#this world is large. so beautiful. I forget how lucky I am to have experienced it.

[naneki-maid]

Beijing, China.

The Great Wall of China

[yandere-sins]

Maybe some inspiration for a yandere kitsune atsumu fic?? I just imagine him coming across you hiking in the woods one day and he’s like “you’re cute I’m gonna keep you!” He thinks it’s cute to have a pet, something that is his alone that no one else can have

Oooh, thank you! I love the idea! Enjoy!

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This wasn’t how he usually did things, but what about him was ever normal?

If Atsumu wanted to mingle with humans, he’d go down to the town at the foot of the mountain. Roam its street, flirt a little with the giggling girls he met, or play with the children. In the hundreds of years he lived, he sometimes needed the change from his otherwise dull life. Atsumu was way too strong to brawl with the other creatures, and his own kind was too proud and traditional to be around of. So all he did was eat and sleep, occasionally do some trickery or run from the rain. It wasn’t a very fulfilling life to him; he didn’t even have a mate to share his days with, so what really was there left for the bored kitsune?

But you, you weren’t a usual thing either.

Few to none ever got lost in the forest that coated the mountain he lived on. There were too many rumors about strange creatures inhabiting these lands, of people going missing and turning up talking nonsense about what they experienced here. And even then, if someone wandered up here, it was usually an old monk with spiritual powers on a pilgrimage who could find their way around.

So what were you up to in his part of the forest? Perhaps you were lucky it was just his territory, or you might have already been torn up by an oni or lead astray by anything else. Instead, Atsumu had been following and watching you for a while as you moved through the lands. He waited patiently while you rested at the river and shushed away some of the animals that came too close to you for his liking. You might not recognize a deer as something dangerous, but he didn’t like thinking about the marks it would leave if it decided to bite. But now you were closing in on the end of his territory, and from then on, he wouldn’t be able to watch over you anymore, instead, having to go back to his utterly boring day in his utterly boring life.

That’s not what he wanted to let happen.

“Leaving already?” you heard behind you, instantly turning around in surprise to hear a human voice in the uninhabited forest. Even though you were tense, you didn’t seem immediately alarmed by his presence, Atsumu hiding his more extraordinary features behind magic. “Who are you?” you asked him curiously, and he lifted a hand, pointing back into his territory.

“I take care of the temple here. Not many humans come across it, have you made an offering?”

Imitating to be a shrine caretaker seemed to work as your shoulders relaxed, and you turned to him fully, flight instinct dispersing. “I must have missed it. I’m sorry...”

“No problem,” Atsumu was quick to chime up happily. “I can show you where it is. You wouldn’t want to continue on your way without divine protection, would you?”

Hesitating, you looked back at the path over your shoulder before shaking your head. “Certainly not. It can’t hurt to have some protection on this mountain, can it?”

You quickly caught up to him, and Atsumu laughed as you implied the rumors, shaking his head. “Don’t tell me you believe in yokai?” he teased you, and you quickly spluttered that you weren’t afraid of these things, putting on a brave face. However, twiddling with your thumbs gave away that you did mind - a lot.

Cute, Atsumu thought.

You soon enough started to tell him all about your adventure after he initiated the conversation with, “What are you doing here?” telling him you were just wandering to get some clarity of mind. Atsumu took the time you were talking excitedly to study your features. Humans were all so unique, and even if he was able to imitate their looks, he always found himself mesmerized. Foxes usually had just one topic when it came to looks: How unique and shiny is your coat? But it was different for humans. They dyed and cut their hair as they wanted, changed their bodies significantly over time. Their noses were all very different, eyes as unique as their gestures or voices. Humans were so much more interesting than the other kitsune, even if Atsumu didn’t envy how weak they were.

“There we are,” he interrupted you merrily at the foot of the staircase leading to the temple. There really were old, rotten temple grounds on top of the steps, but one you wouldn’t be allowed to see. Humans had long forgotten and abandoned this place, justifiable even, as it was too hard to reach and maintain. No one could even come here with all these dangers. But back in the days, he remembered how much he loved watching the humans build it and pray at it, before when the humans still co-existed well with the spiritual world. But it wasn’t like when he was a little cub anymore. It was his home still, but not one he would show you.

“Well then,” you chuckled nervously, eyeing the stairs. You two began the climb in silence, your eyes mainly on the unmaintained steps, trying not to fall over them. Even focused, you were quite the adorable one, and he appreciated how chipper and optimistic you had been all the way here. Yes, you certainly were a special human, Atsumu decided, his determination only strengthening the magic that was forming halfway up the stairs.

With how little you looked up, you didn’t notice how the stairs kept coming and coming, as if in a loop. Only the feeling of exhaustion was growing on your part, but when you finally looked up, Atsumu could see your eyes growing wide with the wonders you were seeing.

“Do you like it?” he asked, inching closer to you. You were so amazed by the gold and red of the beautiful, large temple spreading out before you, you didn’t notice him taking a whiff of your scent, a mix of soap and sweat, but nothing he found terribly appalling. After all, it was your scent, and he’d find you with it no matter where you went. The scent of his human.

