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dailydianakko · 5 years

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Undying Au- God doesnt exist

I think I will cause problems on purpose. Anyway enjoy more of my little fic :3

NO!” I screamed. I was horrorfied! Lotte Go’thic 666 Nightfall tried to comfort me but I told her fuck off and I ran to my room crying myself. Holbrock chased after me shouting but she had to stop when I went into my room cause she would look like a perv that way. Anyway, I started crying tears of blood and then I slit both of my wrists. They got all over my clothes so I took them off and jumped into the bath angrily while I put on a Linkin Park song at full volume. I grabbed a steak and almost stuck it into my heart to commit suicide. I was so fucking depressed! I got out of the bathtub and put on a black low-cut dress with lace all over it sandly. I put on black high heels with pink metal stuff on the ends and six pairs of skull earrings. I couldn’t fucking believe it. Then I looked out the window and screamed… Lunkic was spying on me and she was taking a video tape of me! And Pices was masticating to it! They were sitting on their broomsticks. “EW, YOU FUCKING PERVS, STOP LOOKING AT ME NAKED! ARE YOU PEDOS OR WHAT!” I screamed putting on a black towel with a picture of Marilyn Mason on it. Suddenly Vampire ran in. “Abra Kedavra!” she yelled at Lunkic and Piceese pointing her womb. I took my gun and shot Loonkic and Peeses a gazillion times and they both started screaming and the camera broke. Suddenly Hoobrock ran in. “Akko, it has been revealed that someone has - NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” she shouted looking at Lunick and pieces and then she waved her wand and suddenly… Nelson ran outside on her broom and said everyone we need to talk. “What do you know, Nelson? You’re just a little Hogwarts student!” “I MAY BE A HOGWARTS STUDENT….” Nelson paused angrily. “BUT I AM ALSO A SATANIST!” “This cannot be.” LAnick said in a crisp voice as blood dripped from her hand where Holbrooke’s wand had shot her. “There must be other factors.” “YOU DON’T HAVE ANY!” I yelled in madly. Piceses held up the camera triumelephantly. “The lens may be ruined but the tape is still there!” I felt faint, more than I normally do like how it feels when you do not drink enough blood. “Why are you doing this?” Peices said angrily while she rubbed her dirty fin on her hat. And then I heard the words that I had heard before but not from her. I did not know whether to feel shocked and happy or to bite her and drink her blood because I felt faint. “BECAUSE…BECAUSE….” Nelson said and she paused in the air dramitaclly, waving her wand in the air. Then swooped she in singing to the tune of a gothic version of a song by 50 Cent. “Because you’re goffic?” Lunkic asked in a little afraid voice cause she was afraind it meant she was connected with Satan. “Because I LOVE HER!” Chapter 12. AN: stop f,aing ok hargrid is a pedo 2 a lot of ppl in amerikan skoolz r lik dat I wunted 2 adres da ishu! how du u no snap iant kristian plus hargrid isn’t really in luv wif ebony dat was sedric ok! XXXXXXXXXXXXX666XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX I was about to slit my wrists again with the silver knife that Duana had given me in case anything happened to her. She had told me to use it valiantly against an enemy but I knew that we must both go together. “NO!” I THOUGHT IT WAS NELsOOM but it was Vampire. She started to scream. “OMFG! NOOOOO! MY HEMMROID HURTS!” and then….. her eyes rolled up! You could only see her red whites. I stopped. “How did u know?” “I saw it! And my vein turned back into the hemmerpiod!” “NO!” I ran up closer. “I thought you didn’t have a hemorrhoid anymore!” I shouted. “I do but Diabolo changed it into a pentagram for me and I always cover it up with foundation.” she said back. “Anyway my vein hurt and it turned back into the hemmeroid! Save me! then I had a vision of what was happening to Duana…………….Paul has her in bondage!” Anyway I was in the school nurse’s office now recovering from my slit wrists. Lunkick and Peeses and NELSOM were there too. They were going to St. Mango’s after they recovered cause they were pedofiles and you can’t have those fucking pervs teaching in a school with lots of hot gurlz. Chariot had constipated the cideo camera they took of me naked. I put up my middle finger at them. Anyway Nelson came into my hospital bed holding a bouquet of pink roses. “AKjew I need to tell u somethnig.” she said in a v. serious voice, giving me the roses. “Fuck off.” I told her. “You know I fucking hate the color pink anyway, and I don’t like fucked up preps like you.” I snapped. Nelsom had been mean to me before for being gottik. “No Akkeo.” Neelson says. “Those are not roses.” “What, are they goffs too you poser prep?” I asked cause I was angry that she had brought me pink roses. “I saved your life!” She yelled angrily. “No you didn’t I replied.” “You saved me from getting a Paris Hilton p- video made from your shower scene and being vued by Lunnick and Peeses.” Who MASTABATED (c is dat speld rong) to it he added silently. “Whatever!” I yelled angirly. She pointed her wand at the pink roses. “These aren’t roses.” She suddenly looked at them with an evil look in her eye and muttered Well If you wanted Honesty that’s all you haD TO SAY! . “That’s not a spell that’s an MCR song.” I corrected her wisely. “I know, I was just warming up my vocal cordes.” Then she screamed. “Petulus merengo mi kremicli romacio(4 all u cool goffic mcr fans out, there, that is a tribute! specially for Valkyrie I love you girl!)imo noto okayo!” And then the roses turned into a huge black flame floating in the middle of the air. And it was black. Now I knew she wasn’t a prep. “OK I believe you now wtf is Duana?” Nelson rolled her eyes. I looked into the balls of flame but I could c nothing. “U c, Akkeo,” Howdybrooke said, watching the two of us watching the flame. “2 c wht iz n da flmes(HAHA U REVIEWRS FLAMES GEDDIT) u mst find urslf 1st, k?” “I HAVE FOUND MYSELF OK YOU MEAN OLD WOOMAN!” NalsOM yelled. HOWDYbrookes lookd shockd. I guess she didn’t have a headache or else she would have said something back. Neleleson stormed off back into her bed. “U r a liar, proof Hobrookee!” Anyway when I got better I went upstairs and put on a black leather minidress that was all ripped on the ends with lace on it. There was some corset stuff on the front. Then I put on black fishnets and black high-heeled boots with pictures of Billie Joe Armstrong on them. I put my hair all out around me so I looked like Samara from the Ring (if u don’t know who she iz ur a prep so fuk off!) and I put on blood-red lipstick, black eyeliner and black lip gloss. “You look kawai, girl.” Sucy P’oison said sadly. “Fangs (geddit) you do too.” I said sadly too, but I was still upset. I slit both of my wrists feeling totally depressed and I sucked all the blood. I cried again in my bathroom and put the shades on so Lunnkick and ppeses couldn’t spy on me this time. I went to some classes. Vampire was in the Flying Class. She looked all depressed because Duana had disappeared and she had used to be in love with Duana. She was sucking some blood from Chole. “Hi.” she said in a depressed way. “Hi back.” I said in an wqually said way. We both looked at each other for some time. Amanda had beautiful red gothic eyes so much like Duanas. Then……… we jumped on each other and started screwing each other. “STOP IT NOW YOU HORNY SIMPLETONS!” shouted Professor Croiz who was watching us and so was everyone else. “Vampire you fucker!” I said slapping her. “Stop trying to screw me. You know I loved Duana!” I shouted and then I ran away angrily. Just then she started to scream. “OMFG! NOOOOO! MY HEMMEROID HURTS!” and then….. her eyes rolled up! You could only see her red whites. “NO!” I ran up closer. “I thought you didn’t have a hermmeroid anymore!” I shouted. “I do but Diabolo changed it into a pentagram for me and I always cover it up with foundation.” she said back. “Anyway my hemmeroid hurt and then I had a vision of what was happening to Duana…………….POOL has her bondage!” XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX666XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Vampire and I ran up the stairs looking for HobRoock. We were so scared. "HOBroock HoldbROOKE!” we both yelled. HOlbrooke came there. “What is it that you want now you despicable snobs?” she asked angrily. “PAUL has Diana!” we shouted at the same time. She laughed in an evil voice. “No! Don’t! We need to save Duana!” we begged. “No.” she said meanly. “I don’t give a darn what Paul does to Diana. Not after how much she misbehaved in school especially with YOU Akko.” she said while she frowned looking at me. “Besides I never liked her that much anyway.” then she walked away. Vampire started crying. “My Diana!” she moaned. (AN: don’t u fik gay guyz r lik so hot!) “Its okay!” I tried to tell her but that didn’t stop her. She started to cry tears of blood. Then she had a brainstorm. “I had an idea!” she exclaimed. “What?” I asked her. “You’ll see.” she said. She took out her wand and did a spell. Then…… suddenly we were in Pauls MAnsion! We ran in with our wands out just as we heard a croon voice say. “I kast GUN!” It was……………………………….. PAUL! XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX666XXXXXXXXXX WARNING: SUM OF DIS CHAPTA IS XTREMLY SCRAY. VIOWER EXCRETION ADVISD. We ran to where PAul was. It turned out that Paul wasn’t there. Instead Duanas Cousin MErril was. Diana was there crying tears of blood. Meryll was torturing her. Vampire and I ran in front of Merill. “Rid my sight you despicable preps!” she shouted as we started shooting her with the gun she Then suddenly she looked at me and she fell down with a lovey-dovey look in her eyes. “AkkoyIloveyouwiluhavesexwithme.” she said. (in dis she is sixteen yrs old so shes not a pedofile ok) “Huh?” I asked. ”Akko I love you will you have sex with me?” asked merrioll. I started laughing crudely. “What the fuck? You torture my gf and then you expect me to fuck you? God, you are so fucked up you fucking bastard.” I said angrily. Then I stabbed her in the heart. Blood pored out of it like a fountain. “Nooooooooooooo!” she screamed. She started screaming and running around. Then she fell down and died. I brust into tears sadly. “Morril what art thou doing?” called Pauul. Then…… she started coming! We could hear her high heels clacking to us. So we got on our broomsticks and we flew to Loona Noova. We went to my room. Vampire went away. There I started crying. “What’s wrong honey?” asked Diana taking off her clothes so we could screw. She had a sex-pack (geddit cuz shes so sexah) and a really huge you-know-what and everything. “Its so unfair!” I yielded. “Why can’t I just be ugly or plain like all da other girls and preps here except for Sucy P'oison, because she’s not ugly or anything.” “Why would you wanna be ugly? I don’t like the preps anyway. They are such fucking sluts.” answered Diana. “Yeah but everyone is in love with me! Like Liunkink and Peices took a video of me naked. Nelsom says she’s in love with me. Vampire likes me and now even Meriol is in love with me! I just wanna be with you ok Diana! Why couldn’t Satan have made me less beautiful?” I shouted angrily. (an” don’t wory Akkow isn’t a snob or anyfing but a lot of ppl hav told her shes pretty) “Im good at too many things! WHY CAN’T I JUST BE NORMAL? IT’S A FUCKING CURSE!” I shouted and then I ran away.

#lwa #little witch academia #akko kagari #diana cavendish #amanda o'neill #dianakko #diakko #Undying au #my writing

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gottagobuycheese · 4 years

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Tag Thingy

Thanks @silent--sonata for indulging my terrible sleeping habits XD

(fyi this will probably be unnecessarily long and rambly, so it’s going under a cut (EDIT: whelp the song list got a little out of hand, I’d apologize if I were even remotely sorry))

Rules: Answer 17 questions & tag 17 people you want to get to know better

Nickname: Cheese (or Lactose Wedge, or Dairy Product of Unspecified Origin and Purpose)

Zodiac Sign: Gemini!

Height: 160.5 cm/5′3″ (Bubbles I refuse to believe you’re actually that much taller than me)

Hogwarts house: Somewhere between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff allegedly, both of which I’d be honored to get sorted into, but honestly I’d just be stoked to get sorted at all

Last thing I googled: I think it was something along the lines of “how to speed up audio playback in GarageBand,” but but my train of thought was derailed before I actually looked at any of the results so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (and on a related note, thanks again for the magical audio editing @imperiousheiress!)

Song stuck in my head: The end credits to Legacy of the Wizard (which is SUCH a jam, thank you for enlightening me @jessicafish) Following and followers: 227 (goodness just looking at that number is stress-inducing) and...104?! When the HECK did you all get here??? I think just last summer I was happily floating about in the 50′s. Anyways, to anyone I have not said hello, hello! Hope you enjoy your stay, and I am sincerely sorry if you expected Quality Original Content, or even just regularly scheduled other people’s content. Sadly, neither of these things tend to happen here.

Amount I sleep: During the school year it’s usually anywhere between 30 minutes and 6 hours (DON’T EVEN START BUBBLES YOU HAVE NO RIGHT), usually landing in the 3/4 hour ranges if I’m smart about it, but now that I am on Unofficial Break, it’s usually at least around 6 hours (except today was 3 because Avatar is an excellent show and the weirdos in this house have regularly scheduled breakfast at 9-something every morning). Sadly my sleep schedule can only be forced to tolerate normalcy for so long before careening back in the other direction, so we’ll see if this is just a blip or if we’re back to normal mid-Atlantic Ocean hours!

Lucky number(s): I wouldn’t say these are necessarily favorite numbers, but I do like 2 and 9. But come to think of it, second attempts at Official Things do tend to go better for me than first attempts, so maybe there’s some merit there after all! Dream Job: Don’t think I’m really cut out for dreaming anymore, haha (unless you are a theoretical future employer in which case I am Extremely Full of Ambition and Passion). The bed-adjacent metaphor has been made, and not to brag, but I can sleep on pretty much any surface. Currently studying my Not Favorite aspect of STEM (was there ever a favorite or did I just like being good at things sometimes) and learning how to People™ properly (and also learning a gazillion convoluted drug names like what the heck dude, did you just fall asleep on your typewriter coming up with these), so I’ll take whatever place hires me and pays me enough not to depend on my parents for everything, I suppose. In an ideal world, that would entail a job where I could make friends, and even more importantly, a job where my shortcomings would not cause Massive and Irreparable Harm, but I don’t think this line of work really meshes with that last one, so I guess I’ll either have to get my shit together™ extremely soon or fake my death, adopt an alias, and flee to a completely new place with no ties whatsoever before trying to get another, less high stakes job.

(Though I guess, less cynically, I like helping people well enough? And stories are fun! Maybe there could’ve been something with that. Not that there still can’t be, mind, but there’s still a long way to go between Here and There)

Wearing: Black shorts. Navy t-shirt. Brown some-specific-kind-of-jacket-I-forgot-the-name-of jacket. Is it summer? Is it fall? Am I in middle school? Who can say, but they are COMFY so sadly I have no cares to give

Favourite song(s): way way WAY too many to list here, and I do not have them all organized in a handy playlist separately, but to name a few (and these are not necessarily the MOST favorite okay, it doesn’t mean I don’t love stuff not on this list, it means you can’t force me to pick between my children and I am going to find at least one quick thing from a few things I like before I need to hit post and go back to looking like I’m being studious, and also things I think you should listen to right now, but for everything I’ve linked assuming I mean the whole OST), here’s a spam of links in no particular order:

LoZ Wind Waker - The Great Sea (aka the epitome of optimism)

Undertale - NGAHHH!! (I was about to link more but then I realized it’d be the whole soundtrack lol)

LoZ Breath of the Wild - Hateno Village (Night)

A:tLA - Peace (bad call BAD CALL NOW I HAVE EMOTIONS)

Legend of Korra - Final Scene/Ending Theme (MISTAKES WERE MADE MISTAKES WERE MADE)

Kung Fu Panda - Oogway Ascends (I feel like I’m taking you on a whole little album journey now XD)

PMD: Explorers of Sky - Dialga’s Fight to the Finish (aka the Gotta Shower Fast song)

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Pursuit ~ Cornered (aka the HURRY UP AND PACK UR SHIT YOUR FLIGHT LEAVES IN THREE HOURS song)

Apollo Justice: A New Trial Is In Session (very underrated soundtrack imo) and also Apollo Justice: Telling the Truth (because these two are very closely associated in my head and it’s getting harder and harder to narrow things down so maybe I should stop lol)

Your Name: Katawaredoki (in which I am forcibly thrown heart first into the bedroom of my second apartment at approximately 12-something A.M.)

Digimon Adventure 01: Butterfly (MASSIVE 90′s childhood anime feels, and also Last Summer Before Everything Went to Shit feels (on a general scale I mean, not personal))

Pokémon: Lugia’s Song multitrack cover by Jordan Moore (would that I could have a talent of that musical talent)

Pokémon the First Movie: Tears of Life (great now I’m on a Pokémon music spiral GUESS IT’S CHILDHOOD NOSTALGIA HOURS NOW)

PMD: Blue Rescue Team - Farewell and Run Away/Fugitives (you CANNOT make me choose between these guys okay, my brain WILL explode, and whoops now I want to link the whole ost)

Palette by A Dear Friend (wink wonk)

Pokémon: Alpha Sapphire - Fortree City (wow talk about mood whiplash)

Detective Conan: Main Theme (I can’t find the specific version since there are so many, but it’s a Good Theme)

Super Smash Bros.: Brawl - Opening Theme

Pokémon Colosseum - Relic Forest

Song for Lindsay by Andrew Boysen Jr. (oh great now it’s time for marching band feelings I guess)

Mt. Everest by Rossano Galante

Deltarune - Field of Hopes and Dreams and A Town Called Hometown (orchestrated) (aka the Lots of Work To Do song) and You Can Always Come Home and Don’t Forget (hey guess what I wrote a bunch of fake extra verses for) (also it looks my pathetic attempts at narrowing things down are getting even more pathetic so I’ll wrap up soon XD)

Guild Wars 2 - Fear Not This Night (never actually played this myself but my friend got me addicted to the music)

Lord of the Rings - May It Be (Enya) (aaaand now I miss choir, THANKS BUBBLES)

Lion King - Can You Feel the Love Tonight (Multilingual) by Travys Kim (aka how I remembered how fun these things are)

Original Song by Anonymous

(The urge to add all the other songs I’m not adding is so strong but I’ve got so much work to do so just assume I mean all Nintendo music from any game I’ve played, all Ghibli movie music, every musical I’ve ever heard, and even more)

Random fact:

Apparently as early as the 17th century, you could guess that a child would have a shortened life span if their foreheads tasted salty. Yes, there is a specific reason, and yes, you may already know what it is, and thankfully no, that life span projection no longer holds true, assuming access to Modern Medicine!

Favourite Authors: Okay I have not read enough various books of enough various authors to be able to answer this, so I’m just gonna go with a few books instead. They are not necessarily all-time favorites, but I enjoyed reading them very much at the time and more often than not go back to them for comfort reads: The Martian, any of first three Harry Potter books, and The Rise of Kiyoshi. (That last one’s not really a comfort read but I am drowning in Loving Kiyoshi juice so here we are)

Favourite Animal Noises: Certain kinds of birds (UNLESS it’s some ungodly hour of the morning and you’re trying to sleep)? Ooh, and crickets!

Aesthetic: A slob, but like...a comfy slob. An incredibly disorganized hermit who is happy to mill about in the uncontrolled entropy. (Are we talking about what aesthetic I give off, or what I like to look at, visually? Because I like space, and water, and mountains, and forests, and forests ON mountains, OOH and forests on mountains at night where you can see space, perhaps reflected in a body of water. Or just water, idk. Different things are pretty to look at at different times)

WELL THAT ONLY TOOK FOREVER SORRY FOR THE OBSCENE LENGTH

@pachelbelsheadcanon @averybritishbumblebee @shingeki-no-korra @sailorlock @yeswevegotavideo @soultheta @queenerdloser @ifeelbetterer @rogueofdragons @peppervl @amadness2method @mutalune and anybody else who wants to do this! This isn’t seventeen, and I don’t know if any of you have already done it/been tagged, but I hear people moving around upstairs so that means this break is over XD. And ABSOLUTELY no pressure to actually do this, this is pretty much just me wishing you well! (and YOU of course, my dear reader! I hope everything’s going all right, or if it’s not, that it does soon)

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tenroseforeverandever · 5 years

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Wonderful Tonight - Chapter 1

Characters: Tentoo; Rose Tyler; Jackie Tyler; Pete Tyler; Original Character, Wilkins from Vitex Patents

Tags: hurt/comfort; angst; romance; fluff; love; Pete’s World; sexual content; drunkenness; drunken confessions; swearing; songfic

Story Summary:

On the first anniversary of the instantaneous biological metacrisis that created him, the same day he and Rose had been unceremoniously dumped in Pete’s World, the Doctor can think of a few gazillion different ways he would prefer to spend the evening, and the Annual Vitex Gala is not one of them. All he truly wants is to spend a quiet, intimate evening at home alone with Rose. But when Rose doesn’t acknowledge the significance of the date, the Doctor finds the strain and rejection he has worked so hard to overcome surfacing again, leaving him feeling vulnerable and insecure.

A song fic, based on the song Wonderful Tonight, by Eric Clapton.

Notes:

This story has been in the works since Christmas and was intended to be finished by Tentoosday in February. LOLOLOLOL So, right on schedule for me, then!

Written for @doctorroseprompts‘s Tentoosday event.

Many thanks to my brilliant betas mrsbertucci and @rose--nebula who have taken the time out of their very busy schedules to look this story over for me.

Four Chapters, posting on Wednesdays

Read also at: AO3; Teaspoon; FF

Summary, Chapter 1:

Feeling out of sorts on the first anniversary of being left in Pete’s world with Rose, the Doctor is worried Jackie will blame him if they show up late to the Annual Vitex Gala, and frustrated that Rose isn’t ready to leave when he is.

--oOo--

It's late in the evening; she's wondering what clothes to wear

She puts on her make-up and brushes her long blonde hair

And then she asks me, “Do I look all right?”

And I say, "Yes, you look wonderful tonight.”

The Doctor stood in the front hall of the little flat, peering at his reflection in the full-length mirror. He ran a tongue over his teeth, and tilting his head from side to side, critically assessed the controlled chaos that was his hair. Giving his fringe a final tweak, he stepped back and swivelled back and forth, his lip curling at the sight of the tuxedo. Well, at least his feet would be comfortable in the black and white Chucks he’d procured specifically for the occasion. After the last party Jackie had hosted, his feet had been aching for days, blistered and cramped by the uncomfortable leather dress shoes she’d insisted he wear.

Nope! Never again!

And especially not tonight of all nights. The day of his… weeeell, his first-ish birthday, he supposed, give or take the millennium’s worth of knowledge packed into his brain. He could think of a few gazillion different ways he would have preferred to spend this evening, and the Annual Vitex Gala was not one of them. The only thing that could possibly make it tolerable was the fact that he would be attending said gala with one Rose Tyler by his side.

One Rose Tyler who was distinctly not in the front hall, ready to go…

“Roooo-ooose! We’re going to be late!” He sent a little burst of annoyance along their bond.

He was usually the one who kept her waiting, primping his hair to untamed perfection. It was her own fault, really. Afterall, it was she who’d found a jar of Pompogix’s Hair Pomade (precisely as brilliant as the stuff he used to use in the Prime Universe). He could hardly be blamed for wanting to make good use of it. You couldn’t rush perfection.

Except in Rose’s case… she always looked perfect. Therefore, he reckoned, logically, there was no reason for her not to be ready to go.

He shuffled from foot to foot as he peered down the hallway to the bedroom. “C’mon, Rose! You know who Jackie’ll blame if we’re late. Me! I’m still recovering from the slap she gave me two bodies ago. I don’t fancy another one, ta!”

Rose’s head popped out from the bedroom doorway, a towel still wrapped around her hair, and her face devoid of make-up. Utterly gorgeous, but definitely not even remotely close to being ready for the gala.

“Blimey, the paps’ll have a field day with shots of you in that get-up.”

“Yeah, ta for that.” Her frosty reply was accompanied by the equivalent of a growl vibrating a warning in his mind and a dangerous little crease forming over the bridge of her nose. She grumbled as she disappeared back into the bedroom, but a few seconds later she called out, “Doctor! I need your help! Can you c’m’ere?”

She seemed a little flustered (as well she should, given the time). He couldn’t imagine how he was supposed to help. Nevertheless, he followed the sound of her voice into the bedroom and found her dressed only in knickers, sheer thigh-high stockings, and the towel on her head, poring over three gowns spread out on the bed before her. The sight of her topless might have been more enticing if he hadn’t been so frustrated.

“I can’t decide which dress to wear.”

“What the hell does it matter? You’ll look beautiful no matter what. Wear a bin bag if you like. Just pick something and let’s get a move on, before Jackie has my head for the centrepiece on the buffet.”

She huffed. “So glad I have you, then!”

