#she's happy to help since this is probably the only subject she can confidently tutor in

[disaster-magician]

Imagine this takes place at the end of step 2 so they're close enough to joke around with each other lol

(Fake screenshots! These are fan made based on incorrect quotes and not in the game)

[purplelupins]

Okay so I have an idea for a smut one-shot with Sirius, if that's alright... so, basically, Sirius and y/n are both in the order of the phoenix and have a 'will they/ won't they' thing going on that almost everyone knows about except oblivious Harry lol. One day y/n decides to tease Sirius so much, that he'll have to do SOMETHING about it, but what she didn't expect was that Sirius would tease back. So it becomes a game of who will snap first, with some delicious steamy smut at the end.

I loved this so much. Probably my favourite, definitely my longest at 7K+! I hope you enjoy!!!

The Tease

Pairing: Sirius Black x Reader

Warnings: Age gap. Smut with plot. Slight choking, low-key breeding kink. Sirius being way too hot. 18+

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

It was barely a year after y/n had graduated from Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry when her life was flipped on its head. News of the return of the Dark Lord raged through the Wizarding World, high and low.

She was sat in a corner of the Leaky Cauldron, nursing a cider when the sound of her name perked her ears. She turned at the sound, and a bright smile broke out across her face.

“Professor Lupin!” Y/n stood and walked to the tall man who was just a few tables away.

She wrapped her arms around him the best she could with his height.

“Not professor anymore I’m afraid. Just Remus.” He pulled away and gazed at the bright young witch he had the pleasure of teaching for her last year.

Y/n took his hand, “Professor or not, YOU were the best Defence Against the Dark Arts professor I ever had. And I had seven.” She laughed, “Come and sit with me.” Gesturing to her table, he followed.

“That’s very kind of you, y/n.” Remus sat with his drink and removed his coat.

“Well, you were always very kind to me, Remus. I can only return it.” She smiled.

They settled in and sat in comfortable quiet. Remus spoke first.

“Now what has a gifted young witch like yourself been up to? Any future prospects?” Lupin leaned back, happy to see a familiar face.

Y/n smiled, a touch of melancholy in her eyes.

“Well I’ve actually been doing a few things. I have been working up to becoming an Auror’s apprentice, and I’ve also been tutoring. Trying to help the future generations out…especially now that…well.” Y/n trailed off. She had heard many a whisper of Voldemort’s return. It was a touchy subject among most, so she learned to not bring it up.

But Remus perked up at her mention. Did she know?

“Now that…?” He prodded.

Y/n sighed and leaned forward.

“Now that…you-know-who is back.” Her whisper was low, but she saw how Remus almost looked elated. “ It’s pitiful- no one is doing anything. Fudge has his damn head in the sand…”

“Y/n…if you are interested, I know a way for you to help.” He confided, knowing she would be perfect for the Order. Young and full of fresh ideas.

Y/n smiled, “Please tell me.”

“Have you ever heard of the Order of the Phoenix?”

-

Y/n quickly ran up the steps to the large brick building, a familiar wave of relief washed over her.

12 Grimmauld Place.

It had become such a welcomed safe place for her since joining the Order. Y/n opened the door and quickly walked in, shrugging off her coat as she walked down the hall. Not looking where she was going as she unwrapped her scarf, y/n bumped right into someone, “So sorry!” She gasped.

Y/n regained her vision just in time to feel two hands on her shoulders, “That’s alright, darling.” Sirius turned her just enough for him to squeeze by her, and walked past her into the kitchen. Y/n gazed after him longingly with the touch of his fingers burned into her skin.

Sirius Black.

The charming, wicked, adventurous commanding, devilish menace of her heart. Since the day Remus had first brought her there, she had lost any and all sense of reason as soon as she laid eyes on the man. She had heard of him, of course, for the majority of her life , as a criminal. When Lupin introduced him to her, she was just about ready to pass out, letting a soft whisper out “Sirius Black…” it was so quiet she barely heard it herself, but he did. Sirius heard everything.

Now, each time she was there, he had begun to make it a point to toy with the sweet girl. He saw how she would flick her eyes to him consistently. Blushing when he would catch her.

“Remus you never told me about this darling girl. Keeping he for yourself?” He had winked at her. Remus had rolled his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Sirius can you please control yourself?” Lupin had sighed.

Sirius had turned to her and whispered, “Never been a strong suit of mine.”

Y/n had blushed and ducked her head. He revelled in it.

Now, as she hung her coat up, ready for her usual war of wits with the man, she squared her shoulders, and stepped into the kitchen where several other Order members sat and stood, speaking amongst themselves. The only seat was the one to the right of the devil himself.

Sirius sat at the head of the table, one arm on the back, the other holding a glass of apricot brandy. He knew very well that if y/n chose to sit, she would have no choice but to be seated next to him. Precisely where he wanted her.

You’re well over a decade older than her, old man.

He hummed at the thought.

But a man can dream.

And tease.

And play.

Y/n smirked. She knew what he was doing.

Two can play, Mr. Black.

Pulling out the chair, y/n seated herself quietly, not paying any mind to the man next to her.

A pie sat in the middle of the table, “Molly?” Y/n called to the witch down the table who was in conversation with Remus and her husband. She turned, as did the other two heads aforementioned.

Remus smiled warmly at her, “Y/n! I didn’t hear you come in.” Y/n returned the smile. Lupin was decidedly a favourite of hers, especially since growing to know him, and subsequently Sirius.

“You need to sharpen those ears of yours, old man!” They laughed softly at their inside joke.

Y/n had taken to calling him ‘old man’ for a while now. It all started when he wouldn’t stop talking down about himself one night, saying how he was used and old news. Spent. Y/n had been quick to chastise him; telling him he was stupid to think that and that age was just a number and it was more about what you felt inside than anything else. She remembered the glint in Sirius’s eyes as he had sat across from them, listening to her rant to his old friend. He thoroughly enjoyed her view on that point.

Now she used the term as an endearing term. Reminding him that he is, in fact, the opposite.

Y/n turned her attention back to the matriarch of the Weasley family, “Molly did you make this beautiful pie?”

She nodded, rolling her eyes, “I did and it lasted not 5 seconds before these greedy boys dug in.” She gestured to the members around her. Indeed there was only a few pieces left.

Y/n put on her sweetest smile, “Mind if I take a slice? Pretending to flirt all day is exhausting work.”

“You don’t need to ask, dear. Go right ahead.” Molly smiled and turned back to Arthur and Kingsley.

Success. Y/n summoned a plate and stretched over the table, giving Sirius a lovely view of her body. He look a long sip of his brandy, watching her. Remus glanced at him and gave Arthur an elbow, telling him to look over. They exchanged an exasperated stare at one another that said “Are we going to have to lock them in a room to sort this out?”

Y/n sat back down, pie happily infront of her; she was just about the take a bite when a hand reached out and snuck a swipe at the sweet filling. Y/n looked over at Sirius as he raised his fingers to his lips, letting them disappear inside his mouth. Y/n’s mouth felt dry and her lips opened ever so slightly at the sight of him.

Cheeky.

“Mr. Black if you wanted a taste, you could have just asked.” She went back to the sweet, trying not to look at him.

“Is that all I need to do, darling?” He said in that smooth voice of his, not even batting an eye or missing a beat.

A blush rose over y/n’s cheeks and she almost choked on the pie in her mouth.

The rest of the Order shook their heads at them. Every time.

Y/n chose to ignore the butterflies in her stomach, turning her gaze down the table to the conversation happening that held far more relevance to the meeting.

Alastor sat at the other end of the table, y/n hadn’t seen him yet. She gave him a small wave, which he grunted at and said , “Any news, l/n?”

Y/n shook her head. Since Remus had recruited her months ago, she had become their main inside person amongst the ministry. She was young and unassuming, so no one thought much of her. It was amazing what people would say freely around those they looked down upon or those they flirted with.

“It’s not good, Moody.” She ran her fingers through her hair. Sirius leaned forward to listen, “I swear if someone else doesn’t do it, I’m going to deck Fudge.”

Sirius let out a bark of a laugh, earning him a stare from the rest of the room. He looked away, and back to the young witch speaking, “Fudge is so damn terrified of losing his shiny position as Minister that he’s spoon-feeding lies to every department about You-Know-Who’s return. There was this one bloke I overheard saying that rumours are spreading of the events at the Triwizard Tournament being nothing but a hoax and that Cedric Diggory did it for attention. The boy is dead!” She cried, pushing the pie away. Y/n placed her chin in the palm of her hand and rested it on the table. Sirius placed a hand on her knee, rubbing small circles there- it was surprisingly reassuring. Y/n looked over at him with a small, grateful smile.

“Some days are easier than others. I swear if I have to brush Lucius Malfoy off me again I may vomit.” She shuttered at the memory of the man and how he always seemed to be in every file room she visited. Cornering her constantly.

Sirius clutched his glass tightly at the thought of that wanker touching her as if she was his to be possessive of.

“Perhaps you could take a break from intel work for a while, dear? Do some work here?” Molly piped up. Y/n hadn’t thought of it, but that may be what she needed.

“That does sound like a dream, Molly. I’m just worried it may just spur Malfoy on. Like I’m…playing hard to get.” Y/n hung her head in her hands.

Oh because you would never do that, would you, pup?

A smirk threatened to appear on Sirius’s lips. Sirius cleared his throat to stop himself from apparating right there to Malfoy Manor.

Arthur nodded his head, “Actually, y/n we were talking just before you arrived about that. You’ve done so much for the Order for the past few months that we never could have…why don’t you take a week off from the Ministry. I’ll put in a word for you and take over where needed.” The other members nodded.

Y/n squinted at them.

Remus caught on, “And no it is not because you’re the youngest member. You run circles around the lot of us every day.”

Sirius smirked, but felt a pang in his chest.

She was young.

Y/n sighed and nodded her head. She supposed it was best, just for a week.

-

The first day she stayed at 12 Grimmauld Place was a long one. Y/n had taken to remain on the move when it came to living situations, so settling into the house was easy enough. Molly had taken the children out to blow off some of their energy that had been accumulating over the summer. The twins apparating all around the house was enough to drive their poor mother over the edge.

Y/n had almost bumped into Kreacher as she descended the long staircase down to the kitchen. It was still terribly early- sleep had evaded her greatly. Finally at the last step, y/n happily walked into the kitchen to make some coffee. She had just finished brewing it when someone cleared their throat behind her. Y/n’s hairs stood on end and she turned quickly at the noise. Sure enough, Sirius Black was sat at his usual spot at the table, a cup of tea or coffee already in hand.

Had he been there the whole time?

“Good morning, darling.” He spoke, but y/n barely heard him. She was too busy trying not to look at how his shirt was buttoned lower than usual and his sleeves were rolled up, clearing showing his many tattoos and muscles. Y/n flicked her eyes to every irresistible detail of Sirius Black in the morning that she didn’t even register that he saw her stare.

Enjoying the view, sweet girl?

Y/n blushed and have him a small, shy grin; well aware of the fact that she was just in a sleep shirt and an open robe. A chill ran up her legs to her core under his gaze.

“Morning, Mr. Black.” She murmured sleepily.

Sirius decided her voice in the morning was his new favourite sound. It was so sweet, gentle and small. But her calling him Mr. Black always stuck out to him. She never addressed any of the other members by their last name.

It’s didn’t bother him entirely, but a part of it always reminds him of their difference in age. The other part wondered if she enjoyed it. He wondered if she would breathe it out in a sigh. He wondered if it excited her, and made her slick with wetness-

“Do you want a refill?” She held the coffee pot up and scratched her head as she still woke up.

Sirius grinned, “Thought you’d never ask, love.”

Y/n walked over to him, rubbing some sleep from her eyes. He never removed his eyes from her, and she was highly aware of it; y/n bent over slightly to pour the warm liquid into his cup, which let Sirius have a moment to look down the undone buttons at the top of her shirt to see she wore no bra. He sucked in a sharp breath.

Careful old man.

Y/n placed the pot down and went to take out a bowl from the top shelf; she decided upon pancakes for breakfast. The bowl, however, was just out of reach. She let out a sigh, and was about to summon her wand when she felt Sirius press up against her from behind; his arm reaching past hers and grasping the dish, placing it down next to them. Y/n could feel his breath on her neck, his stubble tickled her skin; it took all of her self control to not hop onto the counter and let the older man take her right there.

Y/n turned her head, slowly moving to face him. He didn’t budge. Y/n was positive they were breathing the same air, and Sirius could see that blush rise over her cheeks.

“Thank you.” She managed to whisper. Sirius flicked his eyes to her lips, then back up to her eyes. He brushed a piece of hair from her face, letting his hand linger a moment too long. Y/n did her best to not close her eyes at his touch.

“Any time, pup.” He murmured, then took a step back, and grabbed his coffee, “Great brew by the way, love. Might need to employ you full time for that.” He called over his shoulder as he left the room.

Y/n couldn’t move.

Pup?

-

Y/n sat anxiously at the table, surrounded by the order. Across from her was Severus, as well as some faces she didn’t know, next to her was Sirius and Remus. Kingsley, Moody and Tonks were on their way back from the Dursley’s with Harry in tow.

The voices around her faded in and out as she struggled to keep up with who was speaking; Everyone shouted over one another. They poured over newspapers and letters from informants, trying to discern a plan of action, but things were a mess. Everything was a mess.

“There's been no sightings.No deaths. No proof.” Someone said, the idiot.

“He almost killed Harry. If that isn't proof enough...”

“Yes, but guarding you-know-what is the most important...”

“We must trust Dumbledore on this.” Arthur argued.

“Was he able to protect Harry last year?”

“Well, tonight I say it's time to take action.”

“Cornelius Fudge is a politician first and a wizard second.” Remus chided, “His instinct would be to ignore it...”

“Keep your voices down.” Molly cried.

“He's getting stronger and stronger by the minute. We have to act now.” Sirius trailed off, gazing out to the door way. Y/n followed where everyone was staring. Harry. Kingsley, Tonks and Moody shuffled in, making the already crowded kitchen more packed. Molly hurried out of the room to shut the door and greet the boy.

“Harry!” Y/n heard her say. He was like another son to her, she must have been worried sick after those dementors attacked him. She was back in a moment, her eyes terrified and full of grief.

The Order members let out a collective sigh. They were scared and didn’t know who to trust. A war within a war.

Sirius lowered his tone, “If anyone has the right to know, it’s Harry. If it wasn’t for Harry we wouldn’t even know Voldemort was back. He’s not a child Molly.”

The Weasley matriarch scoffed, “Well he’s not an adult either! He’s not James, Sirius.”

Sirius shook his head and rubbed his brow, “Well, he’s not your son.”

Molly crossed her arms, “He’s as good as. Who else has he got?”

The man stared up at her, “He’s got me.”

It was Severus’s turn to scoff, “How touchingly parternal, Black. Perhaps Potter with grow up to be a felon, just like his godfather.”

Low blow, Snape.

Outraged, Sirius shot back, “Now you stay out of this Snivellus.”

“Why don’t you tell him about your supposed reformation?” Severus sneered.

“I know better.” Sirius fumed.

“So why don’t you tell him?” The potions master challenged him, raising a brow.

The men glared daggers at one another. Y/n decided to pipe up and end the rivalry.

“Gentlemen!” She raised her voice, looking at both men, and the room fell quiet, “I do believe this is a meeting for the Order of the Phoenix, NOT a place for past grudges.” She eyed them. Sirius would be lying if the stern glare she gave him didn’t make him grow a little too warm, “We do not need to be present for that. Harry does need to know Sirius, and I agree with Professor Snape. Sorry Molly.” She glanced at the elder witch, she nodded defeatedly, “He’s a young man with the weight of the Wizarding world on his shoulders and he barely even knows why.” She sighed, “And Sirius Orion Black act your age. There is no need for name calling here.”

Severus smirked, an approving gaze directed at the young witch across the table from him. Sirius fumed. Not at y/n- she was right. Too right. She was more levelheaded than most adults twice her age. But at Snape. How dare he challenge him, and how dare he stare at her like that. He was her ex-professor for Merlin’s sake. Old enough-

To be her father? You are too Sirius.

Remus slowly stood after a moment, “I suppose that’s it then? Meeting adjourned.”

The room filled with various murmurs and conversations of all types as members filed out of the house. Y/n stood and left the kitchen to call down the kids upstairs; just as she took a breath to shout to them, she was bumped into by non other than Severus Snape himself. Y/n blushed at the incident; a tiny smirk played on his face. He had seen how Sirius had been holding her in his gaze the entire night. It was almost endearing.

“Quite the sharp tongue you have grown, Miss l/n.” His silky voice filled her ears. Y/n never had an issue with him in her years at Hogwarts. She was a good enough student and when she needed clarification, she asked instead of cowering in fear. She was fairly certain he respected that.

“I just don’t appreciate foul play, professor.” She said with a small smile, “We’re all scared.”

“Severus.” He said simply, shifting closer to y/n as Moody limped out the door, grumbling something under his breath.

It took y/n a moment to realize what Snape had meant, “Oh, right. I suppose you’re no longer my superior…feels a little odd.” She laughed to herself.

What most didn’t see was that a certain member of the Black family was watching their interaction. And that a certain lycan was watching him watch her. Remus was about ready to shake him by the collar to make him do something. Anything.

Y/n found it almost refreshing to speak to the potions master; he was a highly educated man and never held back his opinions. Some of his blunt comments had made her almost choke in the past.

“Did you know that Severus means severe and stern in Latin?” She asked, a random fact she had found out over her years at Hogwarts.

He quirked an eyebrow, “Indeed. And I believe yours means-“

“We’re eating in the kitchen tonight!” Molly poked her head out and called up the stairs. “Oh, sorry dears.” She added before disappearing again. Severus gave her a pointed look, cursing her for that.

Sirius silently thanked her. Snape had to go.

“It was lovely seeing you, Severus. I hope you’re keeping well.” She placed her hand on his arm and smiled up at the man.

Sirius, gripped his glass to the point of almost breaking.

“Likewise. I do believe you have my address should you ever need to…escape.” He said pointedly, glancing around the dark house.

“You’re too kind, sir. I’ll keep that in mind.” She nodded, “May I walk you out?” Y/n could hear the children coming down the stairs and knew the interaction between them and Snape wouldn’t be pleasant; the man was miserable enough as it was.

What no one knew, however, what that she saw Sirius staring- smoke almost coming out of his ears. Y/n was thrilled.

Serves you right for taking some of my pie, Black.

Besides, Severus was a handsome man and not the worst company so it wasn’t like she had to force herself to be sweet to him. Sirius’s jealousy was simply a bonus.

The man gave her a curt nod in response, and y/n extended her arm for him to go ahead of her. She followed him out and bade him goodnight. Severus took her hand and kissed her knuckles gently in the doorway. He smirked when he saw Sirius stand in anger from the table out of the corner of his eye.

“Until next time, Miss l/n.” He said.

“Y/n.” Y/n smiled, correcting him.

Severus, gazed at her for a moment, smirked and apparated.

Y/n shut the door and rubbed her arms from the chill of the evening, coming back down the hallway. The kitchen door was closed, making the hall even darker. She tripped over something left on the floor but was quickly caught by two arms slamming into the wall behind her, pinning her in place. Y/n gasped and stared up into the waiting grey eyes that pierced through the darkness.

“Second time I’ve caught you in my arms tonight, love. You’d better be careful.” Sirius whispered in her ear. Shivers went up and down her spine.

Fight back y/n.

“Or what?” She hissed out, feeling herself grow warm.

That’s it?

His warmth and scent was too much, making her mind cloudy. In the quiet, she was enjoying how his breath fanned across her face, the faint smell of brandy on his tongue. All it would take was to lean forward just a few inches-

“Or I’ll just have to transform you into a cat and have you sit on my lap. Permanently.” He finished, a deadly smirk on his lips. Sirius could feel her heart pounding against his chest as he pressed against her. If he just slipped his hand into her hair and leaned closer he would be able to taste that delectable mouth of hers that he only dreamt about.

Y/n lost that round.

Then as quickly as he had been there, he disappeared down the hall to the kitchen, casting a look over his shoulder as if to say “coming?” Y/n took a deep shaky breath.

Pull yourself together woman!

This old dog needed to be taught a lesson.

Y/n went to the washroom for a moment, and fixed her hair, and straightened her shirt. She wasn’t wearing anything terribly special since she had been taking a week off from ministry work. Just a chunky, well-worn cardigan and a pair of weathered burgundy jeans, and boots. She stared at herself, wondering if she could do anything that may torture the man. There wasn’t much, so she pushed her sleeves up, and gathered her hair into a bun to show her neck.

Good enough.

Y/n walked out and took a breath. She could hear the chatter of the boys as they ate their dinner. Y/n walked through the door and sat next to Sirius, he eyed her. She had put her hair up-

Oh very good, pup. Trying to win this, are we?

Y/n took a plate and gathered a spread of dinner, sitting back down. She turned to Sirius and looked him dead in the eye, “Shall I fix you a plate as well, or are you going to insist upon slipping another finger into what’s mine?”

He paused with his drink sitting at his lips.

“You know, I am feeling quite ravenous, I don’t believe just a finger will be enough to satisfy me.” He shot back.

Molly gaped at them, shooting a look at Remus to do something.

Y/n silently put a plate together for him. Just as he was about to take a bite, y/n took his glass and sipped happily at the amber liquor. She took one more sip, and ran her tongue gently along the edge as she did. Sirius bit his inner cheek to stop himself from saying anything. Instead, once she returned the glass, he locked eyes with her and drank from the exact same spot as she had placed her lips.

Y/n turned away, trying to focus on the conversation at the other side of the table. It seemed everyone was acutely aware of what was going on, except for Harry.

The rest of them were used to it at this point.

Just another night.

-

The next morning, y/n slept in late. She stretched and groaned as her muscles popped. Y/n made her usual slow decent down the stairs, but just as she was passing one of the landings, she noticed one of the doors was ajar, and sunlight seemed to pour out of it. Y/n did her best to keep quiet and tip toed over to it to see if someone was in there. What she saw took her breath away.

It was Sirius’s study. A large window sat at the far wall, letting in the August sun; and there he stood, gazing out past the glass. He wore that long coat of his and a shirt that y/n could barely say was buttoned. His hair was brushed back in it’s beautiful curls.

Y/n felt her heartbeat pick up with every second she stood there watching him, choosing to turn away and lean against the wall next to the door. Then, she had an unfortunate realization: she had to walk past the door in order to get downstairs. Y/n honestly considered turning around and going back to the room she slept in, but her stomach said otherwise.

She let out a defeated sigh, and went to quickly walk past the door-

“-it’s not polite to stare, pup.”

Y/n jumped. He was standing right there in the doorway. How had she not heard him? Y/n was frozen. Caught.

“I-I-I was just-“ she stammered.

“Oh were you? Sounds fascinating.” He said with a smirk. Sirius slipped his hands into his pockets and enjoyed watching her.

What a sight she was…so full of life and youth. It made his heart ache. Ever since he laid eyes on her, he felt as if the past decade didn’t happen. As if he was never sent to Azkaban and his world wasn’t torn apart. She filled him with sunlight.