With a delighted giggle, you took the last three steps, leaving Atsumu behind as you looked around you. You seemed to be in awe by how beautiful the temple was that it even made Atsumu forget for a second that this was just how he created it with his magic. “Who’d have thought there’d be such a beautiful temple in the middle of nowhere,” you mumbled before finally turning around to your guide.

“You must be taking really good care--”

Only then did you notice the prominent features of a fox spirit peeking out of his hair, his tail slowly wagging behind him. Of course, in a world of his magic, he’d not be able to keep up the appearance of a human, but you had long crossed the borders to the spiritual realms. It didn’t matter anymore if you recognized him or not.

Still, you backed away in shock while Atsumu always drew closer to you no matter how many steps you took back. “I am glad you like it. Why don’t you stay here?” he asked, and panic spread in you as you looked around to find a way out. Only briefly did you look to your left and then him again before you bolted. You were quick, but if he had run after you, he would have been faster, no question asked.

Instead, Atsumu approached his home - the place he lived in all alone until now - calmly, sitting down at the stairs to the temple and waiting for the loop to bring you back. No matter how far you ran, you eventually stumbled back onto the property, falling to your knees as you didn’t expect the open space. “Welcome back,” he greeted you, and even more panic crossed your expression. For every sadistic spirit, this would have been the absolute height of pleasure, seeing their prey so desperate, but Atsumu concentrated on the most important things.

He’d need to create a room for you. A room fit for a human, where you could feel at home while you stayed here with him. “Do you like beds or futon more?” he asked you as you stumbled back over the temple grounds the second time. You gave him a confused and flabbergasted look before booking it into the other direction again. Even if he wasn’t like the other kitsune, Atsumu decided to keep it traditional with a futon.

It took you three more times before you came to a halt in front of him, asking, “Why? Let me go! I want nothing to do with the likes of you!”

“Ah, too bad,” Atsumu sighed, standing up, and for the first time, you looked up to him properly, like the good tiny human you were. Even at your size, Atsumu was a towering force, making you feel relatively small next to him, a mere illusion from his magic. You wanted to complain as he wrapped his arms around you, pulling you up close to his body as if he tried to melt you two together, taking another deep breath. “I always wanted my own human. Everyone said how great it is to have one just for myself, and here you are.”

He felt you shiver in his arms at his words, and it brought a smile to his face. “You’re so adorable~ Why don’t you just stay here with me and let me have you?”

“N-No!” you said firmly, using his moment of inattention to push him away roughly. “Your kind just wants to play with us and make us crazy! I want to go home! I won’t play with you!”

“Play?” Atsumu mumbled before a broad smile grazed his lips. “Do I look like a child to you? I have no such intentions. If you want to leave, by all means, leave. I know you’ll come back all on your own.”

Anger festering in your expression, you huffed before turning on your heels, running towards and down the long staircase. How could he be so sure that you’d come back? Well, you were long caught in his realm, and he had sent out the invitations to everyone on the mountain to look at his darling little human.

It was just before sunset that you crawled back to him, having seen the horrors of true monsters that wanted nothing more than to drool on you and laugh about how pitiful you were. Maybe Atsumu did want to play with you a little bit, make you a little crazy, but mostly show you there were worse creatures waiting if you left his side. Instead, he’d keep you with him safe and sound, his arms wide open as you returned, making you fall right into his lap and into the comfort he offered to you, brushing over your head as tears streamed down your cheeks.

“I’ll definitely leave tomorrow,” you announced bitterly. “Sure, sure~” he merely pitied you, picking you up and carrying you inside the temple. In a few weeks, this would probably get boring, but by then, he’d surely come up with another method to keep you busy. And until then, he had a futon to share with you and a world you could never escape from until he decided to let you go.

But why would he ever let such a cute, amusing human go?

[infinitegalahad]

SHE WILL BE LOVED (Floyd Talbert X F! Reader)

Summary: Floyd drove for miles and miles, and still wounded up at the same door. Every. Single. Time.

Word-Count: 6.5k

Warnings: Slight mention of smut, past mentions of abuse/ rape

A/N: Based off of the Maroon Five Song. Not gonna lie, there old stuff is salvageable and can go hard, Overexposed is a great album. I have a love and hate relationship with this oneshot. I should be sleeping because I have to wake up at 7:50AM tomorrow but like...Floyd Talbert, am I right? Also, I'm working on dribbles. My inbox is acting strange so if you sent in anything, please send it in again, thank you! Hope you guys enjoy!

Taglist: @tvserie-s-world @easy-company-tradition @liebgotttme @50svibes @ricksmorty

Masterlist | Add yourself to my taglist!

Women say men are all the same; A gentleman, at least what Floyd Talbert considered him, proves women wrong.

Floyd Talbert knew he was no good. He didn’t consider himself a playboy , even though he charmed a new girl every week and possibly took them to bed, but he definitely knew how to play the game. Heck, his friends called him the master of the game. Girls back home and Europe loved it when Tab would break their young hearts with his dashing smirk. Every week, he’d have a pretty lady or two hanging off of his arms, giggling and smiling at anything he did or said. It boosted his ego even bigger than it already was. What was there not to love? He got whatever he wanted, when he wanted, and he always was satisfied in the end.

