#thats one big thing done! the presentation went very well indeed

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

I held a little presentation about our Bachelor's thesis plan :) People said that my nitrifaction-denitrification picture was very informative >:))

[just-call-me-the-intrusive-thot]

Soulmate September - Day 7

Day 7 - There is a string tied around your pinky that only you can see, the end of it leads to your soulmate.

Pairing(s): Kid AU! Intrulogical

TWs: Remus being Remus [though not overly so, he’s like, 9 here], some swearing

–

Remus Castillo and Logan Smith were two very different children; former was creative and bursting with chaotic energy, while the latter preferred to be more logical, more stable. One studied hard into the night despite his young years, the other decided that a good time was filling a blender with crayons and silly putty to see what would happen. Both attended different schools, lived a good distance apart, and neither of their families knew the other existed.

What could possibly bring together such opposing forces?

If your answer wasn’t being forcibly dragged kicking and screaming from the local museum by security for tampering with the exhibits and screaming about historical theft, then congratulations; you’re most likely still sane.

How did these very different children meet, you ask? 

The story began on a Friday lunchtime - as all good stories often do - when Sanders Elementary and Faraday Academy For Gifted Children both booked their museum visits for the same time slot. Thankfully, the museum staff speculated that they could indeed handle two classes of fourth graders at once - those poor, unfortunate souls - and decided to start both classes off on either sides of the museum with a little overlap.

Logan entered the foyer with his peers, gazing around at the array of trinkets and treasures adorning the space. Though he hungered for knowledge of all kinds, his heart was set on the cosmos, reaching for a copy of the museum’s map when his hand was blocked by another. He recoiled and turned to face the other; a boy with tanned skin as opposed to his own pasty complexion, with wild green eyes that bore into Logan’s own, and a grin like a shark about to snap Logan’s hand up in it’s jaws.

“I call dibs, four eyes!”

Logan huffed, straightening his glasses, “There are plenty of maps to go around, there is no need for rudeness-”

“Why do you talk like you’ve got a stick up your ass?”, the boy asked with no hint of remorse nor shame, “Just talk like a regular kid, jeez!”

Logan was flabbergasted. No one had ever talked to him like that before. Then again, no one ever really talked to him in general. Perhaps that was why his lonely little brain could only think to stammer out, 

“Who ARE you!?”

The boy roared with laughter, “Wow, thats all you have to say!? And they call ME weird!” , he shot a hand out towards Logan’s, not removing the one touching the map, “I’m Remus! What’s your name, frankenstein?”

Logan huffed, “Logan Smith. And you know,”, he began, puffing his chest out proudly as he yanked the map away, “Frankenstein was the scientist, not the monster, therefore, you’re not insulting me-”

Without hesitation, Remus leant into Logan’s space and licked the map, causing Logan to jolt back and drop it. Picking up his spoils, Remus chuckled manically, “You look smart but you’re super dumb. Frankenstein IS the monster, dumbass, that’s the whole point.”. Without waiting for Logan’s rebuttal, Remus made his way back to his class, leaving Logan to frustratedly grab another map and return to his class, unaware of the string that formed around his pinky…

The tour was everything Logan had hoped for; an informative romp through space and time, enjoying the sights of the planetarium and a walk through a tunnel lined with geodes. And yet, all Logan could think about was that stupid boy who stole HIS map. Hmph! How dare Remus call him stupid! Whatever, at least they would stop soon to have lunch in the Polar Exhibit and he wouldn’t have to think about- 

Oh god dammit.

As they entered the wide circular room, he laid eyes on the boy from before pretending to have gotten his tongue stuck to the giant fake iceberg in the centre of the room. Cheering him on was a gaggle of other children while their teacher seemed more content to just eat his own lunch and try to pretend it wasn’t his problem. Logan huffily stormed over to the nearest empty seat and popped open his Big Hero Six lunchbox, ready to moodily munch his jelly sandwiches when a painfully familiar voice stopped him in his tracks.

“We meet again, professor!”

Great.

“Remus.”, Logan hissed, though he tried to maintain composure, “A pleasure, I’m sure but I must be-”

“- crazy to run away from your soulmate?”, Remus finished, leaving Logan, once again, speechless.

“E-Excuse me!?”

“Check your pinkie, dingus.”

Logan checked and finally noticed the string, and to his horror, the end of it that tied itself around Remus’ pinkie.

“Looks like you’re stuck with me for life! Unless I die, then you’re stuck with my corpse. Oooh! Maybe you can bring me back to life! Really earn that Frankenstein nickname-”

“This HAS to be a mistake!”, Logan squeaked, flustered and shocked by the news, “There’s no way YOU are my soulmate!”

Logan made eye contact with Remus and for a moment the boy looked hurt, but he plastered on a grin and poked Logan in the arm, “Nope! Fate thinks you’re my future husband, so suck it!”

Groaning, Logan let out an exasperated sigh, “Fine, then I suppose you should tell me about yourself, Remus.”. Logan would - for eternity and a day after - deny that the smile Remus gave him made his little heart flutter for the first time.

As the two ate, Remus went into a long tangent about his life and Logan found himself absolutely fascinated. 

Remus Castillo had a twin brother, Roman, who enjoyed Disney movies and being “an overly wordy drama queen”. They had a single father, much like Logan’s own, whose wife had apparently decided she was destined for greater things that didn’t involve unplanned twin boys (Remus’ words, not his). Logan listened as Remus told him all about his family’s culture, having moved from Aguascalientes to Florida a year ago for work related reasons; retelling fond memories of watching the parade of Calaveras along the Avenida Madero with his father and brother each year. Logan found Remus really enjoyed a mixture of colourful and morbid subjects, each tangent sending Remus on a fun winding road down memory lane or through a vague memory of some educational book.

Logan Smith had wanted nothing to do with the boy who’d licked his hand and stolen his map, but as lunch ended and both classes were being called away to their respective classes, he found he didn’t want to be separated from Remus.

Very apparently, Remus didn’t want to either. If they way he was gasping Logan’s arm and hauling him towards the class from Sanders Elementary instead of his own was any indicator. 

“Come on! You can hang with us! Roman won’t mind! And my buddy Remy’s lotsa fun too-”

“Remus Castillo, stop right there.”

Remus indignantly ignored his teacher, plowing through his sentence, “You’ll LOVE my class, they’re all weirdos like us-”

“REMUS!”, barked his teacher, already done with the nine year old terror, “You let that boy go this instant!”

Remus defiantly clung tighter to Logan’s arm, “No!”

“Remus Castillo, you’re to let go NOW.”

“But he’s my soulmate!”, Remus yelled, causing his classmates to chatter excitedly. It made Logan feel a little self conscious, but Remus didn’t seem to care, “Pleeeeease let him come with us!!”

His teacher rubbed his temples as if it could massage the exhaustion away, “That’s nice, but you are NOT going to cause more trouble, soulmate or not!”

By now, even the children and teacher from Logan’s academy were watching the commotion. It came to a head as Remus’ teacher tried to separate the two of them, earning the tiniest war cry from Remus as he stomped on his teacher’s foot and clung fully to Logan like his life depended on it.

“I’M NOT LEAVING WITHOUT HIM! I’LL STAY HERE UNTIL WE’RE A GROSS MUSHY PILE OF SKIN AND BONES IF I HAVE TO!”

With that pleasant image in his brain, Logan decided to perhaps appeal to his own teacher,

“Miss, can Remus perhaps stay with our group so we may avoid further-”

“Absolutely not,”, she turned up her nose at Remus’ display, “Our school has a reputation to uphold, I will not have it sullied by such a rude child.”

Well that backfired. Now both teachers were having to try and separate the two of them. It took two of the museum’s security personnel to finally haul Remus off of Logan, carrying the writhing child as they assured his teacher that they’d put him in the tantrum room. With the way they handled his feral yelling and attempts to grab at any nearby exhibits for something he could use to bash them with, this probably wasn’t their first Rabid Child Rodeo.

Logan watched dejectedly as they hauled his soulmate out of sight while his teacher ordered him to get in line as they continued their tour. He couldn’t focus on any of the various bewitching artifacts that the guide presented to them on their tour of the ancient world though, all he could think about was Remus. Alone. Stuck in some room. Missing out on the exhibits. Missing him.

“....Emile?”, Logan asked the boy standing to his left.

“Yes, Logan?”

“I’m about to do something very, very impulsive.”

“.... Okay?”

“And reckless.”

“...Right-”

“In the name of fate.”

“........”, Emile sighed, “What do you need me to do?”

“Either talk me out of what is likely a terrible decision that will without a doubt go on my permanent record and possibly disappoint my father. Or encourage me so that I may spend time with my soulmate for as long as possible.”

Emile shook his head, “Well, if cartoons have taught me anything, it’s that you’re gonna go for it no matter what I say so...”. He placed a hand on Logan’s shoulder, “Make it good, Logan, I wanna remember the day the untouchable Logan Smith lost his mind.”. With a shared chuckle, Emile let him wind up for whatever he was about to do, while Logan waited for his moment. The tour guide was gesturing to an exhibit of ancient Mayan armour when Logan chose to strike, raising his hand while Emile awaited the fireworks show to come.

“Sir? I have a question.“

“Of course, what is it?”

“Did the museum ask permission to have that armour?”

The guide looked confused while Logan’s teacher looked ready to have an aneurysm.

“I… don’t understand what you mean. Anyway this-”

“I’m merely asking,”, Logan interrupted, ready to keep pushing until he would be  hauled off by security, “because I believe that if it were my culture being mercilessly appropriated and stolen from, I would be rather upset.”

“We’re allowed to have it because it’s for education-”

“But it’s still stealing. And stealing is always wrong, correct?”

“Well, it-”

“It’s a yes or no question, please answer as such-”

-

Remus hadn’t expected company in the tantrum room, but he wasn’t complaining as Logan was marched in, looking positively proud of himself in spite of the way the security guard nearly tossed him inside with obvious frustration. With a bright grin, Remus pat the beanbag next to him, positively writhing with unbridled joy, “Spill! What’d you do?!”.

Logan tried to play stoic and prideful, but the excitement cracked through in his voice, “I merely inquired as to why museums considered their historical thievery to be ethically justified until the tour guide got angry and attempted to ignore me.”. “Sick!! Then what!?”, Remus’ delighted eyes met Logan’s with a similar sparkle of mischief.

Logan chuckled as he admired their string of fate, as people called it, slowly pulling his eyes from it to meet Remus’ again, “I screamed. Loudly. For quite the duration. I must say, I’m rather proud of my own lung capacity.”

Remus rolled his eyes, but there was a fondness in it.

“Naturally, security came to try and calm the situation.”

“And then they brought you here?”

“No, they attempted to calm me down”, Logan snickered, “But, one of them put a hand on my shoulder rather rudely. So I bit them-” “YOU BIT ‘EM!?”, if Logan could bottle the light that radiated from Remus there and then, he would have, his own smile growing while his soulmate’s grin threatened to tear through his cheeks, “Logan, mi alma, you’re insane! I love it!”

“Mi alma?”, Logan queried, his cheeks losing the great blush war as his face radiated a nice rosy crimson.

“Oh, right!”, Remus explained, “It means ‘my soul’, it’s what people call their boyfriends ‘n’ stuff back home. I figured since you’re my soulmate, it makes sense to call you that!”

For a moment, Remus faltered, “Uh…. if you don’t mind I guess? It’s whatever, I’ll stop if you hate it-”

“No, no, I rather appreciate the sentiment,” , Logan awkwardly smiled back at Remus, “Mi alma?”

The wilder of the two threw his head back in a roar laughter, “Man, your pronunciation sucks! And that’s an easy one!“, he teased as he shuffled his beanbag closer to Logan’s and continued with a wild smile, “Looks like I gotta stay with you for sure now and make sure you get it right! You’re stuck with me, Nerdy Wolverine!”

It would be hard work convincing his father to let him move schools to be with Remus, Logan knew that. Despite the fact his father adored love in all forms and regarded the bond of soulmates as sacred, Logan knew it’d logically be a hard sell to ask his father to not only pull him out of an expensive academy, but also to have him possibly move home or make a rather lengthy commute. 

But as Remus’ had met Logan’s, the latter found himself locking fingers with his wild soulmate, banishing that thought while they still had time together. Whether it would work out right away, after a couple of months, or even over the course of a few years, they’d make it work.

“Falsehood,”, Logan smirked, “I believe it’s you that’s stuck with me.”

-----------

Okay, this one’s the cutest thing hands down. I’m so proud of this one! As a tidbit, I had it in mind that their single fathers were Janus for the twins and Patton for Logan. 

@tsshipmonth2020

Taglist: @somehow-i-got-an-account @cateye-glasses

[poliel]

hey so you know how when beffica brings up the chewed on bones and says there's something out there PRESENT TENSE that has teeth and chews on grumpus bones and triffany's like "she's not wrong"? what if, while some of those bones had been chewed on long ago (there's snakmatter that wasn't part of a bugsnak preserved in the stomach area of some of those skeletons - had to be snakified body parts), the culprit for the others was a sleepwalking gramble? he's asleep he doesnt know thats people bones

It's been a long while since I got this ask that give me the idea for this fic. I don't know if it was worth the wait and it was definitely funnier in my head, though that's par for the course when it comes to funny stuff, but here it finally is.

A Different Kind of Midnight Snack

The sight of Gramble sleep walking was a common one at this time of night. Most often he patrolled around Snaxburg but occasionally he did wonder off his usual path and out of town. It was probably a bit morally questionable to stalk him on such occasions, instead they should wake him and send him back to bed, but Buddy didn’t care enough to do so. The curiosity of where he might be going was too much ignore. So instead of going to the closest vacant bed to sleep in as would’ve been wise given the time of night and how long they’d been awake for, they set off to follow Gramble into the Scorched Gorge.

While they’d caught him wondering out of the desert a few times, they’d never caught him going in. So this ought to be interesting given this was a place he went fairly often. Though it could just be a coincidence; he might not go anywhere in particular and might instead just wonder around and just randomly happened to end going into the desert more than other places. If that was the case it’d be disappointing but in the end wouldn’t matter much. At least Buddy would know that and not have to wonder about it anymore.

At the fork in the path he turned right, towards Triffany’s dig site. Not wanting to risk waking him, Buddy hung back. But stayed close enough that if he wondered into any kind of danger like an angry spuddy or something, they could hop in to save him or yell loud enough to wake him and warn him hopefully before he got hurt.

The dig site did indeed seem to be his destination as upon reaching it, he clambered down into the excavation itself and out of Buddy’s line of sight. They paused, waiting to see if he’d come up out the other side. But no, several seconds went by and…

A cracking sound broke the night’s silence. Not particularly loud but still sudden enough to make Budden flinch a little. Shaking it off, they crept closer to the excavation because that’s where it had originated.

Gramble sat in the middle of it, his eyes fluttering, indicating he was still asleep. He held a fossilized thigh bone in his paws. Which wouldn’t have been all that strange if one end of it wasn’t also in his mouth! He was chewing on it! Not hard but enough that it had visibly cracked which explained the sound but… what the fuck?

Buddy took a breath to yell him to stop but bit back on it, even clapping their paws over their mouth to make sure no sound came out. While chewing on/eating fossilized grumpuses was not something any sane grumpus would want to be doing as long as Gramble was asleep he didn’t know. Burdening him with that knowledge would only upset him and thus was not necessary.

Instead they carefully crept down to his level and grabbed the bone. As they pulled it away, he resisted but thankfully not enough to make it a real struggle which likely would’ve ended with him waking up. Once it was no longer in his grasp, they carefully lay it on the ground and took him by the paw to pull him gently to his feet.

He mumbled and whimpered but didn’t wake as they started guiding him back towards Snaxburg and his barn. This at least explained why so many of the fossils had teeth marks and occasionally went missing or showed up broken or splintered. So at least Buddy had solved that mystery. Too bad they couldn’t tell anyone though.

~

Over the next few days they thought about Gramble chewing on and eating fossils a lot. It was a still a rather uncomfortable thought and probably technically cannibalism but also… what did they taste like? While not meant to be eaten, Gramble had to have taken to doing so anyway out of partial starvation, right? Did they help with that any? He certainly didn’t seem quite as unhealthy as one would’ve thought after how long he’d been living off mostly just sauce. But what did Buddy really know about that kind of thing?

