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richincolor · 4 years ago

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January's New Releases

2021 told 2020 to hold it's beer and what a month January has been! Publishing YA also came out swinging with a slew of new books (many already bestsellers) in what we hope will be another banner year for BIPOC stories. Click below to find books for your TBR list.

Week of January 5th

The Life I’m In by Sharon G. Flake Scholastic Inc

My feet are heavy as stones when I walk up the block wondering why I can’t find my old self.

In The Skin I’m In, readers saw into the life of Maleeka Madison, a teen who suffered from the ridicule she received because of her dark skin color. For decades fans have wanted to know the fate of the bully who made Maleeka’s life miserable, Char.

Now in Sharon Flake’s latest and unflinching novel, The Life I’m In, we follow Charlese Jones, who, with her raw, blistering voice speaks the truths many girls face, offering insight to some of the causes and conditions that make a bully. Turned out of the only home she has known, Char boards a bus to nowhere where she is lured into the dangerous web of human trafficking. Much is revealed behind the complex system of men who take advantage of vulnerable teens in the underbelly of society. While Char might be frightened, she remains strong and determined to bring herself and her fellow victims out of the dark and back into the light, reminding us why compassion is a powerful cure to the ills of the world.

Sharon Flake’s bestselling, Coretta Scott King Award-winning novel The Skin I’m In was a game changer when it was first published more than twenty years ago. It redefined young adult literature by presenting characters, voices, and real-world experiences that had not been fully seen. Now Flake offers readers another timely and radical story of a girl on the brink and how her choices will lead her to either fall, or fly. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

Happily Ever Afters by Elise Bryant Balzer + Bray

Sixteen-year-old Tessa Johnson has never felt like the protagonist in her own life. She’s rarely seen herself reflected in the pages of the romance novels she loves. The only place she’s a true leading lady is in her own writing—in the swoony love stories she shares only with Caroline, her best friend and #1 devoted reader.

When Tessa is accepted into the creative writing program of a prestigious art school, she’s excited to finally let her stories shine. But when she goes to her first workshop, the words are just…gone. Fortunately, Caroline has a solution: Tessa just needs to find some inspiration in a real-life love story of her own. And she’s ready with a list of romance novel-inspired steps to a happily ever after. Nico, the brooding artist who looks like he walked out of one of Tessa’s stories, is cast as the perfect Prince Charming.

But as Tessa checks each item off Caroline’s list, she gets further and further away from herself. She risks losing everything she cares about—including the surprising bond she develops with sweet Sam, who lives across the street. She’s well on her way to having her own real-life love story, but is it the one she wants, after all?

One of the Good Ones by Maika Moulite and Maritza Moulite Inkyard Press

ISN’T BEING HUMAN ENOUGH? When teen social activist and history buff Kezi Smith is killed under mysterious circumstances after attending a social justice rally, her devastated sister Happi and their family are left reeling in the aftermath. As Kezi becomes another immortalized victim in the fight against police brutality, Happi begins to question the idealized way her sister is remembered. Perfect. Angelic.

One of the good ones.

Even as the phrase rings wrong in her mind–why are only certain people deemed worthy to be missed?–Happi and her sister Genny embark on a journey to honor Kezi in their own way, using an heirloom copy of The Negro Motorist Green Book as their guide. But there’s a twist to Kezi’s story that no one could’ve ever expected–one that will change everything all over again.

Roman and Jewel by Dana L. Davis Inkyard Press

If Romeo and Juliet got the Hamilton treatment…who would play the leads? This vividly funny, honest, and charming romantic novel by Dana L. Davis is the story of a girl who thinks she has what it takes…and the world thinks so, too.

Jerzie Jhames will do anything to land the lead role in Broadway’s hottest new show, Roman and Jewel, a Romeo and Juliet inspired hip-hopera featuring a diverse cast and modern twists on the play. But her hopes are crushed when she learns mega-star Cinny won the lead…and Jerzie is her understudy.

Falling for male lead Zeppelin Reid is a terrible idea–especially once Jerzie learns Cinny wants him for herself. Star-crossed love always ends badly. But when a video of Jerzie and Zepp practicing goes viral and the entire world weighs in on who should play Jewel, Jerzie learns that while the price of fame is high, friendship, family, and love are priceless.

The Awakening of Malcom X by Ilyasah Shabazz & Tiffany D. Jackson Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Byr)

In Charlestown Prison, Malcolm Little struggles with the weight of his past. Plagued by nightmares, Malcolm drifts through days unsure of his future. Slowly, he befriends other prisoners and writes to his family. He reads all the books in the prison library, joins the debate team and the Nation of Islam. Malcolm grapples with race, politics, religion, and justice in the 1940s. And as his time in jail comes to an end, he begins to awaken — emerging from prison more than just Malcolm Little: Now, he is Malcolm X.

Here is an intimate look at Malcolm X’s young adult years. While this book chronologically follows X: A Novel, it can be read as a stand-alone historical novel that invites larger discussions on black power, prison reform, and civil rights.

When You Look Like Us by Pamela N. Harris HarperCollins

When you look like us—brown skin, brown eyes, black braids or fades—people think you’re trouble. No one looks twice at a missing black girl from the projects because she must’ve brought whatever happened to her upon herself. I, Jay Murphy, can admit that, for a minute, I thought my sister, Nicole, got too caught up with her boyfriend—a drug dealer—and his friends.

But she’s been gone too long now.

If I hadn’t hung up on her that night, she’d be spending time with our grandma. If I was a better brother, she’d be finishing senior year instead of being another name on a missing persons list. It’s time to step up and do what the Newport News police department won’t.

Week of January 12th

Chlorine Sky by Mahogany L. Browne Crown Books for Young Readers

She looks me hard in my eyes & my knees lock into tree trunks My eyes don’t dance like my heartbeat racing They stare straight back hot daggers. I remember things will never be the same. I remember things.

With gritty and heartbreaking honesty, Mahogany L. Browne delivers a novel-in-verse about broken promises, fast rumors, and when growing up means growing apart from your best friend.

The Meet-Cute Project by Rhiannon Richardson Simon & Schuster

Mia’s friends love rom-coms. Mia hates them. They’re silly, contrived, and not at all realistic. Besides, there are more important things to worry about—like how to handle living with her bridezilla sister, Sam, who’s never appreciated Mia, and surviving junior year juggling every school club offered and acing all of her classes.

So when Mia is tasked with finding a date to her sister’s wedding, her options are practically nonexistent.

Mia’s friends, however, have an idea. It’s a little crazy, a little out there, and a lot inspired by the movies they love that Mia begrudgingly watches too.

Mia just needs a meet-cute.

Concrete Rose (The Hate U Give, #0) by Angie Thomas Balzer + Bray

If there’s one thing seventeen-year-old Maverick Carter knows, it’s that a real man takes care of his family. As the son of a former gang legend, Mav does that the only way he knows how: dealing for the King Lords. With this money he can help his mom, who works two jobs while his dad’s in prison.

Life’s not perfect, but with a fly girlfriend and a cousin who always has his back, Mav’s got everything under control.

Until, that is, Maverick finds out he’s a father.

Suddenly he has a baby, Seven, who depends on him for everything. But it’s not so easy to sling dope, finish school, and raise a child. So when he’s offered the chance to go straight, he takes it. In a world where he’s expected to amount to nothing, maybe Mav can prove he’s different.

When King Lord blood runs through your veins, though, you can’t just walk away. Loyalty, revenge, and responsibility threaten to tear Mav apart, especially after the brutal murder of a loved one. He’ll have to figure out for himself what it really means to be a man.

Angel of Greenwood by Randi Pink Feiwel and Friends

Seventeen-year-old Isaiah Wilson is, on the surface, a town troublemaker, but is hiding that he is an avid reader and secret poet, never leaving home without his journal. A passionate follower of WEB. Du Bois, he believes that black people should rise up to claim their place as equals.

Sixteen-year-old Angel Hill is a loner, mostly disregarded by her peers as a goody-goody. Her father is dying, and her family’s financial situation is in turmoil. Also, as a loyal follower of Booker T. Washington, she believes, through education and tolerance, that black people should rise slowly and without forced conflict.

Though they’ve attended the same schools, Isaiah never noticed Angel as anything but a dorky, Bible toting church girl. Then their English teacher offers them a job on her mobile library, a three-wheel, two-seater bike. Angel can’t turn down the money and Isaiah is soon eager to be in such close quarters with Angel every afternoon.

But life changes on May 31, 1921 when a vicious white mob storms the community of Greenwood, leaving the town destroyed and thousands of residents displaced. Only then, Isaiah, Angel, and their peers realize who their real enemies are.

Week of January 19th

Thirty Talks Weird Love by Alessandra Narváez Varela Cinco Puntos Press

Out of nowhere, a lady comes up to Anamaría and says she’s her, from the future. But Anamaría’s thirteen, she knows better than to talk to some weirdo stranger. Girls need to be careful, especially in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico—it’s the 90’s and fear is overtaking her beloved city as cases of kidnapped girls and women become alarmingly common. This thirty-year-old “future” lady doesn’t seem to be dangerous but she won’t stop bothering her, switching between cheesy Hallmark advice about being kind to yourself, and some mysterious talk about saving a girl.

Anamaría definitely doesn’t need any saving, she’s doing just fine. She works hard at her strict, grade-obsessed middle school—so hard that she hardly gets any sleep; so hard that the stress makes her snap not just at mean girls but even her own (few) friends; so hard that when she does sleep she dreams about dying—but she just wants to do the best she can so she can grow up to be successful. Maybe Thirty’s right, maybe she’s not supposed to be so exhausted with her life, but how can she ask for help when her city is mourning the much bigger tragedy of its stolen girls?

This thought-provoking, moving verse novel will lead adult and young adult readers alike to vital discussions on important topics—like dealing with depression and how to recognize this in yourself and others—through the accessible voice of a thirteen-year-old girl.

Your Corner Dark by Desmond Hall Atheneum/Dlouhy

Things can change in a second:

The second Frankie Green gets that scholarship letter, he has his ticket out of Jamaica.

The second his longtime crush, Leah, asks him on a date, he’s in trouble.

The second his father gets shot, suddenly nothing else matters.

And the second Frankie joins his uncle’s gang in exchange for paying for his father’s medical bills, there’s no going back…or is there?

As Frankie does things he never thought he’d be capable of, he’s forced to confront the truth of the family and future he was born into—and the ones he wants to build for himself.

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo Dutton Books for Young Readers

“That book. It was about two women, and they fell in love with each other.” And then Lily asked the question that had taken root in her, that was even now unfurling its leaves and demanding to be shown the sun: “Have you ever heard of such a thing?”

Seventeen-year-old Lily Hu can’t remember exactly when the question took root, but the answer was in full bloom the moment she and Kathleen Miller walked under the flashing neon sign of a lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club.

America in 1954 is not a safe place for two girls to fall in love, especially not in Chinatown. Red-Scare paranoia threatens everyone, including Chinese Americans like Lily. With deportation looming over her father—despite his hard-won citizenship—Lily and Kath risk everything to let their love see the light of day.

If I Tell You the Truth by Jasmin Kaur HarperCollins

Told in prose, poetry, and illustration, this heartrending story weaves Kiran’s and Sahaara’s timelines together, showing a teenage Kiran and, later, her high school–aged daughter, Sahaara.

Kiran is a young Punjabi Sikh woman who becomes pregnant after being sexually assaulted by her fiancé’s brother. When her fiancé and family don’t believe her, she flees her home in India to Canada, where she plans to raise the child as a single mother. For Kiran, living undocumented means constant anxiety over finances, work, safety, and whether she’ll be deported back to the dangers that await her in Punjab.

Eighteen years later, Kiran’s daughter, Sahaara, is desperate to help her mother, who has been arrested and is facing deportation. In the aftermath, Kiran reveals the truth about Sahaara’s conception. Horrified, Sahaara encourages Kiran to speak out against the man who raped her—who’s now a popular political figure in Punjab. Sahaara must find the best way to support her mother while also dealing with the revelation about her parents.

We Free the Stars (Sands of Arawiya #2) by Hafsah Faizal Farrar, Straus and Giroux

The battle on Sharr is over. The dark forest has fallen. Altair may be captive, but Zafira, Nasir, and Kifah are bound for Sultan’s Keep, determined to finish the plan he set in motion: restoring the hearts of the Sisters of Old to the minarets of each caliphate, and finally returning magic to all of Arawiya. But they are low on resources and allies alike, and the kingdom teems with fear of the Lion of the Night’s return.

As the zumra plots to overthrow the kingdom’s darkest threat, Nasir fights to command the magic in his blood. He must learn to hone his power into a weapon, to wield not only against the Lion but against his father, trapped under the Lion’s control. Zafira battles a very different darkness festering in her through her bond with the Jawarat—a darkness that hums with voices, pushing her to the brink of her sanity and to the edge of a chaos she dare not unleash. In spite of the darkness enclosing ever faster, Nasir and Zafira find themselves falling into a love they can’t stand to lose…but time is running out to achieve their ends, and if order is to be restored, drastic sacrifices will have to be made.

Lush and striking, hopeful and devastating, We Free the Stars is the masterful conclusion to the Sands of Arawiya duology by New York Times–bestselling author Hafsah Faizal.

Week of January 26th

Written in Starlight (Woven in Moonlight #2) by Isabel Ibañez Page Street Kids

If the jungle wants you, it will have you…

Catalina Quiroga is a Condesa without a country. She’s lost the Inkasisa throne, the loyalty of her people, and her best friend. Banished to the perilous Yanu Jungle, Catalina knows her chances of survival are slim, but that won’t stop her from trying to escape. It’s her duty to reclaim the throne.

When Manuel, the son of her former general, rescues Catalina from a jaguar, a plan forms. Deep in the jungle, the city of gold is hidden, home to the fierce Illari people, who she could strike an alliance with.

But the elusive Illari are fighting a battle of their own—a mysterious blight is corrupting the jungle, laying waste to everything they hold dear. As a seer, Catalina should be able to help, but her ability to read the future in the stars is as feeble as her survival instincts. While searching for the Illari, Catalina must reckon with her duty and her heart to find her true calling, which could be the key to stopping the corruption before it destroys the jungle completely.

The Knockout by Sajni Patel Flux

If seventeen-year-old Kareena Thakkar is going to alienate herself from the entire Indian community, she might as well do it gloriously. She’s landed the chance of a lifetime, an invitation to the US Muay Thai Open, which could lead to a spot on the first-ever Olympic team. If only her sport wasn’t seen as something too rough for girls, something she’s afraid to share with anyone outside of her family. Despite pleasing her parents, exceling at school, and making plans to get her family out of debt, Kareena’s never felt quite Indian enough, and her training is only making it worse.

Which is inconvenient, since she’s starting to fall for Amit Patel, who just might be the world’s most perfect Indian. Admitting her feelings for Amit will cost Kareena more than just her pride–she’ll have to face his parents’ disapproval, battle her own insecurities, and remain focused for the big fight. Kareena’s bid for the Olympics could very well make history–if she has the courage to go for it.

Wings of Ebony (Wings of Ebony #1) by J. Elle Denene Millner Books/Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers

“Make a way out of no way” is just the way of life for Rue. But when her mother is shot dead on her doorstep, life for her and her younger sister changes forever. Rue’s taken from her neighborhood by the father she never knew, forced to leave her little sister behind, and whisked away to Ghizon—a hidden island of magic wielders.

Rue is the only half-god, half-human there, where leaders protect their magical powers at all costs and thrive on human suffering. Miserable and desperate to see her sister on the anniversary of their mother’s death, Rue breaks Ghizon’s sacred Do Not Leave Law and returns to Houston, only to discover that Black kids are being forced into crime and violence. And her sister, Tasha, is in danger of falling sway to the very forces that claimed their mother’s life.

Worse still, evidence mounts that the evil plaguing East Row is the same one that lurks in Ghizon—an evil that will stop at nothing until it has stolen everything from her and everyone she loves. Rue must embrace her true identity and wield the full magnitude of her ancestors’ power to save her neighborhood before the gods burn it to the ground.

#new releases #weneeddiversebooks #ownvoices

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vanvelding · 4 years ago

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For Fuckssake, Section 31 Is Just One Guy

For those you who didn't watch Deep Space Nine, Section 31 is an amoral intelligence agency that cites the Section 31 of Starfleet's Charter to do whatever it takes to protect The Federation*.

Deep Space Nine introduced Section 31, and since that time every shit author with a Star Trek license has tried to use it in some way. Think of it as Star Trek's version of "Batman, but he kills people!" It's shown up in Enterprise, the comics...there was even a novel line about it explaining how not only did every Captain from every TV series meet and know about Section 31, but Kirk created a secret cabal that fought them for over a century! Man, fuck Section 31.

So here's the deal. When you watch the three episodes of Deep Space Nine with Section 31, it easily reads as just one incredibly talented guy, Luther Sloan, who fucked with Bashir a lot. My burden of proof for this is light; whatever theory I put forwards merely has to be as credible DS9's Section 31, a secret organization that's been perfectly hidden for over 200 years. (Long post)

Here is everything we know about "Section 31" from Sloan's appearances in DS9.

Luther Sloan is a member.

Other members of Section 31 are seen in "Inquisition"

Sloan has access to a. Starfleet personnel and intelligence reports and b. a holodeck he can use for several days without interruption.

Sloan manipulates Julian into doing things.

Sloan had the cure for the Morphogenic Virus that was killing The Founders.

Sloan has the ability to smuggle Julian Bashir onto and off of Deep Space Nine.

Sloan was party to a plot that required the cooperation of a. one Starfleet Admiral and b. a high-ranking Romulan intelligence agent.

Item 1 is not in dispute. In that Luther Sloan is Section 31, nothing in here contradicts my theory.

Item 2 is incredibly easy to dispel. During his first appearance in "Inquisition," Sloan creates two holographic guards within the holographic scenario he uses to capture Julian. That he is surrounded by different mooks when later monologuing in front of Bashir, literally still inside of a holodeck doesn't make those mooks real any more real than the first two.

Item 3a is slightly trickier. But then, Starfleet officers constantly break into computers when it suits them to do so. An individual who has exceptional talent and equivalent--or greater--training could do the same thing. More likely, Sloan uses basic social engineering to get access to these reports.

In "Statistical Probabilities," a group of civilians with serious social adjustment impairments gain access to Deep Space Nine during a war by dressing one of their members as an admiral. Sadly, this makes the "Section 31 has remain hidden for so long because Starfleet is stupid" theory more credible, but it also shows the ease with which common trust within The Federation--and Starfleet--can be abused for the ends of clever people.

And Sloan is an incredibly clever person. Even assuming that Sloan couldn't acquire or build his own state-of-the-art holodeck, Item 3b is shockingly unmysterious. A simple alternative to owning a holodeck is finding a public holodeck that allows Federation civilians to reserve blocks of time and then merely asks nicely, trades a few favors for a large block of time, hacks a computer to fill the schedule with dummy names, or...really just hangs a "Down for Maintenance Sign" outside the door.

All of these things are far more likely than a massive conspiracy that has remained completely undetected for two centuries. I mean, even The Freemasons put their junior high notebook doodles on the money.

Item 4 is self-evident. Sloan might have needed a psychological report and the knowledge to use it. If we accept Item 3a, this requires no additional people or resources.

Item 5 Starfleet is known for its rock star scientists. They've got big egos and big ideas. It's easy for him to hijack a research cell. Starfleet scientists are a strange, aggressive bunch and it would be no problem to convince them of this particular task--even if he didn't compartmentalize them and put the pieces together himself. That does stretch credibility, but so does any research effort which results in Sloan having the cure offhand.

Item 6 Who fucking can't? O'Brien got kidnapped. Those guys broke onto the station to take Dax...both times. Worf's room got broken into. Look, props to Odo, but DS9 is not a secure place.