Guys wished they were him and any girl he could get his hands on simply adored him. Floud Talbert was like Hercules, but more conceited and naive. He was too young for marriage and too old for foolish games. He liked the flamboyant lifestyle he lived, it kept him on edge. Besides, who would Floyd Talbert, the one, the only, change for?

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“Busy night?” You questioned, leaning against the counter, overlooking the packed bar. There was soft jazz in the backing music, singing, dancing, and loads of drunken men. Most of them were Americans. Alborune had been hosting the Paratroopers in the quaint little town. On the weekends, the pubs would turn into total clusterfucks, at least according to your boss.

Your boss looked at you and shrugged his shoulders, throwing a towel over his shoulder. “Unfortunately, and a lot of damn drunks,” He cursed. You looked behind him, seeing the American soldiers sloppily dancing with the local girls and even some of the waitresses. You could see the soldiers, their breaths of beer and hands grasping the waitresses' backs and butts, spinning them around as swing music played in the black. You had worked in a pub and knew how these relationships ended; divorce or after an awkward one night stand. Unfortunately, you had experienced the two of those more times then you could count on your fingers. Not wanting to get hurt, you made it official that you were here to do your job, make drinks, and serve the men. Nothing else and nothing more.

You bit your lip, letting out an inhale, “Another Friday night at the pub.”

“Jus’ be careful, you hear me?” Your boss warned. He was like a father towards you; an old man with sweet eyes. He always made sure the waitresses in his bar weren’t being harassed in the pub. “And whatever you do-”

“Don’t get yourself into trouble,” You repeated as you tied the apron onto your hips, “I know. ‘S not like I’ll be getting into it anytime today, or at all.”

At the bar you worked at, most of the waitresses were the most beautiful women you had ever seen. They looked like they belonged in Hollywood with their soft curls, red lips, and large breasts. They were always either chatting up a storm with a Paratrooper, giving a paratrooper a motorboat, dancing with a Paratrooper, or sneaking with a Paratrooper to the back of the Pub. It was because they were beautiful on the outside, but not within. The men weren’t smart enough to see that. All they desired was a pretty girl to use and then dispose of the next day. It occasionally made you a tad bit jealous. You knew how childish it was, but you wanted to be that girl who was loved not only for her looks, but her personality. Loved for who you truly were. But you reminded yourself that it was better if you kept yourself out of the limelight.

You had begun your shift, taking orders and rushing to the counter to make two full trays of beer in your hands. The night was so far going well. A few of the men had hit on you, but it was nothing new or special. You simply ignored it, doing your mundae little schedule.

Rosie was one of your co-workers. She was everything you wished to be; pretty, bubbly, and got everything she wanted. Every week, Rosie would wrap another Paratrooper around her finger. However, she began to play their game as well. Rosie took pleasure in twisting the mind’s of the Paratroopers and breaking their hearts, finding entertainment in it. She was a tease and took great pride in it. As much as you wanted to be her, seeing the Paratroopers have drinking games and even fights over her hand in “marriage” or “too see her glorious caboose”, you stopped and questioned yourself with emotion and logic. Was she truly happy doing this? Was she trying to fill a void in her life? Was she more of an object then a woman? Was it moral of her to break hearts as well?

You saw Rosie sitting next to a young Paratrooper as they made out passionately, hands traveling across each other's bodies. You couldn’t help but look and see their burning desire and hunger for each other. Rolling your eyes, you walk around the crowded bar, the strong smell of Alcohol and vintage jazz pleasing your ears. Every table was full, and as much as you dreaded it, it was your job to go around and ask what the men wanted.

You approached the first time and put on a counterfeit red smile, tilting your head as you chirped to the men. They all turned to you, half smiles and tired eyes, begging for more alcohol. You simply took the groups and wrote down their orders, going from man to man until you reached the end of the table.

“And what would you like?” You asked, preparing your pen and pushing it against your tiny notebook.

The man at the end of the table was conversing with her friends. He first turned his head, greeting you

with his big hazel eyes. You observed his boyish features of ruffled golden hair, a babyface, and lightly tanned skin. Sure, he was handsome, but so was every other man in this bar. He looked at you up and down, a smirk forming at the edge of his lips before he turned his whole body around to face you. He leaned on the edge of the table and simply stared at you, like he was in awe.

“You,” He spat, earning a laugh from all of his friends.

Through your smile, you grit your teeth. “As If I’ve heard that one a million times..” It was a lie, that was the first time you had ever heard that in a while. You weren’t pretty enough to be noticed, but this time was apparently an expectation. “Do you want me to get you a menu?”

You pointed his finger at you, “Like I said-you.” He stood up and smirked, holding his hands out. “You-me, I think we’d make a pretty great match.”

“How would we make a great match If I’ve known you for less than a minute?” You questioned, raising your eyebrows. “I could be mean.”

“Oh, come now. You're gorgeous, I’m handsome.” He persisted. Great, not one of these. “Besides, I like challenges. Just be warned, I always win them miss…” He hesitated on your name before continuing, “Your name, doll?”

“Your order?” You said as you tapped your pen against your notebook. His little nickname had your cheeks flush a little. Thank god the pub had been litlety dimmed. “Please?”

“A beer and your name, please.” He politely requested. “I don’t believe I’m asking for much.”

