#or i guess its more like if the lower their grades are the more likely they are to be kicked off the starting lineup and replaced | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

sawturn77 · 10 months ago

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𝕞𝕚𝕕𝕟𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥 𝕣𝕒𝕚𝕟-𝕘𝕠𝕛𝕠 𝕤𝕒𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕦 𝕩 𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕖𝕣

chasing the pain,

1: he stayed the same.

MASTERLIST.

————

i never wanted to be cursed.

in this wasteland of a planet, there’s a barrier between curses, the cursed, and humans. humans who were born without curse live in luxury. they live with very few worries, none of them involving large and horrifying creatures. the creatures that people like myself have to deal with. curses were born from humans and the negative emotions that they harbor. i wonder, would they still be upset over the littlest things if they knew that they were creating monsters? the monsters that we have to risk our life killing? life isn’t fair, sure, but shouldn’t it be? putting us through losses and sorrow and near-death situations everyday and not trying to break the source to end our suffering? being cursed was very different from being ‘normal’, and after that day, i understood why.

i never wanted to be cursed, but i was born cursed.

if you think about it, everyone is cursed in their own way, right?

my mother was cursed, too. plagued with cursed energy that would destroy her body the older she became. “i’ll be fine.” she told me. laid in a large hospital bed, her skin attached to tubes and monitors. my heart ached to see her like that. her shaky hands came to hold mine. they were cold, i thought. the warmth in her voice and eyes was similar to the warmth in her hands. gone. she was so skinny, so frail. her bones were nearly peaking out of her flesh. the mere thought of it made my eyes sting. “please,” i begged, lowering my head. i didn’t know what i was begging for. there was nothing to hope for, not a miracle, not a dream. she would’ve always turned out this way. no matter what i did. she was born cursed. “a month.” she spoke. “a month until we have to depart, my sweet child.” how could i let go of her? how could i ever give up so easily on her? “anything, i’ll do anything for you to stay.” “don’t make this hard, we still have time.” her lips curved into a smile, but i wasn’t comforted by it at all. not anymore. my vision became clouded, tears threatening to fall. before my mother could speak, a soft tune filled my ears. my phone was ringing. i didn’t care. what mattered was being with her. “answer it, dear. don’t worry about me.” hesitant, i nodded, taking my phone and walking into the hallway.

“hello?” “is this l/n?” “yes. what do you need?” “i hate to interrupt, but there’s a second grade cursed spirit near the hospital you’re at. i’ve sent backup in case you need more time with-“ “its fine, yaga. i’ll deal with it.” “are you sure?” “yes. i’ll be at jujutsu tech this afternoon for my official transfer.” “alright then.”

i hung up, letting of a sigh. once i entered the room again, she was already fast asleep. i leaned down, placing my lips on her wrinkled forehead. “i’ll be back soon, i promise.”

————

i hated the sound of distorted curses. the ones that could speak were better, in my opinion. instead of their being just one curse, there was multiple. they were near the hospital, i guess humans harbored negative emotions the most there. i stood on a light post, watching the cursed spirits squirm to find humans. pathetic, i thought. but at the same time, i felt bad. pulling out my sword and jumping down from the light post, i activated my technique. i felt disgusting, using the very thing that cursed me, robbed me of a normal life, and was now about to take my mother from me. a technique passed down from my mother and onto me. how lucky. my cursed technique, “poltergeist”, allowed me to become a ghost and do things similar to a ghost. becoming invisible, passing through wall, possessing people, etc. my family was full of pretenders. all of the sorcerers had techniques that pertained to illusion and mind tricks. i never hung around them much. one of the curses turned to where i had landed, but not the place that i was at the moment. the creature looked around, obviously confused. i drove my sword through its neck, dragging the blade throughout its body. purple blood was disturbing;i liked red blood a lot better. i watched as the corpse fell to the ground, quickly decaying. i moved on to my next target, and after half a minute, all the curses had been cleared out. all of them were much weaker than a second grade cursed spirit. maybe even weaker than a fourth grade. did yaga’s “back-up” already deal with it? i released my technique, watching as my body became visible again. a warm and chunky substance was on my face. wiping it off, i found my answer quicker than i was comfortable with.

a large cursed spirit appeared behind me. i hadn’t noticed it. before i could react, i was flung into a building, my back hitting the wall hard. blood spurts out if my mouth. i could tell by the force of that hit, that this was no regular second grade cursed spirit. first grade? i stand up, my body aching. reaching for my sword, i realized that i didn’t have it, and it was where i was before i got thrown. the curse approached me with a mighty attitude. it was similar to an oni, having a distorted face under his mask. i became invisible again, quickly maneuvering around the cursed spirit. i found my sword, taking a deep breath and readying my sword. making myself visible, i called out to the spirit.

“hey, big guy! over here!” i waved at him, the cocky smirk i had must’ve made him angry, poor fella. he charged at me, and i stood still, getting in a combat stance. my plan was to become invisible again, possess the spirit, and kill him while im in his body. but, it didn’t go as planned. i felt a large wave of cursed energy coming from my far right. it distracted me. was it three more cursed spirits as strong as the one in front of me? no, it was more like two people and a cursed spirit. before i knew it, the cursed spirit spawned a large saw out of nowhere. the saw came close, almost touching head. a large dragon came and swallowed it, nearly blowing me away. i stood shellshocked for a second before an hand came to my waist. on pure instinct, i held the tip of my sword to their throat.

“no way! it really is ghost girl!”

my hand started to shake at the voice. much to my dismay, it was the one and only gojo satoru. he was from a big-shot sorcerer family, but im sure you knew that. a totally spoiled and cocky bastard. i knew that, even though the last time i saw him was when we were six.

“it’s been awhile, ghost girl.” he smirked. i hated his cocky tone already. “i save you and this is the thanks i get? how mean.” the albino crossed his arms and pouted. i wasn’t stupid. gojo obviously didn’t have a curse manipulation technique, and that was one of the very few ways he could’ve gotten that curse to act on his command. “you didn’t save me.” i murmured bitterly, sheathing my katana. i watch his bright blue eyes trail my figure through his dark sunglasses. he lets out a chuckle. “you’ve gotten a lot bigger, y/n. and meaner.” he said the last part under his breath. “i remember when you were juuuust this big!” gojo pinched his fingers together in my face, inducing an annoyed groan from me. “shut up. it’s l/n to you.” “yikes, ghost girl. you know how many women would love to be in your place right now-“ a deep and raspy voice interrupted his sentence. “are you done flirting, satoru?” a tall man with dark hair and deep brown eyes said. how reserved, i though. why couldn’t gojo be more like his friend. “suguru! thanks for the help, buddy.” “you didn’t do anything..” “anyways!” gojo grabs my shoulders from behind and pushes me in front of his friend. “suguru, meet y/n l/n! the girl from the l/n clan that goes to kyoto jujutsu tech.” i soften my expression, waving politely. “it’s nice to meet you, l/n. im suguru geto.” he smiles, shaking my hand. the most composed jujutsu sorcerer i’ve ever met award had to go to him. everyone else was a jinga tower. the white haired man drapes his arms over my shoulders, leaning on me. my eyebrows furrow.

“h-hey! get off of me!” “carry me!!” “what the hell? no!” “wait, l/n, if you’re from kyoto, why are you here in shinagawa?” geto queried. “i..” i pause. “i was visiting someone-“ “y/n’s gonna transfer to tokyo! yippee!” he lifted me up like a kid, spinning me around like a maniac. “really. that’s nice. now, i wont have satoru bothering me all the time.” “what! you can have him, i dont want him!”

—-

a new series🔥🔥 even though i js started the megumi one a few days ago. i, rlly excited abt this one. idk what i was on but i cooked with the first few paragraphs🔥also this is not proofread.

TAGLIST: (OPEN)

#jjk x reader #jujutsu kaisen #gojo satoru #jjk smau #gojo x reader #jjk satoru #gojou satoru x reader

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seefullforecast · 6 months ago

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S.H.

Part 1: Ghost Car

Steve x oc

"Don't be scared." She mumbled repeatedly to herself. She was still trying to convince herself not to turn back and leave Hawkins. Those thoughts were paused when she heard a noise behind her. As quickly a she had heard it she had spun on her heel to try and see what it was.

"It's just your imagination there's nothing there." She mumbled the lie to herself. Again the same rustling noise came but this time ahead of her.

Spinning back to face it she saw what had been living in her nightmares. It was scrambling towards her. Petrified she still couldn't bring herself to move. The monster weaved in and out of the trees and was getting closer and closer.

"Fuck this!" Not knowing what else she could do, she pulled her bag off her shoulder and threw it as hard as she could in the creature's direction. Obviously it didn't even go as far as to block its path but she didn't know that as she had already taken off, sprinting her way through the woods the opposite way.

The further she went the more sluggish she became. Her steps became heavier but the adrenaline was pushing her on. She was drenched from the rain, covered in mud and could feel the blood on her forehead seeping. Knowing it was futile to try outrun the monster she ducked beneath a fallen tree to try and hide.

Desperately she tried to steady her breathing. Struggling to do so she frustratedly clamped a shaky hand over her mouth to cease the noise. That's when she realised she no longer had eyes on the thing that was chasing her. From fear that anything she could do would make noise it was only her eyes that made any movement trying to locate the monster.

She wasn't out of the woods yet. She sunk further into the tree she chose to shelter behind and in doing so decided to finally lower her hand from covering her mouth. Trying to stabilise her crouching position her hand fell back and hit the ground hard.

"Oh you piece of ...!" she inadvertently yelped from the pain of falling for the second time now. This elicited the screech of the monster which she still couldn't see but could hear was close.

Again she took off as quick as she could still unaware of where she was going and just hoping to get as far away as possible.

"Just keep running, you're good at that..." She ran straight through some branches causing water that had collected on their leaves to smack her in the face. "...for the most part at least."

✯☽☼✧❥

"Thanks for helping me study I guess." Nancy was collecting all the flash cards that had been scattered over her bed. She couldn't help the grin that spread on her face when she looked to the boy opposite her.

Steve was holding her teddy bear and his hair was all flopped to the side from his position on the bed. He was also smiling but a little disheartened when thinking about what they could have been doing instead of studying. Nancy was not that type of girl though. And he did not want to blow it with her. Nancy was different to most girls.

"Anytime, you know if you ever need more help studying, I am great for moral support." Steve winked at Nancy and could see the small blush escape from her. Let's be honest he wasn't top of his classes and Steve wasn't known for his grades. If anything it was his hair and keg stands.

Giving a sigh he pulled himself from her bed and through his jacket back on as he could see the rain growing heavier outside. They both made their way back to Nancy's bedroom window.

"I'll be sure not to come to you if it's studying I need help with, believe me."

"Nancy, you've got nothing to worry about you're gonna ace this test. And when you do I'll be like 'I told you so' and you'll be like 'I should've never doubted you' and I'll be like..." he acted out before Nancy and she couldn't help but giggle at his goofiness. She quickly cut him off however by reaching up and kissing a quick peck to his lips. That definitely stopped him in his place the two pulling away again with similar grins.

"If that's my reward then I always want to be the only person you study with." He muttered to her. That same blush returned to Nancy. God why was she acting this way. One comment from him and she was swooning. "Does Barb get this kind of treatment?" he followed up with a sly smile gracing his features.

She playfully shoved him whilst Steve found himself chuckling to his own words knowing she found it funny too.

"I believe you were leaving?" She sassed opening the window for him.

"Oh don't be like that." he embraced the girl giving her a final kiss goodnight and began climbing back out the window. Nancy leant against the frame as Steve had paused before dropping fully down.

"To be continued?" he asked her.

"I'll see you tomorrow at school, goodnight Steve and thanks again for coming over."

"Like I said, anytime Nance." Steve dropped down and luckily didn't make a fool of himself in front of Nancy by falling flat on his face because of how muddy it was. He glanced back up to where he came from and sent a quick wink to the girl in the window before dashing through the rain to his car he parked further down the street.

Fumbling with his keys he managed to unlock the car and quickly slide into the drivers seat. He took his hand and ran it through his wet hair to get it out of his eyes and started the ignition. The rain was so heavy now he could hardly see where he was driving. Instead Steve drove off knowing the quicker he got to bed that night the quicker he could get to school and see Nancy the next day.

"What is this girl doing to me?" He thought aloud. When has King Steve ever been excited to go to school. That was not in his character. Sure he had his popularity but he still hated classes about boring stuff that never stayed in his head anyways. It was all bullshit. Nancy was starting to make that bullshit a little bit easier though. He really did like her.

It was all a bit overwhelming to sit and think about so instead to drown out the thoughts Steve turned up the radio as he drove into the night, his wipers and headlights on full.

"I saved her life, she nearly drowned. He showed off, splashing around!" He belted out the lyrics feeling like he was on a high coming home from Nancy's. As he was doing so he caught a quick glimpse of himself in the rear view mirror and could see his hair was a mess. He ran his fingers through and returned his eyes to the road.

A moment longer and it would've ended badly. As he focussed back on the road a figure had emerged from the tree line and darted into the middle of the road. Steve didn't even process his foot slamming the brakes but he did and as the car began skidding to an abrupt stop he braced for impact.

"Oh my god oh my god oh my god!" he began shouting. Steve swung his door open and tried to clamber out of the car until he realised he hadn't taken his seat belt off yet. It was like his seatbelt was fighting against him. Once he managed to unbuckle the passenger side door opened and a figure had thrown themselves into the car with him.

"Don't kill me man oh my god oh my god please don't hurt me!" Steve screamed his mind not able to comprehend anything and slightly surprised he could even string words together in his state of panic.

"Kill you?! You tried to kill me first with your car." The figure had now removed their hood to reveal a girl. She looked pretty beaten up and soaked from the rain. She had a cut on her forehead and blood smeared down the side of her face from what Steve could make out.

"You ran out into the road, in case you didn't know, that is exactly where cars belong. Not crazy people."

"Hey pull your shit together I've had a long ass day and you screaming at me is not helping right now we need to get out of here. Drive!"

"I don't even know who you are I am not taking you anywhere and for the record..."

"Dude I am not arguing with you right now you need to get us out of here!" She abruptly cut him off knowing the monster was right behind her so could emerge from the woods any second now.

"Listen here you are in my car I don't need to listen to you."

"You almost killed me the least you could do is give me a ride!"

"I'm not sure I'm obligated to give you a ride, in fact if anything..." her eyes focused behind the boys head and could see branches parting towards their direction. It was coming. She had enough of this boy arguing with her.

"Oh sweet Lord, that's it!" She held out her hand in mid air and closed her eyes.

The driver door slammed shut and Steve's seatbelt pulled over his chest and buckled him in. The gas peddle hit the floor and the car took off abruptly. On instinct Steve grabbed the wheel to steer the car over to the correct side of the road. That was until he had a second to comprehend what had just happened.

