#periodic reminder i wrote a book and you can read it

[andhumanslovedstories]

Funny thing just happened at the Friendsgiving I was just at. My friend who is also in danmei hell mentioned Scum Villain fic, and I was like, “oh I’m actually writing one at the moment.” So per their request, I sent them the link, and it turns they were already reading this fic. Like, they had read it within the last 24 hours.

Always bizarre to know real people read my writing. Not bad! It feels very nice actually. Putting stuff online can often feel so abstract and for an often friendly and also faceless audience (hi). Then something happens, and you get reminded that any audience is made up of individual people who exist outside the internet. I’ve gotten the same feeling when I run into someone irl who recognizes my blog. On those very rare occasions, I am so deeply flattered and also blindsided that my higher cognitive functions shut down.

The reverse happened to me last year where I went to a book signing with Shelley Parker-Chan. There was a Q&A, so they’re twenty feet away from me, answering questions about She Who Became the Sun, a novel I absolutely adored reading. And I’m like, that’s just a person. Everything I love and admire were made by people who are just people. There isn’t this clear delineation between me and the people I respect.

I struggle with this idea that I have to become a different version of myself before I can do what I want to do. It becomes a paradoxical nightmare. Authors write novels, and since I haven’t written a novel, I can’t be an Author, and if I’m not an Author, I can’t write a novel. It’s good for me to be periodically confronted by proof that this is complete bullshit. You do the things you want to do to become the person you want to become, and that person is not a dramatic transformation from your current self. It’s just you, having done the thing you want to do and all the work it took to do it.

And at that book signing, for the first time in months, maybe years, I really really really wanted to write. I wanted to write a novel I was proud of and present it for other people to read. I wanted to be on a small stage answering questions about a book I wrote that someone else adores. I hadn’t realized that I thought doing that was impossible until I realized that actually it was attainable. Everything’s just people, all the way down.

[ered]

Hey you

[weirdly-specific-but-ok]

for whom good omens is being written

Hey maggots and the rest of the fandom, it's the Good Omens Mascot here. Today I read a post about this tweet:

The accompanying video genuinely made me cry. And I've been thinking about this for a long while, as far back as February, when I saw a lot of conflicting opinions on what people wanted from the third season. It really is true that no matter what you do, some people will be dissatisfied. But what matters is that Neil is writing this for Terry.

And I was reminded of some paragraphs from the Good Omens TV Companion, which I'd read in Amazon's sample excerpt of the book. I know this is a long post, but I really truly do think you all need to read these, I've done my best to select only the most important parts. Here you go:

'His Alzheimer's started progressing harder and faster than either of us had expected,' says Neil, referring to a period in which Terry recognized that despite everything he could no longer write. 'We had been friends for over thirty years, and during that time he had never asked me for anything. Then, out of the blue, I received an email from him with a special request. It read: “Listen, I know how busy you are. I know you don't have time to do this, but I want you to write the script for Good Omens. You are the only human being on this planet who has the passion, love and understanding for the old girl that I do. You have to do this for me so that I can see it." And I thought, “OK, if you put it like that then I'll do it."

'I had adapted my own work in the past, writing scripts for Death: The High Cost of Living and Sandman, but not a lot else was seen. I'd also written two episodes of Doctor Who, and so I felt like I knew what I was doing. Usually, having written something once I'd rather start something new, but having a very sick co-author saying I had to do this?' Neil spreads his hands as if the answer is clear to see. 'I had to step up to the plate.' A pause, then: 'All this took place in autumn 2014, around the time that the BBC radio adaptation of Good Omens was happening,' he continues, referring to the production scripted and co-directed by Dirk Maggs and starring Peter Serafinowicz and Mark Heap. ‘Terry had talked me into writing the TV adaptation, and I thought OK, I have a few years. Only I didn't have a few years,' he says. 'Terry was unconscious by December and dead by March.'

He pauses again. 'His passing took all of us by surprise,' Neil remembers. 'About a week later, I started writing, and it was very sad. The moments Terry felt closest to me were the moments I would get stuck during the writing process. In the old days, when we wrote the novel, I would send him what I'd done or phone him up. And he would say, "Aahh, the problem, Grasshopper, is in the way you phrase the question," and I would reply, "Just tell me what to do!" which somehow always started a conversation. 'In writing the script, there were times I'd really want to talk to Terry, and also places where I'd figure something out and do something really clever, and I would want to share it with him. So, instead, I would text Terry's former personal assistant, Rob Wilkins, now his representative on Earth. It was the nearest thing I had.'

(...) As Neil himself recognizes, this is an adaptation built upon the confidence that comes from three decades of writing for page and screen. But for all the wisdom of experience, he found that above all one factor guided him throughout the process. 'Terry isn't here, which leaves me as the guardian of the soul of the story,' he explains. 'It's funny because sometimes I found myself defending Terry's bits harder or more passionately than I would defend my own bits. Take Agnes Nutter,' he says, referring to what has become a key scene in the adaptation in which the seventeenth-century author of the book of prophecies foretelling the coming of the Antichrist is burned at the stake. ‘It was a huge, complicated and incredibly expensive shoot, with bonfires built and primed to explode as well as huge crowds in costume. It had to feel just like an English village in the 1640s, and of course everyone asked if there was a cheap way of doing it. 'One suggestion was that we could tell the story using old-fashioned woodcuts and have the narrator take us through what happened, but I just thought, “No”. Because I had brought aspects of the story like Crowley and the baby swap along to the mix, and Terry created Agnes Nutter. So, if I had cut out Agnes then I wouldn't be doing right by the person who gave me this job. Terry would've rolled over in his grave.'

And, finally, this paragraph:

"Once again, Neil cites the absence of his co-writer as his drive to ensure that Good Omens translated to the screen and remained true to the original vision. 'Terry's last request to me was to make this something he would be proud of. And so that has been my job.'"

I think that's so heartwrenchingly beautiful, and so I wanted you all to read this, too, just in case you (like me) don't have the Good Omens TV Companion. It adds another layer of depth and emotion to this already complex and amazing story that we all know and love.

Share this post, if you can, please, so that more people can read these excerpts :")

Tagging @neil-gaiman, @fuckyeahgoodomens and @orpiknight, even if you've definitely read these before :)

[gloomy-kitty]

𝐦𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 | 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐠𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐚 𝐱 𝐟𝐞𝐦!𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

minors don’t interact!!!!! 18+ only mature content under tab

synopsis : sol was obsessed with you the moment he laid eyes on you. you were his soulmate. he’d make sure no one else would touch you. he is the only one who can satisfy you. don’t you know that?

warnings : yandere, masturbation, obsessive behavior, stalking, somnophilia, cnc, dubcon, predatory behavior, smut, long word count, drugging, grinding, penetration, very rough sex, whiny submissive Sol at one point, and dominant Sol at another point.

author’s note : if you just want to read smut skip to sections with the 🍋 icon

long word count (11.7k+ words) i mean this might as well be split into different chapters but i don’t want to do that, also i decided to change him referring to you as pumpkin to something else sorry. gave him a tongue piercing because it sounded fun >:3 also i hate tumblr formatting so read on ao3 if you want . (gloomy_kitty)

also not 100% lore accurate

thanksss to my friend who proofread this for me!!

Sol was obsessed with you and had been since you first arrived at the school. The moment his scarlet eyes landed on you something strange was awakened within him. It felt like love at first sight—no it was love at first sight. Did you remember your first encounter? No, it was so long ago you probably hadn’t. He did though, he remembered how he felt so vividly. His heart pounded in his chest, butterflies fluttered in his stomach, and his breath hitched making it difficult to breath the moment he had seen you. That cute library assistant that worked on campus. He remembered how he had walked up to you at the counter, asking for a book for class. How you went out of your way to help him find it, not complaining a single time.

“You absolutely need this book for your class right?” You asked him, sighing in defeat after nearly an hour of searching the library.

“Yes, but if you can’t find it don’t w-“ Sol began, a bit irritated that this was required for his passing grade. But he’d just ordered it online and prayed it arrived on time before finals.

“No. I know we have it. Don’t worry I’ll find it. Just give me another day. Here write down your info and I’ll give you a call once I do.” You said determinedly, sliding a sticky note and pen towards him. “O..okay.” He mumbled and wrote down his information. He fully expected you to not ever find the book or just forget to call him to let him know of your findings. But the very next morning he received a call from an unknown number. “Hello?” He answered.

“Hi this ______ from the school’s library. I found the book you were looking for. It’s reserved at the front desk. If I’m not here just let whoever is at the counter know your name.” You said, he could tell that you were quite happy.

Sol’s eyes widened in shock, you really found it. He responded back with a simple thanks and during a free period he went to the library. There he saw you shelving away books, a content expression on your face. Awkwardly he walked up to you clearing his throat, when he realized you had an earbud in. You jumped in surprise, dropping the book you were holding. Then, at the same time you and Sol reached down to grab the book. Your hand on top of his for a brief second before you pulled away. It felt like a bolt of electricity shot through him. “Whoops! Oh hey you’re the guy from yesterday!” You laughed quietly as he handed you back the book. With that you checked him out reminding him that late fees would occur if he didn’t bring it back on time. You explained how you stayed over an hour after your shift to find what he was needing, then it turned out it was in the completely wrong genre! A historical book tucked away with comics, how egregious!

When Sol asked why you did that you shrugged, simply saying, “I don't want anyone to fail their first semester because I was too lazy to find a book for them. It’s my job after all.” You flashed him a smile. As you handed it over your fingers brushed over him for another brief moment. That same electric feeling coursed through his body. It was that moment something had awakened inside Sol. He was obsessed now.

That memory played in his head for over a year, he had found out your first name. One day when sitting in the library “studying” he overheard you telling a blonde girl about how excited you were for your art class in the fall then you explained what period it would be. Since there was only one introduction to art class that fall semester for the period before lunch, he was going to enroll in art class regardless so might as well make sure he was in yours. Everything had been planned out. Sol didn’t leave any detail forgotten.

He got to class early, sitting in the back of the classroom. He placed his backpack on the chair next to him and anyone he tried to sit next to he glared at, causing them to scurry away. Now he just needed to wait for you to arrive, you’d have to take the only available seat open next to him in a full class.

Like he planned There were no more seats left in class, you had arrived a bit late, only barely beating the bell. He watched as your eyes darted around the classroom looking for somewhere to sit, then a relief look washed over your cute face when you spotted the open seat next to him. Quickly you made your way over pulling out the chair, “Is this taken?” You asked him, already beginning to slip off your backpack.

“N..no.” Sol replied avoiding your gaze, he was focused on his sketchbook, his pencil tapping against the book as he tried to control his breathing. “Oh thank god.” You sighed in relief, finally taking your seat. Rummaging through your backpack you pulled out all the essentials you’d need for art class. It worked. His plan went perfectly!

Sol found it difficult to concentrate on the professor’s words as he discussed basic art fundamentals, he just kept glancing over at you. Your perfume smelled so intoxicating, it drove him wild. The way you studiously jotted down notes was so adorable. Then class ended much to the man’s horror, he hadn’t written down a single thing but most importantly you gathered your things to leave without saying a word to him. He lingered in the classroom a bit, slowly shoving his sketchbook back into his backpack.

A couple days passed before he could see you again, and the whole time he found it difficult to think about anything else other than you. Sol was a bit angry at himself for not even speaking to you, that was his chance to reintroduce himself. He would talk to you next time, he promised himself.

The next class came and you were once again in the same predicament as last time. Arrived to class right before the bell went off and the only seat opened was next to the same guy as before. Not that you minded, he seemed nice enough. “Hey.” You greeted him quietly as you sat down before taking a seat. “Hi.” He returned your greeting quietly. He once again didn’t speak to you and that cycle went on for some time, before finally he had an excuse for the two of you to speak. He wasn’t sure why he kept shying away from you. Shit, he could barely even concentrate in class.

Then the next class came. “Everyone, please pair up with the person beside you, I want you and your partner to discuss today’s chapter.” The professor mumbled as he took a seat back down at his desk, immediately kicking his feet onto the desk and tapping away on his phone.

Turning around with a sigh you looked at your partner with a smile, “Hi. Thanks for always saving me a seat. I’m ______.” You introduced yourself, then gave the dark haired man an encouraging nod to speak. I know what your name is. He thought. Sol rubbed the back of his neck, nervously avoiding your eyes, his gaze fixated to the side. “Yeah it’s no problem. I’m..Sol.” He introduced himself back, hoping that maybe you remembered him.

“Nice to meet you, Sol.” You chimed in reply, holding your hand out. He looked at your hand, then back at you before he shook your hand back. “Yeah, same.” He said, a small smile making its way to his pierced lips. The moment your hands touched, he felt his heart do a leap, and without meaning to he held onto your hand for a bit longer than usual. Though upon realizing that, he quickly pulled his hand away. Either you didn’t mind or just didn’t notice it, as you immediately turned your attention back to the textbook. So you didn’t remember him, that was okay it’s not like he ever went out of his way to speak to you at the library.

“So, this chapter…” you began as you pushed the textbook to the center of the table so you both could share. Sol didn’t speak too much, he was more interested in what you had to say, he nodded attentively and hummed in acknowledgment when he agreed with something you said. The professor didn’t seem too interested in teaching class, so the reminder was spent just conversing. You giggled as Sol said something as you playfully slapped his arm, “What, no way? You did not!” You quietly exclaimed as Sol told you a story. He nodded, “Yeah I really did. It’s embarrassing but it’s the truth.” He laughed softly. Every single fucking thing was so adorable about you; your name, laugh, appearance, personality, every single thing was so adorable. Then just as Sol was about to open his mouth to speak again, the bell rang.

Jumping up in your seat, you pushed the chair back, quickly gathering your belongings. “I gotta go, Sol. But you’ll save me a seat again right? I really enjoyed talking to you.” You asked, looking at him with the cutest expression. “Yeah of course.” He reassured you. “Thanks, you’re the best!” You said and with that, you rushed out of the classroom.

As Sol finished gathering his own belongings, he noticed something sitting on your chair. Your jacket was left behind. He grabbed it and quickly walked out of the classroom to see if he could catch up to you, but of course you were nowhere to be seen. ‘I’ll hold onto it. Give it to her next class.’ He thought to himself.

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“Woah, that's a cute jacket! You seeing a cute girl?” Hyugo asked his friend. The pair sat at their usual spot on the rooftop eating their lunches. Sol rolled his eyes, “No. The girl who sits next to me in art left it, I’m going to give it to her next class. I just didn’t want it to get lost.” He explained as he continued to eat. He could bring it to you at the library where you worked part time but no, he just wanted to hold onto a bit longer. It was a cute jacket, he couldn’t lie - it was black with striped sleeves and an adorable black cat patch was ironed onto the front. It suited you perfectly.

“Aren’t you so sweet?” Hyugo teased, causing his friend’s face to heat up. Sol grumbled under his breath as he just ignored the comment and continued to eat, only causing the other to laugh. As the bell rang, signaling that their final class of the day would begin and marking the end of their lunch break, the pair stood up. Sol gathered the bento boxes, placing them in his backpack.

“Are you doing anything after class?” Hyugo asked before they parted ways. Sol wasn’t, but he needed to spend some time alone, there was an issue he needed to take care of. “Yeah.” He simply responded. “Aw okay, I’ll just go to the arcade by myself then.” He shrugged before walking off.

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It was dark already when Sol arrived back to his small studio apartment, the short winter days meant it would always be night when he got home. The dark haired man sat his bag on a chair, taking out the bentos to wash. He remembered your jacket was still in his hands, so carefully he placed it on the top of the couch. And so he did his usual evening routine; cleaning dishes, cooking dinner and lunch. The television was playing a show he really had no interest in watching, but it was good background noise.

But he just couldn’t stop thinking about you, eyes flicking to the jacket on the sofa as he prepared his and Hyugo’s lunches. Sol felt the crotch of his pants tighten uncomfortably against him, he swallowed the lump that formed in his throat as his heart rate accelerated. But he remained focused just hurrying to finish dinner as soon as possible so he could shower and lay in bed. Tomorrow was early classes after all.

Finally after some time Sol had showered and flopped onto his bed, an exhausted sigh escaping his lips. He closed his eyes as he tried to focus on anything other than you. But his boxers were so incredibly tight, his erection wouldn’t go away no matter what he tried to do. It felt wrong to touch himself to you, so resisting the urge Sol finally fell asleep. Tonight at least he was able to resist the urge.

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The next day of classes came and nothing extraordinary happened. Sol couldn’t spot you anywhere, he supposed he would have to wait until tomorrow to see you and return the jacket. His evening routine was more or less the same, but as he laid in bed tonight, the urges were getting harder and harder to resist.

Sol tried to squeeze his eyes shut, trying to think of anything else other than the raging erection in his pants right now. His gaze kept flickering to your jacket, he was reminded of how amazing you smelled. He just wanted to smell the perfume again, there was no harm in that…right? Quickly getting out of bed, he snatched your jacket from the couch, immediately pressing it to his nose. Oh god, you smelled so fucking good. He was intoxicated by the scent, his eyes rolling back as he took in your smell, and without even realizing what was happening, his hands trailed down his torso until they slipped under the waistband of his boxers. His long slender fingers immediately wrapped themselves around his erection.

Sol began to pump his cock, a whimper leaving him as his thumb grazed over his tip. Precum was already pooling at the slit, his face still buried in your cute jacket. He could only imagine what it would feel like to have his face buried in your hair, neck…your pussy. He fantasized how amazing you would taste as his face was between your thighs, he’d make you feel so good. He had wanted you for so long now.

“_____…._______….” Sol whimpered your name, scarlet eyes fluttering shut as his pace quickened. At this point he was panting heavily, a complete mess and if your mere scent was doing this to him, he couldn’t imagine how he’d act during the actual act. His cock twitched in his hand and legs trembled; he collapsed onto his knees. He was now thrusting himself eagerly into the palm of his hands, precum lubricating his cock. Sol’s moans echoed throughout the apartment and he felt the warm sensation building up in his core, then with one final thrust he came loudly. “Oh fuck ______!” He cried out, his cum making an absolute mess of his boxers.

Riding out his orgasm he finally came to a stop and dropped the jacket onto the floor. His chest moving up and down as he tried to catch his breath, the whole of his body was a hue of red and warm to the touch. Dark hair sticking to his face from the beads of sweat that had formed. He made sure to toss your jacket onto the couch before he removed his hand from his boxers. A wave of embarrassment and guilt washed over him when he saw sticky cum coating his hand. I shouldn’t have done that. It felt so good though. He thought with a sigh as he stood to his feet. I should go wash up.

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Class was the next day, and that meant Sol could finally see you, he could return your jacket. He waited until after class, when you both were in the hallway. A part of him debated on not giving it back, he wanted it forever, to always have you with him, but he decided against it and it was worth it. The look on your face when he had handed you your jacket back was worth it. “Oh my gosh, Sol. I was so worried I had lost my favorite jacket forever. Thank you so much!” You exclaimed as you hugged him briefly, before you slipped it back on. “Yeah..of course. I tried looking for you yesterday to return it but I couldn’t find you anywhere.” He explained. A tinge of red evident on his pale features as he was reminded of what he did the night before with it. He violated your poor jacket, but of course he would never tell you that.

You shook your head, waving your hand dismissively, “Sorry about that! I was in such a rush to leave. My other job needed me to cover a shift.” You explained. You had another job besides the library?

But he didn’t mind; he was just glad he could keep your jacket safe from anyone else. Fumbling in the pocket of your pants you pulled out your cell phone, “We should exchange numbers! Just in case one of us needs to get into contact with each other.” You suggested, swiping your finger across to unlock the device. He watched as you typed away on the screen before handing it to him.

Sol’s heart was beating so quickly now, you were really asking for his number? He looked a bit uncomfortable, like he was rejecting your offer, because you began to pull away your phone looking at the floor embarrassedly. “S-sorry. I shouldn’t ha-“ you began but he cut you off, gently snatching the phone from your hand. And within seconds he typed in his number, he already noticed you made a contact name for him. Sol ☀️

But something else caught his attention as he felt the phone vibrate in his hand.

Crowe 🐦‍⬛ : You’re still coming over tonight, right?