Y/n could barely say anything with her mind clouded by sleep and the smell of him.

“I’m…I’m going to make some coffee.”

Wow. Powerful rebuttal.

The smirk on his face only widened, “You do that, darling.”

Y/n nodded and unfroze herself, springing down the stairs to try and wake her mind up.

Once she was padding her way through the kitchen, she noticed something.

The house was quiet.

Then she remembered that this morning was Harry’s hearing. It was preposterous that they were even going through with taking him through this process. He was a boy.

Y/n shrugged off her robe and tossed it over the chair closest to her. The button up shirt she wore was enough without the young ones around. Not that they cared; y/n had caught the twins enjoying her bare legs in the morning on more than one occasion. Ron once had to leave the room. So from then on, she kept the robe.

After a few moments of waiting for the coffee to finish, she stretched her arms high above her head and let out a satisfied moan. Y/n figured that she would be returning to her usual duties for the Order in a few days, and wanted to make the most of the time. She poured herself a cup, then paused and poured a second in case Sirius wanted some.

Y/n wandered through the house, and found herself in the library- a small room just off the living room. She ran her fingers along the spines, enjoying the quiet. After a moment, she grasped one and slowly wandered out back to the kitchen. Y/n distractedly placed her cup down on the table as she opened to the first page. It seemed to be an old book analyzing literature.

Y/n almost jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She dropped the book and turned quickly.

Sirius stood just a few inches away, his hand wandering to the small of her back. His eyes were dark.

“S-Sirius? I didn’t hear you come in.” She stammered.

He was silent.

After a moment, Sirius backed her to the table until it dug into her thighs. Y/n stared at the older man, not knowing what to do and trying to ignore what she wanted to do.

He leaned to her ear, “What is it you want, pup?” He whispered.

That name sent nothing but heat down to her core.

“I don’t know what you-“

“What I mean?” He finished, pulling away enough for her to see him. “I am a man who is old enough to have fathered you, love. But I do not have any such paternal thoughts towards you.”

Y/n pinched her brows together, “You…”

A predatory grin smoothed over his lips, “You think all this has been a game, darling? You think I haven’t wanted to act on the thoughts you give me?” He growled out.

She swallowed, “W-what stopped you?”

“Well that’s why I’m here. I need to know what you want. Because if this was just child’s play to you, I’m happy to continue. It’s damn good fun toying with you. But if you want something else-“

“You.” Her mouth said before she could stop it.

He raised a brow.

“I-I want you, Sirius.” Y/n breathed out, heart drumming against her ribs. “I want…I need you. Ever since I laid eyes on you all I can think of is you.”

“How do you want me?” He whispered, needing to know more.

She let out an exasperated sigh.

It was her turn to lean forward to his ear, “I want you in the sense that I want to dig my nails into your skin. I want you in the sense that I need you to mark me as yours.” She placed a small kiss on his neck.

One last tease.

And that was all it took. He snapped.

Sirius pushed her back onto the table, and wrapped her legs around his hips. He brought his lips down onto hers deliberately, smoothing his tongue over her lip. Y/n gasped and tightened her legs as she felt him taste her. Her hips began to rock against him in need; months of pent up want finally spilling over.

Sirius growled and pulled away, shrugging off his coat; y/n took the opportunity to grasp his shoulders and latch her lips onto his neck, kissing the tattoos there like she had imagined with her hand between her legs. The older man let out a low moan and wove a hand into her hair, pulling her away and tilting her head up to look at him. “You want this, love?” He rasped.

Y/n did her best to nod, but he pulled again, “Words, pup.”

Tears began to form in her eyes with want, “Yes!” She gasped.

“Louder.” He commanded, a smirk spreading his lips.

“Yes I want you.” She tried to say, but she could barely get the words out.

“Say my name.”

Y/n closed her eyes to try and calm herself.

“Eyes open, darling.” He chided.

She opened them, “S-Sirius.”

“I can’t hear you puppy. I’m an old man, remember?You’ll just have to scream it.” He whispered into her ear. He moved his free hand down to her back, drawing her closer, and began to move himself against her core, a slow torture.

A moan came from her lips before she could stop it.

“Come, come now. I haven’t got all day, darling.” He stilled his movement and she let out a delicious whine.

“Sirius!” She cried out.

“Who do you belong to, pup?” He growled.

“Sirius Black! Merlin- please! I’m yours.” Y/n could barely think anymore.

He smirked, “There’s my good girl. Such an obedient pup.” He cooed to her.

“S-Sirius please! I-I need- ah!”

Sirius ripped her shirt open, and pushed it off her shoulders, sucking at the skin on her neck. Y/n grasped his hair as he nipped and sucked every inch he could reach; dark marks covering every part of her skin.

His.

He grasped her waist and drew circles on her ribs as he returned his lips to hers. Y/n quickly began pulling at his shirt and trousers, needing to feel more. A low rumble came from his chest, “My, my you’re eager. Been waiting for this a while?”

Y/n nodded.

“Have you pleasured yourself thinking about me? Under my roof?” He slowly slipped a hand down to her hip.

“Yes, sir.” She breathed.

“How?” He pushed.

She blushed, “I-I touch myself-“

Sirius tsked her, “I said tell me.”

“I-I’ve b-been fingering myself. It never helps much though.” Y/n managed.

He hummed, “Like this?”

Sirius slid his hand down past her panties, circling a finger around her sensitive bud. Y/n threw her head back and gasped, “Yes!”

“Have you ever thought about anyone else? Touched yourself to the thought of another older man, you dirty girl?” He growled.

She shook her head.

“No, you’re my good little girl aren’t you? Just waiting for me to come and fill you up, hm?”

Y/n was sure she would pass out. Then Sirius grinned, eyes dancing, and slipped a long finger inside her, pumping it in and out in a punishingly slow pace.

“Does that feel good, puppy? You like my fingers inside you?” He murmured in her ear.

“Yes sir.” Was all she could get out. Her hips rocked onto his hand, desperate for his touch.

“You feel how wet you are, darling?”

She nodded.

“You want more, don’t you?” He nipped her ear.

Y/n nodded again, tears rolling down her cheeks.

“You want my cock inside you? You want me to fill you up with my cum until it leaks down your legs?” His voice began to thicken with desire, and he rocked his hips against her leg.

“Yes! Merlin, yes! P-please!” She begged.

Sirius smirked and with a wave of his hand, his clothes were gone. Y/n’s mind and eyes were dizzy and fuzzy. She could barely see straight from the pleasure building inside her. Much to her disappointment, he removed his fingers from her, but then to her delight he replaced it with the head of his thick, veiny cock- teasing her lips as he wetted it.

“Look at me, darling.” He instructed her, “I don’t know how gentle I can be…it’s been so long…You’re sure, little one?” He gazed at her, holding her cheek. It had indeed been a very, very long time.

Y/n nodded, “Please. I need you.” Every inch of her body was on fire with desire.

With that, he nodded and began to push inside her, inch by inch; feeling her stretch around him. Squeezing him tight.

“Good puppy.” He growled out as he pushed all the way inside her. He stilled for a moment to let her adjust. He had forgotten the feeling of being inside a woman, and he didn’t think he would ever be able to now. She would be seared into his mind. Sirius began to pull out slowly.

“S-Sirius-Ah!” Y/n moaned.

“Are you going to be my good pup?” He murmured against her lips.

“Yes!” She cried.

“Say it.” He bucked his hips and began thrusting into her faster, until he was pounding her into the table.

“I’m your good pup, sir!”

“You’re mine. Say it!”

“I-I’m y-yours!” She could feel that tight warmth begin to build in her core. It was like nothing she had ever felt. No matter how many charms she tried, nothing matched this. It got to the point that she couldn’t help the moans that spilled from her lips.

Sirius bit into her shoulder, marking her there too. He lost himself in the tightness squeezing his cock tighter and tighter with every rut of his hips.

“Good girl.” He moaned.

“I-I’m close!” She cried out.

Sirius revelled in it, “You’re going to come on my cock like the good girl you are? Let go pup, come for me.” He growled into her ear.

“I-I-Merlin! I’m c-coming!” She moaned.

“Say my name!” He rasped.

“Sirius!” She screamed.

Y/n’s breathing became sporadic, her chest heaving. She felt herself tighten impossibly as a mass flood of heat exploded into her veins. Sirius held her close, slowing his pace as she came around him, knowing he was close as well.

The man stroked her hair, letting her come down slowly as he continued to pump in and out of her gently. “There we go, good girl. I’ve got you.”

Y/n heard her heart in her ears. All she could do was try to regain her breath.

As the clouds of pleasure began to calm again, she became aware of Sirius still thrusting into her. She slowly leaned up to his lips and kissed him, tasting him. Then she pulled away to his ear, “Make me yours.”

That was all he needed to hear. Sirius gripped her tight and spun her around, he wrapped an arm around her waist and up to her throat, which he squeezed, and the other firmly on her hip.

“Be careful what you ask for, puppy.” He murmured into her ear. Then before she could say anything, he was pounding into her harder than before. He reached a new spot inside her making her scream out and hold onto his arm for dear life as she felt another peak approaching quickly.

“You’re going to come again arent you?” He growled.

Y/n nodded to the best of her ability, her movement restricted by his hand squeezing her throat. Her vision began to go fuzzy as he tightened his grip, bringing her head back onto his shoulder. He bit at any skin he could.

“You cum for me -Merlin! Puppy I’m close.” He moaned, hips beginning to stutter as his climax barrelled down on him, “I’m- gonna fill you up real good, darling- God!” He rasped in her ear.

Y/n screamed as she came for the second time. Not long after, she felt him shutter and stiffen behind her, his cock pulsed inside her and she felt herself being filled with his seed. She felt it leak down her thighs; not even his cock was enough to plug it inside her.

“That’s it, pup. My good girl.” He moaned as he slowly came down from his high. Y/n began to steady her breathing, and her muscles slowly began to register how sore they were. Sirius gently let go of her throat and relaxed his hold on her hip, she would have fallen forward if it weren’t for his arms still around her.

Y/n could hear him panting behind her. She very slowly and carefully turned, feeling him slip out of her and his cum dip down her legs. Y/n braced herself against the table and held him close, drawing his lips down to hers.

He gently pulled away after a moment, “Are you alright, my darling?”

My darling…

Y/n breathed out a laugh, “I-I think I may need to take you up on that cat offer. I don’t think I’ll be able to walk properly for a while.”

He laughed with her and placed his forehead against hers.

“Are you alright, Mr. Black?” She teased.

He let out a bark of a laugh, “I do believe that’s the only time I’ve enjoyed the sound of that title.”

They stood there for a moment, enjoying the feeling of each other.

“Why don’t we get you into a nice bath, hmm?” he smoothed her hair down and kissed her head.

Y/n nodded into his chest, “As long as you’re there, I’ll be happy.”

His hum sent vibrations through her. She felt a spark of contentment and happiness. Satisfaction. Release. But there was one more thing that was on her mind.

She pulled away slightly, “S-Sirius?”

“Yes pup?”

“I-you…I want you to know that…this wasn’t and isn’t a game for me…I like you a great deal.” She fidgeted with her hands, not finding it in herself to look at him. What if this was just fun? What-

“Well it’s a good thing then. I’m afraid I’m not terribly good at games anymore…not the best rule follower.” He whispered.

Y/n felt a blush rise over her cheeks, she looked up at him slowly. His grey eyes pierced her, he winked.

“Come now, let’s get you washed up.” He slid one arm under her knees and the other around her back, scooping her up and apparated them into the washroom in his room. He flicked his wrist and the tub began filling with warm water.Sirius held her close, kissing along her neck, and placed her gently into the basin.

His sunlight.

He climbed in across from her, and pulled her to his chest; he ran his deft fingers through her hair, whispering sweet nothings into her ear.

After a half an hour, they heard the front door open, and a single pair of footsteps. They walked to the kitchen and stopped. Then all they heard was Remus shouting at the top of his lungs, “Kingsley owes me 10 Galleons!”

Y/n turned her head to look back at the man who held her. They shared a small smile; Sirius sat her up and washed her carefully, smoothing his hands over the bruises and marks he left and kissing her shoulders. He whispered a spell with his hand below the water, and within seconds y/n felt her pain subside.

“Now, I have heard from a reliable source that chocolate is a wonderful thing to have following anything…strenuous.” Sirius reached over to the small table next to the bathtub and produced a far too ornate chocolate ball in his fingers. She laughed softly and took a bite, letting the creamy filling melt onto her tongue.

“I think your reliable source is going to be rich by the end of the day.” She murmured.

A rumble of laughed came from behind her, “I do believe you’re right, my love.”

My love…

The pet name sounded far too sweet and it made y/n’s heart flutter.

They remained there for as long as they could, wrapped in each others arms. Two unlikely souls entangled. Limbs knotted.

Lovers.

[itsdanii]

i loved the rejecting and regretting series!! could you do one with akaashi and osamu? thanks again!!

Hey, bub. Thank you so much for requesting. I'm happy that you're loving my works, it makes my heart soft 😭♥️ Here's your request! I hope you have a good day and stay hydrated. Mwah!

Rejecting you and regretting it pt. 5

genre: angst to fluff

warnings: rude behavior (resolved), cursing

a/n: Do read the warnings before you proceed. Warnings have been put there for a reason.

ft. akaashi keiji, osamu miya

Title says it all

Akaashi Keiji

With your grades in literature almost at the brink of destruction, you had to swallow your pride and ask one of your classmates to tutor you

While you're the best in most subject areas, you sucked when it comes to literature

You didn't see the point of studying articles, analyzing literary pieces and using poetic words

But for the sake of graduating, you had to take the subject

But it seemed like the subject hated you just as much as you hated it

And so, one afternoon, you slammed a limited edition book you knew Akaashi, your classmate and your crush, liked on his desk and stared at him with pleading eyes as you begged him to tutor you

At first, he rejected the offer, opting to pat your head before leaving the classroom

But you were persistent

It wasn't long then when he started taking pity on you

All your papers had red marks in them and everytime there was a test, you would stare blankly at your paper and jot down nonsense ideas

At the sight of you in the  brink of tears, Akaashi sighed and decided to help, given that you have to focus and not do random stuff during your sessions

And that's how you found yourself in this current situation - hand holding the pen tightly, your eyes focused on the man in front of you instead of the story analysis he's explaining, and your heart beating as if you just finished a 5km run

"Are you even listening?"

You blinked your eyes at him and smiled sheepishly before scratching the back of your head. You knew that a small blush was probably visible on your cheeks now but of course, you had to play it cool.

"Of course," you said with a confident nod. "You were uh, talking about young love."

Akaashi rose an eyebrow at your answer as if challenging you to elaborate.

"The main character was in love with the guy... and the guy doesn't like her? And she-" you paused for a moment and grabbed the book you were reading, eyes scanning between the lines before continuing your probably wrong answer. "She died?"

With a sigh, Akaashi stood up and sat beside you, your elbows pressing against each other as he leaned down to write something on your book.

"Okay, first and foremost, she didn't die. She left. This part here-"

As he continued explaining, you felt yourself getting lost once again. Your eyes scanned over his features, taking notice of how long his lashes were and how flawless his skin was that you were almost tempted to caress it. His scent surrounded you for being too close which tempted you to shut your eyes.

"I like you," you blurted out unconsciously.

The both of you froze as soon as the words escaped your lips, eyes widening and lips parting as you stared at each other with shocked expressions.

Fuck.

Aaashi, who was the first to compose himself, cleared his throat before sitting upright. "Y/n-san, I'm really flattered by your infatuation but you do know that I'm only here to tutor you, right? We agreed to focus. We're supposed to be studying, not flirting with each other."

"I know but..."

"I can't accept your confession, I'm sorry," Akaashi said before sighing. "How about we end this session already? I don't want your mind wandering while I talk here knowing that you're out of focus."

You immediately shook your head no. "It's okay, Keiji. You don't have to like me back, you know? Just let me like you. You can just pretend that nothing happened. I promise I won't do anything that'll make you feel uncomfortable."

Despite your facade, Akaashi knew that you were forcing yourself to act unbothered. It wasn't really hard to figure you out. Like a book, he could read you within seconds and know exactly what you were thinking and how you were feeling, and at this moment, he knew that you were just pretending.

For the sake of not making you feel uncomfortable and guilty, Akaashi nodded before continuing his explanation regarding the story.

Surprisingly, you stayed true to your words. You didn't say anything out of the line nor forced your confession to him. Akaashi admired you for that since most of the girls whom asked him for help from the past were only after his looks and the sake of getting in his pants.

As your session came to an end, you stretched your arms out. You released a breath of relief before smiling at him. "Thank you so much for teaching me, and I'm sorry for taking so much of your time."

You started keeping your things and piling up the books you're going to borrow from the library. Standing up, you gave him a small bow before grabbing your bag. "I'll see you around then?"

Akaashi just nodded and watched as you made your way out of the library, not knowing how hard you were gripping the books you had in your hand.

That night, you cried your eyes out. Sure, at your age, it may seem childish to cry over someone, but this was Akaashi we're talking about.

The Akaashi Keiji.

The one whom you've liked ever since your first year in college. The one you've liked the moment you saw him sleeping inside a nearly empty library, several cups of coffee and littered paper surrounding his table as if he had been studying the whole night. The one who never noticed you but you never failed to notice.

Your Akaashi, or at least in your dreams, he was yours.

You stared at the now empty tub of icecream on your lap and sniffled. Grabbing another roll of tissue, you began to wipe your tears and your runny nose before playing another cliche romance movie to soothe your broken heart.

-

Your study sessions with Akaashi continued for a couple more weeks but unlike your previous meetings, you weren't as enthusiastic.

You were focused and attentive, but it just wasn't the same. Akaashi noticed how you would try to put a bit of distance between the two of you, how you would avoid looking at him in the eye, and how you avoided touching him.

But what he noticed the most, were your swollen eyes the day after you confessed to him. He knew that there was only a 50% chance that it was because of how you were rejected by him, and yet he felt an immense feeling of regret. The moment he saw you, he realized that he never wanted to see you like that again.

But he didn't know how to approach you. No, you didn't ignore him like the other girls do. You also didn't say any nasty remarks nor talk shit about him.

What you did was pretend as if everything was okay, as if nothing happened. It felt normal... too normal.

And it terrified him.

One time during your break, you slipped a test paper in front of him, a big A+ written on the sheet of paper making Akaashi lift his eyes from the paper towards you.

"You did good," Akashi said with a proud smile.

"Mhm, I guess I did," you said before taking the paper from him. "I wouldn't have gotten this score if it weren't for you though. Thank you."

He shook his head no before leaning back on his chair. "That was all on you. All I did was guide you."

"This might be our last study session."

"What?" Akaashi said as he stared at you with an expression you can't quite decipher.

"I mean... I don't think I need any more help. I feel like I can manage on my own already and I've no one to thank but you." You looked away from him before continuing, "I think it would benefit the two of us if we stop this already. While I'm grateful for you, I don't think that it's good for me anymore. I thought that if I acted like it didn't matter then it wouldn't, but Keiji..."

"No," Akashi said with a shake of his head.

"What do you.."

"I don't want to stop this." Gripping his hair, Akaashi, took in a deep breath before reaching for your hand.

"Y/n, I don't want to go back to how things were before. I don't want to be just your classmate. I'll miss how you would stare off into space and daydream while I'm explaining to you and I'm going to miss how you would make up answers just to prove that you were listening when in fact you weren't. I'm going to miss you, and I know that if we stop this study sessions... I may never get the opportunity to be this close to you again, and I don't like that."

Akaashi squeezed your hand in his and intertwined your fingers. "I like you. I like you so much that it scares me."

"Keiji.. look at me, please," you said softly as you tried to take your hand back.

Feeling your movements, Akaashi tightened his hold on you and shook his head no. "Y/n..."

"I'm not going to leave," you assured him and smiled when he finally let go of your hand.

Akaashi watched as you stood up from your seat and made your way to his side. He was then surprised when you suddenly sat on his lap and wrapped your arms around him.

"Did you really mean what you said?" you asked which made him immediately nod.

"Of course. I really do like you." Akaashi carefully wrapped his arms around your waist, watching for any negative reaction, and pulling you closer when he didn't receive any. "You're sitting on my lap and basically hugging me. Does this mean that you still like me?"

"Of course, Keiji," you said with a smile.

"Then..." Akaashi collected your hair to one side and gently placed his hand on your nape, his eyes traveling down from your eyes to your lips. "Can I kiss you?"

With a simple nod from you, Akaashi pressed his lips against yours.

a/n: yes, you made out in the library. This is Akaashi were talking about and there's no way I wont take the opportunity to make out with him in the library lmao.

Osamu Miya

You were one of the lucky fans of the Miya twins, specifically Osamu's

Why? Because you're Aran Ojiro's sister and that meant that you can freely see your crush any time of the day

The team basically treats you as their own sister

Although it gives you a lot of perks, it also had its disadvantages

Because no matter how much you try hinting your feelings towards a certain Miya, he just won't acknowledge it

In fact, you didn't get along with him

Unlike the rest of the team, Osamu would always pick on you

You actually didn't expect it to happen because you thought that Atsumu was the playful one among them

But boy did Osamu prove you wrong

There weren't any time of the day that you won't pick at each other, spouting remarks here and there until the other gives up

It never went overboard though. You both knew your limits and when to stop

Or at least that's what you thought

Because today, he chose to target the wrong topic

You were currently seated in the middle of the court with the rest of the team. All of you were in the form of a circle with an empty bottle in the middle.

It was Atsumu's idea to play a game of truth or dare before you all go home. According to him, it would be effective on "cooling" off their bodies from the intense practice. Even Kita was forced to participate, thanks to Atsumu's constant whining.

With a wide grin, Atsumu spun the bottle which made most of you take in a deep breath due to the anticipation.

Finally, the bottle stopped. The tip was pointed at you while the other side was pointed towards Atsumu.

"Y/n! How lucky of ya! Truth or dare?" he asked with a wiggle of his brows.

"Truth." You couldn't help but roll your eyes after that, knowing that what's to come will probably be something silly.

Except it wasn't.

"Then... If yer given the chance to date someone from the team, who would it be?" Atsumu asked proudly, giving Osamu a side glance before focusing on you again.

You heard your brother groaning from beside you making you giggle. Placing his arm on top of your head, Aran gave each of the members a glare.

"Hm... I'd probably date 'S-"

Before you could even finish your sentence, Osamu let out a loud chuckle. All eyes snapped to his direction, watching him in confusion.

"Sorry, sorry," Osamu said after composing himself. "Did ya really have to ask that? Of course she'd pick Suna. Haven't ya notice the way she looks at him every practice?"

"Huh?" Suna muttered absentmindedly, his eyes lifting up from his phone towards Osamu.

"Don't even try denying it, y/n. Plus, even if ya try, I know Suna will basically reject ya. I mean, I can't even stand ya. If it were me, I'd reject ya on the spot. Yer annoying and too loud and that thing ya do with yer hand when yer explaining? Super annoying. Ah! And don't ferget the way yer nose scrunches when yer deep in thought," Osamu said without any pause.