You looked at him with a sarcastic and puzzled expression, “Why do you care so much about knowing my name? You seem like the type who would forget by the next morning.”

His friends made “ohing” noises like middle schoolers like a teacher would reprimand one of their friends. The cocky bastard let out a chuckle, flashing his pearly whites in a cocky smile. “Well, it depends. You’re feisty-I like it. Since it’s gonna be a while before we have anything going on between us, I best thought I’d make us familiar with each other. It’ll take some time for you to fall for me, but when you do, you’ll be lucky.”

This man could not be for real. It wasn’t a man, but a boy. But on the outside, he was so god damn handsome. He looked like a homewrecker, but god damn, he did a good job of being one. Your boss's word’s of staying out of trouble were lingering from your mind now, and so quickly.

“You’re not gonna shut up until I tell you my name now, are you?”

He shook his head, “Where’s the fun in that, dollface?”

You wrote down his order for beer and then looked up, a smirk, “Y/n. Now you?”

“Y/n, a good name for a good girl. I’ve met a lot of y/n’s, but none like you. They fell into my arms like flies, but you aren’t like that. Just yet,” He joked, earning an eye roll from you. “It’s only fair If I tronduce myself, Sergeant Floyd Talbert,” He gave you a quick salute before relaxing, ‘But you can call me Tab, your boyfriend, or that silver fox that swept you off of your pretty little feet.”

“I think Tab will be good. Just try not to forget my name now, even though my expectations aren’t very high.” You sassed. He gave you an air kiss and you simply gave him a side eye, holding the tray and notebook to your chest as you ushered back to the counter to retrieve Beers. As you prepared them, you thought about Floyd Talbert. There were thousands of men like him. Good for nothing players who were too damn handsome for their own goods. Floyd Talbert was the type of man your parents would warn you to stay clear of since their middle names were trouble in all capitals.

But if he was so bad, then why was he so good to look at it?

Back at the bustling table, Floyd had kept his eyes on you. He watched your eyemove, like a hunter with its prey. He saw you converse with other waitresses, turn down compliments from other paratroopers, and do your job. He wasn’t one for formality, especially in the dating fields. It wasn’t what he was accustomed to doing. By now, the two of you would’ve been in the back of the pub, faulting to get your clothes off of each other for a wuckie. But you were different, you were a special case that Floyd knew would take a lot of investigating,

“Why’d you ask for her name?” Malarkey asked, knocking Floyd out of his trance. “You say it’s not good to ask for a dame’s name. You know, to make it easier.”

Floyd didn’t look over at Malarkey and simply stared at you, filling the large drinks with beer. He pulled on his lip, slumped on the chair. He always knew the answer for everything, he always had a solution.

But this time, it was different.

Floyd had gone into one of the bathrooms with a waitress, who simply smirked at him. Her whole face had trouble written her face, and so did he. She had red lipstick, bedroom eyes, and the nicest rack Floyd had ever seen. He knew from that moment that he would use his words to woo her. After a brief conversation of aggressive flirting, her and Floyd headed to the bathrooms with the blonde, angrily took their clothes off, and fucked. It was quick and there was not a single word spoken between the two. Floyd loved the attention and girls he got, but he never got a relationship or word out of them. He only cared for their looks, which even he knew was shallow. But it was all he knew how to do. If they seemed happy, so was he. But inside, was he truly happy with this lifestyle he lived? Did he like leaving a girl heartbroken the next morning with no goodbye? Did it make him happy?

And yet, he never asked for her name or had a small conversation with her. After they finished, she simply cleaned herself up and left, acting like nothing had happened. Floyd acted like that too, it was easy to put on a facade. He brushed back his ruffled hair and looked at himself in the mirror. He liked what he saw on the outside, but what did he like on the inside?

He still thought about the girl who had served him, y/n, who was not like his other targets. Y/n rejected his advances and twisted his words, which even Talbert found entertaining. He didn’t know this girl very well, but he wanted to. Flirt with her and talk to her, heck-even have a drink with her.

His hyperixation with Y/n wasn’t going to be ending anytime soon.

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So Floyd did what he did best-he kept coming back to the Pub. He would come with the men from Easy Company, and sometimes on his own. There he’d find y/n, who’d roll her eyes as he’d walk over and make another “amazing” attempt at flirting. His comments weren’t very creepy, after all, he was a gentleman. You had seen him around the bar before, but never learned his name. You always saw him as the handsome player with a blonde or brunette on his arm. Sure, he had that classic boyish look every girl and guy wished or wanted, but under all that hair gel and his pristine uniform-was he doing it all for his own pleasure? Did he think of women as toys he could throw away the next day, just like had been before? So you did what you did best-keep your distance and roll your eyes at his remarks.

But everytime he walked in and the doorbell would ring, signifying his presence, your hand would grasp against the cloth you were holding to wash down the bar counter..

Floyd kept his promise and kept being persistent with winning your heart. He’d walk in and lean against the counter, saying your name like a sweet singsong. You’d serve him a drink, and he’d tell you about his day and occasionally flex his muscles. At first glance, Floyd seemed a boorish boy; the one who’d brag how he’d conquer multiple women like they were countries. You knew boorish men all too well, and didn’t need another one to increase your pessimistic view on romance.