Something inside of the dark haired man awakened when he saw that text. He froze in place, his blush that tinted his features now went away. Who the hell is Crowe? He thought bitterly. Your boyfriend or a coworker? He only snapped out of his thoughts when you retrieved your phone back, your thumbs danced across the screen then he felt his pocket vibrate.

“Did you get it?” You asked curiously, tilting your head so cutely to the side. “L-let me check.” Sol quickly said and pulled out his phone. His boring black phone background was illuminated with your text.

Unknown: hii! it’s ______ :D

Without a moment of hesitation he saved your contact. ______ 🌙

His contact was saved with a sun by his name so it only made sense that you were the moon. With that, you two said your goodbyes and Sol watched as you walked down the hall, he stood in his spot with a small smile on his lips.

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It was the weekend which meant Sol would do his weekly cleaning of his apartment. Loud music echoed throughout the apartment as he cleaned, humming softly to himself. Something caught his eye as he was vacuuming under the couch, a small piece of rectangular plastic glittered as it caught the light from the ceiling fan. Crouching, he picked it up and his eyes widened instantly when he realized what it was. Your ID had fallen out from the pocket of your jacket, he assumed. And all of your information was on it.

“______ ______..” Sol whispered your full name. He didn't know what it was before. Your address was there too, and it looked recent, judging from the picture and expiration date. The card shook ever so slightly in his fingers as he was practically salivating that he would now be able to find so many more things about you.

Halting his cleaning for the day, he shut off the music and instantly opened up his laptop to begin searching your name online. Hours had passed, day turned into night. Sol’s scarlet red irises were glazed over, his lips dry and mouth a bit parched. He hadn’t left his laptop screen in hours, too engrossed with finding out every single detail about you. Your social media wasn’t private, how foolish of you. And he scrolled through the dozens of pictures you had posted, finding out everyone you associated it with. The page refreshed and a new picture was posted. You are with a group of people at what looked like a bar, with the caption: Love my friends!! Tonight was so fun, let’s do it again!! :D

Sol remembered the text from this “Crowe” earlier and he began to examine the picture, trying to find out who this Crowe was. His eyes narrowed when he saw the man next to you in the picture. A long haired brunette with tan skin, he swore he had seen that face before. This Crowe was behind your frame, hands resting on either of your shoulders. To anyone else they would have assumed that you and the man were friends, nothing in the pose indicated anything romantic, but to Sol it was too much. He didn’t want to see another man behind you touching you like that. Standing up he slammed his laptop shut and decided he needed to go to bed before he got too consumed by his jealousy and anger.

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As days turned into weeks, then eventually into months, Sol and you grew closer. You were regularly texting and hanging out. He had found out that your lunches consisted of junk food, and that was even if you brought lunch to campus. So he decided to start prepping your lunches, and even dinners as soon as he found out you ate cup noodles nearly every night. God, you were cute albeit a bit useless, he didn’t mind cooking for you, it only made him feel wanted - and the look on your face every time you ate his meals just made him filled with so much joy.

You were so kind and introduced him to your friend group, Crowe was kind enough and he kept his hands off of you in Sol’s presence. But he knew that man looked familiar, and Crowe looked at him with suspicious eyes and a fake smile. Sol only remained cordial with your friends though, if they made you happy he’d pretend to be friendly with them. But the man never returned your ID, it was his now. You complained about having to buy a new one, but he made sure to slip some extra cash into your backpack one day when you weren’t looking. The text he received that night was so adorable. “Omg Sol I found some cash at the bottom of my backpack. I’m eating good tonight! >:3”

It was so worth it. But Sol had a dirty secret that he couldn’t tell a living soul. He was slipping sleeping medication into the dinners he made you, he made a copy of your apartment key, and he was letting himself into your home every night. It was all in an attempt to make sure you were safe!

“My neighborhood is so unsafe. I really need to find somewhere else to live. There’s been so many recent break ins and assaults, and I live at ground level.” He remembered you complaining.

“You can stay at my place, _______. It’s a decent neighborhood. Lots of old people, so it’s quiet.” He offered.

“Sol! No, I can't do that. You already do enough for me. I got new locks on everything and alarms.” You retorted with a pout. He knew you wouldn’t change your mind, you weren’t that type of girl. You were independent, but that was okay. Sol would still keep an eye on you. Knowing you kept a spare key hidden away, he found it and while you were at work he had a copy made, then placed the key back without you being none the wiser.

Tonight wasn’t any different, Sol waited until you were asleep and he slipped into your quiet, dark apartment. He could navigate your home in the dark. That's how familiar he was with the layout, but the dim street lights also did aid him. Your bedroom door was slightly ajar and he quickly made his way in.

The streetlights illuminated your room, he saw your sleeping form on the bed, one hand hanging off the side of the bed and your blankets messily thrown on top of your body. In fact, the blankets barely covered any of your body. You wore an oversized t-shirt and the cutest panties - the shirt was raised and exposed your bare torso. “Were you waiting for me dear?” He whispered as he knelt down at your bedside. Folding his hands on the edge of the bed, he rested his chin on top, his gaze was so loving - but there was something so dark about the way he looked at you. Raising a hand up, Sol’s slender fingers brushed aside the hair on your face. “So cute…” he breathed out.

You shifted, your eyes squeezing shut as a quiet groan left your lips. When you moved through, your shirt lifted just a bit more, revealing your breast partially. Sol felt his face grow warm and he tried to avert his gaze, but it was like you were practically begging for him, looking so cute and innocent. He choked back a moan as he felt his dick get hard, his fingers wrapped around the wrist of your limp hand and he placed his cheek into your warm palm. His eyes fluttered shut as he let out a content sigh, “You're asking me to do something, huh dear?” He mumbled. That had to be it or why else were you wearing such an outfit is that why you left your bedroom door opened? You were inviting him in, right?

Sol leaned down to press a kiss to your exposed neck, he nibbled softly at the skin. A quiet whimper escaping you as your brows furrowed. So cute. He thought, still nipping at the skin, leaving a faint red mark. His hand trailed down your neck until his fingers reached your breast, he gently massaged it for a brief moment. Another quiet whimper came from you. He let your hand that was cupping his cheek fall onto the bed for a moment, as his fingers fumbled with the belt of his pants and with a swift motion his dick was out. Already hard from anticipation, he positioned himself in your hands, he laced both your and his fingers together. He let out a moan feeling your fingers wrapped around his dick.

His whole body shuddered in pleasure at the feeling, and he buried his face between your breasts to quiet his moans as he began to rock his hips back and forth. His sensitive tip fucked your palm as he moaned out your name from between your breasts. Tears pooling at the corner of his closed eyes as pathetic needy whimpers left him.

“You’re mine. Mine..you’re mine ______. I love you so much.” He cried as he felt himself about to cum. Then, with another thrust he came hard into your and his laced hands. As he calmed his breathing down he slowly lifted his head up, you were still asleep, oblivious to the lewd act he just made you do. “You’re so beautiful, dear. You feel so perfect.” He whispered, pressing a gentle kiss to your lips.

Standing up he pulled his pants back on, then walked to the bathroom to wash his sticky hands. Grabbing a rag he wet, he walked back to clean up the mess he left on your hands. “Crowe..the paper...” you mumbled in your sleep. Sol’s scarlet eyes widened in shock at the name, why were you talking about him when he was right here. His fists clenched and eyes narrowed, a dark cloud casting over his face. “You really ought to stop talking about him, dear. Crowe doesn’t deserve you. He doesn’t understand you like I do.” He hissed through gritted teeth. You were just confused - that’s okay, Sol was patient. He leaned down to press a kiss against your lips once again before wishing you a good night. With that, he quietly slipped out of your apartment.

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The final day of class before winter break came the next day. You and Sol sat in art class together, sketching your final assignment. The classroom was quiet as everyone worked. You kept glancing at the dark haired man next you, a faint blush on your face as you remembered the brief dream you had of him last night. You dreamt that he was having sex with you, you heard his moans as he fucked you. Then, just before the dream actually got good, your mind decided that all of a sudden you were going to dream about you and Crowe finishing up your finals paper for English class that you had done earlier yesterday. God! Why did his stupid pretty face have to ruin the best dream you ever had!

Class couldn’t end any sooner and the Professor motioned for everyone to turn in their assignments. He reminded the students to check their emails during the winter break to see their grades. You quickly stood out of your seat, the chair nearly falling back as you fumbled with putting your things away. Sol noticed that something was off about you, you wouldn’t look at him at all. Surely you didn’t know what he did with you last night, right? He slung his backpack over his shoulder as he watched you as you zipped up your backpack. “Want to go to the arcade?” He asked you suddenly, “Hyugo and I are going since classes ended early today. Like right now.” He added.

Snapping your head up, you actually looked at him for the first time today. Your eyes meeting his, “O-oh…umm. I’d love to but I don’t have any…money.” You mumbled, voice trailing off at the end. “Campus library let go of all the part timers a few weeks ago, remember? And my other job cut my hours. So it’s tight right now.” You sighed sadly. “I wasn’t asking you to pay. I just asked if you wanted to come with us?” He said.

Sol noticed a strand of hair hanging in front of your face so reached a gentle hand up to brush it aside, tucking the strand behind your ear. “I’ll pay. You know I’ll always take care of you, ______.” He reminded you with a kind smile that made your heart flutter. It was something he always told you, you weren’t sure why he was so kind to you when you had nothing to offer him in return. You were a broke college student who couldn’t even cook your own meals. A faint blush dusted your cheeks as you shyly looked away, “O..okay. Then yes, I want to go.” You shyly said as you tugged at the sleeves of your favorite jacket.

“Alright, good. Here I’ll carry your bag. Hyugo should be waiting at the entrance.” Sol said, taking your bag from you with a swift motion. You tried to protest but he was already walking ahead so you were more focused on catching up to him.

The walk to the arcade didn’t take long, but you were shivering from the cold winter breeze. Sol noticed you shivering and he wrapped an arm around your shoulder, bringing you close to him. You looked up at him before looking away shyly. Once inside the arcade, the three of you played games for some time. You pointed at a claw machine, wanting to win the cute cat plushie, you tapped at the glass before looking back up at Sol with big pleading eyes. “Aw, it's so cute. Do we have enough coins to win it?” You asked excitedly. Sol patted his pockets and sighed, shaking his head. “No, but I can go get some more if you’d like?” He asked, he just wanted to see you happy.

Hyugo nodded, “Yeah let’s play some more games! Oh, let’s get some food too. I’m starving!” He exclaimed, nudging Sol’s side. Sol looked at you, waiting for your answer. “That sounds good to me. While you two do that, I’m going to head to the bathroom. I’ll meet you back here.” You said. The pair nodded and with that you went your separate ways.

You found the restroom. It was located in the back of the arcade and once done, you hummed quietly as you made your way back to the claw machine with the plushie you wanted. But you unbeknownst drew unwanted attention to yourself; you hadn’t even stepped a few feet back out of the bathroom when you were immediately cornered by a much taller and bigger man than yourself. He backed you in between two large pinball machines, leaving you trapped. “Hey sexy. You got a boyfriend?” He slurred, it was obvious he was drunk. He had both of his arms on either side of your head so you could barely move. “Not interested.” You spat as you tried pushing him away, but to no avail. That seemed to only anger him more as he lowered his face to be at eye level with you. “Come on, don’t be like that. I’ll treat you nicely.” He said, though this time his voice was much darker. The stench of alcohol lingered with every breath he took. You turned your face to the side, but that seemed to only anger him and this time he grabbed your jaw roughly in his hands, forcing you to look at him.

“Don’t turn away, sweetheart. Just come on let me sh—“ he began, but suddenly his hand was ripped away from your face and you closed your eyes, fully expecting to get hit. You heard shouting and skin hitting skin, you still kept your eyes shut, flinching with every sound. The noise of the arcade was too loud and you slid down the wall, covering your face with your hands as you buried your face against your knees.

“Don’t you fucking touch her! I’ll kill you!” You heard a familiar voice shout, it was then you uncovered your face and your eyes widened in shock as you saw Sol fighting with the man, both with bloody noses. Hyugo pulled Sol away while a random person held back the other man. The two men were still shouting curses at one another, though you were so overwhelmed you could barely understand what they were saying. You noticed Hyugo was having trouble holding back Sol, so you quickly scrambled to your feet and stepped in front of the dark haired man, pressing your hands against his chest. “Sol! *Enough!*” you pleaded, tears forming in your eyes. The drunk man had lost his balance at some point and fell to the floor, but he was still threatening you and Sol. The man called you every name in the book, and he was mocking you - but you didn’t care. You just wanted to get out of here. There was a terrifying look in Sol’s scarlet eyes and it turned your blood cold. “Sol *please,* let’s just go.” You pleaded with him once again.

As soon as Sol heard your voice waver, he stopped and his eyes widened in a mixture of horror and guilt as he realized that you were crying. He cupped your face in his hands, shaking his head, “No, no, no. Please don’t cry. I’m done. We can go.” He said in a panic, “He didn’t hurt you, right? He didn’t touch you?” He asked. You shook your head, “No. I’m okay.” You reassured him, just wanting to leave. Your lip quivered as you looked up at him and you simply nodded, taking his hand in yours as you dragged him out of the arcade. Though when Sol was certain you weren’t looking, he turned back to the man and spat at him before he followed you out.

Once outside you wiped your tears away with your jacket sleeve, smearing your makeup a bit in the process, but you didn’t care. You didn’t dare let go of Sol’s hand, afraid that if you did he would turn back and actually kill the man. Hyugo sighed, rubbing his temples, “We should leave before the cops get called.” He mumbled. Sol clicked his tongue in annoyance, “We didn’t do anything wrong. That low life touched ______. I just defended her.” He spat back. You tugged Sol’s hand, “I want to go home.” You sniffled. “I’ll walk her home. You go ahead, Hyugo.” He said. The blue haired man raised a brow, by the way he looked at his friend you sensed that maybe he didn’t want to leave him alone. “You’ll call right? As soon as you dropped ______ off at home?” He asked, his brows furrowing.

Sol had already wrapped his arm around your waist, your and his backpack slung over his shoulders. “Yeah, I will. See you later.” He said pulling you along to walk off in the other direction. Hyugo just nodded watching as you two walked off.

Sol didn’t let go of your waist for the whole walk home, he held you protectively, glaring at anyone who looked in your general direction. Once you arrived back at your apartment you fished around in your jacket pocket for your keys, eventually finding them and unlocking the door. “Do..do you want to come in?” You asked Sol shyly. You were really inviting him inside! He felt his heart skip a beat and he swallowed nervously, “Sure.” He smiled and stepped inside after you, setting down the bags onto a stool by the door.

You untied your sneakers and left them at the door before you looked up at the tall man. “Do you want tea? Coffee?” You asked him.

“What do you want? I can start the water.” He asked you back.

“Tea sounds good. Something relaxing.” You replied, motioning him to follow you into the kitchen. You poured water into the electric kettle on the countertop as you reached into the cabinets to grab two cups. “Make yourself comfortable. I’m going to change real quick.” You smiled before walking off towards your bedroom to change. Sol already knew where everything was located, so he grabbed two tea bags, setting them into the ceramic mugs as he waited for the water to boil. Then a thought ran through his mind as his hand absentmindedly rested on his front pocket. You didn’t get to eat the dinner he made you for tonight which meant you wouldn’t sleep well.

So before the water was done boiling he pulled out a small bag in his pocket, and broke apart the sleeping pill, letting it dissolve in the hot water. He just wanted to make sure that you’d be able to sleep tonight was all.

When you walked back out of your room, your tea was already made and Sol was sipping on his as he leaned against the wall. He looked at your outfit, did you wear something like that on purpose to tease him? You wore tight shorts, a tank top, your favorite jacket unzipped, and the cutest bunny shaped slippers. “Thank you so much, Sol.” You smiled at him as you held the mug in your hands and slowly sipped on it. He nodded, “Of course. Anything for you.” He said returning your smile. You chatted with him for a while it was obvious that you were just stalling, you didn’t want him to leave. You were still shaken up from earlier, from both how Sol reacted and to what may have happened if he wasn’t there to save you from that man.

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You sat on the couch, legs crossed as some random show played quietly in the background. Sol sat across from you, you both had long finished your tea. He could tell you were getting a bit more sluggish, “I’m sleepy, Sol.” You yawned. “You should go..it’s getting late. Hyugo is probably worried about you.” You mumbled, rubbing your eyes with your sleeve. Sol frowned, “It’s okay. I don’t mind. I want to make sure that you’re okay.” He replied back, he didn’t want to leave you alone.

“I’m okay. I just don’t want to be alone..” you sniffled. “I think someone has been breaking into my house.” You then said, flicking your gaze up to look at him with a worried expression. Sol froze, his breath hitched in his throat. “W..what? Why do you think that?” He asked, trying to remain calm. Folding your hands together in your lap, your eyes darted around before landing back on him, “Sometimes things are out of place.” Is all you said, “So please don’t leave me alone.” You then pleaded, suddenly leaning over towards him on all fours.

Sol’s eyes flickered to your face and to the gap between your shirt, he could see you weren’t wearing a bra and he shifted awkwardly in his spot on the couch as he tried to remaining eye contact with you. Placing a hand over his crotch, he let out a cough, a dark red blush making its way to his pale features. “Okay. I won’t. I’ll stay as long as you want me to.” He responded, a look of desperation in his eyes. You smiled, feeling butterflies in your stomach when he said those words. Then your mind wandered back to the dream you had last night, you sat back legs now folded underneath you.

“Can you come lay down with me in bed?” You asked him, looking away shyly. “I don’t think I’ll be able to stay up much longer. Plus it’s more comfortable than staying out here.” You added. Sol found it hard to even speak now, he nodded and bit his lip. You stood up and began to walk towards your bedroom, turning off the lights along the way. Before you rounded the corner you noticed that he was still sitting on the couch, “Are you coming? You don’t have—“ you began only to be cut off by him springing up, “I am.” He mumbled shyly as he followed you into your familiar bedroom.

Your bedsheets were messily strewn about on your bed, like always. Clothes tossed haphazardly throughout the room, he watched as you shrugged off your jacket, tossing it on the vanity chair and you kicked off your slippers. You crawled into bed, pulling the sheets over your cold body. “What do you usually wear to sleep, Sol?” You asked him curiously, waiting for him to come lay down as yet another yawn left you.

“My..boxers.” Sol replied shyly, rubbing the back of his neck as he avoided your cute gaze. “You can sleep like that here. I don’t mind.” You mumbled motioning with your hand for him to come lay down. “A-are you sure?” He stammered, already unbuckling his belt, his hands shaking a bit in anticipation. “Mhm.” You hummed reassuringly, squeezing your legs together tightly. Sol wasted no time in taking off his clothes, it was a shame the room was so dimly lit so you couldn’t see him. He sat at the edge of the bed, still unsure of what he needed to do.

You tugged at his wrist, “Lay down with me. Under the blankets.” You encouraged him in a sleepy voice. He let you pull him down onto the bed, his heart was racing so fast he found it hard to breathe. As you both now laid under the covers he could feel your body heat, you were so close to him. Your bed wasn’t big by any means, so your bodies were practically touching. “I really like you, Sol.” You suddenly said, you weren’t sure why you blurted that out, maybe it was your drowsy drugged state that made you say something you didn’t mean to.

Sol’s eyes widened in shock as he turned his head to face you. He could make out your soft features from the dim city streetlights that peaked through the curtains. Your hand now was on his chest, you could feel how fast his heart was beating. “You take care of me. You’re so kind. I’ve never had anybody care for me like you do.” You mumbled, leaning over until your noses touched.

Sol raised a shaking hand to cup your face, his thumb caressing your cheek. “I’ll always take care of you, ______. I’ll be here. No matter what.” He whispered back. His words were so kind and gentle, yet there was darkness in which he spoke. You blushed and looked away, your eyes closing shut as you finally closed the distance between your lips. You were a bit unsure on how to kiss him, not wanting to mess with his lip rings too much, but as soon as your lips met something clicked inside the raven haired man.

He returned your kiss desperately, not wanting to stop. Were you really doing this? Was this seriously happening?! He thought. It was a shame you were half asleep, but it still didn’t stop you from your next move. You rolled onto of him, your legs straddling his waist as you cupped his face in your hands, kissing him with inexperience. It wasn’t like Sol minded though, he was also just as inexperienced. His hands were on your waist, fingernails digging into your soft skin as he let out a needy whimper when he felt you grinding against his dick.