Once he was done, he titled his head a bit to the side, trying to peek at your face that was now casted downwards, your hair covering most of your face. "Oh, are ya crying? Did I ruin yer confession?"

To his surprise, there were indeed tears streaming down your cheeks when you lifted your head up. Everyone grew silent, completely shocked at the sight.

"I was going to confess to you, dumbass." With that, you stood up, grabbed your bag and ran out of the gym.

Aran immediately stood up to follow you, but not before throwing a glare to Osamu.

Atsumu, who was the first to break the silence, turned towards his twin. "Okay, I know that I'm dumber among the two of us but that was a real jerk move right there, 'Samu."

Osamu could only stare at the gym doors with shock and regret written on his face.

"You're on the bench until I'm sure that you and y/n-san made up," Kita simply said before standing up. "Game's over. Let's all go home."

-

The following days, you avoided Osamu like a plague. It even reached the point that you have to eat lunch inside your classroom instead of eating with the team like you usually do.

Even Aran was pissed at Osamu. Aran knew that a playful banter was normal between you and Osamu but never had it ever reached this point.

You were basically crying all night when you arrived home and if not for Aran's patience, you wouldn't have went home in the first place. When you left the gym, your brother found you in a nearby park, your knees up to your chest and your head hidden from view.

He wasn't oblivious about your feelings towards Osamu but he never mentioned about since he wanted you to tell him or any of the members when you're comfortable enough. It was only unfortunate that the moment you felt confident enough to confess, Osamu had to pull that shit on you.

"C'mon, Aran. I need to talk to them," Osamu pleaded as he tried to get pass your brother.

Aran stood firmly infront of your apartment, his arms crossed over his chest and his figure blocking the door. "You really have the audacity to march your way to our apartment after the shit you put my sibling through? What, you got tired of sitting on the bench during matches? Can't impress your fanclub anymore? Go home, Miya."

"I'm sorry, okay? I wanted to apologize to them but they've been avoiding me. This is my last resort." Osamu said and gripped his hair in frustration.

Once he saw a peek of you trying to hide yourself behind a wall, Osamu immediately grabbed the opportunity. "Y/n, I'm sorry! Talk to me, please!  I... I don't know what to do anymore. I'm sorry..."

You soften at the pleading voice of Osamu and revealed yourself from behind the wall. Walking over to the door, you placed a hand on Aran's shoulder. "Give us space to talk, please?"

Your brother threw a glance at Osamu and sighed at the determined look on his face. "Alright," he muttered before turning towards you. "Call me if anything happens, alright?"

Upon hearing you hum in agreement, Aran placed a hand on your head to ruffle your hair, chuckling as he heard you whining before he went out.

You invited Osamu inside your apartment, making sure to close the door before settling yourselves on the living room.

"Water?" you asked out of courtesy but Osamu only shook his head no. "Talk then."

Osamu felt an unsettling feeling inside him at your dismissive tone. "I'm sorry," he mumbled.

"I was used to havin' banters with ya that I didn't realize that I was already sayin' too much. I didn't mean to hurt yer feelings, y/n. I know that it may sound ridiculous considerin' how harsh I was to ya but I really didn't mean those words."

You listened attentively to him as he continued to apologize, your tears once again flowing down your cheeks as you remembered everything that happened. "I really like you, 'Samu. I don't even know how or why but I just do and I guess I was hurt, not only because you rejected me but also humiliated me. I don't deserve that," you said and brought your knees up to your chest, clutching the throw blanket as you sobbed.

Osamu was beside you in an instant, his arms enclosing you as he pulled you to his lap. "I know...I know. I'm sorry," he whispered as he rubbed your back soothingly. "I guess I got blinded by jealousy. I thought that ya were going to say Suna's name so I assumed that ya like him."

Wiping your nose with the sleeve of the hoodie you're wearing, you looked up at him with a frown. "Jealousy? I thought you hated me. Why would you even feel jealous?"

"Do I really have to spell it out fer ya?" Seeing you nod, Osamu sighed and pressed your face to his chest in order to hide his flustered cheeks. "I like ya, okay? I always pick on ya because I wanted yer attention. I didn't actually expect ya to fight back but ya did. That's why I was intrigued by ya, and if ya still like m-"

"Yes," you answered without even letting him finish. With your face still buried to his chest, you could hear his heartbeat picking up. You pulled away from the hug and looked up at him, you cheeks still slightly damp from crying.

"Yer not kiddin'?" Osamu asked as he stared at you, his hand reaching up to wipe your cheeks with his thumb.

"I'm not. I'm still a little hurt so you have to make it up to me, but my feelings? They're still here," you answered honestly.

A smile made its way to Osamu's lips upon hearing what you said. Pressing his forehead with yours, he tightened his arms around your waist to hold you closer. "Thank ya fer givin' me another chance, angel."

After making up and stealing kisses here and there, you and Osamu decided to cuddle on the couch, your back against his chest and his arm resting against your waist.

It safe to say that when Aran came back, the most sour expression made its way to his face. It hadn't even been two weeks when he witnessed you literally crying your eyes out and now, he comes back to you sleeping on the couch with the man that made you cry.

"Fuck my life," Aran muttered with a groan.

Likes, comments and reblogs are appreciated ♥️

[uselesslesbiab]

How about hcs for the Phantom Thieves finding out Ren's been found out as their leader by like 9 people (one of which is an elementary schooler). I imagine they'd be cool with Sojiro knowing cause he's the group dad (no I will not accept otherwise) but they would not be cool about some of the others (especially if they find out some of the shit he's had to do for them).

Ooh I’ve had ideas about this for a long time and I wanted to write a full fic about it but I probably won’t any time soon. The idea was gonna be post interrogation scene Ren is forcibly put on bed rest so all his confidants come over to help him and the other phantom thieves out instead of Ren having to go see them. This might be a longer post so I guess I’ll separate the bullet points based on each phantom thief?? Just so I don’t forget anyone.

Morgana doesn’t get reactions for obvious reasons. Also this kinda turned into which confidants they would get along with the most oops. Mishima is also not mentioned since they all know that he knows and runs the Phan-site

Ryuji

His “For real?!” gets louder every time someone new walks in the door

He doesn’t really think it’s a big deal that these people know. If Ren trusts them, then he trusts them.

He’s super impressed by Shinya and they actually get along really well since Ryuji’s still a kid at heart. Shinya thinks his dyed hair and attitude is cool. (CEOs of cuffing their pants so high it looks ridiculous).

Chihaya scams him out of his money so fast it makes his head spin. Ren makes her give it back but his ego takes a beating.

Politics bore him to tears, but he likes the sound of Yoshida’s voice and the way he really listens to young people. “It’s like he totally gets us ya know? You’re alright old man!”

He has a nice talk with Kawakami where she apologizes for treating him like a troublemaker just because of what the other teachers said about him.

Ann

She’s extremely surprised and a little embarrassed that all these people know about them. “Ugh you’re worse at keeping this a secret than Ryuji!”

She starts complimenting Takemi’s goth fashion immediately and is totally in love with her style

She gets along well with Ohya too. The worlds of modeling and journalism are far from strangers, so they have a lot to talk about.

She gets along surprisingly well with Hifumi considering they’re almost polar opposites. Hifumi briefly mentions that she likes sweets and Ann invites her out for crepes on the spot.

Yusuke

Yusuke is disappointed in Ren of course and tells him as much, but he gets distracted before he can finish scolding him.

He’s absolutely fascinated by Chihaya and her fortune telling. He doesn’t have any money for her to take but she gives him a free reading anyway because he just looked so excited she couldn’t say no.

Yusuke and Hifumi really hit it off once they start talking about the phantom thieves and end up becoming good friends. She’s his first friend he’s ever made at school.

He calls Iwai a true artist when he sees his skill at making model guns. He demands to witness the entire crafting and detail process from start to finish. Iwai sees another kid with no parents and immediately goes into dad mode.

Makoto

Makoto isn’t angry, but she sure as hell isn’t happy either. As the strategist, she immediately recognizes and connects the confidants with the mementos targets that were troubling them.

She turns to Ren immediately and just goes “What in the hell is wrong with you”

After she gets over scolding him for being so reckless, she actually finds herself enjoying the company of Yoshida and Ohya especially

She talks to Yoshida and Ohya about her father and the injustice in the political system.

Makoto is really great with kids and Shinya kinda flocks over to her at some point and asks a bunch of questions about her role in the phantom thieves. Shooter arcade games are actually the only games she’s ever played, so they talk about Gun About strategy a lot.

Futaba

“Okay I got given so much much shit for letting Sojiro find out and Ren was doing this the whole time?!! You guys suck!”

She brags about her gaming skills to Shinya of course and challenges him to a Gun About competition.

Takemi sees her and immediately starts ranting off about how she needs to take care of her health and how her vitamin D is deficient and how she should get tested for this this and this and-

Futaba zones out but the feeling of having an adult female figure care about her well-being makes her smile.

Kawakami hears about her shut in nature and commits to tutoring her on the exact subjects she’ll need to know for the high school entrance exam. (Futaba may be incredibly smart but we all know the bullshit high school asks us to learn about. She doesn’t learn stuff she doesn’t have an interest in.)

Haru

Like Ryuji, she puts her faith in Ren and decides to trust these people.

She absolutely ADORES Iwai and his model guns. She fawns over their design and tries to pick up all the heaviest ones. He’s extremely flustered and thrown off at first because she’s this 5’2 tiny girl wearing a fluffy pink sweater and is rambling off facts she knows about all these guns.

Even so, Iwai is a dad at heart. The second he finds out she’s an orphan he practically adopts her on the spot. Haru is happy to finally have a male figure in her life that she can feel safe with and look up to.

She’s too smart to fall for Chihaya’s traps but she indulges in the fortune telling anyway. Only as a subtle way to give her some money.

[wakaoujisenhime]

My congratulations with 200 followers! Can I ask scenario about Akashi's girlfriend suddenly finds out about his second identity, but she isn't scared and she accepts him?

A/N: So, with this one, I wasn’t entirely sure which setting I should put it in. I was between her finding out when he first ‘transformed’ and discovering it when he reverted back to his Teiko self. In the end, I decided to pick something in between and something entirely different, so I hope you’ll like what I came up with. ( ꈍДꈍ )

Tags: Akashi x reader ✅  SFW ✅  fluff ✅  slight angst ✅

image/art source: Twitter (art by eijo_q)

━━━━☆ ━━━━☆ ━━━━☆

A slight tint of red - Akashi x reader

You’ve been looking at these heterochromatic eyes for as long as you can remember—those cold and lonely pair of eyes that belonged to your beloved boyfriend, Akashi.

The captain of Japan’s most popular and most feared team was unrivaled in many aspects, and that trait made him a highly respected individual amongst his peers. Unfortunately, that respect also bore negative feelings such as fear, hatred, and jealousy that were the main reasons people decided to avoid his presence.

But you were different. Those rumors didn’t face you in any way; if anything, they motivated you to actually find out more about the man who earned himself countless titles.

The moment you two first looked into each other’s eyes, shivers went down your spine, and if your memory didn’t betray you, then he probably felt the same way. Back then, you felt like you couldn’t move for a slight moment, but thanks to your friends and his teammates, who brought you back to reality, the two of you snapped out of it quicker than you might have wanted.

It took you both quite a while to actually start a conversation since he wasn’t usually the type to initiate such things. At the same time, you, on the other hand, were either too shy or unsure whether you interpreted the short connection you guys had correctly or not. But when you finally succeeded, neither of you had to struggle and find a suiting topic; the conversation just started developing on its own. And after a few months during which you had several interactions with the red-haired young man, it became evident that you had fallen in love with him, so now came the question whether you should confess to him or not, when and how...

Much to your surprise, you had the support of many of his classmates and basketball team members. They repeatedly encouraged you, saying just how good the two of you got along and how his mood had improved when he was with you. Needless to say, that boosted your confidence to a certain degree and gave you the needed courage to begin your quest.

Unfortunately for you, your attempts didn’t differ much from how you normally treated and talked to him. Still, you were determined to continue giving it your best until he either realizes it or until you found the best time to confess.

But your plans weren’t including the most important chess piece in this story, namely Akashi.

While you were forging one plan after the other, you were completely unaware of how the red-haired young man had seen past your actions and was already aware of the feelings you harbored for him. He knew, but he chose to remain silent and wait until you felt prepared enough to tell him.

And then one day, you finally stood before him with your cheeks slightly flushed and your eyes wandering but never focusing on the person before you. You were an adorable sight for him to behold, but he didn’t want to uselessly torture you any further, so he decided to initiate the dialogue.

“Is everything alright (Y/N)..?”

The gentleness in his voice caught you off guard, but it also helped to get the ball rolling, and before you knew, your confession was already in full swing. Firstly, you began reassuring him that everything was alright, that he needn’t worry about you, and that the reason you called him was a positive one. After a short break, you then proceeded to reveal all the feelings you’ve been harboring for him...

When you were done, he remained silent for a short while and gave you his answer...an answer that surprised you.

“Then today marks our first day as an official couple.”

——

The first few months went by pretty well. Your boyfriend had even made sure to divide his time between his training and you equally. He even made a weekly weekend date customary for the two of you, additionally making sure that the place you went to or the activity you did never repeated itself.

But what is a relationship between two people if only one person does the entire work?

That’s what you asked him one day. Akashi was surprised, of course, but he quickly understood why you’d say that, so he decided to tone down a bit and allow you to plan some of the dates as well.

A good and loyal man whom you could call your boyfriend, who made sure you were treated like a queen and whose yellow and red eyes were always only focused on you and you alone.

Could your life get more perfect?

Or at least that’s what outsiders and bystanders would think...

You see, no matter how much Akashi tried to smile at you, there was always something bugging you about it.

At first, you decided to ignore it and thought that it was your imagination and that all he needed was a little time until he could tell you what haunted his mind, but the longer you waited, the gloomier his expression grew, and it worried you. Not only were you not used to him appearing that distanced at times, but what hurt you the most was the fact that he wasn’t even intending on sharing anything with you.

Instead of doubting his trust in you, a more direct approach was in order, so you decided to just ask him yourself; all you needed was an opportunity, and what worked better than everyone’s beloved test period?

Next to your weekly dates and your monthly horseback riding expeditions, the two of you also organized a small tutoring group where you or some of Rakuzan’s basketball members would seek Akashi’s help in topics they didn’t understand. Luckily they were not always up for studying more than they had to, so the two of you got at least some privacy from time to time. So when the exam period started, you prayed to whichever deity you believed in, to give the two of you some time together.

The moment your finger pushed the doorbell on your boyfriend’s extravagant front door, you expected to be greeted by one of his butlers, but instead were greeted by a warm embrace from your beloved.

“Hope you won’t mind that today is going to be just the two of us.”

“Oh no, not at all!”

You were overjoyed to hear this but tried to appear as calm as you could while Akashi brought you to the living room, where some papers were already splayed out on a table.

After you had taken a seat and placed the snacks you had brought with you next to the tray with some of your favorite beverages, the two of you discussed what subjects and problems you’ll be going through today. Since you truly needed some help with a few subjects, your plan to talk to him had to be postponed for a short while.

When the two of you were about to move on to the next pile of tasks, you looked at your boyfriend’s profile and began: “Hey Akashi...it’s not school-related, but I have a small question for you. Is that ok?”

You saw his red eye shift its attention to you as he nodded his head slightly, a small smile adorning his lips.

Here goes nothing...

“So, I’ve noticed that there are times during which you tend to look quite sad and troubled. At first, I thought that whatever it was, you just needed some time to process it yourself until you could tell me. Still, that plan backfired quite a bit, since your expression has been getting worse,” you stilled to let him process your line of thoughts first, and then you resumed, “I just hope that you know how much I care for you, and if I have given you the impression that I don’t, then let me apologize. Akashi, I truly care for you, more than you might think...and more than I sometimes show, so I would be really happy if you could at least entrust me with some of the thoughts that have occupied your mind.”

You took another break to look at the man next to you and immediately noticed how much his body had tensed up. Whatever you chose to say next was about to either provoke a change in your relationship or let it circle around the same iceberg as before. So you mustered all the courage within you, took his hand, squeezing it, and said: “I love you Akashi, but if we don’t talk this out now, I’m not sure if we’ll have another chance like this...”

Silence...

Whatever you just said had quite an impact on your boyfriend, more than you ever expected. His entire face went pale, and his eyes seemed unable to focus on you or your face anymore. You were worried that this topic might’ve been too big of a landmine for your fresh relationship, but there was no way for you to return anymore, so you had no choice but to go through with it.

Akashi sighed and stood up, his back turned to you. He looked so lonely that you couldn’t help but follow his lead and stand a few meters behind him, leaving your boyfriend enough free space but also maintaining a certain closeness, just in case he needed an embrace or anything of that sort.

Another short period of silence followed during which the red-haired young man looked out of his living room’s window and apparently tried to calm his nerves down for the upcoming talk.

“(Y/N), there’s something I’ve been...keeping from you for quite a while.”

I knew it...

It was no secret that you expected that to be the case, but you couldn’t help but be curious as to what that secret was, so in order to tame your curiosity and stop yourself from showering him with countless questions, you bit your lower lip. You already had a few hunches as to what that secret might or might not be, but you remained silent and waited for him to finally tell you what’s been on his mind for so long...

His lips were moving, his eyes were focused on one of the many random trees in his courtyard, his hands were trembling, and all you could do was stand there and listen...listen to the most unexpected confession.

“A...second personality, you say?”

Akashi nods, and even though he turns around, his eyes never meet yours; they just blankly stare at something behind you. Usually, you would’ve followed his view, but you already knew what those beautiful eyes of his were fixated on.

His childhood photos...

Even if his confession of having a second personality sounded quite far-fetched at first, now that the both of you were silent, you had some time to actually think it over, and much to your surprise, it made sense...to a certain degree, at least. His eye’s sudden change in color and the abrupt disappearance of his angelic smile from his middle school’s days were drastic developments in a brief span of time, judging by the intervals in which the photos were taken. When you first noticed this peculiarity, you thought that either something on a biological level or something bad in general had happened, so you had made up your mind to drop it for the time being. Who would’ve thought that you’d be getting an answer to that as well today?

“I-I’m sorry (Y/N)...if my story sounds too unbelievable or too unrealistic for you, then please feel free to label it as some kind of fairytale I came up with to put your mind at ease.“

You squinted your eyes, trying to comprehend just what kind of nonsense your boyfriend was coming up with, and before you could even think of an answer, your mouth was already open, throwing the first things that came to your mind at him.

“What if I choose to believe you, though? What would you do then Akashi? Would you push me away like all the other times, or would you keep on pretending that everything’s alright? Huh? Tell me...“

The young man was clearly taken aback by your direct questions, but he recovered quickly and turned his back to you, mumbling something about you not being able to grasp the true meaning behind his words and how you couldn’t handle his true self.

He must’ve thought that you weren’t going to hear his self-talk, but you did...and what you heard made you extremely mad. Pure rage clouded your judgment, and the next thing you knew was how Akashi’s back was pressed against the wall and how your hands were gripping his shirt’s collar.

“How dare you say something like that?! Do you really think that I’m that insensible and shallow?”

You continuously threw your feelings and thoughts at him, not noticing just how worked up you truly were. At one point, though, Akashi just couldn’t take it anymore and wrapped his arms around your trembling body, pulling it towards his chest where you could continue to cry. Now that you were enveloped in that oh so familiar warmth, you just couldn’t keep on screaming at him, so you just closed your eyes, held onto him, and tried stopping your tears from ruining his already crumpled shirt. While you were doing that, he placed his hand on top of your head and stroked it gently, calming you down even further.

“(Y/N)...I’m truly sorry, I never intended to doubt you; it’s just tha-“

“Don’t apologize Akashi...I understand”

He wanted to tell you just how scared he was of your reaction because you were one of the few people he trusted enough to tell this to, and all the others who saw, experienced, and even knew of his change ended up being either weirded out or too scared. 

But you were different, and even if he knew that, he just couldn’t risk losing the light of his life, and that’s why he decided to keep it a secret from you, up until now. When he saw how mad you got for his sake, how sad it made you the moment you found out just how heavy this has weighed on his mind, it made him understand that even if you were scared somewhere deep down, you’d still look for a way to make him feel better and try your best to understand him. 

That realization was all he needed as he gently planted a featherlight kiss on the top of your head and raised your chin so that you could look him directly into the eyes.

At that moment, you could’ve sworn that his iconic yellow eye had a slight tint of red in it. 

I love you...

[violetwolfraven]

Javid with 20 and 21? Like from friends, teaching each other their foreign language, to dating, both fully able to speak to one another.

One of us speaks a different language and teaches the other some stuff.

and

We both speak a different language and everyone thinks we’re dirty talking but we are literally just messing with them.

Fun! I’m gonna do Hispanic!Jack here because that’s a pretty popular headcanon. And I’m writing Mike and Ike as the same because I think they are??? In real life??? Even if they’re not they are in this. Also Modern AU because that seems simpler.

((I am so sorry that this kind of sucks. I could not come up with anything good for the life of me.))

...

“So, what’s your bet?” Jack asked.

Ike shrugged, “I’m 90% sure Jojo’s got the hots for my brother, but you know, they’re both stupid and probably won’t see it, so who knows?”

This was a yearly tradition Jack had with this certain friend of his. Every year on the first day of school since 6th grade, he and Ike would place bets who would come out in the coming school year. They decided who won simply by going by whoever was closest. As this was their freshman year of high school, they’d been doing it for 3 years, and while both were pretty sure that all of their friends were gay, bi, or pan, there was always the matter of when someone would feel safe enough to admit it.

Jack was proud to say, he usually won, but so far, one of them always managed to guess correctly who was coming out this year, usually within a month of when they actually did.

“So, you think Jojo’ll come out this year?”

“It’s hard to say. He’s got issues at home. If you really wanna know my bet, I think Elmer”

“Oh, yeah. He’s got the massive hots for Buttons. I’ll take that one. I bet he comes out by the end of first semester.”

Ike snorted, “Oh, I’m betting by the end of the month.”

“The usual amount of $20?”

“Obviously. Anyone else?”

“Hmm... Sniper,” Jack decided, “By Christmas.”

“Oh, yeah. She’s a solid bet,” Ike mused, “I’m guessing by Halloween.”

“You have an unreasonable amount of faith in our friends’ self-confidence,” Jack observed.

Ike laughed, “How about the new guy? He seems like a classic closet case.”

“I’m not sure.”

“With how you’ve been looking at him, I’d place bets on you hoping he’s gay.”

Jack figured the look on his face was probably pretty good with how Ike burst out laughing.

Suddenly, Race leaned over to Jack and said something in Italian, a language they both knew damn well Jack didn’t speak.

“Racer, ya know I don’t understand ya when you talk like that.”

“Well, that,” Race flicked Jack’s forehead, “Is just how it feels, big brother!”

“What were you talking about?” Davey asked.

Davey was Jack’s new best friend (adoptive younger brothers; Crutchie, Race, and Romeo not included) who he’d met literally this morning and would already die for. Though Davey was new to the friend group, it already felt, to Jack at least, like he had been there forever.