“Oh, all right,” he relented, quite sure nothing good would come of him offering his opinion. He looked carefully at the three options, considering the pros and cons of each. “Wear the green one. It’s a festive colour and it’s sparkly. I quite like sparkly.”

“The green one? Really? Do you think so?” Rose screwed up her face, her nose wrinkling in distaste. “I kinda thought the sparkles were a bit naff, to be honest.”

“I knew it!” he growled through gritted teeth. He arched a judgmental eyebrow. “Why did you bother asking me my opinion? Is it some kind of test? A trap? A psychological experiment, perhaps? Hmmm?”

“Blimey, Doctor! Overreacting a bit, yeah?” Rose averted her eyes from him, glancing over the dresses again.

“Nope! I think you’ll find my response was perfectly calibrated to serve the situation at hand. You asked me for my input – which I gave quite willingly – and then, without a second’s consideration, you rejected my opinion out of hand. How am I supposed to react to that?”

Her hands flew to her waist as she turned to face him, a fierce, wolfish spark in her eyes. Her bare breasts jiggled temptingly, and suddenly any frustration was pushed to the back of his mind and he found himself forced to tamp down his body’s responses. Now was not the time for that sort of distraction.

“Oi! Eyes up here!” she snapped with a sharp tweak of their bond. (So, definitely not the time…)

His irritation wriggled back to the forefront, and with his libido conquered, he was able to retrace his earlier train of thought. “It wouldn’t matter what dress I’d selected; you’d have had some excuse not to choose it.” Oh, it felt quite satisfying to get another dig in.

“That’s not true.” Hurt transformed Rose’s face, and she placed a soft hand on his arm. Her love and sadness flooded through him. “I value your opinion, Doctor. I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t.”

As her lovely, soft, kissable lower lip wobbled, guilt gushed through him. He sighed. Despite his better judgement, he found himself spouting out more words of gala-gown wisdom. “How about the black one, eh, Rose? Classic! You can never go wrong with a black dress for a formal occasion.”

“Hmmmm… but black’s so dull. I mean it’s a beautiful dress, but it’s nearly Christmas, yeah?”

The Doctor gaped at her in stunned silence for a few charged ticks, then he threw his hands in the air. “I give up! I can’t win! Tell you what: I’ll be waiting in the lounge, planning my funeral. Jackie can throw another party to celebrate the occasion, and you’ll be able to wear the black dress to that.” He stalked away, ignoring Rose’s incoherent squeaks of outrage.

He needed to calm down. He was on edge and was letting little things get to him. He muffled his telepathic connection with Rose. Bombarding one another with negative emotions would be nothing but hurtful. All he had truly wanted was to spend a quiet, intimate evening at home alone with her. This day held special significance for him.

That fact, in and of itself, came as a shock.

Never before had he bothered to observe the linear progression of his life; he’d never given it any thought. Even though he knew time progressed in a distinctly non-linear, wibbly-wobbly fashion, he had to face the fact that his time would now have a distinct end; there would be no more cheating death. Observing the passing years, taking time to reflect on the successes and challenges of the past and his aspirations for the future, had suddenly become something of the utmost importance. He wanted to celebrate the love he and Rose shared and how hard they had both worked over the past year to overcome the strain and rejection of being unceremoniously dumped in Pete’s World.

Instead, he once again felt redundant, useless… vulnerable, the unsettling image of Rose walking away from him at Bad Wolf Bay, rejecting him as he tried to win her favour, playing on auto-repeat in his mind.

The last thing he wanted to do was parade around at the Vitex Gala, hobnobbing and exchanging vapid small talk with vacuous socialites and tedious politicians.

He wandered into the kitchen. A nice cuppa was what he needed. The brilliant effects of the superheated infusion of free-radicals and tannins never failed to soothe him. A good, stiff drink would have been marvelous as well, but he’d learned the hard way, this new, more-human body was not very good at regulating the effects of excessive alcohol consumption. He’d be drinking plenty at the gala, later (if they ever got there); he needed to be careful not to overdo it. No, for the time being, tea would be just perfect.

He filled Rose’s mug as well, adding the perfect amount of milk (just a splash) and honey (a little, to cut the bitterness). She had her own demons to face on this particular day. Although… come to think of it, she hadn’t mentioned it, either the day – his birthday (that hurt a bit), or the demons – being abandoned by the other Doctor and, in turn, abandoning… him, the metacrisis (at least, initially). There were more closed doors in her mind than normal, but she hadn’t even given any overt hints of any anxiety through their bond. But even if she wasn’t worried, he still thought she would probably appreciate the gesture of the warm comforting beverage and it would give him a chance to apologize for his “overreacting”, however justified it might have been.

He returned to the bedroom and leaned against the doorjamb, mugs in hand, silently watching Rose as she sat at her little vanity, still in a semi-dressed state (although her hair was loose and dry now), carefully applying the finishing touches to her make-up. Analysing her reflection, she dabbed stray traces of crimson lipstick from the corners of her voluptuous mouth, then smoothed the concealer under her eyes. With a heavy sigh, she picked up her hairbrush, and pulled it through the soft tangles of her long, blonde hair. She’d allowed it to grow over the past year and it now reached almost halfway down her back. The doctor loved the silken feel of it between his fingers, loved the way it tumbled around his face when she rode him to their mutual bliss.

And, oh, that train of thought was no more helpful now than it had been earlier, but unable to resist the temptation, he stepped forward into the room. “Here, let me.” He took a gulp from his mug before setting both mugs on the vanity. He plucked the brush from Rose’s hand. “Have a cuppa,” he offered as he gathered her hair in his hands and brushed out the ends at the back where she couldn’t reach.

“Oh, a cuppa would go down a treat. But I can’t. Just put on my lippie, yeah.”

Rebuffed again, he held his tongue. Rose hadn’t meant to be hurtful, but it seemed he just couldn’t do anything right. Although, it wasn’t like he was doing anything especially wrong... just a bit off-target, perhaps. He decided there wasn’t anything to be gained by making a fuss, but he didn’t trust his stupid gob to behave. It would be safer to just leave her to her grooming. He set the brush down firmly on the vanity and, pointedly removing her tea mug, moved toward the door.

“Doctor…?”

He turned back toward her, helpless to resist the sway she held over him. She’d always been his weakness… and his strength. She completed him.

“I was hopin’ you could braid my hair for me...”

“No doubt I could…” He arched an eyebrow at her.

“Would you? Please? Somethin’ nice and soft. You always make it look nice, yeah.”

“Will you hurry and get dressed if I do?”

“Oh, we’re not that late!”

He set her mug down again. “Not your life on the line, is it?” he snarked, but he was unable to keep a small smile from tugging at his lips.

As he gathered her hair in his hands, parting it with expert strokes of his fingers, she sighed her contentment and met his eyes in the mirror. “I’m sorry, Doctor. I love you,” she whispered.

He opened their bond, allowing his love to mingle with hers. “My precious girl, I love you too… but I’d like to be around for many more years to repeat that sentiment.” He granted her a teasing frown, and she responded with a cheeky kiss blown at his reflection. When he rolled his eyes, she chuckled and beamed at him, her tongue peeking out at the corner of her smile.

In minutes he had completed styling her hair, a long, soft braid that meandered down the back of her head. “It just needs… Oh, I know! You get your dress on, and I’ll be back with the finishing touches in two shakes.”

Leaving a bemused Rose in his wake, he rushed out of the bedroom to the kitchen. He had purchased a dozen red roses, intending to present them to her before leaving the flat that evening, but decided they would be put to much better use tucked into her golden plaits. He scrounged in the drawers for the kitchen shears and snipped several of the roses from their stems. He tucked one into the lapel of his jacket (he and Rose would coordinate) and gathered the rest of them up.

When he returned to the bedroom, he was stopped short (nearly spilling the roses from the cradle of his hands) at the sight before him: Rose, resplendent in a deep-red, satin gown. He licked his lips at the sight of her: the v-neck, off-the-shoulder bodice displayed just enough of the soft, round curves of her breasts; and the flowing, floor-length skirt sported a thigh-high slit that exposed the full length of a tawny, toned leg. She was absolutely captivating.

Shaking himself out of his daze, the Doctor swept behind her, beginning his task of nestling the flowers into her tresses. He couldn’t resist planting soft kisses to her bare shoulders and neck as he worked, and she encouraged him with soft hums, as each touch of his lips sent a surge of his arousal along their bond. With one last rose tucked into her braids, he placed a final kiss behind her ear and reluctantly pulled away from her.

“All done. Are you ready, then?”

“Almost…” She stepped back to the vanity and picked up the earrings lying there. She turned to him as she set them in her ears, her dress swirling around her. And then she asked him, “Do I look all right?”

“All right?” No words could properly express the vision of loveliness before him; he stammered, trying to find the right way to describe how she affected him, how in awe of her he was. What eventually came out of his stupid gob was the understatement of the year. He only hoped he had projected enough emotion along with his words for her to understand what he had really meant… “My darling, you look wonderful, tonight.”

#doctorroseprompts #ficandchips #tentoo x rose #hurt/comfort #fluff #angst #romance #love #pete's world #drunkenness #drunken confessions #strong language #songfic #tenroseforeverandever's fic

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5-star-songs · 5 years

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“Tracks Of My Tears” – SMOKEY ROBINSON AND THE MIRACLES

Today is the three-year anniversary of 5 Star Songs. My current list suggests it will take about another 15 months to finish this project.

I started this blog for two reasons. Number one was to share songs I loved with other people who might also enjoy them as much as I did. But since I could already do that just by tweeting a YouTube link, the second reason is what determined the format this Tumblr has taken: I wanted to figure out why I loved some of my favorite songs a lot more than others.

When this project works, I actually answer that question by the end of a blurb, telling myself something I hadn’t previously realized before I type the last period.

But sometimes (well, OK, a LOT of times, and more and more often, I fear, in recent months), I don’t manage that. When it DOES happen, I’m thrilled, and the memory keeps me powering through the next batch of just-OK blurbs until I can have another eureka moment.

One problem with writing five blurbs a week several years in a row (in my spare time, and with no editor to call me on my own bullshit, or to insist I dig a little deeper) is a tendency to repetition. Among other bad habits I’ve developed:

When pressed for time I sometimes settle for simply listing the sounds my favorite instruments in a song make

I overuse a very small arsenal of adjectives to describe tempos, or the sounds my favorite instruments in a song make

“but” is apparently my favorite word in the English language.

I tell myself all of the above are forgivable sins, but (Gah! There’s that fucking word again!) I also seem to have developed some unconscious templates I fall back on when I can’t think of anything better to type. This habit seems particularly pronounced when I’m blurbing old soul records I discovered decades after their original release, and usually takes the form of, “the lyrics/arrangement/performance say X, but this other thing I’m praising says Y,” where Y is almost always, “life, man, it’s fucking hard, and I’m barely keeping it together.”

It’s possible that songs which do exactly that are simply the ones I love the most. But it seems more likely the songs I love most do something ineffable instead, and since it’s fucking ineffable the more I try to describe it the worse a job I do.

All of which brings us to today’s 5 Star Song, which you have almost definitely heard before. I had certainly heard it plenty of times -- on the radio, in malls, on movie soundtracks -- before I was suddenly struck by its power, and first began wondering what set it apart from other songs released concurrently that were no longer so ubiquitous.

Embarrassingly, perhaps, I had this realization at the Ritz, in New York City, in the early ‘80s, when New Wave afterthoughts Big Country played it as an encore. The change in context made me pay attention to the melody, and the way the song built, in a way I hadn’t, previously. I remember realizing it was a cover, but being amazed by just how well it fit in with all the majestic guitar anthems the band played before and after (in my memory, they played the chorus with the same crashing guitar chords heard on “Fields of Fire” and “In a Big Country,” though watching contemporaneous videos on YouTube suggests my memory added those guitars in after the fact). With or without crashing guitars, the song was clearly BIG.

So I can’t pretend Smokey Robinson’s voice, as other-worldly as it now seems to me, was the thing that grabbed me. It was the composition itself. But (!) hearing Big Country play that composition couldn’t help but refer me back to the original I’d heard a gazillion times already, and when I went back to that original, I couldn’t help but remember Big Country’s ludicrous but lovely (and possibly completely fictitious) guitars.

Which means when I hear this song, I hear things that not only don’t exist in the recording, but only existed on one random night in my life, along with some things that never existed anywhere but still feel tangible and moving to me.

You may or may not love this song as much as I do, but you probably love some song as much as I love this one. And I’m pretty sure that it’s ultimately impossible to fully explain why. The composition itself has to meet some subjective bar, but (!!) you also need to hear something within the recording -- it could be a lyric sung just so, or a drum fill, or a horn blast, or a fucking cow bell mixed precisely where it needs to be at the exact right moment -- that articulates an emotion you can’t otherwise verbalize.

A given record might not do all of that the first, fifth, or tenth time you hear it. But if it does so even once, chances are it will keep doing so again, and again, and again, many times after, or, failing that, will at least remind you of how happy it made you the first time it did so.

My personal 5 Star Songs are the ones that can most reliably recall the feelings I had the first time a song connected with me, and do so with the least diminishment on every new play.

By those measures, “Tracks of My Tears” is an all time great, even if it took a Big Country cover to get me there.

#soul

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belizedeservesbetter · 5 years

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Rock of Ages is Hadestown

I don’t really know if this is a review or my upcoming college thesis

I’ve always loved Rock of Ages. It’s so fun. It’s so dumb. But it’s also so smart. Rock of Ages knows exactly who Rock of Ages is and should be. Rock of Ages is exactly what Rock of Ages wants to be. It’s a blast and the songs are of course good and it’s funny and full of heart and there’s actually some really wonderful theatrical moments and I’m thrilled that it’s back at New World Stages for the summer. But as I sat there watching the show on Thursday, I realized something.

Rock of Ages is Hadestown.

The plot is literally the same. Young musician working in a restaurant falls in love with a girl who wants more out of life but young musician can’t give her what she wants and eventually sells her soul to the devil. All the while, a fun narrator steps in and out of the plot and a second story of young love and falling out of love occur between the older character. Three women who sing together are also involved. That is a vast oversimplification of both stories but you get my idea.

Orpheus, then, is Drew. The wannabe musician with a big heart, good intentions but not the smartest or most logical person. Drew, who throughout the show writes a song that will Change Rock and Roll (and in Orpheus’ case, the world). This song that makes their female love interest fall in love with them. In this current production of Rock of Ages, he’s played by CJ Eldred, who looks STRIKINGLY like Reeve Carney, but can actually act.

tell me that is not Reeve. tell me they are not long lost siblings or at least dopplegangers

Which brings us to Sherrie, aka Eurydice, who has blown in from nowhere and bumps into Drew/Orpheus and there is an instant connection that is only bolstered by a lovely duet by the Greeks and a shared slushee by the rockers. Sherrie, like Eurydice, is a “hungry young girl” who wants more out of life. Where Eurydice wants... something, I guess, Sherrie wants to be an actress. Kirsten Scott sings the hell out of all her songs and is a sheer delight to watch on stage. Sherrie and Drew have a good thing going until Drew mentions just how good of friends they are.

Am I equating Orpheus’ inability to do anything but write his “La La La” song with a nervous Drew accidentally telling Sherrie they’re just friends? Yes. Yes and the scene it happens in the show is hilarious. There’s this wooden car set that Drew brings on and off that is SO cheesy and SO hilarious and they all know it too. There’s even a part where Drew mimes opening and closing the car door even though there is no door that was Comedy Gold.

Which brings us to Hades, aka Stacee Jaxx. Where Eurydice sells her soul to Hades and goes way down to Hadestown, Sherrie sleeps with Stacee, who then gets her fired and puts a rift between her and Drew. Stacee Jaxx is as gross and sleazy as they come, and PJ Griffith (whose bio on the website is fun) works every second of it. His story ends with Sherrie breaking his nose before he has to flee the country. Where Hades is revealed to Have a Heart, Stacee is kicked to the curb, which I liked. I liked that the Big RockStar ends the show with nothing and no one.

The Hermes of Rock of Ages is Lonny, who is both the narrator of the show and a character who influences the plot. “Just Like Paradise/Nothin’ But a Good Time” is literally Road to Hell and all the characters and themes are introduced right from the start. Lonny steps in to narrate quite a bit, going so far as to interrupt Drew’s train of thought towards the end of the show which leads to this funny “You’re in a musical called Rock of Ages and it used to be on Broadway and now it’s not and they made a movie out of it” moment which was absolutely on the nose but they KNEW it was on the nose and worked with it. Mitchell Jarvis, who created the role of Lonny, is back in this current Off-Broadway production and he is spectacular. You can tell he loves everything about this role and this show and he is having a fantastic time and you the audience are having a fantastic time with him.

This is where it becomes a bit more of a stretch but bear with me on this so there are three waitresses who also work at The Bourbon Room and while they ominously sing like The Fates, they do pop in to provide Sherrie with some comfort every now and then. They’re also super cool and do some really incredible dancing. The standout waitress, also known as Waitress #1, is Katie Webber and holy shit she’s incredible. She was also in the original cast of the show and you can tell how much she loves it.

This is even more of a stretch but the characters Dennis and Justice combined make Persephone. Dennis, the owner of The Bourbon Room, talks about Stacee Jaxx with a lot of love and nostalgia, which makes me think he had feelings for him at some point. Considering Dennis ends up with Lonny at the end, I think I could be right in this. This is probably adding layers to Rock of Ages that isn’t there but I think Dennis really loved Stacee and was hurt to see him leave him in the dust like that. Matt Ban plays Dennis currently and gives Dennis a strong “Tired Dad” vibe, which worked well for the character. He also had great chemistry with Mitchell Jarvis.

Justice also gives me big Persephone vibes, especially her moment with Sherrie where she talks about how she was in love once and how she’s not as happy as she used to be. I’ll definitely take “Pour Some Sugar On Me” (and Dennis’ “Can’t Fight This Feeling Anymore”) as this show’s “Our Lady of the Underground” and maybe some of her verses in “Chant.” Jeannette Bayardelle was wonderful as Justice. She also had this glitter lipstick that looked like the glitter lips from Priscilla - Queen of the Desert which I love love loved.

A lot of the themes are the same - with the ones on climate change, the workforce and capitalism being summed up in the Regina (pronounced like vagina)/Hertz plotline about tearing down the Sunset Strip. Of course the Orpheus/Eurydice themes match up surprisingly well with the Drew/Sherrie ones too. Actually, I think it’s interesting how Rock of Ages goes further in exploring what happens when Drew does get what he wants, like what happens when his songs do get noticed and how it turns out to be not what he wants after all.

And in this current production, there’s even a Tall Ensemble Man, played by Michael Mahany, who, again, is clearly having a great time. He’s also the sole male ensemble member (not including Mekhai Lee because he plays The Mayor and Drew’s Agent mostly) which makes the big ensemble dance breaks really funny.

The set is also literally the same as Hadestown, but more rock and roll. There’s literally the stares Hades uses to go up and down from his little patio, but this time they go into Dennis office. To be quite honest, I fully expect the inevitable Hadestown revival in the far off future to be staged in a rock and roll bar/club like The Bourbon Room. It fits the story perfectly.

The big difference is that Rock of Ages ends happily. Drew and Sherrie actually get to live happily ever after, which Orpheus and Eurydice don’t get to do.

There is so much I love about Rock of Ages. It’s an absolute blast. I love seeing it because it’s sheer escapism. There’s nothing I have to think too hard on and it’s not a show that tries to be that either. I love how you can tell what songs they only got partial rights to, like the split second moment where Stacee sings Styx’s “Renegade.” I love how much fun everyone is having, especially Tall Ensemble Man. I love that the ending is absolutely ridiculous and Dennis is briefly mentioned to have died, but he comes back as an Angel that gets rid of Stacee Jaxx. I love that Lonny tells Drew to fuck the book writers of the musical. And I love that Rock of Ages has its flaws and problematic jokes, cause it keeps me humble. It reminds me that I’m seeing Rock of Ages and not a Serious Show. I love how much fun and how drunk the audience is for this show. I love that this is the closest thing to Straight Culture I’m ever gonna see, which is fascinating to say the least. I love the merchandise the show has! You can get Wolfgang Von Colt (Drew’s stage name) t-shirts that look like Drew made them himself. I love that you can buy Arsenal (Stacee Jaxx’s band) sweatshirts that look like Stacee designed them himself. I love that the band is onstage the entire time and I love that they are Arsenal and are constantly flipping off Stacee.

Also! We don’t give enough credit to director Kristin Hanggi! Why do we always forget about her when we talk about female directors? She's been with this show right from the start! She’s infused this show with so much satire. It’s really a lot more progressive than you’d think.

And this show is so fun. It’s so so fun. I understand why there’s die hard Rock of Ages fans who’ve seen this show hundreds of times.

Go check out Rock of Ages at New World Stages till the end of summer! New World Stages has actually become a great spot for post-Broadway shows, like Jersey Boys and Play That Goes Wrong. There’s also Puffs, which I liked even though I’m a little traumatized from it. And there’s also Gazillion Bubble Show, if you’re into that.

#rock of ages #review #broadway #off-broadway #i will die on this hill i love this show #voice

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mikotyzini · 6 years

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What Defines Us - Ch. 24

We’ve reached the halfway point of the story!

Link on ff.net!

If anyone wanted to see the phrase ‘helicopter parent’ in action, they could come over and experience the combined helicopterness of Yang, Blake, and Weiss. It was incredible! The loud whomp whomp whomp of spinning blades filled the air, following Ruby wherever she went - into the garage, into the kitchen, even in the bathroom she could hear it! Well, not really because it wasn’t a real sound, but it was practically a sound by now!

Blake and/or Yang hardly left her side and, if they did, she could still feel one of them watching her closely. Or trying to not closely watch her closely. Like maybe she wouldn’t notice them pretending to read or watch a movie while keeping an eye on her instead. And maybe she wouldn’t notice how they kind of stalked her around the house.

The forever-stalking was extra creepy at night with Blake’s glowy cat eyes. Once or twice, Ruby made the mistake of glancing down the hallway on her way to bed and nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw glowing eyes in the distance. They either belonged to Blake or a ghost, but she was too scared to find out which!

On top of the Glue Crew (Ruby’s new nickname for Yang and Blake since they stuck to her like glue), Weiss was sending nearly constant messages asking how Ruby was doing. Seriously, Weiss checked in at least once every hour, sometimes twice every hour.

Not that Ruby minded the extra attention from Weiss...it was nice that they were thinking about each other so often! Maybe Weiss was primarily worried about Ruby’s health and wellbeing, but Ruby could pretend that that was the same thing...she was great at pretending things.

But seriously, she’d had the equivalent of a bad headache! And then she might’ve passed out or whatever, and they might’ve had to use the little laser on her again - but come on! A pack of ice and pat on the back probably would’ve had her up and running in no time. Nope! She had to go to the hospital and that meant more tests and medicine and yadda yadda. The doctors used big words that she didn’t understand, so she spent most of her time nodding even though she had no idea what they were talking about. Why couldn’t they just call her brain a brain? Why were there different names for simple things?

Now she was perfectly fine, but everyone was treating her like she might explode at any minute. Apparently, she’d earned a new nickname - Ticking Time Bomb Ruby.

Why wasn’t she in charge of her own nicknames? She was way better at coming up with them than Yang.

On the slightly-really horrible side, after talking to the doctor Yang had banned Ruby from any and all physical activity for the next few days. Which sucked! But it was just a precaution to make sure her brain shrank a bit before she worked it up again. Who would’ve thought people would wish for her brain to shrink? Certainly not her grade school teachers…

Barred from physical activity, forced to get a decent amount of sleep every night, and given another pill bottle to add to her tower. This one would be a cinch - no side effects, only a handful of pills, no problem! She could take them all at once! But that was highly not recommended.

There was good news in the midst of the crummy news though!

Unlike before - when Ruby had to twiddle her thumbs when she wasn’t allowed to train - now she had a friend to talk to! Thankfully, Weiss seemed more than happy to chat whenever Ruby wanted, so her days of mandatory rest would pass quickly. And, as soon as the time was up, she was going to beg Blake to practice with her again. After going on one hunt, she wanted to go on more. A somewhat-suspect brain wasn’t enough to stop her!

Glancing at the time, Ruby tossed her scroll on the bed and headed out of her room so she could catch Blake and Yang before they left for the night. Once in the hallway, she walked to the kitchen. Walked.

Walking was soooo slowwww. It was such a waste of time! If she moved faster, she’d get to the kitchen faster and have more time to do other things! But Yang had specifically banned Ruby from using her semblance and had even set a speed limit in the house - anything more than a walk and Ruby had to organize all of Yang’s shoes, which was not something she ever wanted to do.

