#the world is about to be destroyed by the moon in 3 days OBVIOUSLY it means terminal as in illness

[anarchopuppy]

What sort of themes and motifs persist throughout the Zelda Franchise and how well do you think they are portrayed (basically an invite to talk openly about the themes and motifs).

Also, do you have any reccs for someone interested in yhe series but doesn't know where to try?

ah, i remember when zelda games had themes instead of just plots. from links awakening thru to wind waker they got rly good at that, but they seemed to get confused when rewriting twilight princess from wind waker 2 into something more "mature" to please the fans who didnt like ww, and they still havent gotten back the touch they used to have imo

i wouldnt say there are any main themes present across the whole series other than basic ones like "heroism" or "helping ppl" which mostly just come from the shared gameplay. the themes for individual games are a lot more varied. ocarina is about growing up, majora is about death and grief and compassion, wind waker is about not letting obsession w the past keep u from looking to the future, etc

what u should start w depends on ur tastes. if ur into open-world games, start with botw and totk. if u prefer linear games, start w oot and continue in release order. majora and wind waker are both excellent but both benefit from the context of playing ocarina first

[reds-skull]

CW FLASHING IN THE VIDEO (3rd from the bottom)

This is it. 3 months in the works, the comic (and video) are finally done.

A little over a year ago, I uploaded the first work in Revenant AU, Ghost's origin comic. I never thought I'd write a whole series for this, but I'm so glad I did. I got a whole new hobby out of it, haha.

I already began working on part 2, but this for me marks the start of it. I'm really excited to get back into this world!

Under the cut there are some comments on the comic I thought some people might be interested in (don't wanna make this post longer than it already is lol). I will upload the frames from the video separately, with comments on it there.

Bottom line is, thank you for letting me just go wild with this :)

Okay, I'm mostly gonna talk about the part where Fate shows Makarov the 141+Farah. Makarov doesn't see the Fate of people as literal images, he often has to interpret odd symbolism in the flashes he gets from the Weave of Fate.

I decided to go for a style I saw in a collection of calling cards in MW3, mainly from this one:

You can really see it in the faces and pitch-black cel shading.

I'll be going in order of appearance, starting with Farah.

Obviously, each of the "flashes" shows the Reaping of each person, Farah being crushed under rubble. Behind her is a helo of green gas, which symbolizes the Russian experimental gas. The motifs around her are more interesting imo - they're taken from the Urzik flag (and yeah apparently it's "Urzik" and not "Urzikstani"... according to the wiki at least). Wings, plants (feels to me like a pomegranate and some sort of crop, but I couldn't find what it is specifically), and a moon, upside down.

I'm skipping ahead a bit, but I've had the idea to make a drawing of Gaz in the Hanged Man pose since I started the AU basically. I tried sketching it once, and it went bad so I gave up lol. But I decided to come back to that here, and add some sort of tarot connection to all of them. I know practically nothing about tarot, googled the meanings of each, they fit well enough, I called it a day lol.

So Farah is the Moon, upside down.

Price is next, showing him taking control of the brain of someone. I didn't use the flag of the UK for the 141 (it'd be kinda boring...), instead I took the Taskforce 141 logo, and broke it down to different elements.

I took the laurels for Price, both framing his illustration and sitting above his head like a crown. I decided he will be the Emperor.

Next up is Gaz, the Hanged Man of course. Gaz gets both the wings and the stars (I changed mine to 4-pointed because... I like them better). Pretty clear why, both symbols relate to the sky. The illustrations kinda follow a rough day cycle, if that makes sense. Farah being night, with the moon. Price with his golden and purple color palette, twilight. Gaz being sunrise, and Ghost and Soap, day. This is why Gaz has a sun behind him.

Ghost was fun because he's the only inhuman one out of the group. I'll let you think what that implies, that even in Fate's Weave, Ghost is an outlier... Ghost gets the skull, and the card "Death". That one was easy, but what I did add is blood flowing down the skulls, like tear tracks...

Soap, the problem child, gave me the most issues as always. For once, it wasn't his fucking face, it was the flames behind him, and overall contrast and readability issues. Soap's illustration is probably packed with the most "hidden" details, though they're obvious if you've read the fic and Konchar's side story. The headless man behind Soap is Konchar himself, holding 4 chains with dog tags on them. The 4 soldiers from Soap's squad, who he killed before Soap was Reaped. Soap's pose is from the moment he came to his senses, after getting shot in the head and destroying a large part of Verdansk. He has 4 swords, pointing at him and downwards, so his card is 4 of Swords, upside down.

Between Soap and Ghost is a circle and a triangle. I'll explain that in the post concerning the video, since that's where I got that from.

If you read all of this, thank you so much! There will be another post for you to read in a moment lol

[theverumproject]

Get To Know Me Tag!

Thank you for the tag @rivenantiqnerd!

I rambled a little too much in this one, woops.

Rules: Answer the questions because I want to get to know you better :D 

Do you have a pet?

No, but I frequently get visited by a cat that is older than I am (She's like 22 or something lol). But my mom, my sister and I have been wanting to get chickens!

Comfort food?

I don't really have one? A steak, maybe?

How many languages do you speak?

My native language is Swissgerman, so naturally I also speak High German and obviously I speak English. So let's say 2.5 languages, because the two Germans are similar, but not the same.

I wanna learn many more languages though, that includes; Romansh, Italian (we had it in school for six fucking years but I can barely speak it), French (these three are the other national languages of Switzerland), Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Greek, Russian, Japanese, Welsh, Old Germanic, Latin, Old English and perhaps spanish. There are just sooo many beautiful languages in the world, though I know I will probably never get past the 2.5. 

Random fact about yourself

As a kid I got so sick of radio music that I didn't listen to any songs with lyrics in them for about 2-3 years. I only listened to Dubstep, which eventually turned into only listening to Deathstep (and some robo and metalstep) for about 2 years.

One day I found a remix of the songs Psychosocial and The Devil in I by Slipknot. Slipknot was my gateway band to metal. I practically only listened to them for probably more than half a year.

And then I discovered aliencore. Aliencore is a subgenre of death metal in which, you guessed it, everything is about aliens. So I got obsessed with Rings of Saturn at first (I still mourn them deeply) and later on with Aversions Crown. So I pretty much only listened to them for probably more than half a year too.

Then I got obsessed with Behemoth and Gorogoroth for a while, that's how I began listening to black metal too. About one or two years ago I got obsessed with Ghost and only listened to them for more than half a year, AGAIN!

That was the last time I obsessed over a band. Now I just listen to a bunch of different bands and artists. I don't have a favorite band at the moment, but my favorite song is Sommer by Nargaroth. I also love Starchild by Wintersun, Fading Memories by Thy Pallor, Wieczernia by Batushka, The Sun, The Moon, The Star by Aether Realm, Million Year Summer by The Angelic Process, The Satanist by Behemoth and a bunch of Slipknot songs like Gently, Iowa, Scissors and The Virus of Life.

I really just rambled about my entire musical journey, fucking hell.

Something you’re proud of?

In my last year of school, we had to do a final project. I chose to write about how I imagined the future to look like. I researched everything to be as scientifically accurate as possible. I had a bunch of ideas for topics, and in the end I ended up with six. They were: “Can you bring artificial intelligence to life?”, “What could the future of space travel possibly look like?”, “How could the cities of the future look like?”, “Will humanity go extinct?” “What is the technological and human singularity?” and “What is my idea of transhumanism?”. (The original titles are in German).

I had a blast during the presentation, I even made somebody cry actually. I showed them a video of ChaosGPT and it actually frightened some. One girl was wiping her tears away. To me this was really funny, because I put the video on 2x speed which made the Mozart music in the background sound really funny. Imagine some evil AI planning to destroy the world, while a girl is crying as Mozart is playing at 2x speed in the background and I just stand in front of the whole class and two teachers, trying to hold my shit together.

Anyway, I got a 6 (best possible grade) for the written work, a 6 for the journal and a 5.8 for the presentation (I talked for over an hour, which was a little too long, but the rest of it was fucking great!!!), so I received a -6 for the whole project. My other teacher also gave me a 6 (It's an unofficial grade though) and the whole class had to give me a grade too, which were all 6s too!

So yeah, I did a fucking amazing job!

Tags: @teamarine777 @creative-author + open tag!

[moody4world]

I win you lose

A/N: a little something I thought of after the game from yesterday.

Everyone was aware that Jack was kind of big on sports. You, not at all but every four years during the world cup you suddenly become a football fanatic. You’ve been dating Jack for three years now and this year happened to be the 22nd edition of the World Cup. When the last one took place im 2018 you hadn’t even met jack yet so this would be the first time you two spend the FIFA weeks together.

You were a big supporter of the Netherlands team and Jack was obviously rooting for USA.

Both The Netherlands and USA had done very well on their first games leading to the knockout rounds where they were set to go against the each other. The minute that this match was confirmed you and Jack have been betting on who was going to win.

He would mock you all week saying how you were going to lose and you would do the same back. The day of the match comes and you were both rocking your representative team’s jerseys, anxiously waiting to see how the game would go.

It’s been two minutes in and USA had almost scored a goal if it wasn’t for the keeper’s quick reaction. “COME ONNNN” Jack was frustrated and the game barely started. You, however were very relieved that they didn’t make the goal. “HAAAA you are going doooowwwnnn Jackman mark my words.” You teased him. “You don’t even like football.” “Well I do like the world cup so don’t be a sore loser” “DoNt bE a SoRe lOsEr” Jack mocked you.

“GO GO GO YEEEEESSSS” Nine minutes and thirty seconds into the game, Netherlands had scored their first goal and you were over the moon. “Oh yeah, we scored, uh huh that’s right” you danced around Jack as you sang terribly. He was a bit upset but he couldn’t help but think how cute it was to see you so interested in sports for once. “Memphis Depay is so fine.” That made Jack raise an eyebrow. “So you’re just gonna thirst over a soccer player right infront of me?””It’s not like I have a chance with him. If I did I wouldn’t be sitting here baby.” Jack pouted and you gave him a kiss reassuring him that you were only joking. The silly rivalry between the two of you went on until the last twenty minutes of the game. It was now 2-0 and you were convinced that there was no way you could lose anymore but Jack still carried some hope.

At 75 minutes USA scored their first goal of the match and Jack was ecstatic to say the least. He screamed super loud and ran from the living room to the kitchen and back while you shook your head and rolled your eyes at his dramatics. “You’re still losing anyway.” “A lot can happen in the next few minutes baby, don’t be too sure of yourself.” You knew that was true so it did make you anxious all over again. But less than five minutes later the 2-1 score changed to 3-1 and there was only 10minutes left. Once the referee blew his whistle and the timer was over 90minutes you knew that you had officially won.

“YEEEEEEESSSS I TOLD YOUUU” you screamed all happily while Jack felt defeated. “Yeah yeah whatever. Argentina’s probably winning later so good luck getting past them on friday.” “I can worry about that later but right now I get to rub it in your face that I won and you lost.” “Is this how you feel when I win all our other bets?” “Well it depends. How do you feel baby?” “I feel defeated, destroyed. 3-1 is disrespectful.” “Then yes, that’s exactly how I feel.” Jack sighed. “Since you won what’s your wish?” You suddenly got shy. The deal was that whoever wins gets to have one wish that the other must fulfill without any complaints.

“Don’t get all shy now, you had the biggest mouth just then.” “Okay okay, remember that thing I suggested we try last time and you said no because you were scared it would hurt me even though I insisted we try it anyway?” Jack was confused on what you were talking about until it all came back to him. “Of course you would choose that as your wish you dirty slut.” His voice became low and his bright blue eyes darkened with lust. Jack grabbed your cheeks with his big hand pulling you in and all you could do was giggle like a mess. “Go upstairs and get ready, i’ll be right there okay?”

“Yes sir”

[tanya-shiza]

Ember // LMK OC Art & Info

Kinda created for my SIB AU, where the story of the canon characters turned out differently.

Ember still can be in the canon, but, obviously, with a changed backstory. (look at the end of the post).

Ember or ��Demonic ember from the Moon».

Birth story:

Moon Goddess - Chang'e - trained to cook many, many years ago, dreaming that one day she could teach everyone how to cook as well as her only friend, the moon rabbit. However, Chang'e was distracted and the rice ball burned. The Goddess threw it onto the sky, like any another star, but the coal couldn't stay in the sky and became fallen sky.

The coal fell into the cave of a snow-capped mountain, which people unsuccessfully tried to conquer. When it hit the ground, it split into two pieces.

One of it fell into a human campfire: mixed with smoke, cosmic dust and campfire's coal, Ember appeared into this world - with black, wavy hair like his mom's(Chang'e) and dark blue eyes like the night sky.