He screamed.

"Ahhh ghost car! What is going on?!"

"Would you relax and keep your eyes on the road you don't want to nearly hit any more people." The girl in the passenger seat said a bit calmer now. The more distance she gained from that thing the better she was starting to feel. However now she had a completely new problem.

"You did that didn't you. How did you do that? That thing with the seat belt and the... Are you going to kill me?! Hey listen okay I'm a good guy I promise okay. Well thats not entirely true my grades are below average and I have been known to smoke marijuana from time to time but it's from the earth that cant hurt you. It's mother nature, like broccoli, at least that's what I tell my dad. Who am I kidding I'm a total man whore..."

By now the girl had zoned out. She didn't have much experience with people reacting to her powers so was unsure if this was normal behaviour. She allowed the boy to ramble on as she began fiddling with the radio, still as the pair of them drove rather quickly through Hawkins.

Finding the volume she thought it may be best to just ignore the frantic boy next to her.

"Tell me more, tell me more could she get me a friend?" When she found the right frequency she lent back in her seat.

"Hey hey will you leave that alone? Are you going to answer me? Hello?!" Steve turned Grease down and was just baffled that none of his questions were getting answered.

The two of them looked to each other. Steve's eyes kept glancing back to the road in fear someone else would actually run out on him again, and hers fixed on his face clearly bored.

"Well?!" He yelled a final time growing frustrated.

"Are you done?" was all she asked.

"Am I... am I done?! Please for the love of god start talking I am freaking out right now and for all I know you could be a killer on the loose from some mental house!" he retaliated. Steve could not understand why this girl was so calm right now. Mentally he began replaying the last few minutes in his head to try and work out if somehow he was in fact hallucinating.

"Now are you done?" again came her calm tone. She was growing frustrated herself though.

"Yeah." he muttered slightly embarrassed by his outburst.

"What's your name?" The girl asked thinking it would be the best place to start. In all honestly she didn't blame him for his reaction but she didn't know him either and him seeing what she could do now put her at risk.

"Harrington, Steve Harrington." He responded slightly dumbfounded. "You?" he apprehensively asked unsure if he would get any answers from the strange girl.

"Well Harrington Steve Harrington it's a pleasure to meet you my name is Mia." She tried her best to smile to him trying to make him more comfortable in light of everything.

"Mia?... Mia what?"

"Just Mia, now I know you're freaking out right now but I can explain everything, you just have to trust me." She quickly changed the subject and again trying to navigate herself through the conversation.

"Please do!" he raised his voice again.

"Oh my god you're impossible. "

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writers-ex · 2 years ago

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can you do an mean girl reader with principal!Yeji g!p, reader keep testing the authority of everyone and being an reckless in general, reader love to wear revealing clothes and keep coming to school with less and less clothes so Yeji fuck her raw on her desk office

So English isn’t my first language, it’s a little bit messy I hope you’ll understand.

hope you like it i had much fun writing this one ^^

its the third time this week you've been sent to the principal's office and yeji was starting to leave her door unlocked so she didn't have to leave her desk and open it for you, blowing bubble gum you walk in with your crop top and mini skirt waiting to get this over with

"you don’t turn in homework, skip lunch lines, are loud in the cafeteria, sleep in class and binge shows, are you in school or stuck in some teen coming of the age movie? not to mention your…'lack of clothing' when you attend" rolling your eyes you lay back in your chair and sigh, "please-please i’m at my last straw one more visit and there will be consequences, be a good student for once in your life will you?"

"it won't happen again ma'am…"

"what did i say?!" the next day you're seated in front of her desk with a fishnet top wearing no bra and booty shorts, "you dropped coffee on everyone's exams right before your teacher goes to grade them- and you post it on insta???"

"and the problem is…?" getting up yeji closes the door and turns the lock. sitting back down she pinches her the bridge of her nose in exasperation

"i guess i have no choice but to teach you a lesson, especially when you're dressed like that. lucky for you i anticipated this so i already cancelled all of my meetings for today just for you. now just do me this one favor and tell me what this says." pointing at something on her desk you lean closer to get a better look while she opens a drawer and pulls out a pair of handcuffs, attaching your wrist to a drawer handle yeji walks around and unbuckles her pants, hearing them fall to the floor you try to turn around and say something but are stopped by your shorts also being pulled down, without warning you feel something hard enter your hole and starts pounding inside you, "you were really that desperate for attention, weren't you slut?"

"b-but-AHHHH!!!" spanking your pussy yeji glares at you

"bad girl. you need to keep it down or else i'll turn on the intercom and let everyone hear what a whore you are for my cock." biting your lips you nod and let her continue

"only good girls get rewarded, you've been testing mommy’s patience and that hurts mommy, i have no choice but to make sure you learn your lesson. i'll keep thrusting into your tight little hole until you’re in tears."

and that's exactly what she does for a solid hour yeji edges you against her desk making usre that the only words coming out of your mouth were promises of being a good girl and never making another mistake while you were in school, mkaing sure you were telling the truth yeji makes you swear to it and when you do she finally gives you what you want and you cum all over her desk.

releasing your hand and pulling out yeji kisses your wrist and sits you on her lap with the intention of cuddling you with her jacket wrapped around your shivering body as she soothes you with praise for the rest of the day

much to the surprise of everyone around you the mean girl with the rags on her body suddenly becomes the poster student with…longer rags on her body, you make it to one full month of good behavior when yeji calls you into her office, a stern look that makes you bow your head confused as to why you were there

"lock the door before you sit down please."

"yes ma'am" sitting behind her desk yeji waits until you've taken a seat before clearing her throat

"i suppose you wonder why you are here. well actually its because of your recent behavior…" standing up you notice something off about her lower body and gasp when she walks in front of her desk, yeji had no pants or panties on other than her dick wrapped around in a pretty white bow, "i thought you should get a special treat for behaving so good, now its your turn to punish me for breaking the rules~"

#itzy hard hours #itzy hard thoughts #yeji hard thoughts #yeji hard hours #gp!yeji #g!p yeji #gp!itzy #g!p itzy #yeji smut #yeji #hannie.txt #kpop hard thoughts #kpop hard hours #principal!itzy #school!itzy

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jawneepie · 2 years ago

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ᨳ᭬(੭˘͈ᵕ˘͈)੭ 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐱 𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 ˖ ࣪ . ִֶָ

⠀⊹ . : 𖥔˖࣪ ˖ ࣪ . ִֶָ𓂅 * ˖ 𓏲࣪ ⊹ . : 𖥔˖࣪ ˖ ࣪ . ִֶָ𓂅 * ˖ 𓏲࣪

the lack of x reader fics for this guy is lower than my pharmacology grade so i decided to write one myself. this was written like my college papers: rushed and no proofreading whatsoever. so keep your expectations low. shit happens when you listen to ricky montgomery

࣪˖‣ 𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙢𝙚 𐀔 𖥔˙˖ . ˖ 𖥧 ִֶָ ›

𝒊𝒎 𝒎𝒓. 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒏. 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒔 𝒎𝒚 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓, 𝒎𝒂𝒏

In the coldness of the night, the air only chilled when rainfall came. Raindrops softly fell, painting the pavement with a darker hue. The rain called for umbrellas, and the sidewalk became a sea of colorful plastic, shielding everything beneath them from the caress of rain. The sky was starless, but the glimmer of street lights made it seem like the stars traveled down to earth to walk amongst tired businessmen and rowdy barhoppers. The distant honks of cars and conversations were muffled by the sound of rain against metal. In the cramped space of a phone booth that’s seen better days, (Y/N) could hear nothing but the staccato beep of the pay phone.

The yellow-tinted glare of the light above (Y/N)’s (hair color) hair flickered and gave her skin a warm glow. The buzzing of midges that edged against the warm glass of the phonebooth’s lightbulb was drowned out by the jingling of spare change in (Y/N)’s fist. The tip of her boot traced along the written phone numbers on the floor etched and forgotten on dirty metal. Each beep from the phone seemed to be longer than the last one. (Y/N)’s eyebrows drew together and wrinkled her forehead. The small stream of rainwater from her umbrella beside her flowed to the soles of her shoes. She leaned against the payphone and contemplated hanging up, but her thoughts quickly disappeared when the beeps were replaced by a familiar voice– a voice she wished she could hear more often. (Y/N)’s lips tugged into a grin as she pulled the phone receiver closer to her ear.

“Bret?” (Y/N) started, voice uncertain. “Hey,” came a reply, breathy but laced with a hint of joy that no one but (Y/N) can notice.

“I missed you,” Bret immediately adds. It was more of a whisper than anything, barely audible from the thunderous laughs of Owen and Neidhart in the background.

(Y/N)’s eyes shined, “I missed you too,” she twirled the phone cord between her fingers as she fought to suppress a laugh. She was no stranger to how loud the Harts could be. “I’m not interrupting something, am I?”

Owen and Neidhart’s laughs grew quieter and the creak of a closing door followed soon after. (Y/N) guessed Bret snuck off into another room, preferably an empty one. Bret liked his privacy, especially away from his nosy younger brother. “You? Never.”

(Y/N) shifted her weight from one foot to the other as the rain calmed to a light drizzle. “How’s the excellence of execution holding up?” She playfully asked the words rolling off her tongue like butter. A chuckle escaped Bret’s lips and dusted (Y/N)’s cheeks with a blush. “Better now that we’re talking. Jimmy wouldn’t stop blowing my ear off with his plastic megaphone.” (Y/N) could practically see Bret rolling his eyes at the mention of his manager. She wouldn't understand why Bret keeps up with the southerner. 'He doesn't look like much, but he's got a brain', Bret begrudgingly explained, reluctant to even compliment his manager in the first place. (Y/N) decided to lighten up the mood, “Good to know someone is annoying you in my place.”

Bret laughed. It sent tremors to (Y/N)’s ribcage, barely containing the frantic beats of her heart. She bit her bottom lip to stop herself from ripping her face in half with her smile. She felt lighter than air. “Unlike him, I actually like your voice.”

“It’s a good thing you hear it every night then.”

A beat passed before she heard Bret’s voice once more, this time sullen, “I much prefer it if I could see your face when I do.”

A sad smile crept its way to (Y/N)’s flushed face. “You will,” she reassured softly, “We just have to wait for -”

“Two more weeks,” they both said at the same time, voices melancholic. Bret sighed, “I know. I’ve been counting.”

(Y/N) tucked a stray hair behind her hair, just like how Bret would. At that moment, (Y/N) wished he was there to do it for her. “It won’t be long. I’ll be home with you in no time.”

(Y/N) was as patient as a saint when she needed to be but the thought of feeling Bret’s hands cradle her own made her wish for days to pass faster. She couldn’t wait to wake up with his arms wrapped around her waist, his thumb drawing lazy circles on her flesh. She couldn’t wait to smell the scent of Bret’s shampoo, a smell she grew to love, as they embraced underneath the bathroom light. She couldn’t wait to hear the sound of a pencil scratching on paper when Bret would draw her, thinking she wouldn’t notice. It was the little things that made her grow fond of him. It was the way Bret's lips curled whenever he had to deliver a promo, the way he would double check if the oven was off, the way he would automatically hold (Y/N)'s hand when they crossed the street. It was the little things. And that fondness continued to grow well after the times (Y/N) came home to an empty house and a cold bed. Bret would always tell her how lucky he was to have her love and she would tell him, like clockwork, that it was easy to love him. Truly, absence makes the heart grow fonder.

The shrill voice of Jimmy Hart came like a fork scratching against ceramic plates, uninvited and irritating. (Y/N) could imagine Bret rolling his eyes, his shoulders sagging at the unwelcomed echo of his manager’s heart-patterned megaphone. Bret groaned and (Y/N) laughed, “There’s no shame in giving the mouth of the south a reason to shut up.”

“Someday but not today.” Bret joked though there was more truth to it than anything else.

Bret's voice softened, “I wish we got to talk longer.”

(Y/N) shrugged her shoulders as her eyes followed the raindrops that trailed down the fogged glass of the phone booth. “Me too,” she sighed, “but there’s always tomorrow”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Silence engulfs the two of them before Bret coughed, “I love you” Bret he piped up, a shyness to the lilt of his voice.

(Y/N) tilted her head to the side with an absentminded smile, “I love you too.”

(Y/N) savored the quiet seconds they shared before the familiar beeps of the telephone greeted her again. Without a second thought, she placed the receiver back on its hook and straightened herself. Umbrella in hand, (Y/N) walked out of the phone booth with a warmness in her heart and a ticket for Monday Night Raw in her pocket.

#wwe #wwf #bret hart #bret hart x reader #wwe fanfiction #wwe x reader #wwe headcanons #wwe one shot #ꉂ writing : B. Hart ˖ ࣪ . ִֶָ𓂅

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pipravisstan · 3 months ago

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Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand), a fluffy pipravi fanfic by me :]

rating: g

ship: pipravi

fanfic under the cut ⬇️⬇️⬇️

The lake was a deep muddled blue that day, which was rare. Pip guessed it was probably because the sun was out today, making its monthly appearance only to most likely disappear the next day. It dappled through the forest roof above them, casting splotches of afternoon sunlight onto the two of them, at their spot.

Pip’s car was parked not too far behind them in a clearing, it also having its own designated spot at the lake, tire marks permanently etched into into the earth beneath it.

She stood on the ledge above the water, slowly pacing beside Ravi as he sat facing the lake, legs dangling dangerously close to the water.

“So, i’m gonna retake the exams, pray on a passing grade, and then hopefully I can land an apprenticeship,” Ravi spoke, fingers drawing shapes in the dirt path.

“I for one think it’s a great plan. I mean, you helped solve a murder, who’s to say you won’t be a great lawyer?” Pip joked, kicking up a rock into the water.

“Gonna add that to my résume. ‘Helped solve murder-suicide case. May or may not have used illegal methods,’” He said, mimicking writing it down in the air with his finger.

“Oh, god, don’t remind me.” She shuddered.

Pip kicked another rock and he continued drawing in the dirt idly. “So, you decided on if you’re going to Cambridge?” He looked up at her, and then tore his eyes away. “Sorry, I realise that may be a stressful decision.”

She chuckled. In truth, she did want to go, she had just been overwhelmed at the time, everything had seemed so unsure. Her relationships with Ravi, with her mum, what made a good person a good person. She still hasn’t figured that one out.

“No, it’s fine. I’ve actually already received invitations to a couple of Universities, you know, considering I was headlining the papers as the ‘Prodigy student who solved a five year murder case.’” She sighed. “But yeah, i’ve zeroed in on Kings College, that’s a Cambridge one. Not too far, only about an hour and a half from Little Kilton.”

There was a silence, a comfortable one. He stood up, a small pile of stones in his hands. He smiled down at her. “Best to three?”

