#this is why divorce and easy access to divorce is so necessary

[lesbianlenas]

let us remember that marriage is intrinsically tied to capitalism and exists in its current form so that property could be passed through patrilineal lines. the only way a man could ensure that a woman was having HIS baby was to make her his property. and that was so important when wealth and status was tied to property so it was necessary to have a (male) heir to pass it down to. i am not against marriage as a concept but we need to remember that it IS an oppressive institution for women and women should consider it w that in mind. the patriarchal roots of our existing marriage institution have not been erased even with the progress that has been made.

[aajjks]

TC!dad!JK

you nod your head.

“right, my king~ but on a serious note, a flower shop will guarantee you a lot of money. i’ll even provide the flowers in our garden to help get you started. i get my flower seeds from my friend of mine in town so i can get you in contact with him to give you flower seeds too”

yeonjin gasps “oh really? thank you! thank you so much. you have no clue how much this means to me”

“no problem, yeonjin. we only want the best for you”

yeonjin wants to roll her eyes. despite her only being here for two days she can tell you’re disingenuous about the words that come from your lips. it’s so obvious that you don’t like her but it only makes getting under your skin even easier.

you’re just a place holder and yeonjin understands that when she left, jungkook had no choice but to turn to you because the person that actually knew him wasn’t there anymore. but she’s here to turn that around and take back the crown that is rightfully hers but first…she wants to mess with you.

pissing jungkook off is easy but you know who pisses him off more? you. you know all the right buttons to press and yeonjin is sure when she’s done with you, you and jungkook will he divorced, and she’ll have full custody of the kids that should have been hers from the beginning.

but she can’t do that without having access to the palace whenever she wants which is where you come in to play. you’re kindness is a weakness she can easily exploit and plant seeds of doubt in your mind.

“so, how can i get the flowers? will they be delivered to me?” yeonjin sweetly asks.

“yes. i have people assigned to watch the garden when i’m not there so i can ask them to pluck some flowers for you”

“nonsense, your highness. how about i come pick them up? i’ll even wrap them myself”

“uhh, that’s not necessary”

“but i insist. i haven’t seen the garden since jungkook and i were kids”

“..you know what? sure. maybe you have some flowers you personally like. wanna come by tomorrow since it’s pretty late?”

“tomorrow is perfect”

~🫧

It’s a new day and the dinner last night was pretty normal and he wasn’t expecting normal, he still has his doubts about his childhood friend and Jungkook is so exhausted, mentally that he cannot afford to have an other argument with you over anything

Jinseoul and Hyunjin get along really well, and he is glad because the boy seems harmless, and Jungkook still doesn’t like the way he keeps on staring at his daughter.

But he’s not exactly thrilled about the fact that you have invited her over to show her your private garden that he personally had planted for you before your marriage.

But what can he do when he trusts you, but you have trust issues when it comes to him and it’s easy to manipulate you against him.

As you’re both sitting in your chamber talking, he tries to get a few kisses from you here and there but no you you’re not kissing him at all.

“Come on yn I cannot live like this- you don’t understand I have to kiss you!” He Tries to lean his face closer to yours, but you just roll your eyes at him. This is really bad. He’s getting grumpy because when he doesn’t get to touch you, he gets insane.

“You’re a mean woman, you know that?” he sasses at you, rolling his eyes in return. “and now when you will come to me begging for anything, I won’t touch you.” He scoffs, “go hang out with her because all you think about is her anyways these days.”

Yeah, she’s about to come over to pick up the flowers herself, which is so unnecessary in his opinion, when he could’ve had them delivered over to her.

He gets up and takes his leave, leaving you alone with your twins, but he doesn’t leave before kissing them on the head. they’re getting healthier and healthier and more cuter.

Meanwhile, he has his PI investigating about Yeonjins whereabouts because he should’ve done this a long time ago and he wants to make sure that if she really worked at the brothel and what she has been up to these past 20 to 30 years.

And why is she here?

He’s going to receive the report soon, just as he sits in the chair in his office, a knock comes and he’s made aware of her arrival at the palace once again.

[luckylewis]

Full Name: Lucky Lewis.

Nicknames: Lucky Luciano.

Pronouns and Gender: He/Him, cis man.

Birthday: November 3rd, 2000.

Birth place: Aurora Bay.

How long have they been in town?: His whole life / Left for 4 years for uni / has been back a week (as of February 2023).

Sexuality: Bisexual.

Housing: Ocean Crest Apartments.

Occupation:  Front Desk @ Aurora Bay Veterinary Clinic / Freelance Software Developer.

Family: Leroy Lewis (older brother), Clementine Lewis (older sister), Lorelai Lewis (younger sister) and 1 daughter (Theodora 'Theo' King).

tw teen pregnancy, cheating, divorce, drugs, alcohol // @aurorabayaesthetic

BIO:

The first big scare Lucky Lewis had given his parents was silence in the seconds that followed his birth. It wasn’t just them who felt the terror of it, the doctor who had delivered him and the nurse present too also felt it – until eventually a cry left his little body. It was then that he was jokingly nicknamed the quiet one in contrast to his older brothers, which he seemed to embody tenfold as he grew up. With both little interest and little skill in most sports, he only ever found himself partaking in them because his brothers or his friends were. He could kick a football, catch a basketball and swing for a baseball, but there was never a guarantee that it would advance his teammates in any of the games he was playing, which was why he never found himself playing for any sort of team. His mind had always been the muscle he liked to work the most, and he was drawn to anything with a screen from as early as he was allowed access one.

It had been Lucky that had inadvertently become live in tech support for his family, always eager and willing to take whatever device was malfunctioning and see if he could teach himself how to fix it. It was a skill that only flourished more in his teen years, and seemed to work in tandem with the subjects he excelled at it in school – namely math and sciences.

It was clear to everyone around him that it was a thread he would follow into a career, which was how he found himself with a litany of offers from universities when the time came. It had always been his intention to go somewhere close to home, solely because he didn't want to leave the network of people he had around him. When he was accepted into a university in London after applying without ever thinking entry was a possibility that threw a spanner in those plans.

It was the combination of this news and his father confirming that after months of fights and hostility in the household, he would be divorcing Lucky's mother after finding out confirmation of her having an affair that Lucky found himself at a crossroads. Stay and try fix the ever deepening fracture in his family, or go and try to make something of his life without being weighed down by everyone around him.

Selfishly, he chose the latter.

The move to London was a difficult but necessary one for him so he told himself, and despite it all being his choice he missed his family dearly – or at least he missed the idea of his family, the one that existed before a bitter divorce had changed the landscape of it. No matter how long he stayed gone, the guilt of not being a part of his daughter's life ate him alive and only increased with time. Partying in college soon became a need rather than a way to let off steam, with both his drinking and his recreational drug use spiraling out of control until he almost flunked out in his third year. Gradually, he got himself back on the rails, but he still has to think about it before he takes a drink or accepts a line at a club.

During holidays and summer breaks, he chose to travel around Europe than to ever come home. There were too many ghosts there and too much he wasn't ready for. However, after having graduated and finally decided that England wasn't where he was going to start the next stage of his life, his decision on where he was meant to be and what he was supposed to do was made easy for him after a revelation from his best friend back home. The then four year old child that she had had after a one night stand between the pair was his, despite previous denials. The news was earth-shattering in its own way and it lead him straight back to the town that had raised him so he could help raise his daughter.

He may have flown the nest successfully, but there was some part of him that was still a home bird.

PERSONALITY.

+ self-sufficient, intelligent, thoughtful.

- introverted, melancholic, selfish.

FUN ADJACENT FACTS.

lucky by britney spears is his go to karaoke jam.

he brings home a goofy or tacky trinket from every place he’s ever travelled to. he has a whole collection of location specific ugly key rings that are his pride and joy.

is learning High Valyrian on Duolingo.

huge lara croft/tomb raider fan. is usually fighting in subreddits about it.

is currently learning ASL after accidentally learning BSL in london and not realising they're two different languages.

has a tattoo on his forearm of the name 'theo' in his daughter's handwriting.

CURRENT CONNECTIONS.

childhood best friend of / shares a child with tabitha king

father of theo king (npc, 5 years old)

best friend/roomate of @helenasoarcs

younger brother of @lemielewis

twin brother of @lorelailewis

older sister's bf / pseudo big brother / looks up to @willxmeyers

new friend of @finnbrooks

former brother-in-law of @vanessagable

depressties with @aylinxc-s

parent / existential crisis friend of @christinaxwagner

dad friends with @kaede-yamada

jackson ellis apologist to @jacksonxellis (not in game but still canon)

childhood friend/former neighbor/london situationship boyfriend of @macaulaymontgomery

online nemesis of @fionaosmvn (not in game but still canon)

friends from london of @cricketcampbell

godparent of his daughter / homies with a shared haunting sadness of @cassidyxcooke (no longer in game but still canon)

tattoo client of @aeris-flores and @mackmontgomery

friend and frequent apologist of @jaredx

attended hs at same time as / friend of @katexharmon

long-time friend of @thelizaxlevin

bully (victim SHGSHJ) to buddy pipeline of @noralevin

was phone-jacked / sometimes nemesis of @madiiscn

friend of @leomlarson

london friend of @nellie-eddowes

SPECIFIC WANTED CONNECTIONS.

anyone from his london era! he went to uni there for 4 years (18-22). open to any sort of connect: friendly, past romantic, antagonistic. hmu!

GENERIC WANTED CONNECTIONS.

connections wise he’s pretty much an open book right now, but some baseline ideas that can be springboarded off are:

friendly.

a best friend / ride or dies / close friends / childhood friends / pseudo-siblings / friends / drunk friends / new friends / former roommate / people he knew from london / people he met on his travels / people from cali he was close to.

romantic

flirtationship / friends with benefits / one time hook ups / tinder matches / unrequited crush (can be either way) / exes from high school / exes on good terms.

antagonistic.

enemies / former (best) friends / exes on bad terms / frenemies / rivals / negative influence / people who don't fuck with him for leaving how he did.

[taslawfirm]

Reliable and Professional Divorce Lawyer in Brampton Services

Are you uncertain about how to proceed with a divorce? Going through a divorce can be emotionally and financially challenging, and understanding the legal requirements is essential for a smooth process. The laws of divorce in Ontario include complicated aspects like asset separation, spousal support, and child custody. All these factors will be pivotal in determining a fair settlement. An experienced legal professional can make all the difference in understanding the rights and protection of your interests.

A Divorce Lawyer in Brampton would ensure the smoothness and efficiency of a divorce. All important things, such as filing time, necessary documents, and procedures in the courts, will be taken care of in the whole procedure whether it is an uncontested or a contested divorce. Most lawyers offer individualized attention according to a client’s specific needs and conditions, including required information about local regulations affecting your case. Understanding Uncontested vs Contested Divorces Cases may be either uncontested or contested. For an uncontested divorce, spouses will agree to all terms; these are asset division and determination of a child custody arrangement. Contested divorces tend to be relatively cost-effective and speedy. An attorney specializing in divorce will guide you through the discussion that will create any necessary agreements and will also file all the papers and keep you informed about all that is happening. There are instances where couples favour uncontested divorces as the couple might need a fast, amicable settlement of their marriage.

With a contested divorce, the parties cannot agree on one or more aspects of the separation; hence, the cases take up a lot of time to be heard in court and translate to higher legal fees. At such a time, the experience of a divorce lawyer can be of utmost importance while representing your interest and the need for a just conclusion. An attorney would guide you through the laborious negotiations, court sessions that you may be required to sit through, and eventually, an amicable settlement suited to your interests. Why is a local divorce lawyer important? Many other advantages come in the course of taking a divorce lawyer in Brampton. Such attorneys are significantly informed about Ontario family law as well as any system present inside local courts, such protocols that will be utilized when it is needed by the case for you. There can be easy availability with them along with walk-in consultations for support without worry and even with trusted communications.

In addition, divorce lawyers in Brampton charge mostly flat rates which will be helpful in cost management and prevent surprise charges. The choice of a local attorney will not only make the process easier but also ensure that your lawyer is easily accessible to respond to all your questions or concerns in the case.

In a nutshell, a professional Divorce Lawyer in Brampton applying his expertise and knowledge will provide you with all the tools and confidence necessary for this process to run so smoothly and that gives you the best possible outcomes for the future.

[cinebration]

What I Mean (Sherlock Holmes x Reader) [Request]

Hi lovely! Love love LOVE your work! You’ve got some truly amazing stories 💝 would I be able to request a Henry!Sherlock Holmes x reader one shot where the reader has feelings for Sherlock but thinks that he doesn’t like her at all? — Requested by anon

Warnings: none

Gif Source: acecroft

The first time you saw Sherlock, you fell in love. It wasn’t because of how he looked or how he carried himself. It was how he brushed past that insufferable Constable Lowell, ignoring the man’s protests with a wave of his hand. The way Lowell became flustered and upset and the way DI Lestrade laughed at him made your heart swell in your chest. After the last five months of verbal bullying from the constable, you were supremely satisfied to see him humiliated.

Sherlock frequently appeared unexpectedly at Scotland Yard. You learned to recognize his presence in the building before you ever saw him. There was something about the way he moved through the place, like it was of little consequence, that you could feel. It reminded you of being caught out in a storm with lightning striking nearby, the hair on your arms rising as static built up in the air.

You didn’t meet Sherlock until your fourth month of employment. What had started as a typing job had turned into secretarial work—with no increase in pay to account for your extra duties. You strode into Lestrade’s office with a thin smile and said, “If I’m going to be mitigating your literacy blunders, I expect to be compensated.”

“That’s out of the question. You are a typist and are paid accordingly.”

“Well, then, in that case…” You dumped a huge stack of folders in front of him. “I don’t need to inventory these.”

Lestrade stared at the stack in displeasure.

“Oh, and they haven’t been properly sorted. I’m only meant to type, not to organize your chaos.”

“Now wait.”

“I expect a ten-percent increase. That’s what a proper secretary gets paid. Oh, and the title. I want everyone to know I am not a mere typist.”

The muscle in his jaw jumping, Lestrade reluctantly agreed. Sweeping the files up in your arms, you strode out of the room, light on your heels.

Sherlock leaned beside the door, a faint smirk playing on his lips. You stumbled, surprised by his appearance.

“I thought I was the only one who could so easily maneuver Lestrade,” he said.