The second piece fell into a pile of human bones. Ember noticed that the second piece could not decide for a long time what kind of appearance to choose for itself. It wanted something special. Something perfect. Ember intervened to help, and a female demon with white skin, white hair and crimson eyes was born, completely unlike Ember or Chang'e. The demon wasn't happy at all that she was interrupted, but Ember interrupted the perfectionist demon again, calling her little sister. The Bone Demon pouts and pushes Ember away, accidentally using magic that causes one of Ember's locks to turn white and stiffer. It curls up and now looks like a false halo.

The Bone Demon feels guilty, because now Ember's hair is not perfectly black and soft. But Ember suddenly for the demon enjoys her new white ahoge(?). She tells the perfectionist demon that she made her perfect and there is nothing to feel guilt about.

Short Facts:

SIB AU:

Ember & Lady Bone Demon are sisters. (Let me be honest this is the reason why I created Ember in the first place. It's so funny to me to observe that the cold Lady Bone Demon is actually a younger sister, and her older one behaves incredibly infantile. 🤭)

Ember wants to explore the whole world which expresses Chang'e's desire to show her cooking to the whole world. (Lady Bone Demon expresses desire to help everyone in need.)

Ember had a strong influence on the young Lady, which subsequently made her so stubborn and confident in her rightness. However, Ember still retained her authority and the Lady may sometimes reckon with Ember, perceiving her as the voice of morality and subsequently of conscience, which the Lady does not have. (Please note that the Lady in SIB AU is slightly different from the canon. For example, she did not ice the entire empire, but actually arranged the overthrow of the Emperor. She also has no plans to use samadi fire to destroy the whole universe—)

Neither Ember nor the Lady Bone Demon know that they were born because of Chang'e. Even Chang'e herself doesn't know.

Ember believes that she is a demon born from a falling star, but since she woke up in a campfire, she named herself an «ember». (Lady Bone Demon guesses that they weren't born from a falling star, but it's useless to convince Ember.)

In Canon:

Outside of the SIB AU, it is obvious that Ember and Lady are not sisters. And even more: Lady is much older than Ember. However, there was a period when Ember followed Lady Bone Demon purely out of curiosity. Ember perceives Lady as a best friend with whom she can talk about anything and who will help, but Lady Bone Demon perceives Ember simply as a fool who cannot think longer than 3 seconds.

[probablyahazard]

Tagged by @nuclear-cowboy my beloved to do 15 questions, 15 mutuals so here we go

Were you named after anyone? My first name is stolen from a dnd character and a podcast character. My middle name is veeeery technically from a kpop idol? (its an english name tho, latin origin) a friend called me by his name as a joke once. I proceeded to ignore the massive amount of gender euphoria it gave me for like a year in a half. But the name means lucky so I was like 'ha yeah I'll keep it'

When was the last time cried? Idk dude like 24 hours ago? will probably cry later tho. I cry a lot.

Do you have kids? Ha, fuck no. I'm a baby. Also for other......reasons.

Do you use sarcasm alot? Yes? I think? Enough that people used to comment on how sarcastic I was?

What’s the first thing you notice about people? Is it cheating if I just say vibes? idk if i had to hazard (ha) a guess I'd say like either the way they carry themselves or how much they speak.

What’s your eye colour? Brown but like deep brown almost black looking brown type shit.

Any special talents? I'm one of those bitches who's just super good at memorizing quotes. is it practically useful? no. But it's fun. I memorize whole movies for funsies.

Scary movies or happy endings? Both? It depends on my mood? As a kid i was very into scary movies but as I get older and the world happens I appreciate happy endings more which.....ahhh.... ya know?

Where were you born? Aotearoa

What are your hobbies? Reading (so much fucking reading), drawing, writing, dnd and dming (tho that actually happens once in a blue moon), imagining little scenarios. idk dude existing

Do you have any pets? Not currently, I used to have a cat.

What sports do you play/have played? I did fencing for like 5 years, that was my main thing. Idk not really a sports person. as a kid I did miniball, touch rugby, and gym but not of those ever stuck. I always wanted to play football (soccer not the other one) but eh.

How tall are you? short.... (*whispers* like 5'1)

Favourite subject in school? Classics my beloved <3333 also drama and english. and like in theory I liked the content for my art history class but I hated the way we were taught so

Dream job? I do not dream of labor. also I have a lot of fears about not being able to hold a full time job without destroying myself for...Reasons. But like hypothetically I'd love to be a classicist or a graphic designer. or an actor but like ahhhh no.

Tagging the mutuals, sorry. This is probably not like 15 and obviously you don’t have to do this, it’s chill if you just ignore this. anyways, ur all really cool and I hope ur having a good day <3

@ghostgrrll @badfaithbanana @raemae-15 @nightlynymph @watermelon-converse @coffeeshopghost @future-banned-book-recipient @confused-wizard @angelic-flower-universe @merriweather-underground

[xhanisai]

Top 5 couples

Oh wow, I have so, SO many OTPs that I would die for it's insane!!! I guess I can put together the top five that have driven me the most crazy~~

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

1 - Lovesquare (Miraculous Ladybug)

Obviously, this is the most predictable one from me hahaahah! These two have gotten me in a chokehold like no other pairings and that's because not only does this show allow us to see so many variations of them interacting with one another but also because of how they overturn many gendered tropes!

We have Adrien/Chat Noir so open about his love and affections for Marinette/Ladybug whilst she struggles to vocalise her feelings for him and often runs away. We have him openly emotional and quick to voice what is in his heart whilst she's often bottling up her own emotions. We have him often sacrificing himself to save her whilst the world can't be saved without her power. We have him haunting the narrative (as Chat Blanc), we have her saving him like a knight as civilians and just more and more and more.

I can write a 100K word essay about why I love these two and it wouldn't even scratch the tip of the iceberg. These two are made for each other.

2 - Shadow x Maria (Sonic The Hedgehog)

Probably one of the first few younger childhood OTPs that still have me going astronomically insane for them. It's no secret that I'm obsessed with tragic pairings and this one ticks all my boxes. As we've seen from the recent animation shorts, Maria and Shadow were each other's whole worlds! She wanted to finally visit Earth with him by his side and he wanted to be able to cure her illness.

And then Shadow had to watch her be brutally killed before his very eyes? So he vowed to destroy humanity in her name? Only to remember the promise she begged for him to honour, choosing to save the world with Sonic instead like Maria wanted? I am not normal about them they deserve the moon, stars and universe! They loved each other!! They loved each other so much and Shadow was willing to kill everyone as vengeance!!! I love them so much~~~

3 - Soul x Maka (Soul Eater)

I like to call them the ladynoir before ladynoir was a thing hahaahh! Maka and Soul's partnership means EVERYTHING to me and the lengths that they would go for each other (especially the lengths Soul would go through) brings me so much joy!

Seeing how their relationship develops from being childish and slightly mean to each other to the unbreakable bond it is now is just so good! They're so unique! Imagine my shock when I first watched the anime and seeing how protective Soul was over Maka. "A boy being so protective over the girl in a shonen animanga? Without any of the weird tropes into play? WOW!!" Thirteen-year-old me was ENLIGHTENED for real.

4 - Gojo x Geto (Jujutsu Kaisen)

Another doomed, tragic relationship. Another bittersweet romance that literally causes major plotlines in the story and I can never have enough. These two are like the sun and the moon and whether you see their bond as romantic or platonic, there is no denying the impact that they have had on each other! I love them, I hate them and I wanted them to have the best life they could have ever possibly had!!!!

Fellas never break up in front of KFC otherwise it'll cause your own downfall in the future LMAO.

5 - Ichigo x Aoyama (Tokyo Mew Mew)

Most likely my first ever OTP even before I even knew what all these terms meant and will continue to stay in my heart forever. I was obsessed with these two and would draw them practically every single day. Imagine how shocked I was to find out how unpopular this ship was online when I finally had internet in the house 😭

Cute, clumsy, optimistic girl x big bad alien in disguise who chose her over destroying humanity??? What's not to love!? THIS BOY LOVED HER SO MUCH HE UNCONSCIOUSLY CREATED A WHOLE ASS NEW ALTER EGO JUST TO PROTECT HER AND CLAIMED THAT HE IS HERS!!!! INSANE THEY MAKE ME INSANE!!!!! I love Ichigo with all three of his personas! UGH!!!!

They could have been a doomed romance BUT LOVE WON AND THEY BOTH LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER!

I loved how their relationship played out in the manga, the OG anime and the reboot~ I need to draw these two again.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS: Yona and Hak (Akatsuki no Yona), Sonic and Amy Rose (Sonic the Hedgehog), Yato and Hiyori (Noragami), Bishamon and Kazuma (Noragami), Maomao and Jinshi (The Apothecary Diaries), Tohru and Kyo (Fruits Basket), Chloe and Lila (Miraculous Ladybug), Kana and Akane (Oshii no Ko), Roy and Hawkeye (Fullmetal Alchemist), Akira and Ryo (Devilman), Kaneki and Touka (Tokyo Ghoul), Haruhi and Tamaki (Ouran Highschool Host Club) and probably so many more but I can't remember at the moment lol...

[cats-of-eden-valley]

ADHD strikes again with oddly specific thoughts! I've been falling down rabbit hole after rabbit hole today, and thus I have more questions 😅

1) What kind of natural disasters occur in the Valley? Like, do Goldspring get earthquakes due to their volcanic terrain, or do Coldbank or Bogden experience flash flooding? How do the Prides deal with that kinda stuff? Are there any areas prone to hazards (such as areas prone to landslides, or places with a lot of dangerous animals)?

2) Are there any myths/folklore regarding natural disasters? Sorry if this question is too spoiler-y!

3) I'm not sure if you've answered this before, but what is the terrain/climate like outside of the Valley? I follow so many similar concepts that it's all starting to mix lmao

4) What kinds of pollinators live in the Valley? Are they more similar to bees, or things like butterflies or birds?

5) Do the cats have a symbiotic relationship with any other animals? I've been researching the relationship between wolves and ravens for a while now and the question just popped into my head.

6) Are there any carnivorous plants in the Valley? Because the idea of someone getting eaten by an enormous plant is both horrifying and kinda funny.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love this project, and it's rare that something like this gives me such insistent brainworms. But, I'm happy - it might even be developing into a hyperfix!

As always, no pressure to respond! I'm content just yelling into the void.

(Also, I don't know is it okay to ask for advice here, especially for my own writing, and I would appreciate knowing-) (/gen)

Have a good day/night! (Sorry if I'm becoming annoying lol)

-🦇

The reason this took me so long is because this post is longer than the colour of the sky. see you in hell (affectionate) o7

1.

Lots! Most earthquakes are little rumbles, but of more note are the seasons. Eden Valley has two: Rain and Fire

During monsoon season, the river gets muchhh bigger. When water levels rise, while it does eat up a lot of land space, there are several "living islands" of matted vegetation which float with the water while remaining tethered to the bottom. Flooding is typically pretty predictable, and never passes certain levels.

Once monsoon season ends, fire season begins. And I do mean Fire Season. You know how all the leaves drop for dry season? The flora here doesn't even bother, it's evolved to just let it get burnt away (or sheathing leaves for the season). Bogden and Goldspring both retreat up the cliffs into stone holts to let the burn go by, and live there for the season for subsequent burns (caused by the mushrooms that grow stupid fast off all the ash)

And then you have everything else, like landslides, Many dangerous animals (have you seen the croc-snake), storms, droughts, but like we'll be here all night if i keep going

2.

Dunno if it counts, but it's common belief among the prides that the Moons reached down and scooped out a divot in the mountains for cats to escape the burning eye of Hiverne

There is also currently a rumour that has been bouncing around among the outsiders about some apocalyptic change, which can only be escaped by travelling west, but like. That's nothing to worry about, nothing can harm the prides in their cozy, impenetrable little valley :)

3.

So, as far as the cats know, Eden Valley is nestled in the middle of a mountain range, with uncrossable deserts on one side and endless mountains on the other (with the occasional claim that, if you go far enough into the mountains, you'll see something vast and blue far in the distance)

The prides ignore the outside world and like to believe they live in the only oasis of life left in the world, which they believe was scorched and destroyed by Hiverne. Obviously this isn't true, because Windswept aren't even from this region, but y'know.

4.

I haven't thought much about pollinators cus I've been hemming and hawing about the existence of flowers in the Valley (because im a baby that doesn't want to learn to draw them)

But now I'm kinda thinking about the role that mushrooms play in the Valley, where they actually thrive in hot and dry conditions (vs the fungi we know preferring cool and wet) and grow like nuts during the Sleeping Year, and maybe they make?? Mushroom flowers? I just like the idea of applying "here i have this tasty treat for you in exchange for you taking my junk gunk to some other guy" to mushrooms and then making that system easier to draw

5.

