#most of the kids are disinterested but one or two are so Intrigued and its. adorable. anyway this is about julie | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

tamakiamajikistentacles · 4 years ago

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broken. {Dabi}

A/N: Please be sure to reblog, comment, review, and like if you enjoy! Feedback is what keeps me motivated! So sorry it’s been a while since I’ve posted- between holidays, work, and this being a generally not great time of year for me there hasn’t been much room for writing. As you can see though, recent manga events totally inspired me for one last story in 2020 for ya!

He liked going out once the sun had set. Daylight hadn’t been his friend for a long time, and whatever lurked in the shadows grew disinterested as the glow of his cigarette illuminated his staples when he passed, aware of who they were seeing but uninclined to make a report.

How could they really? By day they walked the streets freely, unassuming, but beneath the moon they found sick pleasures in ways that would make any hero grimace. As dangerous as they were it couldn’t compare to the likes of him—the deranged and recognizable with only a quick glance that sent chills down the spines of millions.

He slept during the day and rose at dusk to begin sowing chaos. After all, the freaks come out at night.

The long since burned out butt of his cigarette dropped from between his lips as he approached one of the seedier bars in the slums of town. Whatever its name is or was had been lost to time and inattention to the sign hanging askew over the door but damn, they had the strongest liquor in the city and a reputation for looking the other way when criminals passed through the door. Hazy smoke stung at his eyes and throat as he entered but he’d been used to that for nearly three decades and really, what was another lungful when they were burned to hell as it was?

The blonde bartender gave him a curt nod from across the room, already reaching for the amber bottle he knew Dabi favored. Around the room were other patrons that gave an assessing glance in his direction before turning back to their drinks. All but one turned his way.

In the darkest corner of the bar sat a woman with her back to the room. He couldn’t see her face, just the contrast of her revealing shirt against the skin of her chest, but he was interested. The mysterious chick vibe always did do him in.

“What’s a cute little thing like you doing here alone?” he asked as he approached her table.

“Cute?” she scoffed, dark-lined eye rolling in clear annoyance. “You really think that?”

In what seemed like a well-practiced move she tossed her hair over her left shoulder and pulled the already low collar of her shirt down further to expose more of her chest and shoulder. Smooth skin bled into a gradient of marled blotches of red and purple burn scars, the severity of which he’d only ever seen in the mirror.

“You wanna rethink that ‘cute’ comment?” she challenged without so much as a glance at his slightly parted lips.

“Yeah,” he breathed out with a nod. “Think I wanna change it to gorgeous.”

“Look, if you wanna know how I got ‘em just ask so I can tell you to… fuck off… already…” her voice trailed off after she looked up, haughty attitude dropping as she took in the darkened skin on his face and chest. She marveled at the handsome features still so clearly defined beneath the burns and the glint of his staples in the fluorescent lights.

Seeing interest cloud over her eyes as she trailed them over his face and down his body, he seated himself in the chair across from her and folded his hands around his glass on the table.

The rough rhythm of his hips against hers scraped her back against the gnarled wood of her bedroom door and drove the staples in his lower stomach into hers but she couldn’t find it in herself to care when it felt so good. As thin as he was he was able to lift her thighs around his waist and hold her with one hand while the other pressed against her throat.

“Fuck, please,” she panted, head spinning but wanting more.

“Ah, ah, ah,” he teased, “you already got two and I haven’t even had one yet. Not exactly fair, is it?”

“Dabi!” she groaned.

He huffed out a laugh as he buried his face in her shoulder, licking at the bead of sweat that trailed from her hairline. He was close so she really wouldn’t need to wait long considering the pleasure pooling in his lower stomach was building with each smack of skin on skin.

His hand left her throat to wrap around her other thigh so he could quickly readjust his grip. Pulling her back from the door, he bounced her against him as he carried her the short distance to her bed. He sat back against the wall and guided her hips against him, smirking at her eagerness as she started riding him desperately.

She gasped when one of his hands drifted between her legs and another type of warmth spread through her. “Fuck!”

“That’s what we’re here for,” he scoffed, his other hand coming up to grip her throat once again.

A few more rotations of her hips had him surging forward to sink his teeth into her scarred shoulder as his hand between her legs drew tight circles on her clit, both of them breathing hard as they met their ends.

She slumped forward, breathing heavily as he held her steady against him while they caught their breath and heartbeats slowed. When he finally felt the calm sweep over him he guided her down to lay beside him before reaching to her night table for the pack of cigarettes he’d spotted. Placing one between his lips, he ignited a small blue flame at his fingertip to light it.

“Is that how you got your burns?” she asked in a whisper, eyes half-lidded.

He stared straight ahead, cheeks hollowing even further as he took a drag. Without looking he took it in two fingers and passed it towards her through a cloud of smoke. She grabbed it and placed it between her own lips.

“Mine are from a hero,” she said after blowing out her own puff.

His eyebrows raised and he looked down at where she laid, interest alight in his turquoise eyes.

“I used to work in this high-rise building in the western district, did normal office type shit you know? Sent faxes and filed documents everyone thought I was too fuckin’ stupid to understand because I grew up poor and quirkless,” she started. “Some low-level villains attacked a few blocks away and when the heroes came the fight was small enough that we didn’t get evacuated. We couldn’t even see anything, all we heard were sirens and for that district its background noise anyway. But then Endeavor showed up.”

Dabi stiffened as she handed the cigarette back though she didn’t seem to notice as she continued.

“He blew the fight out of proportion to make a bigger show of capturing the villains I’m sure, but when he did it lead them towards our building. Three quarters of the floors were engulfed within ten minutes.”

“Lemme guess, your floor was lucky enough to be one of ‘em?”

She hummed. “Yeah, lucky enough to land me some wicked burns and a high as fuck medical bill.”

“What? The Hero Commission didn’t cover it?”

“Nope. None of it. Despite being told not to evacuate because we were farther from the initial attack and then being caught in the crossfire that we literally had no choice in, we were told that only loss of life would be covered by their insurance payout.”

“Zero casualties?”

“How’d you know?” she drawled, reaching for the cigarette once again. “Never fucking mind that I have limited mobility with my left arm that literally impacts my day to day life or how I can’t go anywhere without being stared at like a sideshow act or that the company I worked for dissolved their branch in the district. All because of some asshole looking for glory from a fight he didn’t need to be in.”

He chuckled as he watched her finish off the cigarette and stub out the last few embers in the ashtray on her opposite night table. This chick was something else.

“How’d you feel if I told you I got my burns from Endeavor too?” he asked.

Now it was her turn for her eyebrows to rise with intrigue. “I’d ask how, when, and why the fuck you didn’t melt his face off.”

“I was just a kid,” he shrugged.

“Endeavor—”

“—wanted to make sure his son could surpass All Might. Didn’t go according to plan, at least not with me.”

Her eyes widened.

“Pushed a bit too hard on a kid who could produce flames so much hotter than his. Surprised it took so long if I’m honest, but it doesn’t matter. I’m going to kill him.”

She sat up, slowly bringing her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around them, eyes twinkling with wonder. “You’re really going to kill him?”

“It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do, baby,” he said with a smirk. “What—you wanna watch?”

“Fuck yes,” she breathed out. “He needs to burn. Just like we did.”

A blue flame ignited and danced in his palm. She could feel the heat on her face but it didn’t scare her like most would assume. The fire wasn’t at fault for her pain, the false hero who wielded it had been.

She looked between the flames and his handsomely stapled face.

“How can I help? I want to be a part of taking down Endeavor.”

He closed his hand and the fire disappeared in a wisp of smoke. Reaching over, he fisted the hair at the nape of her neck and brought her closer.

“I’ll let you help sweetheart,” he laughed, “but the best thing you can do right now to help me is to put that pretty mouth to work. You’re still at three while I’ve only got one.”

“THE PAST NEVER DIES!”

The corners of her lips curled upwards in a smirk as the broadcast overtook the large billboard in downtown Tokyo, projecting the voice of a now white-haired Dabi. He steamed from his quirk being overused but also from the outpouring of emotion he was finally able to confront his family with.

“Oh Dabi,” she sighed fondly.

Vengeance years in the making was unfolding in front of the entire country in real time and she was privileged enough to know it had been coming. She knew the plan and she knew the backup plans and she was essential to the very last resort plan too. Her own revenge was being carried out though not by her own hand. At least not directly.

She looked down to the slightly rounded bump beneath her sweater, caressing it gently.

“If he doesn’t kill him, I’ll make sure you do for him,” she murmured with a smile.

A/N: Please be sure to reblog, comment, review, and like if you enjoy! Feedback is what keeps me motivated! Good heavens, its been a while since I’ve done smut so that was an experience lmao. Anyway, Dabi is such a fun character for me to write and I love exploring different emotions for him!

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ginger-snaps014 · 3 years ago

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Because I am trying to actually post my art again. Also I need to stop watching dc shows since this is getting out of hand.

Enjoy my random OC I created after rewatching young Justice and Titans. In whatever multiverse she lives in, Greyson is still robin but older (think junior/senior in high school pre-fallout with Batman). And most members of the team are young justice versions. She is a scholarship student at Gotham Academy and is roommates with the daughter of a former ambassador’s to bealya who does not like talking about her mum (spoiler not Queen Bee).

Personality: sarcastic with trust issues galore; she tend to lean into anger and humor as a defense. Despite her parentage (presumably because she never knew her parents), she has a strong moral code despite being able to quickly befriend villains. She likes to call out the hero’s when they are being self righteous picks (especially if she is saving their butts or saving an innocent). Prickly, but overall good.

Episode one: Diamonds are not a Girls Best Friend.

Opening- one year ago

You meet Gwen in school being harassed for her scholarship status and bored as hell. Use this scene to establish personality. Next meet her bubbly roommate who starts talking about being jealous of the Wayne Scholarship dinner that will be held at the Manor, clothing etc. makes Gwen borrow a nice dress because otherwise Gwen would go in casual black jeans (which is all wrong for a cocktail event per the roommate).

Next major scene is in the limo with the other scholarship kids (only 1-3 per grade). Easter egg with atriums. Alfred and Greyson greet the kids at the door, and Greyson leads the group in a tour of the manor. During the tour near the entryway, they pass a large jewel that perfectly matches Gwen’s eyes and seems to slightly glow. Close up of Gwens schooled face looking like she saw a ghost. She asking dick about the gem as if disinterested and asking why it was in the Manor. Dick explaining someone had stole it last year from local gallery, and that Batman had just recently recovered it and handed it over to the gallery’s owner. Who in turn asked Bruce, an old friend, to secure it while the gallery’s security is being upgraded. Next scene is a vaguely uncomfortable dinner scene where Bruce has to leave within 5 minutes of being introduced to the group. He tells Dick to stay. While leaving Gwen realizes she left her phone at the table and leaves the limo to retrieve. She stares again at the jewel and tells herself “it is a coincidence.” She grabs her phone. The limo has already left. Dick finds her at the door and seems annoyed (and like he is in a rush). They call a cab and wait awkwardly in the entryway. Suddenly the windows burst. Smoke bombs and knockout gas are thrown in side. Blurry men in full tactical gear bust in as Gwen collapses. When she wakes up she tried up in a chair next to dick (also tied up and seemingly unconscious though a few panels will show his eyes partially open). Gwen struggles only to hear a familiar laugh. “Isn’t life funny, last we were all together,” motions to himself and and the stone (still in its glass case though the other masked men are trying to break in), “I killed you”. She looks up with disgust. “Missed you too sweetie”. The man lifts up his mask to reveal a teenage boy. And Gwen spits at him. Fun dialog show that they at least dated and she had something to do with the original theft. They finally get the stone and start to leave. “Oh right. lose ends” he aims a gun at her and it clicks. The barrel was empty. Laughing to himself the leader then tells one of the other men to get her up. Smiling. She is coming with us. One of the masked men speak. He sounds older and more mature. “That is an unnecessary risk. Leave her or kill her.” The leader throws a tantrum yelling that he hired the men. “Just shut up and do what you are fucking told”. Gwen has her hands tried behind her back and is forced up the stairs to the roof. She looks over her shoulder at Dick who looks asleep and cooperates.

Next Panel in the background his chair is empty. Gwen is on the roof watching a helicopter come closer. Suddenly one of the men is pulled backwards into the dark. Traditional Batman style fight with henchmen. Only the leader remains. He pulls Gwen to him and holds a knife to her throat. “Come any closer, you fucker, and I kill her!” Gwen smiles. “I’d like to see to see you try.” Suddenly she stomps on leader’s foot, and spins away unscathed. Notably, in the struggle the knife slashed Gwen but there was no blood, only blue sparks. She stands before the leader, her dress cut across the middle (clearly showing her skin … with no cuts). Leader pulls out a gun and Robin’s voice emerges from the shadows telling his to drop the gun… and likely making a joke. The leader starts firing at the shadows. We heard robin curse as if hit. Gwen jumps in and says his fight is with her. She walks slowly towards him and he fires repeatedly. The bullets bounce off with a flash of blue light. Her eyes are glowing. “You!!” He screams “It chose you!!” Gwen clocks him across the face and the leader collapses to the ground. She turns over her shoulder to ask the boy in the shadows if he is ok. He comes out. Intrigued. His leg is bleeding but he promises it was only a graze. She looks down at her dress. “Well this sucks.” Jokes about dry cleaners and coverups. Gwen mentions the Wayne ward passed out inside. And sees her cab coming towards the house. Thanks robin and jumps off the roof. We see her land and walk towards the cab.

Next scene is her getting a package early in the morning with a new dress the perfectly matches her roommates and her phone. And a joking note from robin. She see dick in a nearby classroom and asks how he is doing. He says fine but is clearly in pain. She can see some blood seeping through his pant’s leg where robin had been grazed. She says nothing. And the las scene just says “now. “ Showing robin and Gwen soaring on a roof.

Sad Origin or Juliet should have just Stayed Home: (Notably all covered in one issue as background info to avoid romanticizing pain and trauma) first thing to notice in the first panel. Gwen has brown eyes instead of the normal eerie blue). She thinks she is an orphan being raised by a loving aunt, only to have her home blown up by faulty gas lines (spoilers was not the gas lines). She ends up in the Narrows living in a group home with a hot boy (he is the leader that tried to steal the gem in the earlier episode). She is alone, without a safety net and traumatized. He starts dating her. And is a manipulative and emotionally abusive asshole. He tells her the mob has his missing birth father and will kill him if he does not get a certain stone (that just happens to be on display as of that morning in her dead AU ants gallery). The gem had been brought over by an anonymous buyer who what deemed in breach of the purchase agreement and lot rights to the gem. The aunt’s co-owner/ girlfriend had reviewed the jewel and set it up as displayed in the old 15th century painting, weird writing and all. While stealing the gem, Gwen cuts her hand as her boyfriend fucks around and reads the weird script. This accidentally starts an old ritual. After a clean get away, the boyfriend kisses her and pushes off a roof to her death. She accidentally grabs the gem while grabbing for something to safe her life. She wakes up two days later on the street where her body had landed after the fall, with blood stains in her clothing from nonexistent injuries. She feels strange and disconnected from her past as if looking at her entire history through water. She assumes it is shocks and sneaks back into the group home. She uses her aunts oversized jacket hide the blood. Her roommate try’s to get Gwen to fess up where she has been thinking it was a romantic runway. Gwen turns to go to the restroom and roommate says she likes the new contact lenses. Gwen looks up and realizes that her brown eyes have turned an unnatural blue. last panel "what the hell"

Bullet point of storyline notes:

The Halloween special issue. “Never Trust a Cat.” Gwen has her noticing Dicks Gymnastics and being forced by her roommate to go to a Halloween party. She dresses up as a cat. Roommate is kidnapped by guys in tactical gear and has something injected into her. Gwen runs after and with Dick’s help saves the roommate. Only to realize she has been injected with some neurotoxin that slowly makes her susceptible to suggestion that the JL has recently learned about. Obviously created by the light. He says the antidote is in the bat cave and he will take care of the roommate. “If you think I’m leaving her side, Dick Greyson, you are dumber than you look.” Dick tries to deflect. Gwen says fine. He awkwardly holds the roommate while racing through the street on his bike. He looks over his shoulder at Gwen who has not moved. A blue flash is in the sky. He goes through the waterfall. And administers the cure. Suddenly from behind “so this is what the bat cave looks like…. I’ll be honest. I did no expect the giant penny.”Gwen is floating in cloud of blue light that dissipates as she lands.

Batman started avoiding Gwen after only a few sessions

In the same episodes she learns her mother is alive and abandoned her for a life of crime, she learns that her aunt faked her death and left. Apparently, the aunt killed some guy that had been hitting her. He was part of the mob. “It’s not safe for you” crap.

Finds out mum is alive after seeing a picture of cat woman on the bat computer. Turns out Batman had only even given her the maybe scholarship after learning he could be her dad. He grew distant when he learned who was the dad. Oh the abandon meant issues and trust issues I mentioned above.

Turns out robin knew about her parents and had been lying to her for over year. He is also the only person to know her secret so she feel especially betrayed. Needless to say the budding relationship is crushed after their first kiss. She is pissed.

Mum is cat woman. Who had an unwanted pregnancy and gave birth under a fake name. She faked her death in a car accident. And never appeared to look back.

Gwens auburn hair is from her dads side of the family. That’s right cat woman and lex hate fucked after a successful mission. Lex doesn’t know about Gwen.

When Gwen learns who her father is and that Batman and robin have known since testing her DNA (without her consent) a few weeks after meeting her. She is pissed. So she gets drunk underage. Kidnapped by none other than her ex. He had hired Icicle Jr. to guard her. She just wants to avoid the bats at all costs and know she is off the grid. So she spends the next few hours joking with Jr and bonding.robin breaks in. As other henchmen are being beat up, Gwen asks jr if he wants to make a deal. Give me a place off the grid to crash and I will get you out of here. Screams. Jr shrugs and says the money wasn’t that good anyway. Gwen blasts the ceiling creating a hole and grabs jr to fly out. They crash at one of his hideouts and get take out. At some point a group of his friends (probably Easter eggs) come to try to get Jr to come partying. A little bit later. Gwen is at a club in central city with a bunch of villains and having the time of her life. She is flirting with one of the guys that came to Jr’s. And jr is dancing with his own man (is apparently gay in this universe go with it). Gwen is joking and being extremely vague about her “co-workers”. Suddenly green arrow and Artemis crash the party. Artemis says to put down the shot glass. Gwen stays she is just drinking and to chill (she is dealing with some shit and may not be perfectly sober). Artemis fires an arrow that breaks the glass. Small fight and Jr drags Gwen out. They arrive at the apartment laughing. A panel showing days of the week and then hanging out (video games, baseball, etc. just friend shit). Later the same friends at before some over with Jrs new man. They are all hanging out when the others start talking shop. Namely Batman has been captured and will be killed on live tv. They are laughing at how the hero’s won’t find him despite him being just a few bloating away. Gwen excuses herself. And leaves a note to jr thanking and apologizing to jr. she saves Batman. Fight scene. And tells him to never contact her again. It’s snowing when she leaves.

One of the Episodes right after robins betrayal. “Let’s Get Ready to Rumble”. Bus of kids with Gwen on it gets highjacked. Before highjacked, see a football player ruin gwens chem book. The kidnappers make their demands and decide to wait it out at there boss’s place…. Which also happens to host an illegal fighting league. The men joke that they will make someone fight. If you win the whole ransom amount we will let you go. Gwen volunteers. The men laugh. A football player volunteers and gather his friends money to place the bet. He gets knocked out in record time. The b Gwen worked on her school projects volunteers her money up so long as it gwen in the ring. The rules are simple. Step out of the ring, you lose. Get knocked out, you lose. Die, you lose. Gwen first fight is against a larger guy who comes swinging. She dodges and trips him. He lands out of the ring. She wins without throwing a punch. She sees lex in the box. She wins several rounds of increased difficulty. This includes a two on one and blockbuster. Gwen next fight is against bizaro.When he is flying she asks if that counts after stepping out of the ring. No, you have to touch the ground. Gwen does not want people to see her powers. Instead she tumble and flip jumps off the ring tops to reach the lowing rafters. She proceeds to fight and dodge bizaro before jumping on mercy greaves shoulders and asking Lexi if he could spare what he had hidden in his ring. Curious and intrigued he gives her the sliver of kryptonite, which she slide under Bizaro’s skin when she tackles his form. He collapsed in the ring. Comedic scene of her dragging her out of the ring slowly since he is so heavy but technically still awake. She removes the kryptonite as soon as his hand touches the ground outside the ring. It’s the final fight. Makes a joke how she has definitely repaid the ransoms after this this. At this point the kidnappers are impressed and joking with her. She jokes about chem book. They promise to give her 300 bucks for a new one if she beats the next guy. A cage comes down on the ring. A guy smaller than most she has fought is tried up with a hood covering his face. Kids wonder what monster could be worse than Bizaro. The announcer starts going on about this interloper trying to shut the fights down. It’s robin duh. Gwen turns to the kidnappers. “I’m supposed to fight robin. Fun” robin is half to see Gwen and tells her they just need to fake the fight for bit since KG and his other new teammate are there. Gwen says not a problem and punch the lying sidekick across the face and into the bars. She makes a cryptic joke how this will be over In a flash. Just give her five minutes. Cue fight. Robin is good at dodging. But gwen is coming for him. Crowd comments that she seems way more into this fight. Robin ends up tied up and hanging from the top of the cage like a Christmas turkey with one shoulder dislocated (but nothing permanent). He struggles and Gwen asks if he was looking for these. And pulls out his batarangs. Chaos occurs as the young hero’s make their move. An arrow is fired but Gwen blocks it with a batarang saying she still has 20 seconds on the clock. She waits as she counts down then jumps out of the ring as KF comes up. “What they hell” Gwen smirks. “We both know he deserved worse. After I didn’t cause any permanent damage.” She starts walking away. “By the way, don’t worry about taking me home with other hostages. I will find my own ride.” See her ride off on a bike. Artemis walks over to KF “isn’t that Robin’s bike”. “Yep”. Next scene Gwen in bat cave returning the bike when Alfred walks in. “I did not expect to see you here again for a while.” “I needed to return something after all. I’m not a thief.” Alfred looks at the bike and notices some stu wires. He raises an eyebrow. “You found the trackers” Gwen smiles “so will robin. I left them in some interesting places”. Alfred asks if she needs a ride home. She says she fine and has a few errands to run. A chem book to buy” “ miss Kyle, I believe most book stores will be closed at this hour.”