“Do you like me, Sol?” You asked him, breaking away from the kiss for a few moments as you continued to grind against him. When he took too long to answer you paused and lifted yourself up about to get up. Feeling utterly rejected by him, humiliated. But his hands slammed you back down on top of him. A crazed look on his face, “Y-yes I do. I like you. You’re my soulmate, ______.” He desperately spoke, his eyes flickering trying to read your expression. All you heard was “yes”, as you began to fade in and out of consciousness, despite desperately trying to stay awake.

“G..good.” You mumbled against his lips, beginning to grind against him again as you cupped his face. Sol returned your kisses as he let out whiny moans of your name, begging you for more. He wanted to feel your pussy, god knows how long he had waited to fuck you. His hands let go of your hips and now tugged at the waistband of his boxers. He managed to slip them off and when he felt how wet your panties were a pathetic whimper left his lips. He pushed your panties aside and now he could really feel how wet your pussy was. His dick pushed between your folds, you shivered as you felt his tip slide over your clit. “S-sol.” You whimpered his name.

Oh god, just you saying his name so lewdly was almost enough to push him over the edge. “A-ah.” He cried out as he felt your pace quicken. He loved the way you were using him, like he was nothing more than a toy for you to hump to reach your orgasm. The head of his dick was so sensitive and he felt your clit rubbing against it. “I..I’m gonna cum.” He warned you. Sol’s fingers digging into the plush skin of your thighs as he bucked his hips upward. “I-I wanna fuck you…please. Feel your pussy…please.” He begged, biting your lip. But you ignored him continuing to grind against his hard dick as your moans became a bit louder, your thighs shaking. You could feel yourself about to cum, but Sol suddenly let out a yell. “A-ah ahh ______.” He cried as his hot cum shot out. He threw his head back, eyes squeezing shut as tears pooled in the corner of them, his back arched, and fingernails scratching your thighs enough to leave a mark and draw some blood. His body shook under yours.

You felt the warm sensation rising from your core, your clit becoming more sensitive by the seconds. Sol’s thick cum now providing more lubrication. His whimpering of your name and pleading was enough to push you over the edge and moments later you joined him in his orgasm. You cried out his name as you buried your face in the crook of his neck, holding onto him tightly as you rode out your orgasm. Honestly you weren’t sure if you were or not, your mind was so hazy. Then you suddenly came to a stop, your body shaking a bit as your eyes closed shut.

Sol caught his breath, his hands rubbed up and down your back and he realized you had fallen asleep. The medicine had taken its full effect. He wrapped his arms tightly around you pressing a kiss on top of your head a content smile on his lips. “You’re mine. Mine…you’ll never have to be alone again.” He mumbled against your hair. His scarlet eyes gazing at the ceiling as you were fast asleep against his chest. At some point he fell asleep still holding onto you, with his dick between your thighs.

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You had awoken the next morning a bit groggy, you realized you were in bed with someone and you stared down in horror as you realized that you had slept with Sol. You only remembered bits and pieces of the nights before, and your sticky panties confirmed that you two had been intimate in some way. You wiggled out of his strong arms as quietly as you could and rushed to the bathroom, grabbing your phone careful to not wake him up.

After you cleaned yourself up and changed, you sat on the ledge of the bathtub typing away rapidly on your phone.

Crowe I NEED YOU NOW!!!!

What’s up? You okay?

NOOO. I think I just messed up. I think I ruined a friendship.

Woah calm down, ______. Is this about him?

YES. Can we meet up at the cafe? Please. Right now.

Yes. I’ll be there in a few.

Thanks.

With that you clicked your phone shut and quickly got dressed into your clothes from yesterday, not wanting to disturb Sol’s sleep. You peeked into your room and still saw him resting. You left the house getting your wallet and keys and tossing them into your jacket.

Sol woke up not long after you had left the house and when he didn’t feel your presence he immediately shot up in bed, panic beginning to set in. Where were you?! He grabbed his phone getting ready to dial your number when he saw a text appear on the screen.

I’ll be back soon. :3

He calmed down a bit, laying the phone in his lap as he ran a hand through his messy hair. Why didn’t you tell him you had somewhere to go? Why would you leave alone in the morning after everything that had happened last night? It was then he felt a bit angry, wondering why you were sneaking around. Snatching his phone back up he called you but you kept ignoring his calls, finally though you answered.

“Hello.” Your voice came through on the other end, there was also another voice on the other end too. It was one he recognized. It was Crowe. He felt himself grow even more angry as jealousy filled him. Why the hell are you with him?!

“Who are you with?” Sol asked, his voice as sickly sweet.

“Shhhh be quiet. Yeah, hi Sol, I’m with a friend. Don’t worry, I’ll be back home soon.” He heard you shushing Crowe. His grip tightened on the phone, if he squeezed any harder he may have shattered the screen. “When will you be back? Where are you?” He asked, this time his tone wasn’t as sweet.

“Sol…please don’t worry about it. I promise I’ll be back home soon. I gotta go.” You reassured him before hanging up.

Sol was furious, he slammed the phone face down onto the night stand, the glass screen shattering. Why is he interfering? Why does she keep hanging out with him? Doesn’t he know ______’s mine?! So many jealous thoughts flowed through his head as he quickly got dressed. He freshened himself up before he left your apartment, storming on the busy streets. What you hadn’t known was that Sol had installed a tracker on your phone many nights ago. He was really trying to give you the chance to tell him where you were without having to resort to using the tracker, but you wouldn’t tell him. He had no other choice but to use it, and make sure you were okay. He had to make sure that filthy Crowe wasn’t touching you. And he needed to show the brunet who you belonged to.

It was a rainy day and he didn’t care if he got wet, he was determined to find out where you were. The tracker led him to a busy coffee shop where he saw you and Crowe sitting near the window. His scarlet eyes met bright blue ones, belonging to the last person he wanted to see. Sol’s eyes narrowed, and all the brunet did was return a sly smirk before mouthing something to you. You whipped your head around just as Sol stormed into the coffee shop, immediately making his way to the table you two sat at. He tried to maintain his composure, his chest rising with every deep breath he took as he glared at the man sitting across from you.

“Sol? H-How did you know I was here?” You asked him in shock. He ignored your question continuing to glare daggers at Crowe, who sipped on his coffee nonchalantly. “Hey there. Care to join us?” He asked with a polite smile, motioning with his hand to the available seat.

“No. ______, we’re going home. Now.” Sol demanded, now turning to look at you. He grabbed your wrist and you tried to jerk away, “Ow, Sol!” You cried out, which caused him to immediately drop your hand. “Are you okay?” He asked, his angry expression now etched into worry. You frowned, rubbing your wrist, “Y..yeah. I told you I’d be gone later. Please stop this.” You pleaded, looking at him with big eyes.

“You should be gentle with her, Sol.” Crowe scolded half heartedly. “______, you should go. Don’t keep him waiting. We can talk soon, I have to get to work anyways.” He smiled warmly at you.

“But I—“ you stammered, but the brunet cut you off with a wave. “Seriously, it’s fine. Just remember what we talked about, okay?” He winked, it was purposeful, he was trying to get under Sol’s skin and it was working.

Sol grabbed your wrist a bit more gently this time as you stood up, “We’re leaving. Bye.” He spat, glaring at the man as he dragged you out of the coffee shop. All the while Crowe watched with furrowed brows and a forced smile. He didn’t like Sol, he didn’t like him at all. But whatever made you happy, he’d tolerate.

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Sol was dragging you down the street as you squirmed under his tight grasp on your wrist. The whole time you demanded to know what had gotten into him! This wasn’t the Sol you knew. Ever since the arcade, you noticed a sudden shift in his personality, it was instantaneous. As you two arrived back at your apartment, he shoved you inside with a forceful hand, slamming and locking the door shut. “What the hell is wrong with you, Sol?!” You screamed at him as you tossed your phone, keys, and wallet onto the kitchen counter.

Sol’s eyes were narrowed still as he walked towards you, instinctively you stumbled backwards until you found yourself with your back pinned against the wall with nowhere to go. His tall frame towering above you. “What’s wrong with me? You’re the one sneaking around with that bastard.” He hissed as he slammed his palms on either side of your head, pinning you between his arms. “I’ve tolerated him long enough. Doesn’t he know you belong to me?! I’m the one that’s caring for you and protecting you. While he does nothing.” He snapped angrily.

You cowered beneath him, beginning to grow a bit scared, “Y-you’re scaring me, Sol.” You whimpered. He clicked his tongue in annoyance; he didn’t like you pretending to be innocent in all of this. Perhaps you and that bastard needed reminding of who you belonged to. Sol crashed his lips against yours roughly, you felt his tongue trace the bottom of your lip. But when you were tightening your lips together to deny him, he bit your lip causing your lips to part open in surprise and with that his pierced tongue forced its way into your mouth. One hand on your jaw forcing your head to tilt up. You tasted like coffee and sugar, he didn’t mind at all though. It suited you.

You cried against him. He was being so forceful it was terrifying. He pulled away panting heavily, a string of saliva connecting your and his lips. His hand was still firmly holding your chin. “I don’t think you realize, dear. That you’re mine. No one else can have you. Ever. I won’t allow it.” He muttered. He noticed that your eyes were watery and a sympathetic smile made its way to his pierced lips. “Aww..please don’t cry, baby. I don’t want to make you cry. I promise I’ll make you feel good. You just need to be reminded that you’re mine.” He said in a gentle voice as his thumb wiped away your tears.

“I’m scared.” You whimpered.

Sol leaned down to press a much more gentle kiss to your lips, “You won’t be for long. You’ll be feeling so good in a minute.” He purred and with that he picked you up holding you so gently in his arms bridal style as he continued to kiss your lips. Once inside the bedroom he tossed you onto the bed and hovered over you beginning to tug at the waistband of your pants. “N-no Sol.” You whined but your arousal said otherwise. The truth was you were so turned on by him. You had wanted him in this way for so long.

Sol ignored your pleas and within a couple minutes he had you stripped of your clothes. You laid on your back on the bed as you looked at his nearly naked body, he stood only in his boxers. And now with the sun peeking through the blinds basking the room in a bright light you saw just how big Sol was. His body was well toned, just perfect. You saw the erection in his pants and you swallowed nervously at just how big he was. You weren’t sure if he was even fully hard yet.

You didn’t get to stare at him for too long though as he got to his knees, kneeling in front of your legs. “I’m going to make you feel so good dear. You won’t ever think of anyone else but me.” He said it almost came out as a warning. His slender hands pushed your legs apart and the look of pure lust was on his face. You tried to cover yourself up with your hands but he wouldn’t let you. “So pretty.” He whispered. God, he dreamt for so long to be buried between your thighs eating you out.

You jumped when you felt Sol’s tongue licking your pussy, the muscle dragging slowly between the slit. You felt the cold metal piercing drag along sending a shiver up your spine. He let out a moan as he tasted you. God, you tasted better than he could have ever imagined. He pushed your legs further apart and spread open your pussy, you squirmed a bit at being so exposed. Your hands balled up the fabric of the bed sheet beneath you as you felt the ball of his piercing roll over your clit, causing you to let out a loud moan. You knew you messed up when you gave him that reaction, because he immediately began to suck at your sensitive clit, rolling his piercing over it every single time causing you to moan louder. His tongue moving from teasing your clit to probing your wet hole. He wanted to taste every bit of you, this was pure bliss for the raven haired man.

“So good.” Sol praised. It was hard to focus as he sucked the sensitive bud, your head spinning as your legs quivered. He wouldn’t let you close your legs, no matter how much you tried. His tongue worked so expertly, he knew exactly how to get you whimpering under him. “Sol!” You yelped when you felt his tongue enter you, causing your hips to buck and your back to arch. It was such a strange feeling but god it felt so good. He was trying to fuck you with his tongue. Your hands tangled in his dark loose hair as you tilted his head back up to focus on your clit. “I-I’m gonna..” you gasped, squeezing your eyes shut as the warm sensation began to build more and more. Your breathing became more frantic and with another roll of his pierced tongue against your clit, your legs closed, Sol’s face still between your thighs as you held him there cumming all over his face. You were practically screaming his name as he continued to suck on your overstimulated clit. You begged him to stop, so he did and instead decided to clean you up.

Sol’s tongue lapped up every last bit of your juices, you tasted so amazing. He was drunk off of your scent—taste. Everything about you drove him crazy. He could spend the rest of his life buried between your thighs, licking your pussy and letting you cum all over his face. He was yours to use. “N-no more. Please.” You begged, your body falling limp.

Sol gave you one last taste, his tongue swiping up the full length of your pussy before he sat up. He licked his wet lips, “See..I’m the only one who can make you feel this good, dear.” He said matter of factly. He stood up pulling down his boxers revealing his hard dick. When you looked at him you nearly choked on your own spit. How the hell were you supposed to take him? He hadn’t stretched you out with his fingers to prepare you. “I-I can’t take you without—“ you began. But Sol leaned forward kissing you, shutting you up. “It’s okay. I’ll be slow.” He mumbled against your lips.

His tall frame towered above you, it was so intimidating, the way he looked at you with half lidded eyes and a small smile on his face. His arms were on either side of you pinning you between him. You felt the tip of his dick poke at your entrance. Sol continued to gently kiss you as he pushed himself inside you, he let out quiet whimpers as slowly filled you up. His body shuddered at the sensation, your tight pussy was everything he had ever dreamed off. “Fuck…oh god you feel so good, ______.” He moaned as he sat up now. Placing his hands on your inner thighs, he spread your legs apart as far as he could without hurting you. He wanted to see how well you took him.

Inch by inch Sol sank into you, it was agonizing how slow he went but by the look on his face he was savoring every moment. He was panting quietly trying to control himself, he did want to hear his soulmate after all. You squirmed under his strong grasp as he filled you up beyond belief. You weren’t ready to take him, he was so big it hurt. “S-Sol.” You cried, tears pooling in the corner of your eyes as you felt the tip hit deep inside, causing you to flinch in pain.

“It’s okay. You’re doing so well, dear.” He praised you. And without warning Sol snapped his hips back and slammed back into you, causing you to yelp. He couldn’t resist himself as he began to roughly fuck you. His fingernails digging into the soft skin of your thighs and quiet moans left him. He stayed quiet because he wanted to hear your sweet sounds.

He watched the face you made as every single time he hit that sweet spot of your pussy. The way your lips parted as you moaned his name and the how your back arched as he fucked you. The way your breasts bounced up and down with each thrust. He noticed the creamy white ring forming on the base of his cock. You felt so perfect, it was as if..”We were made for each other, ______.” He whispered. Sol let go your thighs, confident that you’d keep your legs spread out. He now cupped your breasts, fingertips lightly teasing your perked nipples as he watched you shudder under his touch.

Sol frowned, “Something’s missing.” He said in between pants as he continued to relentlessly fuck you. His pace was not slowing down at all, you were exhausted already, your pussy ached from how hard he was slamming into you. You weren’t sure you’d even be able to walk in the morning. “W-what?” You asked confused by what he meant but he didn’t answer you, instead leaned down to bite your neck. You cried out in surprise. He actually bit you. He nipped and sucked at the sensitive skin on your neck, not caring if he hurt you. After all, everyone needed to know you were his.

Your hands tangled in his hair as you squeezed your eyes shut, tears now running down your face. Your legs wrapped around his waist as he slipped one hand between your thighs. You body twitched when you felt the pad of thumb rub your clit, all the while he never stopped fucking and marking you. He let out a low laugh when he felt your body twitch underneath him.

Sol could tell you were close to coming, by how your breathing became more erratic, how you held him closer. “Are you going to cum for me, dear?” He asked. You didn’t say anything, which annoyed the dark haired man. He sat up, ripping himself from your grasp and stopped rubbing circles against your sensitive clit. “You need to answer me.” He growled and just to emphasize the point, he pulled nearly all the way out before he snapped his hips forward. You cried loudly, biting your lip and nodding eagerly, “Y-yes. I wanna cum for you, Sol.” You whimpered, looking up at him with the cutest expression.

Sol smiled lovingly at you, satisfied with your answer, “You’re so cute when you beg, dear.” He spoke gently and with that he returned to stimulating your clit. Your mind was hazy as you felt your orgasm building up, you were only focused on one thing and that was coming. Your hands reached up to dig their fingernails in the skin of his bicep. “You’re so close. I can tell. Just cum for me. Please. I want to feel it so bad.” Sol begged in a whiny, desperate tone as he quickened his pace. And just like that you practically screamed his name, your body shaking as you came around his cock.

You orgasming and screaming his name was the most beautiful thing Sol had ever witnessed. He had dreamt of this moment for so long, it was better than he could ever imagine. He felt your pussy tighten around him and soon after he was coming too. Sol threw his head back as his dick twitched, coating your insides with thick cum. He was buried deep inside you, holding your thighs firmly so he could adequately fill you up. “You’re so beautiful. So pretty, full of my cum.” He mumbled, gazing down at you now.

Sol gently pushed your legs apart as he pulled out of you and watched in awe as his cum leaked out of your tight pussy. It was a heavenly sight. He sighed in satisfaction, flopping down onto the bed as he wrapped his arms around your tired body, pulling you onto his chest. You buried your face into the crook of his neck as you clung into him tightly. “No one will ever make you feel this good, dear. You were made for me. We’re soulmates.” Sol said barely above a whisper as he gazed at the white ceiling. “You’re mine. I won’t ever let anyone come between us. Ever. I love you so much, ______.” He said, pressing a kiss to the top of your head. His embrace tightening around you when he said that.

There was something threatening about the way Sol spoke. You were a bit scared, but you had no reason to be, right? He just loved you and you loved him. “I love you, Sol.” You sniffled. Sol just smiled at your words. He finally had you all to himself.

[renthony]

hey!! i am genuinely curious about how the catholic church helped implement the hays code, would you be able to tell me more/do you have any good reading material about it? thanks so much!!

This has been sitting in my inbox for aaaaaages, because I want to do it justice! It's actually a big facet of my research project that I'm going to go into much, much, much more depth on, but here's the short(er) summary:

The foundational text of the Hays Code was written by two Catholics: a Jesuit priest named Father Daniel Lord, and a man named Martin Quigley, who was the editor of the Motion Picture Herald. They grounded their guidelines in Catholic morality and values, based on the idea that art could be a vehicle for evil by negatively influencing the actions of those who view it.

The original list of guidelines written by Lord and Quigley was adapted into the Production Code, popularly known as the "Hays Code" after William Hays, the president of the Production Code Administration that enforced it. As president of the PCA, William Hays appointed a staunch Catholic man called Joseph Breen to enforce the code. Breen enforced it aggressively, confiscating the original reels of films he deemed inappropriate and against the Code. Many lost films from this era are only "lost" because Joseph Breen personally had them destroyed. Some were rediscovered later, but many were completely purged from existence.

When Breen died in 1965, Variety magazine wrote, "More than any single individual, he shaped the moral stature of the American moral picture." He was a very, very big deal, and was directly responsible for censoring more films than I could even begin to list here.

In 1937, Olga J. Martin, Joseph Breen’s secretary, said, “To an impoverished country which had become religious and serious-minded, the sex attitudes of the post-war period became grotesquely unreal and antedated. The public at large wanted to forget its own derelictions of the ‘gay twenties.' The stage was set for the moral crusade.”

In 1936, once the Code was being fully enforced on filmmakers by Joseph Breen, a letter was issued by the office of Pope Pius XI that praised Breen's work, and encouraged all good Catholics to support film censorship.

The letter read in part, "From time to time, the Bishops will do well to recall to the motion picture industry that, amid the cares of their pastoral ministry, they are under obligation to interest themselves in every form of decent and healthy recreation because they are responsible before God for the moral welfare of their people even during their time of leisure. Their sacred calling constrains them to proclaim clearly and openly that unhealthy and impure entertainment destroys the moral fibre of a nation. They will likewise remind the motion picture industry that the demands which they make regard not only the Catholics but all who patronize the cinema."

Basically, this letter was a reminder from the Papal authority that bishops and priests are supposed to stop people from engaging with "lewd" or "obscene" art. That meant supporting things like the Hays Code.