Nothing like. Specifically. I need to do more research so I can really start hammering out the relationship the cats have to the rest of the ecosystem, but the only thing I'm capable of reading at the moment are research paper #3453239 about felidae evolution

It will be a thing, though!

6.

There are but the great thing about plants is that they don't move much, so the cats know where they all are.

Hell, maybe that's your mutualistic relationship: the cats have learned that the sticky traps close if you place small prey sacrifices into them, allowing them to safely harvest nectar. Or something. Then spread that pollen babey (and get good, good nectar, tastless yet thick and soothing to the throat)

[fuckyeahelijahwoodfan]

Yellowjackets’ and His Hobbit Group Chat

The ‘Lord of the Rings’ star plays a citizen detective in the new season of Showtime’s series about a girls’ soccer team surviving in the wilderness

By Chavie Lieber

Elijah Wood is known for carrying a weighty gold ring as Frodo Baggins in the blockbuster “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. These days, the actor proudly sports a different kind of ring, made of silver and bearing the title “DAD.”

Mr. Wood, 42, has two small children with his partner, Mette-Marie Kongsved. He enjoys taking an active role as a father, whether it’s sleep training or packing school lunches.

“You’re constantly being challenged, in the best way,” Mr. Wood said of parenthood. “It’s as much my own personal growth as it is about my child’s growth.” 

Now starring in the second season of “Yellowjackets,” Showtime’s series about a high-school girls’ soccer team that must learn to survive in the wilderness after a plane crash, Mr. Wood plays Walter, a message-board citizen detective who becomes interested in a cold case related to the surviving team members.

“I like being drawn into something that feels unique and weird, but also has a layer of depth in what it’s trying to say,” the actor said of the eccentric characters he often plays. 

Here, Mr. Wood discusses his breakfast go-to’s, his “Lord of the Rings” alumni group chat and the struggles he faced as a budding actor. 

What time do you wake up on Mondays? 

Some time between 5:30 and 6:30. We’ve got a 3-year-old son and a 14-month-old daughter, and she wakes us up pretty early. I like getting up early, I like starting the day.

What’s the first thing you do in the morning? 

I set the kettle to get the coffee ready before I start on the kids’ breakfast. We have a Chemex and I do pour-over. I kind of just eyeball the grinds. But I am relatively nerdy about coffee. 

What do you make the kids for breakfast?

Oatmeal with various spices, peanut butter and fruit—banana, apples, blackberries. I also really like overnight oats or muesli with yogurt, and I sometimes eat that with them. 

Do you have any go-to grooming products?

I’ve used the same hair product for about 20 years. It’s Magic Move, a Japanese molding mud that is relatively light. Fat and the Moon has this aloe moisturizer that I really like. I also have a new toothpaste, Livfresh. It was literally advertised to me on Instagram as being 200 times more effective and I bought it. Hook, line and sinker! 

What do you like to do for exercise?

I was cycling for a while. What I love right now is reformer Pilates. I started going in Vancouver—I was going back and forth between Vancouver and L.A. to shoot “Yellowjackets”—and I was introduced to a method [there] called Lagree. It’s high-intensity, 45-minute classes with no breaks and destroys you, essentially. 

Your character on “Yellowjackets” seems really quirky, do you identify with him at all?

I share his enthusiasm for true crime. He’s an enthusiast, a citizen detective, but he obviously takes things a little too far.

Are you a true crime fan?

Yes, I’ve always been interested. Podcasts, watching documentaries. I remember having the Time-Life “Serial Killers” book when I was a teenager. I grew up in the ’80s, and “Unsolved Mysteries” was literally something that was just on. There would be cases about kidnapping that would give me nightmares. The theme song is burned in my memory, but I also love it so much.

What was something you watched recently that you loved?

“Aftersun” bowled me over. I found that to be so heartbreaking and heavy, and the structure of the film is so beautiful.

Have you watched Amazon’s “Lord of the Rings” show?

I watched three episodes. It was really interesting to see how that world was interpreted by a new set of people. I’m curious what will transpire in regards to these new films with Warner Bros. in the Tolkien universe too. 

Do you have any “Lord of the Rings” memorabilia you’ve kept over the years?

I have one of the rings. I was given it by Peter [Jackson] and Fran [Walsh], and it’s on the same chain. I have the sword “Sting,” and I took a map from Bag End, Bilbo’s house. I have a pair of latex [hobbit] feet that are very old now. They’re in storage, and I should probably do something with them. 

I’ve really enjoyed seeing fellow Hobbit Dominic Monaghan post photos to Instagram of you all out to dinner or riding a train. Have all of the hobbits stayed in touch all these years?

We actually have a text that’s constantly going, with Dom, Billy [Boyd] and Sean [Astin]. It’s literally in my phone as The Hobbit. If we’re not texting each other about something, we also do the New York Times crossword mini every day, and we try and beat each other for time. 

The four of us hadn’t been in the same room in over a decade and last year we did a series of conventions together and it was just the most incredible opportunity for us to reconnect.

You keep your Instagram private. Why is that?

I wanted to be able to share photos that I didn’t necessarily want to share with the world. An account that’s public-facing would really change what I share. It’s not like I’m sharing anything that I wouldn’t want to go out, but I’m a relatively private person. 

There’s been a lot of talk about child actors lately, given the Oscar win from Ke Huy Quan for “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” As a fellow child actor, have you been following the discourse?

I haven’t really engaged in the conversation. But starting just before I turned 8, it’s been a part of my life. That’s the reality, my path and career. [My “Yellowjackets” co-star] Christina Ricci started at a similar age, if not earlier, and she’s had an exceptional career. 

Obviously, [for me], there are peaks and valleys, and it was really hard to maintain. The message [from Ke] and with Michelle Yeoh was don’t give up. I fully cried at both of their speeches.

Were you ever told you couldn’t land certain roles because you were a child actor?

I was told different things. I always looked younger than I was, so my challenge was that I was technically an adult but didn’t look like an adult, and it was hard to be taken seriously. So I had to navigate that.

What’s a really good piece of advice you’ve kept in your back pocket?

Integrity is everything. That guides a lot of my choices—not making choices for anyone else, but for yourself, because it’s going to feed you. 

A new interview dropped and it is wonderful 🙌 thanks Monday 😊

[ardinwriter]

So I’ve been rewatching Salvation, for like the 20th time, and I love it, but I definitely feel like they try to fit too much into each season, making them over complicated.

Like, S1 is great, right up until they threw Monroe and Resyst in. 

Asteroid and Atlas and Russia should have been plenty. Most of the season stays the same, Resyst still exists and helps them get the gravity tracker launched past Russia, but not to steal Tess, just for money and so Darius Tanz owes them one. Then maybe in the last episode introduce Q17 as the ones blowing up aircraft carriers to get us to the Russian nuclear launch. Everyone except Darius and Liam still end up in the bunker, etc.

And then S2:

Have the nukes destroyed during launch by the Russians when they see the US isn’t retaliating. Diplomacy still on thin ice, so the President orders Darius to keep the the bunker sealed until things smooth out some, maybe 45 days. No VP Darius, no world being held hostage by Resyst. Instead use the season for the Monroe plot and Q17, while Darius and Liam try to figure out what’s up with the asteroid and Grace acts as a senior advisor to the President. Having Monroe and Q17 at the same time is perfect because then you get a great half season of “are they the same, are they working together, etc.”.  

Meanwhile, keep the tension between Grace and Darius by having Darius see and misinterpret something when he reopens the bunker that makes him think Harris and Grace are back together. 

2/3 of the way through the season, sort out the Monroe thing - including Darius’ kidnap plan because I love seeing him and Grace’s dad interact. Ditch the Grace killing Claire, instead have the bodyguard that Darius insisted Grace keep do it instead and then go immediately to the police instead of a cover up. 

End the season by wrapping the Q17 plot with both Darius and Harris gravely injured. When Grace stays with Darius, he makes some snarky comment about how she should be with her boyfriend which is when she realizes why he’s been being how he is, but before she can correct him, he’s rushed into surgery. When he wakes, she’s at his bedside, confesses that she loves him, but before he can respond, Liam rushing in, telling them that the asteroid is about to hit, that nothing they’ve done has stopped it, tv on to watch. Darius remembering the thought he had as he went under for surgery and tells them he doesn’t think it will hit. Watch as it doesn’t hit, but comes to a stop above the Earth.

Into S3:

Start several hectic weeks after the last season ended. The ‘asteroid’ has taken up an orbit around Earth, effectively becoming a second very small moon, obviously not naturally occurring. Darius and Liam have been working constantly with scientists around the world to contact it as Grace and the President - with Harris now as VP - try to shore up international diplomacy and stop other countries from shooting at the thing.

A few episodes in, it’s clear that Darius and Grace have not found two seconds to talk about her confession at the hospital, despite several attempts that we see. Darius, finally frustrated by that after a meeting in the Oval office, turns to the President and says something like “I’ve been trying for 6 weeks to get 10 minutes alone to talk to Grace, Madam President can we borrow your office for a few moments”. The President is hopeful that they’re finally going to talk - they have not been subtle - and has everyone clear the room. Not talking so much as a take on the end of 2x9 with him just kissing her and the makeout session. The next episode starts the same way as 2x10, but without the secret service men outside her house.

Efforts to talk to the thing continue and Grace, who has become good friends with the younger woman, discovers that Jillian has been theorizing some of her own ways to talk to the thing, ways that are less math and science and more humanity. Can’t really get anyone to listen though.

1-3 episodes of some other country attempting, despite everyone else telling them not to, to blow the thing up.

Then conclude with Grace convincing Darius to try one of Jillian’s approaches since nothing else has worked. Shortly after they send Jillian’s message or whatever, a small chunk of the ‘asteroid’ breaks off and begins a slow decent towards the White House - like slow enough to have debates/discussions and gather important people.

As the landing gets closer, Darius and Grace ask the President for a favor, which she grants, but we don’t see what it is.

Cue the landing. The President, Harris, diplomats of all kinds, Darius, Liam, Grace and Jillian all out on the lawn waiting. When it does, everyone kind of looks at each other trying to decide who goes first, then the President turning to Jillian and ushering her forward. Saying that science and math and diplomacy failed before, so she thinks it’s good to start this round with Jillian’s heart.

Jillian stepping forward as the ship comes in to land and a door appears and starts to open. Pan to Darius as he puts his left arm around Grace’s shoulders. She raises her left hand to cover his. Zoom in on their shiny new wedding rings. Then pan back to the ship. Go dark before we see who comes out.

This show was always at it’s best when it was about the people instead of the situations and I feel that moving away from that hurt the show quite a bit, especially in S2.

[werewolfheads]

this is an idea i had for a show :)

when she was 10 years old, Kathryn was a magical girl. along with her 3 best friends, she protected the world from alien monsters, using the amazing powers granted to them by the princess of the moon, and her emissary, a funny little purple guy called, like, Yorbo

after a few years Yorbo told them that their work was done. it was time to give back their power wands and go back to being normal girls. a new group of heroes would be chosen to take their place.

except you, Kathryn. the princess wants you to stay on the team for a bit.

it's been 20 years and Kathryn is still on the team, no matter how many times she has begged to be let go. she's so sick of this. she's a grown woman! she works in insurance! why is she still spending all her free time fighting monsters with a bunch of ten year olds?

she's not, like, the team mom or anything. she's not their coach, or even, like, Yorbo's teaching assistant. he's made that very clear. as far as the princess of the moon is concerned, she's just one of the girls.

it's really embarrassing.

every time they fight some giant octopus from jupiter she can see how excited the kids get about it. they're having fun, and building confidence, and learning about themselves! and the whole time she's thinking, really? another giant octopus? this has gotta be, like, the ninth giant octopus

but she can't say that, y'know? cause she remembers what it was like being one of those kids, and how exciting and scary and fun everything was...

TWENTY YEARS AGO!!!! WHY IS SHE STILL HERE??

she's still friends with the girls from her first team, but it's become very obvious how different their lives are. it's hard to hold down a steady job when you have to keep running out of meetings to beat up a robot pterodactyl. and it's exhausting. she doesnt have the limitless energy of a ten year old. but you know who does? the three ten year olds she has to spend all her free time with. fun!

also, if it wasn't clear, the magical girl stuff doesn't pay

so the series would start around the time of Kathryn's 30th birthday. one of her old teammates, Nadia, is moving back to town to start uni. she's studying giant alien monsters, and the local uni has one of the best giant alien monster programs, because this is where all the giant alien monsters keep attacking.