So she was walking everywhere. And they didn’t need a bigger house because this one was already way too freaking big.

When she finally made it to the kitchen (about a decade later), she found Blake and Yang putting away the dishes from dinner. Well, Blake was putting away dishes while Yang held onto her and whispered into her ear, making her laugh about something.

“The doctors didn’t permanently attach your hand to Blake, did they?” Ruby joked, drawing their attention her way.

“Why yes they did,” Yang replied with a grin, refusing to remove her hand from Blake’s side. When Blake tried to move away, Yang clasped onto a handful of her shirt to keep her in place. “They said it was medically necessary for my survival. And ya know what? I’ve never felt better.”

Ruby rolled her eyes at Yang’s overjoyed smile. Her sister was impossible to tease, as usual. No matter what Ruby said, Yang could always turn it around and make it some sort of weird compliment.

But something was up with them. They’d been extra fond of each other recently...and that was saying something since they were normally extra fond of each other.

“What’s up with you two?” Ruby asked after Yang stole a kiss while Blake wasn’t paying attention, making her ears twitch in surprise.

“What do you mean?” Blake asked, her cheeks blushing a soft red.

“You're like...extra lovey-dovey with each other.”

“I’m not allowed to love my girlfriend?” Yang asked, sharing a warm smile with Blake.

Shaking her head, Ruby decided that she probably didn’t want to know what was up with them. For all she knew, they were celebrating some sort of anniversary that should not be shared with siblings or any other family members. No thanks. Her ears didn’t need to bleed today! Then they’d probably rush her back to the hospital, and they’d have to start this whole thing all over again.

“How are you feeling?” Somehow, Blake managed to peel her attention away from Yang just long enough to ask Ruby that question.

“Good as new!” Flashing two thumbs up, Ruby grinned. “I feel like I could run a whole marathon and not get tired!”

“That’s great! Cuz I’ve been meaning to organize my shoes forever.”

Ruby stuck her tongue out at her sister when Yang laughed.

“I’m not gonna run around! But I feel fine,” Ruby added before glancing at the clock over the stove. “Shouldn’t you be leaving soon? I thought the concert was in an hour!”

“It is. And yes, we should be,” Blake answered before giving Yang a playful shove towards their room.

Tonight was the night of the Achievemen concert Weiss gave Yang tickets to. Thankfully, Blake had convinced Yang not to blast the albums on repeat all day long - something about how Blake didn’t want Yang to ‘wear out’ the songs before they heard the live versions. And there may have been a more violent threat whispered right after that, but it had been too low for Ruby to hear. It made Yang more than willing to agree though!

“This is gonna be the best night ever,” Yang said with a smile. “Just me, Blake, and backstage passes to meet the Achievemen. We’ll be close enough to see them sweat! Isn’t that awesome??”

The look on Blake’s face said that that was not at all awesome, but she nodded anyway.

When Yang got excited like this, her mood was impossible to dampen. A fire hose wouldn’t even be enough to calm her down. Ruby would love to try that out though, just in case. But it probably wouldn’t work, and then Yang would be mad that Ruby sprayed her with a fire hose.

“We even get to meet them after the show! Gonna get some autographs for sure,” Yang continued happily. “Next time you’ve gotta come, Ruby. You’d have a -”

The sentence abruptly cut off as Yang’s smile fell.

“Oh shoot! We need someone to watch Ruby if we’re gonna be gone!” Yang said, turning to Blake with an expression of concern.

“Yangggg, come on - I don’t need a babysitter!” Ruby whined. “I can take care of myself!”

“Uh huh...and what’re you gonna do if your brain tries to explode itself again?” Yang retorted.

“I’m pretty sure that won’t happen!”

“How sure?”

“I’m not a doctor!” Ruby replied, throwing her hands in the air in exasperation.

Following the conversation, Blake tapped her fingers thoughtfully against the countertop before intervening.

“I’m sure Weiss would be willing to come over,” she suggested. Ruby’s eyes widened at the idea - which was genius. Leave it to Blake to figure out the best solution ever.

“That’d be pretty cool if Weiss came over!” Ruby quipped, her happy endorsement making Yang smirk.

“Oh really? What was all that whining for then?”

Furrowing her brow, Ruby nodded her head as if she was seriously pondering her sister’s words. “I’ve reconsidered that, and...I think it would be a good idea to have someone here. Just in case.”

When Blake shook her head and Yang laughed, Ruby couldn’t help but smile.

“Ok, short stack.” Yang reached out and tried to rustle Ruby’s hair, but Ruby successfully dodged out of the way. “Why don’t you see if Weiss can come over now?”

Grinning at the question, she almost used her semblance to blast to her room to retrieve her scroll. But she didn’t. She walked quickly. Which was still so freaking slow. At this pace, the concert would be over by the time she reached her room, and then she’d never get to see Weiss.

It took a gazillion steps to get out of the kitchen and another quadrillion to make it down the hall, but she eventually made it to her room. Grabbing her scroll off the bed, she typed out a quick message.

‘Blake and Yang won’t leave for the concert unless someone is here to watch me. Can you come over?’

She only waited a few seconds for Weiss’ response to arrive - a very succinct ‘On my way.’ Weiss always had such concise answers. Even her messages were tidy - it was cute!

Er, it was...interesting. Which apparently meant the same thing as cute these days.

Beaming at what had unexpectedly become an awesome evening, Ruby decided to keep the scroll with her so that she wouldn’t have to cross Remnant to get it again. After another full day of walking, she flounced into the living room and caught her sister and Blake at the end of a kiss.

“She’s on her way!” Ruby announced, but her presence did nothing to put space between them.

Jeez...what happened to the days when they’d separate a little bit? Not that she cared - they were in love and happy. It was just weird to remember that there was actually a time when they’d acted completely different around her.

A lot had changed since then.

Ending the kiss and playing with Blake’s hair, Yang smirked and rolled her eyes at Ruby’s news. “Of course she’ll drop everything to get here right away...” she muttered.

“But someone will be here to watch Ruby,” Blake replied, taking Yang’s hand and pulling her towards their bedroom. “So now we can get ready to leave.”

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say someone is excited to see the Achievemen!” Yang called out, allowing Blake to pull her down the hallway. Ruby laughed at the idea that anyone but Yang liked that band, but she couldn’t hear Blake’s muffled response. She could imagine it though! It was probably something super clever and witty like ‘ha, you wish’ or ‘yeah, right’ or…

There was a reason why Blake was the witty one and not Ruby. She sucked at being witty under pressure!

Since it would take another year or two to walk to her room and back, Ruby hopped up onto the kitchen counter and waited for Weiss to get there. Because Weiss was coming over! Ruby had planned on spending her alone time in the workshop, but this was way better!

Even though they’d been in near constant communication via scroll, Ruby hadn’t seen Weiss since the hospital. That was only a couple of days ago, but it felt like they’d been apart forever. Sending messages was nice, but it was nothing compared to hanging out in person! A message didn’t have Weiss’ voice or her eyes...that would be really weird if they did though. Oh! They could video message! Although Ruby had to wonder if Weiss would be ok doing that. It wouldn’t be an option when Weiss was at work or doing something important, but maybe at other times?

Waiting for the time to pass, Ruby swung her feet and traced her fingers along the scar on her wrist. It had been a long time since her arm really hurt. Sometimes there was a slight achiness in it when she overused it, but even that was disappearing with time. The scar would never disappear though, which was fine with her. It gave her something to remember the injury by since she didn’t have the actual memories of it. Plus, scars were supposedly attractive, right? She’d heard Yang say something about that once...and she definitely agreed when thinking about the small scar that ran across Weiss’ eye.

Amongst all the interesting things Ruby had ever learned, one of the most interesting was how interesting Weiss was! She was basically...all thought-consuming. For the longest time, Ruby had had such a one track mind - it was training, training, training, and nothing else. Then bam! Weiss walked into their life, and suddenly she was all Ruby could think about.

Ok, Weiss hadn’t walked in with a bam. The door hadn’t made any sort of noise. And maybe it was more appropriate to say that Ruby now had a two-track mind. One track was reserved for training and becoming a huntress, but the other was exclusively for Weiss. Because Weiss was very, very...interesting.

Hearing Blake and Yang’s voices carrying out of the hall, Ruby looked up from her wrist. The two were dressed for a night on the town, as Yang liked to call it. Walking into the living room, they rummaged through the hallway closet for whatever shoes they were going to wear to the concert.

“Jeez Ruby - waiting for someone?” Yang teased while indiscriminately tossing several miscellaneous shoes out of the closet.

“It takes forever to walk anywhere!” Ruby complained, kicking her feet in exasperation.

“It only feels like forever because you’re used to moving twice as fast as regular people do,” Blake commented with an amused expression. Somehow, she’d already found her shoes and put them on when Ruby hadn’t noticed.

“Welcome to how the rest of the world feels!” Yang added with a cheeky grin.

“It sucks,” Ruby moped from the countertop. “You’re all so slow.”

Chuckling at the response, Blake walked over to the front door and opened it - revealing Weiss just stepping up onto the front porch. Not at all surprised that she hadn’t been able to knock, Weiss merely looked at Blake and shook her head in admiration.

“Hey Weiss,” Blake said with a sly smile as Ruby let out an ‘eep!’ and jumped down from the counter to greet their guest.

“Weiss!” she called out, meeting Weiss right inside the front door and pulling her into a quick hug. “I’m so glad you could make it!”

“Yes, we’re all very fortunate you could make it,” Blake added with a grin while handing Yang the second shoe she’d been searching for.

“Aha!” Yang exclaimed as she took it and slid it onto her foot. After checking her pockets and bag for the tickets, she gave Blake a thumbs up. “Now I’m ready!”

“Guess we can finally leave,” Blake teased, taking Yang’s hand and heading towards the door. “Getting you there on time will be an achievemen-t of its own.”

When Ruby groaned, Yang laughed and pulled Blake close to place a kiss between her ears.

“Have I mentioned that I love you today? Because I totally love you,” Yang remarked with a big grin before finally acknowledging Weiss’ presence. Her smile fell a bit, but she cleared her throat and spoke first.

“Uh, thanks for the tickets, Weiss,” she said, lifting her hand in a loose fist and making a motion like she wanted Weiss to bump it with her own. Weiss didn’t understand the gesture at first, but eventually caught on and lightly tapped her knuckles against Yang’s.

“You’re welcome,” she replied, managing a small smile of her own as Yang stepped outside with Blake.

“Oh yes, thank you for encouraging this unhealthy obsession,” Blake teased.

“Just wait, Blake. By the end of the night, you’ll be begging me for their albums.”

“Yes, so that I can burn them.”

Chuckling, Yang suddenly stopped and turned back to the house, pointing a finger towards Ruby and then Weiss.

“And you two - don’t do anything Blake and I wouldn’t do.”

“There are actually things you won’t do?” Ruby joked.

After making a face at Ruby, Yang pulled the door shut with a “Be back later!”

Left alone in the house, but still able to hear the two girls talking outside, Weiss turned and smiled at Ruby. Ruby’s excitement immediately shot through the ceiling - because Weiss was here! They got to spend the night together! Or like, maybe not the night, but at least until the concert ended.

“How are you feeling?” Weiss asked first. About an hour had passed since she’d asked that question, so it was exactly what Ruby expected.

“Perfectly peachy!” she replied with a big grin. “Absolutely amazing! Fantastically fantastic! Extra uh...excellent!”

Weiss pursed her lips at the slew of words.

“I’ve been asking that too much, haven’t I,” she said, her clear blue eyes saying that she already knew the answer to that question.

“Nope! Well, yeah, a lot, but I totally don’t mind!” Using her best ‘totally not minding’ face, Ruby successfully erased the concern from Weiss’.

“Well, how about I ask you a different question then?” Weiss asked with a hint of a smile that had Ruby hanging onto every word. “What would you like to do now?”

“Something Yang and Blake wouldn’t do!” Ruby immediately answered, throwing her hands up in the air in excitement. “So...clean, maybe?”

The joke made Weiss laugh - and Ruby really liked it when Weiss laughed. There was something so rewarding in seeing light blue eyes sparkle with joy and, for a brief moment, catching a glimpse of a different person - the cheerful, less poised version of Weiss peeking through every expression of true happiness.

If only there were a way to get Weiss to laugh more...then maybe that other version of her could stick around longer...

Oh! Ruby happened to know an extra-awesome and super-effective way to make someone to laugh oodles. Duh, why hadn’t she thought about this before? It was only something Yang did to Ruby all the time.

“I have an idea.”

“Really? What is it?”

Weiss’ willingness to hear the idea was super adorable, but Ruby didn’t need to say it out loud. Instead, she raised her hands and wiggled her fingers in the universal ‘I’m gonna tickle you’ gesture. Eyes instantly widening in recognition, Weiss took several steps away.

“Ruby…” Weiss’ voice was low with warning while she inched towards the living room. “Don’t you dare.”

When Ruby grinned and stepped forward, Weiss took another step back to match. But Weiss was backing into the living room, where there was very little opportunity to escape. The furniture would work perfectly in Ruby’s favor - allowing her to pen the girl in. And if she could get Weiss to the sofa, she would win. Ruby knew all of this from personal experience - on the losing side of things, of course.

Frozen in a draw, each of them waited for the other to make the first move. It was just like sparing! One of them had to move first, and the other would try to react in time.

Grinning at the comparison, Ruby decided to make the first move. She faked a step forward and to the left, which Weiss instantly reacted to, but Ruby was expecting that reaction. Planting her foot on the ground and quickly pivoting the other direction, she just barely managed to reach out and wrap her arms around Weiss before she slipped out of reach. Spinning around, Weiss tried to escape backwards, but all she managed to do was drag Ruby right along with her as they both collapsed awkwardly onto the sofa - which played right into Ruby’s advantage.

As soon as they hit the soft cushions, Ruby unwrapped her arms from around Weiss’ waist and tickled Weiss’ rib cage - by far the most ticklish spot for most people.

And, interestingly enough, Weiss was ‘most people.’ She let out the most adorable squeal Ruby had ever heard while struggling to get away from the tickling fingers.

“Ruby! You -!”

When Weiss’ words dissolved into uncontrollable laughter, Ruby grinned and continued the relentless onslaught of tickles. Weiss looked so happy right now, even as she squirmed and tried to free herself. But there was no way she was getting away from Ruby - Ruby was the tickle master-in-training! Or more of an apprentice.

Wiggling her fingers in between Weiss’ ribs, Ruby laughed as she dodged a flailing arm that almost whacked her in the head. She should’ve tickled Weiss way earlier!

“Alright! You -!” Weiss gasped before a few more giggles escaped. “R-Ruby you win!”

Hearing the magic word, Ruby immediately stopped and grinned down at Weiss, satisfied with the victory.

“God, Ruby - you...dolt,” Weiss huffed, trying to regain her breath while a soft red colored her cheeks. “You’re...trying to kill me…”

Even though Weiss was pretending to be annoyed, she was still smiling.

Weiss was really pretty when she smiled - a real smile and not those guarded ones she normally used. Like, she was really, really pretty. And when she was lightly panting through slightly parted lips, staring up at Ruby with intent blue eyes that seemed to see right through her, with the two of them intertwined on the sofa...it almost felt like Ruby could - or she should - lean down, closing the small gap between them and -

Coughing into her hand to clear that sudden thought from her mind, Ruby refocused on Weiss. On Weiss’ eyes, not her lips.

“Death by tickles, huh?” Ruby asked, sitting up in order to put some space between them and bury the random craving she’d just had.

“It’s possible,” Weiss replied with a serious expression as she sat up, too.

“Nuh uh -”

“Yes ‘huh,’ it’s happened before.”

Giggling, Ruby patted Weiss on the shoulder. “I’m not falling for that one!”

“Want to look it up?”

A smirk accompanied the question - marking it as a challenge. Ruby’s resolve wavered at the look. If Weiss was willing to look it up, maybe she was right. Or...maybe she was bluffing and hoped Ruby wouldn’t catch her. But that would be tricky. Was Weiss tricky?

Staring at Weiss for what felt like forever, Ruby searched icy blue eyes that were much warmer than their color implied. There had to be a hint in there somewhere...something that gave away whether or not Weiss was bluffing…

When Ruby narrowed her eyes, Weiss playfully narrowed hers in turn.

If Weiss was lying, what would give it away? Would it be in her eyes? Would they slightly squint or change color? Would her pupils be a little bigger than usual, or would she have the tiniest hint of a smile?

Suddenly stumbling over the answer, Ruby beamed in delight. There was one. Weiss had a tell!

“Ok,” Ruby replied, sitting nice and straight on the sofa cushion. “Let’s look it up then.”

Weiss was good. Very composed. She hardly flinched at Ruby’s words, but when Ruby reached for Weiss’ scroll to put this matter to rest, a hand shot out to stop her.

“Wait.”

Ruby beamed at the single word, ready to accept her tiny triumph while Weiss looked baffled at how her bluff had been called.

“Alright, you got me. How did you know?”

“You have a tell, Weiss!” Ruby exclaimed, more excited about finding that than about being right. But her words only made Weiss blink in confusion.

“A...tell?”

“Yeah! A tell - like something you do when you’re lying! I just figured it out!”

“What??” Weiss asked in shock. “I do not have a tell.”

“You totally do!”

“Then what is it?”

Sensing the trap and successfully hopping over it instead of falling into it, Ruby shook her head - sending her hair flying all over the place.

“No way - I’m not telling you! Then you’ll just stop doing it!”

“But...you have to tell me!”

“Why?” she asked, laughing at Weiss’ miffed expression.

“Because! I...you...you just should!”

“That’s super not convincing!” Ruby replied gleefully. “But maybe you can persuade me to part with my secrets?” When Ruby playfully batted her eyes, Weiss looked more shocked than anything else.

“How?”

“I dunno. What’s something really awesome that I might want?”

When the question made Weiss blush and turn away, Ruby’s cheeks warmed up too. Had Weiss just thought about what Ruby had just thought about? Or something completely different? Something better?

What had Weiss just thought??

“I’m not sure…” Weiss mumbled before turning back to Ruby - the moment of indecision already gone and replaced by a more assured persona. “One million chocolate chip cookies.”

Ruby burst into giggles at the offer. Because yes, that was amazing and yes, that was something she’d want, but also because Weiss looked so serious about it! Like this was some business deal and she’d literally hand over a million cookies in exchange for the information.

But Ruby couldn’t be bought so easily! Well, maybe normally she could, but not this time!

“Noooo thank you!”

The reply made Weiss’ mouth fall open in surprise.

“You’re turning down a million cookies,” she stated in disbelief while Ruby nodded, pleased with her random thread of self-control.

“Yup! I think this information is much more valuable than that. Plus, I don’t think I could eat them all before they went bad!”

Maybe she could, but that was an awful lot of cookies. What would that even look like? Would they fill her room? The whole house? The neighborhood would probably smell like heaven! How much milk would she need to eat that many cookies? They’d have to get their own cow! She’d name him Herman. Wait - did boy cows make milk?

While Ruby contemplated the logistics of receiving one million cookies, Weiss tapped one finger against her knee, furrowed her brow, and bit her lip in the most adorable display of concentration as she tried to figure out how to pry the information from Ruby.

“What do you want…?”

The question wasn’t directed at Ruby - it was more like Weiss said it to herself while trying to find the answer in Ruby’s eyes.

What did Ruby want? She wanted a lot of things! But knowing when Weiss was trying to lie would probably be super valuable. Maybe she’d be willing to exchange the information for…

Instantly blushing when her brain jumped to something she would absolutely give up the secret for, Ruby averted her eyes and blew a puff of air through her lips.

Why was that her answer? Why was she thinking about that so much right now? Hopefully Weiss’ superpowers didn’t include mind reading. Otherwise Ruby was in for a world of first-class embarrassment right...about…

Now.

When Weiss’ finger kept tapping her knee and nothing else happened, Ruby grinned and wrapped her arms around her legs.

“I can’t think of anything!” she remarked. It was a fib. A big, fat one. There was one thing she couldn’t stop thinking of right now, but there was no way she could ask for that! No, she’d just keep the information safe and sound for now.

“Nothing?”

“Nope! Plus, I like knowing something about you that no one else does. Even you!”

That last part was the truth. Knowing this information made Ruby special, and she really, really liked the idea that she was special - at least, she wanted to be special when it came to Weiss.

Tilting her head to one side, Weiss stared at Ruby for a long time. Obviously, she hadn’t expected Ruby to be so difficult to crack. Which was probably smart thinking - it wasn’t every day Ruby found the resolve to turn down a million cookies! She’d probably take that deal ninety-nine times out of a hundred. Weiss was just unlucky tonight.

“But maybe I’ll tell you one day!” Ruby added with a grin. Weiss stared for a few more seconds before smiling and shaking her head.

“You’re obviously feeling better.”

“Yup! I’m great!”

“Good. Because I really don’t want to take you to the hospital again.”

“And you’re telling the truth!” Ruby added playfully, making Weiss’ eyes narrow in thought once more.

“You won’t tell anyone, will you?”

“You think I’d turn down a million cookies and then just hand this priceless knowledge out for nothing?? No way!” Shaking her head, Ruby added, “They’d have to offer me something better!”

“Such as…?”

“Uh, such as…” Racking her brain, she tried to come up with anything that could possibly be better. It was really hard! Weiss had nailed that offer even if Ruby hadn’t accepted it.

“Yang would have to shave her head!” Ruby said before laughing at how funny it would be to see her sister with no hair. “Oh! Or, Blake would have to let me take Gambol Shroud apart and tinker with him for an entire - three days!”

That last one was quite enticing, too!

Chuckling lightly, Weiss shook her head.

“So never.”

“Basically. It’s cookies or bust.”

Satisfied with that answer, Weiss nodded and leaned against the sofa. Ruby collapsed backwards too, grinning all the while. Being around Weiss was always really fun and...easy. It was kind of weird because they hadn’t known each other that long, but they were already pretty comfortable around one another! Maybe they hadn’t known each other for years like some friends did, but that didn’t matter, right? As long as they had a good time together, they could be great friends!

This ‘making friends’ thing was easier than she’d thought. It probably helped that Weiss already knew Yang, but Ruby would take all the help she could get.

With their shoulders barely touching, Ruby waited for a few seconds in silence before deciding that she needed to say something. She was the host, after all! It was important to keep guests entertained and not bore them to death. And it was possible to bore someone to death - look it up!

“So we did what I wanted to do...now what do you wanna do?” she asked, shifting in her seat to look at Weiss.

“I thought I was supposed to watch you.”

“You’re just going to sit there and look at me?”

Smiling, Weiss shrugged at the question. “Sure, that wouldn’t bother me one bit. But is there anything else you’d like to do?”

That was a great question. What did Ruby want to do? There were so many choices! The world was their oyster! Except that they probably shouldn’t leave the house, and Ruby wasn’t allowed to do anything more physical than shuffle her feet across the floor.

The world was their slightly-restricted oyster!

There were still lots of great options though. They could go for a walk around the house - that would take them into next century. Or they could go into the garage and work on something - maybe Weiss would want to work on a project with Ruby? That’d be cool! Or they could hide Yang’s shoes outside. Or...

“Oh!” Ruby exclaimed when an idea popped into her head. “I know! We can practice my hand-eye coordination! Can you use your glyph-things to throw stuff at me? Do they work like that?”

When Ruby hopped off the sofa, Weiss’s eyes followed her.

“Yes...but throw what ‘stuff’ at you?”

“Um…” Unsure about an answer, Ruby glanced around. What was small and a good projectile?

Leaving the sofa behind, she walked into the kitchen and started opening drawers in search of something to use. “Aha!” she remarked in success, pulling a handful of silverware out of the drawer and turning back to Weiss. “How ‘bout these?”

Looking from the silverware to Ruby and back again, Weiss’ expression was one of pure incredulity.

“Let me get this straight...Yang made you invite me over to make sure you don’t end up back in the hospital, but you want me to shoot knives at you and hope you can catch them before they impale you?”

“Yeah!”

Smiling, Weiss shook her head. “No...I’m not going to do that.”

Her balloon of excitement deflating, Ruby dropped the silverware onto the table as Weiss stood and joined her in the kitchen. Moving with an air of determination, Weiss methodically searched through the drawers herself before pulling open the fridge and rummaging around inside. A few seconds later, she emerged with a bag of grapes in hand.

“I would be willing to throw these at you though,” she said with a pleased grin.

See? This was why Weiss was so much smarter than Ruby.

“Yes!”

Pumping one fist in victory, Ruby slowly and carefully made her way back to the living room and stood in front of the television. Ok, that was a lie. She kind of, sort of ran-hopped. But Yang wasn’t around to say whether or not it was too fast. A speed limit was useless unless there was a cop around to hand out tickets!