At the same time though, the fossils were solid. After how long Buddy had been living off sauce the thought of eating something solid even if it was only partially edible was tempting. And while it was a grumpus skeleton, whoever it had once belonged to was long dead, as was anyone who’d known them. So… trying it just once couldn’t hurt, could it? It certainly wouldn’t be the worst thing Buddy had ever done in their life and thus also not the first thing they’d done that they’d need to keep secret for forever.

***

The worst thing about insomnia was that getting any real work done was harder when it was dark. Back on the mainland, there’d been electricity to help with that. Out here though all Floofty had to light their workspace in the middle of the night were candles. Which they were starting to get close to running out of. Making more was difficult due to the lack of real bees on the island and thus no beeswax to make them from. Floofty would have to figure something out an alternative soon. It certainly wasn’t going to happen tonight though.

With an annoyed sigh they turned away. Instead of working they would just go stand by the unlit campfire until they were bored enough to try sleep again or until the sun rose, allowing them to see their work properly again. Whichever came first would be fine with them.

Before they could step out of the research tent, they paused to watch Buddy go by. Not unusual to see them up and about at this time. What was odd though was their lack of backpack; typically they were only without it when staying in town which they certainly weren’t doing right now as they headed in the direction of the desert. Still not really strange enough to be anything more than mildly noteworthy. At the same time though Floofty had nothing better to do so why not investigate and see if anything strange was up?

They didn’t bother trying to be all that sneaky. If Buddy caught them, they caught them, no big deal. But as they followed them into the Scorched Gorge, Buddy didn’t seem at all inclined to look back for potential followers. They beelined for Triffany’s dig site.

At its edge they crouched down to pull out of the dirt; a fossil. They glanced around as if nervous but not far enough to spot Floofty. Then after a few seconds of obvious hesitation, they lifted the bone to their mouth and… bit it with a loud crunch. Which they swallowed?! Another bite and it was gone. They’d eaten it! Next they bent down for another. Without even hesitating this time, they took bite.

“What are you doing?”

Floofty hadn’t spoken all that loud but Buddy still visibly flinched and made a startled squeaking noise as they snapped around to face Floofty. They quickly swallowed the bite they’d already taken and hid the remaining fossil behind their back. “Uh… it’s not what it looks like?”

Floofty strode closer. “It looked like you were eating fossils.” Which was odd even by Floofty’s standards.

“Uh… um….” Buddy glanced all around, their guilt so plain on their face even Floofty could read it with ease. “I’m just… really hungry, okay? Please don’t tell anyone.” They spoke so fast they garbled the words into near incomprehensibility as they bent down to grab one more bone before turning and sprinting off into the darkness.

Even if Floofty had been inclined to try to follow there was no way they’d be able to keep up; speed was not their strong suit. So instead, they watched as Buddy quickly disappeared into the darkness.

Floofty would’ve liked to ask why Buddy was eating fossils – they were just ‘really hungry’ wasn’t a very good explanation – but oh well. It wasn’t really that important and they’d undoubtedly get a chance to ask later because there was no way they wouldn’t be seeing Buddy again, the island was too small. They wouldn’t tell anyone though, as Buddy had requested, not that there was anyone they could’ve told anyway.

[yandere-ac]

Tom Nook X Reader

Fireworks

Alone.

10 pm on a Sunday and Tom was sitting alone in the residential services, typing away on his computer, trying to ignore all the sounds outside. The sounds of everyone running around, the sounds of people having fun, the sounds of fireworks going off. But most importantly, the sound of him. It’s been years and nothing has changed with him. He was screaming at the top of his lungs, trying to attract customers to his little raffle. Tom knee he was out there, that’s why he simply couldn’t go. The simple muffled sound of him shouting was enough to make his heart stop. “Come one! Come all! Step right up to redds raffle! For the small fee of 500 bells you’ll be guaranteed to win one of these fine prices! That’s right folks! You’ll never know what you’ll get but you are guaranteed to win!!!”

Huh. You’ll never know what you’ll get. Thats funny. That’s sort of how Redd and Toms relationship used to be. Tom however, did not get a guaranteed win. No, he got scammed out of 500 000 bells and was left in a ditch to rot away and die. He never thought Redd would be able to do something like that to him. Tom thought that he was different to Redd, that he actually cared for him. But Redd proved him wrong that night. He proved that Tom was no different than all the other fools that Redd tricked on a day to day basis. Because that’s what he was to Redd, he was just another one of his pawns in his big game of chess. He meant nothing to Redd and was easily disposable. And here he was, just outside his window, trying to make quick money off of his fellow islanders. And Tom was letting it happen. Because he was too much of a coward to go and do something.

Phyyyuuuuuuuu....

BOOM!!!

Another firework went off. Tom could see the ground light up from outside his window. Oh how he wished he could be outside. But he knew he wasn’t strong enough to face Redd. He never wanted to see him again, and he hadn’t planned on doing so. And he would do anything to avoid seeing his past partner.

Plingelingeling

The soft sound of the little bell that was attached to the door dragged Tom out of his thoughts. Someone had entered. And that someone was you. You were laughing and were holding a balloon. At least someone was having fun out there. You made eye contact with him and smiled, running up to him. You had a star bopper on, probably something that Isabelle gave to you. You looked very cute in it.

“Hi Tom!” You said as you sat down in the chair on the other side of his desk. “Why hello hello Y/N! Having fun out there I hope?” He said, giving you a genuine smile. “Yeah! It’s been awesome! The fireworks are really pretty and we’ve all had very fun! The boys are really happy as well! They’ve been running around for hours now! It’s really cute!” You said, very enthusiastic about the whole ordeal. Tom has asked you to take the kids with you to the festival. They both had been cooped up in the store for too long and deserved a break. And there was no one he trusted more than you. “But....I think they would enjoy it more of you were out there with them...” oh boy. So you would pull this card huh. He let out a slight sigh. “Yes, I would also enjoy it...but I can’t Y/N...you know that...” as he said this he felt two soft hands grab his paws. “Is this about Redd?” You asked, and just hearing someone else say that bastards name made him tense up and made his eyes widen. “...I take that as a yes...come on Tom! Who cares what that guy thinks! He’s a sad man who’s only enjoyment in life comes from watching other suffer! He’s not worth your time!” Tom knew Redd wasn’t worth his time, yet it didn’t exactly make it any better. Just stating the obvious isn’t going to help his case.

“...I’m sorry...look, how about we go to a secluded spot, far away from the plaza. Do you think Redd will leave his precious money making station to go after you? Trust me, you need to get out of the residential services. You won’t have to see Redd okay? I promise!” Once you said this, you took one of your hands and cupped his cheek. Tom responded by closing his eyes and leaning into the touch. How bad could it be. If he would just ignore Redd and get away as soon as possible, things might work out. And so, he took one of his paws and pressed it on the hand that was cupping your cheek. “Alright then”

Walking out from the building, Tom and you were holding hands. Tom could see all of the islands inhabitants running around, clapping or cheering. Some were sitting on the ground, others were standing up. And he could see one islander sitting on another shoulders as they ran past him and Y/N. “Oh hello Mr Nook!” The one on top shouted as they passed the two. The loud announcement of the name made a certain fox turn his head to see if what he heard was really true. And once he made eye contact with Tom and gave him a wide smirk, Tom knew it was game over.

“Well well well. If it’s isn’t Tom Nook himself. I’ll be honest, I thought you died or something nookie, but here you are! Nice of you to visit your good ol pal Redd!” Toms ears fell done on his head. All of a sudden he could feel memories of Redd and him wash over him. But not the good memories, no, rather the memories he wished he could lock in a box and throw into the ocean. Redd walked closer to the two and Tom tried to regain his posture. “Hello Redd. How are you doing this evening?” Tom looked at the fox. He was wearing completely different clothes than his usual “only an apron” style. He hated to admit, but he like the foxes outfit. Should he say something? “You look nice. I like the new clothes.” Tom didnt want to give the fox any sort of encouragement In any way shape or form but he hoped that the compliment would at least soften Redd up in the slightest. He refused to look into the foxes eyes. “Pff, thanks! I wish I could say the same for you.” this made Tom freeze for a few seconds, that’s was, until he felt you squeeze his hand. Slowly stroking it with your thumb. Once he looked into your eyes and saw nothing but support, he felt better. “Uncle Tom!!!” The tension was interrupted by the sound of two younger voices accompanied by the small pit pats of four small paws running against the ground. Tom could see Timmy and Tommy running up towards him. Both of the boys jumped into his arms and he managed to catch both of them swiftly. He felt a pair of small arms wrap around his neck. Tommy was giving him a hug and Timmy was enthusiastically explaining what they had done this evening.

“It was so cool!!! You should have seen it! Y/N made custom fireworks with us! I made a dinosaur and Tommy made a jellyfish!!! And then- then Y/N made their custom firework look like me and Tommy!!! It was so pretty!!! And then aunt Isabelle gave us these boppers! Look, look!” The two brothers were indeed wearing two boppers. Timmy was wearing a flower bopper and Tommy was wearing a heart bopper. Tom chuckled slightly at their frenetic nature. It was obvious the two was running on sugar and adrenaline at the moment. He was certain that the two small tanookis were gonna have a tummy ache the next day. He could hear the faintest sounds of a little bell coming towards them. He turned to see that, yup, Isabelle was coming towards them all.

“Oh! Tom! Great to see you out here! I’ll be honest, I felt a little guilty leaving you alone while I got to be out here” Isabelle said, huffing slightly as she talked to him. “Oh yes. I finished all my paper work you see.” That was a lie, however, only three people knew it was a lie. “Oh yeah I’m sure you had so much paperwork huh?” Redd said, inserting himself into the conversation. This is when you started to lose patience. “Why don’t you shut your trap Redd!” Redd was a bit taken back by this. You always acted so quiet when you bought art of off him so to see you be so audible was strange to be sure. “Oh I’m sorry? Where you involved Y/N? What are you gonna?” Redd said, irritation plaiting his voice. “I would love to tell you what I would do but there are children present you selfish-“ “enough! Y/N, you said it yourself. He’s not worth it. Just let it go.” Tom told you, stroking your shoulder in an attempt at calming your nerves. You looked into his eyes, and in one fell swoop, you picked up the two brother that were now standing besides him. The two of them let out screams of delight and laughter as you started to run off. “Come on! Follow me!!!”

Isabelle and Tom were trailing behind you. How were you so fast when you were carrying TWO children!? Just like always. You never cease to amaze. You finally stopped at the highest hill on the island. There grew a single tree full of the islands native fruit. You put down Timmy and Tommy who were still giggling like crazy. You sat down besides the two boys and leaned up against the tree. Soon Tom and Isabelle caught up with you, both extremely out of breath once they got there. “What in the world was that for?” Isabelle asked as she looked at you. “I felt like we needed a change of scenery. Tom needs to see the fireworks! And I thought, what better place then the hill! And so, I grabbed the kids and ran here!” As you said this, you scooted over, patted the place next to you. Tom sat down next to you and Isabelle sat next to the boys. And for the first time, Tom could actually focus on the sky. It was beautiful. Absolutely stunning even! The sky was filled to the brim with colours after colours. Exploding like big balls of flames. It took his breath away. Even Isabelle seemed amazed. She had seen the fireworks sure, but from up here, they were even clearer! All five of them just watched the fireworks in silence for 15 minutes straight. It was only when the three adults heard a soft groan that they turned the attention away from the sky and to the small tanookies. Tommy was resting his head on Isabelle’s lap and Timmy was using Tommy as a pillow.

“Whoops. Looks like someone’s energies run out. Poor things, it’s way past their bed time. I’ll take them home.” Isabelle said, gently picking up the boys in her arms. She was about to leave when Tom stopped her. “Wait Isabelle. Before you leave... could I have one of those boppers?” He asked. It felt silly of him to ask but he thought they were pretty and wanted to participate. But Isabelle wasn’t a judgemental person, far from it. She simply giggled slightly and bowed her head before him. “Here, take mine.”

And so. Isabelle was off. She was off to put the kids to bed. That left Tom and you completely alone. Tom was readjusting his bopper and you were simply looking at him with a smile. “Hey look at that! We match!” You said, nudging his shoulder slightly. “Huh? Oh yeah! I guess we do ahhah...hey Y/N? I wanted to thank you. Thank you for fixing the Redd situation, thank you for taking care of the boys, just thank you for dragging me out here. And umm...” he took a deep breath. Here goes nothing. The tanooki placed a quick kiss on your cheek. It took you a second to realise what had just happened. But once you did, you smiled to yourself, grabbing his hand slightly.

“You’re welcome Tom.“ And so. The two of you continued to watch the fireworks, you leaned your head against his shoulder.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

So yeah...another out of the blue fic that I wasn’t planning on writing!!! But listen, @mrmr-uwu told me about this headcanon she had about how the reason Tom isn’t present at the festival is because he can’t be with Redd because it’s to painful for him. Like do you expect me to hear that and NOT write a 2000 word fic about it??? Don’t be ridiculous I don’t have that self control! But this was really fun. Like I’ve said before I will take ANY excuse to write for Tom Nook. I will now get back to your normal Yandere content

[neo-shitty]

toffee!

hehe glad i could make you laugh, oooh that sounds awesome! yeah id love to be tagged it sounds great :)

YES the differences are so fucking weird. like, they do know they're the same age right? i feel like its just an exagguration of how much the persons role in the group matters, like we see chan being held up as such a mature, old leader while jungkook who is literally the same age, is still babied etc. like enha hyung line is basically the same age (if a bit younger) as chenle and jisung but somehow the rules are different?? as you point out, still legal but still bizarre. hehe yeah, i mean where else are we going to rant? quora lol. mmm, hopefully more people can just write less smut abt people who are barely adults

ah, no prob it didnt take long. yeah i think thats right (i keep forgetting you know my url lol) mmhmm :( i think if that happened irl there would be some major trauma going on. knock wood it never happens to you or me lol (/hj)

hehe same! oooh glad Redemption For Cheese was realised! yess we cant rllycomplain that theyve written/produced too much good music lol. yeah, ive dragged him into being a stay so *dusts hands off* mission accomplished. mmm yeah, they tend to have a certain vibe but tbh it couldve worked if they were any other group but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ahh ur one step ahead of me on the stages of listening to ssick i think, still not convinced but thats okay! hehe, it had to be said. yesss the itch in the back of my brain is very satisfied by sorry i love you, felixs vocals deserve to be appreciated! (side note i feel like hes trying to sing more like his speaking voice, sorta husky, but tbh i wouldnt be mad if he sang like in glow, his sweet honey vocals made my life lol. but i think ive heard him say he doesnt like singing like that cos it makes his normal voice less husky, so what can you do)

> YES SOMEONE SAID IT. seungmin rap KING, he sped thru that rap like it was nothing, he deserves more rap lines. i do like how they gave minho some melodic rap lines this comeback, my guy deserved to show off those skills that made him not be eliminated (flashbacks to stay collectively wanting to murder jyp) and we already know changbin can sing, my man murdered masked singer. hyunjin can obviously sing as can jisung and felix, and i want to hear chan rap more! i feel like he started as part of 3racha (as a rap unit not producing) and then just became a vocalist (which im fine with, but it could be nice to hear him flex his rapping skills) and was partially replaced by hyunjin. anywayyy

back to album talk. lmaooo sad music to twerk to PERFECTLY describes silent cry. yes secret secret is and will always be, a masterpiece. hehe glad i could make you laugh :) i just felt like they have similar vibes. putting off skz stuff bc of not having time to cry IS the kpop stan life summarised. oh my beloved track, red lights. ahh thats okay, we can have different opinions, but by god the lyrics are *chefs kiss*. *banging on table* TWISTED AU TWISTED AU TWISTED AU. yess id love to see ur take on it! sdfghjkl it would have been glorious

no no! not stupid, just able to predict my brainwaves. ooooh thats so cool! makes me want to go there (wherever there is lol) yeah the waves are pretty good here, but none of my familys a surfer, so we dont rlly enjoy the full potential lol. YES moving on to gone away, it is indeed a heartwrenching track, but the vocals and the bloody key change? makes me want to brave being sad just to listen to it. mmm yeah, good point :( i feel like ive just gotten used to overthinking so much so that it doesnt matter what mood im in, ill do it anyway, so might as well just do what i feel like doing anyway.