While much has Floyd loved to boast about himself, he also loved to talk about you. He always complimented your outfits, asked about your day, and even scared off the creepy paratrooper’s who’d get too close for comfort. When Floyd would talk to you, he’d look directly into your eyes and respectfully listen. And he remembered the tiniest of details, such as your little daughter or your neighbor, an edlery women, who’d pester you about marriage and cooking.

“So, how’s Ms.Walsh?” He asked as you placed a Beer in front of him. He had a shit eating grin on his face, so you already knew where this was going. “Did you tell her about your new man?”

You shrugged your shoulders and played it off, “Much to your dismay, I did not. I’m still single.”

“Funny that you say that, y/n. Next time, tell her that you have a very handsome and strong Paratrooper with a dog. I think Trigger will like Poppy a lot.” Floyd boasted as he kept his eyes on you, leaned against the counter with your arms crossed. “Poppy will get used to Trigger, just like us.”

Every Time he’d throw a remark at you, you’d throw it back with a tint of sarcasm. You had learned how to play his game, but occasionally loosened up. Floyd wasn’t a bad guy at all, his ego was big, but he didn’t have any cruel intentions when it came to you. He treated you like a human, with feelings and emotions. He always asked about your day, how you were, made you feel better when you were sad, and did anything to make you happy. So you broke out of your ice a little and did what he did to you in return; show him kindness. You’d finally sit with him at the bar if it wasn’t busy and talked to him.

It was hard to deny, but as much as you hated it, you were falling in love with him. It was hard to resist him, his words were as smooth as silk. Whenever he’d see you, he’d call out your name and would make sure everybody knew you were his-or at least that’s what you thought. The girls you worked with in the bar tried to flirt with him, but much to your surprise, he would push them all away-just for you. All of his attention was focused on you, and only you.

You were beyond conflicted. Your head was telling you to simply be friendly and civil, but your heart was leading you to pursue this romance. You were torn between logic and emotion. One part of you loved him, one part of you hated him. You hated the way he made you feel, think, blush, and do things. Floyd was taking over your life, whether you liked it or not. Whatever you and Floyd had going on was no longer on thin ice. The two of you were deep in the water scuba diving, together.

The bar was busy at night, but tonight was different. It was less busy than usual and much quieter. The ambience was peaceful, soft souls playing in the background with the warm lights dimmed. Your manicured nails tapped at the counter as you observed the setting; some paratroopers drinking, a paratrooper cuddled with a fellow girl in town, and a waitress casually conversing with the costumors. Only a few more hours and you could finally return home with little Luna, nestled in your warm bed, alone and safe from the cruel world.

The little bell on top of the door had rang, alerting the whole bar of a new customer. You turned your head and bit your lip upon seeing the incoming danger. Great, your shift had just become a whole lot more entertaining.

Floyd was donning his new uniform, cap and gelled hair. He strutted across the bar to you, knowing that he was handsome. He knew he was hot shit and wanted to make sure everybody knew. He came up right to the bar counter and leaned against up.

“Miss y/n…” He greeted in his boyish voice, looking up and down at your figure as he usually did. He stopped at your face. You never wore makeup, and if you did, it was barely noticeable to the naked eye. However, Floyd noticed you looked different tonight. You had a bright shade of red on your lips, a light rogue pressed onto your cheeks, and a soft eyeshadow to match your (y/e/c) eyes. It was soft, just like Floyd perceived you as. “Are you wearing makeup?”

You nodded and looked down, feeling your heart skip a beat. You tried to snap back at him, but your body forced you to look and not embarrass yourself. “Yes. I suppose I try something new, to make myself look somewhat put together.”

Floyd looked puzzled at your response, “Put together? You always look gorgeous, I don’t know what you mean.”

Keeping your gaze down, you were finding it difficult to be around him. The room got darker and you felt a cold sweat overcome your body. You weren’t asking for his sympathy. Of course he saw this and found another way to flirt with you. You refused to give him the satisfaction he wanted, even though you did enjoy his kind words. You shook your head, “You don’t have to lie, Floyd.”

“I never lie. Look at me, y/n,” Floyd stated as his fingers tipped your chin up. His grasp was as light as a feather. The two of you made eye contact with each other. His fingers rested on your chin for longer than you both expected. His long fingers slided away as he caught a glimpse of your face so close, noticing all the little features about you. “You’re beautiful, without all of this and with this. I don’t know if you could deny it. If a man doesn’t find a dame like you gorgeous, then they must need glasses.”

You looked at him and back down, scrambling to find your words. Romance was something that you hated. It should have made you feel happy and left you with a good relantishop, but instead you were left with broken hearts and scared. As much as you wanted to love and be loved, it was hard to. You were scared of getting hurt again but Floyd Talbert made you reconsider. And your mind was stubborn. You didn’t want to reconsider, all you wanted to do was stay in your old ways and be alone. But how long were the two of you going to play this game of cat and mouse? How long could it go on?

Every time Floyd tried to leave you, he always ended up back at your door, hoping you’ll finally open up to him; by either literally opening her door or letting him into her heart. Floyd’s way’s, the small and big things, illustrated his dedication to winning your heart. Floyd was willing to drive for miles to end  up with you, and he wished you would appreciate his effort.