She stepped toward him and took one from his hands, smoothed down and flat, a good rock for skimming if she’d ever seen one. “This again? Remember how much of a devastating loss you suffered last time?” She said, tossing the stone up and down. Catching it in the palm of her hand. Up and down again.

They stepped down from the ledge to the lower step, water ebbing at the concrete in front of them.

Ravi just snorted in amusement. “I’ve had practise this time, don’t get all cocky with me.”

“I’d like to see this practise first hand, if you don’t mind.” She swiped the her hair out of her face from the wind and readjusted the collar of her jacket.

His eyes flicked toward hers, warm with a competitive edge. He nodded, she nodded, and they whispered a countdown in unison.

“Three,”

“Two,”

“One.”

They both threw the stones forward, one bounce, two bounces against the water. A gust of wind. And then there was one, her’s disappeared somewhere in the murky water of the lake.

“Devastating loss, right Sarge?” Ravi laughed. His stone didn’t last much longer, but that had been forgotten as she turned towards him with mock offense over her face.

“Oh, come on, you saw that, it was the wind!”

He raised an eyebrow at her, smirking. “Really? The wind? That is the lamest excuse you have ever given.”

Pip crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes. “It wasn’t an excuse, it was a valid point that you choose to ignore as it worked in your favour.”

“Right.” He chucked, shuffling the spare stones around in his hands. “Well, you’ve got two more rounds to redeem yourself. Or are you gonna make more excuses when you loose again?”

She shoved an elbow into his side playfully and took a stone from his hand in silent determination.

“Three,” He said, and she held her hand back, grip loose around the stone.

“Two,”

“One!” They both threw the stones forward, watching as they flicked across the dull blue surface of the water, leaving behind ripples.

Being near Ravi was the best thing in the world, Pip decided at that moment. Siting beside him, backs against an ancient spruce tree in the cool autumn air. In the dappled sunlight beside the lake, their lake, she wished she could live in this moment forever.

He’d won the stone skimming tournament, but not without a fight from Pip. 2-1, and another complaint about how the ‘uncontrolled environment’ was making it unfair. Now they sat here, soaking up the last of the sunlight together.

“Sun’s nice today,” Ravi said, and it was true, and she knew it didn’t really mean anything. Just something idle to fill the comfortable silence that surrounded them.

She hummed in a agreement, resting her head on his shoulder and not bothering to fight the smile on her face.

It was pure bliss, being in his presence. She knew it sounded corny, but being with him felt safe. His eyes were bright and his smile was warm. Every word out of his mouth put her at ease.

A moment passed, a rattle through the woods of a cool breeze. Ravi’s hand found its way to hers and his fingers began tracing circles in her palm.

“You ought to stop doing that,” Pip mumbled, squeezing her hand against his.

He hummed, fingers sliding between hers and interlocking their fingers. “Why’s that?” He shifted slightly to look at her as she rested her head on his shoulder, a half smile drawn across his face.

“Your hands are much too warm, I’m afraid.” She yawned and buried her head at the back on his neck. She closed her eyes and smirked. “If you hold on any longer, my hand will melt into yours and I might never be able to let go.”

He chucked at that, looking back out toward the lake again with his head resting on the bark of the tree. “Wouldn’t that be nice, Sarge.”

She hadn’t said it yet, and she didn’t know when she would, but she loved him. He was the Watson to her Sherlock, or as he had argued, the Sherlock to her Watson. He was her constant, the good in the grey area of her mind. He was everything that everything wasn’t, and yet simultaneously, he was her everything.

It didn’t make much sense, didn’t make sense to Pip. But maybe she didn’t need sense.

She squeezed his hand again, and he squeezed her hand back. It wasn’t an I love you, but it felt like one.

#a good girls guide to murder #agggtm #pipravi #pippa fitz amobi #ravi singh #fanfic

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o-uncle-newt · 4 months ago

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I read Possession by AS Byatt after people told me "if you liked Gaudy Night you'll like this" and WELL.

Warning- spoilers for both books abound below!

So it sounded great- as a lapsed academic (though not in the field of literature by any means) there's a part of me that loves reading about academia because it's full of such obsessive people, and this book seemed to be exactly that and so I was excited.

Then I read it, and on the one hand, my first thought was "all these people are dull as heck, the only sane modern-day one is Val, and at the end of the day the historical stuff is just two people having an affair, who cares." My second thought was "there's just enough stuff here that makes me think that maybe the author knows that all of this is stupid, like the fact that Val is obviously one of the few sane ones here." But the ending made me doubt even that. Essentially, and I say this even as that lapsed academic, the author could not convince me to care about the important things at stake here, and as a result couldn't get me to care about the people who only seemed to care about those things.

I didn't care about Ash and LaMotte- they came across as two people high on their own supply who had a tawdry affair. (And each of them is the less interesting person, as a person, than their official partner!) As a result of not caring about them, I couldn't POSSIBLY care about Roland, Maud, and the rest of their crew, because their only functions were to be possessed by, and weirdly possessive of, these two entirely unworthy individuals, whose in-universe historical and literary significance Byatt couldn't convince me of, and to use that possession as a mirror for their own very lame romance. Beyond that they're utterly uninteresting, and there isn't even meant to BE much beyond that so it's not that surprising.

Anyway, I didn't like this book much, but it still made me think a lot. And there's a way in which a certain kind of person might say "well if it made you think then that's surely a sign of some positive quality" and... maybe? I don't know. I didn't hate all of it, and some parts were interesting, and I do have a whole separate list of things about the book that bug me including a breakdown of some of the book's (perceived by me) themes that I particularly disliked lol. Perhaps I'll post it another time. So I guess you can say it spurred me to thought, but loads of things that I don't like do that, and the only positive thing that that draws from me is that they're not downright dull.

The thing is, after finishing the book I was immediately struck by that "if you like Gaudy Night..." element, because it has a situation that felt weirdly similar (if for totally different reasons)- a young scholar stealing a letter from a library/archive. The circumstances are different- in Gaudy Night, the scholar does it to hide its existence so as not to contradict his thesis, and in Possession, the scholar does it so as to explore the document further, though still secretly- but there are still some interesting parallels vis a vis class. Possession goes into the class thing more than Gaudy Night does, but neither book goes much into it- the scholar is lower-class and someone who has scraped their way to their position, and is encumbered by a female partner of lower social and academic standing, and in the end they are juxtaposed against scholars who come from an elevated class and who have more money and opportunity. In Gaudy Night, Arthur Robinson is judged by the likes of Lord Peter Wimsey and a college full of women who don't have to do anything but think, teach, write, and grade papers; in Possession, Roland has to convince a bunch of academics of standing and resources to take a chance on him (and while this is more about money than class, he's the main one who's like "maybe it's good if Lady Bailey gets her wheelchair"). Byatt elides over this at the end by having him magically become in demand and on his way to achieving his academic goals, but I think in both books, the class element really could have taken on more significance in the text.

(I'd add as well that Byatt pits the upper-class and moneyed Maud, who of course is doing things for "the right reasons," vs the evil American businessman who clearly... doesn't care about Ash enough? Despite how much he clearly and obviously cares about Ash? The book was way more interesting when he seemed like a valid rival to the British team, who only thought that they deserved the letters more because of their obsession, rather than how it turned out at the end where the American dude is an actual cartoon villain. What made him genuinely less worthy besides having money without class, and of course having the bad taste to be American? What makes one scholar's possession more justified? Sayers was never this unsubtle.)

So that made me think more about Possession vs Gaudy Night, and the thing is, there are actual living people in Gaudy Night! Say what you will about the unworldliness of the academics at Shrewsbury, but you get a very keen view of their personalities by the end, even as they are (by necessity given the rules of their world) subsumed by academia, or subsume themselves in it. And the people who do fall in love are REALLY in love, and you understand why...

And somehow a book from 1935 feels far more interrogative of the possession (or lack thereof) found in love and romance, and just about the place of women in academia and relationships overall, than one from the late 80s. In Gaudy Night, Harriet accepts Peter once she has determined that despite their power differential (brought on by class, money, history, and to a degree gender) he will not threaten her personhood, because he has proven himself to her. In Possession, Maud accepts Roland because she has the power (money, class, position, even height) and so Roland actually cannot threaten her- and yet still that final scene is about her being taken by him, basically to prove some kind of a point. In contrast, in Busman's Honeymoon, the euphemistic sex scenes are about Peter trying to please Harriet.

When I say it's to prove a point, I'm paraphrasing Byatt, incidentally- who said: "And in the case of Maud I had made it very inhibiting. She was a woman inhibited both by beauty (which actually isn't very good for very beautiful women because they feel it isn't really them people love) and she was also inhibited by Feminism, because she had all sorts of theories that perhaps she would be a more noble kind of woman if she was a lesbian. And so she was a bit stuck. And Roland was timid because I am naturally good at timid men. It's the kind of men I happen to like. He's a timid thinking man, so of course it took him the whole book." I mean... yikes, but also that explains a lot. Maud can only bring herself to be with a man who is weak/effeminate (?) enough to justify whatever weird psyche Byatt has imagined up for her, but still she needs to get over her inhibitions and under him because... reasons. I don't know.

(Height is also interesting here as a point of contrast- Byatt makes Maud taller than Roland to make a point about how on the one hand she retains the power but on the other hand there is now even more of her that has to surrender. Peter and Harriet are the same medium height and wear the same size gown.)

I think the thing that most stuns me is how regressive Possession feels when it comes to gender politics on relationships than Gaudy Night does. I'd need a whole other post to talk about this, but the theme of Possession seems to me to be "relationships that produce things (whether art or children) are worth more than ones that don't." Roland is better with Maud than with Val because Val is a second rate scholar who drags him down (while supporting him financially) and Ash is better with LaMotte than with Ellen because LaMotte didn't only inspire his writing (Ellen's contributions are described only in the negative "didn't impede"), she gave him the child that Ellen refused to. Incidentally, in both cases it's the man pursuing a relationship that will give HIM something... But, to paraphrase Peter in Busman's Honeymoon, one wouldn't want to regard relationships in that agricultural light. Gaudy Night is about how two people can produce great things without each other but choose to be with each other for their own, and each other's, happiness. They aren't each less apart, and as I noted in a prior post, they don't need to solve cases together or conjoin their work in order for their relationship to be worth something. It is worth it for them to be together because it encourages some kind of inner balance within them and between them, as people. They enjoy collaborating but that is by no means the basis of their love (and, incidentally, I think that a lot of, if not most, detective series romances fail this basic test of "would they have fallen in love if they were accountants who met on a dating app." Peter and Harriet definitely would have- would, say, Albert Campion and Amanda Fitton have? I do NOT think so).

And here's the thing- another reason why Byatt's quote above is so off-putting is that it makes it clear that not only in the text but on a meta level, the purpose of the relationships is to prove a Point. I found Roland and Maud to have zero chemistry, and honestly I was expecting them to get together 3/4 of the way through and split up at the end when it turned out they had nothing in common- it seemed like that kind of book. I was kind of stunned when they only got together at the end in an "it's meant to be" way because nothing about it seemed meant to be. They were stuck together by that one thing and they each apparently needed the relationship for some kind of self-actualization or historical rhyming or other. (Whatever I say about Ash and LaMotte... at least they seemed to like each other!)

Peter and Harriet... they get together because they love each other. Do they change over the course of Gaudy Night, and over the course of the other books they share together? Of course they do. But if it makes sense, I'll put it this way- Harriet doesn't accept Peter's proposal as proof that she got over her hangups, Harriet gets over her hangups so that she can accept Peter's proposal. Her hangups only matter because they were keeping her from this particular kind of happiness- she was a fully actualized person even with them. She is a person who does things for human reasons so that she can build a mutually happy life with the person she loves, not a little plot mannequin being moved around in order to tell the author's desired Message. People can say what they want about Gaudy Night and its flaws, but despite the intricacies of its construction, nobody can call the characters' actions and motivations anything but brutally human.

Whether within their universes or on a meta level, the books have SUCH different things to say about the value and nature of love, the place of and purpose of sex, the place of art and intellectual accomplishment in relationships, all of the above in the context of femininity… and I can't help but feel that each time, Gaudy Night wins the contest. It's possible I'm missing something major about Possession, and maybe sometime I'll post the rest of my notes about the things I disliked and people can tell me what I'm wrong about- but if nothing else it made me appreciate Gaudy Night even more, so for that I'm grateful.

#possession #as byatt #gaudy night #dorothy l sayers #lord peter wimsey #harriet vane #i'm not tagging all the characters from possession bc i don't actually really remember their full names and i'm too lazy to look them up #I also saw recs for possession for “if you like jonathan strange and mr norrell” and “if you like jfsp s9”#for jonathan strange and mr norrell i actually have several Thoughts #and am happy to share if asked #but i'm perplexed by the jfsp comparison #though a reading of ellen ash as asexual vs uncle newt would be...interesting #i guess it's based on romances contrasted through time?#also- i've seen people claim that possession is satire #to which i say #BS!!!!#the way that book is written either literally every word of it is satire and none of it is meant to be taken seriously #or it's serious as gospel #the only bits where some parts felt like they might be meant to be “satirical” in relation to other parts #came across more as caricature than anything else #cough cough lesbian feminist american professor... i mean jeez #which reminds me #any future writing i do about why i disliked possession #will have to include my take on that thing some women writers do where they're really WEIRD about how they write women #(sexually but in a way that they THINK is clinical to the point of objectivity)#while barely even describing what the men look like #and not having the women be physically attracted to them #another contrast point with sayers actually #who is perfectly prepared to have harriet be physically attracted to peter

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silentwillowwhisperer · 2 years ago

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It's Spacedad's fault.

Klance is together in this.

I don't know what this is.

-----------------------------------------------

Keith does not test well.

His mild ADHD and Autism intensify times 50 any time he takes a test.

It was useful at the garrison, when his heightened observance and fidgeting caused hi to be a more instinctual pilot.

Sitting in a silent room while filling out answers to question that have completely vacated his brain never blows over well for him.

Shiro should have expected this, he's Keith's parental figure and knows him better than anyone. So, yes. This is all his fault.

Keith taps his pencil repeatedly on the desk. Allura has moved blank white desks into the training room so that the paladins can have an 'ideal atmosphere.'

This is supposed to be a survey of their reactions in a 'mildly stressful environment' and 'assess their ability to retain information.'

Welp, Keith has already failed.

He can't do anything but stare at the first question.

If faced by a Zeaxeiks beast, what is the most logical response?

Keith can't even pronounce that. Throw him into the field with one of these, and all of his information will come flooding back.

Yeah, why don't they do that? Keith can't possibly be expected to function in a room so silent and big and empty. If there's a phobia that's the opposite of claustrophobia, he has it. He doesn't mind being in places like this when there's things going on around him, things for him to fixate on to calm his hypersensitive brain or things for him to fight, but large quiet rooms always stir unease deep in his chest.