“He makes it too easy,” you managed to say.

Sherlock’s eyes skimmed the files. “They’re already organized, I see.”

“The trick is making him think only I can do this job.”

“Clever.” Then he was in Lestrade’s office discussing a case, leaving you standing there flushed.

~~

Sherlock took to greeting you cordially each time he passed by your desk after the incident with Lestrade. Sometimes he didn’t meet with Lestrade at all, instead opting to leave you with a message for the detective inspector. Sherlock never spent long at your desk, much to your disappointment, but the few minutes he spared you each time were enough to make you float the rest of the day.

You had taken it upon yourself to have all the necessary information on all of Lestrade’s cases close at hand. Sherlock often appeared to ask Lestrade for information regarding something he had read in the paper or heard from others. The first time you furnished him with a small envelope of the relevant information, you had been pleased to see genuine surprise in the consulting detective’s face.

“You are quite indispensable,” he remarked. “I don’t know how Lestrade managed anything before you.”

“Poorly, I would imagine.”

“I heard that!”

Smothering a laugh with your hand, you settled back at your desk and tried to think of something else to say to make Sherlock linger for a few moments. Before you could, he dipped his head and left.

You didn’t know why you kept entertaining the idea of interacting properly with Sherlock. The society rumor mill claimed the man was impossible to nail down and seemed uninterested in any of the ladies. It was supposed he, being an eccentric, was possibly too obsessed with his sleuthing hobby and therefore poor marriage material anyway.

Still, you flirted with the idea until you saw him interact with his sister, Enola. He smiled at her and praised her for a particularly thorny case she had unraveled.

Oh, you thought with dismay, feeling all hope leave you. He treats me like his sister.

The realization settled deep in your bones. It had been fruitless all along, the special treatment you had accorded him, the way he seemed pleased with you.

Of course he was pleased with you, you snarled inwardly. You helped him with his work. Even he suffers Lestrade in order to do that. You are nothing but a convenient secretary he doesn’t need to pay.

You couldn’t bear the thought of making things difficult for him, however, so you continued to keep the case information neatly organized and accessible. While everything in you had changed, the only outward sign of it was a sudden coolness toward him. You no longer smiled easily when he arrived, and you spent most of your time avoiding his gaze, busying yourself with tasks at your desk.

If he noticed, he gave no sign. It was as you had thought. You were of little consequence to him.

~~

A year after being hired, you considered quitting. There was a small detective agency in need of female detectives to uncover unfaithful wives and husbands for divorce proceedings. It would get you away from the stifling atmosphere of Scotland Yard, where the likes of Lowell and his ilk still roamed unchecked. You could do with a change.

You could do with an escape from a certain debonair consultant.

“You can’t leave,” Lestrade declared. “I won’t allow it.”

“Did I sign a contract, sir?”

“No, but why would that—”

“Then I am under no obligation to continue working for you.”

Lestrade sputtered, trying to refute you. “You’re needed here.”

“I know a woman who is as adept as I am at this work.”

“But—”

“I’ve made my decision, detective. Please leave me to it.”

You remained only to show your replacement the way of things and to warn her about Lowell and the others. Only then did you leave and seek a posting in the detective agency.

A day after you had applied and been accepted, you arrived to work in your work clothes, fully expecting to be sent somewhere to survey a cheating spouse. As you walked through the door, you heard exclamations from within.

“Mr. Holmes! What an honor it is to have you grace our establishment.”

You froze in the doorway, heart hammering in your chest. Sherlock’s broad back was turned to you, his face in three-quarter profile. You wanted to flee, to escape the magnetic pull you felt in your presence.

Your new employer saw you past Sherlock’s shoulder. “Ah, here she is.” Waving you over, he watched you walk stiffly down the hallway, your hands clenched into nervous fists by your sides.

Sherlock turned to you, fixing you with those striking blue eyes. You felt trapped beneath them, sucked in their magnetism once more. Swallowing thickly, you nodded. “Mr. Holmes.”

He smiled tentatively at you, revealing the point of a canine.

“Mr. Holmes has requested you for an investigation,” you employer said. “I offered him Miss Hemmings, of course, she being our finest, but he insisted on you.”

The hair on the back of your neck rose. Resisting the urge to scratch, you asked, “Did he?”

“I did. Now, if we could go? We are wasting time.”

Fighting the disappointment rising in you, you followed Sherlock out the door and into a transom. Enclosed in the small space, you couldn’t avoid his scent, a pleasing mix of tobacco smoke and something else. You avoided his gaze, folding and refolding your hands in your lap.

“You left Scotland Yard.”

A statement. You nodded but didn’t offer anything more. “Where are we going?”

“Did I do something wrong?”

You frowned, lifted your head. “I beg your pardon?”

“Did I do something incorrect?” A crease appeared between the man’s eyebrows. “Your demeanor toward me changed in the two months leading up to your resignation.”

Toying with the fingers of your gloves, you felt panic clawing up your throat. He had noticed. What did that mean?

“I can only conclude that something occurred, but I can’t determine what.”

You met his concerned eyes. “I…it doesn’t matter, Mr. Holmes. I can do whatever job you need me to with as much professional courtesy as it requires.”

His lips pulled into a thin frown. “That isn’t what I’m asking.”

“I don’t know what you mean, then.”

“Please, you are smarter than that. Or was my regard for you misplaced?”

You blinked in surprise, unsure you had heard correctly. “It…isn’t my place to tell you where to place your regard.”

He laughed then, a sudden HA that made you jump. “You are making this difficult, aren’t you?”

“Excuse me?”

“I am not given over to emotionalism, but I won’t deny that your treatment of me in those last months affected me.”

“I didn’t mean to—”

“What I mean to say is that I had hoped we were developing a familiarity.” His hand went to his collar, adjusting it. “I had hoped to…call on you.”

Your head snapped up in surprise. “To call on me?”

“I had thought my feeling for you was returned, but if I am mistaken, please inform me now to save us both further embarrassment.”

You could hardly speak around the tightness in your throat. “It is returned.”

The smile on Sherlock’s face made your heart ache. “Good. I’m glad we have remedied that. Now, if we’re both to be detectives, then I suppose we had best collaborate. I need you to spy on Richard Haskell. It seems…”

[bookofmirth]

Hey! What are your thoughts on the Archeron sisters dependence on Rhysand?

I love Feyre but the truth is everything she has was given to her by a man and every she currently has was given to her by Rhys. So technically at any moment, he can decide to take it all from her. Not that he would, but the issue is that he could and Feyre would have no say in that. She wouldn’t even have any of her friends left considering they’d all side with Rhys since they’ve known him for 5 centuries.

Also, Nesta. It’s clear Nesta wa super dependant on Feyre and I disliked her so much for it but why wasn’t part of her healing arc finding her independence away from Feyre? It’s clear she can easily make friends with others (I bet it’s super easy when they don’t have biased hatred for you) so I wonder why Nesta’s only option and story forward was finding her place amongst the Inner Circle.

I mean I suppose Nesta will now be dependant on Cassian since he’s her husband but the bigger picture is that both the female main characters journeys end with them BOTH being unhealthily financially dependant on their husbands (isn’t ACOTAR supposed to be some feminist empowerment?)

Anyways, just wanted to know your thoughts on that.

I think that this line of thinking highly underestimates Feyre; if Rhys took away everything, she would be just fine.

Feyre is the one who kept them alive in that cabin for 5+ years. Feyre is the one who took out Amarantha and saved Prythian. Feyre defended Velaris with her powers. Feyre was wildly destructive in Spring and maybe we are still mad at her for that, but she's hardly dependent on anyone else for anything.

I think there should be some context here, just for comparison. Rhys is ultra rich. He's super fucking rich, obscenely so. This would be like saying "well when Mrs. Bezos got her divorce, wouldn't she starve?" No. Not just because of the settlement, but because she has talent in her own right, and also because she can and will go out and work for a living. But my point with this comparison is that that sort of wealth is not normal, and people can live without it perfectly fine. If Feyre were to no longer have access to that wealth, she would just... be like a normal person again. But not even that, she wouldn't be back at the point where we met her in acotar, because she has gained a lot of power and social, political, and cultural capital since then.

If Feyre and Rhys split, or if he decided to stop allowing her access to his resources, she would probably just move to another court, tbh. She's fae now, and the powers that she was gifted when Made give her a ton of social and political sway as well. Rhys may have the money, but Feyre comes to the relationship with her own strengths that Rhys benefits from as well. Money gives him access to resources that not everyone has, but money is not the only source of power in Prythian.

I would argue that Nesta has found her independence from Feyre, and that's why Nesta isn't actually part of the IC, and that's why Nesta didn't automatically bond with all of them. She didn't want a Rhys handout job because she was tired of being dependent on Feyre. Trust me, Nesta hated herself for that dependence, too. Her besties are Gwyn and Emerie, who are not part of the IC. She's close with Az, and obviously Cassian. Based on how it looks like the story will go, she is going to continue training as a Valkyrie/with Valkyries; she has created her own space within the Night Court. I also think that Nesta finding her independence from Feyre was a necessary part of her healing arc.

Nesta isn't dependent on Cassian, either. Rhys gave her a house, so her situation there is secure. She works at the library, which Cassian has no say over. While Nesta did give up most of her fae power, she still has some, she is still High Fae (which is socially better than being Illyrian), and she is still Valkyrie and Orestian (sp?)

I think the tl;dr is that "power" manifests in multiple ways in Prythian (I wrote about that here), and so we should look at all the different types present that each character has before saying that one is at a disadvantage! Financial dependence can definitely lead to some sketchy situations or relationships, but reducing their relationships just to that ignores a lot of other things we know about the world and characters.

I could probably keep writing about this and I might add on later if I have more thoughts.

[nitronarco]

James x Azul: Why?

Warning: Strong armed opinions with necessary reading under the cut. You have been warned.

James Morgan Biography

I’ve always been a fan of FC x Canon rather than Canon x Canon, but James x Azul is a very different couple in that I can actually feel the love radiating off of them. I can just be insane though, that's also a possibility.

I’ll explain why, but I’ll say I’m terrible of explaining things without going into details and I despise adding examples unless I feel they are crucial (it breaks flow imo). Especially when there's a ready made source material I'm sure most people read or have easy access to read it.

    1.) They are inconjunct personalities with similar circumstances and potential for growth. James and Azul both grew up without their bio-father, the only difference is Azul got a step-dad while James didn’t, and James is jealous Azul at least has one, without understanding deeply Azul’s own feelings towards his step father or any other complexity. Azul meanwhile is jealous that James didn’t have to be marred by such complexities, he didn’t live with his bio-parents and have to listen to their arguing every day before their divorce. I have read @mia-pon289‘s post of how they envision Azul’s family life and I agree with many of their points. There’s a lot of resentfulness towards his mom, but he is clinging to the bio parent he has left, so he’s playing nice with the step-parent in fear his mother might "discard" him like she did with father too.

    Azul doesn’t like the complexities and would rather not suffer at all, so he views James’ complaining as being ungrateful. "You...you dodged a bullet, James."

    Both also have motherly issues, though you could argue for Azul it’s worse. James mother at least took care of him semi-personally, practically despite it being harshly critical. It was more of a boss-secretary (Captain-Cabinboy/First Mate) dynamic. Azul’s mother was more self-absorbed, passionate but distant. She could buy him things, yes, but what about personal relations? Emotional feeding? She didn’t truly act like a mother towards him but more of a benefactor. She never reigned him in for bad behavior as you can tell by his episodes, and not because I think she didn’t care but because she doesn’t intrude on Azul’s private life. She’s too distant, and self-absorbed in her own life; she was and is building and retaining her "empire" of a restaurant. Azul is fascinated by James closeness to his mother and thanks James mom for “breaking him in” to dynamics like this: James understands Octavinelle dynamics right off the bat and can do many things a secretary does. Azul doesn't have to really "train him" like he's done with the Leeches. In fact, Azul could leave the Lounge in James hands without having him run off in the middle of working (Floyd) or dealing with lack of wisdom that experience gives a person (Jade).      Theres also envy too on James side. James envies how Azul’s mom isn’t critical of Azul, and spoiling of him because James himself was treated like an extension of his mom in comparison...emotionally that is, especially that is. James is a complex character in his own right so going into details with his mom is not going to happen now (its messed up in its own way--ever had your mom treat you coldly while you were bent over in pain from a crocodile merfolk bite?), but, the point is: mommy AND daddy issues that they can relate to in a literal sense, but have dealt with these issues in seemingly different ways.

    James and Azul are BOTH introverted inside, but extroverts outside. You can say Jamil and Azul are too but the similarities are perhaps too much in their case: they’d hate eachother eventually if they got together, and with Idia, it’s too friendly--Azul and he would never grow as people and become co-dependent on eachother instead. I believe Azul would genuinely want growth in his relationship because he likes challenges--at least ones where he can end up on top. That changes overtime however, because James is charming and smart about one-upping him. For James and Azul's introverted selves? Azul is less judgemental, James moreso, Azul is more intuitive, James less so, Azul is less rational, James is more, you get the picture. They just click.     Outwardly its the same but opposite, making them not opposites in totality, but complimentary with common ground to meet eachother halfway. Think of a bridge pre-made on opposite sides over a river, but with effort being worked into to meet in the middle it doesn't take long for a connection to be established, the bridge to be built to completion; that's James and Azul. They can compliment as well as bounce off of eachother brilliantly without major conflict destroying the relationship in totality or create a case of "couple limping along together in uncomfortable silence" (dead marriage). James can handle the more humane, Azul those less so. James can let Azul become more in touch with emotions in an even pace and give him the needed practically to put him back on earth while Azul can help James be more logical but passionate as well. James can bring out Azul’s aggressive nature to benefit himself and those around him instead of destroying himself and others, while Azul vice-versa with James pacifistic nature. They can learn so much from eachother.