Kathryn never went to uni. she was putting it off until she finally got to stop doing the magical girl thing.

once Nadia discovers Kathryn's still on the team, she makes it her mission to help get her out. and, y'know, Nadia's fiery Gen Z energy clashes with Kathryn's depressed millennial and it's very, like, classic odd couple.

meanwhile Kathryn is battling crazy creatures while trying to manage the very delicate team politics

like any 21st century gal she is also trying to balance work and dating. work is going bad because she sells insurance, and she has had a string of terrible luck where the places she sells policies to immediately get destroyed by a giant monster the next day.

dating is going bad because she's a mess

and the giant monsters aren't helping either. she starts dating a single mum, but she can't tell her about the magical girl thing. not because there's a rule against it, it's just too embarrassing.

and then it turns out the woman she's dating is the mother of one of her teammates, which kicks off a bitter rivalry between the two of them. and as much as Kathryn tries to convince herself that she's above getting in a fight with a ten year old... she's really not.

in case its not clear this is all kind of a metaphor for being in your late twenties/early thirties and feeling like you've fallen behind all of your peers and you don't know what you're doing with your life. obviously thats something i think about a lot, which you can tell because I'm posting ideas for a sailor moon parody series on tumblr

each episode would revolve around some event in Kathryn's personal life (30th birthday, vying for a promotion, high school reunion etc) and her battle to get through it alive and unhumiliated while struggling with her ten year old teammates, Nadia's enthusiastic attempts to help, awkward brunches with her obliviously condescending childhood friends, and whatever monster of the week Yorbo wants her to deal with.

it's a lot. she's very tired.

[aehno]

Duckman Episode Reviews/Analysis: S1 Episode 3: "Gripes Of Wrath"

On my first viewing, this was one of my least favorite season 1 episodes, but on a rewatch.... well, I'll get to that later.

Summary:

The twins want to see some high tech super computer but Duckman wants to go see some bitches in bikinis, Bernice obviously forces him to take the kids to see the computer, and while there he makes an offhanded remark about "how can they put a man on the moon but not make a deoderant that doesn't last past noon" or something along those lines, which the super computer overhears.

When Duckman and his kids return home, Ajax reveals that Duckman took them to see the bikini bitches just after the robot thing and Charles and Mambo are angry with him for embarassing them at the museum. Then they see some report on TV about that supercomputer they just visited gaining sentience because of Duckman's offhand remark that it overheard, and deciding to take over the world and fix everyone's problems for them.

Duckman is initially locked up for making it do this but then released due to the computer, Loretta,'s orders, and sees that the world has become a literal paradise. Cornfed has a stupid hot gf now, Bernice is suddenly nice to Duckman because the computer wants people to attend to each other's needs, Ajax is, absurdly, an honor roll student despite it having only been one day.

But of course paradise does not last, and after 1 commercial break we see the world has fallen into chaos, and it's never really explained in the episode why, but the wiki mentions that people "no longer felt the need to better themselves" in the perfect world. We don't see it fall into chaos; it just does.

Duckman gets in trouble again, is sent to see the computer again, which has decided to destroy the society it has created, and Charles and Mambo show up to get its creator's autograph, unaware that it's just projecting a hologram of him to talk to people and has murderous intent. Duckman throws a couple logical fallacies at it and it explodes out of indecisiveness and the world is saved. The twins remark how in an imperfect society, people want to improve the world, while in a perfect society, there is nothing to improve, and thus human nature suggests that being imperfect is more perfect than perfect, and Duckman asks if that logic could be applied to parenting as well, which they seemed to sort of agree with. The episode then pans out to the "normal" world, which is loaded with chaos on every corner.

Thoughts:

Not as bad as I remember it being, and still one of the better episodes when we look at the big picture for this series. The animation budget seems a bit lower for this one than others, with some shots feeling kind of cropped. Not a super big deal, just the crew being strategic with the budget for this show. I know other s1 episodes definitely are more intensive in that department.

Never mentioned how impressive the animation in the first two episodes were so there you go. It's impressive, the art direction also is just phenomenal in this series.

This is a decently funny episode, with some very memorable and quotable moments. A couple jokes I found kind of odd in their direction (the different choices lead to different paths thing was a little odd and I never rlly liked it. Assuming it's a reference to some pop culture thing I'm too young and stupid to understand.)

I think I confused this one with a different episode that involves their house getting renovated with some super machine or something and they end up getting locked in the basement? I don't remember. I just know I didn't really like that basement episode much but hey maybe it's alright. I'm enjoying these episodes on my re-watch so far, to be honest. They hold up surprisingly well!

Analysis:

The messaging is a little weird. I get what it's trying to say and there's no specific political stance it takes as the focus is simply on the general and wider idea of "utopia." Which I can appreciate. This is far from the worst episode when it comes to "messaging" though. Like, yeah, I guess in a utopia there's no bettering yourself anymore so people go insane? I guess the general idea of "people are inherently corrupt so things will inevitably go wrong in what initially appears to be a perfect world" is compelling, and this episode certainly touches on these ideas, but it feels more like an establishment of them rather than a proper exploration.

Wouldn't say it really sets up much that's interesting in terms of characterization. Duckman cares about his sons so he protects them from that evil robot, Loretta, though him caring about his kids isn't a new thing for him really. Cornfed is secretly kind of horny, but as we see from him in a later episode (Psyche) he is actually a virgin and a gentleman who never acts on his urges. Ajax is a secret prodigy??? lol.

I think this was one of the better episodes for Bernice. I hated (on my first viewing) how little we really get to see from her but in this one her personality actually felt like, more nuanced than it is? She makes valid points when scolding Duckman, though later she conforms to Loretta which is a little odd of her but whatever it's for a gag and her characterization can be a little loose for that sake. I think it's meant to follow the line of "I'm doing what's best" which is her primary THING so it works here, plus she drops the conformist to Loretta act and seems to revert back to her regular, mean-spirited self when roleplaying "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolfe" with Duckman later in the episode.

I like her when she's meant to be this mean-spirited but somewhat correct straight man-ish role that's just a little too unlikeable to really consider a straight man character. She's kind of like Chuck from Better Call Saul to me- not a bad person; just kind of an asshole. Clearly not someone the audience is meant to like; they seem to be meant to be charmed by the little sleazy douche of a protagonist instead.

Her existence in the cast is a very necessary one; someone needs to be there to call out Duckman for his misbehavior and have power over him so he doesn't come off as too much of a threat to himself and others (although he is) and so the audience can have some reinforcement on the fact that, no, he is not a good person. She voices the opinions that certain audience members might have, as well, and we are reminded that she is generally in the right most of the time (though not always). All this while also making us dislike her for how far she goes to mistreat him, so we can still root for him at the same time. So she plays a very necessary role for this type of series in my opinion.

I just feel like besides "wanting to be a mother" or "secretly possibly being in love with Duckman" she doesn't really do much outside of her designated role, and with the exceptions of maybe Ajax, some of the one off characters and obviously the man myth and legend himself, Cornfed, I think I could say that applies to most of the cast.. like Charles and Mambo; this is one of their episodes and they are barely even in it. Which is kind of a shame but at the same time I feel like narratively something could be done with a seemingly one=dimensional cast combined with the most complex character in it being the protagonist/pov character who is a self-absorbed little bitch who also happens to feel remorse over his bad life choices, which includes how he chooses his own vices over his loved ones most of the time... just saying!

(Narrative framing is my bitch and I make love to it every night)

That's all.

Onto episode 4 next, whenever that may be :)

[rei-ismyname]

Heir of Apocalypse #2 better be playing fair with my heart.

I have thoughts about Heir of Apocalypse #2. They're full of spoilers so here's a cut.

All media is in conversation with what's come before to some degree, and X-Men comics made just after the premature and rushed ending of the boldest and most cohesive period ever - the Krakoan Age - even more so. Even if it's not textual or intentional that relationship is there.

One of Krakoa's great challenges was finding ways to work with the central conceit - full resurrection of mutants - to create stories that had stakes. When nobody can die it can be easy to deflate tension. For the most part they succeeded admirably, but I can't help but wonder how From The Ashes will handle death in a world where we pretend it's permanent.

I'm not going to completely recap, notes in dot points are easier to digest.

- The action picks up smoothly where it left off. Everyone is introduced and Genocide, a character I don't know very well, has invited himself and is destroying a town. Everyone has agreed to put the tournament on hold to rescue civilians.

- Even Armageddon Girl, who does not give a fuck about humans. In fact she is a mass murderer at this point. Good for her, it just seems a little out of character. Genocide's 'toxins' are harming the Earth, sure whatever.

- Speaking of characterisation, what is up with Exodus? If he's returning to his pre-krakoa 'nonsensical crusader' characterisation then what's the point? A lot of excellent work was done to make him a fully rounded and sympathetic person, a hero even. He was dismissive of humans but you could see his position. He would not kill Monet needlessly and he wouldn't be so blase about it. Also, he's been on the Quiet Council with Emma Frost for at least 3 years in-universe, though it's implied to be longer. They were a voting bloc post-Inferno and he respects her. They've worked out how to communicate with each other and they fought skyscraper sized Monsters together on Judgement Day.

So WTF would he say 'the harlot is right' referring to her? He knows her name. If I was being generous I'd say it's in response to her calling him a fanatic, but it doesn't read that way. Immortal X-Men established that as almost a fond nickname ('my little fanatic') so I am very sceptical of this misogynistic term seemingly out of nowhere. If I'm not being generous at all I'd guess that Steve Foxe is going off a 'judgy fundamentalist' template and doesn't have a good handle on Exodus' voice. One moment he's aloof and above it all, the next he's accidentally killing another mutant (literally against his faith) and shrugging it off. It's stripping away what makes him interesting, his pathos. Moving on from Krakoa is one thing, but moving a breakout character backwards feels like erasing it. I'll come back to this.

- Sinister's voice feels right. He's very obviously depowering AG and Exodus, though I am suspicious that Exodus would even let him get close. Sinister was kill on sight for Exodus and Rasputin IV the last time we saw. Literally nobody should trust him even a little bit right now. Why did Apocalypse even invite him?

- Apocalypse, buddy. So we're acknowledging that he lives on Arakko but regressing him to his 90s characterisation? In his After The Fall one shot and X-Men Red he completed his character arc and concluded that survival of the fittest was not enough. Surviving means nothing without thriving, he said. I'd like that followed up on, but I fear he's torturing people needlessly and then Arakko will go away. I'm reserving judgement for now but this should be written by Al Ewing.

- I'm getting the impression that the conversation with Krakoa is one sided. It feels like it's almost making fun of it? Where is Bei The Blood Moon? She's married to Doug and he's here in this ridiculous tournament. Armageddon Girl is basically a supervillain, 'poor Lin Li' feels odd. These people all have established relationships that grew over the last 5 years. The 'hero clique' sticking together feels determined to ignore that, especially when they're acting like they don't know these people.

- 3 deaths.

[enderpearlgirl1005]

Years of the Dead

Chapter 3 Supply Runs

That was three years ago now the world was now facing the apocalypse. After Ella left the laboratory she saw that the nearby city had fallen to the virus. She thankfully was able to survive and keep herself from getting infected for a while.

Now she was running away from the evolved infected as they were far more dangerous than the normal infected. Ella looked around the area where she could take cover till the evolved infection passed on. However it wasn't easy to find a hiding spot as she had to run and look. Obviously this caused her to miss a lot of areas where she could hide. Thankfully Ella soon tripped and fell into a crater that had been made by a bomb. Ella found a small crack in the hole's wall she'd be able to hide in.

So Ella got up off the floor and ran to the crack, she shimmied her way into it and once far enough in it she waited. The evolved infected came to the area where they saw Ella run to, they looked around for her so they could chow down. Ella remained in her hiding spot holding her breath, praying that they'd go away. The evolved then heard a noise coming from somewhere else in the area. Thinking that it was their meal they roared and ran to where they heard the noise coming from. Ella stayed hidden for a little while longer, just to make sure the evolved had indeed left.

After about ten minutes, Ella believed that the evolved were indeed gone. So she simmied her way out of her hiding spot and looked around the place. She couldn't spot any infected around so she decided to cut her supply run short for the day. Ella climbed out of the crater and went back to her current safe haven till the next time she had to make a supply run.

Ella walked out of the city and into the nearby forest. The woods used to be a camping and tracking range, it was pretty isolated and far from the city. Originally Ella could travel to this place with a car and it would take her only two hours. However, by the time she got there, the sun was starting to set, and she still had a ways to go.

Like most forest ranges like this, there were fire watch towers scattered all around different parts of the forest. Ella had managed to take refuge inside one of the local fire watch towers as it was safe and isolated. Ofcouse she had to make some adjustments to it, but it wasn't too hard for her as her dad used to show her some old fashioned tricks on how to survive in the wild. Even after he passed she'd keep on teaching herself survival tricks in case she ever needed them.