So, to summarize: the original text of the Hays Code was written by two Catholics, including a priest. The biggest and most aggressive censor under the Code was a Catholic man, who had the full support and approval of the Pope at the time. Good Catholics were called en-masse to support the Hays Code, because it was intentionally written to line up with Catholic teachings.

There's a lot more to say on the subject, and if you're interested in reading more on your own, I recommend the book "Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema, 1930-1934," by Thomas Doherty. There are plenty other sources I can recommend on request, but that's a solid place to start.

(And if I can toot my own horn, I'm intending to do a video lecture series all about American film censorship and the Hays Code. Pledging to my Patreon helps keep me fed and housed while I do all this damn research.)

[capitalisticveins]

Seeing as how you're doing headcanons again i'd like to request hcs of Gavin,Milo,Sam,Vincent,and Guy( btw here's a thought for ya Guy as Hermes dangerous has stuck in my head for the past couple hours send help) also your previous hc were also great!(you could say they were ruthless ha ha ha im sorry that was bad lol)

~ Deviant anon （⊃◕ω◕(´ω｀*⊂)

idk if you can tell but I really like Guy

also I wrote headcanons for some character recently so characters like Gavin, Sam, and Milo have them a lil short than Vincent and Guy since it takes a while to think about possible in-character hcs for them. Sorry :(

Lots of Headcanons #3

Gavin

Believe it or not, Gavin’s social media accounts are usually blank. Save for Instagram. He just has them to comment under the group’s posts.

Despite never reading a book, Freelancer has told him he’d do best in the writing industry.

He does not know how to hold a baby. If you give him a baby for any reason he’d hold it with both of his hands under its shoulders.

The worst he’s been scared was when he played a horror VR game, but he didn’t scream or anything he really just jolted and went “shit” and moved on. Freelancer was not amused.

He likes being the big spoon when he and FL cuddle because he gets to breathe in their scent, hold them, and remind himself that this is real, and not just a dream he’ll wake up from.

Milo

You can’t beat him in cup pong. Digitally or physically. You just can’t.

The only reason David is considered a better cook than Milo is because Milo uses a lot of seasoning and the pack is full of babies who can’t handle oregano or sazón.

Whenever the pack goes somewhere tropical he has to wear a shirt or Sweetheart will constantly attempt to latch onto his torso.

Milo and cats have always gone together like peanut butter and jelly. He had a cat toy when he was a toddler, his first cell phone had a stray cat as his wallpaper, he’d feed the stray cats around his home, etc. So when he learned that he and the people around him could turn into “dogs” (wolves but still) he was DEVASTATED. Got over it after a day tho.

He likes juice boxes.

Avid Apple Juice “tastes like piss” hater, although he also says mint ice cream tastes like toothpaste so take that as you will.

Sam

Sam fucking hates cowboys.

Sam had braces from the ages of 19-21 and the only upside he had to being a vampire when he first turned was that he didn’t need his retainer anymore.

Sam always reads manga wrong and no matter how many times anyone explains it he’ll read it from left to right and never understands what’s going on.

The closest Sam has gotten to riding a horse is when he flopped on top of Darlin’s back while they were shifted and they walked around his house like that…he’s never been on a horse.

Sam has a lot of existential crisises, compared to like Vincent or Porter.

If something's flying and he can't figure out if it's a plane, helicopter, animal, or any identifiable flying object, he just believes it's an Alien UFO and moves on.

Darlin' gave him a wheat head for Christmas once. He was not amused.

Vincent

Wanted to be a youtuber for a brief period in time in 2010.

Had a weird obsession with those traced anime characters dancing tiktoks in 2020, a little after meeting Lovely.

He canonically has multiple cars he likes showing off to Lovely, but he also nearly never uses them and it’s Lovely who showboats them and takes them on joyrides.

He didn’t believe William at first when he was first told he’s a vampire now and was the only one who survived The Surge incident, until they both saw his funeral take place and see his grave, which took place a long time after the accident because his parents refused to believe he was dead.

He had 3 tomodachis at once and they all constantly died because he forgot feeding them was a thing.

He commonly "regrets" asking William to make him unable to lie to Lovely because they like to ask him embarrassing questions on purpose and he can’t help but answer them, even though he could just stay quiet.

His favorite memory as a kid was roller skating with his parents on his 7th birthday. Even though he fell on his face, sprained his ankle, and had a loose tooth fall out. Still his favorite day.

Guy

GUY IS SO HERMES CODED UR RIGHT

Turned a fanfic he wrote as his college essay and got in just because of it.

Was very afraid of Honey when they first met, they kept staring at him like he was the scum of the Earth. They just wanted to talk to him about the Animal Crossing pin on his backpack.

Whenever his friends order from Max’s, and he turns out to be their delivery guy, they make fun of him so much (playfully) and give him a 10 dollar tip

He borrowed his friend’s motorcycle to impress Honey

Cried over Gnomeo and Juliet

Dressed up as the Thomas Jefferson Miku Binder drawing in 2023.

He almost gave himself a buzzcut once when he was drunk, he had to be held down because everyone knew he’d regret it so hard later, not matter how funny it’d be.

[incorrect-riordanverse]

It's really disheartening that Rick Riordan stance on the war I understand that he wants to be neutral on this stance but in my opinion by becoming neutral he only worsening the issue as many Palestines are dying that are mostly children, how the majority of Israeli are supporting the Genocide of Palestine, and how the government is trying so hard (but miserably failing) to justified the genocide. I will hold him accountable for what he said on this issue as during this period the choice is basically "you are with us or against us."

Part of me wishes he will realize what he said was wrong and understand the bigger issue that plays at hand. I will criticism for his actions as how can a man who promotes LGBTQIA and representation of minorities and disabilities in his books turn a blind eyes to Genocide of people. However we can only wait and see on his next move.

One last thing about your previous you said you don't group Riordan with other authors where do you would group him with? Also this is more on an opinion base answer but many people are boycotting companies that support Israel there as been another post on Twitter on boycotting authors. Rick Riordan happens to be one of them. Do you believed that he should be boycotted with other authors or he should be properly educated and apologized for his previous statement? If you believed he should be boycotted what do tou have to say to those who might have the mentality of "separate the art from the artist"

thank you for this ask, and i completely agree with you! it is extremely hypocritical of him considering what he preaches for in his books. i think he’s convinced he has properly addressed the apartheid by using very vague language that can be applied to anything, and in doing so, he’s addressed nothing really.

your first question on who i would group him with— probably other authors who are doing the exact same as him in their virtue signalling. i always like to link my other blogs to each other, so i don’t think it’s a secret that i have a red queen account and i’m pretty passionate about that. unfortunately, victoria aveyard is another fantasy author who has literally wrote a whole four-book series on the uprising against oppression but is now playing neutral in her address of the apartheid. rebecca yarros is in the same boat, although i haven’t read ‘fourth wing,’ fans have said there are large themes of oppression within the book. so if i had to group riordan it would probably be in the ‘i-like-to-write-about-it-for-profit-and-praise-only’ group.

in terms of boycotting, i think that’s a great idea! i would also like to remind everyone that the percy jackson tv show is coming out in a little over a month, but disney is a huge industry financially supporting israel as well ($2 million in funding), which is obviously far more damning than a poorly written address by one person. there is a boycott happening for disney as well— and the pjo show will be released on disney + . i implore everyone to not watch it on that platform!! personally i will be pirating it online (idk if i’ll get into trouble saying that here but lol oh well), because im pretty sure the boycott is only for withdrawing financial support, not simply consuming media.

i feel like separating art from the artist only works if that artist is… like, dead, and you’re using that art and its values as a historical insight to how the world was during its time. you can still like a piece of work that has a problematic artist, you can engage with the work (to an extent). but separating art from the artist barely works because either:

to engage with the art is to support the artist in some way, so that artist is making money based on your interaction with that (particularly in the case for singers and streaming of songs)

that artists’ views and values are so rancid that it’s literally embedded within the text itself. to ignore it is harmful.

harry potter is my all-time favourite example to use, because jkr is the scum of the earth, and her views are entrenched in her work. a lesser known example is sarah j maas and her books (she’s also not as dogshit as jkr, but then again, its not hard to be a better person than her). i’m not going to bag on these people for liking things by problematic people (would be hypocritical of me), i just think it’s cowardly not to address it when you come across it, or at least admit to it. to simply write things off as ‘separate to the artist’ is like purposefully turning off your critical thinking skills.

on whether boycotting or an apology is enough— if riordan did apologise and used specific language and not the nonsense he had in that blog, expressed his remorse for his ignorance and then actually did or said something to support the people of palestine then, yeah. that’s fine and that’s how we learn ig. but he should educate himself, too many activists, people from the arab community and especially palestinians are expected to be all-knowing and to educate everyone else on an already draining and personal tragedy. it’s been exhausting for me, i can’t imagine what they’re going through. if riordan (or anyone) needs to be educated, he should do it himself, and (at least in my opinion) i don’t think the info is very hard to find now. it’s just about weeding out the misinformation.

i think boycotting is a good idea as of now. it can serve to be a catalyst for self reflection for many people. also, as much as i hate most online discourses, talking about it online needs to happen. i don’t want these authors to forget, for a moment, about the ignorance they posted online during a time of international crisis.

[nrilliree]

https://www.tumblr.com/iscend-phines/751334706465947648/bookdaemon-would-never-he-was-a-somehow-worse?source=share

Daemon is not a pedophile or a groomer in Fire and Blood. You have to review your definitions after a while.

And sorry, but the fact that there was domestic violence in the feudal era in no way justifies adding it into a show that adapts source material already rife with violence against women in the first place, including for the affected character of Rhaenyea.

Why add domestic violence when there isn't any in the source material ? What's the point ?

GRRM has already written about other relationships with domestic violence. So why add domestic violence where there was none AKA Daemyra ?! What's the fucking point ?! Not to mention that Rhaenyra already experiences various realistic violence in her own story. No need to add domestic violence to all that if it doesn't serve the story.

And I remind you that not all men, even in feudal times, were necessarily violent with their wives. Throughout history, good men and their wives have always existed.

So the excuse of “realism” to justify the fact that Daemon is violent with Rhaenyra they can kick it in the ass.

GRRM has written stories of domestic abuse before. Do you want to read this ? Well go read that. Or did the producers want to adapt that ? Well they just had to adapt another GRRM story ! Same if they wanted romance between girls! GRRM wrote about it ! No need to invent Rhaenicent !

And yes, the show is trying to make Alicent look better ! Alicent wasn't a victim in the book, and she wasn't that young. What do you call it other than trying to make his character more likable for the audience ?!

And no, the producers don't understand anything about what they are adapting. They're not even able to admit that the entire central conflict is based on pure misogyny and tries to send the message that not everyone, including Rhaenyra, is apparently equally bad. That's not what dance is about. So sorry, but yes, if you are not capable of understanding the basic message of a work, then you do not understand anything about it in its entirety either.

Alicent stans disgust me deeply.

Well, under the last similarly stupid post, I wrote the definition of words that someone used without understanding and therefore looked stupid, but instead of appreciating the help and educating themselves, the person got offended. Typical.

So please, @iscend-phines , take advantage and educate yourself, because you need it too:

Meaning of pedophilia:

the condition of being sexually interested in prepubescent children, or sexual activity with prepubescent children.

Meaning of prepubescent:

relating to the period before children start to develop adult sexual characteristics: prepubescent girls/boys/children. Preadolescence is commonly defined as ages 9–12 ending with the major onset of puberty.

So very simple:

Daemon, suspected of sexual contact with 16-year-old Rhaenyra in the book/19-year-old Rhaenyra in the series, may be an ephebophile. But there is no evidence.

Aegon suspected of sexual contact with a 12-year-old girl may be a pedophile. But there is no evidence.

But, anon, what exactly do you expect? This is Alicent stans. They use the argument "penetration is not shown on screen, so there is no proof that Aegon raped anyone!!!!!!1111", they believe that Rhaenyra is to blame for Dance because she has no relationship with her siblings, and Alicent is a poor victim, who did not abuse Rhaenyra and her children for several years, did not sell parts of her body in exchange for benefits, and is not complicit in the deaths of many people who died due to the usurpation of the throne. They are so strange and blinded that they see abusers everywhere but at home, and some are even happy that Rhaenyra would be a victim of domestic violence. Apparently they got it from their idol who wanted other women to suffer like she did, THE victim.

And you know what makes me laugh the most? When TGs throw incest accusations at Daemon. Uncle and niece are still less incest than siblings. And Aegon, the beloved king of TG, bangs his own sister-wife because his mother told him to :D

[lazytitans-world]

My research findings on the production of Wish

Never have I seen a fan community do so much with so little than I have with Wish. And to start off, I want to say that you should watch the movie first before going into this and the Starboy fandom as I believe it to be important on forming your own opinion before moving on as I find most of the fandom to have a negative view of the movie, one I do not really share. I found Wish to be fine. I did not hate it, but I did not love it like I do other Disney animated films. But the many rewrites, drawings and animatics featuring character designs that did not make it far in production have become icons in this community inspired me to do a deep dive to see if I could find where in production these concepts died and why.

To save you a read, this production was a victim of simplicity. I feel that many concepts and story ideas were tossed away due to complicating the story, which was always going to focus on Asha trying to save the wishes of her fellow kingdom citizens with the help of a wishing star. I have read many articles and watched a few deleted scenes from the home release and here are my findings.

Starboy never got far in development as the book states that the team went down "a few blind alleys" that lead them to star having a human design for a period. This is probably the period in time where all the Starboy concept art came from and where a potential romantic subplot with Asha was kicked around. It was.

What did Starboy in was the team's choice to make them a shapeshifter as the team thought the character was way overpowered and thus the story lost a lot of dramatic tension (a choice I kind of agree with). It was here where the design team decided that Star needed an overhaul and brought the Story Development artists in and this is where Starboy died and plush Star was finalized.

There are no official storyboards that feature the Starboy designs.

At the start of Wish's production, Frozen 2 was entering it's final stage of production (this would be either late 2018 or early 2019) and was obviously the main focus for Disney animation not to mention projects like Raya and the Last Dragon, Strange World and Encanto were entering their mid development stages before the shutdown.

The effects of the global shutdown were not mentioned in the book, but I would not be shocked if production was affected by it.

Ariana DeBose has said that Wish did not need a love story as she said that,

“I think we live in a time where things are cyclical, right? And so, it’s good for variance and perspective. Not every female Disney character needs to have a go and ambition of simply finding a man to love her. There are more stories to tell.

"And especially in the world we live in today I think something like Wish, that has a broader outlook that talks about community, is just as important as talking about love. And there are so many different ways to love."

"You do see familiar love, love of friendship" in the movie, including the relationship between Asha and Star. Star and Asha have this beautiful connection with each other and so I think it’s good reminding people that not only we can tell different stories, we can also talk about love in different ways.”(source: Exclusive: Wish’s Ariana DeBose defends lack of romance in recent Disney movies (yahoo.com)) whether Ariana had any say on story or character development is unknown.

7. From what I read from the Art of Wish book, the story was always meant to be about Asha defying Magnifico to fight for the people of Rosas and their wishes.

8. As it pertains to "At All Costs", a song that many are saying was meant to be a love song between Asha and Star, in an article by Variety(Julia Michaels Wrote 'Wish' Theme Before the Script Even Existed (variety.com), it states that a love song was not in the film at the time of production and songwriter Julia Michaels "wanted to write a song that as a standalone sounded like a love song that could be played at weddings."

Michaels would go on to say, "How cool would it be if we wrote a song that if you listened to on its own, it sounds like a love song, it could be something you could play at your wedding, or be a lullaby to your kids, just something really beautiful, but when you watch the film, it’s the heroine and it’s the villain.” She continues, “You realize they’re coming about this both from various points, one from a very selfless standpoint and one from a selfish standpoint.”

9. In the same Variety article, it was revealed that for some time in 2020, no script existed for the movie, but Julia Michaels was asked to be the songwriter for the movie and that is where she pitched "This Wish" which would go on to be one of the first songs revealed for the movie.

10. the Variety article also had Jennifer Lee, head of Disney Animation and one of the writers on Wish, say that she wanted a song that showed "it felt like to hold someone’s wish in your hand. How do we viscerally understand that when you’re with them, you feel like you’re holding someone’s raison d’être?” that song would end it being "At All Costs"

11. September 9, 2022, D23 Expo in Anaheim California. This is where certain members of the public got a glimpse of the production of Wish. Jennifer Lee, writer and director Chris Buck, and co-director Fawn Veerasunthorn spoke about the movie and showed the first look of the finalized design of Star which ended up being the mute plush model that ended up in the movie. This means there was a 3-year gap where Starboy and the romance side plot were discussed then shelved.

It was also during this show where the public would learn that Ariana DeBuse would voice Asha and that Alan Tudyk, a staple of past Disney animated films, would have a featured role in the movie as Asha's pet goat Valentino, who would be able to talk thanks to Star's magic. It was also at that show where DuBose came out to sing "This Wish" but at the time the song was called "More for Us".

Magnifico was not revealed at the event but was teased as "one of the most formidable foes in Disney history" which is debatable to say the least.

12. 5 deleted scenes in total appear on the Wish digital and disc copies each introduced by head of story Mark Kennedy where he would describe why the scene got cut. One scene shows Amaya assisting Magnifico in his plan, tying into an early concept where she was a villain alongside him.

Another scene had Asha, Star (who in this scene could shape shift and talk) and Valentino try to sneak into Rosas before being spotted and chased by Amaya, once again acting antagonistic to Asha.

A scene had Magnifco gather the people of Rosas to demand Star be given to him, as he had never seen Star in this version, and Asha her friends try to distract him by having Valentino, who in this version had a more Steve Carell like voice, pretend to be Star while the real Star, who was voiced in this version and was designed as ball of light with eyes and mouth, was trying to free the captured wishes. This scene was changed because they wanted Magnifco to be more threatening and instead of asking the people for Star, he would capture Star. Kennedy would go on to say that they wanted Asha and Magnifico to be smart and that Asha would not do a plan that silly, and they wanted the climax to be Magnifico and Asha alone, so they set it on a platform high above Rosas.

The next scene featured an ally of Asha's named Flazino that was cut out in order to shrink her friend group and tied the group back to the seven dwarfs from Snow White.

Finally, there was a scene where Asha and her grandfather scaled a wishing tree with her grandfather Sabino that showcased their bond but also Sabino's insistence that Asha take down Magnifico.

Each of these scenes felt completely different to the movie that ended up being released.

13. It should be noted that Wish released only a short while after the 2023 Writers and Actors strikes, which meant that for most of the summer and fall of that year, the actors could not do any press for the movie and all marketing was done through ads, trailers and merchandise.

14. As revealed in an article for Disney twenty-three, a magazine for gold members of the Disney D23 Fanclub, in the early visual development stage, there was a test scene that Asha was briefly transported to the village from Pinocchio. This was done to see how the 3D character designs would match with the hand drawn, watercolor backgrounds of classic Disney movies.

15. In that same article, Chris Buck said that in regard to Magnifico's character development that they wanted the audience "to see the evolution of a villain, so he's not a monster from frame one". From what becomes of Magnifico I get what they tried to do, they wanted to show how a character falls into villainy even if they're intentions are good. It also stands with the modern writing style of Disney animation films trying to update classics, this time by having audiences start off by kind of liking the villain through their personality alone.

18. The article also briefly mentions that Star "went through many iterations" another hint of Starboy being considered as a final design.

19. In the Art of Wish book, there is a page that shows the script where Asha meets Star and Star is described as a "cuddly, 3D, five-pointed star." This would indicate that the Starboy concept never got to the scripting stages.

20. In Art of Wish, the reason why Star does not speak is because the film makers wanted to stick to a tenet of film making, show don't tell.

21. Star's face was inspired by the mask like face of early Mickey Mouse cartoons.

22. From all readings, it is safe to say that Asha was NEVER considered to be a princess in any of the iterations of the story as some writers felt it to be too safe of a choice and liked the idea of an ordinary citizen going against the established power of the king.

23. During production, the Disney CEO position changed twice as Bob Iger left the company in early 2020 and named Bob Chapek as his replacement before returning to the company in mid 2023. It is unknown if these changes had any effects of Wish's production as it was it stated development as Iger's first tenure was ending but took place during a majority of Chapek's time.