    2.) Mom and Dad to the Tweels: I’m sorry but if you want to be with Azul you need the twins approval AND respect first. Thankfully, James got both in spades as soon as he introduced himself to them in their first yr. Floyd got attached to him pretty easily because James took Floyd’s wacky nature in stride and proved he can dish it out as well if push came to shove--in fact even MORE than the twins themselves; example being that airhorn incident and punching Jamil (they sensed James can do worse, and they were right). Like with Azul, the twins would NEVER act so out-of-line if they sensed James would seriously retaliate, but unlike Azul, James WILL tease what he can do if they try and mess with him, and WILL go through with it if such provocations continue. Jade followed soon after as he saw how attached Floyd became and Azul’s growing feelings, though he was wearier; his fears were put to rest after seeing James WILL put Azul first before anyone else in episode 4, and can back himself out of whatever situation he put himself in without needing to rely on others (except maybe Azul--which is perfect in Azul’s eyes: Loyalty and dependability only for him is what Azul would want in a mate, and he’d reciprocate the best he can in return. The twins are seen as extensions of Azul in James mind so the twins count in James mind of being loyal to Azul). James acts parental in a way the twins approve of without straying from the friendship dynamic already established: in which their strangeness was accepted but James can and will “play” like an eel with them. He can rein them in and make it look fun, that's the key. James is the strict "mom" to Azul’s stern dad. The pessimist to Azul’s optimist. James will be the "wife" making dinner while Azul is reading the goddamn newspaper on the seat at the table, and the twins are the children playing outside. Both hold authority over the twins, with Jade preferring Azul and Floyd preferring James.

3.) They actually have an established relationship and the feelings they have for eachother are mutual. James and Azul run Octavinelle together despite what you think, they just handle different but interconnected sections. Azul has the Restaurant, James has the Tutoring Center, and together they present the Stage for the Weekend shows. See? They can do teamwork together. They become more interconnected overtime, both people and establishments. Azul and James "canonly" can say they are friends, theres no denying like with Jamil or vagueness like Idia in regards to Azul's relationship with either of them; James will say they are friends publicly and privately. Azul? Yes, though it felt like a foreign word on his tongue surprisingly enough, because here...he actually means it and it's RECIPROCAL (He's happy someone actually considers him a friend and vice-versa). And its no different when they stumble into a relationship, James admitted he likes Azul romantically and sexually, and Azul is HUGELY reciprocating after episode 4 (He was waiting and trying to tease James to admit first before revealing anything about his feelings: that bastard). The only issues they really have getting together are maturity and external factors. It's their first relationship and they are surrounded by so many options for eachother--as well as obviously being teenagers, so its understandable. Not to say those other two relationships I mentioned can't work, but it will require a lot more effort if you want to develop them into something resembling canon and/or "healthy". And honestly...I don't think that's anyone's intention, nor is that wrong since at the end of the day if it makes you happy, go for it. You don't need to prove anything to anyone. Making MY ship and character as close to canonly possible though...that's MY intention (there villain's I can only make it so "healthy"). So here's the journal speaking for me.

4.) I just want my child and my favorite character to have a loving relationship so why not with eachother?

*Extra Thoughts I felt I couldn't put into either either of my above points: I did speak a bit on why Azul could and would see James as "mate" material; he's proven that he's loyal, intelligent, honest, hardworking, capable, etc (plus he's adorable just look at him) but why would James like Azul? Honestly I think its for the exact same reasons why Azul likes James...almost. James likes older, experienced people so he can gain wisdom from, plus chilling with Azul means he doesn't have to put in as much effort to sustain himself...like the Leech twins relationship with Azul honestly. He admitted he would never want to be Dorm Head because its taxing. At least with the Tutoring Center he is doing it for a goal to reach...freeing his mother with a bail-bond.

@Merukyuriaru

[lov3nerdstuff]

Voluptas Noctis Aeternae {Part 6.1}

*Severus Snape x OC*

Summary: It is the year 1983 when the ordinary life of Robin Mitchell takes a drastic turn: she is accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Despite the struggles of being a muggle-born in Slytherin, she soon discovers her passion for Potions, and even manages the impossible: gaining the favor of Severus Snape. Throughout the years, Robin finds that the not quite so ordinary Potions Professor goes from being a brooding stranger to being more than she had ever deemed possible. An ally, a mentor, a friend... and eventually, the person she loves the most. Through adventure, prophecies and the little struggles of daily life in a castle full of mysteries, Robin chooses a path for herself, an unlikely friendship blossoms into something more, and two people abandoned by the world can finally find a home.

General warnings: professor x student, blood, violence, trauma, neglectful families, bullying, cursing

Words: 4.8k

Read Part 1.1 here! All Parts can be found on the Masterlist!

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The weeks at the end of the term flew by like a soft summer breeze. After the accident in the Quidditch stadium, Jorien really had been entirely fine and back to her normal self within a day after the incident in the infirmary, while Robin had been left with a clicking wrist and a small, ragged scar on the side of her neck. It luckily wasn't all too visible unless someone stood really close to her, and she soon had developed a habit of absentmindedly tracing it with her fingertips when she was lost in thought.

Robin had spent the last weeks of school mostly in the potions classroom again, studying for the impending OWLs instead of working in the laboratory, and occasionally she had even gotten Snape to quiz her on other subjects than his own. Then finally, during the week of the theoretical and practical examinations, Robin had been entirely shocked by just how easy the OWLs were in comparison to what she had imagined them to be. It had just been ordinary tests and tasks like she had always received throughout the years, in a bit of a different format perhaps, and she had done her utmost to ace them all.

In the evening after her last exam, while everyone had been out and about celebrating with their friends, Robin had come to the office as always, and when Snape had brought her chocolate cake and coffee for their own kind of celebration, she had finally started crying as all the stress of the past few days and weeks melted from her at last. He hadn't lost a single word about it, and merely had seen to it that her coffee still was hot when her emotional catharsis had been over with.

And just like that the term had ended, and Robin had found herself almost crying again when she had to get on the train back to London. While Cas and Jorien had gone on and on about their summer plans during the ride, Robin had merely stared out of the window and watched the landscape fly by in a calm haze. Putting more and more distance between her and everything she loved.

Finally before she had parted from her role as mentor for the summer as well, she had let the two girls talk her into giving them her address so that they could write letters to her. Robin didn't expect them to actually do so, but oh well… they had been happy when they'd parted at the train station, and that's what mattered.

But only upon her arrival back at her parents' house hours later, Robin had to realize that this summer might quite possibly be the worst one yet. Suitcases everywhere, boxes of books and folders stacked on the stairs, almost empty wardrobes… for a moment, she had believed that either they were moving house, or that her parents were getting divorced. As it turned out though, neither was the case. Her parents simply hadn't deemed it necessary to inform her any sooner that they would be leaving for a research stay in the United States in two days, joining a project at some university in Iowa until their own term here in England would resume. Meaning they would be gone for the next three months.

Honestly, Robin hadn't even been surprised to hear that they hadn't deemed it necessary to ask for her approval, seeing as Robin herself never asked for theirs either. To them, their behavior was perfectly justified by the fact that Robin was almost seventeen and thus old enough to keep the household on her own, and even more so because this research project they were supposed to work on in the states was a 'once in a lifetime opportunity'. To them, Robin obviously had to understand that. And honestly, she did. She understood perfectly well that their careers meant more to them than she ever had, and she'd come to terms with that long ago.

That was why two days later she merely wished them good luck with a feigned smile, assured (but never promised) them that she would call if she had any problems, and waved them goodbye until in a year perhaps, when they would maybe see each other again. Because by the time they would return from the other side of the world, Robin would long be gone back to Hogwarts.

Admittedly, Robin at first wasn't even upset that they were gone. She might not know how to properly do laundry, or how to fix something around the house, but she was a quick study after all. She'd be alright. And there still was the small but pleasant fact that instead of simply giving her an allowance like they had done the years before, her parents simply had given her full access to their general finances and bank accounts for the duration of their absence. At least they seemed to have unconditional trust in her in that regard, that much was obvious.

And yet, the first week of being entirely alone in the large house was challenging. She had to learn to make meals for herself, which honestly wasn't so hard with the help of her mother's cookbooks, as it turned out to be just like potion making. But with food instead of stuff that could kill you. Overall, her first attempts at cooking were mediocre but edible. What turned out to be a bigger issue however, especially in the second week, was the cleaning. She'd only ever manually cleaned her own bedroom before, and seeing as the stupid law about underage magic prohibited her from cleaning the rest of the house with spells, she had to learn on the go how to do it the muggle way. Which was absolutely dreadful. She much preferred the cooking.

It was at the end of her second week of living alone that she received a letter from school. She didn't even bother returning back inside to open it, and simply sat down on the sun heated stairs in front of her house, placing her coffee mug next to her before finally ripping the letter open. Indeed, it was the results of her OWLs… With every line she read, her smile widened a little bit more. She'd received an Exceeds Expectations in astronomy, divination and history of magic, very much as expected, and an Outstanding in charms, transfiguration, herbology, care of magical creatures and potions, also as expected. But she had also received an Outstanding in defense against the dark arts, and she had definitely not expected that. Perhaps Morgan really was the only reason why she'd never gotten more than mediocre grades in the subject, and now that he wasn't the one grading her, it actually made a huge difference.

Robin couldn't stop grinning, and almost forgot her coffee on the stairs as she finally headed back inside and straight to what had once been her parents office. Now it had come to be hers for the time of their absence. She had to tell Snape about this success! Or did he know already? Even if he did, this posed a good enough reason, an excuse to write to him no matter what. So that's just what she did.

She told him of her other grades too and how these results would allow her to take all the classes next year that she had hoped to. After the bittersweet evening that had been her career advice talk, Robin had actually made an effort to come up with a plan of action for the N.E.W.T. classes. She still wasn't entirely sure what she wanted to do after school, but she had figured that it would definitely be something that fell into her prevailing field of interest. Which is why she had decided to definitely continue potions, herbology and care of magical creatures, which she'd honestly never even considered dropping in the first place. Then she had discovered that for sixth and seventh years students, an entirely new class was offered that however required an Outstanding in both potions and transfiguration, and she had very much hoped that she would meet the requirements. Seeing as she did, alchemy was also on her list of classes for next year. Finally, she had decided that she probably could make good use out of continuing charms class, even if it wasn't technically one of her interests. That had been it for the list she'd made. But now, with the results she had received… she seriously started to consider continuing defense against the dark arts as well. She had always enjoyed the class itself greatly, for the topics had actually interested her and she had deemed the contents useful enough, more so than charms even… but she just hadn't been able to imagine willingly putting up with Morgan any longer. Now however, as she saw that her final grade wasn't actually for him to decide over and that she must have learned something from the class (even if she'd done so by herself and outside of class time) if she had received an O, she seriously considered putting up with Morgan for two more years. For the sake of learning.

All of that Robin wrote in her letter to Snape, and it turned out to be quite a bit longer than she would've expected, but she also couldn't really care less. She sent him the letter as it was, and then went ahead to put her exam results on the fridge. It wasn't an official certificate anyway, only a notice of her grades, but she found this small act of protest against her parents' preferences quite gratifying. They hated it when people put stuff onto their fridges, and they would have no choice but to look at Robin's grades if they wanted to remove the paper from its place once they returned.

Two days later, Robin received a letter from Snape in return. He congratulated her on her remarkable results, of course unable to refrain from saying 'told you so' along the lines, and then commented on her intended choice of classes for the next year. Potions, herbology and care of magical creatures he deemed good and reasonable choices, his opinion on charms could be simply put as 'if you really want to', while however he deemed alchemy a nonsensical subject and thereby a waste of her time. Robin considered his words, but decided that she would see for herself if it was worth her time and effort. She could always drop the course after a few classes if she didn't like it. His opinion on defense against the dark arts however wasn't as distinct as Robin would've expected. He saw her point in wanting to learn and enjoying the contents, but he also couldn't deny that –while perhaps he should officially be saying something different– he didn't like the idea of Robin suffering under Morgan for two more years. That didn't make Robin's choice any easier, until she got to the next point in his letter, where he wrote that if she should choose to continue the class indeed, he would help her to deal with it in regard to both Morgan and to the contents. That settled the issue for Robin; she would continue defense against the dark arts, and she would be great in it despite whatever Morgan might do to make her suffer. With Snape on her side, she believed she could get through anything at all. But his letter didn't end with the comments on her class choices, as Robin would've expected. He went on to say that he'd only now received the usual invitation to the conference, belated for whatever screwups there had been, and that he would give it to Robin once more if she wished to attend and didn't already have other plans. The letter ended with that indeed.

What he obviously didn't know was that Robin had received her very own invitation just this morning, and she had every intention to attend either way. Actually, she rather hoped that Snape could be convinced to attend as well. It was just three more days until the conference, and if she wanted to actually receive a reply from him, she would do well to hurry. Thus she sent him a letter in response immediately, telling him of her own invite and that she would attend for sure, but also how that meant he could attend too and that she'd actually like it a lot if he did. She joked in her letter that she'd rather embarrass him in his presence than in his absence, hoping that it would make her sound a little less pleading and a lot less clingy in her request for him to attend together with her. But really, for Robin it all was just a matter of missing him a lot more than she should, and hoping that she would get to see him in a few days rather than in two months. It was worth a shot, and the worst he could do was to say that he didn't want to go.

One day later, Robin received the shortest answer she had ever gotten: Meet me in the entrance hall at seven thirty. We will go together.

… … …

On the day of the conference, Robin got up at four in the morning. Going from Oxford to London by train meant she had to waste quite a while on transportation alone, and then she also had to find the right building once again. All that before seven thirty, obviously.

Due to a prevailing lack of dressing options, she went with the very same skirt from the year prior once again, but paired it with a cream white lacey blouse this time. Victorian style, obviously, for she didn't even own any modern style dress shirts. They were boring, and she felt like the old fashioned style at least gave off the illusion that she belonged into the wizarding world a little more than she felt like she did. It was closer to robes than a t-shirt, after all, and together with her locket and the bracelets, she actually did look fancy enough to fit in with the dress robes everyone else would likely be sporting. The only flaw was the lack of dressy flats that was a direct result of the absence of most of her mother's wardrobe, and thus Robin had to make do with her own low top Doc Martens. What she lost in elegance, she gained in comfort though, and that perhaps was even better. What the old men thought of her clothes wasn't her problem, after all, but theirs. After grabbing her backpack, she locked the house behind herself and was on her way to the train station, even before sunrise.

She arrived at the correct building at precisely seven twenty, and once she walked into the entrance hall, she already spotted the familiar frame clad in black. The smile was on her face before she knew, and she tried to tone it down a bit as she approached him.

"You're early." Robin said once she was close enough, his back facing her until he turned around at the sound of her voice.