yeah i think ur right! it is quite comforting knowing that all the tracks will get the love they deserve. i feel like also people assume kpop is just one genre which is utter bs. there are so many different vibes and feels and songs, i couldnt get into kpop (of which i thought only the bright cheerful present day bts stuff existed smh) until i heard gods menu so... idk where i was going with this but yeah. :)

YES FUCK YG, theyre literally on the brink of being kicked out of the big three and they are holding their salvation hostage without letting them do ANYTHING. idek what thought process goes thru their minds but arghhh its so infuriating. yess lisa's cb will be awesome but ot4 is the gold standard here.

hehe, glad u could get to this point. no no! u dont sound like a cult member at all lol yeah, i loooove some of their songs but the whole 23 members thing is getting to me. thats prob a common problem with nctzens but what can i say? im a simple girl with a limit to how many korean boys i can give my money to. atm im just trying to get into ateez and finish memorising enhypen's faces. also kard is kinda sucking me into their fandom atm, as well as eric name lol. ah what can you do? ooh thats good!

hehe i love it too! its exactly like online penpals, that was rlly well put. aww ty! hmm im okay, recovering from a bad case of rsv so thats fun. im doing okay mentally, starting therapy soon (after having to convince my mother that its not just smth i can brush off). physically i wont go into, basically i should be doing stretches to help but they dont completely fix it so my lazy ass doesnt do them, plus i got told recently im going to be stuck with this condition for the rest of my life so thats fun! ah, before you type smth dw abt me ill be fine. the weather atm is cloudy but warm, its been raining on and off today which is good for the garden. uhh i just finished reading sunburnt veils and im in the middle of prom theory which is rlly good. ummm ive got a concert tonight? that i may or may not be able to sing in (bc of the whole rsv thingo) and uhhhh idk. my dog is cute? im drinking tea rn? ive got a school dance coming up?

wbu? hows ur day going, how are you? whats the weather like on ur end? done anything interesting lately? found smth that makes you rlly happy? just any random thing youve been dying to tell someone?

no no! dont apologise, i love these exchanges. i think im happy to continue them for a long time :) on the other hand, if you get tired of them, feel free to just not answer at any time. goodness gracious this was a long ask haha hope it isnt too annoying

<3 w.a. 🐺

sorry it took me a bit to reply, i was fixing my theme ;n;

yeah, i figured it was because of the roles too. my friends and i still get taken aback when 3rd gen idols are the same age as 4th gen ones. in my head it doesn't add up sometimes. PLS THE RANT AT QUORA SKJDK tbh tho it's just going to be normalized as the years pass? esp that the boys are growing older and the amount of explicit fics will just increase. i might have to start blocking tags.

i had to look up the previous ask to remember what we were talking about xd i hope the events in champagne problems never happens to anyone. realistically, it probably happens a lot. damn i really won't wish that pain on anyone. dragging your brother into being a stay i whEEZED JFKSA additional noeasy music enthusiast o.o and ALL I CAN SAY WITH YOU GUSHING ABT FELIX IS AHA WHIPPEEEED OML can't blame you tho, i also want to hear felix sing more in other shades (if that makes sense HAHA) i really hope they'll do the role exchange in the next comeback :( or like in the near future bc i know they can do it :( the day i hear seungmin rapping it i will respectfully pass away. minho was given more lines this comeback thank fUCK i could rmb my irl being vocal abt her frustration. i don't get why minho barely has center time/lines in title tracks??? like the line distribution in the past eras just made me ???? if seventeen can balance lines with 13 members why cant a group of 8 do the same? moving on. i haven't watched the stray kids show simply bc i don't want to cry HAJS but i've seen clips. imagine if skz debuted without minho and felix?!?!? i rmb another irl catching bias feels towards changbin bc of the masked singer only to find out that the man's a rapper. i love how skz's vocals were highlighted this comeback :c there were a lot of mellow tracks! i find it cute when chan sings/raps bc it gets kinda obvious that he's a foreigner? the accent (im not even sure if it's the accent) it just shows. "putting off skz stuff bc of not having time to cry IS the kpop stan life summarised." CORRECT.

abt the twisted au o.O i'll inquire my irl if she wants to write it or not. if she doesn't want to, i'll do it. i miss writing twisted aus <3___<3 and i also miss going to the beach with my friends :' ) but it's starting to get cold here and i don't think i'll be able to enjoy the beach as much as i would if i went beaching in the summer. so maybe next summer? gone away really has an sm-ballad vibe. the thing about skz being a self-producing group, their songs don't sound like typical jype songs? and i just appreciate that bc in all honesty im not a fan of jyp groups at all. PLS the overthinking. i wish i could mute overthinking.

anyone who assumes kpop is just one genre obv hasn't listened to a single track. if kpop was just one genre why do i like some tracks more than the others??? oh you've only recently become a kpop stan? tbh im not a fan of the bright songs of bts either. i liked their older ones *chefs kiss* really matched high school vibes. yg has good artists and they're just wasting the talent ~.~ that strategy they have will get tiring eventually. people will stop waiting on blackpink and move on to newer more active groups ://

HAHAHAH yeah the 23 members is pretty overwhelming! it was the reason i didn't bother stanning before quarantine started. i don't regret stanning tho, met my ult bias in that group <3___<3 i don't really purchase albums unless i like the tracks xd ohhh getting into ateez just in time for the comeback! let me know what you think about them! i was fond of them at some point but grew out of it. good luck with memorizing enhypen! it took me a while to distinguish to people there XD i haven't checked out kard yet but chan plays their songs during lives and they're sexc hype music me likey *u*

i had to look up rsv im sorry. i'm glad you're recovering! please rest more and don't stress yourself out. bro i wish i could go to therapy too bc i have weird issues i can't justify and i need a professional to tell me what's the reason behind it. stuck with what condition btw? what happened? i'm sorry in case i just forgot. yesterday was a bit rainy for me too :(( it's not the type of rainy that makes me anxious so B) oh concert! good luck and i hope you'll be able to sing but i also don't think it's best for you rn :c what's your dog's breed? and yes i just finished drinking tea too. AAAAA i miss school dances :(( the last one i was supposed to have was cancelled bc of covid.

i was less productive today and i'm teetering between being mentally stable and becoming a hermit again. i'm anxious with a lot of things atm so like : D not the best state. today it was a bit sunny but not hot hot which was nice. i changed my theme today bc i couldn't wait for sept. 1st. and no i haven't found anything that makes me happy HAHAHA shit like that's hard to identify. don't have anything to say too, i'm just thinking about why i'm procrastinating too much atm T_T and i'm listening to this rap song atm and one of the rappers sounded like han.

it isn't annoying! i enjoy the long exchanges but i do admit it takes me awhile to type down a reply. so if i get more busy, it'll prolly take a bit longer for me to reply.

[riceccakes]

Earth, Wind, and Coffee: Chapter Three Analysis

chapter one analysis | chapter two analysis

back again for another chapter analysis. i think ive been looking forward to this chapter the most, it’s where some big decisions were made!!! this analysis is a long one, i hope that’s all right! i kinda got carried away. so, let’s dive right in, shall we?

some fun stuff before we start!

chapter three was supposed to be the last chapter of the fic

idk if any of you were there when i first started writing this fic, but it was only going to be three chapters with a possible epilogue. however, everything changed when i finished the end of chapter two. (lil atla reference there for ya) (sorry i know that was bad, moving on). like i said in my last analysis, i had an idea of what i wanted to happen (the separation of korrasami) so that they could come back together. it was just a matter of what separates them. so, i’m not sure where i got the panic attack idea but once i did, the rest of the story changed. i realized i couldn’t quite possibly finish the story in one chapter so i split the ideas i had and decided on it being four chapters

now, this being said, maaaaajor changes were made in my story outline. most notably: korrasami was going to be a couple in this chapter

this was originally going to be a full fledged “they meet, they get to know each other, they fall in love, happily every after” but the thing was, i planned on treating their romance as korra’s recovery; that being with asami is what made korra better, that all she needed was a partner, someone to love, and that is not what i wanted to portray with this story. i’ve never been a fan of stories that give a character a love interest and all of sudden their problems are fixed and they’re completely happy, and here i was about to do just that. i knew i’d never respect myself if i continued down this narrative, and when chapter two ended with korra’s panic attack, i realized her growth needed better love and attention. so, i changed what happened and gave her some therapy

this change in the storyline also let me explore more of kuvopal !!! (is that their ship name?)

so, back to LOVE WITCH for a second (because that glorious fic really did steal my heart) not only did it make me love kuvira’s character more, it also got me into the kuvopal relationship! and yet again, i wanted my own go at it. with the original timeline, there was just no space for me to include the lil bread crumbs of their relationship. however, however, however; by splitting the ending between two chapters (and adding some stuff in between) i was able to lay some foundation for them, which im very happy about :)

into the chapter we go:

let’s talk about the meeting! the whole reason this fic came to be! i’ll start by saying i always knew the project was going to get pulled out from under asami. 1) because thats some angsty/hurt shit right there and im a sucker for writing angst 2) i didn’t feel like creating a whole ass presentation because knowing my ass i would’ve made a powerpoint about it so i had every detail down to the font asami used and 3) getting the presentation taken away from asami was a pivotal point in her character arc.

i actually started the chapter in two different ways. at first, i’d written her whole entire morning with there always being one thing that was off. like, instead of a perfect omelette, it was going to split and asami would’ve had a scramble, still good, but not her favorite. instead of going through all green lights on her way to work, asami was gonna meet every. single. red. light. i would’ve gone through with this if it hadn’t felt strange; i wanted to give the impression that something bad was going to happen but i felt like having something go wrong with every thing in her morning was gonna be a dead give away that some even bigger big bad was about to happen, if that makes sense. so instead, i went with the picture perfect scenario, almost too perfect, if you ask me. and indeed, it was too perfect, because hiroshi was too much of a coward to tell his daughter any sooner that his board agreed to get a new presenter

im just gonna cite a bunch of my favorite lines/bits from this chapter because i really enjoyed writing it xD

Iroh has already begun but Asami hears no words, only a blaring ring in her ears. Her face feels hot and she wonders how red she is. She stares at the black binder, notes the natural grooves and curves of the material, the plastic covering over top of it, the metal spine peaking out at the bottom. She’s only brought out of it’s dark trance when she feels a hand be placed on her arm; Kuvira. 

when you’re upset, do you ever just, hyper focus on one thing and its like you’re analyzing it under a microscope for the first time? yes? no? well, i do that, and personally, i do because if i focus on my anger/hurt emotions any more, im going to explode and i dont want to explode. so, this instance about looking at the grooves in the binder and each of the components of it just hits with me, idk if does with you too, but like bruuh.

Asami has her hand over her mouth, silently sobbing, feeling as if she’ll throw up. She leans her head on her wheel, her mind wanders to what could’ve been, what should’ve been. She feels as if her car is closing in on her, that the metal is compacting. The seatbelt keeps her locked down to the driver’s seat and she can’t leave if she wants to. The Satomobile holds her hostage and she lets it. Even while it’s hurting her, even while it’s harshly molding itself onto her, she stays at her father’s heel because, what else is she to do?

this is one of my favorite things ive ever done with asami’s character, is using future industries/satomobiles as a sort of vehicle (heh) for her relationship with her dad. this paragraph just kind of hurts, but the good hurt? but also not good hurt? it’s just, (and not me over here boasting about my writing or anything) it’s so poetic that she has this breakdown and she’s so upset with her dad, i mean “what should’ve been” like, asami KNOWS that the shit that’s just happened is more than wrong, yet asami is still somehow wondering how she can please her dad and it’s in the literal legacy hiroshi built for himself. “she stays at her father’s heel because, what else is she to do?” i remember writing that and being like “shit, am i really gonna do this? yeah” ugh, i could go on forever about how i love this section, but i’ll stop here for now.

Asami begins yelling, screaming at the top of her lungs, letting all the thoughts, all the insecurities her father gave her finally be released into the world. Kuvira lets her, simply nodding and following along on the couch while Asami paces her living room. She spews out word after word, about the work, about the presentation, about Iroh, his position, her position, the company, the CEO, and she only stops when she feels the weight of her father rest on her shoulders.

back with more diction; i really love this paragraph because of how we circle back to hiroshi. note how i first say “the CEO” and then a few words later say “her father” because, in a way, this is asami’s confession that hiroshi is CEO first and father second, if i haven’t already explicitly said so. it’s so heart wrenching and sad but my favorite thing about it is this isn’t even about korra. like THIS right here is a prime example about how i realized this fic became more than just a love story. in the planning stages of this fic, asami was going to go through getting the presentation taken away from her, but what was she going to focus more on? the fact that korra wasn’t around anymore. and yes, asami still does think about korra after this, but so much more happens for her. asami gets to know kuvira more, asami gets to know her lab partners more, (and my personal hc is that they’ve all been lab partners for two years and only NOW asami is getting to be friends with them in their senior year, but hey, better late than never!) and to me, what’s even better, is that a bunch of realizations come to asami w/o korra being there. asami is growing and the idea of being able to grow without needing to have a partner in order to grow is so important to me, not only for the fact that growth should be endless and something you do all the time for yourself, but asami literally wants to share it with korra. not boast about changing and growing and becoming better, but just be better with korra. sdlfakds i swear, im fangirling over my own writing, oops

okay, moving on from The Meeting and onto the rest of the chapter

this dock scene was also another part i wrote beforehand and it had a completely different ending in that asami was going to ask korra out on a date. of course, korra would’ve said yes, and then yay yay happy ending. this didn’t happen and i’m glad it didn’t. in one version of this dock scene, asami was actually going to be upset with korra for disappearing, and even worse, mad that korra wasn’t there to comfort her after the presentation. oof, i know. so so glad i didn’t continue down that line, cause it is toxic, and my girls aren’t like that at all.

Once Korra’s eyes meet hers, Asami says, “That doesn’t mean you always have to be on your own.” She smiles at Korra, at the girl who’s turned her world upside down. Her hand remains on Korra’s cheek and she feels the girl sink into her palm. “I’ll be here for you, and it seems like Tenzin will be too, what with saying he was calling you more. And you have his family, and your own family, even though they’re away, they’re here to support you, we all are. You can still be strong and turn to other people for help. It takes great strength to ask for help and I know for a fact you’re strong enough, those bags of coffee beans were nothing for you.”

i like this line of dialogue here for a few reasons, mostly because asami is so soft and so right and the joke at the really helped lighten the mood but didn’t take away from what she’d just said before. i don’t have too much else about the Reunions section, though if you guys have any questions or anything you wanna point out, please do so! i think what i will say is that i tried to be as real and gentle with korra’s progression. i was so nitpicky about everything i wrote because i didn’t want to get any of it wrong or over dramatized or fake. recovery from anything is so important and it takes time and it’s not a straight line so i hope i did a good job with it the rest of the fic. 

moving on, i love the found family trope and this leads me into the next section, New Friends

when i think about this section, i like how soft it is, and i really enjoy the ending bits: korra recounting memories from the south, asami meeting tenzin. i think what i like about the end of this chapter is that, it kind of leaves the question: what’s next?

asami has grown, she’s changed, she sees the errors of her father’s ways but she’s not excusing them. korra has grown, she’s changing, she’s taken the first step in recovery. now it’s just a matter of, what happens with this growth now. and i really loved how i wrapped up the fic in the next and last chapter, so i hope you enjoy it too :))

honorable mentions:

there were a lot of changes in this chapter and one of them got changed twice! korra was gonna get a therapist but then i was like, we gotta get the krew together, and then i was like supppppoorttttt grouuuppppp, because lets be honest, all the krew has stuff they need to work through, and i know therapy isn’t for everyone, but mental health is so vital and important. asami is an advocate for therapy in the chapter but there are also other means to take care of yourself and your mental health and while i’ve never been to a support group, i understand finding comfort in knowing you’re not alone.

i guess what i’m trying to say is please take care of yourself and dont be afraid to lean on others. i know not everyone has the means to get a therapist/psychiatrist and i know that your friends aren’t made to only be your therapist. buuuut, don’t be afraid to reach out, there’s nothing wrong with needing help and support :)

anything i would’ve wanted to change?

honestly, i think the only thing i would’ve wanted to change was mako’s speech during the support group meeting. for me, it was a lil bit too poetically out of character. not to say i want to change the content, but rather the manner in which it’s presented. other than that though, i really loved writing this chapter :)

so this analysis was reeeaaaalllly long, i understand if not everyone made it to end. anyways, thanks so much for reading this analysis and the fic! once again, i’m very much open to questions and any comments, i love them very much! i’ll see you guys in the next analysis of the final chapter :)

[goodnightkisseu]

Lee Hoseok - By My Side

→ pairing: lee hoseok (wonho) x reader

→ genre: fluff, guardian angel!au

→ word count: 3217

→ warnings: none~

→ summary: your parents always thought that Hoseok was the name of your imaginary friend. In reality, he was your guardian angel. However, sometimes... sometimes he was a bit... overprotective...