#Instagram

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brief-candle · 5 years ago

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ᴄᴏɴᴛʀᴏʟ - Muzan Kibutsuji

the longest of my boys

took a reallllllly long time too lol. was it worth it? maybe.

had to fix about 20,000 mistakes because as an english person i accidentally kept using american versions and you know we don’t let that slide round these parts

series: demon slayer/ kimetsu no yaiba

notes: yandere, muzan being a dick, muzan in general, many minor character deaths, some gore, self-deprecation, starving.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

It was a dark night; murky and thick was the fog that surrounded you and your fellow demon slayers. You were all rather low down in the ranks, mostly due to lack of experience rather than any lack of effort. The moon hung in the sky as if on an invisible string, a full and bright circle.

"The moon is pretty tonight, isn't it?" Said one of your teammates after more silence than she seemed able to handle. You believed her name was Hanako, though you weren't quite sure.

Another person merely grunted in response, and another elbowed him swiftly after.

"Yeah, I think so," that person spoke, not sparing a glance upwards. He only looked towards 'Hanako', seemingly unable to tear his eyes away from her. She only giggled as everyone moved forward, "Focus, everyone," another person who had taken upon himself the role of the leader had piped up, "the demon's said to be around here. Stay sharp."

Yes, stay sharp. That was the most vital thing when looking for a demon. It was always a case of spotting it before it spotted you; the first blow could very easily be the last.

"I'm sure it'll be fine. They only sent us Mizunoto, after all," Hanako reasoned, voice light and without an ounce of concern. Everyone muttered in agreement with that, then, before another pitched in: "Yeah, besides if anything happens, we've got a Tsuguko on our side!"

It was then that everyone turned and glanced in your direction. You, the girl who didn't talk much, who no one knew much about, either. It was as if everyone had just now remembered you existed, and stared upon you with newfound awe. It's not as if Tsuguko were common, after all. They were probably even rarer than Hashira, even if they were less powerful. There wasn't much else you could do but glance around at all of the curious pairs of eyes and nod in acknowledgment. Hopefully you wouldn't have to put your training to the test, and you could just be there as a background character instead. That would mean there was no threat, after all.

Thankfully they all looked away soon after, suddenly disinterested. Not that it was extremely shocking; You didn't have the most striking or memorable appearance. Plus you weren't exactly being talkative or upholding a constant flow of conversation with your intriguing personality. Instead you were just following everyone else, two steps behind, beginning to berate yourself for... well, berating yourself. How could you even think of becoming one of the Hashira when you couldn't even stand up to yourself for yourself? It was a miracle that your teacher had even seen any potential in you in the first place. You'd barely been able to hold a sword steady before then, and had survived the Final Selection through luck alone. There really was no hope for-

Putrid.

You slapped your hand onto your nose, cringing immensely from the odour seeping through the air. The Mizunoto ahead didn't even seem to notice you'd stopped, and only one or two appeared to be aware of the disgusting stench ruining the forest air. You could barely call out to them as you were- the more of it that filled your lungs, the closer you got to vomiting. And if there was one thing you didn't need to be known for, it was throwing up before even encountering a demon.

But that smell was unlike anything you'd sniffed out before. It was almost suffocating from a single breath.

"Hey, everyone!" You finally called out, a desperate and breathless outburst that made you want to shrivel up and seep into the floor you stood upon. Especially when their gazes were filled with concern and confusion. But here, you had to cast the shadows lurking in the crevasses of your mind out to focus on the situation: there was no doubt that there was a powerful demon nearby. Extremely powerful- more powerful than any demon you'd come across yet. Maybe even more powerful than any demon you'd come across even in the distant future.

Who are you kidding- such a thing is foolish to think.

“Please... be cautious. I think there's a very powerful demon nearby.” Your mouth was running away with you again, leaving your brain in the dirt as it struggled to catch up and come up with any half-decent sentences to convince your companions to be wary, "Don't hesitate to withdraw if need be."

For a moment, it was silent. You were almost convinced that everyone had died where they stood before one of them began to laugh.

“Of course there's not a powerful demon around- why would they send Mizunoto to an area full of demons we wouldn't be able to defeat?” He spat, tone scornful and expression condescending. To be completely blunt, he was an idiot, especially as he continued: “And withdraw? Really? Why the hell would we withdraw? What do you take us for? A bunch of cowards?”

Yet his harsh words seemed to spur on the rest of the Mizunoto, who began to chuckle with him. But even still, he wasn't done.

“Real demon slayers don't run from a challenge- they find a way around it. They're skilled enough to find a way around it. How do you think we passed the Final Selection?"

“To be honest, through luck.” The words flew from your mouth before you could catch them and shove them down to your chests. “Real demon slayers, as you put it, don't charge into battle without a plan. But even a plan isn't good enough all the time. Real demon slayers know when to quit and withdraw.” Your hands seemed to be flying everywhere, at this point very much out of your control. This time the people's eyes were upon you as you began to fume more and more, the demon slayer who you'd very quickly shut up could only stare on, shocked. “But sure, if you wanna go and get yourself get killed for something as idiotic and worthless as your damned pride, then go right on ahead. Be my guest!" With each word, you jabbed your finger more and more aggressively in his direction, your scowl deepening to such an extent that you never thought it'd straighten out again, “But I refuse to die with you! I'd much rather actually do something with my life rather than waste it through one stupid mistake, thank you very much!”

He looked dumbfounded still, mouth gaping similarly to that of a fish. And he made about as much sound as one, too. Everyone else seemed to be in a similar state, looking between one another as if to say: 'is this the same person from just a few minutes ago?' It certainly wasn't unfounded, either, as even you were taken aback by your own outburst. But you certainly weren't remorseful. It was hard enough to train with someone who zoned out constantly, who only gave praise through his silence, who only seemed to think for himself. Never mind being on a mission with people you don't even know, who don't know what you've experienced yet still look down on you for giving them an ounce of your common sense. To say the least, it was infuriating.

He'd taken it gracefully, all things considered. From the now-distant look in his eyes, you also assumed that you'd given him some food for thought as well.

Even though the tension in the air had considerably heightened after your outburst, it tasted a little cleaner as it passed into your lungs and it seemed much easier to focus on regulating your breathing back to its usual rhythm. Not even the sounds of chirping birds filled the silence. It was as if there were no birds in the area at all. Such a thing was so far-fetched that you couldn't tell if it made you want to laugh at its ridiculousness or if it just egged on the part of your mind that was determined that everything was going to go wrong. Either way, you ended up shrugging it off, trudging on with the group in silence.

“What's this demon all about then?” Someone had asked, whether to simply fill the silence or out of genuine curiosity was unknown.

Another demon slayer that you didn't know anything about took it upon himself to reply, "Dunno, probably just some new demon who's gone on a mini rampage."

You felt your eyebrows furrow and lips purse with disapproval with the way he phrased it . However you didn't call him out; you'd made enough of a bad impression as is, never mind attacking someone over how they phrased a demon slaughtering innocent people. With that in mind, you straightened out your facial features with a small sigh. Your first mission again after months of stressful training, and you were being this moody.

Mind lost in the clouds, you didn't see the massive root of the tree sticking several inches out of the dirt. Not even a second passed as the ground rushed up to meet your face. The dirt beckoned, calling out to you mockingly. You were so useless that you tripped over the root of a tree when people several ranks below you hadn't fumbled once. How could you even think that you could protect them if everything went pear-shaped if you can't even notice a root when you're simply daydreaming? The audacity!

That was another thing you'd have to ask Muichiro to teach you.

Well, at least it wasn't all bad- you'd managed to catch yourself with your hands and shoot back onto your feet before anyone had turned around to spot you in such a pathetic state.

Rancid.

That filthy stench was back again, stronger than before. You'd forgotten it had existed between now and the last time. It was overpowering, and you barely held back from gagging from the first lungful. “What's that smell?” 'Hanako' seemed in a similar state, but on the worse end of it. She'd gone deathly pale, and was visibly trembling. Upon looking closer, her eyes were watering as well, and her hand was clutched around her nose like a vice. A different person had his hands clutched over his ears, and was curled in on himself.

“W-what's wrong with everyone?” Someone, clearly unaffected by the demon's nearby presence, stuttered. It was then that you realised how you all must look to those whose senses weren't so heightened: several people looking extremely ill so suddenly when you'd all barely set foot onto the site of your mission.

There's a dangerous demon in the area!

Your vision was only just clearing up from the swift and sudden headache that came with the exposure to such a potent smell. There was no way you could pull yourself together; there was no way you'd be any use at all.

It's probably too dangerous for anyone else to take on!

Yes, but there was no chance in hell that you could take it on either, was there?

If it appears and you're in this state-

That's right- you're right. Here you were, hunched over, in a worse state than the majority of the Mizunoto, with your level of experience and the privilege of being a Tsuguko. It was cowardly. Yes, you should be careful, but that doesn't mean you should be so downright pathetic in that you're so reluctant to fight a more powerful demon than usual for a few moments so that everyone can escape.

-everyone will die.

And it'd be all your fault, too.

That, if nothing else, gave you the strength to straighten your back and stand tall. You stood taller than you had for months. Perhaps the false bravado you plastered onto your exterior would trick your muscles into halting their quivering and force the adrenaline through your veins. All the help your body could provide would be greatly appreciated, for this could very well be your final fight.

I might not even become a Hashira...

No, but what would that matter in the end? It's not as if you were ready to become a Hashira anyway, though you liked the thought of eventually being that strong. But today, in this moment, none of that mattered. What mattered was protecting humanity.

That was what a demon slayer of any caliber strived for, wasn't it?

The bravado you had strung up almost collapsed when you saw it stood there, through the trees. Ghostly pale as the moon itself, clad in a white hat to match his trousers, contrasting with a black suit jacket and curly hair like ink. It faced away from you all, so you couldn't see its face, but the sense of dread that filled your stomach was burning as it rushed through your body.

Run.

You almost listened, instinct to survive barely stomped upon by a trained mind. In these moments when you wanted to run away most, you had to remain the most calm you'd ever be. To show cowardice and fear is to hand defeat to these beasts upon a silver platter.

“Everyone,” your voice was softer than you'd remembered, mellow as you strolled through each word, “get yourselves out of here. Don't waste a single moment; return to headquarters, seek out a Hashira or even Oyakata-sama himself.”

It was incredible how in a moment of peril they all listened to you, hung onto every word. For a brief second, you contemplated if this was how Kagaya Ubuyashiki himself felt, being the centre of attention with every slight movement. “Whatever you do, you must make haste and warn them,” you weren't sure how exactly you knew who the demon was, but your gut screamed the name at you until it shook your very core, “that on this mission we encountered not the demon we were to be hunting, but Kibutsuji Muzan. This is of the utmost importance. And I-"

You had to swallow and pause, almost choking on those words. It was a moment of hesitance to continue, to admit such a thing to not only them, but yourself also. Yet it needed to be said, for if not now, then perhaps never.

“I may very well not follow you out of this forest.”

The tears threatened you at the corner of your eyes, of exposing your frail heart even more in front of these strangers who felt closer to you than your mentor had felt most of the time.

"So treat this as my final request, alright?"

Your voice definitely wavered there, the prospect of dying looming over your head as if it were the Grim Reaper himself, sharpening his scythe with deafening and long strokes. The Mizunoto were silent, like the dead, for several seconds. It was as if the air had been stolen from their lungs and left them physically incapable of speech. This usually wouldn't be an issue, if you weren't anxiously counting down the seconds until the demon reared its head and lunged.

"(L/N)-san..." 'Hanako' had uttered. You felt sorry for her, there. She'd gone and learned your name yet you hadn't bothered to offer her the same courtesy. If only you had the time here to apologise to each and every one of them, for not giving them the time of day to listen to them, to learn who they were. They were like you, each with their own sob stories of ambition and loss that they'd yet to fully live out.

Would you live yours out, or would the curtain fall in just a few short minutes? Or were you being cocky by even giving yourself that long?

“We'll do it." Ah, it was that Mizunoto from before. The one you'd snapped at. You hoped he'd look back on it positively, and learn from it, rather than resent you for lashing out with no prior warning. You saw none of the latter in his eyes- he had such kind eyes- and you almost opened your eyes' floodgates then and there. But you held them tightly shut as you whispered your appreciation.

“Be safe. Take care of each other. I hope to see you all in a few days, okay?”

“Yes. The best of luck, (L/N)-san.” Was the overall message you got from their mumbles as they passed. Their footsteps through the greenery echoed in your ears like thunder, but your own were like their own volcanic eruptions, all melting into each other to form one deafening mess.

Keep calm. That was the first thing you'd been taught. It was the most relevant now, considering you'd mastered the others.

You knew he knew you were there, and approaching. There was no point in adding in some fancy stealth footwork if your target could sniff you out in an instant. Yet that didn't mean you approached without caution- that would be hypocritical of you, wouldn't it? So with one hand grasped firmly on the hilt of your sword, you inched forwards until you were some meters away. Close enough to lunge forward, but far enough that you'd see an attack coming. The silence was thick, tense. You had no desire to fill it, never mind any ideas of what to fill it with. How do you break the ice with a demon, anyway? Oh, lovely weather tonight, isn't it? How many humans have you maimed and tucked into recently? It was such a ridiculous concept that you almost laughed at the mere thought. But in front of Kibutsuji Muzan, as a demon slayer? You already had enough of a death wish by merely standing there.

“Do you really think you're enough to hold me back from those running away?”

You really didn't expect him to talk, especially not while you were internally coming up with demon ice breakers instead of tactics. Why did you distract yourself with something so stupid in such a serious moment? You even had to hold yourself back from asking him to repeat what he said, and by the time you'd recalled what he'd said you'd pretty much ran out of time to respond. And you could tell he wasn't happy with that.

"Well..." what could you possibly respond with here?! Saying 'yes, actually' was way too cocky, way too stupid, and way too big of a lie. So you remain with a, “not really. Hopefully they're quick enough to get away before I have to do any 'holding back', as you put it.” By the latter part, you really meant 'before I'm dead', but it'd come across too weak to say that.

“Don't be foolish,” his voice was smooth and monotonous, yet condescending in every aspect of the word, “they won't set foot out of this forest alive.”

In a way, you were confident he was wrong; you hadn't travelled far into the forest before encountering him, so they didn't have far to go to prove him wrong.

In an act of boldness, which you very shortly after relabelled as foolishness, you blurted out the question: “and what makes you so sure?”

They were a bright shade of red, were his eyes. A saturated crimson that drew the eye, even away from the narrow slits taking the place of his written. They added some colour to the otherwise monochromatic him, and you weren't quite sure if it added to or took away from your near paralysing terror.

Definitely added, you decided, as you whipped your sword from its sheath to block his hand. If your eyes hadn't caught it and your mind not been prepared, it would have been a swift death- an irreparable slash to the jugular. The reality you were facing was beginning to seep in now, no matter how you tried to block it out: the chances you would die at any conceivable moment was incredibly high. The amount of Hashira this man (though you detested likening demons to humans) had mangled and demolished probably outnumbered the total number of people you'd even spoken to. Such a terrifying thought caused your hands to tremble, weakening your hold on the blade. None of you missed this, and just as he moved to shatter your blade with ease, you shot to the side. In fact, your desire to move pulled your upper body faster than your feet could carry, causing you to lose your footing. It was momentary- you soon scampered back to your feet- but it had allowed him to move closer and prepare another ruthless attack. One that was sure to kill if it landed.

You had to move. To move faster, and quicker than you'd moved before, to keep light on your feet with a head clear of doubt. Only then could you keep yourself alive.

Your feet led you to retreat, narrowly escaping those cobalt claws again through a backwards leap. You must be graceful, yet each attack must be as strong as a thousand years of work, for you must challenge someone with a thousand years of slaughter. With a goal and half-baked plan clear in mind, you seized the grip of your sword, shifted your feet away from each other and focussed your breathing. Your subconscious usually handled this with ease, but you couldn't rely on just that. You had to charge your breathing technique into overtime, even if your limbs felt like they would fall apart with a simple touch, even if you collapsed under your own weight and couldn't move even a toe for several days. Because then, at least you'd be alive.

Sixth Form.

He's approaching.

Allow him, you thought. As long as you had a chance of pushing him back, of stalling him whilst you fled after your comrades.

Sea of Clouds and Haze.

Such a menacing aura felt as if it was a hair away, though you learned not to judge from that alone as you dashed forwards. Just because it felt so suffocating, didn't mean he was close enough to do that. After all, at his level, he didn't need to be.

You couldn't avoid the slash at your face his talons had left, but you forced yourself to grit your teeth and ignore the severe pain leaking from your forehead.

I'm still alive.

The blade required much more force than you were used to providing to even pierce his skin, yet the adrenaline coursing through your veins aided you massively. You forced yourself onward, unleashing attack after attack. It was a whirlwind of a technique that you'd not yet quite mastered, and you were determined to. Because you'd live past this, you had to! What would all that torturous training be worth otherwise, after all?

A demon slayer of any calibre strove to protect humanity, didn't they?

The stronger demon slayers protect the weaker ones as well, who protect those weaker than them. That's how the cycle worked, wasn't it?

But then why was no one coming to your help?

By this point you weren't sure how much time had passed since you started fighting the original demon. Though 'fighting' probably wasn't the correct term, as it was more of a one-handed beating since your first attack. You must have pissed him off so much by actually cutting him a wee bit that he didn't give you chance to even launch the quickest, and what you thought was the simplest, move. That was an achievement in and of itself, right? You wondered if Muichiro would praise you for that, or whether he'd tell you to get up and continue.

Even with your dominant hand twisted beyond repair, so much so that you wondered if everything would reattach if you somehow got out of this.

Even with your tibia, snapped not-so-cleanly in two, breaking out of your skin. At least, you thought it was your tibia. You only read an anatomy book once years ago, before even thinking of joining the Corps. Your bone didn't look quite like how they were illustrated in the book, with their clean lines and minimum shading. Then again, they didn't really draw bone with edges so jagged that there must be fragments dotted around somewhere in your swelling, bruised leg. Though what part of you wasn't bruised and swelling? What part of you wasn't caked in your drying blood?

You'd been cocky, hadn't you? To think you'd escape a fight with Kibutsuji Muzan as a mere Tsuguko when esteemed Hashira hadn't come close. It was foolish. You'd always prided yourself on being too cautious, telling yourself you had to be with your mediocre skills. Perhaps it was the moment of hesitation rather than launching your next attack immediately that brought you down. That moment where you swelled with pride, thinking 'I really do have potential!' only to be beaten so brutally. You wondered with morbid curiosity on how messed up your face looked. And you wondered with dried-up tear ducts whether Muichiro would mourn your death even a little, whether he'd become attached to you at all through the time you'd spent together.

You wondered what he saw in you in the first place.

There was movement in the upper range of your sight, just out of reach as to what it was. You'd look up, but you weren't sure you could even move your neck at that point. Though it wasn't as if you had a choice. “Humans are pitifully weak creatures aren't they?” Ah, how smooth his voice was. It was calming to listen to now. Perhaps it was due to having very little to worry about now, now that you could almost see the falling of the red velvet curtains. You felt like you wanted to nod, to agree with him, anything to keep from the silence. The silence brought your current existence into question.

“You always sought validation, didn't you? Validation that the demon slayers never gave you.” He spoke the truth, with words spun like silk. How many times had he said those very sentences? And how many times would he say them further?