"So are you." He replied with risen eyebrows, and a surprisingly well hidden not-smirk. Right… they were among people again. "And quite obviously you never learn." A quick glance down to her apparel had Robin rolling her eyes at him openly.

"Not everyone possesses dress robes! This is the best I can do, alright? I don't come in a deluxe edition." She sighed, but his choice of words had made it obvious enough that it was a humorous complaint rather than a serious one, and thus Robin's smile lingered on her lips.

"I am merely concerned for those old creeps' dusty hearts. They might suffer a seizure because of you, and I am not in the mood to hide a body today." He said in feigned annoyance, before placing a hand on the small of Robin's back as they made for the stairs. The touch had her skin crawling in an instant, and her own heartbeat echoing in her ears despite the noise of the people around them.

"If they're being creeps in the first place, I honestly couldn't care less what they think." She finally replied, confidently for the most part, once they stepped into the correct hallway. "This is a potions conference, not a fashion show. And I expect to be respected no matter what I wear or how old I am."

"Doesn't it ever get annoying?"

"What?" Robin frowned at his out of context question, and the short halt in her movement had his hand pressing against her back just a little firmer. It wasn't intentional, but she wouldn't complain either.

"Being right all the time." He sighed quietly, and Robin had to smile. Good to hear they were on the same page. "As long as I do not receive letters from people gushing over you again, I couldn't care less what they think either."

"What's so bad about people gushing over me?"

"Perhaps we should discuss this at a different time." He mused, just as they stepped up to the table in front of the conference room again. The same old man Robin had met last year was sitting behind it, with a friendly smile and studious eyes.

"Ah, Miss Mitchell! How delightful to see you here again." He said even before either Robin or Snape could as much as show him their invitation cards. "I needn't see your invite, I am well aware that you must have received one."

"You remember my name?" Robin asked with a small frown that gave away just a hint of her surprised confusion, and accepted the name tag the old man held out to her. He really did remember her name… R. Mitchell, written in perfect cursive.

"I doubt that a single person in that room doesn't remember you, dear." He laughed in return. "And those who pretend they don't, you can kindly ignore."

"Thank you." She returned with a small smile, and then looked up at Snape while she stuck her name tag onto her blouse. He looked as annoyedly unimpressed as he always did around his students, and Robin's smile turned into a smirk.

"You are the one who gave Miss Mitchell the invitation last year! Lucky fellow you are if you have a friend like her…" The old man addressed Snape then as he had looked at his invite for a second, and Robin could've straight out laughed at the scowl on Snape's face.

"Indeed." He said however, in a neutral drawl that let on neither disapproval nor actual agreement. Perhaps he simply didn't want to bother correcting the man, or perhaps he did see her as something like a friend by now. Who knew. Either way, it filled Robin with a joyous excitement.

Once they went on into the conference room, they barely had time to find two empty seats at the back before people Robin vaguely remembered started entrapping her in conversations. A few people who seemed to know Snape also approached him, but he got to take his seat eventually while Robin was more or less unwillingly passed on from wizard to wizard for the sake of conversations she didn't want to be having in the first place. But she'd promised herself to be polite, and so she smiled and sometimes suffered through all of them until at last they were asked to take their seats for the lectures to begin.

With a sigh of relief, Robin finally found her chair next to Snape and dropped down in contentment at being done with the smalltalk.

"I had no idea you were so… in demand." He commented quietly while Robin dug out a notebook and pen from the depths of her backpack.

"I wish I wasn't! Honestly, I couldn't care less about which great jokes someone came up with, or who else had mentioned my name in whatever conversation." She groaned under her breath, rolling her eyes at the insane amount of nonsense she had previously been exposed to. "Like I am anyone worth bragging to…"

"You are the only one who lets them brag without cutting in with your own great achievements."

"Right. Because I don't have any in the first place. I passed my OWLs, that's as good as it gets."

"You discovered a spell for finding nocturnal flowers almost effortlessly. Improved a healing potion. Discovered how to come by Alteria pearls."

"I discovered how to make you smile." Robin added quietly, and instantly bit her lip as if that would take the words back.

"That surely is your greatest achievement of them all, yes." He scoffed in dripping sarcasm, and Robin had to snort at his words, which drew a little too much attention to them, but only for a short moment.

"At least it's my favorite one." She finally said, shrugging a little as she stared down at her notebook with a smile of her own.

"Good." He replied, in that way that said more than he did. "Now focus on the lecture or I will make you."

"I'd like to see you try." Robin smirked, but turned her attention to the person on the pedestal nonetheless, who had only just gotten past an introduction.

"I am sure you would."

… … …

The lectures were fairly interesting as they had been in the last year as well, but the discussions were merely mediocre. That was why throughout those parts, Robin and Snape kept on making comments to each other about the people around them as well as the topics discussed, at every given opportunity. It was hilarious, even if not the nicest thing to do, or rather especially because it wasn't. But it truly was inevitable, for every time Robin tried to stop the comments from spilling past her lips, he tripped her back into it and the other way round as well. During the lectures however they truly stopped humoring each other in order to listen, and as a gesture of respect for the person talking.

It was only in the afternoon, long after the lunch break, that the good mood was threatened by the next person taking the speaker's desk; Kenneth Crowe, the very man Robin had embarrassed last year. And obviously he as well as everyone else in the room seemed to remember that in the same moment she did, for multiple eyes were on Robin in an instant. She sat up straighter, subtly shifting in her seat in discomfort. They seemed to expect something of her, something specific, but she couldn't fathom what it was even as they kept glancing at her while the man started his lecture. Just to give her hands something to do, Robin tied the wavy mess on her head into a bun and fixated it with her pen. Then she dug out another one from her backpack, twisted it between her fingers as she tried to focus on the lecture, but eventually put it down on her notebook and instead let her fingertips trace over the delicate scar on her neck. The certainty that at least one pair of eyes that wasn’t Snape’s was on her constantly made her heart rate explode, and everything was suddenly louder than the lecture. Her heartbeat, the rustling of paper, the low humming of the ventilation system…

"Remember to breathe." Snape's deep voice barely reached her ears, be it for his quiet tone or her state of distraction. "You have nothing to fear."

"But what if the idiot up front asks me something I don't know the answer to? As a late revenge? I will embarrass you and everyone will laugh at me."

"How likely is it that he will ask you a question that neither you nor I can answer?" He asked in return, and Robin had to admit that he had a point. "In the worst case, you do not always need to know the answer to a question to reply to it. Distract them; tell them something you do know instead."

"I can do that, I think…" Robin nodded to herself, and the relentless racing of her heart was slowly calmed down by a warm blanket of reassurance.

"Obviously you can. You play other people's games by your own rules all the time, and I do not know anybody else who is nearly as good at it as you are." He said, as if it was just another fact, a natural law he didn't doubt, and Robin smiled down at her notebook for a moment. His trust in her abilities was reassuring, if not delightfully empowering. And she couldn't help smiling on, as she finally turned to listen to the lecture.

Kenneth Crowe presented the very same healing potion as last year, in a revised version with improvements and the most recent developments in his reach. And while he did admit to the mistake that Robin had called out last year, he claimed that her suggestion to use Plangentine had, in fact, not worked out, which for him had resulted in a multitude of partially still unsolved problems. Robin's jaw dropped at that, and out of the corner of her eyes she saw that Snape wore his usual irritated scowl as well; They had used Plangentine, and very much succeeded in it. However, it hadn't technically been legal that they had even made the potion in the first place, and thus they both remained silent about it. At least towards Crowe and the other attendees in the open discussion that followed upon the lecture, which unfortunately consisted mostly of praise for the man and his work.

"They kneel before his throne unaware that it was built on lies." Snape complained quietly, glaring at Crowe who bathed in the attention he was getting. It really was a mystery why he would lie about the Plangentine… either he hadn't even tried it out, or he was trying to hide that it had worked indeed.

"Worry not, for they will see his lies to be but the ashen path to our castle of masterful deceit." Robin replied with a small smile as she looked at Snape next to her, and he raised an eyebrow in surprise as he returned her gaze at last.

"Where did you get that from?"

"Oh, you know... the craters of hell." She smirked, shrugging a little. "No seriously, I just made it up to humor you."

"Pity. I was wondering what our castle of masterful deceit might look like."

"Oh I do have an idea for-..."

"Miss Mitchell, if I may request your attention for a moment…" Crowe spoke up loudly enough to interrupt Robin in her quiet explanation, and she tried not to look too startled as she turned to look at the man at the front. "I would like to give you the opportunity to defend your proposition of the last year, even if proven wrong, if you please. Perhaps your idea can still prove useful in its origin?"

Something small within Robin snapped, and she remembered just why she had never regretted embarrassing this man. He was an arse from top to bottom, and gone was her decision to try not to upset him further. He was begging for it, and Robin would let herself be dragged into his pettiness for once.

"If you expect me to defend myself for something I still believe to be correct, you are mistaken. I will not. I stand with my suggestion from the previous year to use Plangentine." She started rather diplomatically, testing the waters Crowe was willing to enter here. It sufficed to raise some whispering.

"Well, seeing as it obviously did not work, you would do well to let go of such childish stubbornness and adapt to the methods of science! This is a professional event and not a tea party!" He replied in a sharp tone, and honestly Robin simply had to smile. This was ridiculous… how could adults indeed be so incredibly childish? She couldn't even feel properly insulted when he said things like this!

"May I?" Robin asked with a smile, turning to Snape with a humored expression.

"Please do." He replied with equal amusement. "I would do it myself, but I gladly surrender him to you."

With a deep breath and a polite smile, Robin turned back to Crowe. She had every intention not only to blow holes into his ship, but to send it to the bottom of the goddamn ocean of his own tears.

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[thessalian]

Thess vs Final Review

So before I launch myself into Horizon Zero Dawn New Game + (mostly to just annihilate it and appreciate the story again - you can take your mechanical challenge and stick it because I hurt; I forever hurt and I just want the story and the wandering and the getting all the text datapoints and feeling like an unstoppable badass for once) in a bid to distract myself from being barred from work by medical mandate (which is probably entirely fair but capitalism and what it’s done to the concept of work ethic causes a psychological issue when I torture myself psychologically for not torturing myself physically in service to the Great God ECONOMY but never miiiiiiind)... Let’s talk about the game itself, now that I’ve hit the end of it.

I’m actually now a little pissed off that it was set in the USA. I mean, I do get why, but I’m fucking tired of the US being the centre of the universe insofar as entertainment is concerned. I mean, Guerrilla is Dutch. Then again, purchased by Sony and everyone caters to the Americans in this kind of thing because America is the centre of the universe insofar as entertainment media is concerned. If it’s English-speaking media, it has to be set somewhere that Americans will recognise and the assumption is that anyone who doesn’t live in the US will know or figure it out because, again, USA = Centre of Entertainment Universe (at least the English-speaking bits of it). I guess I just wish there’d been a little bit more focus on what Zero Dawn did to the rest of the world, at minimum. I mean, there had to have been Cradles around the world, right? They couldn’t just ignore every other land mass. I guess it’s possible, though, given that they were racing the clock at that point, and given they were expecting the next generation to have access to all the information they’d need to spread out across the globe via APOLLO.

Speaking of, since I was playing this with @true0neutral riding virtual shotgun, we’ve been debating what happened wtih APOLLO. Yeah, it was apparently entirely purged. Which, fair. But @true0neutral is desperately clinging to the idea that there’s a backup somewhere. I have significant cause to doubt it. I get the wanting to believe that, though. It’s like the burning of the Library of Alexandria but worse: the sum of human knowledge (minus a few bits of European torture porn), wiped out entirely. Still, I can also see why the individual responsible did it, even if I’m not sure I agree with it. I can see it both from the culprit’s perspective ... and from the plot-demands perspective, as well. There’s a general sense of the shape of the social, political, economic and cultural landscape hinted at in the text and audio datapoints that it’d be hellish to have to try to explain in terms of how we got to that point. Star Trek largely gets away with it by just not addressing it, but that’s not as easy when it comes to interactive media.

Of course, we’re also now on whether the proto-APOLLO - the one in space, with no checkreins or restrictions, which apparently blew up - is the cause of the subordinate functions being divorced from GAIA, and what this might mean for the rest of the subordinate functions; if HADES and HEPHAESTUS went nuts, what happens when, say, DEMETER or ARTEMIS do? I posited that there’s at least some checkrein on the worst of that because HADES was just doing what it was designed to do: reboot the world by wiping the slate clean. It’s tempting to see HADES as evil, but it was just following instructions ... unfortunately without one key piece of data: that the ecosystem didn’t need rebooting. Beyond that, it functioned exactly according to specs, doing whatever was necessary to get back to fully functional and eat the world. HEPHAESTUS, same deal. It was supposed to design whatever animals it felt the world needed ... but divorced from GAIA, it couldn’t necessarily tell whether it was safe to bring out the mechanical apex predators. Which brings us to ARTEMIS and DEMETER - land-based plants and animals respectively. Now, while they were both divorced from GAIA, the question becomes whether they were linked separate from GAIA - which would honestly have made sense from a coding perspective. After all, if you’re developing plants and animals, you’re going to need to balance both in order to have a functioning ecosystem, and someone like Tom Paech would not have been happy with even the slightest threat that ARTEMIS would have to function without DEMETER. He would have insisted on a redundancy in that instance. If ARTEMIS went crazy setting animals loose when the ecosystem wasn’t ready for them, they’d just die. ARTEMIS is still clearly waiting on the release of meat-and-bone apex predators because, if nothing else, they can’t eat machines and there aren’t enough boars to feed the big meat-eaters. Plus the human population, who would also be prey for apex predators, is having enough predation by machine life to be able to cope with, for instance, mountain lions hungry enough to hunt humans.

I reckon he’s probably right about the proto-APOLLO being the source of the signal that ‘freed’ the other subordinate functions, mind, if only because HADES knew things that were more in APOLLO’s bailiwick - which is why Sylens was so keen to work with HADES in the first place. I can say this now that I’m not in the run up to Grand Climactic Battle or Other Revelations, but I admit to getting a little snappy when I was trying to gear up for Big Boss Battle and I’m getting meta thrown at my head. (Sorry, Smeagol.)