→ masterlist // guardian masterlist // monsta x masterlist

note: I reblogged the masterlist post about this yesterday, but I’m doing a mini-collab with @prettywordsyouleft​ and @this-song-thats-only-for-you​​! There was a ‘who is your monsta x guardian angel based on your sign’ post going around on twitter, so the members we’re writing for are based off our results from that! Admittedly, there’s a running joke amongst us that I always get Wonho in those, but I am not going to complain XD We’ll each be doing one post each and I’m the first one up! Please enjoy~! ^^

- ash <3

"Your daughter… she's got quite the… imagination. The entire time she was here, she couldn't stop talking about someone named Hoseok. Apparently, he's a good friend of hers," your neighbor relayed to your mother when she came to pick you up, the lightest giggle escaping the woman's lips. 

An apologetic look was plastered all over your mother's face, but you were too young to understand her concerns at the time. "I'm so sorry. Hoseok is… he's her imaginary friend. She talks about him a lot at home as well. I don't feel right about correcting her just yet. She's still so young…"

Your neighbor shook her head. "No, don't discourage her. It's good for her to have an imagination! It means that your daughter is creative. And honestly, it seemed like my Hyunwoo had a wonderful time playing with her and Hoseok. Let me know if you need me to watch her again, okay? She's always welcome here," she reassured your mother, and after another slew of 'thank you's, your mother took you home. 

As most children aged, they let go of their imaginary friends. It was a natural part of growing up. But for you, it wasn't so simple. Your parents had hoped that by the time that you turned seven that you would stop mentioning Hoseok altogether. They hoped that your friends at school would drive away the imaginary one in your mind, yet his name still left your lips. At first, you didn't quite understand why it was such a big deal to them. Hoseok felt very real to you, so the fact that they kept telling you he didn't really exist was… strange. You were young, so you didn't quite know how to voice to them that he felt very much alive, very much like a real person in your life. It wasn't until you were a little older when you understood why you could see him, feel him, but your parents couldn't.

Hoseok was your guardian angel.

To ease your parents' concerns, you never spoke his name out loud again, but Hoseok never disappeared. He was always by your side, helping you through each hardship that you faced. Every time you had a hard decision to make, Hoseok was there to help you navigate them. Whenever your emotions ran wild, he was there to calm you down, to talk you through your feelings. Every heartbreak, even though he tried to protect you from them as best he could, he was also there to pick up the broken pieces, mending that fragile heart back together. Whether others knew of his existence or not, Hoseok was indeed your closest friend. You almost could have gone as far as to say that there was nothing you would change about him. 

Almost. 

Hoseok was… overprotective. 

You figured that part of this was natural for a guardian angel. After all, he was obviously present in your life to assist you through tough situations that were thrown at you. This you understood, but with Hoseok, sometimes the smallest things sent him into overdrive. When you were little, he had a fit every time you got on a bicycle or tried to climb a tree. In your teens, it was your choice in friends. And now… well, it ranged from guys you dated to something as simple as the things you ate.

"Excuse me, what do you think you're doing?? You shouldn't be eating that!" Hoseok exclaimed once when you stood before him with a rather delicious looking slice of pie. 

"Hoseok, what are you talking about? It's a banana cream pie. You know that I'm mildly allergic to cherries and not bananas," you stated, your fork dipping into that small slice of heaven. You were about to take your first bite when quick footsteps approached, and the male took it right out of your hands.

"Did you also happen to forget that you were mildly allergic to something else? Almonds. There are almonds on top of that pie," he pointed out. The light-colored nuts garnished the top of the pie, sprinkled decoratively on the whipped cream.

A pout unconsciously formed on your lips as your brain tried to find a way to reason with him. "Okay, but it's only mildly. Hoseok, you know it's just a small tickle in my throat. I'll be just fine, so give me back the pie," you said, dismissing his concerns.

Unsurprisingly, your angel was not having any of this. "You say that it's just a mild reaction, but what if this is the one time it becomes more than that? You know that your allergies have gotten worse as you've gotten older. When you were younger, you weren't even allergic!" he countered, holding the delicious dessert just out of your reach. 

"The doctor advised me to take allergy medications if I feel any level of discomfort after eating something, and it should go away. I'm an adult, Hoseok. I can take care of a food allergy on my own."

"It's a no go," he replied firmly, standing his ground and hearing you sigh in defeat. He knew that you didn't have the energy to argue with him that day, and so, he won. Oh, and he ate the pie too.

Arguments like this were common with Hoseok. The two of you had been together since you were kids. It was natural to argue like this with someone you were close to. Even so, you had lost count of the number of arguments in which Hoseok usually used your own personal safety and wellbeing as the reason why you shouldn't do something. Yet, you knew why Hoseok was like this. When you were much younger… you almost met a terrible fate.

You were on vacation overseas with your parents. It was a lovely resort city, and on that particular day, your small family had ended their day at the beach. Your parents were walking along the shore, taking their time. In your overexcitement to explore your new environment, you ran ahead of them towards a small pier. You weren't sure how it happened, whether it was a weak and rotted piece of wood, or due to your own clumsiness, but somehow you fell right through and into the water below. You weren't a strong swimmer, you were barely able to doggy paddle at that age. Hoseok watched you frantically try to stay afloat, and his heart couldn't take it. Against every single one of his teachings, he leapt in to save you. He wasn't supposed to, there were consequences to his actions, of course, but Hoseok took each punishment without a single complaint because you were safe. And ever since, he never left your side… even if it was a bit overbearing at times.

But, if you were, to be honest, you didn't mind it most of the time. Hoseok's friendship and his comforting presence were enough to let you overlook this quirk of his. You never went longer than a couple hours without talking to each other. You never thought that anything could put the two of you on such different sides, shouting at each other like you were now. However, here you both were, red-faced and screaming. And it was all because of the overseas trip that your friends had planned.

At first, Hoseok was okay with the trip. It had been a while since you had done something with your friends. And if anything, it was going to be a good chance for all of you to catch up. You had always wanted to travel overseas together, and this was the one time when all of your lives aligned just perfectly. You had told Hoseok that your friend Jenna was the one planning the trip and that she wanted to keep it a surprise. Yet, the moment you told him the details, your guardian angel grew upset.

"You can't go to an island!" he exclaimed, the moment that you relayed to him that Jenna had found a fantastic package for an island getaway. "I mean, I'll be there with you to keep an eye on you, but don't you think going to a place surrounded by water is tempting fate?"

"Hoseok, can you calm down? Look, I tried to convince them to go somewhere else. I suggested big cities or even a pension somewhere, but they are all very adamant on this beach trip. They want to show off all of the hard work that they put into their bodies this winter. I tried really hard, but they weren't swayed. Look, I promise to be careful, to stay as far from the water as they'll allow, and like you said, you'll be with me. Please don't make such a big deal out of this," you tried to reason, but Hoseok's brow only furrowed deeper.

"Can you blame me from making a big deal out of it? This was how I almost lost you as a kid. If anything like that happens again, I can't do anything for you. I'm not allowed to," he shot back, watching as your own brow furrowed in reply. He wasn't backing down, but he could tell that you weren't either.

"All I can promise is that I'll stay away from the water, but the trip has already been decided. Jenna already booked the tickets."

"Well, in that case, you aren't going."

Hoseok's sudden decision caught you off guard. "Excuse you?"

"I said you aren't going."

You let out a quick breath, suddenly irritated by Hoseok's behavior. "You aren't my father, Hoseok. You can't just tell me what to do. I can make my own choice, and you can choose whether or not to come along."

 Hoseok scoffed in response, something you didn't often hear from him. "You're right. I'm not your father, but I am your guardian angel. Your safety is my priority, and if you aren't going to listen, I'm going to forbid you from going."

You could feel the anger rising within you. Hoseok had this habit of treating you like a child when he was trying to make a point about your safety, and you hated it. You knew he used this and your health as points in his argument because they were often hard for you to dispute. But this time, you had reached your breaking point. "You can't forbid me from doing anything."

 "I can. And I just did. Don't do it."

"No, no, you can't! You can make suggestions for what I should and shouldn't do. You can advocate for one thing over another. However, you have no control over my actual decisions, Hoseok!" you retorted, practically screaming at your angel. At this point, you could see his demeanor change, but you were riled up, and you couldn't stop yourself. 

"Look, I love you, I love you a lot. You're the one person in this world that I am the closest to. We've been through everything together, but you don't get to use my safety and my health against me every time you want to tell me what to do. I let you dictate a lot of things in my life. I let you choose the meals we eat, the paths that we take home from work. That's all fine. But this, this decision, you don't get to make. You can take your overbearing self elsewhere!"

The room grew silent, the air thick with each word that left your lips. It felt like it was suffocating you, and you could slowly feel the regret creeping in. You didn't mean to lash out at Hoseok like this, but you felt like it needed to be said. Even though you felt like you took it too far, nothing could have prepared you for Hoseok's reply. 

"I am your guardian angel. I understand that my actions can be read as too overprotective, but I do all of this because I care about you. Yet, you don't seem to understand that, do you," His words were low, and you felt a chill run down your spine as he spoke. This didn't sound like your Hoseok.

 "I care about you so much, and I always have. That didn't change even after I was punished for saving you. But you don't care about that now that you're alive, do you? But what if… what if that day…"

 Your eyes widened. You knew what your angel was implying, and you felt yourself grow cold. "Ho-hoseok, what are you saying??" you stuttered. 

 "I think I regret saving you. I'll save you the hassle of having to argue with me. Have fun on your trip." His words rolled off his lips with minimal effort, and within seconds, he was gone. 

 Just like that, you were alone, your words caught in your throat. You had never expected such behavior from Hoseok, nor did you expect his words to affect you as they did. They cut far deeper than any insult you had received. Suddenly, you felt numb, your heavy body trudging its way to your bed, no longer caring about this trip with your friends.

You didn't sleep well that evening, and part of you had hoped that Hoseok would return in the morning so that the two of you could talk about what happened. You wished to find him beside you, or maybe even out in the living room, watching the neighborhood cat that walked by every morning. But, much to your dismay, he wasn't there. There wasn't a single sign of him. You couldn't even feel his presence anymore. Your heart dropped when you realized the impact that your words had. He was gone, and you didn't know how to get him back. But your life had to go on, so you tried to focus on your work. 

The thing was, nothing about your day ever felt quite right. You felt uneasy proceeding through your rather uneventful life. You didn't even feel that same comfort that used to engulf you whenever you came to work. Though you tried to hide your dampened spirit, your coworkers still caught on. You played it off with excuses such as you hadn't slept well or that you just had a lot on your mind, not wanting to worry them, but you didn't know how well it worked. Because the truth was that you hurt. Your heart was in pain, and every night you came home to your empty apartment, you felt like another part of you was missing. Your energy was nonexistent, and by the end of the week, you didn't even have the willpower to eat. Instead, you collapsed onto your bed, letting sleep consume your exhausted body and spirit.

When you finally woke up, it was hard for you to discern how long you had been asleep. It was still dark out, so either you had only slept a handful of hours, or it had rolled over to the next day. Either way, you weren't sure how much you cared. Well, at least, until the aroma of food drifted past your senses. In particular, it smelled like one of your favorites.

For a moment, you wondered if you were still asleep. You definitely hadn't the energy to make your favorite dish, and there was no one else around to make it either. In your dream, anything could have been possible. Still, curiosity and hunger got the better of you, and you slowly got out of bed, hoping to get to the end of this mystery. Your feet made slow progress out of your room, and the moment they hit the cold hardwood floors made you regret forgetting your slippers. Your steps were tentative, particularly as they drew closer to the kitchen. You didn't know what to expect when you got there, but you proceded, the sizzling sound bringing you in. When the individual standing at the stove became clear to you, you almost gasped, though you stopped yourself from doing so. Still, even if you didn't make a noise, your presence to him was already known.

"You haven't been eating properly, and it seems like you lack energy. I thought making your favorite would help," the man stated evenly, not turning to face you.

You couldn't tell from his voice how he was feeling, and that almost made you hesitate in responding to him. "I… I didn't expect to see you again, Hoseok…" you murmured, choosing your words carefully. You fussed with your sweater sleeves to keep your hands warm, but it was also to distract yourself.

The slightest turn of his head signified that your response was not one he had been expecting. He let out a gentle sigh, realizing how on edge you must be with him in your presence again. "I'm… I'm your guardian angel. Whether I'm around you or not, I can tell how you're doing. I knew you were in pain, I could feel it. It made me realize how I blew this situation out of proportion. I made a mistake," he said sincerely. He turned off the stove and spun around to face you, the caution and concern evident on his face. "I'm really sorry."

His apology came far quicker than you had anticipated. His words made you realize that he also had a hard time being apart from you. Throwing caution to the wind, you slowly approached him. "I… I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have said those things about you…"

Hoseok shook his head. "They weren't wrong, though. You stated facts. I am far too overprotective of you. I worry about every little thing you do, but you're right. You're not a child anymore. You're an adult, an adult that can make her own decisions. If you want to go on this trip with your friends, then you should. I want you to be safe, but I also can't stop you from living. I'm just your angel. I'm only supposed to guide you, not run your life…"

"But you're also my best friend, Hoseok. I shouldn't have said that you were trying to run my life. I know that you care for me, and you're also important to me, just like the others are. Not having you here… I was so lonely, and I felt lost…"

Gently, Hoseok wrapped his arms around you, pulling you into the tightest hug. It was the type of embrace that brought you comfort. It was the type of hug that you associated with your best friend, and no one else. It was the warmth and safety that only Hoseok could provide. "I'm sorry for leaving your side. I won't do it again. And I promise I won't lose my temper like that again. And I'll go with you to make sure that you're okay on the trip," he promised.

"Thank you for coming back…" you said quietly, your face buried in his chest.

"I don't regret it. I don't regret saving you. And I promise you that from now on, I will always be here when you need me." 

From that moment on, Hoseok's priorities changed. It was no longer about keeping you out of harm's way. Instead, his new resolve was to guide you towards the most fulfilling life you could have… and you were happy to have him there... every step of the way…

[taslikestodraw]

Sneak Peak of my star wars series on watt you can find other chapters here: Taslikestodraw02 on Watt

00||The Days Deeds

Tatooine - The Desert planet. Small workshop in the Scorching Vile

Cal Kesterin was an ordinary young man. Shaggy blonde hair, bright blue eyes, worn down clothes from the harsh sun and tiring days. you would never look twice of someone so. . well, ordinary. At least, a normal person wouldn't look twice. And maybe, just maybe if you looked hard enough, you could see the truth behind Cal. The horrifying truth.

Sun ablaze down off the seemingness never ending pit of sand. Kesterin was eagerly looking to get the pay for today. His Tauntun (The creature he was riding on) Built for the harsh climates of the desert could bring him miles upon miles out into the pit. There he could find all sorts of metal parts and scraps hidden below the sand. Each one clocking in for one credit.

And today? He was able to pull out a outstanding ten metal scraps including a engine. That would be more than enough to get a whole banquet of food at the table. Maybe even a helping droid if he was lucky.

Taking a glance back to check if it wasn't a dream and all of the parts and scraps were still strung behind him on the back of the Tauntuns feathers (luckily he wasn't dreaming) Taking a pair of homemade goggles he placed they firmly of his eyes, as we as a bandana to filter stand he was on the move once again.

"Hip," Cal said, kicking his transportation firmly. The Tauntuns gave a smalls quack of despise, before running on two powerful hind legs and towards the Scorching Vile.

