#my colds are mean. not as bad when zi was a kid but I know they stick like hell to me so I am just hoping for the best here 😢

[romy350-romyakari]

My cold better be gone before later half of march bc I plan on snacking on those chocolate type of snacks while trying to read part 2 of Book 6 on twst

I have been collecting nice snack just for that occasion so I better be healthy and not fighting a sickness.

[falloutjay]

Christophe x childhood friend reader x Kenny, Christophe, Gregory and reader have been friends since gradeschool. Reader was a very emotional person who cared about everyone. She was very sweet yet still helped the boys assassinating people. Reader had always had an obvious crush on Christophe but she never seems get to an direct answer and it really starts to bum her out. So she starts trying to stop showing her feelings to him. It worries people because she starts being more quieter than her normal self. When asked, all she can say ' I just realized that there's something I could never have' and nothing else. It's until reader's parents (who are bakers) get a job opportunity in a town named South Park. It's a very awkward goodbye (with Christophe, it's sad af with Gregory) and she leaves.

As if a switch was pulled, reader goes back to being a sweet and emotional girl (much to her parents delight/relief). We makes lot of new friends and gets a new crush too, Kenny McCormick. She's shy around him at first, much to her friends: Bebe, Wendy, and Nicole's confusion. She confides in them and tells her past troubles with love. They comfort her and tell that it's sure to be different. So reader lightens up around Kenny and they begin a beautiful relationship.

Yet we hit a rough patch when Kenny's womanizing way Catches up with him (Kelly, Tammy, etc) so we naturally get defensive (not to how we were with Christophe but still pretty strained). But worry not, reader (and her friends) win their class a trip to London (they sold 7,777 cookies!!!). Reader is nervous but doesn't stress to hard, it's not like Christophe is still leaving there right? Well after settling into their hotel, Reader and Gregory run into each other and have a heartfelt reunion then reader reunites with Christophe and it's really awkward. So Gregory and Christophe decide to join them on their trip, but something wrong. Christophe seems a lot more open with reader, which confuses reader and Kenny, having connected the dots, tries keeping reader for himself. And poor reader's in a blushy confusing emotional spiral.

I had such a blast writing this. Writing Christophe is mad fun.

Btw, I implied that the events of the movie never happened here, so Wendy and the others never met Gregory or Christophe.

Kenny and Christophe are also pretty mean girls basically but I loved it so much, I couldn't help myself. ^^

(EXCUSE MY BAD FRENCH; IT HAS BEEN YEARS SINCE MY LAST FRENCH LESSONS AND I WAS PRETTY BAD AT IT)

Warnings: Kenny and Christophe are a little OOC I think, swearing, French, Bad French.

____________________________

Christophe x Childhood friend!Reader x Kenny

You hummed as you waited for your best friends in the whole wide world. You had prepared a nice little lunch with self-made sandwiches, lemonade, and brownies.

Your excitement went through the roof, once you heard the door to your secret hideout open. Gregory was the first to come in. “Ah, Y/N, what a lovely surprise!” He said gleamingly and admired the beautifully set table. He put down his backpack and as he did so, your longtime crush strolled in. Cigarette in mouth, dirty all over him and an annoyed expression painted on his face, Christophe.

“Hey, how was the job?” You asked sweetly, as Gregory sat down, and Christophe did so too after a short hesitation. “It went well unti-” “Until zat fucking dumb kid made the wrong zound and made me mess up the whole time plan. Why does no one know what a dying giraffe sounds like?” He ranted, hands moving around hastily, while you and Gregory chuckled. “It’s not funny!” The dark-haired protested while he lit his cigarette. You just smiled.

Despite Christophe’s mean demeanor, you had a huge soft spot for him. “Hey, Christophe?” You asked, demanding his attention, which he gave you, while also taking a bite of a sandwich. “Would you maybe like to hang out sometime?” Gregory pretended to not exist and focused on the suddenly very interesting drink in his hand. He knew you liked their friend. But he also knew Christophe better than anyone else. And the blond knew this couldn’t end well.

“Ah, excuse moi, mais…I just don’t have the time currently.” You nodded, trying your best to not show how disappointed you were. It pained Gregory to see you like this. He loved you like a sister and seeing how Christophe was constantly breaking your little heart made him sad.

To his demise, you only grew quieter with time. When Gregory pressed you on the matter, asking what’s wrong, all you managed to mumble was: “I guess… I just realized that there's something I could never have”. It made him worry. You were such a sweet girl but recently you had become a husk of yourself and today was no different.

They had just come back from another job but this time you didn’t even greet them, just passed the folders in which you listed the new jobs they could take. “Here. I am afraid I have some bad news though.” You mumbled as you pressed the papers in their hands. Gregory looked at you with worry on his face. “What’s wrong, dear?” He asked and noticed how close you were to crying.

“My parents got a really good job over in Colorado. We will move next week.” You mumbled. Gregory threw the papers across the room, before storming to hug you. You held him close, feeling sad, that you would never again drink tea with your favorite English gentleman, and that deeply saddened you.

Your eyes wandered over to Christophe, who looked somewhat sad but made no move to express this. “I can't believe it. You’re THE most important part of this organization and you will be gone by next week?! Who is gonna help me with all the papers?” Gregory held you so close, you almost had trouble breathing.

“I gotta go early today since I have to start packing. I will miss you two so much.” You said, not being able to stop the tears from flowing down your cheeks. “Yeah, sure, take your time. If you need any help, you know you can always count on me.” Gregory said, finally letting go of you. You nodded and walked up to Christophe.

“I guess that’s it huh?” You muttered. “Oui. You will be a great loss to zis organization.” Awkwardly you nodded. Was this really everything he had to say? You didn’t see Gregory in the background, wildly gesticulating for him to say more. The dark-haired raised an eyebrow until he finally got what his partner tried to say.

“We will miss you.” He thought this was a perfectly fine answer, but didn’t catch how much that hurt you. “Yeah, me you too.” You said and walked towards the exit. “See you guys!” You called out before you vanished.

“Great job making her feel like shit.” “What waz I supposed to say?”

“My God, Y/N, you have been here for over half a year now! Just tell him already!” Bebe commented and you blushed profusely. “N-no! He doesn’t even like me that much!” You protested, your cheeks colored in a deep red. “There is no point in denying sweetheart. You both are head over heels for each other. Trust me, Stan told me how much Kenny talks about you.” Wendy reassured you. She pointed with her fork over to the table the boys were seated on and sure enough, the blond boy you were talking about was looking over, waving even when he spotted you looking at him. You shyly waved back, before hiding in your sweater.

“Okay, Y/N, what the fuck happened when you lived in England? I can’t imagine you always behave like this around someone you like.” Nicole looked sternly at you, and you let out a deep sigh. “Well, fine, yeah, there was a guy before Kenny that I liked.”

The girls all pushed their food trays to the side, to stick their heads closer together. “In England, I was close friends with two guys.” “Ohh, a three-way?” “Bebe!” Wendy hissed before they let you continue. “They are assassins and I helped them with everything behind the scenes, like contacting clients, paperwork, and all that. Gregory was my best friend, and the other guy is a French, god-hating, foul-mouthed idiot named Christophe. And I really had a thing for him, but he was always super cold and just not that interested in me.” You rambled and the girls listened attentively. “Okay, okay, Y/N, hear me out on this one…” Bebe began, and you looked at her. “Have you maybe thought about the fact that that Christophe guy was just an idiot? You’re great and Kenny sooo has a thing for you. Just go for it!” Nicole and Wendy nodded. “Yeah, you gotta make new experiences, real experiences.” Nicole agreed and Wendy gave it a thumbs up.

Before they could talk any further, you felt a tap on your shoulder and turned around. Kenny stood there, smiling warmly. “Hey, Y/n, I just wanted to ask if you maybe wanna go to the mall with me on Saturday and maybe get a smoothie or something?” You felt your face heat up and heard the girls squeal quietly. You nodded. “Yeah, that would great!” You answered and he shot you a flashy smile. “Great. I’ll come to pick you up, yeah?” You nodded excitingly and he walked back to the boy’s table. “Ahh, you got a date!” Nicole beamed and so did the other two. A big smile was glued to your face, and you only managed to nod. “We will so come over on Friday and get you ready! Girls’ night!” Bebe planed and you happily agreed.

Being with Kenny was great. He was loving, always looked out for you, loved listening to you, and yet, you hated his guts just now. You wanted to strangle those stupid sluts that constantly clung to his side like their life depended on it. Yeah, you knew Tammy and he had history, as did Kelly, but did he really have to talk to them that much? Didn’t he see how much you hated it? “Hey, babe!” He whispered into your ear, and you moved away. “Hey, Kenny.” You said coldly. You waited for Mister Garrison to finally let you in the hotel. You and the girls managed to win the school competition for a trip to London, by selling 7,777 packages of cookies, totally legally, by the way, nothing to see here, so now your class was in London and after you sat with the girls in the bus Kenny had sneaked up to you. You were kind of nervous, fearing that you could maybe run into…him… but there was no chance he still lives here, right? Right?

You didn’t know why, but since Kenny had started to talk to his bitches, as you called them, again you distanced yourself from him. You were afraid of being hurt again, so distancing yourself was an automatic reaction.

Once you got settled in your room, the girls proposed discovering the town, since you guys had no events for the day. You happily greed and once in the corridor, you spotted Stans gang down the hall. Wendy asked them to join, much to your demise. You wanted girl time, not being secretly annoyed with Kenny time.

You, Wendy, Bebe, Stan, Kyle, and Kenny wandered the streets, taking in the new scenery. “It’s pretty nice here, isn’t it?” Wendy asked as she put the sweets she bought in her bag. “Yeah!” You agreed and sipped on the tea you ordered.

You guys had sat down at a café to just watch the bussing streets and enjoy some British tea. Kyle was talking to Stan about Cartman, and what prank they’d play on him tonight. Kenny was chatting with Bebe and Wendy about Tammy and Kelly, much to your demise and you just looked around. Your eyes wandered and you watched the other patrons when you stopped at a familiar seeming one. Your mouth was agape, there’s no way your eyes weren’t tricking you right now?!

The in leather gloved hands, the orange button-up shirt, that thick golden hair… A book rested in his left hand, while the other held the tea with an extended pinky. It was him. Gregory. He must have noticed you staring as he looked up and recognized you as well. A big smile appeared on his face, and he quickly put the book in his leather messenger bag. You got up, ignoring the questions from the others, while you ran into Gregory’s extended arms.

“Y/N my dear! I would have never guessed to see you again!” Gregory proclaimed, spinning you around. Neither of you cared that everyone was watching. “I’m so happy to see you. It has been ages!” You mumbled, still hugging your long-lost friend tightly. You only lost contact because you lost your phone during the move, so you had no way of contacting them. Before you two could talk, Kenny appeared by your side.

“Hey, babe, who is this guy?” He asked and as you turned around you saw the questioning looks of everyone. “Oh sorry. Guys, this is my old friend Gregory, we have been friends since we were little. Gregory, these are my friends from America, Wendy, Bebe, Kyle, Stan, and my boyfriend Kenny.”

Gregory properly introduced himself and moved to sit with you guys. He talked with your new friends, and you immediately saw how Wendy and Bebe hung to his lips. You understood that. Gregory was a really good-looking young man by now. You chuckled when you spotted how jealous Stan became with each passing second. Soon Gregory’s phone rang, and he excused himself to take the call.

“Oh my god! That’s the Gregory, you told us about, Y/N? Why did you hide that he’s a British snack!” Bebe exclaimed and you chuckled. Soon Gregory sat back down and that devious smile on his lips made you wonder.

“Ze Mole is coming.” He just said, knowing you wanted to question his smile. You felt the blood in your veins freeze for a second.

“He is still here?” You asked and Gregory nodded. “Why wouldn’t he? We kept the organization running. And there is always a spot for you if you ever want to come back.” The blond spotted the longing in your eyes at an instant. Kenny watched it happening quietly, carefully watching you. Soon enough, a certain someone arrived, pulling another chair to your table, and sitting on it backward, so that he was leaning on the backrest.

Your heart was beating like you had just run a marathon as you inspected every detail about him. His dark messy hair was roughly still the same and his trademark cigarette his only accessory. The tight-fitting dark green shirt fit him perfectly you thought and the tactical belt around his torso was still there. He also still wore fingerless gloves. The two really didn’t change much, apart from becoming older.

“Well, Christophe, these are Y/Ns friends from America.” Gregory introduced them and the dark-haired male lazily gifted him a wave. Wendy and Bebe noticed how you were obviously checking him out and laughed.

“I see you got a thing for baddies.” Bebe whispered into your ear, and you wanted to protest, but got interrupted by Stan.

“Well, I like this sort of reunion, but don’t wanna want to continue or sightseeing?” Gregory smiled warmly, as he offered to play tour guide for you. Your friends happily agreed to his proposition, feeling glad to have a real British tour guide. So, you guys paid for your orders and started walking.

To your surprise, instead of walking up front with Gregory, Christophe walked next to you, eyeing you curiously. “It’s nice to ze you again, mon chéri.” He said you felt your face heat up. Did he seriously just call you that? Did he actually say he’s happy to see you again?

“Well, it has been a while, hasn’t it?” You mumbled and Christophe had a pleasant smile resting on his face. That was a new thing, you thought. While Christophe walked next to you on your right, Kenny was on your left and eyeing the French with jealous eyes. He was an expert at reading people and he spotted Christophe’s attraction to HIS girlfriend miles go and he wasn’t blind to your body language either. You two had history. That much was clear.

Gregory led the group down to a nice spot near the riverbanks of the Thames where the girls took pictures together. Kyle and Gregory switched taking the group photos, while Kenny stood next to Christophe, both looking at the others.

Everyone felt the obvious tension between the two. “Don’t even think about, frog eater.” Kenny said, which made Christophe chuckle.

“Ahh, you Américains are so funny. You think everything belongs to you, when in reality she was already mine, once I sat down at ze table.” Christophe took the last puff of his cigarette, before stomping on it on the ground. Kenny averted his gaze and looked at his newfound rival.

“Yours?” He questioned but didn’t Christoph didn’t reward him with an answer. He only chuckled and put a new unlit cigarette in his mouth.

“Écoutez-Vous. You sound so funny.” The girl the two were fighting about returned with Bebe and Wendy and they all obviously felt the tension between the two.

“Ken, come over. Group pics!” Kyle called out to him and somewhat annoyed, Kenny jogged over. So you and your two friends were left with the French man.

“I just wanted to say, you look formidable, ma briquette.” Wendy and Bebe quietly squealed, as Christoph took your hand to press a kiss on your knuckles. You blushed a deep red. What had happened to him? He never behaved like that, but you couldn’t deny how he made your knees weak.

“Hey, Hey, Hey!” Kenny called out and quickly came stomping back. “I just told you to back off.” Kenny said. “Ah sorry, my English is pretty bad, I must have misunderstood.” Christophe shrugged. Kenny wrapped his arms around you and held you close.

“I’ll fuck you up if you don’t keep yourself in check.” Kenny spat and you broke free of his forced hug. “Ken, what the hell?” You questioned his sudden aggression, but you were quickly shoved away by Christophe, who now got all up in Kenny’s face.

“Oh, zen pray to whatever hate-filled God you believe in, and I hope for you he’z real because nothing will be as real as your fucked up face once I am done.” “Oh, I don’t believe in Gods. Not when I already know what hell looks like and so will you when I get started.”There was no point in denying that you, Wendy, and Bebe were super interested in this showdown. It was interesting to see two guys who were obviously fighting over you get so riled up.

Bebe leaned over and whispered: “Damn Y/N, you really got the hot guys fighting over you.” You had a faint pink tone on your cheeks. The two guys you liked were ready to basically kill each other over you. It was kind of flattering. Stan and Kyle tried getting the two to calm down, but to no avail, as they just kept going with their petty insults.

Gregory walked up next to you, leaning down to talk. “You are the only one who can get them to stop, you know that right?” He questioned.

“Yeah. But you must admit, this is kinda entertaining.” He laughed and nodded. “You’re right.” “Give me a minute Gregory. I never had someone fight for me.” You whispered with a hot face, watching as Kyle and Stan tried to pull the two away from each other.

Your heart was confused, seeing Christophe again and how he now behaved towards you awakened feelings you thought weren’t there anymore, but you also loved how Kenny was ready to fight for you. How could anyone not find this super interesting?

[potahun]

Some rough translations from Liu Yuning (HYJ’s actor)’s Live Broadcast on 7 January 2021, because he talked about Ultimate Note (and HeiHua) a lot:

LYN (18:45) - about the wooden knife:  “(...) With Hua’er Ye, the separation scene between Xiao Hua and I, and with Tuo Ba too, you see which one, right? (...) That scene was in the original script. The lines were already complete. (He makes a parenthesis here to talk about how this adaptation really respected the original works, including the words used) But during that separation scene, there’s this one part -- the one where I gift a knife to him. A small wooden knife (...) That’s something we added ourselves.........That’s something we added, because it wasn't in the original script. How did that small knife come about? At that time, I was filming. I have an acting teacher who, while on set, saw one of the staff from the props team carving that small wooden knife. (...) So we discussed with the director, I said “that scene is a separation with Xiao Hua, right? For a separation, just using words might be...I think perhaps we could add an item there. We might not even need to add any lines.” (...) But this item strengthened the ...bond between these two people. So that knife is something that we added. (...) I think it’s quite nice, at least it doesn’t ruin the original script, and it strengthens the feelings - the bond between these two people (...)”

LYN (22:50), talking about the comments he saw on Ultimate Note: “(...) In the first few episodes, I saw “I cannot accept that this Hei Yanjing has a round face”.....This comment stabbed my heart for 3 days straight. Really. (...) Well, let me explain first to everyone what was going on back then! Right now my face isn’t that round, right? Why? First, because I added the filter that makes my face slim - no that’s not it. First, it’s because the me at that time had just done a small surgery on my vocal chords. (...) After the surgery, I had to stay home for a whole month without speaking. So what to do? Eat. I ate for a whole month and went straight afterwards to film that show.”

LYN (57:52) - about any chance for a S2 and budget use: “A friend is asking here, will Ultimate Note have a 2nd season? (...) First of all, I’m just an actor. (...) Ok, I’ll talk about it properly. Will it have a 2nd season? To be honest, I personally hope it will. (...) I believe if you asked me to act Hei Yanjing a 2nd time ...I can’t say the 1st time was good, it wasn’t. But I might be able to -- because I’m also growing, right -- to express this role a bit better. (...) So I hope it will have a 2nd season. (...) Because let’s be honest, I think the crew took a lot of care in making this show. (...) Most of the budget and everything went into the production...the special effects, the scenery, things like that. So the actors like us....*smiles* well of course, they gave me money too, I shouldn’t say it like that, but what I mean is, a lot of the attention went into the making. It’s not a show where, for example, the actors use up a lot of the budget and the production gets less in comparison. (...) So I’m thinking, well, this show could be considered a small, small success? -- I don’t dare to issue a judgment on it, but in my heart, it is a success. (...) So will it have a 2nd season? I hope so, but until now, I haven’t received news that we can film such a thing. (...) Don’t expect too much. For other shows, sometimes, S1 is popular, and then they have trouble shooting S2, because after the 1st season’s success, all the actors increased their prices, so they might not be able to sign on for the 2nd one. But I think for this show (...) each of the actors really like this show. So they might choose to accept to play in this show, even if it means they get paid less. Starting from me, if you tell me this show’s got a different revenue from what I usually get, I’d still want to play it -- that’s how good it is. (...) *reading a comment* “Careful with what you say, boss”. Yes, I almost didn’t control myself just now.... Almost.”

He later mentions that to film certain scenes, they’d really go deep into the mountains, drive for hours and then actually have to climb very steep roads, to places inaccessible by car.

LYN (1:02:02) - about Xiao Hua’s actor Liu Yuhan: “*reads* “Talk about your CP”. Oh, you mean Xiao Hua, right? The actor for Xiao Hua, what I want to say is, I was very happy to collaborate with him, because he...really is a nice person. Just talking about getting to know him outside the story, and not as a character, he’s a very nice little fellow. He’s very honest. He’s also from Dongbei like me. His usual state is of course not as cold as the Xiao Hua in-story, not as “cool”. In reality, he’s still quite laid-back as a person, quite...fun. Kind of like a kid. Well, not really a kid, but...he’s younger than me, so in my heart, he’s like a little brother.” He explains that they tried to have a meal together more than once post-filming, but never managed. 

LYN (1:03:35) - about the postcard: “That postcard at the end, the one about the 1,000 sheep...Many people didn’t understand when they watched it. What was that 1,000 sheep about? Actually, it’s because Hei Ye jumped down at the end....with the hairy monster...he jumped down. (...) So that postcard first paves the way for what comes after (aka the storyline in Sha Hai). And on another note, it’s to prove that Hei Yanjing isn’t dead. Because that postcard is what Hei Yanjing left to Xiao Hua. (...)”