That didn’t mean Ruby was dumb enough to use her semblance though. One runaway petal and she’d be as good as caught red-handed.

With Ruby in place, Weiss took a seat on the sofa and set the bag of grapes on the cushion beside her (the coffee table had yet to be replaced after its unfortunate accident). Carefully plucking one grape out of the bag, she held it up for Ruby to see.

“Are you ready?”

Rubbing her hands together, Ruby nodded and focused on the small, green orb between Weiss’ fingers. Nodding in return, Weiss tossed the grape towards Ruby in a slow, meandering arc.

Ruby was about to complain that that was way too easy - then a white/blue glyph appeared out of nowhere. The instant the grape hit the glyph’s surface, it shot off at a completely different angle and nailed Ruby in the side like a friendly version of a mini rocket.

“Wow!” she exclaimed, watching the grape roll away from her before turning back to Weiss. “That was super fast!”

“Did you think I’d take it easy on you?”

Stunned by the response, Ruby looked at the grape on the floor before grinning at Weiss. There was a playful sparkle in Weiss’ eyes that suggested Ruby should’ve known better than to expect such an easy game.

Well, she knew better now!

“Ok,” she said, bending her knees and raising her hands in preparation. “I’m really ready this time. No more drops!”

Nodding, Weiss held another grape up so Ruby could see. This time Ruby made sure to focus all her attention on the tiny orb - every single bit of focus she had in her entire body.

In not-really slow motion, Weiss drew her hand back and let it fly.

Determined to catch this one, Ruby pinpointed the grape in the air and figured out its trajectory - but the game didn’t stop there. At the first glimpse of white, she locked onto the glyph as it appeared and determined the angle it was pointing in relation to the grape. As soon as the two met, Ruby shot her hand out to where she anticipated the grape would go and closed her fingers around the squishy object.

“Aha!” she cried out in success, holding up the grape in victory.

“Good job,” Weiss congratulated her with a smile.

“Yes!” Ruby exclaimed, hopping with joy. “Blake’s gotta watch out - she’s not the only ninja anymore! Ruby Rose is the sneakiest of sneaky in this house now!”

Ruby waved her hands around like a ninja - making karate chops in the air - before a small object bounced off her side. Looking around in surprise and finding another grape rolling away, she turned back to the sofa and found Weiss trying to stifle her laughter.

“Looks like you missed one, Miss Ninja.”

Playfully narrowing her eyes, Ruby popped the grape into her mouth and raised her hands at the ready.

“Oh, you think you’re soooo good at throwing grapes and stuff?” she teased. “Bring it on!”

“You’re not ready for this.”

“I totally am! You’re not ready for this!”

When Weiss arched one brow at the lame comeback, Ruby shook her head.

“Or something more witty than that! Just - let’s see what you’ve got!”

Waving her hands around like the world’s most skilled goalkeeper, Ruby watched Weiss prepare for the next round of this battle between two equally matched foes. Equally matched, as in one of them was not better than the other.

Maybe Ruby should be concerned by the handful of grapes Weiss was holding in one hand...but she wasn’t! She was slick as a ninja! Quick as a cat! More Blake references!

Squeaking in surprise when Weiss threw not one but two grapes in the air, Ruby watched as two glyphs pointing in different directions successfully pelted both grapes into her on opposite sides.

Ok, so Weiss was pretty good at this.

“Lucky shot!” Ruby called out before ducking as a grape whizzed over her head.

She managed to catch one out of the next three grapes thrown her way, but the moment she paused to say “Aha!” two more ricocheted off of her back. Her back! Tossing the grape at Weiss - who deftly dodged out of the way - Ruby yelped while trying to catch two more, but they flew into her instead.

If this was a competition, Weiss was winning. It wasn’t even close. But it was still equally matched.

Ruby was going to catch the next one, but then the glyph rotated at the last second and sent the grape spinning off of her shoulder. And the next grape stuck to the glyph for a half second longer than expected, the white patterns swirling together before firing the grape like a shot out of a cannon.

Every time Ruby squealed when a grape hit her, Weiss laughed. And every time Weiss laughed, Ruby couldn’t help but laugh too.

Laughing made it a lot harder to focus on the flying missiles, but she started having more success after the first dozen or so grapes. Whenever she managed to catch one, she’d throw it at Weiss - only for it to fly right back at twice the speed.

She was losing the battle and the war, but it didn’t matter when she was having so much fun.

“Ok!” she finally called out, raising her hands in surrender (which only exposed her ribs for Weiss to hit with two last-second grapes). “Ok, I give up! You win!”

Slowly lowering her hands, Ruby beamed when she saw Weiss’ twinkling eyes and amused smile.

“So you’ve had enough?”

Ruby smiled when she saw the tease in Weiss’ eyes.

Most of the time, Weiss was calm and collected. But right now, she was...playful. It was like she’d briefly let go of whatever plagued her and allowed herself to be happy and free.

Playful, happy Weiss was now one of Ruby’s favorite things…

Looking at the floor littered with grapes, Ruby bent down to collect a handful for herself.

“Hey, it’s not that easy!” she replied while standing up with her ammunition. “Why don’t you try? Teach me your ways, oh wise one.”

Ever a good sport, Weiss nodded and stood from the sofa. Crouching slightly, she raised both hands like Ruby had just been doing. After taking a brief moment to appreciate Weiss’ super cute expression of concentration, Ruby looked down at the grapes in her hand.

She didn’t have super cool glyphs like Weiss did. She had her speed, but that wasn’t helpful in this situation - not that she was allowed to use her semblance anyway. But what she lacked in awesome glyphs, she made up for in ingenuity!

She could throw just one grape, but that wouldn’t be a challenge. Two would also be pretty easy…

Fortunately, she had the element of surprise on her side - because she had a doozy of a plan!

Picking up a solitary grape, Ruby held it in her left hand and swung her arm back like she was going to throw it. But, at the same moment she let that grape fly, she shot her other hand forward and threw the entire fistful of grapes at Weiss at once.

It was brilliantly executed.

As was the glyph Weiss formed in front of her to capture all of the grapes in midair.

Catching the flash of a smirk on Weiss’ lips, Ruby instinctively covered her head and turned as the grapes pelted into her - every single one of them bouncing off of her before falling to the floor.

Only when the barrage ended did Ruby lower her hands and start giggling - looking over to the sofa to find Weiss laughing too. And laughing Weiss was just...the best.

“How did you know I was gonna do that??” Ruby asked through her giggles, only for Weiss to smile and shrug.

“It seemed like something you would do.”

“Uh oh.”

“What?” Weiss asked, her expression quickly turning to one of concern.

“You know me too well,” Ruby concluded with a grin. Relaxing, Weiss returned the grin with a smile - another one of those amazing smiles that reached her eyes and made them shine with joy.

Ruby loved seeing that - she loved it when Weiss smiled so freely. She loved it when Weiss relaxed and had fun. And she loved being able to bring out this side of Weiss, if only for a few seconds at a time.

Ruby would’ve shared that smile forever, but Weiss eventually broke eye contact and looked at the mess of grapes on the floor. As she did so, her walls slid back into place, and the carefree version of Weiss slipped away.

It was a fast change, and it left Ruby with a strange feeling of loss - but she wasn’t discouraged. If Weiss was still here, there was nothing to be discouraged about.

“Oh! I have an idea!” Ruby said as a plan popped into her mind. Runn - walking quickly to the fridge, she pulled out a carton before rushing back to the living room and pressing it into Weiss’ hands.

“What’s way more awesome than grapes?” she asked, grinning at her genius idea.

Looking down at the carton in her hands, Weiss then looked at Ruby in disbelief.

“You can’t be serious -”

“Deadly serious! Come on - it’ll be fun!” Pressing her palms together, Ruby begged with her eyes - using the best set of puppy dog eyes she had.

After briefly biting her lip, Weiss fought back a smile while pulling two eggs from the carton and setting the rest on the floor by her feet. Holding one of the fragile items up in the air, she gave Ruby a playfully serious expression that did little to mask her enjoyment of the situation.

“You’d better catch these.”

Taking the words as acceptance of the idea, Ruby giggled in delight while hopping over to her spot in front of the TV.

Honestly, she didn’t care if she caught the eggs or not. All that mattered right now was that the happy version of Weiss was back.

#rwby #white rose #weiss schnee #ruby rose #what defines us

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alexisbundy1-blog · 6 years

Text

[this post is just for kicks]

ok so i have a playlist called junior (go follow it) that contains almost all the songs i have discovered this year. here are some of my favourites:

“Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)” - Kate Bush I first discovered Kate Bush the summer before freshman year. I don’t remember how, but it most definitely links back to having the knowledge that she had a song entitled “Wuthering Heights.” (Sound familiar?) Afterwards, the words “Kate Bush” became a part of my music vocabulary. Did you know she wrote “Wuthering Heights” at 18 years old, became the first woman to ever have a number-one hit in the UK, AND was only 19 when the song hit the charts? When I’m 19, my biggest accomplishment will be doing my own laundry. ANYWAY - so after two years of being a Kate Bush fan, I noticed that her acclaimed album Hounds of Love was finally on Spotify and decided to give it a listen. Her artist page showed that this one song was one of her most popular, so I gave it a go. Not to be hyperbolic, but this song rocked my world. I mean, I knew Kate Bush was one of the coolest people ever, but this song just took her radness to a new level. The synths, the power of her vocals, the lyrics, the video(!!!). Kate Bush is just a tour de force. I love her, and so should you. And also she should have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year. Just saying.

“Personal Jesus” - Depeche Mode So technically I first heard this song over the summer but...who cares...I was technically a junior. First of all, this song goes HARD. Between the bassline and the sporadic interjections of synth, “Personal Jesus” is just simply a tune. It makes you feel badass, even if the lyrics don’t really align with that feeling, and I wish I could provide some more persuasive evidence as to why it’s so good, but you have to listen to it yourself. It’s just...a tune. That’s all.

“Edge of Seventeen” - Stevie Nicks Okay so I’m relatively embarrassed to say that I only heard this song in July...and it initially struck me because it shared the same bassline as a Destiny’s Child song...sorry, Stevie. But it’s such a good song!!!! Fun fact: the title comes from a discussion Stevie had with the late, great Tom Petty’s wife, who said she had been in love with Tom since she was the age of seventeen; however, she had a southern drawl, so it sounded as though she was saying “edge of seventeen.” And the rest is history. And you should listen to this song if you haven’t already. Another badass song with a wobbling bassline and cool female vocals.

“Praying” - Kesha No offense to Madison, but I’ve been the Kesha fan from day one. Don’t even @ me. Like, Kesha posters everywhere in my room, buying Kesha albums in secret (my mother wasn’t a fan), knowing all the words to her songs - the works. So when Kesha released this TUNE in late July/August, not only was the world shook - I was so shaken. I was like, “Is this Miss Ke-dollar sign-ha???? Is this Kesha Rose Sebert???” First of all, I was literally in pieces when Kesha’s court case ruling came out, and then she dropped this song and I was like “Adios.” I always knew Kesha was a ~talented songstress~ but her vocals on this song...I cry every time. WHY DIDN’T IT WIN A GRAMMY.

“God Bless America - and All the Beautiful Women In It” - Lana Del Rey No offense....but Lana Del Rey dropped the best album of the year (tied w/ DAMN. again don’t @ me) and it is also the best album of her career. There are a lot of fabulous songs on this album but this is my favourite. It’s so subtly political yet so ethereal. The vocals and guitar on this song just soar. I love Lana so much <3

basically Dua Lipa’s whole debut album - Dua Lipa I’ve been a Dua fan since summer 2016 and when she dropped this album she also drop-kicked me to another planet. Prior to the album’s release, she released hit after hit and I was over here like “Thank u Dua for blessing us with ur killer vocals and ur mega tunes” and THEN she had the AUDACITY to just rock my world with this album. Is it Dark Side of the Moon? No. Is it still a great pop album?? Yes. And do the songs go hard?? They go hard. No offense but every song on this album - even the bad ones (*cough* “Room for 2″) - are better than “Shape of You” and YET who won the Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Performance?? Not Dua Lipa the true winner. Anyway if you have a chance just listen to the whole album. My favourite songs are-jk I love them all. Except for “Room for 2″ just ignore that one.

“Bodak Yellow” - Cardi B ....do i really need to speak on this one...

“Go Gina” - SZA I am still so offended that the Recording Academy snubbed SZA’s debut album but WHATEVER IT’S FINE. This song is about halfway through the album, and it serves as a slight interlude. But it’s my favourite. It’s succinct, it’s gorgeous, it references Martin. SZA is so talented and deserves the world.

“Raspberry Beret” - Prince I first heard this song on the last episode of She’s Gotta Have It, the TV reincarnation of the Spike Lee film. I was a Prince fan, but this song just gave me a new respect for him. It’s not necessarily in the lyrics, but the music is just insane. There’s a combination of Prince’s signature guitar-and-synth combo, but then there’s a harmonica-type instrument as well that ties into Prince’s ventures to an abandoned farm/barn. This is a good memory of Prince.

“Best Friend” - Sofi Tukker Can I just say...this song deserves better. I know a lot of people have heard it in iPhone ads and whatnot, but Sofi Tukker is just such an amazing group and this was the first song I heard by them and they are so talented. This song just truly goes hard. I’m upset I don’t hear it more often. The wobble of such a strong bassline adds so much energy to an already enthusiastic song. It’s a great mainstream introduction to Sofi Tukker.

the entire Black Panther soundtrack again...do i really need to speak on this....

every song on the Call Me By Your Name soundtrack but especially the Sufjan Stevens songs ok so it’s common knowledge that this movie has damaged me forever, but you know what else damaged me? the soundtrack. who else gets away with intertwining classical piano music and euro eighties hits and sufjan stevens songs? no one except for luca guadagnino. so let’s briefly discuss,,,,first of all i had actually never listened to a psychedelic furs song before and i feel like that’s embarrassing especially for me so “love my way” was just such a wow moment for me. great pop song with great lyrics that truly pertain to the movie. excellent choice. also my new favourite song “paris latino” by bandolero is just so campy and european and eighties. what a tune. and the opening song, “hallelujah junction” by john adams, is just so gorgeous. it’s such a fabulous opener. now lets talk about sufjan stevens....we’re first introduced to his music in the movie with a remix of his song “futile devices.” this remix is so ethereal and stunning; it fits so perfectly within the movie. then there’s the happy little ditty “mystery of love” that basically should have won the oscar but then i saw coco and “remember me” made me cry so i wasn’t too mad. not much to say about this one because it speaks for itself. great song. now,,..,.,.,.”visions of gideon”.....,.,.,this song is so offensive. every time i listen to it i want to sit in front of a fire place for the whole duration of the song and CRY over my lover who is getting married and teaches at columbia. it’s so delicate and haunting. it just makes me cry.

“Lemon” - N.E.R.D & Rihanna idk about you guys but i heard this on the radio like once and i was so offended by how little airplay it received because this song is just so amazing. like pharrell + rihanna = modern musical genius. this was all the world needed.

“This is America” - Childish Gambino I know literally the entire population of Earth is talking about this song but I think the visuals are the more intriguing part (obviously). Like on its own, the song is great, but the music video adds way more to it, in my opinion. As it has been said numerous times, you really have to watch the video multiple times to catch everything, but it’s such a stunning video that really forces you to think and comprehend everything going on. Props to you, Donald Glover. Even though you have been slightly problematic in the past.

so obviously i could have like a gazillion songs listed here but a) some of them are hard to explain b) i don’t want to offend anyone and c) i tried to make it seem like my taste in music is both good and slightly mainstream so people can #relate. i also discovered a lot of bruce springsteen within this period and i am proud of myself for doing so. okay, well i hope it’s noted that i did this just for fun and would obviously not like to be graded on it i just kind of wanted to have something to reflect on the year! unlike my actual blog post for this month. and i just wanted to have a platform to talk about music and get people to listen to my playlist. ok see you!! go read my real blog post!!

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notorious-fiction · 7 years

Text

The Christmas Prince (A Whoever You Want to Read With One-Shot)

You two had made a deal.

Shook hands and all, very solemn looks on your faces, promising one another a very simple thing.

No gift exchanging on Christmas day.

(You'd just been laid off your job and it sucked balls, and he knew money was a bit short on your end and also knew you would never, in a gazillion years accept any money from him, so he started to come up with a bunch of lame ass excuses to make you feel a bit better.)

("It's cliché", he had snorted when you touched the subject "Exchanging Christmas gifts. Ugh. It was meaningful before but now it's just another "especial" date that lost it's core value to boost capitalism. I mean, you can be a crappy boyfriend all year round as long as you buy your girl an extra glittery Hallmark card and a Tiffany Bracelet, right?")

("Right." You had agreed, although not really, because as much as you found sexy as fuck when he used pretty words - core value, damn - you still flipping loved Christmas and looked forward to it all year long.)

So no gift exchanging it was.

You'd spend Christmas day with you family and he would spend it with his - you knew how rare it was for him to take some time to see them - but the day before, the 24th, you had him all to your own.

Just "a casual dinner, the two of us" (his words, not yours) with some "classic Christmas movies, deal with it, loser" (your words, not his) at your place.

Going out was a real pain nowadays, with the whole paps, fangirls, Snapchatters, etc thing, so to save yourself from the stress (how come he never failed to look like a Goddamn model on those candids whilst you looked like you were about to sneeze? Ugh.), staying in it was.

In, with no gifts.

Or at least you thought so, because mid afternoon on December 24th your iPhone seemed to gain a life of its own, all your social media accounts on a frenzy of notifications as, oh well, your famous as fuck of a boyfriend was spotted loading a box the size of a small poney into his car.

("She is so lucky!!!!!!")

("What did he get herrrrrrr i'd be happy just with his dick on box and by the size of it its prob that lol")

("Ugh i hope its a bomb")

(Insert other very sweet comments here.)

You controlled the urge to text him (going against your über curious personality with all the strenghth your posessed), instead focusing on the fact that you were...

Fucked.

Because whilst your boyfriend was on the posession of a very big, flashy box (what you had no idea what was inside, Christ, what the hell was inside of it?!), you were in the posession of...

"How The Grinch Stole Christmas", "Elf" and "The Polar Express".

(All masterpieces, in your humble opinion.)

And the phone of the thai take out two blocks from your place.

(Best pad thai and sticky rice ever.)

(Plus it gave tons of free sriracha packets! Yay for free stuff!)

But seriously, what the fuck were you supposed to give to a human being who seemed to have absolutely everything?!

It'd be stupid to give him clothes - he got those for free -, you had no idea what his shoesize was (did that make you a horrible girlfriend? oops) and anything else you could think of was undoubtely lame.

What if you made him something?

Okay so you didn't know how to draw or paint or knit or rhyme or write a song or do anything that required a minimum artistic vein slash handicraft talent but you could...

Try?

Throwing your body on the couch, your laptop literally on your lap, you sat on your ultimate comfy position - which he had lovingly nicknamed "Cirque Du Soleil's contortionist catching up on reality TV on it's free time" or "how you don't have a back problem is beyond me" (when he said that last one he totally reminded you of your mom) -, typing on the words that were responsible for many delayed papers at Uni and scurries off the house whilst almost tripping on your shoes as you were late as fuck.

Pinterest dot com.

(A blessing and a curse to womankind, honestly.)

D. I. Y.

(Do it yourself.)

(Although you actually never did.)

Scrolling down the screen - DIY baking soda shampoo! DIY mosaic tile birdbath using recycled DVD's! DIY Glittery Bath Bombs! - you noticed that all of them seemed to involve stuff everyone apparently had at home except you like glue guns or spray paint or Scrabble tile holders (...seriously) so after five minutes of Pinterest searching, you sighed in defeat.

(Hard effort wasn't your forte, you had to admit.)

Even friendship bracelets are a hard task to accomplish when you have the skills of a three year old toddler and if you actually purchased a glue gun you could already picture yourself glueing nothing but your own fingers and spending Christmas Day at the ER.

But you did have glitter glue, and that wasn't so dangerous was it?

You also had an old, slightly crumpled piece of cardboard and a "DIY Easy Glittery Hallmark card tutorial!" (snort) at your screen, so you decided to give it a go.

If it came out okay you'd be able to give him as an ironic gift?

("Oh hey, I know you gave me a super awesome/expensive/fancy/cool/thoughtful - insert whatever the hell could be inside that massive box here Christ the curiosity was killing you - but ha-ha-ha remember that snark you made about glittery Hallmark cards?! Instead of giving money to the greedy capitalist men I made one myself, how about that?! Aren't I the Best Girlfriend Ever?!?!?!")

And if it came out like crap you could, y'know, throw it in the bin...

...So of course it came out like crap.

Because you somehow managed to put more glitter glue on the tip of your fingers than on the goddamn cardboard, more glitter glue on your clothes as you absentmindedly rubbed your hands on it as you tried to think of what the hell you could do to save your "Merry Christmas" masterpiece.

(Trash.) (That was how you could save it, your dignity, your boyfriend's poor eyes and your dignity.)

(By throwing your masterpiece on the garbish.)

(Fuck ironic gifts.)

Of course that instead of coming up with another idea after the Glittery-DIY-Hallmark-Card fiasco, your procrastinator side spoke louder, and click after click after click you found yourself going deeper and deeper of that pit called Pinterest, until you blazed on a section you'd never dared to venture on before.

The recipe session.

There were gooey chocolate chip bars, chocolate fudge brownies, kale and artichokes dip, quinoa fried "rice" (...why would someone all it fried "rice" if it had no rice in it only quinoa, you wondered...) and everything made your mouth water and stomach growl and you deeply wished there was someone who could make it for you.

Everything sounded too tempting (and too hard and with too many fancy ingredients and kitchen appliances you'd never even heard of) until you found...

"Easy adaptable chocolate chip cookies with ingredients everyone has at home!!!!! Can be made vegan gluten/lactose/nut/anythying free paleo atkins insert random diet you'd never heard of before here"

Well...

Following a recipe wouldn't be that hard... Would it?

Especially when you could sub eggs for oil if you didn't have any or oil for mashed banana or mashed banana for applesauce or applesauce for honey or honey for agave which were all obviously so much alike, right?

Throwing everything you had into a single bowl - did you mention it was a single bowl recipe? Seriously, it could not get any better, your dishes-washing-hater-side thought - you frowned as you compared your final result to the one on the screen.

Pinterest's batter: gooey but firm, looked so good you wouldn't mind spooning it raw directly into your mouth.

Your batter: two year old's diarrhea, you wouldn't want to spoon it raw directly into your mouth not even if they paid you.

You somehow managed to put little (balls, on Pinterest, blobs, sounded more accurate to your situation) blobs of the batter onto the baking sheet and onto the oven, too busy freaking out slash trying to understand what the hell you did wrong (ooh two american cups of flour? what were american cups? weren't your cups american? why america has to control everything for god's sake?!) to notice the door being unlocked, only realising you had company when you heard an amused chuckle behind you.

Turning around so quick you almost broke your neck - fouet filled with sticky disgusting batter held in hand in a threatingly way - you found him staring, all long legs and perfect hair and mocking grin and...

Empty hands?

Where the hell was the box the size of a toddler he was seen loading into his car?!

Goddamit, internet!

(And why did you feel a lil' bit disappointed I mean...)

(...you had him, hadn't you?)

(Best Christmas Gift Ever, am I right.)

"Hi."

"Hi. Were you..." A cute little frown appeared between his brows, pearly white teeth still on show as he asked "Baking?"

Getting a bit defensive - why did he have to sound so confused/terrified? - you dropped the fouet on the sink, replying "Yes, why?"

"Oh, for nothing! I mean, it smells..."

(Awful.)

"Pretty good."

(Damn, he was a liar.)

Leaning to check the oven temperature just one more time - I mean, better safe than sorry, you couldn't push your luck (any further) - you ignored your boyfriend's stare (a cute little smirk on his lips because well, he thought it was cute how you hadn't noticed the chocolate batter on your chin or how you wore an apron thrice your size), asking maybe a little too cheery "So, how's your Christmas eve going so far?"

( "...Loading too many big ass boxes onto your car?", you rhymed mentally.)

"Well, not too good I mean, I only got to see my lovely lady today." He replied with a charming smile, expecting for you to giggle - alright, fine, he knew you weren't one to giggle, or at least give him love eyes.

You squinted skeptically.

...Okay.

"Empty handed, I see."

"Yeah, kinda glad we decided to skip on that Christmas madness. Had to help a mate out with picking up a complete set of one of those fancy Le Creuset cooking things. Said his girlfriend would love it." He added with a scoff, rolling his eyes "I told him that if I gave you anything kitchen related you'd throw it in my head, but seeing you're apparently into cooking now..." He paused, pursing his lips "Should I write it down as a suggestion for your birthday?"