"Always so worried about how weak you were, how much of a failure to your title you were." It was like he knew you as well as you knew yourself, and you clung onto every word, convinced that you'd finally found someone who understood you. In that moment, you had forgotten who he was, too delirious from pain and blood loss to care if he were the most manipulative demon or the most angelic person.

"But you have potential, one that can grow with my help."

You could be strong? You? How strong? How many lives could you save with that power? How many people would look up to you and think: 'Wow, I want to be like her'?

“So, what do you say?” Your vision, fading in and out of focus, was filled with the image of that pale hand, dancing around and shifting into two before merging back into one.

There was no argument within when you somehow found the energy to grasp it.

"Are you starving yourself again?"

Don't answer.

You didn't have the energy to answer, nor the will. You didn't care about the trouble it'd get you in with him, nor the repercussions from it.

“Answer me, (Y/N).” His voice, silky as ever, held that dangerous tone to it as he uttered each word.

Don't answer.

In an instant, your face was captured by one hand, eyes that were now filled with such an extraordinary amount of fear being raised to meet furious crimson irises. Veins stood raised upon his alabaster face, lips drawn back into a snarl.

“Did you not hear me?” Rage dripped from every syllable, fingers tightening with the passing seconds. He'd probably break your jaw again as punishment, thereby giving you an excuse not to answer him. "It's useless- such a stupid thing won't bring them back."

You felt the muscles in your face jerk at that comment, images of the Mizunoto you'd tried to help escape flashing through your mind. Your senses tingled as a reminder: the sight of their faces as they saw you approach, initially filled with relief, before swiftly switching to fear, then the expression of pain and anguish that'd forever be etched into their skin; the sounds of their screams, of tearing flesh and snapping bones, of pleas of mercy, apologies to families that would never know exactly what had happened to their children, siblings, cousins; the smell of their blood that seemed so irresistible, so delectable as it seeped into the midnight air; the texture of their skin, how easily they fell apart with the slightest pressure; the taste of their corpses, of those unfortunate enough to still be alive as you tore through them.

It was his features changing that had brought you back to the present, sitting in your new room where you busied yourself through hiding away from the sun and wasting yourself away through starvation. His expression had shifted from incomprehensible anger to smug satisfaction, eyes glued to the lower part of your face.

As a string hit the back of your palm, so did the realisation of why: you were drooling. Drooling over the taste of the comrades you had murdered with your own two hands. No one had forced you to- Muzan hadn't told you to- you simply shot through the forest like a bat out of hell after being turned, your injuries not even fully recovered.

“Oh dear, aren't you disgusting? No manners at all,” it wasn't even teasing with Muzan, no matter how much of a lilt he put onto his voice, it was always mocking, "Really, did anyone even try to teach you such a simple concept?" You knew better than to answer the obviously rhetorical question. The last time you had done that, Muzan ripped out your tongue without a moment's hesitation. If you were to lie and say that no one had taught you, Muzan would gouge out your eyes. Sometimes there was no way to please him other than silence, and there was definitely no way to please him other than complete subservience. Muzan didn't tolerate disobedience in any way, shape or form. You often wondered why he'd kept you around so long, which was what you were doing now as you apologised profusely and wiped your mouth with your handkerchief, especially with how long it took you to completely adapt to the Muzan's-way-or-no-way lifestyle, but that didn't mean by any means that he was gentle with you.

If you weren't as acquainted with him as you were, you'd say he was delusionally and disturbingly infatuated with you, but as he twisted your head to face his and crushed your lips with his, you reminded yourself of your doubt that Muzan can feel such things. As you obediently and swiftly parted your lips for him, careful not to take too long lest he reprimands and punishes you again, you believe the only thing he feels with you is the satisfaction of being fully and completely in control.

#yandere kny x reader #yandere kny #yandere #yandere x reader #yandere kimetsu no yaiba #demon slayer #kimetsu no yaiba #muzan #yandere muzan #muzan kibutsuji #kibutsuji muzan #muzan x reader #kibutsuji x reader #x reader

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fortheloveoffanfic · 5 years ago

Text

At Twelve

John Wick x Reader (A/n- Felt like I’ve been neglecting our favorite assassin, so here’s this! And happy New Year! Here’s to hoping the 2020 brings everyone health, prosperity and great opportunities)

New York and the holiday season always seemed to have an unspoken connection. Between the parades, several tree-lighting events, the snow and the all round atmosphere, it was the perfect place to spend Christmas. Similarly, it was also a great place to spend New Year’s Eve; some would dare to take boats out for parties, clubs and restaurants came to life with savvy events and of course, there was the most anticipated one of all; the dropping of the ball in Times Square. Needless to say, if one wanted to spend the last month of the year having a wintery good time, New York was the place to be.

Coincidently, New York also happened to be home to two people who often wanted nothing to do with all the holiday cheer. None other than John Wick and Y/n. While it may have been John’s hardened demeanor that had long ago made it him disinterested in the holidays, for Y/n it was something a little closer to home; she had spent much of her short adult life alone, bitter with a family that had turned her into something that she wasn’t sure she wanted to be and thus, seeing everyone else excited about spending the season with their own families always struck a nerve.

“Where’s your bourbon?” John asked, from the kitchen, breaking Y/n out of her thoughts.

“Liquor cabinet, top shelf, bring the tequila while you’re at it,” she yelled back from her spot of the large white sofa, her hands gently stroking the head of John’s dog. It was so rare for them to both to have time off, far less to have it simultaneously, which was why spending the night together seemed fitting. That in addition to the fact that they were both otherwise alone, Y/n had not spoken to her parents; two of the most lethal criminals in the world since she was sixteen, nor did she ever have time date around and John hadn’t found someone since his wife had passed years before. So, when John asked Y/n if she’d be willing to ditch the Continental’s New Years Eve party for the third year in a row to hang out, just two close friends getting drunk and probably watching old movies together, pretending that it was just a regular night, Y/n readily obliged.

Y/n’s desolate abode sat near a lake in a quite, posh community just outside the city. The view from her backyard was spectacular, and normally, when it was her turn to host their dinners for two, they’d keep each other company out there, but considering the chill of the season, that night they were confined to her elegantly dressed living room. “We should do something,” John declared, resigning to the spot next to Y/n, slouching down into the cushions as he handed over a glass along with the tequila. Y/n would never admit it out loud, preferring that most of her feelings were kept under warps, but she liked seeing John like that. Relaxed, and at ease, when he wasn’t dressed in an intimidating suit but worn jeans and a casual sweater, when he’d offer her a rare, subtle smile and let his guard down. They were two things he only did around her and the same could easily be said about Y/n.

“How much of that did you drink in the kitchen?” Y/n cocked an eyebrow, pouring herself a drink, barely wincing when she did a shot without chaser or lime.

“None,” John reared back, scoffing and when Y/n gave him a knowing stare, he corrected, “One, finding the tequila took a while,” he explained and Y/n rolled her eyes. “Come on, I’m serious.”

“About?” She feigned confusion.

“Doing something, tonight. For the past three years, all we do is sit inside, watch T.V and get drunk,” John sipped his drink coolly, observing Y/n’s disinterest in the whole idea of leaving the comfort of her home. “We should change things up this year,” John continued.

“Why would we do that?” Y/n shook her head, “We can do the same things they do out there,” she gestured to the window in making her point, “In here; drink, listen to music and whatever else.”

“It might be nice,” John defended. Growing up an orphan at the Ruska Roma had never really offered much on holidays conventionally spent with family, no cozy dinners shared around a family table or vacations taken with loved ones, nothing. John had heard snippets of Y/n’s childhood though, growing up in a family of criminals might not have been ideal, but he had heard one or two stories about how she used to be close to her father and the things her mother had taught her before they had sent her to the Ruska Roma at the tender age of fifteen. “Didn’t you celebrate with your family?”

Y/n sighed loudly, leaning her head on the back of the couch. John was right, before everything changed, when she was a kid, they did celebrate. It was the one month of the year where they’d be a normal family; her mother taught her things in the kitchen and on New Years Eve, they’d travel to their vacation home in Aspen, spending the week together before getting back to business. Even if it was long gone, and the memories usually only served to be more bitter than sweet, looking at John, knowing that he had been deprived of so much was paining. His one shot at the life he craved had been buried six feet under and now he, as he’d often remind her, Y/n and Dog was all he had left. Finishing of her third or fourth drink, Y/n stood abruptly, stalking off without a word, “ Where are you going?”

“To get ready. There’s gonna be traffic everywhere, and people are usually disgusting, but there’s a nice restaurant near the edge of Manhattan. Its hard to get a reservation,” Y/n sighed heavily, pretending that the act of doing something nice for John wasn’t something she wanted, “But I know the owner so I’ll give him a call and see what I can do.”

In return, just before she left the room, Y/n was privy to one of his rare smiles as a silent thanks, and walking up the stairs, she had to pretend that it didn’t do much to warm her icy heart.

About two hours later, John and Y/n had finally broken from the thick traffic, parking on the curb. Arm in arm, looking more like a couple than close friends, they walked to rest of the way to the restaurant. Over her simple back mini dress, which had been paired with a velvety pair of heeled boots, Y/n used a stylish leather jacket with a woolen inside to break the chill while John had only been given the opportunity to throw his own thick leather jacket over his sweater, though Y/n still thought he looked better than most of the men she had ever met.

“The place is just up here,” Y/n pointed to the end of the block as they weaved through the mass of pedestrians.

“What did you friend say?” John inquired for the sake of making more conversation. The times he spent with Y/n was usually the only time he actually wanted to trade brooding for talking.

Y/n shook her head as they neared a set of glass double doors, “He’s not my friend. I said that I know him. He owes me a favor, or a few, unless he wants to go to jail.” John pushed the door open, letting her in first and then they joined the line to the hostess.

“Blackmail?” He probed, intrigued, it was dirty play for something as frivolous as a reservation, but John didn’t think that Y/n was above it.

“I prefer bartering,” she emphasized with a proud smirk, “His freedom for whatever the hell I want.”

John chuckled quietly, shaking his head, she really was something. As they moved up in the line, neither of them noticed that their hands had remained joined at the elbows, but the closeness was comforting, they always felt safest together. When they finally reached the hostess, a young girl dressed in black, Y/n gave her name and the woman scanned her tablet, her eyes lighting up when she found their last minute reservation, “Miss Y/l/n, right this way,” quickly, another young girl stepped into her place as the hostess started leading them through the restaurant, “I think you and your husband will love what they managed to string together.”

Y/n chortled in disbelief, ignoring the disappointment that settled in her chest as she debunked her assumption, “Oh he’s not my husband. We’re just friends.”

“Yupp,” John sighed awkwardly, combating his own despondence with their plutonic status, “Just friends.”

Anyone form a mile away could see what buzzed between the two, the stares that were a little to long to not mean something and the touches that sometimes crossed the line of intimacy. They way John looked at her when her face was turned away or the way Y/n would cling to his arm when they were in a crowd as her way of making sure they stayed together.

“Oh,” the hostess faltered, “Sorry I just assumed that.....” she shook her head trailing off, leading them up a set of stairs hidden in a room tucked away at the corner of the establishment, just behind a plain wooden door. The staircase ran up a wide corridor and led to another door, that one cool grey metal, which subsequently led to the rooftop. Half of it had been enclosed to facilitate an indoor longue while the other half was left open, presumably a fun spot during warmer months. “Here is it,” she led them through a set of French doors that had fogged up a result of the internal heat and coldness outside.

The lights of the small lounge had been turned down to the lowest setting with twinkling fairy lights hanging over curtained windows adding to the mood. Save for the one central to the red carpeted room, all the other tables were free of settings and patrons. The small bar at the furthest corner of the room looked open but there was no one manning it and the same went for the mini buffet, equipped with options for a main course along with several others for appetizers and deserts, “We’re packed tonight,” the woman explained shortly, “I mean, you’re lucky you managed to swing this place. But we don’t have enough to staff up here, so it’s gonna have to be self-service.”

“That’s fine,” John and Y/n agreed. Arguably, it was better that having waiters buzzing in and out; just John and Y/n alone in each others company. When she left, Y/n turned to John, “I know you said you wanted to do something, and I know this isn’t exactly a concert in Times Square, but-”

“It’s perfect,” John smiled, a little wider than he usually did and Y/n felt her insides warm up a bit.

“Are you sure, cause I’m not sure it counts as ‘going out’ if its just the two of us,” slowly the strolled to the bar, collecting a chilled bottle of wine. With a resounding pop, John had the bottle open and poured them a couple glasses.

“You know,” he began as they surveyed the food, Y/n trying one of the bite-sized appetizers, “Since we’re getting technical, I said that we should ‘do something’ not ‘go out’. This is doing something,” he shook his head absently, “And I know you didn’t have to, or want to, so thank you.”

“It’s whatever,” Y/n waved John off as they prepared their plates, going over to a candle lit table.

It wasn’t ‘whatever’, but John chose not to argue with her, opting to join Y/n at their table, sitting across from her. Over quiet conversation, they ate their dinner, not counting the minutes as it grew closer to midnight.

After dinner, John and Y/n had lingered inside, drinking and talking, enjoying the fact that they had the place to themselves, though, when he checked his watch and noticed that there was just twenty minutes left in the year, he suggested that they go outside. Bundling up once again, they made their way to the outdoor area, going to stand at fenced edge off of the roof. For a while, they stood there, looking down at the busy streets below, sometimes glancing at the festivities going on no too far off, in comfortable silence. But eventually Y/n spoke up, not turning to John, “You were right, you know. Before I left home, we’d do all kinds of things during the holidays. On New Year’s Eve, we’d go to Aspen; I’d help my mom cook dinner and afterwards we’d watch the fireworks show put on by the resort nearby. It was fun,” she smiled softly.

John swallowed tightly; it was so rare for Y/n to open up about her family, so much so that when she did, he’d always feel like he’d been privy to a part of her that no one else was. Though even when she spoke of them, it was usually hard to tell how the whole thing made her feel, except for that night, John thought, she looked wistful, as if the memory were too far gone, “That sounds like a nice tradition. Do you miss it?”

It took a minute before she could offer any sort of reply, but when she did, Y/n shook her head, staring out into the excitable distance, the near darkness shrouding her confusion, “I’m not sure, I haven’t thought about it in a long time,” she sighed, and found that, by some miracle, she actually wanted to open up about it. Figures it’d be to John, he was the only person who she trusted with her memories, with her life, “But I do know that I’ve spent a long time running away from making new ones, from anything like this really,” she took his hand, her leather glove resting coolly over John’s ungloved hand.

John looked at their hands together, thinking that it would be easy to hold onto her forever. When he glanced up at her, John found that Y/n eyes were trained on him, “And what about now?” He probed tentatively.

“Now?” She smiled, so faintly that it was hard to notice, “Now, I don’t have lot, but I’m glad I have you. Maybe we can make new traditions.”

“I’m glad I have you too,” John locked eyes with Y/n, squeezing the tips of her fingers. Not too far off in the distances, and even the floor below, a loud countdown began.

Five.

“You know, I never thought I’d meet someone like you.”

Four.

“Someone like me?”

Three.

“Yeah,” Y/n’s smile was shy and John’s lips were just a breath away. She was ready to do something she’d only thought of for so long.

Two

“I don’t understand,” John smiled softly.

Y/n smiled too, leaning in a little, “Then let me show you.”

One.

As the clock struck twelve, people cheered loudly and fireworks went off, lighting up the sky, making the city seem even more alive than it did before. And right as it all happened, Y/n pressed her lips to John’s, her free hand cupping his neck as his moved to the small of her back, deepening their kiss. Neither of them register how long it went on for, but when they broke for air, their foreheads were pressed together and Y/n explained, “I never thought I’d meet someone I wanted to kiss at twelve.”

At her confession, John smiled, going in for another kiss, holding her close and what flowed between them told them both at twelve, everything had changed.

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everydisneymovie · 4 years ago

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Review #23: The Living Desert

Post #26

6/22/2020

Next up is 1954′s The Living Desert

Enjoyment : [3]

This is not a very engrossing documentary. The best documentaries pose a question or mystery at the beginning and provide answers and counterpoints over the course of the run time. This documentary is just like, ‘Hey look a desert!’ and little else. There is no connective tissue between the fun facts they present and there is no arc of information to follow. It feels like bullet points and thus the information is hard to digest. Many of the shots are very pretty to look at, and some of the moments build intrigue, but all that investment dissolves when we get to...

Quality : [1]

This movie is straight up fake. I have not found any documentation that this was all staged, but the longer the movie went on, the number of impossible shots only increased, and it diminished the value of the documentary as a whole. The first clue was that many stock sound effects were used for the animals, and many shots were either repeated or edited out of order to sell a tense moment. The next major clue was that many of the most dramatic moments were filmed with extreme close-ups of very fake looking sand and rocks with no clear view of the horizon. (Implying that these animals were placed on a constructed sound stage and filmed as many times as they needed to get the proper shots.) Animals changed size/color in-betweens shots implying the animals died and they had to bring in new ones. Some shots are clearly impossible to have filmed if they weren’t on a sound stage, such as the underground shots of the mice burrowing or the snake attacking the camera. The clear and present danger these animals were placed in, with the fact that they obviously used multiples of the same animal, can only mean that a SHIT TON of animals died on set. As a film buff I am annoyed they faked this footage instead of presenting the natural world as it is, and as an animal lover I am horrified that they hurt this many animals to make such a shitty product.

Hold up : [4]

I am just going to say this flat out: The Narrator probably has a tiny penis. Why do I say this? Many times throughout the documentary the camera will show two animals just sorta... sitting there. Cue the narrator talking about how women like to play hard to get, and how men need to be bold to ‘win over those troublesome females!” Like, come on man you don’t need to project that hard. It really feels like the Narrator is so brainwashed with toxic masculinity that he has to project his own masculine failings onto a tortoise who couldn’t get a mate. A good documentary either removes personal bias or reveals personal bias in an interesting way. I think whoever wrote the script needs to take a step back.

Risk : [2]

Filming a documentary means you aren’t telling a set narrative, you are uncovering truth and working to present fact. You can almost feel the annoyance behind the camera with their erratic animal actors. Towards the end they just give up and start giving the animals names and forcing human motivations on what is clearly staged moments. If they were this disinterested in making a documentary then why didn’t they just make it an animated movie with some fun facts sprinkled in? This movie is just intellectually lazy and morally bankrupt. Don’t kill animals just because its cheaper than hiring animators.

Extra Credit : [1]

The only point this movie earns is the fact that it was made for kids, and MAYBE they could get some fun facts out of this. But yeesh does it get hyper filtered through Disneys candy coated laziness.

Final thoughts:

This movie was a slow drip into horror. At first the shots were nice and the information was intriguing, but bit by bit I noticed the artificiality of it all. There are even shots at the end where you can see the sound stage walls where the sky should be. You could possibly make a fake documentary with good intentions but when you are killing animals just to get ‘cool shots’ you are really off base. I hope this movie disappears into the dustbin of history where it truly belongs. Do not watch this movie.

Total Score: 11/50

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#every disney movie #I watched Every Disney Movie #reviewing every Disney movie #the living desert #documentary #nature documentary #tw: animal death #tw: animal abuse #live action movie #movie review #Movie Reviews #movie theory #movie ranking #Film Theory #Disney #late stage disney #capitalism #late stage capitalism #Rey Rapids

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crystaljins · 5 years ago

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A long journey home| 01

Characters: Taehyung x Reader

Word count: 9.1K

Synopsis: All you wanted was to confront your flaky coworker, Taehyung, not get dragged across a magical fantasy realm trying to deliver a baby dragon safely back to its home kingdom.

Fantasy!au

Notes: I’m not really sure what this is, if I’m being honest. Just a fic so big I split it into two. I basically just wrote whatever I thought was fun and so there’s not a huge amount of plot or anything, really. Just me having fun. Hopefully its fun for you too, at least.

1 | 2

The second they wrench off the blindfold, you know you aren’t on earth anymore. You don’t know how you know- the dark green leaves that paint the backdrop of your surroundings could be native to any forest, anywhere in the world. But instinctively you can feel it- a magical thickness to the air that tells you that you are very, very far from home.

Two men pin your arms in place with tight grips on your upper arms- if they can even be called men. Their hands are hidden beneath thick leather gloves but you don’t think the leather hides flesh and bone. No, each uncomfortable shift feels like there are knife blades sliding along your skin, sheathed by the leather. Their faces are wrapped in thick black shawls so that only glittery eyes peek through thin slits in the material and there’s something inhuman about their eyes. Both men glare straight ahead and you allow your gaze to shift until it settles on Kim Taehyung, the very man who got you into this mess.

In his defence, you don’t think he did it intentionally. No, you doubt he was even aware that you’d been dragged into this realm while your captors pursued him until this very moment if the way his eyes widen just the slightest bit is anything to go by. But you wouldn’t have been captured and held hostage for the past 48 hours if you hadn’t gone to his house two days prior, that’s for sure. A mere 48 hours ago, when the world had been simple and easy and Taehyung had just been an annoying colleague who never pulled his weight.