24. When Angelique Cabal, who voiced Amaya in Wish, first auditioned for the role the character in 2022 Amaya was written as a villain while Magnifico was supposed to be the good king. It was when she returned for the callback that Amaya was changed to what she ended up being in the movie. Source https://www.cinemablend.com/interviews/how-one-character-disney-wish-completely-changed-during-production

In closing, for fans of the Starboy concept, it saddens me to say that it looks the idea only made it as far as concept art as at the time of writing this, no animated sequences, scripts or storyboards have been released that had Star in a human design or discussed a romantic relationship with Asha. I believe the writing team found a romantic relationship between Star and Asha too complicated for the story and decided to simplify the relationship and design of Star to better suit the plot of Asha going against Magnifico. I am disappointed Wish did not go with the more interesting concepts but maybe down the line we'll get that cosmic Disney romance and a villain couple, it just has to work with the story.

I want to say thank you for those that made it to the end, this movie has been on my mind for quite a while and seeing all the re-writes, drawings and animations people have done for Starboy and Asha has been amazing to see. These works have inspired me to rewatch Wish at some point to see if Starboy could have worked in the movie with the story as is, and even share how I would have changed a few things in the story to fit the character and a romantic subplot with Asha plus an idea on how to bring in Starboy while still staying true to the established cannon.

I do hope others watch and enjoy Wish as from what I have read the team did put a lot of effort to makes this movie worthy of not only the high standards Disney animation has set, but as a piece of the 100-year story telling of the Walt Disney company. Film making is already hard enough as it is, especially in animation, but having to make a movie with an original concept and characters that still pays tribute to 100 years of storytelling is a daunting task and I understand and respect the choices they made when making the film and you should as well.

[tartigglez]

"i know it hurts..."

headcanons of some genshin boys when you have your period (pt.1??)

kaeya, diluc, thoma, childe, zhongli (separately) x afab!reader (pronouns not mentioned)

genre: fluff

word count: 800-ish

tags: periods, no distinct mention of blood, wholesome boys (for the most part), a lottttt of physical touch + petnames, kaeya is teehee, diluc is clueless as shit, thoma is absolutely whipped, childe is also clueless, zhongli is wayyyyy clued in

tw/cw: zhongli is written as genderfluid, mentions of foods/drink (soup + tea), kisses in zhongli's, i don't think there's much else to add here, lmk if i missed smth

a/n: surprise? hi! i've had a very emotional night, so its time for something extremely self indulgent. i wrote this mostly for the genderfluid zhongli agenda. also i'd like to remind everyone that i am genderfluid, my pronouns are they/she/he!!! ty, enjoy.

kaeya’s personality seems to go through some sort of shift when you’re on your period, seriously! he’ll go from being a flirty, unserious captain with an eye catching smirk to a kind, gentle, soft spoken man. he will quietly hold you if you’re in pain, and try his best to distract you. will kiss you softly and assure you that it will pass, without ever making you feel like you’re exaggerating. strokes your cheek and does whatever you want to do in order to stay distracted. 

“darling? are you alright? are you sick?”

“no, just cramps.”

“ahh, here.”

“how does this feel? you okay? comfy?”

“yeah, I’m okay. thanks kae”

“not a problem at all, lovely”

“so, how was work? 

diluc is lowkey confused at first in your relationship. he’s never spent much time around anyone who has a period, let alone having to live with one, so it makes sense (a little) that he really doesn’t understand anything that’s happening to you, or what hurts, or why, or how he can help. the first time he finds you curled up in his bedroom in dawn winery he’ll be really confused and awkward, run to adelinde and try to very discreetly ask her what to do (he doesn’t do a good job), but eventually she gets what he means, and tells him to just ask you, which he builds the confidence to do after hyping himself up for like twenty minutes.

“hi”

“hi, 'luc”

“uh… are you okay?”

“ish?”

“uhm… may i talk to you about something?”

“yeah, of course! what’s up?”

“what is… happening to you right now? it’s painful, i know, but how do i help? what do i do? what do you need? how can i make you comfortable? i don’t want you to be in pain.”

“pah, how sweet. come, sit, i’ll explain”

thoma knows exactly what is going on, and when its going on. keeps track of your periods (with your knowledge and consent ofc) just so he knows what days to bring you whatever you may need. he’s a BIG BIG acts of service and gift giving kinda guy, because he’s always in the city, so he always picks things up for you. this happens even more when you’re on your period. of course, sometimes, his estimates of your starting days will be a little bit off, so he might end up randomly doing something and it seems like its out of nowhere, and he tries to play it off like it is too. 

“thoma? what’re you doing home this early?”

“oh, I thought i’d come home and make you soup!”

“make me… soup? that’s a little strange…”

“no it’s not! it's just because i thought you liked it, especially when…y’know”

“hah, your guess was off darling, you’re two days early. still, i appreciate the thought love. let’s eat?”

childe is clueless. extremely clueless. but he’s also super duper sweet, and a very fast learner. he tries his best to understand what’s happening and what to do, but unfortunately he doesn’t really have anyone to ask about it. so he’ll literally read a book, which is rather rare for him but he would literally do anything for you. if you’re feeling really unwell, he will insist on taking the day off work to look after you. he’s extremely attentive and gentle, which is the side of him his “co-workers” don’t get to see. 

“morning baby! how’re you feeling?”

“mmhh,, morning chi. ‘m okay, a bit crampy”

“okay, i’ll stay here then.”

“what? no, you have work. you gotta go!”

“i’ll call in sick, they can live without me for a day”

“chi you can’t do this agai-”

“i’d do anything for you”

zhongli. understands. everything. okay hear me out. zhongli can take any form he wants, so sometimes out of curiosity he would change into another body. he’d get completely, utterly shocked the first time he got a period whilst in this form (it was unexpected.), but learned how to cope with it, because he wanted to be able to fully understand the struggles that some mortals might go through.

he knows exactly what to do when this happens to you, speaks to you calmly and holds you if you get cramps. will brew tea for you, and get the latest herb combinations for pain relief from baizhu. will snuggle up to you, place his hand on your stomach because it’s warm, and hold you close. kisses your neck gently and asks if you need anything, overall just a big sweetie. if you want him to, he’ll go into his half-dragon form, so he can wrap his tail around you. loves you more than anything and will do anything to make you comfortable. you need something? it’s yours, no matter the extremes he has to go to in order to get it. constantly making sure you take your time with everything, and making sure that you don’t overexert yourself.

“my love, i know you’re in pain, please don’t push yourself”

“i know, i know, i just have a little more work to do”

“i trust you, but i’m staying here with you, just in case. have you eaten? are you comfortable? do you need any pain relief?”

[thtdamfangirl4]

I tried really hard to bring my hopes down so I wouldn’t be disappointed by the RWRB movie and despite both my best efforts and some truly great scenes from the actors in the movie, I was so upset by it.

The Paris scene was gorgeous and intimate and IMPORTANT. Sarah as Zahra was literally flawless. Taylor and Nick were infinitely better than I thought they were going to be. The chemistry was good. I liked Uma Therman.

But.

I was never going to be happy with this movie. It was rushed (due to the nature of it being a 2 hour movie) and cut out not only important scenes for development, it cut people who are integral to the plot and entire plot lines that were paramount to the book’s intention.

It needs June. It needs Nora and Pez to be ACTUAL characters. It needs Ellen and Oscar to be divorced and have the family dynamic that makes Alex who he is. It needs Rafael Luna. It needs Catherine. It needs Bea to be flawed and have a personality and not be sanitized for no discernible reason. It needs the full progression of Alex and Henry’s relationship. It needs emails. It needs better coverage of the email leaks and aftermath. It needs friendship and queer community. It needs 23 year old protagonists. It needs Alex spiraling and figuring himself out.

If I’m honest, that omission might be what disappointed me the most and I haven’t let myself ruminate on it until these words were being tapped out by my fingers. Alex’s bisexual awakening in the book made me feel more seen and understood than any other book I’d ever read, any character I’d connected to. And it resonated within his character throughout the book. Without him learning about himself, the importance of this story is diminished for me and my own journey and connection.

RWRB is my favorite book of all time. I turn to it when I’m happy, sad, anxious, confused, tired, wired, and everything in between. It’s literally perfect to me, no matter anyone else’s opinion. I relate to Alex more than any other character in any other media. Henry is my favorite fictional character, period. I wanted so desperately to like this movie.

There were scenes I loved. But so much in between reminded me starkly of what it was missing.

This is not a hate post about this movie, nor does it stand to denigrate the actors or writers or crew, etc. Nor does it serve to shame anyone who DID love this movie. I hope you DO love it. I hope it brings joy to those who loved the story before and invites those who are unfamiliar into these characters. Most of all, I hope it provides joy to young queer audiences who are seeing themselves represented in a romcom.

But this process feels almost like grief, which sounds so dramatic. For me and people like me, whose souls were unwittingly bared on the pages Casey McQuiston wrote years ago. For people who found an anchor in this novel and hold on for dear life so we don’t drown. To me, this book is perfect, and to alter it in any way was going to disappoint me.

My hope is that in the coming weeks, I can find a way to truly separate this book and my unending catalog of feelings about it from this movie adaptation, which I probably would have loved if I wasn’t a die hard book fan, so that I can enjoy both and recognize that only a piece of the book made it to the screen.

(Truthfully my greatest hope is that they personally grant ME the rights and unlimited budget to write and direct a full miniseries adaptation that is a faithful interpretation to the letter, but no one is going to do that.)

I’ve seen like hundreds of posts already saying that we shouldn’t shit on this movie or take away from other people enjoying it, and I agree. And I apologize if you feel that’s what I’m going with this post. It’s not my intention. But I do want to say that you’re also allowed to be disappointed. You’re allowed to feel like you would’ve wanted it to be different. Just don’t walk around disparaging the book or the talented people who made it possible, and certainly not the fans who are just loving the story and characters you love too, just maybe in a different way.

Idk, this blog is a mess and a safe space and I just wanted to put my initial feelings somewhere because they have kind of taken over my brain. I’m tired and still processing, but if I don’t get out this spiral, I’ll stay in it.

I want to like it. But there were just too many changes. It felt like a different story. As Alex and Henry have both said, “we all must learn and grow.”

[onestormeynight]

Handy

Rosie was working on her latest true crime novel when her computer started to smell an awful lot like burning components.

"Oh no," she muttered. There was a pop-fizz sound that came from behind the screen before she lost all the recent progress on her book. "God DAMN it!" She shouted, slamming her hands on her keyboard. This did not solve the problem.

"Mom?" Ida called from upstairs, her feet making pattering sounds as she came down. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, sorry, Lovey," Rosie said. "The computer is on the fritz. And it sounded expensive. I'll have your father look at it when he comes home."

"Computers are not the same as sink drains."

Rosie sighed and unplugged the computer. "I'll figure it out later, I guess. I'm too stressed out about it right this second. I'm going to go read for a bit."

Computers certainly were not sink drains, but Ida had been playing with computer components in the lab at school during free period. She'd refurbished a handful of very old PCs just for the fun of it. Her mom's computer was much new.

I can do it, Ida thought. It's just bits and bobs and wires. Can't make it much worse.

"I fixed the computer," Ida said a few hours later as she enjoyed lunch with her mother. "It should be working now. I couldn't recover what you wrote, but it turns on again."

"What!? Ida, that's amazing! I didn't know you could do that."

"Oh, yeah. I've been working on computers at school in my free time. Wiring is pretty interesting. Once you understand the components and the formulas, it's just application. No big deal."

"That's incredible. I'm so proud of you, Lovey. Thank you!"

Nellie wolfed down another bite of her lunch. "It's nothing, Mom. I'm happy to make you happy."

Rosie smothered her emotional tears. She worried that Ida sometimes was neglected in her eyes because of how much time she had to invest into Nellie's well being. Her daughter was not one for attention and public accolades; Ida was happy just to make someone else happy. It reminded Rosie of her Aunt B and how she'd had no idea she was a world renowned programmer until Aunt B's elder years.

"You're a great kid, Ida."

"Really, it's no big deal, Mom. It's good practice for my career after high school."

((prev)) ((next))

[silkkorchid]

Amaryllis opinions on the Warlords + Mai + her siblings

I wrote this to just give insight on what she thinks about others. (Sorry for the pings)

-

Oda Forces

Nobunaga

“He is pretty intimidating at first, but over time when I started working as a ninja for the Oda my perspective of him changed. He is a great person who unfortunately has to make difficult choices. And him not having the best choice of words at time.”

The rest of the warlords + Mai + her siblings are underneath

Hideyoshi

“Hideyoshi is my adoptive father who, well gave me a second chance on live despite the fact I- stained my hand with blood to protect those I cared about in that village I resided in before I left with Hideyoshi. Either way, I work under him like Mitsunari. I do play pranks on him occasionally.”

Mitsuhide

“Him? He is truly a kitsune. But he cares a lot about everyone and willing to risk everything to have his goal of his. He is also the one who taught me how to wield a blade and told me to be a kunoichi, a female ninja. It did took awhile to prove my worth to the Oda but I did it. Even some people say I’m almost like him since they don’t know what we are thinking but way more expressive.”

Mitsunari

“He is more over an older brother to me and my adopted siblings. We do love to make upcoming battle plans with the information I get but most of the time we just read books. We work under Hideyoshi and some of my siblings do so, we just have a sibling gathering moment.”

Masamune

“That eyepatch guy? Well we haven’t interacted much but his cooking is always the best! I give him some recipes I happen to come across for him to try out. Before you ask, yes he did flirt with me. But I quickly ended that with a slap to his face, which those who witnessed it was left stunned. And I think I saw some coins being passed around, I guess a bet was going on at that time.”

Ieyasu

“The spicy lover guy… let’s say that things between us is weird. We may specialize in medicine but for him, it’s more over like something he needed to learn to help himself. Despite that weird sense, we do work well together but, he should be more straight over with this words as first time people may think he is serious.”

Keiji

“He was gone for a while till he came back to warn about Kicho plan, which unfortunately succeeded. But he is a fun guy to be around, although there was some times I saw right through him with that false persona of his. He did confronted me about it but I promised I won’t say a word about it to the others.”

Ranmaru

“When I first saw him, he almost reminded me of someone who I had met before. Soon after he became one of Nobunaga’s pages, he came to me to talk about how things go on in the Oda as I am a source for many. It still doesn’t make it better when I feel like something is off about him when I tell him what goes on in the Oda.”

Useugi & Takeda Forces

Kenshin

“That crazy war manic is different than the Oda Warlords in so many ways. From what I heard from Sasuke, he would chase after people to have them spar with him in which they loose. He is truly deserving of The Dragon of Echigo. But, I would avoid coming across him as I like to live at the moment.”

Shingen

“That man has been flirting so much that I understand Yuki’s pain. I did had a one on one conversation with him before. He’s not a bad person but someone who just wants to regain Kai back in any means. He really needs to take care of his health. As some pneumonia can be cured with antibiotics but we don’t have that in the Sengoku period. I did gave him some medicine out of charge to help him slow his illness. Hopefully…”

Yukimura

“I know he is a warlord the moment I saw him in Echigo with Sasuke and Morgan. But I kept it a secret as there was probably no need to share it. Despite him saying things he didn’t mean to, he’s a good guy. But I would rather not come across him on the battlefield. I don’t think I would kill him if I did…”

Kanetsugu

“The main strategist for Kenshin Useugi. He is one to not be underestimated by any means. I would like to test my theory about him, but after I found out the debt he owes to Kenshin. I dropped that test quickly as he already went through enough. He may consider himself as a monster due to him killing that noble in self defense but of course, in this time period; kill a noble, you are convicted automatically. But I do hope someday he will understand that he isn’t one when he comes across that important person.”

Sasuke

“Ninja buddies 4 life. I may had been transported here years before him and Morgan. But I’m glad he adjusted to the circumstances here since war is common here. I did ran across him when he spied on the Oda for the first time, but I let him be since he pose no threat to anyone at the time. We did ran across each other again in Echigo with Yuki and Morgan, I will never forget those times. Just being friends and confusing Yuki with our modern language. Thinking about it makes me remember how much fun we had casting aside our circumstances to just enjoy life.”

Yoshimoto

“That guy… he became nothing more than a husk of himself after that battle. I saw his battles before, but it’s like deep down he didn’t want to fight but had no choice to keep fighting. I also overheard that he think he is just a puppet… why can’t he realize that he has been in control all this time, but never exerted his authority to show he is capable of leading to his vassal…”

Lone Forces

Kennyo

“That monk, he may had been someone that many of the people of that village of mine that I reside look up to. Only to be defeated. He may be an enemy of mine, but does he think that being a demon better for everyone? Still, I can’t forgive him going on this self-destructive path and making the peasant class fight with him. Which is why I haven’t forgiven him nor forgotten him yet.”

Motonari

“That pirate guy is one that I like to watch from a far. I did wreck those cannons when I was in my fox form, it seems like he didn’t expect that to happen. But he is unpredictable in many ways, and he is able to deceive others to help him. He is deserving to be called the God of Deceit.”

Kicho

“I met Kicho before, it was before he betrayed the Oda. I felt off when he disappeared out of nowhere, only to find out that he went to the future. Nobody but me and siblings knows about it. We did plan to tell Sasuke and Mai, but we held back as I know Kicho can find out about us not being in this period. Let alone I don’t want to risk my true identity to be exposed by him.”

Other Characters

Mai

“I felt bad for her when she came across Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Mitsuhide. I did came to her defense with reasons that she had many chances to leave Nobunaga in that moment but she didn’t. But I was shocked when she dashed off into the forest. Only to see her in the castle, if I have to guess, she is a strange person but welcoming nonetheless. I do ask her to make kimonos for me time to time.”

Morgan ( @morgan-squad )

“Morgan and I came across each other when they were still residing in Echigo under the protection of Kenshin. Their reaction finding out about me being part of the Oda was funny to watch. I did had a long talk with them about my duties and position in the Oda Forces. But finding out a group of ronins attacked them… let’s just say, I made sure those ronins didn’t forget the consequences of hurting someone I cared about. :)”

Rubia ( @rubia8 )

“She came to the Castle out of nowhere, but I welcome her to the family. I do sometimes drag her in my pranks but we do get some good laughs out of it. She may act all gentle but she is more capable to put up a fight. All three of us were trained by Mitsuhide, and man it wasn’t easy. Rubia ask Mitsuhide because she didn’t want to be the only to not know how to wield a sword.”

J ( @colourless-hydrangeas ) not sure yet might change later on

“J is one that is nice. She was in a middle of a custody dispute between Shingen and Hideyoshi. But she was able to solve it by allowing both of them be her legal guardians or parents I should say. Hydrangeas played an important role in having this conflict between the Oda and Takeda in private matters. I have respect for her not only because she made the conflict to be private but, also because she showed that she is a capable leader; one who has the power to negotiate and achieve results that doesn’t require bloodshed.”

[lryghe]

MXTX thoughts; conventions

The long awaited (not) analysis of MXTX conventions is here! I’ve literally been meaning to talk about this for months but it got sidelined in favour of vicious arguing on PDB about MBTI. Anyways! Obviously this post will contain spoilers, and something I wanted to touch on was 3rd person limited in MXTX, but I already have a post on that here, so feel free to check that out for a better explanation of it. Beware of mediocre analysis ahead, I’m a little rusty (also shoutout to the person who liked some of my posts this morning, you reminded me to actually write something!).