But, see, this is what I mean about the game having so much fucking depth. I read some reviews where people were talking about “middle-of-the-road mechanics, same as any other open-world game, just shooting at enemies - not even a lot of variety in those, by the way - and sitting through pointless cutscenes”. POINTLESS?!? Dude, what game were you fucking playing? Why do some people feel somehow offended when story trumps mechanical challenge? What’s wrong with a story? Are these the same people that think that reading books is for wimps or whatever? Is this more of the anti-intellectualism that’s been taking over some aspects of society like some kind of plague?

Anyway. Point is that this game has a lot to say about a lot of things. How to build a world. How to build a society. How what you do is more important than who or what you are. The importance of knowledge, and its cost. Sacrifice. Respect, and when it should be given. (I was particularly fond of Avad going, “My hitting on you before was entirely inappropriate and I am really really sorry” before the battle, just by the by.) How sometimes it’s the little things that matter. (Teb, who remembers the kindness you did him even when it violates all societal laws and is there for you right at the very end.) Hope. Love. Trust, and when it’s not justified.

And if you people think that Solas was a grand betrayal, you have not played this game and met fucking Sylens. I AM JUST SAYING.

Yeah. Gonna play this one again. I know how it ends now. Don’t care. It’s like rereading my favourite book over and over again. (And yeah, I tagged for spoilers but let’s face it - half of these are more temptation to play the game to find out what I’m talking about than giving that much away.)

[sellyourtomballhousefastforcash]

Sell Your Tomball House Fast For Cash: 8 Things You Should Know

Everyday, people are going homeless and lots are depressed due to various problems ranging from divorces to foreclosures issues, bad loans and threats from the government due to unauthorized use of lands and property in Tomball. Fortunately, the real estate management business has brought smiles to a lot of people’s faces as they help them sell off their houses in exchange for dollars. But how do you sell your Tomball house fast for cash?

We buy Tomball houses for cash regularly, this is why Preferred House Buyers have taken it upon themselves to provide the basic knowledge you need for successfully selling your house in exchange for cash as soon as possible.

Here are 8 most important facts you need to know before you sell your Tomball house. #1. KNOW THE TECHNIQUE OF HOUSE SELLING. There are different ways to sell your Tomball house which will earn you fast cash, and one of these is location. The location of your house matters a lot because the better the location, the higher your money. Vice versa. But with cash buyers, that does not matter, and that also will not reduce the price you intend to sell it.

After considering your location, you need to do a house check. What do you have to do to improve the outlook of your house? If you think you need some refurbishing and general renovation, You need not to worry about these as all will be done by the buyers.

#2. GET THE REAL DEAL There is something about properties that are handled by cash buyers. They are done best, and that’s just it. No, they do not  take 6% of the closing price, like a realtor, they pay you instead. That way, you’re able to gain extra dollars.

As cash buyers in Tomball, Preferred House Buyers specialize in helping you clear your debt in case of foreclosure issues, buy your mortgage and help you fix your fixer upper you don’t want to fix.

How do you find them? All you need to do is contact them online. Something like “sell your Tomball house” and there you have it. It’s more advisable to have your home sale done by a direct buyer, if you want fast cash within a short period of time.

#3. INVOLVE A DIRECT BUYER Aside from the fact that they buy houses in spite of its condition, another good thing is that you don’t need to worry about how to fix mortgage issues or clear your bills and dues. Preferred House Buyers take care of all that without any hitch, also making your relocation easy and helping you to have extra cash for other things.

As a direct buyer, they act as a middle man in the sales of your houses. Moreso, most times,  All you just need to do is provide all documents and every other necessary thing, including pictures of your home for them in case you want to contact us online.

#4. BE VISIBLE ONLINE Harness the internet by making your house visible online. You have to update your local listing marketing in order to increase your chances of getting potential customers and having fast dollars.

How do you go about this? By adding personalized clickable links to your description, uploading clean and clear pictures of your house, and including your phone number and email if necessary. This way, they can find you and be at your doorstep as soon as possible.

#5. BE PROFESSIONAL This is most important especially if you’re negotiating as a house owner with your buyer. It’s no competition when dealing with your buyer. You’re only trying to sell to them. So, you should be courteous and professional as possible.

Another thing to do is to follow up after negotiating and discussion. This is where most house owners get it wrong. Following up is just as important as negotiating. So, never underestimate the power of follow up. Let them know you are serious about your home sales.

#6. UPDATE REGULARLY Another good thing about having a direct buyer is  that they try as much as possible to check the market for current sales prices for you. Imagine not knowing about a sales swing in the market, you may end up over-pricing or under-pricing your property as FSBO.  Considering the fact that you may still have to pay your hired agent 6% after closing price, this may result in a loss for you. Hence, they help you avoid that.

#7. DEPERSONALIZE YOUR HOUSE If there is another thing that boost your home sale aside the above listed options, then it is depersonalizing and decluttering of your home. This cannot be overemphasized. This is to avoid whoever is moving into your new home seeing your things scattered all around. So, remove all personal belongings and declutter your garage, and you are on your way to top dollars.

#8. GET ALL DOCUMENTS READY Organising all proper and relevant documents, sorting out bank loans, taxes, government and utilities bills together with no foreclosures issues increases your chances of selling fast to at least 50% and that’s why we do all of these on your behalf with you out of the picture.

Moreso, you need to put a word out to your neighbors, friends and colleagues who could help you contact us faster, in case you cannot get access to the Internet to find us in your area.

Also, make sure that your energy performance certificate (EPC) is valid and up to date, that is the only thing required of you.

Final Thought.

Direct buyers are more like problem solvers for the distressed and depressed. They act as the solution for the divorced and people having mortgage issues with little or no financial capabilities. People relocating and foreclosures inclusive.

Selling your Tomball house is no hat-trick, but following the proper procedures and engaging cash buyers is sure the best way you can sell your Tomball house fast. So, be on the lookout for them and make yourself happy forever.

[lovingangelobservation]

2021 Updated Manifestation Magic

It’s not often that we come across a “law of attraction” type of product that helps you with love. Most of these products are concerned with wealth creation and living an abundant life.

But… we also live in a world where divorce rates are at an all-time high.

Relationships break up over the most trivial matters. The bookstores are filled with books such as “He’s Just Not That Into You” and “Men are From Mars. Women are from Outer Space”, etc.

All these books are about trying to find the right partner or manage a crumbling relationship. Some of the authors who wrote these books are divorced too!

So, our curiosity was piqued when we came across Manifestation Magic and one of our reviewers said that it helped her with her love life. Nothing whatsoever on the sales page mentioned anything about love.

It seemed to be all about wealth. So why did it work?

We decided to take a closer look at the program…

What You’ll Find Inside:

Before looking at the benefits of Manifestation Magic, let’s look at what you get – and you do get a lot.

Quick Start Manifestation Guide (PDF, Kindle, iBook versions)

Twilight Transformation Energy Orbiting Track

7 “Energy Orbiting” Tracks to Enhance Chakra Wealth Energy.

The “Push Play” Audio App

60-Day, Money-Back Guarantee

Bonus #1 - Chakra Power System

Bonus #2 - 360 Transformation System

2 Surprise Bonuses – The Abundance Miracle System & 7 Sacred Signs

This package sure doesn’t hold back. We were quite surprised to receive so much content for a reasonably low price.

Manifestation Magic is a complete system that’s more comprehensive than most books in this genre… BUT… content alone isn’t enough.

There is still one VERY IMPORTANT question that must be answered…

Will Manifestation Magic Help You?

Actions that matter: The biggest problem we had with books like The Secret was that all you had to do was think positively to see results. This Pollyanna approach to manifesting wealth or anything in life sounds good, but rarely works. Manifestation magic requires you to listen to the audios. This is work. It’s not hard work – but it’s necessary work.

Builds a strong foundation: The reason why Manifestation Magic works and has positive testimonials is because of the science behind it. You're gently taken from a place of lack to a place of abundance. This is crucial. The reason it helps you with your health is because it creates thought patterns within your mind where you are more focused and stick to your goals. The expertly designed sonic landscape in the audios will induce a state of calm attention where you don’t lose focus and renege on the promises you made to yourself. Manifestation Magic is not only about wealth. It fixes the underlying and fundamental issues in your thinking that is sabotaging every aspect of your life in one way or another. It helps you to get healthy and stay healthy . It's very difficult to do this solely with books, because we are creatures of habit. So, by listening to the audios, we can delve deeply into the mind and fix the inconsistencies that are sabotaging our efforts. Manifestation Magic does this better than any book we've seen.

Consistency:By asking you to listen to the tracks daily, Manifestation Magic builds patterns of thought and habits without you even realizing it. You’re becoming more positive and your thinking is elevated to the next level.

Clearing out the trash: No amount of positive thinking can work if you’re still stuck in your old patterns of thinking. It’s like applying nail polish on a rash to hide it. You must treat the problem. Manifestation magic has “Energy Orbiting” audio sessions to clear abundance blocks in your mind. By clearing the old obstacles, your path will now be clear to manifest miracles without your attempts being impeded.

All-Encompassing System: On the surface, Manifestation magic looked like just another run-of-the-mill self-help product. We were so wrong. There are audios, a QuickStart guide and about 14 bonus audios that will help you with your wealth, love life, spirituality, etc. It’s so much more than a wealth attraction product and it lived up to its promises.

Easy to use: There’s no denying the fact that it’s easier to listen to audios rather than force yourself to think and visualize positive images when your life around you is in shambles. Manifestation Magic is a very practical and down-to-earth program that understands that you need to make changes WITHIN before you can make changes in your life. The canvas must be clean before you can create a masterpiece. We loved the audio tracks with the gentle pulsating sounds!

Genuine Testimonials: The official sales page has reviews from customers who have tried the product and seen changes in their life. That’s social proof that the audio tracks deliver on the promise.

Instant access: This is a digital product. You’ll get instant access to it and can start changing your immediately. No shipping costs or delays.

60-Day Money Back Guarantee: This point alone shows the abundance mindset that Alexander has. He has so much faith in his product that he has given you enough time to test out the product and make changes in your life.

If it doesn’t work, you can always get your money back. We’re guessing that you won’t because Manifestation Magic will add magic in your life. Still, it’s a risk-free purchase.

What are Subliminal Messages and NLP?

Subliminal messages have been around for decades. Terms such as ‘self-hypnosis’, ‘binaural beats’ etc. have been used to describe audio tracks that gently work on reprogramming your subconscious mind while you sleep. These tracks are easy to use because they require very little effort on your part. All you do listen to them when you’re in a sleepy and more suggestive state.

NLP refers to neurolinguistic programming and it was invented by Richard Bandler and John Grinder. NLP is used to change your behavioral patterns by altering your neurological processes. It’s akin to creating new outcomes by changing your habits.

What makes Manifestation Magic so powerful is that the audio tracks that come with this program infuse both subliminal messages and NLP. That makes these tracks even more potent and effective.

Any downsides to this product?

There are a few downsides. No product is perfect… and thankfully, the only 2 cons we could fine were just minor issues.

1) Can only be purchased online You’ll not be able to purchase this product from a bookstore. It’s a digital product and you need a computer and an internet connection to access and download it.

The product vendors intentionally made it this way so that they could keep the production costs low and make it affordable to the masses - and help as many people as possible.

2) Audio tracks may not be suitable for everyone Some people may find it difficult to listen to the tracks because the frequency may be jarring to them. This is a very small minority – but it happens.

The good news is that you just need to contact the support team of Manifestation Magic and they’ll mix a new audio track for you with a different frequency that you can easily listen to – and they will do it for FREE! Excellent customer support here.

Should You Buy It?

Definitely! This product delivers what it says on the tin. You’re backed by a guarantee and you’ve nothing to lose and everything to gain.

It bridges the gap between visualization and results. The audios will accelerate your results if you’re already practicing daily visualization. It’s the missing piece of the puzzle.

There must be action, if you wish to see results. Listening to the audios is the action that you must take to change your life fast and manifest the health you wish to see.

Wealth, love, good health and whatever you want is within reach. It will take some effort. You’ll need to consistently listen to the videos and follow Alexander’s advice to the letter – but now you finally have a blueprint to success.

You’re not taking shots in the dark. You have a tool to fix what’s not working within you… and once you change your ‘inside’, your outside will change miraculously… and you’ll NEVER look back.

Manifestation Magic gets two thumbs up from us.

[timelordthirteen]

Killing Time 25/35

Detective Weaver/Belle French, Explicit

Summary: A Woven Beauty Law & Order-ish AU. Written for Writer’s Month 2019.

Chapter Summary: Belle gets contemplative about her future with Weaver.

Notes: For my August Writer's Month prompt #6: Is that my shirt? This is a bit of filler that only vaguely progresses the plot, but it's necessary to setup Belle's frame of mind for what's to come. Also an excuse to write more flirty idiots because how could I not with that prompt?

[AO3]  

The next day, Belle was still riding high on the revelation that Charlie Dunn, the second victim, was also adopted from Nevada.

She woke up early, and was already working and on her second cup of coffee when Weaver finally rolled out of bed around seven. Whatever had been causing her headaches and weird stomach issues, seemed to have left as suddenly as it came, which reinforced her belief that it was a mild bug from something she ate.

It was essential that they obtain the rest of the birth records on the victims as well as the Tremaines’ foster children. She spent most of the morning filling out request forms for the Clark County Clerk’s Office, one for each victim, one for Eloise, and one for her husband. They probably hated her by now, but if things panned out the way she thought they would, she would buy the whole office lunch on her. Her afternoon consisted of making inquiries locally for whatever birth records were available on the other victims. That had yielded little so far, aside from confirming that three more had been born out of state.

Weaver pushed the office door open, and Belle looked up from her laptop.

“We found Eloise Tremaine’s apartment,” he announced, walking over to the desk as he took off his leather jacket.

Belle’s eyebrows lifted. “Where? How?”

He set down a piece of scrap paper with an address on it in Detective Rogers’ handwriting. “Here, and it really helps once you know the victim’s actual name, and the name of the company that actually pays for the apartment.”

She frowned. “What company?”

Weaver dropped down into one of the chairs opposite her. “Robert Tremaine’s. Perrault Developments, Inc.” Belle’s frown deepened, and he continued, “which he inherited from his uncle, James Perrault.”

“Why do I know that name?” she asked, leaning back in her chair.

“I’m told it’s the name of the French guy who wrote Cinderella.”

Her face went through several expressions before she shook her head. “I’m surprised that you know that.”

He laughed. “I don’t. Rogers’s Googled the name and half the results were for Charles Perrault.”