Keith can't take it anymore. He slams his pencil down and stands abruptly. He can’t help the growl that escapes him. His chair screeches on the polished floor before crashing down onto its side.

Is is weird that Keith has the urge to apologize to it?

Everyone is staring at him as he yells, "THAT'S IT. I am REVOLTING. Do you hear me? DAMN THIS, see how well you can Voltron if I GO AN A GODDAMN STRIKE."

He realizes that the testing/training room's doors were locked as soon as the paladins entered. Now that he thinks about it, Allura most likely did that with Keith specifically in mind. Panic fills his throat and lungs. He really, really hates it in here.

He's considering climbing one of the walls and/or throwing a fit when he hears another chair grind across the ground.

Lance shoots him a wide grin before shouting at the ceiling, "YEAH! I didn't agree to being a paladin so that I can take MORE STUPID TESTS!"

Keith feels his heart warm and bubble over with affection. Only Lance would recognize his nervous fidgets. They've had long talks about this before, Keith doesn't doubt that Lance will help him climb that wall if they aren't let out soon.

They both know that there is a valid reason behind this assessment, but Keith has already accepted that he's going to get a failing grade. He hates not doing anything with himself, his body is turning to lumpy mush like a sack of potatoes after sitting for so long.

Lance starts racing around the room yelling various profanities in various languages, and Keith gives a bark of laughter before joining in.

The other paladins are smiling at them, and Pidge is the first to discard her paper.

"Ugh, fine, I guess I'm not getting anything done with all this noise. The questions are repetitive anyway. This is not as fun as I hoped it would be."

She joins in, and now Korean, Italian, and Spanish curses echo throughout the room.

They end up trashing the entire room before Allura lets them out with a glare.

Keith lowers his voice and leans over to Lance.

"Huh. I guess all we have to do to escape the Galra is piss them off."

He turns to Allura.

"Never lock me in a room again. I will not hesitate to tear down the door and start singing annoying pop songs nonstop."

Lance moves behind him and place an arm around his shoulders.

"Yep. And I'll be on a murder spree because apparently I'm not out of the overprotective boyfriend phase."

#keith kogane #vld #voltron legendary defender #voltron #klance #lance mcclain #lance vld #keith vld #vld keith #tawny post

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rigelmejo · 25 days ago

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Language Study Challenges I've been contemplating, but I just do not have the time to do it all. ToT I think some of these could result in some good progress over a few months, as a period to see how much the challenge is helping you improve in your specific goals.

Glossika: attempt to study 2000 new sentences in the course in a month, doing reviews only if you have spare time. May require 1-2 hours of study time a day, but the studying can be done as just listening, so you can do it while also doing other things. Getting through 2000 new sentences in glossika will take around 40-60 hours (I think it took me 40 hours). If the method is working well for making progress on your improvement goals, then keep doing for 3 months and you will cover 6000 sentences, then the 4th month study the last 400 sentences in the course and finally start prioritizing reviews. Spend end of 4th month reviewing, and do a final 5th month of reviews if desired. (Do reviews more than me if you prefer that, do speaking practice with course if desired for your particular goals, do reading practice with course sentences of desired for your particular goal). This can be completed in ~3 to 5 months, so you can make some significant progress and see how well (or not) it worked for your goals in a somewhat shorter amount of time. (I'm doing this challenge now).

Listen to an audiobook: find an audiobook you like (I'm using SCI), attempt to listen to it in as short a time period as possible (that's possible for you), aiming for at least 1-2 hours of listening a day (on average). Since its just listening, it can be done while doing some other activities. If you pick an audiobook shorter than 60 hours long, pick a few audiobooks so that listening 2 hours a day would result in eventually listening to 60 hours in a month. If desired, the next month you can pick to re-listen to the same audiobooks again (for repetition and to see if you understand more the next time around). For me, the goal with this is to INCREASE practice listening to a LOT of dense speaking. So for me, perfectionism will try to kick in and I'll try to re-listen to the same chapter over and over. So for me, this goal is to FINISH listening to an audiobook. The SCI audiobook I'm listening to is around 60 hours. Guardian by priest is around 50 hours. A lot of Chinese webnovels will easily be 40 hours or much longer, if you want something long to keep listening to the same word choices and grammar patterns and plot of one author. If you pick shorter audiobooks, picking the same author may help keep the vocabulary and grammar more familiar to you over time. (I'm doing this challenge).

Comprehensible Input Challenge (for total beginners): Dreaming Spanish gives an estimate of 50 hours to learn 300 words, and 150 more hours (so 200 hours total) to learn 1,500 words. 1,500 words is a great foundation to starting to try shows if you are okay looking key words up every few minutes, novels for kids if you're willing to look key words up, graded readers, simple conversations, videos for learners which don't have as many visual aids for understanding, and the broader world of being able to learn more new words with SURROUNDING words as your context for guessing, instead of only or often primarily visual clues. Dreaming Spanish labels that as Level 3, 1,500 words learned, can watch Intermediate Dreaming Spanish videos. (From their site "Now you can listen to videos or classes in which the teacher doesn't use as much visual input, and may even be able to take advantage of really easy audios and podcasts that are catered to learners at your level. Crosstalk is still the best way to spend your time. At this level it becomes easier than before to do crosstalk over the internet using video call software, so you won't need to find native speakers where you live anymore. Reading is still not recommended if you care about your final achievement in pronunciation, but it starts becoming possible to understand lower level graded readers"). So for a total beginner the challenge would be to get through 50 hours of Comprehensible Input lessons for Superbeginners/Absolute Beginners/B0 (depends on the youtube account for what the first beginner videos are labelled). Just plan 1-2 hours of video lessons per day. Then for months 2, 3, 4, keep doing 50 hours a month and you'll hit that approximate 1,500 words known level. At that point, you should find non-comprehensible input made lessons such as beginner learner podcasts and graded readers become somewhat understandable, and media in the target language may in some cases be understandable if you're willing to look up key words and feel the initial "very tired/drained from focusing hard" part that always happens at first.

Comprehensible Input Challenge (for upper beginners): Assuming you know 1,500 to 2,000 words - or skill wise, you can handle understanding beginner graded readers and some beginner dialogues in learner materials, and can handle some content in the target language for native speakers IF it's on the easier side and you can look a key word up for meaning every few minutes (so for example: you can follow a Peppa Pig episode, or a Spongebob episode, aka a cartoon for kids, if you look up key words every few minutes - alternatively, if you can watch a simple romance daily life show and follow the main plot if you look up key words). Your goal as an intermediate learner: watch 300 hours of Comprehensible Input Lessons labelled "Intermediate." 300 hours will take you from that upper beginner area you're at (1,500 words learned) to 3,000 words learned. That will get you to the point of (from Dreaming Spanish site): being able to talk to patient native speakers and may be able to make friends and lamguage exchange partners, get through daily life stuff like shopping with words although it may be a struggle, can learn new words mainly from surrounding word context now (so picking up new words from things you engage with is going to start picking up more so listening to stuff and watching stuff outside of lessons will result in learning more words - shows, podcasts, entertainment), graded readers will still be more comfortable but you can wade into more books for native speakers (especially if you're willing to look up key words for main idea). At 3,000 words, media for native speakers will still feel difficult but it should feel significantly LESS difficult than it did when you knew 1,500 words. When I knew 1500 words I could start watching cdramas with no english subtitles, but I looked up key words every 1-3 minutes and felt exhausted within 5-20 minutes. Once I had studied 3000 words, I could watch simpler romance slice of life cdramas for 40 minutes (episode length) without feeling drained, and look up key words once every 5 minutes. (Although keep in mind: the first time you watch shows or read novels, it will feel Exhausting until you get used to it, even if you know many thousands of words... you have to practice reading/listening stamina, even if you have a bigger vocabulary). So a 300 hour study of intermediate level lessons, should give you a significant boost in your language skills. You could do 50 hours a month, 1-2 hours a day, and finish in 6 months. You could do 60 hours a month (2 hours a day) and finish in 5 months. You could do 90 hours a month (3 hours a day - probably more than the average person has time for but this is a challenge after all lol!) and finish in 3.3 months. A huge jump like that in 3 months would be awesome! (I did that kind of jump in 6 months... when I started chinese I cram studied 2000 words and 1500 hanzi in 6 months, then reviewed for 2 months by watching shows and graded readers, then for 4 months I read a TON of webnovel chapters and picked up another 1000 words and ~500 hanzi). So yeah, 1.6 hours to 3 hours a day of study for a few months, aiming for 50-90 hours of Comprehensible Input Lessons for Intermediate Learners on youtube per month for 3.3-6 months.

Comprehensible Input Challenge (for intermediate learners) : This is where I am (for Japanese). 600 hours to go from the last level to this, to learn 5,000 words total. (As you know... I'm attempting to use Glossika japanese to learn 5000 words instead, so I'll report how that goes). 600 hours unfortunately cannot be done in 3 months with a comfortable study plan - I think, for me at least, a comfortable study plan I know I can commit to is going to need to be 2 hours a day or less (on average). 600 hours would take ~10 months to go through at 2 hours a day. Now granted, 10 months isn't so long in the grand scheme. But if you, like me, can motivate yourself to read novels or watch shows at this point, then 600 hours of youtube lessons sounds so boring. Although... I guess for my japanese level, watching shows still feels exhausting (podcasts for learners feel okay though, like Nihongo Con Teppei, so maybe I should listen to hundreds of hours of that?). Find the intermediate/advanced video comprehensible input lessons on youtube for the language you're studying, and go wild. It should take 10 months unless you study more hours per day then I can. (I think this is a sobering realization, right as I type, that it probably is going to take 600ish hours of SOME form of Japanese study to get me to the level I want to be at... maybe I'll try to just slog through a japanese novel ebook... I can sometimes motivate myself to read for 4 hours a day, I like reading...). Note: if I do this challenge later, it'll be with Comprehensible Japanese youtube videos for Intermediate and Advanced. Significant progress you should see once you've learned around 5,000 words (from Dreaming Spanish): You'll be able to understand more advanced materials for learners. Listen to audios and podcasts daily if you want to learn fast. Crosstalk is still as good as always. You may start feeling you are not getting much out of getting input about daily life topics. Try getting input about new topics. Easier TV programs and cartoons should be accessible too. The purists who want to get really close to a native speaker and get a really good accent may still want to hold off on speaking and reading for a little more, but if you do start speaking and reading it's not a big deal by this point. You'll still end up with better pronunciation and fluency than the vast majority of learners. If you want to start reading, by this point you'll be able to understand books targeted at children of lower grade levels, and you can skip over graded readers. From me: if you're looking key words up for the main idea when watching shows, you should now be able to watch many shows in familiar genres and just look up 1 word every 5 minutes or so. If you've got a decent ability to guess, and practiced getting used to media for native speakers already, then like I was in Chinese - you will probably feel comfortable watching MANY shows in genres you're familiar with, without looking up anything. You will feel especially comfortable with easier shows like cartoons and romance daily life stuff, and things you've watched before. If you've been practicing reading before this, then once you know 5000 words you will find you need to look key words up less often and can focus more on enjoying stories, and looking words up because you desire their specific meaning/to fully understand details, not necessarily because you need the words meaning to grasp the main idea (I did a LOT of intensive reading around this period in Chinese because I could finally extensively read for plot, so I'd look up every unknown word I saw to grasp the other details and increase my vocabulary... and because the amount of unknown words to look up was now manageable).

#rant #language challenge #challenge #challenges #october progress #study plan #october study plan #my actual japanese study plan? despite desires to try Comprehensible Input lessons ... (and id love to try with Spanish or Thai)#i am just going to GET THROUGH glossika for japanese. then listen to a lot of Nihongo Con Teppei.#after that? im hoping to move onto watching shows or reading. because i just... if im being honest. my perfectionism might kick in with ll #lessons. and i want to avoid perfectionism.#also... i just find them a bit boring. i know too much japanese for the comprehensible japanese lower intermediate to be interesting... its #all stuff i kmow. but i know just little enough that the Advanced lessons feel just as draining mentally as when I watch jdramas in japanese #with no subs... and if they feel/equally exhausting id rather just watch a show

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m1ckeyb3rry · 1 year ago

Text

Hurricanes / Hummingbirds: III

Series Synopsis: As the years go by, you find that it is incredibly difficult to survive wars and fight storms, especially when the only thing you have by way of a cursed technique is the blessing of a tiny bird.

Chapter Synopsis: You spend some time with your upperclassmen, the infamous trio of Gojo, Geto, and Ieri.

Series Masterlist

Pairing: Hajime Kashimo x Female Reader; slight Kento Nanami x Female Reader; slight Satoru Gojo × Female Reader

Chapter Word Count: 7.1k

Content Warnings: swearing, enemies/rivals to lovers, character death, canon-typical violence, angst, gore, original characters included

A/N: guys i promise i don’t hate classic literature y/n and nanami are just haters #justiceforclassicliterature #justiceforhinode

“Give up,” you said, pressing the tip of the Sword of Syrinx against Nanami’s throat. “Even your technique can’t get you out of this one.”

“Fine,” he grumbled, slamming his palm against the ground. “You win.”

“Yay!” you said, immediately sheathing the sword, which hummed in content at the victory. As any sportsmanlike person would, you reached out and helped Nanami stand; he took your hand gratefully, squeezing to steady himself.

“Nice job, Y/N!” Haibara shouted from where he and Hinode stood on the sidelines, watching your practice match. “You might even be able to beat me at this rate!”

“I’m stronger than you,” Nanami called back, which only led to Haibara sticking his tongue out at him.

“Maybe in a match of techniques, but, no offense, I’m way more muscular, and that’s what matters when your opponent only has swordsmanship on their side,” he said, flexing his muscles for comedic effect.

It had been some time since you had arrived in Tokyo and befriended Nanami, Haibara, and the Sword of Syrinx. With Hinode’s tutelage and the boys’ willingness to practice with you, you had quickly learned how to wield the special grade cursed tool. You were helped along by the fact that the sword seemed to be almost sentient, in a sense — not that it could have full-blown conversations or anything, but it was capable of transmitting basic emotions and sentiments via cursed energy. It had taken a liking to you ever since that first day, and it was generous enough to sometimes lend you power when your own reserves were running low or guide you into a move you hadn’t quite thought of when you were stuck in a tough spot.

“I think it’s time,” Hinode said.

“Time? Time for what?” you said.

“I think you can go on your first mission. You’ve managed to beat Nanami enough times that a lower-level curse shouldn’t pose any threat to you,” he said. Equal amounts of fear and anticipation blossomed in you at the thought of actually going out and exorcising a curse, using the Sword of Syrinx to its fullest extent instead of as a dummy to hit Nanami with. It would probably be pleased; judging by how thrilled it got whenever you managed to defeat Nanami, it possessed an innate bloodlust, a desire to win that outmatched even yours.