That did not mean he felt like telling him what Ike and him had just been talking about.

Ike was laughing awkwardly.

“I heard Jojo’s name,” Davey said, seeming to be thinking out loud, “And Elmer, Buttons, and Sniper. Still, talking about your friends doesn’t narrow the possible subjects down much.”

“Hey, Ike!” Mike hollered from the other end of the group, “Get over here! Kath brought her tarot cards!”

“Oh, rad! Sorry, Jack, you’s on your own!”

Ike was all to happy to leave. Race had already started having the argument of the day with Albert. Jack was alone on this one.

“Kath does tarot readings?” Davey asked skeptically.

Jack shrugged, “She don’t really believe in that stuff. She does it cause pretendin’ she does pisses off her dad. He doesn’t need to know it ain’t even her readin’ ‘em. Elmer’s the psychic one.”

“Elmer’s psychic?”

Jack laughed. He hadn’t thought Davey’s face could hold any more skepticism, but he’d been wrong.

“Who knows? Most of his predictions do come true, though.”

“What?”

Jack laughed again, “Let him read you if ya want. You’ll see.”

“Okay. Can he tell me what you and Ike were talking about?”

Crap. Jack had hoped talking about Kath and Elmer’s psychic thing would distract him.

Long story short, Jack panicked and said something sarcastic and mildly flirty.

“Learn Spanish and I’ll tell ya everything.”

Davey chuckled, “That’s cold, Kelly.”

“Maybe.”

“Well, I am signed up for Spanish. Maybe you’ll just have to teach me what you know.”

Jack was honestly quite surprised by that.

Did Davey just flirt with him?

Before he could be sure, Davey gave him one last smile and headed over towards where Elmer was shuffling Kath’s tarot cards.

...

Spoiler alert: Davey was flirting with him. Jack quite honestly couldn’t believe his luck, because after a few months of Spanish tutoring and dancing around their feelings, they finally went on an actual date, and if you hit the fast forward button to junior year, they were still going strong.

And Jack had always been somewhat of a... dad friend for pretty much everyone else in his group, but he hadn’t even realized how hard that could be until suddenly, he was getting help from a boyfriend who many of the friend group had jokingly started referring to as ‘mom.’

Also, Davey was damn near fluent in Spanish, now, thanks to the class at school combined with being close with more than a few kids who’d grown up speaking it.

Oh, yeah. And Ike won the bet about Elmer coming out within the month. Jack won the one about Sniper coming out around Christmas time. In short, they were even.

Well, Jack felt like the lucky one, having gotten a boyfriend, but Ike got one about a year later, so... yeah, actually, they were still even.

“What are you thinking about?” Davey asked in Spanish. His accent was still not great, but it was definitely better than it was freshman year.

“Nothing,” Jack said before getting an idea, “But you know what we should do?”

“What?”

“We should pretend to flirt in Spanish.”

“What?” Davey looked super confused, “Why?”

“Because it’ll be funny.”

Mike, being in earshot, sniggered, seeming to agree. Jojo looked a little confused, but he was smiling, too.

Davey rolled his eyes, then lowered his voice to what could be considered a flirty tone, “Like this?”

“Just like that. Fantastic. Let’s mess with them and see how long it takes for someone to tell us to get a room.”

“I don’t really understand why you find that funny, but sure, if you want to. What should we actually talk about?”

“How about flowers? I need to get a certain friend something for her birthday. She said she likes flowers, so do you know what ‘you-know-who’s’ favorite flower is?”

“Why can’t you just say my sister’s name?”

“Because then they’ll suspect something. What’s her favorite flower?”

“I don’t know. I think she likes tulips. And I like lilies, by the way. It’s my birthday, too.”

“Oh, noted, love.”

Mike and Jojo seemed to be helping them, using body language that said they were super uncomfortable. As the only other two at the table who spoke or understood Spanish, Jack could only hope this would work.

Mike tilted his phone so they could see the screen. It was running a timer for how long it would take for someone to tell them to get a room.

Davey smirked cheekily, “You know what she really likes? Yarn crafts. She makes scarves and sweaters. You know this.”

“Oh, yeah,” Jack put his hand on Davey’s knee, “I forgot about that. What’s her favorite color again?”

“Yellow. Well... it changes every week. Just get her whatever color. She’ll be happy.”

They kept talking like that, acting like they were flirting but talking about mundane topics, until, sure enough, Specs told them to get a room.

Impressive. Mike’s clock read that it took their friends seven minutes to notice.

Jack was definitely glad that Davey learned Spanish.

[goatrune]

dunisian trio headcanon dump? always.

Lazarel

-gets extremely stressed about grades, teresa’s always learned things quick and easily, but he has a hard time focusing and remembering the material, so he works a lot harder to stay at the same level as her

-leg bouncing, all. the. time. also can’t sit still for more than 10 minutes unless he’s sleeping, in which case he probably won’t be awake for at least 9 hours

-can and will sleep anywhere

-favorite food is his own cooking, but he misses the meals he’d have in the dunisian palace when he and teresa would hang out with cesar

-genuinely enjoys large crowds and parties, but always sticks to a friend’s side in fear of being alone (if he doesn’t know many people there)

-cesar was his first crush, he’d be lying if he said he didn’t have some feelings for him still deep down

-teresa has and always will be his best friend/the person he can confide in without being nervous or leaving out parts of a story that makes him look stupid

-his favorite disney movie would be Robin Hood

Teresa

-tea. she has an abundance of it, and when carrying a purse she has at LEAST 3-4 tea bags of different flavors

-if she had to pick a favorite disney movie, it’d be beauty and the beast

-admired cesar’s confidence when they were children, she asked him to tutor her with subjects she struggled with and they formed a bond over that

-she had a difficult time choosing between twin swords like lazarel or a sword and a shield, but seeing how twin swords didn’t have much defense and relied more on power she opted for the shield

-enjoys cliche fantasy novels and historical fiction

Cesar

-has a bunch of scars on his chest/torso after an encounter with a troll when he was a teenager, which is why he wears tight shirts and a breastplate 99% of the time

-(post game events) he developed a sort of separation anxiety from lazarel and teresa, so he’d find any excuse he could to travel to accordia to visit them

-cesar’s father was the reason he and the other two went their separate ways, pulling cesar from the academy to focus on his training, lazarel hated cesar’s father for this

-has a pair of reading glasses that makes him look like a hot librarian, he hates it and refuses to wear them

-enjoys lazarel’s cooking more than the palace food, it doesn’t always taste that great but he always looks so happy cooking so cesar ignores the imperfections (but he does complain sometimes because it isn’t perfect)

-his favorite disney movie would be Hercules

About all 3

-once got lost in the wildwood and cesar took the blame, despite it being lazarel’s idea

-cesar used “study group” as an excuse for the two to come over, only to not study whatsoever and practice their magic at the training ground

-teresa would get discouraged watching lazarel and cesar play around with their powers, since she had a hard time mastering her abilities, but they always stopped to help her catch up

-lazarel and teresa always liked to steal cesar’s cape and hide it in some obscure place, so cesar had scarves made for the them so they wouldn’t have to steal his (but that didn’t stop them)

[hiccanna-tidbits]

Hiccanna 100 OTP Questions Meme--Part 1

So I saw this 100 Questions About Your OTP post, and I decided to do them for Hiccanna! And...I am never doing one of these memes again, because this took forever XD I decided to split it in two to avoid just creating a giant Monster Post. QUESTION SOURCE: https://the-moon-dust-writings.tumblr.com/post/159857601812/100-otp-questions 1. Who loves flower crowns more? Anna is highkey obsessed with them! Especially kinda lopsided weird ones with sunflowers and shit. Hiccup likes them a lot too but is too embarrassed to ever admit it 2. Who is the one who likes to cuddle? Probably Anna tbh, she’s extremely huggy and cuddly and basically always initiates the cuddle sessions. Hiccup is secretly super grateful for this because he’s actually touch-starved as all hell but absolutely is not aware of it like cmon do you think big tough Stoic hugged him a lot growing up??? Kinda doubt it tbh 3. Who has awful taste in music? Depends on who you ask XD Hiccup has exactly 2 Music Moods--Stuffy classical orchestal stuff with a bunch of fancy violin and flute and whatnot, and edgy underground alternative hipster nonsense from bands no one has ever heard of. Anna, meanwhile, is a simple woman, who listens almost exclusively to shitty, catchy-butvery-unoriginal Top 40 hits and belts along with them to the radio, much to Hiccup’s chagrin XD 4. Who is the meme lover? A N N A she is a memelord supreme 5. How did their second date go? An...oddly specific question XD But I’ll take a stab at it. I imagine on their first date they went to see some high fantasy epic movie with fancy CGI (they’d both be HELLA into that--Anna for the magic and epic romances and Hiccup for the interesting magical creatures) and then gushed about it for hours afterwards, so their second date might be something a bit more lowkey where they’d just talk and hang out. I feel like they both probably are coffee addicts, so...a coffee shop date, maybe? And Anna gets some kinda chocolate pastry, of course! 6. How many children do they want/have? Tbh unpopular opinion probably, but I actually don’t think Hiccup and Anna would necessarily want kids??? They’re definitely the kind of couple who would love exploring the world and taking spontaneous adventures together, and you can do a lot less of that when kids are typing you down. Not to mention I think the full-time responsibility of having a kid would be pretty exhausting to Anna in particular, as someone who identifies with her a lot and has never wanted kids because even thinking about it makes me tired XD I mean sure, Anna has a nurturing side that comes out with Elsa sometimes, but she doesn’t have to use that ALL THE TIME (since Elsa is a grown-ass adult usually capable of sound judgement) like she would with a kid. But ALL THAT SAID if they DID end up having kids I don’t think they’d go too crazy with it, probably just 1. Or 2 at the VERY most. 7. Who hides the weapons? You mean like...in an AU where they’re infiltrating an enemy fortress or something? Probably Anna, since she’s the more innocent and harmless-looking of the two XD 8. Who is the better dancer? They both can’t dance for SHIT it’s absolutely cringeworthy but probably Anna at the end of the day because she probably spent a lot of time practicing in those empty ballrooms 9. Do/Did they have a theme wedding? They’d probably want to have some kind of a magic high fantasy theme, since they’d both be hella into that--and then it ends up morphing into “Dragons and Princesses” XD Anna ends up getting over-the-top fancy princess dresses for all of her bridesmaids and Hiccup has the time of his damn life making basically everything in the buffet dragon-themed. The cake is like half dark green or black scale-patterned and half fancy-patterned spring green tiers. It’s quite the event of the decade! 10. What do their parents think of them dating? Valka absolutely ADORES Anna and thinks she’s perfect for her son--the perfect blend of cheerful and compassionate when she needs to encourage him, but also badass and tough-spirited to protect him when she needs to. Stoic doesn’t really like Anna at first--he’s under the (mistaken) impression that she’s a wimp and finds her bubbliness kind of grating and annoying, and generally worries that dating her will just make Hiccup even more of a wimp. He’d rather him date a no-nonsense tough-as-nails asskicker like Astrid in hopes it would toughen him up. However, once Stoic sees Anna do something like punch someone out with no hesitation when they pick on her and Hiccup, Stoic comes around to Anna VERY quickly XD I feel like Agnar and Iduna would just be happy to see their daughter dating a sweet, dorky guy who loves her with all of her being and appreciates her for who she is. As long as he treats her well and makes her feel loved (which he most certainly would because he’s a precious cinnamon roll), he gets their stamp of approval. And hey, anything is an improvement over Hans XD 11. Are they a super sappy couple? Nah. I imagine they do a lot of PDA and probably hold hands or kiss in public a lot, but they’re not like...overly gooey in how they talk to each other, if that makes any sense. If anything, their flirting is painfully awkward, even AFTER they get together XD So much so that when they try to hit on each other in front of their friends their friends are like “oh my god STOP this is too much secondhand cringe for me to bear” 12. How did they get together? I like to imagine they’re friends for a long while but both of them fully 100% believe that the other is ridiculously out of their league and they’re irreparably trapped in the friendzone and one day they’re hanging out with their friends and awkwardly flirting with each other (but of couRse the other person isn’t FLIRTING they’re just being NICE they both figure) and finally Jack just shouts “oh my god will you two just fuck already???” and after a few minutes of utter mortification they just have the world’s most awkward love confession XD Anna finally relents and asks Hiccup on a date, and of course he says yes! 13. Who asked the other to get married? I can honestly imagine either of them asking but probably Hiccup. And he’s SO nervous about it that he starts straight stuttering the first few times he tries to ask and has to stop and change the subject XD He probably gets it finally after like...the 5th time. 14. Who stays up too late and makes stupid jokes? A N N A 100% I headcanon that she has pretty bad insomnia (that’s why she has such a hard time waking up and is so tired in the morning!) so she stays up to the wee hours of the morning with her brain spinning with incredibly weird thoughts and her sense of humor becomes nigh indecipherable after 3 am. 15. Who is the nerd? Hiccup obviously is this even a question??? He spends all day collecting dragon facts and lore and building weird scientific contraptions to help crippled dragons fly WHAT A NERD  16. Who knows the most obscure facts? Hiccup again, he knows so many dragon factoids and random scientific shit that Anna sometimes wonders how he manages to fit anything else in there 17. Who makes the other a flower crown? Anna! She makes ones for both herself and Hiccup and Hiccup begrudgingly wears his but secretly thinks it’s pretty and likes it because it reminds him of his dorky gf :3 18. Who likes to read? Both! I mean Hiccup obviously does because, as established above, he is a nerd, but Anna has canonically read every book in the Arendelle castle library, some twice, so she doesn’t NOT like to read. Hiccup probably reads more, though, between the two of them--Anna often doesn’t really have the attention span for it. 19. Who bothers the other person while the other person reads? ANNA she loves to constantly hang over Hiccup’s shoulder when he reads and drape herself all over him like a needy cat like “PAY ATTENTION TO MEEEEE” and Hiccup just lets out a defeated sigh and starts playing with her hair while reading and hopes this will be enough to appease the little gremlin It usually is 20. Who tutors the other? Hiccup tutors Anna, but she HATES having to ask and is actually pretty insecure about school just generally not coming as naturally to her as it does to Hiccup, so he’s always super patient and understanding with her and tries his very best to never get annoyed or frustrated if she doesn’t catch onto something right away. He doesn’t want her to ever feel stupid because he imagines it feels the same to her as when people call him weak and useless. Slowly but surely, he’s saving Anna’s grades--and building her confidence! 21. Do they have similar taste in movies? Hell yeah! They love that high fantasy shit. I also like to think Hiccup manages to get Anna into some sci-fi and Anna manages to get Hiccup into romcoms (ONLY the good ones, he insists, as he would not be caught dead watching a shitty romcom!) 22. How do their personalities compliment each other? I mean the most obvious one here is that Hiccup’s general pessimism and cynicism compliment Anna’s optimism and cheerfulness really nicely. He would be able to keep her grounded and get her to be more realistic about things, while she would encourage him to see the positive side of bad situations and be more hopeful about things in general. Also I love the contrast of Hiccup’s intelligence and more quiet, snarky nature with Anna’s rather boisterous personality and general naivitey (sp?) and energy. They’re like a downplayed version of the “the grumpy one is soft for the sunshine one” trope and I think that’s beautiful. Also, they’d both be great at soothing the other’s isecurities--Anna would be Hiccup’s biggest cheerleader and would believe in him like no one else did, and would stop at nothing to pull him out of it when he started spiraling into self-loathing and thinking he’s a fuck-up. Hiccup, meanwhile, would be so smitten with Anna and would think that it’s the most obvious thing in the world that she’s an amazing human being in her own rite and never has to feel like the “spare” princess living in her sister’s shadow. And saying this without a shadow of a doubt, like it’s common knowledge, is often exactly what Anna needs to hear to feel a little better about herself. 23. How do they tell everyone that they are going to be having a kid/adopting a child soon? I...honestly don’t think they’d be that extra about it??? In fact, they’d be the sort of couple who would be so UN-extra about it that it would do a full 180 and be hilarious. Like they’d be casually brunching with friends and Hiccup would just casually be like “oh by the way, Anna’s 3 months pregnant” or “oh, by the way, we just signed some adoption papers and we’re picking our new kid up on Saturday” and all of their friends would be like “wait WHAT” and Hiccup would be like “Anyways what were you saying about the newest episode of Alien Space Shooters 3000?” XD  24. Who has better fashion sense? Hiccup, probably. I mean, Astrid caught him making OUTFITS! The horror! The dude is also way more effeminate and, uh...clothing-conscientious than he realizes XD Anna has decent fashion sense, but I imagine that’s like 90% because Elsa spices up/makes her outfits since Elsa’s really more of the fashionista XD 25. Who will punch someone out if they are rude to their partner? Try bullying Hiccup when Anna’s around. I dare you. You’re gonna get a fistful of Anna Rage and a very angry redhead screaming “THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY TO MY BOYFRIEND I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU” Look this woman punched a man off a boat and knocked a wolf half a mile away with a guitar thing she absolutely takes no shits and she can and will fuck you up if you so much as lay a finger on her precious dork Hiccup thinks this is really hot btw 26. What songs do they sing together in the vehicle? For whatever reason the first songs that come to mind are “Africa” by Toto and “Don’t Stop Believin” by Journey. ALSO “Teenage Dirtbag” by Wheatus since they both are, in fact, teenage dirtbags XD It also like perfectly describes the story of a modern AU where Hiccup the Loser is secretly pining for Anna the Nice Popular Girl who is dating Hans the Douchebag but that’s neither here nor there 27. What other couple would your otp get along with? Jackunzel, Jackunzel, Jackunzel!!! Jack and Hiccup would definitely be bros, even if they are not above mercilessly roasting and/or trolling one another XD And Anna and Rapunzel would be BEST FRIENDS if they ever met and I will DIE on this hill, I legit don’t think Anna would Vibe with any other princess as hard as she vibes with Punzel. They could be ADHD disasters together XD 28. Who likes to prank the other? Anna actually turns out to be quite the closet gadfly and has a secret side that LOVES pranks and generally trolling Hiccup, much to everyone’s surprise and Hiccup’s mild dismay. It’s always pretty innocent and subtle pranks, like switching books on his bookshelf or hiding his various possessions in weird places in the house, but Anna absolutely LIVES for that long, defeated sigh he lets out when he realizes he’s Been Had. 29. Who is the one who loves to take pictures? Anna takes pictures of EVERYTHING on her phone--scenery, flowers, cute animals they come across, weird buildings, pretty fountains, Hiccup when he’s not looking, EVERYTHING XD She also bombs all her social media accounts with selfies of her and Hiccup and captions gloating about how great he is and how you WISH your boyfriend was this cool and rad and Hiccup is both embarrassed and flattered by this. 30. How would they react if they found out they were soul mates? Anna, who probably never stopped fully being a sucker for fairy tale True Love stories and all that shit, would fangirl for hours and hours. Hiccup would just go, “Oh, neat!” and go back to whatever project he was currently working on XD I mean his logic is mainly that regardless of whether it’s “magically destined” or not, he’s gonna date Anna anyway, so it really doesn’t make a scrap of difference to him whether she’s dubbed by some Mystical Higher Power as his soulmate lol  31. Where would they live? Well...SOMEWHERE in Scandinavia, since that’s canonically where both Berk and Arendelle are XD I kinda like the idea of them spending part of the year in Berk and part in Arendelle...maybe spring and summer in Berk, and fall and winter in Arendelle? I imagine spring and summer are when there’s the most interesting dragon activity in Berk, and winter’s probably pretty festive and colorful in Arendelle, if OFA is anything to go by. And the fall color is pretty too, going by Frozen 2. Seems like a good compromise, since I doubt either of them would want to permanently move away from their homes. 32. What type of dragon would they own, if they could have one? Given the shipping this question is HILARIOUSLY ironic Well it just so happens they would have a type of dragon called a Night Fury and name him Toothless XD Anna would probably have a dragon of her own too--I conversed with someone on fanfic.net and did some research into all the HTTYD dragons, and I think the one I like her most with is a sand wraith, since they live on the beach and Anna certainly seems to like the beach, if her throwaway comment complaining Elsa doesn’t have “tropical” powers is anything to go by XD 33. If they were both vampires, what type of vampires would they be? First of all, fuck you for making me google “Types of Vampires” and then getting me aggravated because like nowhere on the internet is there a straightforward list of vampire "species” that isn’t like 5 miles long or just a meme XD Welp, I couldn’t really find a list of vampire species that wouldn’t take forever to look over, so I wrote a summary for a vampire fanfic instead Anna turns first. I imagine probably Hans turns her--tricks her into falling in love with him without knowing he’s a vampire, and then biting her when she’s off-guard to basically try to make her into a spooky sex slave or something. Anna starts seeing Hiccup in secret (who she knew before--he’s still human at this point), and eventually he asks her to turn him so that he can be with her without her outliving him and also so that they can team up and fight Hans together. Anna has a lot of reservations about turning him, but finally agrees. They end up kicking Hans out of his spooky vampire castle and taking it for themselves XD Anna eventually makes the best of being a vampire, and has a blast wearing all manor of fancy dresses and throwing extravagant balls. She’s pretty bummed about never getting to gorge herself on garlic bread again, though :( Hiccup doesn’t much like it, especially since a lot of animals are scared of him now and he doesn’t Vibe with nature quite like he used to D: Nonetheless, he decides to use the immortality to do some pretty neat projects and work on his contraptions and inventions and whatnot. I imagine they eventually devolve into kind of a vigilante duo, and make a point of only hunting down and feeding on bad people who are actively hurting or abusing other people or animals. A pretty good incentive to not like...do violent crime in this AU is those creepy old wives’ tales people tell their kids like “don’t be an asshole when you grow up, or the Haddock vampires will get you!” 34. What would they dress up as, for Halloween? Well Hiccup would be some sort of dragon, obviously! Anna I have no idea...but I kinda like the idea of her just dressing up as a generic fairy tale princess and then going around with Hiccup like “oh no, this dragon kidnapped me!” Both their friends and various trick-or-treaters get a kick out of the whole bit. 35. Can they name each other’s favourite food? But of course! Anna’s is chocolate, krumkake, and sandwiches, and Hiccup’s is crabcakes (yes, all this is actually canon! I do my research for fanfiction thank you very much lol). And you can bet they surprise each other by buying one another’s favorite foods all the time! 36. Do they have pet names for one another? In my fanfic I always have Hiccup come up with SO MANY for Anna, like in my Fire!Anna AU fanfic alone I have Fire Hazard, Firecracker, and probably a few others I can’t remember One headcanon I really like is that whenever Anna is especially ready to attempt to kick the ass of something she really should NOT fight (such as a giant snowman), Hiccup physically has to hold her back and goes “Whoa, slow down there, tiger” and this happens so frequently that eventually it gets shortened to just calling her Tiger XD And hey, with the orange hair and the feistiness, it still fits! As for Anna, she usually just calls Hiccup Dragon Boy or Nerd XD 37. How do they cheer each other up? I imagine Hiccup probably tries to distract Anna from whatever’s bothering her by making her laugh and talking in dumb accents or imitating his dad XD Anna would probably try to help Hiccup stay optimistic about a bad situation and try to point out the positives, but more in an encouraging way than like...an obnoxious, condescending “oh, it could be worse, count your blessings!” kind of way. And Anna has so much peppy energy about it that it actually does sometimes manage to pierce Hiccup’s cynicism and make him feel a bit better, if only for a little while before he starts once again imagining everything that could possibly go wrong XD 38. Do they show a lot of PDA? Eeeeeyup XD They looooove holding hands in public, and enjoy kissing dramatically in front of the sunset and such. I mean I imagine they don’t have hardcore makeout sessions in public or feel each other up sexually, if only because they don’t want to make people THAT uncomfortable. 39. How old were they when they got together? Depends on the AU you’re using and where in both their respective timelines they meet, but I imagine them meeting either as kids or in their early teens, and then taking so damn long to spit out how they feel that they don’t actually start dating until their late teens or early 20s. 40. Who is the one that would bring the puppy home? If it’s a puppy? Probably Anna. If it’s a kitten or a weird, injured reptile? Deeeefinitely Hiccup. 41. Can they do yoga couple’s poses? They most certainly CANNOT. I like to think Elsa and Honeymaren tried to teach them one time and have a yoga double date (because of COURSE Elsa would suggest that) and it ended with Anna and Hiccup butchering every last pose, repeatedly falling on their asses, and generally having a bad time. Poor Elsa and Honeymaren had to work hard to keep from just losing their shit laughing. 42. What is their song? I mean...I don’t know what their like...OFFICIAL song is, but the songs “West End Kids” by the New Politics and “Paper Rings” by Taylor Swift have always had Big Hiccanna Energy to me. 43. What does their room look like? It’s divided pretty neatly in two. Hiccup’s side has a near-spotless floor, a desk with a perfectly-organized bookshelf and a very chic desk lamp, several movie posters and a hanging whiteboard with miscellaneous invention designs and reminders about random stuff written on it. Anna’s side looks like Hurricane Katrina just swept through, this time with a personal vendetta against snack wrappers. 44. Who would be the one to kill zombies while the other keeps them grounded? Anna would absolutely be the sort to just fuckin tear through hoards of zombies screeching battle cries and knocking them all upside the head with a crowbar, or just straight plowing down an entire hoard with some freaking machine gun she stumbled on and taught herself how to use because she wanted to be badass XD Meanwhile Hiccup is absolutely grateful for the protection because Anna can fuck up a LOT of zombies at once, but he also has to keep the girl from going TOO crazy and accidentally putting her impulsive dumbass in grave peril XD 45. Who makes the other breakfast in bed? Hiccup, for sure. He’s used to being up pretty early because I imagine you get the most dragon-flying and exploring in if you wake up early, and he knows food is basically the only thing that will make Anna not hate getting up, so he makes her breakfast in bed as often as he can to make waking up suck less. And sure enough, after a while Anna starts to hate the morning just a liiiiittle bit less XD 46. Who loves kids more? Anna! Given how fun-loving and energetic she is, she probably loves hanging out with and being around kids. Hiccup likes kids fine, but he often feels kinda awkward and weird around them (I mean...more so than usual XD) because he isn’t sure how to interact with them. When they’re around kids, Hiccup usually follows Anna’s lead on how to talk to them. 47. Do either of them have a crazy ex? Well Anna’s ex attempted to use her to infiltrate and take over a kingdom and then tried to murder her sister so I mean 48. What are their favourite colours? Going by their canon color schemes, I’m guessing Anna’s would probably be like spring green and magenta, and Hiccup’s would be a more dark, foresty green and red. 49. Who likes to cook? Hiccup. Anna can’t cook for shit because she generally doesn’t have the patience for it and would just as soon live off of freezer food if she could because it’s less trouble XD Hiccup is good at making/building things, which actually translates to him being a pretty good chef. He makes Anna food a lot and she absolutely ADORES his cooking. 50. Who is the forgetful one? Anna. Gotta love that ADHD babeyyyy! (I mean I’m practically irl Anna and I am NOTORIOUSLY forgetful so it’s gotta be her XD)