LYN (1:07:38) - about Hei Xia Zi as a character: “Actually, he’s not a real miser. (...) He does really like money, there is a little bit of a greedy vibe to him. But you’ll discover that many times, he didn’t actually receive money, and still went ahead and did the thing. (...) He’s actually a lot more about loyalty, and courage, and responsibility. There’s not one thing where he was like “if you do not transfer 10,000 to me, I definitely won’t do this thing for you”. But he will have a vaguely threatening air, and make it seem like he doesn’t care that much about bonds/friendships. (...) He simply has his special way of doing things. He might also have his own type of apathy. After all, a person, after experiencing so much - because as I said, he counts as a person who’s lived a long life (...), he wouldn’t care as much about many things related to time. So in reality, he doesn’t care that much about money either. His love of money is a personality trait, but the premise to anything he does is definitely not money, it’s rather loyalty. It’s feelings.”

LYN (1:09:39) - about Hei Yanjing’s real name written in the sand: “Someone asked “what did Hei Yanjing write in the sand, is it ‘Liu Yuning’?”......Yes. I wanted to write ‘Modern Brothers Liu Yuning’ at the time.”

LYN (1:12:00) - about Hei Yanjing’s age: “As someone who just acted this role, I don’t know how old he is either. But he’s definitely someone who’s lived a long life. (...) In the state I was acting him, he must have at least been a few hundred years old. (...) How many hundreds, I have no way to ascertain.”

LYN (1:12:49) - about the fried rice prop on set: “It tastes pretty good. (...) But the problem is where we were filming, (...) we were mostly in Yun Nan. The temperature there was over 40°C. When it was low, it was a little above 30°C. (...) The fried rice would turn sour in no time. (...) So you’ll find out that, throughout this entire show, Hei Ye loves to eat fried rice with green peppers and meat, but hasn’t eaten a single mouthful. He’s just feeding Xiao Hua with it. And the reason why Xiao Hua looks disgusted is because it’s really sour.”

LYN (1:14:00) - more bts stories about the heat and stench: “That scene where we first fall into the tunnel. That tunnel from the time of the Republic. (...) That tunnel, my God! (...) The temperature outside was 40°C. Inside, most of the scenery was made from foam. (...) The temperature inside that environment was incredibly hot, unimaginable, and on top of that we were wearing leather. (...) And do you remember when we first fell into the tunnel with Xiao Hua and we dug up a place? (...) The bones on the floor were all purchased real bones from sheep or pigs and so on. (...) Think about the temperature in there. In one night, the stench was impossible. (...) When we were filming, the stench was so bad, you felt like you couldn’t live on anymore (...) My God...At the time, as soon as I walked into that place, I was dumbstruck. Xiao Hua and I made eye contact and just went... “do you smell this?” He went “I can’t even hear what you’re saying anymore, I’m already knocked out.” (...) The director went “Let me see! ...............My God. Props director, what do we do with this?” And the Props director said “What our show cares about is making things realistic. We want to make the original works real. We want the props to be as real as possible.” (...) We also have to respect that Props director’s professionalism, right? (...) So the Director said “Ok, then let’s do this, let’s prepare some cologne.” (...) Poured it. Poured 2-3 bottles of it into the place... It made everything WORSE. The normal stench was simply stinky. But the cologne -- that thing has volatility!! (...) Do you know how stinky it was, exactly? It felt like even my arms could feel the stench. We held on for 3 days to film that part. That stench, my God. It’s a smell I can remember my whole life.”

[teamsarawatshusband]

Word Of Honor - 1st watch insta thoughts - Episode 7

Here's my name overview, in case you're new to this: Zhou Zi Shu = Baby Zi Shu/ Zhou Xu lord guy/alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy; Wen Ke Xing = Smirky Xing/Smirky fan guy/Kissy Xing Gu Xiang = Purple Girl/my Purple Love/my Purple Queen Smirklord is my personal ship name for Zhou Zi Shu and Wen Ke Xing.

Also, here are the previous episodes.

Before we get started, just FYI, I went back to have a look at the red masked ghost guys gang scene with nuts guy in episode 1, and it’s finally confirmed that it's 100% Kissy Xing, because, now that i've been hearing his laughter for some eps, I can't not recognize it. Actually, he’s not just part of the ghost gang, he’s their boss. :O

Okay, so that is settled.

Let’s move on to episode 7:

Luo Mansion. What is that? Where is that? Who are these people? There's one with a joker grin, and several with weirdly upturned eyebrows and darkened lips. Are they from the ghost gang?

And why is everything red, is this a wedding?

There's a white haired woman with long golden fingernails and she's referred to as tragicomic ghost.

Oh it IS a wedding. Something tells me this might not be a voluntary one... Maybe it's the amount of gagged people in cages who don't look joyful.

Is the gagged guy who's gonna get married unconscious magenta leader guy from when that other ghost lady dropped her face?

He's getting married to a memorial tablet? What?

Ah, back to more familiar people in familiar circumstances. Baby Zi Shu is drinking alcohol. Now this I recognize.

But he can't get more because somebody bought all the remaining bottles. Should I say that this has Kissy Xing written all over it?

Ooooh, the kid is there!!! With a-hole-uncle Shen and uncle Zhao. And the kid notices Baby Zi Shu right away, and thinks it's his master. He's better at recognizing people than I am, but he's mislead by Baby Zi Shu's lack of tan and scar. That's a shame. But he clearly misses his daaaaads! Awwwww.

Side note: I cannot stress enough how much I need to focus on not misspelling Baby Zi Shu’s name. I’ve typed Zi Shi, Zu Shi, Zu Shu, Zhu Si, Zhi Shu already... and now I almost typed “Baby Sushi”, because my brain is WEIRD. In case it happens in the future and I miss it, you have been warned. Maybe I should just go with Baby Sushi, because that one would be easiest to remember. I should also change my tumblr handle to “face-blind-and-name-stupid”.

Meh, back to the ghost gang wedding ceremony.

Whoever speaks dies. That would have been a good rule to know in advance, I guess.

So what's this list of the unfaithful? Is it like Santa's naughty and nice list?

Everybody who is unfaithful gets killed by white haired gold finger girl. Got it. Everybody who speaks gets killed too. This seems like such a shady set of rules, I bet more people get killed just for fun.

Ooooh, it's celebrity death match. But with friends of the groom.

I feel like this guy who says that the ghost folks never break a promise, while being a jerk, might be telling the truth.

:O WTH? Did a-hole-uncle Shen just seriously call our kid useless??? He just assumes that our kid is a liar??? The audacity!!! I feel so outraged on the entire fandom’s behalf.

Huh, the kid is eavesdropping on all of it. I feel so bad for him to having to hear this, but at the same time, I feel so proud of his spying nature. He's already picked up some of his adopted dads' talents.

Back to the wedding deathmatch. A red wedding indeed. Everybody's dead.

Two guys talking at Youyang sect, alright, whoever that is, I forgot. But, they have nice dragon decor. Ah the younger guy is the leader of Window of Heaven while the older guy with the mustache is the 5 lakes final boss. Top boss, I mean. I might be playing too many computer games, sorry. Anyway, so Youyang is 5 lakes, also confirmed by the pleated skirt soldiers around. K, k.

So, pretty heaven's window leader guy wants to get the scoop on the glazed armor situation.

Whoa, did mustache final boss guy just really say glazed armor is just a rumor? Does he think people are stupid? Even I know that it's not. Tsk. He makes Window of Heaven sound like a super power spy agency.

Everybody is after our poor kid. Ooooooooh, Baby Sushi is following the uncles plus kid through the bamboo woods. Nice. He won't let the kid get harmed, I'm sure.

There's a girl kid who looks kind of like TopTap (if you're familiar with Thai TV shows).

She seems nice, but... looks like they're just trying to get our kid out of the way to discuss stuff. Pfff, they always complain about him not knowing stuff, but how is he supposed to when he's constantly left out?

"The martial arts world won't be peaceful anymore" LOL, whut? It hasn't been peaceful from the start of the series. What is 5 lakes final boss guy even trying to say?

:O what? Baby Sushi wants to genuinely leave the kid there and thinks he's safe there?

Oh, he's onto the spy situation and Window of Heaven being involved. Cool, cool.

Aaaaand spontaneously kills a spy guy, k.

Wheeeeeeee Kissy Xing is back. Has also been following around. Nice nice.

Ah, the dead guy was from the scorpion gang. And both Baby Sushi and Kissy Xing know. Oh, so Window of Heaven is an assassin organization. Alright, the more you know. Okay!

He's so daring, talking about how everybody is after the glazed armor while wearing a piece of it openly over his clothes. And he keeps hinting at how much he knows about Baby Sushi but never outright says it.

It's always the same with those two. Kissy Xing points out how good a person he is and then flirts with Baby Sushi who then gives him the cold shoulder.

LOL, I love how the subtitles really translate EVERYTHING. A random note of Tofu Pudding, not plot relevant at all, but BAM in your FACE!

(joking aside: I am so grateful for all the subs and translations. Whoever is doing this stuff, you guys will always be my heroes. <3 )

Oh, somebody looked at them, and Baby Sushi recognized him? And Kissy Xing is like a marching band, stomping onto the scene, parading around with banners that say "Look at this glazed armor!" lol.

Ooooooh, Kissy Xing is in cahoots with the merchant lady. He's planned something. This is exciting. Seems like he's trying to set all parties up against each other: 5 lakes, scorpions, window of heaven and whoever else wants to participate.

Okay, so he let that spy guy steal his piece of glass on purpose, right? And it must be one of the fakes, I assume.

Oh, the heroes conference... I remember the name, but what was that again? Was it a 5 lakes thing? Anyway, Baby Sushi and Kissy Xing are gonna be there on uncle Zhao's invitation, alright.

See, when Kissy Xing calls the kid dumb, it kinda doesn't feel offensive to me. I don't know. It just doesn't. It's like somebody affectionately calling their pet dumb or something.

Waaah, there's another beautiful tree. Please don't burn it down this time.

There's some morse code thing going on with lots of people that I don't know. Everybody's drumming on stuff and passing along messages.

:O my Purple Queen. The love of my life. There she is. ahhhhhhhh. <3

She's also drumming on stuff, but I'm not sure it's code with her, might also just be frustration, lol.

There's a bunch of drunk guys and they're requesting the traditional DJ guy to put on some song that probably has explicit content or something, because he doesn't wanna play it.

:O they snatched his daughter from DJ guy! Right under the eyes of my Purple Queen. Ooooh, she's gonna clean up that place, lol.

Yup.

Yeah you show them! Heh.

Oh, she's got herself a fanboy. Who is he?

She still keeps drumming away on the dishes with her chopsticks. Hmm, maybe it is a code after all.

LOL, they're having this awkward conversation about double standards for guys and girls, and my Purple Queen is not having it. She is the best.

Not gonna lie, every time the series cuts back to smirklord, I get all excited.

Ok, Baby Sushi places some... nut or whatever on his chopsticks obviously some code, Kissy Xing watches and looks confused. Oh, and he almost gave away that he doesn't understand the code.

LOL, what is happening? Kissy Xing looks so pissed at my Purple Queen making friends with her fanboy.

Seriously, does he have some sort of beef with fanboy guy? LOL, won't even let the poor guy finish his meal. A+ in cockblocking.

Awwwww, and my Queen still gets it. Pinpointing smirklord in one sentence. Baby Sushi brings out Kissy Xing's humanity. And now he looks sad. It must be true.

Ahaha, "I will pay. A Xu, where is your wallet?" Comedic genius.

Oh, what a clever way to bring the subject to the "thief" guy. Man, Kissy Xing is GOOOOOOD at this. And Baby Sushi is so amused that he admits to knowing thief guy too.

My queen doesn't recognize Baby Sushi. Whaaaaat? I would have expected her to feel the sparks. Oh, wait, no, she does get it. Hehe. And Kissy Xing instantly has to praise his crush's appearance and beauty. Everything's alright again in the world.

LOL, the way she goes right in to touch him. No inhibition. No etiquette. And Baby Sushi is so surprised that he lets her, lol.

Ahaha, Kissy Xing has to stop her from touching his baby. Awww

XD, I can't deal with this. He even flat out asks why he's not allowed to touch.

And Baby Sushi replies with a compliment to my Queen and a rebuff for Kissy Xing. It's funny, but I do feel a little bad for Kissy Xing. He did not deserve that.

LOL, waiter guy wins quote of the day, "Can you all pay first? Then you can touch whomever you want, however you want." This episode is gold, man. Also, I'm all for the touching. Yes, touch each other. Go go.

Heh, nice. Baby Sushi threatens that the money is a loan and he'll expect interest. And Kissy Xing does not seem sad about owing him at all but goes and buys even more food. After all, owing Baby Sushi gives him reason to stay in touch, doesn't it?

Aww, why do they always end on smirklord scenes? I want more. :(

Okay, this was a really nice episode. I can't wait to continue.

What I learned: The ghost gang enjoys torturing people. Kissy Xing is definitely nuts guy (well not learned from this episode, but I still learned it). I need the kid to return to his dads because I miss their interaction, as does he. There's a famous  thief wandering around and he stole Kissy Xing's fake Glazed Armor. The Heroes Conference is coming up.

Goals for future epsidoes: still to figure out how Kissy Xing and Baby Sushi know each other, understand the purpose and connections of the ghost gang and why Kissy Xing is part of them. Also, just generally, get to watch more smirklord interactions. ;)

[feliciohno]

Dunno what fandoms the OP of the fanfic post is in, so maybe artists /do/ get a good deal of attention there, but I'd argue that a lot of artists are in just as big a drought when it comes to attention as writers in the hetalia fandom. I have timestamps turned on, and so much art that has hundreds of notes were done /years/ ago, and the op has either deactivated or changed fandoms. And of course when it comes to fanfic, people still talk about georgy something or other

I get where you’re coming from but lemme present you with this;

the ability to push art to the public eye is so much easier than writing. People are far more likely to quickly reblog art than they art to sit and red and then reblog a fic I follow a SHIT ton of people and I never see fanfics reblogged onto my page but art is super widespread and constantly shared also most writers don’t even post their works on tumblr they use AO3 (and most readers are the same) and you can’t reblog and share on AO3 the same way you do on tumblr

Artist identity is much more prominent than writer identity. What I mean by that is, in fandom culture you CONSTANTLY hear the “oh yeah I love [artist url]” or whatever when people see art or talk about art in fandom spaces they know the artist’s name. This is not the same for writers. I’ve almost never heard the same kinda way people talk about artist the way they do for writers. Hell, even IM bad at this I can give you the whole plot to my favorite fics but I couldn’t tell you their titles or authors and that SUCKS and we (me included) should work on giving writers the same treatment we do artists

This isn’t just about hetalia firstly yea older art has way more notes and where yes part of it is cause they’re classics and they’re still being shared to this day instead of sharing newer and more relevant artist there’s also clearly other issues at play here- such as the fact that they are YEARS old so people have years to reblog and like them hundreds of times over where newer work don’t sadly. Also we have to admit to ourselves the fandom is much smaller now. Hetalia use to be HUGE it was fucking everywhere back when we were all kids but now it really isn’t. With the indefinite hiatus the series went on and then the rise of purity and cancel culture came the discorse and harassment the fandom dropped pretty hard at least from what I’ve seen it’s not as active and bustling as it use to be when I was a kid. But throwing hetalia out the window for a moment, it doesn’t matter what OP’s fandoms were because the lack of love and support for writers is in EVERY FANDOM EVER in every fandom I’ve ever been in and every fandom I’ve watched from the sidelines it’s always been the same it’s not just hetalia it’s everything

Yes artists also don’t get shit for shit and we should also be talking about that too but advocating and pushing for more love to fan creators doesn’t mean one deserves more than the other. Artists get more attention than writers in fandom spaces this is a cold truth and it’s plain as day. However artists also still have a horribly hard time getting recognition and love from the fanbase it puts so much into so take that into account when knowing how little they get and how writers get EVEN LESS both (and other fanwork creators) should ALL get as much love and attention as humanly and physically possible in fandom spaces because fan creations make of a HUGE chunk of fandom and also it’s all FREE we do this for FREE

Also your last point only drives home my point; the only house held hetalia fandom writer name I’ve ever heard is from the old fandom and is a dudes who not only writes fucking n@zi fics but also imma say it mans shit sucks but also dude was probably like idk 12 or some shit like the rest of us so hopefully they kept writing and got better and grew and also? Stopped? Writing? N@zi fics? Yeah

Idk why people suck Georgey boys dick like they’re the last fic writer on earth but like it’s so goddamn annoying good lord almighty and that only drives home the point of- what about the authors that are writing for the fandom now? Who are STILL writing for the fandom and make awesome fucking stories do you know any of them by url? Do you tell your friends and followers about the newest fic you read and fell in love with? Probably not, I know I don’t and I know that’s something I want to work on as a fellow creator. I’ve also been working to remember to comment on fics more often these days cause honestly I didn’t comment on people’s shit either cause I was embarrassed and had anxiety but honestly I remind myself that I wish more people left comments on my shit and talked about my shit so I’ve started to work towards doing the same for other writers and I HIGHLY encourage others to do the same not JUST for the hetalia fandom but for every fandom

Comment on fics, send the authors asks about their works, share your favorites with your friends and followers, if you can maybe even do fanart for our favorite fics I know that’s a writers’s dream

Yes do more for fan artists BUT DO MORE FOR FAN WRITERS AS WELL

[cals-sunflower]

oh baby (z.k)

It was around 8 am when Zion woke up and looked down at you laying in his arms. He watched as the sun shone down on the diamond ring that graced your finger. He smiled because you’re no longer just his girlfriend but now his fiancé and soon to be wife.

“Mm are you gonna keep staring at me or kiss me?” You opened one eye and cracked a smile at him. Zion laughs and kisses your forehead. “Sorry baby, you’re just gorgeous in your sleep,” he rubs your hand. You playful rolled your eyes but then felt sick and rushed to the bathroom. Not that everyone knew but this happened to you more then once throughout different periods of the day. You’d feel sick and throw up.

Zion quickly hopped out of the bed and followed you to the bathroom. He held your hair back while you threw up. “You okay mamas? Do we need to go to the doctor or anything?” He starts asking random questions once you were done throwing up. “I’m okay baby and no doctor needed. Maybe, I’m just coming up with a cold or my period is gonna start soon,” you grabbed your toothbrush to brush your teeth.

“I’m gonna get us something to eat. I love you ma,” he kissed your cheek and with a mouth full of toothpaste you replied with I love you too. Deep down you knew there was a possibility that you were pregnant and you definitely weren’t mad about it at all. But a little worried about what your family would think since you and Zion aren’t completely married yet.

————-

You and Zion spent the rest of the morning talking about possible plans for the wedding and eating the breakfast he made for the two of you. Then you both took a shower together after cleaning up the meat that was made. He had to go to the studio with the other boys and you needed a girls day with Maggie and Ansley.

“Okay ma, I’ll see you later on today. I love you so much and hope you have a good day baby,” Zion places his hands on your face and kisses you. “I love you more and have a good day as well my love,” you waved at him while he got in the car with Edwin. You closed your door and pulled out your phone to text the girls.

Group chat:

You: Guys I need you both like now!!

Maggie🤤🖤: Bitch what’s up?

Ansley🦋💞: Yeah, you okay?

You: I think I’m pregnant but I’m scared

Maggie🤤🖤: Say less, I’m bringing the pregnancy test

Ansley🦋💞: I’ll bring some snacks

You: Thank you guys❤️

It only took about 30 minutes for them to show up at the house. You pull them into your shared room with Zion and sat on the bed.

“Damn girl, are you ready to take the test?” Ansley questioned. “I don’t know but I’m really nervous,” you started to bite your nails. “What are you nervous for? You already have that boy locked around your finger, literally,” Maggie pointed to your ring. You got up and started pacing around the room.

“We’re not officially married yet which means he still has time to leave me. Shit, he could leave the moment we actually are married. What if he doesn’t want kids right now? Or maybe he doesn’t want kids at all. Maybe I-“ you rambled on until Ansley cut you off. “Babes, you have to take the test right now. We’re gonna be here when you come out,” she hands you the three boxes that Maggie brought for you. You give a quick head nod and go to the bathroom to take the test.

It didn’t take long for you to pee on each of the sticks and once you were done you put the cap back on and washed your hands. You walked out the bathroom and sat down on the floor with the girls. “This is gonna be the longest 5 minutes of my life,” you sigh and leaned your head on Maggie’s lap. “Tell me this, would you be happy if you are pregnant?” Ansley asked.

“Ans, I would be over the moon to be pregnant with the love of my life’s child. I’ve been with Zion so long and he’s always been the one for me. I really can’t imagine a life without him in it,” you played with your ring.

To you it felt like eternity before you guys heard the little beeps from the three test. You sat up and looked at the girls, seeing their encouraging smiles. You walked into the bathroom once again to see each test say positive. “Guys come in here,” you called out to both Ansley and Maggie.

“Bitch, you’re pregnant! Omg congratulations,” Maggie wraps her arms around you as well as Ansley. “I can’t wait to see little you and Zion’s around. I’m so excited,” Ansley said. You felt overwhelmed with emotions and cried. You were happy but you couldn’t help to feel that you would be a bad mother or that Zion didn’t want kids right now.

“Why are you crying love?” Maggie wiped your tears that fell. “ I’m really happy but I’m scared he doesn’t want kids right now or maybe I’m gonna be a bad mother,” you pout and cry even more.

“Shut up, you are gonna be a great mother. I mean, look at all of the times you were the mom of the group when it came to the boys. And I’m sure Zion will be super happy to not only have you as his wife but the mother of his children too,” Ansley hugged you tighter. “Thank you guys for even being here right now,” you slightly smiled even though they couldn’t see you smile.