Item 7 Sloan was party to a plot that required the cooperation of a. one Starfleet Admiral and b. a high-ranking Romulan intelligence agent. It comes from the seventh season episode, "Inter Arma Silent Leges," which features the only intelligence operation we ever see Section 31 perform. Sloan manipulates Doctor Bashir and Admiral Ross to place--spoilers, BTW--a high-ranking Federation agent into the highest levels of Romulan government. Item 7a is easier to prove than the self-evident manipulation of Bashir. Admiral Bill Ross is a dull as all the rocks in a Zen garden. He's awful. I could convince Bill Ross that I'm the agent of a massive conspiracy which violates the principles of The Federation, and I'm from 250 years ago! The man's credulous and having him snookered requires no suspension of disbelief or further explanation. Item 7b is a real killer. Toval is the leader of the ruthless Tal Shiar intelligence agency. He's apparently a Federation sympathizer who is feeding intelligence to Starfleet. He cooperates with Sloan to undermine a political rival. He then pretends to interrogate and shoot Sloan to cover the human's escape. If Sloan is "just one guy" Toval would likely cooperate with him because he's an outside actor who would lend credibility to the operation to discredit his rival, Cretak. Why would Toval not have Sloan killed though? Why would he give information to The Federation? He's the opposite of Ross in that he's just way too sharp to fall for the Section 31 bit. It's easy to believe that Toval intended to kill Sloan, wrapping up a loose end. If Sloan could have beamed away without Toval's help, I'm not sure what difference a few disruptor settings would have made; Toval doesn't need to be in on it. If the Romulan was convinced Sloan trusted him to provide an escape route, an independent escape wouldn't even be an avenue of exploration during Sloan's (very real) interrogation under a Romulan mind probe. Sloan goes along with Toval's escape plan, Toval doesn't ask about it under interrogation, and Sloan beams himself away during Toval's sudden but inevitable betrayal. That's even assuming Sloan didn't die. But Sloan isn't dead until he dies in "Extreme Measures." How could he have died months earlier? I'm glad you asked that question, because every answer to that question is more credible than a secret organization that's been totally undetected by Starfleet for over 200 years. Clones are a thing since episode two of DS9. A clone could even behave convincingly under a mind probe with the help of false memories, like we saw in season five’s “A Simple Investigation,” when a woman uses them to infiltrate The Orion Syndicate. Transporter duplicate. Lemme tell you, after a transporter duplicate nearly started a war with Cardassia, I think they're common knowledge. What better way to feign death than to actually die and still live as a perfect copy of yourself? You don't even need space-age technobabble to explain it. Triplets. There could be three Sloans. In fact, the "31" in "Section 31" could stand for three-in-one, a trinity of brothers (I've been reading Campbell; give me a break). Twins would be slightly more likely, but why not dream big? This does technically undermine the "just one guy" theory, but I don't think it undermines the spirit. It also explains how Sloan could get from Romulus to Deep Space Nine without a starship; because he never left. Oh, right, but Toval was also feeding intelligence to Starfleet. Ignoring the fact that he'd be offering Starfleet intelligence that was either already being shared (Dominion) or useless (Klingon? Breen? Yeah, very solid Breen intelligence), consider: a) We learn of Toval's intelligence from Admiral Ross. b) Admiral Ross is not in Starfleet intelligence. c) Random admirals are not informed of high-level intelligence sources. d) As always, Ross is a fucking idiot. I posit that Admiral Ross learned of Toval's "intelligence" from Sloan. In actuality Toval has given The Federation nothing. He gets added to the Continuing Committee, kills Sloan, and continues to argue for the abrogation of the alliance. Neat. Simple. Likely. Finally, think of Section 31's side. When either Cretak or Toval would continue Romulan support of the war against The Dominion--an existential threat to The Federation--the benefit of having Toval in place post-war to deal with the persistent nuisance of The Romulan Star Empire is in no way worth the consequences of botching an intelligence job on Romulan soil. Y'know, a thing that might cause the Romulans to drop out of the war. It's a dumb, rookie move, a sign of a pretender with delusions of grandeur trying to play in the big leagues. Sloan can manipulate Federation doctors in a closed environment, program holodecks, hack computers, and break into places, but a few minor successes don't make a rank amateur into someone who can go toe-to-toe with the Tal Shiar. Is it not more likely that Sloan mistook having a tiger by tail with grabbing a viper's ass? That he was barely smart enough to have an out when Toval decided to wrap up his last loose end? What's more likely, that after 200 years of complete secrecy, Section 31 revealed their presence to the Romulans for a single operation, or that Sloan is an ambitious, rogue intelligence officer who was easily captured by a professional intelligence agency? For fucks sake, Section 31 is just one guy.

---

*This doesn't make any fucking sense for a few reasons. Starfleet predates The Federation, so it's confusing how this Section could exist before The Federation. It also means that any authorization for Section 31 actions would have to be filtered through Starfleet. Fool a bloated, utopian bureaucracy? Okay. Fool motherfucking Starfleet? The entire organization would have be corrupt or incompetent from the top-down. It also means that Section 31 members would mostly be Starfleet personnel, again going against the grain of what it means to be Starfleet.

**If that's his real name.

#Star Trek #Section 31 #DS9

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tempesrature · 4 years ago

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The Case of the Murdered Witch Doctors | Chapter 3

Chapter: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 The Charm of Lost Things (Oneshot Follow-up) Creative Process Note Commissioned Art Piece

Pairing: Ride or Die | Ellie x Colt Summary: “There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.” - Arthur Conan Doyle, The Boscombe Valley Mystery Word Count: 3k+ Warnings: PG-16 @rodappreciationweek @lovehugsandcandy

~*~

“Woah, do you smell that?” Colt says as he enters the Kilat home, his nose already picking up on the smell that usually sticks to places where magical creatures spend most of their time in like their houses or workplaces. “It smells sweet like flowers and fruits. Is this what witch doctors smell like?”

“I wouldn’t know,” Ellie shrugs and toes off her shoes near the entrance of the door. “And take off your shoes. That’s the one rule I was told to follow.”

“Wait, you can’t smell magical creatures?” Colt asks incredulously as he kicks off his shoes too.

Ellie shrugs as she confidently makes her way into the house, already familiar with the layout of it after a month of investigating the place. “You can’t smell me and I can’t smell you. It’s a fair payoff.”

“It’s a shitty payoff that’s what,” Colt says as he follows Ellie through the winding hallways, his eyes catching the furniture and decorations in the house that seems to be frozen in time.

They stop at the basement door and Ellie places her hand on the wooden surface to unlock the complicated spell she placed to keep the murder scene secure and locked.

Colt smirks as he inches closer to her from behind before he leans down to whisper in her ear tantalizingly. “Just so you know, vampires smell like dark chocolate.”

“That so?” Ellie asks with a bored tone which earns a frown from Colt. “Logan says they smell like piss.”

“Who the fuck—”

Colt doesn’t get to finish his sentence when Ellie completely ignores him, pushes open the basement door and makes her way down the stairs. Colt growls, annoyed that she’s ignoring him, before he makes his way down to the basement as well.

Once he reaches the bottom of the stairs, he lets his eyes wander around the space. Multitude of bottles and jars full of unknown substances are lined on the multiple shelves close to the wall, there’s a long table in the middle full of cooking utensils and hardware tools and a single lightbulb illuminates the space. Colt realizes that it’s just like any witch’s laboratory but somehow it’s different. He feels almost…suffocated by the air. It’s not unusual for him to be bothered by heavy smells, vampires do have heightened senses, but the air in the basement is different, stronger—almost dizzying.

“Here,” Ellie offers him a handkerchief she manifested when she sees his eyes almost glaze over. “This is where the Kilat’s made their medicine and potions. Ana says the smell of the ingredients gets to you after awhile if you’re not used to it so be careful.”

Colt grumbles as he takes the handkerchief from her and presses it against his nose and he’s relieved to find that it’s been enchanted with magic to fully block out the smell. “You couldn’t have warned me beforehand?”

“And ruin the surprise?” Ellie snickers and Colt glares at her. She ignores his glare and raises her hand, blue sparks dancing on her palms, as the room starts to melt and change into a captured image of the night the murder was reported in. The details are so crisp and vivid it looks hauntingly real.

Colt looks at Ellie, his eyes wide in surprise and awe, and she merely smirks back at him.

“I may have a time limit but I’m still a damn good witch,” Ellie says with pride before she moves around the table and signals for Colt to come over.

Colt walks towards her and his eyes immediately land on the two bodies on the floor. Ernesto and Malina Kilat lay on the floor side by side, their eyes shut close and their hands placed on top of their abdomen as if they’re laid and ready for a casket.

“Here’s what we know about them,” Ellie starts as she bounces off her ideas and works through them in case Colt may catch something she hasn’t. “They were brought to America during the American colonization of the Philippines sometime in 1905. They’ve mostly stayed under the radar of the Agency due to their slow physical ageing and relatively human features. They were branded as a non-threat and low-maintenance watch until their deaths were discovered a month ago. They sold their medicine and potions to both human and magical creatures, usually for cures to ailments. They do use the Fern Flower in some of their concoctions but it doesn’t exceed the legal amount so I ruled out the illegal drug trade as a motive for the murder.”

“Who found them?” Colt asks, his brain itching at a puzzle he wants to solve, as his sharp golden eyes look around the scene to see if he can discover something new.

Ellie sighs, her heart momentarily aching. “Their daughter, Anagolay or Ana as she likes to be called. She was out at a party and discovered their bodies when she came home in the early morning. Ingrid estimates the time of death somewhere between 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Ana’s currently living with a friend until we can solve this mess. They were undocumented as well which is why the Agency wants this finished as soon as possible. If it gets picked up by mortal media, it could be a disaster.”

Colt hums in agreement as his eyes land on the table and he combs through the different tools laid out and projected by Ellie’s magic.

Ellie picks up on what he’s looking for and moves closer to him. “Think one of these could have been used to drain their blood?”

Colt scoffs. “Yeah if you think a butter knife can do it cleanly enough,” He tries to pick up the butter knife for emphasis but his hand passes through the object and Ellie lets out a snort of laughter.

“Projection magic remember?” Ellie teases and Colt glares at her as he shoves his hands in his pockets.

Ellie lowers her hand with a sad sigh, the scene of the murder fizzing out and going back to the normal, when she realizes that he didn’t find anything new.

Colt turns to look around the bottles and jars that line the shelves. He tries to make out the contents but everything seems either too seeped into a brown-black liquid or crushed into a powder.

“Did you check the inside of these things?”

Ellie sighs again, going around the table to stand next to him as she looks up at the shelves he’s looking at.

“I’ve tried. But it’s not like albularyos are just around the corner of West Hollywood. If I could use the Agency’s contacts to reach the Philippine branch, I might have more information but since I can’t…” Ellie trails off, her hands clinching into fists as dark blue flit by in her eyes. “So I’m going off of Ana’s information. We’ve been going through the contents on the shelves but she says most of them are used for medicine and although some ingredients are dangerous, there’s not enough to actually cause harm. Luckily Mr. Ernesto kept a list of his regular customers. I’ve questioned all of them except for two vampires. Jason Shaw being one of them.”

Colt opens his mouth, ready to ask who the other person is when they both hear a loud crash somewhere in the house. Their eyes meet, blue connecting with gold, as a silent conversation passes through them. Ellie nods, her eyes stern and alert and Colt grits his teeth and nods back.

Colt moves first and walks in front of Ellie as they take careful steps up the basement stairs, trying their best to keep their footstep light and silent as they search for the source of the sound. Colt angles his body to shield Ellie. She raises her hand and uses magic to bring up a blueprint of the house before she tugs on Colt’s leather jacket to get his attention. Colt turns to her and notices three blinking lights in the blueprint. Two on the first floor and one upstairs.

With a nod to each other, they make their way up to the second floor. Once they reach the last step of the stairs, they press their backs to each other to scout out their blind spots. Colt reaches around to tug her sleeve and Ellie turns to see him pointing at the opened door in Anagolay’s room, the daughter of the Kilat family.

Ellie nods, their movements fluid around each other, as they take slow and cautious steps towards the door. Once they’re inches near the door, Ellie turns to Colt and taps her nose. Colt raises an eyebrow before he realizes what she’s asking of him and he takes a long sniff to the direction of the door before he turns to her and shakes his head. Ellie nods, suddenly feeling a small dread settle in her stomach, before she signals to Colt on the count of three. Colt nods and they both turn to look at the door.

One—she takes a deep breath and gathers her magic in her hands. Two—Colt bares his fangs, his golden eyes shining with a menace. Three—they move to the door and—

“Ana?!” Ellie exclaims in surprise and relief, the magic in her palms immediately disappearing.

“Woah Ellie. Hi,” The teenage girl with brown skin and black hair, wearing sweatpants and a black t-shirt stands in the middle of the bedroom. She raises her hands in mock surrender before her black eyes flit to Colt. “Uh…that your boyfriend?”

Ellie’s eyes widen before she turns to look at Colt standing beside her who’s looking down at her with a cocky smile.

“No he’s my…” Ellie fumbles for a title, not really knowing what they are before she shakes her head and just jumps straight to introductions. “Ana this is Colt, Colt this is Anagolay. The daughter of the Kilats.”

“Nice to meet you,” Ana greets before her nose wrinkle and she takes a small sniff in his direction. She turns to Ellie with a disapproving look. “A vampire Ellie? Really?”

“He’s helping out with the case,” Ellie reassures her before she walks inside the room. “What are you doing here anyway?”

“I’m here to get some of my clothes and stuff. I’m getting really tired of wearing sweatpants everyday you know?”

Ellie frowns and Colt takes his time to look around her bedroom. His nose wrinkles at the posters of mortal idols on the wall before he looks at the scattered clothes and books on the floor and a few bottles and jars on her vanity table that looked like the ones in the basement.

“You know you’re not allowed inside without me accompanying you Ana.”

“I know I tried calling you but you wouldn’t pick up,” Ana huffs.

“My bad,” Ellie apologizes as she reaches into her jean pocket and pulls out her phone. “I was in the basement and didn’t have cell service.”

“Cool, whatever,” Ana dismisses as she moves to sit on her bed. “Find anything new?”

Ellie sighs again as she glances at Colt sadly. “Nothing so far, no.”

“Mm, figures,” Ana says with a small frown as she goes back to packing her clothes. “They never organized the basement. So much shit just laying around you’ll have an easier time finding a vampire out in the sun,” She gives a pointed look at Colt who just gives her a winning smile.

“You go down there a lot then?”

“Nah, just a couple of times,” She says as she starts to play with the loose threads on her shirt. “I wasn’t allowed to go down much. My parents didn’t want me to take on the family business even though I’m smart enough to know that they need good ventilation down there.”

Colt chuckles as Ellie shakes her head and smiles fondly at Ana. As much as Ellie likes her, she knows she needs to get Ana out of the house as soon as possible purely for the reason that Ana can talk and talk until the sun comes up (which happened once) and Ellie actually wants to go home today before 10 p.m.

“Alright. Pack up whatever else you need and I’ll walk you out,” Ellie instructs as Ana gives her a mock two finger salute before she goes back to pack the rest of her clothes. Ellie leads Colt out of the bedroom door and walks him down the hallway. Far enough so that Ana doesn’t hear their conversation.

“I’ll take her back to her friend’s house,” Ellie says as she looks up at him and she suddenly feels a little shy when she remembers how…well they worked together. How easily they could communicate with non-verbal cues and read each other without the need for words. “You should go, I’ve kept you away long enough.”

“Nah, this was actually interesting,” Colt comments before he turns to look at the time on his wristwatch and his lips pull into a frown. “But yeah, I should go.”

“Okay, I’ll send you some of the files I have of the case. Maybe you’ll see something that I missed.”

Colt looks up at her in surprise before a wicked grin taking hold of his lips. “You’re not such a bad detective after all, Miss Half a Witch.”

Ellie’s eyes narrows at the nickname and Colt merely smirks as he looks into her eyes and she feels the undeniable pull he has on her. A kind of pull that’s making her lean forward as the distance between them start to disappear.

But Colt takes a step back with a smirk, the pull fizzing into nothing.

“I have a better idea,” Colt says before he takes his bike keys from his pocket and twirls it around his finger as he starts to make his way to the stairs. “Come by the shop on the weekend at sundown. Let’s talk about the case there,” He looks at her over his shoulder, his eyes glinting in brilliant gold, as he licks his lips knowingly. “You might even find something else that you’ve missed.”

Ellie blushes as she starts to say something but he walks down the stairs too quickly for her to get a word in and she huffs. She crosses her arms in front of her, seething a little at the emotions he seems to bring out of her, before she turns around and goes to check on Ana.

“Done making out with your new vamp beau?” Ana teases just as Ellie enters the room.

“He’s not my—! We weren’t—!” Ellie sighs as she moves to the vanity and leans back to press her palms against the wooden surface.

“Mm that’s what they all say,” Ana snickers as she throws in a hoodie into her bag. “Careful with those. I dated one three years ago. Josh kissed like he was gonna suck the soul right outta me, if you know what I’m mean,” Ana waggles her eyebrows suggestively and Ellie scoffs as she turns her head to the side to hide away her blush.

“Anyway, how are you holding up so far?” Ellie quickly tries to change the conversation away from vampires and kisses. “Your friend taking care of you?”

“Yeah but I’d like to live here again though,” Ana comments as she drops down on the bed and looks up at the ceiling. “There’s a shitton of things I need to clean up in the basement or else those duwendes in the jars are going to smell like straight up ass. Not even the good kind of ass, the kind of ass that just knocks you the fuck out. Plus, the anitos are complaining of the food and drink I offer them. Who knew ancient Filipino spirits don’t like a good American burger and a glass of diet coke as much as I do?”

Ellie chuckles wearily, her eyes softening for the girl in front of her. In a way, Ellie saw herself in Ana. Which is why she’s so close to this case and why she’s so desperate to solve it for Ana. To give her the closure that Ellie can never get.

“I’ll find the creature that did this Ana, I swear.”

Ana looks back at Ellie with a frown, her expression distant. “Not to be rude Ellie. I like you but I can tell that my parent’s death isn’t on the Agency’s top ten list of murders to solve in under a year list.”

“But it is on mine,” Ellie assures her with a confident smile. “And with Colt’s help, I’m doing a lot better than before.”

Ana smiles sadly as if the mention of Colt’s name doesn’t really bring her any comfort.

Ellie sighs weakly, her hands moving further back the vanity table as she looks up at the ceiling. Ellie likes to be confident. That somehow she can solve this within a year and that she is telling the truth when she said that Colt has helped significantly in the case but the reality of it is that this could be just another case that the Agency just…turns a blind eye too. And Ellie doesn’t want that. This is the whole reason why she painstakingly joined the Agency, even with the amount of shit she had to wade through to get her badge. To prevent cases like Ana’s, Colt’s and her mother’s from ever happening again.

“Woah Ellie careful!” Ana yells out as she hurriedly crosses the room and takes the bottles and jars from the vanity table into her arms. “If these bottles explode, you’re gonna send broken pieces of glass everywhere!”

“Huh—? Oh shit sorry,” Ellie quickly pulls her hand away from the vanity table, the remnants of blue sparks dancing around her hand, before she looks at the bottles in Ana’s arms curiously. “Are those from the basement?”

“Nah, my tatay made this and he basically customized it for me,” Ana laments as she places the bottles of clear liquid into her bag. “I’m a clumsy piece of shit so I always get cuts and bruises outta nowhere. One swipe of this and bam! Instant heal and no scars,” Ana chuckles sadly, her eyes pricking with tears as she cradles a bottle in her palm. “Guess I’ll have to make it on my own now.”

Ellie’s eyes soften, her heart aching at Ana’s emotions that Ellie knows all too well. She sighs and pushes herself off of the vanity table and approaches Ana and lays a comforting hand on her back.

“Come on. I’ll help you with the rest.”

#rodaw #choices rod #colt x ellie #colt kaneko #vampire au #detective au #witch au #murder mystery #cw: magical-drugs #cw: police #my writing

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thebmatt · 4 years ago

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Another set of Character Development questions, this time very specific to FFXIV

I cam across another set of character development questions on the Emet-Selch Bookclub discord, and since I love these things, I’m going to answer all 35 of them for all 4 of my crew! Ready? Let’s go!

1. Where were they during the Calamity?

Franks had not yet made the journey between their worlds yet, he only did so about a year into the Seventh Umbral Era.

Fearless was still living on Aerslant, which I don’t know if there’s any canonical description of how the Calamity affected that region, but I’m going to go with “they felt the effects, but it wasn’t quite mass chaos like it was in Eorzea”

Dahkar and Rheika were both living in the Black Shroud but were mostly spared the direct effects.

2. How did they acquire their Echo?

All four of them received the Echo as it plays out in the MSQ. Dahkar and Rheika got it after dealing with the enraged treants at Lifemend Stump, Fearless and Franks after fighting the frenzied Mossback at the Seasong Grotto

3. Does their Echo function like it does in the MSQ? Or is there a twist to it?

For the most part it functions like it does in the MSQ, but there’s some extra abilities that it provides that I’m planning on exploring in a future fic. To summarize: the Armory system is represented as a pocket dimension the Warriors can store clothing, weapons, and tools in. The Echo also allows them to “pause and save” any learning they have done in a particular discipline and resume it as if no time had passed whenever they choose

4. Do they have a canon mount or minion? What's its name(s)?

All four of them have their chocobos, which I don’t have names for yet (the ones in game aren’t canon, as they’re mostly inside jokes). Aside from those, two of my crew have a couple of mounts special to them.

Franks has kept Maggie, the Magitek Armor liberated by the Garlond Ironworks. Most recently, he’s taken to using a Gabriel Alpha magitek unit that he liberated and rebuilt from the Bozjan Southern Front

Rheika is incredibly fond of the True Griffin she befriended while helping the Ananta at Castellum Velodyna.

5. Where are they from? What was their childhood like?

I’ve covered this in some of my “Details!” posts I’ve done for them all, so I’ll be brief here

Franks - from another world, grew up on a farm, pretty normal farmer’s childhood

Rheika - grew up outside of Gridania in a Keeper of the Moon community, a middleish child of a large number of sisters. Aside from being made to understand WAY too early that the Wood Wailers will always treat her like a second class citizen because she is a Keeper of the Moon, she had a pretty happy childhood

Dahkar - Born on the Azim Steppe, mother took him to Gridania after his tribe was killed. Similarly treated like outsider, but otherwise kept mostly to himself, only meeting a couple of friends growing up.

Fearless - born and raised in Aerslant, the Sea Wolf Roegadyn homeland. Child of wealthy parents, she had a privileged upbringing but no choice in anything.

6. How did they deal with the massacre on the Waking Sands?

All of them were horrified and angry by it. Franks had never really experienced the Garlean Empire’s brutality firsthand before this, and it cemented a personal desire to fight them. Fearless, who’d begun to develop serious feelings for Minfilia, was almost beside herself with worry.

7. How did they deal with Haurchefant's death?

All of them took it pretty hard, but Dahkar, who’d been romantically involved with him by this point, was almost broken by it. His grief nearly consumed him in rage, quite literally, but “Fray” managed to help him hold it together until he could process and grieve.

8. How did they feel about the liberation of Ala Mhigo? Do they feel it could have been handled differently? Where they at all bothered by how they were involved?

I get the sense from the way this question was worded that the original author doesn’t care for the Stormblood storyline much, but honestly, I don’t have a problem with it. None of my crew are native Ala Mhigans, but they were all too happy to participate when it became clear that the time for it to happen had been chosen for everyone by Ilberd’s actions. Plus, y’know, there was that whole potential Bahamut-level primal they needed to deal with. Losing so handily to Zenos was a serious morale blow that messed them all up quite a bit, but all four of them went along with the plan. It offered them a chance to get better, to weaken the Empire and strengthen themselves.