[pleasefeedthebirds]

A Relatively Deep Dive Into My “Crème de la Crème” MCs - #1. Mavis Linnet

(From the astonishingly crisp interactive fiction by @hpowellsmith! ...It’s not weird to tag, right?)

Mavis “Miss Linnet” Mallee-Linnet

she/her/hers

Light brown complexion and loosely curled brown hair

Favors conventionally masculine fashion 

Accommodating

Manipulative

Traditional

Exceptional Poise

Noteworthy Wit and Intrigue

Commonplace Spirit

Unremarkable Flair

LOADS more info and spoiler content under the cut!

I envision Mavis as having grown up in a wealthy household, where she was still raised reasonably well about the importance of non-profligate spending. Her parents both taught at Olmstead’s Valley School, where she was in attendance for the bulk of her college-age years. Sailing was manageablely smooth. Mavis got along well in her studies, had time for both dressage and lacrosse, and—for her genuine interest in the subject matter—made it on the good side of many educators there (albeit not as often her fellow students, being for all the world their definition of a teacher’s pet!).

Her life took an abrupt shift in its trajectory when Mr. Mallee, her father, had a shameful affair come to light. Their rural community was small enough that such a thing made waves. Her other father, Mr. Linnet, sent Mavis off to Gallatin with the still-favorable Linnet name, and spent a pretty penny to do so. Primarily, he did this to save her from suffering by association, and was very vocal about these intentions. He’s definitely also relying on her to save their social standing, and despite the point being markedly unspoken, Mavis quietly understands.

So, Mavis feels an immense pressure to make the most of her time at Gallatin. She tries to conform unfalteringly to the school’s every long-winded social expectation, which exhausts her utterly. However, by her proficiency in book research, and her sincere knack for studying people, she has grown excellent at “playing the game” in high society. 

More than ever, Mavis is dedicated to her studies at Gallatin, even when the prescribed syllabus is less than stimulating. She keeps her head down so to never risk rocking the boat. This mode of being doesn’t make her happy per say, but the Gallatin atmosphere has her shoehorned into believing there’s no feasible alternative. She’s cognizant of surface level flaws in the system, but plays along because she thinks she has to. After all, it’s her way out of rural smallmindedness and into an academic world. That said, things certainly can change, particularly when one can’t help but notice atrocities being committed against literal children!

5’10”, with broad shoulders but slender hips. Her body makes an upside-down triangle shape.

Prone to acne, her skincare routines are extensive, and she’s usually up at the crack of dawn every day to get her proverbial ducks in a row.

Her hair is thinner than it looks, and she takes especial care when rationing it about her scalp. She feels vulnerable with it all the way down, so favors hair styles with low centers, such as looped pigtails, a nape bun, or double braids. Also labors to hide her considerable widow’s peak.

A heavy tea drinker. For all of her wits, she doesn’t realize that her mug o’ choice (earl grey) is highly caffeinated. She slugs the stuff down each day without ever realizing, because it “makes her feel better” about mornings.

Though it’s hardly polite, she LOVES gossip, and writes down every secret she hears as her guiltiest pleasure.

Miss Dalca and Mr. Griffith both make her uncomfortable—the former for her extreme progressiveness, and the latter for his gruff demeanor. Mr. Blanchard is her favorite teacher, and I bet she’s accidentally cried in his presence before. She’s scared of Lady Renaldt, and makes herself known to the headmaster only out of necessity.

Virtue: 91%

Popularity: 75%

Coursework Grade: A

Exam Mark: A+

Extracurricular(s): Birchmeier Society and the Gallatin Swans (goalkeeper)

*[Though not doable ingame, I like to think that she overloaded her schedule and dropped the Swans halfway through the semester. Mavis is never the type to drop anything, so having to take that step back was a double-edged blow to her confidence, in addition to being a sheer relief on her stress levels. Since the Birchmeier Society was where her heart truly lay, she managed to build herself back up there with Freddie’s support.]

Entanglements: Romantically engaged to Freddie.

Besties and then some with Freddie. They’re both hardworking scholars with each their own zest for learning, and by preparing for classes, exams, and Birchmeier Society biz in the same shared spaces, Mavis spent disproportionately more time with her than with anyone else. Freddie encouraged Mavis to be a bit less hard on herself, and was brave enough to stand up to her whenever Mavis’s fatigue was turning her curmudgeonly. Mavis helped get Freddie out of her own head on multiple occasions, taught her to break the most overwhelming situations down to deal with day-by-day, and bolstered her confidence anytime it faltered in the face of the Gallatin sphere. The engagement was Mavis’s idea, which she accidentally blurted out in a rare impulsive burst of feeling. After processing the implications, she was ashamed to have second thoughts upon remembering Freddie’s financial situation. It seemed for a while that the engagement was off, following a hard conversation that soured their relationship for awhile. I don’t think Freddie would easily bounce back after having her family standing scrutinized. However, the mine plot—when Mavis had to ultimately turn her back on everything she’d built at Gallatin—spurred character development enough that Freddie deemed her worthy of a second chance.

Friends with Gonzalez, who couldn’t help but respect that Mavis was competent in lacrosse, academically accomplished, and generally pretty nice to people. I don’t think she realizes that Mavis keeps a stiff mask. Mavis found Gonzalez refreshing, albeit off-puttingly honest, and couldn’t find a way to fault her spirited nature. I can’t imagine them engaging much off of the field (i.e. post Mavis quitting the team), but the two were mutually supportive in their interactions, even if Mavis was probably repressing some criticisms of Gonzalez’s fast and loose attitude all the while.

Friends with Max after he tutored her in flair, per Lady Renaldt’s instruction, via a sick dance sesh. I like to imagine him groaning about the task, assuming that Mavis would be a hopeless case, and then being pleasantly surprised at the fact that she can absolutely hit it (even just in the name of compliance with authority). He tried to make a move on her and was politely rejected. I think he supports the idea of her at a distance after recognizing that she’s not trying to breathe down anyone’s neck, and really is a kind, tired gal being squeezed dry by the system.

Friends with Hartmann, who was initially confused about which “side” Mavis was on in her prefectural feud with Max (Mavis shushed him at the opening commencement, which she liked, yet supported Max when he dipped out the common room window). They came to understand each other in the later game, bonding over how ill-affected they both are by the pressures of their respective positions. They don’t “hang out” much, but a couple of key deep conversations put each in the other’s good books.

Pleasant acquaintances with Karson. Mavis rarely went out of her way to talk to them, but whenever they crossed paths, she was good to Karson, and sympathized (albeit at a respectable distance) with their situation as a servant. When trouble in the mines was first coming to light, Mavis got sniffing, and sussed out enough clues that Karson eventually passed Blaise’s note on to her directly, trusting her moral compass enough to do so.

Unpleasant acquaintances with Delacroix. His unconventional take on life, passion for the intangible, and apathy towards collegiate procedure all make her uneasy. In his own right, Delacroix probably takes her for a stuffy, self-centered dud, which after all the times she’s reflexively shut his occult talk down, is pretty fair.

Acquaintances with Blaise. Mavis made nice in the early game because she had to, and was secretly relieved when she “resigned.” This was short lived, and turned into a misplaced sense of guilt after what actually happened to Blaise came to light. Mavis didn’t end up in the mines herself, but she did everything she could to help her, Miss Dalca, and eventually Gonzalez escape. When all was said and done, Blaise still made Mavis uncomfortable, and she let her be to get on with her life.

Approached Rosario at the punch table in an attempt to court the princess in the room… absolutely blew it. Ended up tripping over her own tongue when she realized that the heir is not so predictably wooed by traditional measures as originally anticipated. I like to think of that moment as a point of deeper connection for Mavis and Freddie, where both were totally overwhelmed by the noble sphere at Archambault and turned to each other for comfort. Otherwise, Rosario was a Rosari-no for Mavis.

Was weirded out by Auguste. Mavis fears any authority figures who don’t like her right away, and they’re too close to the ever-frigid Lady Renaldt for her comfort. She did totally trash them (benevolently) at dressage on sports day, though.

Gave Florin the widest possible berth. Mavis wanted nothing to do with that kind of scandal, but definitely found her shallowly cute. 

Some Choice Plot Pieces (cue spoilers):

Gathered evidence against Miss Dalca in compliance with Lady Renaldt.

Had an adequate working relationship with Miss Benton.

Gathered information for Annick against Lady Renaldt.

Endgame (cue SUPER spoilers):

Worked in secret against Lady Renaldt.

Sent Gonzalez to the mines, but most everyone got out (I believe Miss Dalca died?!).

Settled things quietly with Kathrili Burgin.

Went on to study at Gessner.

Joined Freddie for the summer.

[moonlightreal]

Fate Episode One

At long last, it’s tiiiiiime!

First: whitewashing bad.  Fact acknowledged.  Everybody else has said everything on the subject (ad nauseum...) so no reason to say it all again!

I’m diving in with questions.  The main one is “Will there be a good reason for Musa to be a mind fairy rather than a music fairy?” Dunno why that’s what I’m wondering the most, but it is.  There’s also “Is Fate!Stella truly an unholy union of Stella and Diaspro?” and “so what makes them fairies not witches/psychics/mutants?” and “So what’s up with Beatrix?  We know nothing about her, and as an Umineko fan I’m favorably disposed towards witches named Beatrice!” and also “They’re not really having sex are they?!”

I’m going to try and approach Fate just like I do every season of the cartoon, ready to celebrate the good, snark at the bad, enjoy many headcanons, reference random stuff, and have a good time.  Pretending I haven’t had my fannish heart nigh to broken by the state of the fandom and that I’m worried I’ll get hate for even posting this.  I’m’a try to start from zero to find my own answer the really big question… “Good, bad, or totally irredeemable?”

So… In which we discover a new world.

We start with… a night scene.  Not promising when “too dark can’t see” is one of my pet peeves!  An old fella comes out to check on his cute Irish sheep.  He passes through the barrier, into the dangerous forest beyond to look for a missing sheep.  Yup, he’s gonna be guest victim in the first five minutes.

Oh no!  Something has disemboweled a sheep and left it hanging in a tree!  Clearly there are leopards in the magical realm!

There is a great roar and an unseen but very large-sounding beast chases our poor shepherd!  The guy trips and falls just as he’s about to get through the barrier and is set upon and devoured by the unseen beast!  Blood spatters the rocks!

Opening! It’s the wings we’ve sen and some really beautiful music.  One point for the music.

Then a gorgeous flying shot of the outside of the barrier and Alfea. Whatever the plot turns out to be, the outdoor setting is beautiful. Music that seems to be both pop and edgy plays as we zoom in on the logo on the gate, and there’s Bloom coming in the gate.

And there’s Terra with her father and a tray full of plants.

And there’s Aisha walking by with her dreads

And there’s Stella taking a selfie with other students.

And there’s Musa leaning on her suitcase, headphones on, looking at her phone.  Another girl says something to Musa and she turns and replies and smiles.

And there’s one of the guys twirling a knife.  I’ve heard Sky starts out in a pink shirt so this must be Riven.  The camera comes back to Bloom as she gives him a doubtful look.  In the novelization she’s mentally labeling him an edgelord, and that kinda fits.  Any dude showing off his willingness to twirl weapons at a high school probably is best avoided—except the dudes here are training to fight so the weapons rules must be different.  I wonder if Bloom knows yet that dudes with swords are normal here.

Bloom gets a text to meet Stella at the gate.  She waits.

Camera pan to Sky talking to another guy.  Sky looks… Sky-ish.  Chris Evans style handsome, blond.  I’d’ve made him grow his hair to mimic cartoon Sky’s silly shaggy haircut, but points for making Sky look like Sky!  Minus points for not dying Riven maroon.  They could’ve made it work!

Sky is indeed wearing a pink shirt.  In the novelization Bloom thinks he’s wearing it “because gender roles were for the weak” which is a line I think is funny and intend to use in a story somewhere. There is no obvious hint in the show that Sky thinks gender roles are for the weak

Bloom’s tired of waiting.  She heads off.  Sky ditches his buddy to go meet her.  “Wow, you are so lost.  I’m impressed with your confidence in the face of complete ignorance.  Issue is, you’re overcomitted. You’re essentially running.  And now that I’m here you can’t possibly give me the satisfaction of turning around.”  he says, all in one go.  

I can’t decide if that’s jerkish or charming.  Maybe Bloom shares my weakness for men with accents because she decides on charming.

Bloom says she’s a fairy, giggles because that’s something she never thought she’d say, they’re standing in the courtyard of a college for fairies, Bloom’s from California, not the Otherworld.  So we get all that established.  Sky is kinda charming here and points out the specialists’ hall and fairy hall.

Sky: “I’d be happy to-”

Bloom: “Mansplain it?”  

So the writing team does know some modern issues!  Bloom says Sky seems like a mansplainer, which seems like quite a leap since she is new and he is helping her, in a friendly-sarcastic kind of way.  She’s giggling, clearly charmed.

Then Riven comes up, and he’s like a foot shorter than Sky, and Bloom escapes for some reason so maybe she wasn’t enjoying the conversation as much as it looked? Or maybe it was just the plot needs to move along.  Riven glomp-hugs Sky.  He’s got a great accent too.

Bloom must’ve left because she saw Stella, they say hello.  Bloom says she got impatient waiting and Stella says, “How very American of you”  So American stereotypes are known in magical worlds also?    

So, Stella!  Blonde, tall, zero Stella vibe.  Accent. Long pale coat and a satiny top with big chunky pendant.  She gets to her ring quick, “Portal ring, the only thing that keeps me sane in this place is the ability to leave it.  Your world may not always be thrilling but it beats this one.  There are seven realms in the Otherworld, each a different kind of boring.”  All spoken in a jaded monotone.  Ugh, what have they done to our Stella!

The girls walk inside while Stella speaks, the school is pale stone and arches and plants.  Other students are arriving, hauling suitcases, hugging.  At least some of them seem happy to be here!

Cut to the globe!  and it’s a magical globe, the water moves and there are lil sailing ships!  But the lands are totally blank, so it’s a cheap magic globe Dowling didn’t pay enough for the one with tiny forests too.  Alfea is in the realm of Solaria.

Maybe they shouldn’t have made Ireland = Solaria.  I’ve only been to England but we did not see the sun the whole trip!  Bloom’s in Dowling’s really cool office.  She spins the globe but the camera pans away before we see the names of the other realms.  Bloom’s talking nervously about seeing people updating their insta stories, expecting Tinkerbells, and the lack of wings.

Dowling: “We had wings in the past.  As we’ve evolved, transformation magic has been lost.  Tink was an air fairy, you’re a fire fairy.”

Dowling says classes tomorrow, learn to use magic slowly but safely… we establish Bloom is here to learn to control her magic so she can go home and not keen on ‘slow.’  Dowling says, ‘trust the process’ which immediately makes me mistrust her.

Then she gives a great lil speech: “Alfea’s graduates have ruled realms and led armies.  They have forged powerful relics and rediscovered long lost relics.  They shape the otherworld.”

But Bloom just wants to get done and go home.  She says, ‘I'm here because you promised you’d teach me control.” and Dowling says, ‘no, you’re here because you knew you have no other choice.” and Bloom looks betrayed.

Yeah Dowling’s sus.  

Next scene: Bloom showing her dorm to her parents over video call!  How does that work between dimensions?  Her folks look nothing like Mika and Vanessa, dad’s got a beard and silver temples, mom’s got big blonde curls.  Neither of them have burn injuries or the sort of freaked out vibe I’d expect from folks whose house was just on fire.

Roommate pan-around!  Terra puts potted plants everywhere!  Stella preens at the vanity! Musa headphones-and-laptop but smiles at Terra.  Aisha comes in with her laundry bag.

Bloom’s parents get suspicious about the timezone thing, they think Bloom’s in the Alps, and Aisha comes and covers for her saying it’s time for lights out.

Aisha intro!  She is wearing a pink and brown checkered dress that’s not super fashionable or flattering.  I like her blue braids though. Aisha does not seem to have the accent that many Alfeans have.

Bloom explains the “human parents, fairy daughter, I must be a throwback to an ancestor” thing.  Aisha looks dubious.  Then they mention Harry Potter!

Bloom; ‘Ravenclaw, sometimes Slytherin.’

Aisha; ‘Explains the lies then.  Gryffindor.’

Bloom: ‘Explains the judgment.’

Congrats, you both were jerks in three short lines. 9_9  But they’re smiling so I guess it’s friendly sniping.  

Bloom goes to see Stella, who’s holding up sparkly tops to herself. She’s also got this weird rainbow skirt that looks like gymnastics clothes not real clothes.  Stella’s changing for the party because people have already seen her in her clothes.  Bloom asks confused, ‘People expect you to wear multiple outfits?’ and Stella comes back with, ‘people expect me to care how I look.” In the same jaded monotone.

Before Bloom can WTF outta there like a sensible person Stella snaps her fingers and creates a ball of light.  Bloom gapes, but not nearly as much as I feel like she should.  The magic is beautiful, it’s all rainbowy and sparkly.  Bloom just hesitantly asks, ‘Can I ask, how exactly you..?” and Stella shuts her down with an almost kind, “I’m a mentor, not a tutor.”

But she does give a little infodump.  “Fairy magic is tied to emotion. God thoughts, bad, hatred, fear, the stronger the emotion the stronger the magic.”

And Bloom says, ‘Do you hate me or fear me?  You were looking at me when you did that.  And I’m pretty sure you don’t love me.” Smart cookie, Bloom!  Points to you!  We know it’s because Bloom was talking to sky, and that gives Stellla some emotions.

And points to Stella, she thaws out her voice and talks like a real person, ‘I don’t know you.  I’m sure once I do I’ll find something to love.”  She sounds rather doubtful about the last bit but yay actual emotion!

Then Stella goes over to Terra for her intro scene and I cringe because the novelization did Terra dirty and I’m not keen to see it on screen.  But it works ok.  Stella gently calls Terra on the number of houseplants and says the secret garden was better kept secret, Terra responds that wasn’t really the message of the book, Stella looks at her with amused patience and leaves Musa and Terra to continue the scene.  And I decide if there’s no infodump about how earth and the Otherworld relate to each other in this show I shall be cross.

Then Terra chatters on about her family and how she grew up at Alfea since her dad works here (she’s holding a 100% fake plant) and drops that Stella is a second year.  Musa asks why a second-year is in a first-year suite and Terra says it’s some administrative thing probably best not to mention.  But Terra totally knows the secret.

Musa’s eyes glow purple.  Magic!  But we don’t hear what she hears.  She starts putting her headphones on.  Terra goes on to say they should all not mention it to Stella, then interrupts another headphones-attempt to offer Musa a succulent, “They’re low maintainence, perfect for you, not that I really know you...’

Musa: ‘If I take it will you stop talking?”

Terra visibly deflates and Musa apologizes and grabs the succulent before finally getting to escape into music.

Aisha leans in to ask Terra if Alfea has a pool.  It has a river and Aisha’s been swimming—twice a day every day!  Terra says no pool, just the pond where the specialists train but nobody swims there, at least not on purpose.