———-

You heard the door open and you knew that it was Zion coming home. You got nervous but kept your focus on the tv. “Mamas?” Zion called out for you being that you weren’t in the living room. “In the room Zi,” you yelled back. In no time he was standing at the door with Taco Bell for the both of you.

“Wow, I missed seeing your face today. I got you food because I didn’t know if you ate but if you did that’s okay too,” Zion pulled the food out of the bags. “Awe thank you honey. I didn’t really eat today but I appreciate you,” you grabbed his shirt and kissed him. He smiled into the kiss and pulled you closer by your waist.

“Mm I’ll be right right back, I have to use the bathroom. But put on a movie for us,” he kissed your head and walked into the bathroom. You had completely forgotten about the test that sat on the countertop.

“I was thinking we could watch a marvel movie,” you scrolled through the movies. Zion stood there with one of the test in his hands. “Mamas, you’re pregnant?” You pause at the sound of his question but slowly nodded your head.

“If you don’t want a kid right now, it’s o-“ you were about to ramble again but Zion cut you off by lifting you up and wrapping your legs around his waist. “Are you kidding me? Ma, you’re gonna be the freaking mother of my child! I’m so excited,” he smiled at you and hugged you tightly.

“So you’re not upset that I’m pregnant before we got married?” You lock eyes with him and asked. “What no. Baby we’re having a baby! I can’t wait to tell our families and friends,” he kissed you all over your face making you laugh. He placed you back on your feet and went down on his knees.

“Hi baby, I know you’re not developed just yet but me and mommy are so happy to have you. I can’t wait to hold you in my arms. I can’t wait to be a daddy and do right by you and mommy. I love you little bean,” Zion kisses your stomach and stands up. He really couldn’t wait to tell everyone but for now he wanted to enjoy this moment with you only.

[shijiujun]

Anon Asks: Thanks! I was thinking of another hurt/comfort, but if you could turn it into fluff then I’m all for it! When LY asked QCS “which would you choose: pride or money” and they both chose pride... I wondered what would make LY choose QCS over pride, or have QCS choose LY. Granted I’m only on episode 15 but I’m totally fine with spoilers! Or if that’s a little much... maybe a little moment where LY can flaunt his own family credentials to save QCS (and BYN)?

And here ya go for your second prompt anon! I’m sorry it kind of got away from me again and ended up being... ~4000 words.

--

wish i could

When a new gang comes to town and kidnaps Chusheng and Youning to force Boss Bai to give up his authority in the Concessions area, Lu Yao decides he’s going to go grab them himself. He is, after all, a member of the Lu family and Lu Zifu raised no weakass kid (when it counts).

--

Read it in full below

One would think that after the entire debacle with Norman and the British, after Lu Yao’s siblings playing all the tricks they know in the book to get Lu Yao to leave Shanghai and go home to Hai Ning with them, after almost having to marry Youning and into the Bai family, Lu Yao would finally be able to live the way he’s always wanted to.

He has friends who cherish him, access to all the best restaurants in the city, a nice apartment and a job he’s incredibly fond of — a job that comes with the perks of frequent free meals and pretty, expensive things when he wants them.

And even if Lu Yao had none of those things, he would stay, if only to have Qiao Chusheng in his line of vision constantly. To see the man’s indulgent smile when Lu Yao demands for things, to watch him command his men or exercising shirtless in the mornings at the police station, but mostly to enjoy the warmth that spreads in his chest like an unfurling flower whenever Chusheng looks at him like he’s the only thing that matters.

He knows he means something to Qiao Chusheng, even if they haven’t acted on their feelings yet. Lu Yao isn’t sure what he’s waiting for, but he is unbelievably happy and contented like this.

So he’s not best pleased when he returns to Shanghai after two weeks at home visiting his sister and father, to see Ah Dou and Salim at the train station, their expressions grim.

“… where’s Lao Qiao?” asks Lu Yao with a frown, dragging his humongous luggage behind him as he looks around, as if Chusheng will pop up with ice-cream for him anytime now.

“Lu-ge,” Ah Dou calls as he usually does these days, his face ashen. “Bai-laoye is looking for you.”

And that’s when Lu Yao knows everything has gone to shit.

Lu Yao is still afraid of seeing Bai Qili despite being on exceptionally good terms with his children and once-a-week dinners at the Bai manor with Chusheng and Youning.

Before his mind can run wild as to why he’s being brought to see Bai-laoye, Salim explains simply, “Inspector Qiao and Bai-xiaojie were kidnapped two days ago.”

For a split second, Lu Yao almost scoffs.

A kidnapping?

What utter nonsense. Who in Shanghai would dare to touch Qiao Si-ye, feared across the city with a fierce and deadly reputation that precedes himself? And even if Chusheng was captured, with Youning too? That noisy, ridiculous and bad-tempered daughter of the revered Green Dragon Gang’s leader?

One not only has to have the competency to actually capture Chusheng and Youning, but also a pressing death wish to go through with it.

He wants to laugh and chide them for pulling such an unbelievable joke, but another glance at both men has his thudding heart beat even faster in anxiety. Ah Dou, for one, has a cut on his left cheek and looks a little too pale to be at the peak of health, and while Salim’s expressions often border on the sides of either confusion or blankness, the way the lines at his forehead pulls at his skin is unmistakable.

Lu Yao dashes into the house when they arrive before Man-jie even opens the doors for him. A turn to the left from the mansion’s lobby takes him to the living room, where Bai-laoye is seated.

“… Lao Qiao and Youning were kidnapped?” blurts Lu Yao without a single greeting.

Bai Qili looks up at his entrance and without berating him for his lack of manners, gestures for him to take a seat and says, “You’re back.”

“Where are they? If they were kidnapped why haven’t we gone over to get them back yet?” Lu Yao asks, but sits his arse down on the expensive leather couch anyway.

The old man doesn’t say anything for a moment as he considers the tea setup in front of him on the table. The water is obviously cold, the lack of steam rising from the pot and teacups not escaping Lu Yao’s notice. Bai Qili has been sitting here for a while then, but Lu Yao can’t quite read his expression.

On the table next to the teapot is a black ornamental box.

“With Norman and Anderson out of the picture, there was a gap in power as you know,” Bai Qili begins just as Lu Yao is about to panic again, “The Green Dragon Gang and my trusted people were put into positions that will help secure our power in the region for the next few years to come, but the British slowly restructuring the way their people will be placed here has also allowed some other gangs to take advantage of the situation. I’m not sure if you’ve heard of the She Tou Gang?”

“Like… a snakehead?”

“They’re originally from Suzhou, but some dispute they had with another larger gang there forced them out of the city and here to Shanghai where they heard there are some territories to be taken.”

Why is he saying all this? Lu Yao watches in bewilderment as Bai Qili picks up a cigar and lights it, looking as if he’s aged a decade all of a sudden as he leans into the couch. One puff, two puffs, before he continues.

“And now they’ve taken Chusheng and Youning as hostages to force me to cede territory and the Concessions area to them.”

Lu Yao doesn’t understand why Bai Qili looks so shaken and afraid for a long moment — the man has always been the pinnacle of stability and a symbol of fear to Lu Yao, and in the confusion of the entire situation, he doesn’t get why Bai Qili hasn’t stormed the snakehead’s headquarters or whichever hole they’re hiding in with the rest of the gang to get Chusheng and Youning out.

With a sudden burst of clarity, Lu Yao snatches at the box on the table and opens it.

Lying at the bottom of the box are two cleanly severed fingers, one clearly of lighter skin and more dainty than the other.

On the thinner finger, Lu Yao recognises a very familiar ring. It’s the one he fake-proposed to Youning with, the one she kept even after admitting to everyone that their marriage was a simple sham, the one with a small diamond in it that made her want to wear it as an everyday accessory, to flaunt the favour that Lu Yao owes her for helping him.

And worse is the other finger. It’s one that belongs to a hand he so adores, a hand that hands him the things he wants. The hand that always, without fail, manages to bring him home.

Lu Yao inhales sharply as ice sinks into his skin and bones, feeling his gag reflex as the urge to throw up slams into his gut.

“You know where they are?” he asks, his voice eerily even. “And they’re from Suzhou you said?”

“San Tu, sit down. I have until tomorrow to get to the papers and make an announcement,” the man continues. “I’m not risking their lives, nor yours. It is only some property, some money and investments. We can deal with them after we get Chusheng and Youning out.”

Lu Yao’s head is running through all the possibilities, and it takes him less than a minute to decide on the best course of action.

“Tell me where they are, and lend me Salim. I’ll get them back,” he declares. “Lao ye-zi, hold off on the announcement. If I’m not back by the next morning, it’s not too late to consider that option.”

Bai Qili finally looks up, and the way his gaze rests on Lu Yao right now, it’s as if he’s seeing this man, who Youning and Chusheng have both claimed as one of their own, for the very first time. Seeing him properly, seeing him beyond his vanity, his greed and how timid he usually is.

This Lu Yao is finally looking like a member of the Lu family, one of Lu Zifu’s children.

And he knows that Chusheng must’ve seen something in him, to be so willing to lay his life on the line for his well-being and safety.

“… if any of them lose another finger,” the man concedes, “I’ll do as I planned. And if you end up losing a finger, I’m not going to deal with Lu Zifu or Lu Miao either. If this all goes to shite, we can all go to war. Ah Dou and Liu Zi know where they’re at. Take them both.”

That’s as much approval as he’s going to get.

Lu Yao shakes his head, “I’ll only need Salim and the rest of the men at the station on standby. Liu Zi and Ah Dou should stay with you in case they’ve got another plan in place, lao ye-zi. I don’t want Youning or Lao Qiao scolding me either if you get hurt.”

Bai Qili scoffs, and even though it’s entirely illogical, he suddenly feels a little more… settled. A little more at ease, as if Lu Yao can truly solve this without it escalating into war.

On the way out, Lu Yao uses the house phone to call his sister, who isn’t amused that he’s calling for a favour only a day after he left home.

When she hears what is going on, however, Lu Miao sighs audibly on the other end of the call.

“I’ll send you what you need to the station,” she ends up saying. “San Tu, San Huo and San Mu are ready if you need them, but I’ll prefer to not have to explain myself to the British ambassador again for almost causing another war.”

“It won’t get to that,” Lu Yao simply says, and Lu Miao has no choice but to let her little brother do as he wants. “All I need to know is that you’ll back me up if it comes to that.”

Ah Dou looks unconvinced when Lu Yao tells him what he’s about to do, but keeps quiet and drives the man to the station, where Lu Yao unceremoniously heads into Chusheng’s office and waits for the telegraph his sister promised to send over. It takes only half an hour, and when he does manage to read through the information, he asks Ah Dou to gather the men at the station and wait for his call, and gets Salim to drive him to the She Tou gang’s location instead.

Salim pauses for a second, as if realizing that this might not go well, and Lu Yao doesn’t pressure him. After all, the man has children and a wife waiting for him back at home, and if he refuses, Lu Yao is fine with going alone.

“… can you help me tell Inspector Qiao that I’d like a week off, paid leave, if we survive this?”

At that, Lu Yao snickers, despite the severity of the situation.

“A week off and a watch, how about that?”

“Yes sir!”

===

Youning is sniffling quietly next to him, her face all dirtied and hair a mess, dress ripped in several places. Her hands aren’t bound, unlike his, and she’s pressed close to him, her eyes darting occasionally to the hand with a missing finger on it. The blood has stopped flowing, but Youning still feels afraid, angry and upset all in one.

Thankfully, aside from the dirt and maybe some scratches here and there, Youning is safe and in one piece. All they did was take her ring yesterday.

Chusheng would do anything, even exchanging his life for hers. It is all his fault for being careless, and is it dumb of him to be relieved, that Lu Yao is not in Shanghai and wasn’t with them when they got nabbed?

He knows what they want, and he also knows that even if Bai lao-ye agrees to their terms, it’s not a full guarantee that Youning and he will walk out of here alive. After taking his finger, Chusheng can imagine the old man wavering — he is soft at heart despite all his years of experience, of bloodshed and war after war, especially when his daughter is involved.

All he needs to do is find an opportunity for Youning to escape, and he doesn’t care what happens to him.

The She Tou gang is made up of men younger than both he and Youning are, but what they lack in years of experience in the underworld they make up for in their sheer numbers and ruthlessness. Chusheng has heard of their leader, Xu Boying. At a tender age of 23, he managed to expand the gang’s power and increase their numbers precipitously, and if the British hadn’t run the gang out of Suzhou, it is likely they would have taken over that territory in another year or so.

No matter how good Chusheng is, faced with almost fifty assailants and with Youning at his side, his hands were tied when they were caught.

And if the situation was different, Chusheng would be plenty impressed by the young man’s capabilities, ambition and shrewdness. Within days of settling in Shanghai, Xu Boying managed to hit Bai Qili where it hurts and rather effectively.

He almost laughs. After just half a year of being Inspector, half a year after meeting Lu Yao, he’s entirely lost his touch. He’s gotten used to the regular life, of dealing with employees and work from 9am to 5pm most days when they don’t have cases, of having breakfasts and dinners with Lu Yao, of being a normal, regular son to his adoptive father of sorts, of meeting up with friends for a drink or a night out. No fights, no wars, no fear and just… being safe. Being just like any other person living well in Shanghai, with a stable job, with good friends surrounding him and a supportive family.

And someone he’d like to protect, and keep happy, for the rest of his life.

“We should just kill them,” one of the younger boys in the gang snaps. “What if the Green Dragon Gang brings their people here and just slaughters the rest of us?”

“That’s what the message was for. Be patient, Xiao Han. Especially since we have Bai Qili’s only daughter, that old fart won’t dare to just come in with all guns blazing. Look at us here. One wrong move and we’ll light up the explosives, and then Bai Qili is left with nothing. Trust me, he won’t dare to take the risk.”

“Ge…” Youning murmurs, looking at him.

“Don’t be afraid,” Chusheng repeats, forcing a small smile for her. “You have me, remember?”

The doors to the warehouse they’re being held in opens suddenly, and the both of them look up as a young boy sneaks in, making a beeline straight for Xu Boying.

“What is it?” the leader frowns.

“There’s someone outside. Two men,” the boy reports hesitantly. “He says he’s here for the two of them, and that he brings a message from Bai Qili. One of them is in uniform, from the station. The other… we’ve never seen before. Very tall, dressed in an expensive suit.”

At the sound of that, Chusheng and Youning exchange glances.

It can’t be…

Before Xu Boying can say anything else, the doors slam open loudly, and in saunters one Lu Yao, indeed dressed in an expensive suit as the boy said. Chusheng doesn’t recognize this navy blue set at all, and horror and panic claws at him.

Not Lu Yao, he thinks, not his San Tu.

“Great, looks like everyone is here,” Lu Yao says, uncaring of the guns raised at him at the moment, as if he’s just here for dinner.

“Who the fuck are you-“

“I’m here to take them back, of course,” Lu Yao barrels right over Xu Boying’s question, looking every bit the expensive, spoilt and rich motherfucker he is as he strolls in, almost looking bored.

His eyes rove over both Youning and Chusheng for a fraction of a second before he returns his attention to Xu Boying and his men.

Meeting Lu Yao’s gaze earlier, Chusheng almost cannot believe what he’s seeing. This is a Lu Yao he’s not familiar with, a San Tu he doesn’t usually see.

“You must be Xu Boying,” Lu Yao says, settling comfortably into the seat opposite his at the table. “The Xu family’s bastard son. I’ve heard a lot about you from my sister. Can you not point the guns at me? I’m a little scared of guns.”

There. Right there, that’s the Lu Yao Chusheng knows.

Nostrils flaring in anger at the sound of the word ‘bastard’, Xu Boying slams both hands into the table and stands up, gun in hand and pointed at Lu Yao.

“Who the fuck do you think you are?! You better look at the current situation clearly. I don’t care who Bai Qili sent as a negotiator, but if he doesn’t do what we want, we’re going to blow his daughter and that inspector up. They’re sitting right in the middle of the new shipment we got. If you want them alive, you better tell me who the fuck you are and what you’re doing here-“

“My name is Lu Yao,” Lu Yao answers, seemingly cooperative. “And you’re not going to do that. In fact, you are going to leave Shanghai first thing tomorrow morning.”

At that, guffaws and laughter echo in the warehouse, incredulous at the audacity this man has. After all, it’s more than thirty guns trained on him on the inside of the warehouse and many more at the back, who will come running once Xu Boying starts yelling for them.

“San Tu, what are you doing!” Youning calls from the side.

“Shhh, I’m having a serious discussion here,” Lu Yao hushes her with a glare.

“You don’t care much about your father or your stepmother,” Lu Yao turns to look at the man again. “But you care about your younger brother. It so happens that Xu Bolai enlisted in my brother’s private army up in Hai Ning, and honestly, it isn’t that difficult to have my Da-ge single him out and deal with him.”

“How do you know my brother’s name?!” Xu Boying snarls, his hand shaking a little.

“Do you think I’m lying? Also, where do you think you’ve been getting your stock of arms and explosives from? I’ve set my sister on it. That British middleman you’ve been speaking to won’t be able to provide you with any more goods,” Lu Yao continues. “That’s how you’ve been making your money for the gang in the past two years, correct? It’s simple enough for my sister, who’s Secretary at the Commissioner’s Office, to find the necessary people to arrest him.”

“Not to mention I’ve also called my Er-ge, who is Commander of his own army stationed in Nantong city, and can be here within the next few hours. Bai laoda might not be able to do anything to you guys, that is true.”

“But I can,” Lu Yao concludes, leaning forward slightly and holding Xu Boying’s gaze. “Just my sister alone can wipe out the She Tou Gang without having to lift even one of her fingers. Take on the Lu family and I can have you disappear at the end of the day. You, and your brothers included.”

“Don’t believe me?” Lu Yao smiles, putting both hands up as he shrugs. “Try it. If Qiao Chusheng, Bai Youning and I don’t walk out of here in the next hour, we all die together. You’re not going to get away. Dying here is the least of your concerns because if you’re caught by either Bai Qili, or anyone affiliated with the Lu family, you’ll wish you were dead.”

Silence ensues after Lu Yao’s monologue.

“… Ge,” one of the boys at the side says with a frown. “I think… this is Lu Yao, that consulting detective the station hired under Qiao Si. He is the Lu family’s youngest son. The Lu family… in Hai Ning.”

Whispers break out at that.

Lu Yao is satisfied momentarily to see that his family’s name is still able to get them somewhere. He’s not fond of invoking his dad or any of his sibling’s names, but desperate times, desperate measures.

“I’ll even wait for you to verify the information I just told you,” Lu Yao offers, gracious even in a crisis.

When all the men just stare at him, Lu Yao sighs.

“Look, I didn’t even bring anyone other than Salim with me. The Green Dragon Gang and the guys at the police station are nowhere near here. I could have brought them with me, you know. Either way, if my Da-ge, Er-ge and Da-jie don’t hear from me in the next hour, you and your friends are done for.”

“If you cooperate with me, at least you get a headstart on running,” Lu Yao finishes with a flourish.

That little bitch, Youning thinks, staring wide-eyed at this flamboyant, ridiculous and vain young master, flaunting his wealth and the power his family has without a single care in the world.

More than that, he’s telling the whole world that Chusheng and Youning are under his protection. Under the Lu family’s protection, that these two individuals who’ve lived and breathed the underworld all their lives, are people worth protecting.

Lu Yao is staking a claim, that’s what.

===

“Lao Qiao, does it hurt?” Lu Yao panics in the car later, Salim pressing his foot down on the accelerator so they get out of this ridiculous area as soon as possible. “Lao Qiao, you’re missing a finger, you’re missing… you’re missing a finger- Salim drive faster, let’s get to the hospital!”

Chusheng is quiet, but his eyes are only for Lu Yao as the tall and fair-skinned man fusses over him, acting both like a child and a nagging mother at the same time.

“It’s okay,” he finally says, lifting his uninjured hand to squeeze at Lu Yao’s. “It’s just a finger. And it’s on my left hand, it won’t stop me from firing a gun or protecting you when needed. Calm down, San Tu.”

“Yeah, where did your bravado from earlier go?” Youning turns around in the front seat to glare at him. “You scared me!”

Lu Yao glares at her, then looks down at her hands — her pristine, beautiful hands with all fingers still intact. “I had to save you guys, no? Also why do you have all your fingers and Lao Qiao is missing one?!”

“Ahhh, ge, listen to him! He wants me to lose a finger!”

“They sent two fingers to the manor,” says Lu Yao through gritted teeth, “And one with that ring on it.”

Before the two can get into a further argument, Chusheng tugs at Lu Yao’s sleeve.

“Are you really going to let them go?” he asks.

“They took a finger from you,” Lu Yao says, biting at his lips and looking away. “I told Ah Dou to round all of them up once they get to the port, because that’s definitely where they’re headed next.”

“Smart,” Chusheng grins, and damn it, he feels proud of Lu Yao right now.

“… I saved you, so shouldn’t you repay me for that?” Lu Yao asks next, “I’m so tired! I came to get you guys the moment I got off the train, and you have to compensate me for the emotional trauma I had going through that. I didn’t even get to eat dinner because you said you would bring me to dinner when I return, but look at you now-“

“Lu San Tu! Chusheng-ge has lost a finger and he’s probably got several broken bones and what  not on his body, can you please be nicer to him-“

Chusheng chuckles, because god, he has missed this. In the last two weeks while Lu Yao was gone, this was what had been missing. Just Lu Yao in their lives, filling it up with noise, stupidity and laughter.