THE AGENDA since this post is long:

Non-linear storylines

Dying and resurrection

Colour symbolism

Character tropes

NON-LINEAR STORYLINES

An interesting thing that follows MXTX’s more thought out works, is the non-linear plotlines she follows in them. This itself is a really good convention of writing in general, especially if it’s done well, and I can safely say that MXTX did it astoundingly well in TGCF. The clear cuts between time periods in relation to each book is an incredible feat, and is something that easily trumps MXTX's other examples of non-linear storylines. Through the use of the jumping back and forth in time, specifically in TGCF, creates an excellent cause and effect, something that is definitely central to the novel. Everything done has an effect, whether that be on the continuation of the plot, or even as a characterisation point, so the non-linear narrative cements that sense of foreboding hanging over everything. A simple sentence said when Xie Lian 17 somehow amounts to a complete upheaval of the heavens 800 years later, unveiling a conspiracy well over 2000 years old. A friendship group dissolving due to difficult circumstances results in a really horrific friendship confession later in the novel. Shi Wudu trying to save his sibling ends his own demise, the crippling of said sibling, and a vengeful ghost with nothing to do anymore. This nonlinear storyline is definitely used in MDZS as well, but I found it a bit more complex, and actually, now that I think about it, is a really good reflection of Wei Wuxian in general. The thing with MXTX, is that all her novels are in 3rd person limited, so they follow our protagonist in 3rd person, but it’s tinged with their own personal views and biases that limit the omniscience of 3rd person. And with MDZS it would be a fair assessment to say that the unordered mess of time leaps in the novel are an excellent indication of Wei Wuxian’s bias leaking through the 3rd person. The incessant jumping is difficult to follow in places (don’t say otherwise), but it’s actually a genius idea because it’s an accurate assessment of the thought process that Wei Wuxian probably follows anyway. I wouldn’t say that this was definitely on purpose however, as MDZS was written before TGCF, so it could just be MXTX growing alongside her writing, but hey, maybe it is a stroke of complete and beautiful genius! Don’t bother mentioning SVSSS, it’s definitely an interesting novel, but it’s not non-linear, at least not as wholly as MDZS and TGCF are. The most you’ll get in SVSSS is like a two line flashback, plus the extra’s, but I think that’s a reflection of when MXTX wrote it.

DYING AND RESURRECTION

Moving on from serious conventions, MXTX’s trope with one of the main characters dying and then coming back later is a really funny kind of convention, because it’s not funny in the moment obviously, but the fact that it’s done at least once per novel is hilarious. Wei Wuxian’s initial resurrection after 13 years of being dead, Shen Qingqiu’s return in his plant body 5 years later, and then his return back to his ‘original’ body, and Hua Cheng’s little death defying stunt at the end of the novel. Then there’s the use of cliffs and such, like Binghe’s fall into the Abyss, Hua Cheng’s fall off that wall (forgive me its been like 3 years since I read TGCF), and if we’re being inclusive, then there’s always Wei Wuxian’s death in The Untamed. Maybe there’s a hidden meaning in there somewhere, but it’s fine to look at it from a surface level, which amounts to ‘MXTX got bored and needed some drama’. A perfectly reasonable deduction. 

COLOUR SYMBOLISM

Another thing I wanted to touch on was the colour symbolism that MXTX uses because I think it’s pretty cool, AND it has the added benefits of adding symbolism and contrast to each novel's main character and their love interest. It’s mentioned in the novel’s obviously, but it really shines in fan content and fanarts. I like the symbolism of Luo Binghe and Shen Qingqiu’s robes both being green before the time-skip, because Luo Binghe was a disciple at the time and a little white lotus, so the green was used to directly align him with Shen Qingqiu. After the timeskip he’s obviously got his big boy pants on and swapped to a stunning black and red ensemble, fitting of the protagonist, and that itself contrasts Shen Qingqiu’s majestic and lofty green robes, because Binghe means business with this fit. A fun thought is how green and red fit together on the colour spectrum, because they don’t, they’re contrasting colours which is some real obvious symbolism. Do I really need to spell out Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian? I feel like this one is rudimentary. White equals noble and virtuous, pure and holy, and black is evil, demonic, cruel, and scary. Simple! And Hua Cheng and Xie Lian’s red and white are a very cute mixture, because although it gives them a Bingqiu style christmas tree vibe, it’s interesting in comparison to the previous two love interest and main character dynamics, considering red and white are a lot more complimentary than black and white or red and green. And it’s a testament to how similar Hualian are with their complimentary robes, how like-minded they are throughout the novel, especially considering their predecessors. Or maybe I’m overthinking it, who knows?

CHARACTER TROPES

In regards to tropes of MXTX, I think her character tropes are incredible and have the addition of being really funny. She’s consistent enough with her conventions that clear links can be drawn with her side characters across all 3 novels. To begin with, there’s Mr Angry. I think you can guess who that is, but it's Jiang Cheng, Liu Qingge, and Mu Qing. All have a really close relationship with their related main character, all are angry or harsh where they probably didn't need to be, and all three are good fighters. Then there’s the guy who’s always smiling, like Yue Qingyuan or Lan Xichen. Complacency is a key part of their characters, and excuses aside, it’s interesting how it played out. You could argue for Jun Wu to be a part of this circle, but I’ll keep that to myself. Finally, there’s the fodder characters, only useful to further the plot in a miniscule way. Gongyi Xiao (MAY HE REST WELL), Xiao Xingchen, and once again, I don’t have a very good TGCF equivalent. Gongyi Xiao dies after the events of the water prison, and Xiao Xingchen was really just there to highlight how fucked up Xue Yang was. Rest in peace our beloved fodder, especially Gongyi Xiao, MXTX should have treated you better…

I think I’ve typed myself out honestly. Kudos to whoever reached the end of this post, I haven’t written this much since my Team 7 analysis when I got back into my Naruto phase briefly.

Word count: 1271

Reading time: 4 ½ mins

[bluecatwriter]

⭐️ for the director’s cut game!

Since you wrote one of my favorite Jack/Arthur fics ever, I give you my very first Jack/Arthur fic: "Words and Voice Fail Me"! "When Jack Seward has a breakdown trying to record on his phonograph on October 11th, Arthur comes to comfort him."

(CW for discussion of period-typical homophobia) 

-This was *checks notes* my third fanfiction I ever posted, and reading back over it, I can really tell— not so much by the overall writing, which has stayed pretty similar over the past two years, but by the way I handle the details, especially logistical details of who's doing what when. I just wasn't used to writing with such precision, and as a result a lot of the writing comes off as a little awkward. Would definitely streamline if I were to rewrite it now.

-This starts out with Jack's canon narration from the book, interspersed with description. This is one of my favorite ways to write because it feels very much like directing a play— the lines are there, but I'm "directing" (writing) the stage directions, as it were, to show how the character is saying the lines.

-I liked the idea of Jack breaking down here as sort of the culmination of all the past trauma that he hasn't been able to process yet, thinking of the way that Mina's "funeral" reminded him of Lucy's death and everything around it. 

-Like most of my fics, I just started with the premise and let the character voices lead me. (It's very similar to playing an improv scene, just with me playing both characters rather than bouncing ideas off another person.) I originally intended for it to be a pretty straightforward emotional hurt/comfort, but as I kept writing and the scene kept unfolding, I realized that Jack was going to lose it and ask Arthur to kiss him— and when that happened, it opened up a whole different plot than I was expecting.

-I am still pretty happy with the line, ""Well," he said, straightening his cuffs just for something to do with his hands, "I suppose I shall—" He wanted to follow the phrase with an excuse, but his mind blanked out on anything he had ever done in his life. "—go."" This is a good example of me 1000% projecting my nervous habits onto Jack. 

-This was the first time I realized that characters could have erotic tie-pulling and talk about emotionally-charged subjects while their lips barely brushed. It was the beginning of an Era for me. ;)

-There's some kinda interesting gender stuff here, with Jack escaping into a fantasy about him being a woman so that his feelings for the men in his life would be "natural." I feel like there's more I could've explored there, but the fic was long enough as it was.

-In this fic, I very intentionally wrote Arthur as demisexual, and have projected it onto him ever since. 

-Jack has curly hair in this fic! This was before I realized that I'd given all three suitors curly hair, and decided one had to go. The casualty was Jack, so nowadays I describe his hair as "fine."

-I'm a sucker for "one character says 'I love you' and the other returns it but they're not sure they mean the same thing" trope, and I use it here. (This may be the only time I've written Jack saying "I love you" to Arthur— in my more recent fics, I often have Jack express his sentiment in different ways, rather than just saying the words.) 

-It was fun to write a little scene with Jack pouring his heart out about all his crushes, and Arthur very logically analyzing them to explain why they make sense (except for Van Helsing— he just can't grasp that one). It was also a good excuse to throw in the phrase "virile manhood."

-Originally I wasn't gonna have them kiss again, but then the dialogue just made sense for Jack to beg for another kiss, and… well. There they go!

-"You can trust me, I'm a lord" is probably the best line-before-a-fade-to-black I've ever written. ;)

-Of course there's some angsty aftermath in this one, since Jack is still struggling with a lot of self-loathing. I feel like some of the writing here is a bit rough, but I'm still happy with the overall emotions that come across.

-I originally had this end on a pretty melancholy note, but reworked it to make it more hopeful that, regardless of whether or not they sleep together in the future, their friendship is still solid.

Thanks again for sending the ask! :D

(Ask game here)

[blackcherryvelvet0909]

Why Should I Worry? (Filis O. Seaveworth)

Content Warning: Passionate kissing towards the end, spoilers for the Playful Land event, kidnapping (canon event), child abduction (canon event), mention of menstrual period

Note: Filis uses he/him and she/her pronouns throughout the story. She goes by he/him when under the moniker of Henry W. Taon. Filis O. Seaveworth/Henry W. Taon, Persayis N. Siofra, Liling Trieu, Revon C. Crowley, Alyssum Desrosiers, and Juliusz A. Bauer all belong to me. A few characters mentioned (surnames Sharnaz, Thazeen, and Fardowsa), as well as Arty, also belong to me. There are a lot in this one folks, haha.

Additional Note: This is a repost of a story of mine, with a few minor changes. It's over 11k words, so sit down and get comfy!

“Don’t forget to read pages one hundred seventy-two through one hundred eighty-eight,” reminded the assistant professor to the students. “The information found within the text will be on tomorrow’s test.” 

A series of grumbles and groans followed the pupils as they walked out of the classroom and into the hall, off to lunch. Henry reorganized their desk space, restacking books on the left and sorting papers that needed to be graded on the right. He placed the feathered pen back in its inkwell, right after making sure said inkwell wasn’t in need of a refill. Once the desk was properly sorted, he erased the chalkboard directly behind him, then wrote down the instructions for the start of class with a piece of crisp white chalk. After dusting off his hands with the cloth used for that specific purpose, Henry walked down the aisles of student desks, making sure no one had left any belongings or trash behind. Satisfied that everything was in order for the next class, Henry gathered his things from the little cabinet next to the door. The strap of his canvas bag looped over his shoulder, the assistant teacher exited the room and headed to the cafeteria. 

It was a pretty day outside. The sky was clear, the sun was shining, the air seemed sweet. The man’s calico cat ears twitched as they listened to a few birds chirp below, likely perched in a tree or on a bench. He couldn’t help but flick out his tongue for a taste of that sweet wind as a gentle breeze blew by. Henry quickly retracted that tongue as two students passed him from behind; he gave them a polite wave of greeting, which they returned with a smile before they continued on. The stress of teaching class slowly trickled its way out of his mind and body. It would soon return, likely in the afternoon once the school day was done, yet Henry didn’t mind too much. 

Night Raven College was exactly where the beastkin wanted to be. For years they’ve dreamt of being a teacher - to get an opportunity to be a professor at their alma mater was extra special! Henry had applied for the position of assistant professor on a whim, not believing he would even get an interview. How surprised he was when the headmage himself contacted him and set one up with him. It was Trein that had recommended Henry for the position; the same man who wrote Henry’s letter of recommendation for his university of choice shortly before he graduated from Night Raven. Now, here Henry was: an assistant to Professor Trein, and a candidate for his replacement upon his retirement. Life couldn’t be better!

“Mr. Toan!” Henry stalled his stride as someone called his name. He turned to see a student approaching him: Ortho Shroud. The teacher smiled as the robotic boy approached, books clutched to his chest. His big yellow eyes practically twinkled as he gazed up at the beastkin; the new freshman looked quite smart in his new model, fashioned after the uniform for Ignihyde first years. “I decided to write about the lost city of Atlantis for my history paper. Can you recommend some books to read to help with my research?”

Henry chuckled to himself - there was at least one freshman eager to learn. “I think I can help with that. How about we reconvene at the library after the day is done? We can decide on the best options together.” 

Ortho nodded eagerly. “Yes, I’ll do that. Thank you so much, sir!” As the boy began to levitate back the way he came, he gave the teacher a friendly wave. “I’ll see you later!” 

Henry waved back, right up until the boy disappeared around a corner. Not every student could be so dedicated. Although, Henry supposed he could sympathize with those who despised anything to do with education, at least to a degree. Back when he was a student, Henry always struggled with master chef and conjuration. He was barely able to pass those classes with a high mark, and that took a lot of struggle and studying, trial and error. Even now, as an adult working on their master’s degree, Henry still found those subjects to be quite troublesome. Not everyone could be like him and be stubborn enough to keep trucking along without giving up. 

As Henry reached the road leading to the cafeteria, he paused and winced, placing a hand on his hip. The faintest grimace crossed his face, eyelids falling shut as he swallowed the whimper that threatened to escape his lips. Great Seven, what a pain! If it were up to Henry, that was one thing they would do away with. However, as he was still considering what he wanted from that part of life, he’d neglected to look into any sort of surgery to permanently fix the problem. After a small hiss, followed by a deep breath, Henry opened his eyes and let his hand fall back to his side. 

“Hey, you okay?” 

Henry glanced over at the woman that now stood beside him. “Yes, I’m alright.”

“That time again, huh?” she suggested with a smile. 

“Not quite, but it’s getting close.” 

“You want to come with me to the infirmary?” she offered. “I’m heading there anyway; we can pick you up some painkillers.”

That did sound nice. Henry checked the watch on their wrist - yes, he should still have enough time to grab a bite to eat afterwards. “Yes, I’ll come with,” he said with a smile.

It wasn’t that long of a walk, really. Within about ten minutes they were there, engaging in polite conversation even after they’d entered the nurse’s office. The ghost on shift gave the two a nod of acknowledgement as they entered. Once it was returned and the pair shut the door behind them, the nurse attendant went back to his business, making beds at the end of the room. There were no students in the room; as the ghost was privy to Henry’s situation, there was no reason to hide whilst there. 

“How’s that binder treating you?” Revon asked as she handed Henry - Filis - the bottle of painkillers. 

Filis let out a sigh as she fetched herself a styrofoam cup and filled it with water from the sink faucet. “I’m wondering if it’s for me. It’s awfully suffocating, and it only makes my cramps worse when my period comes.” 

Revon hummed in thought. “You think you need a bigger size? Maybe one made of a different material?”

Filis shook her head as she sat down in a chair next to one of the beds close to the door. “No… I’ll probably just stop wearing it.” She placed the cup of water on the small side table next to her and opened the bottle of pills, pouring two into her open palm before closing it. “I’m so used to wearing sweaters and cardigans that I won’t feel much of a difference. I doubt any student will bat an eye, either, as that’s my usual fashion.” 

Revon watched as Filis put the pills in her mouth and swallowed them down with a few gulps of water. “Well, at least you tried. You’re right, it’s definitely not for everyone.” She met Filis’s eye as she placed her cup on the table. “You think your regular bra will keep you from, y’know…bouncing?” 

Filis let out a small, quiet laugh. “There’s barely anything to bounce!” She patted her chest. “These have been kept hidden since I came here as a freshman. No one noticed then - I don’t think they will now, especially with the layers I wear.” 

Revon nodded. She paused for a moment, thinking something over. “Do you mind if I ask you something?” Filis shook her head. “This is probably a dumb question, as I’m sure you went over your options before applying here, but you never thought to teach at a girls’ school? You certainly wouldn’t have to hide anything there,” she paused a second time, briefly, then finished her thought with, “though I’ll admit I don’t know why you even hide you’re a woman here. We’ve been accepting female students for a while now.”

Filis shrugged. “Force of habit, I guess? I told you that, when I enrolled here, it was before Crowley opened the school’s doors to all genders.” She shot Revon a smile, “No thanks to you, I assume.” 

Revon put on a coy smile of her own as she shrugged and rolled her eyes. “Who can say?~” 

It still was a little unbelievable who her father was, honestly. Filis nearly fell out of her chair when that little fact was revealed to her. “I guess it just might be kind of weird to some? I mean, I’ve masqueraded as a boy since I was sixteen. A part of me will always be Henry Wendall. Taon - switching over to Filis Olivia. Seaveworth won’t change that.” She took another sip of her water. “I also don’t want anyone to start treating me differently, whether due to my gender or my name.” 

Her family name, to be exact. It wasn’t always Seaveworth, but upon her adoption Filis was thrust into high society. It felt like whiplash the first year or so, and while she’d grown used to it, the status came with its drawbacks. People kissing up to you and stop considering you a person and more of a prospect, for example. Filis was quite happy with being Henry W. Taon - Mr. Taon to many - for now. She likely would make the change to her actual name at some point, but for now she was happy with where she was. 

“Well,” Revon began, “if you ever do decide to make the big reveal while you’re here, I can promise you I’ll handle any backlash or trouble that might come with it. No one should really bat an eye, since people transition and take new pronouns all the time, but there will always be some people.” Revon flipped a few tresses of hair over her shoulder for effect. “And I oh so love to deal with those types of people.” 

Oh, Filis was well aware of that. She recalled the last time Revon had to wrangle an angry parent, and when she previously had to give a student a very stern talking to. Each for a separate reason, yet each held one similarity: those types of individuals were downright rude and entitled and did not know when to quit. The only reason Filis let Revon deal with her share of those miscreants instead of taking care of it herself was, as bad as it might sound, Revon had daddy’s protection. Seven held the one who tried to touch the headmage’s little bird. For how often he hinted at threats concerning his daughter, everyone and their mother knew he was serious. 

“True identity aside, I really do like it here,” Filis added. “I would like to stay here as long as possible, even if I don’t take Mozus’ place when he retires. My family worked too hard to get me here as a student; I’m not going to back out now when I’m about to reach the goal they’ve supported since then.” 

Revon knew which family she was referring to. “You know, if you don’t win a teacher’s award at some point, I’m going to peck out the eyes of whoever’s in charge of handing them out.”

Filis laugh was louder this time. “Do not!”

“Whaaat?” Revon mused. “They’ll never know it was me! It’ll just be some random bird with a mysterious vendetta.”

Filis felt a little sad Revon, Divus, Sam, and Ashton weren’t in her class during her time as a student. She believed those years would’ve been extra amounts of fun with them around. There truly wouldn’t have been much reason for worry.

Filis, currently Henry, watched as all the students filed in. He - she - gave a polite greeting to each that walked in; whether or not they replied at all depended on the person. Filis could discern which had gotten a full night’s rest and which decided to pull an all-nighter by the looks on their faces. Each placed stapled stacks of papers on the desk, right in the little basket Filis had set out to retrieve them. A few she could already tell would have poor grades, as they were either one page only or sparsely written. Those were from the usual suspects, of course. There was teenage rebellion and angst aplenty about the school. 

When the last student took their seat, Filis grew a little puzzled. A few of them were absent, she realized. The first she noticed was Ortho, whose bright, joyful orbs of sparkling yellow had not greeted her at all that day, as they often did. The boy always tried to arrive early, especially attentive to his studies. Filis had been looking forward to reading his paper, which he’d been working so hard on the past two weeks. The memory of them picking out books at the library for Ortho’s research on Atlantis still hung fresh in her mind. 

The other freshmen missing were Ace Trappola and Jack Howl. The former wasn’t too surprising, but the latter? Goodness, had they all fallen ill? Perhaps they partook in too much fast food or candy or some other treat that they overindulged in over the recent weekend, and now they were all sick in their beds? Wait, that didn’t make much sense for Ortho. The cybernetic boy couldn’t exactly eat, given his anatomy - his entire physical body. Filis didn’t feel like he and Jack would skip class with Ace, either. 

When Trein arrived moments later, Filis pointed out the missing students. According to him, he hadn’t heard about anything befalling the three that would prevent them from attending class. While he brushed off the absence of Trappola, given his record, the professor stated he would check-in with the status of Shroud and Howl later. So, trying not to worry, Filis went on about her day. The majority of the first and second classes were spent reading and grading research papers, which was a very time consuming task. Thankfully, there were only a few times she pulled Trein aside for a second opinion on a student’s work. 