You had been constantly making up for his slack- staying late, coming in early, working through your lunchbreak, all to make up for the fact that Taehyung is about as reliable as an umbrella in a hurricane. When he does bother to show up to work, he works diligently and thoroughly and is the kind of worker that is friendly and warm and popular and always getting invited to office parties (which is probably how he’s escaped getting fired thus far). But when he doesn’t show up, it is usually at the worst possible time, like right before a meeting that he was supposed to present at (although that burden then falls to you when the boss realises that Taehyung isn’t coming, 5 minutes into the meeting), or in the busy season where you need all hands on deck. And when Taehyung had not shown up two days earlier, you had been forced to pull an all-nighter and missed your niece’s 1st birthday party. That had been the straw that broke the camel’s back. You had tolerated his behaviour and even covered for him when he requested it of you because you felt bad for him and weren’t really the type to turn down someone who needed your help. But enough is enough and you could cover for Taehyung no longer. Especially when your ailing father rang you and asked why you hadn’t shown up to what might possibly be the last family gathering that all of you are together for.

You had stormed over to Taehyung’s apartment and banged on the door until he answered. Only it hadn’t been Taehyung that answered but three creatures that were most definitely not human, fresh from trashing his apartment while searching for him. They had seen you, assumed you were close with Taehyung, and deemed you of appropriate worth to take along in their pursuit.

Now you kneel helplessly, still in your work uniform from two days ago though it is now soiled and partly torn from mistreatment. You must look quite the sight, dirty and kneeling on the floor of some mythical forest in a pencil skirt and a formerly-white button down.

“(Y/N)?” He asks. Taehyung is a fairly unflappable kind of guy. There are jokes at the office that the building could be burning around him and he’d stop to take a selfie with the flower arrangement in the lobby before evacuating. But he looks genuinely gobsmacked in that moment and if you hadn’t been afraid when you’d first been abducted 2 days ago, then you are now. If Taehyung is scared, then things are serious. You shouldn’t have listened to Jimin’s encouragements to confront Taehyung and you shouldn’t have gone to his apartment. If you hadn’t, you’d probably be sitting at home, watching Netflix and enjoying a blissful day off. You would be completely ignorant to the presence of the supernatural beings you had previously thought only existed in storybooks. But no, now the proof of creatures that even humans could not have managed is not just limited to three beings surrounding you, two of whom are restraining you, but the small, frightened little creature in front of you which may or may not be a baby dragon. It burrows into Taehyung’s arms like a frightened kitten. The sight would be endearing if that little creature wasn’t currently a bargaining chip for your life. “What are you doing here? How did you get here?”

“I don’t know.” You say, and though you try to sound normal, terror has your voice wobbling with unshed tears. A glare from one of the captors still restraining you has you clamping your jaw shut.

“Do not speak,” It hisses, and if you had to describe the odd quality of their voices, it would be reptilian. Great. You had been kidnapped by lizard men.

The leader, the one not holding you down, pulls off his shawl and the beastly scaled face that lies beneath has you feeling light-headed. Not two days ago you were a simple office worker, a bit plain, maybe a little bit too much of a pushover, prone to crying a little too much, but human. Ordinary, plain, boring human. Magic, mythology… those were fictional things. But no. Unless this is some sort of weird fever dream (which you haven’t entirely ruled out as a possibility yet), you are currently a supporting character in a fantasy thriller that is unfortunately not fictional.

“Choose, Guardian. Your mate’s life or the dragonling’s.” The leader snarls. “We don’t have all day- our Queen wants her prize delivered.”

“Don’t count your dragons before they hatch,” Taehung protests, his hand resting on what you recognise as the hilt to a sword. Why does he have a sword and not a gun? Why not make use of the very lethal technology humans are unfortunately good at creating? “I’m not handing this little one over. You’ll have to kill her.”

Your eyes go wide, but he doesn’t spare you a glance. He shifts his posture, hoisting the little dragon higher against him in his arms and all traces of shock and distress are wiped clean from his face. A trill of fear runs through you at the clinical, detached way he regards you. Surely he wouldn’t allow these creatures to kill you? Yes, you weren’t particularly close, but you were still coworkers and he certainly owed you at least some sort of attempt to save you in exchange for all the favours you’ve done him!

“Taehyung,” You plead, and the tears you had managed to hold in throughout this whole ordeal suddenly spill further but he pointedly ignores you. “Taehyung,” You say again, trying to gather the words that will convince him to save you. He finally looks your way at this, but he merely looks at you like you are a jewel he finds intriguing but not worth the purchase.

“Sorry, sweetheart,” He says, and while he’s always been fond of using pet names for you, this one feels like a punch in the gut. “I do hate to have casualties when I work, but you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. You aren’t worth the price.”

Your jaw drops in offence.

He offers a disinterested look to your captors and turns away.

“Kill her.” He offers over his shoulder, already walking away.

“You… you have to be kidding me,” You gasp incredulously. “After everything I’ve… you’re just going to… No! No way!” You cry.

Though you are largely a timid and obedient worker and Jimin is constantly berating you for being a pushover, there is the odd occasion that you get angry. Those occasions are few and far between, but you feel it now, frustration, pain, anguish and fear building in your chest like the crest of a wave about to burst into frothy foam. He’d… he’d just leave you to die?

“You idiot lizardmen!” You screech. Your anger bursts forth in the form of your enraged screech. No longer is the fear of them enough to hold you in place. And clearly you can’t rely on Taehyung to help you out. You flail in their hold and ignore the way their gloves claws dig painfully into your skin. The little dragon in Taehyung’s arms whines in fright at your outburst. “Why the heck did you drag me into this you douchebags! If you’re going to threaten him at least use someone who actually knows him or check your facts or something! Plus if I’m going to die at least let it be for someone better than him! He didn’t even try you assholes!” You yell kicking out with your legs and they had managed to subdue you thus far with your fear of their sharp claws but that is no longer sufficient now that you have reached the current stage of hysteria. “You’re honestly going to kill me because you weren’t clever enough to find one of Taehyung’s genuine friends? Granted that’s a difficult ask because he probably doesn’t have any cause he just leaves the ones he has to die!”

You thrash wildly in their grasps and their claws slice into the skin of your biceps. But they did not restrain your legs and so you kick out. One of your wild strikes collides with the back of what you think may be the lizard man’s knee. He crumples with a grunt and releases you.

Taehyung must not have gone that far- suddenly he has taken advantage of the lizardmen losing control of you and their lapse of attention on him.

“Shouldn’t have let your guard down.” Taehyung announced with a chilling smirk and the next thing you know it that all three guards are disabled and unconscious across the forest floor. Taehyung grabs urgently at your hand and drags you to your feet- he does not flinch at the way your fingernails are bloodied and dirty.

“We have to go.” He tells you urgently, attempting to flee with the baby dragon cradled by one arm and you hand grasped tightly in his. Your shoes were lost long ago- you aren’t sure at what point, having been blindfolded for the better part of the last two days and you are in no condition to flee with him.

Nor do you want to- the man just offered your life in exchange for keeping a dog-sized lizard!

“Let me go!” You cry, wrenching your hand free. You wince when you step on a tree branch and Taehyung’s gaze drops to your bare feet. “I don’t want to go with you, you psycho I almost died because of you!”

“We don’t have time for this!” He snaps, going to drag you again, but you flinch away from his swiping hand.

“You don’t have time for this! Just leave me to the lizardmen at least they’re loyal-“ He cuts off whatever rubbish is bursting forth from your lips by throwing you over his other should like you weigh little more than a bag of feathers.

“Sorry, darling, but we have to get out of here.” He exclaims and then he’s running with you bouncing on his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, screaming and protesting the whole way.

When Taehyung finally sets you down in small clearing a long way away from your former captors, you do not hesitate. He immediately turns his attention to the dragon in his arms, setting it down and examining it for any signs of harm. You make a break for it, aiming to sprint past Taehyung, barefooted and still wearing your ruined office attire. With lightening fast reflexes, however, he snags your arm with one hand- beside him the little dragon coos curiously.

“And where do you think you’re going?” He asks, tugging you backwards until you stand before him once more.

“Away.” You cry. “You were just about to have me killed for a lizard!”

“He’s a dragon,” Is Taehyung’s icy response. He folds his arms across his chest and tilts his head. “And darling, I’d think you’d know me well enough to tell when I’m lying through my teeth. I was never going to allow them to kill you. I just needed them to let their guard down enough to gain the upper hand. Although you freaking out was a very nice touch.”

That gives you pause. You dig your teeth into your bottom lip, contemplating your next move, before finally relaxing your posture. Taehyung relaxes too, sensing that you are no longer on the verge of taking flight.

“That’s what was happening?” You finally ask. You don’t mean for your voice to catch in the way that it does. It’s just that you’re scared and confused and you nearly died. Taehyung’s expression softens and he sinks onto the forest ground, patting the space beside him to indicate you should do the same. Reluctantly, you sink to the ground- your legs give out half way though and Taehyung reaches out to steady you.

“Are you ok?” He asks, taking the opportunity to examine you. Your skin is caked with a thin layer of dirt. Your hands and knees are grazed and scabbed over. There are some bruises on your cheek and arms from the initial struggle of when you were taken captive and the sleeves of your dirty white button up are sliced into ribbons and slowly turning red from where the lizardmen claws had cut into you. Taehyung grimaces at the state you’re in and reaches for a satchel he’s been carrying since you first laid eyes on him. He pulls out what you recognise to be a first aid kit and sets it beside him. He draws near and begins to produce various ointments and salves that you don’t think can be purchased over the counter at your local chemist.

“I have a lot to explain, I suppose,” He says slowly, tending to your wounds as he speaks. “But first, I need to know something- how did you get here? This is not a place any human can get to. And how did you end up with those men?”

You fidget with the hem of your skirt. The air is cool but not cold and so you are coping in the outfit you are wearing, but you will need new clothes and shoes if you are to get out of this wretched forest any time soon.

“I… I went to your apartment.” You confess. Your desire to confront Taehyung over his work ethic has long fizzled out over the traumatic events of the past few days. Now it all seems like a distant memory, like a dream you had a long time ago and can’t quit recall the details of. “Because I wanted to talk to you.”

Interest sparks in Taehyung’s eyes and a slight smile crosses his face.

“Oh?” He says, and you grimace at the way he’s misinterpreted your words. “Do tell, sweetheart.”

“Not like that! I wanted to talk to you about what a terrible worker you are!” You snap, and the smile slides off his face like you’ve slapped him. “And I was going to tell you that I couldn’t keep covering for you at work anymore, but those lizardmen were there, trashing your apartment and they thought I was close to you. They dragged me with them through this weird doorway thing and we ended up in this forest and have been travelling through it for the past two days.”

Taehyung’s gaze darkens.

“I’m sorry for that. They were looking for this little one.” Taehyung says, reaching out to gently stroke the head of the little dragon. It purrs like a kitten and watches you through narrowed eyes. “This is Taithrwyn. I call him Tata though because that’s a bit of mouthful. He’s the last dragon prince and I swore an oath to his former guardians before they died on my front doorstep that I would return him safely to his kingdom before the full moon. Which means I have approximately one week to cross this entire continent.”

Taithrwyn takes hesitant steps towards you, his eyes cautious and regarding. His nostrils flare as he extends his neck, taking in your scent. As he turns his face towards you, the meagre light shining through the forest canopy catches his scales- they gleam a metallic red. Each scale has a gradient, however- they begin a brilliant scarlet and then gradually fade into a warm yellow that shimmers gold in the soft forest light. His eyes are cat-like- he watches you through slit-like pupils and earthy green irises. Hesitantly, you extend an open palm towards him, like he is a stray cat you’re trying to entice close enough to pet. He watches the gesture closely before leaning forward to press the tip of his snout into your open palm, closing his eyes. A warm feeling fills you at the action. You do not know much about dragons and did not know they existed prior to today, but something tells you that Tata’s tiny little gesture means a lot in his language.

Taehyung watches the exchange carefully, a small smile on his face.

“He likes you.” Taehyung offers, and Tata punctuates his statement by clambering into your lap. “Watch your claws, Tata.” He scolds and you wince as his tiny claws leave little scratch marks on your exposed thighs.

“Is the oath why you were going to let me die? You said you wouldn’t let them kill me… but what if your plan had failed? Would you have left me?” You ask softly. Taehyung does not answer for a moment, but he goes still and his teeth dig into his bottom lip contemplatively.

“Yes.” He finally answers. His answer shouldn’t hurt or surprise you- what are you to Taehyung, that he’d choose you over a baby dragon prince? Especially if he had promised someone else to prioritise it. So why do your eyes water and why do you find yourself blinking back tears? He’s not done rubbing salt in your wounds, however- he continues on. “The life of the last dragon prince is more important than a human’s, no matter who that human may be. And I swore an oath- amongst my kind that is something we take very seriously.”

“Right.” You answer, though your voice is strained with the effort to keep it even and unaffected. “Well, I’ll just let you get back to that, then- if you could just tell me how to get home, I’d really appreciate it.”

“Wait!” Taehyung calls, halting you in the process of getting to your feet. “Where are you going?”

“Home.” You say, and the word is loaded with more desperation and anguish than you had anticipated. But the past two days have been hell. In the worst sense of the word. You had been terrified for your life, trapped with strange creature, wondering through a forest, far from home without knowing if you’d ever get out. If you’d ever get to go home. If you’d be alive for your niece’s second birthday. And Taehyung had been willing to let your life end there. To let it fizzle out after being dragged from everything you knew for a mistake. You want to go home, to your family and friends and coworkers. And to your job. You’d worked so hard to get to where you were but you had allowed your work to become a curse, to become something you hated just to stop the man in front of you from getting fired. When your life apparently meant nothing to him. “I’m going home, Taehyung.”

“You can’t.” Taehyung blurts, and when you don’t answer, he rubs uncomfortably at the back of his neck. “I don’t know how to tell you this, love, but this isn’t the kind of forest a mere human can get out of alive. We aren’t in the human realm anymore. All the rules you know about nature… everything you know to be true… out here they aren’t true anymore. If you go off on your own, the best possible outcome is that you get eaten.” He confesses to you. “Because it’s the quickest and most painless way to go.”

A shiver runs down your spine and the darkening light of the forest around you suddenly seems more menacing than before. You feel a creeping sensation along your skin and flinch. He’s right- you’re barefooted, bleeding and lost. You have nothing on you but the ruined clothes on your back and you probably aren’t even on the same planet any more.

“So then what do I do?” You ask, your voice trembling and uncertain. Taehyung shrugs.

“You come with me. I’ll keep you safe.” He says, as if it’s the most obvious and simple solution. You stare incredulously.

“You? We only just escaped from lizardmen that you were going to let slit my throat with their weird claws in exchange for your pet dragon and you want me to believe you’re the safest option in this place?” You demand furiously. Taehyung grins, and something dark and decidedly inhuman glitters behind his eyes, something you’d never seen before. In that moment, it clicks into place- Taehyung is not a human being. He is not the flaky office worker you thought he was- he is something more ferocious and terrifying and you feel a chill to your skin.

“Oh, darling.” He says. “I never said I was the safest option. Just that I’m your best bet of getting out of here alive. You’ll get to go home once I have successfully returned Tata to his kingdom.”

A strange kind of resignation fills you because Taehyung is right. You sink back onto the ground beside him and Tata climbs back into your lap, curling up like a little lap dog. He’s about the size of a small dog but he’s warmer than one- you didn’t realise how chilled your skin was until you felt the warmth of his scales against you. Involuntarily, you curl your body into wards him more and he lets out a pleased little trill.

“Who are you, Taehyung? Where am I? Why did you promise to take a baby dragon home?” You ask, tracing figures into the soil beneath you as you speak. Taehyung sighs and leans backwards, making himself comfortable before a long explanation.

“In this realm they actually know me as V. Taehyung is my birth name, but I think “V” has a much more dramatic ring to it.” He admits. “And as you may have guessed… I am not a human. I was raised in this realm but I came to yours when I started highschool. My kind was driven from this realm following an awful war and my family were amongst the victims. I’ve been hiding my identity ever since, but due to what I am, non-human creatures in need of help often seek me out. I can travel between realms freely and so they want me to help them. And I can’t in good conscious turn them away. It’s why I’m always flaking at work.” He tells you. You do not respond- so his flakiness was because he was helping people? You aren’t sure how that makes you feel and so you allow him to continue without interruption. “A few days ago, the day before that I was meant to do that presentation, I really wanted to prove I wouldn’t flake as much anymore. But then two of my people, ones who had also come to the human realm following the war, turned up on my doorstep. They were in poor state, and they had little Tata here in tow.” Taehyung’s gaze darkens and his eyes pool with unshed tears. “I did not know them personally but you can’t help but feel a sense of kinship with your people when you come across them in a foreign realm. They had given their lives trying to deliver him home before his coronation after rescuing him from some poachers. And on their deathbeds they asked that I finish their journey for them. I came here to bury them. And I had promised them,” His voice catches, but he clears his throat and soldiers on. “I promised them I would get him home safely and so I will.”

“I… I missed my niece’s first birthday filling in for you. You didn’t even have the decency to text that you wouldn’t make the presentation. I got in trouble and was given one day to redo it and give the presentation, without any of the information you had.” You confess because while his reason for skipping work was to help people, you still want him to know why it hurt you.

“And for that, I am sorry. I know I’m always relying on you… but it wasn’t supposed to take this long. Time passes differently in the human realm, and I was supposed to be back within the hour. But I miscalculated a few… risk factors- I hadn’t realised those men were in pursuit and a lot of people would give an arm and a leg to be in possession of a baby dragon. I’ve been here two weeks trying to avoid getting caught. And I know it’s been stressful for you and I will always be grateful for you covering my back like you have. I promise you that I will get you home safely. Just because Tata takes priority does not mean I will allow any harm to come to you.” He tells you sincerely. You watch him carefully, but you feel a tension you didn’t know you were holding in yourself give way at his sincerity. He watches you with large, remorseful eyes and his promise hovers in the air between you. You inhale deeply.

“O-ok.” You say. “Fine. You… you have my trust. Just… please. Get me home, Taehyung.” You tell him, and your desperation must be shining in your gaze but he just looks taken aback at your admission of trust. He offers you a wide smile, the one that reminds you how handsome he is and why he has so many of your coworkers’ adoration.

“I will, sweetheart, I promise.”

And just like that, you end up travelling with Taehyung. There’s still so much information you don’t have and you are still scared and confused. But there’s only so much Taehyung can tell you in hushed whispers on the forest floor with the risk of your pursuers turning up once more. After some interrogation, Taehyung reveals he is skilled enough in combat that as long as it doesn’t turn into a hostage situation then he should be able to adequately protect you and Tata. Still, when the three of you set off quickly, you proceed with caution and are constantly on the lookout for any sign of your former captors.

Taehyung keeps a spare pair of boots in his satchel (which is magically charmed to hold far more than it should). They are far too large, and your feet keep slipping in them but the alternative is exposing yourself to the numerous sharp objects littering the forest floor that can cut into the exposed soles of your feet. He offers you a large cotton tunic which is better than the pencil skirt and ruined office shirt and there’s no hope for his spare pair of pants fitting you for Taehyung is long and large. This would normally not bother you- the cut is similar to a sleeveless dress, albeit a bit more formless, but for some reason you feel exposed. Perhaps it is to do with the devious smile Taehyung offers you when you are done changing.

“This is good motivation to buy you proper clothes when we get into town.” He comments. You are instantly on guard from the way his tone drips with mischievous intent.

“Why?” You demand, a little defensive and on edge.

“Because,” and his gaze turns from a fox-like glee to something decidedly serpentine as he slides it over your body. You feel as though he had just trailed his fingers over your skin. “I would hate for anyone else to see you looking so cute.”

Flirtatious comments such as those are to be the norm for the rest of the journey, something that you eventually begin to expect from him, but you don’t realise that yet and are caught off guard in that moment. You hope that he misses the way your ears are probably hot enough to fry eggs.

You don’t take a hurried pace, but it is rather relentless. Taehyung refuses to allow his stress to affect you but there is a looming deadline for this adventure. Apparently Tata’s coronation is meant to be in a week. Upon rescuing him from his poachers, his former guardians had been in contact with the ailing dragon king and promised to get Tata home before the planned date for his coronation as Dragon Prince. He is not old enough to rule yet, but apparently young dragons undergo a ceremony to declare their royalty and the best translation for the word Taehyung could think of was “coronation”. Getting there in time means travelling across treacherous lands that a fragile and terrified human like you would struggle with. But there isn’t time for Taehyung to take you to the portal that would take you home, in the opposite direction. Instead, you are stuck along for the ride. You must proceed carefully- apparently there are a lot of people who would benefit from selling Tata. Even just his claws have incredibly useful abilities. Fortunately, Tata has the ability to turn invisible which saves you the hassle and difficulty of having to avoid towns completely and pick up supplies through alternate means.