And we immediately cut out to the pond, which looks pretty mucky, I wouldn’t want to swim there either!  Two specialists, a boy and a girl, are whacking away at each other with wooden swords on the shore.  They’re all dressed in black pants and tank tops, very Divergent movie poster except with the Alfea logo on the front. There’s a bunch of specialists training all around the pond and one does indeed knock their opponent in with a splash!  But we home in on Sky and Riven and I cannot get over how short and skinny Riven is compared to Sky!  And the fact that I’ve just been rewatching Lord of the Rings and Riven doesn’t look 100% not like Dominic Monaghan… sorry Riven’s actor, I’m sure in future episodes I’ll stop thinking you’re a hobbit!

Anyway, Riven’s teasing Sky about his crush on Bloom, says Sky always goes for the crazy ones and all redheads are crazy.  Sky puts Riven on the mat and Riven says he was getting high all summer and not practicing. Before Sky can give him a “big brother speech” on that riven skedaddled because here comes the teacher with a different speech!

This show’s Codatorta, whose name is Silva and who looks very irish and I like him, does a little speech about how y’all gotta train, singles out a black guy I think is Dane and says, ‘even you will be able to fight like him.” and attacks Sky, who fights back.  They spar for a minute.

Infodump: “Sky’s father was Andreas of Eraklyon, that makes him a legacy.” Also, some of these kids are from families of specialists and some were selected by Silva based on their talent for combat and weaponry. “This place will seem like hell until actual hell comes.  We are the first line of defense, a certainty when the future is uncertain!’

Then Dane snickers about the whole ‘school full of kids with swords’ and Silva says it must be nice to be so ‘soft’ he can make fun. And Dane drops that the barrier exists ‘to protect the school from Burned Ones.”

As he says it, we cut to Sky going out through the barrier to smoke.  

Burned ones are gone.  But Silva saw one when he was a kid.  His father shot it but was killed by the Burned One’s poison.  Burned Ones are inhumanly strong and fast, and have a terrible poison, or disease that kills people who get away.

Sky looks over and sees the shepherd’s body.  Yikes!

Cut to the staff arriving to look at the remains.  Just three: Dowling, Codatorta, and Terra’s dad.  Is that the whole staff?  Who teaches? Could’ve been a wolf or a bear… Terra’s dad collects some gunk from the body and I think calls it “char residue.”

Dowling says, “She killed all the Burned Ones.”

She? This world’s Marion/Daphne, likely.

But the adults clean it up so the kids can party!  Our girls are gathered around the food, and they’re better dressed!  Aisha’s got her hair up and a blue hoodie, Musa’s got a little red coat.  Terra has not been blessed by the fashion fairy, she’s in some overalls it looks like, not flattering.  Terra is saying hopefully that maybe the shepherd died of old age and Musa’s ‘Yeah, that old age decapitation” is gentle ribbing not cruel.  

Aisha’s loading up a stack of cookies, says how much she eats and, ‘If I didn’t swim I’d be massive.” it’s not aimed at Terra , but Terra flinches.  Aisha heads off and Terra says something that boils down to, ‘Musa, you’re tuning out me in particular.” which, Terra you’ve known Musa for what, six hours?  Way too short a time to take it personal.  Musa says, ‘It’s a me thing, it’s not you.” and Terra just flusters and heads away.  Musa looks troubled but not sure what to do and puts her headphones on.

This is SO much better than in the book.  Not perfect, all the interactions between the girls have been very weird as if they’ve been given a script full of cruel catty lines and instructed to say them in a kind way, but at least they’ve tried for the vibe of “trying to be nice to people we don’t know yet and flubbing it” rather than “we are all terrible people” like I feared.

Terra meets her dad and tries to go to the greenhouse with him but he makes her stay to enjoy the party.

Cut to some grownup dude—Dowling’s secretary? Apparently searching for something in a desk that I presume is outside the headmistress’ office.

Beatrix… or possibly a gothed-up Bloom… comes to see Dowling and when told the headmistress isn’t in says, ‘I’ll just take a water, room temp, thanks love.’ and then when the door opens Beatrix greets Dowling with a simpering ‘I'm your biggest fan, I’m obsessed with Alfea...” and cascading apologies for swearing, with more swearing. Dowling and her secretary are as confused by this as I am but Dowling says Beatrix can study the history of Alfea in the library if she wants to.  I assume this is evil Beatrix slyly getting permission to hit the books.  Is Beatrix even a student at Alfea?

Cut to Bloom’s notebook, she’s already started taking notes about powers being linked to emotions, love hate and fear.  Great initiative Bloom, but are there no textbooks you could be reading ahead in?  

We get dumped back to a flashback: Bloom’s mom wants her to go out on a Saturday night, to a party or a movie or whatever teen thing.  All Bloom wants to do is go to antique sales apparently.  Bloom doesn’t want to be a “basic bitch” like her mom and her mom doesn’t want her daughter to be a “weird loner.”

Pause while I urban dictionary “basic bitch.”  Huh.  Not a term I ever heard in my circle of nerds.  

Bloom and her mom are awful to each other.  Back in the present Bloom’s eyes flame up as she remembers.  She decides it’s time to go experiment!  Right now!  Before even one day of magic class or one page of a textbook!  The idiot ball has entered play.

Night has fallen because of course it has.  Bloom runs into Sky at the party.  But she’s not looking to party, she’s looking for a place to be alone outside.  Sky directs her to beyond the barrier, because we’re about to have Plot.  If it weren’t for Plot I‘m sure Sky could’ve suggested a specialist workout area inside the barrier. Sky says there might be wolves or bears or “maybe something much scarier” and Bloom catches the idiot ball and says, ‘But no people?  Perfect!”

Sky offers to go with her but Bloom says no thanks in a “I think you may be flirting and I may be down for that in the future just not right now.” kind of a way.  Good character interaction!  Except Stella grabs Sky for a chat once Bloom heads out to meet the Plot.

Sky and Stella have an opaque exchange that really just establishes they have a past of some sort that everyone knows about because everyone stares—or at least Stella thinks everyone is staring.  I’m starting to feel weirdly sorry for this Stella who has none of her namesake’s sparkle and confidence.  Why does she think all the realms are boring?  Is she ever enthusiastic?

...wait, it’s still day!  Why was it night inside??  This show is weird about lighting.  Gosh Ireland is beautiful!  Where’s this castle they got to be Alfea?  Can I go there?  This FOREST!  It is a fully magical forest.  Aisha is swimming in the river, with goggles and a cap but Bloom heads into the amazing forest.  Good music here too!  Forests and magic and music, come on Fate you CAN be a good show, I believe in you!  Just put down the idiot ball and step away...  Bloom goes through the barrier and outside it sees a swirl of orange and white sparkles in the air.  She watches it and laughs and then hikes through a little more forest.

Finding a clearing Bloom calls her fire.  At first she can’t, then she looks through the pictures on her phone looking for emotion. “Pictures of my sad teenage years are not happy thoughts.  Noted.” She says with an angsty little smile.  Then there’s a photo of the burned out house.  She zooms in and stares at it taking in all the details.  And we get flashbacks to the line of fire racing towards her parents’ bed.

Fire! Bloom turns her handful of fire this way and that, delighted, then tries for two hands.  This is the scene from the trailer, playing with fire.  Good music here.  And good that Bloom thought the magic was neat… uuuuntil she realizes she doesn’t know how to put it out.  She freaks out and waves her hands around trying to blow out the flames.

Aisha comes to the rescue and says dumb things like, “You’re losing control.” and “If you get angry at me...” and Bloom does get angry and throws lines of fire right at Aisha.  Who looks terrified. Sensibly, but also has she never seen fire magic before?  She grew up in a magic realm, does she know nothing about how to help someone get control?  Is control taught to magical babies so teenagers rarely see someone wigging out?  But if magic is emotion then everyone will lose control sometime since we all get upset.  How does an emotion=magic society function?

Anyway. aisha pulls water up from the ground and puts out the flames.

Inside Aisha gives Bloom what for about losing control.  Including, “Is that American for sorry I almost set you on fire?”  Srsly, this show is Irish people and Italians stealth throwing shade at Americans!  *Laughs in January 2021* Bloom retorts that she went away from people to experiment for just that reason, and tells Aisha about not having had fairy parents or any magical experience.

Aisha responds with the story of flooding her school including the toilets and having to wade through poo.  (I also tend to call it poo, after watching Mike Rowe.  I wonder if they watch Dirty Jobs in the Otherworld.)

And Bloom tells her story.  Bloom isn’t a cheerleader, she likes antiques and staying home by herself, so she and her mom don’t get along.  Her parents removed her door, which is awful!  And Bloom got flamey eyes and sent fire straight at her parents while they slept. While Bloom sat on her bed in a rage trance.  Understandable level of fury after that fight.  And Bloom feels awful, also understandable. And she snuck out to sleep in a creepy warehouse to protect her parents.  Her folks didn’t know it was her of course, they don’t know about magic.

Aisha says that beats her flood story, but Aisha is also wondering about something.  “You drew on a good deal of magic without even trying. it’s hard to believe you’re from a dormant bloodline.  Is there any chance you’re adopted?”

Bloom laughs.  Then says she heard the story of her birth a million times, she was a miracle baby diagnosed with a heart defect but then after birth her heart was fine.

Aisha: “Oh god, you’re a changeling!” … ‘It’s barbaric and it barely ever happens anymore….”

Bloom has had enough and just says, “why would you even tell me that?” and leaves.  Musa comes over and asks Aisha what she said.  Aisha: “The truth.  Because someone’s been lying to her.”

Cut to Dowling, lookin’ sus!

This changeling thing had better be fully explained later.  Why was it done in the past?  Why is it considered barbaric?  What happened to the parents’ real kid?  I assume she died of the heart condition, but that’s a bigole dangling bit of Plot.  In the unlikely event that Fate goes for many seasons that baby will turn up with magic too or as a specialist or something. 

Dowling pours tea.  Then she telekinetically locks her office door and opens a secret passage!  Dowling is sus.

Back at the party, where it again seems to be night.  Dane is leaning on a column hangin out when here comes Riven with a flask!  He offers, Dane says no thanks, Riven says, ‘There are two types of first-years: pussies and aspiring former pussies.” and pours the entire flask’s worth of booze into Dane’s cup anyway.

Dane says something about, “It feels like less a binary choice and more like a spectrum.”  And points for the actor delivering this line like it’s a sarcastic comment on social juscice-ness rather than the large sign saying “Dane is not straight!’ that the writers intended.  Dane drinks, makes a face, and Riven bullies him into drinking the rest, tipping the glass so Dane chokes.

Terra rides to the rescue, “Bullying the first-years?  Can you be more basic?” and Riven says Dane was into it which he wasn’t.

Terra: “Thinks he’s some badass but you should’ve seen him last year he was just a tragic nerd in disguise.”

Riven: “And she’s just three people in disguise.”

Dane does call Riven out on that bit of nastiness but Terra just does a great lil speech and strangles Riven with vines.  Thought I’d hate that but I kinda liked it.  Go Terra.  Then she introduces herself to Dane, says that wasn’t a great first impression but Dane says he’s about to make an impression by throwing up after a single drink, and Terra hurries him away presumably to the nurse.  

Bloom google-imaged changelings!  Lotsa woodcuts, someone’s fanart entitled “horror of fairy babies.’  There’s more nuance to it than that…  Bloom looks at a family photograph.

There’s Stella, coming to be sympathetic?  Nope, she’s coming to conivingly advance the plot!  “You know there’s no shame in that, wanting a normal life, wanting to be home...”

When the girls get back Bloom is nowhere to be found.  Musa mind-reads that Stella is wracked with guilt,  They put it together, Bloom was talking to Sky and now she’s gone.  Apparently Stella did something nasty to the last girl who talked to Sky.  Terra is kinda straight up badass.  Stella confesses, she kindly loaned Bloom the portal ring so she could go back to “the first world” but to use it Bloom has to go deep into the forest outside the barrier to a door in a graveyard.

Portal’s super low special effects, Bloom pushes open a door in a cemetary, the ring glows, and Bloom walks into what must be the warehouse she hid out in.

It’s very dark inside both buildings but away from the cemetary it seems to still be day so we can see a Burned One’s shadow coming towards the portal.  Day and night seem to depend on location in this show, and anywhere you need a monster it’s gonna be dark!  Bloom seems to leave the magic portal open and we see her step out on the warehouse into a weirdly well-lit night on earth.

Real actual nighttime on earth.  Bloom walks to her parents’ house and calls them from outside.  Her dad’s surprised she called twice in one day.  This call her folks seem just worried and nice, not awful like they were in the flashback.  Bloom cries.  She can’t ask her parents about the changeling thing.  Her mom says very kind, ‘Your path isn’t like mine or your father’s but I can’t wait to see who you become.”  Bloom hangs up and cries and watches her parents in their house, then walks back to the warehouse to return to Alfea.

But first we get to see where she was camping!  In a little office in the warehouse. She brought a lot of stuff, bedding and pictures for the walls and everything.  She opens a notebook and we see that she was experimenting already, discovered she was fireproof, wondered if she had superpowers.  Then she senses something and looks out through an interior window into the rest of the warehouse.

Yikes! it’s a Burned One!

Bloom staggers back, trips, and drops Stella’s ring down a grate in the floor.

Bloom’s never heard of Burned Ones at this point but she knows a monster when she sees one.  She cowers, back to the wall. The Burned One breaks through the window and tries to grab her!

Bloom escapes into some kind of tunnel, I guess she opened the grate that the ring fell through?  It’s not totally clear.  There’s the ring, on the other side of a different grate or screen, Bloom can’t reach it, there’s lots of roaring, Bloom runs like hell!

And there’s Dowling!  She says, ‘don’t stop now.’ and gestures Bloom through the door back to the cemetery.  The door closes behind her.  Terra, Musa and Aisha are waiting to make sure Bloom’s ok. Bloom says the Burned One got the ring.

Stella, meanwhile, is on Sky’s bed when he comes out of the shower! Dressed, at least.

Sky is not interested.  “You can’t be here, Stell.  If Silva finds out-’   Sky goes for his trousers but Stella comes over and snuggles up to his bare back.  Sky is still not keen.  Seems Stella dumped him then went silent all summer and now she’s jumping in since he talked to Bloom.  Stella… comes out and says, “I got jealous. I did something really stupid.”  and she says, “I can’t sleep in a room where everybody hates me.”   For sending Bloom into danger to get home when that’s what Bloom wanted?  Not great, Stella, but hateworthy?  Did the girls all tell her they hate her or does Stella just think she’s an awful person?  And is Stella actually desperately unhappy or is she just trying to get in Sky’s pants?  Not sure what to take away from this.  Sky hugs Stella and tells her she’s better than she thinks she is.  

The others get back to the dorm and Aisha reassures Bloom that Dowling can take care of the Burned One.

Cut to Beatrix leaving her raid on the library with armfuls of books. She passed Riven, who’s smoking.  They say flirty things and Beatrix says she’s been “snorting the midnight adderall” to show that she’s a bad girl.  Riven offers her a puff but her hands are full of books so they do this almost-kiss so Riven can blow smoke into her mouth.  Erotic, also gross.  Is that a real thing people do? Riven asks Beatrix if she’s a first-year and she says “I’m lots of things” and walks off leaving Riven and the room he’s in, which has the most gorgeous arched windows with trees in them.  Is this place real?  It’s the same place the party was but now it’s night and these windows are glowing green with tree outlines in them. This has gotta be something the filmmakers added.

Pajama scene in the girls’ suite, Terra waters plants, Musa hops in bed with headphones on.  Terra does a needy little wave.  Musa reluctantly un-headphones.  Terra offers a speaker she borrowed from her brother so Musa can have her music without shutting other people out.

And I cringe so hard because just let people tune you out if they want! Communicate by whiteboard!  People not wanting to share doesn’t mean they hate you, it means they have their own thoughts they’re busy with!  Come on Terra, be better than your novelization self!

Musa calls Terra out on her fake-happy bullshit.  Musa can feel all of Terra’s insecurities and anger.  Seems like maybe empaths shouldn’t have to share a room!  What’s the range on mind reading?  How did Musa hit 16 without learning to tune stuff out or going mad?  But Musa says, ‘but if you want to know how I really feel...” and switches her music to a speaker, it’s guitar-y and nice.

Up in Dowling’s office, Silva says she should’ve killed the Burned One not left it chained up and knocked out in a shack outside the barrier.  Dowling needs to investigate this Burned One, see if there are more of them.  Then Dowling spills that Bloom is a changeling, from the time the last Burned One disappeared.  And she says, “Rosalind kept so much from us.  I’m worried about the students. The Alfea they know is very different from the one we attended.”  There’s something very “there was a war before” about the two of them.  Dowling may not be sus after all, though that may make her a terrible headmistress depending on how the next episodes go.

Montage of sleeping students.  Terra and Dane are texting.  Dane accidentally likes one of Riven’s sexy photos.  Riven’s pleased.  Sky and Stella are sharing a bed but after the last scene I can’t imagine they actually did anything.  Sky seemed pretty unseduceable.  

And outside a Mysterious Cloaked Figure passes through the barricade, finds the Burned One in the hut, and zaps it awake with lightning. It pushed back its hood… Beatrix!  So if she undid her too-tight braids she’d be Stormy?  So is Beatrix the villain?  I mean obviously she’s a villain but the threat of the Burned Ones feels... bigger than one teenager in Bratz clothes who has not got the presence of even one Trix much less all three wrapped up together.  But anyway she’ gets to be a doomful cloaked figure at the end of episode one.

Very pretty ending credits music. Listened to it several times.  I can’t understand the lyrics which is probably just as well.  Is it in irish or is it just sung in a way to not have clear lyrics?  C’mon fate, Irishness is a big thing you’ve got going for you, please milk it for all its worth!

I… I LIKED it!  Now my friends say future episodes get worse so I can’t get my hopes too high but this wasn’t awful.  None of the girls really had any vibe of their characters, only Bloom and Sky really look like Bloom and Sky.  The worldbuilding is lacking, I’m left with more questions than answers.

And oh god one episode was ten pages and about five hours.  I… I meant to do this with every episode but I’m not sure I can.  There’s so much to comment on it takes forever.  Maybe I’ll do each one in parts.  Or maybe I’ll abandon the writing and just watch the show like a normal person.  It’s a lot of fun to fine-toothed comb each scene but I’m’a be here forever!

[texanredrose]

Last One - Chapter One

Author’s Note: I’ve warned y’all. Don’t worry, though, if you choose to read, it’s not that scary really.

---

Yang drew in a deep breath, trying to acclimate herself to the cooler temperatures of late autumn in Atlas. Having only moved to the kingdom a few months prior, she found the adaptation curve a bit… steep. Despite the similarities from sharing a global culture, there were some nuances to Atlas as a kingdom that she hadn’t really gotten used to quite yet, and the climate was just one of them.

She was acclimating, though, bit by bit. Yang had secured a job, settled in with her girlfriend alright, and even made a few new friends. Kept in touch with her old ones, of course- Blake and Weiss touched base every week, Ruby every other day, Coco and Velvet when they could, Ren and Nora- but had a lot of things going for her now. Things… were looking up.

As her train pulled into the station, Yang shifted the bag on her shoulder and waited for the door to open. Normally, she’d want to ride her motorcycle to work, but that chill in the air cut straight through even her thickest jacket; definitely something she’d have to leave for the warmer months. It bummed her out but it was worth it, in the end.

Yang stepped onto the train as her scroll began to ring, fishing it out of her bag while standing off to one side and grabbing one of the overhead handholds. A smile curled her lips as she read the contact name, flicking open her scroll to see her girlfriend’s visage. “Hey, Snowdrift.”

“Good morning, Sundrop.” Winter smiled wide, light in her eyes as the line connected. “On your way to work?”

“I am.” She turned the screen, showing the station as a few more commuters stepped on before the doors closed. “How’s your day going so far?”

“Tediously. I’m not a fan of paperwork.” Her expression scrunched up, in that way Yang took to mean ‘I say I don’t like it but I kinda do, but I don’t want to admit that because it’s lame’ and that made her smother a chuckle every time she saw it. “Unfortunately, I’ve got a few meetings today and by the sounds of it, the majority will run long, so I’m going to be late coming home.”

“That’s alright. It sounds like it’ll be a late night for me, too.” She shrugged. “Sounds like one of the other tutors called in sick and I have to cover down. Don’t really know how long it’s gonna take; Mr. Ozpin explained it to me like the kids don’t go to school at all, so I’ve got a lot of subjects to cover.”

A frown touched her girlfriend’s lips. “Are you sure this is what you want to do? I know teaching is your dream, Sundrop, but this doesn’t seem to be exactly what you had in mind.”

“It’s not long term, and they know that.” Again, she couldn’t help but shrug, brushing off the woman’s concern. “I’d rather have something to do while I wait for Atlas to approve my teaching license and this homeschooling thing is the only agency that recognizes Vale’s certification.”

“Which, honestly, is ridiculous.” Winter’s expression shifted into what Yang would call a pout, though she would only do so teasingly. “It’s a standardized test across the five kingdoms; why Atlas insists on a separate validation is beyond me.”

At that, she couldn’t help but laugh. “Do you want the honest answer or the nice answer?”

“Just because we both know why doesn’t mean I can’t express my vexation with it.” Her annoyance slid away, blue eyes glancing off to the side before rolling. “Ah, it appears I am needed. Let me know if you need anything; depending on who gets home first, picking up dinner or delivery might be the best option.”

Yang raised a brow. “Already tired of my cooking?” 

“Oh, don’t you start.” Despite the light reprimand, Winter smiled softly. “I adore your cooking but I also adore cuddling, and neither of us will rest if there are dishes that need washing.”

“Hmmm, keep sweet-talking me and I won’t be able to focus on lessons.”

“Well, we can’t have that, now.” Glancing around, the woman raised her other hand to her mouth and blew a kiss. “I love you, Sundrop.”

“Love you, too, Snowdrift.” She waved. “I’ll call you if I get a break.”

As she collapsed her scroll back down, Yang’s gaze caught on her reflection in the train’s window. Granted, she probably didn’t look as ‘professional’ as most private tutors would; a nice set of black slacks, a white button up, a purple tie that complemented her eyes rather nicely, and some good leather shoes got her close but she’d never been able to tame her hair, the blonde strands curling and sticking out every which way. It didn’t look like she hadn’t brushed it, just that her style tended towards ‘wild’ which… while not entirely inaccurate, wasn’t the whole truth, either. Add to that her slightly crooked nose from a boxing match in her youth and a stature that better suited the common perception of a bodybuilder than a teacher- basically, she didn’t blame people for being skeptical when she introduced herself as having her teacher’s license in Vale and a master’s from Beacon University to boot.

She ran a hand through her hair, trying to tame it just a bit as the train rattled down the tracks, passing through one of the few tunnels on this route. Before she could head to the house, she had to stop by the office and get the full details from Mr. Ozpin regarding the job itself. He hadn’t explained much over the phone, seeing as this came across as an emergency of some sort, but she imagined there’d be more information when she reached the home office. Since Yang only had one regular client, her work thus far had centered mostly on group sessions at a private school on the north side of the city, where the upper crust lived.

