed to the bookstore myself, I can walk you there if you want.” The green haired man says “Oh really if it’s not a bother that would be great.” Aaliyah says.

“Oh it’s no problem at all” Along the way he points out certain facts about stores and which restaurants have good food or drinks. The conversation seemed so natural and flowing eventually they reach the bookstore. “so here we are, there are some other ones but this one has the best collection of book on a number of subjects.” The man says as they enter the store together.. Aaliyah looks around a bit looking at some shelves and the man walks back over to her after grabbing a book for himself “Is there a particular subject you are looking for, I don’t work here but I come enough to know it well enough, I’m actually a wizard in the guild located here, Fairy Tail, and how rude of me I realize now I haven’t even told you my name, my name is Freed Justine.” Freed says and holds out his hand to Aaliyah and she shakes it “my name is Aaliyah and this is funny but I just joined Fairy Tail yesterday, I guess we haven’t had the chance of running into each other yet, me and my friend just moved here and joined.” She explains to him as they let go of their particularly long hand shake.

“Oh yes I see your guild mark now, interesting, I’ve never seen a guild mark look like that before, the way it changes shades of color, how peculiar, what type of magic do you use.” He asks while eyeing the guild mark on her hand. Aaliyah blushes “Um I use fire magic, just the basic throwing fire around you know haha” She says while trying to be ambiguous about it, he looks at her “Hm yes your magic power just feels strange, I’m not sure how to describe it, oh please forgive me I don’t mean to intrude or pry, I use rune and enchantment magic, hence why I find myself reading so many books and such. Most of my magic comes from writing runes.” Aaliyah listens intrigued “Well I’m mostly here to try and research Magnolia since we just moved here, my friend was particularly interested in the layout and it’s history.” 

He gestures for her to follow him and he takes her to a certain isle of the store “Here are all the books on Magnolia’s history and you can find a map at the front of the store where you pay.” Aaliyah thanks him and looks around the isle while the man turns to look at books behind them. She sees a book that looks interesting but its on the top shelf and her 5′3 self tries to reach it with fail. She huffs in annoyance as she tries to reach it again on her tip toes. Suddenly she feels a presence at her back as an arm reaches up and grabs the book for her.

She blushes as he smiles and hands the book to her “pardon me I just thought you could use the help” She clears her throat “thank you, I think I’ve found what I need so I’ll be off, maybe we can get a drink together sometime or I’ll run into you at the guild” He nods and smiles at her “yes I would like that, it was a pleasure to meet you.” He takes her hand and makes eye contact while he presses a gentle kiss to her hand.

She quickly spins around to hide her blush “Erm yes good to meet you too” she scurries to the front to grab a map and pay. She waves as she leaves, still flustered from that encounter “God what luck the cute guy is from the same guild as me, Hannah’s gonna have a field day. I hope shes awake when I get back” She shakes her head but smiles thinking about the gorgeous long green haired man who was so polite yet sexy and helpful.

POV Shift

My eyes flutter open and I immediately feel like my head is going to burst open. “Ohhh fuck me, that light is too bright” I say while rolling over and I crack my eyes open and squint in confusion “When did I get this jacket.. What the hell isn’t this Laxus’s.... Oh craaaaap” I say as the memory finally comes to me along with my busting headache.

“Good you are awake, glad you aren’t in a coma” Aaliyah says slamming the door a little too hard and a little too loud for my head to like. “Crap man close those blinds my brain is dying here.” I say sounding just as dead as I feel. Aaliyah sets down a bag of stuff I’m guessing she went out and bought while I was passed out. She gives me a look as I slowly sit up in bed, “man I didn’t even mean to get drunk, I didn’t realize she gave me alcohol, shit aaaahg fuck I can’t ever see Laxus again, or anyone in the guild I totally embarrassed myself, and fuck! I just like exposed myself in my bra god I’m so dumb, first time being drunk and hope to god it’s the last.” 

Aaliyah laughs some at my words before handing me a small jar of liquid “drink this, it’s a potion I bought on the way back from the bookstore, basically a hangover cure. Haha real potions man this is still so crazy to take in, and you owe me for that.” 

I wave her off “yeah yeah, you said bookstore? You get some good romance stuff.” I say while downing the drink, thank god it tasted like a mix of strawberries and pineapple, and not gross medicine. I could have swore she blushed a bit but she turned around to grab the bag, “no idiot, it’s books about Magnolia, and I bought two maps we can keep in our bags so your dumbass won’t get lost again. You were the one who said we should learn more about this place so here. She threw the bag with two books on my bed and I take them out, my head already feeling better “Mmhm, cool stuff I’ll read it later though, shit this magic potion is seriously good stuff, my hang over is already gone, fucking amazing. Shit wait I have to give Laxus his jacket back.” I say remembering the article of clothing still in bed with me.

“Fuck his chest did feel amazing though, but I can’t believe my drunk self would just rub up on a man like that, ugh what a hassle, god he smelled really good too, what a man.” I say dreamily but quickly snap out of it “God I bet he uses some creepy perv magic to make girls feel like this, what a creep.” I say in denial. Aaliyah gives me a ‘really bitch’ face “Yeah sure, because I’m totalllly acting like that too, nooot, you know you have a crush, why else would you rub up on the poor man, and you are already thinking about him all the time, here comes your obsession phase.” She says while flipping through one of the books. 

I fake look upset at her “I don’t obsess, my word how rude, since I’m a good reasonable adult woman I’m actually going back to the guild right now to give him his jacket and apologize because I’m normal and can handle this fine and not die of embarrassment at all! Because I don’t like that man, I mean come on you can just tell his ego is sky high, I like a humble man anyways he could never handle me.” I say defiantly.

Aaliyah looks up at me “Hannah, I honestly pray for the man who you end up dating, I don’t know how anyone handles you, myself included, and you really can do this, that’s why you keep talking and stalling and not actually doing it?” 

I glare at her “haha very funny, and shush I’m going right now, gooooodbye.” I say getting up and putting my shoes on and waving at her dramatically as I leave with his jacket in hand, head held high.

As soon as I shut the door and leave the dorms I start getting red in the face just thinking about having to face Laxus again, “AAAAAhhhH GOD DAMN IT” I scream as I walk down towards the guild. 