Ella walked into the old forest range, looking around at the destroyed entrance to the site itself. The old ranger hut had broken windows and doors, with dried blood splattered all over the place. In front of the house was a grave that Ella had dug for the old forest ranger and his wife.

She saw that the wife was infected and her husband had killed her, he then self terminated out of what she assumed was guilt. Ella buried the bodies and put their wedding picture on the grave to give them proper rest. She felt bad for them, but hoped they were happier in the afterlife rather than living in this hell.

Ella stood there staring at the makeshift grave for a bit before continuing on her way to the tower. Ella went into the forest and started hiking along the trail that will take her to where she needed to go. By the time she got there the sun had well settled and now the moon had taken over the sky with the stars. Ella was hoping to get a good shower in the nearby river as she was sweating up a storm in her bite proof suit.

She finally arrived at the tower, and she looked up to see the hulking beast of a tower standing over her like humans to bugs. The tower once belonged to an old fire watcher but now it belonged to Ella as her new home. She fitted it out with barbed wiering and a spiked fence at the bottom and on the staircase. At the top the once wooden door was now a metal door with metal spikes on it. She hoped that the spikes could impale the zombies if they tried to get into her. Ella also boarded up all the windows with mahogany wood as it was pretty tough. She also made sure to use long nails when putting them up as they went all the way through and could act like spikes. There was also a makeshift zipline on the roof of the tower, Ella put it there to make sure in case she needed a quick escape. All the work and effort Ella put in she hoped would work quite well if she was ever attacked.

Ella went up to the tower and was jumped by an infected that used to be the old fire watcher in the tower. Thankfully he couldn't do anything to get her as Ella had locked him in a cage that was originally meant to hold injured wildlife. That way they could be safely taken to a care center without risk of making their injuries worse. The cage was big enough to hold a fully grown bear so it was enough to hold a human being.

Ella had kept the infected around and named him Philup as she felt like having at least some form of company was a good idea. Even if he was a zombie she felt as if it was better than nothing as desperate times call for desperate measures.

"Hey Phil, you missed me?" Ella asked as Phil tried to grab at her.

Phil just groaned in response as he couldn't talk anymore, and Ella just nodded her head.

"I'm gonna empty out my supplies and once I'm done with that I'll come back down to wash up in the river. I'll be right back Phil, don't bite any strangers who might come around here!" Ella called out as she left Phil and went up the tower.

Once there Ella unlocked the door with the tower key she had taken from Phil when they first met. After opening the door Ella went in and the place had some guns, firewood, gas for the heater inside. The kitchen was well kept and Ella had been able to salvage a decent amount of food. Ella also manages to find some clothing to change into from the city when she'd go out on supply runs. She'd also manage to get the radio working and constantly try to find any other survivors out there. She hoped that she'd find someone soon as she didnt want to believe she's the only one left.

"Ugh! Alright supply run is done, now it's time to get clean!" Ella stated to herself.

She then peeled off the suit she was wearing, revealing her sweat covered skin and hair underneath. Ella let out a sigh of relief as her body started to cool down from the intense heat. Once the suit was fully off, Ella collapsed on the floor, exhausted from the long day she had on the supply run. She sat there for sometime thinking about everything that had happened in the last three years.

"I still can't believe that this is all happening to the world." Ella said to herself.

She then raised her right arm and looked at a scar on her arm that she had gotten two years ago. Ella laid there examining it for a while, but soon decided to get some water and clean herself up. So she got up and went up to the counter where she had placed a water bottle for herself. She'd already drank all the water she'd brought with her on her supply run so she'd always leave some for herself when she got back. Ella took the bottle and started downing its contents like her life depended on it.

After drinking it all Ella took a moment to breathe and relax herself a bit. She then collected her stuff and went down the tower, then to the river. Apound arriving at the river Ella took off her clothes and began washing herself up. As she was cleaning herself she listened to her surroundings, crickets chirping, the river flowing, Phil groaning and banging against the cage.

Ella allowed herself to relax and melt into the river, feeling so much calmer then she did a while ago. Ever since the apocalypse started Ella had not had much time to relax as she was always trying to survive. So when she could relax during moments like these she enjoyed it to its fullest.

"Ah this is nice, one of the few moments I have to feel better... but I wish I could have someone to talk to... who aren't undead like Phil." Ella said to herself.

While Phil was nice to talk to, she did wish she had someone who was alive and sane to chat with. So far whenever Ella had met another living human they had lost their mind and Ella either had to flee or kill them in self defense. However this did not destroy her hope to meet someone who was alive and sane to partner up with.

Ella soon finished cleaning herself and once she was finished she dried herself off and got dressed in a pair of sweatpants and tank top. She then went back up the tower, once inside Ella collapsed on the bed and passed out dreaming of the good old days of times before the apocalypse. She also dreamt about finding a sane person who could fill the empty hole in her heart.

After a few days Ella was once again on another supply run getting more food. While she was collecting food Ella started hearing footsteps coming her way. She looked to the direction of where she heard the footsteps and saw normal infected coming her way.

When Ella saw them she didn't run and just went back to what she was doing. The normal infected then walked right past her and she just didn't bother them. Once Ella had collected enough food she went to another place to find supply.

As she was walking through the ruined and destroyed city more normally infected where in the area but none of them bothered Ella. As she was walking Ella looked down to her arm and pushed up her sleeve to take a look at her arm.

She looked at the scar on her arm and observed it for a bit. The scar was a bite mark from an infected she had gotten two years ago. A year after the apocalypse Ella was surprised by an infected and bitten on her arm. However something unexpected happened to her, instead of turning into an infected she remained alive and human.

Her injury had even healed up and now all that was left was the scar from the bite. Ella had also noticed some changes in herself after the attack. The normal infected now no longer bother her and just leave her alone, even if she attacks them they don't attack back.

However that wasn't the case for the evolved infected as they still attack her and try to bite and kill her. While Ella doesn't understand what happened to her that prevented her from turning into an infected. Unfortunately because the evolved infected still went after her she felt like that they could still kill her. So she still avoided them as she doesn't want to get bitten and risk becoming one of them.

She soon came across an old, abandoned, and beyond rundown apartment. Ella decided to go inside and cheek to see what supply was inside as she needed whatever she could carry to stay alive. So she made her way into the apartment to check out the supply inside. When she went inside the building looked just as good as the outside did, completely and utterly destroyed. Furniture was turned over, the rugs were ripped up, and there was blood spilled all over the building.

"Ugh! This place has seen better days!" Ella exclaimed as she gagged at the horrific stench that entered her nose the moment she stepped through the doors.

Despite the awful smell she continued on through the building determined to live. The elevator seemed to have crashed a long time ago as Ella saw the doors open, but the box was laying on the ground looking partly crushed.

"Eh, never liked those to begin with, I always felt like they were about to fall and plummet me to my death." Ella said out loud as she observed the damage.

Ella then decided to go up the staircase as that was her only available option. With each floor she descended to Ella looked through all the rooms she could. Most of them were empty but some did have some useful supplies such as food, water, and even some guns with bullets.

After some time passed Ella was on the eighth floor and was about to turn a corner, when she heard footsteps chreeking the old and decaying wooden floor.

Unsure as to what was around the corner, either a normal infected, an evolved, or an insane survivor, Ella got out her gun to prepare herself. The gun she pulled out was a modern 8 mm revolver, she checked the casing to make sure it was loaded.

To Ella's relife it was loaded up, she then turned the safety off and mentally prepared herself for what was to come. She took a deep breath and jumped to the otherside of the corner and pointed the gun at whatever it was.

"WOWOWOW! DON'T WORRY! I'M NOT INFECTED!" Ella heard a familiar male voice scream in panic and fear.

She opened her eyes and when she saw who it was she couldn't believe her eyes. Standing about a foot away from her was a familiar face she never thought she'd see again.

Ella stood straight as her legs were positioned to balance herself for when she'd fire the gun. She also lowered her gun and took off her helmet to get a clearer view of the person standing in front of her.

When the man saw her face his eyes widened and his jaw was hanging open. The two couldn't believe that they were both here alive and well, let alone sane.

"E-Ella? Is that you?" the man asked in a shocked voice.

"Stanley? You're alive?" Ella asked equally as shocked to see her old college friend.

A friend she'd never think she'd see again after they went into different companies. One had worked for a good company while the other worked for an exploitative company and slowly had their soul drained from their body.

[bubbles-for-all-of-us]

BUBBLES!!!!! I hope you had a lovely lovely day, my darling!!!

I must tell you the biggest plot twist of my week (...okay maybe my day, I'm a bit of a drama queen) SO I study English and I have a class of oral expression on Wednesday afternoon and I have a cool ass teacher who makes us play games every week AND TODAY she said we'd do something on puns I was very very giddy, getting all of my best Ellie puns ready and the game was some sort of diction game? like we were in pairs, one of us had to read the pun and go in the class and repeat it to the other who had to write it (goal being to finish writing all the puns first) AND my partner just comes and she goes "what did the mermaid—" and I just "WEAR TO HER MATH CLASS??? AN ALGAE BRA!!!!!!!!!" and she was like "YES!!!" anyway goes on a few more times AND THEN I mention to the teacher the famous "did you know diarrhea was hereditary?" and she looks at me and goes "yeah it run in your genes" AND MY OH MY I WAS JUST LGJTSGLGOGIGTG but it's STILL not the end!!!!! my teacher then goes "actually they're from a show, the last of us" AND I JUST LOSE IT and then another student hears me and we kinda just start talking about it and yeah I was over the moon (but then teacher said NO MORE TLOU TALK because we kept mentioning spoilers and stuff linked to the game) OKAY NOW IT'S THE END but I was just too happy not to tell you all about it!!!!!

okay NOW!! yesterday while we were chitchatting about our darling pedrito <3 you mentioned his sexy sexy salt & pepper hair (so 🥵) WHICH OBVIOUSLY MADE ME THINK!!!!! ahem ahem

(this is about post!out-break Joel but I guess it could work for a regular no outbreak Joel who just got old)

he actually HATES his salt&pepper hair. Like...HATE it because it just reminds him of everything he lost in a way? I'm really going to develop the idea, bear with me pls 🥲 he loves you, okay? actually, no, he adores you and you're the only thing keeping him going (with Ellie obv) but you're also very much younger than him now in the society you live, a big age gap is literally the last of anyone's worries—you and Joel included BUT THEN you arrive in Jackson, settle there and get comfortable (you work, Ellie goes to school, you have your cute little home) and Joel starts having those ideas...really bad ideas. To put it simply, your relationship made much more sense when all you had was him because...well you didn't have much choice anyway but now that you're in Jackson? All these young, healthy, cool guys are around and you get along with everyone (of course you do) and everyone loves you (of course they do) and Joel just start thinking what is she actually doing with me? is she staying because she feels like she has to? is she staying out of pity? is she not realizing she could do much better? is she going to realize that soon and just leave? am I going to lose her? And it gets mixed with the fact that he's older, that fact never hit him as hard as it did in that moment While you want to stay at the bar for the party and dance, he's tired and goes sit down, he's half deaf, he can't carry stuff that's too heavy anymore or else he might hurt his back AND his once dark brown hair turn this grayish color And all of this is just...the realization that if he'd met you when he was still in his 30s, he'd be able to do so much more, he wouldn't be this closed off, grumpy old man; he'd bring you flowers and be all romantic and sweet He's just mourning the man he could've been if the pandemic didn't destroy the world and he knows that man would've been so much more worthy of you, of your kindness, the love you've so selflessly offered him through all this. Obviously you end up realizing he isn't feeling great—he's not very subtle about it and he acts really weird like...very un-Joel like lol—and when he finally admits it you just...cradle his face, kiss his stubbled jaw and make sure he's looking at you, not staring at his hands as he does when he feels embarrassed And you reassure him that no, you don't want to date some 30 something dickhead who wants nothing more but to make out at the back of the bar, no you're not staying with him because you feel like you have to or because you don't realize there is better out there— you know exactly what's better out there and it's exactly why you chose him and not another— and of course, you adore his hair, you adore his wrinkles and his hands roughed by the years But you know when you feel insecure about something, words are often not enough? And Joel isn't immune to that, your words do make him feel better but they don't make the insecurities vanish SO you show your man how much you love him and how sexy you find his hair (okay I do realize this sounds kinda sexual, not meant that way but...) You kiss his calloused knuckles more often and allow your gaze to linger a little longer when he comes of the shower with those gorgeous salt & pepper locks, curling over his brow as they dry. You take the time to play with his hair whenever you're on the couch together and voice your feelings more often (not shying away from calling him handsome, gorgeous, etc... or just tell him he looks pretty, that pair of jeans looks nice on you) and yeah, you would have LOVED the pre-outbreak Joel but not because he was young or because he didn't go through what the post-outbreak Joel went through but because, whether it's now, twenty years ago, young, old, he's your man and there's nothing in the world to keep you away from him <3

phewwww that was LONG and I'm pretty sure I still forgot stuff lol but that's basically the idea I had when you mentioned his hair and yes, pedrito's hair >>>>> how can a 47 y/o man look that good is beyond me (guess it's all that coffee he drinks) but yeah I dont know how to finish this ask so im just going to say byeeee ily little bubble 💕🫧

-🪷

Anhhhh I love that you used the joke! I've been navigating through life with them as well. No, but I love situations like this. I love how people are obsessed with this show and I looove when people just chit chat about their hobbies.