At least the journey is pleasant. It’s like being dropped into a Lord of the Rings novel. You admire the scenery around you in wonder- you have left that awful forest before and now wonder through what you think may be a field of barley. Wheat shimmers like gold in the bright sunlight and there is a dry but pleasant scent to the air. Overhead, the sky is a smooth, uninterrupted blanket of azure blue. Taehyung hums beside you, answering all your questions without a hint of irritation or impatience while Tata stalks what you think may be a cricket.

“So if you aren’t human, what are you?” You inquire. Taehyung shrugs.

“There isn’t really a word for it in your language.” He admits. “I suppose the best word for it is a “guardian” or maybe a “protector”? They say the gods bestowed us with enhanced abilities to protect others. Every creature born in this realm knows that they can seek us out when they need help. Still, they also fear us greatly for our strength which is perhaps why we were driven out.”

“And you still return here to help? After they drove you from your home?” You ask, feeling a mixture of compassion and sadness on his behalf at his admission. He simply smiles thoughtfully.

“It’s my legacy and my honour to do so.” He points out. “To ignore a cry for help would be to spit on everything that I am and on every sacrifice my parents made to raise me in the culture they loved in a foreign realm where the rules of reality differed. And I already make every effort to hide what I am- this is the one thing I cannot and will not pretend does not exist.”

You are silent. Any further questions are thwarted by an intense glow of admiration towards your co-worker. You lick your lips and swallow a few times before you finally find your voice.

“I had no idea.” You admit. He chuckles and shakes his head.

“No need for remorse, lovely. I’m sure you understand better than everyone- not a lot of people would go to the lengths you have to cover for their flaky co-worker.” He reassures you with a wink and a warm smile. Tata coos his agreement, but the conversation ends there because Tata has successfully caught his cricket and you are deathly afraid of bugs.

Apparently the next town, where you will be able to buy horses and supplies and halve the daunting journey ahead of you by doing so, is a 6 hour walk away, skirting around the edge of a mountain. But Taehyung proudly presents what he reckons is a shortcut through the mountain, allowing you to reach town in a mere hour.

You stare dubiously at the decrepit entrance to the tunnel. As daunting and painful as a 6 hour walk in shoes that don’t quite fit an a tunic that barely qualifies as a dress seems, an hour in a cramped, confined and dodgy tunnel seems infinitely worse.

“Are... are you sure about this, Taehyung?” You ask hesitantly. He grins.

“Sure I am! Admittedly it’s been about six months in the human realm since I came here which probably translates to about 60 years in this realm? But how much can change in 60 years?” Is his dismissive answer. He doesn’t hear your answering “A lot!” Because he has already set off, with Tata ambling along in tow. You do not wish to be left behind and are faced with no choice but to follow.

Inside the air is musty and there is an unpleasant moisture to the air. It is also pitch black which Taehyung quickly rectifies by sliding something onto his finger. It lights up the area around you and it seems to be some sort of ring. There is no direct light source coming from it, yet you can see as well as if Taehyung were holding a torch. Tata’s scales glint in the light and intensify the brightness. The interior is not impressive- rocks, uneven ground, and a slick mossy quality to the walls that has you grimacing.

“You look pale.” Taehyung comments, from closer than you expected. You jump slightly and grasp your chest.

“I… I don’t like enclosed spaces.” You confess. “But… if you’re sure it’s safe, then I’ll manage. It’s better than a six hour walk across the mountainside, I suppose.”

“That’s the spirit, sweetheart!” Taehyung crows cheerfully. He sets the lead, walking maybe a metre in front of you. You follow timidly, cautious of the way your feet slip in the boots and the way the uneven ground promises a sprained ankle if you are not careful. That will surely make the next few days difficult.

You make it maybe 15 minutes into the tunnel when it happens. An ominous sort of whisper, so soft you almost miss it, sounds from somewhere behind you.

“Did you hear that?” You ask, wrapping your arms protectively around yourself. Taehyung had given you his coat upon realising the cave was a little too cool for your attire, but you still felt cold. There was a chill to the air you couldn’t quite shake off. Beside you, Tata pauses at your legs, looking around with wide eyes. Taehyung pauses, tilting his head slightly as he listens carefully for any unusual sounds. Upon hearing nothing, he shrugs.

“We probably aren’t the only ones using this tunnel.” He points out. “I can’t hear anything that you wouldn’t normally hear in a tunnel like this and my hearing is far better than yours.” He continues walking, expecting you to follow.

“Ok…” You say hesitantly, but you aren’t convinced. Perhaps the darkness is just getting to you though, so you quiet and obediently follow his lead. He’s set off at a slightly faster pace than expected, though Tata sits obediently by your side. Perhaps he senses your unease, or even shares it. Allowing Taehyung to get so far ahead is your mistake though because the ominous whispering sounds again and is suddenly replaced with a deafening roar and the next thing you know, the floor is collapsing beneath you. “Taehyung!” You cry and the last thing you see before you and Tata plummet is his expression. Wide, shocked, and horrified. He has an arm extended towards you and his mouth is open in a soundless shout but then everything goes black.

You could wake up immediately or a few hours later but you wouldn’t really know. You have no way of knowing, but you must have lost consciousness during the fall. You know because you snap awake when Tata nuzzles into you with a sad clicking noise. When you run your fingers through your hair they come away sticky and warm. It is too dark to tell but you hope it isn’t blood. You sit up and are overcome with a ferocious wave of dizziness. It takes a few moments of deep breathing before you are able to sit up and hold yourself upwards. Tata nudges his nose into you, clearly trying to help. You wish you had a torch or your phone on you but that had been lost in the chaos of being kidnapped. Instead you are stuck in a dark space. The air is dusty- Tata sneezes. You don’t know how far you’ve fallen or if you’ll be able to get out. You swallow, trying to stave off the wave of hysteria that threatens to pull you under.

“Taehyung?” You call. There is no response. Tata lets out a little roar too, the one you recognise is his way of addressing Taehyung. You don’t know how injured you are and you have no light to see- you can only limp forward, using the wall to prop you up. “Anyone?”

At that last call you hear it again- that ominous whisper from before. You swallow and blink back tears, feeling your heart rate pick up with adrenaline. The sound of a rock bouncing echoes in the space. It could be a big space or a large space, you don’t know. You can’t see anything. Beside you, Tata growls, a low warning sound that you haven’t heard from him before.

“Who’s there?” You cry. As if on cue, the cave around you lights up with a cold glow. Tata’s scales glow blindingly in the sudden light and you are reassured at his presence. It’s cold down here, almost freezing and even with Taehyung’s large coat you still find your teeth chattering. It looks the same as the tunnel you fell from although the ground is littered with large rocks, probably from the ground collapsing.

“No human has come here for 60 years.” A deep voice rumbles- with the same eerie edge as the whisper that has been almost chasing you throughout your journey through this tunnel. The scream dies in your throat- your terror is so great that you cannot even produce the sound.

“Who are you?” You demand, though the attempt at sounding firm and brave is ruined by the sob that chokes your question halfway through.

“Who are you?” The voice asks. A shadow moves in the distance, large and ominous and breathing. The white light seems to be coming from that direction, so you move towards it.

“Just… just a traveller. I got lost and the floor collapsed.” You confess. A deep rumbling sound comes as an answer- the disembodied voice is laughing at you.

“The floor did not collapse, little one.” It answers you. “I crushed it.” You tense.

“Why?” You ask. It continues laughing and the shadow begins moving towards you. Whatever it is, it is large and intimidating and most definitely not a fellow human being.

“To retrieve you, of course!” It tells you. “Such a tasty morsel… and the young dragonling will make a nice entrée. I will certainly gain sustenance. I just needed to separate you first, for your guardian is quite the threat.” The voice sounds almost impressed as it mentions Taehyung.

“He’ll come for you, if you try anything.” You snarl, stepping protectively in front of Tata though you tremble with fear and your nose is dripping with tears.

“The strength gained by consuming the dragon prince will allow me to easily take him down. Though with the state I’m currently in, even this meagre amount of magic will drain me.” It confess and it finally steps into view. Tata lets out a shrieking yowl in fright, scrambling to hide behind you while you swallow a scream. It’s the most horrific beast you’ve ever laid eyes one. Gnarled, peeling skin, which is an awful frost white colour, like its been frozen. Its figure resembles a human, but curled and decrepit, walking towards you with a lurching, tilted gait. It looks like a zombie from a move but more inhuman. Before you can ask what magic it is referring to, your eyes widen as you feel your limbs lock in place and a painful chill wash through your body. Like you’ve suddenly been encased in ice.

“I like a little bit of warmth in my dinner, so I won’t freeze you completely.” The monster tells you. “But I can’t have you interfering. I’ll have the dragon first.”

You struggle but your limbs don’t obey, like you’ve been plunged into an ice lake.

“No!” You cry, but you can’t even struggle. You do manage to lurch forward in an uncoordinated collapse, diving over Tata and curling your sluggish, frozen body to cover him. Your tears cut warm trails across your frozen cheeks. You are so deathly afraid. There is no way you can get out of this alive.

“That’s quite impressive.” The monster says, watching as you glare at him. Beneath you Tata squirms and whimpers in fear. “Not many can move under the influence of my ice magic. I suppose I will have to dispose of you first.”

It raises a frozen, decaying arm- they end in large, disproportionate talons, also glowing white. You wince and prepare yourself for the pain of its strike.

You never thought you’d die like this. You haven’t gotten to say goodbye to your family, to have one last coffee with Jimin. You won’t get that promotion you’ve been angling for. Yet with all that, all those unfinished thoughts and regrets, for some reason it is Taehyung’s face that pops into your mind as the monster prepares its final blow. His anguished, fearful expression as the ground collapsed. The image is burnt into your memory. You’re… you’re sorry to be the reason for that face. You hate the idea that you caused that distress. You shut your eyes, ready for the last thought of your life to be an apology to Taehyung, but the blow you are bracing yourself for never comes.

The being chokes, and bright blue liquid spurts from its mouth like blood in the same moment that the end of a sword, glimmering in the unforgiving white light and drenched in the same blue substance, erupts from the centre of its chest. The monster screeches in pain, an unholy, awful sound.

It collapses and Taehyung wrenches his sword from where he had pierced its torso.

“I hate frost demons.” He complains, stepping over the demon’s lifeless form and crouching down beside you. Tata squeezes himself out from beneath you and clambers up Taehyung’s body so he can wind himself around Taehyung’s neck, his favourite position. “Are you hurt, gorgeous?” He says. He helps you sit up though your body is still mostly frozen and unresponsive. You stare at him with your eyes watering, and for some reason, the sight of him makes you feel like something inside you erupts. You burst into tears, sobbing hysterically.

Taehyung sighs and pulls you into him, cradling you like you are the most precious thing in the world.

“I was so scared!” You sob. He gently pats your back as he embraces you like he’s comforting a small child.

“I know.” He coos. “You did so well, button. Thank you for protecting Tata.” He praises. He catches your chin with his fingers and the light is so much warmer since it is now his magical ring that illuminates the cavern and not the magic of the frost demon. He lifts your face until he can peer directly into your red-rimmed eyes. He takes in the bruises that still haven’t healed from your kidnapping, and the congealed blood along your hairline from your fall and his expression tightens. “Let’s get you warmed up, yeah?”

He helps you to your feet and leads you away from the immobile corpse of the frost demon. Tata follows.

You end up having to camp the night in a forest on the other side of the tunnel. Apparently you’d only been unconscious for a mere moment before the Frost demon came. But with your injuries it takes you another two hours to get out of the cave and Taehyung makes the executive decision to have you rest and recover your strength instead of forcing you to power through to the next town. Once you have horses it will be easier, he promises. He’ll buy a carriage if he has to.

The chill of the spell cast on you by the frost demon refuses to leave. Taehyung informs you that he didn’t freeze you- otherwise you’d have frost bite and all sorts of other nasty complications. He simply sucked all the warmth out of your body, hence your sluggishness and difficulty moving. A night by the fire that Tata sleeps in and Taehyung’s warm sleeping bag would have you good as new in the morning. Unfortunately, your body cannot seem to generate the heat that it needs and even Tae’s sleeping bag isn’t enough to keep you warm. You can hear his soft breathing where he leans against a tree, keeping watch like he doesn’t need sleep. He will have to sleep at some point though. A blaze of heat as Tata shifts from where he is curled of in the flames has you sighing contently.

“Are you still cold?” Taehyung asks, sliding into your bedding before even waiting for an answer. You nearly screech in surprise, frightened by the sudden intrusion into your personal space, but upon feeling the immense warmth his body exudes your body betrays you and you find yourself curling snugly around him. “I can hear you shivering.” He observes.

“Wouldn’t it be better and more appropriate to let Tata be the one to warm me up, considering he’s a dragon?” You ask with a yawn.

“And miss a chance like this one?” Taehyung asks playfully, curling an arm over your waist and pulling you in close. “I think not. Tata can sleep in his fire nest. Besides, don’t you think you’d have the opposite problem if you cuddled with a creature who has literally spent the past hour curled up in a fire?” The movement of wrapping his body around you is oddly intimate and domestic and you feel perhaps you and Taehyung do not have the close kind of friendship that warrants such proximity. You also don’t care. He’s warm and secure and this is the safest you have felt in what feels like a very long time. The two of you are silent for a long while and you think he may have nodded off.

“Taehyung,” you call softly, testing for wakefulness.

“Tae.” He answers in an equally soft tone.

“What?” You question. He blinks his eyes open sleepily and regards you in a way that makes your throat feel tight and your heart beat faster.

“It’s what my... it’s what my friends call me. Tae. And while I should have considered you a friend long before now, perhaps I can fix it by calling you a friend now. If you are willing... it would be a true honour if you called me that.” Is his sincere request. Without realising it, a pleased smile crosses your face.

“I’d love to... Tae.” You say warmly, sweetly. The look in your eyes as you gaze up at him, caged in his embrace, is so preciously endearing that Taehyung wishes he could take a picture and save it with him. He’d carry it always, in his breast pocket. Close to his heart.

Taehyung chuckles.

“You’re a dangerous little thing, aren’t you?” He mutters cryptically. You cannot read the odd tone to his voice but it seems reluctantly warm. “What were you saying before I interrupted?” He asks you, changing the subject.

“Oh,” you answer, feeling your face heat. “I wanted to thank you, for saving me. And for keeping your promise. I was...” your voice catches and you clear your throat awkwardly. “I was really scared and I’m glad you came.”

He offers you a soft smile, his eyes crinkling in the light offered by the fire that Tata sleeps in. It makes you short of breath- he never stops being ethereally beautiful. It is unfair to your poor, vulnerable heart.

“I promised you I would keep you safe, didn’t I?” He whispers. You nod and your eyes begin to sink closed when he speaks again.

“Can I ask you a question?” Taehyung asks and with the firelight lending warm highlights to his pensive expression, he looks like an artful painting.

“I guess.” You answer sleepily, uncomfortable with the way the vision of his profile is burnt into the back of your eyelids like you’ve been staring at the sun too long.

“Why did you do it?” He finally says. His voice is a mere whisper, barely audible above the crackling fire. His tone is desperate, like the question has baffled him for a long time. “At work. All those times, where you could have just let them fire me but you stayed back and covered for me... why?”

For once, all his guarded playfulness, the mask he wears to keep people at a distance is stripped back and all that’s left is someone who is genuinely baffled by kindness from another living being. Your heart aches for him.

Why though? Why do you care enough for your heart to ache on his behalf? Why do you care enough to constantly go out of your way? You’ve never had an answer before. Jimin always asks you why you keep helping him and you shrug off the question like a duck might shake rain loose of its feathers. But suddenly the answer, the one that has continued to evade you and the one that you’ve suppressed up until this moment comes forward in the form of a memory.

The job you currently hold is a job that had been your dream for a very long time. Not that you’d ever had a strong affinity for working in an office. It was just that you wanted a stable, well-paying career that your family would find respectable. You wanted to make your parents proud and to help support them with the mounting medical expenses for your father. It had taken you many tries to finally land a job. The amount of rejections had reached the point you thought maybe you’d forever be unemployed and would be stuck working at the convenience store for the rest of your life. The day you’d gotten the call that your application had been successful would be a day that you would never forget, purely because you had finally had your goal achieved.

Tae had been there too, by some odd twist of fate. You had been on the bus, fresh off the phone from being informed you got the job and the first thing you had done was ring your father. You were dripping wet, soaked from the bucketing rain but you didn’t care. There hadn’t been any seats available but that didn’t matter- you announced the news excitedly to your dad, barely restraining yourself from jumping up and down in the middle of the aisle. The bus had lurched then and you had tumbled into the arms of none other than Taehyung, who caught you with one arm without losing his grip on the large black umbrella hooked onto his forearm.

“Sorry!” You had explained, quickly hanging up with your dad. Taehyung had smiled widely.

“It’s no worry- you’ve gotten some good news, then?” He had asked you. You beamed and nodded.

“Yeah… I just got my dream job.” You had confessed. He had smiled, oddly forlorn and gazed ahead.

“I remember that feeling. I got my dream job earlier this year.” He admitted. “But I’m probably going to lose it.” He scrubbed his hand across his face, stressed. Concerned for this random stranger, for some reason, you had probed forward.

“Why?” You asked. Taehyung had shaken his head.

“I guess I’m just not cut out for it.” He had confessed to you, ashamed. “Don’t worry about it. All the best with your dream job, Miss Stranger.”

And with that he had gotten off the bus. It was still bucketing outside and for some reason you had watched him as he alighted from the bus. An old homeless lady had been shivering alone at the bus stop and you had just enough time to watch him hand over his umbrella and sprint off into the pouring rain before the bus pulled off the kerb. It would only take a few seconds to soak him completely through and if he caught a cold that would not help the potentially-unemployed situation.

Someone who would give up their umbrella for a random person like that, you had thought, shouldn’t lose their job.

And when you encountered him the next week, seemingly with no memory of your encounter but fresh from a scolding from his superiors, you had timidly offered to help him out. Simply because you’d seen him be kind. Not because of a workplace crush or because he was good-looking (although he is very, very good-looking). Just because you thought kindness should be rewarded with kindness.

You tell Taehyung as much and he goes silent, watching you with unreadable eyes for a long moment. You begin to feel the sweet, cotton-y pull of sleep tug at your eyelids as he continues to remain speechless.

“But I guess I went overboard,” You confess with a yawn, struggling to keep your eyes open. “And I overloaded myself and forgot why I was helping you in the first place… but that was why I started.”

You don’t notice the way Taehyung’s eyes go slightly misty at your words. Because it is custom, amongst his people, to always go out of their way to help others. At the cost of yourself, you must protect others. But never has he met another being not from his kind willing to do the same. And never has he been repaid for the numerous favours that have been requested of him. But all this time, he was being rewarded for his kindness by you. Not because he asked for it or because you owed it to him… but because you wanted to. Because you thought it was the right thing to do.

An oddly warm and pleasant feeling spreads through his chest and he finds himself smiling to himself.

Your eyes droop shut and flutter in a valiant effort to stay awake. Taehyung watches this fondly.

“Go to sleep, sweetness.” He whispers and almost on cue you subconsciously nuzzle into his warmth and fall silent.

He pulls you in close and soon find himself lulled to sleep by the steady rise and fall of your breathing.

-to be continued-

#taehyung #taehyung x reader #taehyung fluff #taehyung fic #kim taehyung #bts fluff #writing

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thoughtfulfangirling · 5 years ago

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I keep seeing these posts going around about queer books, but my problem is that nowadays, I struggle to sit down with books and primarily consume them via audibooks. A lot of the recs are ones I haven’t found in audiobook format using my usual routes. For this reason, let me start a post that I hope y’all will add onto that has LGBTQ+ folks in them that I know exist in audiobook format. For reference, I’ve used for my audiobook consumption Audible, Libro, Overdrive, and Scribd, so each of these will have been found by myself in one of those places.

Nemesis Series by April Daniels trans wlw MC | Superhero | coming of age | YA The First book is Dreadnought followed by Sovereign and follows Danny, a trans girl whose body is transformed to the one that matches her vision of herself after a superhero falls and passes his powers on to her. All at once, she has to face the coming out this forces on her and new powers all at once. The books are intense and doesn’t pull its punches on the things Danny goes through, but her journey is beautiful and I love her so much.

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray Various MCs | Drama | Humor | YA This is an ensemble cast and includes a wlw couple and a trans girl, all of whom are pretty damn cool. On their flight to their next competition, the plane these beauty queens are on crashes, and those who survive get stranded on a totally-supposedly-deserted island. This is a fun novel that had, to me, a very Hitchhiker’s Guide sort of humor to it. It was a really fun read, and the author narrates herself and is really fun.

Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden wlw mc | contemporary | coming of age | YA The good kid becomes good friends with a girl she met outside of school, but she begins to realize she has more than just friendly feelings for the girl. Being in the 90s, she finds it’s not so easy to be the good kid and pursue this interest.

Her Royal Highness by Rachel Hawkins bi MC | Contemporary | Romance | Class Romance | YA MC leaves Texas, USA to finish her last year of high school in a prestigious Scottish school where she ends up being roommates with an actual princess with whom she doesn’t start the year out on good terms with.