It was one of those times when Filis noticed that there were other students missing from the lineup. This occurred in the second class of the day, which included sophomores. There were five missing this time: Jade and Floyd Leech, Liling Trieu, and Kalim Al-Asim. Jamil Viper was also absent. Later in the day, when everyone breaked for lunch, she was able to figure out where Jamil had gone off to. Apparently, according to Divus, Jamil had taken the day off to search for Kalim - the Al-Asim heir was missing. Filis’ colleagues, including Crowley himself, were looking into the matter at the moment, though how much Crowley would actually do was up for debate. 

When it was time for the last class of the day, Filis truly began to worry. It wasn’t out of the ordinary for Leona Kingscholar to be absent, and only a little odd for Cater Diamond to be. For Vil Schoenheit, Lilia Vanrouge, Persayis N. Siofra, Juliusz A. Bauer, and Trey Clover though? Fourteen students were missing. That was no coincidence. It was certainly cause for alarm; while Filis and Trein remained calm for the duration of class, afterwards an emergency meeting was held in Crowley’s office.

“Oh, you know how children are,” Dire Crowley mused. “They’ve likely skipped class to go off and make some mischief! I’m sure they will be back soon.”

“They are missing, dad!” Revon bit back. “Sure, a few of them like to skip class from time to time; they could have probably snuck off campus. But Vil? Persayis? They’ve nary missed a single day of school! Why would they suddenly take flight now?” 

The man that was somehow the father of such a woman shrugged, in much the same way she would. “Youthly rebellion?” 

Revon looked as though she might blow a fuse. It almost appeared as though her eyes were beginning to glow, her teeth grit in rage. Before a brawl could ensue, Trein spoke up. “I highly advise that we investigate the matter. Even if this turns out to be something trivial, it is our duty to assure the safety of our students. They could be in great peril.” 

“I took it upon myself to question some of their peers,” Divus interjected. “Viper was the first to raise alarm; Hunt, Felmier, Bucchi, Rosehearts, Thazeen, Spade, Fardowsa, and the older Shroud were soon to follow. Just before I came to this meeting, Ashengrotto and Sharnaz also came to me with their concerns.”

“Draconia and his two attendants came to me earlier during our flying lessons,” Vargas piped up. He cut his eyes at Crowley. “They told me they’d come to you about Vanrouge and Siofra this morning, but said you just assured he’d turn up eventually.” 

The headmage was slowly being backed into a corner. “I am well aware of the maturity of those two. I simply thought they might be out. Who are we to keep two legal adults under wraps?” 

“When they’re loved ones don’t even know where they are?” Revon practically spat. “If I were the one missing, you’d be turning the whole island on its head!”

Well, he couldn’t argue with that. It was Sam who broke the momentary silence. “Might I add that one of the little imps that’s MIA is the prince of the Sunset Savanna. Tell me, wise headmage: what would happen if word were to get back to his family - his brother, the current king regent, that his own flesh and blood went off the radar whilst attending this school? If I were him, I’d certainly have a number of questions.” He brushed an imaginary piece of lint off his sleeve. “Not to mention his highness’s current lover, who I’ve heard the king regent and his wife are very fond of.” 

Filis could almost make out the sweat beading under Crowley’s shirt collar. There was no need for another push. The rest of the meeting was spent discussing how to proceed, aside from contacting the authorities and tracking down the students’ last known location. Each staff member had their part of play; unfortunately for Filis, hers was the smallest. She was to go back to Trein’s office and grade the rest of the second year’s research papers, and then go back to her living quarters for the evening. “I do not give you the task out of a lack of trust in you,” Trein explained to his assistant before he sent her on her way. “You simply do not yet possess the necessary experience to handle a situation like this.” 

Though it did nothing to quell Filis’ unease, she wasn’t offended. Mozus was right: she had never experienced a crisis like this. While she certainly hoped one of this magnitude hadn’t occurred in the past, Mozus and the rest of the staff were certainly trained in the procedures one should follow in these circumstances. Filis would be sure to ask to be trained in these as soon as the students were found and everything was settled. The beastwoman could barely concentrate on her work - her attention kept going back to her students. She could picture them all in her mind’s eye, their faces clear as day. Ortho stood out the most, his pupils full of excitement and wonder, curious about the world around him and willing to do whatever it took to explore it. 

Filis imagined their friends and loved ones were just as distraught. Whether their relationship be platonic, romantic, or familial, their hearts were likely being ripped to shreds now. Filis recalled Divus stating that Idia told him he couldn’t locate his brother via the tracker planted within his body. It was as though the boy had disappeared off the face of Twisted Wonderland! “It’s like he just floated out into the sea and poof! Gone!” For a young man that barely got any sleep to begin with, Filis reckoned he wouldn’t droop an eye anytime soon. 

Filis sighed as she put down her ballpoint pen, letting it roll across the desk before coming to a stop beside a paperweight. She laid her head in the center of her folded arms, placed atop the desk as a makeshift pillow. Where could they be? Where had they run off to? They couldn’t have taken the mirror - her colleagues would have been able to track that. There was no way they could get off the island without being seen. They couldn’t just up and disappear without a trace!

As Filis thought and thought, picking her brain for any sort of clue, a memory came to mind. It was just yesterday, in fact, when it occurred. Ortho had come to her again in the late afternoon, returning a paperclip he’d borrowed earlier in the day. There was no need to give it back, but the boy was so kind and well-mannered he didn’t like the thought of taking something from Filis - Mr. Taon - like that. As Filis did not want anything in return, Ortho felt it was only right to give back what she’d lended him. “If you receive kindness, you should give it in return,” he’d told her. What a sweet boy…

She and the student made small talk before going their separate ways. Filis recollected Ortho telling her about a ticket he received earlier in the day. It was for some carnival or fair, if Filis remembered right. “I wanted my brother to come with me, but he doesn’t like things like that. He thinks it’s a bad idea… I still hope I can go. It sounds like a lot of fun!” 

“It does,” Filis concurred then. “What is it for again? I don’t remember any news of a festival being held in town.”

“It’s a traveling amusement park!” Ortho had replied to her, looking ecstatic by the prospect. “It’s called Playful Land! You can only enter if you have a ticket. I’m so pleased I got one! I’ve never been to an amusement park before.”

Playful Land. The name had sounded familiar, but Filis couldn’t recall where she’d heard it then, and couldn’t now. Who’d given Ortho such a rare opportunity. A once in a lifetime venture, from the sound of it. The fact he disappeared the day after he’d regaled Filis of the entry ticket he’d received for it… Could the other students have gotten similar tickets? She further remembered Ortho telling her about going into town with some of his friends that day…

Filis reached into the pocket of her black slacks and took out a silver coin. It’d been given to her long ago by Arty: a member of her found family, the one she gained before her adoption. It was a good luck charm of sorts, one he gifted to her when she was just nine years old. Back then she wore a shirt and pants that were two sizes too big, a scruffy hand-me-down jacket with sleeves that went over her hands, and thrifted brown boots. She smiled fondly at the old memory, feeling nostalgic for those bygone days. If you’d told her little self that she’d one day have more riches than she knew what to do with, she would’ve believed you were a scam artist trying to sell her something. They were a dime a dozen in that part of town. 

“Take it as a reminder, kid,” Arty had told her, wearing a pair of black shades. Filis always thought they made him look cool. “There will always be bad times, but good things will eventually come your way. Don’t get your tail up in a knot about it.” She remembered how he slid his sunglasses down to the bridge of his nose and sent her a wink, paired with that devil-may-care smile. “Why should you worry?”

Neither of them knew that, years later, she would name her signature spell after that motto. No one could have known where her life would lead her. The coin she held in the crook of her thumb and forefinger, its old metal faintly clinting in the dim lamplight, was a daily reminder of where she came from. She would never forget, and never be ashamed. She was Filis Olivia - give or take the Seaveworth title. Good times were around the corner; everything would work out, just like it always did.

“Why Should I Worry?” 

From the rim of the coin shot out a beam of light - not too bright, not too dim. Its soft blue hue matched that of Filis’ favorite color, the same shade as the pullover sweater she wore over her white button up. She sat herself up and stood from her chair, leaving the many papers - graded and ungraded - behind. From her canvas bag, left open beside the desk, Filis grabbed her magic pen. It was the same one she received in her freshman year at the college; somehow, she’d managed to keep it looking relatively new. Only the magetone was new, having been replaced the year prior. It matched the same shade of blue as the stream of light that led her out the door and off Night Raven College campus. 

Filis’ brow furrowed as she reached the edge of the dock. What in the world…? The beam of light, still emanating from her lucky coin, stretched out to sea. It seemed to stop towards the middle of the expanse, but Filis couldn’t be sure. For all she knew, it could lead her many miles out, far away from Sage Island. This was certainly dangerous. She had to be smart if she wanted to get her and the students back to the college safely. 

Filis noticed that the lights of the island’s library were still on. Though it was a little past closing time, Filis tried the door anyway. Thankfully, it opened, the bell of above chiming as she entered. “We’re closed,” came a voice from within. Filis approached the front desk; a few minutes later, a man only half a decade older than her emerged from the back. He didn’t look too pleased to see her, likely eager to go home for the night. Filis recognized him, and he recognized her, his facial expression shifting to one of surprise. 

“I’m sorry to come in so late, Alyssum,” Filis said with an apologetic smile. 

“For you to come in after closing, it must be important.” He placed his hands against the desk and leaned forward, their ponytail - this time, it was tied back with a teal ribbon rather than blue -  falling over their shoulder. “Do you need to check something out for a class?”

“No, not tonight. I need a favor.” 

The librarian raised a brow. “And that would be…?”

“Can I leave a note here with you? I hope you won’t have to deliver it, but it’s a precautionary measure.” 

Their expression shifted to one of concern. “Are you in some sort of trouble?” 

“I don’t know,” Filis admitted. “But my student may very well be.” Filis glanced down at the coin in her hands, the beam of light balancing on its edge pointed slightly to the side, out the window and towards the sea. Alyssum couldn’t see it, of course - he’d be even more puzzled  if so. She put it in her pocket for now. “I think I know where they are. It’s risky, but I need to go now, before something bad happens.” 

“Do you want me to go with you?” 

“No, I don’t want you to put yourself in danger.” She pointed to a small basket of blank sheets of paper. “Can I have one of those?”

Alyssum retrieved her one, along with a black pen. With haste, Filis scribbled down where she was going, and where her colleagues should look. She then folded the note and handed it to Alyssum. “Give this to the headmage at Night Raven College if I’m not back here by lunchtime tomorrow. Please.” 

With some hesitance, Alyssum accepted the note. “I don’t suppose I could convince you to wait until the proper authorities arrive? I could give them a call.” 

“I can’t wait that long.” Filis was determined to get to her students as quickly as possible. To wait any longer may put them in further peril. “I’m sorry to put you up to this. When I come back, I’ll make it up to you.” 

“Yes, when.” Alyssum cut a stern look at their frequent patron. “Not if. I swear, if you wind up missing, too, I’ll hunt you down myself!” 

Filis’ ears perked up in surprise. “You’ve heard?”

The librarian shook his head. “Not a word, but I can put the pieces together.” He rolled his eyes. “A proper headmage you have over there.” Filis couldn’t argue with that. Alyssum sighed as he said, “Alright, I’ll do as you ask, if needed be.” He stood up straight again as he added, “I expect you back here a few minutes before lunch.”

Filis smiled from cheek to cheek. “Thank you.” 

Alyssum watched her go, right up until the library door shut behind her. As Filis reapproached the peer, descended the stairs to the dock, she picked her magic pen out of her pocket and raised it in the air. She mumbled an incarnation under her breath, one she’d repeated probably a million times. Just as she reached the edge of the dock, something swished over from above her. Slowly, the woman’s broom floated down, the initials H.W.T carved into the wooden handle. Beside that was painted a tiny blue bow, and in the center of that was an even tinier painted yellow bell. Another reminder of her family back home - who, without a doubt, would do something crazy like this for her. 

Filis pulled her broom over by the hand before mounting it. Usually she’d give herself a mental pat on the back for no longer being nervous to ride the thing, let alone fly, but now was not the time for such sentiments. Before she disembarked, she looped the button of her pants pocket into its hole, shutting the opening. That would prevent her lucky coin from slipping out of her pocket mid flight. The beam of light passed through the dark fabric, still trailing out to sea. Filis took a deep breath as she set her sights out on the horizon, swallowing any fear she might have and building up her courage. As she exhaled, she took off on her broom, following the blue trail. 

About thirty-five minutes passed before the light began to reach its end. Filis squeezed her magic pen a little tighter as she approached her destination. She grew troubled as she neared the end of the trail. There was nothing there. Her heart began to sink, her mind coming up with all sorts of horrid possibilities. They couldn’t be… How would they…? 

She gasped as she passed through something thick, as though she were flying through pea soup. It was cold and tingly, kind of like when she traveled by magic mirror. Her ears flattened against her head; every piece of fur and hair on her person stood on-end. Filis’ left hand gripped her broom tight, as did her right around her pen. She shut her eyes, pushing forward and forward and forward. Then, after what was probably only a few seconds, it stopped. Filis flinched as bright lights suddenly appeared in front of her closed eyelids. 

When she opened them, she gasped again as she looked down at the new landscape she’d just entered. It was an amusement park! There was a gigantic roller coaster at the rear, a humongous eight ball to her left, a sprawling mansion behind the eight ball, and a water ride that ran the length of the north side of the park - all spaced out between funhouses and food stalls and colorful tents. When she looked ahead, Filis beheld a grand theater, bright lights highlighting its rich red curtains, gilded gold trimmings, and black and white striped stage. Filis slowed her speed, barely above a drift as she began to lower herself to the ground. She swept strands of hair away from her face, clearing her vision. As she descended, she observed various broken wooden figures scattered about the place, though a few here and there still remained in one piece. 

“Puppets?” Filis mumbled to herself, curiously looking about. A few miles away, there stood the remnants of some building, now a shadow of its former self. Now that she got a better look at the land around her, the place was an absolute mess! It was like a stampede had run through, tearing apart everything in sight! “What happened here?” she whispered. 

Her ears perked up as she heard a noise come from somewhere behind her. It came a second time, then a third. Filis quickly realized it was a voice, what’s more one she recognized. That had to be Ace! Another voice cried out after him: Kalim! They sounded like they were in trouble! Filis hopped off her broom and left it behind as she ran towards the theater, the source of their cries, magic pen at the ready. 

She slowed to a stop as she neared the towering curtains framing the stage. There were other people with them, she realized. However, the voice that spoke now wasn’t familiar. It sounded like an older man, ordering someone else to put another in a cage “with the other one.” Filis crouched down and itched over to the entrance, discreetly taking a peek behind the curtain on the right. She had to hold in the gasp that dared to rip from her throat. All the missing students were there, in cages, and Filis was just in time to watch an unconscious Persayis be thrown into the one that contained Lilia. 

Filis waited for the man to come to her side, to embrace and comfort her, perhaps try to wake her. To Filis’ surprise he didn’t move - not an inch. A rabid fury raged behind those dark eyes, yet the fae refused to budge. Could he not move? Filis glanced around at the other students - most of them weren’t moving, either. That was her biggest hint her assumption was correct, given that Floyd would have been throwing a fit in his predicament, especially since his little girlfriend, Liling, was trapped along with him.

Those poor things…Ace and Kalim were the only ones who seemed to still possess the ability to move. They protested and resisted, unwilling to back down, though it seemed Kalim was beginning to give in. Suddenly, a cell phone rang. It was only then Filis noticed a beastman standing a short several feet away from the cages. She figured he must be in cahoots with the smaller one, who just finished closing the cage holding Lilia and Persayis. The little one, just a bit younger than sixteen, put his droopy eyed gaze on the taller man, who excused himself to answer the phone. The boy, his partner in crime, did not follow. 

It was then Filis witnessed just how cunning her students could be. Ace began to appeal to the younger boy, talking about his time at Night Raven College. A few of his classmates - thankfully, they at least still possessed the ability to speak - soon joined in, recalling all their misadventures at the school. The little boy, whose clothes were way too big for his body, seemed intrigued by their stories. He clutched his toy hammer in his hands, nearly equaling him in height. His large pupils and bright green orbs sparkled in wonderment, much like Ortho’s when he was beholding something that amazed him. Despite this, when Ace tried to coax the boy into freeing them, so they could take him back to Night Raven and show him what a good time he could have there, the beastman shrunk back and shook his head.

Something compelled Filis to step out of hiding. She stepped out from behind the curtain, the sound of her footsteps catching everyone’s attention. “Mr. Taon?!” Kalim yelled in surprise, but was hastily and vehemently shushed by his underclassman. From behind Ace and Kalim, Filis could see Persayis was starting to come to. Unlike the others present, she wasn’t wearing a mask. Could those masks be the key to their predicament? 

Filis decided to figure that out later. For now, she focused on the small boy before her, droopy eyes now wider than before as they stared up at her. He appeared afraid, hammer at the ready to wallop her. If it could do much damage to begin with. She put on a friendly smile, holding up her hand to silently shush him. “Hey, it’s okay,” she said softly. “I don’t want to hurt you.” 

Against her better judgment, she put her magic pen away in her right pocket. Her lucky coin, kept safe in her left one, still beamed that ray of blue light. It passed the boy and shot in the direction of where that other man had gone. So, he was the one Filis was supposed to find. She’d deal with him soon enough. She bent down a little as she maintained eye contact with the beastman, trying to get down on his level. 

“My name is F-” She stopped herself, recalling who she was around. “Mr. Taon. You can call me Henry, if you want.” The boy still appeared unsure, but there was now a curious glimmer in his gaze. “I’m an assistant teacher at Night Raven College.” She pointed towards the cages. 

“Those are my students over there. I was worried when they didn’t come to class, so I came looking for them.” Filis knew outright accusing the boy of kidnapping them, helping that other man imprison them and Seven knew what else, would be a bad move. She wracked her brain for what she’d been taught at her university, recalling how to talk to children his age. “What’s your name?” she asked. The boy didn’t answer - he simply stared up at her. 

“His name’s Gidel,” Ace offered up from within his cage. “He can’t speak.” 

Oh, so that's why the little cat was so quiet. She wondered if he knew sign language. To test her theory, Filis asked Gidel in sign, “Do you understand this?” Gidel continued to stare at her, this time with a wisp of confusion across his face. Well, there was her answer. “Did you see what I did with my hands? That’s called sign language.” 

Gidel tilted his head to the side and blinked, growing evermore curious. He wanted to know more. “It’s a language specifically designed for people like you,” she explained. “It takes a while to learn,” she gave him an encouraging smile, “but I think you could get the hang of it!” This next question was a little stupid, but if it got Gidel to communicate, it was worth a shot. “Have you ever been to school?” 

Gidel shook his head ‘no.’ What? That was strange…boys like him should be coming into middle school by now. She glanced in the direction of where the older beastman had disappeared. Just what had he been doing with this child, not giving him an education? That was all sorts of neglect! This boy might be as much of a victim as her students were. 

She tore her gaze away from the backstage area and turned her attention back to Gidel. Filis kept her voice calm and light, as if she were talking to a friend. “Do you think you’d like to learn sign language?” Gidel paused for a moment, thinking the prospect over. Then the most adorable of little smiles crossed his face as he nodded his head. “Well, I’d love to teach you. I could make some time for it after my classes back at the college.” 

“He’s telling the truth,” Kalim piped up, seeming a little more chipper than before. “Mr. Taon’s a great teacher! He helped me when I was having trouble with my History of Magic class.” Kalim looked very proud of himself, chest puffed out and grinning from ear to ear as he added, “I passed my exam with high marks!” 

“Yeah, what he said!” It was Ace that spoke up this time. “Mr. Taon got Professor Trein off my back when I didn’t turn in my homework one time. He even convinced him to give me a little more time to turn it in! I’m sure he’ll stick his neck out for you, too.” Ace sure hadn’t expressed his thanks before - it felt good to hear him say that about her. Filis’ confidence got a little boost, which caused her smile to brighten. 

“School can be hard,” Filis said honestly. “But it is also a lot of fun! You can learn so many things, and it can lead to you doing something you really like to do.” 

“And get paid for it!” Ace added. Gidel certainly perked up at that. So, money was a motivating factor for him. Filis could sympathize - she knew what it was like to go without. 