Watching Lu Yao earlier as he stared down a group of people he would usually be so afraid of, all for him and Youning, and Chusheng doesn’t know how much more he can love him.

“I’ll repay you,” Chusheng agrees. “I’m missing a finger but… I suppose in compensation, I’ll give myself to you, if you’ll have me.”

Everyone in the car goes silent at that. Both Salim and Youning suddenly pretend to be listening to anything but the conversation between both men in the backseat, Youning having the luxury to appreciate the stars in the night sky frmo where she’s seated.

“… what’s the use of having you,” Lu Yao mumbles, his cheeks heating as he looks away.

“You can have all of me, which means my house, my money… and me,” Chusheng smiles, leaning forward to catch Lu Yao’s eyes again. “Are you sure you don’t want any of it?”

Lu Yao doesn’t reply, and nothing else is said until they reach the doors of the hospital. There at the entrance stands Bai lao-ye, and despite her less-than-ideal relationship with her father, Youning is quick to exit the car and run into her father’s arms.

Right before Lu Yao leaves the vehicle, he mumbles something under his breath, his voice low enough for only Chusheng to hear.

“Chusheng!”

“Lao ye-zi,” Chusheng greets with a smile, and the man takes one good look at him before ushering him into the hospital lobby.

Lu Yao follows, only a step behind and not even losing a finger can put a damper on Chusheng’s mood right now after what he heard.

===

Of course I want all of it.

All your money, everything you own.

And you.

--

Notes:

*She Tou Gang (蛇头帮) - I don’t know if this gang was actually operating in the same years and where they came from, I literally just googled for existing gangs in China for reference XD

*As I explained on a previous post, it’s likely that Lu Yao’s brothers were named San Huo (fire) and San Mu (wood) as a naming tradition from Lu Miao (Lu San Shui - water) and Lu Yao (Lu San Tu - earth), since we Chinese are really fond of the four elements

*Bai lao-ye (老爷) or lao ye-zi (老爷子) - Used to refer to Bai QIli as the master of the Bai family or dad in the family in a sense

[wscldier]

okay okay i’ve watched the episode again and i have thoughts. they’re under the cut below since i can’t post original stuff without like a million personals finding my blog

note these are not in order, so pls watch the episode fully before you read

sebastian goddamn stan deserves a goddamn oscar nomination already. i felt more emotion dripping from that scene in wakanda than i’ve ever felt in my goddamn life. his sadness, his fury, his confusion, his rage and his pain. the way he’s convinced that he’s gonna hurt ayo or do something terrible and then the immediate relief he felt afterwards? the confusion at it though, he’s free but now what? he’s free to do what? seb, you are one of the most talented underrated actors right now and honestly watching that scene was incredible. the man’s ability to portray so many emotions and really make you feel with single looks is just... it’s something else. holy moses.

also thank you for showing us how skilled bucky is, like speaking Xhosa? yes. he would have learnt that during his time in wakanda and he must have picked it up FAST 

z*mo is a bitch and i hate him. no seriously. guy is a n*zi in the comics, just because he did a couple of dad moves doesn’t redeem him for what he’s done

sam standing up for bucky against z*mo is just excellent. z*mo saying all super soldiers have to be eliminated and sam asking “what about bucky?” because sam knows bucky didn’t have a choice in the matter. 

sam is also talking to sharon. keeping her in the loop. 

as for the power broker... i honestly don’t think we’ll get a reveal on who he is. i personally believe it’s another computer that z*la downloaded himself onto ( it would explain how the powerbroker is so well connected and can text karli ) or it’s general ross ----- who back in the incredible hulk pushed for the super soldier serum to be made. i think it’s much more likely to be z*la but i’m curious to see where it goes. again, i think the power broker is going to be a slow reveal. we might not even get an idea of who he is until the armor wars movie.

karli using sarah as bargaining against sam was cold and cruel

again, highlighting that bucky is massively talented and skilled, that he actually holds back a lot when he’s fighting and he can actually run and jump and move at incredible speeds. very good. i also think it’s interesting to point out that bucky didn’t get the “true” version of the serum. so people saying he’s nerfed against other super soldiers can shut up. these guys got pure unfiltered serum. bucky got a botched version.

sam using his counselling to try and talk karli down? heck he was getting somewhere as well and fucking w*lker turns up

i knew... i knew w*lker was going to do something stupid like take the serum. i knew that it was gonna send him into a blind rage i knew it was going to make things bad. 

killing battlestar? that was... i mean i was expecting something like that to be the catalyst behind w*lkers rage. but i’m still a little disappointed that even in a racially charged piece of media, the black character gets killed. maybe that was the intention, maybe it was there to highlight, it’s not for me to say, but it made me feel uncomfortable.

the dora milaje can get it. and will ayo accept my hand in marriage please and thank you.

bucky shouting “looking good john” whilst w*lker is fighting ayo is one of the funniest things i’ve ever seen in my life then him asking ayo to talk about this? 

okay over the last like 10 days all i’ve seen is like people laughing that bucky can remove his arm. i am glad finally that it proved something that only wakandans with knowledge about this technology can remove it. bucky can’t slip it on and off like a fucking glove. every tiktok i saw talking about it made me groan internally 

also, bucky’s anger is so justified. like z*mo is using leverage against him, and he’s pissed as hell because the wakandans have done nothing but help and save him and he promised them he’d give them z*mo and he can’t do that till z*mo gives him the information. bucky’s anger is rightfully justified and z*mo is pushing him over the edge. it’s heartbreaking to watch.

the ending was... it was... oh god. it was extremely gory and i’m surprised that the house of mouse allowed the writers to push the show that dark. whether you like it or not, that shield is sold to thousands of kids across the world, it’s on toys, lunchboxes, folders, pencil cases. to soak the symbol like that with the blood of... okay he maybe wasn’t necessarily innocent, but he wasn’t exactly guilty either is... extremely hard-hitting. like extremely hard hitting. 

i noted that after w*lker took the serum i heard traces of orchestra playing the same low mechanical tune that they use to introduce the winter soldier theme. now, this might be a coincidence given that h*nry j*ckman is the music producer, but also because h*nry j*ckman is the music producer i’m inclined to think it’s not. w*lker for better or for worse is a tool used by the US government. he is the antithesis of what bucky was to hydra. the perfect soldier. the perfect weapon. whereas steve broke away from that the second he got the serum, it seems w*lker is falling down the path that bucky was put on.

i genuinely think that bucky is going to have to fight w*lker because no one else is strong enough. 

sharon is around but not in the episode nearly enough. i wanted more. i’m glad though she’s being the coolest spy ever. i’m hoping we get more interactions with her sam and bucky next episode.

the shot at the end where everyone is crowding around w*lker? bucky and sam looking on? that was... haunting.

[minmotl]

Chapter 28: Sui Zhou Finds Out Just What A Glutton Tang Fan Is

Context: Follows directly after Chapter 27. For plot notes, scroll to the bottom.

Introduction Post | Masterpost

--

Highlights under the cut

Sui Zhou doesn’t know how he should face Tang-daren.

Looking at someone who possesses the talent of the top imperial scholar, while he wasn’t able to rank first in the end, he was still ranked in the top four amongst the nation’s scholars and was personally presented with a merit award by His Majesty. If he wrote something on Confucius like the Interpretation of the Analects or wrote an analytical piece on Zhu Zi, that counts as an extension of his studies and is an appropriate use of his talents, but what is Tang Fan doing now by writing erotica fiction?

Tang-daren smiles at him, not one bit ashamed. In fact, he’s proud of it, “My salary is low, so I’m just earning some money from the royalties. Guang Chuan, you do not have to be so surprised. Other than you, no one else knows that I wrote this, but this book was commercially printed by the publishers. A total of a thousand copies! It’s selling pretty well.”

Sui Zhou is now completely interested. He takes the single book out and says, “I will read this.”

“That’s great! Since you’ve accepted my book, I have something I’d like to trouble you with.”

Sui Zhou raises an eyebrow in question.

Tang Fan thinks that since Sui Zhou has accepted his book, he can now trouble the man to do something small for him, “How about you go outside and help me to pick the leaves from the locust tree?”

“…”

Does he think this is an exchange of favours? After being ridiculous for half a day, the other has not given up on eating cold noodles?

He truly is the world’s largest glutton!

Tang-daren naturally does not think so. He believes that it is fated for someone like him, who lives a riveting life filled with fun and enjoyment, to come and rescue the fool that is Sui Zhou. Just look at them now, since Tang Fan joined Sui Zhou here, the other man’s life is now filled with light.

In the end, he doesn’t manage to eat the Huai Ye Tao that has been constantly on his mind. This is because Sui Zhou brings the both of them out to a restaurant for a meal instead.

There is no Huai Ye Tao cold noodles, but there are crabs marinated with orange and steamed prawns, and the prawns were just caught from the river. While not as fresh and sweet as prawns caught from the sea, these aren’t bad at all - peeling off the prawn shells and dipping them into soy sauce with sesame oil and added minced garlic, this is truly one of the joys of life.

Tang-daren is eating with satisfaction and a sense of happiness washes over him, “Guang Chuan, that we can live so happily amongst the noise and bustle of life, watching as life happens before us as we eat, this is a freedom that we may not even have even if we begged for it. This is a form of enjoyment, enough for us to sit down and slowly savour.”

Tang Fan is easy to please, he’s not like the other officials who are exceedingly stubborn and rigid, difficult to interact with, and he’s definitely not like the plenty of other people in the world who lust after gold, property, huge salaries, unlimited power or beautiful women.

From Sui Zhou’s cold, stoic gaze, a little bit of warmth shines through. He shakes his head and says, “Even if it is a rest day, I stay at the Northern Administrative Court and look through records usually and rarely come out. Otherwise, having been promoted to baihu at my age, if I don’t work harder, people will think that I rose up in the ranks because of my connections.”

Tang Fan exclaims, “Whatever others like to think, that’s their business. We only have a pair of hands each between us and none of us can shut up so many mouths. As long as our conscience is clear, we should just enjoy ourselves when we can.”

What he said is very reasonable and Sui Zhou is about to reply, but Tang-daren changes the topic abruptly, “What’s that, later get the restaurant to pack two portions of cold dishes, we can eat that for supper at night.”

Sui Zhou stares at him, his face void of any expression.

Tang-daren blinks, “Then just one portion, that’s okay right?”

Ah Dong was unable to resist and is already covering her mouth, laughing so hard she’s collapsed at the side.

With one more Sui Zhou and one Ah Dong, Tang-daren originally thought that he could live a life of happiness without having to do any housework, but he did not expect that he found himself two old mothers who like to constantly manage him, especially when it comes to food. They’re so strict that Tang-daren can only look at the snacks and sigh.

However, in general, living like this is still pretty enjoyable. After all, every day when he returns home there is always one or two people waiting fo you. You can have a meal where there are plenty of hot, teaming dishes, you can be greeted with smiling faces, hear someone asking after your day. His sister is married and stays far away from here, but now it’s as if Tang Fan has two more people in his family, the feeling is entire different.

To Ah Dong who used to be with the Li family, while Lady Zhang treated her rather well and Ah Chun was very willing to take care of her, but she was still a servant and not meant to enjoy her life. There was a difference between her and those above her, as lively and energetic as she was she could not be do anything she wanted without control, and that’s why she liked running over to find Tang Fan. Now that she has recognised Tang Fan as her older brother, the feeling of having a family is indescribable. When she first moved to Sui Zhou’s house, she was so excited that she couldn’t sleep properly the first few days.

It’s not just Tang Fan and Ah Dong. Although Sui Zhou does not say it, he’s going home more frequently, the time that he reaches home getting earlier and even when it’s his rest days, he does not stay in the Northern Administrative Court anymore. From this, it seems that his thoughts are likely to be similar to Tang Fan’s.

***

“Da-ge, da-ge!”

His sleeve is shaken a few times and Tang Fan breaks out of his trance, seeing Ah Dong looking at him with confusion.

“What is it?”

“Da-ge, what are you thinking about? I kept calling for you but you didn’t respond, you scared me!” the young girl pats at her chest, and then points at Sui Zhou, who has just walked in from outside, “Sui da-ge is back, we can have dinner!”

Tang Fan frowns “Guang Chuan, regarding the Li family’s case, I thought of something and I’m about to tell you what I know, I’m afraid I’ll have to trouble you and the Northern Administrative Court again.”

Sui Zhou nods, “Let’s eat first.”

Ah Dong brings out the dishes with a spring in her step, and agrees, “That’s right, let’s just eat first, I’m about to die from starvation!”

Sui Zhou pats at Tang Fan’s arm, “We’ll talk after we eat.”

Although the words are simply and Sui Zhou’s tone is even, from this, Tang Fan feels that he can confidently trust in Sui Zhou. Tang Fan does not realize that his expression relaxes almost immediately at that.

He nods, and then smiles at Sui Zhou, “It’s all because of Ah Dong today that we can finally have some Huai Ye Tao, I’ve been craving it for so long!”

Ah Dong protests, “Da-ge you’ve got a lot of face to say this, you almost fell after climbing the tree, and to catch you, I almost broke my bones!”

“…”

Sui Zhou thought that after bringing Tang Fan to eat outside, the man would have given up on having the cold noodle dish, but who knew that Tang-daren would make use of his time while suspended from work and staying idly at home to actually climb a tree to pick the leaves himself.

Sui Zhou finally understands what a glutton’s fixation on food is.

===

Plot Notes:

If you haven’t read the introduction you should! Link is at the top of this post. In the introduction I mention Li Man, who is Tang Fan’s original landlord before he moves in with Sui Zhou, and also one of the big bads in the novel, working as a member of the White Lotus Sect.

The case that follows these few chapters is basically Li Man getting arrested and imprisoned for killing his wife, Lady Zhang. Tang Fan originally manages to arrest him for the murder, but then he realizes that something is amiss with Li Lin, Li Man’s only son who Tang Fan knows to be a good kid with a good temperament. After Li Man is arrested, Li Lin’s personality takes a turn for the worse and Tang Fan in the previous chapters is rather perplexed about this, but brushed it off somewhat, until Li Man kills himself in prison in this chapter, and he writes Tang Fan’s name on the wall as if accusing him of being responsible for his death. Because of this, Tang Fan is temporarily suspended from work while investigations continue.

Tang Fan solves the mystery at the end of this chapter — he determines that Li Man and Li Lin swapped places due to how similar they looked, i.e. Li Lin, his son, went into prison for his father, Li Man (yes some suspension of disbelief here). He also realizes that Li Lin wrote his name on the wall as a clue for him to beware of the current Li Man who is still alive and free, impersonating as Li Lin.

Li Man manages to escape with his mistress in the next two chapters, and he’ll turn up again in the next or next next segment! It’s pretty thrilling and amazing the next time he turns up, and Tang Fan and Sui Zhou are faced with a life-or-death situation in a cave and that’s when Sui Zhou realizes his feelings for Tang Fan so!!!

===

Notes:

*百户 bai hu

There are four ranks within the Embroidered Uniform Guards - 千户 (qian hu)、百户 (bai hu)、总旗 (zong qi)、小旗 (xiao qi) arranged highest to smallest rank, aside from the Commander 统领官 (zong ling guan).

*木头 mu tou

Literally means wooden block. Used as a metaphor for a person who’s dumb, rigid, boring or someone who’s not flexible in thinking.

*槐叶冷淘 huai ye leng tao

The novel names it huai ye tao, this is a historic cold noodle dish.

*十指不沾阳春水 shi zhi bu zhan yang chun shui

A line from an ancient poem, it means that someone is able to skip laundry duties in the winter in March due to the cold weather. What this actually means is that a person was born into a good family and has the fortune to not have to wash their clothes personally, or do house chores. This is usually used to describe females.

*眼睛里流露出一抹笑意 yan jing li liu lu chu yi mo xiao yi

This is frequently used for Sui Zhou in the novel and I’m putting a note in here because this is pretty interesting. What this literally means is that in Sui Zhou eyes, a smile is revealed/emerges. In Chinese we take it to mean that he’s smiling and the smile is reflected in his eyes, I’ve translated this to Sui Zhou either smiling or exuding warmth in his gaze, both of which are of course not quite accurate, but you can see why a literal translation would be strange.

[enbyleighlines]

For the MDZS modern AU prompts, I'm intrigued by Qin Su and your OC. So maybe them and "falling leaves" ~chi-zi

Oooooooh, okay! I certainly wasn’t expecting this request! But I’m very happy to fill it~

I hope you like this!

—

Qin Su is excited. Granted, she is usually in a state of near-perpetual excitement, but today, she’s more excited than usual.

It’s Saturday, but she wakes up early. She’s too excited to sleep in.

Because today, Qin Su is going on a date.

It’s not her first date, but it’s her first date with a girl, and it’s a girl she really, really likes. The girl’s name is Zhao Zhiruo, and she’s one grade higher than Qin Su. They met at the school’s GSA club last year.

By all accounts, senior Zhao Zhiruo is far out of Qin Su’s league— not that she’s ever given much merit to high school popularity measurements. But according to every high school TV drama that’s ever existed, Qin Su would be classified as a bookworm, or a teacher’s pet. Something that translates to “nerd, but a girl.”

Zhao Zhiruo would be typecast as the self-absorbed cheerleader, the rich girl, the queen bee. Or, if not the queen bee, then one of the worker bees.

But real high school is different than the movies. That’s why Qin Su was able to ask Zhao Zhiruo out on a date.

The morning creeps by way too slowly. Qin Su sits at the kitchen counter, swinging her feet, and trying not to look at the digital clock on the microwave too often. She is already doing this long before anyone else in the house wakes up. Her date isn’t until 3 in the afternoon.

Qin Su doesn’t know what to do to make time move faster. She feels too restless to read, or to watch television.

Hope comes in the form of Mo Xuanyu, her fourteen-year-old Didi. He grins toothily when he catches sight of Qin Su, fully dressed at seven in the morning on a Saturday. In contrast, Mo Xuanyu is still in his pajamas, with a full on rat’s nest on his head.

“Couldn’t sleep, A-jie?” He guesses.

Qin Su pops up to her feet, to pull a chair back for her baby bro. “What about you, Yu-er?” She asks, “What are you doing up so early on the weekend?”

Mo Xuanyu sits down and pats her arm. “Nightmares,” he answers, “I watched that new slasher thriller last night.”

“I’ll never understand why you watch those kinds of movies when they scare you so much,” Qin Su says, and goes off to start making breakfast now that at least one other family member is up.

“Being scared is the entire point,” Mo Xuanyu explains, not for the first time. “Besides,” he adds, “it’s spooky season. I’m trying to be festive.”

Qin Su rolls her eyes. She pours the cup of rice into the saucepan full of water, and stirs, starting the process of making congee. She also tosses in some leftover fried chicken from the refrigerator, and heats the rest of it up in the microwave for them to snack on while their breakfast simmers.

They enjoy a companionable silence for a few minutes. Mo Xuanyu yawns into his palm, and Qin Su nibbles on the fried skin of the chicken.

“Want some tea, too?” Qin Su asks, already taking out the kettle.

“Please,” Mo Xuanyu says. He combs his fingers through his tangled hair, and scrunches his face up when his fingers get stuck. “Ugh,” he complains, “I bet I look so ugly right now.”

Qin Su giggles. “You look like a mop,” she admits, “but a cute mop.”

He smiles back at her.

It’s a typical Saturday morning, but today Qin Su takes the time to appreciate it. She knows she’s lucky. Her family has always been supportive, even when they don’t quite understand each other. It’s because of them that she had the courage to come out, to join the school GSA, and to ask Zhao Zhiruo on a date.

Slowly, other people begin to wake up: Qin Su’s mother, Mo Xuanyu’s mother Mo Hou, and last but not least, once the congee is finally finished, Jin Zixuan’s mother Ouyang Jiangnu.

Qin Su adds the toppings to the congee and serves everyone a bowl.

The three mothers are too sleepy to talk at first. They’re busy women, working long hours to support their children with only minimal financial assistance from the father, and Qin Su admires them all very much.

But with time, and full bellies, the women begin to perk up. And naturally, Qin Su’s date becomes the hot topic of the morning.

“What time is your date again, A-Su?” Luo Pingyang, her mother, asks.

“Three.”

“And you’re sure you won’t need a ride to the movie theater? It’s really no trouble.”

“I’ll be fine. It’s only a fifteen minute walk if we take a shortcut through the park. I wanted to see all the beautiful foliage, anyway.”

Mo Hou hums her agreement. “It really is beautiful,” she says, “I might have to go for a walk in the park later myself.”

“Hmm, I’m more worried about the yard,” Ouyang Jiangnu admits, “The front lawn is already swimming with leaves! It’ll take at least an hour to rake it all up. Maybe two. I’ll ask Zixuan to do that the next time he comes home to do his laundry.”

Jin Zixuan is a freshman in college now, and he’s living on campus. It’s still weird, not having him in the house.

“Why wait for him?” Mo Hou asks, “We’ve got two strong, capable kids right here.”