9. How do they feel about Zenos?

THey all hate the guy for nearly killing so many of their friends and injuring them so badly. Later, pretty much universal relief when he died, pissed off that he didn’t stay that way, and now hell-bent on ending him once and for all. All of them pretty much agree that bastard needs to die.

10. How do they feel about their relationship with Hydaelyn? Midgarsormr?

Initially they accepted that Hydaelyn was a benevolent force, but once they learned of her origin, especially that she was a primal, a private debate broke out among them all the first chance they got to talk about it (which was after the Shadowbringers 5.0 MSQ when Rheika finally got back to the Source). Franks is very concerned that they’ve been tempered. Dahkar is now extremely wary of her, but isn’t certain their free will has been removed. Rheika and Fearless are unwilling to give up on her, but don’t understand why she stopped speaking to them.

Initially, they were all furious at Midgardsormr, but came to realize that his deeds in severing their connection to Hydaelyn definitely made them stronger. They now regard him as a friend and a source of wisdom.

11. Were they more sympathetic to the dragons, Ishgardians, neither or both?

Franks wasn’t certain of this, having known sentient dragons that had absolutely been wronged by mortals in his homeworld, but he didn’t see a way to fix this on his own, so he went along with helping the Ishgardians. He was absolutely on board with Alphinaud’s plan to try and end it, however.

The others had far less experience with Dragons, and initially accepted their version of events without much thought. They immediately turned on the whole idea when the deception was exposed, though.

12. How has their job affected whatever headcanon version is of the MSQ if any?

As I’ve explained in previous posts, I’ve parsed out all of the jobs (except Monk) to my characters, with the aim of balancing the following ideas.

○ At all times during the story, one of them should be capable of tanking, one healing, and the others DPSing ○ If possible no one should have more than 1 job from any of the 5 roles ○ Obviously, don’t give jobs to characters that make no sense for them to pick up

It’s taken a few revisions, but I’m currently happy with the setup they have. For the most part, they’re extremely proficient with their chosen fighting styles and don’t mind swapping around to fill whatever need is present. For Heavensward, the trio who got their new jobs in Ishgard chose to stick with them for the most part, and for much of the Far Eastern parts of Stormblood, Rheika and Fearless chose to stay Ninja and Samurai for the most part, since it felt “right” to them to use those arts when fighting for Doma’s liberation.

13. Are they close with any of the other Scions? Who do they get along with the best?

Franks gets along best with the more scholarly minded members of the Scions, specifically Y’shtola, Urianger, Krile, and G’raha when he later joins.

Rheika and Tataru have become the best of friends since she joined. She’s always encouraged Tataru to better herself however she wants, and really loves the newfound confidence she’s gained

Dahkar is closest to Thancred among the senior scions. Among the other members, he’s flirted with Ephemie a fair amount, and is considering whether or not he wants to deepen that to something more serious.

Fearless is probably closest to Alisaie. She admires her confidence a great deal.

14. Of the Scions, who are they most worried for?

Franks is most worried for Y’shtola and her “aethersight” draining her life force. He’s actively trying to modify the SCH magicks that cured the tonberry plague to restore her eyesight (and Thancred’s ability to manipulate aether)

Rheika is probably most worried about Urianger, as he’s shown a very disturbing pattern for pursuing a hidden agenda to further the scion’s goals, He claims to be done with that, but she’s worried he might slip into old habits in the future.

Dahkar and Fearless aren’t particularly worried about any of the Scions, beyond the default “these are my adopted family and I don’t want anything to happen to them” level of fear.

15. Is your WoL promiscuous? Celibate? Or just waiting for the right person?

Franks has so far been unable to move past the death of his wife to consider any new relationships. He’s also far older (if only mentally) than anyone who’d be interested, which also blocks him from considering anything new.

Rheika is aromantic, but pansexual. Romance does nothing for her, she just likes having fun with anyone she considers attractive and will respect her rule. She’s got a number of paramours in various parts of the world.

Dahkar is bi, and willing to engage in casual liaisons but at his heart, he really wants a committed relationship. After Haurchefant died, he hasn’t been involved in anything serious since, only crushing on people emotionally unavailable, such as Yugiri (bound by her oath to HIen) or Kurenai (bound by the oath of the Ruby Princess). He’s recently come to realize that this was a form of self-sabotage and is trying to open up again.

Fearless crushes on every pretty girl she has come across, but is usually too shy or lacking in self-confidence to follow up on them. She greatly regrets never telling Minfilia how she felt about her. Her time as a Warrior of LIght and the friendship she’s built with her fellows has helped tremendously. She’s currently involved in a poly triad with two other women.

16. What does your WoL do to relax? What sorts of distractions do they seek? Do they foster any bad habits as a result?

They enjoy spending time together or with the other Scions. If they’re at a point when they need to be alone, they’ll do the following.

Franks likes to tinker, build things, or solve arcanima problems. He can sometimes get wrapped up in any of those and lose track of time. He’s also prone to hiding away to avoid socializing.

Rheika will generally find someone to take to bed if she’s really stressed, otherwise she’s fine just hanging with people

Depending on his mood, Dahkar will either find a monster to fight (never something he’s not confident he can beat) or leap to whatever the highest place he can find is and just enjoy the view.

Fearless enjoys reading novels, but as of late prefers spending time with her girlfriends.

17. Who is their favorite Alliance leader? Who do they get along with the best out of them?

Counting only the 5 members of the Eorzean Alliance, in order from most to least.... 1. Lyse - because she’s one of them, come on 2. (tie) Merlwyb/Aymeric - because they are good people who have the strength to move their nation forward to a better place 3. Nanamo - she’s trying to make Ul’dah better, at least, even if she isn’t able to affect change. Plus she’s not doing enough to address corruption in the Brass Blades 4. Kan-E-Senna - she seems entirely content to leave her people at the mercy of elementals and isn’t doing NEAR enough to address racial inequality in Gridania

18. Does your WoL fully embrace their role as the WoL or do they try to remain humble?

For the most part, they’re humble, but all of them are not afraid to use their titles/fame to get what they need or to make someone’s life better if they can do so.

19. What do they think of the Heaven's Ward?

The only ones they really got to know were the two that tried to condemn Alphinaud and Tataru for “heresy” and the one who attacked them when they were meeting with Hilda. Those were...not positive experiences. That, coupled with the fact that all of them willingly followed the Archbishop into summoning Primals into themselves pretty much sealed their opinion on the rest.

20. Of all the places they've been to, which is their favorite? Do they like to go back there?

Franks enjoys spending time in Ishgard, both because the manufactory is there and he enjoys collaborating with the other machinists and because he really enjoys working on the Restoration of the Firmament.

Rheika enjoys being in Mor Dhona and the Crystarium the most. It’s full of people all working together for the same end, and she’s happy being a part of it and doing her part to help.

Dahkar also loves Mor Dhona, but he’s found going back to the Far East oddly soothing. He feels a connection to the Azim Steppe, despite not really knowing what it means to live there, he wants to learn.

Fearless has made Kugane her home, thanks in part to her one of her girlfriends living there and the other currently on an extended tour there as well.

21. Are there any raid storylines (Ivalice, Coil of Bahamut, Werlyt, etc.) you consider to be canon for your WoL? Which ones don't you consider canon?

I consider all of them to be canon, save potentially the NieR crossover alliance raids. Honestly, the entire story of that place just felt so odd and out of place that I didn’t really enjoy it, and I’m tempted just to say it didn’t happen. Everything else, though? Absolutely canonical.

22. Do you have a unique tale for their job class or is it pretty much like what it is in the game?

Most of them are pretty much as they were in the game, though I have some personal headcanons on how Arcanima and the Paladin job work, the latter of which I’ve explored in one of my fics. The former will be somewhat explained in the current longform fic I’m working on.

23. Are there any side quest storylines that you're particularly fond of or think of as being canon to your WoL's experiences?

Aside from the raids, alliance raids, and trial series, which 21 covered, I’d say all of the Beast tribe quests, the Scholasticate quests (which I suppose means Hildibrand has to be canon too), and most of the sidequesting in Sui-no-Sato are all canon experiences.

24. Does your WoL have any phobias?

None of them have any real strange or irrational fears of note, not that I’ve been able to think of that make sense to the characters, anyway.

25. Do they have any habits or rituals that they do to soothe themselves? I.e. Playing with their hair, chewing their lip, fidgeting, etc.

Franks will absentmindedly fidget with a tool or some spare parts. He’s actually built a small gadget that has some switches and buttons that do nothing for this purpose.

Rheika is restless and prefers to move while thinking. She tends to bounce a leg if she has to sit still too long.

Dahkar is pretty capable of concentrating without needing any kind of habit to aid in it.

Fearless tends to bottle it up until she can release it in private, either by meditating or dancing, depending on her level of anxiety and privacy expectations

26. Do they suffer any traumas from any of their adventures? How do you foresee this affecting them going forward?

Fearless was actually persuaded to pick of the Astrologian job thanks to the trauma of the banquet. She wanted to be able to predict anything that awful from happening to her and her friends again.

LIkewise Dahkar was so traumatized by that (and the Braves’ betrayal), it was the final catalyst needed for him to be open to his Darkside and become a Dark Knight. He’s also the one most affected by Haurchefant’s death, and as I explained earlier, it’s subconsciously kept him from going after other romantic relationships

Rheika had nightmares about Tesleen for months, and they were made worse when she herself nearly became a sin eater. She practiced quick drawing her bow and hitting accurate long distance shots for a long time after that, wanting to be prepared to save someone from that kind of distance if she had to.

Franks has dealt with enough trauma in his previous life that a lot of what he’s seen on Hydaelyn doesn’t affect him as much as it otherwise might.

27. How did the events of Shadowbringers impact them?

Rheika was the only one present for the events of 5.0, and my headcanon is that she wasn’t able to get home until after Hades was defeated. She felt alone and adrift without her fellow Warriors, and the trauma she endured did not help matters. Seeing them summoned to aid her was a balm on her soul, and when Franks figured out how to get the others to the First a little before the events of the Eden raid, she was overjoyed.

28. Were they suspicious or open to Emet-Selch's presence when he first appeared?

Rheika never believed he had good intentions. She always expected him to betray them at some point, but there didn’t seem to be much she COULD do before that happened. Even after he rescued Y’shtola, that was never enough for her trust.

29. Did your WoL suspect anything was amiss with Urianger or the Crystal Exarch? Did they feel betrayed? Upset? When the truth finally emerged?

Rheika immediately recognized G’raha Tia (”I mean he wasn’t even TRYING to change his voice!”), but she assumed there was a reason he was hiding from her, and she trusted Urianger’s vision. When the truth came out, she was angry about being lied to. She understood their reasoning, but threated to beat the crap out of both of them if they ever tried something like that again.

30. What was their highest point in Shadowbringers? Their lowest? What caused it?

High point - ending Hades. Low Point - failing to save Tesleen

31. What were their first impressions of Hien?

Aside from Rheika and Dahkar finding him very hot, they were all very impressed by his willingness to sacrifice his own life if his people chose not to fight any longer

32. Did they trust Asahi right away? Why or why not?

Not right away, no. None of them are quick to trust Garlean officials, and Asahi felt way too slimy. None of them were all together surprised with how things turned out, save for when Maxima agreed to abide by the exchange after everything went south.

33. How did they feel about what happened with Yotsuyu? Did they feel like she was justified in her actions?

All of them felt bad for Yotsuyu’s horrible upbringing (and have made it VERY clear to Hien that he needs to make sure the new Doma does NOT allow for this to happen again), but accept that she made the choices she did and that ultimately, she needed to be stopped.

34. Would you say your WoL is fundamentally a good person? Or are they a bad person that's been persuaded to do the right things?

All of them are absolutely good people fundamentally. They know they’re the only ones that can fight the ridiculous battles they get into, and they’re okay with doing it, because ultimately, they want to save lives.

35. How do they feel about the fact that they've killed a lot of people and/or things?

They all understand that for every life they have to take, it means more are safe, sound, and happy down the road. All of their choices are made with that goal in mind.

#Final Fantasy XIV #oldmanfranks #Rheika Aliapoh #Fearless Willow #Dahkar Darkspear

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free-reiki-online · 4 years ago

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What Is Reiki, and How Does It Help You

Reiki (レイキ), a spiritual healing art founded by Mikao Usui, first appeared in Japan in the early twentieth century. Reiki is derived from the Japanese words "Rei" and "Ki," which respectively mean "Universal Life" and "Power." It's a subtle yet powerful type of energy work that makes use of spiritually inspired life force energy. All interested in becoming a Reiki healer should enroll in a Reiki course.

Reiki is the common life force that pervades all. Reiki masters know how to use their own healing powers to boost their own and others' energy levels. A person's "ki," or energy, is thought to be both powerful and uncontrollable. If this is the case, a person's body and mind are in good health. When energy is slowed or redirected, it can cause physical and emotional imbalances.

Reiki is described as a warm light that surrounds and flows through you. Reiki has a number of advantages, including relaxation and feelings of protection, security, and well-being, and it treats the entire person, including body, emotions, mind, and spirit. Many people claim they've had spiritual encounters.

The ability to use Reiki is passed on to the student during a Reiki lesson, rather than being taught in the conventional sense. This skill is passed on through a Reiki Master's "attunement," which enables the student to tap into an unlimited supply of "life force energy" to enhance one's health and quality of life.

Its usage is not restricted by one's intellectual or spiritual growth, making it accessible to everyone. Thousands of people of all ages and backgrounds have effectively mastered it.

Despite the fact that Reiki is not a religion, it is still necessary to live and behave in a way that encourages social harmony. In order to foster peace and harmony, Mikao Usui, the creator of the Reiki natural healing method, suggested that people follow a few specific ethical principles that are essentially universal across cultures.

Reiki is an easy, risk-free method of spiritual healing and self-improvement that can be used by anyone. It has consistently positive outcomes in the treatment of almost any known disease and ailment.

Reiki has many advantages. It's a straightforward approach that typically yields significant results. Reiki also has the bonus of being able to support people who aren't ill.

For certain people, Reiki can help with energy levels, stress management, and life changes. Others will develop spiritually and discover a greater sense of meaning in life. Many of my clients are in good health and want to remain that way, so reiki assists them in maintaining that balance so they can react to challenges differently.

Most people report feeling calm and comfortable after a procedure, with some also reporting feeling more energized, clear-headed, and successful. Many Reiki practitioners and students are aware that relaxing their systems will aid them in coping with a number of health problems, such as stress, anxiety, depression, chronic pain, and infertility.

Now that you know what Reiki is and how it works, let's talk about the Reiki Benefits. Reiki has many advantages, and anybody can use it if they so choose.

Reiki promotes deep relaxation and aids in the relief of stress and anxiety in the body.

Many people enjoy reiki because it gives them the opportunity to spend time alone, just 'being.' As a result of the counseling, clients have reported feeling more clear, calm, happier, and lighter.

Reiki creates an aura around you that helps you become more aware of what's going on within your body and mind. You'll learn to listen to your body and make better health decisions from this vantage point. Being more present means being more in tune with your body, making it easier to tap into the inner knowing and knowledge that we all possess!

It Aids You in Getting a More Restful Night's Sleep

You should still hope to feel extremely relaxed after a Reiki session. Our bodies benefit from this form of relaxation because it allows us to sleep easier, recover faster, and think more clearly. During a Reiki session, it's not unusual for people to fall asleep completely.

It helps spiritual development and mental purification.

Reiki is a holistic healing technique that addresses the whole person (mind, body, and spirit), not only the physical body. This ensures that Reiki's optimistic energy transmission effectively improves the attitude and outlook of the recipient. The healing that begins on the inside will affect their actions and outlook on the outside.

Enhances the efficacy of medical and non-medical treatments.

Reiki is an ideal alternative to traditional medicine because it helps people relax on both an emotional and physical level. The healing process is accelerated when the patient is comfortable. Reiki therapies help people sleep better and feel more relaxed. If the patient has burns or severe injuries, the Reiki practitioner may give Reiki without touching the body.

If you have medical problems such as epilepsy, diabetes, or heart disease, Reiki is safe to use. Patients who are undergoing chemotherapy can benefit from Reiki treatments. Pregnant women may use Reiki at any time during their pregnancy. All will benefit from Reiki!

Aids in the management of pain and the regeneration of the physical body.

It helps to keep the body's essential functions running smoothly (breathing, digestion, and sleeping). Migraines, asthma, and sciatica are only a few of the illnesses that Reiki can help with. It can help with asthma, chronic fatigue, menopausal symptoms, and insomnia.

Improves the body's capacity to self-regenerate.

Reiki balances the internal body, allowing you to return to your natural state more easily. Breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, circulation, and other bodily functions will all rise as a result of this. The body will repair itself from the inside out if you maintain a healthy balance.

It improves attention and concentration by clearing the mind.

Reiki will help you stay in the present moment rather than reflecting on regrets from the past or fears about the future. It will help you understand and cope with the way things happen, even if they do not go according to your plans or schedule. You begin to respond positively to circumstances, people, and yourself instead of acting out of habit.

The immune system is enhanced while the body's detoxification process is supported.

Using the Reiki technique, our bodies are taught how to return to a state of rest and regeneration known as "fix" or "self-healing." Our bodies begin to cleanse themselves of unwanted energies when this state is triggered. It also helps the body battle fatigue, burnout, and immune system dysfunction.

It dissolves energy blocks to promote natural mind-body-spirit unity.

When used on a regular basis, Reiki therapy facilitates the free flow of energy around the body. This offers stress relief, better learning and memory, mental understanding, as well as physical healing and pain relief. Positive energy cannot flow to certain areas of the body when energy passageways are blocked, resulting in mood swings, anxiety, frustration, pain, and other issues.

Encourages the maintenance of peace and order.

Reiki is a Japanese technique that seeks to bring peace and order to the world. It's a non-invasive energy healing technique that energizes and promotes general well-being while also improving the body's natural healing abilities. Instead of masking or relieving symptoms, Reiki restores calm on all levels and works specifically on the problem and disease. Reiki makes people feel calmer, happier, and lighter, which lets them communicate more clearly with their inner self and focus on their lives.

Some people are drawn to reiki because it can help with physical healing, while others are interested in personal growth. The majority of people have seen reiki's benefits and want to be able to practice it on a daily basis.

Reiki can be used to support people in a wide range of conditions. Reiki does not cure a particular physical ailment; rather, it treats the entire individual. As a result, energy transfer is the most effective healing tool because it cures all aspects of a disease.

It's best to get formal Reiki training if you want to learn how to do it. There are several Reiki courses available online, some of which also provide you with a Reiki Certificate, whether you want to use Reiki in your company or just for yourself and loved ones. You'll practice tuning in to and then sending out life force energy.

You may use similar visualization techniques to release negative energy when teaching Reiki healing methods to others, but you'll have to depend on the individual to give you advice on tense areas. With further practice and Reiki therapy, you'll be able to spot areas that need healing.

To summarize, Reiki is a straightforward technique that yields remarkable results. It has a huge effect on your mind and body. A broad range of health conditions can be efficiently managed by coordinating the body's functions. It can also help a person grow spiritually, deal with daily stress, and gain greater wisdom, all of which can help them better cope with life's challenges and maintain peace in their lives.

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mychemicalficrecs · 5 years ago

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Hey do you have any bottom gee fics?

Hi Nonny!

I have a few of those in a great variety of ships :D

Bottom Gerard

The Blue Room by ladyfoxxx, Frank/Gerard, 3k, Explicit. The one where Pete is a not-so-accidental voyeur.

All Yours, Daddy by chemicalcandy, Frank/Gerard, 5k, Explicit. The thin golden material was hugging Gerard’s hips tightly, leaving nothing to anyone's imagination as he moved them rhythmically to the music blasted from a speaker. His hairless legs were wrapped around the pole delicately, his hands clutching it as he threw his head back. Long red hair fell from his face, revealing his artful features, the upturned nose and sharp eyebrows, long eyelashes touching the pale skin over his high cheekbones as he had closed them tightly. His red bottom lip was trapped between his front teeth, leaving a trace of lipstick on them. Frank could see his beautiful neck as he kept baring it, could see his Adam's apple that the dim shimmery light made somehow stand out even more, could see the vein on the side of his neck Frank knew adrenaline would be pumped through just now because Gerard loved this. All eyes were on him, everybody was paying attention to his moves, his face, his outfit and body, and he was mesmerizing everyone watching.

Don't Fence Me In by desfinado, Frank/Gerard, 7k, Explicit. "We tried to have sex so great that no man should ever be able to experience it. These are the consequences."

Monster Under the Bed by BasementVampire, Frank/Gerard, 4k, Explicit. “You’re not real. Go away,” Gerard ordered. “If I’m not real, then who are you talking to?” it countered. “My imagination.” “Can your imagination shake the bed?” Gerard screeched. “Stop that!” There was a sigh from underneath the bed. “It makes me sad to be told I’m not real. Sad and angry.” Gerard whimpered and squeezed his eyes shut. “All right—you’re real! Stop shaking the bed!”

Kiss Me, You Animal by dear_monday, Frank/Gerard, 5k, Explicit. It totally wasn't his fault, okay? Frank would like that on record. Because it wasn't. An exploration of the complex dynamic between... oh, sod it. This is SHAMELESS KILLJOY PORN. \o/

Competitive Streak by ladyfoxxx, Frank/Gerard, 2k, Explicit. Gerard doesn't want to be the only Way brother without a sex tape.

Psycho Boy by BasementVampire, Frank/Gerard, 2k, Explicit. "The room goes silent again. Gerard swings his legs back and forth while Frank finishes prepping. It’s strangely casual—like he’s not sitting here waiting for Frank to do something sickeningly cruel to him." Gerard and Frank engage in some extreme sadomasochism.

Against The Wall by ladyfoxxx, Frank/Gerard, 2k, Explicit. Angry backstage sex.