It never actually occurred very much to Cal his life before the Scorching Vile. He never actually liked to think about it. . besides, it only happened when he was young. He could move forward, live in the present and not the past, besides, the empire hadn't been to Tatooine for nearly a year. There was no need to worry, there was no need to run. . Right?

The Scorching came on fast. A massive wall around kept unwanted people out, and those wanted in. The perfect mechanism for disaster. Stormtrooper helmets, along with the heads still inside, were pierced through long skewers surrounding the top of the wall. Gruesome, but something that screamed "Beware".

As long as Cal had gone undercover her, (ten years in a couple of days) he still could never brush off the rush of adrenaline coursing through his veins the minute his home came in sight. Shaking his head out of the feeling, he turned his attention back to the gates which were now startlingly close.

Cal knew the gatemen, a man much like himself seeking refuge from the empire. Cal never actually figured out his real name, but he just liked to call him Bloch. He had dark brown curly hair, and a amputated leg from a battle that happened long ago. When he was little, he came up to Bloch every day to try and convince him to tell the story on how he lost his leg. And every day he would say the same thing, "When you're older". Well, now he was 23 and he still never got to learn that story.

The gates stretched all the way up towards the top of the wall. Massive big and sturdy bars held it in place. There were two stations on entry, Blotch's station, as well as a older woman who worked across from him. They never talked, and Cal only went over to Blotch's area.

Cal steered the Tauntuns his way, metal parts in the back clanking as it ran. Blotch looked up and slid a toothy grin from ear to ear. Cal smiled back, pearly white teeth radiating a good energy between the two.

"Well! If it isn't my favorite man. Cal! Gotta' good load today?" said Blotch, still smiling. That was another thing about the amputee, he had a tendency to not shut up. He just blabbered and blabbered about his old wives and what he had seen at the station.

"Hey, Blotch. Yeah the load was pretty good." Cal shrugged jerking his finger back to the cart. Blotch followed his gaze and his eyes locked on the engine. "You'gotta engine. Pretty lucky."He said, handing Cal a square of paper as his entry.

"Thanks, cya tomorrow?" Cal asked, leading the Tauntums into the town. "Like always!" Called Blotch, waving. Cal let out a small chuckle, steering the animal towards the trading post. Unlike Blotch, the trading post people were less nice. Usually giving less what they deserve for the profit.

Cal jumped off his transportation, getting another annoyed squack in return. Grabbing the reigns he swiftly tied it to a log on the outskirts of the trading building. Placing a small bowl of foo and water in front of it, immediately it shut up and got to work devouring its meal.

Cal walked back behind its feet and untied the cart, dragging it over to the post. It was surprisingly heavy, and that made Kesetrin even happier of how much he might make on this specific night.Taking a quick breather, he hauled it up onto the empty slate counter.

A small person poked his head up. Cal had seen many aliens, but none looked as deformed as this one. He had burn scars along one side of his face, and sort of resembled a hammer head. Two eyes were played at the corners of elongated sockets, and his mouth seemed much too far down. He had little accessories. An eye glass and a tattered yellow scarf around his neck.

Cal blinked, and pushed the scraps towards him. "I'd like to cash in for the night." He said politely, gesturing to the pile. The alien man looked skeptical, but continued to study each one of the peices, tapping them into a cash register to his left.

He stopped briefly at the engine. Squinting his small eyes, then returned back to the cash register, and entered a few numbers. "All of these scraps are worth 12 credits." The alien said, his voice sticky like it was covered in syrup. Twelve credits? That could barely buy Cal a quarter of a banquet.

"Twelve? Couldn't we turn it up a notch? I mean, that's a working engine! It has to be worth more." Cal argued, spreading his fingers across the table. The man/alien looked back up at him with an expression that read 'get what you get' Cal huffed, snarking.

Thats when small mechanic's of a little droid kicked in from behind the stand. Cal peered over the traders shoulder and spotted a little two legged droid with a flat head. The trader however, obviously did not want cal to see it, and ushered it back into the room behind the counter.

"How much for the droid?" Cal said evenly, raising an eyebrow. The merchant had already turned and was putting away the parts on the back shelf. Without looking back he said, "Not for sale." Cal rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

"How about this. You give me eight credits, and. . I. . uh, won't bother you again about the engine." Scolding himself for rushing the last part, this deal would never slide. The merchant stayed silent for several long moments, and, to Cal's success, he grabbed the two legged droid and placed it on the counter. "Deal." He said sharply, and handed Cal a pouch of credits.

Cal smiled, hearing the satisfying jingle from the bag, but when he looked back up, the dealer had closed his station and retreated for the night. Cal looked down at the two legged droid, who seemed to be looking around and hopping on his two legs.

"So, what's your name little droid?" Cal asked, he knew small bits and pieces of the language, learned it from small teachers when he was young. The droid let out a few beeping and whining noises, and Cal eagerly caught on what it was saying. "BD-1? Odd name." Cal said in return, letting BD-1 climb onto his back and nestle behind one of many straps on his back.

"Well, BD-1, im Cal, nice to meet you." The droid let out another spurt of engine noises, before it seemingly close it's eyes and nestled into Cal's back. He smiled sheepishly, and turned his gaze up and into the story night sky.

constellations of all types were dancing through the stars. Two full moons shone brightly on the left, Cal could never get tired of this. It was, indeed, paradise, a perfect way to hide from the empire. It was all he needed.

Thats when the first four beams of light fell from the sky. Glowing an eerily red. They were moving. . and they weren't just doing that, they were coming towards the Scorching Vile. A sinking feeling settled deep in the pit of Cal's stomach. Something was happening.

The orb's of red light kept getting closer and closer. Hyper speeding their way over sand dunes, through the black sky. Four of them, four recognizable ships Cal didn't want to see ever again. His days with the emperor were done. They would never find out. Never. Or maybe they're just doing a check, maybe I'm working too much.

that, was another possibility. That was the hopeful possibility. But now, watching four sphere shapes heading straight for his home, straight for him. This was not his possibility.

His hand reached down to a hidden sheath behind his shaggy clothes. There was his lightsaber, the last thing his master had given him. There he had become a true Jedi, and he always carried the trophy with him. And now he knew he might have to use it one last time.

The ships kept getting closer and closer. Now their true shape was taking form. Ty Fighters. The empires minions ship's. Cal let out a small gasp looking around. He refused to let this happen, even if it took his own life.

A small woman was walking quietly through the misshapen streets of the Scorching vile. A large bag held out in front of her. She was just walking, perfectly normal and taking a stroll on this fine evening. Cal would have been too.

Suddenly, a familiar sound of two plasma blasts came from the ships, and straight for the woman. Cal's eyes widened in horror. "Get out of the way!" He screamed already on the move, running with all his might.

Cal slammed into the lady knocking her aside as the two blasts fired in the exact spot she was standing only a minute previous. Cal's ears were ringing when he opened his eyes, letting go of the lady apologetically and watched her flee into a dark alley way screaming like a victim' who's head had just been cut off. "Yeah, you're welcome." He muttered, going into a coughing fit.

Cal blinked a few times. Coughing once again, letting out a heap of sand and dirt. He flipped on his back swiftly, holding up his hand to shield a bright light coming from the marketer's place. He let a small gasp escape his lips as he looked at the deviation before him.

The streets were screaming with horror as fire raged through buildings. People were on the ground, presumably dead. Now, six Ty fighters were shooting red beams of light throughout Cal's home. It wasn't his fault, right? He wouldn't- he- he couldn't. .

The empire was attacking.

And Cal was the reason why.

⋆ . ⁎ ★ ⁎ . ⋆

I hoped you enjoy the first chapter! Sorry I felt like the ending was a little rushed ack.

Anyway, Im so happy to start a new series, and make now a Star Wars one. Be sure if you love marvel as well to check out my other two books Avenger Oneshots and Natasha Romanoff in - S.H.E.I.L.D turning!

signing off for now!!! Words: 2000

~𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘼𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧

[amoveablejake]

Well, Here We Are

It is time for the obligatory year in review piece, I know, try and contain your excitement. 

Well, here we are. The end of another calendar year. 2020 is drawing to a close and so like many, if not all, journalistic outlets I too will be doing my year in review. Do I count as a journalistic outlet I hear you ask? Yes. I’ve decided that I do. This is my column and I’m going to to pretend that I am a columnist here. And I can’t hear your eye rolls because I’m busy hiding behind my clicking keyboard. 

I’ve been thinking quite a bit about how I wanted to structure my year in review, for instance did I want to go through each category in a classic way and also would I also only speak about things that came out this year. The answer to both, is a no. Instead I am going to present to you my alternative awards for the year. There will still be runners up but the categories may be a little bit all over the place so if you were planning on counting on  a sure thing award winner that might be out the window now. That being said, shall we dive into perhaps the most chaotic awards show you’re going to experience this year. 

The album that I listened to literally on repeat for a week whilst I was working and as result now know ridiculously well. Perhaps too well - Winner: Pink Floyd ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ 

Right. So. Back in April one rainy Monday afternoon I put on ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ to listen to it through in its entirety for the first time. I had heard songs from it before and I was familiar with Pink Floyd’s music before this but this was what sent me down a spiral of their discography, so much so that Spotify have dubbed them my artist of the year based on playtime. Whilst I would not consider them to be my artist of the year, I can’t deny how deep I’ve gone into their library and in particular ‘Dark Side of the Moon’. I quite literally had it playing on repeat for the entirety of that week and now, now I simply don’t know if I ever truly existed before that album. Am I the album? Is the album me? I’m in too deep. 

The best representation of Seattle in a post apocalyptic video game - Winner: ‘The Last of Us Part Two’

Honestly, I know that this category makes it pretty clear that Last of Us was always going to win but that is because if it wasn’t on this list somewhere I think it might have indeed been a federal crime. This year I played both editions of Joel and Ellie’s story pretty much back to back and boy oh boy was that quite the ride. Part Two is a gruesome, grueling, revenge fueled ride that in all honesty is some of the best storytelling I have ever experienced. In any medium. It’s narrative is phenomenal, its game design is unparalleled, the voice acting and soundtrack are both out of this world and the way it looks is breathtaking. It is a game that continuously left me speechless and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since I put it down. The fact that Joel looks like my Dad did and wears the same clothes only partly adds to the emotions it makes me feel. Although I won’t pretend the bit where Joel is talking to Ellie didn’t hit me quite hard. But hey, thats the game’s point. Its a story designed to make you feel and oh boy does it achieve that. 

The football player who came out of nowhere to bring life back to my club - Winner: Bruno Fernandes 

It has been a lot ol’ time since I’ve seen a player that I instantly fell for. Bruno Fernandes arrived in Manchester with an already strong reputation but he has completely transformed a team and shows no sign of slowing down. His first twelve months have been unparalleled and the comparisons drawn with a certain other Portuguese player who was worn that red shirt are not only warranted but deserved. 

The band who I’ve been missing all my life: Winner - Niteflyte 

Quite frankly, this is a very hard award to give. There were quite a few front runners however, it has to be Niteflyte. I got introduced to Niteflyte via a podcast about the CIA’s involvement with the soundtrack of the Berlin wall coming down (’Wind Of Change’, listen to it now. Well after you’ve finished reading this piece that is). The podcast only played Niteflyte because one of the figures it was investigating used to manage the band. It was a thirty second sound bite if that and it stopped me in my tracks. I was walking in my old city at the time and I had to stop on the street and find the album the song was from and put it on straight away. I have previously written about Niteflyte and their self titled album on the blog so go back and read that for a more in depth look however, if you take one thing from this it might be that if I was going to give an artist of the year award, lets just say I think I know who it would go to. 

The best motion picture handling of a father that has passed away that I have seen. Ever - Winner: ‘Onward’ 

When I first heard what ‘Onward’ was about I was, hesitant. Any film where a parent particularly a father comes back to life always makes me filled with trepdiation and this was the case when I went to go and watch ‘Onward’ back in March (the last film I saw in the cinema before all of this). Instead, what I found was an incredibly moving and sensitive film about losing a parent that had at its end the best handling of a reunion between father and son that I have ever seen on the big screen. I have watched it a second time since and I still found it to be incredibly well done. ‘Onward’ might well be my film of the year because of it, I’m that impressed. It is also a great film in its own right but hey, I can’t deny why it sticks out in my head. 

The show that keeps on getting better and better: Winner - ‘The Mandalorian’ 

Sigh. Everytime I think that that ‘The Mandalorian’ couldn’t possibly get any better it goes and proves me wrong. This year started off with the finale of series one and it has ended with the conclusion of the second series. It is a masterpiece and for that I don’t want to ruin its ending here. Instead I will say that it does get better and better each week and for this life long die hard Star Wars fan, hell, it might be my favourite Star Wars property. And I know that won’t mean anything to you, but to me, that is saying something. 

Okay, so, I could keep going on and on with these awards however, its the festive period and I don’t want to keep you hanging around too much so instead I am going to include below some honourable mentions with a little sentence about each. 

‘Anxious People’ - If I was to give a book of the year award winner this would be it. In fact its one of my top ten books ever. Its perfection. Read it. Now. 

‘Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ - Released at the perfect time and all these months later it still captures my heart everytime I go on it. 

‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ soundtrack - Look. I don’t need to make my feelings about this album any clearer. We know I love it and I hope that you’ve listened to it by now and you do too. 

Diego Maradona - The greatest of all time. There’s nothing more to say. 

‘The Prestige’ - Oh boy. I had heard about this film a lot from the IGN UK podcast over the years and it did not disappoint at all. Especially who plays a certain Mr Tesla. That reveal blew me away. 

Joe Exotic - Watching ‘Tiger King’ really felt like event viewing and came along at the perfect time like Animal Crossing. Joe Exotic, I don’t know what to say but he has earned his place on this list thats for sure. 

‘I’ve Got My Second Wind’ - I heard this on one of the early days in January, maybe the second or third and I’ve been listening to it ever since. My song of the year. 

Philippe Auclair - Football journalist and singer. Auclair who features on the Guardian’s Football Weekly podcast regularly is an incredibly articulate speaker and is never afraid to hold the more questionable footballing authorities accountable. One of the writers and figures in football that I look up to the most. Oh and hes an excellent singer. What a man. 

Napoli FC - This was the year that I fell in love with Napoli. Theres no looking back now, I finally found my own team. 

‘Uncharted Four: A Thief’s End’ - The game that showed me, truly, how good games can be. I felt like it was a crime that this game is so perfect. It feels like the inside of my head and I never wanted it to end. 

My brother, James - Look. I know you’re reading this and you more than deserve your place on this list. I was going to give you a proper award but I couldn’t quite get the wording right. Anyway, the point is you’re on the list as you always will be. (And yes, you’re in the same section as Joe Exotic, quite the compliment I know) 

So there we have it. 2020. Hopefully the above gives you something to think about and some things to consume over this festive period before we go again for the new year. This won’t be the final piece for the year but all the same, I hope its a bright 2021 for you, see you in the future. 

- Jake, a man who is immediately re assessing the awards, 27/12/2020

[historyy]

The Oxbridge Applications Masterlist✨✨✨

I’ve had a ton of people both online and irl ask me for this, so here it is. I’m sorry its a month or so later than I initially promised but I’ve been pretty busy. This is basically a breakdown of the application process, some advice, and my experiences as an applicant for History and Politics to Oxford in 2018-19; because of that its pretty Oxford / humanities specific. I was lucky enough to have some great resources available at school but applying for Oxford was still daunting, so I wanted to demystify it and give some advice. Hopefully you find it helpful!

Personal Statement

How you write it: 

My main advice with the PS is to get started early, because Oxbridge is early entry so you’ll have months less time than your friends. Do a first draft of your personal statement in summer Y12. Mine was pretty much done by September and it made that early deadline much easier to reach.

Keeping a list of everything relevant you’re doing will be useful when you come to write the PS, as well as for developing your ideas for interview. My list was split into Books, Academic Papers, Extracts, Documentaries, Podcasts, Lectures / Online Lectures, Other Publications, Courses, Newspapers, and Extracurriculars. I also had a list of my particular interests related to my subject. 

It will need lots of editing, but thats what teachers, friends, and former applicants are for! I edited so many personal statements for people in my year, because they knew I was a writer and thus good at cutting words and finding shorter ways to express.