When I enter I look around looking for Laxus and I try to ignore the looks and snickers I hear, I walk up to the bar and Mira greets at me “Hannah I’m sorry about giving you that before, I so used to people meaning alcohol when they say drink I should have asked you to be more specific.” She says sounding genuinly sorry but then smiles a bit “But Laxus came to your rescue, now that was interesting wasn’t it, he seems to have taken a liking to you, I’ve never seen him give his jacket to a girl before, ever actually, and he seemed quite flustered at your actions, I see you have his jacket I assume to give back to him.”

I cough but nod while blushing “Yes, is he around, I was hoping to return it but I don’t see him, and I’m sorry I should have asked what the drink was before actually drinking it, it was my fault for over doing it.” I say rubbing my neck. 

“No harm done this is a bar too, I’ve seen many drunk people, you were tame honestly I can’t begin to tell you the things people do here, I mean I’ve seen people fully strip naked, although Gray does that without being drunk, and he is here actually, just head back through that door over there, he should be there.” She says smiling kindly at me.

I thank her and go inside the room she pointed at, there is a heavy mist in the room and it feels like a damn sauna it’s so warm. “Oh god I can’t see anything because of this mist in here” I stumble around some and I feel like I hear running water “Where am I... Uhm, Laxus? Are you in here. Oh is this a pool, god what pool is this hot?” I say as I walk along the edge of the body of water, then suddenly I trip on something and yelp “Oh Christ!” I say as I lose my footing and fall in. Someone grips my arm as I surface still holding the jacket. “Are you alright, or still drunk?” I look up and of course a very shirtless Laxus is holding my arms smirking and I’m soaking wet.

I instantly feel my face go to 110 degrees and I try to avert my eyes, but good god he is sculpted like a greek god and I haven’t seen a better looking man in my life, holy shit he must work out for hours. I then look down in the water and “Oh FUCK” I say backing away from him and cover my eyes “I’m so sorry oh my god I’m- Oh shit” He wasn’t just shirtless he was completely nude.This was a public bathing area. Suddenly my embarrassment went even higher than I could take and I felt a surge of magic run through me and when I opened my eyes a bunch of flowers and vines had come out of the ground in full bloom. Oh great I can’t even control my magic. “Oh God here is your jacket I’m so sorry I got it wet, I’m sorry about when I was drunk earlier too and now with the flowers, my fucking luck, okay bye!” I say backing away from the once again shocked looking Laxus.

I pull myself out of the bathing pool and run out of the room and out of the guild still soaking wet and I don’t stop until I’m back to my dorm. I’m out of breath as I close the door and brace myself on a table, Aaliyah looks up from where she was sitting and makes a face “what the hell Hannah how did you get wet.” 

I just shake my head and go to the bathroom “NOPE, NOPE.” I say shutting the bathroom door. I take off my clothing and dry off. I sit on the floor and put my head in my hands “God help me I might not survive here after all.”

[fmdxjerome]

Heyhey, I’m the memer behind the suave fuckboi Jérôme. The name’s Naomi and if u like rap or just khiphop in general pls hit me up lets talk about my cHILDREN or my actual dad Simon Dominic. Also. Plot page is almost done [check back tomorrow or the day after GMT+1 time] but I’m always open to plot just on the fly, u feel. I’m very excited to finally rp this kid, ugh he’s so beautiful. I don’t even fuck with Got7 that much but Jaebum just works greatly and he’s my small son even though he could break me with his bicep but whatevs.

Ugh, I’m so excited to be here! (/ ‘з’)/

Under the cut you’ll get a “brief” look of his backstory (if you haven’t got the time to read my novel lmao. I do highly recommend it though for more details and such because I suck at summaries) plus some random facts cuz idk yooo

Also his name is technically Jérôme but I’m lazy af so I just write Jerome lol you can just write Jerome too lolol

Trigger Warning: Racism, Yellow Fever type ish, Bad Adoption and Violence kinda? (this shit heavy son :( )

First I want to clarify I’m Biracial (black/white) and I’ve suffered from some gross racist shit in the past but in no way am I trying to speak over Korean struggles regarding the topic. I tried to apply my own experiences to Jerome’s life like struggling with rejecting culture, European beauty standards, internalized colourism and just growing up not being able to talk to people going through the same stuff. My life hasn’t been as crazy as Jerome’s thank god but I just wanted to clarify before you dive into this or his biography. Wow, heavy. I’m sorry lol. Anyway, please enjoy my tiny son and I hope we’ll rp soon!

Mom got persuaded by her family to put him on adoption because she wasn’t married and dead beat dad just left her when it was discovered she was with child. He got adopted at the age of two by a Franco/Anglo couple who reside in France.

Adoptive parents have a bad case of the yellow fever.

Raised in France multilingual (French, English) Also Korean but when he got older he got really reluctant to it. Only when he met Marie he got into it again and then he went to Korea. So he would still make mistakes. 

He was named after his adoptive grandfather Jérôme Gauthier Senior and Leslie Cheung, the singer and actor. His birth name is Jeon Jun-Hoe. (but he doesn’t know his birth name)

When growing up he was often seen as “other” by classmates in a negative racist way and by his parents in a “positive” racist way. (note; positive in this sense doesn’t mean it was good for him, it was terrible for him. What I mean with “positive racism” is instead of viewing a race in a negative light (e.g. black people are all lazy) the subject is seen in a positive light that has negative connotations (e.g. Asian people are all hardworking). Even though hard working is a good attribute, it can cause negative feelings towards the person of that certain race. Fetishizing a culture or a race is never okay and in Jerome’s story he still bares the scars of it. 

Finally didn’t feel like an other when he met his now best friend Freddy who introduced him to his own friends.

Got into Hiphop mostly because of his friend Freddy but started songwriting a year before that. (Outkast is his shit bro)

Started a hiphop trio with Freddy and another friend Khaled called Blanc.

People loved them tbh they were great.

Hiphop gave his life a purpose. An outlet if you will. He was quite the emo little shit when he was younger. (and understandably so. :( my son.)

Had a lot of fights w/ his parents.

Lived with his grandpa for awhile when he couldn’t bare to be in the same room as his parents, let alone the same house.

Eventually moved to Paris to pursue higher education.

Met the love of his life there. (Y O G A P A N T S) 

It was awkward but great.