Ash by Malinda Lo wlw MC | Fantasy | Coming of Age | YA Cinderella retelling where the fairies aren’t guaranteed to help and the prince just might not be who Cinderella wants after all. A very internal journey, quite enchanting. I really need to go back and revisit this soon.

Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera Lesbian MC | Coming of Age | YA Juliet leaves home for the summer to spend in Oregon with a writer who inspired Juliet’s journey into feminism and helped her embrace her lesbianism. She learns along the way though that adults are not infallible, and that this writer has a large blind spot when it comes to Juliet’s culture and the intersection of race and feminism. All this after having come out to her family and dealing with the fallout of that far from home.

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell mlm MC | Fantasy | Romance | YA This story feels like a sort of ‘What if the Harry Potter books were more inclusive and also had some parody in its magical world’ story. But it jumps right to the last book and the good stuff. This felt like fanfiction in the best way (and is appropriate given that it was written after the book Fangirl wherein the MC is writing fanfiction of this universe kinda. It’s complicated but good!)

Kushiel Phedre Series by Jacqueline Carey bi MC | Fantasy | Epic Fantasy | Kink | Political Intrique A woman born with a flaw that set her on the path of being indentured as a child to a man who sees love and sex as another means to gather political intel. Down this road lies intrigue, betrayal, and love.

Nevernight Chronicles by Jay Kristoff bi MC | Fantasy | Revenge Worth mentioning is that the author does not ID as any kind of LGBTQIA+ and in my opinion, that especially shows in the last installment of the series. I would suggest trigger warnings for the entire series if you have any as there is sex and violence. In a world with three suns and almost never night, a girl with a kinship for shadows seeks out the skills to kill those who destroyed her family.

Her Body and Other Parties by Maria Carmen Machado Various | Short Stories | Surreal | Contemporary Don’t know how to summarize well given they are a series of short stories, but they are haunting and telling and beautiful, and even though I rarely do short stories, I absolutely fell in love with these.

The Night’s Watch by Sarah Waters Various | Ensemble Cast | Period Drama English WWII Unfortunately, I read this in 2017 and it follows the stories of four different characters, two of whom are lesbians. I don’t remember their archs well enough to provide a proper summary. This story tends to be a more internal character study of each of the characters and what it might have been like living at the time they did. It was really good though if you like that sort of thing!

Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters Lesbian MC | Period Drama | Romance | Coming of Age Taking place in the Victorian era, Nan leaves her coastal, oyster fishing home after becoming infatuated with Kitty, performer who sings dressed as a man. She discovers herself in the big city as she works as Kitty’s attendant, but nothing ever stays the same, and when she finds her and Kitty’s desires on how to handle their feelings differ errevocably, Nan is suddenly left adrift.

The above are all focused in one way or another on the LGBTQ+ character in a prominent way where the character’s queerness is made explicit in the text. Below is going to be the audiobooks I’ve read/listened to where I have felt there is strong evidence that a character is portrayed as LGBT+. Some will have been made canon by the author after the fact, others have been widely regarded as portrayed that way, and a couple are just how I interpreted them.

Trouble with Kings by Sherwood Smith Fantasy | Romance | Slow Burn | YA A princess of fortune who has been courted for her wealth all her life, Flian is quite done with dalliance. But that doesn’t mean others are done with her. Caught in the middle of a political intrigue between two... maybe three... possibly four??? rivaling kingdoms, she finds her wealth pursued in less than ethical manners and ends up a player herself on the field of political import. Is it even possible in the chaos of all this to find love along the way? Flian herself repeatedly shows no interest in romance and while able to remark upon attraction, never seems to have any herself until she realizes she has fallen for someone, someone she realizes a bit late she’s had a coming together of the minds for. For this reason, my personal interpretation of this character is demi-sexual.

The Protector of the Small Series by Tamora Pierce Fantasy | Coming of Age | YA Keladry of Mindelan wants to become the second lady knight in history. The trainer at the castle doesn’t believe girls are cut out for it, and the boys don’t seem the most ready for a lady knight in training either. But Kel is determined to make her place in the world. Throughout the course of the series, while she engages in some light dalliances, she finds herself disinterested in relationships and has been confirmed by the author since the series was published to be asexual.

The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon Fantasy | D&D-esque | Epic Fantasy | Coming of Age Paksennarrion, a sheep farmer’s daughter, rebels against her father upon hearing of the engagement he made for her and runs away to a local contract militia company to start her career as a warrior. Strength and strategy aren’t the only things she’ll need on this life’s path, but also a faith she didn’t know she was capable of. I don’t know that the author has ever said anything on the matter, but in most circles you will find that Paks is generally regarded as aro/ace and is pretty explicitly stated several times throughout the series that she simply has never had the compulsion.

A Beautiful Poison by Lydia Kang Period Drama/Mystery (early 1900s) | Coming of Age | Mystery Three people on the cusp of adulthood, with a complicated history of friendship from different stations in life, come together to try to unravel the mystery of strange deaths happening around them while trying to navigate what shapes the rest of their lives will take. Of the two man lady characters, one repeatedly struck me as bisexual, and the other as asexual. This is one where I’m brining my own lens to the story, and I don’t know that the author did this with intent.

There’s a fair chance that I am forgetting some audiobooks and haven’t included all I’ve read. I would also say that anything not marked with a YA may have want of some trigger warnings. If someone wants to know, just let me know which warnings you have need of and I’ll try to do my best to remember if that content is included in the book. I of course cannot remember everything and don’t know everyone’s limits, but I can try. But for certain the non young adult stories have content that can be heavy or dark or twisted.

#And if any mutuals want more of a summary lemme know #tf reads #books #audiobooks #I love the lists that have been going around #But I've been struggling to find them on any of my audiobook services #and ofc not all books have been turned into audiobooks #So maybe this will help someone else who felt similar?#tfgoc #long post #sorry for the length

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atlantic-riona · 4 years ago

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modern Helen and Penelope, Sherlock, and Tempest Mac? (If you don't feel like doing all of these, please just pick your favorite--I'm just intrigued by ALL of these.)

ooh you managed to pick all the older ones! I am quite fond of these still, so I’ll do all three!

putting it all under a cut because it got quite long:

modern Helen and Penelope was a modern AU (as the name suggests), but there were still gods and magic and heroes, plus a bunch of other mythologies were included as well. basically, the plot sort of revolved around Helen, who’s going to be in an arranged marriage, deciding to abscond with Paris, which kicks off a whole bunch of other things (I don’t quite remember the details anymore, but I do distinctly remember that the Irish heroes got involved somehow, and the...uhhh...well, some other heroes got involved too but I never wrote any of their names down, so 😅). but it also revolved around Odysseus and Penelope falling in love, which I’m a sucker for. in honor of that, here’s the part I wrote with Odysseus:

Her heart skips a beat as she realizes who she’s looking at, and she hastens to finish before Helen catches on. “With—what’s his name, Odysseus, I think.”

“The island king’s son?” Helen sounds disinterested, and Penelope silently thanks any gods listening. “I can’t remember—is he one of the good-looking ones? They’ve all become a blur.”

“He—” Penelope’s tongue, usually so nimble, stutters to a halt. All she has to do is say no, and her cousin will move on. But she can’t bring herself to lie. Not about him.

Helen watches with growing interest as Penelope makes a few inarticulate sounds before subsiding into a blushing silence. “You know what? Maybe I should refresh my memory. Come on, cuz.”

She strides away, moving with easy confidence as Penelope, her stomach filled with dread, follows.

Her cousin has the ability to be seen or to be Seen. In other words, there are times like now, where the two of them pass through crowds with barely a second glance from anyone, and then there are times when Helen is the center of any room she walks into. And she can switch back and forth with ease.

Odysseus and his friend are bent over a table covered with hastily drawn maps and pretzels acting as soldiers. Someone nearby laughs, loudly, and her heart pounds in her ears. Odysseus is shorter than the other boy, but has broader shoulders. Recklessly, Penelope decides that despite the other boy’s good looks and easy smile, Odysseus has a far better smirk. Neither of them look up as the girls approach.

“So you see, the king really ought to have placed his troops there.”

“Ah, but have you considered,” says Odysseus, picking up another pretzel and eating it, “that the river was too exposed for a stand against the invaders? At the time, the forest seemed the better option.”

Helen leans over to look at the maps. “Goodness,” she says airily, as if the very sight of the battle maps are too much for her, although Penelope has played enough strategy games with her cousin to know that Helen would wipe the floor with anyone at this table, not including Penelope herself. “All those pieces look so very lonely. Surely you cannot win a war with so few soldiers?”

“Well, they represent battalions, not individual soldiers,” says Odysseus absently, and then he looks up.

From the way that he and his friend become still, it’s clear that Helen wishes to be Seen. They’re transfixed, the way one stares at a comet or tornado. Penelope might as well be the air, for all they see her.

In a fair world, Penelope might have been considered beautiful.

In that world, Helen would have to not exist.

As it is, Penelope contents herself with being considered wise beyond her years, although wisdom seems a poor consolation prize in moments like these.

“Helen,” Odysseus says finally. He clears his throat. “Aren’t you supposed—”

She reaches out and covers his hand with her own. “Oh, that. Being cooped up all day is no fun, I tell you. So I convinced Penelope to take me here with her.” Odysseus’ gaze drifts to Penelope. He has very lovely brown eyes. Helen clearly doesn’t care for the shift in his attention, for she laughs prettily and Penelope does not exist again. “Let’s keep this our little secret, shall we? And by that I mean don’t tell my father.”

Odysseus nods slowly. He looks around, up, down, and finally settles on asking, “Won’t you sit down?”

“Oh, you’re so thoughtful,” Helen says, and promptly does. The other boy does as well, which leaves only the one seat—Odysseus’.

“You and Penelope will have to share,” Helen observes, sharp gaze trained on her cousin.

Penelope takes a deep breath. “I’ll stand, thanks.”

may actually pick this one up in the future, idk

Sherlock was a mini-play I wrote for my high school; they were doing a play (with Sherlock Holmes) that needed a “fake start,” one that was really ridiculous, so I wrote one for them that I thought might fit the bill. I have a lot of favorite ridiculous moments but here are a few:

SHERLOCK (abruptly): How’s Mary?

WATSON: //children...oh, Mary’s fine, she’s fine - so’s Henry’s two little sisters, Emma and Jane. Right terrors they are. Twin disasters, you might say. (He chuckles.)

SHERLOCK: Twins?

WATSON: How did you -

SHERLOCK: Your enjoyment in that atrocious and badly delivered pun gave up the game.

HENRY: The kids nowadays call that a dad joke.

---

HOLMES: You took your time slinking out from the woodwork again, my old enemy.

MORIARTY looks embarrassed.

MORIARTY: I had to make tenure. My apologies for delaying our little games, Holmes.

HOLMES: Quite understandable. You cad.

MORIARTY: I deserved that one, I’m afraid. But not anymore than that, Holmes!

HOLMES: I apologize. I had to get it out of my system.

MORIARTY: Of course.

---

HOLMES: To answer your question…

He realizes that he doesn’t know her name.

HOLMES: ...er, dear, Moriarty is in fact about to offer us tea.

MORIARTY: Quite right. I put the kettle on before you woke up. Two sugars as usual, Holmes?

HOLMES: Once again you try to trick me, old enemy. You know perfectly well that I drink it black.

MORIARTY snaps his fingers.

MORIARTY: Foiled again, Holmes!

it was meant to be really bad, because Holmes (the real one for the play) comes out and demands to know what Watson (the real one for the play) is writing, at which point the actual play would start 😂😂

Tempest Mac is, I think, the only sci-fi story I’ve ever written?? it’s about this little girl in the future, in space, who’s Catholic and who meets an alien, while also solving important mysteries (like where the cookie jar went 😂😂)

that...was pretty much all the plot I had planned out, I think

but here’s what I had:

Someone had moved the cookie jar again.

Tempest Mac made a thoughtful face as she considered the scene of the crime. Then she went and fetched a tall stool, a flashlight, and a thick book detailing the customs and mannerisms of the Hazien people (which she was only a quarter of the way through, having only started at breakfast this morning). One never knew what might come in handy.

Just as she had gotten the book settled in place on the countertop, with one foot balanced neatly on the stool and the other on the book, and was peering into the highest cupboard with the flashlight, a shrill, startled voice rang out behind her. “Tempest! What on Earth do you think you’re doing?”

“Finding the cookie jar, Aunti,” Tempest replied calmly, still shining the flashlight into the cupboard. In addition, they weren’t on Earth, they were on Haz—a few hundred lightyears away—so really, Aunti should have said, ‘What on Haz do you think you’re doing?’ but she knew when to let things go. “Somebody’s moved it again.”

“You don’t need a cookie right now, you’ve just had lunch,” her aunt scolded, lifting her off the stool and onto the ground without hardly any effort. “Wait until after dinner.”

“I don’t want a cookie, I want to know who keeps moving the cookie jar,” Tempest protested, but Aunti paid her no heed and sent her out of the kitchen to water the small garden out back.

Tempest Mac was six years old, small of stature, and what some people referred to as ‘precocious.’ Tempest gently argued with these people that no, she wasn’t precocious, she simply thought thoughts in a sensible way. Nevertheless, her grave eyes, quiet way of asking commonsense questions, and aptitude at reading far above her age level made the debate moot, as far as people were concerned.

Most people would rather chalk up things and people who don’t appear to make sense at first as anomalies, rather than investigate further. But then, this is because many people see the world like a black ink stamp pattern on a clean sheet of paper—easy, simple and pretty, in an orderly, bureaucratic sort of way. If the world is ordered and lovely in its organization, then so too can lives and people be the same way. If the world is a jumbled, chaotic, sloppy finger-painting done by an overenthusiastic four year old, then it is much harder for people to convince themselves that their lives may be ordered and simplistic. Such is life.

There’s a reason “Aunti” is spelled the way it is, but for the life of me I can’t remember why

#ask #my writing #I hadn't read the Sherlock one in years and I'd forgotten all about it 😂

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doomedandstoned · 4 years ago

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Are You A Bible Basher?

~By Billy Goate~

Art by J. Hannan-Briggs

Words from the Bible,

...riffs from Hell.

This is BIBLE BASHER, a lumbering, sludgey beast of a death-doom band, drawing its fellows from Kurokuma, Archelon, Spaztik Munkey, and a band whose name alone intrigues me enough to spirit them out: Temple of Coke. The debut recording before us is 'Loud Wailing' (2020), just released last month on the Sludgelord Records Label and it's good stuff.

Chances are good that if you're unfamiliar with the band, you're waiting for the other shoe to drop: what's the agenda here? It bears mentioning that "Bible Basher" is an almost uniquely UK term. In the States, we tend to use the more politically acceptable (though still insulting) "Bible Thumper." Getting to the point: a Bible Basher is not someone who subjects the big black book and the pages there to beating, maiming, or otherwise spilling syrup on its Holy Writ nor turning its sacred pages into roll paper for a cheap high.

No, a Bible Basher is someone single-mindedly determined to bash you with their beliefs, clean across the head. You gotta get you on board with the whole worldview, the Last Days manifesto, the 3 steps to this place, the 5 steps to somewhere else, and however many more steps to the sanctuary doors. Usually, this evangelism has all the clumsy subtlety of a Jack Chick tract left on the Gas Station john. Sometimes it gets a bit more intrusive, like a manic street preacher with a megaphone or, more annoying still, a brainwashed politician determined to fence you into their highly selective idea of "God's Will."

All culture warring aside, it might surprise you to learn that I hold a great deal of respect for the Bible and believe it has an important role in developing our understanding of what makes human beings so fundamentally religious. The Bible is just one expression of people's religious and spiritual identity, of course. There have been many volumes written, by the gods it was said, attempting to reconcile the real and the ideal, time and eternity, the drab and the divine.

All fancy preambling aside, I wonder why more bands haven't gotten into the Bible and other sacred/profane lit, you know kinda breathing new life into old words? You have to admit, the concept is fascinating and the medium of expression surprisingly fits the unsparing nature of the content.

Perhaps afraid of appearing sacrilegious or being denounced as a Deicide wannabe, bands have just decided to walk away slowly. That or they don't even know how truly bizarre and sometimes brilliant the Bible can be. True, there are bands like Trouble/The Skull who have adapted Scripture into music, even succeeded in crossing over to a non-religious audience. Hell, The Byrds practically immortalized the words of The Preacher in Ecclesiastes back in '65 with that folk rock classic, 'Turn, Turn, Turn." Bible Basher are definitely onto a thing here.

Regardless of where you find a band called Bible Bash on the meter between "disgusting" and "fucking awesome, dude," they really aren't here to mock Scripture or Christians, not even to pronounce a value judgement. This is an artful attempt at retelling the stories of old, allowing us to gaze upon their vision.

☩

So Samson Sang

Loud Wailing by Bible Basher

Out of all books, The Bible is perhaps most prized for its collection of ancient stories, many of which become embedded in our collective consciousness over time (if not the unconscious mind itself). The tale of Samson, for instance, is practically universal (Hercules, anyone?). Bible Basher invoke its powerful imagery for this Rage against the Philistines opener. The bulldog gruff of "So Samson Sang" suits the song unexpectedly well. Perhaps the impact is greater because we feel the punch of each word, measured and metered, calculated to leave the most indelible impact.

Simson verslaat de Filistijnen met een ezelskaak (1562) by Cornelis Massijs

Plagued

Loud Wailing by Bible Basher

You'll never hear the anguish of Job expressed with as much weight as you will in "Burning and Blackened," for example. And the death-mongers among us, you'll enjoy the swirling storm of blast beats that "Plagued" stirs up and whips around Egypt, 10 plagues in all it is said. As this topsy-turvy number swarms along, the song feels like it's burrowing itself deeper and deeper into the ground in a crazed hypnotic dirge, as if seeking some relief from this madness of rivers turned to blood and a head full of lice.

Seventh Plague of Egypt (1823) by Martin John

Burning and Blackened

Loud Wailing by Bible Basher

I'm really digging the Middle Eastern vibe of "Burning and Blackened," on the tape's flip side. I could all but feel the cool of dawn and that first burning lick of the sun's rise. As a die-hard doomer, it won't surprise you that I marked this my favorite song of the experience. The way this grand skeleton of chords suffles about had me thinking of Iowa City's Aseethe (I hereby wish an Aseethe-Bible Basher tour upon the world come 2021).

Job and his Friends (1885) by Gustave Dore

Sodom & Gomorrah

Loud Wailing by Bible Basher

By the time we reach "Sodom & Gomorrah," we're battered, basted, and baked, ready for a fine finish to this four-course nosh. The vocals seem harsher than usual this time, but you have to understand that's the prophet divining judgement upon the most infamous twin cities of history (we find out in the interview to follow that there are multiple vocalists).

The whole song's got a nice, chewy groove to it. Plenty of meat on them bones. The lyrics consist of nothing more than the Bible's words, adding as much expressive liberty as death vocals will allow. The thick, smoky atmosphere of this whole song gave me flashbacks to 71TONMAN's "Phobia" and Old Man Gloom's "Procession of the Wounded."

The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by Jules-Joseph-Augustin Laurens

If I've any gripe with Loud Wailing, it's the runtime. Okay, yeah, sure, it's appropriate for an EP, but I can't shake the feeling that this is actually more of a teaser for something even grander in scope. Perhaps this is a toe in the water for the band, to see how people respond? Well, it's enough to reassure us that this sound and subject matter is poised to make some mighty big footprints.

Heck, I'd do the whole Bible book by book, if I was in their shoes. 66 in all, right? No problem. Okay, 73 if you're Catholic, 78 if you're Eastern Orthodox. Whatever, bonus editions. Works either way, 'cause you've got a guaranteed record deal and freaks like me to follow you wherever this piper lures. The band can break up from the repetitive bore of the long-ass genealogies in Leviticus and Numbers, but then reunite again to take on Deuteronomy.

All kidding aside, the dramatic potential of this collaboration is unreal. Bible Basher's debut is a promising record that presents tantalizing artistic possibilities (perhaps even with a roving collective of performers). The EP wears well on its own terms with repeated listens and I never found myself disinterested, even for a moment. Loud Wailing is the brutal dawning of a New Age in dirty grunts and dank riffs.

Give ear...

Loud Wailing by Bible Basher

An Interview with Bible Basher

By Billy Goate

Intrigued by this hulking beast shrieking out in my backyard, I had to move in for a closer look. Following is my conversation with band member Joe E. Allen, who most of us know from Kurokuma and gives us insight as to who Bible Basher is and what the band is up to.

☩

Would you be so kind as to give me some background on the band, how you guys ended up coming together, basically the whole history?

Tich has recorded and helped produce most of the Kurokuma releases up till now, most of which you've heard or written about. Tich mostly makes electronic music and is pretty well known for it, but he was also in a band called Temple of Coke back in the day. Daft music with two guitarists and no bassist. Some big riffs in there.