I won't add much to your amazing thoughts because I did use them as an inspiration for a story. So thank you for this! I just looooooooove when I see your ask in my box. Now to hope that's you'll have fun reading the story!🤍✨

[cinnajun]

ᵕ̈ ೫˚∗: ghosting | njm

summary | na jaemin is your soulmate; having known for about eight months now, you’ve been able to come to terms with the fact that you’re never, ever going to let him know it. (OR, a series of events in which you're forced to face your fate.)

genre | soulmate au. non-idol au.angst & some fluff at the end, y/n kinda destroys jaemin’s week. fear of commitment is strong and y/n has social anxiety. mentions of alcohol. some nsfw implications (conversation) but nothing explicit. quick/unreliable narration.

wc | 7.6k

a/n: the fic that was the inception of this blog! it’s based upon a mini fic i had planned out for beomgyu of txt, but i twisted a bit for this (obviously). i’m not as happy with this as i could be, but i think it’s good enough lol

ft. aespa's karina/winter, itzy's ryujin.

JUNE 21, 14 YEARS AGO. You’re seven years old when you first ask your mom about the little sun on your right wrist, curious about what lies behind the blue, swirled lines. She seemed so amused, at the time, staring at you with such admiration that remembering it made you feel sick.

“When you’re older,” she said, kneeling on the floor to be level with you, “you’re gonna meet someone with a matching mark on their left wrist.”

Gently, she picked your hand up, your palm facing the sky. “Right here.” She pointed at a spot on the corner of your wrist. “Maybe a moon, or a storm cloud, or a planet…whoever has the other half will be clear to you. You’ll recognize it. And that person will be your perfect other half.”

To a seven-year-old, who watched princess movies every day and dreamt of a prince to sweep them off their feet, the mark was dazzling. The thought of someone tailor-made to be your companion was dazzling.

You wish you still thought the same way.

FEBRUARY 18, 3 YEARS AGO, and you’re graduating high school. You spent your days sitting in the library with your friends, inhaling information as if it was more vital to you than water. You hadn’t started trying to cover the mark, then—in fact, you were infatuated with a friend’s relationship with her soulmate, and wanted so desperately to have the same link they did.

The ceremony was long, and you fought off falling asleep for most of it, but you were so proud you had done it. It, as in graduate high school with an impressive university to go to and recognition from your father, who never seemed to care what you were doing.

Then, university seemed like a dream. You remember your mom saying, “Hey, what if you meet your soulmate there?” and you remember the giddiness you felt at even the notion of that. Your life was beginning, now, and it made you feel excited.

That was the first time you’d felt truly excited about something in years. There were no more CSATs, no more disapproving stares when you got less than a 95 on a test, no more endless homework assignments and sleepless nights.

You wished it would’ve turned out like you thought it would in your brain.

SEPTEMBER 01, 3 YEARS AGO, and you’re in a psychiatrist’s office, spiders crawling up and down your throat as you struggle to find comfort. It’s so…artificial, in the way that calming art prints and fake plants line the room, in the way that the couch you sat on felt new and unused, in the way it smelled faintly of mint and lavender.

“It’s something we see a lot in first-year university students,” the doctor explained, obviously trying to reassure you. “I mean, kids like you spend their entire high school experiences with their noses in their books, and then they just don’t know how to handle the real world. With some good therapy and exposure, you’ll be right up to speed, okay?”

Nothing was going how you envisioned it. You had two friends, one of which had practically adopted you after you gave him your homework answers, and one being an acquaintance from middle school. You didn’t go to Itaewon every weekend, you didn’t make out with random strangers, and you didn’t drink until you couldn’t breathe. Instead, you watched space documentaries in your apartment and ordered delivery for dinner every night.

“I’m just going to ask some personal profile questions to grasp what we might deal with, and then I can refer you some to good help, okay?”

You should’ve seen this coming. It had always been one of your mom’s biggest worries after one of your cousins ended up dropping out of university and becoming an embarrassing recluse, even though he’d been ranked first in his high school class.

There was no way you were going to drop out—you knew that well enough—but even so much as edging towards that fate made you feel like a failure. Sure, you were at Seoul National University, and sure, you essentially had a job waiting for you the moment you graduated, but that didn’t mean you were happy. Not at all.

“Have you met your soulmate?”

This question was unexpected. Your eyes shot up from your lap, your facial expression morphing into one of confusion. “Uh, no. Not yet.”

The doctor scribbled something down on his notepad, which confused you even further. “A lot of kids your age freak out when they meet their soulmate and often cut them off completely. If you ever find yourself doing that, consult a professional, okay?”

You wished you’d heeded his advice a bit more.

DECEMBER 21, EIGHT MONTHS AGO. This year would be the first year you celebrated Christmas without your family, but you weren’t too worried; you had three roommates, your closest friends, to spend it with, and Ryujin’s girlfriend.

December 21st is a day you’d like to remember fondly. You spent the majority of the day shopping, with Jimin blowing through a huge bonus she’d received at her job. You laughed and screwed around, making a mess out of the world around you.

“Jeno is streaming again,” Minjeong had said, looking down at her phone. “Looks like he’s with Jaemin and Donghyuck.”

Jeno was one of Minjeong’s close friends in high school, but they’d fallen out with each other during their first year of university. After that, she’d gone off to eight million fashion internships and he’d started a successful streaming career, and they lost all common ground they had.

Sometime in the past year, though, she’d become fixated on rekindling their friendship, claiming that she missed being his friend more than anything in the world. However, you knew better—you knew why Minjeong wanted him back in her life so bad.

“Holy shit, turn it on,” Jimin said, slapping Minjeong’s shoulder. “Quick! Put it on the TV so we can all watch.”

The 10-hour-long fireplace video they’d been watching suddenly transitioned to a Lee Jeno and Lee Donghyuck wrestling each other for the other’s Wii remote, all while Na Jaemin, SNU’s resident heartthrob and student council secretary, sat on a couch with a stupid smile on his face. Minjeong and Jimin were fascinated with him, as were most people—honestly, you included—you met.

The chat rolled down the right corner screen, calling for either Jeno or Donghyuck to win the fight. A few demanded that Jaemin proceed with the game, leading you to assume the monstrosity of the Mii up to bowl was his.

“What do you think? Should I go? Will Jeno sabotage me like he did Hyuck?” Jaemin asked, standing and approaching the camera. Soon enough, his face was essentially the only thing you could see on the camera feed. He seemed to be staring at the chat, which now was filled with people telling him to move so they could see the fight. “Wow, you guys are mean.”

“Just go!” Zhong Chenle’s voice appeared, although he wasn’t on the screen. You were mesmerized by how quickly the viewers accustomed to new environments presented to them; if you were a frequent stream-viewer, you don’t think you could do the same.

“I’ll demo my bowl, okay? Ready?” Jaemin stepped back from the camera, exaggeratedly swinging his arm back and forth. And then, the storm started.

“Pause it!” Jimin shrieked, leaning over to grab the remote. “Pause it! The mark is on his wrist!”

For some reason, a chill ran down your back, and your stomach began to churn. At that moment, you were perplexed—it was incredibly unreasonable for you to think that Na Jaemin was your soulmate. The wrist was the most common place to have your soulmate mark by far, only followed by your shoulder and the base of your neck; the odds of you two matching up were few and far between.

Still, you couldn't shake the nerves. Minjeong was now less than a foot away from the TV, and, from where they paused the stream, it seemed the chat was also freaking out about the mark. One message stood out to you, and it made your blood run cold.

“It’s pink! Na Jaemin has a pink soulmate mark, are you kidding me?”

Suddenly, you were staring at your wrist. A blue swirl accompanied by short, blue lines jutting out of it—a little doodle of the sun—was on the center of your right wrist, opaque and clear. People had always told you that the mark was perfect, including Ryujin, who confessed how jealous she was of you when you’d first met.

“It’s a little doodle of Saturn,” Jimin finally announced, just as the chat had. Suddenly, you couldn’t breathe. This moment was something you’d looked forward to for your whole life, but now that it was finally happening, you felt nauseous.

Looking up, you tried to see around Jimin and Minjeong, who mostly covered the screen. If it was on his right wrist, if he was playing with his right hand, you’d be in the clear.

For a moment, you felt relieved. To you, it looked like it was his right hand, but a few seconds of thinking yielded to you the truth. Your wrist began to tingle.

There was no way. Seriously, there was no way that Na Jaemin—

“You good, [First]?”

The sudden calling of your name made you jump, with your hand flying to cover the mark on your wrist. Ryujin rounded the sofa you sat on, taking refuge next to you. “Oh, yeah, I’m good. Thanks,” you mumbled weakly.

No, you weren’t. That was a lie.

Na Jaemin was your soulmate, and you didn’t want him to be.

JANUARY 29, SIX MONTHS AGO, and Jimin is loudly proclaiming how Minjeong is currently having coffee with Jeno and should be back soon. You both sit at your dining table, along with Ryujin, who seemed to be more entranced in her phone than the conversation.

“If we play our cards right…” Jimin began, though she didn’t finish the sentence. Instead, she started giggling and hitting Ryujin’s shoulder in what seemed to be delight. “Imagine the parties we’ll be invited to and the people who will be at our house! Imagine Huang Renjun on our couch, Ryujinnie!”

“I have a girlfriend,” Ryujin spoke slowly, refusing to drag her eyes away from her phone. “Speaking of, Chaer wants to know if she can borrow those light blue shoes you have, [First].”

Glad the conversation had been derailed, you said, “Of course, I don’t mind at all.” Ryujin nodded slowly, beginning to furiously type what you assumed to be a text to Chaeryeong.

“Okay, back to Jeno and Minjeong. I mean, what if one of them is mine or [First]’s soulmate—” you shuttered, though neither of them noticed— “or something? Zhong Chenle is rich and gorgeous, I’d love to be his soulmate.”

“Aren’t Chenle and you friends?” Ryujin suddenly asked, looking up at you. For a moment, you were confused, but a few memories from your first year came rushing into your head.

“We were for a bit during our first year. After the class we shared ended, we lost touch.” You nodded, twiddling your thumbs. “He was one of my only friends until I met you, Ryujin. Definitely not my soulmate. In the seven months he dragged me everywhere with him, I would’ve found out.”

Jimin gasped, covering her mouth with her hand and staring at you like you’d just killed her mom. “You were friends with Zhong Chenle?”

“Until he was in Lee Jeno’s crowd, yes. I met Ryujin and he met Mark. We stopped talking right around there.”

Before you could process what she was doing, Jimin had reached across your table, snatching the phone up. The action even caused Ryujin to look up from her phone in shock, but she didn’t move to stop Jimin as she made a beeline for the bathroom.

“What the hell?” you exclaimed, getting up to follow after her. You barely took three steps before the bathroom door slammed shut and the sound of the lock clicking into place filled your ears. “Jimin, give me my phone back, please.”

You approached the bathroom door, knocking on it. “Seriously dude. This isn’t funny.”

Jimin was completely silent, to the point where it was debatable whether or not she was even in there. Ryujin had gotten up and was standing a little behind you, staring at the door as well. Quicker than you would’ve imagined, the lock clicked once again, and the door opened slowly.

Jimin stood with her arm stretched out, your phone in hand. There was a smug look on her face that made you feel a bit nervous, reasonably enough, and you didn’t really want to take your phone back.

“What’d you do?” Ryujin asked, snatching the phone up for you. She scanned the screen, frowning the moment she did. “Jimin, come on. You know—”

“They were friends, right?” she asked, shrugging. “Shouldn’t be an issue.”

Tired of not having your phone, you took it back, finally able to look at what you were dealing with.

Jimin had dug up Chenle’s contact, and sent him a simple message: hey, want to meet up?

And, Chenle, being the fast responder he was, had already begun typing.

FEBRUARY 03, SEVEN MONTHS AGO. You sit in Zhong Chenle’s apartment, owned and paid for by his parents, in the center of Seoul. The thing is huge—bigger than your apartment, which is shared by four different people.

As far as you were aware, Chenle was the only person living in the house now, but it was possible his mom and aunt still visited frequently. When you’d been friends, his mom had been pretty adverse to you, so you were glad she wasn’t there anymore.