Marie aka the love of his life went to the same school as him and they dated for a long time before she eventually cheated on him.

Before she cheated on him though she helped him accept his Korean heritage (something his parents stripped away from him due to them forcing it upon him.) 

Went to New York in the summer of 2012 and got offered a job at a major record label when the CEO heard his lyrics. 

His girlfriend cheated on him during that time and found out a few months later after he returned to France. Almost beat the shit out of the dude who she cheated on him with.

Got expelled from school because of that fight. (parents blamed the “violent” rap music) and because life felt meaningless in Paris. He grabbed his bags and moved to Seoul to work under the record label.

Asked his adoptive parents for his adoption papers in that time because he couldn’t find his birth parents without them. Parents basically refused and he just fell head first in work to forget that. He also drank a lot sometimes but only when stress got to him.

Eventually changed companies to write under BC Entertainment before they signed him to BCreate. (his honey voice was too much for KBC lmao no but really though)

Ex girlfriend made an appearance during his debut years. (*writes connection form ;)*) got like really emo and savage during that time. 

Now that he got moved to just the regular BC Entertainment he’s really nervous about the past haunting him. With more fame more eyes are on him and just one slip up could ruin his career. Having almost beaten someone up is a great first scandal. Misogynistic words to his ex is another (I mean he called her a whore tho. like boi.) and being adopted ? oh boi. my poor son. 

PLS LOVE HIM HE NEEDS LOVE HE’S SO EMO DON’T LET HIS FUCKBOY AESTHETIC FOOL YOU ITS JUST PROTECTION. HE HAS DEMONS. PLS HOLD HIM.

Random facts!

I actually got inspired to write Jerome because I was struggling between Jooheon or Namjoon and I randomly started adding on an old muse of mine. 

Is connected to another muse of mine on my indie blog lol I’m like the Disney Channel I like to crossovers.

He has two tattoo’s, one on his right hip of a French Cavalry pistol because his grandfather had one in his antique shop *nudity warning* [x] [x] the model is Julian Schratter btw love him he’s great. And one which I’m still musing about. 

Dyed his hair pink to show support for female rappers as he’s now a producer/judge on Show Me The Money 6. You would think with his fuckboy image he’d be misogynistic but no women are great and he wants more women in the hiphop scene. His princesses are Jessi and Cheetah and his queen is Yoon Mirae tbh. He gets so excited when he hears good female rappers. 

Has a Oriental Short Hair as cat. Her name is Edith or Edi named after Edith Piaf, his grandfathers favourite singer. (here is how I see her [x] its a video) She’s like his true wife. If you ever catch him with her you might be confused at how cute Jerome suddenly is.

Looks down on idol rappers a lot. Not all of them (he’d be cool with rappers like Zico, Rap Monster, etc.), but just the manufactured ones. You know the ones that couldn’t sing so they debuted as a rapper, know nothing about hip hop. Those ones. Hiphop saved him in a way and to see pretty boys disrespect the art like that just rubs him the wrong way. He’s pretty vocal about it too and yo fans of groups drag him for it lol. It’s great I love it. 

The Weeknd is his favourite artist of this time. Like he has that image he tries to emulate. 

Is actually pretty sweet though. Like Marie and his parents fucked him up and with stress consuming him he’s kinda distant but get him comfortable and he’s a really kind soul. The kind of type to have you lay on his lap whilst you rant about your problems and he just listens.

Hates when foreign fans call him “oppa” like boi he will come for you. He once almost called out a girl doing that at the airport. He eventually just “tsk’ed” her as he walked to his car lol. Jerome is my idol. I’m srry KBC He’s not an idol he has a hard time controlling himself.

Has troubles dating so he doesn’t date at all. Like he really needs to fall for you to get him to start a relationship again but lol trust issues and a fucked up view of love kinda ruins him as a partner. I mean if your muse wanna try be my guest but GOOD LUCK lol.

Never dated a guy before because he only realized he was kinda bi when he was 19 and at the time he was in a relationship. And after that ended he went to Korea. So he only ever fucked with girls.

The story behind his “bi discovery” was thanks to the land of the free *eagle screeches in the background* basically he saw a guy and he was like “wow... ? what ?? okay.. ? you’re cute in like a ‘let me hold you and give you kisses’ kinda way ?? but you’re a dude?? o ?” but he never acted upon shit obviously. (COUGH ITS A PLOT COUGH) In hindsight he wishes he did something so he could’ve been like “I CHEATED ON YOU TOO YOU BITCH” but he’s a faithful boi. 

Hates liars. Please don’t lie to him. This isn’t for his sake but for your muses sake lmao he’s awful when he finds out. He holds a grudge.

Has a real bad self image due to years of racism thrown at him. Like complimenting him is like poison to him. Compliment his work not his looks. 

Contrary to popular belief, he doesn’t really sleep around a lot. His last sexual partner was probably before his debut tbh. 

Donates to the orphanage he was from secretly because he cares a lot. If the fame ever runs out he’d probably end up working there. 

Dig hard enough on youtube and you’ll find his old youtube channel where he uploaded covers and original songs together with Khaled and Freddy. It’s really nice. He seemed happy.

Is very suffocating when he cares. Like when he really likes you he’ll REALLY like you. You feel me? (he hasn’t learned from Marie because he never asked why she cheated on him? So IF he eventually becomes close to someone again, he might find himself in the same situation. C R I E S.)

eh eh do i know more little facts? idk it’ll be in his profile when I finally get around to making it (i had a whole week but suddenly everything happened in that week so i couldnt do it. but it’ll be up soon *nodnod*

Okay that’s it for now. Again. I CAN’T WAIT TO RP WITH Y’ALL I hope you’ll enjoy my muse <3

[ellebeebee]

2.537

Part Seven

Part One || Part Two || Part Three || Part Four || Part Five || Part Six

Phrixus Jaril, 13, moves to the Citadel at a delicate age: namely, the peak of his teenage angst. He doesn’t expect much from these rich Citadel kids. But then he meets the Ryder twins, and all their friends, and realizes that he may have been a wee bit wrong about things. His relationship with Mira Ryder evolves over the years, and he never expected things to end up the way they did.