They stopped doing much after one of the guitarists left Sheffield, but Tich still had a lot of riffs lying around. Obviously, he used to come to a lot of Kurokuma gigs in Sheffield -- and even saw us in Japan -- so he felt like getting back on writing some big guitar stuff and asked me if I'd give him some input. Over the course of a year or so we just reshaped those old riffs and added plenty of new ones and as we progressed it just kept getting bigger and heavier.

What's up with the name? You've got pretty distinct religious themes (love the motto). I come from a strict religious background myself (preacher's kid). What are your own backgrounds relative to the themes you explore?

I've always thought that some of the stories from the Bible, especially the Old Testament would make for perfect concepts in heavy metal. Unrelatedly, one day we were sitting around and Tich said let's call this Bible Basher -- it just came out of nowhere. I agreed, it just seemed to make sense. Here in the UK it's what you get called if you go to church, it's an insult. I had a really Christian upbringing with my dad being a vicar, as well, so was very into all that when I was younger.

Plus I went to a religious school, so I've definitely been called a bible basher quite a bit. It's actually taken me a while to remove that whole paradigm from the way I see reality, but that's another story. Tich wasn't like me in that aspect, but he did go to a religious school, as well. At this point, I think we're both not massive fans of organised religion, but that doesn't mean we're not into philosophy and more celestial concepts. We've both read quite a bit of things like Manly P. Hall and The Kybalion. We didn't wanna make a "statement" on anything with this, though. Just wanted to present it "as is."

I'm sure we'd all love to know how the individual tracks came together. The single on this one was "So Samson Sang," which met with some pretty positive reception.

I know the Bible pretty well and it wasn't too difficult to find concepts for the tracks. "So Samson Sang" was the first one we did. The lyrics are: "With a donkey's jawbone, I made donkeys of them. With a donkey's jawbone, killed a thousand men." And then "I have slain, heaps on heaps." They were from the book of Judges, when Samson slaughtered loads of Philistines, pretty much taken straight off the page. It was that easy. We got George in to do the vocals, for obvious reasons. We sat on the track for a bit and sent it round a few mates and everyone was like, "This is sick," which made us want to finish up the other tracks, which already were mostly done.

The other three tracks all came together in one night. We basically asked three mates from other bands to come over and figured out concepts for each of them. It was good to get their input and it was pretty collaborative. I think they all enjoyed being given a bit of a brief to work within and we were buzzing to end up with four different vocal styles for each track. So on track 1 you have George from Kurokuma, then on track 2 you have Bing who used to be in a thrash band called Psython and can obviously do the really fast/rhythmic thing and his death growls were just spot on. That track ended up sounding like Pig Destroyer or something to me. Obviously, it's about the ten plagues of Egypt and the fast/swirling nature of the riffs just seemed to fit.

On track three, we have Craig from Archelon and Holy Spider, so I know him pretty well. He did more of a Neurosis style on the track about Job. That one starts off with a zurna, which is a pipe from the Middle East area. There's a spoken word section in the middle, a conversation between God and Satan. I actually only realised what this was when we were going through the Bible for the lyrics.

God calls all his angels together, Satan being one of them, and they get into this conversation where God is saying he likes Job and Satan is saying if his life went to shit, I wonder if he'd still worship you. So God is like, "Okay, go for it." It's stuff like this that fascinates me. I think there's a fairly deep message to be heard in that if you read into it, but most Christians won't. As a text of folkloric wisdom the Bible is pretty meaningful to me, but most Christians don't treat it in that way in my experience.

And then we have the demented squeals of Chris from Spaztik Munkey doing the voice of God on track four which is about Sodom and Gomorrah. It worked out well that the ending riff fit perfectly with the syllables in the phrase "Sodom and Gomorrah."

In general, this release was a right laugh to work on. The songs just came together and it was good for us all to collaborate on something outside of our normal bands. And the response has been mega positive so far. Aaron sold out the first 50 tapes in three days so we're already on the second batch now.

Get Their Music

#D&S Reviews #Bible Basher #Doom #Sludge #Metal #Death Doom #Doom Metal #Sludgelord Records #HeavyBest2020 #D&S Interviews #Doomed & Stoned

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shiranuigenma · 5 years ago

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An Unexpected Arrangement - KakaYama

TEEN+ // ALSO ON AO3 Words: 2,554 Prompt: Fake Dating Warnings: Alcohol, Drunk kissing, background Sasuke/Naruto

Anyone who knows me knows that angst is more my speed than humor, but I had this idea and I loved it so here we are, with my day 3 prompt for @kakayamaweek2019!

Hope you guys like it! :)

EDIT! I forgot to link to AO3 lmao

Kakashi does not talk about his personal life, to anyone, but Team 7 is notoriously nosy and he doesn't want to deal with it so he says something he shouldn’t - which, of course, backfires spectacularly.

Kakashi is not a man known for talking about his personal life. He's just a very private person - he always has been, and despite how much being the sensei for Team Seven has changed him, his dislike for sharing any details about himself hasn't changed a bit.

This, of course, does nothing to deter Sakura. She's always been too nosy for her own good, and while Kakashi knows that it's because she cares, that it comes from a place of worry, right now it's annoying because he's just left the longest, most tedious meeting of his life, he's tired, and he would rather listen to Naruto wax poetic about Sasuke for six hours than talk about his nonexistent love life right now - or ever, really, but when has he ever gotten what he wants? As it is, Sakura seems determined to hound him all the way back to his apartment, which he can't let happen.

He's made it eight years without one of his students finding out where he lives, after all. He's not about to break that record now.

"Sakura," Kakashi says as he comes to a stop, tone gentle but laced with an edge of warning. She stops beside him, glancing up at him curiously. He knows it's probably a bad idea to pull rank with someone who could kill him with just one finger if they felt so inclined, but he's only half a block and three flights of stairs from a well-deserved nap and he'd like to get there at some point today. "Do you really think this is an appropriate conversation to have with the Hokage?"

"Probably not," she replies after a moment of thought, but she doesn't appear apologetic. If anything, she sounds almost defiant, grinning cheekily at him. "But I'm not asking the Hokage, am I? I'm asking my friend, who I'm worried about."

For a moment Kakashi can only stare at her, wondering when she had become someone who so easily dismissed the Hokage. He knows her respect for him as her sensei has been declining steadily over the years, though that probably has a little to do with how lackluster he was as a teacher and a lot to do with his habit of walking around reading porn in public.

Well, that and maybe how he told her not two days ago that he hated the job and tried to pass the hat to her. He doubts he'd respect himself much either, if he were in her shoes.

"Maa, I'm fine," Kakashi finally says, but she doesn't look like she buys it. "You don't need to worry about me, Sakura, I..." He pauses when he catches movement from the corner of his eye, turning his head to see a group of men walking toward them. Naruto is talking animatedly to Tenzo, bouncing on the balls of his feet, while Sasuke and Sai trail behind them looking disinterested. Of the four of them, Tenzo is the only one who looks intrigued by whatever they're talking about.

It's like a lightbulb goes off over his head.

Is it a stupid idea? Maybe. Definitely, because if Tenzo finds out about it he will kill him, but those consequences for what he's about to do are the last thing on his mind.

"I have Tenzo," Kakashi tells Sakura, looking back at her. He expects confusion - Tenzo is not a name she is supposed to know, so she won't know who he's talking about. It's almost brilliant in its simplicity.

But confusion is not the reaction he gets. Instead, she lights up, clasping her hands in front of her and breaking out into a bright, excited smile. He doesn't like that look, and he likes it even less when she suddenly sprints up the street, closing the gap between them and the rest of their team.

Kakashi realizes a split second too late that not only has he made a mistake, but he’d played right into Sakura’s hands.

"I told you!" Sakura yells, and Naruto yelps when she suddenly jams her finger into his chest. This is bad. This is very, very bad. "Kakashi-sensei confessed, you owe me dinner!"

But that is so much worse.

"Confessed to what?" Naruto wheezes, clutching his chest where Sakura had poked him, jumping back when she moves to do it again.

"To dating Captain Yamato!"

Tenzo's head turns slowly, and if looks could kill Kakashi would drop dead where he stands.

"I'm sorry." Kakashi's not sure how many times he's apologized now - he lost count in the lobby, and while Tenzo hasn't said a word since they walked away from their arguing students, Kakashi knows he's in trouble.

He can't say he doesn't understand why Tenzo is angry with him, though. It's one thing for him to lie, but to include Tenzo in that lie without at least telling him about it first crosses one of the few boundaries that they have, and on top of that he had told that lie, intentional or not, to one of their students. He'd be mad, too, if Tenzo had done that to him.

And hell, he'd probably react the same way Tenzo is, too - with silence, quietly fuming as he all but drags Kakashi up the stairs to his apartment. He knows he's in for it the moment the door shuts behind them, and Tenzo does not disappoint.

"What were you thinking?" Tenzo demands, spinning to face him once he's slammed the door shut, dark eyes narrowed into a glare. Kakashi gets the distinct feeling that his friend is currently resisting the urge to hit him, and if he didn't find Tenzo as scary as an angry kitten, the pure fury in his eyes would almost being intimidating. "You told Sakura we were dating?"

"Not exactly," Kakashi replies defensively, kicking off his sandals by the door and beating a hasty retreat to the couch, sinking onto it with a heavy sigh. Resisting the urge to lean back and close his eyes, he instead leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees and watching Tenzo tug off his own sandals. "Sakura was concerned that I was lonely. I told her I had Tenzo, how was I supposed to know that she knew that was you?"

"You..." Tenzo stares at him, and when his knuckles visibly blanch on the sandal he's holding, Kakashi thinks he might throw it at him. "I'm starting to think that everyone who calls you a genius is either a liar or has never actually met you. The whole team has known my name for years now because you can never remember to use my code name-"

"Oh. Well, shit." Thinking about it now, he does vaguely recall only calling Tenzo by the code name Tsunade had given him maybe two or three times since he came out of Anbu to captain Team Seven. Sakura's reaction makes a lot more sense now. "I'm sorry, Tenzo. In my defense, I did just come out of a five hour meeting with the Daimyo's advisers about his upcoming visit. And honestly, is it really fair to only be mad at me? Sakura's the one that started a betting pool. She even got Lady Tsunade involved-"

"Lady Tsunade would bet on whether Naruto is eating ramen for dinner tonight if someone asked her to," Tenzo interrupts, finally tossing his sandal down and crossing the room, dropping unceremoniously onto the couch next to Kakashi. When he speaks again, he sounds just a little less angry. "I just... I thought you knew that the kids jump to conclusions like it's their job. You should have-"

"I know." Kakashi sighs, leaning back into the cushions of the couch. "I'm not going to apologize again." He closes his eyes, letting himself relax - it's not like there's much else he can do right now anyway. "I'm also not telling them the truth. Telling Sakura I had you was the first time she's actually quit asking me questions about my love life in weeks, and I will happily let her keep thinking we're dating if it keeps her off my back."

Tenzo doesn't seem to know what to say to that, and a heavy silence - not quite awkward, but not entirely comfortable either - falls over them, and when Tenzo continues to offer no response, he lets himself begin to doze off.

He's half-asleep when Tenzo finally speaks, pulling him back to attention. He cracks one eye open, giving him a curious look.

"I guess I can go along with it," he says, and if Kakashi isn't mistaken, his friend's cheeks are flushed. "If Sakura really bothers you as much as you say she does, I can pretend that we're dating."

"You sure?" Kakashi asks, both eyes open now as he looks at Tenzo, and after a split second of hesitation, Tenzo nods, though his expression becomes one of regret when Kakashi grins wolfishly. "I could kiss you right now."

Tenzo slugging his shoulder as hard as he can is totally worth the way he turns the same shade as a beet and bolts for the door.

At first, pretending to date Tenzo had been a good idea. Sakura and Sai still ask questions, but Sakura isn't as pushy as she'd been before and she's teaching Sai to be more tactful, so if Kakashi asks them to respect his privacy and drop it, they typically listen. Sasuke just doesn't care, so he's a non-issue in that regard (which - and he won't tell the others - makes the Uchiha his current favorite).

Naruto, on the other hand, isn't as considerate, but Kakashi's still not entirely convinced the boy wasn't raised by wolves when no one was looking so that's to be expected.

He does have to admit it's nice, not having to field questions about his personal life constantly, and even nicer still to get out of doing things by telling the kids he's spending time with Tenzo.

At least, it was nice, until Naruto was finally promoted to Jonin and he decided to have his celebration at a bar.

Maybe it's the poorly lit booth Naruto picks out in the back of the room, or the sake sitting warm in his belly, but Kakashi finds himself letting his guard down - and, in a strange turn of events, actually enjoys himself.

"I didn't know Kakashi-sensei knew how to have fun!" Naruto crows about it over his third drink, and it visibly sloshes over his fingers when he thrusts his cup into the air.

Kakashi would probably be offended if he weren't already beginning to feel a bit of a buzz, and besides - Naruto isn't wrong. But he's not going to put a damper on the night by bringing up the differences in their childhoods.

"I know how to have fun," Kakashi tells him instead, reaching over to pat Tenzo's back when he inhales his drink. "I played along when you were trying to see under my mask, didn't I? I even tried to help you."

"What are you talking about?" Sakura asks, but instead of answering Kakashi just grins, tugging his mask down and taking a drink.

Sakura is the only one currently looking at him, and by the time she recovers from her own shock and gets Naruto, Sasuke, and Sai's attention, his mask is already securely back in place.

The others, of course, don't believe her.

Four drinks in, the mask comes off and stays off. He's starting to feel unnaturally warm as the alcohol takes effect, and he's tired of pulling it up and down - at this point, Naruto is the only one who hasn't seen his face because Sakura, who is now taking Sasuke's place as his favorite, has been making him look the other way when Kakashi tugs it down.

This time he's paying attention, though, and his indignant reaction to realizing his friends really do already know is almost worth the mouthful of water he spits in Kakashi's face.

Five drinks in, the full length of Kakashi's leg is pressed against Tenzo's despite how much space they still have on their side of the table, his arm thrown carelessly over Tenzo's shoulders as Naruto regales them with a story about the new jutsu he's working on.

Six is still sitting untouched in front of him when he turns his head to mumble something in Tenzo's ear, and he doesn't really register the kiss he presses to Tenzo's temple until Naruto makes a joke about the PDA like he hasn't been all over Sasuke for the last twenty minutes.

Seven... Well, seven has him standing at the bar waiting for eight when Tenzo's hand suddenly wraps around his wrist, and then his back is pressed to the wall in the dark hallway that leads to the bathroom and Tenzo is kissing him, hands in his hair while his own are pressed to the small of his back.

Seven has him fleeing as fast as his feet can carry him and feeling grossly more sober than he had been seven drinks ago.

Seven has him realizing he is absolutely fucked.

Of course, he's known how he feels about Tenzo for way longer than he would ever admit - he reads enough trashy romance novels to know what it means when his palms start to sweat and his heart tries to escape his chest when Tenzo is around. The question is when this had started - maybe when they'd started going on missions together again, after his students had all left for other teachers.

Now that he thinks about it, he does remember a moment on one particular mission to the Land of Waves where they went undercover in a local bar to gather information, and seeing Tenzo smiling and laughing with the locals had made his chest feel so tight he thought he was having a heart attack.

Yeah, that's the moment. It has to be.

But whether that moment was the catalyst or not, the truth of it is inescapable - at some point, Kakashi had fallen hopelessly and pathetically in love with Tenzo, and that realization is somehow both the best and worst thing that has ever happened to him.

The problem with that is, though, that Tenzo had kissed him back. In fact, if he recalls correctly, Tenzo had been the one to drag him into that hallway in the first place, had been the one to tug his mask down and kiss him stupid. And that is terrifying and confusing and he doesn't know what the hell to do.

Which is how he finds himself confessing everything to Sakura when she visits him in his office the next day, hiding his head beneath a newspaper on his desk while she laughs at him.

He supposes he deserves it.

"You love him," she says, patting his shoulder sympathetically. She makes it sound so simple.

"No," he groans, but he's a liar and she's heartless.

"Yes." She pulls the paper away and rolls it up, smacking him on the head with it. "If Naruto and Sasuke can get over themselves, you can too. Just tell him how you feel and date him for real." With that she turns to leave, taking his newspaper with her.

"I hate you," he calls half-heartedly after her as she goes, but she just laughs and shuts the door.

#kakayama week 2019 #kakayama #kakashi hatake #yamato #tenzo #team 7 #my writing #kakayama week #mistakes are made (mostly by kakashi)#feelings are had (also by kakashi)#sakura is a cruel wingwoman

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mlpdestinyverse · 6 years ago

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“Tongue Twister”

“It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”

Feat: Eventide Twister

Story and Description Under The Cut

Another new school year came newer faces.