With your first draft, write big. Go way over the character count and put everything you want to in it, then cut. A few tips for cutting: 

Don’t waffle on about irrelevant anecdotes 

‘Such as’ ‘like’ ‘indeed’ ‘including’ are useful but overused 

Rearranging sentence structure can cut lots of characters and make your syntax snappier. E.g I interviewed a civil servant which showed me… versus Interviewing a civil servant showed me…  

Semicolons will save your life.

It will hurt, but kill your Oxford commas 

You don’t need to give each author / source a bio, assume the reader knows their stuff, and you don’t need to use full names / titles 

What you write in it:

With the PS, a catchy opening is vital; you need to show why you’re interested in your subject and why you’re the right choice. Mine was:

The 2015 Leaders’ Debate sparked my interest in politics and the language surrounding it, when I realised I was focussed both on what the debaters were saying and how they were saying it.

The best advice I got is to treat your PS like you’re narrating your journey with your subject. Start with why you got into your subject, show what you did following on from that sparked interest, then how you built on that action, and so forth. You might want to map this out before you start writing. An example might look like this (this isn’t mine, but assume its for HistPol):

Saw an exhibition on Renaissance artists - interested in social and political context of the art - researched Italian city states focussing in on famed patrons of the arts who were politically eminent  - read Machiavelli’s The Prince as is based on Cesare Borgia - interested in other theories of rule and governed/govt relations - read Locke and Hobbes to compare later theories and the development of these ideas - entered an essay competition about the development of the state citing Locke’s ideas on the social contract

Then you build on this journey, talking about your reading and research. Cite specific papers / books / articles you’ve read, and engage with them. Did you agree with everything they said? Or not? How do they link to other things you’ve read? For example, I wrote:

D’Ancona’s ‘Post-Truth’ with its discussion of disinformation and the collapse in trust also influenced me, though I disagreed with his assertion that the post-truth era only began five years ago (Orwell springs to mind).

Don’t just name drop books etc, actually engage with them, or you might as well not have read them.

In terms of what to include, Oxbridge don’t give a damn if you do Grade 5 piano or were the lead on your ballet show; you should focus your PS on the subject you’re applying for. When I mentioned extracurriculars it was in relation to the subject; I was editor of the school magazine, and I interviewed a senior civil servant on Brexit’s impact for it, increasing my understanding of current affairs and I gave a presentation on sexuality in the Weimar Republic at our LGBT society, exploring oft forgotten facets of history.  

I would suggest that only 10% of your PS should be about extracurriculars, and even those should be related to your subject, or linked to transferable skills.

You should end your PS with a brief concluding statement or paragraph which summarises why you want to study your subject.

Aptitude Tests 

I did the HAT so this is skewed towards that, but other tests are similar.

The aptitude tests are stressful but formulaic, so once you’ve worked out the formula and done as many practices as you can, you should be fine. You don’t need to get a high mark, only pass the benchmark to secure an interview, so it won’t be perfect. No one gets full marks; I think the benchmark for the HAT was 60% last year. 

My main advice on the tests is to go to all the sessions on them with your teachers that you can, and if your teachers don’t offer sessions ask them to hold some, or find a former applicant. Do lots of practices, starting not in timed conditions and work up doing them in time. Talk through your completed papers in detail with your teachers. If there are other applicants doing the same test, talk with them — orally write the essay together and bounce ideas off one another. 

Learn how to pull together an argument in a way which will grab the reader’s attention and show that you’re interested and engaged, and that you think outside the box and are different to the other candidates. For example in our HAT, the source was on a 16C woman’s relations with her servants, and I talked about her household as a microcosm of a class stratified and hierarchical society with moral expectations of servitude.

Basically, its an exam paper, treat it as such! 

Interview

The interview is, on the whole, more important than the PS. If you’re lucky enough to get one it means you’ve already done better than most people. I found the experience to be a mix of absolutely terrifying and weirdly enjoyable. 

I had two interviews, one for History and one for Politics, but you can be called to interview at other colleges. I know someone who had six…

The interview is basically like a tutorial will be if you get in, and there are different types (this is a bit humanities specific, sorry). You can get asked about your PS and reference, though this is rare. Extract interviews are common, for my Politics I was given an extract about citizenship. You can also get asked about your submitted work, as I was for History. 

In terms of prep, make sure you’re familiar with your submitted work and PS, as well as all the stuff you say you’ve done in your PS and your reference. You can get asked about any of it. Bring copies of these and your reading notes with you to interview so you’re familiar with them. Also look into some other key concepts of your subject, for example I looked at a lot of historiography, and in the interview talked about the concept of history as teleology and how I disagree with it. I think I was actually asked if I agreed with the Idea of Progress, having read on that a lot I felt equipped to answer it. 

Do as many practice interviews as you can. I got lucky as we had teachers who could do these, and I also did one at my sister’s school. However even if you don’t have that access, ask a friend, parent, teacher, a previous applicant, or even someone online. Even just talking about your subject helps. On the flip side of all this, don’t do so much prep your answers are stale and formulaic, you need to show you’re thinking on your feet. 

Both my interviews were only 20-25 minutes. My Politics interview was really chill, I had an hour reading time before in which I made notes on an extract and basically wrote a script for myself. The questions I was asked were actually given to me in this time so I had lots of material to work with. The man was really nice as well, and I enjoyed the experience. In contrast my History one was a disaster and I felt like I was being interrogated by the two women the whole time, though they were nice.

Don’t be scared if you screw up, in my History interview on my Tudors essay on Tudor parliamentary changes (which I’d been studying only 2 months), my interviewer was an expert on Tudor parliament, writing a book on the subject. This one question about groups of people represented strongly in parliament really threw me, and I went through three answers before I found the right one (lawyers). At another question I blanked for thirty seconds before speaking. I came out in tears and was certain I’d failed, but clearly I did okay…

General advice

Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Go chat to that scary teacher who told you your essay was too journalistic and not historical enough and just because you want to be a journalist you can’t write like one in academia (personal experience? me?). Ask them for advice and just talk to them about the subject! 

Leading on to: JUST TALK ABOUT THE SUBJECT. Talking nonstop about History and Politics helped me know my interests inside out and it gave me a way to develop my speaking skills as well as my love for my subject.

Also, read. JSTOR is your bff for academic articles and Niche Stuff here, but you can find plenty of good books at libraries and shops. The A Very Short Introduction series is amazing for this, as they’re all really short and written by Oxbridge academics, I read tons of them. You can even just dip into longer books or collections of articles. 

Keep asking yourself And so? — take your ideas further. This was my History teacher’s advice for essays, but it works for PS, tests, interviews, and general critical thinking. 

For example in the HAT (I’m making up this example, it might have asked you what you could learn about social norms of a time from a source): You could say: The woman bosses her servants around but is subordinate to her husband so we can learn about gender and social roles. Or you could say: The woman commands her servants, yet remains servile to her husband, indicating the prevalence of hierarchical gender and class relations in the society of the time; her role as wife is clearly interlinked with her position as ‘head of the household’, which she is unpaid for. Viewing this through the lens of feminist theory, one can infer that an unequal sexual division of labour exists in this society, and women’s contributions to society are not appreciated, as when the husband ‘dismisses’ his wife. While her command of the servants shows she is elevated by her ‘great wealth’, her subordination to her husband suggests that a woman in this society was unable to further her position as easily as a man could. 

Don’t fret about choosing a college on the form, 1/3 of people (including me) get pooled. 

And finally, don’t set your heart on Oxbridge. They’re by no means the only good universities out there, and they’re not for everyone. If you’re not enjoying the research for the PS, or are finding the aptitude tests unbearable and the interview style uncomfortable, it might not be for you. But if you do decide to apply, good luck!✨

[kevkesblog]

Translation Throwback Series (Part VIII): Julian Brandt interview about his family, friends and pranks (June 28, 2017)

This interview was done during the Confederations Cup 2017 in Russia. Julian talks in this (shortened) interview about his family, what makes his mother angry, pranks, freestyle-football, tattoos and how his friends are taking care of him.

Mr. Brandt, I think you got alot of trouble because you said recently that Antonio Rüdiger likes to go on a ferris wheel. But he doesn’t want to. He doesn’t dare doing it.

Ju:    Toni will get the joke. He won’t be offended. (laughs)

Aha, so this was all just a prank! Is that really something that exists in todays football?

Ju:    We indeed have a very relaxed atmosphere, the guys are very relaxed here. And sure: you care more careful during a press conference and also during an interview like this one about what you say. But I don’t bend myself and the other guys are surely not uptight guys.

Do you belong to the group that makes all the jokes and pulls the pranks all the time?

Ju:    Well, I’m certainly not the clown in class, who keeps everyone happy all the time. But I like to have some jokes. And I can laughs about myself too. You don’t do yourself a favour if you walk through life with that tunnel vision all the time. Fun, enjoyment and a prank here and there are good for a team once in awhile.

DFB team manager Oliver Bierhoff said recently that perhaps to many similar players are being developed in Germanys football youth academies and that there is not enough individuality possible. Is he right?

Ju:    Well first I think the youth academies are doing a great job. Look who is coming through. You can see it here at the Confederations Cup. It’s insane! The DFB doesn’t have to worry about the future, because we have alot of super talented guys coming through.

So everything is okay then?

Ju:    It’s true that Germany has a very disciplined coaching and development. There are alot of rules you have to follow. The „jogo bonito“ like they have in Brazil is not really requested here. Individual playes with freestyle-football usually have a harder time here. But I still think there is room to individually develop as a player.

You yourself changed from FC Oberneuland to a football youth academy, after you also played many years at SC Borgfeld. That change to Wolfsburg came relativey late in your career. Many talents are being transfered at the age of eleven or twelve now.

Ju:    For me, it was the perfect way of doing it. I had an early contact to Werder Bremen. I mean, it’s obvious that you change to he most important club in your city. But we really had great teams at Borgfeld and Oberneuland. That’s why I rather liked playing with my friends instead. We had alot of fun, and that was the main focus at the time.

Is it understandable that Werder Bremen is biting themselves into their butts everytime you play a game for the national team? Because a top talented players went through their cracks?

Ju:    Sure. If you got a player that lives in the area near you, you are perhaps very sure that he will – withever Bundesliga club that is – land in your team. Therefore you are disappointed if that guy is looking for something different and leaves the city.

You got two younger brothers. The youngest is 14 years old and is seen as a hopeful talent. He plays at SC Borgfeld. How good is he?

Ju:    Jascha played for a Bremen state team during a national youth tournament in Dortmund. Thats were all the states play against each other. He is a good player, but we have clear priorities in our family: he is supposed to have fun playing football. And if it’s good enough for more and whether he wants it or not will be an issue for later. He doesn’t need any pressure.

Your middle brother is 17. Doesn’t he play football?

Ju:    Jannis also used to play. He is currently doing his high school diploma (Abitur) in Photography and media design. I think its good that he is going his own way. It makes our family more diverse. You get some more topic to talk about. If everything revolves around football our mother would get annoyed.

And yet, you are still the „Star“ in your family?

Ju:    No, not at all! There is no hierarchy with us sons. And honestly: I’m happy that football is not always topic of discussions when I get home. Then I can switch my head off and other topic are present.

And you then go out with our old friends?

Ju:    Yes, and it’s not different than at home. We certainly won’t always talk about football.

But it is different walking through the city with you than without you.

Ju:    It was unusual form y friends at the beginning, when I had to sign an autograph in a café in between. But they got used to that. And if they see signs from me developing into a wrong direction, I’m sure they would ring the alarm. They look after me very good.

Because they know, you are living in a bubble as a football player and that you have to leave that bubble once in a while?

Ju:    It is a different world, here a photo, there a selfie, here you get recognized. My friends know that I’m not able to go everywhere and if so I have to behave differently.

So you can’t get drunk in a club with your friends?

Ju:    That’s something I won’t do of course. You can’t do that as a professional football player.

The Kölner Express recently called you the „Anti-Star“ in the business. A young professional without tattoos and big cars, your father as your agent.

Ju:    Many thing are working differently with me on purpose. I’am a car fan and I know alot of stuff about it and you should be able to grant yourself things in life. We have the privilege to be able to buy ourselves expensive cars. It totaly okay if somebody is doing that. I don’t see this as a negative. External representation is something important to me. I don’t want to brag. I want to concentrate on the things that matter: and that’s football.

And a tattoo would just distract from everything that matters?

Ju:    (laughs) My mom would probably kill me if I would get a tattoo.

How do you stay in contact back home, while being here in Russia?

Ju:    Not so intensive. My parents know: as long as I dont call I’m doing fine. Then they won’t call me all the time. They certainly don’t have to worry about me right now.

Source: Frankfurt Rundschau

[wayward-inspiration]

My thoughts on Caleb/Bren post episode 70

I had to write these out so my brain can stop thinking and I can go to bed. 

Okay so I have two mains ways that I’m feeling towards  Caleb’s past/present situation after to tonight’s episode. Both deal with possible interpretations of certain lines so I’ll talk about both. 

Firstly -  And I think is the more common interpretations, Caleb may think he’s not known to Trent and his scourgers, but boy is he wrong. 

- “Do you know Bren Aldric Ermendrud?” “Very Well.” - This could be because he is known to them and they have actively been trying to track him and his actions since his escape, and the fact that they say ‘very well’ is in an indication of how far that has gone. I don’t think they know his every movement though because of the second point. 

-The fact that she doesn’t look up at him knowing Astrid, but does at the potential that its Bren. This could be because they didn’t know he was specifically in Rosanna, maybe just somewhere in Xhorhas or even still the empire, so a curiosity to see if its actually him, that he had made it as far as Rosanna, or that they had indeed tracked him this far. 

- “I’ve heard things about you Bren. Welcome back” - Again, this could be because of conversation and tracking of his movements and actions, possibly related to his traitorous actions against the empire if his name had spread through a spy network when they arrived in Rosanna with the Beacon. But then, it wouldn’t make sense for her to be surprised at all to see him in Rosanna, and the “things” would have to be things he’d done in the empire?? Which was maybe some illegal dealing in Zadash, and some piracy outside the empire, but not as serious as treason. 

Based of the vagueness of information the scourgers would have about Bren in this interpretation, I instead thought of a different and almost worse option to think about. So...

Secondly - Instead I’m starting to get the sense that Caleb, back when he was Bren, was truly a potential someone among even the scourgers, based of his skill and brutality as a scourger in training. I’ve kind of been thinking it before, but after tonights ‘interrogation’ and my second interpretation of these lines I’m thinking this is more possible.

- “Yah, big plans for me that didn’t pan out.” - Caleb, ep 49 telling the group about his training under Trent. I know Caleb undercuts himself a lot, and this is certainly an undercut of something greater, we just don’t know if that means being a scourger as the ‘big plans’, or something more.

- “Do you know Bren Aldric Ermendrud?” “Very Well.” - yet Caleb seems to have no personal connection with her, so how would she know so much about him. I wonder if "Bren” got talked about a lot amongst the scourgers because of a revere building for him. 

-The fact that she doesn’t look up at him knowing Astrid, but does at the potential that its Bren. There is such a clear distinction she shows between their mentions that I’m lead to believe this may be because of all she had heard about him from her own training or time as a scourger, and the curiosity of actually seeing if its him. 

“I’ve heard things about you Bren. Welcome back” - I read these more as “I’ve heard about the things you did back when you were a scourger. This leads me down the rabbit hole of imagining Bren building up his revere based on how brutal or intense he was towards his victims in his training under Trent’s influence, and the inflection she uses for welcome back and the smile that lingers to me reads as more of in the moment finally meeting a legend and excited to see what they do more than I already knew you were back and alive. If it were the first interpretation I talked about I would expect that “welcome back” to be presented more smug with a very different smile lingering. 

This interpretation seems to make more sense to me than the first one, so I’m gonna choose this to further explore. 

Crack! Third option - not gonna lie though, for some reason my first gut interpretation while watching it live was “oh my god, Caleb the Big Bad, he’s been deep undercover for YEARS and is sending information back to the empire. to which I quickly went” ...no, thats not possibly you idiot, the vivid detail to which Liam has expressed Caleb’s self loathing both on and off the show makes this theory impossible” 

TL:DR: After the interrogation scene with the scourger, Caleb is either known and being tracked by the scourgers, or was a high potential scourger during his training to the point were he was revered by other students for his brutality and skill, and I lean more towards the second option.

now I can sleep 

[like-rain-or-confetti]

Two Christmas’ (Alec Volturi x Reader)

You were nervous. You were still working on your relationship with Jane but was disadvantaged since you were romantically involved with Alec. She thought you were taking her brother from her and it especially didn’t go well since you were human. Even Alec himself, had trouble with that sometimes. As of recently things were going well and you didn’t want to ruin that. 