“Mr. Taon let me pick out the topic for my research paper!” Filis finally noticed Ortho, who was stationed in a cage a little behind Ace and Kalim. He was dressed like a little drummer boy, Filis thought. “It was so much fun to learn about Atlantis! It’s an ancient city that existed long ago and-” Ortho stopped himself. “Oh, I shouldn’t spoil it; Mr. Taon hasn’t read it yet!”

Filis’ heart melted at the young Shroud’s excitement. He’d worked really hard on his report, reading over every single page of the books Filis helped him pick out. She couldn’t wait to sit back and read what he’d written. 

“A boy your age should be surrounded by other children.” Every head - that could move - turned to look at Persayis, who seemed to have just come to. Though she appeared to have not come around fully, she offered Gidel a kind smile. “You would be able to make friendships that last a lifetime.” 

Gidel flinched away from the fae. There was an apparent fear in his eyes, his little body trembling a tad. Persayis’s smile was replaced by a look of shame and sadness, tucking herself as far out of sight as she could. Though he could not move, Lilia’s eyes portrayed his wish to comfort the poor thing. Filis pondered what could have happened before she arrived that made the boy so afraid of Persayis. She supposed she would receive the answer at a later date. “I really would love for you to come back with us,” Filis said, regaining Gidel’s attention. She held out a hand towards him in peace, “I promise to help you in any way I can.”

Gidel stared at her in silence, blinking every other second. He studied her like that for a few long moments, expression unreadable. Then, with barely a sound, he turned and walked away, in the direction where the other man had gone. Filis’ heart sank - she didn’t convince him. Gidel likely went off to tell the man about her, an intruder, so he could come and take her down. “Shit,” she cursed under her breath. What to do, what to do…

Filis noticed Kalim and Ace had gone stark still, along with Ortho. Oh no, she was running out of time! She bolted over to the boys and asked in a rush, “What’s happened to you?” 

“The masks,” Kalim answered, struggling to speak. “They’re stuck to our faces; they’re gonna turn us into wooden puppets!” 

Filis felt sick to her stomach. That’s what was happening to them? They were slowly being turned into dolls? 

“It’s an ancient curse.” Filis whipped her head around as Persayis spoke up, a little more awake now than she’d been before. “Before, when we were given the masks, I got a feeling I’d seen them before. I discreetly tossed mine away and made a replica with my own magic while I tried to figure out where they’d come from.” She hung her head, tears in her eyes. “I realized when it was far too late.” 

“Is there a way to break it?” Filis asked, trying to keep her cool.

“We couldn’t,” came her reply. “Only the caster can dispel the curse. There is another way, but we do not have the materials necessary.” Persayis raised her head to look up at Lilia. “If it would even work now.” It was apparent she was trying to not break down crying. “I’m so sorry…” 

With great strain, Lilia managed a smile, a silent way to tell his love it was not her fault. It was all so heartbreaking… To think this could be their fate, and there was nothing Filis or anyone could do to stop it. …No, there was a way. Filis ripped her magic pen out of her pocket. She spun around and began to march in the direction Gidel and that other man had gone. If that man was the caster, he could break the curse - Filis would make him if it was the last thing she ever did. 

Filis didn’t make it far. A few steps in and the two appeared from around the corner. The three paused simultaneously in their stride, shocked to see her standing there, more-so the older beastman beside Gidel. He appeared to be a fox beastman, now that Filis got a closer look at him. His clothes were neat, yet patched up in certain areas. They were old, that was for certain. With her lower class upbringing, Filis could spot a person down on their luck from a mile away. 

Filis directed her magic pen right at the man’s head. A low hiss rose from the back of her throat, teeth bared and body prepared for a fight. No matter what, she was going to free her students from their cages, from that horrible curse. She was their teacher, their protector. That man was not going to get away with this! There was no time for thoughts of failure or all that could go wrong. 

Why should she worry? 

“There you go,” Filis said, handing the boy his workbook. “Remember: finish pages twelve and thirteen, and then you’re finished for the day.” She pooped the little man on the nose; it crinkled as he smiled and closed his eyes on instinct, his freckles in full view. “And I mean it! You’ll burn yourself out if you study too much.”

He smiled and nodded, then turned around and trotted back to his room. He would sit at his little desk, in his comfy little chair, and do as he was instructed down to the letter. Gidel was such a diligent student, so eager to learn everything he could get his hands on. It was trouble enough to get him to stop working and be a kid and play! Filis smiled as she watched him go, right up until he disappeared from view. She then went back to cutting vegetables on the counter - something she herself had taken time to practice over the past two years. Filis was quite proud of her progress.

In the next room over, the front door opened. “Honey, I’m home!~” came a voice in a sing-song tone, followed by the door shutting. Filis rolled her eyes, smile now mocking as she shook her head as she continued to chop the carrot into thick, but not too thick slices. Footsteps entered the room behind her, followed by the sound of three brown paper bags being placed on the kitchen table. Those footsteps swiftly approached Filis from behind; before she could react, two arms wrapped around her midsection and pulled her back against a strong chest. She gasped, almost dropping the knife as a kiss was pressed to her neck with an accentuated “mwah!” 

“Fellow Honest, I have a knife!” Filis scolded, turning her head as far as she could to look back at the sneaky fox. 

The man nonchalantly shrugged. “I’ve had worse.” Then proceeded to give Filis another lip smack, this time on her jaw. 

Filis placed the knife on the cutting board, so neither one of them would get stabbed. Fellow rubbed his cheek against the top of her head, the silk blue bow tied at the back of her hair tickling his chin. Filis wrapped her arms around his own just as he placed a kiss on her scalp. “Someone’s clingy today,” she commented, a grin pulling at her mouth as he delivered a kiss to her ear. 

Fellow made a hum in question. “Would you rather me be stoic and aloof and not shower you in kisses?”

Filis pretended to mull the prospect over. “Hm…if you were to act like that, I’d assume you were not who you said you were and proceed to beat you senseless until you told me where the real Fellow was.” 

“Oh, come now, Filis!” The fox spun her around, releasing her from his hold in favor of addressing himself with his hand. “You really think someone could replicate my charms?~” 

Without skipping a beat, Filis snapped back with, “Most likely.” 

His expression shifted to one of surprise, thick brows scrunched in confusion, one rising in an arch. Then, just as quick, it switched to one of great pain and disappointment, Fellow’s ears flattening as he placed his hand over his heart. “To insult me so blatantly!” He sniffled. “And I thought you loved me.” 

“Oh, don’t start that mess!” Filis lightly tugged at a lock of his bright orange hair. “Did you get everything we need for the stew?”

He threw out his previous theatrics and nodded. “All except the celery. They just ran out when I got to the market.” 

Filis began to take the produce and other groceries out of the paper bags and set them on the kitchen table. “It’s alright, we can do without. We would have barely tasted it anyway.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Wash up and help me cut these up?”

Fellow swept down in a deep bow as he winked. “Your wish is my command, fair lady~” 

Again, Filis rolled her eyes, feigning annoyance. As Fellow turned on the kitchen sink faucet and proceeded to wash his hands, she couldn’t help but pause to watch him. In her mind, she could picture him in those elaborately patched clothes he wore when she’d met him. Fellow had looked like a ringmaster, but he’d mentioned to her before that that was the vibe he’d been going for. Nowadays, he often wore more casual attire: plain or graphic t-shirts, green cargo pants, a dark denim jacket, and a pair of black and white converse. Well, casual was the dress code unless Fellow was going to work, or some other time he needed to spruce himself up. The fox looked forward to dressing in such a manner, as he found it very fun. 

In a way, he and Gidel both were still getting used to living in relative comfort, not having to scrounge for food or wear tattered, and sometimes oversized, clothing. It’d been a hard road since the two started fresh, right after the Playful Land fiasco. Filis had aided the duo when she could, one of the key helping hands being when she loaned Fellow enough money to attend career school. That was right after he obtained his GED, which Filis also helped out with in terms of studying. For all the bad cards dealt to the man throughout his life, Filis wasn’t surprised when he immediately grew suspicious of her generosity. Filis being part of the upper class was a deterring factor as well. That was until Filis took Fellow and Gidel with her to visit her family - not just her adoptive one.

The childrens’ home wasn’t as rickety and rugged as it was when Filis was a child, yet one could tell it lacked exceptional funds. The home only had two sponsors: the Seaveworth family and the government. While Filis’ adopted father poured a huge sum into the orphanage’s accounts every six months, it couldn’t buy everything. Even so, the Fifth Avenue Homestead was moving up in the world, slowly but surely. Filis always kept an eye out for other potential sponsors; recently, she’d even managed to get a charity organization to donate to the place. The home’s growth was documented with several photographs taken by its residents over the years. Gidel picked Filis out of many without much problem, and the look of her and everyone else back then gave Fellow a glimpse into just how similar their childhoods were, at least financially. 

The romance was the unexpected bonus of the whole arrangement. It started out as a simple acquaintanceship; as Filis provided Gidel with an education, she lent a hand in Fellow advancing his and acquiring a suitable occupation. A little while later, Filis and her adoptive father began to set the groundwork for the school Fellow dreamed of opening for underprivileged children - with and without magical abilities. It would be located in a vacant townhouse just a couple blocks from where the three lived now. With a little remodeling, renovation, and the acquisition of study materials and other school necessities, it would be ready to open its doors. While Filis would be the face of the facility, it was only temporary until Fellow received his own teaching license. Just a little more saving, a little more hard work, and they could set that in motion, too. 

To think she, a year and a half ago, wanted nothing more than to send the man flying into the Coral Sea. Under the circumstances, as well as Fellow’s own actions, no one could blame her - not even Fellow and Gidel. That pride had definitely been hard to swallow for the fox, but that was one thing he promised her he’d become more of: honest. It was a steep learning curve after lying and deceiving for so long, but Fellow was getting the hang of it. If there was one thing he’d never be able to shake though, it was his showmanship. One of many things Filis now loved about the beastman. 

Suddenly, Filis was pushed out of memory lane as someone flicked her forehead. “Helloooo? Fili? Are you still with us?” 

Filis blinked a couple times as she came back to reality. “Hm?” 

“I turn around and you’re ogling me.” Fellow chuckled, smirk clear across his face. “Shameful! What if Gidel were to walk in? You’re supposed to be a role model for students, you know. Can’t be drooling over my good looks in front of the students, now can you?”

Filis scoffed. “The only reason I’ll be staring at you is to scold you for making a fool of yourself in front of the kids.” She flicked the tip of his nose, causing him to flinch and go cross eyed as he scrunched it. “You need to learn to behave yourself!” 

“And let the little tikes die of boredom? Why, I would be more irresponsible not stealing them away for a game or two in-between classes.”

Filis placed her hands on her hips and shot the fox a mock glare. “Are you saying I’m not fun, Mr. Honest?”

Fellow laughed. “There is only so much fun to be had when it comes to learning, Filis.” He tucked his tongue into his cheek as he flicked his gaze to the side. “Especially when you’re learning about some dead guy’s good or bad deeds.” 

Unlike Filis, Fellow never cared too much for history - or school in general. Filis knew from personal experience that, if Fellow had gone to a regular school in his youth, he would have been a pain in the ass to the teachers. “History is important and you know it!” 

“Mhm mhm, when you make it interesting, sure.” To an outsider, they would think the two were in the midst of a lover’s quarrel. That couldn’t be further from the truth - they were just play-fighting. Catch them actually fighting and that was a spectacle to binge eat popcorn to. Fellow showcased his signature smug grin as he finished with, “How’s that, Mr. Taon?~” 

Filis hadn’t been addressed by that name for a good six months now. It was bittersweet, leaving Night Raven College to open a school in the Shaftlands with Fellow. To become a professor at Night Raven was her dream; well, it was up until Fellow and Gidel entered her life. She remembered the night she made her decision, the one that would alter the course of her life. Filis had sat on her bed in her quarters on the college campus, lucky coin in hand. When she recited the incantation to produce her signature spell, the blue line of light that imitated from it sealed her fate. It shot out the window, away from the college and out towards the right side of Sage Island - where Fellow and Gidel were staying at a little bed and breakfast, visiting her for the weekend. 

Sure, Filis wouldn’t mind using her old moniker in the future. It was going to be very odd for students to address her as Ms. Filis. She’d gotten a taste of that when the students present at Playful Land learned that she wasn’t who she said she was, nonetheless not a guy. Of course, they still addressed her as Mr. Taon for the rest of her time at the college, but outside of that? It was a little strange now, when she received letters from a few of her former students every other month or so. Her most frequent writer was who she came to call her star pupil: Ortho Shroud. 

“I miss you being here,” he’d written to her once. “But I’m so glad you left to pursue your dreams! I’m still making good grades - I became an honor student! I hope Mr. Fellow and Gidel are doing okay, along with you, Ms. Filis!” 

Sweet boy… Filis planned to visit Sage Island next month, right before finals week. While she was looking forward to seeing her old students, those who still attended the college, the little Shroud held a special place in her heart. Of course, her old colleagues would be delighted to see her as well. Filis still kept in contact with them, too, especially Mozus and Revon. 

“Should you ever need guidance, know you can always call upon me,” Mozus had told her time and time again. Even professionals of the highest accreditation and excellence need a second opinion.” 

“You three take care of yourselves!” Revon had said the last time Filis called her. “Send me pictures of the school once it's finished. Oh, and one of your first group of kids! I want to know every detail.” Before they’d hung up the phone, Revon mentioned one other thing. “Tell Fellow that, if he breaks your heart or does something stupid, I’ll break more than his ankles.” After that first meeting with the woman, shortly after the destruction of Playful Land, Fellow definitely took that to heart. 

“Mr. Taon, Ms. Filis - doesn’t matter.” She poked his chest. “I demand, as your former tutor and your brother’s teacher, start chopping those vegetables, or we won’t have any dinner to speak of!” 

“So demanding!” Fellow fished a hair tie out of his pants pocket and began to pull his hair back. “This must be what it’s like to be scolded by your mother,” he mused. 

Filis forgot to reply. The calico cat was too busy watching her boyfriend do such a simple, domestic task. It was the little things that caught her attention when it came to her attraction towards him. The way he expertly twirled his hair between his fingers, effortlessly looping it through the hair tie. Though part of his biceps were hidden underneath the short sleeves of his plain white t-shirt, Filis could just make out them flexing underneath the cotton fabric. Fellow wasn’t overly bulky, nor could he be called a twink. To Filis, he was just right. 

Once more, the fox caught the cat lost in her own head. He snickered to himself as he took a step towards her, this time booping her on the nose. “Hey, kitty, you’re staring again~” 

Blood quickly rushed to Filis’ cheeks, clearly flustered. This time around, she slapped him on the arm. “Go chop the vegetables, now!” 

“Ah ah ah~” The fox man tutted. “There’s a price to be paid for every show.” Fellow took another step forward, forcing Filis to take one back. Her lower back pressed up against the edge of the kitchen table, and she soon found herself leaning further backward onto it. Fellow trapped her there, arms either side of her torso, looking rather pleased with himself. “All debts must be collected, you understand.” 

Filis’ tail slapped against his leg, brushing his fox tail. “Get off me you-” 

“Handsome, debonair gentleman?” Filis glared at him. “No? How about…” He held his chin with his forefinger and thumb, tapping the underside as he thought of another set of compliments. “Gorgeous, charming devil?~” 

Filis smirked. “More like a brazen, sly fox!” 

While it was still playful, Fellow’s smile took on a genuine undertone. Fellow released his chin and lowered his hand down to hold her waist. “I can live with that~” 

His kiss set every nerve of hers ablaze. Without a thought she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer to her. The hand that was not holding himself upright slid up from her waist and to her cheek, caressing it gently. He soon deepened the kiss, gently tilting Filis’ head to the side to follow his lead. Her sleek tail coiled around his fluffier one, the fingers of one hand reaching up to scratch behind his ear. They now purred together, making their lips tingle. Filis smiled into the liplock as she felt Fellow’s tail wag back and forth, pulling hers along with it, swishing to and fro. 

Fellow just made up his mind to break the kiss and begin peppering Filis’ face with more when he heard a noise. Both he and Filis’ ears perked up at the sound of soft footsteps approaching from down the hall, a certain little bounce to them. Gidel. In a hurry, Filis and Fellow released each other, Fellow stepping aside to let Filis sit up from the table. They simultaneously straightened their clothes and fixed their hair, right before Gidel entered the room, a clear pep in his step. The little cat didn’t notice a thing. Yes, the two adults present were being so normal right now. 

“Finished already?” Filis asked, thankful she was able to hide the breathlessness she felt. Gidel nodded, looking quite pleased with himself as he offered up the pine green workbook, clutched in his sleeve covered hands. No matter how many times they offered Gidel clothes that were just his size, he always preferred ones with oversized sleeves. One because he was so used to it, and second because he thought it made him look cute. Filis wondered if a certain fae influenced that decision long ago. That, or it was how much Gidel could get away with when it came to strangers for looking so adorable. 

Filis opened the book and flipped to the pages she assigned him. She skimmed over the answers he’d written down - the first half in red colored crayon, the second in blue. Filis smiled conspiratorially down at him and asked, “You’re not trying to butter me up by writing in my favorite color again, are you?” The boy held up his arms in a shrug, smiling coyly. Filis hummed in thought as she looked back at the pages, pretending to scrutinize them a second time. The beastwoman then grabbed a red pen off the table, pulled off its cap with her teeth, and wrote a big ‘A+’ on both pages before flipping the workbook over for Gidel to see. 

“Not a single error. Great job!” 

It was like someone got a big bottle of glitter and poured it into Gidel’s eye sockets. He hopped up and down on the balls of his feet, clapping his hands together in glee. “Awesome job, smart guy!” Fellow congratulated his little brother with a ruffle of his naturally messy hair. “You’ll be making the big bucks in no time!” Fellow swiveled his head to the side to address Filis. “What was today’s subject?” 

“Algebra I.” 

Fellow looked like he got hit by a brick. Ah, yes, of course Gidel would succeed at something he absolutely slumped in. Well, better for him, he supposed. Though he was a little envious of the guy, Fellow’s frustrated grin was completely false. “Trying to one up me, huh?” This time, he picked Gidel up and held him sideways under his arm before proceeding to give him a noogie. “Don’t think this means you get all the spoils this weekend.” 

By spoils, Fellow meant the trio’s weekly night on the town. Scratch that, they couldn’t do it every weekend, whether due to business or finances or some other thing, but they made a point to go out and do something fun at least once a month. More often than not, if Gidel did a remarkable job in his coursework in the days prior to the outing, he had more sway in deciding what they all did. It was only fair - and it didn’t just happen when Gidel excelled in his classes, either. The kid was spoiled downright rotten sometimes! Fellow wouldn’t have it any other way. 

“I don’t know, another visit to that ice cream shoppe sounds awfully good.” Filis watched as Fellow sat the boy back on his feet, all whilst shooting her a teasing stare. “Before we even think about that though,” Filis reached into one of the brown grocery bags and pulled out a potato, “we need to cook tonight’s dinner.” Gidel nodded eagerly, right before he trotted over to the counter nearest the stove. He pulled over his stepping stool - while the boy had grown two inches since last year, he was still quite short - and stepped up to the cutting board Filis had abandoned. Filis mouthed to Fellow, “Please, help him.”

Fellow sent his lady love a small salute before stepping over to Gidel, helping hold the knife and carefully cut the rest of the carrot. Filis busied herself with emptying the three brown paper bags of their contents: potatoes, corn on the cob, broccoli (Fellow still refused to eat it, that child), a few packages of chicken, apples, bananas, blackberries and strawberries. Once the stew was boiling on the stove, Filis planned to prepare a fruit salad for dessert. As they all preferred, it would be dusted with sugar and drizzled with cream. Before Filis made a move to continue cooking, she watched Gidel and Fellow for a few more moments. They were very cute together, sometimes more like father and son than an older and younger brother. 

Under her breath, Filis recited to herself the very familiar words: “Why Should I Worry?” Filis did not have her lucky coin on her; it was still safe within its tiny padded box on her dresser. The coin was not required to use her unique magic - the beam of light could come from anything, even the tip of her finger. That soft blue stream of light appeared before her. Unlike many times before, it stopped only a few feet away. It disappeared right into the backs of Fellow and Gidel. Filis really never needed a reminder - she was right where she needed to be. 

Why should she worry?