Mo Xuanyu snorts, but he says, “Sure, I can rake the lawn.” He stretches out his spine, and adds, “First I have to get dressed, and comb my hair, and wash my face. Maybe put on some foundation—“

“Yes, yes,” Mo Hou cuts him off with a laugh, “You can go get pretty first.”

“I’ll help, too,” Qin Su offers, because she can’t think of any better way to kill time until her date. And also, because she likes to help out.

“If you’re going to help me, then you should change into something else first. I don’t want you ruining that nice outfit with dirt and sweat.” Mo Xuanyu stands from his seat, taking his dishes to the sink. “You can do that while I ‘get pretty’, as my Mama so kindly put it.”

Mo Hou giggles. “That was a joke,” she says, “You’re always pretty.”

“Uh-huh,” Mo Xuanyu hums.

Because of the cute back and forth banter between mother and son, Qin Su is smiling as she retreats to her room to change.

She loves her family so very much.

—

Unfortunately, Ouyang Jiangnu’s time estimates are way off. By the time three rolls around, Mo Xuanyu and Qin Su are still stuffing leaves into brown paper bags. They only learn it’s three because Zhao Zhiruo arrives.

“Uh, hello?”

Qin Su’s head whips up. She stares, confused, at her date.

Zhao Zhiruo is popular for a reason. She comes from old money, and it’s evident in her choice of clothing. She’s wearing a designer fall coat, white and pristine, that likely costs about as much as Qin Su’s entire wardrobe.

“Zhao Zhiruo!” Qin Su laughs, and hopes there aren’t any leaves stuck in her hair. “I haven’t forgotten about our date! I just... wanted to take care of some chores, and I lost track of time!”

“It’s okay,” Zhao Zhiruo says. She looks from Qin Su to the leaf pile at her feet. “Are you... almost done?”

Mo Xuanyu jumps forward to rescue Qin Su. “Go and get dressed for your date,” he tells her, “I’ll finish up here.” Then he turns to Zhao Zhiruo and waves sheepishly.

Though they’re all regular members of the GSA meetings, Mo Xuanyu continues to be intimidated by Zhao Zhiruo.

“Right,” Qin Su says, “Thanks, Yu-er! Zhiruo, I’ll be right back!”

She rushes back inside, heart beating wildly. She can only imagine what she looks like. When she gets to her bedroom mirror, her fears are confirmed. Her face is smudged with dirt, and there are multiple leaves sticking out of her hair.

Qin Su smacks her forehead, and prays that Zhao Zhiruo won’t hold any of this against her.

—

Both girls are quiet as they take the shortcut through the park. Qin Su is in her own head, berating herself for already setting a bad first impression.

But when Zhao Zhiruo speaks up, her first words are, “I’m sorry.”

“Huh?” Qin Su looks to her. “For what?”

Zhao Zhiruo fidgets, wringing her fingers together through her gloves. “For being rude... asking you if you were ‘almost done’.”

“Oh.” Qin Su thinks it over, and decides, “I didn’t think you were being rude.”

Zhao Zhiruo gives a small, hesitant smile. “That’s good,” she says, “Sometimes, when I talk, I come across as rude. I have a mean-sounding voice.”

“I don’t think so!” Qin Su is appalled. Who would dare say such a thing to Zhao Zhiruo?

“You don’t?” Zhao Zhiruo blinks, clearly surprised.

“Not at all! And anyone who’s ever told you that is the real meanie!” Qin Su flushes at her choice of insult. But it’s too late to take it back now. “I think you have a lovely voice.”

The other girl blushes, too. “I wish I had a voice like yours,” Zhao Zhiruo confesses, “It’s bubbly, and sweet. Everyone knows you’re friendly just by talking to you.”

“Well, thank you!” In truth, many people find Qin Su’s voice annoying, especially her laugh. It’s too shrill, they say. Qin Su is pleased as punch that Zhao Zhiruo apparently begs to differ. “But you should really appreciate your own voice more. It’s very charming.”

“You don’t think it’s too deep?” Zhao Zhiruo asks, unconvinced, “People say I sound like I’m always being sarcastic.”

Qin Su thinks that over. “Well, you are sarcastic an awful lot,” she admits, “but I can tell when you’re joking, and when you’re being sincere.”

“Oh? How can you tell?”

Qin Su thinks even harder. “I don’t know,” she admits, “It just sounds different.”

Zhao Zhiruo finally relaxes. “I guess I’ll just take your word for it,” she says, and begins skipping a little with each step. She looks up towards the sky and gives a pleased hum. “Autumn leaves are so beautiful,” she says suddenly, “Too bad it’s so cold, or it’d be my favorite season.”

“If it wasn’t be cold, it wouldn’t be fall,” Qin Su points out, “I like it! Fall is my favorite season. Yours?”

“Mine’s summer,” Zhao Zhiruo replies. She kicks at a collection of leaves on the paved pathway. “But fall is good, too. I know it makes me a basic bitch, but I like all the pumpkin spice flavored stuff.”

Qin Su laughs. “Yeah, me too! But sometimes things are popular for a reason.” Like you, she thinks.

“Hmm, yeah, I suppose you’re right.”

After that, conversation comes more easily to them. They enjoy the scenery, and talk about their favorite things. Qin Su gushes about horses and cats. Zhao Zhiruo tries to explain all the convoluted love triangles going on in her favorite TV dramas. Even before they get to the theater, they start holding hands— for warmth, Zhao Zhiruo insists.

Qin Su smiles the entire time. Admittedly, she’s a bit naive about romance... but she feels like she’s experiencing the start of something very special.

[4seasonswithiu]

[TRANS] 190711 OnlyU-IU China share fun moments they had with IU and her team on the set of Hotel Del Luna

Our staff members double checked the items before the departure with an anxious heart. Fortunately, we were able to reach the set on time despite the heavy traffic. The food truck, tent, tables and banners were all set up when we arrived at the set. Then, it took us another 40 minutes to prepare all the gifts by putting them carefully in each paper bag and stacking them up on the table beside the buffet tent.

Not too long after we were done with the gift preparations, manager Hanteo approached us, gave us his warm greetings before checking out the buffet tent. As the weather was pretty hot, Hanteo jokingly told us that he would ‘drink’ all the (Ghana) chocolates within the gift bag right away. When going through the other gifts, we especially pointed out that the Voluspa aromatherapy candles were for IU Team, so Hanteo thanked us in Mandarin, saying “xie xie!” as well.

He reminded us that since we would have to wait a little longer, so stay away from the sun in some shade. He also passed on the gifts to director Oh, actor Yeo Jin Goo and IU Team. Later, PD told us we could pass the gift to IU in person in a while.

We gave the staff of Hotel Del Luna the gifts we prepared as they passed by from time to time. During dinner time, some staff came to collect their gifts and we got the HDL team PD to pass on the remaining gifts to other busy staff on the set. 

Around 8PM, IU finally appeared in her pony tail, white loose t-shirt and pants. Since the coffee truck was right beside the entrance, so she took lots of proof photos with the help of Hyesun and the new manager (Moon Ji Hwan) first. After greeting us, she expressed her gratitude for the gifts and meal that we prepared, telling us that she would enjoy the meal and asking whether we were hungry as well or not. We still managed to answer her that we were ‘hungry’ though our mind went completely blank at that moment as we were softened by her sweet tender eyes. IU then invited us to join her for dinner.

The HDL team PD also encouraged us to sit beside IU for dinner. Together, we also had Hanteo, Hyeseon and the new manager (Ji Hwan) with us in one table, and thankfully all of them ate a lot. IU seemed to have noticed how nervous we were, so she kept initiating conversation with us. She said, “we (IU Team) are usually quiet whenever we eat, and given the hot weather and packed filming schedules today, so everyone’s still in a daze. Did all of you travel all the way from China? It must have been hard for you guys to be here given the scorching hot weather.” When she was told that some of us would have to catch the early morning flight in a bit, she frowned as pain and sadness clouded her features.

When eating, director Oh came by so IU introduced him to us and we quickly bowed to him. Director Oh was pretty adorable and not all that serious or solemn as he greeted us enthusiastically and expressed his gratitude for our support. He kept the Hotel Del Luna customised towel around his neck all the time, even when he was having his meal.

Seeing how most of them were almost done with eating, we brought out the gifts and explained to them about the Diptyque’s limited edition ‘The Legend of the North’ series’ candles first. IU was touched upon knowing that we chose the candles because it suited Man Wol’s mysterious aura, saying “ah~ because it suits Man Wol!”. She also let out a tiny ‘wow’ when we told her we bought GUCCI’s A Kiss from Violet perfumed oil for her because its violet scented (IU’s favourite). We also let IU have a look at our charity/ donation certificate, telling her that hundreds of Uaenas participated in this donation and some of us visited the institute with some necessities and played with the kids there to which IU replied ‘aigoo’ tsunderely/ proudly and dearly. She also asked about the details and complimented us ‘Hen BBang!’ (so amazing) in Mandarin since one of us personally went to the welfare institute. IU gave us a big thumbs up, saying ‘Zzen Bbang! Xie xie!’ (really amazing! thank you!) when we mentioned about the necessities that we have donated. One of us caught on the right timing of the atmosphere and started applauding, to which IU joined her right away, followed by Hyeseon, Hanteo and all HDL staff from other tables who had no idea of what’s going on. It suddenly turned into an ocean of harmony 😂.

Click here for more details of IU’s birthday gifts (candles and perfumes), fan donation and fansupport by OnlyIUcn.

We also told IU about her super topic ‘#IU’ that has accumulated over 10 billion reads on Weibo recently and she was ultimately shocked. Since she’s not familiar with how weibo functions, so we explained to her that the hashtag is sort of a community on weibo where people could leave their posts, comments, votes and screenshots there to support her. She seemed to have grasped on the super topic concept after going through some of our posts in the hashtag section and showed off the milestone achievement to people around her. 

IU: Hey, I achieved 10 billion reads! Hanteo and Hyeseon: As expected from the scale of mainland China, they don’t just simply go with (small numbers like) ten thousands when it comes to calculations.

We passed the <10 Years of Flower Road> book to IU, sharing with her that C-Uaenas designed, edited and compiled everything about her within this book in celebration of her 10th anniversary. We also tried to find the best printing manufacturer that we could to bring out the best quality of it. As soon as she got the book on hands, she kept gasping in admiration, saying “wow this is truly amazing. This is impressive, OnlyIU’s scale is no joke” as she flipped through the pages slowly. She especially stopped at one of the pages which contained IU Team’s photo, too bad the whole book was written in Chinese so the staff unnie tried to cheer her up by telling her that they could translate right away using mobile apps. All of them joked a few times about looking for someone who knows Mandarin and asked everyone to hurry up and learn the language too.

Click here for some details of the book

IU really likes the calligraphy gift that we gave her so she took a special proof shot with it. Since it’s written in Chinese, she asked us about the meaning of the poem. We were still in a daze at that time so we only explained briefly that it’s a poem about the moon. IU said she would try to look for a professional to interpret it.

Poem: The Moon Festival by Su Shi

When will the moon be clear and bright? With a cup of wine in my hand, I ask the blue sky. I don’t know what season it would be in the heavens on this night. I’d like to ride the wind to fly home. Yet I fear the crystal and jade mansions are much too high and cold for me. Dancing with my moon-lit shadow, It does not seem like the human world. The moon rounds the red mansion stoops to silk-pad doors, Shines upon the sleepless Bearing no grudge, Why does the moon tend to be full when people are apart? People may have sorrow or joy, be near or far apart, The moon may be dim or bright, wax or wane, This has been going on since the beginning of time. May we all be blessed with longevity though far apart, We are still able to share the beauty of the moon together.

Even though we are thousands of miles and oceans (Yellow Sea) apart, nothing can stop us from surrendering our hearts to the full moon (Man Wol) C-Uaenas present president Jang Man Wol this poem And may the opening of Hotel Del Luna blossom 

*Yellow Sea is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula. *Full Moon is pronounced the same way as Man Wol in both Chinese and Korean.

밝은 달은 어느 때나 떠오를지 술잔을 잡고 하늘에 물어본다. 달 속에 있는 궁궐은 오늘밤은 어느 해인지 모르겠구나. 나는 바람을 타고 돌아가고자 하니 달 속의 궁궐이 높은 곳이라 추위를 견디지 못할까 두려워라. 일어나 춤추니 그림자도 따라 도는데 어찌 인간 세계와 비길 수가 있으랴 달그림자가 붉은 누각 빙 돌며 곱게 조각한 창문에 드리우니 달빛에 비추어져 잠을 이룰 수 없네. 더 이상 번뇌가 있을 수 없는데 무슨 일로 오래도록 이별할 때에 이렇게 둥근가? 인간에겐 슬픔과 기쁨, 이별과 만남이 있고 달은 흐리고 맑고, 둥글고 이지러짐이 있으니 이런 일은 예전부터 완전하기가 어려워라. 다만 바라기는 멀리 떨어져 있는 이가 오래 살아서 천 리 밖에서도 이 밝은 달을 함께 구경했으면.

Note: This is a famous Mid-Autumn lyric written by Sushi(a poet in Song Dynasty) for his brother Zi-you(1039-1112) when the poet was away from the imperial court. According to some commentators, “the palace on high” might allude to the imperial palace and therefore, after reading this lyric, Emperor Song Shen Zong said that Su Shi was loyal.

When IU was giving us her signature as acknowledgement (of the fan support), we noticed that IU’s mandarin pinyin skills were remarkably impressive, she came up with most of the pinyin (as shown in the picture) and kept seeking confirmation from us (just incase she made a mistake). She wanted to write 시원한 여름 (a cool and refreshing summer) so badly because it kind of means “watching horror movies” in Korea too (납량). She wanted to write “we will see each other very soon” so she added “see you soon” in English too. It was obvious that IU urged to write using lots of pinyin but she didn’t have much time since the drama team was rushing to another filming venue already. Nevertheless, she drew a big thumbs up and yummy bowl of rice for us and was eventually made fun by IU Team. They jokingly asked her “what are those?”, making IU shooting daggers at them keke.

“Dear. OnlyU-IU China ♥   Thank you all!! Well done!! 👍 Yummy 🍚💕 Miss you guys…♥ I love you guys! Stay healthy! - from IU” 

“Dear C-uaenas ♥ I miss you all very much See U soon! Don’t fall sick...☆ Thank you! 😊 - from IU”

Lastly, we told IU that we would enjoy watching the drama to which she replied “please do enjoy (watch) the show (properly), it’s very interesting.” She kept thanking us a few times in Mandarin after bidding farewell to us too.

The PD came by after that and took the huge IU (with her head facing down) photo away, explaining that he would hang it in the waiting room. We weren’t sure whose waiting room he was referring to since we didn’t dare to question more, so we could only pray and hope earnestly that he’s taking it to IU’s room TT.

Then we sent off the coffee truck & buffet tent owners and bid farewell to the entire crew on the set before leaving. We lost count of how many times we went around the set to bow (give greetings) to make sure we didn’t miss any corner of it.

Despite being short of hands due to some of our members who couldn’t make it last minute, but we are very happy to have completed the fan support, passed IU her gift in person and relayed her greetings and thanks to C-Uaenas safely. We are fully aware that IU made lots of adorable facial expressions and kept a smile on her face all the time because she wanted to express her gratitude towards Uaenas who worked hard together to bring up the fan support to her on the set. Once again, we thank Uaenas who contributed in this fan support. We will continue to give IU the best fan support!

Source: OnlyU-IU 中国首站 @ Weibo  Translated by IUteamstarcandy

[fanficimagery]

Imagine being the witch who caught Viktor Krum's eye (Part 1 of 2).

Author's Note: I know the story took place in the 90's, but we're going to bring the story up to speed in the present time. Which means GoF is taking place now-ish. Writing Krum’s accent took some time. I tried my best. Just look at that Bulgarian Bon Bon. I’m still in love to this day.

Viktor X Reader

The Triwizard Tournament is all that anyone can talk about. Well.. that and the Yule Ball which set off the female population of Hogwarts into a frenzy in hopes of attracting the date of their dreams. But you- even though your Head of House has encouraged you to find a date and attend since you're a Sixth Year- you rather just watch from the sidelines and skip the Ball all together.

The Sixth Year Hufflepuff females aren't too bad, but with the weekend now here you're more than ecstatic to escape the dorms. With the appropriate work out clothing on, you grab up a bag and shoulder the strap before you head outside to stretch and then jog around the lake.

The sky is lit just enough to make you comfortable and you're glad that you've gained permission from the Headmaster himself to be out on the grounds so early in the morning. The lake is covered in an eerie fog and you can hear the faint splashing of the giant squid in his environment, but you don't let that deter you from your goal. Then finding a boulder, you set your bag down in front of it.

Taking off your outer robe, you shiver as the morning air hits your skin. Decked out in a plain black sports bra and burgundy spandex shorts, you sit on the damp ground and start your stretches. You give yourself twenty minutes to stretch the muscles in your legs so you won't cramp as you run, and then spend another few minutes jogging in place to get your heart pumping. Then before you decide to take off at a leisurely pace, you reach into the bag you brought and pull free an iPod. It's something your father had been working on at his last place of employment, the Wizarding world having finally decided to experiment with magic and technology, and you're glad to say that the iPod has held a miraculous full charge even though you've been using it whenever you go on your runs. So strapping the device into the armband around your bicep, you then plug the headphones into your ears before turning the device on and losing yourself in your morning run.

After one full lap around the big lake, the sun is fully up but it's such a gray morning that you can't really tell how late in the morning it actually is. But since it's the weekend, you have all the time in the world and don’t have to worry about being late to class. You sit by your boulder and slowly sip some water from your water bottle while doing a few more stretches, and it's during these stretches that you technically meet him- the him in question being Viktor Krum.

Krum is decked out in his own workout gear and being followed by his loyal little fan club. The surly wizard pays them no attention, he alternating which knee he hikes up in his own version of stretching as he walks the shore of the lake. You take a moment to appreciate his arms from a distance and then your breath catches when his gaze immediately zones in on you. You gulp as he holds your gaze and then decide to nod in greeting, his lips faintly twitching into a small smile as he nods back.

With Krum disappearing in one direction, you plug your headphones back into your ears and head off in the opposite direction around the lake once more.

Another week of classes pass and you're again grateful for the weekend. Everyone's been going crazy over Viktor Krum and what the first task of the tournament could possibly be, and you're more than ready for some alone time. So with a container of grapes from the elves in the kitchen and a few warming charms casts upon a blanket, you head outside where hardly anyone will be because of the too cold air.

Settling down atop the blanket beneath a tree, and thankful that the snow hasn't accumulated beyond a thin layer, you drop your container of snacks and the iPod in front of you. With the headphones unplugged, the iPod becomes it's own little speaker and you let the music play aloud while you pop grape after grape into your mouth.

With your legs stretched out and crossed at the ankles, you're reclined back and holding up all your weight with your left hand while your right hand picks through the grapes. And with the music playing, you don't hear anyone approaching until they're standing at the edge of your blanket.

Wrapped in a long black coat and a scarf wrapped around his neck is none other than Viktor Krum. "Vould you like.. company?" He asks, his accent heavy with uncertainty.

You blink in surprise and swallow. "Oh, uh, sure." Quickly grabbing up your snack, you also reach over to lower the volume of your music. "No fan club?" You then jokingly ask when you realize he's utterly alone for once.

His lips twitch. "Ne. Pietro took the.. polyjuice. He keep girls busy for me."

"Merlin," you laugh. "That's hilarious." Viktor actually grins this time, nodding once in agreement. "Grape?" You then ask while holding the container out to him. "I'm Y/N, by the way."

"Viktor," he replies while grabbing a few grapes. "You no.. English? Accent different."

It takes you a moment to understand what he's asking but when you do, you answer immediately. "I'm American. I only transferred schools last year."

"Ah." He takes the answer in stride, he then gesturing to your iPod when nothing else is said. "Vot is zat?"

"It's an iPod," you tell him. "It's no-maj technology that's been tampered with by a bit of magic. It holds thousands of songs and can either play aloud or through little speakers that you plug into your ears so only you can hear it."

Viktor reaches for it, but when he hesitates you tell him that it's okay. He picks it up and you smile as he searches for buttons. "Vot?" He clicks the only button at the bottom and when the screen lights up, he startles.

"It's called a touch screen. It works with the heat of your finger. Just tap or swipe the screen."

Watching Viktor manipulate the iPod makes you chuckle and it eventually brings another smile to his face. "I like zis. I think I vant one for self." After he sets it down, he eats the grapes still in his hand while looking out across the lake. "You like.. dance then?"

"Mhm. Though my dancing is bit more.. inappropriate than what I've seen here. I don't know how to do all these traditional dances I hear about."

Viktor frowns but keeps his gaze averted. "You no go to Ball then?"

"Eh," you shrug. "If someone asks me, I'll go. Just means I have to learn how to dance appropriately as to not embarass myself or my date. If not, then it doesn't really bother me."

Nothing else is said, though Viktor does nod in understanding at your answer, and he sits with you while the music continues to play. The grapes are quickly finished and he blushes when he realizes he ate quite a lot, but after assuring him that it's fine he seems to calm and sag in relief.

For the following couple of weeks leading up to the first task, every time you see Krum in the halls of Hogwarts or outside in the court yard, he always has a rather secretive smile when he catches your gaze. He had figured out that you ran early in the morning and took to jogging around the lake with you, sometimes racing you and laughing when your swear at him every race he wins.