Yang cleared her throat and straightened out her tie, trying to keep her nerves from getting the better of her. Among some of the differences in Atlas she’d encountered, the differences between upper class and middle class were… stark. Generally, people stuck to their ‘side of the fence’, which she didn’t really get, considering Vale’s far more lax social structure.

Every time she started thinking about how she would never ‘fit in’ or ‘pass’ among Atlas’ social elite, she remembered that her girlfriend was not only born in that environment, she was raised to be near the top of the social ladder and walked away from it of her own volition. It made her feel so lucky, because beneath some of her rougher edges and her cool demeanor, Winter was passionate and warm and beautiful and she couldn’t imagine where she’d be without their paths crossing.

Aside from, well, warmer, but that was a minor thing.

Once she got to her stop, Yang hopped off the train and made her way to the office building. The agency she worked for owned only a small section of the building multiplex, containing only a few full time positions and three conference rooms for meetings. It paid well enough, even if it wasn’t what she wanted to be doing. She considered it a stepping stone to the life she wanted to build in Atlas.

Opening the glass door with the agency’s name on it- Maiden Education, a silly pun she could appreciate- Yang went to the doorway leading into Mr. Ozpin’s office and politely knocked on the doorjamb.

“Hmmm?” Mr. Ozpin turned, green eyes lighting up upon seeing her. “Ah, Miss Xiao Long, come in. Thank you for understanding; this is… a unique situation.”

“It’s no problem; I’m happy to help,” she replied, stepping into the small office and sitting down. Mr. Ozpin’s desk was a haphazard collection of papers, just barely shuffled into piles, and his shaggy silvered hair bespoke of a charmingly frazzled appearance. It was one of the reasons she opted to take the job; she rather liked having someone who understood that life happened and appearances weren’t everything. “So, what’s the skinny?”

“This is one of our more… unique clients, to put it simply.” He shuffled a few papers before pulling out a folder from one of the stacks and opening it up. “They recently moved to Atlas and, up until now, Ms. Goodwitch had been handling their case.”

That surprised Yang more than the call asking her to cover down. “Wait, Glynda? She’s sick? I thought nothing short of a natural disaster could stop her from coming into work.”

Glynda Goodwitch had overseen her short probationary period with the agency. Strict, terse, and exacting, the woman exuded the confidence of an experienced and unflappable teacher who’d seen it all and done it all. She honestly couldn’t imagine how sick she had to be to stay home.

“Frankly, I’m assuming she’s sick; I haven’t been able to get her on the phone and she usually stops by the office before heading out to this particular house.” He sighed. “This isn’t like her, but she’s confided in me within the past two weeks, and I have reason to believe her absence is health related.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.” Worry pinched her brow. “I hope she’s alright.”

“I do, too.” Mr. Ozpin shook his head, then glanced down at the file. “At any rate, the house is on the north side of town- quite remote. I’m afraid your scroll will have spotty reception at best.”

She cringed. “Damn, I guess I should’ve rode to work this morning. I took the train.”

“Not to worry; you can use my car for today. I likely won’t be leaving, considering how much paperwork I’ve yet to do.” He gestured at one of the stacks and she had to assume that was his ‘to-do’ pile. “Once you arrive, you’ll meet with your students: Roman, Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald.”

“Okay. I can work with four kids. What are their ages?”

“Ah, no, they’re all adults- orphans who banded together and formed something of a family. They’ve come to Atlas to start a new life and need assistance studying for the equivalency exams.”

That set her at ease a bit; while her specialty leaned more heavily into sciences, Yang had just completed her own equivalency exam so she could submit for her license, so she more than understood all the red tape involved. “I can see why you called me.”

“Honestly, I debated on giving you these clients initially, but I thought it might be a bit too much for you to start with.” Mr. Ozpin gave her an apologetic look. “Ms. Goodwitch is one of my longest-standing employees and an excellent educator; she’d dealt with similar clients in the past, I’m sure you understand.”

“Oh, I don’t take any offense.” She chuckled, waving off his explanation. “She’s definitely one of the best colleagues I’ve ever worked with.”

Mr. Ozpin smiled and nodded, folding up the file and holding it out to her. “Here, take this just in case. Ms. Goodwitch has their lesson plans outlined here; you’ll spend two hours with all four of them, then thirty minutes with each. After you’ve completed their tutoring, come back here and I’ll drive you home.”

Yang accepted the file with a smile. “Sounds pretty straightforward. I won’t let you down, Mr. Ozpin.”

“I’m sure you won’t.”

With the file and Mr. Ozpin’s keys in hand, Yang headed for the door. While she hoped Ms. Goodwitch’s health improved, she saw this as an opportunity to prove herself in a sense. If she could continue tutoring the family until Ms. Goodwitch returned, it would surely look good on her resume when her license finally came through. As she jumped into Mr. Ozpin’s car, she sent a quick text apprising Winter of the situation, just so the woman wouldn’t worry. Then, she plugged in the address and studied the map just in case her scroll lost signal before she got there. Within a few minutes, she had a pretty solid grasp on where she was going, pulling out of Mr. Ozpin’s spot and heading towards the north side of the city.

[hr][/hr]

About half an hour later, Yang pulled up in front of a rather spacious mansion- not entirely uncommon for the northern side of Atlas- and let out a low whistle as she put the car into park. It reminded her of her girlfriend’s childhood home, which she’d only visited a handful of times. Winter and Weiss both complained about how all the space made them feel crushingly alone and both sought to escape it, though she imagined the sisters had a very different life experience than her four prospective students. For four people who didn’t have any family aside from each other, having such a large place to call their home might give them a sense of security or peace.

The woman got out of the car with her bag and the file securely within, taking a deep breath to settle her nerves before starting towards the door.

However, her step faltered as she took another look at the house and noticed something… odd. From the ground level, it looked like some of the second floor windows were broken while others were boarded up or obscured in some manner. The first floor looked better but every curtain was drawn shut which seemed… strange. Then again, she was the sort of person who loved letting natural sunlight illuminate a room. Still, it seemed strange that such a large house sat in a state of relative disrepair with four people living inside. Maybe they were trying to renovate it?

No matter what justification she offered within the privacy of her own mind, Yang had to put all that aside and present herself the same way Ms. Goodwitch would. From the trials and internships she’d taken as part of her teaching degree, she understood that anyone familiar with a teacher suddenly subjected to someone different had an ingrained reaction to distrust the newcomer; as long as she didn’t make waves, she’d be able to continue with the lesson plans Ms. Goodwitch had set forth without trouble.

After she marshaled her thoughts, though, she then took a few more steps forward and saw the front door slightly ajar. 

Alarm bells began to ring, putting her on high alert. A reasonable explanation pushed to the forefront of her mind- they were expecting Ms. Goodwitch, so they might leave the door open for her and just hadn’t closed it when she was running late- but that didn’t ease the sudden anxiety curling in the pit of her stomach. This just all seemed so... strange.

“Hello?” she called out while slowly advancing to the door, peering inside. From what she could tell, nothing looked too out of place- no sign of a struggle within the expansive foyer- but that didn’t exactly mean much, considering the size of the house. Between the remote location and lack of scroll service, she felt reasonably confident that there hadn’t been some sort of burglary; aside from the car Mr. Ozpin lent her, there wasn’t another around for miles. “I’m from the Maiden Education Agency. Ms. Goodwitch wasn’t able to make it today, so…”

When no answer came, she carefully pushed the front door open a bit further and stepped into the mansion.

The interior looked like it was in the process of being updated, with a fresh coat of paint in a few places and crumbling wallpaper elsewhere. A few boxes sat by the staircase leading up to the second floor, next to some cans of paint and rollers leaning up against the banister. A coat rack on one side of the foyer had a white coat and black bowler hung on two of the pegs, plus a pink umbrella on the third peg, which seemed to indicate someone was home.

“Hello?” She took a few more cautious steps into the foyer, trying to check around the corners. Every now and again, Winter would show her videos of the training exercises she conducted with the Atlesian military, and she tried to apply those principles now. Listening intently, she crept to the doorway leading towards what she assumed to be the living room, peeking into the room carefully.

What she saw confused her. On the one hand, it looked like a living room or den in the middle of being remodeled, but the way things were strewn about didn’t seem like they had a purpose or plan. It looked like a mess.

Before she could enter the room, she caught the sound of a stifled cry coming from behind her, prompting her to look back around and into the room on the other side of the foyer. Judging by the size, it probably served a similar purpose- a living room or den or something- but it hadn’t been remodeled yet, just new furniture set inside a room with crumbling wallpaper and discolored carpet. Two couches, a loveseat, a few arm chairs, and a coffee table sat in the middle of the room, away from the walls, as if in preparation for the walls to be repainted.

“Is anyone there?” She tried again, moving towards the other room. “I’m Ms. Xiao Long, from the Maiden Education Agency. I’m subbing for Ms. Goodwitch.”

Again, she heard the stifled cry, and followed the sound to its source, looking behind the couch and finding a young woman probably close to her age, curled up with her knees hugged to her chest. Yang slowly lowered herself down onto one knee and softened her voice.

“Hey, my name’s Yang. Are you Emerald?” She looked like the picture from the file but… rougher, mint green hair that fell to her shoulders looking unwashed and unkempt, her shirt and jeans ripped and dirty. “Hey?”

When she reached out and touched the woman’s shoulder, she flinched and looked at Yang then with wide, terrified red eyes, tears streaking her dirty cheeks. The moment she seemed to register that there was someone there, though, a bit of light came back to her eyes. “Who are you?”

“Yang, Yang Xiao Long. I’m subbing for Ms. Goodwitch.” She took a glance around. “Where’s everyone else?”

“Gone,” she replied, her hands trembling as her gaze shifted up, looking towards the ceiling. “They’re… they’re all gone. It’s just me.”

Yang’s brows furrowed, looking towards the ceiling briefly. “Is there a landline? Some way to call for help?”

“No one can help me now.” Emerald started shaking her head as fresh tears sprang to her eyes. “She left me for last.” Then, she grabbed Yang’s arm, clutching at her feebly. “Don’t look her in the eyes. That’s when she comes for you- that’s when she knows she has you. Don’t look her in the eyes.”

“Who? Who is ‘she’?” Although the grip on her arm didn’t hurt, it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, as if her entire body could sense there was something not right about the woman before her.

“I-I don’t know, we never learned her name. We just-”

Thunk.

Yang looked back up to the ceiling, furrowing her brows. It sounded like something heavy had been dropped on the floor above them but, if they were the only ones there, then what had dropped and how? Emerald released her arm, curling back in on herself and crying softly.

Whatever had happened here, Yang quickly surmised she needed some help. Reaching into her bag, she retrieved her scroll to find it had no signal. With a frown, she stood up and looked around, spotting what looked like a wall-mounted vid screen in the next room over. With any luck, that had a landline connection and she could call for help.

Moving into the next room, she saw more evidence of the remodeling in progress- a dining room set and rolls of carpet, more paint cans and spare lumber- but thankfully found the vid screen had a connection. Dialing Atlas’ emergency services line, Yang waited for the operator to connect the call while looking up at the ceiling.

“Atlas Emergency Response, where is your emergency?”

That pulled her gaze back to the screen, finding one of Atlas’ finest staring at the screen. Quickly, she gave the address and a brief explanation of why she was there and what she’d found, glancing over to the living room to find Emerald still curled up behind the couch. After being assured police and medical services were on the way, the call ended and Yang considered going outside to wait for them.

“Hey, Emerald?” She went back to the living room and knelt down beside the woman again, keeping her voice soft. “Why don’t we go outside, yeah? Help is on the way; you’re gonna be okay.”

“No, no, no.” With a shake of her head, red eyes focused again on the ceiling. “I can’t run anymore. It won’t work.”

“Emerald, listen, it’s okay-”

Thunk.

She looked at the ceiling, brows furrowed as the woman’s crying renewed.

“Emerald, is there anyone else here?”

“No. Just me. I’m the last one.” She drew in a shuddering breath. “The last one.”

“Then what was that noise?”

Emerald slowly shook her head and hugged herself tighter, crying more fervently. 

Yang stood up. Whatever had happened, obviously the woman wouldn’t recover for a long time. 

Lilac eyes strayed towards the ceiling, curiosity nipping at her. “Emerald, are you the last one here? Or the last one alive?” When no answer came, she looked back to the woman, who watched her with terror. “Nod if the first one.” She didn’t. “Nod for the second.”

Slowly, Emerald nodded, confirming Yang’s suspicion.

Okay, so the others had died on the second floor, and finding them dead had scared Emerald shitless.

But… what was that sound, then?

“Are you sure they’re dead?”

“They’re gone.”

“Emerald-”

“They’re gone.”

Yang sighed, glancing back towards the ceiling. On the one hand, she could wait until the cops showed up and hope they’d tell her that there was nothing she could have done. On the other, she could go up there and confirm for herself. Otherwise, she’d always wonder if she’d waited outside while someone slowly died on the second floor.

Pulling out her scroll, Yang flicked it over to the camera setting to start a recording. Just in case the cops had any questions about what she had touched. Then, she started for the main staircase, taking the first step cautiously.

“Don’t look her in the eyes,” Emerald said, still hiding behind the couch.

“Right.” 

With a heavy sigh, she continued up the stairs, seeing more signs of the deteriorating walls and holding her scroll to document her journey to the second floor. Once she reached the landing, Yang looked both ways down the hall, finding several doors slightly ajar. She turned right, heading down that way seeing as it was above the living room where Emerald was still huddled. The floorboards beneath her feet creaked and groaned, just as she imagined an old mansion would, but that didn’t settle her nerves any.

As she reached the last room on the left, directly above where she’d been standing in the living room, a stench hit her nose that made her gag. On some level, she realized that the smell alone confirmed no one inside the room was alive, but her conscience wouldn’t rest without seeing it with her own two eyes.

So, against her better judgement, Yang pushed open the door.

She swallowed hard as her heart pounded in her chest, her body breaking out in a cold sweat.

Two corpses lay lifelessly on the ground, their eyes open wide in their final death stare. One of them a man- Roman, with orange hair just like his picture- and the other a woman, with pink and brown strands framing her face, and heterochromatic eyes that matched her dual colored hair. Both of them had crumpled to the floor, heads at odd angles with ropes around their necks. Looking up, Yang saw a wooden beam stretching from one side of the room to the other, rope still tied in two places above the bodies. They were both dressed rather well, as if they’d been preparing to go out for a night on the town among the upper crust.

Now, they were dead. Lying there, motionless.

“I’m sorry,” she said, pulling the door closed and shaking herself. Passing a hand over her face, she wiped away the sweat that had formed on her brow and turned around, spotting another door. While she didn’t know anything about the woman with heterochromia, she’d accounted for two of the four people she knew resided in the house. That still left two for her to find.

Going across the hall, she pushed the door open while holding her breath, relieved when she stepped into an empty bedroom with a few sleeping bags laid out on cots. The next two rooms she checked were similarly devoid of people- one had a mass of furniture collected in the middle and the other completely barren- but the third on the other side of the hall from the staircase made her gut clench.

It looked like Mercury, with well-groomed silver hair, his eyes wide open while his body slumped against the far wall in yet another empty room. Given the angle of his head, his neck was snapped by something, though he didn’t have a rope to explain how he’d died. He was wearing jeans and a jacket, both well worn, and heavy boots- he looked like he might’ve been working on painting the room before whatever happened to him, considering the ladder nearby.

“What the fuck,” she said, her voice soft as she closed the door. With the empty rooms she’d left the doors open, to make it easier for the cops when they arrived. A numbness started spreading through her as she mechanically walked to the next few rooms, leaving their doors open. When she came to the last at the end of the hall, she had a feeling she knew exactly what she would find, but opened it anyway.

Unlike the other rooms, this one was entirely furnished and remodeled. Dark red on the walls, black carpet, and a four-poster bed- the interior decor choices unnerved her almost as much as the woman’s stare, raven hair cascading over her shoulder as she hung there, knees just an inch or so shy of the edge of the bed, rope around her neck connected to a wire frame for the canopy overhead. She wore a black robe over a red nightgown, as if she was just getting ready for bed when…

Even without make-up or a smirk, Yang recognized the woman as Cinder, the last of the unaccounted-for orphans.

She hit the button on her scroll, stopping the recording as she pulled the door closed. Her hand trembled but she tried to keep a hold on herself, stumbling back towards the staircase landing. In the distance, through the broken mirrors, she could hear the approaching sirens of the police or the ambulance, only one of which was actually needed. Yang moved closer to one of the windows, the broken one, seeing as the other was covered almost in its entirety.

Carefully, mindful of the jagged edges of the glass, she watched as patrol cars began winding their way towards the manor with an ambulance following closely. Soon, the cops would be here and start sorting through… whatever had happened. Even having seen it with her own eyes, she couldn’t begin to process it. Too numb from the shock of it all. 

Four people dead, and one half crazed for some reason.

As she started to turn away, she caught something in the broken glass. A reflection of the landing behind her, but there was someone standing there. Short hair and a cloak of some sort? Yang turned, expecting to find Emerald, but instead saw a woman with brown hair and garish bruises on her neck, expression twisted by rage, and wide brown eyes. She opened her mouth and screamed, a terrifying sound that came out strangled and broken and screeching and Yang jumped back while putting her hands over her ears, trying to make it stop.

When it did, she took shuddering breaths while looking at the top of the staircase. The woman wasn’t there anymore but a little red book sat on the top step where she’d been standing.

“Who the fuck…” She looked around, unsure of where the strange woman had gone, and cautiously made her way to the staircase. Kneeling down, she picked up the book- a diary, by the looks of it- as the sounds of sirens drew closer. She shoved it in her bag while hurrying down the steps, turning into the living room to grab Emerald so they could both get out of the house before that strange woman-

Yang came to a dead stop, her heart stuttering in her chest as her eyes went wide.

From the center of the ceiling, a rope extended down, though she couldn’t tell where it was anchored. Then again, she wasn’t really looking, more fixated on Emerald’s dead stare as she hung lifelessly, the rope around her throat tight until- for some reason- it detached from its anchor point and she fell, crashing onto the coffee table below.

Immediately, Yang turned and booked it out the front door, tripping on the doorway in her haste and having to catch herself with her hands, her legs never stopping. She somehow got back to her feet and ran to the other side of Mr. Ozpin’s car, turning around to ensure no one had followed her out even as she heard the patrol cars and ambulance come up behind her, pulling through the circular drive.

As she desperately tried to catch her breath, lilac eyes roved over the house, stopping at the window she’d looked out on the second floor. There, she saw the strange woman again, watching her for a moment and gone in a blink of an eye. Yet, even with her gone, Yang could still feel herself being watched.

Even as the cops got out of their cars, even as the paramedics came to check her out, even as she stuttered and stumbled through her explanation of what happened, she could feel it.

She was being watched.

[ephemeral-afterlight]

More about Logan + his students?

sure! there's not a lot to say, since most of the work done is online, but,,,

logan holds both public classes and private tutoring, and will teach kids one-on-one both online and in person. he covers pretty much everything you can think of, and he's really, really good at his job. he knows how to easily adapt to each student's needs and pacing, and he doesn't treat his students as lesser than him, which is why he has such a high success rate.

in the beginning, he always tells his students to set a goal for themselves that they want to reach by the end of their class or tutoring, and logan has only had a few students out of the hundreds he's taught that haven't been able to reach that goal.

currently, he has a couple online courses in session, and he's personally tutoring five people who paid the extra fee for one-on-one teaching. three of those are online, and the other two he goes to in person.

one of the online people is a kid in middle school who was forced to do it by their parents. they're always grumpy, sarcastic, and fights back against logan every single moment the two of them are in a call, but by the time it's time for the kid to leave for soccer practice, they're mellowed out and cracking jokes. they don't like the tutoring, but they begrudgingly listen to what logan says, and does their work even though they complain the whole time. they'd never admit how happy it makes them when logan compliments their progress and tells them he's proud of them, but logan probably knows that anyway.

another online student is a college student who just wanted some extra help in one of her english courses. she doesn't talk much, just talks about the subject at hand in a neutral, focused way, which logan appreciates. she's simple to teach, and their sessions are concise and consistent. there's not much to say about her, to be honest.

the last online student is a kid who used to go to public school but is now homeschooled. he'd be just going into high school if he still went. he was in the "gifted" children's class, and has a lot of stress put upon him by overbearing parents to do well despite not going to public school anymore. he takes a pretty normal roster of typical school subjects, along with a french course he takes on logan's public site. the kid's witty, always stressed out, and a quick learner, and the calls with him are always enjoyable.

one of the two in-person people logan teaches is an autistic kid who wasn't allowed to go to public school because of their extremely sheltering parents, and although they've admitted before that they don't think they'd like it much anyway, it makes them feel really alone when their parents tell them that they "can't have friends" or that people wouldn't like them simply because they're autistic. logan feels Very Deeply for this kid, and can sort of relate, so he tries to make his visits to their house as fun and interactive as possible. along with the lessons, he also acts as a bit of a confidant for the kid, who absolutely adores logan. when the kid first tells logan that he's their best friend ("well, i mean, of course you are, since you're my only friend, but still,"), logan has to turn and hide his misty eyes and bright grin from them.

the last kid, and the other one he sees in person, is a girl who's still in elementary school, but is extremely smart. she's a music prodigy along with her high intelligence, and she is the biggest 'meme' logan has ever met. she may be young, but she speaks like someone who has been alive for years, has seen all the sights she could see, and now lives out a healthy life being a little shithead and making her life more entertaining by confusing everyone around her. she is the weirdest 9-year-old logan has ever had the absolute pleasure of talking to and observing.

other than that, there is one other person logan sees. he goes to his house every other saturday, spends a few hours teaching him. but this guy isn't a kid, he's a father, and he only reached out to logan because his daughter made him do it. logan is there to teach him about the lgbtq+ community, the history, and the struggles they've had to endure. since his daughter came out as trans, he didn't react well to it, and hurt her by saying some pretty mean things. instead of getting angry, she thought about his side, that he's lashing out because he doesn't understand. she thought that learning about the community might help him, so logan comes to do just that. at first he's standoffish, rude, and doesn't really listen to what logan says. over time, he stops scowling every time logan knocks on the door. he looks forward to the class, offers snacks for the day, asks questions and even takes notes. by the time two months have passed, he's stopped calling his daughter a "he", and the first time he refers to her as a she around her, the teary hug she barrels into him to give makes even logan smile. logan wishes he could've had that kind of relationship with his parents, but he'll have to settle with fostering that kind of acceptance in others.

(probably no taglist for this one, sorry;;;)

[jkarma]

First = Last

Once there was a boy named Jeff, he was a smart kid who was really into learning and is fascinated by both the genres of math and science. In his elementary life, he was not a bad student, usually in the top 10 of the class if not in the top 5.  But there was a slight problem. He wasn’t having the best time since he was always being bullied verbally. This never got into him much and he thought that elementary was going to be the hardest thing ever, but this all changed when high school came along.