“I don’t know if I can do it alone, though,” you said. Hinode immediately shook his head, showing you his phone. There was a mission alert on it, but it had already been accepted by someone else.

“You can tag along with him. He won’t let anything happen to you; worst comes to worst, all you’ll have to do is stay out of his way,” he said.

“Will he even let me go?” you said. “I would just be an annoyance.”

“He’s the king of being an annoyance, so it’s what he deserves,” Nanami said, peering over Hinode’s shoulder and reading the mission details with a frown.

“He is still a student of the school, which means he does have to comply with what his teachers tell him to do, at least a little bit. Besides, you really won’t slow him down too much, so don’t stress out. You’re more likely to be a help than a hindrance,” Hinode said.

“If you think so, sir,” you said. “And I guess technically the Sword of Syrinx does belong to him, so maybe it’s only fair that he gets to see me using it. It’ll be an assurance that he did the right thing in giving it to me, at any rate.”

Satoru Gojo. Since the day that he had allowed you to have the Sword of Syrinx, you two actually hadn’t spoken all too much, contrary to Nanami’s expectations. To be sure, you’d nod politely at each other when you passed in the hallways, but you were usually engaged in conversation with Haibara or Nanami and he with Geto or Ieri, so it wasn’t like there was much opportunity for any sort of meaningful interactions. You didn’t really mind; to you, he was nothing more than the owner of your sword. Beyond being cordial enough to him that he allowed you to keep using it, you had no need for interaction with the boy.

“Hey, Miss Sandwich Taster,” Gojo said when you jogged into the driveway, where he was stretching as he waited for a manager to arrive and take you to the mission site. “How’ve you been? I see you still have that crappy sword with you.”

“It’s not crappy,” you said. “And I’ve been doing fine, thank you.”

“You’re welcome, and sure it’s not. Anyways, Yaga told me that Hinode told him that you’re coming along with me to see how the real masters exorcise curses,” he said.

“Well, that’s not quite the full story,” you said. “I’m supposed to be helping you on the mission…”

“Helping me?” he said. A car screeched into the driveway and skidded to a stop almost on top of you; you jumped back in surprise, afraid the wheels would roll over your feet or something. Gojo snorted, opening the door and motioning for you to get in before sliding in beside you. “I don’t need help, though.”

“I told Hinode I’d just get in your way, but he insisted I come. You can blame him, if I’m really that much of a bother,” you said.

“No, you’re fine, it’s just laughable that anyone would be sent along to help me, let alone a first year — even if the first year does have admittedly good taste in sandwiches,” he said.

“Are you going to hold that sandwich over me forever?” you said.

“For the next year or so, probably,” he said.

“Well, you know I like sandwiches,” you said. “What kind of food do you like?”

“Sweet stuff, mostly,” he said.

“You have a sweet tooth?” you said. You hadn’t really expected it; he seemed like the kind of person to refuse to eat anything sugary for some ridiculous reason such as it making him too hyperactive. Although, he already was decently hyperactive, so you supposed a little extra sugar wouldn’t really change things for him all too dramatically.

“Massively,” he said. “Shoko makes fun of me for it, but with the way she smokes, she has no room to talk.”

Shoko Ieri was the mysterious third of the second year students. While Gojo and Geto were the bright, flashy, well-regarded strongest duo, she was calmer, avoiding conflict and confrontation with a practiced finesse. You saw her even less than you saw Gojo, but the few times you had run into each other, she had been kind enough.

You both were quiet for a bit, him busy reading the email containing the mission details and you staring out the window, watching the scenery fly past. Sitting in the car next to him, you thought that he wasn’t all too intolerable; in fact, he was actually pretty nice.

“Can you tell me the mission details? I didn’t get the email, since I’m not officially on it, and Hinode didn’t let me stay and read anything,” you said, breaking the silence.

“It’s pretty run of the mill. Some curses have popped up at a graveyard and are currently picking off any mourners that come and visit,” he said. “It should be in-and-out. Wanna get snacks afterwards? Exorcising always makes me hungry.”

“Uh, okay,” you said. He didn’t seem nervous at all, which led you to believe that people hadn’t been exaggerating his abilities by calling him one of the strongest; the title was one he truly, genuinely deserved, at least if his casual demeanor was anything to go by.

“Cool!” he said. You blinked, still quite unable to believe how unserious he was about everything. Would you ever be like that? Maybe after a few thousand missions, but likely not even then.

“So, Hinode said that curses usually appear in places with high concentrations of negative emotions,” you said. “Schools, hospitals, graveyards, that kind of thing.”

“Huh, are you talking to me? Yeah, that’s right,” Gojo said. “Are you confused or something? The theory behind it is pretty simple, though.”

“No, I understand the theory, I was just — well, isn’t that sad to you?” you said.

“Sad?” he said.

“I mean, the curses are taking advantage of people who are already hurting. The people at the graveyard, they’re grieving the loss of someone they loved. That’s not a crime that should be punishable by death. That’s not a crime at all,” you said.

“They’re called curses, what did you expect?” he said. “Obviously they’ll be all nasty and evil and bad.”

“Yeah, you’re right. It’s just not very fair. Those poor people, they don’t even know what their mistake was,” you said.

“You sound like Suguru,” he said, sticking his tongue out in disgust. “Honestly. There’s no need to give speeches or try to assign morality or reason to things. Word of advice: you go on your mission, you kill the curses, you get some snacks, you go home. Anything else is unnecessary.”

“Why are you even a sorcerer?” you said. “It doesn’t seem like you care very much about protecting others or anything like that, so what’s the point? Why are you risking your life to go on missions?”

You couldn’t be sure if he was looking at you just then, his eyes covered by glasses as they were, but certainly you could feel the intensity of his gaze as it rested on you. You gripped the hilt of the Sword of Syrinx, not as a threat but because you wanted its cursed energy swirling around you like a buffer, protecting you from the Six Eyes of Satoru Gojo. It responded immediately, power flaring around you, holding you tightly, seeping into your very bones and reinforcing them.

He laughed raucously. “No way, that hunk of scrap metal has that much cursed energy of its own? I can see why you wanted it so badly! Also, Suguru just texted me about this shop in the area that we should definitely check out once we’re done.”

“Stop making fun of my sword,” you muttered, earning you an appreciative surge of cursed energy from the Sword of Syrinx.

“Looks like we’re here,” Gojo said instead of apologizing. “Come on. Let’s just get this done with.”

You followed after him, staying in his shadow as best you could, forgetting the entire conversation in the car and your irritation at his callous way of referring to the Sword of Syrinx. This was your first mission; consequently, it would be the first time you would be faced with the beings known as curses since your near-death before you were sent to Tokyo.

A face twisted into a leer. Hands gnarled into talons, reaching at you, scraping at your collarbone, your cheeks, trying to tangle into your hair. A gaping maw, endless darkness threatening to consume you entirely, yanking you closer and closer as you skidded backwards. And then bright lights, a blaring horn, asphalt digging into the shallow wounds the monster had gouged into you, tires rolling to a stop mere feet before they crushed into you.

“You’re so distracted,” Gojo said, flicking you on the forehead and breaking you out of your reminiscing. “Get your head in the game.”

He was right. It would not do if you were lost in thought about events from the past that could not be changed. Things were different now; you had Gojo and the Sword of Syrinx with you, as well as the knowledge and training to actually do something to the curses. Never again would you have to cower helplessly. Never again would you close your eyes and wait for the end.

Drawing the Sword of Syrinx and marvelling at the iridescence of the blade, which even now astounded you, you took a deep breath and began to scan the rows of tombstones for anything out of the ordinary. The entire graveyard was buzzing with residuals, which made it difficult to pick any one element out, but despite that, Gojo was utterly calm, strolling along the grassy hills like you two were out for a holiday.

“Ooh, there’s a grade 4 curse. Do you want to do the honors?” he said, pointing at something vaguely resembling a rat but far larger, roughly the size of your forearm. It was dark green-black, though its eyes were a wild, gleaming yellow, its teeth clacking together as it gnawed on the decaying remains of something.

“Sure,” you said, twirling the Sword of Syrinx in your dominant hand, avoiding looking at the body that the curse sat protectively atop of. With one clean strike, you separated the rat’s head from its body, causing the entire mess to melt into a puddle of goo that then proceeded to evaporate into nothing.

The sword seemed pleased enough with the first exorcism, and you swished it in the air to clean it of the steaming innards of the curse. This seemed to make it happier than the actual act of fighting had, and you smiled slightly at the thought that the cursed tool was a vain one.

“I’ll polish you once we’re home,” you said, earning you a dash of approval from the sword. You patted the crossguard comfortingly and then turned to Gojo to see what his thoughts were, only to find that he was busy on his phone.

“Do you like my new background?” he said, showing you a picture of a beautiful woman. You rolled your eyes.

“Did you just have me exorcise that curse so that you could mess around?” you said.

“I would never dream of doing something like that,” he said.

“I get why Nanami doesn’t like you,” you said under your breath.

“What was that?” he said innocently. Your eyes widened before you smiled beatifically at him.

“Nothing. I’m assuming that wasn’t the main curse?” you said.

“Nope, it was just a bottom feeder taking advantage of the bigger curse’s leftovers,” he said.

“So that was a —”

“It’s best not to dwell on it,” he interrupted you before you could turn to look at the body once again. It had been mangled beyond belief and into the realm of obscurity, but maybe there had been a time where it had been something. Been someone. “Let’s go. Our job isn’t done yet.”

You wandered around with him for a bit, Gojo bidding you to dispatch the lower-level curses you encountered and you willingly doing so with a few motions of the Sword of Syrinx. It was barely difficult, though part of this was probably the nature of the boy at your side — his presence alone was enough to scare weaker things off, if they had the presence of mind to recognize his power.

“Say, Gojo,” you said as you continued to walk. “Did you ever put up a veil?”

“What?” he said, freezing and turning to look at you. You furrowed your brow.

“Er, a veil? Hinode said we have to put one up every time that we go on missions so that non-sorcerers don’t see us exorcising curses,” you said. Gojo’s face, which was already pale like the moon, became impossibly whiter, nearing the shade of his hair, and he began to inch backwards.

“I definitely did that! Also, unrelated, but I forgot something over there. Just wait and don’t move, okay?” he said, sprinting off, definitely not to put up a veil. You shook your head as you watched him disappear, a veil slowly creeping over the sky once he was well out of sight.

The Sword of Syrinx’s cursed energy spiked in warning, the closest thing it had to screaming in alarm. Immediately, you brandished it in front of you, tightening your lax muscles, every single one of your senses going on high alert as you tried to discern what it was warning you about.

“Who’s there?” you said. High, mocking laughter resounded in the air around you, and if you had not been holding onto your sword, you would’ve covered your ears in an effort to shield them from the pain that the sound caused. It was an unnatural sort of hurting, and you knew without a doubt that it was the work of the curse you and Gojo had been sent to exorcise, the main one, not the weaklings you had been working through up until now.

Gojo was off somewhere, probably still setting up the veil and playing with his phone, so you were well and truly alone. No, not alone — your constant companion, your sword, the one that had warned you in the first place, you did have that much. It would have to be enough to hold back the curse until Gojo could come and exorcise it fully.

First, you needed to locate the curse. It was obviously shying away from the intense aura radiating from the Sword of Syrinx, which was after all a special grade no matter who its wielder was, but the effect of the weapon would not last long. Almost as soon as you thought about it, as if it could read your mind, the curse appeared, in the form of a misshapen blob with almost as many eyes as it had tentacles.

You feinted a strike at its core before slicing at the tentacles that it shot forwards to defend itself, cutting them all off, though it did no good, as they immediately regenerated. The severed tentacles fell to the ground and flopped around uselessly, and you swore as you danced around them, trying to avoid tripping as you dodged the curse’s blows.

Every time you cut more tentacles off, more appeared. It was an endless cycle of the same thing, over and over — cut. Dodge. Cut. Dodge. Even with the Sword of Syrinx’s help, you were running out of energy, and you knew it wouldn’t be long before the tentacles got to you.

“Gojo!” you shouted, more in anger than fear. “What the hell are you doing, anyways?”

This time, a tentacle managed to lash against your ribcage, sending you sprawling onto your side. You managed to raise the Sword of Syrinx to block it from wrapping around your neck just in time, but the gooey cursed energy burst from the wound and directly onto your face, sluicing into your eyes and effectively blinding you for the moment. There was a wet ‘thwap’ as the piece you had cut off fell on the ground next to you, and you groaned, using one hand to keep your sword tentatively in front of you and the other to claw at your vision in a desperate attempt to make it return.

Before you could regain your sight, the curse’s assault abruptly stopped. There was an explosion of cursed energy, and then remnants of what had once been the creature came raining down, bits of it splashing against your skin and clothes, causing you to gag, both at the smell and the sensation. You knew why the curse had been dispatched so quickly: a bigger monster had arrived. Luckily for you, this monster was on your side.

“Wow, Y/N, you look disgusting!” Gojo said. A cloth rubbed against your face, wiping away the residuals of the curse, and you sighed in relief before allowing him to help you stand. He inspected his sleeve, which he must’ve used to clean you, with a slight pout.

“What took you so long?” you said, replacing the Sword of Syrinx back in its scabbard and glaring at him with your hands on your hips. “That was definitely not a lower grade curse, and you left me alone to deal with it!”

“Sorry,” he said. “I decided to change my background again. At least you didn’t die?”

“You decided your background was your biggest priority despite being in the middle of a mission?” you said.

“Aesthetics are one of the things I value most,” he said. “By the way, I’m hungry now. Exorcising curses always does it to me!”

“I hope you starve,” you said. Unfortunately, at that moment, your stomach grumbled, punctuating your statement ironically. Gojo pointed at you with a smirk.

“You’ll starve then, too. I can pay, if that’s what’s stressing you out,” he said. “I happen to be the head of my clan.”

“I’m sure they really appreciate a teenage boy spending their accumulated wealth on post-mission snacks,” you said. It remained that you were hungry, however, so you didn’t protest too much as he dragged you to the shop Geto had recommended and proceeded to buy you both one of everything.

Oddly enough, despite your initial reluctance and snark, you actually enjoyed yourself. Besides being a somewhat unreliable mission partner — though he had come through when it really mattered, so you couldn’t be too harsh — Gojo was fun to talk to, even if his sense of humor was a little childish on occasion. Plus, he had bought you so much food like it was nothing and offered to take you along the next time he and his friends went to the arcade, though the latter was done under the guise of saying Ieri needed a partner for the multiplayer games, so overall it was really a fun time.

“I don’t understand why you guys dislike Gojo so much,” you said that night, balancing the Sword of Syrinx on your lap as you polished it on the floor of Haibara’s room. Nanami, who was lying on Haibara’s bed with two cucumbers on his eyes, exhaled in defeat.