Her mind went black.

Kitchen appliances.

His mate was giving his girlfriend freakin' casseroles and frying pans.

(Oh poor girl.)

(Poor, poor girl.)

(The disappointment when she opened that huge heavy box.)

(Damn.)

And you had been freaking out the entire day thinking he'd gotten you something big and awesome and you'd look like the awful ungrateful girlfriend.

Man, that ugly glittery card would look like heaven next yo, y'know... Nothing.

"If you ever give me a damn casserole pan I shall rip off your little buddy of you, cut it into tiny little pieces, cook them in the freakin' thing and serve you for dinner." You stated, and he replying, giving you a kiss on the forehead "Aw, see? I know you so well."

God, you were glad he didn't get you anything.

Because being with him was the best gift you could've ever asked for.

(Insert vomiting and cringing here.)

(Fuck you never thought you would be THIS gross and disgusting and loving about any human being in your life after your miserable string of awful break-ups.)

(Yet there you were, with your very own prince charming.)

(Yup, that was it, you guys would be watching The Christmas Prince on Netflix.)

You showed your appreciation by getting on the tips of your toes and pecking him on the lips, the little wrinkle of confusion between his forehead making you want to kiss him even more.

(How was possible for someone to be so cute slash sexy at the same damn time?)

(Seriously.)

(Ugh.)

But then, maybe you'd been too distracted by his pouty pink lips - no chapstick or anything, you wondered how the hell he managed to get them always so soft and puffy and kissable - to check the oven...

And the whole room started to smell a bit smokey.

And look a bit smokey.

"Fuck, my Pinterest cookies!" You squealed, startling him.

You were sort of thankful your fire alarm wasn't working so well, because if the firemen showed up because you almost burned your kitchen down, your landlord would have (even more) reasons to hate you.

"It looks... Edible." Your boyfiend said matter of fact, poking one of your cookies at the tray with the tip of his fingers with brows furrowed.

They looked like baby alien fetus.

(Edible, in some outer galaxy cultures, probably.)

"Want to try them?" You knew by the raise of his eyebrow that it was a challenge, a thing you rarely passed.

Daringly, you got one - dropping it back to the tray because damn they were hot -, trying it again after a few seconds of you two staring at each other with "Who Shall Quit First" eyes.

Was he going to make you eat them first?

By the fake tight ass smile he was giving you, he was...

So with the biggest grin you could muster, you squeaked "Merry Christmas baby! I made these for you! Hope you like them!"

(Or at least don't get food poisoning and die! Please don't get food poisoning and die! I kinda really really really really really like you!)

(And if you die because of me slash my cookies your fans will murder me!)

With a small gulp, he picked one of the alien fetus cookies, shaking it off so they wouldn't be "too hot and burn his tongue" for about three minutes.

You kinda knew he was trying to make as many tiny pieces of it fall out so he'd eat as less of a cookie as possible, but you didn't call him out on it because oh well, he was at least going to eat a teeny bit of them.

And in the end, after a bit of fake awing "Oh, tastes so good babe" and maybe spitting on a napkin when you turned around to throw the dirty dishes on the sink, he did eat your alien fetus cookies.

What made him the best boyfriend slash Christmas present ever.

And after drinking maybe a bit too much wine and watching The Christmas Prince, he drunkenly vowed to never ever give you anything cooking related - as the cookies now rested in peace in your trashcan, on top of your ugly ass glittery card -, and that vow would be proved to be a gift that kept on giving.

(I mean, it would give stomach aches and calls to the fire fighters and be a total waste of ingredients, so you were cool with that.)

(And even if he never gave you anything at all, he dealt with your craziness, your PMSing, you overreacting whenever you let your - very expensive - makeup fall onto the floor, never watched Game of Thrones episodes without you and always let you eat the biggest last slice of cheesecake.)

And if that wasn't much of a proof of real, true love, you had no idea of what the hell it could be.

And that was the greatest gift of all.

(Cue to cringing due to cheesyness again.)

-------

MERRY CHRISTMAS U GUYSSSSSSSSS!

Hope y’all have a fantastic one and find all you wanted under the tree! ooh and if you liked it pls don’t forget to click on that like button (i’ve been watching too many youtube vids send help)

lots lots of love

Gabe

ps: i’d like to dedicate this to my favorite humans on earth victoria, nina and lari, who are still my friends even after i’ve been through probably 30 different mental breakdowns this year, love you guise so muchhhhhhhh thanks for always encouraging me to write!!! oh and if you haven’t read my stories based on them you can find them all here

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hoochy-coo · 4 years

Note

Give us your take on reputation vs 1989.

MUSIC

1989: The singles were amazing with tons of radio appeal (with the exception of ‘Shake it Off’ and ‘Bad Blood’) but still remained memorable with witty lyricism. However, the album as a whole is very ‘meh’ to me - a couple of the b-sides are top-notch with serious replay value (I Know Places, Clean, Wonderland, New Romantic), and others are either juvenile or forgettable fillers (This Love, How You Get The Girls, All You Had To Do Was Stay, I Wish You Would). The highs are very high and the lows may as well be scrubbed from her discog lol

Reputation: Poor single choices with the exception of ‘End Game’ because while it may have not even be close to the best song on the album, it’s a goldmine of commercial success with both Future and Ed Sheeran as features. THE experimental album of her discog so far and the b-sides deserve more love. An interesting listen for a fan that’s been around from the beginning because it marks a point of musical evolvement (that we later saw regress with ‘ME!). Even if you don’t enjoy the music, you can find aspects of it to be intrigued by, such as torch-inspired vocals on ‘Don’t Blame Me’ or the full EDM explosion on ‘I Did Something Bad.’

Verdict: 1989 wins for singles and highlights but Reputation wins as an album.

VISUALS

1989: I don’t think anyone can deny the superiority that is the visuals of this era. The music video ‘Blank Space’ was glamorous but nevertheless, a satirical take on stereotypical aspects of modern music videos for female pop artists. Taylor was glammed up like a movie star but a screaming, crying mess which really captures the core message of the song. ‘Bad Blood’ was an epic concept in theory and executed well imo, however the actual song was written as a diss to another woman so the feminism marketing/message became pointless. ‘Style’ was a flop of a music video and a massive waste of the song since it’s such an underrated bop. ‘Wildest Dream’ was basically a mini Hollywood movie. ‘Out of the Woods’ didn’t even warrant a music video but she’s extra so she gave it to us anyway. Overall, we were flooded with content and they were all quality.

Reputation: Let me start this off by saying that I detest LWYMMD as a song but visually, it was um...amazing. She also kept with the theme of ‘humbling’ herself that we saw with ‘Blank Space’ by poking fun at her own image with all the snake symbolism and adding a line-up of Taylor from each eras to the end of the music video, while also attacking Kim K with that ‘receipts’ jab. Petty? Yes. Entertaining? 100%. ‘...Ready For It?’ was a cringe-fest (we had Taylor trying to act tough for 3-4 mins) and I like to pretend it never happened. ‘Delicate’ was ok but nothing special - the dancing was quirky but that’s about it. The music video for ‘End Game,’ just like the actual song, is overlooked by the fandom. It’s a fun music video of her partying with her friends, she’s drinking and dancing seductively with the girls without doing too much (ala LWYMMD). She actually looked comfortable doing the choreo in the video, which proved to me that she could have pulled off a sleek, alluring era but shot herself in the foot by starting it off with a very aggressive brand of sexy.

Verdict: 1989 wins, obviously.

STYLE

1989: We get it, this is her 80s era but did we have to suffer through that much embellishments, sparkles, metallic skirts and glittery cropped bomber jackets? Everything looked cheap, like she sent her stylists to a local craft store and asked them to superglue gemstones onto clothes she got from Target. Also, the tour costumes have no correlation to the style she presented in any of the music videos from that era?! Justice to that matching-plaid set she wore on tour though!

Reputation: Throw the rainbow Atlantic City-inspired halter dress out and we had an era full of excellent styling. Taylor gave us strong shoulders, sleek silhouette, and a bunch of different texture to keep the outfits interesting despite most of it being black. The tailoring was impeccable, all the pieces looked like they fit her to perfection and it was sexy but in the most tasteful way. I despised her hair during this era but the fashion was so great that I overlook it. Also, I can’t believe I’m saying this but can we get Taylor in more Balmain?

Verdict: Reputation wins. The bejeweled rompers from the 1989 tour need to be set on fire.

PROMO

1989: Taylor was insufferable during this era, and whenever we had enough and tried to look the other way, she was there too. She didn’t give us a chance to have a break from her and constantly bombarded us with her cats, her pap runs, her faux girl squad, and the constant reminder that ‘GUYS, THIS SONG IS ABOUT HARRY STYLES.’ I don’t think we had one day without at least two headlines about Taylor, whether it’s about which new friend she just initiated into her squad or which colour she painted her nails. It was so extra, so contrived, and at the time, I thought it was never going to end lmao. With that being said, this era showed us just exactly how far Taylor was willing to go for that Grammy. This era also cemented her as one of the biggest pop stars to have emerged from our generation and grant her a pass for eternal relevancy in pop culture. And then everything fell apart when the gp got a bad case of Taylor fatigue lol. Either way, we’re probably not going to get another pop era that big or impactful for a very long time so we should appreciate the gradeur of it all.

Reputation: This was supposed to be her triumphant comeback. She’s back to drag KimYe and “own” her snake image. She revolved a whole era around vengeance but she gave such mix messages - half the time she was still pointing the fingers at her enemies and the other half was spent making excuses. It didn’t come off as an authentic era of her evolving or letting things go. Literally, nothing went to plan. LWYMMD flopped (by her standards, especially as a follow up to 1989 anyway) and album sales were a disappointment to her and her team. Did Taylor even promote this era much? She went on a few late-night shows, performed at iHeartRadio and some award events but that’s all I remember. I’ve said this gazillion times before and I’ll say it again, the biggest issue with the promo is that she picked the wrong singles to send to radio. It’s her sexy era, she had about 4-5 mature track on the album and decided to not promote any of them. It didn’t make sense. However, I’ll give credit where credit is due - the rollout for LWYMMD was very smart (wiping her IG clean and posting that 10 secs clip of a snake slithering around) and it got the internet very hyped so kudos for the single. If only the song was quality...

Verdict: 1989 reigns supreme over every era. This isn’t even up for discussion

In conclusion, 1989 is the better era and inarguably, the more memorable one but I prefer Reputation music-wise. 1989, as an album, has little replay value to me. Whether it’s because her music was everywhere the year the album dropped so I’ve had enough of it for a lifetime or because I can’t stand ‘Welcome to New York,’ I’m not sure. In a twisted, these two eras share one thing in common: inauthenticity (although in a completely different way). Reputation was like one big warped apology tour where Taylor was “sorry but not sorry.” It was her chance to tell her side of the story after the public ‘cancelled’ her but her petty need to have the last word on all the beef and drama made this era a hard sell. 1989, of course, was inauthentic in a sense that Taylor basically bent herself out of shape to find her most marketable self.

#taylor swift #ask #answer #music

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butterflypov · 7 years

Text

Laundry Room

Summary: Peter and reader are friends but Spider-Man pays a visit and spies on her while she does laundry which may lead to accidentally exposing his identity.

Pairing: Peter Parker x reader

Warnings: Brief swearing & possible kissing

A/N: hi loves! this is my first ever Tumblr written fanfiction and i have a lot of mixed emotions about it?? it seems to go a little fast paced and it’s obviously not my best work but idk it’s whatever. i also wasn't really planning on / having ideas for a part 2 but if you want one i’d be open to writing one :) hope you enjoy! ♡

Word Count: 1554

It was a cool Friday evening in Queens and Y/N was doing some laundry in the laundry room of her lovely apartment complex. Nobody in her building seemed to use it so she had it all to herself, letting her playlists from her music library softly play through her speakers as she folded her t-shirts. She seemed to be running out of clothes to wear despite the gazillion outfits she had tossed in the back of her closet and left to rot in neglect.

Her best friend (and crush), Peter Parker, nerd, science enthusiast, and (adorable) dork had been nagging her nonstop to donate them to a second hand store or at least try some of them on to see if they still fit her.

That day she decided to slip some on and model for Peter, hoping he might somehow look past the whole runway act and see that Y/N was a gorgeous, quirky girl, right there in the flesh. She hoped he would compliment her and gaze adoringly at her figure and she would maybe even catch a glimpse of him in the mirror checking out her ass.

But Y/N ended up disappointing herself. Instead Peter gave her bleak answers and captured his attention on his phone screen, giving Y/N the impression that her crush truly was not interested in her.

Little did she know, Peter was hiding behind his phone to disguise the fact that if he kept watching her change from dress to dress he would turn strawberry in the face and into a babbling idiot.

Peter was just as infatuated with Y/N as she was with him and she lived with the false thought that his eyes were guided to Liz Allan’s features instead.

Stupidly, Peter had told a white lie straight to Y/N’s face.

It wasn't like he meant to but when she kept bothering him to blab who he ‘liked’ for Y/N’s personal knowledge Liz’s name was the first one to fall clumsily from his lips.

In that moment Y/N felt her heart crack a little bit, hearing that Liz was the lucky winner, but soon she would learn the truth.

That’s why we’re here.

Peter thought he could get his good old friend, Spider-Man, to sneakily spy on her while she happily bopped to her music and bent over to get laundry from the dryer to her white basket. This way if he was caught it wasn't “Peter” watching, it was Spider-Man.

Y/N was wearing a pair of polka dot pajama shorts and a slinky old tank top that slid down if she leaned down a little bit, accidentally revealing her cleavage.

Her music stopped, indicating the end of the album, and when she turned around to grab her phone to change the song with a pair of her blue underwear gripped in her hand she gasped and jumped back at the fear of the one and only Spider-Man watching her through the open window.

“Jesus Christ,” she got out, clutching her chest. “you scared the shit out of me.” Y/N awkwardly giggled at the odd greeting of the superhero.

Spider-Man laughed at her surprise. “Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you.”

“What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be out saving innocent civilians from harmless criminals or something?” she asked as he came into the room, standing a full yard away from her.

Y/N noticed a familiarity of his voice as he talked, but she couldn't pinpoint it.

“I don't know. It’s nice watching a pretty girl do her laundry, I got a little caught up in staring I guess.” he answered, walking over to investigate the mysterious clothes in the laundry basket that laid atop the washing machine.

Her cheeks turned a shade of fuchsia at the flattering remark, but desperately tried to hide it. A superhero this close to her made her heart race at a million beats a second.

“What? So Spider-Man’s a stalker now? That’s not creepy at all like whatsoever.” she spoke sarcastically, watching him sift through her laundry in curiosity.

He lightly chuckled at her sarcasm. “Hey, I promise I’m not a freaky 48 year old man! I was at that window for a total of like 2 minutes. Honest.” Spider-Man said in defeat, raising his hands up like he was being ordered by the police.

It was obvious to Y/N that he definitely wasn't an older, middle-aged man. His voice sounded evident to be a teenager and still super familiar.

“Plus, I like that top on you. I won't lie.” he added, rubbing the back of his neck as if he was embarrassed to admit it.

Y/N dropped her eyes to the tank top on her body that happened to be sagging dangerously close to spilling everything out.

She immediately tugged the material at her chest up to cover the mess she had going on. Her face was really red now as she hid her face behind her hands.

“Don't you have somewhere to be? Y’know, like, saving somebody’s life or stopping a bank robber?” she asked with bashfulness dripping from her tone.

He giggled again.

His laughter was so familiar.

“Yeah,” he said, leaning his arm on the dryer. “but I like talking to you. It’s very entertaining.”

She scoffed. “That's a whole new level of affection! You prefer talking to me over saving somebody’s life? That’s a bit concerning considering you just met me after I caught you watching me do laundry.” Y/N interrogated, realizing the underwear still in her hand and putting it back in the basket slyly.

“I’m not a freak, I swear!” he defended with a nervous laugh.

“Whatever, spider boy.”

Silence filled the air and she felt this was the right moment to question his identity.

“You know, I feel like I recognize your voice?” she asked.

Spider-Man cleared his throat, growing nervous. “Uhm, I-uh-I-” he stuttered.

“Yeah, I definitely know you from somewhere.” she pointed out. “Bu-well-I-I d-don’t know you?” he meshed anxiously as he started to back away towards the window.

“Yes! You do! I know you know me! Come on, I wouldn't just recognize the voice of a stranger.” Y/N egged on as he turned his head in the direction of the open window.

“Listen, we don't k-know each other, Y/N-” he said before pausing and mentally slapping himself in the face for muttering her name on accident.

“You know my name! I knew it! I know you!” she exclaimed as she started getting excited at her job as an investigator.

“Shit.” Spider-Man muttered almost inaudible.

He was really getting nervous now. Y/N needed to know his identity one way or another but he didn't expect her to figure it out like this.

“Tell me who you are please! I promise I won't tell people at school that Spider-Man is a creepy stalker that watches girls do laundry!” she begged.

“Actually, you know, I think I just heard an explosion outside, I should probably go check it out before people get endangered.” he stumbled out, beginning to climb back out the window to the world outside.

She tugged his arm back, reaching to rip off his mask. “Please! Please! Please!” she whined as he grabbed her wrists and struggled to push her away.

“Okay, okay, okay. How about you just lift up your mask just a little bit so I can see your mouth? I’m really good at guessing by looking at face features.” she negotiated, quitting the begging act.

Spider-Man grunted as his game with her had been conquered and she was winning him over.

“Fine. But just my mouth! No more!” he told her strictly as she smiled widely at his defeat.

His hand took the mask from the bottom before yanking it to uncover his mouth.

He bit his cheek in hopes to cope his anxiousness as she studied him.

Y/N was beat. She still had no clue who this mystery man was or who he could be.

When a genius idea popped up in her head.

She lunged at him and her lips connected with Spider-Man’s curious ones.

He was so shocked that he stumbled back a little on accident.

He was kissing his crush.

She was kissing her crush.

It took a second for him to take action and kiss back as their tongues finally touched. This was Y/N’s chance to finally get her hands on that mask.

Before Peter could think she pulled the mask up and jumped back with the red cloth in her hand, his face finally exposed.

Her heart dropped into her stomach.

Both stood and looked at each other in revelation.

“Peter?!”

#tom holland #tom holland fanfiction #tom holland imagines #peter parker #spiderman #peter parker fanfiction #peter parker imagines #spiderman fanfiction #spiderman imagines #smut

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superoderick-blog · 7 years

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i believe we’ll be okay | joderick

WHO: Roderick Meeks & Joe Hart (@itsjoehart) WHAT: Roderick makes his first friend at WIU. WHERE: Waldron Quad. WHEN: Saturday, November 11th, mid morning. WARNINGS: Nah!

Roderick could smell delicious food - his stomach gave an appreciative rumble as he made his way to the Quad. He could hear laughter and shouting, and he steeled himself for the rush of emotions that would swamp him as soon as he got closer. It was an awful lot of people. Hopefully nobody would be having a meltdown over brunch before school even started - a lot of happier emotions were always easier to deal with. He got in line for food - it was a long line - and sighed to himself as he looked around him. WIU really was beautiful.

Joe sighed. His toes felt crunched in his shoes, boots made specifically for the colder seasons. He missed his sandals dearly, but he knew they were meant for the warmer months (although if Joe thought he could get away with it without receiving frost bite in return, he absolutely would wear them in 5 ft of snow). Luckily, the comfy scarf around his neck gave him some inner peace to walk graciously into such a large group of new students. The food smelled delicious, and he was happy to find there were vegetarian options for people like him ( was there a super power that made you unable to eat meat?), as well as drinks like Kombucha and Coconut Water instead of soda and juice. With a hum, he joined the line for sustenance just like every other student, and happily waited his turn. His eye caught a boy in front of him. He tapped a small with lizard-like eyes in front of him and politely requested to take a step ahead of her to talk to his friend. With a smile, she happily let him through. It wasn't necessarily a lie, Joe thought. Everyone was a potential friend if you tried hard enough. "Excuse me," he was standing what he was sure was probably too close, but Joe often pushed boundaries until they were set.

Roderick turned in surprise and found himself face to face with...yeah, no, he didn't know this guy, but he felt safe enough - a cursory swipe at the guy's emotions didn't reveal anything that made Roderick any more wary than he already was--no desire to do ill-will, at least not right on the surface--so Roderick slid his oversized headphones off his ears and raised his eyebrows. "Yeah?" Had he met this guy already? Should he know his name? Roderick felt like he would remember him, if only because of all the dreads. "Do you...need something, or?"

A grin formed on pink-tinted cheeks. "No, not at the moment. Food would be great, but no complaints here." Joe shrugged his shoulders, long dreads falling all to one shoulder. "I'm Joe." He stated simply, eyes warm and hand out, expecting Roderick to shake. While he knew that some super-humans and fromians didn't shake hands simply because of something power-related, Joe didn't feel any different vibes from him, just a nervous awkwardness that came with a lot of teenagers their age. Or what Joe assumed was their age. "I like your headphones. What are you listening to?"

Roderick hesitated for a moment, glancing between his outstretched hand and the line of people around them. "Um, I'm Roderick." On the one hand, he could just do it and not be weird about it, but people got pissed when he went poking around in their feelings, no matter how much he tried not to. "And I'm an empath. If I shake your hand I'll have a way better idea what you're feeling, so if you don't want me minding your business..." Roderick shrugged, fully expecting the hand to be withdrawn. People didn't like their privacy invaded. He moved forward, following the line's movement. How much food did it take to feed like a gazillion hungry college kids? "Sinatra. And thanks. Do you like music?" Roderick blinked. Do you like music. What sort of dumbass question. Everybody liked music. He sighed through his nose and quickly caught his annoyance before it could spread to other people - he was annoyed at himself and he didn't need everybody else to be annoyed too. Stupid.

Joe frowned for a short moment, before perking back up again. "I don't mind," he promised. "Unless you mind. In which case, nice to meet you, Roderick." He grinned once more, sending out more calming emotions with his new knowledge of his potential-friend's power, "You ever go by Rick?" Following the line, Joe fiddled around with the cross that settled heavily across his chest. "I love music. I'm more of a Christian-rock and Reggae kind of guy, but Sinatra is a classic. Fly Me to the Moon is one of my mom's favorite songs." He tried again to smile more reassuringly this time, Roderick giving off more tense vibes. Maybe Joe was making him uncomfortable? "By the way," he interrupted before the boy could speak, "if you need me to like, cha cha real smooth back a few steps, feel free to let me know." A musical joke. Heat flushed to his cheeks at such a dorky callback.

Roderick's mouth quirked into a smile, though his brow knitted in confusion. Joe Christian Music Guy talked a lot. That wasn't a bad thing, necessarily, because Roderick didn't mind listening, he was just never sure where to start with people like that. "You're okay." Roderick promised, amused more than anything. With this many people around, a difference of a few inches wasn't going to be much, but it was nice of him to offer. "Christian-rock and Reggae? That's cool." So the stereotype wasn't totally false - he wondered if Joe Christian Rock Guy had pot-leaf decorations in his room. "People mostly just call me Roderick," he added with a shrug, "but I don't mind the nickname, I guess." He'd been called way worse things. "Um, are you...a first year too?"

Humming, Joe reclaimed his place closer to Roderick again after his acceptance of the distance. If he didn't mind, neither would Joe. "Yep! Just got here. I climbed that tree in the main courtyard since I had some time to kill after doing my Sunrise-Yoga in the parking lot." He pursed his lips. "How about Rod?" Pausing, Joe claimed Roderick's eyes again, seemingly forgetting himself for a moment. "For a nickname, anyway."

Roderick raised his eyebrows as Joe spoke. Tree-climbing at sunrise? Man, college was something else - there were so many things about that he wouldn't do even if forced, and here was Joe Christian Rock Guy doing them voluntarily. "I guess I don't mind either way," Roderick said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Call me what you want." The line moved forward and they were finally close to the table - Roderick grabbed two paper plates and handed one to Joe, followed by a Never-Dirty Napkin and an all-in-one utensil. "I wonder how much of this stuff isn't actually hand-made," Roderick mused quietly, mostly to himself but also to Joe. "It's crazy what food replicators can do nowadays."

Joe nodded along, piling vegetables and dressings onto his plate. The crowds of people around them grew larger with each passing minute and Joe hummed thoughtfully. “You want to go eat somewhere more private?” He gestured to a grassy knoll a bit further away, knowing that the people would further Roderick’s empathetic abilities. “Grab some of those cookies too,” long fingers pointed to chocolate chip and m&m cookies, and he smiled.