You and Alec made plans for spending some time out of the castle on Christmas day which was tomorrow. Alec wanted Jane to come along since they didn’t like being apart unless they had to. Jane decided to go but they were interrupted by Aro, who offered his opinion. “I don’t believe you should, Jane. Such a day should be spent exclusively with your significant other. I don’t think (Y/N) would appreciate you coming along.” The twins were very disheartened by this so much so that they said nothing else about it. Alec only just telling you. While he was away to meet some nomads on the outskirts of Italy, you saw the opportunity to approach Jane and give her what you had been hiding all along.

You dug into your beside drawer taking out a box about the six of your palm. You’d never be ready so you immediately left, trying not to think too hard on what you were about to do. 

You knocked on the door, hiding the box behind your back and Jane opened it a second later with a skeptical look. “Hi Jane, I was hoping I could talk to you?” “...Very well. Close the door behind you.” Jane turned away and you hurried in, doing as she asked.  “Take a seat.” She gestured to the bed. You complied and she followed suit.  “You’ve been awfully quiet. You’ve been locked away in here for about two days now...are you okay?” “I can assure you, im fine.” She said with a stoic expression. It sounded systematic in how she said it. “Uhm, well, Alec told me-” “What do you have behind your back?” Jane tried to peer behind you but you continued to block her view. “I’ll show you in a second. I just want to talk to you about something first.” You said quickly and she remained quiet. “Alec mentioned that you two were talking about tomorrow.” she hummed in agreement, nodding once.  “He also told me what Aro said.” You didn’t get a response so you continued. “I didn’t think it fair for Aro speak for me. Truth be told, Alec didn’t tell me anything about this until just before he left. So i didn’t know that you coming was even on table but i wanted to tell you in person that I’d be thrilled if you came with us.” Jane seemed taken aback for a second. “But Aro-” “-was wrong, or at least, he wasn’t accurate. Christmas is about spending the time with the people you love and i want to spend it with my family.” “I dont understand.” Jane muttered. “I know you have your judgements about me and i know you think i’m going to snatch your brother and run away but I promise i have no intention. I find it admirable how close you two are, I wouldn’t dream of separating you. It wouldn’t be right if you weren’t there, not just because i know it would dampen Alec’s mood but also because...you’re my sister.”  What really drove it home was you calling Jane your sister. She wouldn’t have believed you otherwise but if you were exceptionally cruel, you wouldn’t have went to such lengths. It made her second guess whether she was really losing her brother or if she was actually gaining someone else. 

“So, um, I got you something, consider it a Christmas present that’s also a peace offering?” You gave her a small smile holding out the black box. “I mean, im not really supposed to give you it until tomorrow and I didn’t get the chance to wrap it or anything but-” You were cut off when Jane gently took the box, looking shocked. “How...when?”  “I have my ways.” You joked lightly. She opened it and stared at it.

Inside was a silver charm bracelet, already including three charms. “I didn’t know what kind of charms you’d like or if you even liked charms so forgive me if you don’t like them.” You scratched behind your neck. One was red with black roses, another glittering gold and the last white and opaque.  “It’s beautiful.” Jane trailed her fingers along it. “Tell me about these...charms.” Jane said quietly.  “Oh well, you can pick your own and have as many as you like. Is your first time seeing them?” Jane nodded. “They look like small pendants.” You smiled. “Do you like it?” You asked and Jane nodded again. “Thank you. I’ve never received a gift for an occasion. Gifts are rare.” “Im glad, i didn’t show Alec to see if you’d like it. I haven’t got him anything or anyone else for that matter." Jane heard something as her head perked up. "Alec's returning. He's coming this way." "Hide that!" You said quickly with excitable glee as Jane quickly put it in her desk drawer and made her way back. 

A minute later, Alec walked through the door. "Im surprised to see you two together." "Yes well-" You spoke up but Jane interrupted you. "We missed you, brother. (Y/N), decided to visit and check on me. It's a sweet gesture, don't you think?" Alec nodded with a soft smile. "I appreciate you looking after my sister whilst I'm gone, cara mia." Alec looked at you before bending down to kiss your forehead. You smiled back at him as he moved to quickly kiss his sister's cheek and sat beside her. Before long he was lying on his back. "Alec, please do not make a mess of my bed." Jane scowled. Alec huffed and Jane lightly shoved his arm. "Jane, you know how to make a bed." "That doesn't mean I enjoy doing it." "We have to do it all the time." Alec muttered and Jane, alarmed, looked to you. "Your brother likes to wrestle. Imagine that, eh? A young guy -however old he is- being fueled with testostero-" Alec rolled over, covering your mouth. "let's go. You've said enough." You groaned. "Alright, alright, I'm going, I'm going." Alec hauled you up as you walked back to your shared room. 

He let you go in first, closing the door and wrapping his arms around you from behind. You turned to face him in his arms, wrapping your own around his neck as he smiled at you. “What are you two up to?” Alec’s voice was quiet. “Worried?” You teased. “No, I’m happy to see you both get along but Jane has taken to you rather quickly.” “It’s a start...I gave her a christmas present.” “You did? What did you give her?” Alec seemed surprised. “A charm bracelet, im sure you’ll see it.” “That’s very kind of you cara mia.” “Oh we aren’t done there, my love.” You grinned at him. “Do you remember telling me about your talk with Jane about tomorrow before Aro got involved?” “Of course.” “Well, I told Jane i wouldn’t have it any other way. I insisted that she come with us tomorrow.” “You did?” Alec’s smile vanished, as though he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. You nodded. “Of course I did. She’s your sister. I’m sure she’ll tell you exactly what i sa-” You were interrupted when Alec gave you a kiss before pulling you into a hug.  “Thank you.” You heard him say into your shoulder. 

Christmas day couldn’t have come fast enough. “Now that is a big Christmas tree.” You said gazing up at the huge decorated tree in the town square but also being met with falling snowflakes to the face. You turned to see both Jane and Alec, also looking up at the tree with violet eyes.  “It’s impressive, indeed.” Jane said. All the surrounding stores were shut but the lights on their display windows still on. One particular display window caught your eye. You gasped. “Oh Jane! Come and see this!” You took Jane’s hand and pulled her along, lightly running toward the window. Alec couldn’t help but smile at the sight of seeing the love of his life and his sister, hands interlocked as they rushed ahead. He stayed back admiring the sight before following after you.

You both peered into the window still holding hands. "More charms!" You exclaimed. "Oh, I love that one!" "I like the silver and blue one." Jane smiled. "Where is it?" You looked puzzled unable to locate it. Jane pointed to the charm. It was silver plated and navy blue with a slight shimmer to it, no where near as glittered as Jane's gold charm. "Oh me too!" You nodded profusely. As she lifted her hand to the window, a twinkle caught your eye. There, on her wrist, was the bracelet you got her which you were certain she had been hiding under her sleeve.

Last Christmas had went from uneasy to one of the best. You remembered it well. It didn't take long for Jane to accept you after that. Whilst the twins still preferred to have their own time together. You were included more often and Jane seemed much happier to see you giving you a smile as she would the Masters or Alec.

You bound into the room, Christmas Eve arriving once again. "Why don't you give your love for Christmas!?" You sang out as you enter the room. "Why hello to you too." Demetri turns to look at you with a smile. "So fun fact, I've got you guys presents this year. However...my bestie gets hers before any of you. She's my favourite." You grin handing Jane a small bag. Jane smirks as she opens the small bag to find another three charms, one however was silver and smooth which has her name on it in cursive. The perfect addition.

[otomeshistarlight-blog]

your thoughts on the latest bnha chapter? lotsa pretty interesting stuff going on and I really enjoy the way you reason shit so 👌🏻

*deep breath* Boi … 

I’m so glad to have been asked this question because I have a lot of things to say about the new chapter. I’m going to do my best to keep things concise but, as with everything, I have a tendency to ramble so please bear with me. The TL;DR version is simply that the Endeavor arc is in full swing and I couldn’t be any happier about it, I fully believe that if the Dabi-is-a-Todoroki theory is true then it will be revealed quite soon and I’m really, really hoping we get the entire lore for this family because I’m dehydrated af fam. 

Keep reading for my in depth analysis on the matter! 

So first things first, we’ve officially met one of Shoto’s older brothers which is quite exciting in and of itself. Not only do we now have a name to the face but we also have another perspective into past events. He seems like a relatively laid back, easy going fella who (unlike Shoto) doesn’t appear to have a chip on his shoulder. He does however shed some insight into how the other siblings feel about their father and, assuming Dabi is indeed the conveniently missing brother (more on that later), Natsuo should theoretically offer an interesting comparison to Dabi’s downward spiral into villainy. That is to say, as the two oldest brothers, what exactly happened to make Dabi choose the path he did whereas Natsuo is going to college and even seems to have a girlfriend. I’ve seen a few interesting possibilities crop up out of this chapter and my two favorites are:

(1) the theory that, having inherited both his looks and quirk from his father, Dabi rebelled and even went so far as to self mutilate his body in order to distance himself from Endeavor 

(2) the theory that Natsuo and Dabi are actually twins which I like because how interesting would that be if Rei’s first pregnancy resulted in two babies whose quirks were split evenly between the two parents? This would lend itself well to a two-sides-of-the-same-coin comparison as, just like fire and ice, they’re polar opposites who made vastly different decisions in life.

The thing I’m really digging about this little glimpse into the Todoroki’s is that we now have definitive proof that Fuyumi and Natsuo have been visiting their mom in the hospital since she was admitted. She’s not at all surprised to see them and we can conclude a few different things from this fact. One is that the children were never barred from seeing their mother which means that, for ten years, Shoto made that conscious decision not to visit her. Which is completely understandable when someone pours boiling water on your face (more on that later, lol) and most of us already suspected as much but its nice to have that confirmation. 

Another thing is that, at least for the older siblings, this seems to be a group effort more often than not so this begs the question of where is the other boy? Of course its quite suspicious that the red haired child in the flashback has conveniently never been mentioned again, we’ve never seen his face and, during one of the trips to the hospital, he’s nowhere to be seen. Where is this mysterious brother? Why is he not visiting his mother like the rest of the children? The evidence for Dabi being a Todoroki just keeps stacking up - because when you take into consideration the obviously missing child plus Dabi’s eyes that ever so conveniently match Shoto’s and Enji’s in color - yeah, its not hard to take a guess at why the third sibling is MIA. The fact Natsuo has made a formal appearance and the mother now has a name, yet the red haired boy is still a complete mystery, is suspicious as FUCK. I am hyped for many reasons. 

Speaking of, the fact that Rei’s face is no longer obscured in any way is a big move. It sort of solidifies her existence and makes her seem less like a memory and more like someone whose actually alive (in universe) rather than a mere projection. Literally every panel of her in Shoto’s flashback had her eyes hidden which is used to convey distance, either physical or emotional, and I think that speaks volumes about how those events were perceived by Shoto himself. But now that she’s been solidified as a full character and formally introduced to the audience, I can only guess that she will play some sort of role in the current arc. Either she will be featured heavily in one of Endeavor’s flashbacks (I’ve got my fingers crossed for this one) or, if he does turn out to be her son, in one of Dabi’s. Hell, maybe even both. My point is that Horikoshi has revealed her identity NOW for a reason and I’m quite interested to see how everything plays out with the entirety of the Todoroki clan.

That being said, and I’ll have to tread carefully here, I am slightly miffed about how Rei doesn’t seem to be held accountable for her actions. That is to say, yes, Enji’s behavior was reprehensible at best and abusive at worst, but the fact of the matter is that she poured boiling water on Shoto’s face with her own two hands. Enji did not tell her to do that. He did not force her to do that. He had absolutely no input on her decision to do it and whether or not she did it because of a mental breakdown that he was the direct cause of, she was still the person who permanently scarred Shoto for the rest of his life. Even putting aside the fandom itself, even Natsuo is putting all the blame on Enji for those events.

I’m certainly not saying that Rei was completely responsible for what happened but I do think both parents are at fault to a point. By all means, Enji was not helping matters in the slightest but what it boils down to is that, whether or not Rei was mentally stable at the time (which she clearly wasn’t), she was still the person who burnt Shoto’s face. It might be a controversial opinion but I don’t believe that mental illness is a get-out-of-jail-free card. That is to say, yes, there are some things you just can’t control but I’m about 90% sure that taking a kettle of boiling water and holding your five year old son by the hair while you pour it on him is a little past that point. Regardless of her mental state, Shoto could’ve died, either from going into shock or a resulting infection, and she no doubt caused extensive nerve damage to the afflicted area so where is her apology?

Everyone in this fandom is screaming for Enji to tell his family that he’s sorry (while insisting that it would never be enough to deserve forgiveness) but yet, no one is holding Rei to those same standards.

Even in universe, her own children aren’t holding her to these standards and, truthfully, this sort of boggles my mind. A mental breakdown doesn’t excuse the fact that she very well could have killed Shoto doing that shit. The face is a very sensitive area thats full of nerve endings and honestly the fact he’s not blind in that eye is a goddamn miracle. Enji might be responsible for Shoto’s mental abuse but, point blank, Rei is responsible for his physical abuse. And yes, no matter how you slice it, mental illness or not, pouring boiling water on your son is physical abuse. 

This is why I really, really hope we get some kind of flashback to the first time Shoto visited her in the hospital because I want to know how exactly that went. Did she actually apologize to him? Did they talk about it? Did she explain herself? What were his thoughts on the incident? Like, I’m just really gonna’ need a full blown break down of that scene because there are so many questions that still need to be answered and I pray to god that this arc answers them in their entirety. 

But lets back track a little bit to that last panel I posted. 

So far, rather than answering any of the many questions we’ve already been presented, this arc is actually positing yet even more. Assuming that this was not a mistake on the translators part, what the flying fuck is this even supposed to mean? Am I supposed to take it as an indicator that Natsuo (and Dabi??) moved out of the house when Rei got sent to the hospital? Where the hell would they have even gone in that case when Natsuo would’ve been nine at the time? The grandmother in the flashback looked like she could’ve been from Rei’s side of the family so is it possible that he went to live with her? If that IS the case, then why didn’t Fuyumi go too? If the children REALLY have such an issue with the way Enji treated his wife and Shoto, then why is Fuyumi still living with him? To watch over Shoto? Why didn’t Natsuo care enough to stay too? Wouldn’t that seem more like a job for an older brother rather than a sister? Like, this panel fucked me up good and I have no idea how to interpret it. This is some crazy shit and I swear if Horikoshi forgets about a single plot point, I will lose my shit.

Now …. this page is quite interesting. I know as well as everyone else does that Shoto seems to be under the impression their marriage was arranged and we’ve all been operating under that assumption which is fine. But listen. What I’m saying is that a five year old is not always a reliable narrator so there is every possibility that Horikoshi has done some sleight of hand here and Rei’s dialogue supports my theory much more than I’d ever anticipated. I’ve been wondering for a long time now if Shoto knew for a fact that everything he told Deku was true OR if he’d merely assumed it to be true. Its obvious he wasn’t close enough with his father to sit down and talk with him at any point and the details of your marriage aren’t usually things you go into great detail with a toddler so what exactly was Shoto basing that on? 

The really interesting thing about Hero Academia is that, just like real people, sometimes the characters are wrong about things. They make mistakes just like we do. Remember when Shoto suspected that Deku was All Might’s son? Yeeeeaaaaah.

Actually, Shoto seems to be wrong about a lot of things. He also accused Iida of having a less than picture perfect family and, honestly, Shoto seems to be the one who mistakenly assumes things the most. Is Horikoshi setting him up for the ultimate reveal that he was wrong about his parents marriage? This has been a thought running through my mind for a long time now and this page sort of solidified that suspicion.

Because tell me, the one person whose read this far, if Enji viewed Rei as nothing more than a quirk splicing, baby making machine then why the hell would he remember what flower she said she liked on one occasion?