Click Click Click Click by pearl_o, Frank/Ray/Gerard, 2k, Explicit. Ray likes taking pictures, Gerard likes being the center of attention, and Frank likes both of them.

A Cure For Writer's Block by cybercandy, Frank/Ray/Gerard/Mikey, 5k, Explicit. They’ve hit a wall, there’s no point denying it, and to be honest Mikey’s surprised it hasn’t happened sooner. It’s been going so well, songs and words slotting into place like puzzle pieces, the new album appearing in front of their eyes and ears bit by bit. Until it all ground to a really fucking spectacular halt.

A Night In Paris by gala_apples, Frank/Ray/Gerard/Mikey, 829 words, Explicit. Gerard wants to go play tourist in Paris. But what he really wants is to get gangbanged. Luckily his band is good at reading between the lines.

Reaching Through The Mirror by ladyfoxxx, Gerard/Gerard, Frank/Gerard, 6k, Explicit. The one where Party Poison and Basement!Gerard have sex.

Black Velvet Pumps by s0ckpupp3t, Gerard/Mikey, 2k, Explicit. They were black velvet pumps, okay, not with a stupid pointy toe but classically rounded; delicate tapering heels but not stilettos. They had a decently-sized toe box, and maybe even a tiny bit of arch support. And they came in Gerard's size.

Legs to the Wall by inlovewithnight, Gerard/Mikey, 2k, Explicit. This is the part where Mikey can really get into the game.

Red-Handed Denial by preblematic, Gerard/Mikey, 7k, Explicit. Five times that the Way brothers were caught in the act, and one time that they totally did it on purpose.

Handsy by preblematic, Gerard/Mikey, 4k, Explicit. There are three things Gerard knows for certain. 1. Mikey is a handsy drunk. 2. Gerard is Mikey’s favorite person. 3. No amount of alcohol can kill a Way boner.

Brand New City by preblematic, Gerard/Mikey, 1k, Explicit. Honey, what'd you take?

Don't Need No Rising Moon by Sena, Gerard/Mikey, 2k, Explicit. Mikey will take as much as his sister is willing to give.

Pillow Talk by akamine_chan, Gerard/a friendly betentacled alien, 4k, Explicit. Gerard always knew that there had to be life on other planets. He just never planned on meeting it.

use condiments by mwestbelle, Gerard/Pete, 804 words, Explicit. This was supposed to be sweet/emotional barebacking, but then I wrote it from Pete's POV and...yeah, that didn't really happen.

Silicone Romance by anoneknewmoose, Lindsey/Gerard, 4k, Explicit. Sometimes Lindsey wears a cock.

A Penny For Your Thoughts by dear_monday, Party Poison/Gerard, 2k, Explicit. "You're shitting me, right?" he says, looking Poison up and down disbelievingly. "You're not. You narcissistic fuck." Poison shrugs. "Hey. Suit yourself, motorbaby. You're not the only hooker out here tonight, you know."

Well Okay Then by autoschediastic, Ray/Gerard, 5k, Explicit. "Okay?" Gerard's eyes open one after the other. He squints at Ray again. "Okay, as in you're okay with Frank and Mikey using you for prime masturbatory material? Because, like, on the one hand, it's genuine appreciation of your skill, but on the other--" "Okay, I can fuck you out of your head," Ray butts in.

You’re In Time For The Show by shadowhive, Frank/Ray/Gerard/Mikey, Gerard/Mikey, Ray/Gerard, 5k, Explicit. The aftermath of Frank’s first rockstar moment.

a heart attack (in black hair dye) by Trojie, Ray/Gerard, 3k, Explicit. Gerard likes to be loud, Ray likes to be quiet, Mikey likes to not be scarred for life, and Frank just likes to sleep.

#fic rec list #frank/gerard #frank/ray/gerard #frank/ray/gerard/mikey #gerard/gerard #gerard/mikey #gerard/pete #lindsey/gerard #party poison/gerard #ray/gerard #bottom gerard #smut

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valorxdrive · 4 years ago

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1, 7, 9 for the character questions

1. Death is an inevitable part of life. What is your character’s experience with death? Have they had someone close to them die? Have they ever killed someone? How did these events affect them? Have they been able to move on? What do they believe happens to people when they die? And why? How does your character feel about death? Do they feel at ease, or uncomfortable with the idea of dying?

For Sora, the concept of death gained a much more intimate meaning once he found himself forcefully venturing from the world of Destiny Islands. During the more sensitive years of his childhood it was known in passing for people but much more when it comes to animals. Food that he eats, pets of friends that passed on and in more rare instances the grandparents of said friends, the true impact of it had never struck deep at this point.

At best it remained a distant fear, a wary subject as he understood that death was meant to be avoided for himself, the people he cares for and all for his island home in general.

Fast forward to the days of when he becomes a wielder of the Keyblade and it changes exponentially. His first days upon Traverse Town and he practically watches the heart of some poor sucker get ripped clean from the chest. Death was both wielded by his hand and constantly drawing it’s cold edges upon his neck through ever possible attack made by the foot soldiers of darkness to actual people. Heartless managed to hold less of a critical dent in terms of slaying them. They were unnatural forces of one’s heart, some malevolent energy given form, his conscious hadn’t suffered nowhere as much in knowing he’s slaying beast compared to flesh and blood humans.

Skip forward a bit more and now he’s doing exactly that. For Sora the first kill (even if he hadn’t brought down the final strike) would be against Clayton from Tarzan’s world. He’s both sustained a more naturally made injury through buckshot and also come to see a human drawn into depravity basically get crushed before his eyes. For my interp this specific end had led Sora to be sleepless for days on end. It was the first genuine lesson in holding the weight of a life within his hands. Despite how despicable, how deplorable and just plain sick they were in their goals, it never changed who he did vanquish in order to save a world.

It was through these same intense feelings of both knowing the loss of life deeper than before, to let that blood be on his hands, at the same time come understand the crucial aspect in protecting it had allowed Cure magic to be fostered in the depths of his heart.

Sora genuinely needed time and the support of others during that time, from Jane, Tarzan alongside of Donald and Goofy to help pick himself back up on his feet. While it was never truly solved nowhere close to completion, they managed to instill the resolve through both reasoning of why he did fight, what he was also continuing to fight for in order to give him the strength to continue.

In the aftermath of the first he found the aspect while chilling, understandable in the cases where it has been performed. By no means does he EVER resort to killing as the first option when endless alternatives can come to be.

Follow through the journey of Kingdom Hearts and it’s witnessed that he’s never two steps away from it. From slaying Heartless, battle with Organization XIII and coming to learn of Nobodies, Sora lives a life of peril and this element he’s come to accept if he intends to truly make things right. In a way the more he’s come to refine the art in the name of necessity, he’s grown to be substantially desensitize to people drawing the worst of their powers and weaponry in order to tear him apart. He’s not ignorant to fear, he simply gained the courage to keep a strong and steady heart in the face of such adversity.

In terms of having those close to him die? Yes and no. Sora’s previously conceived ideas throughout his adventures that through death, you come to create a Heartless and Nobody is given a hard shake of truth. Somehow this is just some wayward method of reincarnation if you get slayed by either a Heartless or torn through with a Keyblade. The real path to death does exist as he’s come to learn within The Final World. Through the guidance of Chirithy he’s come to learn about how you can even face oblivion down to a conceptual state. Him alongside all the Guardians really could’ve bit the dust.

For Sora this was a point in his life while he needed the strength to go on, he’s faced an incredible abyss of despair. Even with the foreknowledge that a certain someone was keeping him and herself tethered to reality, the fact they’ve been torn apart down to these spiritual remnants deeply disturbed him. However facing the brunt of all that would do more harm then good at this time. While a chance hung in the balance, he needed hope and belief to bring himself back onto his feet, to bring him back up even as death’s kiss remained a fraction away from claiming him and all of his friends. Receiving this harsh lesson truly emboldened his selfishness when it comes to prevent death from befalling those that he cares for if it’s within his power.

This is what leads him to outright abusing the Power of Waking. He didn’t have to think twice on the idea of giving them a second chance of life if it’s within his power. Beyond that? There was a whole universe that also hung in the balance, newly made friends he knew were going to be next on the chopping block of the keyblade war. It would be the Princesses of Heart next upon Xehanort’s list and he refused to let these abominable acts to continue.

On one hand while he has obtained a degree of courage to face death directly within it’s eyes. His fear hadn’t went away, he doesn’t want to lose his life any earlier then he has too. If the motto of an ‘Eye for an eye’ reaches out in the name of saving another however, he won’t hesitate. If Sora knows there’s a method where there isn’t no sacrifice involved to save another, he’ll instantly go for it. However like in the case of Kairi, if this dangerous, volatile if used wrong power is the only way to ensure to can continue living on?

He’s going to face any price to ensure you’re okay.

In the end he accepts that with life, there is also death, he’s simply in the park that people can live long and happy lives before having to make peace with that part of living. As it currently stands he feels incredibly uncomfortable at the idea of dying when there’s so much to live for. This is a big reason too as to why he fights.

#blackasteriia #| Bottle Mail #| HCs #| Meme #GINA I CAN'T DROP A MEGA WORDBOMB OUT HERE. lol #I might have to take in one number a time per post with these #death tw

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precuredaily · 5 years ago

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Precure Day 162

Episode: Yes! Precure 5 14 - “Karen, The Troubled Student Council President” Date watched: 3 December 2019 Original air date: 6 May 2007 Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/ZVrof8Y Project info and master list of posts: http://tinyurl.com/PCDabout

Karen has a big think

It’s Karen’s turn to hold the character development conch. This time, we get to see how she handles pressure from all directions! We also find out a little secret about Otaka-san and the school’s leadership. Good stuff, so let’s dive in!

The Plot

Various clubs approach Karen, aggressively requesting budget increases. The futsal club can’t afford new balls, the drama club can’t afford costumes, the judo club can’t afford new weights, the list goes on. Karen is taken aback and tries to explain the complexities of the situation to the students, but they are insistent. After trying to come up with a solution, she approaches the Vice Principal and explains her situation, requesting a budget increase for all the clubs. He is reluctant to change the budget that’s already been agreed upon for the year, but because he respects her decision to approach him, he will take it up with the principal. The VP goes to the Principal, revealed (to the audience) to actually be Otaka-san the lunch lady, but she insists that she doesn’t believe they need a budget increase, and there are still solutions the clubs haven’t yet come up with to resolve their budget woes. Komachi talks with Karen, commending her willingness to work hard for the clubs where before she probably would have simply said that the budget was already decided and they had to make do with what they had. The influence of their determined young friends is rubbing off on them.

Coincidentally, Nightmare is also having budget issues of a sort. Although they aren’t in a pinch, Kawarino is scolding Bunbee for blowing a lot of money without producing any results, and implies that his subordinates are useless and the whole department could get restructured. Bunbee decides to go fight the girls himself to get some results.

Back at school, Karen is still being hounded by the clubs, and her attempts at de-escalation aren’t working, so Otaka almost steps in, but Komachi is actually the one to put her foot down, startling everyone. She reminds the club leaders that they agreed to their annual budgets before the proposal was sent to the school administration, and that Karen alone cannot solve everything. With help from Nozomi, she gets them all to line up and explain their problems, to see if they can work together and figure out alternative solutions within their existing budgets.

The biggest offender is the drama club, which is going way over budget because they’ve picked a play with lots of extravagant costumes. However, Komachi gets them to work with the sewing club, who were looking for a platform to display their work, and the two split costs in this mutually beneficial agreement. The Judo club couldn’t afford to buy new weights AND new uniforms, but they also got the sewing club to patch up their uniforms so they could buy heavier weights, and donated their older ones to the futsal club. Now that she doesn’t need to buy weights, Rin can afford new balls, and donates the old ones to the art club, who find their shape and texture very inspirational.

I’d like to point out that the dumbbell Nozomi is struggling to lift is only 5 KG, that’s about 11 lbs.

With everyone’s issues resolved, the girls enjoy a moment of peace as Rin takes her new dumbbells to her club space, but on the way, Bunbee shows up to cause trouble. He turns the dumbbells into a Kowaina and taunts the girls about his own superiority. They transform and fight back, but he is pretty strong. When Mint shields one of the monster’s attacks, he launches a missile that breaks the shield, and he easily dodges when Rouge and Aqua try to fight him in the air. Dream and Lemonade have no luck fighting the Kowaina and they’re all left on the ground, defeated. Bunbee boasts about how much easier it is to do everything himself, and Aqua scoffs. She says she used to feel that way, but now she knows they’d never win if they did that, and the team springs into action. Bunbee tries to missile them again, and again Mint uses her shield, but this time Aqua also blocks it with Aqua Stream and this weakens it enough to bounce off the shield. Dream and Rouge restrain the Kowaina while Lemonade attacks it with Lemonade Flash, then the two throw it and perform their finishers. The Kowaina is destroyed and Bunbee retreats, self-justifying the day by saying you have to spend money to make money.

Back at the lunch table, Nozomi observes that Komachi might actually be stronger than Karen, which gives them all pause. Otaka comes over with a basket full of yakisoba bread, claiming the principal told her how they avoided a budget crisis, and suddenly people from all the other clubs appear, all vying for some of the free bread. Nozomi cries because the crowd beat her to the stuff she really wanted, and that’s the ending card.

The Analysis

What a fun episode. Karen’s commitment to the students is really earnest and inspiring. You can see why she’s the president, and even how much progress she’s made since the start of the show. Old Karen just cared about order, new Karen has the best interests of the students in mind and wants to meet them where they’re at. She fields the ire of the various clubs like a champ, trying not to get overwhelmed, and explaining the delicate balance that is adjusting budgets: since the budget has already been agreed upon, for her to allocate more to one group than previously agreed means the money has to come out of somewhere else, and that could put the other party in a pinch. Important financial lesson for the kids in the audience, too. And when her advice isn’t sufficient for them, she goes to bat for them by requesting assistance from the VP. My only criticism is that she probably should have asked why they needed more money first to see where their funds were tied up at, but honestly I would probably do the same thing, jumping straight to “let me get them what they say they need” and not “let me look into the situation more”.

When they get to the drama club and find out the reason they’re so over budget is because they decided to produce an expensive-ass play, I about died. LOOK AT THIS OUTFIT.

gosh I wonder why

There’s a lesson in here somewhere about working within your limitations. Urara suggests they do a simpler show like Kintarou, which would have costumes and props they could reuse in other shows, but from the club president’s response I get the impression they’ve done far too many shows like that and are sick of it. Also can’t fault them for doing something different. I remember in my junior year (11th grade), my school put on a production of “High School Musical” (this was when that was still a pretty fresh and hot property) and it sold like crazy, so the next year they were able to perform “Little Shop of Horrors”, renting the Audrey II puppets from somewhere. It’s okay to dream big, but you gotta make sure you can afford it. (inb4 ok boomer) However, working with the sewing club was a very good compromise. They get a platform to showcase their work, the drama club gets good costumes for cheaper, and they split the costs. Some of the other deals are a bit more one-sided but as long as everyone’s happy, it works.

By the way, Komachi’s restraint when the club president goes “oh yeah we spent all our budget on that one outfit and we need a bunch more” is remarkable. (I looked it up and I see similarities to Les Miserables: it’s a famous story that takes place over multiple generations and features LOTS of recurring characters) Komachi is, thankfully, very good at keeping herself in check, but if you manage to set her off, she is downright scary. That’s a common attribute for shield-based Cures, and it started here.

For reasons that aren’t entirely clear, since they only have a few of the costumes done, the drama club president is only ever seen in-costume, looking like a prince with a pencil mustache drawn onto her face. If we take the bold assumption that this all occurs in one day, even one lunch period, then this makes sense enough, but it’s still kind of silly.

The first half of this episode is so good, and tells a pretty complete story, that both times I watched it I forgot what kind of show it was because I was so absorbed in the antics of the clubs, so I thought the resolution was just going to be sorting out their budgets, when that was actually only the halfway point. The fight with Bunbee in the second half, while good, feels incomplete. I’m not sure if something got lost in translation for the subtitles, because he seems to indicate he spent money on a better Kowaina mask but the subs don’t reflect him saying this, only the girls’ response that it looks the same as normal. I do like them switching up their fighting style, and it comes with one of the strangest calls to action I’ve ever seen:

previously unsaid sentences in human history

The context is that, earlier in the episode, Nozomi and Urara traded lunch items, and now Karen is reminding them all to trade opponents and work together to beat the monster. Hilariously, even though Nozomi was the one who wanted to trade in the first place, she’s the last one to get this coded message, after Rin explains it to her.

She is special.

The elephant in the room here is that Otaka-san, the humble lunch lady who always adds a million onto every order, who appears a little disheveled, is in fact the school’s principal. Books and covers, ya know. I don’t recall if the girls every learn her secret, but it’s revealed to the audience here. I assume she serves as the lunch lady in order to get close to the students and understand what’s going on without calling attention to her position of authority. That’s the thing about power, even if you act relatable, if someone knows you’re way above them on the totem pole, they’re going to act differently, so she has put herself on the level of students. It’s like Undercover Boss except she never reveals the ruse. And honestly, it’s a very good ruse. She is approachable to the students and they all love her, so she can listen to their problems and make sure that the school is running well from the ground level. Also, as the lunch lady, she wears plain clothes, an apron, and flat shoes. Her only accessory is her trademark silver brooch. As the principal, she wears a suit, her hair is more tamed, she wears lipstick and earrings. She even speaks differently between her roles, sounding more raspy in her disguise, while she adopts a more formal and stern tone while acting as the principal. It’s impressive. I know she appears in this role at least one more time in the show, so I look forward to seeing that.

As usual there were some great moments of comedy, wonderful facial expressions, and you can see those chronicled in the gallery.

Next time, in Precure Daily, Nozomi’s mom is sick, so she has to do the housework! How badly will this end?

Pink Precure Catchphrase Count: 0 kettei!

#Precure #Pretty Cure #Yes! Precure 5 #YPC514 #PCD162

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trashyswitch · 5 years ago

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Natural Cure For Stress

Shawn is overworked, and making mistake after mistake. Marvin notices this, and decides to show Shawn another use for his paintbrushes...

Shawn Flynn is in his office, working on his bendy dolls. He had a paintbrush in his shaky right hand, a bendy doll in his left hand and a small pile of unfinished bendy dolls. He was trying to paint eyes and mouths on the bendy dolls, but was struggling. He had been stressed from overworking, and his painting mistakes were not helping matters. He has been painting crooked smiles again. No matter how much he tried to fix it, the crooked smiles were still noticeable. On a normal day, he would've had the patience to turn his reoccurring bad habit into a joke. But not today. His patience was wearing thin, and Shawn couldn't get away with mistakes as easily as one may realize. The thing is, Joey Drew and Shawn Flynn's personalities were very similar. There were times where that was helpful, but mistakes like this were the big downfall of such a personality shared between a toy maker and his boss.

Shawn placed the semi-finished doll onto the 'finished' pile, and grabbed another unfinished doll. After loading the end of the brush with some ink, Shawn held his loaded brush towards the bendy doll. Before making contact with the doll, Shawn tried to calm his shaky hand so he could draw a normal, uncrooked smile. His hand calmed down a bit, so he allowed the brush end to hit the doll. He managed to draw the eyes with little issues, but the mouth was still causing some issues. No matter how much he tried to calm the bouncing nerves in his dominant hand, he couldn't...draw...a...normal...SMILE!

Presenting:

Another crooked smile.

That was the last straw for the stressed man. He dropped the bendy doll, and threw his paintbrush across the room. he let it clink against the wall, and fall onto the hardwood floor. Breathing heavily out of pure anger, Shawn walked up to his bed, and started letting out all his anger into his strong bed. He punched the mattress, threw his comforter off the bed, screamed into his pillow and wrestled with the comforter on the bed.

Every punch felt good. Every scream felt relieving. Throwing his comforter and wrestling it like a mad man, was surprisingly helpful. He knew he couldn't win against an inanimate object, but it still felt good to get his anger out in this fashion. After lots more wrestling and muscle clenching, he abruptly stopped. He let his body lay with his back against the balled up comforter, breathing deeply in exhaustion. Despite his anger lessening after his outburst, he still felt the need to cry. So, he let it out. He let every tear fall down his face and didn't bother wiping them away. He felt every tear fall from his eyes, and drip onto his pillow. He let out every sob, every whine, and every loud crying noise leave his sore throat.

"Shawn? You okay?" someone said. Shawn didn't even hear the knock on the door, let alone the door open. Shawn moved his body to face the door and see who it was.

It was Marvin.

"I heard some noise in here...It...looks like you completely demolished your bed..." Marvin said, looking around at the semi-naked mattress. The bed sheets had been knocked off, the sheets below the comforter were laying on the floor, and his comforter was in a big ball on the mattress...With Shawn laying in it. Despite Shawn's body being covered in the comforter, his head was still visible. His eyes were puffy, and his face was covered in tears.

"What happened?" Marvin asked, genuinely worried for Shawn's mental health.

Shawn sniffed, wiped his eyes as best as he could, and sat up.

"I...I'm just frustrated." Shawn explained briefly in a hoarse voice.

"Just frustrated? You look like you're going through a meltdown." Marvin said, better explaining Shawn's emotional state from just looking at him.

"I...I guess so..." Shawn replied quietly.

"Why are you having a meltdown?" Marvin asked. Shawn's pent up sadness had decided to break open then and there, leading to Shawn being stuck in another loud crying fit. Marvin watched from a distance, giving Shawn some space to le it all out.

"I keep messing up the bendy dolls." Shawn explained with an angry voice, pointing at the pile of bendy dolls with crooked smiles.