Roderick glanced around them, momentarily distracted - the bodies carried emotions, and it felt like they were pushing up against him. It wasn't new, by any means, but the people themselves were unfamiliar, and thus their emotions were - at least for a moment - overwhelming. But then Joe was asking him to grab cookies, so he focused on that - he loved cookies - and willed the pressure of everyone else's feelings to ease as he finished piling his plate. "Over there sounds good." Roderick agreed, moving toward the hill Joe had pointed out. Even that little bit of distance would help with the ambient emotion; just Joe's feelings wouldn't be too bad. He got comfortable and sat down, then offered Joe half the cookies he'd grabbed. "Good idea."

Joe let the happiness seep from his bones as they plopped down together. He always enjoyed company, and he was sure that the positive emotions shouldn’t be too overwhelming for Roderick. “I figured this would be better than being bombarded with everybody’s feelings. I’m sure it can’t be easy walking in the fog of people’s day to day lives,” he murmured, stacking his cookies and munching on a carrot. “Is it difficult to maintain?”

Roderick couldn't help the little smile as he focused on the shift in Joe's emotions. Either he was genuinely elated to be doing what they were doing, or he was focusing on his own happiness on purpose to make Roderick more comfortable. Either way, Roderick was touched. "I wouldn't call it maintaining, exactly," Roderick said around a bite of hot dog. He swallowed and considered before he spoke again. "It's hard to focus. Like how sometimes you accidentally eavesdrop on someone else's conversation, because they're talking loudly right next to you? It's kind of like that. But everybody is talking loudly, and you literally can't help but listen." Roderick shrugged. "The harder part sometimes is not...like, meddling, I guess. Making someone not sad if they're unhappy. Because that's...like, I don't know why someone feels a way. It's not my business. People should feel however they feel." Roderick munched on some chips. "It's weird, but it's also all I've ever known, so it's just kind of how it is."

Joe hummed thoughtfully, listening to Roderick's words with interest. "Oh, so you kind of imprint on people if you're not careful? That has to be stressful." Joe smiled reassuringly, "I'm pretty good at projecting myself, even if I don't have a cool power to go along with it." Winking, Joe began to gobble down his food. It had been a long morning for him already, and the only think he'd had was his oats for breakfast. "After a while, he spoke up again, unable to help himself. "You must be very strong to deal with so many people at one time. You looked a little overwhelmed in line - no offense - and I'm glad that I took the step forward to talk to you. You're really nice, Roderick."

Roderick blinked; he could feel the absolute sincerity with which Joe spoke. He meant it. Roderick could tell already that Joe wasn't like most people - and to him, this just solidified that fact. "You're really nice too, Joe," Roderick said, once he'd swallowed his mouthful of Fromian No-Bake Cake. "I dunno about being strong or not but...thanks. And thanks for talking to me, man. I was kinda worried about making friends here," Roderick admitted with a slight shrug. It was rare that he find someone he could just be with, and he appreciated it more than he could express - at least to someone he'd just met. "You don't need powers to be awesome, dude."

#para: all #para: 002 #para: joe #para: i believe we'll be okay #Joe: all

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thefatnoona · 7 years

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Monster Woo: 261 (pt. 1/5)

She tapped her feet impatiently. Tucking a stray hair behind her right ear, she checked her watch for the umptieth time. The first day of the student exchange programme had not gone well by her definition, what with missing the one and only bus that went to the university, having to wait another 30 minutes for the next bus, getting lost within campus grounds and arriving 20 minutes late for the first class, being hungry for lunch and realising that she had forgotten to grab her wallet which was right on top of the dresser, getting more and more lost amidst the labyrinth of seminar rooms and lecture theatres for the remaining classes, and now, it did not seem as if she would reach home at all to have her first meal of the day.

Murphy’s Law was clearly at work this time.

She pressed her headphones tighter over her ears, immersing herself deeper into Crush’s mellifluous voice. She glanced at her watch again nervously, aware of the increasing pain on her shoulders due to the backpack that seemed much too big for her body, and of the inner walls of her stomach creating a mini rock concert by themselves. It was a miracle that she survived the day at all, partly due to her trusted red Nalgene bottle and the fact that there were plenty of water coolers located within the university.

“Finally!” she muttered under her breath, as the blue number 261 bus drew nearer to the stop. Scrambling to get to the front of the line (which was really non-existent anyway due to the law of supply and demand: low supply of buses versus high demand from the countless passengers), she managed to get a foot into the bus when she felt a push to her backpack. She just about managed to stop herself from falling flat face down by grabbing the bus railings by the entrance door. Her headphones slipped and rested awkwardly against her neck.

“괜찮아요?” the bus driver growled out in Korean. “Are you okay?” he then asked in slightly accented American English. His voice was deep and raspy, a stark contrast to the sweet and soothing sounds of Crush.

“네, 괜찮아요 아저씨,” she replied hastily. Despite having taken Korean lessons for a year prior to relocating to the Land of the Morning Calm, she still felt anxious in communicating with the locals. “I’m alright. Thank you, 감사합니다 아저씨.” She could feel the blood rushing to her face, a picture of embarrassment for all to see.

“Okay, be careful. 조심해요,” said the driver. The shades that were shielding his eyes, as well as his tattooed hands and fingers, projected a menacing aura that reminded her of the mafia and assassin movies from yesteryears. Having done a compulsory Modern Film Studies module, she could not help the comparison as she tapped her shiny T-money card and picked up her pace towards the back of the bus.

Murphy’s Law seemed satisfied to cease its play, as a single, lone seat appeared to have been saving itself for her right beside the bus exit door. She sank herself gratefully onto the seat and dusted her hands, suddenly realising the pain from seared fingers and slightly torn skin on her left palm. Oh well, at least she would be getting home after all.

***

A week passed just like that. It was amazing how quickly seven days could whiz by inbetween classes, a gazillion homework assignments and tons of notes to read. There was so much to be done in a rush that suddenly, she forgot to feel hungry.

It was on the Friday at the end of her first week, when her “sunset” class had ended for the day, that she was once again waiting for the blue number 261 bus. She had managed to gobble a bowl of noodles as a late lunch cum early dinner prior to attending the 6.30pm class on Advanced Semantics, but trying to stay awake and attentive throughout the entire 3 hours after an extremely long and tiring day was nearly next to impossible. While the other students celebrated the end of their last class of the week by gearing themselves up for a weekend of partying, she was counting down to the moments that she could hit her beloved bed and run a marathon of The Big Bang Theory episodes that she had missed.

A half-crescent moon shone proudly amongst the wisps of grey-silvery clouds in the night sky, pulling her to switch to Dean’s acoustic version of “D” on headphones. Spotting the now-familiar numbers on blue approaching the bus stop, she stood up from the bench and was surprised to see that no one else was following suit.

Boarding the number 261, she recognised the man at the wheel with his tattoed hands and gangster-like shades. If he had felt likewise due to her embarrassing misfortune from the other day, he displayed no indication of it other than simply giving her the usual once-over as she entered the bus. She tapped the fare, thankful for his silence, and headed for a single seat near to the exit. Feeling the wind on a warm, summer night prompted her to give a little sigh to no one in particular. She checked her playlist, added a few more songs to it and braced herself for the 45-minute bus leg of her journey home.

***

She could not fathom the reason for her stiff neck. As far as she had known, her pillow was neither hard nor soft. It had seemed to offer just the right amount of support for her aching head and neck. And why was she unable to stretch her entire body flat on the bed?

“저기요! 일어나! 너 여기서 잠들 수 없어!” someone seemed to be saying over and over amidst Simon D’s unexpected falsetto. “아가씨! 일어나!”

Frowning with closed eyes, she yawned and tried to make out the source of the voice. A gruff-looking man with his shades removed, greeted her sight. The sleeves of his white uniform were folded all the way up just above the elbows, revealing tattoos that fully adorned both of his arms. He was kneeling in front of her, giving the impression of a proposal gone wrong.

She gasped and removed her headphones immediately. “Ah! I’m sorry! I must have fallen asleep!” she rattled off unconsciously in English. Gathering her backpack, she looked around and discovered that they were the only ones in the bus.

“You’re not from around here, are you?” he responded back fluently. “This is the bus terminal. You must have missed your stop a while back.”

“Oh no…” her voice trailed, as she stood up and glanced through the windows at the surroundings out of the bus. There were other buses parked nearby, most with engines off, a few with the headlights still on while their respective drivers did some final inspections before calling it a night. “How do I get home from here?” she wondered aloud, more to herself than to the intimidating person before her, who had by now risen to his feet and proven himself to be quite the fit giant next to her. “Can’t I just take this same bus back?”

“This was the last bus for the night. You can probably take a taxi home,” he replied, crossing his arms, revealing taut veins that peeked out cautiously among his tattoos. “Where do you live?“

“I live at…uh…” she checked herself before giving away the location. Why would she tell personal details to a complete stranger? She was alone in a foreign country and rule #1 from Korea 101 probably stated: Do not give your personal details away to a stranger.

“Look, I can call a taxi for you. It will take some time if you’re okay to wait,” he offered.

“Oh.” Her eyes opened widely and she followed his lone figure as he alighted from the bus. “Thank you. How long does it take to wait for a taxi?”

“Hmmm…says here close to 20 minutes. Doesn’t look good for a Friday night. It’s too early for the clubbers to go home so the taxis don’t like to respond,” he replied, his eyes glued to his handphone screen, referring to a taxi app. “I guess you’re not the clubbing type, huh,” he said, taking in her appearance. Faded jeans, an oversized white T-shirt, Nike trainers, a messy ponytail and a pair of black glasses perched on the bridge of her nose. “You seem like you prefer reading to clubbing.”

“What’s wrong with reading?” she demanded, feeling confident and annoyed all of a sudden. She glared at him from head to toe. It had been a long day, she was tired as hell and she sure did not need any shit from anyone at this point.

“Nothing’s wrong with reading, chill. I was just making small talk. Don’t bite my head off,” he said, raising both his hands, which were large with slender and ridiculously long fingers. “Sorry if I sounded rude.”

She glimpsed to her left and bit on her lower lip. “No, it’s okay. I’m sorry too,” she said, recovering herself instantly. “I’m just exhausted and I just want to get home as soon as I can.”

“Look, would you like a lift?” he asked, eyeballing her with a furrowed look. He seemed pretty intense all of a sudden. “I’m not sure if the trains are still running at this time. Plus, no matter how safe this country may be, it’s not so safe for a girl like you to be out alone at night.”

She inhaled deeply and exhaled rather roughly. Just 10 minutes to go before a new day arrived, according to her watch. She should probably throw rule #1 from the imaginary Korea 101 out the window already. “Alright, sure. Thank you very much.”

“Just wait here a bit while I go sign out.” He motioned a little clearing next to her, then disappeared within the confines of a stuffy-looking single-storey office. It seemed like forever until she heard a whistle and caught him gesturing for her to follow him. Walking a little bit behind, she drew in her breath sharply when her eyes chanced upon the massive beauty that stood before her.

“You…ride this?” Her eyes appeared even bigger behind her glasses. “It’s…huge.”

He gave a low chuckle, grinning. “My baby’s beautiful, huh? Hop on, I borrowed an extra helmet.”

Grabbing the helmet, she fastened it on her head and lingered beside the Harley Davidson softail chopper, unsure of what she was supposed to do next. He was already on the bike, helmet securely in place and tightening on a pair of leather gloves. How was she supposed to get on?

“What are you waiting for? Come on, hold onto my shoulders and get behind me. You want to get home soon, right?” he said as he turned to look at her, again with that intense expression. “Where do you live? This baby will get you there in no time at all.”

***

“Is that where you live?” he nodded his head in the direction of a tall building opposite of where he had just stopped the chopper. Upon hearing her grunt, he held her waist unconsciously while she steadied herself back on the ground. She gasped and swept his hand away. “야! 뭐야?!” he burst aloud in Korean.

“Don’t touch me!” she snapped back.

“I wasn’t doing it on purpose! I was just helping you get off the bike!” he growled. “Is this the thanks I get for sending you home?”

Silence ensued between them before she bowed her head. “Sorry,” she mumbled, her ears going red. “I didn’t mean to snap at you. I’m not…”

“Not used to being touched by strange men?” he cut her off. She stared at him in wonder. Did he just read her mind? “Yeah get off your high horse. I don’t touch strange women either.” He held out his hand expectantly, looking smug.

She was rooted to the spot, just staring at him blankly, wondering what he wanted. He snorted, then got off the bike and stepped up to her up close, towering over her with all of his 6 feet plus stature. Bending down to her eye level, he looked at her squarely. She could smell cologne, stale cigarettes and minty sweets from his even breath. She froze when he touched the helmet strap framing her face. “Stay still,” he ordered softly, his voice coming out low and raspy, before removing the helmet off her head, all the while maintaining eye contact.

“Oh…” she let out meekly. “Th-thanks.”

“I’ll see you around,” he waved a hand coolly. “I’m Woo, by the way.”

#fiction #fic #monster woo #kim young woo

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aileen-hollingsworth · 8 years

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Ties, Baguettes & Titanics ~ #3

A/N: First challenge. Ngl this turned out long, like real long. Thanks to @prince-consort-erik for role playing Haiden. Forgive typos and stuff like that, I had little to no time to edit. There are small mentions of @sophiemoreaux, @baguette-le-chef, @alexandra-amaria, @mila-regan , a guard and fictional actors.

“No, there’s no real point to being nervous.” Sophie shrugged. “I’m just going to wait and see what happens, it isn’t that big a deal.”

I could see many of the girls nearby gave her glances full of disbelief. The how-is-she-not-nervous-about-dating-a-prince look…okay, that’s not a thing but you get the point.

I just nodded at her and eyed the other girls. I was still a bit uncertain of most of them so I didn’t really tell her (or anyone else) if I was nervous or not. I was a bit too used to keeping my opinion to myself when in a new public place, so with so many Selected in the Women’s room I had some issues talking much. If it was a ‘one on one’ conversation I had no problem—like when I’d bumped into Naomi in the library while looking for pretty editions to take photos of, or when I’d gone looking for chips in the kitchen with Mila in the middle of Viola’s sleepover—but when it was conversations with people in earshot I was too self-aware.

When my maids asked me in my room if I was nervous I just shrugged and Anne, the oldest, frowned. “What is that supposed to mean?”

I didn’t take my eyes of my polaroid photos scattered across the floor when I answered. The palace definitely had some aesthetically pleasing books. “I don’t know. I guess I’m giddy because he’s a prince and all, but I’ve talked to well-known celebrities because of my parents before.” I picked the photos that captured the lighting better and offered them to Janet to inspect.

I’d heard the whispers around the Selected. Everyone seemed to think Haiden was shy. I didn’t want things to be awkward; I was just hoping to have a good time. “I’m trying to tell myself there isn’t that big a difference between him and, I don’t know…” I shrugged again. “Ezra Lynley.”

Janet who had been admiring the photos immediately glanced down at me. “You know Ezra Lynley?”

A Two. Star of a gazillion movies. Nice cheekbones. Most importantly, a great guy and one of my cousin’s closest friends.

I nodded at Janet, trying not to make it seem like a big deal. She shared a surprised glance with Anne. During late-night conversations I’d told them my father was a movie producer, but maybe they didn’t expect a Three to know someone as popular…which kind of made sense. My father was popular mostly between the media and the world that knew his work. Being a movie producer wasn’t “important” in comparison to being an actor or artist. Of course, actors wouldn’t get any work if it weren’t for movie producers (same way some artists wouldn’t be as good without music producers). People working on the media would recognize my father’s name immediately, but it wasn’t as common for all civilians to know who he was.

Janet sat down next to me, avoiding the polaroid photos surrounding me with a smirk. “Is he as hot in person?”

Anne scowled and I chucked.

He tripped over me. He actually tripped over me. That’s how it started.

“What the—” I grunted as something hit my legs.

As I sat up to look at the person who’d fallen next to me he said: “Lady Aileen! What… are you doing?”

Oh boy. He was lying on the grass with a confused frown. “Prince… Haiden? Oh wow, I’m so sorry….I didn’t mean to make you, um, trip.” I mumbled taking my headphones off. The rest of the piano’s melody still vaguely stuck on my head without them.

He gave me an awkward grin and adjusted his glasses. “N-No, it’s all right. What are you doing anyway?”

What was I doing here? I blinked without saying anything, and then snapped back into focus. “Oh, you know getting some fresh air before our— ” My eyes widened as I tried to figure out how long I’d been here in the gardens. “Oh wait, what time is it? Tell me I didn’t forget about our date…”

“Date?” he mumbled still confused, but then something seemed to click into place in his thoughts. “Is it really?”

I raised an eyebrow, smirking. “You forgot about it?”

He laughed awkwardly, and my smirk widened. “Well, so did you apparently.”

“Well, I kind of lost track of time so it’s different.” I chuckled.

“I would’ve remembered eventually.” He countered. Then looking down at my headphones and sitting up he added: “Uh, what are you listening to?”

“Just some music samples.” I turned up the volume and pressed one side of the headphones to his ear. “Piano can make such a beautiful sound.”

“They sound nice. You like music then?”

“Yeah. If being a princess doesn’t work I gotta make a life out of it.” I said winking.

“What instruments do you play?”

“Oh, I’m not precisely one with many instruments. Just piano, guitar and basic ukulele…but music producers don’t usually need to know how to play an instrument, you know. Knowing how to play some—like I do—is kind of a plus.”

“Oh, so you’re a producer. What’s that like?”

“Umm, I don’t think I can qualify as a professional producer just yet, but I will get there hopefully. It’s mostly getting to choose what tracks sound well together…like for example figuring out what’s the best moment in a song to let violins join the drums and the piano.”

“That sounds crazy. I could never do something like that.”

I waved a hand dismissively. “Of course you could. You just need to learn how to listen to the music.” You need to actually pay attention to how it sounds. Feel it to your core.

“Trust me that talent is far away from mine.”

“And what may that talent be?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Breathing.”

Very funny. “Oh wow, that does sound very complicated. Got any tips on that?”

“Well, it gets harder when you run, so you have to do it more.”

I pretended to nod thoughtfully. “True, true. What happens when you’re under water though?” I said trying to keep the ridiculous game on. He didn’t seem so nervous.

“You can try to breathe, but usually it doesn’t work, so I’d advise against it.”

“Gonna keep that in mind if I ever find myself under those circumstances.” I smiled, rolling my eyes amused. “Any other talents you’d like to share?”

“Eating, for one. But I also do incredibly well at sleeping.”

“You are such a talented prince it’s actually shocking.” I said, trying to sound serious.

“I know, the country should be so pleased.”

“Yeah, you should already be King to be honest. I mean, I’m good at eating and breathing, but sleeping is rather hard to handle.”

“Oh, most definitely.” He finally couldn’t keep it up and laughed. “How did we get on this topic again?”

I laughed too. “I don’t know, I’m just trying to break the ice here, I’d say I’m doing pretty well in a very strange way.” Strangest way possible.

“I’d say so for two people who forgot their own dates and ended up in the palace garden after I tripped over you.”

“Yeah,” I looked up at the sky confused picturing his fall. I’d been with my eyes closed and missed the incident. “How did you not notice me on the ground? I had my headphones on, what’s your excuse?”

“I’m wearing glasses. And I don’t usually expect for girls to be lying down in the middle of a garden.”

I brought a hand to my chest pretending to be offended. “Why not, it’s a perfectly normal thing to do.”

“Apparently. I must be so unsocialized.”

He makes up words. Nice. “Obviously,” I said reaching for his glasses and placing them on my nose “it’s practically etiquette for ladies to do it at least once a week.”

“I can’t see now.” He said, slightly squinting in my direction.

The fact that he didn’t seem bothered by my lack of consideration for his personal space was a good sign. It meant he was relaxed. I continued, squinting through his glasses. “You got some heavy lenses I see…at least you look cute with them.”

I was pleased to hear him laugh at that. “I usually wear contacts.”

“Makes sense, I usually never see you wearing these” I replied, making the glasses move up and down on my nose. “I thought it was a fashion statement or something.”

“Nope, I’m just blind as a bat.”

I placed the glasses on the top of my head like a headband to see him properly. “Bats have great hearing though.” I kept talking as I waved a hand in front of his eyes in an attempt to tests his sight. I was hoping to be annoying actually. I myself used glasses, but just to read. “Maybe being a music producer wouldn’t be as hard as you think.” I raised three fingers. “How many fingers am I holding?” He gave me a serious glance, but I could see the corner of his lip twitch. “Quick Haiden, you’re life depends on your answer!”

“It’s three, I’m not that blind.”

“WRONG IT’S THREE.” I corrected him.

This time his face broke into a confused smile. “Is there a difference I’m not getting?

“The accent of course.”

“Accent? Well, I didn’t know that was a factor.”

“…Well I had to correct you in some way so now it’s a factor. You have to say it like you’re about to drink tea with the Queen of England.” I explained, raising a pinky as I zipped tea from an invisible teacup.

“I didn’t realize. I only know how to have tea with two queens.”

I’d forgotten about his aunt, Queen Sabine of France, for second so he had to clarify, but then he laughed and started talking in a British accent as his face faked smugness. “I come from a long line of blue bloods.”

I tried to do my own impression. “Is that so? Well, so do I, your Highness.”

“That is an awful accent, I can’t lie.” He cooed amused.

I shoved him. “Shut up you fancy pants, I do a great accent.”

“Wow, assaulting the prince tsk tsk.”

I bit my lip and narrowed my eyes at him but quickly recovered with a: “Tripping over a lady tsk tsk.”

“Stealing my glasses tsk tsk.”

“Insulting my accent tsk tsk,” I am running out of tsk-tsks “which is very good by the way.”

“Nay.”

“Whatever,” I said, dramatically flipping my hair. “I know my own talent.”

“Well then. I’m offended.”

“Because of my superiority?” I winked.

“Obviously.”

“Don’t feel intimidated by my talents Haiden, I am a very normal girl…” I paused, realizing that wasn’t entirely true. “Most of the time.”

“What’s the rest of the time?”

“Well, wouldn’t you like to know?” I said, tauntingly.

“In fact, I would very much.”

I smiled looking up at the clouds in the sky. One actually looked like a scrunched man’s face yelling. “It really depends.”

“Ask me a question, Lady Aileen.”

I looked over at him, curious about his choice of words to carry on with the conversation, but then looked back at the yelling-man cloud. What did I want him to tell me? “It’s not a question but tell me about something you love.”

It didn’t take him long to pick something. “I love my sisters.”

I knot formed on my throat at the words, but I still smiled at his choice. “I bet they love you too.”

“Hopefully.”

I laughed. “Hopefully?”

“I always wonder.”

I shook my head with a faint smile. “That’s some trust you’ve got in them… why the doubt though?”

“I don’t know. They’ve never said they didn’t love me, but it’s something I always naturally wonder.”

Sam’s face popped up in my head but I pushed it away. “Haven’t they ever told you they do?”

“Of course they have, but… I don’t know. Sometimes I wonder if they’d rather have someone else as a brother.”

I sighed. I never do even though I should. “If you love them as much as you say I doubt they’d want anyone else, I can tell you that.”

He shrugged and I desperately wanted to stop Sam’s words from flooding my thoughts so I smirked and suggested: “Well, since it seems I won’t convince you about that, how about we officially start our date? Believe it or not, I actually had something planned…unless you’ve got any other ideas.”

“I don’t know, I’m rather comfortable on the ground.” He admitted, padding the grass as if to emphasize his statement.

I rested my elbows on the grass, keeping the upper half of my body upward. “Am I not boring you with trivial conversation?”

“I don’t know, it always seems like things unplanned go better.”

“Suggestions then?” I actually wanted to give my plan a try for once, so when I noticed his hesitation I wiggled my eyebrows and inquired: “Or maybe you’d like to go on a treasure hunt…or is it scavenger hunt? Either way you get the idea.”

That spiked his interest. “Ooh, how would we do that?”

“Well, it’s simple. I make a list of things we need to find. We look for them together. There’s a catch to it though.”

“Oh?”

“I gotta make it interesting somehow.” I said grinning. “First rule is we can’t ask for permission to take the object.”

“I can work with that.”

No hesitation. Good. I nodded in approval. “Second rule: Every time we find an object we have to make a guess about each another.”

That confused him. “A guess?”

“Like for example…I think your favorite color is green. I don’t know if it is, I’m just guessing.” After the mention of his favorite green tie on our interview I was hoping to get that right.

“Seems easy enough. And it’s blue by the way.”

“Dang it I thought I had it right.” I mumbled, mostly to myself. That meant the green tie being his favorite probably had a backstory then. “Anyway, that’s how it works.”

“Alright, then.” He stood up offering me a hand. “Where to first?”

“We need an autographed book.” I said accepting the help. “Also, I forgot to mention, if you guess correctly you get a compliment or a truth.”