Chenle had asked you to watch Daegal while he went to go get both of you dinner, which he insisted was “his treat.” He seemed so excited to finally be talking with you again, which just made you feel terrible that Jimin had to force you into going.

When you arrived at his apartment, he’d given you a bone-crushing hug, accompanied by one of the kindest smiles you’d seen in a while. After that, you spent an hour sitting on his couch, getting acquainted with his new dog and talking about all you’d been doing. To no surprise, Chenle was changing the world and trying everything under the sun, while you were sitting alone in dark rooms and staring through telescopes.

Happily, you scratched behind Daegal’s ear, enjoying the attention you were getting from the dog. You wish you would’ve heard the faint sound of the front door unlocking, but the layout of Chenle’s apartment was unreasonable and blocked any noise coming from that far. You wished you would’ve heard footsteps, or been able to hear an unwelcome guest calling out for the owner of the apartment.

“Oh, hello.”

The voice was familiar, it was dangerous. You gasped, head snapping to the side at the sudden surprise. Daegal seemed overjoyed to see the visitor, leaping off the couch and running towards him. Daegal’s distraction gave you just enough time to yank your sleeve down before he fully entered the room.

“Am I interrupting anything?” Na Jaemin asked, bending down to pet the dog. He glanced up at you—Minjeong would be crying if she was you right now—and offered a cordial smile.

“Not at all,” you stuttered, clearing your throat to try to get rid of the violent discomfort you felt. “I was good friends with Chenle during our first year, so we’re just catching up…”

“Oh.” Jaemin seemed to be thinking as he scooped up Daegal and went to sit on the seat across from you. “[First], then? Chenle talks about you a lot.”

For Chenle’s sake, you were just going to ignore that he said that and focus on the issue at hand. He didn’t seem to be acting odd, as if he felt any sort of “connection” like your mom insisted would happen. In fact, he was so nonchalant that, if you weren’t painfully aware of your connection, you might’ve felt calm too.

“That would be me, yes.”

The moment Jaemin sat, Daegal leaped off his lap, sprinting out of the room. You wished, so terribly, that the dog would’ve stayed.

“I’m Na Jaemin,” he introduced himself, though you were sure it was only out of formality. Apparently, all your luck had run out, because Jaemin extended his left arm out, intending for you to shake it. Clearly visible was that little, pink Saturn on his wrist, which he felt absolutely no shame in displaying.

You tried your best to ignore it, keeping your right arm completely obscured and shaking his hand like normal. “It’s nice to meet you, Jaemin. Thanks for all you do for the school, it’s very admirable.”

MARCH 12, SIX MONTHS AGO, and Zhong Chenle is suddenly back in your life. Minjeong has been seeing Jeno frequently, and now, your reclusive, little friend group is suddenly in the spotlight. Jimin gained a good hundred followers on Instagram since people saw her and Lee Donghyuck together, and, all of a sudden, Minjeong and Jimin are the it-girls of the school. Just like how Lee Jeno and Na Jaemin are the it-boys.

It was obvious how much both you and Ryujin detested the sudden attention. To both of you, it felt like your whole life was suddenly on display thanks to your two other roommates. Now, they were interested in throwing parties and drinking until they dropped—which, to be fair, you both didn’t care about the getting drunk and partying part—but you and Ryujin wanted to keep your home quiet and unsuspecting.

“Okay, so, we throw the party. Let our neighbors know, ‘hey, this is happening.’ [First] and I go to Chaeryeong and Chaeyeon’s apartment for the night. Then, two drunk idiots wander into my bedroom and have sex on my bed. A couple others throw up all over [First]’s. What then?” Ryujin asked, taking an angry bite of her tteokbokki. “Party all you want, okay, but you are not going to throw a party here.”

You sat quietly at the edge of the dinner table, watching the three of them go back and forth with no end in sight. You hadn’t offered any sort of input, but you were on Ryujin’s side…you didn’t want your home to get trashed, and you didn’t want noise complaints or police there, either.

“I just don’t see why not. You pay the least amount of rent, Ryujin, so why should you get to choose?” Jimin shot back, crossing her arms.

“And you know who pays the most?” Ryujin asked, her arm jutting out across the table. “[First] pays over half. Ask her.”

You cringed at that. You were thankful for your very, very nicely paying internship, but you rather wouldn’t make a decision that was causing your only friends to argue tooth and nail. Suddenly, all eyes were on you, and you could only trace lines on the table.

“Um, can’t you just…go to a club or something? I’d rather not destroy the house…we rent it, so it’s fees upon fees out of our pockets…”

Minjeong sighed, resting her head on her hands. “[First] has a point. I don’t want that hag to scream at us like she did when we took a chunk out of the wall. Let’s just go to a club. Or we can coerce Jeno into throwing a party. His and Jaemin’s apartment is nice.”

Silence took over. Jimin, obviously upset, stood up and stormed off, leaving the three of you alone. Minjeong seemed to feel some sort of guilt, but she didn’t move to follow Jimin. The house went quiet again, and you wondered if something bad was starting up.

APRIL 14, FIVE MONTHS AGO, and things are starting to go very wrong. Chaeryeong, Ryujin’s girlfriend, met her soulmate, and now they’re trying to figure out if they should break up or not. Ryujin, who doesn’t have a soulmate mark, hadn’t left her room for two days, only taking water bottles and meals you, Jimin, and Minjeong were leaving outside her room.

Now, you were birthday present shopping with Minjeong and Chenle, and Jaemin was supposedly going to show up soon. You sat at a booth in some random restaurant, tucked into the back corner, watching Minjeong bicker with Chenle about whether or not Jaemin would want one of Chenle’s “stupid” (in Minjeong’s terms) friendship bracelets.

You had your left hand practically wired to your wrist, and your stomach felt like it was eating itself. You’d done a fantastic job at avoiding any event Jaemin went to, and none of your friends had noticed it yet. Not even Chenle, who seemed to know just about all of your mannerisms (he’d learned them well back during your first year).

“I think he’s gonna like it,” you decided to input, smiling at Minjeong across the table. She shook her head jokingly, sizing you up at the same time. Chenle laughed to your left, reaching into his pocket and fishing around for a sec.

“You’re in luck, Minjeong, because…” he said, yanking a small, silver chain out of his pocket. “I made one for you too!”

Happily, Chenle slid out of the booth and slid onto Minjeong’s side, grabbing her wrist. She bitterly let him put it on, although it seemed like he was struggling. You smiled as they laughed with one another, happy that your friends were getting along.

“Sorry I’m late—” It was crazy how easily anxiety triumphed over joy— “the pharmacy took a million years. But, I’m here now!”

Jaemin, unaware that Chenle was originally next to you, sat down beside you. His arm pressed against yours, and you swear you felt lightheaded, but you chose to ignore it. Chenle didn’t seem too bothered and decided to stay where he was.

Minjeong seemed to notice your sudden stress, giving you a weird look. You shook your head, smiling weakly, but she didn’t seem to trust you too much. “How are you, [First]? I haven’t seen you in a while.”

You looked to your side, laughing awkwardly. “I’ve been okay. Staying up late and getting up early, all the same routine,” you explained, trying your best not to panic even though he looked into your eyes so intently.

“That’s good, that’s good.”

As Jaemin took his coat off, he once again let his mark show, and you (once again) did your very best to not focus on it.

“And how are you, Minjeong?”

Deeming your short conversation to be over, you turned your head to the side, looking out the window. Clouds bunched up in the sky, maintaining a dark gray color that made you think it was going to start storming soon.

Letting your guard down, you unwrapped your hand from your wrist, simply making sure that your sleeve kept it covered and you didn’t use your right hand much (despite the fact you were right-handed).

“I feel like I don’t know much about you, but everyone always talks about you, [First],” Jaemin suddenly mused. Keeping yourself calm and collected, you turned in his direction, shrugging a bit.

“I’m not the most social person, I guess.”

“I think I’ll ask you a question every time I see you,” he declared, turning his attention to both Chenle and Minjeong. “What’s a good question to ask?”

Both of them seemed caught off guard, looking at each other in slight shock. “Um,” Chenle started, pausing to see if Minjeong would speak. “You could ask about her major?”

Jaemin looked back at you, waiting for your response. Knowing this was something you couldn’t lie about, you swallowed your discontent, ready to accept your new, question-answering fate.

“Astrophysics. With a minor in classical music.”

LATER THAT NIGHT, you and the rest of your roommates sit in the living room, watching one of the ridiculous reality shows Jimin ate up. Ryujin had even come out of her room to partake in the fun, but her eyes were still red, and her face was still cemented into a frown.

It was late into the night now, and Minjeong and Jimin were practically asleep on each other, struggling to stay awake for the remainder of the episode. Given the nature of your internship, you were used to staying up too late, so you weren’t tired at all. It didn’t seem like Ryujin was either, and, if you had to guess, it was because she’d probably slept the day away.

“Why don’t you guys just go to bed?” Ryujin asked, hugging one of the throw pillows to her chest. “You look like you barely know what’s happening.”

“We have to know who gets eliminated,” Minjeong slurred, followed by a huge yawn. “Before we go to bed.”

“Man, I don’t agree,” Jimin huffed, snatching the remote up from the coffee table. She paused the show, exiting back out onto the Netflix home screen. “I’m going to bed. I have an 8 am tomorrow.”

“Come on, Jiminie! This is your thing, isn’t it?”

“I don’t care.” Jimin stood, stretching her arms out and groaning. “Night.”

Minjeong mumbled a string of incoherencies before she stood and trudged behind Jimin, disappearing from the living room. Not ready to go to bed, you leaned forward and grabbed the remote, beginning to scroll through the documentaries Netflix had to offer.

Ryujin seemed a bit uncomfortable, but you didn’t feel the need to inquire. Even when she began staring at you, you just kept scrolling, reading descriptions and skipping over ones that seemed boring.

“I just don’t get it,” Ryujin hesitated, her voice sounding uneven and shaky. You assumed she was going to start talking about Chaeryeong, and how she had more to offer than her soulmate ever did. “Help me understand, [First]. Seriously.”

“Understand what?”

“Why won't you tell him?”

Your whole body froze. Suddenly, the remote felt like a block of iron, and your whole body felt like a brittle table about to break. At that moment, your mind was completely blank. It felt like you were mentally resetting, desperately searching for an answer to give.

Instead of being reasonable, you immediately jumped to defend yourself. “You wouldn’t get it,” you said, returning to scroll through the documentaries. You couldn’t ignore how your heart was pounding, how your chest felt tight, or how you felt like crying now as well.

“No, no, I think I do. Are you going to ruin one of his relationships too? When you decide you feel ready enough to break the news?”

“This is none of your business, Ryujin. Drop it.”

“It is every bit of my business,” she shot back, taking the remote from your hands. You snapped your head towards her, your face twisting into one of bitterness. “You blow off Minjeong and Jimin all the time because of him, even though he is literally your universal match. You spend hours painting foundation on your wrist just for it to be unrecoverable for god knows what reason. You wear long sleeves no matter how hot it is, or you put a bandaid over it. What about Na Jaemin is so bad that you, notoriously lazy, can barely comprehend confessing to him?”

“I’m telling you, you won’t get it, so just drop it. This has nothing to do with what happened between you and Chaeryeong, and it isn’t the least bit similar, because Jaemin will never know it’s me. Okay?”

“One slip up and he’ll see it. He’ll know you’ve been lying, because I’ve been to a few hangouts, and he doesn’t try to cover it at all. He’ll know you’ve known, and he won’t understand why you didn’t tell him, and all you’ll have done was hurt him. How could you do that, [First]? How could you?”

“Do you know what it’s like, Ryujin?” you asked, finally letting loose on your emotions. “To be afraid of the person the world has paired you up with? To think they’d be disappointed in you? Not to mention I’d be widely hated for something I can’t control—for god’s sake, when it got out that Jeno had found his soulmate, somebody sent her a dead bird in the mail. Do you think I want that?”

“Yeah, but Jaemin isn’t an internet celebrity with a bunch of psychopath fans,” Ryujin argued back. “Stop being such a bitch and tell him. Or I will.”

“If you tell him anything, Shin Ryujin, I will kick you out of this house and never speak to you again. Do you hear me?”

Tears began spilling from Ryujin’s eyes now, likely from the residual sorrow of Chaeryeong finding her soulmate. “If you ruin somebody’s life like somebody ruined mine, I will never, ever forgive you.”

“I’m not looking for your forgiveness, Ryujin. I am telling you that my situation is different from yours, so you should keep yourself up and out of it. I’m just not meant for the world’s formula, okay? You are, even if you don’t have a soulmate mark. So is Chaeryeong. You will find happiness, but your happiness does not hinge on my decisions,” you rationalized, sitting back on the couch. Ryujin stood up slowly, pausing for a moment in front of the couch.