“Well, I guess you need glasses then,” You smirked and turned around to fix Floyd a beer, his favorite drink. He always liked the glass to be half way since he wasn’t a real drinker, he was more of a social one. You had picked up on that after befriending him. But was he a friend? Someone who you were in love with? What was he to you, and what were you to him?

Placing the beer in front of him, you attempted to walk away, but Floyd even knew you weren’t getting away that easy.

“Sit with me,” He requested, patting the empty barstool next to him. You opened your mouth to protest, but he already beat you to it, “Nobody’s here. Just one drink, and I’ll leave you be.”

Rolling your eyes, you walked over and towards Talbert to sit across from him. Instead of patting the barstool, he was now patting his lap with a look of lust and humor. Knowing that he was teasing you, you chuckled and sat on the barstool.

“Okay, you have me now.” You said as you put your hands up, ‘Why do you want me here?”

“I wanna know the pretty dame behind all of the makeup,” Floyd responded as he pulled on his lower lip, “Tell me about you. Home, your cat, everything.”

“One minute you want to marry me, the next you want to know my life story…” You replied as you also leaned onto the counter, “If you want to know so badly, then you go first. Tell me your life story.”

And so Floyd Talbert did. He told every little detail he could about himself from his family, Kokomo, his love for fishing, his four brothers-basically, his whole life story. Floyd had no problem openly sharing his problems with the world, especially you. He was fine telling you about his dad not being present, working odd jobs in high school, not attending college-he was ok with it. He accepted and loved himself, as you could clearly see. You on the other hand couldn’t understand how open he could be with himself, in relationships and in general.

The hard front of Floyd’s boot gently kicked your heel, his toe caressing against your bare ankle. A chill was sent up your spine as you looked up at him, straightening his back.

“You seemed so interested that you started drooling,” He commented, a smirk on his face.

You gave him a puzzled expression before you could notice the sticky sensation at the corner of your lip. Groaning in embarrassment, you looked for a napkin to wipe the drool from. Before you could find a napkin, Floyd had grabbed a handkerchief from his breast pocket and grabbed your chin gently, wiping the side of your mouth. He held you like you were made of glass, easily broken by a little infraction, which was partially true.

Once Floyd removed his fingers, he handed you the handkerchief. “Here, for you.’ He slicked his honey hair back, “Some ladies would kill for that.”

Hearing the comment, you rolled your eyes and shoved it into your apron. “Hardy Har Har, thank you.”

“Ok, enough about me. What about you?” Floyd said as he scooted his chair towards you, resting his arms on the counter with his chin gliding against his palm. “I’d like to know more about my dame.”

You looked at him and back down, biting your lip. A sarcastic comeback crossed your mind, but somehow you couldn’t spit out the words. The possessive word made you freeze in place as your grasp tightened around your drink. Nobody had called you in years.

“I’m no one’s,” You stated, taking a long sip of your drink, “I’m boring. I grew up in Albourne, always have been here. I have a daughter, I like to read, smoke, I-”

“I know that, but I want to know what’s in here.” Floyd pointed a finger at your head and heart. It was sweet, and even adorable. As much as you wanted to give into his warmth, the ice that surrounded your heart began to freeze.

“Come on, darling. Don’t play so hard to get, I know it’s not easy. Just loosen up a little for once. I can tell you that I’m stubborn, just like you. I like a challenge, and I always win,” Floyd cockily stated, which only pushed your buttons. The closer he scooted his chair towards you, the more you felt like screaming at the top of your lungs. “Stop being so scared and jus-”

“My goddess gracious, shut up!” You exclaimed loudly, burying your hands in your face. Floyd, respecting your wishes, shut up and was left speechless, his face contorted. What had he done wrong? He hadn’t touched you at all.

“You know, I’ve been with guys just like you. Total flirts, sleep with whoever they want and do whatever they want. They don’t care, just as long as it doesn’t affect them. God forbid If a woman does that, she’s considered a whore,” You ranted, “Guys like you are bad news. You treat us like objects that you can use and then throw out the next day. I know this game-you don’t care about me or my feelings at all, do you?” You looked away from him, holding back years, “After all, you said you wanted honesty, so there.”

Floyd was shocked at your sudden rant. He considered you sweet and quiet. This was the most he had ever heard come out of your mouth. Normally, he wouldn’t be moved by these things since they never occurred. This was his longest “flirting avvenire” he had experienced in years. His heart broke at your words. Being ashamed of himself, he attempted to fix what had been broken.

“Y/n, that’s not what you think. I know I’m like that, and it’s no excuse. But you’re…” Floyd stopped and let out an exhale with a red face, “different. When I first looked at you, I thought I died. I haven’t talked to any other dame since-you’re the only one that matters. I think about you whenever I’m not with you. Y/n, I think I lo-”

You let out a dry laugh, “Yeah. You may talk to me, make me laugh and say the sweetest things...but how many other girls are you doing that to? How many other girls have you shamed for being your property? How many girls have you slapped for looking at another man for less than a second? How many other girls have you forced yourself on and left them with a child you never wanted? Tell me, I’d love to hear.”