“Oh, well, now I’m very entertained.” He stated and actually seemed on board with the idea. “An autographed book, huh? I have at least 10 in my room. Come on, let’s go.”

The door of his room stood in front of us and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious about how it looked inside.

“Um, could I ask you something?” He pondered.

“Sure. I’m all ears.”

“Can you… not tell anyone you were here? I don’t want people getting jealous or the wrong idea…”

“Are you kidding me?” I began with a smirk. “I’m not telling anyone, that’ll get us both killed. Plus we don’t need ‘Exposing Illea’ to go around saying lies.”

He laughed at this. “All right.” He didn’t hesitate again when he opened the door and pulled me in. “Um, pardon the mess.” He immediately went to a book shelved corner and started looking at a particular section.

I slowly walked over to him taking a look around. There was the bed, the bookshelfs in the corner, what seemed like an entrance to a closet, then another door (most likely the bathroom) and also a desk filled with papers and more than one kind of writing tool. He even had ink and a…feathery pen thing.

I was in the middle of saying it wasn’t that bad when I reached him and had to stop to stare in awe at his bookshelf. I’d seen incredible books with different editions on the palace’s library but these were another level. “Oh my God…” I practically whispered as I reached for the book with the oldest looking cover. I stared at every detail. The engraving on the front, the golden ink of the title, the pages tinted with age. “Why did I not bring my camera, these hardcovers are gorgeous.”

“1st Editions. One of the perks of being famous.”

I couldn’t contain my smile as I held up the book for him to see. “You can practically smell the ancient.”

“Why don’t you keep it?”

I had to do a double take of his words in my mind before smiling again. “And here I was about to call you greedy for hoarding all the prettiest books from the library.”

“Got to make sure no one takes it.” He smiled, and then took the book from my hands to flip it open. “And look, signed by the author.”

I peeked over his shoulder to look at the signature. “Well, would you look at that…” I ventured, tracing the dark ink with my fingers. “Pretty.”

He glanced down at me, still smiling, and I decided I liked his smile. “What’s next?”

I told my mind to ignore the closeness between us. “Since we’re already in your room I’d say a green tie. I already know you’ve got one.” I pressed, in remembrance of my interview.

“What are you planning to do with it?”

“It’s part of the list, just trust me.” I shrugged.

Too my surprise he accepted that as a good enough reason and went into his closet. He came out with a green tie on a hanger. My dad usually just had his stashed together.

“Fancy.” I teased.

“Why, thank you. What next? Do I get a compliment yet?”

I laughed. “Not yet. First the guessing, hopefully I’ll get this one right…” I looked him up and down tapping my chin thoughtfully, trying to come with something good. “Okay, I think you’re that person that starts flirting a lot when drunk.”

“I-I… don’t know.”

Stuttering again. “Hmm, that’s not fair, I want a compliment.”

“Fine, maybe you’re right, I’ll give you a compliment anyway.”

I smiled victoriously and waited.

“I like your freckles.”

I raised both eyebrows for a second. “Oh, wow thanks! Sometimes I forget I have them if that makes any sense” I laughed, but was pretty sure I’d failed at hiding my blush. “I really like them too though.” I paused to reach for the green tie and then placed it loosely around my neck. “Okay, your turn to guess.”

“All right, I think you’re a little self-conscious about yourself, but you try not to be.”

Pffft… “I—” well…I was going to deny it, but looking over at him I realized there was really no point in lying. Not if we wanted to see if we could work. “—don’t know… maybe… Just as a defense mechanism.”

“Hey, it’s all right.”

“I know.” I really did. It was just annoying to know that some of the media liked making little things a lot more complicated than they originally were. “When people look at you all the time it’s kind of necessary. I can’t imagine how it is for you being a prince and all.” I shrugged. “I’m just the daughter of a movie producer and a retired actress.”

“No, I think you’re a lot more than that.”

That caught me off guard and I looked over at him again with curiosity. “How so?” I mumbled slightly flustered.

“You underrate yourself. You act as if you’re no one, but I know there’s someone in there that’s deeply passionate.”

I stared at the ground thoughtfully for a few seconds. Why did people think he was shy? “You are better with words than I gave you credit for.” Then staring at him I clarified: “Though I wouldn’t say I underrate myself…I just” it took me a moment to find the right words “I don’t know, I guess I learned it’s better if I hide some of my cards from the public sometimes.” Learned it the hard way.

“You don’t need to hide from me.”

I smiled up at him and reached for the book in his hands. “Lucky you, I wasn’t trying to do so yet.”

“Yet?”

I rolled my eyes amused. Nothing gets past this one. “Or ever. As for your compliment…” I leaned in to give him a kick kiss on the cheek. “I like your occasional stutter.”

He blushed and I giggled at the sight. “I—Uh, thanks.”

“See? Adorable. Now, next object is….a Baguette from Chef Baguette’s kitchen.”

He only seemed slightly surprised. “Well, this’ll be fun.”

“It’ll be great; if he finds out we’ll blame it on you.” Then I placed the book on his bed, reached for his hand and led him out.

“So are you going in or am I?” He asked once we were in front of the kitchen.

I rolled my eyes and dragged him in. “Team work Haiden…think Mission Impossible.”

“Alright, we die together.” He whispered as we entered and I couldn’t avoid grinning. Man, am I liking this kid.

I dragged him all the way behind a counter and we sat on the floor. I was glad I’d forgotten about the date. All of the sneaking around would have been a lot more complicated in a dress. “Okay, your moment to shine. Where are the baguettes?”

“On the bread cabinet.”

I covered my mouth trying not to laugh. He was so on board with my ridiculous ideas it was an unbelievable but pleasant surprise. “Okay….” I peeked over the counter looking for the acclaimed cabinet, but the kitchen was way too big. “Uhh, where is the bread cabinet? I just know where he hides his chips so far.” I smirked over at him when I saw the curious grin he gave me. “Long story.” Mostly Mila and I searching every single cabinet in the middle of a sleepover.

“In the very back of the kitchen. In a safe.”

I snorted a laugh and then immediately covered my mouth. I looked back at Haiden blushing, but grinning all the same. “I promise I don’t always laugh like that.”

“I hope you do.” He said raising an eyebrow in amusement. Then he shook his head and gestured me to follow. “Let’s go.”

We started making our way to the back of the kitchen in a crawl and then I whispered. “I can’t believe he has a safe for his baguettes.”

“His name is Baguette. What do you expect?”

“I wonder if Azalea has a safe filled with Azalea’s on her house then.” I snickered.

“I wonder if Britain has Great Britain under lock and key.”

At that I burst out laughing. I quickly covered my mouth realizing my mistake, but it was a bit too late. “Did you hear that?” Baguette’s thick accent echoed in the kitchen.

“We better get in and out of here fast.” Haiden mumbled and then we crawled the rest of the way to the bread cabinet. There was in deed a safe next to it, a lock keeping the insides out of our reach. I was about to ask what we were going to do about that, but Haiden was one step ahead. “Do you happen to have a hair pin on you?”

I raised both eyebrows impressed. He had some pretty interesting talents he had forgotten to mention earlier. “Such a professional spy, please teach me your ways.” I smirked before taking a pin out of my hair. Lucky him I used pins to secure my braids sometimes.

It didn’t take him long to pick the lock. After a minute or so it clicked and fell off. Haiden’s face beamed at me with pride. “Voila. A baguette for the lady.” He announced, handing me a baguette from inside.

“Such skills, you underrate yourself.” I said taking the baguette.

“VHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING ERE. ZIS ES PUNISHABLE BY DEATH!” Baguette had finally seen us and started making his way toward us.

“Uh oh.” I smiled.

“Oh, we better go.” Haiden sputtered, standing up and pulling me with him to an exit.

A bubble of laughter erupted inside me and I couldn’t suppress it as we ran. The smell of different foods flooding my nose as we passed different areas of the kitchen, cooks and other staff members staring at us with confusion as we ran past them with Baguette yelling in the distance. “Ef someone es trying to steal ze baguettes, you vill feel ze wrath of Baguette Le Chef! I vill get you!”

“We better get outta here.” Haiden blurted as we ran. We reached the exit and it took us into the servant’s quarters. I noticed how there was an exit to the palace in there and made a mental note of it. Then, with my free hand, I grabbed a random napkin from a servant carrying a platter full of them. It was one of the fancy shmancy cloth ones.

“What next, My lady?”

I presented the napkin to him. “Well, I just got the napkin that was also on the list… and we have the baguette.” At that I was pretty sure I could still hear Baguette grumbling in the distance. “Uh… let’s get out of here and then do our second round of guessing.” I laughed again and Haiden joined me, dragging me further into the servant’s quarters.

“The maids are probably wondering why their future monarch is running around with a little redheaded girl.”

“Don’t forget I’m carrying a baguette and wearing your green tie.”

He gave me a glance and immediately stopped running. I almost stumbled with him, but then he looked at me and reached for the tie. He untied the loose knot I’d made and replaced it with a perfect one instead, so that it was placed neatly around my neck. “There, now it’s perfect.”

I grabbed the end of the tie assessing his work and smiled. “Oh, how have I survived without your fashion sense.”

“Obviously. So are we going to guess yet?”

“Yes, you go first now.”

“All right. You’ve… never had a boyfriend.”

Ouch. I gasped pretending to be offended. “Haiden Schreave, why would you ever think that? You are lucky enough to get to date me.”

He laughed. “You’re practically a child.”

Oh, you want to play like that huh? “You’re barely older than me honey.”

“You’re still a minor.” He said matter of fact-ly, but then in a teasing tone he added: “And you’re tiny.”

HOW DARE HE CALL ME TINY? “No,” I poked his chest “you’re tall, there’s a difference.”

He still seemed amused as he stared at the finger I’d used to poke him. “Did I get it right, though?”

I crossed my arms in front of my chest. “Technically…no.”

“Technically?”

“Well, the media kind of expected me to have a boyfriend so I had one…for a while, but we were really just friends.”

“So not technically.”

“We agreed to be a couple for a while so people would stop asking why we were single” I shrugged. “Mutual agreement.”

“So technically or not technically?” He questioned and I struggled to give an answer as I thought of Josh.

We went out to get dinner or watch movies, in rare occasions we even did picnics to make it more “romantic”. We’d been like that on my last months in Angeles before moving to Dominica. We used my temporary move away as an excuse to break up peacefully.

It mostly started because paparazzi wouldn’t stop asking if there was anyone special out there I hadn’t told them about, and because everyone was expecting Josh to date the co-star of the movie he was working on. It was common for actors and actresses to ‘fall in love with each other’ to help the publicity of their own movies, but Ellie Foster made it pretty clear she would “never in her life date a Lynley again.” Josh was not any more interested either. After all she had broken up with his older brother just because she thought he didn’t “act like a Two with all the painting he did.” It wasn’t that she wasn’t smart or pretty, she was just too…condescending.

With me and Josh dating however, people would stop asking me about nonexistent secret boyfriends and stop suggesting him and Ellie become a couple. It was a win-win situation as stupid as having to do it was. Since that moment on I became Josh’s permanent companion on movie premieres—which to be honest happened a lot even before we became “a couple”. We kept regularly seeing each other on set whenever I was there with my parents and we hung out a lot out off set as well. Considering we were already close friends, it was mostly acting like the love we shared was a romantic kind of love… so it wasn’t all a charade. We really did have fun and enjoyed each other’s company. I even thought I might like him for a while…but by the end it was always pretty platonic.

“I don’t know…what would you consider technically?” I asked Haiden.

“I don’t know depends on what you consider dating is. For example, I don’t consider that we’re dating. I believe we’re both in a mutual contract at this point, but I wouldn’t say dating.”

That’s certainly interesting. I raised my eyebrow. “So this is not a date?”

“Mm, technically no. I like to call it a “Rendezvous with a possible spouse”. But legally, I’m supposed to call it a date.”

I laughed at the name he used. “Okay, okay, at what point would it be a date then?”

“When we mutually agree it is…I barely know you. It’d be weird to say we’re dating along with 29 other girls.”

I nodded tapping my chin as I examined him. I agreed with what he was saying, but I hadn’t been expecting those to be his thoughts. “True, it’s kind of weird…” really weird actually. “I’m beginning to think this Selection was not entirely your idea.”

“Oh, it definitely wasn’t.”

I thought about the rebels who had killed the second Azalea. “Hmm…any particular reasons the country needed it right now?”

“Not really. I was just of age and jolly ol’ dad decided it was time.”

“Okay, well hopefully I survive here long enough to get a real date with you then. And also I guess I technically haven’t had a boyfriend.”

“Trust me, I think you will.” He said it without stuttering, but then he seemed to realize he’d said it aloud and cleared his throat. “And wonderful, I’m right.”

I grinned trying to let him know his comment had not gone unnoticed. “Let’s see, a compliment… You’re a lot funnier than you think you are, or than what you pretend to be at least.”

“Why, thank you, Lady Aileen. You’re turn now.”

“Hum, I’m pretty sure you write. I don’t know what, but you do. I mean, with that bookshelf and the bunch of papers on your trashcan… that is practically overloaded with paper balls may I add.”

He laughed. “You got me.”

“Yes! Now a compliment, plus a detail. Is it novels? Songs? Short stories? …poetry? I’ve heard everyone blabbing about how much you love it.”

“Nope, no details. I am not contractually obligated. As for your compliment… I like that you talk back to me.”

“I’ll figure out eventually, but what do you mean I talk back to you?”

“You don’t brush off anything. If I’m wrong you definitely make sure I know.”

It was a simple compliment, but nonetheless pleasant. “Ahh, well I’m glad you don’t hate me for it,” I winked “someone’s gotta do it. Now, we’re almost done with the list. Next thing requires me to get my camera from my room.”

“All, right,” he said gesturing toward a door near us “after you.”

I opened the door and called for Janet and Anne, but no one replied. I entered and for once they weren’t there. Haiden slowly walked in behind me, double checking no one saw him enter.

“You´re scared to get caught in my room as well?”

“Of course.”

I started moving and picking up the polaroid photos I’d left on the floor and around my desk before I’d left for the gardens. “Why? I get your room, but…well…this is kind of your property.”

“Don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea.”

I thought again about ‘Exposing Illea’ implying me and David seemed a bit too close. David. My cousin. “Fair enough I guess. I am sorry for the mess as well” I said, still picking up photos from what to him probably seemed like random places. “Anne and Janet do a better job at cleaning really, I just told them not to move some stuff. I don´t want them to accidentally misplace things.” I had a weird way of organizing my pictures.

He laughed. “It looks perfect.”

I smiled and placed the pictures neatly on my desk. “Of course you´d say that considering how your trashcan looks.” I teased, approaching my new bed to kneel in front of it and look for my instant camera under it.

“You know you have plenty of storage in other places rather than the bed.”

“Yes, but no one serious would look under the bed. It´s ridiculous to hide something there…well, unless they are looking for something very important, then they would turn the room upside down.” I took out the camera from under the bed. “Would you ever think of looking under the bed?”

“Um, yes. That’s literally the first place people who have something to hide put things.”

“Fine,” I said rolling my eyes. “I’ll look for a better place….” To be honest I wasn’t trying to hide it there, I just didn’t want people using it without permission. It was a special gift. If I placed it somewhere else—where people might just pick it up while in my room to look at it—I would find myself trying to politely take it back without showing I was bothered by them grabbing it in the first place.

“Take it from a professional spy.” Haiden quipped.

I stood up and remembered how he opened the lock back in the kitchen. “You owe me a hair pin by the way, but you have to teach me that trick.”

To my surprise he took the hair pin from his pocket, but held it high above his head, out of my reach.

You little—I placed a hand on my hip and looked at him with narrowed eyes. “Against what you have established, I am not a child, so I will not behave like one…” I said it as eloquently as possible. Heather would be proud. Then I waited for a couple of seconds, expecting him to give ot back, but he didn’t and I was bored and I am Aileen. He’s already seen how intense I am. I sighed. Heather might not be as proud. “Oh who am I kidding, that´s no fun.” And then I tackled the prince.

He gasped as we hit the ground. “Oh, God.” Between laughs he stuck the pin on his hair and shoved me aside. “You’ll never get it now.”

I stood after him. “That’s not fair! Why are you so tall?!”

“Because taller is better!”

“Pfft, I doubt so,” I argued, reaching for the blanket on my bed and throwing it over his head in an attempt to stop him “it makes you a bigger target!

He laughed but kept on walking and crashed into a wall. Didn’t really protest though. “You’re not getting this pin.”

I snorted a laugh, but didn’t care for it at the moment. “Be careful where you’re going, and I’m getting that pin!”

Before I could do anything however he spun around and unraveled himself from the blanket. In seconds he was tying it around me. “No wait!” I tried to stop him, but failed and then ended up tripping over the blanket and bumping into the shelf I had. Because of the tangled mess we were with the blanket, we both ended up on the floor, next to each other. We had burst out laughing as soon as we hit the ground. I hadn’t heard him laugh that hard all day.

“You should let me keep the hair pin.”

I took part of the blanket from my face and proclaimed dramatically: “MY HONER DEPENDS ON GETTING THAT PIN!” But just then the carton box I’d placed on the shelf we bumped into finally tipped over and fell. All of my little paper swans and planes showered on us and the empty box landed on Haiden’s head.

“Well, this is inconvenient.”

I laughed again. “I like origami.”

I unraveled my hands from the blanket and took the box off his head. He smiled down at me and I took the opportunity to reach for the pin. “And so my honor is restored…”

He backed away and wrapped his hand around my wrist before I could grasp it. “Not so fast.”

I tried to hold him still, biting my lip in concentration in an attempt to reach for it with my other hand. “Is it so hard to make you stay in one place?”

“I never stay in one place.” He chuckled.

“Pfft, well first of all that’s a lie.” I kept reaching for the pin and he kept laughing, trying to stop me from getting it, playfully elbowing me away.

“No it isn’t.”

“Oh really, how do you sleep then…” The door creaked and from the corner of my eye I realized how it slowly opened, I glanced back at Haiden with wide eyes. We were on a corner between my bed and shelf, surrounded by a bunch of origami figures, a tangled mess in blankets. It didn’t get any more random than that. I immediately reached for the blanket and untangled it just in time to throw it on top of him. Anne came in with a batch of towels in hand. I was glad the blanket was for a king size bed. Big enough for a prince. Get it? No? Fine.

“Lady Ai—” she stopped midsentence looking at both of us. “Uh…who’s that?” She gestured at the blanket-covered Haiden with her head.

“Oh hey Anne! It’s just Mila.” Silence ensued as Anne frowned and Haiden remained silent. I cleared my throat before elbowing him on the ribs. “Don’t be shy Mila, say hi.”

He only squeaked a little. I could tell he was trying not to laugh. He’d be a horrible actor.

Anne seemed very confused. “Umm..”

“Yeah, uh,” my voice cracked a little as I avoided bursting into laughter “that’s how Mila says hi apparently.” I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes. This was ridiculous. We were ridiculous.

“O-okay..?” I could tell Anne knew something was off but I only stood and tried helping Haiden up as well, making sure the blanket didn’t fall off. “Umm yeah we…” I eyed the room for a sec and then reached for a pillow as an idea formed in my head. “We were going to have a sleepover. At her room.” I shoved the pillow at Haiden’s chest. “Right Mila?”

He squeaked in agreement. I did my best not to laugh again. What kind of girl squeals to talk Haiden?

Anne raised an eyebrow. “It’s the middle of the day, why would you have a sleepover right now? And didn’t the last one end up with a burnt bush in the gardens?”

“We’re just getting ready…And yes there was a burnt bush, but Mila and I were some of the few that tried to stop them.” This was true. Remembering that night I leaned to whisper in Haiden’s ear and said: “By the way if it weren’t for us and Elaine your room might have been the one lit up.”

He laughed lightly and whispered back. “Well, thanks.” Then he cleared his throat and slouched down to my height. As if that would go unnoticed now. There was really no point in keeping this going probably, but we did.

Anne squinted at us. “Well Mila, you sure are tall…”

Haiden did a girly giggle in response and I snorted a laugh.

“Yeah,” I cleared my throat and waved a hand in dismissal. “It’s the vitamins!” Then I dragged him out of there, in the rush I accidentally made him bump into a wall. “Oops, better wacth where you’re going Mila.” I snickered, getting him past the door. “Bye Anne! I’m sorry for the origami mess, I’ll clean it up, don’t worry about it.” Then I pushed him outside. “Oh! Almost forgot” I went back in and grabbed the camera. “Perfect. Let’s go.”

He tossed the blanket onto a chair in the hallway. “Well, that was close.”

“That’s the worst impression of a girl I’ve ever seen.” I smirked.

“Well, I’d hope so.” Haiden emphasized and it took me a second to get it before laughing.

“Oh, shut up. Also, now you owe me one for saving your royal behind,” I extended my hand in front of him “so I wish for my honor back.”

“Maybe next time.”

I huffed, not willing to fight for the pin on the palace’s halls as well. “Fine, I’ll trust you with it…for now.”

“Great, because my next option would be to swallow it and my digestive tract could not handle that.”

I made a face. “Ew, that’s my honor you’re talking about.” Then I shook my head and held up the camera. “Now next item! We need a selfie with a guard.”

“I can do that.” He reached for something in his pocket and took out a walkie talkie.

Oh wow. “Modern.” I intoned.

He gave me an amused glance and started talking into the walkie talkie. “Knox, you there?”

I hovered next to him and yelled: “Hey Knox, how you doing?”

There was only static for a second, then a gruff voice finally spoke up. “Uh, Prince Haiden, I’m here, but who’s that?”

“Oh, no one.” He said rolling his eyes and I shoved him. “But, could you come to my room. I need help with something.”

“Uh, all right I’ll be there soon.”

When the walkie-talk was over I elbowed him. “No one? Excuse you, Mr. you underrate yourself, I am not no one.” Then I reached for the blanket and threw it over his face again. Me being petty. “Who’s Knox by the way?”

“A guard. Like you wanted.”

“I figured that, but aren’t you worried he’ll see me in your room?”

“No, Knox knows me and he’s no snitch.”

“A friend then?”

“Sort of. Let’s go.”

Once we were back on his room he asked: “So… are you having fun?”

“Are you kidding? Today has been great, one of the best treasure hunts I’ve ever had.” I said, laughing as I sat on the edge of his bed to wait for Knox. “I was actually worried I’d scare you with my…Aileen-ness.” I shrugged at my own creation of random words. “But I realized it was better for you to see it from the get go.”

He chuckled. “Definitely not. I haven’t had this much fun in a long time.”

That was the best outcome I could have wished for. “Glad I could help.”

Then someone knocked on the door and Haiden walked over to it. “Knox, glad you could come.”

A guard with dirty-blonde hair came in and glanced at me. “Am I interrupting something?”

I couldn’t avoid snickering. “Yeah, we were about to passionately make out Knox, you just ruined the moment.”

He slowly walked out of the room again. “Well, don’t let me stop you.”

I tilted my head at him and raised an eyebrow at Haiden. “He doesn’t have a good sense of sarcasm does he?”

Haiden shook his head and replied: “Oh he knew what you were saying. Very well.” Then he gestured at Knox to come back in.

I frowned, slightly confused about what that meant, but I didn’t get a chance to question it as Haiden explained we needed a selfie. When he gave Knox my camera part of me cringed inside, just a little…I had been the one to give Haiden the camera in the first place though—prepared for both of them to be holding it— so it was fine.

Knox laughed and grabbed camera. “Don’t mind if I do.”

I ran over to stand behind him and poked my head over his shoulder. I had to stand on the tip of my toes because he was practically as tall as Haiden, if not taller. “Ugh, why are you all so tall.”

Knox took the picture and tossed the camera at Haiden. I chewed the inside of my cheek to stop myself from reprimanding him for throwing it with such disregard. “Lemme know if you need any more eye candy, babe.”

Wait… “What?

He was out of the room before I could question him again.

“Anything else left?” Haiden asked with a laugh.

I frowned at the door for a few seconds after Knox left, and then turned to look at him. “Well, I was hoping you could choose the last item.”

He gave that a thought. “Up for a challenge?”

I raised my eyebrows mischievously. “You’ve spent a whole day with me, what do you think?”

“Lady Alexandria’s hair brush.” He smirked. “Or comb, whichever.”

My mouth fell open and I raised both eyebrows. Oh my, he’s even more intense than me. I didn’t even mention how he’d gotten her name wrong.

“Or would her soul be better?” He added, mimicking the mischievous smile I’d had a few seconds ago.