2970 words, Female Ryder|Sara Ryder/Original Male Turian Character, teen rating

AO3

-

He hadn’t really gotten to know Jyra Kraetoq, of the lower Citadel wards, during basic. And two months into advanced training, he still knew jack-all about her. He and Ruq tended to include her at meal times and in down time, because they came from the same basic squad. And they were usually in the same fire team. But the most they’d gotten her to say about herself was that she could probably infiltrate any system of ductwork, felt strongly that anyone not carrying at least two sidepieces and knives was asking for it, and didn’t believe in eating meat. Even the vat-cloned “meat” that was so often a camp staple.

She was okay, though. Good with tech and a pistol.

He never saw Kraetoq after training; last he’d heard, she had a post out near geth space– some joint op with both Alliance and Flotilla forces cleaning up leftovers from the Battle of the Citadel. Ruq, unfortunately, stuck to him like varren shit. Some years after boot camp, they met again at the fringes of the Attican Traverse. Slaver hunting. But even without meeting up with Ruq again, he recalled these two in particular because they gave him some advice he should have listened to. Sure, Kraetoq went through partners like tp, and Ruq was so dense he’d have someone sticking their mandibles straight up into his before he realized they were interested– but still. You see the splinter in someone else’s eye better than the log in yours or whatever.

During one evening’s free time, most of their squad and the other squads in the company were in the rec room. Kraetoq had stood from the table she, Phrixus, and Ruq had been sitting at.

She whistled at him. “Jaril. Latrine.”

Feet propped on the table top, Phrixus looked up from his omnitool. “Take a female.”

They (meaning everyone under sergeant rank) had to walk around the camp in pairs, usualy male-male and female-female, but in cases of male-female you took three. One male, two females or one female, two males. It was kind of a pain in the middle of the night when someone had to pee really bad and had to wait on someone to wake up and stop cursing you for waking you up.

“I could make the obvious joke here,” Kraetoq drawled. “But let’s just save time and go already.”

He didn’t feel like arguing, so he dropped his feet and shoved at Ruq, napping on the table with his head in his arms. Ruq grumbled some but got up anyway. A short walk later, the two of them leaned against the wall outside the female latrine, Ruq half falling asleep again and Phrixus with his mandibles deep in his tool.

And his head was still mired elsewhere when Kraetoq came out, and the other two were halfway down the hallway.

“Jaril,” Ruq called.

He looked up, and pushed off the wall. And when he followed after them, and passed by them, Ruq got sneaky and shot out a hand to grab onto his wrist. Jerking, he whipped Phrixus’s hand around so that he could look at the omnitool, too.

“I’m not gonna forget you–” he read out loud. He whistled. “How darling. Romantic, even. How much did you pay the guy to write all this for your sour ass?”

Quicker than Ruq could react, Phrixus flicked him sharply on the forehead with his free hand.

“Shit–”

“Dumbass,” he told Ruq.

His hand returned to him, he turned off his omnitool. He’d been browsing through his old message logs. The people in them almost felt like… strangers. At what point had they stopped writing to each other like that, like… Their feelings were so easy to admit. To just spit out. It hadn’t even been a year since he’d written that line Ruq used, but it felt like a lifetime.

The three of them walked back to the rec area with Ruq shrilling about the mark Phrixus probably left. Kraetoq glanced at him. At the face he was making.

“Trouble in paradise?” she asked.

He glanced at her. Shrugged. “My girlfriend. Lately she’s… acting like a damn princess. I’m here, busting my ass, and…” He shrugged again. “It’s just hard to talk to her lately.”

They dropped into their old seats. Propped their feet up again. And Kraetoq didn’t say anything, so he thought the subject was dropped. But then she cleared her throat.

“Maybe she’s acting like a princess because she is one? Maybe every girl is a bit of a princess. Just some don’t get the chance to act like it.”

He looked at her. And shrugged and rolled his eyes because he was a damn idiot and thought she was complaining about having to nag them about walking her to the latrine, and not that she was saying something he should have really heard.

He should have been worried when Mira started going out again. Since the move to the dorms, Forta had decided to cut the drinking and work on lifting and his overall fitness. Of course, the timing and the amount of enthusiasm he threw into this should have worried Phrixus for an altogether different reason. Mira, though, went back to sneaking out with Aela and all the old suspects back home. He’d thought at first it was her just going back to things like normal. But then at some point she and Aela got bored of all the same old house parties.

[mira] soooo

[phrixus] yeah

[mira] me n aela have been up to no good

[mira] ;D

[phrixus] do i really want to hear this

[mira] yesss

[mira] you do

[mira] so u kno how ur csn is tied to ur face recs and thats how you get id’ed for bars and stuff

If at any time you are a citizen of Citadel space, you receive a constantly updating three-dimensional face scan that will be associated with a Citadel Space Number and your various specs. This information is stored with various police and government databases, which vendors of regulated goods and services are required to access before selling to you.

[phrixus] yeah…

[mira] well, we met this asari who knows someone that will program a jump in scanner software when your face is scanned so it looks like you’re legal

[mira] its expensive

[mira] but i think its worth it

[phrixus] mira

[phrixus] are you for real right now

[mira] what

[phrixus] you’re planning on going to bars and clubs

[phrixus] you’re a kid

[phrixus] you know that’s fucking dangerous

[phrixus] there are creeps out there

[mira] yeah i know

[mira] we’re not going to be stupid about it

[mira] whats with you

[mira] you used to be into this stuff

[phrixus] well maybe i just have my priorities straight

[mira] and i dont?

[phrixus] you’re failing half your classes, you skip too much, all you really seem to care about anymore is partying

[phrixus] you’re not even going to the gun ranges or the arena

[phrixus] and aela just keeps making it worse

[mira] you dont know anything

[mira] aela has been there for me

[mira] she actually listens to me

[mira] not like you anymore

[mira] you used to give a shit about my life

[mira] now im lucky if you even send a message once a day

[mira] you used to tell me things

[mira] now i dont know anything about what youre doing

[mira] or how you are

[mira] youve changed and i dont even know you anymore

[phrixus] you think i wanted it like this

[phrixus] im here because its my responsibility

[phrixus] im doing my duty and i dont have all the fucking time in the world to answer every message

[phrixus] especially all this crap about how hungover you are or whining about how expensive your fake id will be

[phrixus] im here doing real work in the real world

[phrixus] not like you and aela out in la la land over there

[phrixus] im getting my life together not fucking wasting it

[mira] no youre not youre just being an asshole

[mira] maybe everyone was right about you

[mira] youre not shy or misunderstood or whatever

[mira] youre just a selfish jerk

[mira] you have no idea how to care about anyone other than yourself

[mira] and i bet none of this is new

[mira] youve always looked down on me

[mira] youre just a fucking emotional leech

[mira] but dont worry i wont bother you again with my screwed up life

-

They didn’t talk for two weeks.