“My point still stands. If you don’t tell him, I will. Even if you kick me out and never speak to me again.”

You didn’t take Ryujin’s warning seriously.

APRIL 23, FIVE MONTHS AGO, and you’re hiding. The past hour or so has essentially torn down your entire life as you know it, and now, you’re not sure what to do. So, you hide, as you have since you were a kid, as you have since you walked into the psychiatrist’s office three years ago.

It began fine. Jeno’s birthday dinner was something you and your friends had been looking forward to since the end of March (mostly because Jeno would be paying for the dinner and you’d be simply attending). Chenle had let you tack your name onto his card, as you didn’t know Jeno very well, so you’d seriously paid nothing for this.

By now, you and Ryujin had made up and were sitting next to each other near the end of the table. You didn’t know many people here, so Chenle had been nice enough to sit himself and Renjun across from you both. You were having a good time, save for when you had to avoid the pointing glare of Jeno’s camera (he announced to everyone that his fanbase had been pretty ardently asking for a birthday vlog, and to just move out of frame every time he brought the camera out).

It was a nice dinner, seriously. The food was good and the atmosphere was nice and homey, and Jaemin was all the way across the table from you. It wasn’t stressful for you at all.

You did, however, notice the girl who’d been staring at your table pretty intensely. She and her friends were having hushed conversations, throwing glances at Jeno’s side of the table and pointing ever so often. You pointed it out to Chenle, who brushed it off saying “that’s what usually happens.”

Then she got up. Then her friends pushed her toward the table. Then, she was tapping Jaemin on the shoulder, twiddling her thumbs, and the table had gone silent.

“Um, I think…I think you’re my soulmate?” she said, and your heart dropped. Ryujin tensed up visibly next to you, watching Jaemin jump up from his seat in shock. Jeno had already gotten the camera out, quietly recording the girl showing a little, green Earth on her right wrist.

Jaemin seemed a little shocked, taking her wrist to stare at it. And, as a smile began to form on his face, Ryujin grabbed your wrist and wrenched you both out of your chairs. You looked at her with a face of shock, a face of betrayal, as she began to speak.

“No, you are not,” Ryujin exclaimed. Jeno kept recording, although now he seemed surprised. Minjeong and Jimin stared at you both in shock and half-embarrassment, with Jimin already about to stand and tell Ryujin to shut up.

Meanwhile, the girl looked like a deer in headlights, and her friends had their hands over their mouths. You wanted to run, apologize and say Ryujin was drunk, but you could barely move from your spot. Your hands began to shake, and your breathing began to grow unsteady.

“Excuse me?” Jaemin finally spoke, looking shocked as well.

“[First] is.” Ryujin held up your wrist, yanking your sleeve down to reveal the small, doodled sun on your wrist. Something flashed across Jaemin’s face, likely the recognition your mother had told you about as a child, and that is when you regained yourself.

You wrenched your wrist from Ryujin’s grasp, not waiting another second for anything else to happen. Instead, you yanked your purse from the edge of your seat and nearly ran out of the restaurant, not paying any mind to the calling of your name, or Jimin and Minjeong’s hurt faces.

You were running. Where you were running to, you were unsure, but you were running.

You left your phone on the table.

APRIL 25, FIVE MONTHS AGO, and you’ve been off the grid for two days. Nobody could contact you due to your lack-of-phone, which was nice, yet stressful at the same time. You haven’t gone to any of your classes, but you at least managed to find housing and grab your computer from your apartment. In your panic, you’d shown up at your old friend’s apartment—your old middle school acquaintance—and asked for refuge.

Luckily, he had agreed, pretty quickly in fact. And, being the person who forced you into your first psychiatrist appointment, listened to your predicament and semi-sided with you, which made you relieved.

Minjeong had figured out pretty quickly that you were staying with Sungchan, but she didn’t know his address, and only knew his phone number. He’d answered about three of her calls, telling her to screw off and to let you recover from the panic you felt nearly every second of the day.

“While I agree it was selfish to decide you were never going to tell him,” he would tell you, over dinner or while you grocery shopped, “it wasn’t nice for Ryujin to out your secret before you were ready.”

Sungchan was kind to you, as he always had been, having no issue allowing you to reset and rewind. You could stay for as long as you liked, and you could return to the real world whenever you were ready.

APRIL 26, FIVE MONTHS AGO. Na Jaemin isn’t sure what he’s done wrong, nor does he know how to fix it. Minjeong swears she has it under control, swears she knows where you are and what you’re doing, but Chenle hasn’t looked more stressed in his life, and Jeno said you haven’t shown up to classes since his birthday.

Jaemin was confused. He felt impulsive and angry, angry at you, angry at Ryujin, angry at everyone. He’s spent every waking moment rethinking every one of your interactions, the last moments he saw you, wondering what exactly happened.

He’d talked to all of your friends, but only Ryujin seemed to have a clue. When they talked, she revealed when you’d figured it out, stating that “Minjeong and Jimin were watching one of Jeno’s streams on the TV and paused when your mark was visible, and that’s when she’d realized.”

Not once in his life did Jaemin think his soulmate would reject him. He’s been popular his whole life, and he’s always done his best to put himself out there. He’s been on SNU’s student council since his freshman year, and he’s done copious amounts of volunteer work with Jeno. Did you somehow think he was a bad person? That he’d hurt you?

Whatever was going on, he just didn’t understand it. But, without you around, he couldn’t ask, and, at this point, he didn’t think he was ever going to know.

APRIL 27, FOUR MONTHS AGO, and Jaemin’s just received a text that you’ve come home. It was from Jimin, and it was short—we set an ultimatum and she came back, we are talking it out now, will call you later—but it was enough.

Jeno seemed to believe you were some kind of awful person for what you did, but Jaemin knew you weren’t. Even now, as Jeno listed out all the times you’d met and never said anything, he knew you weren’t.

“We don’t know the whole story,” Jaemin insisted, bouncing his leg up and down. “I mean, would Jimin go through these lengths for anybody? She wouldn’t.”

“Doesn’t change the fact that she lied.”

“She didn’t lie, though.” Jaemin stole a glance at his phone, but the only new notification was one from Amazon, saying his package shipped. “We just don’t know enough, Jeno. We just don’t know.”

Jeno kept quiet after that, picking up his phone and beginning to scroll through god knows what. Jaemin kept staring at his phone, waiting for anything from Jimin, whether it be a “we came to a conclusion” or “things aren’t looking good” text.

APRIL 28, FOUR MONTHS AGO. Jimin sits in front of Jaemin at a café next to his house, and it’s very awkward. Jimin seems to not know what to say as she sits there, twiddling her thumbs and staring at her hands.

“She just wasn’t ready,” Jimin finally spoke, sighing. She seemed to almost deflate in her seat, as if the fact was some big secret. “If you aren’t already aware, she’s not the most…social person, right? And the whole soulmate thing is a big commitment. And, from a social standpoint, you are really, really scary.”

Jaemin frowned, lacing his fingers around his coffee mug. “And then, of course, Ryujin was going through a bad breakup because her girlfriend found her soulmate, and she was upset that [First] had something she didn’t. Right? She just malfunctioned. Think of it as a breakdown, or something, but it freaked her out,” Jimin finished, biting the inside of her cheek. Jaemin pondered for a second, wondering what might be the best course of action.

“So is she going to meet with me, or?”

“She agreed to meet with you next week. That’s about as much as we could drag out of her.”

Just a bit longer, Jaemin thought, before I can figure things out for myself. Before I can fix things.

MAY 03, FOUR MONTHS AGO. You sit at a table in the back corner of a convenience store, slurping up a big vat of instant ramen you’d purchased. At the same time, you feel like throwing up from how nervous you were, but that didn’t matter as much as how good the ramen you were eating.

The past few weeks of your life had been awful. From nearly unfriending Ryujin to Chenle uncomfortably hinting that Lee Jeno, who had over a million subscribers on YouTube and many loyal fans, hated you, everything was completely terrible.

Not to mention the sudden week you’d taken off from your internship or the number of classes you’d missed from the breakdown. If Sungchan hadn’t been taking most of the same classes as you, thanks to your shared major, you might’ve died.

On top of that, Na Jaemin was late to your meet-up, even though Jimin insisted he was the one who wanted it. You’d been sitting here for nearly twenty minutes, nervously eating and checking your phone every three seconds.

If this had been any other sort of meet-up, you’d have just left, but the angel on your shoulder insisted he wouldn’t stand you up for this kind of meeting, right?

And you would be right. Jaemin burst into the convenience store, drawing the eyes of nearly everyone inside (an old woman waiting out the rain and the teenage cashier). You felt embarrassed for yourself and him, but you kept your eyes on your food.

“Sorry I’m late,” Jaemin panted, sitting down across from you. He was dripping wet, but his hair had been kept perfectly intact thanks to his hood (which he wrenched off the moment he got inside). “Jeno found out his soulmate was lying. Found another mark on her back.”

The news caused you to choke on your ramen, and for you to drop the chopsticks into the bowl. You went to cover your mouth, swallowing the rest as fast as you could. “Wow, are you okay? Sorry, didn’t think it would be that shocking.”

“Hasn’t—” you coughed again— “hasn’t it been, like, a year? She’s managed to lie for that long?”

“Completely. To be honest, I had my suspicions, but I never said anything. Good news is, he doesn’t hate you anymore!” Jaemin smiled, giving you jazz hands. “Yay! Celebration! He agrees that lying about it is worse than hiding it!”

You frowned at him, picking your chopsticks back up. “Woohoo, because that’s what I was worried about.”

You took another bite of your food, and silence came between you. Uncomfortably, Jaemin cleared his throat. “Uh, can I see it?”

Sighing, you dropped your chopsticks for the second time, lifting your shirt sleeve up. You laid out your wrist onto the table, allowing for Jaemin to see the little sun on your wrist. Gently, he slid his hand under your own, brushing over the mark with his thumb. The little, blue sun tingled at the touch, and it made you feel giddier than you would’ve liked to.

Jaemin lifted his left arm, putting it next to yours. Sure enough, the Saturn and the sun lined up perfectly, and the style of the doodles matched perfectly.

“I figured it out a while ago,” you said after you’d swallowed, staring at your wrists side-by-side. “I’m Saturn, you’re the sun. I orbit around you, from far away.”

“Is that so?” Jaemin asked, letting go of your wrist. You pulled your arm back and placed it on your lap, chewing at your lip. “I’d rather you orbited close by me.”

You nearly cringed at that, feeling your ears burn at the sentiment. “Yeah, well.”

“So,” Jaemin paused for a second, sniffling. “How…can we do this? In a way that makes you comfortable. I can tell you don’t want to escalate quickly, not like Jeno and…yeah. No escalating.”

“Well, my mom will want to meet you. I don’t think my dad would care,” you mumbled. “But I want to, like, know you before you meet my mom.”

“So how do you want to get to know me?”

“Let’s just…um, go with the flow? I guess, yeah. We can be, like, friends. For now.”

You could tell that Jaemin didn’t like the title of “friend,” but that didn’t matter to you much. This was for you, and, no matter how fast he wanted to go, your consent mattered more.

Despite his displeasure, Jaemin smiled, nodding his head. “Okay, friends. I’m okay with that. For now.”

AUGUST 28, RIGHT NOW. You and Jaemin sit in the car outside your mom’s house, going over all the things he needs to know to make a good impression on your mom. He already attempted to wear a suit to your very casual family dinner, which you quickly explained wouldn’t help your case.

“When Jeno met his ex’s parents it was a train wreck,” Jaemin regurgitated, going a bit pale in the face. “He came home and looked dead. Like he was going to pass out. I don’t want that to happen.”

“My mom will just be happy you’re attractive, all right? You don’t need to be scared of her. My dad is awful, so he won’t care and will just ask about your job plans. Your answer will be—”

“Right, surgeon, I know. Student council president. Whatever. I don’t care about your dad, either, just your mom.”

“Jesus, that’s the first time anyone’s ever said that.”

You shifted your body fully to the left, facing Jaemin completely. You raised your hands and placed them on both sides of his face, leaning in very closely. “My mom is very nice. She will not care about what you do or say, as long as you are attractive and will give her—”

Suddenly, you paused, not wanting to finish your sentence. Jaemin’s lips twisted into a sinister smile. “Will what, huh? My attractive face will give her what?”

“Shut up.”

“Anything for you,” he said, leaning in and pecking you on the lips. “I think we are good to go, yeah? Since I just need to be attractive. And a doctor.”

“For sure,” you grumbled, pushing the car door open and stepping out. “Let’s just go.”

Jaemin smiled to himself, turning the car off. “Anything for you.”

thank you for reading!