Floyd listened to your words carefully, analyzing them. The thought processed on his head, and instead of looking offended, his face softened. He looked sad and pained. Even though you had said a little, Floyd could piece together your past. He felt like an idiot for not knowing. No wonder you were cold and distant. From what it seemed, you had been not only physically abused, but touched without your consent and forced to take care of a child you didn’t want. Floyd felt terrible for you. It was no longer a game anymore, it was serious.

“Y/n...I’m sorry. I never knew. I feel like an idiot for not knowing. I’m not like that. I’d never do something like that I-”

“You sound just like him. All of you are the same. You put on a fake little smile and say sweet little things,” You ranted as you pushed yourself out of the chair to walk out. Floyd cursed under his breath and followed you right out, “Then bomb, under your control.”

“Y/n-”

Slamming the door open, your feet angrily stomp through the mud. You don’t care if you're sinking. You don’t know where you're going, but you want to be as far away from Floyd as possible.

You turned around and pointed a blaming finger at his chest, “Don’t interrupt me. You're so damn manipulative. From the minute you sat down, I could see that you wanted me in your bed. My biggest mistake wasn’t falling for you, it was thinking you had fallen for me.”

Floyd didn’t say anything and watched you turn over and run a hand through your neatly done up hair and makeup, which both became unruly.

“I’m sorry.” He apologized. Floyd walked over and grabbed your hands in an attempt to win you back, “I know it’s cheesy, but you're changing me. I tried to move on, but I can’t. Just let me help you. I can be whatever for you. A friend, a lover, anything. I had no idea what you had gone through. Can you let me inside so I can help you?” He was serious, this was no joke to him or you, “Let’s stop this game of cat and mouse. Honesty is number one here.”

You threw his hands away and began to back away, black tears streaming from your caked face. The nice outfit, soft hair, and pretty dress all for him. It was blind ignorance. How dumb you felt and looked.

“Goodbye, Floyd.” Is all you said before you hastily turned around and left him alone. You could imagine his gorgeous face, all heartbroken. Deep inside, you hated doing this. Breaking hearts, just like Floyd did.

But you and Floyd were different. He was the archer and you were the prey in the big scheme of things. In your world, to prevent history from repeating itself, it is better to be safe than sorry.

-----------

You always left your door unlocked. Albourne was home, you had  never left in. You knew your neighbors well enough. They liked you and your bubbly little daughter enough. Whenever you’d come home from work, she would run up to your feet and smile at you. Her smile would remind you of the man that shattered your heart, but there was something special about Poppy. She was not his, but yours, the light in that dark relationship. You made sure she was loved every single day and put her happiness over yours.

Another girl had taken your shift for the night, which made you relieved. You had a whole day to yourself, and Poppy. It was an indoors day due to the heavy rain. You accomplished from cleaning with the help of Poppy, some reading, and a game of princess and dragons. You were the dragon and Poppy played the role of the princess, and her stuffed animal the prince. The way she played the prince triggered the thoughts of Floyd.

After cleaning up, Floyd would infect your mind like a parasite. After you had bid him goodbye, you hadn’t seen him since. You had seen his friends at the bar and around town, but not him. Why did you miss him? You made it clear that you wanted nothing to do with him. You couldn’t stand being hurt again, even if a part of you, just a tiny one, considered feelings.

When Poppy had drifted off into a nap, you decided to go check out the rain. The garden you had built outside was weighed down by the heavy amount of train. You slowly walked into the rain as you felt your hair stick to your face and the clothes on your body become all moist. It was like taking a shower, it was beautiful. Closing your eyes, you tilted your head up and let the rain pour down your face and body.

The rain suddenly stopped falling into your mouth and clothes. Confused, you had thought it stopped raining. You opened your eyes and instead of a gray sky, you were met with the black top of an umbrella, being held by none other than Floyd Talbert.

“What are you doing in the rain?” He asked casually as he put a hand on your waist, walking with you to the cover of your house. He was drenched too, but you were soaking wet. “You’re gonna get sick.”

You blinked a few times to make sure what you were seeing and hearing was real. You stuttered and pointed at you, “Floyd...oh...I...how did you..?”

“Waitresses at The Pub. I got worried, I didn’t see you at the pub.” He explained not to sound stalkerish, “I looked everywhere for you because I needed to talk to you. Please, I know you hate me, but before I go, I might not come back. I rather tell you then die with it.”

You had forgotten there was a war that Floyd was a part of. He would soon be shipped off to Europe and be gone for forever or an indefinite amount of time. His hazel orb’s begged for your attention, and you were finding it hard to resist.

“Since you’re here...I suppose it’s only fair.” You accepted, “Go on.”

“I was thinking about what you told me, and it made me think too. I used to not do it a lot, until I met you,” He admitted, “Y/n, I know it’s crazy, but I could’ve sworn I died when I first looked at you. My heart stopped and I didn’t know what to say when you came over to me. You were sweet, quiet, and drop dead gorgeous. No other dame mattered to me, only you did. When I was with you, I only thought about you and what you wanted to do. You’re in my dreams and thoughts when I’m not with you. I think about you a lot, and...I love you, angel, as crazy as I sound.”

“I know what you’ve gone through and I’m sorry. But, I want to help you. I want to make you feel beautiful and loved. You know I’m there for you in whatever way you want, as a friend or a lover. I’m always a door away, and you know that y/n. But I love you more than anything in the world, and I want to show that to you in whatever way I can.”