Marvin walked up to the desk, and picked up one of the dolls with crooked smiles. It looked like it was kinda crooked, but more so messy from the attempts to wipe off the ink and replace it. He shrugged his shoulders, and placed the doll back. Marvin walked up to Shawn's bed. He picked up the sheet and placed it on the other side of the bed. Not entirely sure what to do, Marvin decided to start by showing support without words. How would he do this? Why, by laying beside him on the bed. Shawn let his body fall back onto the comforter. Laying on his back, he stared at the grey ceiling above him, and counted the tiny blotches of ink he had accidentally splattered on there over many years. Beside him, Shawn had broken into a smaller crying fit, and started pulling his comforter closer to his chest for comfort.

"I'm tired of being a perfectionist. *sobs* Everywhere I look, there's a thing out of place, or *sob* *sob* a-" Shawn took a break for a second, to calm himself down a bit. "Or...a mistake out of reach for me to fix it." Shawn explained with a slightly less shaky voice.

"You're not a perfectionist...I've been around you enough to know." Marvin replied.

"But how do you explain this?" Shawn sobbed, showing Marvin another bendy doll with a jittery, crooked smile.

Marvin smiled patiently. "You're a workaholic." Marvin explained. Shawn dropped the doll and placed his arm back in its previous position. "Working at Joey Drew's Studios has done a number on many of the staff, including you. Your scars just happen to be more hidden than others." Marvin explained.

Shawn let out a laugh that felt out of place for the situation. "Some people are dead, others have gotten similar jobs, a few have settled down and made families, and I'm stuck here trying to practice the one skill I have." Shawn added.

"Well sure...others have done bigger things with their lives, but they still live with the haunting memories of that place. Some of them most likely, will have PTSD from such an experience." Marvin mentioned.

Shawn sighed, staring at the ceiling. "Yaaaa..."

"I think it's cool that you still make these dolls. A little unhealthy maybe, but still interesting." Marvin explained as best he could, without hurting his feelings.

"Do you think I'm dwelling on the past too much?" Shawn asked, looking at the messy bendy doll.

"Well...I think it's good to dwell on the past a little bit. It helps a person heal the scars they've got from their past." Marvin replied, being as optimistic as possible.

"So I am...You could've just said that." Shawn said, frowning as he lazily threw the doll away.

"Well...I don't know about how good or bad it can be...And, I'm an optimistic person." Marvin explained.

"Ya, that's one of your good traits." Shawn said with a small smile.

"You know, you have some good traits as well." Marvin mentioned. "You're hilarious, hard-working, and down to earth." He added.

Shawn giggled. "Thanks...I would be more laid back with my toy making as well, if it weren't for Drew getting to me all the time." Shawn mentioned, showing Marvin the only genuine smile he's shown in the last 15 minutes.

"That's yours. Taking on that personality trait is the scar you gained from working at such a place. But hey, you were right all along: That place was terrible." Marvin replied, chuckling.

"Agreed. I like my room workshop a lot better." Shawn agreed.

"It's really nice! Reminds me of old fashioned creativity!" Marvin explained.

Shawn laughed louder. "Well DUH! Of course it does! Bendy was a black and white cartoon! And everything based around that had to be black and white as well!" Shawn explained, stating the obvious.

"Why do you not use color now? We have endless amounts of markers, thanks to Chase's kids being here! Why don't you use those?" Marvin asked.

"Cause I can't imagine Bendy, Boris or Alice any other way." Shawn replied. Marvin nodded. "-And cause I wouldn't wanna steal them from the kids." Shawn replied.

"Aw come on! The kids can survive without the markers for one weekend." Marvin complained.

"No, they can't! They love those markers! Especially the younger one." Shawn defended.

"True..." Marvin muttered. The two adults fell into a comfortable silence. Marvin was trying to think of some art jokes, while Shawn went back to counting the blotches of ink on the ceiling.

"Hey, did you hear about the new blonde paint?" Marvin asked.

"Uhhh...what? no..." Shawn said, clueless to what Marvin was referring to.

"It's not real bright, but it's cheap, and it spreads easy." Marvin said, shooting Shawn a pair of gun fingers at him.

Shawn's face was blank at first...What was he-Oh...it's a joke...Shawn rolled his eyes. "Oh my god...Really?!" Shawn reacted.

"Come on! It was clever!" Marvin defended.

"Clever, but corny." Shawn argued. Marvin smiled, and thought of another one.

"A gentleman visits a museum. Suddenly he stops and says to the guide: 'Ah, it's ugly!' 'I beg your pardon that's a Picasso' the guide answers." Marvin explained, giving the gentlemen and the guide different voices. His smile grew bigger as he reached the punchline. "Further on, he exclaims again: 'Ah, it's really ugly!' 'That sir, it's a mirror!'" Marvin ended, giving a little chuckle.

Shawn body jumped as he unexpectedly laughed. "Pffffffft...Ohohokay, I like that one." Shawn commented.

"Did you here about the attempt robbery at the museum?" Marvin asked.

"Nope. What happened?" Shawn replied.

"They had ran out of gas a few blocks away when the police caught them, and they said, 'We didn't have the Monet to buy Degas to make the Van Gogh'." Marvin ended, smiling at the punchline.

Shawn shook his head and rubbed his nose. "That is so bad..." Shawn reacted, feeling a goofy smile take over his lips.

"Aw come on, you smiled." Marvin teased, giving him a few pokes on the arm.

"No I didn't!" Shawn argued, trying to hide his smile to prove it.

"Oh really?" Marvin asked, poking Shawn a few more times. Shawn was using his right hand to cover his mouth, and his left hand to swat Marvin's hand away.

"Really! I did NO-AHA! Stop!" Shawn defended, before being interrupted by a laugh of his own.

Marvin's eyebrow raised. "What did I do?" He asked, completely unaware of what he did.

"N-nothing. Just stop poking me." Shawn replied, trying to shut down the question. However, Marvin was not leaving until he got his answer. Marvin grabbed Shawn's upper arm, and started poking different sides of the arm.

"Hey! What did I just say?! Stop! Marvin, please!" Shawn yelled, raising his voice louder and louder, to get his point across.

"If you stay still, this'll be-" Marvin started, before watching the poking finger slide to Shawn's side.

"AAH!" Shawn yelped, jolting and freezing for a second.

Marvin felt his lips curl into a mischievous smile.

"Are you ticklish by any chance?" Marvin asked.

"Uhhhh........no?" Shawn replied hesitantly.

Shawn could just see the gears turning in his brain, which wasn't too good for him. Well, it was kinda good...Shawn had mixed feelings about it. He hadn't been tickled in a very long time, and he's kinda missed it. But at the same time, this is Marvin we're talking about! He can make you laugh harder than you've ever laughed before.

"I think someone is lyyyyying!" Marvin teased, stretching out the last word for extra emphasis.

"Okay, I'm a little ticklish. But please! If you're gonna tickle me, go easy..." Shawn warned.

Marvin's smile grew. "Promise." He replied, before diving in.

Marvin started out on the spot he accidentally poked earlier: The sides.

"Ahahahaha! Ehehe! Hahahahahaha!" Shawn laughed, squirming back and forth almost immediately.

"Alright! Starting off slow. Is this okay?" Marvin asked.

"Yahahaha. Thihihihihis ihihis gohohohohood." Shawn replied through his laughter.

"Alright. If you want me to go harder or softer, just let me know." Marvin suggested.

"Ohohokay." Shawn replied, nodding his head slightly as he laughed happily.

After a few more minutes, Marvin decided to switch up tactics. "I'm getting bored of this spot. Where should we go next?" Marvin thought out loud. He thought about the many spots he could try, as he looked at Shawn's upper body. Marvin reached his hands out, towards Shawn's lower part of the shirt. "How about here?" Marvin asked, before wiggling his fingers on Shawn's stomach.

"Wahahahait! Mahahaharvihihihin!!" Shawn yelled, going right to squirming and pushing away again.

"What? I'm just giving your tummy some attention!" Marvin teased, before dipping a finger into his belly button.

"WAHAHA! NOT THE BELLY BUTTON! ANYTHING BUT THE BELLY BUTTON!" Shawn begged loudly.

"Really? But Shaaaawwwn, I really want to! How about..." Marvin started, before using his magic to make something appear in his hands. "...I use a feather instead? Would that be better?" Marvin asked. Shawn visibly froze, staring at the white feather that Marvin was spinning in his hands.

"Uhuhuhuh...I...I don't know..." Shawn replied, hesitantly.

"Perhaps a little flitter-flutter will make up your mind?" Marvin said with the biggest smirk he had ever seen on a man. Before Shawn could say anything, Marvin had pinned his hands above him with one hand, and dipped the fluffy part of the feather into his belly button with the other.

Shawn squeezed his eyes shut as he let out a high-pitched squeal. "EEEEEEK! EHEHEHEHEHEHEH!" Shawn giggled loudly.

Marvin gasped, dropped the feather, and covered his mouth to stop himself from letting out a squeal of his own. "YOUR GIGGLE IS SO ADORABLE! I wanna hear more of it!" Marvin cheered, bouncing and clenching his empty fist excitedly. Immediately after, Marvin picked the feather up again and fluttered the feather in Shawn's belly button again.

"EEEHEHEHEHEHEHE! PLEHEHEHEHEEEEEASE!" Shawn yelled through his squeals.

"Please what? 'please tickle you more?' Why of course! Your wish is granted!" Marvin cheered with pure confidence. He fluttered the feather inside the belly button for a little longer, making sure to touch the very outside of the belly button as well.

"THAHAHAT'S NAHAHAT WHAHAT I MEHEHEHEHEANT! NAHAHAHAHAHOHOHOHO!" Shawn argued through his high pitched laughter. Everywhere he squirmed and swayed, Marvin would still find a way to get the feather back in its rightful place. Marvin happily enjoyed Shawn's laughter as he fluttered the feather.

"Oooh! I'm curious about something: How's sensitive is your neck?" Marvin asked teasingly, lifting the feather away for a few seconds. Shawn took in as many breaths as he could, without causing himself to erupt into coughing fits.

Marvin lowered the feather towards the side of Shawn's neck, earning a few wobbly smiles and nervous squeals.

"You ready?" Marvin asked, keeping the soft feather millimeters away from Shawn's skin. Shawn nodded his head rather frantically. It seemed like Shawn wanted to stop the suspense and get on with it! So, Marvin granted his wish with a simple flutter of the feather. However, it wasn't just one, but many repeated flutters! They never seemed to stop, and the sensation was driving Shawn up the wall!

Shawn threw his head back and let it out. "EEEEHEHEHEHAHAHAHA! OHOHOHOHO MY GAHAHAHAHAHAD! THIHIHIS IS SOOOOO BAHAHAHAHAHAD!" Shawn yelled, switching from adorable, high-pitched giggles to hysterical belly laughs.

This kind of laugh was truly genuine! Marvin could tell. He had known Shawn's neck to be fairly sensitive (mostly because JJ accidentally leaked the news to him), but he didn't know that THIS would be the result! Such wholesome laughter! Unbelievably adorable! Much cute! Marvin was practically dying from cuteness overload as he sat there, covering several sides of Shawn's neck with light, tingly tickles.

"Does this tickle? How about here? What about right back here? Which is worse? This? Or this? Or, is THIS worse?" Marvin asked, fluttering the feather in a different spot every time he asked a new question. Shawn was scrunching his shoulders, hiding/exposing certain parts of his neck, and doing everything he possibly could to lessen the phantom tickles that still lingered in his neck. But no matter how much he fought, nothing could prepare Shawn for the next few seconds...

Marvin had used his magic once again, to create another feather. With Shawn's hands free to squirm and 2 feathers in his hands, Marvin happily attacked both sides of Shawn's neck. At one point, Marvin even fluttered the two feathers under Shawn's chin for a few seconds. That earned him a well deserved squeal and a few high-pitched giggles.

"MAHAHARVIHIHIHIHIHIHIN!" Shawn yelled through his helpless giggles. Despite his hands being free to cover the spot, Shawn only kept his hands scrunched up together on his chest.

"I must say, your giggles and laughs are super adorable." Marvin admitted. Shawn let a wobbly smile show up on his lips, as his cheeks started to glow a dark red from embarrassment.

"W-What...What am I supposed to say to that?!" Shawn replied frantically, unable to cope with the feelings of being flattered and bashful.

"A simple 'Thank you' will suffice." Marvin replied happily, his cheeks showing a light red as well.

Shawn accidentally let out a few nervous giggles and covered his mouth with both hands. Utterly embarrassed to be responding to such an odd compliment, Shawn said the very thing he was told to say, but through his hands rather than outright.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Marvin asked, bring his ear closer to the flustered man below him. Shawn felt his face flush a darker red, as he realized he was gonna have to repeat his response.

"Sssssan-ku..." Shawn repeated through his teeth.

Marvin frowned. "I'm afraid I still can't hear you under those hands of yours. It's rather a shame, actually. Would you please consider moving your hands so I can hear you better?" Marvin asked, in a teasy, but polite way. Shawn felt his smile grow wider under his hands. There was no way he could do that in this state! So, Shawn frantically shook his head.

"Oh...Well, perhaps you need a little...encouragement..." Marvin said, before showing Shawn his wiggly fingers. Shawn's eyes widened. He scrunched up his shoulders and let out a high pitched squeal. Marvin lifted up Shawn's shirt, before dipping his finger into Shawn's belly button and swirling it around a bit...

That broke the dam right open.

"eeeeEEEEEEKK! NAHAHAHAHAHA! EHEHEHEHEHE! OKAYOKAHAHAHAHAY! THAHAHAHANK YOU! THANK YOHOHOHOU! I SAHAHAHAID IT! NOW PLEHEHEHEASE STAHAHAHAP!" Shawn yelled through his hysterical laughter. Marvin smiled and removed his finger.

"Indeed you did! And you should never forget it." Marvin replied, smiling happily before helping him up.

"Ihihihi woohohohohohon't..." Shawn said, still giggling from the tickle attack.

"Good." Marvin said, winking before walking away.

The strange part about the whole experience...was those tickles actually worked wonders! Who knew Marvin would be so good at helping him?! I guess Marvin is someone he could go to in a time of anger and frustration...Strange how things work out, isn't it?

#angst with fluff #lee!shawn #ler!marvin #ticklefic

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thebluemartini · 6 years ago

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Under Your Spell - Nessian at Hogwarts AU Fanfic

TITILE: Under Your Spell SYNOPSIS: Hogwarts AU. One could say Cassian, a Gryffindor, has had an obsession with Nesta Archeron, a Slytherin, since their fourth year at Hogwarts. But as they enter their seventh and final year, Cassian realizes he has feelings for her and is determined to ask her out on a date before he runs out of time. He can only hope she'll agree to go out with him, considering they've spent the past few years bickering at each other. RATING: T FIC LENGTH: oneshot, 15K+ words SLIGHT WARNING: Tomas makes an appearance in this story, but when Nesta tells him to stop kissing and touching her, he does...he's just a royal jerk about it. *This fic is also posted on AO3 and FF. A/N: I was in the midst of drafting a post-ACOFAS Nessian multi-chapter fic when I got a bit of writer's block, then had read a tumblr post about what Hogwarts houses would the ACOTAR characters be in. A plot bunny was then born and I had to write this (despite not being one for AUs really...) because the thought of Nesta and Cassian at Hogwarts was SO CUTE to me!I just figured this oneshot would be around 5K words and not 15K words (!!!). I hope you enjoy it!

TAGGING some folks who have expressed interest in reading my Nessian fics in the past/Nessian-related blogs that may want to reblog :) (but I understand if a Hogwarts AU is not your thing!): @dreaming-of-bohemian-nights @queenofillea1@trash-for-nessian @nestaarcheronwillkillme @my-fan-side @strangeenemy @maastrash @cageddovepoetry

One could say Cassian has had an obsession with Nesta Archeron since their fourth year at Hogwarts.

As a Gryffindor, he didn’t pay Nesta much attention before then. She was a Slytherin after all. They surely had classes together, but he typically only hung around with his best friends, fellow Gryffindors Rhysand and Azriel.

But in their fourth year, during a Potions class, Cassian had his first significant interaction with Nesta.

Each student had been required to make a boil cure potion. Cassian had failed to make the potion correctly at first, having added snails instead of horned slugs to his concoction. So toward the end of class, he had to start the potion off from scratch and hurriedly put it together. In his rush, he had plopped the horned slugs into his brew, which happened to splash the unfinished potion onto Nesta’s arm as she walked by. Soon, big, red, pus-filled boils began to form not only on her arm but all over her body as she gave him the most horrifying glare that felt like it pierced his very soul. Then, in a bold move, she reached for the spoon beside him, stuck it into his brew, and purposefully splashed him back. Instantly, the boils covered his own body as he scowled at her.

The two of them had been sent to the hospital wing, where they were placed in beds next to each other. Despite his apology for accidentally splashing her, Nesta sent insults his way the entire afternoon, and Cassian felt compelled to fire back at her.

And ever since that day, they’ve always bickered at and teased each other.

At first, Cassian was truly annoyed with her whenever he saw her. But at some point over the years, he began seeking her out to playfully tease her because he grew to enjoy their interactions.

He wasn’t sure what it was about her. He simply felt drawn to her. Perhaps it was her boldness. Perhaps it was because she didn’t fawn over him and his friends like the other girls at Hogwarts did. Or maybe it was because she could verbally spar with him.

...As well as hold her own in a physical spar with him. In their fifth year, they had to duel each other in a Defense Against the Dark Arts class (using non-injurious spells, of course). With every spell he shot at her, she was always ready to shield herself and shoot one back. Neither of them were able to disarm the other, resulting in a tie.

Not only was she strong in intelligence and her fight, but she was beautiful. Cassian could never ignore that fact. From her high cheekbones to her luscious lips to the wicked amusement that would sometimes flicker in her smoky gray eyes...everything about her physique was alluring.

In fact, it was those captivating eyes of hers that had him beginning to question if he actually had feelings for her. Towards the end of their sixth year, he had been caught after curfew snogging with Hufflepuff Holly Langforden in a broom closet by Nesta. Upon finding them both with tousled hair and disheveled clothes, Nesta’s beautiful eyes widened in shock, then narrowed in irritation as, ever the prefect, she announced she was deducting ten points from both Gryffindor and Hufflepuff before angrily ordering them to return to their dormitories.

And yet, seeing Nesta’s shocked and fury-filled eyes had made him feel...guilty. If it was any other prefect who had caught them, he wouldn’t have felt bad at all. In fact, he’d been caught snogging other girls in broom closets multiple times since his fifth year, and it never bothered him one bit to be breaking the rules. It only bothered him that he couldn’t snog the girls a little while longer.

But Nesta finding him...had brought a weird feeling to his stomach. He didn’t cheerfully return to his dormitory afterwards as he usually would have done, having just made out with a girl. Instead, he walked at a slow pace, head cast down, with his hands in his pockets as he contemplated that strange feeling.

It was as though he felt sorry Nesta had caught him with someone else. That he regretted it instantly upon seeing Nesta open the door.

That he perhaps wished it was her he was actually snogging, untangling the crown braid around her head as he did so.

But he was quick to push that thought away. It had nearly been the summer anyway, and he had been certain he would soon forget all about her.

Well, he went off to Rhys’ home for the summer...and couldn’t forget about her.

All he could seem to think about was her.

The sight of books sprawled about Rhys’ home made him think of all the times he’d seen Nesta at the library. Rhys’ mother’s garden of various flowers had him remembering the one time he witnessed her sister placing flowers within Nesta’s hair as they sat beside the Great Lake. The grayness of the sky on stormy days reminded him of her eyes. Even in the simple, silly things such as noticing the contrast of silverware at dinner against a green tablecloth brought his favorite Slytherin to mind.

He missed bickering with her. He missed her witty comebacks and her clever insults.

He just missed her.

And that was when he knew that he had to ask her out this year - their final year at Hogwarts. Before they went off to pursue their careers, he had to figure out whatever this thing with Nesta was...and if it was something that could last longer than their time at Hogwarts.

As he boarded the Hogwarts Express, with Rhys and Az following behind him, he searched for a compartment for them to sit. They’d been running pretty late, as usual, and most of the compartments were already full.

But towards the back, upon popping his head in one compartment, Cassian was delighted to find Nesta’s two sisters...with an empty spot next to them that would likely be filled by her.

And space to fit three more passengers across from them.

Cassian’s face beamed, and he felt his heart race as he asked, “Mind if we join you ladies?”

“Oh, please do,” Elain said sweetly with a kind smile, while Feyre nodded in agreement.

Cassian nodded in thanks to them. He had only ever had very brief interactions with Elain. She was a sixth-year Hufflepuff, and he didn’t see her often. He knew Feyre only slightly better since she was a fellow housemate, just two years younger than him.

Rhys and Az followed behind him into the compartment, and he could see the faces of Elain and Feyre brighten as everyone greeted each other.

Cassian plopped down in the seat across from the empty one he had assumed Nesta would soon fill. His heart began to pound at the prospect of seeing her after such a long summer without her.

A summer of dreaming about her and hoping he could go out with her.

Elain seemed to catch him looking at the empty space beside her. “Nesta’s in the prefect’s compartment, but she usually stops by to see us.”

Cassian hoped his disappointment didn’t show on his face. The prefect’s compartment...he had completely forgotten about the special perks of being a prefect.

But that also meant that as a prefect, she would have to patrol the train’s corridor at some point today. The thought brought a slight grin to his face. He could just make...periodic visits to the bathroom, maybe linger a bit in the train corridor, with the hope of seeing Nesta.

So for the following six hours aboard the train, that’s what he did. At the top of each hour, he’d make a leisurely walk to and from the bathroom...and sometimes get scolded by a prefect who wasn’t Nesta.

At one point, Rhys and Az thought something was wrong with him for having to go to the bathroom so many times. Not wanting to admit his true intentions in front of Nesta’s sisters, he simply insisted he was bored of just sitting around and needed to keep moving.