He had never been angry at anyone, had never been angry at her in this way before. He’d never been hurt in this way.

He aced an impromptu fire and movement drill, earned praise from the company’s captain. He memorized all of the regs concerning the movement of refugees from an unsecured location to a secured location. He learned how to properly fire heavy artillery, and how to decimate an air raid with a dazzling firework display.

All the while pretending to not think about it. All the while stewing.

He felt like shit.

He ignored calls from home, from his moms and his old friends. All the messages. He told no one about the fight. Maybe he thought if he kept quiet, it would cease to exist. Just be erased from the history of the universe if no one could remember it.

But him ignoring it wasn’t going to erase the logs in his omnitool, or make her forget.

He just felt like shit.

When did things get so bad? How could it have been, just a year ago, that he felt there was no one who knew him better, that he trusted more, and then that same person turned into a stranger? Someone he couldn’t understand, someone who he couldn’t confide in or vice-versa? How the fuck was it possible that someone you’d shared a bed with– the only person you’d touched or touched you could turn into… an enemy?

And what was it in him that just… could do nothing to help her. Her mother was dying. And he couldn’t do anything. He hadn’t been able to comfort her, say anything of significance for her. He was useless.

If he were honest, and not trying to forget the whole thing, he’d have to admit he didn’t have much right to criticize her.

Where did the trust get broken? Where did the understanding go? Where did that warm afternoon air go, sliding down their bare backs? Where did the quiet rustling as they shifted closer go? And her smile– when was the last time he’d made her smile?

That hit some deep spot in him, some horribly tender place that wasn’t protected by plates or armor. A place he’d been trying to ignore, all this time at camp.

He pretended to forget for two weeks before he ended up wide awake after lights out, laying in bed and staring at the ceiling. He was running on several nights of staring up at the ceiling instead of sleeping, and yet, here he was. Awake. Pretending.

Phrixus pushed up an elbow and glanced down from his top bunk. Everyone was out. In the hall outside, he couldn’t hear the boots of the patrolling fire watch. They were supposed to report anyone out of bed, but even if they caught him only brown-nosing assholes ever snitched on fellow trainees.

Silently, he slipped down the ladder. He dug his omnitool out, climbed back up, and pulled up the covers to block some of the light.

He sent a message to Mira. And waited. And waited. The air filters in the barracks room clicked at rapid rhythm every few hours. It wasn’t too loud, just sort of softly angry and stuttery. Could wake you up though, and you wouldn’t realize it was the filters. You’d get spooked and feel like something was sitting on your chest. He sent another message.

And he waited and waited.

[phrixus] We need to talk.

[mira] oooo cap

[mira] s

[mira] pucntion

[mira] ooooooo

[mira] u dontwnt to tallk tome

[phrixus] Have you been drinking?

A very long pause. He turned his omnitool’s light off when he heard the passing of the fire watch.

[phrixus] Where are you?

[mira] purgatory

[phrixus] Mira.

[mira] stop

[mira] dont

[phrixus] Who’s with you?

[mira] y do u caer

[phrixus] I’m messaging Aela.

[mira] no

[mira] y not alk me

[mira] im drunk im nt stupid

[mira] im the one u shld tallk to

[mira] but u dont

[mira] u nnever

[phrixus] im sorry

[mira] yeah

[mira] metoo

[phrixus] you wanna vid talk?

[phrixus] mira?

[phrixus] mira

He waited a while. And waited. Tried her again. Then he tried Aela.

[phrixus] hey are you with mira

[aela] yeah

[aela] we’re leaving purgatory now

[aela] try her tomorrow or something

[phrixus] ok

[phrixus] how is she

[aela] look, i’m the last person you want to ask about this

[aela] i’m not gonna pull punches

[aela] and i don’t want to make it worse

[aela] just talk to her tomorrow

-

So he skipped lunch the next day and messaged her. Wedged into the corner between two auxiliary buildings, having snuck his omnitool into his waistband in the morning. The electromagnetic barrier of the fort’s biodome buzzing distantly overhead. As answer, she vid called him back.

He was in fatigues, unbuttoned to the waist. The dome protected from a great deal of heat, but it was still much hotter out of doors.

She stared at him, out of the QE data transmission, tinged in hologram blue. In her dorm, sitting on a bed not so different from the one he used now. The plain, nondescript walls not so different from the ones in the barracks, yet hers papered with photo screens and posters. The cushions at her back the same from her old room. Her face was a mess, like clan markings done with cheap paint in a downpour, and she wore a wrinkled and disheveled dress he’d never seen before. Her hair was pulled back carelessly.

“Hey,” she said, small and quiet.

“Hey,” he said.

He could hear the distant rhythm of a jogging company. Even farther out, the sharp cracks of the range.

“You okay?” he asked.

Her eyes shot down, her jaw working. She shook her head.

“I don’t– I need to say something,” she said. “I said some stuff I shouldn’t have the last time we messaged.”

“I did, too–”

“Wait. Just, wait. I’m sorry. You’re not that type of person I said you were. But I also said some things I should’ve a while ago. Things haven’t… they haven’t been the same… Phrixus.”

He waited, holding his mandibles rigid. He watched the slide of her eyes to some spot away from him, and the working of her throat.

“I’m sorry,” he managed. “Mira, I’m sorry. I’ve been terrible. You’re nothing like… and I haven’t been there for you, I know. But I’ve been– worried about you.”

She hesitated, nervous hands going to push away a stray curl that wasn’t there. “I’m glad. I mean. I know I haven’t been making great choices. But I mean… I just wanted… some fun and– and you know, I’ve been worried about you, too. I don’t have any idea how you’re feeling anymore.”

“Yeah,” he said, subvocals dipping. “I know.”

“And I’m sort of tired of just… waiting for some bit of your time. I feel like I’m just a distraction for you.”