“How things can change in one day! How fickle the hearts of humans can be, that such even such a strong woman was swayed by the charms of the white-haired devil,” he said, reaching his hand out to the ceiling and then curling his fingers inwards like he was delivering a soliloquy. “Also, can I take these cucumbers off now?”

“No, man, your dark circles are really bad,” you said, deciding not to even acknowledge the rest of it, knowing it was probably influenced by the classic literature Hinode was making you all read. “Leave them on for a few more minutes or so.”

There was a loud crunching sound, and a mumbled apology fell from the lips of the guilty-faced Haibara. He was sitting at his desk, and technically, he was supposed to be finishing the essay you all had due last week. Hinode had been gracious enough to give him an extension, but he was far too busy munching on the leftover snacks you had brought to his room to get any work done.

“These are really good,” he said when you raised your eyebrows at him questioningly.

“Haibara, if you don’t turn that essay in, you’re literally going to fail. Do you know how impossible it is to fail Hinode’s class?” you said.

“It’s true,” Nanami said. “Some remarkable idiots have passed that class. I don’t want to name names, so let’s just call them…Nojo.”

“Nojo,” Haibara repeated incredulously.

“I thought you said that Gojo was decently smart, though?” you reminded him.

“I’m not talking about Gojo! I’m talking about Nojo,” Nanami said. “Different person. And, Haibara, if Nojo could pass, then I’ll never forgive you if you fail.”

“Especially if it’s just because you’re eating snacks that Nojo — sorry, Gojo, different person — bought instead of doing your late essay,” you added, using your nail to scrape away a stubborn bit of grime on the Sword of Syrinx, causing the sword to let out a contented trickle of energy.

“They’re just so delicious!” Haibara said.

“Look, Hinode said you have to turn the essay in by this Friday, right? That’s five days from now. He’s a pretty lenient grader, so you can probably get away with a standard five paragraph essay. That’s a paragraph per day. You can do that, right?” you said. Actually, for this specific assignment, your essay had ended up being about seven paragraphs, and Nanami’s had been six, but five would be sufficient. Anything more would just scare Haibara, and at this point, his grade was in such desperate need of help that even partial credit would be a blessing.

“A paragraph per day? It’ll be hard, but…I’ll do my best!” Haibara said. That was the nice thing about him. Once he was fired up about something, he would give it his all, and in the case of Hinode, who only cared about seeing some kind of effort, that was enough.

“Good job. Let us know if you need help,” you said as Haibara determinedly returned to his work, setting his snacks out of reach so that he had nothing resembling distractions in his way. He did not respond, evidently serious about finally focusing and doing his best, leaving you and Nanami to talk to each other.

“Can I get rid of the cucumbers now?” he said.

“No,” you said.

“I’m bored, though,” he said.

“Just take the time to relax. If you’re that bored, you can talk to me,” you said. He considered this as you switched the cleaning off the Sword of Syrinx’s scabbard.

“You really like Gojo now?” he said.

“Yes,” you said. “He invited me to his group’s arcade night next week so I can be Ieri’s partner. Do you want to come? If you go, Haibara can come and be your partner, so it’ll be all nice and even.”

“You can’t just invite people to other people’s gatherings,” he said. You put down your cleaning supplies and whipped out your phone, texting Gojo and waiting for his response. It came within a matter of seconds, and you tucked your phone away so you could continue to clean.

“Gojo said it was fine, and that he’s tried to convince you to come before but you’ve always said no,” you said. The tips of Nanami’s ears turned red.

“I mean, that’s a possibility,” he said. “I can faintly remember it happening like that, yeah.”

“It’ll be fun if you come. Don’t be a party pooper,” you said.

“Fine,” he said.

“Really?” you said.

“Don’t push it,” he threatened. “But yes. I’ll go. And I’m sure Haibara will, too, since he’ll have turned his essay in by then.”

“I’m excited now!” you said. “The second years feel so unreachable sometimes, but in the end, they’re just normal people. It’ll be fun to spend time with them in that context instead of as just their underclassmen. And of course, I always love hanging out with you and Haibara.”

“You have a point,” he said reluctantly.

“Look forward to it! It might be the only way we get through Hinode’s classes. I don’t know why he’s going through such a literature kick at the moment, but if we have to do one more interpretation of a book from the 1800s, I’m going to lose it,” you said.

“He’s not even licensed as a teacher,” Nanami said, peeling away the cucumbers and giving you an exasperated look. The effect was somewhat diminished by the ring of juices shimmering around his eyes. “He was hired to help us practice sorcery, so while giving papers on curse theory and the like is within the scope of his job, literature just…is not.”

You choked back a laugh. “What about the math?”

“I think he picked the wrong career path.”

The two of you could only manage to hold it in for a second longer, and then you dissolved into a fit of laughter and Nanami let out a dry chuckle — which, coming from him, was akin to hysterics.

“Guys!” Haibara whined, slamming his hands against his desk and swiveling in his chair to face you. “Can you quiet down? I’m almost done my essay.”

“Do you mean your paragraph?” you said.

“No, the entire essay. It’s amazing how fast I can work when I’m not eating and I’m actually concentrating,” Haibara said.

“That’s generally how it is, yes,” Nanami said.

“Okay, so do you two mind shutting up for a bit so I can finish? Then we can all talk together,” he said.

“Anything for you, boss,” you said, saluting at him.

“Finish quickly, alright?” Nanami said. “If you turn it in tomorrow, Hinode might even give you extra credit.”

Haibara’s eyes lit up, and he turned back to his essay with a newfound vigor. Discreetly, you tossed a pillow at Nanami, who did not even attempt to get out of the way, giving you a baleful look as it hit him in the chest.

“You’re such a liar,” you said.

“Anything to motivate him to work faster,” he said. “Now, stop talking before he gets distracted again.”

“Guys! I said shut up!”

The week seemed to pass by in a blur. Hinode was so shocked by Haibara’s newfound work ethic that he actually did end up giving him extra credit, and he even freed the three of you from the shackles of learning about classic literature, instead doing his real job, which was helping you learn how to become sorcerers. You managed to beat Haibara in a practice match, though it had the unfortunate side effect of him tackling you to the ground in a hug of congratulations, leaving your tailbone somewhat bruised and sore. Nanami, in a fit of inspiration, declared that while you might beat them in sparring, you would never come close to their arcade game prowess, as you wouldn’t have your sword to help you there.

The night finally came for all of you to go out. For once, you wore clothes that were not your uniform but casual and comfortable, and you felt entirely like a normal girl setting out to do normal things instead of a sorcerer-to-be whose life was constantly at risk due to the nature of the job.

“I’m sorry,” you said to the Sword of Syrinx, which was resting on the bookcase again. “I can’t exactly stroll around Tokyo with you, though. Don’t worry; Gojo and Geto will be there, so I won’t be in any danger.”

The sword seemed a little annoyed about being left behind, but all you could do was pat its scabbard in consolation before flicking off the lights and shutting the door as gently as you could. It was true that no matter how bad you felt for the strangely sentient cursed tool, there was no way you could carry it around with you amongst the many civilians of Tokyo. Anyways, no matter how sentient it might’ve seemed, it was also still a sword. A special grade cursed tool, yes, but a sword nevertheless, and as swords did not truly have emotions nor souls, there was only so far you could extend your sympathy for it.

“Hey, Y/N. Satoru told me you and the rest of the first years would be joining us tonight,” Geto said as you rounded the corner and almost ran into him. His smile was as soft and pleasant as his voice, and he did not seem to bear you any ill-will despite the fact that you had almost directly collided with him.

“Geto! Ah, yes, he invited us to come along. I hope that’s alright?” you said. Though he was far less obnoxious and in-your-face about it, Geto was the other half of the strongest duo. He was the only man that could stand against Satoru Gojo and win, so it would do you well to show him some respect.

“Of course! I would’ve asked you myself if we ever had the chance to speak,” he said, keeping pace with you effortlessly, his hands shoved in his pockets and his warm eyes contemplative.

“I didn’t realize you wanted to talk to me,” you admitted.

“You’re my underclassman. Why would I not want to talk to you?” he said, reaching out and ruffling your hair fondly. Ordinarily, you would snap at anyone who dared to touch your hair, but when Geto did it, it was different. It felt kind, caring, the way you assumed it would be if an affectionate older brother did such a thing. You could not be upset by it, so you decided that he would be your one exception.

“I never thought about it like that,” you said.

“If you ever need anything, you can definitely ask me,” he said. “Or Satoru. Or Shoko! I mean, you can come to all of us.”

“Thank you,” you said, embarrassed by how kind he was. It didn’t feel special, either; just as being fed up was part of Nanami’s personality, being kind was part of Geto’s. He was simply like this, you assumed, with everyone.

“Has Tokyo been treating you well? And what about those classmates of yours?” he said. “Because if either of them have been acting up, you just let me know, and I’ll send a couple of curses after them. Small ones, of course, the kind that would do little more than give them a scare in the middle of night, but I think that would be enough to get a laugh out of us both.”

“Tokyo has been wonderful. The same goes for Nanami and Haibara, so no need to sic the curses on them quite yet — if that ever changes, you’ll be the first person I call,” you said. “It’s really been so different from home.”

“Is that a good thing?” he said.

“Yes, I would say. I feel like I’m accepted here in a way I wasn’t before,” you said, tapping your chin in thought. “People outside of the sorcery world can’t really understand those in it. Did you know that?”

“My parents aren’t sorcerers, either,” he said. “I’d wager I know it as well as you do.”

He did not offer more, and you did not inquire. Whatever his past was, it was his alone, as yours belonged to you. But you had this much in common, that both of you were born of non-sorcerers who would never, not truly, know what it was like.

Sometimes, you wondered what your parents were doing, if they missed you, or if they were relieved that you were gone now. Surely, it was the latter, as they had never made any attempts to contact you, but the smallest, most childish part of you wanted it to be true that they regretted sending you away, that every day they ached for your return.

“It’s nice to have friends, as well,” you said. “Nanami and Haibara, they are so different from each other and from anyone I’ve ever met, but I would not trade them for the entire world. They are very precious to me.”

Nanami with his reluctance to do just about anything and the way he would do just about everything, just because he cared about you and Haibara. Haibara and his cheerfulness, making it impossible to be sad for very long at all. Where would you be without them? Who would you be without them? They had forced you out of a shell you hadn’t even realized was built around you. They helped you take aching, vulnerable steps into a new world where you were strong, where you were brave, where you were yourself.

“And what about exorcising curses and whatnot? Has that been alright?” he said. The concern was nice. It evoked the same emotion in you that had arisen when Yaga had shown anger at your past circumstances: a kind of gratitude that there existed someone who cared about you.

“I’ve only gone on that one mission with Gojo, but it went well enough. My cursed technique hasn’t manifested yet, so I mostly rely on the Sword of Syrinx, but that’s a special grade cursed tool, so it could be worse,” you said.

“You have a technique?” he said.

“According to Hinode, it’s some ancient technique called Hummingbird’s Blessing. It allows its user to borrow the strength of the hummingbird. I still don’t know what it means, let alone how it’s used, but I’m sure I’ll figure it out,” you said.

“Hm,” Geto said. “I know it sounds like a weak technique, and I don’t know the details, so I could be entirely wrong, but might I say something?”

“Go ahead,” you said, the rest of the students coming into view. For some reason, Haibara and Nanami were diligently massaging Ieri’s shoulders, and Gojo was taking pictures of the spectacle with a digital camera. Noticing you and Geto approaching, he turned the flash on and snapped a shot of the two of you walking together, one you were sure would be absolutely horrible, considering both of you had been caught entirely by surprise and weren’t even facing the camera when the photo was taken.

“The simplest techniques tend to be the most powerful. See, the more complicated a technique is, the more restrictions it usually has. Or, alternatively, the cost of cursed energy to use it is so high that it’s barely ever a viable option. But if you can take a weak, straightforward technique and use your mind a bit,” he said, tapping you on the forehead. “That’s how you really become strong.”

Flash. “Cute pose! These are going to come out so good!”

“Gojo!” you said, startled both by the blinding light of the camera and his sudden appearance in between you and Geto. “Will you at least take one of me where I’m looking at the camera?”

“Sure!” he said, taking the opportunity to take another picture, this one likely of you scowling directly into the lens.

“When I know what’s going on and have time to prepare!” you said. Perhaps you had been a bit too hasty in saying you liked him.

“Eventually,” he said. “Now, the question is, do we convince the managers to drive us, or do we just walk?”

“It’s a nice night out,” Ieri said. “I don’t mind either way. Walking will give me more time to strategize with my new teammate, however, so if you guys are feeling threatened, then we should call a manager.”

“We’re not threatened!” Gojo said.

“We’re the strongest. Do you think we’ll let you two beat us? We’d never live it down,” Geto added. Ieri exhaled a puff of smoke from the cigarette dangling between her teeth and turned back to wink at you.

“Then I suppose we’re walking,” she said, looping her arm through yours and using her other hand to motion the others forward. “Go on, now, we can’t have you all eavesdropping on our groundbreaking strategies.”

Of the four, only Haibara was impressed, his eyes sparkling and his jaw dropping, likely at the thought of you and Ieri having ‘groundbreaking strategies.’ He bowed, and it was made even more humorous by the fact that he was probably being completely serious with it.

“We’ll let you two discuss. I look forward to seeing what you come up with,” he said, grabbing the back of Nanami’s shirt and using it to yank him forwards, away from you and Ieri. Gojo and Geto exchanged looks before simultaneously shrugging and following after them, leaving you and Ieri to take up the rear at a more sedate speed.

“What groundbreaking strategies are you thinking of?” you said.

“I just have one,” she said, holding up her pointer finger for emphasis.

“Let’s hear it, then,” you said.

“Beat Suguru and Satoru,” she said. You waited for her to elaborate. She did not.

“Sounds like a plan,” you said. “Are you good at games?”

“No,” she said. “Are you?”

You winced. “No.”

“That’s fine. We’ll just have to go the old-fashioned route,” she said firmly, elbowing you in the side.

“What’s that?” you said, tilting your head towards her curiously. Her face split into a conniving smile.

“Lying, cheating, and scamming our way to the top.”

“How the hell did we lose again?” Gojo screamed, banging on his controller like he was trying to force it into working.

“I guess you guys just aren’t as good as Y/N and I,” Ieri said, tossing her hair.

“Where is Y/N, anyways?” Nanami said, narrowing his eyes at Ieri.

“Bathroom. Uh…womanly issues?” she said. Nanami made a face.

“Alright,” he said.

“I hope she’s doing okay, she’s been gone for a while. Oh, I know! We should all buy her some chocolate! That’ll cheer her up, right? I mean, chocolate helps because of its high magnesium content, so it’ll make her feel better,” Haibara said.

“Yes. You all should go get her some chocolate,” Ieri said.