Some of his fan club have taken notice of his stares and have also taken to glaring at you, especially when you not-so-quietly mock them and their giggling in the quiet of the library whenever they don't let anyone get their work done.

The day of the first task soon arrives, and after waking up late and dressing in a long sleeve shirt and jeans with warming charms spelled into the fabric, you grab a quick bite to eat from the kitchens before heading on down to where everyone is supposed to gather. The crowd of students are beyond excited and you take your time entering the stadium and climbing the stairs to find an open seat.

Between the Slytherin and Hufflepuff, the Durmstrang are all gathered and ecstatically waiting for the task to begin.

"Hey. You!" Startling at the hand wrapping around your wrist with a surprisingly gentle grasp, your attention snaps to the dark haired Durmstrang student next to you. "You are Viktor's vitch, da?"

"Uhh.. I'm a witch," you gulp and nervously chuckle. "And Viktor is a friend, so-"

"Good. Then you sit vith us," he says. He wastes no time in dragging you towards the other Durmstrang boys, all of them grinning at you and welcoming you with heavy accents. Then sitting down, the same boy gives you his attention once more. "Vhy no support?" He asks, gesturing to your shirt that simply reads Nap Queen and not your house colors. "You are Hufflepuff, ne?"

"Yeah, but I don't really have friends here and neither champion from Hogwarts deserve my loyalty."

"Vy not?"

You shrug. "No one really talks to me. I only transferred here last year and everyone already had their little group of friends. The only time someone did talk to me was to borrow my notes from class because they were too lazy to take them themselves."

The Durmstrang student scowls. "You no cheer for Hufflepuff champion then?"

"Hell no," you scoff. "Cedric relies too much on his fluttering eyelashes and hero hair to get what he wants. And Potter.. that kid gets away with everything. I'm actually rooting for Viktor."

His scowl disappears and his dark eyes seem to spark to life. "Good." Whipping out his wand, he then gestures to your shirt. "Do you mind?"

"Uhh.. no?"

He laughs and flicks his wand this way and that way. He's muttering some spell and you glance down when you feel your shirt tighten around your torso. Your shirt is still black, but the once white words are now red and have been changed to read Krum. He turns you around and taps your back with his wand, he then telling you that you now have the Durmstrang crest on your back.

"You are honorary Durmstrang today."

"Awesome."

The task soon starts and you manage to hold your breath when the first dragon is brought out. Knowing about them and then seeing them in person is vastly different, and your heart pounds with fear when you realize what they have to do. Each champion has a different dragon and each champion must figure out a way to get passed their dragon to steal a golden egg.

Cedric is first up and a majority of the stadium goes crazy for him. Durmstrang boos and you hide your smile behind a hand, watching as your fellow Hufflepuff transfigures a rock on the ground into a dog. For a moment the dragon chases the dog and it's long enough for Cedric to grab up his golden egg, but then the dragon takes notice of Cedric and blows a stream of fire at him. Cedric's face gets burned much to everyone's horror, but the kid still manages to complete the task.

Fleur goes after him, she attempting to put her dragon to sleep and succeeds. However, the girl is too arrogant for her own good and after grabbing her egg she decides to take her time walking back towards safety. Soundly asleep, her dragon chooses the most inopportune time to snore and shoots a great jet of flame outward. The fire catches Fleur's skirt and it briefly causes the blonde to panic before putting the fire out and completing her task.

Viktor is announced next and you cheer loudly with the rest of Durmstrang and some of Slytherin. The Chinese Fireball dragon is tethered in place and your arms immediately cross over your chest to keep from shielding your eyes. You don't want to hide away. In fact you need to see this- to see that Viktor is going to do fine. The moment Viktor walks out, he immediately brandishes his wand and hits the dragon right in the face with some spell. It roars in a rage, shaking it's head back and forth as if disorientated before stumbling to and fro.

"Run!" You scream.

Viktor manages to scoop up his egg, diving and dodging the irate dragon that's apparently blind. And while he's managed to complete the task given to him, blinding his dragon had the unforeseen consequence of the dragon stomping on and crushing the rest of her nest.

"No," you groan. "They're totally going to deduct marks for that."

The Durmstrang are all cheering despite the dragon crushing her eggs and while they're all distracted you sneak off through the crowd to see if you can sneak in to see Viktor while everyone is busy awaiting Harry's turn.

In the tent, Cedric is whimpering while applying some burn paste to his face and Fleur is speaking very rapidly in French to her Headmistress while wildly gesturing to her burnt uniform. Viktor is off in his own little section, angrily ripping off his gloves while tossing them on a nearby table.

"Look on the bright side, Krum. At least you didn't get burned."

Viktor pauses in stripping off some of his uniform, his scowl disappearing at the sight of you. Gaze darting to your shirt, his brow furrows. "Vot are you vearing?"

And spreading your arms wide, you chuckle. "Your school mates apparently adopted me. I'm Team Krum for the duration of this tournament."

He slowly grins and shakes his head in amusement. "They are terrible, ne?"

"I don't know about that," you grin and walk closer, leaning against the cot. He copies your position so you're nearly shoulder to shoulder. "They're decent dudes. Friendlier than those at Hogwarts at least. I've talked more to students from your school than I have to those here at Hogwarts."

"Their loss then."

The crowd erupts in cheer when Harry Potter's turn is announced and you roll your eyes. "That kid has bad luck. Bet you a galleon he either gets seriously injured or his dragon breaks the tether." Krum chuckles and just when the two of you are settling into a comfortable silence, screams of horror can be heard.

"Mr. Potter has nabbed his egg, but the dragon has broken free and is after him!"

Viktor gapes as your eyes widen. "I was only joking!" He then erupts in raucous laughter.

As the crowd noise dies down, Viktor is still chuckling and you hide your face in your hands with a groan. Seriously, that kid was cursed.

"Vill you go to Ball vith me?"

Your head snaps up and you stare at him with wide eyes. "What?"

"Yule Ball," he faintly smirks, a hint of a blush dusting his cheeks. "You go.. vith me?"

"A-Are you sure?" You ask, incredulously. His smirk widens and you can feel your face heat up. "I mean there are a bunch of girls who'd kill-"

"But they are not you, skŭpa. They are.. fans. You are.. friend."

"Oh. Uh, yeah. I-I'd love to go with you." Viktor seems to sigh in relief, his answering smile practically making you swoon. "But just so you know, you're teaching to me dance all fancy."

"It vould be an honor."

Translations are from Google, so I'm 95% sure they are wrong. But I was desperate and just went with it.

Da - Yes Ne - No Skŭpa - sweetheart

[canyouevencauseicant]

Truly Good At Heart (Pavel Chekov Imagine)

Author’s note: Hey guys, so this is my first imagine in a very long time. I’m hoping to write more from now on, so please don’t hesitate to request imagines and give some constructive criticism! Enjoy!

You sat in the prison bay on board the U.S.S. Enterprise, glaring at the three men standing on the other side of the glass looking in at you. One of them, who you had heard referred to as ‘Captain’, was watching you with severity and an almost scolding look, while the other two, both in blue shirts and one of which was a Vulcan, simply watched you with curiosity and slight confusion. 

“Captain, are you certain that she is what you stated earlier?” The Vulcan inquired, turning to look at the man in the yellow command shirt, whose gaze didn’t shift from you for a second. ‘It’s not like I’m going anywhere. What’s this guy’s problem?’ You thought to yourself, a scowl (somewhat matching the other man in a blue shirt’s one) appearing on your face.

At this, you stood up and matched the Captain’s gaze with equal ferocity, “A mercenary, you mean? Yeah. That’s me. Now, can I get the hell out of here and back to what I need to do?” At this, all three men stared at you before the other man in blue spoke up, “How can I put this in a way you’ll understand? You’re a damned professional murderer, kid. So you’re under arrest until we get back to Earth.” At this, you simply walked up to the glass barrier and snapped, “I’m getting arrested for going after one of the most dangerous fugitives on the loose? A fugitive who was on death row for the murder of hundreds of innocent civilians, men, women and children alike? Please, I’m doing the Federation a favor. That is, if you morons have the sense to let me get back to my job. I almost had him when you idiots beamed down and arrested me. ME! Instead of that criminal!”

“Don’t you get it kid? You’re a criminal too! You’ve killed people too!” The Captain snapped back venomously, and you would’ve recoiled had that been the first time you heard that. But, luckily, you had heard that multiple times. You told yourself that many times a day. So, you just rolled your eyes and said, “I didn’t kill people. I DON’T kill people. I kill monsters. Horrible, deranged monsters who have lost every last ounce of their humanity, or any sense of right and wrong. Besides, wasn’t it your beloved Starfleet that ordered his capture? “Dead or alive”, I believe the arrest said?” “How the hell did you know that?” The other man in blue said, his eyes narrowing in suspicion as he watched you. You just smiled before cocking your head to the side, your tone dripping with false sweetness and innocence, “I’m not just a pretty face. I’ve picked up a few skills along the way.” At that, all three men fell silent, watching you incredulously. Then, the Vulcan suddenly spoke up, his tone calm, “What is your name and age?”

You rolled your eyes before leaning against the wall, “Don’t you know it’s rude to ask a lady her age, Pointy?” The Vulcan cocked his head to the side, “’Pointy’? Is that a derogatory reference to-?” “Spock, we’ve already been through this. Just forget it,” The Captain cut him off, before turning back to you, “By Starfleet regulations, any and all persons under arrest are required to answer such questions. So, kid, who are you?” 

You glared at him for a moment before sighing and standing up straight. However, just as you were about to explain who you were, the doors to the prison bay opened and in ran a young man with curly hair who couldn’t be that much older than yourself. You couldn’t help but notice how cute the young man was, but you quickly shook the thought out of your mind. “Keptin! Keptin! Ve haf just received a message from Starfleet! Zhey haf ordered all wessels to go after zis fugitive, sir!” The young man exclaimed as he handed the Captain his PADD. You cocked your eyebrow in interest as you watched the Captain go through the information on the PADD, and as his face paled and he looked up at you.

The young, curly-haired man looked at you for the first time, and when he saw you, he did a bit of a double-take; what was a pretty, young lady like yourself doing in the prison bay? Meanwhile, the Captain held up the PADD to face you, a picture of the wanted fugitive you had been so close to getting, “Is this the man you were after?” You just nodded your head, “Yeah, that’s him alright.” The Captain turned to the three other men, and after a little while of the three of them conversing quietly, they turned back to you and the Captain spoke up, “Since our introductions were interrupted, I believe we should take a moment now. My name is Captain Kirk, and before we decide anything, we need to know more about you. So, once again, who are you, kid?”

“My name is (Y/L/N). (Y/N) (Y/L/N). I’m 17 years old, and I have 23 kills to my name,” you stated simply, watching their faces intently. You felt slightly smug as you watched all their eyes widen when you stated your age. However, none of them flinched when you listed your kills except for the young Russian, who looked startled and even a bit afraid. But now, he was watching you intently, his big blue-green eyes focusing on you with curiosity. You decided to continue, sighing quietly as you told your story, “I never really had a proper family, but in the end I found one. It wasn’t perfect, but they took care of me and taught me to take care of myself. Now, here I am.” When nobody commented on that, you decided to drop your guard just a bit and be honest, “Look, I know I’m not a good person. I’ve killed people, yeah, but I did it because they posed a threat to others. I guess.....in some strange way.....I felt like I was doing something good. But now........guess that’s over. So, what’s the deal?”

That truly took Kirk, Spock, Bones and Chekov off-guard, You had gone from cold-hearted mercenary to a small, young, vulnerable girl in a matter of moments. Kirk, Spock and Bones began to talk quietly once more, but Chekov simply watched you for a few more seconds. The more he looked at you, the more he got the feeling that you weren’t truly as bad as maybe your profession made it seem. You looked up at the Russian, and you couldn’t help but smile a bit at him. This small smile solidified Chekov’s gut feeling, and he turned to the group and quickly interjected, “Excuze me, Keptin, but I think ve should let Miss (Y/L/N) help us.”

Kirk, Spock and Bones all shut up for a few seconds before turning to look at the young ensign. “Oh yeah? And why’s that, Mr. Chekov?” Kirk asked, genuinely intrigued to hear what his navigator had to say on the subject. Chekov cleared his throat before beginning his explanation, “I have no concrete vay of proving zat my opinion iz correct, but I have a gut feeling zat Miss (Y/L/N) izn’t az bad az ve think she is, sir. And zere might be a chance zat ve can convince Miss (Y/L/N) to change professions, and if she proves useful enough, to even perhaps join ze crew.” 

The three senior officers stayed silent as they processed what Chekov had said, but then Kirk had a bit of a smile on his face as he said, “I think Chekov might have a point here.” “Jim, you’re not seriously considering-” Bones began, but Kirk immediately cut him off, “Of course I am. Bones, this girl might be our key to catching this guy. So I think Chekov’s got a point.” And with that, Kirk spun around before addressing you once more, “Well, Miss (Y/L/N), I think there’s a chance of us letting you go, but in exchange, you need to help us catch that fugitive. However, if you try to escape, you’re coming straight back in here with no second chance for release. If you try to turn on us, same thing. If you try to attack anyone, I’ll have Bones sedate you and drag you back here. Understood?” 

You looked at him, taking everything he said into account before nodding your head, “Alright, Captain Kirk. You’ve got yourself a deal.” After a pause, you continued, “Thank you for giving me a second chance. I know I probably don’t deserve it.” “Don’t thank me,” Kirk replied, a small smile on his face as he patted the young Russian on the back, “Thank Mr. Chekov and his gut feeling, here.” You turned to face the young man, before smiling at him and bowing your head gratefully, “Thank you, Russian. I owe you one. Big time.” At that, Chekov blushed a bright pink before smiling at you and replying, “It iz no problem, Miss (Y/L/N). I juzt hope you prove me right.” “I’ll try my best,” you replied, being more honest than you had in your entire life.

*TIME SKIP*

“Quick! If we split up, we’ll have a better chance of getting him!” You shouted to Kirk over your shoulder as you fired your phaser. 

You were caught in a shootout with the fugitive in an abandoned building, and you knew there were only a couple ways this could end; either he would kill the whole lot of you, as he had done countless times before, and get away, or you would manage to run the bastard down, corner him and bring his destruction to an end. 

“Captain, the statistical probability that this is simply a ruse to escape is extremely-”

“Shut it, Pointy! This is a matter of life and death!” You shouted immediately, shutting Spock up as you continued to fire, trying your best to hit your current target. You weren’t certain, but you thought you heard a slight snort come from Kirk as watched your back. 

“Miss (Y/L/N) juzt might have a point, Keptin. Zis iz getting us novhere!” Chekov shouted from his position, just across the corridor. You took a second to shoot him a small smile, and you could’ve sworn that a pinkish glow appeared on the Russian’s face. Kirk grabbed your shoulder and quickly yanked you back into the small alcove where you were hiding, narrowly saving you from a blast to the face.

“Now’s not the time to flirt, (Y/L/N)!” Kirk scolded you, although the look on his face gave away that his scolding was less serious than you believed it to be, “I think you’re right. We’re gonna have to split up. I’ll stay behind with Spock, distract our target. I’ll let you and Chekov find your way over to him and get the bastard at last. Be careful, (Y/L/N), you’ll only have one chance. Don’t blow it.”

“Me? Blow it?” You scoffed, withdrawing a second phaser and setting it to ‘Kill’, “Never.”

Kirk looked as though he wanted to retort snappily, but before he could, you shouted “Cover me!” and dashed out into the open corridor, once again narrowly avoiding several shots as you made it to where Chekov was standing. “Come on, Russian. Let’s go!” You muttered as you grabbed him by the sleeve and tugged him after you. 

You could feel your heart pounding violently as you sprinted from corridor to corridor, weaving your way closer and closer to your target. Your blood was rushing in your ears and it drowned out the sound of phaser blasts, your footsteps, everything. Even Chekov seemed to fade away as you got closer and closer to the target, to the monster who had killed so many people, torn apart so many families, ruined so many lives... 

‘This is your chance, (Y/N)! This is your chance to end the bastard! This is your chance for justice!’

You felt the anger and the pure, unadulterated rage coursing through your veins. This was it. This was going to be the moment you had been waiting for, the moment you had been hunting down and chasing for so long. This was it.

As you and Chekov rounded a corner, you caught sight of your target. Thankfully, Kirk and Spock were doing a grade-A job of keeping him engaged and distracted that he didn’t notice your and Chekov’s sudden appearance. Your heart was frantic now, beating so hard that your chest physically hurt from anticipation. Your breathing was shaky and you could feel sweat breaking out as you approached the fugitive. 

“(Y/N), are you alright?”

Chekov’s voice startled you out of your daze, and you quickly shrugged him off with a mumbled, “I’m fine. Got this.” You could pretty much feel Chekov’s worried gaze piercing your back, but you couldn’t allow him to get in the way. Not now. Not when you were so close.

You felt a piece of you shut down. You were going into killing mode. You were taking the most vulnerable, softest, most innocent piece of yourself and locking it away. You didn’t want this to cost you more than it already did every time you had made a kill. This was it. 

Suddenly, everything was going in slow motion. The world around you moved ten times slower than you. Everything was silent. There was just you and the fugitive, this monster you had been hunting for so long, this bastard who had to pay for the things he had done. 

You found yourself sprinting towards him.

His back was facing you.

He was turning.

Suddenly, he was face to face with you. 

You felt yourself raising your phaser. 

You felt your phaser firing, you had taken the shot.  

You watched his body drop to the ground.

But though his eyes closed and his body went limp, you could see his chest rising and falling. He was still breathing. 

He was still alive.

‘What are you doing?!’ Your mind screamed, ‘Kill him! Kill this bastard! Make him pay!’

Some part of you registered Kirk, Spock, Chekov and the rest of the crew present joining you, binding the fugitive so he couldn’t escape and setting him up on his knees. Your blood was still rushing in your ears, louder now than before, and your heart pounding even more violently than ever. You could see Kirk and Spock talking to one another, as well as with other crew members, you could see their lips moving. But you couldn’t hear a sound. 

You turned to see Chekov watching you carefully, his lips also moving, but you could not bring yourself to read them. You could not hear him, either. 

‘Forget him! Kill the bastard! Kill him! He deserves to die for all he’s done! He deserves this! Kill him!’

You watched as the fugitive slowly regained consciousness from being stunned. You watched his eyes focus in on his surroundings, you watched him compute what was happening, what had happened to him. 

You watched his eyes widen and fill with fear, probably for the first time ever, as you found yourself pointing the phaser right between his eyes. 

“(Y/L/N)! What are you doing?! Put your phaser down!” Kirk shouted as he saw you do this. But you ignored him. You could hear Chekov shouting as well, but you didn’t care. You had to do this.

You looked this fugitive, this man, who had done so many bad things, who was up to his neck in other people’s blood, and watched the fear that was so foreign to him flash in his eyes as they flitted between you and your phaser. You knew he was at your mercy, and he knew it, too. And yet...

You don’t know what happened, but instead of your finger moving to pull the trigger, your mouth moved instead.

“You have no idea how long I’ve dreamed of killing you. I’ve pictured a thousand different ways of making you suffer before finally snuffing out your miserable, empty life. I want you to pay for what you’ve done. You have killed so many people, and hurt so many more in the wake of all your destruction. You deserve to pay. But I’m not going to kill you. Because killing you would be all too easy. You wouldn’t truly suffer. You wouldn’t pay for what you’ve done. You’d just get away with it all. So instead, I’m going to let you live. You’re going to have to live with the knowledge that you’ve killed innocent people, that you’ve destroyed and torn apart so many lives. And all for nothing.”

You took a deep breath after speaking, your voice quiet and even and borderline calm despite your pounding heart. After a couple moments of silence, you spoke one last time to this creature in front of you, “I’m not going to kill you. I’m not going to kill you because I’m better than you. I know better than you, and I will not let myself become like you. Not now, not ever.”

With that, you found yourself holstering your phaser and turning away as Starfleet crew members took the fugitive into custody and carried him away. You squeezed your eyes shut as you took a few calming, deep breaths, trying not to let yourself be overwhelmed by everything that had just happened. You didn’t know where your words had come from, you didn’t know why you had the sudden change of heart, but it happened regardless. 

“(Y/N)?”

Chekov’s voice was soft, but it still startled you slight. You must’ve flinched because Chekov quickly said, “Zorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you.” 

After a moment, you opened your eyes and looked up at the Russian, who had a smile on his face and a look on his face that seemed nothing short of awed. 

“W-Why are you looking at me like that?’ You asked, your voice shaking as the courage from before seemed to fail you. Chekov gave a slight chuckle before nodding his head to something behind you. When you turned your head, you realized that most of the crew members, including Kirk, had the same expression on their face as Chekov had had on his. Spock was the only exception, but even he had raised his eyebrows, clearly more shocked than he’d expected to be.

“What are you all staring at?” You snapped, your usual demeanor returning; you hated feeling or being seen as vulnerable.

After a few moments of silence, Kirk stepped forward and began to speak, “(Y/N), in all my years of being a captain, I have never seen anyone been able to restrain themselves like that. Especially not in a moment like that. You’ve been chasing this guy for ages, and you easily could’ve killed him. And yet, you chose not to. I don’t know anyone who’s ever done that before. That was incredible.”