But now he was actually bored of pretending to go to the bathroom with no success of seeing Nesta. Cassian sighed as he stared out the glass window and watched the green scenery roll by as dusk fell. Rhys and Az were still in casual conversation with Feyre and Elain...but Cassian’s anxiousness over seeing Nesta prevented him from paying any attention to them.

Cassian glanced down at his watch. It was nearly an hour since he last left the compartment and probably about two hours until they reached Hogwarts. He supposed he could go ahead and change into his robes now before the mad dash of students going to the bathroom.

Grabbing his robes from his suitcase and stepping out of the compartment, he slowly turned his head from the left to the right, searching for any sign of a prefect.

And there was none. Cassian groaned before turning left and headed to the bathroom.

Once he put on his new robes, he left the bathroom and wandered down the corridor past his compartment. Every prefect had a shift to patrol the corridor. Surely, with two hours to go, Nesta would be out here.

As he casually walked along, he eventually stopped in between two compartments and leaned against the wall, crossing his arms against his chest with the clothes he had just changed out of draped over one of his arms. He might as well just wait for her to show up...and then she could scold him for hanging around in the passageway.

And so he waited.

And waited.

And then finally…

“Get back in your compartment!” a familiar voice reprimanded him from his right. Cassian turned up his head at her and smiled brightly. There Nesta stood, with her familiar stormy eyes and her stern expression. Her light pink lips glowed against her sun-kissed skin, and her braid crown made her seem angelic despite her irritated expression. Had she somehow become more beautiful over the summer or had he simply misremembered her beauty?

Nesta held up her wand and directed it at him.

“But I’m rather enjoying this view,” Cassian said with a smirk as he stared at her intently.

“Go back to your compartment and look at the scenery outside the window if you’re looking for a view,” Nesta suggested in a steely tone.

“But this view is so much prettier,” he said, still grinning and still intently staring at her. He could count the few small freckles on her nose.

(There were seven.)

A light pink blush briefly covered Nesta’s cheeks, and upon seeing it, Cassian longed to have many opportunities where he could make her blush.

“Is that the same line you used to get Holly Langforden to jump in a broom closet with you?” Nesta asked drily.

At first, Cassian frowned. But the fact that she even remembered who she caught him in a broom closet with…

“No. But does it make you want to jump in a broom closet with me?”

“Absolutely not,” she answered coldly. “Why don’t you go find her compartment anyway and see if that line works? Isn’t she your girlfriend?”

“You sure seem interested in my love life. Are you jealous?” he smirked at her.

“Any woman that takes your attention away from me has both my gratitude and my sympathy,” she stated snobbily.

Cassian frowned again. “Well, for your information, I broke up with her before the summer,” he replied.

“What a shame for me. But a relief for her at least.”

“You know you missed me this summer, Archeron. Admit it,” he teased her, but secretly hoped she actually did miss him as much as he missed her.

“I did not miss being annoyed by you one bit. Now get back to your compartment,” Nesta prodded his upper arm with her wand, gesturing for him to get a move on.

Cassian gradually started moving, and Nesta followed him to ensure he returned to his compartment.

As Cassian slid open the door to his compartment, he heard Nesta let out a small gasp behind him.

“Nesta!” Elain shouted upon seeing her behind him.

Cassian took his seat and looked back to Nesta to find her frowning more deeply at him as well as Rhys and Az.

“What are you doing sharing a compartment with my sisters?” she asked in an annoyed tone.

“Nesta, they needed a place to sit!” Elain tried to explain, but Nesta just continued to stare intently at Cassian.

Stars, he loved her eyes even when they glowered at him.

“Nes, there was nowhere else for us to sit, except for the aisle, where I would’ve gotten run over by the trolley,” Cassian stated.

“That sounds like it would’ve been the perfect place for you to sit,” Nesta spat. “And don’t call me Nes!”

“Well, maybe it would’ve been the perfect spot because you could’ve found me in the aisle and scolded me for being there, and I could’ve seen your beautiful face much sooner,” Cassian said as he winked at her.

Elain and Feyre giggled at his comment and looked up at Nesta expectantly, wanting to see how she would respond. Rhys and Az’s eyes widened in amusement at his comment.

The seam of Nesta’s lips remained in a straight line across her face, clearly unimpressed with his reply. “You better not have corrupted my sisters.”

“Nesta!” Feyre exclaimed. “They have done no such thing.”

“You’ve brain-washed them already, I see,” Nesta said, still not removing her eyes from Cassian’s. Feyre sighed out of frustration.

“Nesta, here’s your book. It was in my bag,” Elain said, changing the subject as she dug through her sack and pulled out a book to give to Nesta.

As Nesta accepted the book, Cassian noticed it was a Potions textbook.

And that could mean…

“Nesta, are you taking Potions this year?”

Nesta didn’t deign to verbally respond to him. Instead, she just firmly nodded.

“Perhaps, we’ll share a Potions class then,” Cassian added.

Nesta let out a frustrated sigh. “I’ll see you two later,” Nesta said with a look to her sisters. Then turning to him, Rhy and Az, she gave them a cold look. “Don’t you dare corrupt them.”

Nesta turned and left the compartment, ignoring her sisters’ protests at her statement.

Cassian could only sigh contentedly at having seen Nesta. Despite her insults, his heart was pumping wildly within him.

He’d never had such a reaction over simply talking to a girl before.

If his summer of daydreaming of her wasn’t enough, this was further proof that Nesta was...different. Special. Someone he wanted to spend time with and not just snog in broom closets like some of the other girls.

Cassian suddenly discovered Rhys and Az staring at him.

“What?”

“That look on your face...I’ve never seen that look on your face before,” Rhys said.

“What look?”

“Like you’re hopelessly in love,” Az piped in.

Elain and Feyre squealed with delight hearing this.

Well, he wasn’t sure if he was in love with her, but he certainly wanted to get to know her better.

“Are you going to ask her out?” Elain asked excitedly.

“Soon. But please don’t say anything to her,” Cassian coolly replied before turning to stare out the window, thinking about possible ideas for what he and Nesta could do for their first date.

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

It took Cassian three weeks to figure out what he and Nesta could do for their date.

The date of the first Hogsmeade trip had been announced, which was a little less than two weeks from now. It was the perfect place for a first date, considering there were plenty of shops to explore as well as places to eat together. It was an excellent opportunity for them to really get to know each other.

Now he just actually had to ask her to go with him and hope she would accept.

The two of them indeed ended up having the same Potions class, which occurred twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays. And every class, Cassian made sure to talk to her and always slip in some sort of comment about how beautiful she was, causing her to blush each time before she told him she had to get to working on the assigned potion and suggested he go do the same.

At least she didn’t angrily tell him to go away. And to Cassian, that was progress. Perhaps she was slowly succumbing to his charm.

But today was the day he would finally ask her to go out with him.

And as luck would have it, their Potions professor announced he did not have enough ingredients for everyone to make an individual potion that day and they would all have to work with a partner instead. Typically, students worked with a fellow housemate, but this class just so happened to have an odd number of Gryffindors and an odd number of Slytherins….

Cassian couldn’t help but grin to himself as he dashed over to the table Nesta was standing at.

“Nesta, will you be my partner?” Cassian asked casually.

Nesta quickly scanned the room and saw everyone else had paired off already. “Well I guess I have no other choice.” She immediately opened up the textbook to the page that listed the potion directions and began walking around the room to gather all the ingredients.

She didn’t get angry or upset over being his partner.

Progress.

But now...Cassian had to do the actual asking her out on a date part, and that sent his heart racing.

This never happened with any of the other girls he’d asked out...except for maybe the first time he ever asked a girl out. But ever since then, asking girls out came easily to him and he never got worked up over it.

But now…

Cassian didn’t understand what was wrong with him.

“Well, don’t just stand there,” Nesta reprimanded him as she appeared at his side and set down a multitude of vials and jars. “Be useful.”

Cassian immediately picked up the textbook and read aloud the first instruction to her. Nesta listened to his words, picking up the jar of powdered moonstone and dumping it into the cauldron that sat on the table before them.

“What next?” Nesta asked.

“Uh, then add three spoonfuls of honeywater,” he said a bit shakily. His nerves were getting to him.

Nesta eyed him suspiciously. “Are you sure that’s what it says? You don’t sound confident.”

He just needed to ask her out and get this over with.

“Yes, three spoonfuls of honeywater,” he reiterated.

Nesta pulled the cork out of the vial of honeywater, then picked up the spoon and began pouring the honeywater onto it, hovering over the top of the cauldron before adding the first spoonful to their concoction.

“Uh, Nesta…” Cassian began, his heart feeling like it would burst through his chest at any moment. He wondered if she could hear it.

“Hmm?” Nesta was focused on putting the second spoonful into their potion and began working on the third.

“Would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me?”

Nesta’s eyes widened and she immediately looked away from her spoon to look up at him. “Excuse me?”

“Would you like to go on the Hogsmeade trip that’s coming up...with me ?” he said, not really sure what else she was looking for him to say.

“Like a date?”

“Yes.”

“Are you serious?” she questioned him incredulously. “Is this some kind of joke?”

“Yes, I’m serious. No, it’s not a joke,” Cassian instantly insisted. “I honestly want to take you out on a date.”

“Darn it,” Nesta exclaimed upon realizing she had still been pouring honeywater onto the spoon, causing it to overflow and spill into their cauldron. “Look what you made me do! Now our potion will probably come out wrong,” she said in a frustrated tone as she put down the vial and the spoon. “You and your games,” she muttered.

“Nesta, I’m sorry. This isn’t a game. I truly want to go with you to Hogsmeade,” Cassian explained.

“Why?”

“Because I want to spend time with you.”

“Why?”

“Because I like you, and I want to get to know you better.”

Nesta’s eyes widened even more at his confession, and she said nothing as she fumbled around for something, anything it seemed, on the table.

“So will you honor me with your presence and go to Hogsmeade with me?” Cassian asked again.

“I can’t. Someone else already asked me to go with him,” Nesta explained softly.

Her response brought Cassian a flood of emotions. First, fury because who in the world dared to ask Nesta to Hogsmeade before him? Second, sadness because he wasn’t going to be able to go to Hogsmeade with her. Third, hope...because Nesta didn’t outright deny wanting to go out with him. She simply said she could not go because of another date…

“Who?” Cassian wondered.

“Tomas Mandray.”

“Tomas Mandray?” Cassian exclaimed in disgust, his mouth dropping open. “That piece of Slytherin scum?!”

“He is not a piece of scum,” Nesta stated sternly. “And in case you’ve forgotten, I’m a Slytherin too.”

“I know. I didn’t mean you were scum...just that he himself was the Slytherin type of scum,” Cassian explained awkwardly.

Nesta simply shook her head, completely perplexed. “Let’s get back to the potion,” she said.

“Will you go out with me some other time then?” Cassian blurted out, ignoring her request.

“Did you make some bet that you could get me to go on a date with you or what?” Nesta questioned him, her voice quickly returning to its irritated tone. “Or maybe you just wanted to see if you could get my hopes up by asking me on a date and then stand me up for fun.”

“No, Nesta,” Cassian said urgently as he put down the textbook on the table. He grabbed her hands and stared into her eyes. “This isn’t a game or a joke or a bet. I honestly want to go out with you.”

Nesta took a deep breath as she stared back at him. “I don’t believe you,” she said softly.

“What can I do to prove it to you?” Cassian pleaded quietly.

“Well, it doesn’t really matter, does it? I’m going out with Tomas and who knows...Maybe it will lead to more dates,” Nesta said simply as she pulled her hands out of his grasp.

How could he not have asked soon enough? The Hogsmeade date was only announced just the day before...

Damn Tomas Mandray.

The man was a complete and utter dolt and a total snob. Him and Cassian had never gotten along, so they’d always kept their distance from each other.

Crestfallen, Cassian simply lifted up the textbook once more and began to read off the directions in a monotone voice.

Nesta followed his instructions perfectly.

But there was no teasing, no playful bickering, no insults.

They didn’t say anything to each other with the exception of the reading of the instructions.

And it just didn’t feel...right to him. For them to be like this.

After having gotten his hopes up about a date with Nesta...he felt so disappointed. What was he supposed to do now?

At the end of class, they parted ways without a word to each other.

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

Cassian spent the days leading up to the Hogsmeade trip moping around. Even Rhys and Az called him out in it.

“You’re seriously this depressed that a Slytherin can’t go out with you? Let alone one who’s been moody and vicious to you?” Rhys had asked him one afternoon upon seeing him just lying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling instead of venturing outside like he usually would have done.

“There’s more to her than that cold exterior,” Cassian had told him calmly.

When he had seen Nesta during their next few Potions classes, he still acknowledged her...he just didn’t really talk to her or tease her like he would’ve done previously.

And it just felt...strange. Like the joy of going to class was gone.

He’d been rejected before. That was nothing new.

But he had spent so many months longing for a date with Nesta...that for it to not happen was...heartbreaking.

And now the day of the Hogsmeade trip was here, and he still felt grumpy over the whole thing. He didn’t bother trying to find another date. He considered no longer going, but Rhys and Az managed to drag him along anyway.

They found themselves a table at the Three Broomsticks, and each had a pint of butterbeer before them.

“Do you think he’s going to take her Madam Puddifoot’s?” Cassian suddenly wondered aloud.

Az and Rhys gave him a bewildered look. “What are you talking about?” Rhys asked.

“Tomas and Nesta. Do you think he’s going to take her to Madam Puddifoot’s?” Cassian replied. “He probably is...he would do something completely unoriginal,” he muttered bitterly.

Az and Rhys sighed. “Cassian, you’ve got to stop thinking about this,” Az said.

“I can’t.”

“This isn’t even a breakup,” Rhys stated. “Just let it go.”

Cassian ran a hand through his hair. “It isn’t that simple.”

“What kind of hold does this girl have on you? You’ve never had this problem before with other girls.”

Cassian sighed as he slumped in his seat. “I don’t know.”

As he took another sip of butterbeer, he couldn’t help but wonder if Nesta was sipping a beverage just as sweet at the tea shop.

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

Today marked an important day for Nesta.

It was not only her first date with Tomas Mandray, but her first date...ever.

During her years at Hogwarts, she mostly kept to herself, not really wanting to deal with anyone else...or having the patience to really. She preferred the company of books over others, so she didn’t exactly have friends...just her sisters.

At times she felt perfectly content to spend most of her time alone and independently.

But there were times where she felt...utterly alone. Like no one cared or noticed her.

She was shocked when Tomas approached her in the Slytherin common room the other week to ask her to go to Hogsmeade with him. For once, someone actually noticed her…

Tomas was handsome and of good breeding. He came from a wealthy and highly-regarded family. His father worked in the Ministry of Magic...a connection that could potentially benefit Nesta in her future dream career, considering she wanted to work in the Department of International Magical Cooperation. Tomas was also intelligent and cunning...Overall, very respectable.

And the complete opposite of the long, dark-haired Gryffindor who had spent the past few years annoying her and teasing her.

Nesta shook her head. She shouldn’t be wasting time thinking about him.

Especially when she was currently trying to listen to Tomas rattle about his quidditch accomplishments from across the table.

From her walk with Tomas to Hogsmeade to their arrival at Madam Puddifoot’s, they shared light conversation. Even though they were in the same year and same house, they didn’t know each other too well.

...Yet Tomas seemed to only really care that she get to know him well. He hardly asked anything about her.

But she continued to listen. She figured he probably was just nervous.

As soon as she took her last sip of tea, Tomas abruptly grabbed hold of her hand. “Let’s get out of here.” Pulling her away from the table, he whisked her out of the tea shop.

When they stepped outside, Tomas wrapped his arm around her, letting his hand rest at her waist and pulled her closer to him.

Nesta’s body tensed as he did so, feeling slightly alarmed that such touching was happening so soon, so quickly. She wasn’t used to affection from family to begin with, let alone with someone she didn’t know terribly well.

He led her through the crowds, then turned down an alleyway that was between Madam Puddifoot’s and another shop. It was empty, but the hustle and bustle of the students could still be heard. Opening up a door at the back of Madam Puddifoots, Tomas pulled her inside, where there were shelves of various teas. Clearly, it was a storage room for the tea shop.

As soon as he closed the door behind them, Tomas yanked her close to him. “Nesta, you are...so beautiful,” he remarked huskily as he cupped her face and quickly tilted his head down to capture her lips in a fierce kiss.

Stunned, Nesta could not move away. This wasn’t how it happened in the books she read. Usually, the characters knew each other at least a bit before they kissed. She wasn’t ready for this. She hardly knew him.

Her heart was pounding as he leaned in for another kiss, moving one of his hands to her thigh against her leggings beneath the fabric of her skirt. When his other hand started playing with the waistband of her skirt, threatening to tug it down, the movement startled her enough that she no longer felt frozen. Regaining her senses, she firmly stepped away from him before he could kiss her once more. “No,” she stated forcefully.

Tomas gave her a peculiar look, but then a grin spread across his face. “Oh, you want to find a place that’s more comfortable? I know a spot…” he remarked as he reached to grab her hand.

But Nesta quickly stepped back once more so she was out of his reach. “No,” she reiterated emphatically as she crossed her arms. She wished she’d brought her wand with her so she could blast him away from her. “I don’t want to snog you, nor do I want to sleep with you, you disgusting pig.”

Tomas’ eyes narrowed at her and stared at her for a moment, taking a few deep breaths as he did so. Then, he suddenly started towards the door, roughly brushing against her shoulder as he passed. “Then what else are you fuckin’ mudbloods even good for?” he angrily remarked before leaving the room and rejoining the crowds of students.

Nesta watched him through the open door as he left the alleyway.

Fury raged through her at the words he just said, at him being an egotistical jerk, at herself for not recognizing him as the jerk he was and for foolishly believing that he could ever honestly like a girl like her. She’d been so terribly stupid and felt so...used.

But part of her believed the words he said of her. What else was she good for? She’d never been the friendliest or the kindest person. She kept to herself most of the time and came from a family of no special importance. She was a nobody...someone who wasn’t worth caring about.

And even though she strived to become someone more, someone worthy of admiration...there was always something that pulled her back from such delusions.

Before she could stop them, tears slowly started to fall from her eyes.

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

After Cassian sipped his last bit of butterbeer, he looked up at his friends with a miserable expression. “I think I’m going to head back to the castle. I’m not in the mood to walk around.”

“No, Cassian, we’ll head to Zonko’s,” Rhys said. “You always have fun looking around there.”

Cassian sighed. It was true. He always enjoyed seeing the many prankster items at Zonko’s...but he simply was not in the mood for it this time.

“Not today,” he replied. “I’ll see you guys later.”

Rhys and Az looked at him with concern as he got up from the table and walked out of the Three Broomsticks.

Upon stepping outside into the cool autumn air, he took a deep breath. He wished he could enjoy the day with his friends...but he just...couldn’t.

As he weaved his way through the many gleeful students, his mind wandered, causing him to lose focus on his surroundings. In his daze, he accidentally bumped into one student’s shoulder, nearly knocking her to the ground.

When he turned his head to look at the girl, he realized it was none other than Nesta.

...who happened to be alone.

“Nesta!” Cassian exclaimed, and she tilted her head up to look at him. “I’m so sorry!”

Her eyes widened upon seeing him, and Cassian could see they were red-rimmed...as if she had been crying.

“You should...watch where you’re going,” Nesta remarked weakly. There was no sharp bite to her reprimand.

It was so unlike her.

She turned to walk away, but Cassian was quick to reach out and grab her hand, stopping her in her tracks. “Nesta, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” she said without looking at him. Instead, she continued to stand still with her eyes focused on the ground. “May I go now?” she asked, feeling annoyed.

He felt she would’ve yanked her hand out of his grip by now, but she didn’t.

“Did Tomas hurt you?” he asked, his voice tinged with anger. “Do I need to hex him?”

“If you do, I’ll have to deduct points from Gryffindor.”

Cassian released a frustrated sigh. “If he hurt you, then that doesn’t matter to me. What happened?”

“Nothing,” she replied. “Let go of my hand.”

Cassian immediately released her hand. “Where are you going?”

“Back to the castle,” she said as she began to walk away from him.

Cassian started to follow her, quickening his pace to catch up to her. He said nothing when he reached her side, instead choosing to simply match her stride.

With a quick glance to him beside her, she frowned. “What are you doing?”

“Going back to the castle,” he answered.

“Why are you following me?”

“I’m not. I was already on my way back to the castle when I bumped into you,” he stated. “So we might as well walk back together.”

Nesta said nothing in response to that. Instead, she pointed her head forward and continued along the path.

They walked in silence for a little while, but that was beginning to drive Cassian crazy. First of all, she didn’t seem herself. He thought for sure she would put up a fight to him walking with her. Something was off, and he needed her to return to her true self.

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out some goodies he had purchased at Honeydukes before he had gone to the Three Broomsticks. “Do you want a chocolate frog? They’re your favorite, right?”

Nesta crossed her arms across her chest as she walked. “And how would you know they’re my favorite?”

Cassian held out a chocolate frog as he shoved the other candies back into his pocket. “Last year, after a Defense Against the Dark Arts class where we faced boggarts, Elain brought chocolate frogs over to you at lunch to help you feel...less spooked.”

Nesta turned her head slightly to the side, and one of her eyebrows rose into an arch. “Have you been stalking me?”

Cassian shook his head. “That day, you just seemed so horrified by your boggart that I...just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“Except you chose to do so from afar, instead of coming up to me yourself,” Nesta stated.

“As if you would have accepted any help from me,” Cassian insisted. “You probably would’ve insisted you were fine and then would announce you were deducting five points from Gryffindor for me thinking otherwise.”

After that comment, he could see the corners of her mouth threatening to twitch upwards, but she fought the smile. The near-smile made Cassian grin.

“It would have been ten points,” she admitted.

Cassian chuckled and stuck out his hand again, motioning for her to accept the chocolate frog.