“Good idea, Haibara,” Geto said. “I’m sure she’ll really appreciate it. Let’s go.”

“I still can’t believe we lost to her and Shoko,” Gojo said as the four of them walked away in search of chocolate to offer to you.

“You can come out now,” Ieri said. You slid out from behind the machine, where you had been manipulating the controls to make it seem like your team had won more points than Gojo, Geto, Haibara, and Nanami combined. “Nice job.”

“It was so worth it,” you said. “You’ll mess with the next game?”

“Think they’ll be suspicious if we’re both experiencing ‘womanly issues’ at the same time?” she said, making air quotes with her fingers to highlight the sarcasm. You peered around the corner, where the four of them seemed to be arguing about which chocolate had the highest magnesium content, and then shook your head.

“Nah, I doubt they even know what that means,” you said.

She high-fived you. “They are going to feel so bad by the time the night is over.”

You smiled, half out of affection for the boys coming back with bags upon bags of chocolate in tow, half out of affection for the girl in front of you who you barely knew but could already consider a fast friend.

“Y/N! We got chocolate for you,” Haibara said, thrusting the bags in your hand. “Wait, where did Ieri go?”

“She’s a bit under the weather,” you said. From underneath the game machine, Ieri snorted, which none of them seemed to take heed of. “I’m sure she'll be back soon. We can probably get another round in while we wait.”

“We’ll win this time!” Gojo said.

They did not win that time, nor the time after that, nor even the time after that. In fact, whether by chance or fate or perhaps copious amounts of subterfuge on yours and Ieri’s part, they never won again.

#kashimo x reader #kashimo x you #kashimo x y/n #canon au #reader insert #hurricanes / hummingbirds #m1ckeyb3rry writes

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mysicksecrets · 7 months ago

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my chem professor (who i despise with every cell of my body) put in our exam grades and the class adverage was a failing, and i ended up getting a 91%? so not bad.

BUT THEN THID FUCKING BITHGXAGDGDGS sent aNOTHER email saying that she typed in the scores wrong and so basically all of our grades went down significantly more (i got a 87 technically ….. :(). BUT ITS LIKE. DUDE. SHE fucked it up originally and now she’s going to decrease l the grades even more?? the failing adverage??!? like isn’t that so messed??

idk i guess she had to do it or whatever but like could u imagine seeing ur failing grade and then coming back hours later to seeing it get even lower. horrible. I HATE HER

#🎀 - mello talks too much #i’m actually so annoyed like that exam was so hard it wasn’t even the stuff we talked about in class and UGHHHHHGRGSGATSSTS #everytime i think about that class i want to pull my hair out #i don’t even mind chemistry #DHE JUDT SUCKS #she has like 2/5 stars on rate my professor but i had to take her bc she was the only class that could fit my schedule #ughh #if i don’t get an A in GEN CHEMISTRY im going to drop out

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tawus · 1 year ago

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Hi Tawus!!!! The way you write Gojo is so spot on, it's hard to not think that you're getting all his dialogue and mannerisms from Gege himself!!

If you were free, I was wondering if I could hear your opinions on student!gojo and how he would react if his classmate had a crush on him. I feel like he would be the type to intentionally try to fluster them, just to see their reaction. Gojo doesn't seem like the type to lead them on, however. I don't know, I just feel like it would be terrible to have a crush on him, lol.

Thank you so much!!! 🩷🩷🩷

If I may be so daring, allow me to recommend my two fics that focus on Gojo in his student times:

Mister Fahrenheit

And so sorry for my late response! I have this anal thing where I put all of myself into each ask response... 😅

Right so, I'm not perfect with headcanons but please peep my student!Gojo take:

1 --- 1

Nothing escapes student!Gojo’s six-eyed scrutiny. He catches all of your lingering gazes. He notices when you inch into his personal space by a mere centimetre whenever you stand together at the front of the class. He notes how you stand back with a lowered head with your tray in your hands in the short lunch line, allowing him to take his food first.

Gojo’s techniques are based on mathematical formulae, in fact - using mathematical formulae was he able to decode, understand and master his own techniques. Which is another way of saying that he was plenty good at putting 2 and 2 together.

So, at some point, when you stared at him across the classroom desks, he began turning to you and meeting your gaze.

When you were in front of the class together, he began taking a single sideways step enough to intrude into your personal space.

And in the lunch line…oh no, his feet were rotating around…

“What do you want?” he suddenly turned around, addressing you.

Tongue-tied, nape sweating, you stammered out a meek “Wha–?”

“Besides me, I mean,” he enunciated the ‘me’ and flashed you a shining Cheshire.

Your cheeks had fires lit behind them, not sure what the fuck to do or how the fuck to act.

“Satoru,” Suguru’s milky voice gently reprimanded him as he passed by the two of you with his own tray. “Don’t be mean to our classmate.”

You saw the blue globes rotate in his friend’s direction, “I was just being hospitable.”

The globes rotated back to you, unfolding their oceans to expose their magma core.

“By offering her all that’s on the menu...”

2 --- 2

When your ankle is injured during one of your group missions and Geto cordially lifts you up in his arms to carry you to the pickup point, Gojo comes up to his friend and takes you from his arms as if you were a doll.

“No, Suguru, she wants me to carry her.”

Which, obviously, makes you scramble to your feet, however injured, and hobble in the direction of the pickup point on your own...

3 --- 3

Or when you were separate from the group, facing a Grade 1 cursed spirit on your own, coming to your resolve and finally allowing for your technique to fully release to face this strong enemy. Glad for the fact that none of your classmates were around to see just how bloodthirsty your technique really is.

It began seeping out of you and the curse was right there, zeroing in on you as its solitary target.

Good.

You sensed Gojo's and Geto’s goliath cursed energies many miles away.

Fucking good.

With the fluid rotation of your hand, you summoned your cursed technique as the Grade 1 curse summoned its own on pure instinct. Clouds of premonition gathered above you two and thick, dirty auras permeated the air.

“Cursed technique, Arr–” you mouthed.

FWACK!

You observed in shock as your enemy – the cursed spirit – got lifted up in the air and smacked into the nearby bluff side - its essence trickling down as no more than liquid blood and putrefied remains. Your budding cursed technique got paused. Your chanting stopped mid-air. Your killing instinct got robbed of its target.

“Yo! Didn’t think you’d struggle against a bug like that, but I guess you do…”

The voice you’d recognise anywhere. Too full of itself. Too fucking cocky.

The cursed technique that was budding within the fluid rotation of your wrist fired in the direction of that voice – only to be stopped by his Infinity barrier.

By the time it collided with it, though, you were already there, standing before Gojo motherfucking Satoru, with your vice grip aiming for his windpipe but held back by his annoying barrier once again.

“Baby girl, don’t channel the fact that you pine for me into personal vendettas within our missions,” he mouthed down to you with an easy smile and sympathetic white brows.

Causing you to fume. Causing your cursed technique to reactivate, and his – to power up and thicken in instinctual response. You were staring up and he was smirking down, while your cursed energies were flaring out of normal eyesight and battling, sparking, colliding, fizzling and incandescing against each other.

4 --- 4

Another colleague fallen. Not even a colleague yet – a classmate. No longer smiling. Cold. Stupefied in rigor mortis.

As you stood staring at their face, Gojo came to stand beside you in deafening silence. It lasted as long as a droplet takes to swell and finally fall.

“Maybe you should seek a temp job downtown. Leave all this jujutsu stuff behind,” he said out of the blue.

You swallowed down your offence while memorising, despite yourself, every single morbid line of your colleague’s face. Envisioning how yours would look soon enough in this same occupation.

“You think I’m not cut out for this job…” you said to Gojo with only a trace of appropriate indignation. You didn’t have it in you in this moment to be snarky.

The air was heavy with the stench of decomposing flesh, as his blue gaze sliced you obliquely from aside. After a long pause, with you not returning his blue intensity, Gojo threw his head back and spoke to the ceiling with a wistful smile.

“It’s me who’s not cut out for…this.”

The raw emotion in his last word made you finally look at him, at his tall stature, at his oddly shrivelled shoulders. But he turned away from you soon, his towering back propped up and facing you, denying you the answer as to what exactly he meant by ‘this’.

“You're all so weak. Just….don’t die on me, ok?” he said and walked off.

#not proof read as well as i would've liked it to be #which is so shameful ughhh #but it's 3am and i'm buzzed enough #ask tawus #gojo satoru #young gojo #tawus hcs #jjk #young gojo hcs #tawus

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thistleation · 1 year ago

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Beyond our Space and Starlight: Chapter 3

1 year, 2 months, 8 days.

Ava had been able to get some sleep at least. She’d been moved to a cell with a bed that was…functional, but as if the stress of being confined again wasn’t enough, she’d also been woken up three times during the night.

(Medics, checking her vitals and if her blockers were working as intended.)

She’d walked into that cell on her own two legs, so obviously the connection to Halo was still present, but Ava wasn’t about to fill these people in on the details of that . Besides, she couldn’t seem to actively call on any power, so she wasn’t sure what use it would be, if any.

Her mind had been on escape of course, but she couldn’t see any way out, without her powers and confined to these stone walls.

Breakfast was kinda bland, but hey, it was breakfast at least. Her captors were apparently considerate enough to get some food in her before their first round of interrogation that morning.

Speaking off, it was the three of them together again this time — the girls she’d fought at the FBC compound. That was probably their entire roster of veil-touched, she gathered, or at least the ones currently on planet.

They weren’t in their combat gear, but they still wore the black robes, their heads still covered. It was a safe bet they still considered themselves to be nuns, their day (night?) job notwithstanding, they certainly dressed the part.

Ava had been cuffed again as soon as she was taken out of her cell, and brought to a different room than last time.

Similar vibe throughout the whole structure though, plain stone walls, sparse and spartan furnishing, a general atmosphere that said “we are too spiritual and sophisticated for anything so pedestrian as ‘fun’.”

Ava got to sit in the special chair, placed prominently in the center of the room, across from a plain looking desk.

Hands cuffed in front of her and not actually tied down to the chair though, it was a relatively polite affair she guessed? Or maybe they just didn’t consider Ava a real threat without her powers. A little hurtful, if likely accurate.

The three of them hovered around a seated Ava before tall, dark, and cheekbones — Lilith, Ava remembered cheerfully — spoke up.

“This is your sidearm,” she took it out from a container on the floor and placed it on the desk.

Ava nodded appreciatively.

“Its basis is a Manticore-5, that’s up to date military grade hardware, but it has an upgraded power core and its barrel accelerators are tweaked to match. Upgraded from top tier military grade.”

“Birthday present,” Ava smiled apologetically, “you know how friends are.”

Lilith shot her a glance, but continued without interruption, putting Ava’s backpack on the table next. She opened it to show the metallic pattern of the inner lining.

“This took us a bit, but Camilla” — the one with the black curls and the cheerful smile gave a little wave — “managed to figure out this is a dampening device. Specifically made to shield and contain the energies of an artifact. Much more compact than the technology we have for that and, according to Camilla’s current estimates, more efficient too.”

“Hey, I wouldn’t take that personally, I’m sure your science-y people worked very hard —”

“Save it. We know you’re working for Jillian Salvius.”

Ava snapped her fingers, “I knew I should’ve filed all those arq-tech logos off of my shit.”

“There are few enough players in this or any nearby constellations who can afford this sort of hardware, and only one specifically interested in — and equipped for — artifact dealings.”

Ava pushed out her lower jaw and raised her eyebrows.

“Sure… that sounds like a reasonable enough assumption.”

Lilith chuckled. “Do you want to dispute it?”

“No… no. Not at all. Just it seems less like you know I work for arq-tech and more like you’re inferring that I do.”

Ava worked for arq-tech, or rather, Jillian specifically. Of course she did. As her captors had very correctly concluded, there really weren’t many other possibilities given what they’d caught her doing and what kind of gear she’d brought to the party.

Was that going to stop her from being an insufferable bitch about it? Of course not. What a silly notion.

“There is no other reasonable explanation.”

“If you say so.”

“You’re saying you don’t work for arq-tech?”

Ava took a long pause for dramatic effect and gave it some exaggerated thought.

“No, no, let’s go with your version. Sounds like you put a lot of work into it.”

Lilith breathed deeply through her nose and took a step towards her.

“Lilith,” it was Beatrice, Ava recognized the voice behind her clearly, “she’s trying to rile you up.”

She glanced over her shoulder at the girl called Beatrice and gave her a wink. (Ooh, did she tense up a little from that?)

“Can you blame me though? She just makes it so easy.”

When she turned back she gave a start as Lilith’s face was suddenly right in front of hers, her hands on the chair to either side of Ava.

“Keep pushing me. See what happens.”

Oh, Ava very much wanted to keep pushing now. She met Lilith’s glare and clacked her teeth together, biting the air between them in challenge. Lilith narrowed her eyes and Ava was sure she was about to get punched, but her gaze flitted up to where Beatrice was standing and she controlled herself.

“Let’s change the subject for a moment,” Lilith pushed herself off, “why can’t we break your link?”

Ava pumped her eyebrows and grinned. “You’ve all met Halo, huh? I don’t know why that’s a thing, just that it is. Apparently it’s not the only thing that’s unusual about us.”

“You have to be able to break it somehow. If you were maintaining that link for months you’d be showing mutations, feathers, wings, iridescence, false-eyes, …”

“Maybe. Or maybe it’s different for me, what with being the Bright’s specialest little princess and all that.”

Lilith crossed her arms.

“Okay then, princess…”

Oh. Oh no . It was a mistake to put that word into Lilith’s mouth and Ava regretted it instantly as an interested tingle ran up her spine.

“Try this one on for size: your unbreakable link is currently our main logistical problem, because it’s too dangerous to have your kind of power on a ship in deep space. If we can’t break it, Mother Superion is suggesting we put you on a ship core-ward as soon as possible to try and get you as far along as we can before the blockers start failing, maybe put you into an artificial coma, dosed up to the gills for the rest of the way, and hope the massive overdose it takes to keep you sedated doesn’t do any permanent brain damage. Sound appealing to you?”

Fuck.

Yeah that was more or less what she was afraid of. She’d just been fishing to see if they’d already reached that conclusion.

“Okay, fine.”

She had to give them something, and admitting it would hopefully buy her some time if they believed they could negotiate their way into her giving it up instead.

“Yes. I can break the link myself if I want to.”

Lilith lifted her hands in a ‘there you go’ gesture. “Finally, some progress, that wasn’t so hard was it? I don’t suppose you’d be so kind as to do so for us now?”

“What, and give up my biggest bargaining chip?”

“I figured as much. Let’s do some easier ones first. Why can’t we sense you?”

Ava shrugged nonchalantly “I dunno, skill issue?”

Lilith’s face turned sour again and an irritated breath flared out her nostrils.

“I really don’t! I promise! I’m still new at this and I don’t really have a teacher, shocker!”