“You’re not– you’re not. But… I’m sorry. I just need, well, space. I really just can’t spare the same amount of time…”

“I know.”

Then she looked up properly, at the rigidity in his face. Her eyes shone. She inhaled, the sound trembling, in her throat.

“Phrixus, I think– I think this just isn’t working anymore. Things aren’t the same.  And we both– I think we both need to focus on other things.”

The voice of some sergeant out in the yard spread out over the compound, echoing like a sergeant’s voice does, but wordless and unemotional and hard. An unintelligible dressing down of some group of teenagers.

“I…” he needed to reply, but his voice was skittering away from him. “I think… you’re probably right. I guess we should just– break up…”

She stared up at him. Her voice was so small and tight. “Yeah.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Me too.”

-

He felt… relief for a while. Relief that the pressure and responsibility of the relationship was over. That he didn’t have to come back to his bunk with a backlog of messages to catch up on.

But then the guilt set in. Had they just given up? Should he have tried harder, done more. How could he have said the things he did. This wasn’t just anyone.  This was her. And she had needed him, and he hadn’t been there.

And then the pain set in. Like the story Lieutenant Gratarian had told them on simulation; there are times when soldiers get cleaved in two, and they’re dead, they just don’t realize it yet. But they keep talking, still trying to get help. But they’re dead, and they’ll feel it soon.

All the things he remembered, all the things they’d shared– it got into that deep and tender spot. Turned into this black blemish that never seemed to go away. He could forget about it. But sometimes something (some scent that reminded him, some shift in another’s form) would touch it, and light that tender spot on fire.

But what they’d said still remained.

Maybe it was for the best.

He could focus on training, and she could work things out, figure out the thing in her that was hurting.

Time passed. He didn’t try to make up or restart things, and neither did she.

And they moved on.

[pocket-size-gay]