It would be another matter entirely if she greeted him every day with “good morning, dear! I love daisies!” but she clearly states that she mentioned this once when they first met which, at this point, has to be over twenty years ago. If Enji is as much of a heartless brute that the fandom accuses him of being then there is absolutely no way in hell he would remember such a small detail SO many years after the fact. Like, I could ask someone I work with what their favorite flower is and I probably wont remember their answer tomorrow, let alone two decades later, because I honestly don’t care. But Enji apparently cared enough and that is QUITE telling. 

That she says “It seems like he’s come here many times but we still haven’t met face to face yet” also seems to imply this is not the only flower Enji has sent her. I’m inclined to read it as a hint that, in addition to checking in on her regularly, he also sends her things fairly consistently (gifts other than flowers) but that would be presumptuous of me. But what I can conclusively deduce from this page is that he does care about her on some level. Maybe its not exactly the perfect chick flick romance you imagine in your head but it seems that Enji was not completely impartial to Rei’s plight and he wasn’t just using her for his own ends.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Enji did not have to pay for her to stay in the hospital for ten years. He had Shoto at that point. He didn’t need her anymore so why did he make the decision to send her to some place where she could not only get mental help but also live quite comfortably instead of throwing her in prison? He is a hero after all and, again, what she did is definitely child abuse, so no one would have even questioned him if he’d gone this route. Or he could have even just thrown her on the street and been done with it. 

So WHY? 

Why is he not only paying for her to stay in the hospital but also sending her things if he really doesn’t care about her? I honestly think Horikoshi is going to smack us in the face with a big Shoto-was-wrong-about-almost-everything plot twist and really throw us all for a loop. Like, almost the entire story behind the Todoroki’s is shrouded in mystery and what we DO know of them is based almost completely off the flashback of an at-the-time five year old. I not only want to see those events from the perspective of someone else but I also want to know the exact details of the marriage because I get the distinct feeling that things are not exactly as they seem.

Now don’t misunderstand me on this. Enji was definitely in the wrong for how he treated Rei and Shoto, theres no getting around that fact. However rather than being blinded by a hunger for power from day one, I have a sneaking suspicion that maybe he wasn’t always like that and things just go out of hand. I said before that I think he just let himself become a little too obsessed with surpassing All Might and he sort of lost sight of himself when all he could focus on was just that singular goal and the fact Rei is defending him in her own way seems to support that theory. Why would she stand up for a man who forced her into a marriage and mistreated her? Something just isn’t adding up here, ya’ feel me? 

Incidentally, everyone seems to believe that Enji only recently started trying to better himself and make up for his past deeds, but I don’t think thats necessarily the case. I think the reveal of All Might’s true form definitely made him realize the severity of his mistakes but Rei did not say “recently he’s been here a lot” which makes it sound like its not a new development for him to check in on her. I’m gonna’ take a wild guess and say that he’s always touched base with the hospital to see how she was doing which in turn seems to add credence to my theory that he does indeed care for her on some level. That is to say, he knew he fucked up a long time ago but he was so vindicated in his desire to somehow best All Might that he justified those actions. But seeing the true identity of Toshinori was a wake up call for him that no, in actuality, it was all for nothing in the end. 

Suddenly finding himself number one without having felt like he earned it has forced Enji to reevaluate his goals, whats important to him in life and what kind of person he wants to be. The fact he sat his pride aside and asked All Might - his long time rival - for advice was not only a humbling move on his part but also very indicative of the growth he’s already experiencing as a person. Seeing how far he can takes this, and learning the details about the Todoroki family, is exactly why I was so looking forward to this arc and why I’m so excited to finally be reading it now. I cannot wait to see how this concludes and where Enji, Shoto, Rei and even Dabi are at by the end of it.   

Please, if you have anything you’d like to add to this or an opinion of your own, I’d love to hear it! This is such a fascinating course of events to see in a shonen and I’ve got my fingers crossed that Horikoshi takes this all the way. I want the goods and I want them NOW. 

[bnhascenariosheadcannonsimagines]

How would iida help his s/o with anxiety from work and whos also being pranked by neighbor kids

“(Y/n) you should get some sleep. Getting a full eight hours is imperative to your mental and physical health.” Iida popped his head into the living room where you were sitting and typing away at your laptop on the couch. “You should also use a desk chair and sit up straight or your back will hurt!” Iida rushed over to you and lifted you from the couch. “Iida dearest,” you sighed as he set you back on your feet, “I love you so very much. You know that, I know that-” “I love you very much as well.” he pressed a kiss to your forehead. You smiled and huffed out a short laugh, “But this project is going to be huge and I need to work on it nonstop until it’s finished. I was finally given the reigns to a big project at the company and-” “(Y/n) I know this is important to you, but you and your health are important to me. Please dear, save your progress and let me help you.” Iida cut you off and and looked at you worried.

He knew you were getting tired and worn out. You had been working on this project nonstop for a couple of weeks now, researching the demographic you were marketing towards, plugging in all the statistics, budgeting every part of this on your own, you were in full control of the project but you’re neglecting yourself. Your eyes were dull, the bags under them getting darker each day, your cheeks hollowing out slightly because you were forgetting to eat proper meals, your clothes a crumpled mess from sitting slouched over for too long, he didn’t like it. He made enough money being a hero to support the two of you easily, but he knew you wanted to do something so he never urged you to quit, he just wanted you to take a break. “(Y/n). Please.” Iida brought your hands up to his mouth and pressed kisses to your fingers.

You bit your lip knowing he was right, he was always right! To say you were stressed was the understatement of the year. You were about to fall apart. Presentations needed to get done, your team with a bunch of useless blokes who didn’t know how to use Word Processor, and to make matters worse the kids down the hallway from your apartment were sent by Satan himself! You leaned into Iida’s chest and sighed, “Okay dearest, I’ll save my progress and come to bed.” “Who said we were going to bed? We’re making you a healthy meal, taking a bath, and then going to bed.” He pulled you into a hug and you smiled, hugging him back tightly, “Thank you dearest.”

You woke up the next day feeling refreshed, something you hadn’t felt in a while.  You rolled over in bed, seeing Iida had already gone for his morning run and buried yourself in the blankets again before yawning and throwing them off of you. If you stayed in bed any longer you would fall back asleep and miss your train, so you got up and grumbled at the early morning sunshine creeping through your blinds. You walked into the kitchen to find a full breakfast sitting on the table ready for you with a note from Iida, “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, don’t skip it again dear. I love you.” You smiled and sat down, knowing that if you left it you would be getting a very angry call from Iida later today.

Once you had finished breakfast you got dressed and collected your laptop and briefcase, putting your laptop inside and snapping it closed, looking around for the poster boards you and made for todays presentation. They were neatly stacked near the door and you smiled as you read another note from Iida, “Good luck today (Y/n), you’ve been working very hard on this and I know you’ll do great. See you tonight.” You pressed a kiss to the paper and picked ups the boards, trying to keep your cool as you walked out of your apartment, setting the boards down to lock the door. You picked up the boards and thats when the anxiety started the creep in. You had a presentation today. In front of the top people at the company. If you messed up you could be fired on the spot. Stumble over one word and you were done for. No! No. You had this down. You were totally fine. You had practiced your presentation to Iida, to yourself in the mirror, you were totally fine. You could do this. And with that little pep talk you entered the elevator and went to work.

Oh man. You were so fired. They looked so bored the whole time, like you weren’t even talking! Maybe you had insulted them on accident? Maybe you had misspelled something on one of the slides! Oh shit what if it was one of their names! Autocorrect was going to get you fired! You were so wrapped up in your thoughts as you walked up the stairs to your apartment, the elevator was out. Probably because those stupid kids had thrown a firecracker in it again. You huffed your way up the stairs until you reached the fifth floor. You sighed, too many thoughts running through your head for you to really look where you were going, and by the time you caught it you were a little too late. An RC truck raced under your foot as you reached the landing and threw you backwards… Down a flight of stairs. With your briefcase. And your poster boards.

You let out a couple of loud curses as you slammed your leg into the stairwell and heard a couple bones pop. “(Y/n)?” you heard your door open and a confused Iida stick his head out. You groaned quietly and Iida ran to the stairs, seeing you in a messy heap on the landing between the fifth and fourth floor. “(Y/n) are you alright?! What happened? Did you break anything? Are you hurt? How many fingers am I holding up?” You groaned and pushed yourself into a sitting position, Iida kneeling down to hold you steady “I-I’m fine.” you whisper and try to stand up, your legs shaky and your breathing uneven and ragged. “(Y/n) you are most certainly not alright, what happened?” “Fuckin’ remote control car.” you whispered, trying o keep your voice even but failings it cracked towards the end. Iida hugged you close to him, rubbing your back as he lifted you onto your feet, “Can you stand?” He asked you quietly and you nodded slightly. “Now. What remote control car?” he asked and right on cue a small remote control car showed up at the top of the stairs, reversing back down the hallway towards a quiet snickering. “That one.” you sighed and leaned against the wall.

“Wait here please dear.” Iida smiled at you but his eye didn’t say he was happy. He zipped up the stairs and grabbed the toy car before zipping to the end of the hallway, pushing the door open to reveal to young boys. “This your’s?” Iida asked pointedly and both boys froze, one shoving the control into the others hand and the other one dropping it immediately. “Can I ask you what it was doing by the stairs?” Iida eyed the two children and they shrank into themselves. “They’re just kids man, what’s the big deal?” an older voice was heard from further inside the apartment. “The ‘big deal’ is that hey just threw somebody down a flight of stairs. THAT’S the ‘big deal’!” Iida huffed and a teenager came into view from a round the couch, “Shit.” the mutter and grabbed the remote control from the two smaller boys. “Dad is already pissed at you two for dropping all of the dishes off of the shelves do you really think he needs to hear that you two sent Ingenium’s fiancee down the fucking stairs?!” The two boys pouted and looked at the ground, “Say sorry assholes.” the teen crossed their arms and nudged their brothers forward. “Sorry.” one said and the other nodded. “Sorry doesn’t cut it. Go help them clean up their stuff.” the teen shoved the two boys out of the apartment and they trudged over to the stairs where you were starting to collect your things from the ground. “We’re sorry.” one said to you and handed you one of your boards, “Yeah. We’re sorry.” the other one kicked at the ground slightly.

Iida watched from the top of the stairs with the teen as the two little ones picked up your stuff and returned it to you. “I won’t tell your father on one condition. You leave (Y/n) alone. Pranks are only funny if they are harmless and this was anything but harmless. You could have seriously hurt someone.” Iida scolded the children and the nodded before running back into their own apartment. the teen waved and turned to go inside, “They give you any more trouble just knock. Sorry.” Iida returned to your side and helped you up the stairs, “How about another bath darling, you can tell me all about your presentation.” You broke into a nervous sweat at the reminder of your presentation when your phone lit up. It was your boss. “Iida?” you looked at him desperately as you sank to the floor in your doorway. “Yes dearest? (Y/n) what’s wrong? Are you really hurt?” “N-No. Just please… Read what this says of me, I-I can’t do it.” you shook, trying to keep your tears back. “(Y/n)?” Iida whispered and unlocked your phone, opening the message “(Y/n) your boss is congratulating you on your great work dearest, why are you crying?” “I-I’t been a long day.” you sobbed and Iida gathered you in his arms, hugging you to his chest and carrying you to the couch, “A long day indeed, you deserve some time off. Some time to relax.” he pressed a kiss to your temple and held you close, pressing kisses to your head and cheeks as you calmed down. “Let’s put on a movie, I’ll rub you back, we can eat together, then take a nice warm bath, get ready for bed and then cuddle together.” “Iida, I just fell down a flight of stairs and thought I was being fired. I don’t want a movie. I just want you.” you leaned into his chest and he chuckled, “And you have me. Forever.” he tilted your head to face him depressed a kiss to your lips, leaning into it as you lifted your hands into his hair. “Forever.” you whispered against his lips. Getting a full eight hours of sleep was important, but it was the furthest thing from Iida’s mind at the moment.

[upthenorthmountain]

Flatmates July #3

This was done except for the last paragraph, I think I got stuck so put it to one side and it took me a long time to pick it up again. Oh well.

Rated T for alcohol use. The main Flatmates story takes place between mid-May and late August, so whether we say Anna’s birthday is in June or August it still works.

so are you coming out with us on friday

no you go with your friends

girls night outs scare me

but they all want to meet you!

sorry

spoilsport

oh btw I know I said you didn’t have to get me anything for my birthday

but there is one thing I need

oh really

well you can have that any time you want

what?

oh ;)

well obv THAT but thats not what I meant

I need a birthday cake

and I can’t buy my own thats too sad

so if you could get the chocolatiest cake you can find that would be great

ok I expect I can manage that

and if its a big cake

don’t think oh thats too big she wont eat that much

ok

I’ve seen you eat cake before anna

I would never think that

ok ;)

sure you’re not coming out

sure

---

“Hellooo! Kristoff!”

“Hi, Anna.”

“Are you awake?”

“No, this is a voice recording.”

“What?”

“I’m awake, Anna, what is it?”

“Oh okay! Can you come and walk me home? We’re just at ‘spoons and it seems silly to get a cab? When it’s just down the road? So if you’re awake can you come and get me?”

“Eh - sure. OK. Give me ten minutes.”

“You’re the best! The best best.”

“Hello Kristoff! Hellooo Kriiiiiistoff!” Female voices, slightly muffled.

“Ssssssh I am ON THE PHONE.” Anna again. “OK I will see you in a minute? OK.”

“How are your friends getting home?”

“They’re waiting for an Uber. We’re on the wall outside! But I keep falling off. Woops!”

“Lord alive. OK. Stay put, ten minutes.”

“OK!”

"Kriiiiiiis!" Anna was indeed sitting on the wall outside Wetherspoons, with three other women, and how she 'kept falling off' a wall three feet high he had no idea. Or maybe he did.

"You're drunk."

"I am NOT I am just very CHEERFUL. Anyway, it's my birthday."

"Fair enough, I suppose. Come on, put your shoes back on."

The Uber arrived and Anna's friends piled into it. Anna waved and blew kisses until the car was out of sight, then stood up, wobbling on her heels.

"Can you walk in those?"

"Are you going to carry me?"

"No, you inebriate."

"Then I s’pose I'll have to. Hang on hang on." She attached herself to his arm. "OK. Off we go."

They walked up the road. Kristoff found he had to match his stride to Anna's; she was holding onto his arm so tightly that she stumbled otherwise. It was like being in a three-legged race. Carrying her would probably be easier.

"Have a good evening?"

"Yes! You should’ve come! It was brilliant. We had cocktails at Mesijo's and we did some dancing."

"Then why were you at the Wetherspoons?"

"We wanted chips."

"Sorry, of course."

"Everyone wanted to meet you. Helen said if I didn't want you could she have a go."

"....okay."

"But I DO want you, so." She laughed. "But I didn't tell her that! Of course. It's a secret."

"Right."

They walked along in silence for a bit more.

"Can I have some more cake when I get home?"

"Why are you asking me? You're an adult, it's your birthday, it's your cake. Eat it all if you want."

"Are you annoyed with me?"

"What? No."

"You are. I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For whyever you're cross with me. Is it because I made you come and get me?"

"No. You're fine. Look, here we are."

"OK."

He let them in and tried to say goodnight, but Anna cornered him in the hall. "I bet I can cheer you up, Mr Grumpy." She pressed herself against him. "It's my birthday and I want my present."

"Anna, go to bed. You're drunk."

"I am not! I am not drunk. I never get drunk. I am just HAPPY because it's my birthday and I had fun with my friends and now I'm about to have more fun. With you."

She kissed him, a bit sloppily. She tasted of strawberries but mainly of alcohol and he put her away from him, gently but firmly. "I'm going to bed, in my bed, and you are going to bed in yours. Birthday sex tomorrow. When you'll actually remember it."

Anna pouted. "But it's my birthday TODAY."

“Off you go,” he said, turning her round by her shoulders. “Bedtime.”

Anna grumbled, but walked slowly down the hall to her room, stepping out of her shoes and dropping her bag as she went. “Tomorrow,” she said. “You promise.”

“Yeah.”

“You're gonna rock my world.” She was at her bedroom door now, and she leant on the doorframe and looked over her shoulder at him in a way that was probably meant to be alluring.

“Best you've ever had, I promise.”

“Always is,” Anna said, winked, stumbled forward, and fell face-first onto her bed.