Lilith pinched the bridge of her nose, her expression hadn’t softened when Beatrice stepped in.

“If I might?”

Lilith nodded and Beatrice knelt down in front of Ava. They made eye contact and she seemed to be in a softer mood again.

“I believe you, Ava. I just have some questions to see if we can figure this out a little better if that’s okay with you?”

Ava considered for a second, then nodded.

“Alright. First, can you sense the three of us?”

Ava breathed for a moment and closed her eyes, focusing on her breathing. This was not her strong suit. “I think so… blockers are making it fuzzy but I can still feel the three of you, I think.” She pushed her focus a little harder, it was much harder for bright- and abyssal-touched to sense individuals on the opposing spectrum than their own kind, and Ava wasn’t very practiced at it, but with them right in the room with her it wasn’t too hard, even through the blockers.

She also sensed what was different between them.

“Sunshine and Lily-poo have cleaned up, but you’re still packing, aren’t you?”

Beatrice nodded and flared her power to illustrate. The already alluring darkness of her deep brown eyes intensified and the ghostly image of smooth, segmented armor, covering the agile and powerful form of something perhaps crustacean-like, swam through the air around her, just for a second, before fading.

“Again, actually, not still. Just before coming here to talk to you.”

“Too worried to face me without at least one rider in the room huh?”

Beatrice gave her a twinkling little smile. Ava imagined it might be the kind of smile she had before making a clever move in a game.

“I think it’s a very fair precaution, but I’ll happily take off mine if you take off yours.”

Fuck, was she flirting? Was that intentional? Ava was not ready to be counter flirted with by a bunch of nuns. Either way, she didn’t have an answer.

“Well,” Beatrice’s pleased little smile remained as she graciously continued, “If we’re still at that impasse, let’s continue instead. Could you do me a favor and pulse your power?”

Ava frowned. “I’m still on the blocker.”

“Just focus on channeling as you would to summon your power. Time it with your breathing, focus as hard as you can on the exhale, relax and stop channeling on the inhale. Could you try that for me?”

Ava nodded and gave it her best. Her actual power lay beyond her reach, but she found she could still call on the focus she’d otherwise use to channel — she just couldn’t do anything with it.

She kept this up for a while, until the exchanged looks between the sisters resulted in shaking heads all round.

“Hmmm. Curious. Your power exists in the same space as ours, you can sense us, we can affect each other, and I believe we could sense the powers you channeled when we fought — though it was admittedly a chaotic situation — but you yourself… you don’t give a blip.”

Ava looked away a little uncomfortably.

“Alright so now what?”

They all exchanged looks.

“Well we still have some more questions,” Beatrice said.

“Yeah, well I’m not feeling particularly eager to answer them for you.”

She was starting to feel an itch in the back of her mind. Sure, Beatrice was being gentle and treating her with kindness, but beyond this cooperation Ava could see the future that was looming.

“Your rider, Halo, as you call him. Is he the first rider you ever summoned?”

“No.”

“No, you’ve summoned others before?”

“No, I’m not answering any more questions until you offer me something better than you have been doing. You’re here threatening basically to kill me if I don’t cooperate, but if I do cooperate you’ll kill me anyway.”

Lilith sighed. “We’re not killing you, we’re sending you to the core, to a life of glamor and luxury I might add.”

“Might as well kill me. No. I want a better deal or me being any kind of cooperative ends right now.”

Lilith prowled around the desk in front of her. “Well if you’re refusing to cooperate, you may force us to explore more drastic ways of dealing with you. Like getting that image off your back for example.”

“Lilith, we already tried everything.” Camilla spoke up, some vaguely anxious undertone in her voice. “It’s not coming off.”

“We tried superficial methods,” Lilith said as she drew a knife, “We could just try going a little deeper.”

Ava’s eyes locked on Lilith.

She could feel the anger inside her begin to build, her learned response to being threatened with no way out. Like flames being called from everpresent embers in her soul, it was the anger of a trapped and lonely girl who could never ever run from the things that came to hurt her, who could only ever wait for the worst to come to pass.

“Do it,” it came out in a low growl under her breath first, but it swelled in force quickly.

“Do it then. Take your knife and cut me open.”

“Ava…” Beatrice’s voice came from the side but she was in no mood to listen.

“No, do it!” Ava was out of her chair now, “If me existing is such an inconvenience to you!”

She was up in Lilith’s face now, shouting, but it wasn’t just at her anymore. She was shouting at sister Frances, at the researchers, at all the people who’d abused her and treated her like a thing instead of a person, at a world that had only ever offered her slow misery with nothing but the promise of an even darker and more miserable end.

The anger inside burning her up, the only response she’d ever had blazing out of her: if it really was going to be only pain and suffering then just fucking get it over with already.

“Do it!

Take your knife and stab me in the back if you think it’ll get you ANYTHING but more blood on your hands!”

She shoved Lilith with her still cuffed hands.

“DO IT!”

Lilith moved in a blur. Ava’s legs got swiped out from underneath her and she smacked down hard onto the ground.

Lilith was on top of her inside of a second.

Ava knew what was about to happen, what had to happen. She’d physically challenged Lilith, made it so she couldn’t back down without looking weak in front of her friends. She’d known that before she’d pushed her, but she’d still done it because she couldn’t back down either, because she didn’t know how to respond to a threat she couldn’t fight with anything but rage.

The scene played out in her mind already, Lilith would flip her over onto her stomach and stab the knife into her back at the image of Halo. She could almost feel the cold steel pierce her flesh before it had ever touched her.

It was clear from the hardness in her eyes: Lilith would do it and it scared the shit out of her because Ava had no idea where she’d stop.

If she would stop.

Her heart was pounding like it was trying to find a way out of her chest. She was terrified.Her punishment was coming for her and she could not avoid it; all she could do was face it as it approached. She knew she’d scream as soon as the knife cut into her. She wouldn’t be able to hold it in, but she could hold it off until that moment. She wouldn’t scream yet .

Lilith’s glare bore down on her. She had her pinned to the floor, the flat of the blade pressed to her chest, and Ava held her gaze, trembling with rage and fear in equal parts.

Then something shifted.

Lilith’s eyes didn’t flit to Beatrice this time. Her expression didn’t soften into pity — although there might’ve been a hint of compassion.

More than anything, it read like a decision, a deliberate choice on Lilith’s part that this was not who she was, not who she was going to be. Not today.

She pulled away from Ava, the knife flicking away from its threatening position, and she stood up as everyone in the room exhaled.

“Wow! Okay!” Camilla took the center of the floor with a concerned smile and her hands out in placating fashion. “Clearly we just had an emotional moment there, maybe it’s a good idea to take a break so we can all process that for a bit, huh?”

CONT. on Ao3

#warrior nun #warrior nun fanfic #avatrice #ava x beatrice #fic: bosas #is it about time I start tagging this ava x beatrice x lilith?#maybe coming up on that yea given the uhm... scene #ava x beatrice x lilith

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spandexinspace · 11 months ago

Text

@radioactive-earthshine Gave the birthday boy a protein shake. 🫡

Happy -938 birthday to him!

_______________________________________________

"Here." Ayla trusts one of two identical transparent cups into Querl’s hands. It’s cool to the touch, though less so than how most humans appear to prefer their beverages, and contains a white, viscous liquid with an almost imperceptible pink tint, punctuated by small, dark dots.

"What is this?" Querl asks, eyeing the substance sceptically. He’s not made a habit out of trusting unidentified liquids his teammates hand to him, since many of them have demonstrated an interest in regularly consuming nearly or slightly toxic substances for no justifiable reason. It might not even be consumable at all, for all he knows.

"Protein shake. Contains fancy seeds and stuff, Tenzil says it has benefits." She grins at him and leans back against the railing, turning her back towards the biosphere below as the contents of her own cup lap dangerously high up the container’s walls and threaten to spill over them at any moment..

"Benefits?" Another thing his teammates seem to have their own ideas about. No surprise that Tenzil is the source of this mystery liquid though.

"Oh, you know, some stuff,” she says nonchalantly, her lips still curled into the type of grin that says it’s not.

"Ayla, elaborate."

"Tenz said he got it from some ancient human records called P-ins that said it's supposed to give you energy." Ayla leans closer, lowering her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "Sexual energy."

“Grief,” he says, drawing out the word to empathise his disbelief. "That seems highly unlikely; The replicators are not configured to provide medical grade products. And even if they were there'd be no guarantee it would have the same impact on either of our biologies as it would have had on a human a thousand years ago." Despite himself Querl can feel the tip of his ears and cheeks heat up, undoubtedly turning a treacherous dark green even as he tries his best to remain unbothered.

"Yeah, yeah, science. Can't hurt to try it though, can it?" As Ayla leans back again, as relaxed as ever, Querl studies her expression for a sign of, well, anything. She’s more open than most, but he is quite frankly awful at reading people and she knows that.

"It definitely could. But you don't actually think this will work, do you?"

"Only one way to find out." She takes a big gulp of the drink and then pauses for a moment, as if to savour it, her face a mask of exaggerated contemplation. "But nah, I think Tenz is full of nass on this one. He'd believe any recipe he found in any old record. Helps being able to eat all the weird stuff they used to eat back then, I guess. This ones’s not too bad though, doesn’t even taste like chems." She wipes the back of her hand across her lips.

Querl raises his cup and slowly rotates it, watches as the thick liquid lazily swirls in the cup and the black dots bob up and down in it like miniature buoys. There is a notable lack of a chemical smell to it, replaced instead by a weak, earthy scent not unlike some of the things they ate while stuck in the 20th century. Very unlike the so-called pizza they ate there, but not unlike certain other things they ate. Its appearance still fails to bring him comfort.

"You do know you don't have to bring me food," he says, glancing over at Ayla. Stalling, if only a little.

"I know, but I get worried about you sometimes. Lyle does too, judging by what Salu says he’s told her.”

"And what has he told Salu?" He narrows his eyes, running through the options in his head.

"She didn’t say exactly what he said, just that he gets worried about you sometimes. I think he mentioned something about it while they were on a mission with the squad ‘cause they’d been away for a while?”

“He... does that.” Querl sighs. ”I’ve already explained that he shouldn’t be concerned, I clearly survived just fine before him.”

“Not really how it works, my guy. Look, I don't really know what's up with you and I ain't going to dig if you don't want me to, but you should take care of yourself. You're not helping anyone by not taking care of yourself and we'd all be pissed if you died or something. It was bad enough the last time around." Ayla takes another drink from her cup, her gaze seemingly fixed on something very far away. Or perhaps nothing at all.

"It's fine. I'll be fine."

"Good. Now try the sprocking thing before it becomes even warmer."

Querl takes a last look at the liquid in the cup, then brings it to his lips and takes a small drink. It’s smooth and still slightly cold, the texture only broken up by the black dots, which somehow manage to be both gelatinous and hard at once and feel oddly large and uncomfortable in his mouth. It’s not too dissimilar to the awful, pungent "milkshakes" Lyle seems to have a thing for, but unlike those it's not heavy with the kind of artificial sweetness that lays itself like a thick coat over one’s tongue and teeth. It's still sweet, but the taste is less pronounced, tinged with a bitter and earthy note. It’s a strange and unfamiliar taste, but not a wholly repulsive one.

"So, what do you think?"

"It's acceptable."

"Uhu, feeling any energy yet?"

"Grief, Ayla." He rolls his eyes and she lets out a bark of laughter, whatever shadow that came over her before now gone.

"Just checking," she says, before taking yet another sip from her own cup. "It is pretty good actually. A lot of food here tastes so fake, but this could actually have some real nuts in it."

“And here I thought you didn’t know anything about nuts.” Ayla reaches over to swat at his shoulder with the back of her hand, but her touch is light and there’s a clear, contagious bemusement in her expression.

“Oh, and I thought we were being proper today,” she says.

“There is nothing improper about discussing commonly farmed crops. You of all people should know that.”

Ayla snorts. “Nasshead. Nuts aren’t even common crops back home. Most of it’s just grains and even then we sell most of that.”

"Hm, yes, I suppose that’s true. Most food on Colu originates from Winathian grain producers, though as far as I know it’s processed off planet."

"That weird bread you-all eat?"

"It's not bread. It's super-processed grain infused with vitamins, proteins and mineral additives. It’s a nutritionally complete food and makes use of as much of the grain as possible, thereby reducing waste and ensuring our survival."

"Thanks for the lecture. Kinda tastes like nass though." Ayla grimaces in mock disgust.

"Flavour is perhaps not its main benefit.” It, in truth, doesn’t taste like much of anything at all. He’s still not decided if he prefers that to all varied, unexpected and often disgusting tastes of alien food. “It's very efficient though, both to transport and to eat, and you don’t need to eat anything else to fulfil your nutritional needs.”

"I just can't imagine not having other options though. Even when we have bad years back home we usually have some options. Buncha different recipes and conserves. My grandmas all knew probably about a hundred different things to do with mixed grains and not much else."

"Perhaps it's different for other people. My family constellation wasn't ideal for being immersed in our culinary traditions." Querl shrugs half-heartedly. It’s not like he ever would have had a choice even if he had wanted to.

"Nass, sorry, I didn't mean it like that."

"It's alright." It is. It doesn’t hurt like it did before, in particular not when it’s her saying it. Unlike some her words aren’t laced with ill will and Ayla is, for as boisterous and loud she can be, surprisingly easy to get along with. Surprisingly easy to just be around.

They fall into a comfortable silence after that, continuing to sip at their drinks as they slowly turn room temperatured. It’s strangely filling for a drink, though Querl supposes that has something to do with the – by the name implied – added protein and perhaps the partially soft black things. He makes a mental note to research the matter further later, perhaps even by talking to his worrier of a boyfriend.

The cup is mostly empty by the time he breaks the silence.

"Thank you. For the drink. It’s not as disgusting as it first seemed." Tilting the cup back and forth he watches as the now thinned out liquid and a few stray dots flow along the bottom of it, trying to keep up with its movements.

"Any time. Gotta keep you going so I can keep kicking your ass in training."

"How altruistic of you. Perhaps you would be better off fighting someone who can match your enthusiasm?”

"And risk losing? Don't think so, beans." Ayla eyes him, her eyebrows knitting together in either a frown or thoughtfulness. “I mean, unless you want to.”

“I don’t. And even if I did, someone would inevitably lecture me about the physical demands of our field of work and demand I train with Val, again.” Querl waves a hand dismissively in her direction, then crosses his arms. “Besides… I do appreciate your company. Even with the absurd nicknames.”

“Aw. Maybe someday I’ll teach you how to make up nicknames too.” She reaches over and ruffles his hair. If he makes an indignant noise in response it’s nothing short of her fault.

#dc comics #losh #brainiac 5 #querl dox #my writing #legion of super heroes #ayla ranzz #lightning lazz

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