Asteri Tale Chapter 21 Libra part 1

2 Parter here cuz a lot of important shit happens.

   Kelly lied in bed, asleep, as the sun illuminated her extravagant bedroom. BZZT BZZT    "Mmmn..." she groaned softly then rolled over. BZZT BZZT    "5 more minutes mum..." she moaned lethargically. BZZT BZZT    "What the...?" she finally opened her eyes. BZZT BZZT    She eyed her phone as the screen lit up yet again. "Christ it's like 6 in the mor-" She froze as her eyes scanned the plethora of messages in her inbox all with the same subject. ["Saveli and Arata are in the hospital."] There were multiple senders and they dated back to the day before, leading up to the present time. BZZT BZZT    Before she had the chance to reply, another text came in, this time from Aren himself.    "Bloody Hell! What fucking happened?" she griped and called his number.    ["Finally awake I see."] Aren's voice teased but he lacked his usual enthusiasm.    "You could wake the dead with all that!" Kelly snapped, still groggy from being pulled out of slumber.    ["Heh, s-sorry..."] he laughed contritely.    "What in god's name did you do?" she sneered under the accurate assumption that it was his fault.    ["Why is this suddenly my fault?"] Aren grumbled. There was laughter in the background.    ["He picked a fight with Murasa and got his ass kicked!"] the second voice was Sal. Kelly let out a sharp laugh as Aren yelled obscenities at him.    "That makes sense." Kelly chucked. Aren growled.    ["Ja, well Kanamura wanted us to talk about it, so you should head on over, since you're up!"] Sal said audaciously, his voice louder as if he were leaning in close to the phone.    "Pfft, whatever..." she sighed and ended the call. "It's too damn early for this shit!” She rolled her eyes and reluctantly dressed for school. She was greeted by her chauffeur and left for the early morning meet-up.    "You are up early, Miss Kelly." he commented as he drove. Kelly groaned.    "Not by choice!" she snapped. "Everything goes to hell when he's set free!" He laughed as Kelly continued to complain to herself.    "Have a nice day!" he bowed as she stepped out of the car.    "Yeah...thank you, Nicholas." she replied graciously and walked into the campus. Aside from the various members of the disciplinary committee roaming the grounds, the only students were the familiar group gathered at an out of the way table. They buzzed around the injured Aren and Tori. On the edge of the long table sat Syrus, with his arms crossed and his usual bitter disposition. Kelly walked over to them and put her hands on the hips, a few others seemed to be absent. "So the Kouki twins get a pass but you felt the need to harass me into showing up early?" she snapped at the boys who had interrupted her sleep.    "Atsuko and Noriko will fill them in later!" Sal smirked and gestured to the pair.    "They aren't without responsibility, Dunley san." Skai stated matter-of-factly. Mira looked over curiously.    "They're to meet up with Kid, if we take too long." Anya explained. Kelly sighed and took a seat.    "So what did you wish to discuss, Kanamura san?" Skai urged the conversation in the appropriate direction. Syrus unfolded his arms and turned toward the center of the group then rested his chin on his hand before he spoke.    "After yesterday's incident..." he paused to glare at Aren. "I figured we should exchange numbers, so if any of us are ever in trouble, we can contact each other." Tori lowered his head and rubbed at the bandages on his arm.    "What about Evaline kouhai, Imani kouhai and uh..." he paused trying to recall Owen's surname.    "Syvzanna." Aren asserted. Sai perked up.    "Another?" she questioned. Tori nodded.    "How can you remember is name?" he mocked Aren.    "Who could forget a guy that infuriatingly carefree?" Aren grumbled. "We could have died and he was there smiling like an idiot!"    "And who's fault is that?!" Syrus barked back. Everyone shifted uncomfortably in their seats. Syrus let out a frustrated growl then exhaled sharply. "When I pick up my sister, I'll tell them, Evaline san can pass it on." his voice seethed with rage but he controlled himself to keep on task. Syrus dug out a notebook that appeared to be brand new. He flipped the the first page. On it was his name and number. He tossed it onto the table. "Write your information, we can added them once they are all there." Sal smiled.    "Kinda surprised this is coming from you, Kanamura." he giggled softly. Syrus rolled his eyes, his face flushed slightly.    "Aw, he's embarrassed!" Anya playfully teased. Syrus groaned, his face turning redder. The group shared a laugh as they passed around the notebook.    "I thought you didn't like us?" Mira asked sarcastically as she wrote her number down.    "It's not about liking you..." Syrus sighed out of exasperation. "Had I not seen Saveli drag Arata off things could have been much worse!" he glowered at Aren once again. Tori shrunk down in shame and Aren clicked his tongue in annoyance. "You really shouldn't underestimate Alex, he's probably a better fighter than even me." Syrus slouched back and exhaled deeply. Everyone froze. Kelly who had been observing quietly finally said something.    "Since when have you called Murasa by his given name?" she eyed Syrus dubiously, asking the question on everyone's mind. His breath caught in the back of his throat once the realization set in.    "W-well...we've known each other for...about 11 years now...so..." he paused, talking about his past meant opening up to them, something he was still reluctant to do.    "Seriously?" Mira gasped.    "Just how well do you know Murasa, Kanamura?" Skai asked. Syrus averted his gaze.    "He...he knew my mother."    "Oh..." Skai furrowed his brow while adjusting his glasses.    "Eh! So you know him pretty well, huh?" Aren leaned in close with a devilish smile. "What makes that guy tick?"    "Well for one don't call him 'fat'!" Syrus sneered. "And two don't mention his family." Aren's smile grew wider. "DO NOT!" Sal laughed as Syrus threatened to smack Aren.    "So what was that all about yesterday then?" Tori spoke up about Alex's strange behavior. "He completely broke down for seemingly no reason."    "I don't actually know...it takes a lot more than that to make him crack..." Syrus's voice faded as if the last part was only meant for himself.    "There was something else then?" Kelly asked as she pondered something.    "Maybe Syvzanna did something?" Aren suggested doubtfully.    "That can't be..." Tori shook his head. "It looked like Murasa was the one acting...then he just, stopped." Syrus scratched his cheek lightly.    "Whatever Alex did seemed to have negative repercussions, he probably wasn't expecting Evaline san to butt in." he inferred aloud. Skai looked over to the entrance of the courtyard. Kid was with Jem and Mini.    "Do you think there's a possibility that they also have special power like ours?"    "Akseli created another clone of himself...that exploded..." Tori said sorely. Aren pursed his lips together remorsefully and looked away.    "Well, what did Murasa do?" Sal looked to them eagerly.    "We...don't...know..." Aren uttered sheepishly. "We could ask him."    "That's for another time." Skai declared and pointed to their oncoming companions.    "Let's try getting through today without any fights." Anya scolded. After everyone was finished, Syrus took the notebook and inspected the contents. Skai had added Jem, Mini and Kid's numbers along with his own. When he scanned over Kelly's name he grumbled under his breath.    "Or at least keep Murasa out of it." Kelly added cynically. Syrus narrowed his eyes as he glared at her. As the twins and Kid approached, Kid took off running, interrupting their silent exchange.    "Arata!?" his eyes grew panicked at the bandages on his arm. "What happened?!" Jem and Mini looked to each other anxiously.    "C-cooking accident." Tori lied cheerfully to convince him. Kid clasped his hands together in front of his face and pouted. "I'm okay!" Tori insisted and Kid finally relaxed. Aren looked down and continued to brood over what happened. Heavy footsteps followed by a boisterous exclamation.    "Since when were you all friends?" Carmen threw her arms around Kelly and Aren. Sal stuck out his tongue.    "Sorry you can't be as lovable as us?" he taunted. Aren faked a laugh. "Oh wait, no, I'm not!"    "You!" Carmen hissed and moved to grab his collar. She stopped when her eyes met Syrus's. He looked away and frowned slightly. "I'll take them out of your hair for now." Kelly sighed then got up without hesitation and followed Carmen, who dragged Sal off. Tori patted Aren on the arm. Aren looked up to him reluctantly.    "Take it easy..." he bowed his head. Tori smiled softly.    "I'm fine, really!" Tori gestured for Aren to leave. Students were arriving, so they needed to split up regardless. Carmen eyed Kelly with suspicion.    "You ever properly apologize for what you said to Syrus?" her tone was colder than usual.    "Oh, what's this about?" Sal grinned and put his hands on the back of his head.    "How would you know about that, Frost?" Kelly groaned.    "We can't have anyone talking smack about the boyfriend, now can we?" Sal elbowed Aren playfully, then furrowed his eyebrows at Aren's somber expression.    "H-he's not my boyfriend!" Carmen growled and stormed off to class. Kelly looked to Sal and rolled her eyes. She quickened her pace but kept her distance from Carmen. Sal sighed.    "Ah...I'll never understand women!" he whined. Aren continued to stare at his feet as he walked.    "Mmm...yeah I guess." he mumbled. Sal exhaled loudly and closed the distance between them.    "Dude...don't beat yourself up over it." he wrapped an arm around Aren's shoulders, his expression briefly turned serious. "You're lucky you have a friend who cares about you as much as he does, don't take it for granted." Aren averted his eyes.    "I-I know...thanks." he gave a half-hearted smile and walked in the room. "I don't need you to tell me that." Arlin seemed amused by Aren and Tori's injuries and sat proudly in his seat. Alex checked his phone before the teacher arrived. The previous day's events had no lingering impact on him as he earnestly tapped away at his phone. The rest of the class filed in the room and class began. Kelly sighed and her gaze wandered over to him as he smiled, as if in a daze. "What is he so happy about?" At the first break, Alex darted out of the door. Kelly sauntered over to Sal.    "You see that?" she pointed toward the now empty seat. Sal looked over to the seat then back to Kelly.    "Mm not really, was I supposed to be watching him?" he rested his chin on his hands. Carmen noticed them talking and walked over.    "What's up you guys...?" she said curiously. She looked to Kelly and sighed. "Don't tell me you buying his shit now?" Kelly scoffed and laughed. Sal rolled his eyes and groaned. "You could do better." Carmen teased. Sal glared at her in frustration.    "Oh like Kanamura?" his scowl morphed into a devious grin as Carmen gasped and narrowed her eyes, her face flushed lightly.    "N-no...leave him out of this Tamsin!" she lowered her voice to a whisper.    "Ah, fine! Whate-" Sal shrugged then stopped midway through as Alex returned to the room. "Holy hell, is he smiling?" Sal uttered amazed under his breath. Alex's walk was bouncier then his normal gait and he wore a relaxed smile. Carmen's jaw dropped a little as she watched along with Sal and Kelly.    "Well that's new..." Carmen murmured.    "First yesterday and now today..." Kelly hummed in intrigue. Sal looked over to Aren and Tori while pressing his hands to his mouth. They waited in silence before Hamasaki sensei walked in. Everyone returned to their seats. Kelly sighed and looked over to Alex again. He still had a modestly blissful expression on his face. "Is he really as wicked as they keep insisting?” The next three classes were uneventful. The bell dismissed them for lunch. Kurosawa sensei pulled Syrus aside as everyone left. Jem, Mini, Kelly and Sal lagged behind to eavesdrop. Mira joined in as she passed by.    "So is it my imagination or has Captain kun been actin' strange the past couple days...more specifically this whole week?" he questioned casually, leaning back on the wall. Syrus let out a deep breath and nodded.    "It's not your imagination, Kurosawa." Syrus's eyes wandered over to Alex's now empty seat.    "Do I even want to ask what you kids have gotten yourselves into?" Kurosawa pushed open the door, exposing the group hiding behind it. Jem and Mini gave wide grins and laughed nervously. Kelly scoffed and looked to Sal, who just shrugged submissively. Mira smiled innocently and rubbed her hands together in front of her face.    "You guys!" Syrus groaned. Kurosawa laughed and pushed off the wall and started shuffling out the door.    "Good to see you're makin' friends Syrus, was startin' to worry 'bout you." he gave a sly smirk and waved with one hand. Syrus gasped and bared his fangs.    "They're not my friends!" he howled but Kurosawa was already gone.    "That's not very nice!" Jem pouted as they all set off for the dining hall. Mini stuck out her tongue, while Sal places his hands on the back of his head and followed. Mira looked to Syrus skittishly, then backed off. Kelly watched him with a scowl and left. "I made my intentions clear from the start, you have no right to complain!" Syrus sighed and walked towards the dining hall alone. Inside Kelly sat in her usual spot with Aren, Sal, Carmen and the rest. Sal leaned over to Carmen, nudging her with his elbow.    "So what do you think is up with Murasa?" Sal gestured over to the dazed boy as Arlin buzzed about angrily around him.    "Tsk...no clue, I've never seen him be like this before." Carmen clicked her tongue and grumbled.    "Before?..." Aren looked over with a melancholic curiosity. "How long 'before' are we talking?" Sal blinked his eyes rapidly in shock then eyed Carmen dubiously.    "YEAH! You talk like you know him personally!" Sal grinned.    "I wouldn't say 'personally' but I guess I've known Alex for a while now...yeah." Carmen looked up reminiscing.    "You use his given name too?" Kelly cocked her head to the side as she stared straight into Carmen's eyes.    "Ah! Fuck..." Carmen averted her gaze and swore under her breath.    "What was that?" Sal teased. "Did you date or something?" At this Aren spit out his drink.    "WHAT?! NO!" Carmen growled. "God no!" Sal burst out laughing. Kelly let out an apathetic sigh. Carmen lunged at Sal, attempting to grab his neck, when someone new approached.    "Uh...D-Dunley san?" a little ways from the table was the source of the timid voice.    "Mmm, yes Hiroko san?" Kelly turned to Mira. She politely bowed then looked to Sal but quickly turned away.    "Ha!" he gave a quick thumbs up. "It's about 'that'." Carmen glared at him for his obvious gesture.    "N-Noriko wanted to talk to us...about...the other day." Mira hung her head dejectedly. Kelly rolled her eyes then looked to Aren and Sal. Aren shrugged.    "Go, be social!" Sal shoved her away. Carmen stood there unsure of how to process what was happening. Kelly got up and followed Mira.    "I-I don't feel so bad not being the only one who couldn't do it." Mira spoke up.    "Hmmm...I guess." Kelly grumbled. "Can't help but think they made a mistake."    "Wh-what? They were right about everyone else!" Mira urged.    "Mmm...yeah..." Kelly rolled her eyes.    "Just cuz we can't fight doesn't mean we don't have anything to contribute!" Mira bounced a little as she walked. Kelly sighed and looked over to Alex once more.    "'Something to contribute' huh?" she hummed to herself and turned back. The two girls stopped once they reached a table with Skai and Anya, further down was Jem, Mini and Kid harassing Syrus. Mira smiled and sat with the pair. Kelly rolled her eyes and sighed. "What is this about?" Skai clasped his hands together with his elbows on the table and closed his eyes.    "We have done some deliberating and were wondering your thoughts on Murasa?" he gave them a serious look and continued talking. "Clearly he is their 'leader'. If we hope to find out more about what we are up against, we need a plan."    "And you want to include us?" Kelly asked summing up the general idea behind Skai's long winded explanation.    "Yes." he nodded and adjusted his glasses.    "It would be too dangerous for you to get into any fights, so until then we have other things for you to handle." Anya looked over to Aren, who received considerable injuries from his encounter the day before.    "You want us to spy on him?!" Mira gasped in surprise.    "Nothing too invasive, but we need to figure out their next move before it actually happens this time." Skai ended in a groan.    "Before you arrived this morning, Dunley san, Tamsin told us that back on the first day, Murasa started acting strange after everyone had left for gym." Anya motioned to Sal with her hand.    "He has been acting weird lately..." Kelly thought aloud.    "Exactly, stick to him, talk to him even, as long as you're on school grounds he won't do anything to jeopardize his position." Skai suggested. "Up until now, he has only ever gotten violent once school was let out."    "Oh, and like Kanamura said earlier, don't bring up his weight..." Anya sighed. "He goes berserk when you call him the 'F' word." Skai laughed bitterly and clung to his stomach.    "Uh..." Mira hesitantly spoke up. "Why us?"    "Clearly there is more to it than 'You can't fight yet'!" Kelly backed her up.    "Unlikely contenders to be involved with us, or so we hope he thinks." Skai said as he adjusted his glasses.    "He's scary!" Mira pouted. Kelly laughed.    "I think I can handle this on my own, Hiroko san." she gave a sincere smile. "Maybe I will find Murasa isn't as terrible as everyone believes." Skai bowed his head and adjusted his glasses as Kelly walked back to her group of friends. On her way back, she looked to Alex "On his phone again, huh?" she giggled to herself curiously. For the rest of lunch, Sal tried to get her to tell him what Skai wanted but she refused.