Nesta eyed it warily. “Is this another one of your ways of trying to get girls to jump in a broom closet with you? Find them when they’re down, then offer them chocolate?”

“Do you think all I do everyday is try to convince girls to snog me?” he asked, offended that she thought of him this way.

“Considering how many times prefects find you snogging a girl in a broom closet, yes,” she answered firmly, still not taking the chocolate frog.

“So you’ve talked about me with the other prefects?” he said with a smirk.

Nesta rolled her eyes. “We always have to go over how we’re deducting points and who the biggest culprits are.”

“You’ve still talked about me,” he said with a smirk.

“Only about what a pain in the ass you are.”

“And yet who’s the one offering you some chocolate and being insulted?”

“I’m not in the mood for chocolate. Especially if it was rejected by all the other girls you probably tried to charm today,” Nesta sneered as they approached the Hogwarts castle.

This time, Cassian rolled his eyes. “It really is no surprise that you’re patronus is a puma. Always ready to pounce on my ego.”

Nesta stopped and faced him, her arms still crossed against her chest. Her eyes softened. “You remember what my patronus is?” she asked quietly.

Cassian halted and simply nodded back at her. “It’s pretty impressive. Its form is more distinct than anyone else in our year.” He watched as her face turned a light pink.

After a brief moment of silence, Cassian spoke again. “So if you aren’t in the mood for chocolate, what are you in the mood for?”

“Lunch,” she said with a sigh as she glanced down at her watch. “But it looks like we’re past the lunch service time in the Great Hall.”

“What do you want for lunch?”

Nesta eyed him skeptically. “What does it matter? We’ve missed lunch.”

Cassian nearly sighed. She always had to make things difficult. “What do you wish you could have had for lunch?”

Nesta shrugged. “Pancakes.”

“Then let’s go get you pancakes,” Cassian said eagerly.

“What are you talking about? Lunch is over. Plus, Hogwarts hardly even makes pancakes.”

“Please just trust me for once,” he said as he began walking to a castle entryway at a slow pace. He paused at the door and turned his head back toward Nesta, waiting for her to follow him.

Nesta stared at him for a minute. Her eyes were curious and unsure. But eventually she put her arms down at her sides and her feet inched forward to follow after him.

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

“I’ve never been here before,” Nesta commented as she stared at the room around her, filled with house elves wandering about with pots and pans.

“I’m usually starving after Quidditch practice, so I was determined to find the kitchens so I could come get a snack,” Cassian said.

One house elf ambled up to Cassian, lifting up a large plate of pancakes drizzled with syrup as far as she could reach, which was up to Cassian’s waist.

Cassian bent over to take the plate from her hands. “Thank you, Ollie,” he said graciously, then grabbed some utensils off a nearby counter.

Beaming, Cassian looked over at Nesta. “Let’s go eat,” he announced before turning to leave the kitchens.

“We’re leaving?”

“Yes. This isn’t a proper place for us to eat.”

“Where are we going?”

“It’s a secret,” Cassian said, then turned back to her and found her looking quite annoyed and perplexed. “Just trust me again. I haven’t let you down yet,” he added as he waved the plate of pancakes around.

Again, she seemed hesitant, but resigned herself to follow him again.

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

The two of them headed to the staircase and kept walking further and further up. Nesta wondered if Cassian even had a set spot in mind to eat or if he was just on some hunt to find an area to sit. It wasn’t until they had reached the seventh floor that they got off the stairs and headed down a corridor.

Suddenly, Cassian stopped in front of a wall tapestry that depicted some wizard and trolls wearing ballet shoes. There weren’t any places to sit, nor were there any rooms nearby, causing Nesta to wonder...what the hell were they doing here.

Cassian turned to her and handed her the plate of pancakes and utensils. “Hold this for a minute.”

Nesta’s eyebrow rose out of curiosity as Cassian began to walk a few paces, then turned around to walk a few more paces, then turned around again to walk a bit more.

When she was about to question aloud what he was doing, a door suddenly appeared in the wall across from the tapestry.

What the…

Her eyes grew big when Cassian opened the door and gestured for her to enter before him. “After you.”

Eyeing him suspiciously, she slowly walked towards the door. Without stepping inside, she peeked her head into the room and found multiple shelves of books, a small table with two chairs, and a few couches. “What is this place?”

“It’s called the Room of Requirement. It only appears if someone has great need of it. And we are in great need of an area to sit and eat and enjoy ourselves.”

Carefully, Nesta stepped inside the room. There were so many shelves of books in the room, it looked like it was a library. She longed to see what books were there, but she knew her stomach was getting ready to growl any moment now. She needed to eat.

As she set the plate of pancakes down on the small table in the center of the room and sat down, Cassian took the seat across from her.

“So you just...picture the room you need as you walk back and forth in the corridor and then it will appear?” Nesta asked him.

“Basically,” Cassian answered, picking up the fork and digging into the pancakes.

Nesta picked up the other fork and took a stab into a fluffy flat cake. “Why did you want this type of room?”

Cassian swallowed the piece of food he was chewing, then opened his mouth to speak. “Well, you love libraries, don’t you? That’s where I always seem to find you outside of class.”

How was it that this boy before her seemed to know her so well? This boy that she always treated as if he was a pestering pixie?

Thinking back to the past few years, it was true that he occasionally found her at the Hogwarts library. He always had to come by her and caused some kind of commotion, either commenting on the book she was reading or the faces she was making as she was reading or some other inane topic. His talking with her always sent Madam Pince scurrying over to them to reprimand them and threaten to kick them out.

Nesta nodded in response to Cassian’s question as she took another bite of her pancake. “How did you did you discover this place?”

At her question, Cassian’s cheeks turned slightly pink and Nesta knew immediately that she had to know the answer to this question.

When Cassian remained silent, Nesta prodded him. “How?”

“Because I needed a broom closet,” he muttered.

Amusement flowed through her at his words. She smirked. “And why did you need a broom closet?” she asked. “Especially since there are so many others in the castle you could have used.”

“When I was in fifth year, there was this seventh-year girl from Ravenclaw who didn’t want to be caught by her friends snogging a fifth-year, and so I happened to talk to Ollie about it and she told me about this room.”

For some reason, the thought of Cassian bringing another girl here didn’t sit well with her.

But she pushed that hurt to the side and focused on the fact that she was justified in thinking that Cassian was always on the hunt for girls to snog in broom closets.

“Wow, an older woman,” she commented, managing to summon some enthusiasm. “Did you run out of new girls to snog from your own year? Excluding the Slytherins of course,” she was quick to note.

Cassian gave her a look that showed he wasn’t too pleased with her insinuation. “No.”

“Do you just prefer older women then?”

“That depends. When is your birthday?”

“November 1st,” she reluctantly answered in between chewing her pancake.

Cassian’s mouth spread into a wide grin as he stared intently at her. “Considering you’re about two months older than me, then yes, I’d say older women are my preference.”

Her cheeks suddenly felt very warm.

But was this just what Cassian did to all the girls? Make them feel like they were special, kiss them senseless, then drop them as if they were nothing? Was this just part of the usual charm he put on?

Suddenly no longer feeling hungry, Nesta put down her fork and got up to explore the books in the room.

Running her fingers along the spines of the books, she read through the titles. Spellbound After Midnight. Romancing the Womanizing Wizard. Charming the Enchantress.

They all appeared to be romance novels.

Her favorite.

None of the titles seemed familiar. When she was at home, she was only able to read muggle romance novels. The Hogwarts Library only contained a handful of non-school-related books, so to have shelves of unread romance novels written by witches and wizards before her was a complete thrill.

Pulling one book off the shelf, she made her way to the crimson couch on the other side of the room. Sitting down, she opened the book and began reading the first chapter.

A few pages in, she saw Cassian approach her out of the corner of her eye and proceed to plop down in the couch across from her.

When she turned the page, she could feel him staring at her.

A few more page turns later, she could still feel him staring at her.

Putting her book down in her lap, still opened to the page she was on, she looked up at him. “Don’t you want to read a book or something?” she questioned him in an irritated voice.

“I am perfectly content studying and memorizing the features of your face,” he answered.

Nesta rolled her eyes. “Stop lying.”

“I’m not lying,” he said as he continued to stare at her. “You’re beautiful.”

The same words Tomas had said to her earlier that day.

Was Cassian just like him, only more patient? Was he willing to spend more time trying to flatter her to get her to sleep with him?

But the way Cassian said those words was different compared to the way Tomas said them. Tomas’ tone made it sound like he was praising a prized object he was thrilled to have in his possession, while Cassian sounded like he was truly admiring her.

Of course, she couldn’t help but wonder if this was how he treated all the other girls he’d been with.

And yet, she remained here in this room with him, instead of bursting out as soon as she was fed. The fact that he remembered her patronus, her love of chocolates and reading...perhaps that’s what made her stay. What made her want to find out if Cassian spoke truthfully about wanting to get to know her better.

“Well, I can’t read if you’re staring at me.”

“I apologize,” he said, finally shifting his gaze over to a nearby shelf.

Nesta looked over to the shelves too and saw one was filled with games and puzzles instead of books. Closing her book and placing it beside her on the couch cushion, she stood up. “Are you up for a wizard’s chess match?”

Cassian grinned a little too mischievously. “Absolutely. Prepare to be beaten, Archeron.”

“We’ll see about that.”

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

“I demand a rematch,” Cassian insisted after Nesta had just shouted “Checkmate!” and smiled proudly at him. He was too competitive for his own good.

But he was also obsessed with the focus Nesta had during the game. As she analyzed the board and the pieces throughout, he could envision the cogs within her brain clinking together as she determined what to do next. From the way her lips would move slightly to the left when she was deep in thought to the way she would occasionally squint her eyes when looking at the board, Cassian was mesmerized. And then when she would make her move, she did so with such confidence and assuredness, it was captivating.

“We’ve already played three times,” Nesta, sitting on the floor on the opposite side of the chess board from him and completely clueless to the effect she had on him, pointed out. “Can your ego simply not take being beaten by a girl?”

“No. I just want to learn how to play like you. How did you learn to play like that?”

“My father taught me how to play muggle chess when I was young,” Nesta revealed. The expression on Nesta’s face turned glum, causing Cassian to frown.

“What’s wrong? What did I say?” he immediately asked, nervous that he was ruining this moment with her.

Nesta shook her head. “It’s nothing. It’s just…” she trailed off.

“Go on,” Cassian encouraged her gently.

“My father...made some bad investments and ran his business into the ground a few years ago. He hasn’t been the same since.”

“How so?”

Nesta took a shaky breath. “It’s like he’s lost the will to live. He hasn’t even bothered trying to find another job. He doesn’t even want to take care of our family, nor does he really care to hear from us. Thankfully, we have Hogwarts to come to for most of the year…”

Cassian’s frown grew deeper. He was aware that their mother had passed away long before she came to Hogwarts. That meant they only had their father to provide for them…

“What does that mean? What happens during the summers?”

“Feyre managed to get lucky this past summer and got a job at a nearby grocery store thanks to a friend. Elain and I have had trouble getting jobs since we can only work during the summers, but sometimes the neighbors will pay for us to do chores for them around the house. We get by,” she shrugged.

Cassian stopped himself from letting his mouth drop open in shock. “What happens to your father when you’re here at Hogwarts?”

“Our neighbors help take care of him.”

Cassian shook his head. “Nesta, I’m so sorry. I had no idea. If I had known…”

Nesta held up her hand and cut him off. “Stop it, Cassian. There is no need to beat yourself up for it.”

Cassian stared at her, sadness filling his heart. The whole summer, he had been obsessing over her and thinking of her nearly everyday. Meanwhile, she’d been trying to...survive.

“If it’s any consolation...my father walked out on me and my mother shortly after I was born. He went to be someone else’s husband and father. And then my mother passed away a few years later,” Cassian revealed quietly.

Nesta glanced up at him with sympathetic eyes. “I’m sorry, Cassian,” she whispered.

“I didn’t mean for you to feel sorry for me. I just wanted you to know that...you’re aren’t alone in having an...awful dad.”

“It’s nice to know there’s someone...who understands,” she said gently.

Cassian gave her a small smile. “It is,” he agreed. His breathing slowed as he stared into her eyes and Nesta stared back in silence. He wished he could lean forward and kiss her, but he still couldn’t tell just yet if she liked him or not.

Suddenly, Nesta broke their staring contest “Let’s play another game,” she said abruptly as she stood up to walk past him and look at the shelf of games. “How about Exploding Snap?”

“How about Truth or Dare?” Cassian suggested instead, twisting his body to look up at her from his spot on the ground and smirk at her. Maybe he could better figure out Nesta’s feelings during such a game.

Nesta scowled at him.

“Too scared to play?” he teased her.

She crossed her arms against her chest. “Fine. Truth or dare?”

Cassian thought for a moment. “Truth.” Nesta clasped her hands behind her back as she strolled about the room, looking again at all the books that surrounded them. “How many girls have you brought to this room, including me?”

“One.”

Nesta halted her steps to look back at Cassian sitting on the floor. She looked completely bewildered. “I said ‘including me.’”

“I know,” he said. “It’s only been you.”

“But the seventh-year Ravenclaw - ”

“I ended up not bringing her here after realizing I shouldn’t be with someone who’s ashamed to be seen with me.”

“Wow, so you actually have standards,” she remarked.

Choosing to let her comment slide, he resumed their game. “Truth or dare?”

“Dare,” she instantly said.

There wasn’t much that could be done to embarrass someone when you’re playing in a secret room with no other people around. And he certainly didn’t want to leave the room just yet for risk of ruining this time with Nesta. Just the two of them had been...pleasant. “I dare you to give me a compliment.” He looked at her devilishly.

Nesta took a deep breath and squinted her eyes, while in deep thought.

“Any day now,” Cassian pressed her when she remained quiet for over a minute.

“My apologies. It’s hard to think of something,” she said casually as she sauntered around him.

Looking unimpressed, Cassian crossed his arms against his chest and waited.

And waited.

“I suppose…” Nesta began. “You’re not terrible at Quidditch.”

“That was barely a compliment,” Cassian complained. But the fact she had paid attention to him playing quidditch was...intriguing.

“But a compliment, nonetheless. Truth or dare?” she quickly questioned him.

Cassian pouted. “Truth,” he grunted.

“How many girls have you kissed since being back at school this year?”

Cassian perked up his head. “Why do you care about that?”

“I’m not required to tell you why I’m asking a question.”

Such an infuriating, stubborn girl, this one…

And yet, he knew that was partially why he liked her so much.

“Zero,” he answered emphatically.

Nesta stopped and whipped her head in his direction. “Really?”

Cassian nodded. “Really.”

“I’m shocked. We’ve been back for over a month now, and you haven’t kissed anyone?”

“Nope,” he said as he got up off the floor and started walking towards her.

It had actually been over four months since he’d kissed a girl.

Because there was only one girl he wanted to kiss...

“I figured you would’ve kissed at least one girl a week.”

“Guess you don’t know me as well as you thought,” he stated as he leaned against the bookshelf right beside her.

“Or you’re losing your charm,” she retorted, crossing her arms against herself as she tilted her head up at him.

Dramatically, Cassian put his hand over his heart. “You wound me,” he cried out.

Nesta rolled her eyes.

“But you do admit then that at some point, I was charming?” he eagerly replied.

“No, I misspoke. I think the girls have finally realized you never had charm to begin with.”

Cassian smirked. “You admitted I was charming.”

Nesta groaned. “Stop gloating. I pick ‘dare,’ by the way.”

“I dare you to tell me why you want know how many girls I’ve kissed and how many I’ve brought to this room.”

“That’s not a real dare! That’s a ‘truth’ disguised as a dare,” she yelled at him.

“You didn’t give me a true compliment!” Cassian shouted back.

“Ugh, fine.” Nesta sighed. “I’m just trying to see if…”

“If…?” Cassian encouraged her to go on.

“If I’m just...one of the many,” Nesta finished quietly.

Cassian’s gaze lost its cheeky amusement. “Nesta,” he said as he stood upright and grabbed her hands. “You are not just one of the many. I spent nearly every day of my summer thinking about you. I’ve never brought a girl to the kitchens before. There’s not even a girl I’ve probably talked to as much as you, with all the times we’ve teased each other over the years.”

Nesta stared up at him thoughtfully.

And then Cassian’s stomach chose that precise moment to grumble.

Effectively ruining the moment.

Nesta pulled her hands away from him and looked down at her watch. “I guess it’s already dinnertime…”

“I guess we should head off to eat with the other students in the Great Hall then…” Cassian said, hating himself for saying it, not wanting their time together to end. He’d much rather eat with her alone again.

“I guess we should,” she stated reluctantly.

“But I don’t really want to,” he admitted.

“I don’t...really want to either,” she agreed.

It felt like his stomach did somersaults when he heard her say those words. Beaming, he held out his hand in invitation for her to grab it again. “To the kitchens, then?”

And with a demure smile, she grasped it tightly, permitting him to lead the way. “To the kitchens.”

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

It was when they made their way down the many staircases that an idea came to Cassian for where he and Nesta could eat their dinner. It just required a few more items…

When they had arrived at the kitchens, he had instructed Ollie to prepare two dinner meals to-go and told Nesta to wait for him there while he retrieved a few things from his room.

As he rushed back to the kitchens, he only prayed that she had indeed stayed in the kitchens and wasn’t having seconds thoughts about eating dinner with him.

Finally - finally - he had gotten some sort of sign that maybe - just maybe - she liked him back.

Or could potentially like him.

Or at least liked him enough to spend more time with him.

...If she didn’t back out.

The thought pushed him to move his feet even faster, nearly tripping over himself as he passed all the chattering witches and wizards within the various portraits along the walls.

Out of breath and bearing a blanket and a cloak, he couldn’t help but smile when he saw Nesta still waiting for him, holding a basket that he bet contained the food prepared by the house-elves.

“You have the food?” he asked to confirm.

Nesta gave him a firm nod.

“Let’s go,” he stated, beginning to walk out of the kitchens.

“Is this another secret?” Nesta asked as she followed him.

“You bet,” Cassian exclaimed with a wink back at her.

This time, she didn’t look hesitant and unsure. Instead, she seemed...intrigued and eager.

More progress.

Once they went up the staircase and reached the ground level, Cassian leisurely strolled alongside Nesta and guided her outside through one of the castle’s doors

“We’re going outside?” Nesta wondered. “I don’t have my - ”

“I got you covered,” Cassian cut her off, knowing she was going to say she didn’t have her cloak or jacket. He halted his steps. “Hold this,” he instructed as he handed her the blanket. He then unfurled the cloak within his arms and hooked it around Nesta’s shoulders.

Seeing her wear his cloak made her look even more attractive to him.

Why did he do this to himself…

She seemed grateful for the gesture...until she tilted her head down to look closer at the cloak she was wearing and grimaced.

“What?”

“It has the silly Gryffindor emblem on it,” she noted before looking up at him. “But I suppose I will survive wearing it just for one night…” She finished with a soft smile.

Cassian chuckled as he took the blanket out of her arms. “I sure hope so.”

As they resumed their walk, a gentle, cool breeze blew past them. With his free hand, Cassian grabbed Nesta’s free one and eagerly led her down the slope toward the Great Lake. He beamed when she tightened her grasp on his hand.

The sun was just beginning to set over the lake waters. Once they were near the edge of the lake, Cassian let go of her hand to lay down the blanket. Nesta promptly set down the basket of food and sat down upon the blanket. Cassian followed suit.

Upon opening the basket, they found a delectable meal of roast beef, mashed potatoes, peas, treacle tart for dessert and bottles of pumpkin juice.

As they dug into their meal, they watched the sun descend over the glistening waters.

“It’s beautiful,” Nesta commented softly.

Cassian inclined his head toward hers. “Not as beautiful as you,” he whispered.

Nesta groaned. “You really need some new material.”

“Well everything about you is impossible to properly compliment,” he said in his smooth-talking voice. “You are simply indescribable.”

Nesta rolled her eyes and shook her head back and forth as she swallowed some potatoes. “Good grief, you are so...ridiculous!”

“I think what you meant to say was ‘Cassian, you are so ridiculously handsome, and I can’t imagine spending this beautiful night with anyone else.’”

“‘Can’t imagine spending the beautiful night with anyone else?’” she exclaimed incredulously. “I certainly can! If I was here with Hugh Grisman from Hufflepuff, he’d be too frightened to talk.”

Despite being thwarted of being given a compliment from Nesta once more, Cassian’s eyes still contained a hint of amusement.

“Or, imagine if I was here with Lawrence Milton from Ravenclaw. He would be going on and on about all the science behind the sun,” Nesta joked as she turned her gaze upward.

“Imagine if you were here with Walton Azley from Gryffindor,” Cassian piped in. “He’d probably try to convince you to go walking through the water with him in search of some obscure magical creature.”

Nesta chuckled, and it was a sound that Cassian wished he could hear over and over again. He started laughing with her.

“If I was with Artemis Braxton, he’d probably charm me with his singing voice and sweep me in arms to -”

“Okay, I think that’s enough,” Cassian sternly interjected and stopped laughing. While Artemis Braxton was a famous singer who would likely never be on a date with Nesta, the thought of someone else wooing her and wrapping his arms around her sent jealousy running through him.

From the way Nesta smirked at him, he could tell she was well aware how that image made him feel.

“You have no right to get in a huff about this,” she said rather calmly. “Especially since you’ve probably been here with - ”

“I haven’t been on a picnic with any other girl,” Cassian was quick to reply. “It’s only been you,” he stated earnestly.

The smug grin vanished from her face. Instead, she looked pensively down at her food as she ate.

Cassian let out a slow breath he didn’t realize he was holding and resumed eating his peas, while Nesta continued to pick at her roast beef. The sun’s last remaining rays faded from the sky, and for a short while, they sat in silence and simply listened to the whistling of the wind.