The rest of the crew nodded in agreement, many of them smiling at you as they did so. You felt the heat rising to your face as you shrugged and replied, “In all honesty, I don’t really know where that came from. It just... happened, I guess.”

“I zhink...” Chekov started softly, causing you to look at him, “...zat it’z becauze you are truly good at heart. Regardless of your past, you haf goodness in you, (Y/N). And you just uzed it. Zat iz vhat zat vas.” 

You watched the Russian’s face for a couple moments, and your heart gave a funny little lurch as you gave him a genuine smile, “I hope you’re right. Thanks, Pavel.”

Chekov’s eyes widened, “How do you know my name? I’ve never said it in front of you.”

At this, you just smiled cheekily and replied, “As I told Captain Kirk earlier, I’m not just a pretty face. I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve.”

As Chekov just stood there, dumbfounded, Kirk burst into laughter. “Oh man, you’re quite a mischievous one, (Y/L/N)! Although, I’ve gotta say, Chekov’s right. Your heart seems to be in a better place than I thought it was. I think you’ve got the makings of a great officer in you, and Starfleet could always use someone as talented as you.”

You stood there for a moment, suddenly as dumbfounded as Chekov was as you sputtered, “B-But my criminal record! I’m a criminal, aren’t I? A mercenary. I can’t just apply for Starfleet. Plus, I’m still under arrest.”

Kirk bowed his head, “Yes, you are. For now. If we bring you in and credit you with the fugitive’s arrest, as well as vouch for your character... well, you’d be able to eventually become a part of Starfleet. But it will take some time. Promise to think about it?”

You stayed quiet for a moment, looking from Kirk to Spock, and then from Spock to Chekov. Chekov just smiled at you, making your heart jolt once more. You turned back to face Kirk and replied with utmost confidence, “Definitely. But for now, let’s get this villain back to Earth so he can stand trial for his crimes.”

“Indeed,” Spock chimed in, nodding his head and heading off with the crew, back towards the shuttle that had brought you all to this place. Kirk smiled at you and Chekov, said “Well done, both of you,” and then followed after Spock. This left just you and Chekov behind.

“Man, did that really just happen?” You breathed out, in complete disbelief. Chekov laughed softly before placing his hand on your back gently, “Yez, it did.” A shiver seemed to run down your spine at the contact, but it was a good kind of shiver. One you had never felt before. You felt warm and comforted for the first time in what felt like forever. 

“I hope you do enlist in Starfleet, (Y/N). Ze keptin iz right; you’d make a great officer.” Chekov spoke gently, causing you to grin back at him and reply, “I hope so, too. I guess we’ll just have to see what happens next.”

“Vell, I’m sure zat vhatever happens, you’ll be able to handle it.” Chekov said confidently before he headed off after the rest of the crew. 

You stood there for one last moment, watching Chekov’s retreating figure with a small, goofy smile on your face as you thought to yourself, ‘Well, I guess there’s only one way to find out.’ before setting off after him. 

[sailor-cresselia]

Zi-O 29-30: Blade spoilers within (from someone who has NOT watched Blade)

Ha! Black!Woz walks out of the Storytime vault and into 9-to-5.

White!Woz: Haha sweet I get to choose Another Blade

Swartz: Hey, what do you think of being a person who gets used… you know, hypothetically speaking…

White!Woz: ...ah. Well. Shit.  

(We continue this super spoiler-iffic liveblog under the cut. It gets long - this one made it to about 3,000 words. My apologies to mobile users. Just... scroll. Scroll like your life depends on it.)

Awww… the café from Blade has photos from back then on the counter, that’s so sweet. And Amane’s actually wearing the recent necklace for Chalice – that’s a really nice touch there, Toei. Product placement, but it’s a really nice tribute.

Another Blade’s design is – that’s terrifying, that’s a lot of knifes. I like how the spade symbol glows red, and it doesn’t have the ‘handle’ part of a spade. It’s a heart, too. But the thing is… this is the second Another Rider to not have the lens-eyes. Everyone up to Another Zi-O had them, and he notably didn’t.

I know people have been saying they’re proud of Sougo for managing to graduate, and I agree. I really do. I’m happy for our book-dumb protagonist. It’s actually kind of nice to see all four of the ‘team’ together. You know, for certain definitions of ‘team’.

Noting here the Tsukuyomi hasn’t told Sougo that his ‘dream’ was. Not actually a dream, so much as a memory. It makes sense that a small 8-year-old reality warper would take the trauma of something like what Swartz did, and assume the first time he saw it was a nightmare, too.

(Seriously, screw that guy.)

Okay, so, I have not watched Decade, but… from the two (2) films I’ve seen with his cast – WxDecade and the first Hero Taisen movie – this seems to be pretty damned in-character for this Daiki guy. “Lol sup hi just saying hello don’t mind me” *proceeds to steal all your transformation trinkets*

Case in point… Sougo and Geiz don’t notice their personal watches are missing until they go to activate the button on the side. Not when they don’t pull anything out – no, when they go to turn them on. Boys. Boys please.

Also, can I just say that I’m starting to see why people pair Tsukasa and Daiki? I mean, the guy came out in a ~magenta~ apron. And they’re both little shits.

Sougo just shoves Woz in front of them. Woz!Kikai is so OP, oh my god. First the mind control thing when it debuted, the satellite dish lasers in Another Zi-O, and now it has extendable robot arms to grab the watches back. Oh my god.

(Kaito, suddenly copied into another existance as Baron: GFDI just let me be a tree spirit already)

(I know it’s a doppelganger, but seriously. So many Barons. So little patience on his end for people constantly trying to revive him as a pawn.) 

Sougo: Okay, so, you guys’s past is my future, and since it’s 2019, anything that happens in 2068 is the future now, so aren’t you talking about things that haven’t happened yet?

Woz: My lord, please, verb tenses get complicated enough without you speaking.

OOF. Yeah, uh, there’s gonna be a. A few problems with Blade ‘2019’. Namely that he isn’t supposed to be in, like. Japan. Ever again. Because Bad Things Happen when he is around fellow Undead. (He made an exception for Gorider, because a certain zombie f*er was stealing his gig, and poorly at that.

((Am I saying that he’s an asshole who is also a zombie, or that he would do a zombie? … Both. I’m saying both.))

Sougo: Okay, so, we need one person who can fight on both ends, and really, if a team is going after Geiz’s watch, it ought to include Geiz, and you guys want me to go after the Another Riders, so of course the groups are me with Tusukyomi, and Geiz with Woz! :) It’s only rational! :) And if you happen to work out whatever’s going on between you, well, that’s just a bonus, isn’t it? :)

Geiz: ...if I kill him, it’s your fault, you know.

Tsukuyomi: This is a terrible idea.

Sougo: I know! :)

(gasp) Dark Toei is giving us the forbidden rebel backstory!

Oh goody Woz was the leader of their team! And he said he was going to ‘infiltrate’ Oma Zi-O’s camp! And everyone died because he seems to have switched sides. Delightful.

White!Woz: Excuse me? I see a pair of powerups here, but not the one I specifically requested you get.

Daiki: Lol you mad?

White!Woz: ...fight us irl bitch.

Daiki: Heh.

Huh… So… when White!Woz’s tablet makes someone do something, they’re supposed to hear his ‘narration’… and maybe that’s a recent idea from the team, but. When it seemed that he was compelling Sougo to come after him – I can’t remember when, it was during either Shinobi or Quiz, but Sougo and Black!Woz were talking in 9-to-5, and he summoned Sougo away, that didn’t happen. Hm.

Sougo: Dang, couldn’t even knock the watch out temporarily. Drat.

Hm. Regulus is showing up in the daytime now… and so is the rest of the constellation. That can’t be good.

Oooh, nifty. Another Blade has the inverted heart for Chalice on her torso, but the spade for Blade on her. Well, blade. As well as a circular saw, which is a bit overkill when you consider the literal knives sticking up from her shoulders.

Oh, hey, remember that theory about how the Another Riders are technically the enemy that each rider fought? Like how Another Gaim opened cracks into the Helheim forest, and Another OOO bled Cell Medals like a Greeed?

And remember why Kenzaki can never return to Japan?

Undead are drawn to fight each other.

Okay, I get why a speed versus speed battle, to counter Woz!Shinobi, would wind up with Diend summoning Accel. But why Birth? Date’s version was never particularly fast – he’s more of a Mighty Glacier. And the suit isn’t really intended for speed, since Gotou was only particularly speedy when he used the Cutter Wing ‘attachment’.

And then I am immediately answered. Bike juggling to get Woz into the air, so that ‘Birth’ can shoot him down without mercy. (Was reminding us of the bike form really necessary? Was it? I don’t think it was. I could have done without seeing that in-action again.)

Diend: Wow, that’s cold, even for me, watching your friend get beat up like that.

Geiz: Bold of you to assume we’re friends. He’s a born liar. I mean, he’s using a ninja form right now.

Geiz: Yeah, no, Woz, screw you. I know you wanted a distraction. Asshole.

Diend: Aw, look, they do like each other.

OH THANK COSMOS it’s Chalice Versus Zi-O. ...for now. There’s about minutes left for everything to go terribly, terribly wrong. (Because Blade.)

And then it immediately went terribly, terribly, wrong.

Kenzaki and Hajime haven’t transformed in years, because they can’t. They would feel each other’s power, seek each other out, and be forced to fight. Probably the only time Blade has reappeared was in a slightly-alternate reality. (shakes fist at Gorider). And Kenzaki looks absolutely terrible. How did you get here so fast, sir? That jacket has clearly seen far better days, is the damage recent?

Some excellent ‘teamwork’ on Geiz and Black!Woz’s parts – using Shinobi’s finisher to get the two targets in one spot for Geiz’s finisher. Clever. Pity that the other two watches aren’t here.

And with that, and some brutal slashes exchanged between Blade and Chalice…

we move to episode 30.

The power-up watches get all electro-staticy, and try to start a chain reaction with White!Woz, but it doesn’t hold up. Hm.

Geiz: What’s your issue?!

Diend: Looking for my boyfriend-rival. No big deal.

Oh man, neither of them want to be in this fight, but they don’t have a choice. Zi-O accidentally knocks Another Blade into the line of fire for Actual Blade’s finisher, so naturally Chalice steps in to try and take the hit.

It doesn’t… technically work. She still gets knocked out of her transformation, back to Amane, and he’s still in his armor.

Kenzaki: oh god oh shit what the hell?! Amane?! what’s going on oh shit

Woz’s storytime vault…

Oh… The Day of Oma is apparently meant for Sougo to stop the end of the world… apparently as brought on by the Battle Fight.

… Rider versus Rider, right? A pair of Riders who can’t coexist, but also can’t not coexist. And yet another who is supposedly erasing all Riders from history. Starting with the primary members of each group. So… if Blade goes, the world goes. If Chalice goes, the world goes. If they both go, Oma Zi-O rises.

“An interesting game, Professor. The only way to win is not to play.”

Zi-O II’s shot in the opening has been replaced by Zi-O Trinity.

Geiz can relate pretty hard to Kenzaki’s resignation to having to fight Hajime, but also to his desperately not wanting to do that thing.

Once again, we have the question of “What is the future you are aiming for?” The question of “And then what?”

Geiz wants to see the one that Sougo – that they will create.

<3

Junichiro: Hey, what are your plans for the new era?

Sougo: ...Uncle, you have no idea how loaded that question is with this group.

(or does he?)

Hey, that camera’s a clue in more ways than one, isn’t it? Another Blade was attacking photo studios, because Hajime’s a photographer. But that camera’s awfully similar to Tsukasas. Who asked you to repair, that, I wonder…?

Yeah, Woz, you’re kind of being a hypocrite here. Criticizing a woman for wanting to reconnect with an old friend/mentor, while unable to get over the urge to lord over having been Geiz’s superior. GEIZ has a point in his anger. WOZ is just being an ass. And Sougo hones directly in on this.

Kid’s got a decent Charisma stat, too.

When Amane picks up the photos, through to when Kenzaki calls for Hajime. That! The Background!

I think that’s a piano ballad version of “Zi-O: King of Time”!

OST when?

And, also, can we get another instance of Future Soldier in-show anytime soon?

Okay, okay, sorry, back to the show.

OH NOOOO.

Firstly, White!Woz summons the two into a fight.

Then he forcibly activates the Another Blade watch inside of Amane.

The transformation has a screen with Another Blade’s face appear and move over her, just like the card that appears when Kenzaki transforms.

Ow, my heart.

OH SHIT RIGHT.

These two episodes have made no effort to hide the green blood that both Kenzaki and Hajime have – from the miscolored bruises to actual bloodstains. And Undead can be ‘sealed’ away – that’s where the Rouze cards come from in the first place. Another Blade – no. Amane doesn’t want them to fight – doesn’t want them to have to fight. So she seals their powers. Their emblems move onto the Another Blade… armor, I guess is as good a word as any.

And now their wounds are red.

But she just took the powers of two Jokers, absorbing them into one person. Leaving one person with the Joker designation.

Herself.

Please note that I typed this immediately before restarting, only to watch the Sealing Stone appear.

It’s the end of the world as we know it, and nobody feels fine.

Oh, the cinematography of this show. A beam visually separating Sougo and White!Woz from their angles on the stairs – it’s going the opposite direction, making an x with the handrail behind them.

We’re back to the question of “And then what?”.

White!Woz’s future is gone, the potential isn’t there anymore, so he’d rather there not be a future at all. I guess we’ll never see if my ‘a future frozen in an endless moment’ theory was right. Pity. I was wondering if they would go that route for him.

Oooh, an orchestral version of ‘Zi-O: King of Time’!

“You can’t just give up! What’s the use in assuming that it’s over?” Sougo is cheering on even his enemy this boy is not nearly as dark as he assumed in the Ryuki arc, oh my goodness. “You can’t say that any one future is set in stone, so keep trying, keep opposing us! I’ll... No. We’ll keep foiling your plans, but you can’t just give up on the world.”

And the orchestral theme just keeps rising in the background.

Oh… and Sougo said the same thing to Woz. Geiz says that he can’t stand living in the past. And, like I guessed last episode, in like, the fourth section of this liveblog… The past that they’ve lived is, technically, still in the future from where they are now. From Sougo’s perspective, and from the perspective of time itself, none of that has happened yet.

Besides, like Geiz is saying, they came to the past to change history anyway. They’re making a new future, all of them – Sougo, Tsukuyomi, and Geiz… and Woz.

“Do you want in?”

“… That sounds interesting.”

Hm. The Trinity watch – which is somehow successfully created by White!Woz – has all three of the current Belt Voices, doesn’t it? The two that the Ziku Driver uses and the high-pitched one from the BeyonDriver.

“If you use this, I will accept it.”

… accept what? The option to create a new future? The future that Sougo’s aiming for?

Nifty – the light from Regulus and the Day of Oma burns out the clouds from the Sealing Stone.

Pffft - ‘the light is guiding us’ no, no it’s not so much that…

(I love the ‘wtf is going on’ faces from Kenzaki and Hajime)

GEEZ Trinity’s basically a mini-Sentai mech, with all three of them in one place inside.

“Guys, no, I’m sorry, I know none of us know what is going on, but I have to take control for a second, I have to do my speech okay, it’s in my contract. This is not optional.”

I like how the hand on the clock moves to point to whoever’s in control of the body.

I really like how Trinity forms all of their weapons – and how they dissolve when discarded. Nice touch.

And I really like the triumphant section of ‘King of Time’ playing behind this fight.

...Regulus is shining still, brighter than before. With a ‘shine’ of pink, yellow, and green. Their colors.

“Why did you choose to let me stay?”

“Because I think you have more potential.”

White!Woz accepts that ‘his’ world will never exist, and that Sougo will create a better one. He goes out peacefully, and warning Black!Woz – no. Warning Woz that Sir Swartz is planning more than they know.

He goes out with a shimmer of golden motes of light, and the glitching effects that have been a key sign of time re-writing an existence.

Oma Zi-O: You’re almost done… only six more until you’re me.

Sougo: But what I don’t want to?

Daiki yoinked the Future Note. Show off.

Which, of course, creates a slight problem for me and my potential ‘fix it’ of Zi-O, down the line in the Re-United ‘verse. Or, rather, a complication.

See, the draft I’ve got has at minimum one of the Den-O’s and Zeronos ferrying Riders back and forth. THAT is how I plan to deal with the amnesia issue. Not warning them in the present and past, like I had planned. But having the ‘contemporary’ versions of them just. Sorta travel backward, and pretend that they’re the ones that from in the past. Just… ya know, keep their past selves unaware of what’s going on, take the brunt of temporary power removal. Fill in for themselves when Zi-O and Geiz meet them.

And I had everyone scheduling this from Tsukasa having somehow duplicated Black!Woz’s book when he grabbed it during the Ghost arc. I have never seen Decade, and have no idea if that would even be part of his powerset. But, like, Trinity just knocked off his ability to turn Riders into weapons and stuff, so. Ya know.

I’m apparently not that far off, if I can work Daiki into it. … need to watch Den-O and Decade first, but that’s just how it goes.

The complication is my stated ‘not wanting to touch on Zi-O’ aspect. I now admit that I want to handle it somehow, but if they keep airing concepts similar to ones I’ve been working on for months, I’m going to get accused of lying.

Arceus, Cosmos, and Gaim DAMNIT.

Of course, you may have noticed I skipped a scene there during the re-cap.

Because not for the first time, something has been saved by Zi-O taking powers away. I’m still decidedly not here for the amnesia concept, and I am not okay with the fact that certain characters have potentially been un-created – Ankh, Parad, Poppy and the like among them – but here’s the thing.

Both Kenzaki and Hajime remember being Blade and Chalice. They can properly retire – They’re both bleeding red. Hajime was never human to start with – he was using the Spirit card to be human. But he seems to be human now. The Blade and Chalice watches appear to have taken their Joker situation out of the picture.

Like how his intervention by introducing the father to Emu, who clearly went on to point him to Hiiro, saved the son during the Ex-Aid arc.

Like how the girls would have never gone missing during the Fourze and Faiz arc, to say nothing of Takumi and Kusaka being decidedly more alive than usual.

Like how Kaito also appears to be alive again after the Gaim arc.

And how neither the girl or her brother died in the Ghost arc.

How Rentaro can become Shinobi in a newly created potential future.

How Mondo got to meet his father.

… admittedly, his apparently re-creating the events of Ryuki might be a problem. I haven’t had a chance to watch any of the RIDER TIME specials, but I hear that’s what happened? Sorry, Shinji.

But here’s the thing. A not-insignificant number of things have turned out for the better… and as long as the ‘you were never riders’ thing can be… worked around…

Hmn.

((also, just a quick note, if you comment on any of the sections in here, I’d really appreciate it if you specify which statements you’re talking about. These recaps get really long, so... y’know, it’ll make it a little easier for a conversation.))

[electricbluetempest]

Widowerner AU - Part 3

The family was ecstatic, but one person still wasn’t entirely convinced. “So his ghost is moving the little window thingy?” Wilbert asked. “Yup, it’s like a way for spirits to talk to us from the other side.” Rosie explained. “But why can’t we see him? Your dad’s a ghost too and we can see him.” “Because my dad crossed over from the other side and decided to stay here.” Wilbert tilted his head, then asked the board a question. “Can we /see/ you again, dad?” ‘Yes’ The air around everyone got colder all of a sudden. Rosie’s spine tingled, there was a lot of spiritual energy suddenly forming here and she could feel it. This is the last one, so enjoy it anons!! (Feat. Luds’ ghostblossom fankid)

Perhaps Nic has to wait for the perfect time for his idea to come. He told his dad he'll be out for a bit and went to the end of Isle 3 to find his friend, Rosie.

"Hey... sorry about your dad, Nic." She approached.

"I know.. say, now that my dad's a ghost....."

"What, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Let's find him if he's inside the train" The two said together.

They went inside the train as Rosie grabs a walkie talkie "Is Dr. Alfred Kahl on this train?" No ghost didn't come up to the young woman. Rosie faced her friend and sighed. "I think we're gonna have to do this the hard way."

"What do you mean 'the hard way'?"

"Get the Ouija board, we're summoning him."

The two of them sat down on the ground by the train with a Ouija board, both of them with their hands on the planchette and waiting for something to happen. Rosie had lit a candle and put it beside them as part of the ritual they were about to do.

“Do these things actually work?” Nic asked. 

“Trust me, I’ve done this before.” 

“How do we know if the spirit isn’t lying?”

“I’ll be able to tell. Now. If there is a presence here, let us know.”

The candle wavered and went out, but neither of them felt any wind. Nic’s eyes widened. Is this really it?

“We are looking for the spirit of this boy’s recently deceased father. Are you the ghost of Dr. Alfred Kahl?”

The planchette seemed to skitter, slowly hovering to the ‘yes’.

"Dad?!"

"Shhhh, don't scare his spirit away away."

Nic kept quiet as a small gust of wind whooshed over his face. "Are you lying? If not, do you know my name?"

The planchette slowly moved to the 'no'. Meaning the ghost is not lying. Then the planchette hovered to the letters 'N', 'I' and 'C'. 

"Dad.... can you hear me?" The planchette moved over to the 'yes' again. Nic was relieved. He's actually talking to his dad.

“Oh my god, it’s really you! Dad, we’ve missed you so much!”

‘I  M-I-S-S  Y-O-U  T-O-O’

“But, with this, it’s like you’re not really gone! Rosie, this is amazing!”