Her lips curled. “So you two fell down a Wikipedia rabbit hole on your way to finding our victim’s residence?”

“Something like that.” He stretched a bit and rolled his shoulders, no doubt stiff from a whole day of driving around the city. “Anyway, the apartment was in the name of the company, and it never came up in any of our inquiries for missing renters, because the rent was still being paid.”

Belle leaned forward and rested her arms on the desk. “By a dead woman?”

“By an offshore account.”

“Of course.” She sighed. “Well, that explains why we couldn’t find any credit history on Eloise if she’s been living off the company money, and paying everything in cash or with the company account.

“Yeah,” he agreed. “We’ve got enough now to get all the information we want on Tremaine’s business. Maybe there’s some other connections to our victims from that.”

She picked up the paper with the address and did a quick search to see what part of the city it was in while he was talking. “Do we have access to the apartment yet?”

“Rogers is working on it. The landlord has already been notified, but he’s being a stickler for having the warrant before he lets us in.”

“Good for him, I guess.” Belle sighed again, and then pushed back from the desk. “I filled all the requests with Clark County, and found almost nothing locally for birth records. Damon, Chelsea, and Melissa, were all born out of state, but I don’t know where yet.”

“That’s something, though,” he said, trying to be encouraging. He knew how much she hated the tedium of paperwork and formal requests. “By next week we should have all of the records back, if not sooner. And tomorrow we get to see how Eloise Gardener lived.”

“I want to go with you.” She met his eyes with a stern look to let him know she was serious and would not be left back at the office while he and Rogers rooted through Eloise’s apartment. “I want to be there.”

He nodded in understanding. “Should have the warrant before lunch.” Then he smiled. “I think that’s enough for now. Ready to call it a day?”

She smiled back, already bending down to pull out her purse. “Yes please.”

He stood and lifted his jacket from the back of the chair. “I was thinking I’d make alfredo tonight.”

Pausing with her purse strap hanging awkwardly from her hand and one arm in her coat, Belle looked at him wide eyed, starting to smile. “That’s my favorite.”

Weaver licked his lips. “I know.”

Belle sighed and closed her eyes as her head fell forward, letting the hot water run down over her neck and shoulders.

It wasn’t an exaggeration to say she loved this shower. The bathroom had been a huge selling point when they first looked at the apartment, though that seemed like a lifetime ago. It had been too easy to settle back into a routine with Weaver, and while there had certainly been solace in the familiar, especially in the aftermath of being attacked in her own home, there was still apprehension. The conversation over the state of their relationship had never really taken place, and both of them seemed loath to rock the boat while so much was happening with the case, but she had been exploring her thoughts on the matter more and more.

Her session with Dr. Hopper had touched on it as well, and Archie had openly asked her if she wanted to reconcile officially with Ian. That was the penultimate question of course, and leave it to Archie to skip any formalities or attempts to ease into the topic. He knew her too well. Still, the idea made her smile.

A few months ago it would have earned a glare or a door slam, and a firm contradiction, so this was, by any standard, a great deal of progress.

Belle finished her shower and exited the bathroom in nothing but a towel. As she padded across the floor to the bedroom, Weaver glanced up from his laptop with a raised eyebrow and let out a low whistle. She threw him a look before she stepped into the bedroom and heard him chuckling as she closed the door.

Her skin felt tingly and warm, and she knew it was from more than just the water. The last couple of weeks she’d found herself almost distracted by her attraction to Weaver, and the pleasing banter and light teasing they had established between them only made it worse. She had to admit that he was different now than he’d been when they were first together, though she was uncertain what it meant. It made her want to stay, to get back together officially, in a way that left no doubt for either of them. But it also made her want to do all manner of naughty things.

Smiling to herself, she pulled on a pair of soft cotton pajama shorts and started digging in one of her bags for a shirt. Most of her work things were back in the closet, but with only one dresser, her casual clothes were relegated to a suitcase and two duffel bags. Frowning as she pulled out everything except what she was looking for, she reached into the inside pocket of the bag and pulled out something unexpected.

A small black box tumbled to the floor, and she hesitated for a long moment before picking it up.

Belle sat on the edge of the bed and swallowed hard, running her thumb back and forth over the soft velvet. She knew what was inside, but she hadn’t looked at it in a long time. With the way she’d been feeling towards Weaver lately, she wasn’t sure she should, fearful that it might bring up the wrong memories. Closing her eyes for a second, she flipped the box open.

The diamond sparkled even in the low light from the lamp on the nightstand.

She plucked it free, turning it this way and that, and making small shapes on the floor when it caught the light just right. Holding the band, she slid the tip of her finger in and out of the ring, feeling the smooth, cool metal. Before, in the weeks and months immediately after their divorce, she would take it out every now and then, and look at it. It usually resulted in her having a good cry and stress eating an entire sleeve of Oreos. She’d only brought it with her from her apartment because it was with her other jewelry, and though she’d known it was packed into one of the bags, it had been put out of her mind.

On impulse, she pushed it over her knuckle and settled it on the appropriate finger. Her hand flexed as she admired it, pleased that it still fit perfectly and didn’t look to be in any need of cleaning. She expected it to feel strange, since she rarely ever wore rings before she was married, and hadn’t on that finger since their separation. Bracelets and rings had always bothered her when she had to type or write, and throughout university and law school she was forever taking them off and putting them in her bag, finding them days later. But this ring had never been a hindrance, and she barely even noticed it as she worked. It wasn’t heavy or gaudy, and it didn't have so many facets and points as to snag her clothes.

Shaking her head, she quickly pulled it off and set it back in the box, and put the box back in the inside pocket where it had been before going back to looking for her nightshirt. Strangely, she kept looking down at her hand as she rummaged through the laundry basket. After being on her finger for only a minute or so, it made no sense that her hand would be missing the ring’s presence.

With a huff, she gave up trying to find the shirt that matched her shorts, and turned around to look for something else to wear, when her eyes landed on something of Weaver’s that had been mixed in with her laundry. She picked up his very faded and well worn Celtic Football Club shirt, and immediately pulled it over her head. The fabric was soft from years of wear and washing. It might have been her imagination, but even though it was clean there was the faintest hint of his scent on it and she pulled it up to her nose and inhaled.

Smiling, she opened the door and stood there, leaning against the doorframe until she was noticed.

“Is that my shirt?” Weaver asked, setting the laptop down on the coffee table.

Belle shrugged one shoulder and sauntered towards him, letting her desire add an extra sway to her hips. “Is it? It was in the laundry basket with my things.”

“Hmm, was it…” he said, leaning back on the sofa as a grin curved his lips. “Maybe that’s because you’re always stealing it.”

Her eyebrows lifted. “Are you accusing me of a crime, Detective?”

His throat bobbed as he swallowed, watching her step around the coffee table to stand in front of him.

“Do you want it back?” she asked, putting one knee on the sofa beside his hip.

“No,” Weaver replied, licking his lips. “Looks better on you than it ever did on me.”

She brought her other knee down and straddled him, holding her body away from his. He held her waist, already bunching the shirt as she leaned over him. “Too bad.”

"Why's that?"

She felt his hands slide down to her backside and then up, lifting the shirt as his palms moved up her back. His hips shifted forward, and she allowed him to pull her down just a little as a low ache settled in her core.

Her lips brushed his, teasing him with the wet heat of her breath. “I was going to tell you to come and take it.”

[libertyreads]

Best and Worst Books of 2020

This has been a mess of a year for everyone, but I actually managed to get a lot of books read. I decided to repeat this post from last year because I enjoyed going back through all the things I read and remembering how I felt about them.

I’ll try to avoid any repeats, but I’m sure it’ll happen at some point. If you want more info about my feelings on these books, check out my ratings and reviews on GoodReads.

Best Sci-Fi: This one was such an easy pick for me. All Systems Red by Martha Wells. This whole series just knocks it out of the park. The Murderbot Diaries is a series about a Security Bot who hacks their governor module so they can just watch their shows all day. Too bad the humans they’re assigned to protect are getting into trouble left and right. Worst Sci-Fi: Starstruck by Brenda Hiatt. I remember this being a free e-book that I picked up this year. I explained it to my husband as a sci-fi version of Twilight. You get a small town nerdy girl with few friends who suddenly becomes important when this alien boy pays attention to her. It was definitely a book of its time. Best Fantasy: A Fantasy that I really enjoyed this year was Fable by Adrienne Young. It is about a girl whose pirate father leaves her stranded on a deserted island after her mother dies. If she can survive, she can find her way back to him and receive her inheritance. It goes in depth about family and friendship. Plus found families. Am I right? Worst Fantasy: The Magicians by Lev Grossman. Oh boy. How do I get into it with this one without regurgitating my review? I had a problem with the author taking all of the best known magical stories of all time and twisting them throughout this dense book in order to point out that magic is a problem to be dealt with and not all unicorns and rainbows--just to rip that point out of the reader’s hands in the last four pages of the novel. Please read my review I go so in depth there. Best Contemporary: Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson. I think this was mostly just that I read this book at the right time. This book is about a family who is going through a hard time when the father is diagnosed with terminal cancer. They decide to spend one final summer at their cabin on the lake before he passes. I distinctly remember crying my eyes out at the end of this one and it hitting me so hard. Worst Contemporary: Girls in the Moon by Janet McNally. This was a Book of the Month pick for me at a time when they had less variety in their options. I felt like I couldn’t keep pushing back my picks every month. It’s a story about this rock band family who divorced in the late 90s and the fall out for their two children while one moves to New York to pursue a music career. A lot of fluff and almost no substance. Best Mystery: This is the year I realized that I like YA Mystery novels and not a lot else in the mystery genre. I had a three way tie for best Mystery and they call came from the YA Age Range. The Hand on the Wall by Maureen Johnson, In the Hall with the Knife by Diana Peterfreund, and The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. These were all done so well and all taking the things I love about mysteries and twisting them. Worst Mystery: In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware. I had heard so many amazing things about this book, but it fell so flat for me. I hate unreliable narrators. Why are they necessary in this genre? I feel like if you need an unreliable narrator to write a good mystery then you’re a bad mystery author. Best YA: Traitor to the Throne by Alwyn Hamilton. This is book 2 in the Rebel of the Sands series. It’s a desert Fantasy that is written so well. The world building is fantastic. We have a rebellion, magic, and some amazing characters. In book two we see Amani thrust into court politics. I marathoned this whole series in a couple of weeks and loved the adventure. Worst YA: The worst YA book I read this year was Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke. I felt like the story went no where and the writing was overly flowery. I’m sure it does good things for some people but it’s the polar opposite of what I love in books. Best Adult: For this one we have a two way tie. The first book is House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City #1) by Sarah J. Maas. Is this the next great American novel? Of course not. But I had an amazing time reading this book. I felt so many feelings and the world building was fantastic. The second book is In A Holidaze by Christina Lauren. I read an ARC of this for my Christmas in July and enjoyed it so much I had to read it again right before Christmas. It was perfect for getting in the Christmas spirit.  Worst Adult: This category is also a two way tie. I read The Broken Girls by Simone St. James and thoroughly disliked the mystery aspect of the story. I felt like it was left too open ended and it completely put me off. The second is a book of poetry called Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur. It felt like a lot of these poems were incomplete thoughts. Maybe it’s how open it is too interpretation again, but I really did not like this at all. Best New Release: This feels like the hardest category to pick from. If we’re going based on ratings, Check, Please! Volume #2: Sticks and Scones is the highest rated new release that I read this year. But I also have a couple of YA Mystery novels that I read this year that I loved and that stuck with me throughout the year. The first is The Hand on the Wall by Maureen Johnson which is the third book in the Truly Devious series and finishes out that mystery arc. The second is The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes which I have been raving about since I read it this fall. The Inheritances games is the first book in a new series that is like a combination of Knives Out and Clue plus puzzles minus a few murders. It’s just so good. So, a top three for this category I guess. Worst New Release: The Bookweaver’s Daughter by Malavika Kannan. This one was easy to pick hands down. I felt like this book brushed over some major events that happened. As well, there’s a major lack of world building in this novel. I think with some polishing it could have made for a good middle grade novel but was sold as a YA novel. Best Backlist: The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty. I’m normally not huge into Adult Fantasy, but I feel like the author does a good job of making the world accessible to the reader even though it’s vast with a lot of political machinations. Probably one of the best series I read start to finish this year. Worst Backlist: The Cruelty by Scott Bergstrom. I was going to put in Wink Poppy Midnight here again, but technically I gave The Cruelty the same rating and I wanted to avoid repeats. For this one, I gave a LENGTHY review about my problems with the book. I wanted to like it, but the author’s internalized ableism and misogyny really ruined the party here. Best 2021 ARC: This was a two way tie between “You Have a Match” by Emma Lord and “Shipped” by Angie Hockman. I had no idea I enjoyed these equally because they’re such different books. Both are contemporaries but “You Have A Match” is YA Contemporary about families and secrets while “Shipped” is an Adult Contemporary about a hate to love romance and work/life balance. Worst 2021 ARC: “The Castle School (for Troubled Girls)” by Alyssa B. Sheinmel. This one is more of a problem about what the publishers sold the book as. Because the book summary wasn’t correct when it came to the whole point of the book. So I went in with completely incorrect expectations. I think because of the plot twist I would have still rated it lower than the other 2021 ARCs I read, but it would have been a closer contest. Best Standalone: I Hope You’re Listening by Tom Ryan. This is a YA Mystery that came out this Fall that I really enjoyed. It’s about a girl who is present when her friend gets taken from the woods. Years later she still has trouble dealing with being the child left behind so she starts a podcast to help people solve missing persons cases. It also had a surprise cult element that I wasn’t expecting and really enjoyed. Worst Standalone: Meet Me at Fir Tree Lodge by Rachel Dove. This one is a bit blurred in my brain. I think that really speaks to how I feel about this one. It is about a girl whose life falls apart after a skiing accident and how she tries to put it back together. But it involves a romance with an Alpha Male character which everyone hates at this point. I wanted it to be sweeter and softer and more heart wrenching than it was. Best Book in a Series: All Systems Red by Martha Wells. I scoured my spreadsheets to try to find a book I hadn’t already gushed over, but there’s a reason this one is in the top of so many categories. I love Murderbot and following all of their misadventures. The Murderbot Diaries is a series about a Security Bot who has hijacked their Governor Module and just wants to watch their serials all day. But those pesky human’s they’re hired to protect keep getting themselves in trouble. Worst Book in a Series: I found the book in a series that I gave the worst rating to and I had to go over my review to try to remember what it’s even about. I read Legacy of Ash by Matthew Ward which is the first book in the Legacy Trilogy. And I still don’t remember much about it. I remember it being dense and hard to read without getting a lot out of the book in reward for my effort. It was a hard slog and clearly not great if I can’t remember what it’s about less than 9 months after I read it.