6-8-2016 

On the first day of class, Jeff felt excited because he knew that elementary was over and this is going to be a new step in life. And so it is. It’s like he was in a new school or something, and everything seemed new. Half of his classmates were either from the other sections or were from other schools, his teachers were all new and even the lessons are new! So the day went on, the English class was over and the Chinese class was coming. He wasn’t really a big fan of Chinese since he isn’t as good at it compared to English, but nonetheless he usually still gets to the top 10 of the class which is decent for him. But the one thing that really changed his life forever was the moment when he met a girl in Chinese class. He thought it was cool at first but eventually learned how “infatuation” works. Her name was Melanie. He found out that two to three other boys liked her too but this wasn’t a big issue for him at that point since he thought that education was still more important than “infatuation”.  A few months passed by, and he’s starting to like this girl even more! But they don’t talk much because they have totally different lives and he couldn’t tell anyone about it since he was scared and because his best friend likes her too. So he kept it for himself.  But not until it came to a point where he told Melanie exactly what he felt about her and nothing much really changed after that. He tried to talk to her a little more and even wrote letters to her, but then again, “We’re still too young, and education must be focused first.” He said. So he started to forget about her and focused on his studies like before.

3-10-2017

The 4th grading periodical examination is just around the corner and one evening, Jeff was studying Filipino. One of his hatest subjects. “Why don’t I check my Facebook for a moment, I’m sure it's not gonna take long,” he said. While scrolling on Facebook, Jeff saw a girl named Sarah who has more than 100 mutual friends. He then asked one of his friends about who this girl was, and his friend said that Sarah is one of their batchmates and had just transferred to their school this year. I sent her a friend request in the hopes of meeting a new friend, and with no surprise, she accepted it. They started talking in messenger and slowly became friends. Summer went on and they talked all day every day and they started to know way more about each other and started to become close friends. 

4-15-2017

It’s the middle of summer and things started to become boring. Fortunately for Jeff, Sarah was there to keep him company. Day and night they would chat and on this exact day, Jeff fell for her. But again, he was too shy to tell anybody so he initially kept it for himself. They kept talking and even became best friends at one point even though they have not met each other in person yet. Could this be it?

6-10-2017 

School is just 3 days away and Jeff is excited to meet his new teachers and maybe even new classmates and friends, but one thing he really was up about was to finally talk and meet Sarah for the first time. He even asked Sarah if they could like to talk sometime or hangout or something. I mean, he does like Sarah so why not become close to her personally? So he kept on encouraging himself to not miss out on this opportunity but...

6-13-2017

It’s the first day of class. Oh man was he excited for this day. “Time to be who I really am!” said Jeff. The first few subjects were great for Jeff, lunch was coming and he wanted to somehow talk and meet Sarah in person but it came to a point where he was too shy to even approach her. So this rendezvous of theirs didn’t push through and remained like that until around the third grading. But this didn’t affect him as much because school was still pretty busy. So when he started to gain some confidence, he asked Sarah if they could meet up somewhere and he thought that the library was the best place since they both liked books, and so they did meet the following day. It was kind of awkward as expected but it wasn’t the end of the world for Jeff, in fact, it was just the beginning.

12-10-2017

At this point, Jeff and Sarah were best friends but still don't really talk much in person. And a great opportunity was up ahead! It’s gonna be Christmas soon and of course, there was an upcoming Christmas party in school. Jeff wanted to give something to Sarah as an appreciation gift for always being there for him. He asked her what gift she would want, and she obviously denied that she wanted something and said that anything would be fine. At first, Jeff had no idea what to give to Sarah. He asked for help from friends and all, but he had no luck. After a few days, he thought of something that she might like and use, a watch.

12-15-2017 

The Christmas party went on, and Jeff had so much fun. Afterward, Sarah and her friends went out to hang out with one another. Jeff thought of this as another opportunity to get closer to Sarah in person, and so he went with them. Jeff’s best friend was also there so it wasn’t really a problem for Jeff to fit in. They went to a mall and did all these crazy things such as karaoke singing in Timezone. Before the day ended, Jeff noticed that Sarah wasn’t going with the others and instead will be going home with her family, Jeff then took that opportunity to at least try to get a picture with Sarah whilst it’s still possible. So they did take a picture and Jeff was as happy as he can be, but he almost forgot one thing.

1-4-2018

Christmas break was done and a lot of things happened the past 2 weeks. Well, in messenger, Jeff and Sarah still talked pretty much every day and all that stuff but they were starting to lose touch. “But why tho?”, asked Jeff and he did some investigation. After a while, he found out about this dude named Charles who likes Sarah too! Charles and Jeff were decent friends because they went to the same tutor the year before. “What a coincidence?” said Jeff. So he decided to give this Charles a chance to prove himself to Sarah because she promised Jeff that she would never like Charles back and that they would not end up being together. Days passed by and both of them became closer and closer, which scared Jeff a little bit. He had very supportive friends who stood by his side when he needed it, and this helped him a lot especially when he feels like a loser because of what is happening around him.

1-15-18

It’s Sarah’s birthday, and Jeff wouldn’t want to miss the chance of proving to her that he cares about her. He not only planned to make her a video, and give her a gift, but he also planned on giving her letters from the entire batch. As he was about to give the gift to Sarah, something tragic happened. He lost the P1,000 gift card from H&M that he was supposed to give Sarah, and it was nowhere to be found. He explained everything to Sarah and she said that it was okay.

1-31-18

At this point, Jeff and Sarah were still friends. But one day, Charles had authority over Sarah’s Facebook account and used it to keep her away from Jeff. How? By blocking Jeff in her account. Pretty smart, but it definitely was not good news for Jeff. Even though he knew that Sarah would never want him to be her boyfriend, he still wanted her to be his friend, his best friend.  Because of this, he was devastated. But after a while, he thought that maybe she might still unblock him sooner or later. Day after day, week after week, month after month, and still nothing. He started to forget about her because of this, and so blocking Jeff from her life might not actually be that bad after all.

5-14-18

Remember Melanie? Well, she was one of the main people who helped Jeff forget about Sarah and move on. Even though she knew that he once liked him, he still treated him as one of her best friends. At this point, Jeff has fully moved on from Sarah and just went on with life, but there was something missing. Jeff and Melanie continued to talk in messenger and got closer and closer. Eventually, he thought “This was the girl whom I liked before, why don’t I pursue this and maybe, just maybe, even get her heart?” He then thought “But Melanie isn’t allowed to have a boyfriend yet. Oh gosh, what am I thinking?! This will just hurt me, and I’ll be the one who’s going to be disappointed again.” He then stopped thinking about this and focused on his studies once again.

3-8-22

It’s their Senior High School graduation and all the effort that he had done all paid off. Jeff was the valedictorian of their batch and received numerous medals and awards all throughout. “If there was one award that I had missed, it would definitely be the award for love. But I guess it’s one of the reasons why I’m here right now so I might as well miss it and try again next time. This is just the first few steps in life, and there’s a lot more to go.” He said. After graduation, he approached Melanie and said something to her. This is how their conversation went.

Jeff: “Hey, Melanie. I can’t believe it’s graduation already ahhhhh!”

Melanie: “Yep, haha. Time really passes by so quickly.”

Jeff: “What are your plans after this graduation?”

Melanie: “Hmm, I dunno... Probably go to college? Hahaha.”

Jeff: “True. Haha. Remember the time when you said that because of a promise, you weren’t allowed to have a boyfriend until you graduate Senior High School?”

Melanie: “Yeah why?”

Jeff: “Well uhm, since we have already graduated, would you like to go out with me?”

Melanie: “Wait, what?”

Jeff: “Yeah ‘cause why not? Haha. You’re a very special girl and I just want you to be the girl whom I spend the rest of my life with.”

Melanie: “Thanks, but I don’t know.”

Jeff: “Come on Mel, we have known each other for probably 6 plus years now, haha, and I wouldn’t want to miss this chance because I don’t know if I’ll have the chance to ever meet you again. I like you.”

Melanie: “Uhm... I’m sorry Jeff, but I don’t think this is going to work out because I don’t really want to mess with your already “great” life. I’m just an ordinary girl, and I believe you deserve someone better than me. I’m not saying no but I’m doing this for you.”

Jeff: “Mel, don’t say that. You’re a wonderful and amazing girl. I don’t care what others think about you. All I know is that I like you because you’re you and nothing can change that.”

Jeff hugged Melanie for the first time and Melanie quietly said: “You’re the coolest person I’ve ever met and I would be more than willing to be with you.”

- Conrad

[whitetigerdemoness]

The epilogue! Just wrapping some loose ends up.

A fox will tell you a thousand lies without once saying anything that isn't true.

Master Post of All Chapters

“Today the most sensational trial of the decade concluded with a guilty plea from Gabriel Agreste, better known to most as Hawkmoth. Mr. Agreste has been sentenced to serve only ten years of prison time, a most controversial decision. One month ago his final akuma rampage killed no less than forty one people, this reporter included. By only one deciding vote the jury has decided ‘not guilty’ to the accusations as thanks to Ladybug no permanent damage was found to be done. Additional charges included-”

Nathaniel tapped the x in the corner of the video to close it and shut his eyes with a sigh. Nadia looked tense in the report, clearly not agreeing with the verdict, and he sympathized with her. That same sympathy was why the jury had voted the way they did. Mr. Agreste may have pleaded guilty, but he still had very good lawyers. They spun a thrilling tale of desperation and love, a man grieving his fallen wife (who had secretly been a superhero) and doing anything he could to revive her. The fact that Paon was now a public hero (the peacock miraculous being repaired) only helped matters for him. With Hawkmoth gone Paon was more of an everyday hero, using her sentimonsters to help with things such as construction and rescuing kittens from trees, but the city adored her. Knowing Mrs. Agreste personally Nathaniel knew she did it out of guilt for what Gabriel had done to the city to revive her. 

Speaking of heroes he knew personally, Marinette had been lightly hinting that he and Marc should come out with her, Adrien, and Luka on a double date. Nathaniel supposed being the embodiment of a luck based superhero was good for something. Nathaniel was felt he was lucky just to have one boyfriend. A boyfriend he was currently hiding on the school roof to avoid. Not that there was a problem with Marc! No the problem was entirely with Nathaniel, or rather his memories. In his final moments, Reverser had attempted to use his powers to allow Nathaniel to keep his memories of his time as an akuma. Due to the miraculous cure it had half worked. One moment he could be looking into Marc’s dazzling green eyes in the art room, and the next he would be looking into a different, otherworldly pair of green. His treacherous mind giving him flashes of warm lips and an even warmer body against his own. He was sixteen, male, and not at all equipped to deal with sudden feelings bowling him over out of nowhere.

So he did what any boy his age would do in that situation and ran away to hide on the roof in hopes that the cold air would help those ‘feelings’ go away. Why did his akuma self have to be so-so...bold! Penknight might have been able to just kiss his boyfriend whenever and wherever he wanted, but Nathaniel sometimes worried his heart was going to explode just holding hands. Sure, he was a little more confident in private, but a sudden urge to heavily makeout in the middle of a public space? Not possible. 

“Nath?” Marc popped his head around the corner. The sound Nathaniel made was not manly. The bastard had the nerve to laugh at him. Face burning, Nathaniel scooted back to where he had been sitting before Marc decided to jump-scare him halfway across the roof. Said boy sat down next to him, their shoulders touching.

“It happened again, didn’t it?” Marc asked, resting his head on his knees. “Judging from the look on your face before you ran I’d say it was a pleasant memory.” He teased.

“It um,” Nathaniel coughed to try and prevent his throat from closing up, “It was.” They both blushed and looked away from each other.

“...You know,” Marc began “One of these days you’re going to have to actually give me more details about what you keep seeing other than ‘hrk’ ‘gack’ ‘hnnng!’ and changing the subject. I mean, with how red your face goes I can guess, but it would be nice to have it confirmed if I still have my virginity or not.” ‘Hrk’, ‘gack’, and ‘hnnng!’, plus more were included in the intelligent reply Nathaniel tried to stammer out. His only consolation was Marc looked just as embarrassed. 

“We-” The redhead started, then took a deep breath for strength. “We didn’t go...that far. Hawkmoth was...watching.” Nathaniel left out the part where the villain had been gone for several hours, leaving the two to their own devices. He was in the area of 90% sure they hadn’t gone farther than making out, and fervently hoped he was right. If just remembering kissing sent him into fits, he would probably die if he suddenly recalled...other things. Time to change the subject.

“So um, you usually don’t come after me when I get overwhelmed from remembering stuff. What are you up here hiding from?” Marc had offered, when the flashbacks first started, but Nathaniel needed the time alone to sort out what he was feeling, after.

“Berger and his cronies are here.” Ugh, that man. 

“They really don’t seem to care about those restraining orders, do they?” Nathaniel sighed. “Who are they after today, Adrien, Lila, or us?” While Adrien still roamed the city as Chatnoir, only a select few knew who was behind the mask. The Wah Wah were more interested in him as the son of Hawkmoth and Paon. The interviews and public admissions to her identity the first time she had become Volpina had really come back around to bite Lila in the ass. She had been publicly declared innocent of any all and crimes committed while Volpina, as cured akumas were acknowledged to have no memory or control of their akuma actions, but the zealous Office of Akuma Affairs hounded her without mercy. Nathaniel had zero sympathy for her, as she had outed him and Marc as Penknight and Prism the first chance she got to try and take some pressure off her own skin. It didn’t work, and now all three of them had to deal with idiots stalking them.

“Anyone they can sink their claws in I guess. Principal Damocles was arguing with them by the entrance when Rose let me know they were here. I figured freezing my ass off up here with you was the better alternative than trying to sneak past them.” Marc grumbled, pulling his knees in tighter. Early March in Paris was not the best weather to be sitting around outside without a coat in. Nathaniel hesitantly put an arm around him. Marc snuggled into his side with a sigh. 

“Sorry, the roof seemed like a good idea at the time.” Nathaniel apologized. Marc didn’t reply, only scooting closer. “We could probably sneak into the library from here if you would like to go back inside?” 

“Oh my god yes. If I stay out here any longer I’m going to be a popsicle.” Marc wasted no time jumping to his feet and pulling Nathaniel along with him. Letting himself be pulled along, Nathaniel smiled, grateful that this entire ordeal had ended on a happy note.

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

“Thank you so much for letting me wait for Marinette! She’s been so helpful tutoring me.” Lila waved to Mr and Mrs Dupain-cheng, her smile fading as she climbed into Marinette’s room and out of sight. She didn’t know how it had happened, but after being cured she had lost her place as the class favorite to Marinette. She had tried every trick she could think of, saying that Nadia and Jagged had been forced by Penknight to claim not to know her. That Hawkmoth had manipulated her for his own ends. That she was just a poor victim in that awful fiasco, but nothing had worked. The class had neatly split down the middle between her supporters and Marinette’s. Heck, Nathaniel had been outright hostile to her.

She had used his animosity as an excuse to switch classes and while her new class was happy to give her the admiration she deserved, she could not, would not, accept that Marinette had beaten her. Glancing about the girl’s room she looked for anything she could use to incriminate her. To blackmail her. Hell, even to just plain HURT her. She picked up a ladybug bug shaped box on Marinette’s desk and looked for a way to open it. Figures the girl would be a Ladybug fan. Running her hands over the spots, she felt one give slightly. When she pressed again a compartment opened, revealing a silver and purple butterfly pin. 

The compartment came all the way out and could be folded over into a small box. Much more convenient than taking the entire thing. Lila pocketed the first box and reached out to touch another spot, only to hear footsteps coming up the stairs. Hastily, she set the box back on the desk just in time for Marinette to appear.

“What are you doing here?” Marinette growled. 

“Marinette! I came to apologize.” Lila turned up the charm. “This past month, in my new class, well some distance from the situation really made me realize how horribly I treated you and-” Marinette cut her off.

“I don’t believe any of that for a second.” She fumed. “What are you really doing here?”

“Marinette” Lila sighed. “Can’t we ever put all this passed us and be friends?” She smiled.

“Not until you prove you’ve actually changed. Sneaking into my room while I’m not here is a terrible start.”

“If we can’t have an honest conversation, I should just go…” Lila trailed off, schooling her expression into a remorseful one.

“Please do.” Marinette was not moved. She did hold the door open for Lila and walk her all the way out, no doubt to keep an eye on her. Lila didn’t mind. She might not have gotten anything world ending from this trip, but maybe she could at least pawn the pin in her pocket for some cash. The thing looked as though it was made of real silver, sure to be worth a good amount.

Oh yes, she had a good feeling about how this was going to end.

--------------------------______________----------------_____________-------

Well there you have it, that's it for Holloa. Will there be a sequel? Perhaps. It is canon that there is a Hawkmoth several years in the future. Not sure how I would go with making that Hawkmoth Lila without her knowing who Ladybug was, or at least where to get the rest of the miraculous since she picked up the Butterfly from Marinette. Oh wait I do have an idea....hm. Maybe. I'll think about it ok. Lila makes the most sense out of everyone to be Hawkmoth 2.0

[mochidrabbles]

Hello ! It's me again ! How do you think Saburo would be with an older s/o (cause I'm pretty sure he thinks girls of his age are immature and he wants someone he can have interesting conversations with) Also, how would Jiro and Ichiro react, (she's around Jiro's age), how did they meet, how is their relationship like, do they have to face other people's opinions, what do they do during their free time... Etc... Tbh, pretty sure Saburo would get quite confident if she's older lol

Generally speaking, having an older s/o is definitely an ego boost for Saburo. He acts super confident about it but when they actually accepted it when he asked them out he was incredibly surprised, seeing as not many people like him; to think that the (in his opinion) most amazing person in a higher grade would like him as much as he liked them would be a total surprise to him. Around others Saburo can be pretty smug and wont hesitate to brag about his partner. Still, deep down he’s kind of nervous. They’re more experienced than him and he wants to be able to treat them right but he’s behind in that aspect. He can be a little insecure about having them take the lead in the relationship and essentially walk him through their first steps since he feels like he should be taking that role, but with enough encouragement he eases into it; only in private, though, as he likes to front when he’s around others. He does appreciate it though. He soaks up everything and learns fast, so once he’s getting the hang of how things work he does try to ‘get the upper hand’ by surprising s/o from time to time. As much as Saburo likes to explore ‘couple’ things like going to date spots, kissing, cuddling, ect. he likes to share his interests with s/o a lot too. Board games and card games are common between them but Saburo tries to take some interest in what s/o likes too (because Ichiro told him that’s what good boyfriends do.) Since S/o is about Jiro’s age, I can easily see them meeting when s/o comes over to help tutor Jiro in a school subject he’s failing.

Other people are generally good about the relationship. There’s only an age gap of maybe two years, so it’s not something most people are that concerned about. Saburo gets the odd sneer from classmates who don’t like him but it’s nothing he’s not used to, and he generally equates it to jealousy. S/o probably gets a bit more flack, some of their friends and classmates teasing them for being with someone younger or worrying about whether s/o will really be happy with someone younger, but it’s not too bad. The worries stop after s/o’s friends see the two together a few times though the teasing still comes up sometimes. Saburo doesn’t really care what anyone else thinks, honestly, and he encourages s/o to adopt the same attitude

Saburo’s brothers are the ones who are more likely to worry, simply because they’re his family. Jiro is just totally shocked that s/o took interest in Saburo and questions them a lot, until he gets caught by Saburo and snapped at. Ichiro is a little worried about S/o’s intentions at first, and probably wants to supervise the two to an embarrassing degree to get an idea what S/o is truly after. It takes a little hovering and a bit of interrogation by both brothers but once they see that S/o’s intentions are pure and they genuinely like Saburo they have both brother’s blessings.

[koreanstudentiseul]

Reflecting on my Studies.

Lately I’ve been feeling rather deflated about my Korean studies, I feel like no matter how hard I try I just stay standing still. A little like wading quicksand. I tried so hard to move forward, I was churning through my vocab cards in vain hope that some of them would start to click and I’m still struggling hard. For some reason uni subjects just don’t retain for me, or the 4 marrige verbs (engaged, married, divorced, remarried) though that’s possibly in part to not being something I’ve thought anything about in English let alone Korean.

I am maintaining my italki lessons, which are currently equally frustrating to me as I fell after nearly a year and being basically finished the beginners course (having started unit 20 of 20) I should at least be able to write a decent sentence. Or at least able to write more than one three word sentence without resorting to checking every word on Papago. Admittedly that ones on me but I’m not confident at all in my abilities and I don’t want to offend anyone. Still traumatised by the time I accidentally swore without knowing I’d strung a word together let alone a cuss.

So I had a good long think about what I was doing, what I wanted to be able to do and decided that there’s going to be a little change of action this week. Since I managed to do all my homework the day it was given which I’ve never managed before, I get to do what I want this week so I’m taking steps to tackle a major problem area. Listening.

For someone whose been listening to K-pop for like 7-8 years my listening is awful, I can listen and pick up the words and sing along quite happily, I’ve even performed several K-Pop songs but I can’t listen to dialog and understand much of anything. I am not exaggerating when I say my tutor can say something, even something simple in Korean and I will understand nothing and then she’ll type it for me and I’ll understand perfectly, like I know I spend years studying alone with books but that’s really bad 11 months on from my trial lesson with her.

Now, I know she really doesn’t like TTMIK, but since I’d already bought an excessive amount of their products before saying this (well and I like them which is the important thing) I’m going to use them. So after going through the things I had I have picked out the Listening Practice in Slow Korean, and IYAGI Beginner’s courses and instead of just listening to them I’m dictating them. So far I’ve done the 김밥 and 카페 stories, with varying degrees of success. For 3-4 minute stories, they’re taking 2 hours to write and correct so I’m worried about moving onto the IYAGI ones cause they probably will get longer.

Even at only being 2 stories in I am noticing an improvement. There were words in the 김밥 story that I got very very wrong and in the 카페 story managed to get them right so I can see that there is some progress, which is really nice but I’m hoping it gets to a point were I hear it and understand it because that’d be really nice. I’m also handwriting them because that way I don’t have the red squiggly line of ‘nope, try again’ because I don’t trust myself not to autopilot and fix it before I realise what I did.

I’m also hoping listening to all these I’ll start to understand sentence structure more and begin to help the grammar side of things cause I know that’s part of my problem too. I have covered at least 250 grammar points and I remember maybe 10 of them. Not to mention anything that might help with understanding what particles to use when can only help. 은/는/이/가/을/를 are probably the thing I’ve reviewed most and I still basically guess which is the appropriate particle in the sentence, sadly knowing whether to use 은 or 는 doesn’t help decide if its 은, 이 or 을.

I’m hoping by the end of this exercise I will have a better foundation for my listening skills, or at least create a foundation for my listening skills since they’re incredibly lacking. I have been instructed not to use drama’s for listing practice, reasons not given and technically I was told not to use TTMIK either but shhh we’ll just not mention that.

So that’s my goal for the rest of this year, I feel like it will be the best starting place for everything I’d like to improve going forward. I feel like if I can do more listening and actually understand what I’m hearing rather than it just being noise I’ll be able to play more with the language and be able to listen to podcasts or watch tv or one of the growing piles of dvd’s and not have to rely on Korean subs just to know what they’re saying, regardless of comprehension. Nothing to do with having 0 idea how else to tackle grammar so it’s less of a problem area. Anyways, thank you for reading and happy learning~  ♡