I slowly grinned as my brain wrapped itself around his idea. “Oh wow, going for the big leagues. You sure you wanna get in the way of Alexandra’s hair? That could get us killed.” I was only partially joking with the last statement. Apparently she tolerated me so far, but I wondered if she was just acting like that because she recognized my dad’s last name. My dad hadn’t worked with her before, but she might know about him if she recognized movie producers.

“It’s too big. She won’t see us.” He joked, dismissing my concerns. Then he tilted his head. “You coming?”

I bit the inside of my cheek thinking it through. It was risky, but I couldn’t deny I wanted to go. If someone ever went into my room to get something as simple as a comb under these circumstances, and then told me about it, I would find it strangely hilarious. I knew other girls would too… but Alex? I didn’t have her entirely figured out yet. “I’m going to regret this…” I sighed “but at least she doesn’t already hate me. I might survive this.” Probably.

I followed him and he grinned. Most of my concerns diminished after I grinned back.

“You knock and see if she’s in there.” He whispered when we were almost by her room.

I walked the rest of the way to her door and knocked, calling her name, claiming Azalea was looking for her. No one replied so I gestured for Haiden to come. It seemed like the coast was clear. The door wasn’t locked—which I found rather odd considering I always made sure mine was—so we just opened it. Haiden mentioned the maids and I poked my head inside, asking if there was anyone there. After I said I was looking for Alex and got no reply we went in.

As we entered I looked over my shoulder at Haiden. “My guess is you’ve never had a girlfriend.”

“Please, you’re not even trying.”

For a moment I thought that meant I’d guessed wrong, but when I asked if it was a real girlfriend he said: “Nope.”

I was confused by this. “Technical like mine then?”

“Nope, not technical. Just nope.”

I realized then I’d misunderstood his initial reply. “Then I’m right! I thought you said I wasn’t trying because I guessed incorrectly, now I get it…” He laughed at this and I shrugged with a smile. “It’s a fair guess, for all I know you might have had one.”

Haiden almost seemed baffled by the suggestion. “You’ve known me this long and you think I’ve dated before?”

He said that as if we’d known each other for ages which made my smile widen. I pushed him playfully, heading for the vanity to look for the comb. “Now, who’s underrating themselves? You got some tricks up your sleeve.”

“Tricks, really?” He seemed amused by the idea and I smirked.

“Well, yeah. You’re funny, dare I say even bold considering what you just picked for us to get now.” I added, gesturing at the room. “Smart, nice…I could probably list a couple more, but compliments aren’t free in this hunt, remember?”

He laughed. “I suppose so. It’s my turn isn’t it? Well, I’ll say you’re very funny, cute when you don’t try too hard, and not afraid of a challenge.”

“Jeez, now I try too hard.” I chided, shaking my head with a smile. Then I finally turned to look at the vanity in search for the comb. I made sure not to touch anything since I didn’t want to move things out of place; I wouldn’t want people moving all of my stuff around. I also didn’t pay much attention to any of the objects that I saw. I just concentrated on the shape of a comb and looked over the stuff on the vanity. As I did I clarified: “For the record, I don’t try too hard, I just like being dramatic. It is second nature…when I’m not in public.”

He shook his head, laughing. “No, that was a joke. You’re cute most of the time.” He paused only for a second. “You and your small, redhead self.”

I didn’t look back at him but my smile widened again. “Thanks Haiden, don’t forget freckled…” Then I saw the comb behind a couple of different perfumes. I reached for it carefully and slowly turned around to show it to him. “Well, look at what I found.”

“Well, let’s get out of here.”

After that there was only one thing left. Proof of the hunt.

With all the items on Haiden’s bed I picked up the napkin and started folding it to make a swan.

“You know napkin origami?”

“First of all, I’m pretty sure it’s called napkin folding not napkin origami.” I laughed, finishing the swan. Then I held it dramatically in my hand for him to see. “And secondly, yes, I know a bit…more than most people at least.”

Between a fake cough he mumbled: “Napkin origami sounds cooler.”

I only gave him a sideways grin before reaching for the book and placing the swan on top of it. Then I placed the comb to rest on the swan alongside the instant picture with Knox. I placed it all in his hands. He gave me a questioning look, but didn’t ask anything. I took a step away to look him up and down, and then decided he needed to hold the book in just one hand. He would need the other one to hold the baguette.

I made him raise his hand up as if the baguette was a sword and then, realizing my blanket was there, I added it as a cape over his shoulders. Then I pictured the frame in my head. “Hmm, yeah, this works.”

“This is a tad uncomfortable.” Haiden claimed, but the smile on his face was genuine.

I quickly reached for my camera and snapped a picture without really checking the frame, then hurried to help him with the book. “Any other posing ideas were I may actually angle the camera?”

He didn’t say anything for a second but then he jumped onto the bed and made a ‘draw me like one of your French girls’ pose from Titanic.

Oh, my freaking chips. I burst out laughing, and because I was trying not too I snorted again.

“Make me beautiful.” He cooed and I flat out lost it.

I was pretty sure my face had turned as red as a rose from laughing. The whole thing was perfect for a blackmail photo to tease him with later, but I couldn’t hold the camera steady because of my laughter. After a while I finally managed to snap the picture of him with the rest of the items on the bed. Haiden laughed with me and placed the baguette on his mouth like one would a rose during a tango. I leaned on a bed post clutching my stomach, still laughing.

You know how sometimes you laugh and you’ve been doing it for so long it starts hurting? Like you are struggling to catch your breath, but you just can’t stop? It was one of those moments. This was Prince Haiden? The shyest member of the royal family? “You would make a perfect Rose.” I joked.

“But where are your brushes and paint?”

Oh holy macaroni. My laugh immediately returned full on. “Oh my, must have misplaced them…” I sputtered, even though I was dying inside as I said it, and my stomach hurt from laughing, and I was probably a freckled tomato.

He sat up and I could tell he wasn’t going to stop. It was like he didn’t want me to stop laughing. “And are you my Jack?” He alluded.

I was so taken aback by that one I actually slipped from the post onto the bed. My laughter still echoed through the room. I tried to calm down and raised an eyebrow at him. “Would you like me to be?”

He reached for my cheek and I knew my blushing involuntarily intensified (if that was even possible), but then he held out the baguette to me and said: “Hold onto this and don’t let go.”

THIS NERD. I started laughing again but after a moment I cleared my throat and grabbed the tip of the baguette. Then in the most serious way possible: “Haiden, this Baguette isn’t big enough for both of us.”

“Then…” he paused to sniffle “one of us must leave.”

He pushed me off the bed.

“Whaa..” I wrapped my hand around his wrist just in time to bring him down with me. We both started laughing again on the ground. When we finally calmed down I looked at him and clicked my tongue. “Great Haiden now we’re both gonna die from hypothermia.”

He hummed. “Finally.”

I snickered and nudged him before staring at his ceiling. “You’re so dramatic.” Maybe even as much as I am. I took a bite from the baguette and couldn’t blame the chef for having them under a locked safe. I offered Haiden a piece. “Want some before we freeze to death?”

He accepted the offer. “I wonder what Baguette is thinking right now.”

“Hmm, maybe he’s considering what poison to use on our dinner…Or planning world dominance, you know.”

“I’ll have it treated, don’t worry.”

I smiled over at him. “Haiden saving the day.”

“Always. So are we going to guess again? One last time?”

“Oh! Yes, we’re missing one. You go first.”

“All right, um, you have conflicted feelings about me.”

Maybe. “Hmm, depends on what you mean by conflicted.”

“But I’m right.” He cajoled.

“I don’t know.” I rolled my eyes, smirking. “We haven��t even had our first date yet remember?”

“Oh, right.” He chuckled softly. “How could I forget? Maybe someday we’ll have that first date.”

I kept staring at the ceiling and started fidgeting with the green tie that was still around my neck. “I have to admit today could have been a pretty good date.” I only dared to look at him from the corner of my eye, but I noticed him lean closer to me.

“Well, maybe our first real date will be even better.”

I turned my head to face him. His brown eyes stared intently at my own and I found myself moving my head closer to his as well. “It better be or I’m holding you responsible.” I said, smiling softly.

“I’ll be sure to make it worth your time.”

“Good.” This time I smiled coyly. “My guess is you feel attracted to me right now.”

“Possibly.”

My lips turned into a thin line. “Does that mean I get a compliment?”

“Sure.” It took him a couple of seconds to come up with his reply. “You make me…rethink things.”

“Things like…?” I ventured, hesitantly.

“Things.”

I pressed my lips together again, but then smiled with a nod. “Things. Okay. Well, I guess you get a compliment too….” I had to take a moment to pick mine as well. “You make me feel comfortable in a sense.”

“I’m glad.”

“Me too.” I said, staring back at the ceiling.

“So… this is the end, I guess.”

“So…who’s going to return Alexandra’s comb?”

“Mm, stick it in a potted plant.” He suggested.

I glared at him. “She’ll know its missing…I guess I could tell her I was near her room and in need of a comb and just borrowed it.” Not entirely a lie.

“No, don’t tell her anything.”

“Yeah, she’d probably kill me.” I smirked. “Though it was your idea…Maybe I’ll give it to her maid.”

“Probably a good idea.”

“Yeah, that way no one gets killed.”

We stayed silent for a while after that, just casually lying on the floor, as if it were completely normal. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence however. It was the kind of silence you agree on just to give someone else company. Does that make sense?

I wasn’t sure how long it had been by the time I sat up, but I knew our little rendezvous was reaching its end. I hovered over his face while he was still lying on the ground and the tie swung near him. “Any chance you’ll tell me the story behind the green tie before this is over?” I said, still curious about why it was his favorite tie. That was probably the vaguest most interesting thing he’d mentioned during my interview.

Haiden smiled and reached for the tie when it swung near his ear. “We better save something to talk about for next time.”

I grinned wondering what crazy ideas we would have during our second date. “A story for next time then.”

I moved aside and he sat up too. “We should probably go.” He said, standing up.

“Are you walking me to my room?” I asked, picking up the book with the other things from our treasure hunt. I was happy to take that beautiful book with me.

“I had a lot of fun today.”

I snapped a surprise picture of him then. Last picture of the day. I grinned at his smile on the instant picture that came out. “One of the best not-so-quite dates I’ve ever had.” I handed him the picture for him to see.

“If this is not a date, then I’d love to see a real one someday.”

“Agreed…Mutual agreement. When we mutually agree we’re having a date then it will no longer be a…” I paused trying to remember his exact words. “What did you call it? Rendezvous with a possible spouse? It sounds like we might reach the agreement sooner rather than later. Can’t wait to see how that turns out.”

We smiled at each other.

“Thank you for your time Haiden.” I did a dramatic curtsy.

“What are you doing here?” Janet asked when she came out of the closet.

I looked up from Haiden’s pictures and gave her a puzzled look. “Umm, this is my room…?”

“Anne said you were having a sleepover with Mila tonight.” As if called upon, Anne appeared on the bathroom’s doorway.

“Oh, yes. We were organizing a couple of thing…we’re done now. We’re not meeting up again until later.”

“Okay. I’ll have your clothes ready then.”

I nodded thinking I’d dodged a bullet, but then Anne spoke up. “Why are you wearing a tie?”

I placed my hand on the knot without thinking and then looked back at her. She was giving me a very suspicious glare. How had we forgotten about the tie? “I’m—trying to make a fashion statement.” It sounded more like a question than an answer.

Janet tilted her head in confusion.

Anne raised both eyebrows as if unimpressed with my excuse. “Wasn’t your date with the prince today?”

“Uh…” Busted.

She shook her head and walked over to sit on my desk’s chair. It seemed like she was waiting for an explanation. “You know, Lady Mila seems to have very prince-like shoes.”

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#haiden schreave #ugh no time for editing #selectionoc #fic #not a challenge

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meredith-alexandra-jane-blog · 7 years

Text

My Immortal: Beauty and the Beast Version Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

I was really scared about Vlodebeast all day. I was even upset went to rehearsals with Beasty's favorite gothic band Bloody Gothic Rose 666. I'm now a background singer (because Beasty liked my voice when he heard me sing the Gaston song to Gaston). People say that we sound like a cross between GC, Caleçon Le Nodule, and MCL (that's Mon Chimique L'amour u preps).

The other people in the band are B'loody Belle, Madame de Goffik Garderobe, Cadenza the Dark Harpsichord of Death, Loomiere, and Belle's papa Maurice (we call him Diabolo now.) And a hat rack named Chapeau. (who might be another Ghey Guy).

Today only Gaston and Beasty were depressed so they weren't coming to listen so we wrote songs instead. I knew Gaston was probably slitting his wrists (he wouldn't die because he's a vampire and the only way you can kill a vampire is with a c-r-o-s-s (there's no way I'm writing that) or a steak. And Beasty was probably watching a depressing movie like 'Le Cadavre de Mariée.' I put on a black leather vest that showed off my currveyy physique, and one of those cravats from the 1700's made of red lace. And on my black coat with red lace on the sleeves and lapels I wore a tiny red ribbon pinned on the lapel that said, 'Le Projet Élémentaire.' (The name of another of Gaston's and my favorite bands!) Everybody says I'm too clingy to him but I don't get it.

We were singing a cover of 'Hélene' and at the end of the song I suddenly bust into tears.

"LeFou! Are you OK?" B'loody Belle asked in a concerted voice.

"With all due respect-what the fck do you think?" I asked angrily.

And then I took deep breaths to calm myself down and I said. "Well, it just so happened that Voldebeast came to me in the forest...(I lost my positivity and became OOC again)...and the fcking bastard told me to fcking kill Beasty! But I don't want to kill him, (my softie heart came back shuddup I'm still goffic ok?) because he's really nice, he's really kind and gentle, even if he did go out with Gaston. But if I don't kill Beasty, then Voldebeast, he'll kill Gaston!" I burst into tears.

Suddenly Gaston jumped out from behind a wall. "Why didn't you fcking tell me!" he shouted. "Why you fcking poser bytch! NOBODY keeps secrets from GASTON!" (c is dat out of character?)

I started to cry and cry. Gaston started to cry all sensitive. He stood close to me and lifted my chin up and let me be hypnotized by his gothic eyes and Vampire power. Then he ran out crying. (so wut if dat ooc? Prepz!)

We practiced for one more hour. Suddenly Beasty walked in angrily and he was in Beast Mode! His eyes were all fiery and I knew this time it wasn't because he had a headache.

"Do you realize what you could have DONE?" He started to cry wisely. (c dats basically not swering and dis time he wuz relly upset n u wil cry)

"LeFou, Gaston has been found in his room. He committed suicide by slitting his wrists."

...

I said stop flaming up prepz! see if dis chaprer is srupid!1111 it dels wit rlly sris issus! sp c 4 urself if itz ztupid brw fangz 2 ma frend raven 4 hleping me!

...

"Noooo!" I screamed. I was horrorfied. B'loody Belle tried to comfort me but I ran to my room crying myself. Beasty chased after me shouting but he had to stop when I went into my room because he would look like a perv that way (he's bi remember)

Anyway, I started crying tears of blood and then I slit both of my wrists. They blood got all over my clothes so I took them off and jumped into the bath angrily while I put on a L'inkin Parc song at full volume. I grabbed a steak (probably one of Beasty's he likes raw meat) and almost stuck it into my heart to commit suicide. I was so fcking depressed!

I got out of the bathtub and put on a black low-cut nightshirt with lace all over it sandly. I put on black high-heel boots with pink metal stuff on the ends, my pink bow tie, and six pairs of skull earrings. (Stanley would never wear this r u kidding he is such a prep!) I couldn't frcking believe it.

Then I looked out the window and screamed... Clock was spying on me and he was taking a video tape of me! And Loomiere was masticating to it! They were sitting on their flying candlesticks.

"EW YOU FCKING PERVS, STOP LOOKING AT ME! ARE YOU PEDOS OR WHAT?" I screamed putting on a towel with a picture of M'Arilyne d'Maison (aka Monsieur D'Arque who is also a great goffik singer) on it.

Suddenly Beasty ran in. He was in Prince Adam form again, the sexay man with eyeliner and his hair in a ponytail with blue ribbon. He wore a light blue jacket with white lace all over it (and only his black eyeliner kept him from looking like a total fcking prep).

"A'bra Que'davre!" he yelled at Clock and Loomiere pointing his womb. I took Gaston's gun and shot Clock and Loomiere a gazillion times and they both started screaming and the camera broke.

(AN: so sorry this does not make sense in the 18th century, not mentioning the fact everyone is basically OOC. But no haterz prepz!11!)

Then Beasty ran into a wardrobe which was the place he transforms (sort of like the old Superman movies with the phone booth).

Suddenly, Beasty came out of the closet (geddit?) and he was THE BEAST again!

"LeFou, it has been revealed that someone has- NOOOOOOO!" he shouted looking at Clock and Loomiere and then he waved his magic wand (Agathe gave it to him) and suddenly...

Monsieur Chapeau ran outside on his flying candle and said everyone we need to talk. (AN: how can he run when riding a flying candle? Not to mention he's a hatrack?)

"What do you know Chapeau? You're just a petit Porc-Verrues student!" (I believe Beasty said this line)

"I MAY BE A PORC-VERRUES STUDENT- BUT I AM ALSO A SETANIST!"

"This cannot be," Clock said in a crisp voice as blood dripped from his hand where Beasty's gun had shot him (AN: wait that doesn't make sense. I thought LeFou shot him with Gaston's gun correct?) "There must be other factors."

"YOU DON'T HAVE ANY!" I yelled in madly.

Loomiere (back to life apparently) held up the camera triumelephantly. "The lens may be ruined but the tape is still there!"

I felt faint, normally how I do when it feels like when you do not drink enough wolf blood.

"Why are you doing this?" Loomiere said angrily while he rubbed his dirty hands on his clook. (Does that mean Clock? I'll just leave that to your imagination *hon hon hon*)

And then I heard the words that I heard before but not from him. I did not know whether to feel shocked or happy.

"BECAUSE...BECAUSE..." Chapeau said and he paused in the air dramaticlly, waving his brass hat rack arms in the air. Then swooped he in singing to the tune of a gothic version of a song by 50 Livres.

"Because you're goffic?" Clock asked in a little afraid voice because he was afraiind it was connected with Seten.

"BECAUSE I LOVE HIM!"

stop f'aing ok chapeau is a pedo 2 alot of ppl in american skoolz lik dat i wunted 2 adress da ishu! how du u no clock aint kristian plus chapeau isn't relly in luv wif lefou dat was stanley ok!

I was about to slit my wrists again with the silver knife that Gasgon had given me in case anything happened to him. He told me (during the War) to use it valiantly against an enemy but I knew that we must go together.

"NO!" I THOUGHT IT WAS CHAIPeau but it was Beasty. He started to scream. "OMFG! NOOOO! I'M TRANSFORMING AGAIN AND IT HURTS!" and then...his eyes rolled up. You could see his red whites.

I stopped. "How did u know?"

"I saw it! And my scar turned back into The Symbol!"

"NO!" I ran up closer. "I thought you didn't have a scar anymore!"

"I do but Diablo (Maurice) turned it into a rose tattoo for me and I always cover it up with foundation. And with my fur when I'm in Beast Mode. " he said back. "Anyway my scar hurt and transforming hurt and it turned into The Symbol! Save me! then I had a vision of what was happening to Gaston...Volfebeast has him bondage!"

Anyway I was in the castle nurse's office now recovering from my slit wrists. Clock and Loomiere and CHAPUEU were there too. They were going to Sainte-Mangue's after they recovered because they were pedofiles and you can't have those fcking pervs around Beasty's castle with a lot of hot boyz (Chapeau is Ghey and maybe Clock too) and hot girlz. Beasty had constipated the cideo camera they took of me naked. I put up my middle finger at them.

(AN: If you are confused, my apologies. Working with the original text)

Anyway Chapueau came into my hospital bed holding a bouquet of pink roses.

"FeLou, I need to tell you something." he said in a v. serious voice, giving me the roses.

"Frck off," I told him. "And get my fckn name right! You know I fcking hate the color pink anyway, I only wore the bow tie because Gaston used to like girls as much as boys, and pink is a girl color! And...I don't like fcked up preps like YOU!" I snapped.

Chapeau had been mean to me before, for being goffik. He had punched me repeatedly in the face with his hat-rack arms. It didn't hurt though.

"No, FeLou," Chapuau says. "Those are not roses."

"What, are they goffs too you poser prep?" I asked because I was angry that he got me pink roses. And he can't get my name right.

"I saved your life!" he yelled angrily. "No you didn't I replied." "You saved me from getting a Paris L'Hotel de Hilton p-video made from your shower scene and being vued by Clock and Loomiere. Who MASTICATED (c is dat spelled rong) to it." he added silently.

"Whatever!" I yelled angirly.

He pointed one of his hat-rack hands to the pink roses. "These aren't roses." He suddenly looked at them with an evil look in his eye and muttered Well if you wanted Honesty thats all you haD TO SAY!

"That's not a spell, that's an MCL song." I corrected him wisely.

"I know I was just warming up my vocal cordes." Then he screamed. "Petulus merengo mi kremicli romacio (4 all you cool goffic mcr fans out there, that is a tribute! specially for raven I love you girl!) imo noto okayo!"

And then the roses turned into a huge black flame floating in the middle of the air. And it was black. Now I know he wasn't a prep.

"Okay I believe you now wtf is Gaston?"

Chapeau rolled his eyes. (on his top hat head) I looked into the balls of flame but I could c nothing.

"U c, FeLou," Beastly said, watching the two of us watching the flame, "2 c wht iz in da flames (HAHA YOU REVIEWRS FLAMES GEDDIT) u mst find urself 1st, k?"

"I HAVE FOUND MYSELF OK YOU MEAN OL' BEAST!" Chapeau yelled. BEASTly looked shocked. I suppose he didn't have a headache or else he would have said something back.

Chapeau stormed off back into his bed. U r a liar, Beasty!"

Anyway when I got better I went upstairs and put on a black leather frock coat that was all ripped on the ends with lace on it. There was a dark blood red vest, too, with corset stuff (laces) I put on the front. I put on ripped black breeches with black fishnet stockings and black high-heeled boots with tiny pictures of Gaston (the animated cartoon Gaston) on them. I put my hair all out around me so I looked like Samara from the Ring (if u don't no who she iz u a prep so fck off!) and I put on blood-red lipstick, black eyeliner and lip gloss.

(Mon Dieu! if only I could get back to Villaineuve- cuz Stanley would so be jealouz AND turned on- He dat sexy prep wiv hair like Jean Travolta from Grease!)

"You look kawai, boy." B'loody Belle said sadly. Belle was wearing her yellow ballgown except it was all ripped up with blood droplets on it. (Like those posh prep mums, the way they dress up their kids for Halloween? That.)

"Fangs (geddit) you do too." I said sadly too. but I was still upset. I slit my wrists feeling totally depressed and I sucked all the blood. (In memory of my Gaston the Vampire) I cried again in my bathroom (where M'oaning Monsieur Toilette kept me company but don't worry he is not a perv he just moans all depressed and he sucks himself back down the toilet from time to time) I put the shades on so Clock and Loomiere couldn't spy on me this time.

I went to some classes. (Reading classes where B'loody Belle taught me some basic reading in the big Library.) Beastly was in the Hair of Magical Magic Creatures (don't ask me what that means, je ne sais quoi- I sincerely don't get it.) Belle also reads us some Shakespear, because his stories are all dark and Goffic so we like his books.

Beasty (who was human Prince Adam right now) looked all depressed because Gaston had disappeared and he too used to be in love with Gaston. He was sucking some blood from a 'Hufflepuff' (Je ne sais quoi!)

"Hi" he said in a depressed way. "Hi back." I said in a wqually said way.

We looked at each other for some time. Adam had beautiful red gothic eyes so much like Gaston's. Then... we jumped on each other and started screwing with each other.

"STOP IT NOW YOU HORNY SIMPLETONS!" shouted Mrs. Teapot who was watching us and so was everyone else.

"Beasty you fcker!" I said slapping him. "Quit trying to screw me. You know I loved Gaston!" I shouted and then I ran away angrily.

And then he started to scream. "NOOOO! MY TRANSFORMATION HURTS!" And then...his eyes rolled up! You could only see his red whites.

"No!" I ran up closer. "I thought you didn't have a scar anymore!" I shouted.

"I know but Diablo (Maurice) changed it into a rose tattoo for me and I always cover it up with foundation!" he said back. "Anyway my transformation hurt and then I had a vision of what was happening to Gaston...Volfebeast...MY FATHER...has him bondage!"

SPECIAL FANGS RAVEN MY GOFFIX BLOOD SISTA WTF UR SUPPOSED TO RIT DIS!1111!

HEY RAVEN DO YOU KNOW WHERE MY SWEATER IS

#gafou #parody fanfic #my immortal

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