[shockpop]

         being  a  textbook  overthinker  is  a  strong  suit  denki  is  not  particularly  known  for .    a  head  regularly  presumed  empty  has  worked  to  incessantly  churn  the  argument  on  playback  over  the  course  of  three  days ,   violet  staining  crescents  beneath  his  eyes  at  some  point  between  the  late - night  mumbling  and  a  time  wherein  he  doesn’t  even  remember  falling  asleep .     his  oh - so - gracious  host  is  left  at  a  loss  when  she  is  forcibly  tasked  with  shoving  him  awake  each  morning .    

as  much  an  empath  as  mina  prides  herself  in  being ,   it  ain’t  exactly  a  cakewalk  to  get  into  a  neurotic’s  mindset  when  he’s  the  one  insisting  that  he’s  fine ,   that  everything  is  fine    ;    practiced  charisma  a  much - appreciated  plus  in  attempts  to  persuade  his  longtime  best  friend  that  he  just  needed  a  little  breathing  space  from  the  situation .     because  that’s  what  they  have  to  call  it ,   now .    ‘ the  situation ’ .

this  was  all  before  denki  proceeded  to  peel  himself  from  eyesore - chartreuse  cushions  an  hour  late  each  day ,   and  the  reason  why  mina  now  harbors  heavy  concern  beneath  the  initial  irritation  as  she  beats  him  awake  with  a  pillow  for  the  third  day  in  a  row .

astonishingly  enough ,   through  all  the  budding  bruises  and  little  cricks  of  his  bones ,   denki’s  still  not  used  to  it  ----  confused  as  to  why  in  place  of  a  fluffy  orange  butt  sat  directly  on  his  face  is  a  firm  pink  hand ,   squishing  freckled  cheeks  that’d  never  quite  lost  their  baby  fat .  

the  phone  promptly  shoved  in  his  face  (  raw - eyed ,   drool - sticky ,   red  where  strong  fingers  have  imprinted  themselves  into  his  skin  )  reads  7:12  am ,   a  good  hour  and  some  past  his  normal  wakeup  time .    he  shouldn’t  be  so  pikachu - meme  shocked  when  this  scenario  is  the  direct  result  of  a  profuse  refusal  to  take  the  device  off  silent  mode  these  past  few  days  ----  afraid  to  wake  up  to  any  late - night  texts  or  calls .    

and  yet  here  he  is ,   eyes  squeezing  shut  as  he  mutters  his  third ,   grumbly  shit  this  short  week .

       ❛   seriously ,   dude ?   ❜      mina  chides  as  she  flips  through  the  unsung  alarms ,   each  set  five  minutes  apart  from  one  another  beginning  at  5:30  in  the  morning .    

getting  himself  out  of  bed  always  had  been  something  of  a  chore ,   emphasized  by  recent  reasoning  that  he’d  not  been  catching  more  than  half  a  wink  prior  to  that  exact  time  each  day .      ❛   you  teach  people  for  a  living  and  yet  remain  willfully  oblivious  to  the  very  accessible ,   very  convenient  do  not  disturb  function .   ❜      

she  lets  the  phone  fall  unceremoniously  onto  denki’s  lap ,   cushions  creaking  beneath  their  weight .       ❛   get  off  my  couch ,   spud .   ❜

he’d  love  to ,   actually .    every  node  in  his  spine  pops  in  agreement .

the  minutes  between  then  and  hurriedly  collecting  stray  pieces  of  clothing  off  the  floor  pass  in  a  rheumy - eyed  blur ,   other  possessions  that’re  repeatedly  tripped  over  a  courtesy  of  the  emergency  overnight  bag  he’d  emptied  out  over  the  week .    kept  in  the  back  of  his  car  for  situations  that  call  for  it ,   this  doesn’t  really  qualify  as  one  of  those  times .

        ❛   hey .    what’s  the  status  of  you  reevaluating  your  life  choices  so  that  you’re  not  crawling  out  my  door  late  to  work  in  the  same  inside - out  v - neck  you’ve  been  wearing  all  week ?   ❜      mina  prompts  in  midst  of  tossing  on  a  jacket  as  gaudy  in  design  as  the  rest  of  her ,   somehow  completely  comprehending  what  vague  semblance  of  shut  up ,   shut  up ,   shut  up  denki  conveys  through  hand  gestures  in  between  hurriedly  scrubbing  his  teeth .

without  time  to  style  his  hair  this  morning ,   he’s  left  to  ruffle  through  the  unkempt  locks  in  his  reflection  through  the  elevator  doors ,   displeased  in  how  they  refuse  to  obey  any  law  of  gravity  but  deciding  that  he  might  as  well  just  go  ahead  and  look  as  shitty  as  he  feels .    hurts  less  to  acknowledge  it  himself  before  mina  eagerly  relays  just  how  divorced  he  looks  mere  moments  later .

         ❛   you’re  gonna  have  to  talk  to  him  eventually ,   ❜      she  reminds  him  just  before  they  part ,   chaste  kiss  pressed  to  either  cheek  and  equally  reciprocated .      ❛   before  it’s  too  late .    i  know  you’re  both  pretty  keen  on  letting  things  fester ,   but  how  ‘bout  you  just  nut  up  before  your  idiot  boy  pride  makes  things  completely  irreversible ?   ❜   

at  her  humble  suggestion ,   denki  mulls  on  the  air  of  an  amused  hum ,   shouldering  open  one  of  the  glass  doors  for  her  to  walk  through  first .      ❛   my  idiot  boy  pride ,   huh .    s'a  little  misandristic ,   don’tcha  think ?   ❜

she  replies  with  a  wag  of  her  middle  finger  in  the  air  behind  her ,   a  stark  gesture  that  bakugou  would  appreciate  and  that  denki  hates  thinking  that  bakugou  would  appreciate .    he  silently  curses  mina  once  for  the  reminder ,   then  again  for  her  uncanny  talent  of  always  being  right .

on  that  note ,   he  mentally  checks  ‘ idiot  boy  pride ’  as  a  contender  for  the  working  title  of  an  eventual  autobiography .  

           lunch  passes  by  a  lot  more  slowly  in  the  days  he’d  been  forcibly  weened  off  of  bakugou’s  cooking .    left  to  survive  off  what  loose  change  could  nab  from  the  vending  machines  outside  and  random  snacks  found  throughout  the  cabinets  of  the  teachers’  lounge ,   denki  finds  that  whey  milk  and  loose  granola  by  the  fistful  are  not  all  that  amazing  a  combo .   

mina  is  wise  beyond  her  years .    this  is  a  meal  of  a  divor - fuckin’ - cee .

actually ,   the  sudden  absence  of  a  balanced  diet  may  even  be  reaching  the  point  of  a  pressing  health  issue .    when  he  brushes  granola  grains  off  his  shirt  ----  now  worn  correctly ,   after  having  uncomfortably  fumbled  with  it  in  his  car  earlier  ----  he  notices  how  tight  his  chest  has  begun  to  feel  over  the  course  of  the  morning .    an  ache  like  a  scream  that  won’t  come  out .    he’s  bound ,   yes ,   and  dry  granola  has  probably  not  made  the  trip  down  his  esophagus  very  easy    ;    but  had  the  pain  always  been  so  prominent ?

❛   didja  check  twitter  yet ?   refresh  your  timeline  ----  look ,   see ,   it’s  trending !  ❜ 

denki’s  attention  piques ,   turning  towards  the  flood  of  students  rushing  by  the  lounge  door .    on  their  way  back  to  their  classrooms  to  ride  out  the  last  few  periods  of  the  day ,   he’s  not  surprised  to  see  so  many  of  their  eyes  glued  to  their  phones  as  they  walk ,   given  that  lunch  and  homeroom  make  up  the  only  two  slots  of  time  wherein  students  are  allowed  access  to  such  devices .

their  conversations  spill  in  a  slew  of  muddled  topics   :   is  the  villain  big ?    how’d  you  do  on  that  art  history  exam ?    shouldn’t  he  have  backup?    my  sister’s  taking  me  to  that  new  poke  bowl  restaurant  tonight .    is  he  breathing ?    cats  can  doggy  paddle ,   can’t  they ?    blasty’s  a  top - five !   indestructible !    i  hope  i  have  a  team  one  day .    but  so  was  jeanist ,   and  look  what  happened  to  him .

          ❛   bla ----   ❜      denki  starts ,   sparing  a  few  minutes  heading  back  himself  to  fish  his  phone  from  his  cardigan .    he’s  usually  never  without  it ,   idly  recalling  a  time  in  their  youth  where  bakugou  would  have  to  manually  pluck  it  from  his  grasp  so  that  he’d  settle  into  bed  for  the  night .    over  the  past  few  days ,   though ,   he's  been  more  than  content  to  break  character  and  distance  himself  from  the  buzz  of  social  media  under  some  years - too - late  guise  of  self - care  and  breaking  addiction .

waking  his  phone  now ,   the  top  notification  banner  reads  a  single  message  from  his  current  roommate .    

are  you  ok?

below  it ,   an  informal  update  from  twitter ,   alerting  him  of  exactly  what  his  curiosity  demands  to  be  sated  with  right  now .

 trending  in  heroics    :    #BLASTYEXPLODO .

he  doesn’t  need  a  little  shoulder  mina  angel  to  tell  him  that  reading  about  his  ex  is  technically  just  the  time - sensitive  equivalent  of  purposefully  sifting  through  bakugou’s  online  presence   ;    mostly  because  the  app  is  barely  flicked  open  when  the  tightness  across  his  chest  constricts  to  a  sudden ,   sharp  PANG .    

it  doesn’t  take  some  deep  search  to  unearth  the  context  of  his  students’  obsessive  chattering  nearby ,   considering  that  his  entire  timeline  is  being  consistently  updated  with  live  footage  from  the  scene .    a  bird’s - eye  view  of  the  site  below  captures  where  several  heroes  can  be  spotted  as  moving  dots  along  the  destruction  of  the  outskirts    ;    all  save  for  one ,   reported  to  have  been  caught  in  the  fray  after  a  building  collapsed .

fingers  press  deep  into  the  pain  of  his  chest .    his  shoulder  hits  the  wall  to  support  his  weight ,   face  paling  as  he  forces  himself  to  read  the  oncoming  slew  of  tweets  one  by  one .    a  lot  are  unhelpful  ----  mere  wishes  for  blasty  to  hang  in  there ,   some  questioning  where  he  is ,   false  memoriam  by  people  denki  knows  bakugou’s  never  met ,   lots  of  clickbait  for  merch  and  inappropriate  thirst  posts  layered  in  between .    

nothing  gives  him  a  solid  answer .    because  nobody  has  a  solid  answer .

lacking  the  word  association  necessary  to  properly  reply  to  mina’s  text  without  stirring  either  concern  or  cause  for  a  possible  lecture ,   he  shoots  something  quick  to  kirishima  instead .

hey  man ,   thanks  for  everything  lately .    i’ll  feed  the  cats  tonight .    can  you  do  me  a  solid  and  leave  a  key ?

           the  car  ride  home  is  as  long  as  ever  in  traffic  surrounding  the  incident .    every  instance  of  a  top  hero  barely  escaping  the  brink  of  death  is  all  but  a  grim  reminder  that  life  is  short ,   speaking  volumes  to  average  citizens  rushing  home  to  spoil  their  families  before  everything  settles  back  into  a  regular ,   non - life - threatening  routine  for  them  tomorrow .

shortly  after  lunch  (  and  trying  to  shake  off  what  he  was  certain  were  signs  of  a  small  heart  attack  ) ,   denki  decided  that  there  was  no  use  cutting  his  day  short  to  make  an  appearance  at  the  scene .    rapid  updates  from  twitter  and  associates  alike  informed  him  that  blasty  had  eventually  made  it  out  on  two  legs ,   triumphant  as  ever ,   before  being  escorted  to  an  unspecified  hospital  in  order  to  avoid  the  public  eye  in  his  recovery .

denki  takes  his  chances  in  calling  his  mom  between  catching  every  red  light ,   hope  breaking  in  a  small ,   audible  whimper  when  she  doesn’t  answer  his  one - or - nine  calls .    bakugou  wasn’t  the  only  victim  in  today’s  events    ;    he  rationalizes  that  nariko  is  probably  up  to  her  neck  in  new  admissions  regardless ,   but  the  thought  doesn’t  exactly  bring  him  any  peace  of  mind .

breathe .    an  impossible  demand  to  meet ,   but  one  necessary  to  keep  his  electricity  from  snapping  at  the  wheel .

he  doesn’t  exactly  know  why  he’d  even  bothered  showing  up ,   sluggish  steps  treading  the  long  lengths  of  tiled  hallway  leading  to  bakugou’s  residence .    not  really  any  use  hanging  around  an  empty  apartment  all  night    ;   even  despite  the  pressing  matter  of  the  question  mark  tacked  behind  his  current  living  situation .    he’s  not  really  looking  to  task  himself  with  packing  just  yet .