It was probably the most difficult part of each start of the school year for Eventide. There was some comfort in seeing the familiar faces of classmates from previous years, and even classmates from back in kindergarten. Her best friend Heather Tart was a particularly welcome sight, especially when she sat next to her in Eve's favorite class of Ponish. Then there were the unfamiliar kids, the ones who had transferred in from some part of Equestria or another to Ponyville. Some were ponies, some were changelings, others were the more rowdy dragons and griffins. Twilight's schools were known for their diversity in species. And while some were simply there to pridefully attend one of Princess Twilight’s prestigious schools, it became clearer as the years passed that some kids were sent there for more...disciplinary reasons. To learn friendship and all of its elements to become more "exemplary members of society", to be more specific. Even now, as she idly sat at her desk, she could hear the loud, boastful voices of one of the newer colts and some griffins who sat behind her. Their smug grins and sassy comments in class already gave Eventide the impression that she should avoid them. It was only the third day of school, yet it was all still very intimidating. At the very least, Eve found herself slowly adapting to the new buzz of this class, willing herself to ease into it. But that small sense of comfort diminished as firm hoofsteps came through the door, and an unrecognizable mare walked in with a dignified stride. “Quiet down, children,” the middle-aged unicorn spoke with a slight accent, and her sharp light pink eyes flickered across the classroom. With her horn’s magic, she shut the door firmly behind her, the noise causing some of the chatter to cut off. The mare was rather well-dressed and held a sophisticated air that demanded respect. At the same time, if Eventide didn’t know any better, something about the stern, displeased look she was giving the class almost gave the filly the impression that this mare wanted to be there even less than the students themselves. “My name is Ms. Cinch.” she continued, adjusting the glasses that laid on the bridge of her muzzle. “And though this is only the third day of school, your dearest teacher just had to leave for a family emergency on the other side of Equestria. She will be out for the rest of the week. Until then, I will be your substitute”. Eventide didn’t miss the slight bitterness in her tone as she spoke that final word. A part of her struggled with the urge to place her saddlebag on her desk just so she could have a barrier to hide behind. She already had to worry about making a good impression with the pretty teacher she had met on the first day, and now with this new mare, that feeling hung over her more than ever. Turning her head, she managed to catch Heather’s attention from next to her. It was hard to tell if her friend saw the apprehension she was trying to convey with her eyes. Heather shrugged casually before returning her attention to their substitute. Ms Cinch released a huff, her magic picking up a notepad from the teacher’s desk. She skimmed it with disinterest. “Anyway, let’s get this over with shall we…Ashfall?” “Here!” As Ms. Cinch went through roll call, Eventide found herself staring tensely and nervously as she waited for her name. She didn’t know why roll call of all things had her stressed every single time. Maybe it was the fear of not hearing her name and forcing the teacher to call it again, or answering a beat too late. “Eventide Tw-” “Here!” Eventide realized her mistake as soon as she made it. She hoped that Ms. Cinch would simply ignore the interruption, but instead she watched anxiously as the unicorn peered up at her, unamused.. “I’d appreciate if I could maybe finish the name before you respond, Ms. Twister. Thank you.” Eventide felt heat pool into her cheeks. Managing to force herself to keep it together, she gave a firm nod. “S-sorry...” She heard a chuckle or two from behind her, making her wince, but that was to be expected. A part of her wished she could chat with Heather, if not to simply distract herself from the embarrassing moment. Peeking over, she noticed her friend holding her Ponish textbook open, seemingly rereading the page they had been assigned the previous day. Perhaps she was too engrossed to have noticed Eve’s mistake…? Eventide attempted to do the same, flipping through the pages to random stories in the textbook. She paused longer on the section with poems, only having a short moment to read with intrigue before she was brought back to the classroom. “Alright, children. Your teacher left me notes.” Ms. Cinch grumbled, walking around her desk to stand before the class. “Flip to page 12. We’re to continue reading the story you were assigned last night. You,” she pointed at a yak in one of the last rows of desks, who jumped at the attention. “You will start with the first paragraph. Get on with it.” There was an unspoken groan amongst the class, realizing that Ms. Cinch was going to randomly choose students to read. While Eventide tried to focus on listening to her classmates’ voices, she couldn’t help being distracted by the single worry shared by every student; abruptly being called on. It didn’t help that Ms. Cinch was slowly and quietly walking between the rows of desk, looking over the shoulders of those who read to follow along. So Eventide did what any reasonable student did. She kept her eyes downcast, avoiding eye contact in hopes that she wouldn’t be called. She both felt and heard Ms. Cinch stop beside her. “You’re next.” Eventide could feel her unease spike, her shoulders tensing under the expectant gaze of the mare she knew was standing inches away. Taking a deep breath, she picked up her textbook. It was just a paragraph. All she had to do was get it over with. ”Lila scowled. “AnddoyousupposeIlieinstead? Itisbuthonesty.” “Wordsholdmoreweightthanyouthink, LilaDonotbecareless.” Rhythminsisted-” “Stop!” Eventide nearly leapt at the interruption. Glancing at Ms. Cinch, she took in the mare’s narrowed pink eyes “Start over. Read slower, girl.” Knitting her brow, Eventide turned back to the passage. She supposed the pressure had made her read faster than usual, like it tended to…she tried again. “Lila. Scowled. “And do you...suppose...I lie ...instead-” An aggravated sigh brought Eventide out of it this time. Worriedly, Eventide met Cinch’s eyes once more, though this time the unicorn mare wore a sour expression. “Would you please just read it normally?” Eve’s ears drew back. To be interrupted a second time left Eventide feeling stressed, her hooves stiffly clenching her book. She couldn’t recall a time any of her teachers had ever done this. Regardless, Eventide tried once more, her voice tense. ”L-Lila scowled, “And doyou suppose Ilieinstead? It is buthonesty-” “Stop. Just stop.” If Eventide’s face hadn’t felt flushed before, it did now as Ms. Cinch took a step away and gave Eventide a disgruntled, impatient look. “Maybe you should consider practicing more at home, Ms. Twister. Right now it’s like you’re speaking in tongues,” she scoffed. “Or tongue twisters.” An abrupt wave of laughter startled Eventide. Snickers resounded from a number of her classmates, especially from behind where it seemed to be the loudest. Ducking her head, Eventide felt her whole being burn hot from relentless embarrassment. Suddenly she wished for nothing more than to vanish right then and there. As Ms. Cinch waited for the laughter to die down, walking onward to choose a new student to read the passage, Eventide anxiously glanced at Heather, wondering how she had reacted. Heather was leaning her head against her hoof, blocking Eve’s view of her face. As much as Eventide wanted to convince herself that her friend was respectfully ignoring the moment, a sharp pang of guilt hit her. She couldn’t imagine the secondhand embarrassment. ----------------------------------------- Like with any awkward moment in her life, Eventide moved on to her next class with the hope of leaving Ms. Cinch and her comments behind. She wasn’t looking forward to returning to Ponish the next day… but Ms. Cinch was only going to cover the class for another week. Right? Eventide walked into her History class, a little grateful that she had memorized her class schedule without any issues. Though she was ready to walk towards her desk, that was when she noticed two insistent voices. “Tongue Twister!” “Hey, Tongue Twister!” Eventide instinctively looked over, wondering who these fillies were trying to get the attention of. Realizing that two of her classmates she recognized from Ponish were waving at her from their desks, she blinked. She looked behind her quickly, wondering if maybe they were speaking to someone else. “Yeah you, Tongue Twister, come here!” ‘Tongue Twister…?’ With an uncertain frown, Eventide’s hooves clacked on the floor as she walked past her busier classmates to approach these fillies at the other side of the classroom. They smiled at her, waiting for her to reach them. “Um…” Eventide began self-consciously, unsure where to even start with her questions. That is, until one of the girls grinned and shoved an open book towards her. Confused, Eventide raised her hooves to take it. “What-?” “You should totally read for us~” Eventide paused, staring at the fillies faces. Though they smiled innocently at her, batting their lashes at her as she stood there, a part of Eventide clicked it together. Her eyes widened, hurt, yet these girls continued to watch her ‘patiently’. For a short moment she didn’t know how to respond. Feeling desperate to escape the situation, Eventide averted her gaze and closed the book, placing it on their desk before walking back to her own. A sharper sting hit her as soon as she heard a fit of giggles follow after. For the rest of that class, her eartips continued to burn hot. She couldn’t believe it, or didn’t want to believe it. To think anyone would go that far to mock her. And yet, as she would discover, it wouldn’t be the last time. She didn’t know when it started for her classmates. As she went through her day, traversing the halls and her classes, suddenly that name was being passed around. “Tongue Twister”. It was such a simple nickname, yet it held all of the weight of their teasing. Sometimes it was casually said as a ‘greeting’ in class, followed by a snicker. Other times Eventide could see the taunting gleam in her classmate’s eye before they cheerily drawled out the nickname. Then there was a dragon in the hallway, someone she had never even seen before, who smirked at her and cooed it out. “Heya Tonguey~” And it was then that Eventide realized how far and how fast this nickname was spreading. During lunchtime, Eventide opted to keep her gaze downcast out of worry of gaining any more attention than she already had. She ignored anyone who passed her in the cafeteria and those who sat at the the same table, hoping they would simply leave her be. But it couldn’t be that easy. “AndLilasaidbuhbahblahdahduhblahdo-” Eventide stiffened. She slightly shifted her head, recognizing the newer colt from her Ponish class and his griffin friends, joined by a few unrecognizable faces. He sat as the center of attention at the other end of the table, mockingly making strings of random noises and gibberish sounds as he ‘read’ from the book he held in one hoof. It was a ridiculous display, yet his friends around him laughed. “Oh hang on, I can’t do it as good as Tongue Twister!” he lifted his head to look past his friends, and Eve quickly and disheartenedly looked away. “Hey Tonguey, come over and show us how it’s really done!” Another round of laughter within his group and Eve felt the ball of emotion building in her chest threatening to lodge itself in her throat. Despite the heat in her face and eyes, she managed to choke it all down and ignore the group. She refused to cry in front of these jerks. ‘It’s him...he’s the one spreading this. And everyone’s just going along with it.’ As she blocked out more of the gibberish the colt proceeded to spew, Eventide’s ear caught a different sound. A scoff. She just had to raise her eyes slightly to notice two fillies sitting across from her. They shot annoyed looks at the bullies, and for a moment a flicker of hope lit up inside Eve. Maybe they would side with her, or just...anything. Anything to make her feel a little less alone in this. Though despite the sympathetic looks they momentarily gave her, they said nothing on the matter, continuing quiet conversation with one another. And Eventide knew. There was only one pony she could depend on, who she needed advice from now more than ever. --------------------------------------------------------------- “Do nothing?” Eventide stared at her friend in disbelief. She stood beside Heather, who was sitting at one of the school’s outdoor tables after hours. Eve waited for her response, hoping she had misunderstood her. And yet, as Heather placed her pencil down on top of her papers, the light purple earth pony gave Eventide a tired, annoyed look. “Don’t you think it’s a bit of a dumb name to get all worked up over?” Heather huffed. “With Sunset as your mom, I thought you’d be tougher....” Eventide gaped. All at once she felt the emotions she had been holding back the whole day burst. “But it’snotjustaname, Heather! They’re making fun of howItalk and it hurts!” Eve felt her hooves shake, tears finding their way into her eyes. The sight made Heather’s ears flatten, and she shifted uncomfortably in place. After a few beats of silence, the filly sighed, rubbing her temples. “Listen. Eve. I know how these things work. You’ll just embarrass yourself and make it so much worse by saying anything. Don’t even try to talk to any of the adults. They’ll just think you’re blowing it out of proportion. You’re better off letting something this small pass.” Before Eventide could think to say anything more, Heather glanced at the clock displayed on the outer wall of the building. She exhaled deeply and pushed herself up. “Look, I have to go...don’t know if you remember, but I’m still building myself up, so I have a lot to take care of.” As Heather gathered her papers, Eventide quietly gave her face a good look and realized just how stressed her friend appeared to be. Though her advice and now her leave left Eve feeling hopeless, a part of her still felt guilty for not noticing Heather's stress sooner. Throwing on her saddlebag, Heather continued. “After today, I’m going to be helping Ms. Cheerilee clean up her classroom after school, so don’t wait for me.” “Oh...okay.” Eventide half expected Heather to give a simple goodbye before leaving. Instead, the filly met her eyes one more time. Something strangely harsh was reflected in hers as she spoke. “I’m warning you Eve. Don’t do anything. Keep quiet and tough it out.” Something didn’t feel right. The words weren’t sitting right, as if acknowledging them or agreeing to them would be the same as lying to herself. Wasn’t it the same as pretending that everything was okay when it wasn’t…? But in that moment, Eventide could only weakly nod, if only to assure her friend. Even as Heather relaxed a little more, mumbling a quick goodbye before trotting off, Eve realized that she was the one left with no assurance. --------------------------------------------------------------- A whole night and a morning of dread, and soon Eventide was back in her third period Ponish class. The two previous periods alone had proven that no one had forgotten. The teasing and nicknames had somehow yet to grow old. And she could tell that some of her classmates - just some - were possibly just trying to joke with her. Yet as much as she wanted to speak up, to convey the weight behind the name and the sting it brought, she was far too uncomfortable and far too fearful of the consequences of offending them if it all backfired. Heather’s words still faintly rung at the back of her head. The other night, while heeding her friend’s words, she had even kept silent with her own family. Well, more like with her father. Upon returning home, Valiant Heart had signed that her mother would be working late into the night on a project with Princess Twilight. And her brother Astral Dusk had been out, more than likely staying in the portal world afterschool to study with his best friend Terra Rosa. Unluckily for her, her father had noticed something was off and had questioned what was wrong. But even she at the time had wondered if she really was just making a big deal out of the situation. Thus, she had blown it off. She was Sunset Shimmer’s daughter. She could be tough, just like her. And that night, as she laid in her bed, that thought echoed louder than ever. The doubt she had felt while agreeing with her friend had refused to stop gnawing at her, and when she really thought about it...she realized Heather was at least right about one thing; she was a part of the Shimmer family. Maybe it was time for her to take things into her own hooves, just as her mother always did. It didn’t mean that she had to throw her best friend's advice completely aside. But it meant dealing with the problem where it started; Ms. Cinch herself. Ms. Cinch inadvertently started the nickname. And she was an adult. If anyone could take care of the issue directly, it would have to be her, right? She was responsible for it all. ‘I just need to talk to her after class...once everyone’s out of the room, I have to go straight to her about this. I-I know she’s terrifying...but I have to do this.’ Eventide bit her lip and habitually glanced over at the seat beside her. Heather paid her no mind, once more burying herself into her own book. In fact, she had been like that since the first day, hadn’t she? Giving simple greetings to her in class, minding her own business until class began. ‘Probably just the stress from her responsibilities, I guess…’ “Greetings, class.” Eventide tensed. As Ms. Cinch addressed the class indifferently, doing attendance that Eve made sure to respond to correctly, it was painfully clear that the mare wasn’t in any better of a mood than she was just the other day. For a moment, Eventide felt discouraged, doubt surfacing her mind. Should she hold off-? ‘No. If I chicken out today, I’ll never be able to get myself to do this.” She had rehearsed what she wanted to say, from the time she had drifted off to sleep that night to when she had prepared for school in the morning to her first and second classes. Even if she stuttered, even if she spoke too fast, communicating her concern was all that mattered. Eventide nervously squeezed the edges of her book as Ms. Cinch announced a page for the class to open to. As an employee of a School of Friendship, hired by Princess Twilight herself, surely even someone as harsh as Ms. Cinch would understand- “Ms. Twister. You seem to be the one who needs the most practice. You’ll read first.” A jarring jolt of alarm coursed through Eventide’s body. She stiffly lifted her head to look at the substitute. The denial within her hoped she hadn’t really just been called on, now of all times. Yet there Ms. Cinch was, standing at the front of the class with that same cold, expectant stare. Eventide felt her feathers ruffle uncomfortably as she felt a number of eyes hone in on her. Her heart only raced more when her ear caught the faint sounds of snickers and whispers. Her chest clenched at one particular one she made out behind her from a familiar, mocking male voice. “This’ll be good...” Something about that comment pushed her. Despite staring at the passage, a part of her telling her to obediently follow along, she realized the disadvantage she was at. She realized how unfair this was, and how she couldn’t play into it any longer. “I-I can’t.” “...excuse me?” A few confused noises sounded around her, and Eventide didn’t dare look up from her book right away. She had only acted so impulsively once in her life, when she had defended her friend Monochrome all the years ago. Finally lifting her blue eyes, she was met by Cinch’s dangerously narrowed orbs. “And why not?” Eventide could feel a quake in her legs. She quickly searched her mind for an excuse, just managing a hurried response. “I...cantellyouafterclass-” “Ms. Twister. You can either stand up and explain yourself to me and your peers now, or not at all. Which is it?” ‘’Not at all’...??’ A flash of panic struck the filly at that declaration. Cinch however simply leaned back against the teacher’s desk behind her. “Please. Enlighten me.” Eventide’s mind raced, and things around her seemed to slow. She couldn’t register if anyone was talking in the background, or who was looking at her. How did this happen…? It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Every sense of privacy and safety was gone, just like that. Yet in that moment, within the stagnant air and tension of the classroom, Eventide knew she had a choice. So she chose. Rigidly, Eventide slowly moved out of her chair, placing each shaky hoof steadily onto the tiled floor beside her desk. She swallowed. “Ponies...h-have been making fun of h-howItalk, after what you said y-yesterday. About tongue twisters.” The locked eye contact she had somehow managed to maintain until then quickly broke as she focused on her hooves. The young pegasus wasn’t even sure how she wasn’t speeding through her sentences. All that mattered was keeping her voice firm. “They keep calling me names a-and- ithurts. So….” Try as she did to reach for more, Eventide ran out of words. It almost felt like it wasn’t enough, like she owed her teacher and class more somehow. But that was the honest truth, and how she truly felt. She felt the smallest bit of relief getting that out, though the thick silence around her snuffed it out. All that remained was Ms. Cinch’s response. “...is that all?” Eventide flinched at her flat tone. As much as she wanted to avoid meeting anyone’s eye, the filly’s gaze couldn’t help but flick upwards. There, she found it distressing just how unsympathetic the unicorn mare appeared. With that same indifferent voice, Ms. Cinch continued, “How about you point out the children who have been teasing you.” It wasn’t a question, but a simple order, one that had Eventide’s body go rigid. Unconsciously her eyes flicked over to her classmates. Somehow she managed to meet the eyes of one of the teasing fillies from History class, as well as one of the new colt’s griffin friends. They bother stared at her, wide-eyed and tense, as if waiting for her to out them. Then and there, she faltered. ‘Why…? Why is she making me do this here?’ “You can’t even say?” Cinch’s indifference was gone. Now all that lingered was impatience, an attitude that only had Eventide curl in on herself more. She opened her mouth, struggling to find something to fix this situation. Cinch beat her to it. “I swear to the high heavens that children these days are sensitive about everything.” she snorted, pushing off the desk she was leaning on. “I say grow a skin or else none of you will ever make it in life. Not everyone out there is going to sugarcoat the world for you.” Walking behind her desk, Ms. Cinch picked up a piece of chalk with her magic. Though instead of writing, she scrutinized it with a growl. “I should to be a magic professor, or a headmaster for Celestia’s sake, yet here I am working some substitute position. What an absolute travesty,” Ms. Cinch looked over her shoulder, eyeing Eventide with an irritated stare. “Now, if you’re just about done wasting class time, Ms. Twister, you may sit down.” All Eventide could do was silently slip back into her seat, her face and neck burning hot with humiliation. She couldn’t stop her ears from picking up the softest of whispers on the other side of the classroom. Nor could she help her own wandering gaze, only to find that not a single soul was willing to look at her. And if they did try, they quickly looked away. Only when she was back to staring at her desk, only half-listening to the lesson, did she feel eyes glancing at her more than ever. With the heavy air of the classroom, Eventide did whatever she could to appear smaller, as if it’d hide her from everyone’s judgement. In her desperation, she repeatedly tried to catch Heather’s eye, yearning for any kind of comfort. Heather, however, was back to resting her head on her hoof, leaving neither of them able to see the other. After what felt like a lifetime, the bell rung, and students seemed more sluggish and awkward as they stood and gathered their things. The smallest comfort came as Eventide noticed Ms. Cinch stride out of the classroom first. She waited, gathering her things into her saddlebag slowly. If everyone else left before her, then at least she wouldn’t have to face a walk of shame by passing everyone in her desperation to leave. Yet even then, avoiding attention however she could, she heard the murmurs. “That was crazy.” “But it was just a joke...” “Yeah, what a jerk.” She gripped her bag. She wished that last comment had only been one person. She wished she hadn’t heard sounds of agreement as a group left the room. By the time she was alone and it was her time to leave, Eventide felt like she was in a daze. It was almost like she wasn’t really walking in her own body, and like everything that had transpired hadn’t truly occurred despite knowing full well that it did. She had never caused trouble once. And even if she was nervous with new people, she had always tried to get along with everyone. Why did things end this way...? Without realizing it, Eventide kept her gaze downcast as she exited the classroom. Due to this, she hadn’t noticed anyone waiting for her. Not until a hoof connected with her shoulder, shoving her into the nearest wall. After the initial shock, Eve whimpered, her hoof flying up to her impacted aching arm. She glanced up, dumbfounded, only to find that new colt. Further behind him were his griffin friends. They all looked equally unamused. “Go whine to someone about that, snitch.” the colt sneered. With that he turned back to his friends with a huff and trotted away. His friends shot her venomous looks before following. Eventide shook fearfully as she watched them go, feeling the tears finally build up in her eyes. ‘Why...? Why?’ “Are you okay…?” Two nearby changelings gave her their attention, one of them taking a step closer to her with a concerned frown. “Y-yeah…” She knew it wasn’t the truth, but she felt far too absent-minded to say anything else. Suddenly everything was out of focus. She was trapped within her own head, everything replaying within her mind over, and over, and over again until the shame became too much to bear. The moment the tears fell, she rushed away. She didn’t know where she was going or what she was doing. She tried not to think about it all, scrubbing a hoof at her face every few seconds as not to draw attention, but her mind was a jumbled mess. It was like she was in some sort of panic mode. It felt like all eyes were on her, judging her. It was like every whisper, and every nearby laugh, was directed towards her. It was unbearable. And that was when she saw her, magenta bow and all. Eventide didn’t let herself think. She made a beeline for that pink and yellow striped mane, already finding some sort of relief in its familiarity. A hug, a moment to talk or simply hear her voice. Eventide would take any kind of comfort from her best friend right now. Realizing Heather was with a group was the only thing that made Eve hesitate a few steps away, wondering how to get her attention. Luckily one of the kids in the group noticed, the dragon tapping Heather’s shoulder before curiously pointing a claw at Eventide. “I think that filly wants to talk to you?” Heather turned around, puzzled. And just as quickly as they met eyes, any open expression Heather had immediately became stiff. Unreadable. “Uuuh, you know her?” A colt questioned, looking back and forth between them. Heather’s eyes flicked towards the colt, and then back at Eve. There was no warmth or concern in her eyes. Only hard, quiet calculation. It was like a switch. Turning back to her friends, her expression was replaced with one of her winning pleasant smiles. She let out a sweet, nervous laugh. “No, no! She just likes to follow me around.” ‘...what?’ With the state she was in, she wondered if she had misheard Heather. She had to have misheard her, or misunderstood her. Yet without sparing Eventide another glance, the lilac filly began to usher her friends away, her voice maintaining that pleasant tone. “Come on, let’s go guys. I don’t feel comfortable around here...” Her friends gathered closer at that, shooting Eventide wary looks. And like that, they were gone. Heather and her group disappeared around a corner. Yet Eventide didn’t budge from her spot, staring after them helplessly. ‘...Heather…?’

One more chapter to complete this event. Hope the red flags and foreshadowing are adding up. If you’ve seen Equestria Girls, or more specifically the Friendship Games movie, then you would recognize Principal Cinch AKA “Let’s threaten to ruin a teen’s future if she doesn’t do what I want” . Meet her Equestrian counterpart, who as you can see didn’t quite reach the level of her human counterpart. Career-wise, at least. With everything else, she's just as horrid. If you haven’t seen Friendship Games, allow me to relink the villain song “Unleash The Magic”. (Again, spoilers for EQG: Friendship Games!! This song is BY FAR one of my faves from EQG, due to the intensity and build up like w o w son).

Also, just a note to any teens and youngins in the audience if it’s not clear; Eventide's situation is a very, INCREDIBLY specific and unique one. And Heather’s advice is utter trash and given with her own reputation in mind.

Please go to a parent or teacher that you trust if you face repeated teasing and bullying, if you feel threatened, or if another adult has made you feel uncomfortable. It’s not only their responsibility to help you, but there are adults who very much care for your well-being and safety. It’s also okay to have a trusted friend help you talk to an adult, if it’s difficult for you!! You’re not alone buddy, and you don’t have to go it alone.

You’re tougher than you think. Hang in there.

#My Little Pony #mlp #mlp oc #mlp art #Destinyverse #Eventide Twister #story

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