Nic stopped himself. He realized this could be his chance to say something to his dad. “Listen...I’m sorry I was a bad kid growing up. I keep thinking back to all the times I got mad and yelled at you, and I just feel awful and stupid. And I’m sorry I never got to say goodbye as you were dying. ...Can you forgive me?”

‘I  A-L-R-E-A-D-Y  H-A-V-E’

Nic felt a weight off his shoulders. “Is there any way we can see you again?”

‘YES’

“I can feel the presence slowly leaving.” Rosie said with urgency. “Spirit, send your final message before I lose the connection.”

‘B-R-I-N-G  T-H-E  R-E-S-T  T-O-M-O-R-R-O-W’

The planchette slowly scooted to the 'good-bye'.

Nic had a small smile on his face. "Rosie. thank you."

"You're welcome."

Nic stood up and went back home, it was already late at the evening and he had to come back for dinner. He got back home with Werner and Wilbert at the table. 

"Goodness, vhy are you late? Your dinner's getting cold."

"Sorry dad, I actually did something really awesome today."

"Vat is it?"

"I talked to dad!"

Werner didn't believe that much. Did this really happen?

“How is zhat possible?”

“So you remember my friend Rosie? She and I went and channeled his spirit! We actually got to talk to him for a bit.”

Werner was amazed. “Can ve see him?”

“He wants us to meet him again tomorrow. You, Wilbert, Uncle Robot, all of us should go to Rosie’s tomorrow so we can do this again.”

As Nic ate his cold dinner, Werner felt a warm feeling rising in his chest. A mix of excitement and relief, he had felt so empty after his husband died and now they had something to help with that feeling.

It was already past bedtime, quarter to midnight, Nic is still up writing something in his journal.

'I did something awesome today. I talked to my friend Rosie earlier to ask if my dad's ghost is present. Fortunately, this board thingy (Ouija? is that the spelling?) called my dad's ghost and I was able to talk to him! I promise him to bring my family tomorrow so my other dad can see him too! For now I should be asleep. This is Nic Werman, signing out. Good night!'

Nic closed his journal and placed both the book and the pencil on his desk and turned off the lights. He snuggled under his blanket and closed his eyes. By the window, a ghostly figure can be seen forming a shape of an old man. Dr. Kahl touched the glass to see his son asleep.

"Thank you, Nic....."

***

Nic could barely concentrate at all the next day. This was going to be the real deal, his family was going to see what he saw last night. When nightfall finally came, he rushed everyone out of the house to meet up with Rosie.

“So, why are we here again?” Wilbert asked as they arrived at the haunted railroad tracks.

“Rosie has a way for us to speak to dad again. When I spoke to dad’s ghost last night, he wanted all of us to come here.”

Wilbert’s eyes got wider and he had to hide his excitement. Werner was trying to do the same, still a bit skeptical about how this exactly worked. Rosie was waiting outside for them, ready to begin.

"You guys know the drill?" Rosie asked as she lit the candle.

"What's this board thing?" Wilbert touched it.

"Hey... you don't want to summon an evil ghost."

Wilbert placed his arms away as they all wait for any paranormal presence.

"If there is a presence, let us know." A sudden gust of wind blew, the candle was put out. Nic had a smile on his face, knowing his dad came. "We are looking for the soul of this family's recently deceased relative. Are you the ghost of Dr. Alfred Kahl?"

'Yes'

Werner opened his eyes to find out his husband had came to see them. "Alfred? Is zis really you?" 

 'I-T-S  M-E  W-E-R-N-E-R"

It was the robot's turn to ask. "FATHER? ARE YOU ACTUALLY TALKING TO US?"

'Yes'

The family was ecstatic, but one person still wasn’t entirely convinced.

“So his ghost is moving the little window thingy?” Wilbert asked.

“Yup, it’s like a way for spirits to talk to us from the other side.” Rosie explained.

“But why can’t we see him? Your dad’s a ghost too and we can see him.”

“Because my dad crossed over from the other side and decided to stay here.”

Wilbert tilted his head, then asked the board a question. “Can we see you again, dad?”

‘Yes’

The air around everyone got colder all of a sudden. Rosie’s spine tingled, there was a lot of spiritual energy suddenly forming here and she could feel it.

Rosie felt the tingling on her head. Her eyes twitched a bit and she placed her hands on her head to find the signal. "I can feel something. Spirit, show yourself."

The air blew in a moderate to fast speed. The candle managed to light itself as the family felt the coldness of the wind. The wind starts to form a shape of a man, the wind suddenly stopped as the family saw the ghost of Alfred.

"Dad?" Nic gasped. "Is that..... you?"

“It is.” He replied.

Kahl looked down at his arms and hands, then the rest of his body. He was now bluish and transparent, his legs gone with a spindly ghost tail taking his place.

“Well, this is an interesting form, isn’t it?”

“Dad!” Nic wasted no time running over to his dad to hug him, as tightly as he could.

Kahl’s new body was weightless and couldn’t be felt by Nic, but Kahl could feel how tightly Nic was grabbing on. Wilbert joined, grabbing ahold of Kahl’s ghost tail and hugging that. Kahl wrapped his arms against both boys, even though they couldn’t feel it.

“I’m back, boys. You don’t have to cry any more.” This didn’t stop them, though. Both boys were overwhelmed with emotion.

Uncle Robot put a hand down for Kahl to climb on to, just as he did when Kahl was alive. But the robot was surprised to see Kahl float up towards his face and give his cheek a hug.

“Look at that! I don’t need to climb on your hand any more. Have you missed me?”

The robot gave his tiny ghost creator a squeeze, then let him float back down. Werner had been the most shocked about this, standing perfectly still and watching his dead husband suddenly appear before his eyes. Now it was his turn, and Kahl’s ghost stood before him with a gentle look in his eyes. Both men waited for the other to speak first.

The waiting is starting to get a bit awkward. Both men wanted to speak but they don't want to talk first.

"A-A-Alfred?" The rat began.

Dr. Kahl hugged him tightly, even though his husband can't feel it. Werner wrapped his arms around his dead husband as his eyes began to water.

"I missed you very much." Kahl continued to hug. He can feel his husband's tears pour down and landing on his shoulder. "Please don't cry, my love. I'm here, it's ok."

"Alfred... I miss you too.." Werner kept sobbing as he can feel the love coming back from the doctor.

“You don’t have to miss me anymore. I’m here now. I’ve crossed the plane, I can be with you all again. ...Just as a ghost.”

Werner jolted back. “You are?!”

“It’ll take some getting used to, me being a ghost and all. But I couldn’t bare to leave you. All of you.”

Werner started to laugh-cry. He tried nuzzling his husband’s hair like he would when Kahl was alive, so happy for his return.

“...Can you feel zhat?” Werner’s voice was hoarse from crying.

“I can, actually.”

“Can you feel zhis?” Werner pulled the ghost in for a kiss. Kahl was shocked for a moment but kissed his husband back, not sure if Werner could tell that he did.

The two men continue to kiss, thought one of them can't feel the other one. They pulled away and held each other's hands.

"It's really great talking to you again."

"Alfred, I vish you can stay here for a bit, but I know it's time for you to go."

"I wish too. I wish I can spend more time with you guys again."

The family pulled into a group hug for good-bye. Dr. Kahl can feel his family's love again, even though he's dead. Now it's time for him to say good-bye.

"I'll go back to the other side now. Don't worry, I will see you guys again, one day." The doctor waved his arm. "Good-bye!"

The wind slowly blew as Dr. Kahl's ghost disappears along with the air. Werner wiped his tears as the wind stopped blowing.

"Zhank you, Alfred......."

[mangled-dreams]

Fever Dreams

My first and maybe only attempt at Dr. Schneeplestein. So here you are. Reader X Dr. Henrik Von Schneeplestein. Enjoy.

It's not often that you get sick, but when you do it's very fun. Not that getting sick is ever fun, but for you it just seems to hit your harder. Now is one of those times you get sick.

You'd been holed up in your room for the past three days, slowly dying of...whatever you've got. Well, you know you're not dying dying, but it sure feels like it. Anti and the other egos have been concerned for you, but you'd told them you'd be okay after few days of rest.

“You ain't getting any better, kid. I'm sending in the Doc.” Anti had told you after the third day of you being ill. He'd come to check on you as the one of the only egos that wouldn't get sick from you.

“Oh, don't do that. Dr. Schneeplestein is always so busy,” You'd responded, whining a little at bothering Dr. Schneeplestein for just a little cold. It doesn't help that you have a crush on Dr. Schneeplestein. You think Anti knows of your crush, but he'd never ratted you out for it.

“To bad, we need you back in working order.” Anti added sternly before leaving you.

A few hours have passed since Anti had visited you, although times seems to be blending into one singular moment. Your roommate and older sister Jessica has been feeding you and makes sure you take your cough syrup, but otherwise she steers clear of you. She hates being around people that are coughing and/or ill. You don't blame her. Ever since she was a kid she couldn't stand the sound of anyone coughing around her.

“Hey, Y/n, you have a visitor.” Jess says opening your door. You barely have the energy to sit up but manage to do it before a familiar face greets you.

“Oh, my goodness, how did zis happen?” Dr. Schneeplestein cries as he enters your area of contamination., as your sister loves to call your room. It's not often that the good doctor has time to come see you, but you're glad he does. Jess says nothing and closes the door to keep your germs isolated to your room.

“Doctor. It's good to see--” You can't finish greeting Dr. Schneeplestein, instead you cough until you can't breath and then some. You double over, your hand covers your mouth with a tissue. When you've done coughing up a lung you toss your tissue into a bin at your bed side and use hand sanitizer.

“Oh, do not zink to talk. My poor dear, you look terribly ill.” Dr. Schneeplestein says sitting down on your bed, his bag propped up on his thighs. You watch him through weary eyes. Dr. Schneeplestein  takes out his stethoscope and places the buds into his ears. He stands up and walks over to your side and motions for you to lean forward. “Now, take two deep breaths for em.” He instructs you, the sound pressed against you back just to the side of your shoulder blade.

You do as he asks to the best of your ability. You hear Dr. Schneeplestein hum behind you and shift the sound head across your back. He doesn't have to instruct you to do anything and automatically breath in as deeply as you can. You remember this from your last doctor's visit.

Leaning back against the wall you let Dr. Schneeplestein listen to your lungs from the front of your chest. A few seconds later he takes the buds out and puts them back into the bag. “Despite your coughing, it seems your lungs are very clear.” He tells you sounding a little relieved.

“Just a cough?” you ask a little winded.

“Yes, zit looks like ze common cold, I would recommend you continue to rest and get loots of fluids.” Dr. Schneeplestein advises.

You nod and lay back again. “Thank you for coming, even though it wasn't necessary. Anti's just a worry wart.” You tell Dr. Schneeplestein even though you know it's not needed.

“Oh please, I vould come even if he did not azk me.” He tells you happily.

“Thank you, again, Dr. Schneeplestein.”

“Henry, please. I vould conzider us friends by now.” Henrik responds quietly.

You nod, agreeing with Henrik before coughing again. Henrik gives you a tissues and you use it cover your mouth. You hate being sick. You especially hate being sick around Dr. Schneeplestein. “Right,” you say breathing heavily. Your nose is stuffed up once again so now you're a mouth breather. “You don't have to... stick around, Henrik.” you say opting to use his actual first name and not the “Americanized” version.

“I vould never juz abandon my patient.” Henrik tells you in earnest. You smile at him but don't respond. You aren't really a patient, just a friend that's ill.

Henrik stays with you for a few hours before leaving for the night. You'd fallen into a tired haze by the time he left. You remember him saying something about his ex-wife. You hate how badly his marriage to Lilith had dissolved so quickly after the ceremony. You know Henrik hasn't been happy for quite sometime despite many attempts to rekindle the relationship.

You fall sleep with the hope that Henrik will find happiness, even if it isn't with you.

“Good morning!” Henrik greets when Jess opens the door. It's been a few days and Jess is actually letting you wonder around the house now that the “contamination period” is over. You don't look like death anymore and your coughing had gotten lighter and less frequent.

“Oh. Dr. Schneeplestein, how nice to see you today. Come to check on my sister?” Jess asks closing the door behind Henrik.

“Jess? Who's at the door?” You ask popping your head out of the steam filled bathroom. With your stuffy sinuses you'd taken up to taking steam shower or steam baths to help clear them. “Oh, Henrik!” You gasp happy and a bit surprised to see Henrik come by unannounced.

“Oh, I am zo, zorry, I did not mean to interrupt your zhower.” Henrik says almost blushing at the implication you're naked. You laugh and step out of the bathroom in your damp black tank top and shorts.

“Oh, it's no worries, Doctor. I was just trying to clear out my sinuses with some steam. Walking down the hallway you thank your sister for letting Henrik in and usher the good doctor into the living room. “So, Doctor, what bring you by today?” you ask sitting down across from Henrik.

He's in casual clothing—which is a nice change of pace. Usually Henrik is in scrubs and his lab coat while pulling double, sometimes even triple shift to avoid going home. You can tell he hasn't been eating as much as he should. Last time you saw him in casual clothing he filled them out more than he does now.

“Vell, I can to check up upon you, my dear. You zeemed to be quite ill laz time.” Henrik tells you.

You nod in agreement. You had been quite ill. “I'm on the upswing now, Henrik. I'm really only dealing with an occasional stuffy nose and a little bit of coughing, but nothing like I was a few days ago.” You report to him with a big smile. “Have you eaten? Jess and I were just about to decide on what to have for lunch.” You ask standing up with a little bit of dizziness, but nothing to knock you off your feet.

“Oh, no, I could never intrude in zuch a manner.” Henrik says quickly, standing up with you out of habit. You wave your hand at him and head to the kitchen.

“Don't worry about it, Henrik.” You tell him softly. Pausing a moment you say, “on second thought, let me treat you to lunch. I've been cooped up in this house for at least a week and a half, it'd be nice to get out for a few.”

Henrik smiles at you. “If you inzist.” He says playfully. You smirk at him and request he wait in the living room for you to change. The air outside still quite chilly despite the rise in temperature.

You dress in you favorite pair of blue jeans and slip on a cream colored long sleeved crocheted top with a burgundy colored tank top underneath. Your crochet top has large holes in it so you layer yourself with a solid black knitted cardigan. Looking at yourself in your mirror you like the color scheme you've created and pick out a cream colored infinity scarf with a metallic gold foil yarn mixed in with it. You spend a few minutes brushing your hair out until smooth before bundling it atop your head in a messy bun, using a few hair pins to keep the wild strands in place.

Applying only a fruity scented and flavored chap stick you look yourself over again in the mirror, slip your socks on, and leave your room to collect your guest. Halfway down the hall you pause as a coughing fit takes you over then continue on. Fresh air will do your lungs—not to mention your sanity some good, and it's always bound to be a good day if you get to spend it with Henrik.

“Oh yeah, my sister's always talking about you, Dr. Schneeplestein.” Jess says as you get closer to the living room.

“Oh, I did not know zat she zought to highly of me.” Henrik responds and you can't tell if he's flattered or concerned by whatever else you sister's been telling him.

You stand just outside the living room, waiting to hear if your sister or Henrik say anything more before deciding you're being too creepy and step into the living room. “Jess, I hope you're not telling embarrassing stories about me to the good doctor here. I'm sure he wouldn't be interested in hearing about our childhood.” You say trying to defuse the anxiety you feel about having left your sister alone with Henrik.

“Oh, no, no! Y/n, I always vind it interesting to learn more about my friendz.” Henrik says quickly, trying to reassure you.

“Have a good trip out, if you need me to pick you up, just call me. Okay?” Jess says as you head to the door. You nod and wave at her. You know she means it too. Day or night she will come if you call.

“Ah, fresh air!” You sigh happily. Beside you Henrik chuckles, watching you spin around on the  sidewalk. You spin on the ball of your foot and face Henrik, fighting against a coughing fit. You win the fight and continue to smile at Henrik.

“So full of ze energy. It iz good to zee you back to normal.” Henrik chuckles again. You blush and quickly turn away to hide your enjoyment at his words. You turn to quickly, your foot catching on a crack in the concrete. With a shriek you fall to the ground.

Henrik reacts quickly, launching himself forward to grab you, twisting his body to cushion your fall. Everything happens so fast you can barely register it all, but when you open your eyes Henrik is beneath you, his arms wrapped around you hugging you close.

“Oh, are you okay, Henrik?” you ask scrambling to your feet. Reaching out Henrik takes your hand and allows you to pull him up. You look him over for any scratches or cuts. You dust off his jacket as you do and sigh with relief when you find nothing out of order.

“I am okay. Are you?” he asks looking you over for any wounds. You nod your head, press your hand against your chest, and breath a sigh of relief again.

“I'm fine, Henrik, but you gave me a heart attack.” You say as a bout of coughing over takes you for a few seconds. When it's over you feel winded and out of energy. Henrik takes a hold of your shoulder steadying you as you recover from your coughing fit.

“You? You gave me a heart attack!” Henrik responds smiling when he saw your lips curl at the corners.

“Oh, look what a pair we are.” You mutter standing up with a little help from Henrik. Looking up at him you see his glasses are crooked and reach up and adjust them for him. “Okay, now that we have that out of the way,” you chuckle. “Let's get some food.”

Henrik touches the edge of his glasses a light tinting of pink dusting his pale complexion. He watches you walk ahead of him a few steps, your head looking up and down to various restaurants trying to decide where to eat lunch at. Part of him worries about agreeing to lunch. Is he just using you to fill the void of loneliness he feels since the separation from his wife?

“Henrik?” You call, your voice shaking him from his thoughts. “Is everything okay? I didn't hurt you did it?” You ask walking back to Henrik. You look him over again with just your eyes. He looks fine, a little dusted and a bit distant but okay otherwise.

Henrik stares down at you. He likes the way you care after him. In the short time he's known you he's received more attention and affection than he has in the past three years of his marriage.

“Henrik, if you don't want to have lunch you can tell me no.” You tell him feeling a little heart broken but you understand. He never did fully agree to go out for lunch.

“Oh, no, no, it iz not zat.” Henrik says waving a hand in front of himself. You can't help the confusion from entering you. “I vas jus in thought. I do apologize for zis mizcommunication.” Henrik says quickly. You still look at him with confusion. “I vas jus admiring ze amount of caring you have zhown me.”

Relaxing a little you glance away from Henrik a little embarrassed and happy he appreciates your concern for him. “Well, good... Good. You are someone I really like so of course I'd want to take care of you. Now, come along Henrik, let's go get some food in out bellies.” You tell him being a little more forward than you have in the past. You take his hand and shoot him a reassuring smile before tugging him along with you.

“Thank you.” you both mutter to your waiter and hand off your menus before a hushed silence settles between you.

You gaze around the building, looking at the various people populating the place. You smile at the families taking an afternoon out together. “Oh, what a cutie pie.” You coo seeing a chubby baby smashing two fist fulls of french fries into its little tray.

Henrik turns to look at the baby and smiles. He too think the child is quite adorable. Turning to face you he asks, “Do you plan to ztart a family zome day?”

Your cheeks flush and you look away from him. “Eventually. I'm still quite young, not to mention I don't have a prospective boyfriend, so there are a few little barriers to get over before I can start a family.” You chuckle softly. “What about you, Henrik? Do you have plans to try again? I mean if you found the right partner?” you ask softly, sipping on the lemon water in front of you.

You hate the questions as soon as they pass through your lips. You really didn't mean to get so personal so quickly, but it'd been almost to natural. Before the finalization of the divorce Henrik was a bit easier to joke around with, now everything seemed to be a trigger.

“Perhaps if ze right voman came around.” he responds and it's the end of that conversation. Oh, how he wishes you'd be that right one.

“Well, thank you for joining me for lunch.” You tell Henrik as you come up to your townhouse. Henrik nods, but he looks troubled. “Henrik, if you're still thinking about the family thing and finding the right woman, it's okay. I wasn't offended. I crossed a line, I know that now.” You offer softly. Of all the things Henrik is he is not a bad man. A little mad sometimes in his practice, but he's a good man and a good doctor.

Henrik snaps his head up, his eyes locking on yours. “No! No, you get me vrong.” Henrik says quickly. “I vas not shtill thinking of zat conversation. I vas jus... Vould you mind if ve did zis again?” He ask almost shyly.

You feel your whole face, ears and all heat up with excitement. “Yes! I-I mean, of course, Henrik. It's always a pleasure being around you.” You shout without thinking unable to contain yourself. You reel yourself back and giggle nervously. Henrik nods, a big cheesy grin on his face. You always know when Henrik is truly happy with something when me has that big grin on his face.

“Great. Great! Zo, I shall zee you again, perhaps Tuesday?” Henrik asks looking a little pink around the cheek bones and ears as well. You smile with a nod.

“Tuesday it is.”

“Good...Good! I vill be by around seven zirty.”  He tells you taking a step down from your door. You giggle when he misses a step but wave goodbye as he leaves.

Pausing a moment you shout after him, “Did you just ask me on a date?”

“YES!” Henrik shouts from a few yards down. Your heart beats faster at his admission.

“I'll see you Tuesday!” You shout back and quickly duck inside your house. The door slams shut under your full weight as you squeal and jump and giggle at the turn of events. You hadn't truly entertained the idea that Henrik was truly interested in you but now that you know well, you ain't gonna let him go.