             ❛   it’s  just  something ,   ❜      denki  tiredly  tells  himself  aloud  at  the  foot  of  their  doorstep ,   head  tipped  to  the  ceiling  in  a  brief  moment  of  reprieve .    the  sentiment  resonates  as  somewhat  redundant .    it’s  always  something .    he’s  got  a  million  somethings  in  his  life  that  he’s  never  cared  to  name ,    piling  one  over  the  other  in  the  corner  of  his  mind  without  thought  to  the  mental  repercussions  dealt  to  everyone  involved .    

maybe  there’s  only  one  something  afterall .    maybe  the  common  denominator  was  just  him .

tip  of  his  shoe  peels  back  the  corner  of  the  mat  he’d  insisted  on  laying  there  some  short  while  ago ,    the  key  tucked  beneath  it  shining  in  the  hallway  lighting  once  its  cover  is  disturbed .    bless  his  heart ,   but  kirishima’s  not  very  creative  in  his  hiding  places .

this  copy  is  as  shiny  and  unbroken - in  as  the  one  bakugou  had  given  denki  when  he  first  moved  here ,   spare  a  few  spots  of  dirt  he  brushes  off  before  lodging  it  into  the  keyhole .    

without  a  set  of  miscellaneous  dangling  objects  attached  to  it ,   the  action  of  turning  a  bare  key  into  the  lock  takes  him  back  a  full  year  ago  ----  wherein  he’d  rigidly  haunted  this  exact  spot  on  a  matless  tile ,   uneager  to  begin  a  new  phase  in  his  life  eventually  titled  reversed  strength .

unlike  back  then ,   however ,   the  key  is  met  this  time  around  without  resistance  in  its  lock ,   nothing  to  combat  it  as  it  turns .    the  door  before  him  is  open .     presently .

his  stomach  drops .    

hesitant  to  ease  himself  inside  when  so  actively  adorned  in  hair - raising  suspicion ,   denki  is  met  with  the  usual  stagnancy  of  an  empty  apartment  ----  no  wafts  of  food  cooking  on  the  stove ,   no  sound  of  the  television  on  for  background  noise ,   no  cats  tripping  over  each  other  to  greet  him  with  a  howling  demand  for  kibble  and  petty - pets  (  which  smarts  a  little ,   considering  his  absence  ) .    

there  is  dim  warmth  from  sunlight  pouring  through  the  windows  and  little  else .    not  even  a  speck  of  dust  found  to  sift  through  it .    he  wonders  if  kirishima  had  simply  forgotten  to  lock  the  door  behind  him .

and  yet ,   even  with  this  thought  in  mind  ----  this  silent  prayer  ----  denki  still  holds  a  name  on  his  tongue  as  he  steps  fully  into  the  apartment ,   pocketing  the  key  where  its  triplet  sits  unperturbed  a  few  feet  away .    it’s  a  momentary  struggle  to  find  his  voice ,   and  he  doesn’t  recognize  the  sound  that  comes  out .      

          ❛   k ------- ...   katsuki ?   ❜

@blstys​ .

[bangtan-dreamland]

Future Works

Series

⭐ Cliche Romances: The Bestfriend’s Edition

Summary: Or in which, we find out- is falling for your bestfriend really the ultimate recipe for heartbreak? Or is it worth taking that chance to find out?

❤ Of Hopeless Romances and Starlit Skies

Summary: If there is anything you know, any fact that is central to the foundation of your life, there is only three.

Fact #1: Taehyung is a hopeless romantic. You are the complete opposite.

Fact #2: You are his bestfriend.

Fact #3: You are in love with him.

... Not that you’ll ever admit the last part though.

❤ Of Second Choices and Spring Air

Summary: All you wanted was to be someone's first choice. All Jungkook wanted was for you to choose him. Love is never easy, but when your last relationship ends horribly and you give up on everything related to those four letters, he makes it his mission to show you that there's always been someone waiting for you to choose him, if you'd only give him a chance.

❤ Of Reunions and Drifting Waves

Summary: Park Jimin is someone you swore you'd get over, but years later, when you meet up again in your hometown, the town festival forces you two to keep each other close. Tensions rise when his friends and your friends keep setting you two up, but it's not like anything would ever happen. After all, you'd moved on from him, and he'd never even looked at you that way, right...?

⭐ Sugar, Spice and Everything Nice

Summary: Stepping into the world of sugar babies was something you never expected- moreso being a 'sugar mommy'. However, fate had decided to give you seven men as 'sugar babies'...

or

What do you do when you're a 'pure' virgin, and your adoptive family wants to set you up with someone to obtain access to your inheritance? Prove them wrong by presenting your dating history, of course! Complete with your own romantic partner- and if you can't get one on short notice (not owing to your inexperience), well... money may have brought you into this trouble, so it's only fair you use it to get out, right?

⭐ A Witch’s Soul(mate)

Summary: Being a witch meant being a supernatural, it meant discrimination and fear and wariness, so you've always kept it hidden, acted as though you were a normal human- until an outburst of your powers sets events into motion, one that forces you to accept your powers- or risk losing everything. You never asked to be bound to a human, and Jimin never expected being connected to a witch- but together, you might just survive and grow.

⭐ tweet with luv

Summary: Confessing to your bestfriend, when you’re sure he doesn’t feel the same way? Bad.

Vague tweeting about your crush on your bestfriend online, for the whole world to see, when you're an award-winning actress with no previous relationship scandals, and he's the golden maknae of the biggest kpop group in the world? So. Much. Worse.

⭐ The Kindergarten Agenda 🌠

Summary: Teaching preschool wasn’t exactly what you signed up for when you applied to be a teacher at Bighit School, but you quickly find yourself falling for the job. It doesn’t hurt that your students are absolute sweethearts, no matter how others seem to see them as demons. If the way that they cling to you is any indication, they feel the same way too. You’re their precious teacher!

And then starts the war when they realize you’re not in a relationship. Who better to be your partner than their older brother slash father slash cousin?

⭐ Wedding Lace

❤ Satisfied

Summary: Falling in love with Kim Seokjin was as easy as one, two, three- trying to control your feelings and falling out of love with him was another matter entirely. Still, what else was there to do? You may have been his childhood friend, his best friend, the person who's been there for him through his whole life, but your sister still had multiple advantages over you even when she didn’t want them- his heart, for one.

The other being her arranged marriage with him.

❤ Here

Summary: All your life, you'd revolved around Seokjin as though he was the sun- and you, the hapless Earth, so close and yet so far. Then enters Park Jimin in your orbit.

⭐ A Siren’s Call  🌠

⭐ Ten Reasons Not to Kiss Her

⭐ Cursed AUs  🌠

Summary: Or, what happens when you mix children shows and movies with BTS?

One Shots

❤ Sticky Notes, Scribbled Hearts

Summary: By their side the years blur into the sidelines, until all you know is love, laughter, happiness- their existence that consumes you like a fire, bright and wild, burning you down into ashes that barely survive because of the wall you build between you and them. You spend countless nights with your heart bricked and hidden away, but one moment is all it takes- and soon enough, the walls will come crumbling down. But are you prepared to take that chance?

❤ Somewhere Out There 🌠

Summary: Always a little lonely, always a little sad- you send off paper airplanes and hope that if there really is magic out there, your soulmate will somehow read them and come find you. 

On the other side of the world, the letters pile up on their doorstep. 

❤ Heat Haze Days

Summary: You met Kim Namjoon on August 08, exactly a week before the end of summer break, and he walked out of life August 15, exactly a week after he came into yours. The heat haze of the summer days offer more than hope- it offers you action, opportunities. When time is on your side, anything seems possible- but can you really save someone fated to die?

❤ The 15 Years I Spent Chasing You

Summary: You asked him to keep in contact, to never let your friendship die, so he did. He started writing letters to you- and then he composed poems as you grew up, and then raps until he ran away from home, from everything, but not you, before finally producing songs when he became an idol, every word written with you in mind. Now, fifteen years later, Yoongi finally shares with the world a final piece- the ending to your love story.

❤ The Anniversary

Summary: Your plan with Seokjin was: get married, move in together, appease your parents, divorce. But somehow one month turns into two, then four, and then all of a sudden, a year was fast approaching.

❤ A List of Reasons Why I Hate You

Summary: On your anniversary with him, you look back on the previous years and realize life truly is a rollercoaster.

❤ Spring Days With You 🌠

Summary: To say that fate had connected you with them didn’t seem as silly as much as it felt right. The two months that followed it only proved it as well, and as you fell in love with every place you visited with them, so did you fall deeper for them, and so did they for you.

Untitled Ideas

⭐ 🌠 Summary: Desperate to end the rumours and scrutiny revolving around your love life, you agree to your friends’ help to pretend to be in a polyamorous relationship with them. To you, it’s just a temporary solution, until the gossip dies down, but is it really just that for them too?

⭐ 🌠 Summary: Running a business isn’t something that’s done all alone, what more to start a business. So really, you’re thankful for your friends who decided to help you turn your grandmother’s old greenhouse into a cafe. Still, between your ex and the mysterious love letters that keep appearing in your office, it seems that you’ll need all the help you can get. Can you save the greenhouse and your feelings as well?

⭐ 🌠 Summary: ’Guaranteed to bring you to your soulmates, through time and space if necessary!’ You didn’t think it’d work, but considering in the span of one night you’d gone from one universe into another, you had to accept, even if only to yourself, that maybe the love potion was actually real.

❤ 🌠 Summary: ‘Keep sleeping like that, with your arm hanging off the bed and don’t be surprised when you feel something holding it in the middle of the night!’ Well, you thought, as velvety fingers intertwined with yours, what better way to beat back the lonely night with your very own demon?

❤ 🌠 Summary: Jungkook had stayed by your side as your pet dog for at least ten months- and he was pretty sure that gave him seniority over this new dog who obviously thought he was going to share you with him. Ha, as if.

And then came along five more.

⭐ Summary: Cursed with the ability to see ghosts since you were born, you’d long been resigned to it- and then came Yoongi into your life, and with every touch that kept you connected to him, the ghosts disappeared- and that was all the incentive you needed to cling to him no matter what.

Yoongi just wishes you’d warned him before you decided to steal his heart and forever hold on to it.

❤ Summary: Between school, his unrequited crush on his bestfriend, and the looming threat of his finances, Jimin accidentally summons a demon. 

⭐ 🌠 Summary: Your blood was special, or so they said, so you had to help them mediate the world of humans and supernaturals, they said, you had to help them keep the peace and harmony, they said.

You just wished that didn’t entail taking care of seven hybrids. Especially ones that didn’t know how to manage their powers.

❤ Summary: In the beginning of everything, there were them, the gods of Life, and then there was you, the goddess of Death. 

⭐ Summary: Because it was just a game, and so you thought that it was okay- it was, wasn’t it? To reach the perfect ending you had to make them fall in love with you, to get home you had to make it just right. 

But then, why did the new students remind you so much of them?

[finestra-rp]

Dear KAIT DOLORES UMBRIDGE, We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. You have 24 hours to send in your account and 48 hours after your follow is posted to be active!

Was that JODIE COMER I just saw walking down the hallways? Oh wait, no - that was DOLORES UMBRIDGE. The CISFEMALE is a 21 year old SLYTHERIN who is in TENTH YEAR. I heard the HALFBLOOD (POSES AS PUREBLOOD) has chosen to STAY NEUTRAL which explains why SHE is STRONG-WILLED and DEDICATED, but also SADISTIC and POWER-HUNGRY. But who really knows? (ooc: KAIT)

  Please provide us with three headcanons about your character OR a short bio. Please make sure you mention anything important we should know about the character: 

Dolores was born to Orford Umbridge a pureblood wizard and Ellen Cracknell a muggle. Before her younger brother was born when she was four, Dolores started showing signs of magic. She accidentally moved things or broke things when angry or upset. A few weeks after turning four her baby brother Dylan was born and Dolores became very jealous. Her baby brother was getting all the attention and no one paid attention to Dolores anymore. She was no longer the baby in the family and didn’t need constant care and attention. This caused her to grow distant from her mother and brother. Her father always guided her in learning and controlling magic, but her mother never seemed to understand and Dolores was never sure why. While the family grew up in the wizarding world, her brother never seemed to pick up on magic and they deemed him a squib. Her mother grew annoyed with how much time Orford was spending with Dolores, cherishing her and her magical abilities and ignoring the needs of his son and wife. Ellen packed up and moved herself and her son out of the wizarding world and into the muggle world. Due to this Orford and Ellen got a divorce and Dolores began hating muggles and people who didn’t have wizarding blood. 

At the age of eleven, Dolores got her letter to Hogwarts and quickly prepared to leave, ready to learn more about the wizarding world and all it had to offer. Dolores was sorted into Slytherin and claimed she was a pureblood from the second she stepped foot inside, not wanting people to think she was weak or different from the others. Her main goal was to always fit in and learn everything she could about magic and her father’s lifestyle. The only problem was the number of muggleborns and halfbloods that didn’t belong at the school. In her eyes, they didn’t deserve to be there and were a nuisance. Even now that she is in her older years of Hogwarts she hates the school and hates being there. She hates that Slughorn hates her and won’t give her the respect she so clearly deserves and the fact that she’s never been made prefect irks the crap out of her given her power-hungry self. This has made her time at Hogwarts even less enjoyable. While she hates the school, she loves the easy access to targets to be magic practice and she won’t hesitate to hex anyone that gets in her way or that she disagrees with. 

When she graduated from the lower level of Hogwarts she got an internship with the Improper Use of Magic office at the ministry of magic during the summer, breaks and weekends. While there she is always trying to sweet-talk her way into higher places. She has since gotten a paid position for when she is not in school, but she is expected to be getting a promotion soon which makes her feel good. She has been debating leaving Hogwarts to pursue her career but so far she hasn’t yet. 

Her father works as a floor mopper at the Ministry. Whenever asked about him, she asks who he is because her father is “dead” and used to be a member of the Wizengamot. She’s trying to get him to leave his job so she can pretend he never existed because her next plan is to actually kill him if he doesn’t listen. Bribery isn’t working as of now which annoys her. 

She hates muggles, squibs, and muggleborns. She also hates half-bloods despite being one and doesn’t deem anyone besides purebloods as worthy of magic. 

She’s a bitch, who’s trying to find a man of power to marry. She has been tempted to set herself up a betrothal by saying it was her father’s wish but as of right now no one has accepted the offer which has her self esteem rather low. 

Her love of cats happened after her mother was left because her father bought her a cat so that she had a friend when he was away from home. 

Her love of pink is ironic considering she is not a girl person and pink represents everything that she is not. Subconsciously she wishes she was a caring, romantic and girly person but there is too much hatred in her heart for her to ever accomplish this. 

Boggart: People mocking her and telling her she’s not enough and will never be successful

Patronus: Persian cat

Quidditch: N/A

Clubs: None officially, but sometimes she visits the Dark Arts club to practice. 

Prefect: Sadly, no. She is rather pissed off about it too. 

Major: Magical Politics and Charms

Wanted Connection: N/A

Anything else?: Not canon, but would it be okay if she was an animagus? Due to how sneaky she is and how she wants to get information about others I think it suits her. I believe this would be a new thing and her animagus form would be a Persian cat like her patronus.