But then, Cassian heard Nesta suddenly put her utensils down on the now empty plate in her lap. In the darkness, she focused her gaze down at the plate.

“Earlier today, Tomas...he just wanted me for sex,” she whispered. “And then when I rejected him, he said he didn’t know what fuckin’ mudbloods were even good for then.”

Rage flowed through Cassian’s body. He was livid, absolutely livid. His hands, which gripped his fork and his plate, began to tremble from his anger. Tossing the plate to the side, he hurriedly stood up off the ground.

He was going to pummel that piece of…

“Lumos,” he somehow heard Nesta say over the sound of his raging heartbeat. “Where are you going?” she asked angrily as she held out her lit wand so she could see him.

“I’m going to murder Mandray,” he stated seriously.

“No, you aren’t. Sit back down,” she ordered sternly. “Now.”

“You don’t deserve to be treated that way!” Cassian cried out, trying to make her understand. But when Nesta’s glare did not disappear, he begrudgingly sat back down on the blanket.

“You don’t need to be causing anymore trouble,” she said as she grabbed hold of his hand and intertwined their fingers. “If you become a murderer, I don’t want to have to see that handsome face of yours hidden behind the bars of Azkaban.”

Cassian suddenly sat up straight. “Did you just willingly compliment me?”

Nesta nodded. “Perhaps you should document this moment since it’s such a rare occurrence and probably won’t happen ever again.”

If he wasn’t so enraged, Cassian would’ve chuckled at her comment. “Can I at least hit him with the bludger multiple times during our next match against Slytherin?” he wondered aloud.

“Sure.”

He stared at her in the glow of her wand for a moment. “You’re really going to let him get away with this?”

“Of course not. In time, I will retaliate,” she remarked with a delighted sneer.

“Good,” he said with a conniving smile. “Let me know if you need any help.”

“You’ve already helped me enough today,” she said seriously and squeezed his hand. Nesta dropped her lit wand onto the picnic blanket, then began shifting her body so she was right beside him, her thigh grazing his. She rested her head on his shoulder. Cassian released her hand and instantly wrapped it around Nesta’s back to pull her closer. He inhaled her lavender scent and tried to calm his heartbeat that was racing from the excitement of being so close to her.

“Thank you, Cassian,” she said softly as she tilted her head up, her nose brushing briefly against his cheek. “For today,” she added.

“You’re welcome,” he whispered back.

Those eyes...they were like magnets. Always pulling him in and making him never want to remove his gaze.

And those luscious lips...they called to him. He wanted to kiss her so badly…

Slowly inching his face toward hers, Cassian took a deep breath, and he could see Nesta doing the same.

But suddenly, her eyes widened in shock and she shot up to her feet. “Oh no,” she gasped.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, feeling alarmed and standing up with her.

She glanced down at her watch. “I have to go. I completely forgot about my shift tonight to patrol some of the corridors.”

Hurriedly, she took the cloak off her body and handed it off to Cassian.

But she couldn’t leave. Not yet...not when they had come so far.

“Just forget about it. Don’t go,” he pleaded as he tossed his cloak to the ground and attempted to grab hold of Nesta’s wrist.

“I have to leave,” she said firmly, dodging his grasp as she picked up her wand. “Goodnight,” she said before rushing off to the castle door.

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

Despite Nesta’s abrupt departure, Cassian was in a state of elation for a while.

He had finally been on a date with Nesta. And now he couldn’t wait to ask her to go out on a second one.

Their time together was so...simple and quaint. But they were alone, and he had felt so relaxed around her. It was just...different from when he’d spent time with other girls. He didn’t have to feel like he was pretending to be someone else. She was someone who could relate to him and just...understand. Someone he could be vulnerable with.

Plus, he finally got to hear her admit he was handsome.

Then there was the fact they they held hands multiple times and she let him wrap his arm around her...signs that she didn’t truly despise his company. That she felt something for him in return.

For the evening after their date and the next couple of days, it was like he was in a daze. Rhys and Az wondered what was wrong with him. He kept humming to himself as he walked through the corridors of the castle, and he could hardly pay attention to what was going on around him. Every time he turned a corner, he kept hoping that Nesta would be there, happening to walk in his direction.

Alas, he wasn’t so lucky.

At meal times, he’d stretch out his neck to take a peek over at the Slytherin table, hoping he’d find her among the crowd and throw a wink her way. Maybe even offer to whisk her off to the kitchens again.

But he never saw her.

But when their Potions class on Tuesday was approaching, Cassian was ecstatic at the thought of finally seeing Nesta and asking her out again...with hopefully more success this time around. He even arrived to class fifteen minutes earlier with the hope that he could talk to her before class. And he never got to class early.

But she never showed up for class...which seemed so unlike her. He’d never known her to miss class.

So that afternoon, he decided to attempt to seek her out. He went to the library for a while, pretending to study as he periodically looked around for Nesta’s head bent over a book as he so often saw in the past.

But there was no sign of her.

On Wednesday afternoon, he hung around outside the entrance to the Slytherin dormitory for a while, thinking he could at some point catch her coming in or out. He ended up receiving a lot of dirty and suspicious looks from various Slytherins...none of them from the one he was looking for. When he saw one seventh-year Slytherin female leaving the dormitory, he blatantly asked her if Nesta was inside. The female frowned at him - seemingly perturbed that a Gryffindor was talking to her - and reluctantly informed him that she hadn’t seen her since that morning.

At least someone had seen her and he knew she was alive.

On Thursday, he was thrilled once more about going to Potions class, again getting to the class early, because surely Nesta wouldn’t miss two classes…

But once again, she never showed up.

And so Cassian’s euphoria began to dampen.

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

The night Nesta patrolled the corridors after her picnic with Cassian, she found it...terribly difficult to keep her mind off of him.

They had almost kissed and...she could not believe herself. If she didn’t remember her patrol shift, she probably would’ve let him.

The thought flustered her.

This was Cassian she was talking about. Cassian!

A boy who took every chance to annoy her, to tease her, to argue with her, to make sarcastic comments and innuendos to her constantly for the past several years.

It was ridiculous.

Her and him together...preposterous!

It simply didn’t make sense. He cared more about quidditch than studying for his N.E.W.T. exams. He didn’t come from a high social standing family that could help advance her career, which is what she had always pictured for herself.

She may have read tons of romance novels with grand gestures and declarations of love, but...she never pictured such things happening to her. Others had always considered her unkind, snobby, and unlikable. It’s what made it so hard for her to make friends.

So she never thought she’d ever be a part of a swoon-worthy scenario where a boy got her pancakes because she was hungry and took her to a room that he had transformed into one of her favorite places and then take her on a picnic by the lake.

Nesta groaned. She had admitted to herself that Cassian’s actions were swoon-worthy.

What had gotten into her? How could she let her barriers come down? She even started telling him about her issues with her father. She hardly even discussed such things with her sisters. And then he even opened up to her about his parents. She had never known that his father walked out on him…

No. She had to stop thinking about this. She needed to forget it. He had his date with her, he got what he wanted. Now, he would probably never want to hang out with her ever again.

To her both her displeasure and her pleasure, a visual of him and his silly smirking face formed in her mind as soon as she awoke Sunday morning.

And then when she went to brush her hair and put it in a braid crown, she couldn’t help but wonder what it would feel like to have Cassian’s hands run through her hair.

Ugh. Why would she imagine such things?

Things that are not meant to be and should never happen.

She’d need to keep her distance from him for a little while. Give herself space to allow herself to forget about him.

(Even though part of her was also dying to see him again.)

So for the next few days, she spent most of her time in the Room of Requirement, which she figured no one else would be able to enter if it was in use. If she hung out in the library, she knew there was a chance she could run into him. And she certainly couldn’t eat her meals in the Great Hall, or she would see him. Luckily, Cassian had shown her how to get to the kitchens…

But unfortunately in her determination to not see him, she kept being reminded of him because she was going to the places he had introduced her to.

She still attended her classes, but when Tuesday rolled around, she just knew she couldn’t face him yet. She had to get herself together and build up her walls around her once more before she saw him again. So...for once in her life, she skipped class.

Then skipped for the second time in her life when it was time for Potions class on Thursday.

Because. She. Still. Could. Not. Get. Him. Out. Of. Her. Head.

She wanted to scream.

Every day, she thought of him and wished he was with her.

But then she would get frazzled and wonder why she felt this way.

Was she completely delusional? Was she sick? What was making her feel this way? Why couldn’t she just forget him already?

This was how she envisioned what being under the spell of a love potion would feel like.

A love potion...

Could he have possibly slipped her a love potion at some point?

That had to be it. There was just no way she would feel this way on her own accord.

But now she was fuming...over the fact that she couldn’t stop thinking about him on top of the possibility that he had slipped her a love potion.

Now she knew she needed to see him and get to the bottom of this madness once and for all.

She glanced down at her watch. It was roughly an hour before dinner. He could be anywhere...perhaps in his dormitory or at quidditch practice.

Quidditch practice.

Hurriedly, she grabbed her satchel to search for her notebook that contained schedules of classes, quidditch, clubs, and more for prefect purposes. Opening her notebook, she flipped through the pages to the one she was looking for.

Quidditch Practice - Thursdays

4:00pm - Ravenclaw

5:00pm - Gryffindor

Without even a second thought, she departed the Room of Requirement and headed straight to the quidditch pitch.

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

When she arrived, she indeed found the Gryffindor team huddled together on the ground, finishing up their practice.

With her arms crossed, she walked onto the field and leaned back against the barricade that separated the stands from the field. Her eyes found Cassian’s tall form in the distance immediately. His silky, dark hair was pulled back into a bun and his athletic wear made his muscles look more pronounced.

Nesta scolded herself and reminded herself to remain focused. She needed to confront Cassian and find out if he gave her a love potion. She just needed to wait a little bit, since she certainly didn’t want to make a scene in front of everyone else.

The Gryffindor team huddle broke apart, and when Cassian stepped away, his eyes instantly found hers and his face broke out in the widest grin she’d ever seen on anyone.

No, the smile did not make her weak in the knees.

She refused to let it.

...but failed.

Her whole plan had been to stomp over to him and make her frustrations known. Instead, he was now gleefully jogging toward her with his broom in his hand while the rest of the team dispersed, heading to the changing rooms.

Her body refused to move. Too frozen from that damn smile and the way he was currently looking at her.

“Nes,” he said when he approached. “Where have you been? Did something happen?” His voice was filled with concern, and his free hand neared her as if he was about to grab her hand.

She certainly could not allow that to happen. Lifting up her wand in her right hand, she jabbed its tip into the center of his chest to prevent him from going any further. “Stop it right there,” she angrily ordered. “And don’t ever call me Nes.”

Upon hearing her tone, Cassian frowned and outstretched his empty hand in confusion. “Sweetheart, what’s wrong?”

Nesta groaned and she jabbed the tip of her wand into his chest again. “I am not your sweetheart.”

“Ok, put your wand down,” Cassian requested, his voice sounding like he was trying really hard to control his temper. “And Nesta, please tell me what’s wrong? I’ve been worried about you. You missed class, and you never miss class -”

“No,” Nesta interrupted him, disregarding his request to put her wand down and instead tapping his chest with it. “No, you don’t get to say these things and act like you know me so well!”

“But I do know you,” Cassian said with traces of frustration and impatience. “At least a little! And I want to get to know you better!”

“Well, giving someone a love potion is a lousy way of showing that!” Nesta shouted back, and a look of complete and utter bewilderment covered Cassian’s face.

“What? You think I gave you a love potion?!” Cassian exclaimed. “I’ve done no such thing.”

“Don’t lie to me! Why else would I be feeling this way and constantly thinking about -” Nesta began to say, but abruptly stopped herself from saying anything more.

“Thinking about what? Me?” he questioned her, infuriated. “Is it so ridiculous to think you might actually like me that you assumed I must have used a love potion on you?”

Nesta slowly pulled her wand away from him and brought it down to her side as she stared at the ground, avoiding his gaze.

Cassian looked down at her peevishly. “I thought you knew me enough to know I would never do such a thing. I want to date you and be with you, but only if you truly want to be with me too. I loved spending time with you on Saturday, and it seemed like you enjoyed it too. But maybe you’re only accusing me of using a potion because you’re ashamed at the thought of liking me?”

Nesta kept staring at the ground beneath her feet, taking slow and steady breaths as she listened to Cassian’s hurt voice.

She gave him no reply.

“No denial, then?” he asked in a pained voice. “Well, I suppose I should at least be flattered that you think I’m smart enough to concoct a love potion that lasts for several days, when most only seem to last for less than twenty-four hours with one dose. Goodnight, Nesta,” he said gruffly before turning around and hurriedly marching off to the quidditch changing rooms.

Nesta lifted her head and watched him walk away.

This all wasn’t some game to him. She should’ve known that just based on all that he did for her on Saturday.

The anguish in his voice just now further proved it.

And hearing that anguish made her feel like she was crumbling on the inside.

Of course he didn’t use a stupid love potion. She had just been searching for any excuse at all to explain these feelings she had for him. Feelings of wanting to be with him and spend time with him and...kiss him.

She wasn’t ashamed to have these feelings. Sure, it was a shock to have them for him. But she was mostly...afraid.

Afraid of being hurt and betrayed because she had these feelings.

Why did she have to be so destructive?

When she saw Cassian enter the changing rooms, Nesta felt compelled to follow after him. She couldn’t leave things like that.

It was time for her to be honest both with him and herself. No more coming up with excuses.

With her robes flowing around her, she ran across the pitch to the changing rooms.

As she rushed toward them, many of the other Gryffindor players were walking out and gave her quizzical looks. But she had no time to care...not that she ever would have cared anyway.

When she burst into the room, out of breath, she was relieved to find Cassian was the only one in there. He stood before a locker, angrily removing his leg and arm guards.

“Cassian,” Nesta called out softly, causing Cassian to briefly glance up at her.

“Coming to get in one more insult because claiming I used a love potion wasn’t enough?” he questioned her bitterly.

“No,” she emphatically replied. “I… What’s wrong with your hand?” she suddenly asked when she noticed his knuckles were completely swelled up.

Cassian just shrugged. “Just...hit a locker,” he muttered before aggressively removing the glove off of his other hand.

Did he...punch a locker out of anger over her stupid words?

“Sit down and let me see it,” Nesta demanded as she gently pushed Cassian down on the bench in front of the locker and quickly grabbed hold of his wrist before he could protest. She sat next to him and lifted his hand to inspect his knuckles, then took out her wand and directed it at the injury.

“Glaciotious,” Nesta said and an icy coolness from her wand settled over the swollen area. “Are there bandages somewhere in here?”

Cassian shook his head. Nesta then took a quick glance around the room before glancing down at her own clothes. Letting go of Cassian’s hand, she untied the tie from around her neck and threw it on the bench beside her. “Linteumos,” Nesta stated as she directed her wand at it.

Before their eyes, her green and silver tie had transfigured into a long green and silver bandage. Picking it up, she brought it toward Cassian and gestured for him to stick out his hand once more.

He reluctantly did so, and Nesta placed her wand down on the bench and went about carefully wrapping the bandage around his knuckles.

“Nesta, what are you doing?” Cassian asked exasperatedly.

“Taking care of you,” she replied.

“Why?”

“Because I care about you,” she answered ardently as her fingertips grazed his skin, the touch sending goosebumps up her arm. “And that scares me,” she added in a whisper.

His eyebrows rose up in arches at her words. “Why does that scare you?”

She tied a knot in the bandage and gently set his arm back at his side. “Because I could get hurt.”

“What do you mean?” he asked as he stared at her intently.

“To care for someone and let them in and grow to love them...there’s the chance that one day they’ll just leave you or betray you or forget about you altogether.”

Just like my father, she nearly added.

But from the way Cassian looked at her sympathetically, she sensed that he knew what she almost said. He swung one of his legs over onto the other side of the bench so he could fully face her. Taking one of her hands within his uninjured one, he rubbed circles with his thumb into the back of it.

“And I know I’m not easy to...care about either. I have a tendency to push people away...so it’s just been easier to...isolate myself,” she added.

“Nesta, I can’t promise right now that we’ll be together forever, and neither can you, but I know that what I feel for you is different from what I’ve felt for any other girl,” Cassian explained fervently. “And I don’t want to waste any time in our final year here if we want to give this a shot. You just need to decide if you’re willing to take the risk.”

Nesta closed her eyes as he spoke, debating and thinking over what she should do.

Mere minutes ago, she nearly became distraught over seeing Cassian walk away from her. It wasn’t something she wanted to experience again. If they were together, there was the risk they would breakup and he would leave her. But if she decided right now not to go out with him again, he’d probably leave her alone completely...

The past few days since their unofficial date, she had missed him. Despite every effort to try to forget about him, she missed him too much. Perhaps, that was the real reason she felt the desire to go storming out onto the quidditch pitch today. She needed to see him.

But then she had cut him down with her insinuation of him using a love potion on her. It was how she shielded herself. Strike others down before they could hurt her.

However, this time, her strike against someone else also hurt her. She was already in too deep, so she might as well...try this out.

But she did so, she needed to apologize.

She opened her eyes and stared back at him. “I’m sorry I accused you of giving me a love potion.”

An amused smile took over Cassian’s face. “I will only accept your apology if you tell me what you meant when you said you were feeling a certain way and constantly thinking about something?”

Nesta rolled her eyes. “Isn’t it obvious how I feel at this point?”

“I want to hear you say it. You’ve already heard me tell you a few times how I feel about you. It’s time to return the favor.”

“Fine,” she said dramatically and squeezed his hand. “Despite you being a persistent and arrogant and demanding dolt, I like you and I like spending time with you.”

Cassian gloated and squeezed her hand in return. “And what have you been constantly thinking about?”

Nesta sighed again. “You and how much I want to kiss that stupid grin off of your face.”

Cassian’s eyes grew big and his mouth dropped open.

Good. Just the reaction she was looking for. She smugly smiled at him as she leaned closer to him.

“So does this mean you’ll take the risk and go out with me?” Cassian questioned her, his breath tickling her nose.

Nesta scrunched up her nose upon smelling a foul stench. He still hadn’t cleaned up after practice. “That depends if you plan on showering anytime soon.”

Cassian sighed as she leaned away from him. “I’ll go shower right now. Meet me outside the Great Hall in twenty minutes?”

Nesta nodded in agreement.

“Great,” he said dreamily as he squeezed her hand one more time before releasing it. “I expect a real answer to my question then.”

“Wait,” she said as she grabbed his injured hand. “Plasticus,” she stated when she pointed her wand at his bandage, charming it to turn into plastic. “For your shower,” she explained.

“Thank you,” he whispered.

Nesta simply gave him a smile before getting up and heading out of the changing rooms, while he made his way to the shower stall.

On her way to the castle, an idea popped into Nesta’s mind.

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

Following his shower in the quidditch changing rooms, Cassian raced to the Great Hall, eager to hear Nesta finally say that she would go out with him.

...and possibly finally kiss her.

Having heard her say she had been thinking about kissing the grin off of his face had been such a surprise. He never thought he’d ever hear her admit that. Especially when he would have just been satisfied with her saying that she had been constantly thinking of him.

Finally, they seemed to be on the same wavelength.

When the Great Hall entrance was finally in sight, he didn’t see Nesta anywhere.

Was she avoiding him again? Did she freak out again? He had just seen her a mere twenty minutes ago. How could her feelings change so quickly?

Suddenly, a door he passed on his left opened and a hand reached out, grabbing hold of his arm and yanking him into the room…

Which turned out to be a tiny dimly-lit space filled with various broomsticks, mops and buckets.

And none other than Nesta Archeron.

Nesta closed the door behind them and gently pushed him so his back was up against the wall. She wrapped her hands around his neck, bringing his face down to hers to capture his lips in a fervent kiss. Once over the shock of this unexpected event, Cassian placed his hands on her waist and pulled her closer to him, needing to be as close to her as he possibly could.

The taste of her was better than he had envisioned and he couldn’t get enough. When she would hesitantly pull away the slightest bit, he dove right back into the kiss, gently tugging at her lips with his teeth to pull her back in.

At some point, he did remember however that he’d been expecting her to answer his question. Reluctantly, he pulled his lips away from hers, and the two of them stood with their foreheads resting against each other’s. Her heavy breathing matched his own.

“I knew you always wanted to snog me in a broom closet,” he remarked cheekily.

“I needed to see what all the fuss was about,” she replied as she moved her hands up into his unbound hair and ran her fingers through it over and over again. “But if another prefect catches me, you’re dead,” she added rather seriously.

“I’m dead? You’re the one who dragged me in here!”

“But you’re the one who keeps kissing me.”

“Because you started it,” he noted before giving her a quick peck on the lips. “And you’re too intoxicating.”

Her eyes glimmered like the stars as she blushed.

“So Nesta Archeron, will you go out with me?” he asked.

She took a deep breath. “Yes,” she breathed.

Cassian beamed as he planted her with a passionate kiss.

“Are you ready to go to the Great Hall?” he asked when he pulled away.

“Not yet,” she said before leaning forward to kiss him again.

“Maybe we can eat in the kitchens later instead,” he mumbled against her lips.

“I like that plan,” she whispered before wrapping her arms tighter around his neck and kissing him ravenously.

A/N: Thanks so much for reading! I hope you liked it! I apologize for any errors...I was sick when I edited this! Cassian just seems like he would totally be like a Hogwarts-era Sirius Black to me XD anyone else agree? :) Right now, this is just a oneshot. But do I have ideas for other Nessian dates/issues while at Hogwarts? Yes. Will I ever write them? I have no idea. I kinda want take a break, kinda want to go back to writing my post-ACOFAS fic, haha. So we'll see!

#nessian #nessian fanfiction #nesta #nesta archeron #cassian #acotar #acomaf #acowar #acofas #a court of thorns and roses #harry potter #hogwarts #hogwarts au #nessian au #nessian at hogwarts!

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