You didn’t know what had triggered the kiss. Maybe it was Floyd’s speech, the hand on the small of your back, or his wet uniform. You didn’t respond with words and leaned in. Floyd didn’t protest and dived right into the kiss, his hands wrapped around your waist and back for support. The girls at your job were right, he was the best kieer you had ever met. He was gentle with you, his plump lips felt like heaven on your lips. It was a genius and heartfelt kiss. He could taste your lipstick and you could taste his cologne after the two of you had far gone.

There the two of you stood, wrapped in each other's arms as the rain poured down onto you.

You looked up and grabbed Floyd’s hand, nudging your head. “I’ll get you some warm clothes. I can make you a drink, if you please. Tea, coffee, anything.”

Floyd walked right beside you and pulled you in close for warmth. He planted a kiss on your wet hair, “You?” You looked at him with that motherly glare, which earned you a giggle. “You did say anything I wanted.”

“Well, I guess I did,” You raised your eyebrows and smiled. You leaned into his shoulder as you walked back into your little cottage, Floyd holding you close to his side.

You ended up serving him Tea. Poppy had woken up from her nap and followed Floyd around like a dog, believing that her wish of a father had come true. Floyd was intent on making Poppy’s dreams come true. Poppy would rave about the stories she wrote as you sat on Floyd’s lap, a blanket sprawled on your lap. His hand would play with the ends of your loose hair as you leaned in his chest, a soft smile on your face.

You had made dinner for three instead of two that night. As you cleaned the dishes, Floyd had read Poppy a story and sent her to sleep. He promised her that the next time he came over that she would get to meet Trigger and walk him. After Poppy had fallen asleep, Floyd came back to the kitchen and carried you to your room. The two of you got rid of your dirty clothes and left them sprawled on the ground, jumping into the bath with each other. He made sure that you were pampered that night as he washed your body and hair, massaged your back, planted kisses on your body, complimented you every other second, and did thousands of little things that would make a girl go head over heels. He took you to your bed and wrapped you in warm blankets and even made you a cup of tea. He knew he was going to get in trouble, but he stayed behind with you and cuddled with you until you fell asleep for “warmth”. It was cliche, but you absolutely loved it. Floyd’s radiance and warmth had melted away that icy barrier.

And with that, Floyd truly made you feel loved once again.

[wittyvitale]

Always One of Us (A Fluffy Post-Series Castlevania Fanfic)

Summary:  The Codrii Speakers visit the town of Belmont and Sypha reunites with her grandfather. They have a conversation about Sypha's life journey and her decision not to return to her Speaker tribe. Takes place at the end of the series, so MAJOR SPOILERS FOR SEASON 4 AND THE ENTIRETY OF THE SERIES. Lots of family fluff, some angst, some humor, some of Trevor being a cute daddy.

Author Notes:  I. LOVED. The ending of Castlevania. Perfect IMHO, exceeded my expectations. And the brainrot is strong right now. I really wanted to write about Sypha meeting with her Speaker caravan again after the events of the series, so now we have this. Enjoy!

The town of Belmont was bathed in the light of the late morning sun, a gentle breeze rusting the leaves on the trees. Trevor and Sypha were sitting on the bottom steps of Alucard’s castle, crooning over 6-month-old Sonia sitting on Trevor’s lap. The breeze brushed against the baby’s face and she giggled. Every time the baby laughed, Trevor and Sypha felt as if their hearts were going to burst.

“Somebody’s very happy today, isn’t she?” Sypha asked sweetly as she brushed the chestnut bangs out of her baby’s face.

“Thank god for that,” Trevor replied as he gently bounced the baby. “Better than screaming bloody murder like she’s been the past 2 days.”

“Sonia’s first teeth are coming in, of course she’s been screaming,” Sypha replied with a pout as she looked at her daughter. “Poor little thing’s been in so much pain lately. I’m glad her mouth seems to be giving her a break today.”

“I still say we should give her a little whiskey if it happens again,” Trevor suggested. “Just brush a bit on her gums. My Nana did that with me and my siblings when we were teething, or so I’ve been told.”

“I’ve already told you that we are not giving our baby whiskey, Trevor,” Sypha said sharply as she narrowed her eyes. “Alucard found a recipe for a tonic his mother used to make for teething babies. He said he’d have it for us today.”

Sonia began to babble as she reached for Trevor’s face and began to pat it with her chubby hand. Trevor lifted the baby so her face was closer to his ear.

“Hmm, what’s that, Sunny?” he asked. Sonia answered with more babbles and Trevor nodded. “I know, princess, but your mum says you can’t have whiskey. Maybe we’ll try again when you’re a little older.”

Sypha rolled her eyes but laughed. “My god, you are impossible, Trevor Belmont.”

Their banter was interrupted by a flurry of activity at the town’s front gate. A large wagon rolled into the town, and Sypha squinted to try to get a better look.

“That looks like a Speaker caravan.” Sypha observed with a lilt of surprise in her voice, still squinting.

“Definitely a Speaker caravan,” Trevor agreed. “You can see those blue robes from here.”

Sypha stood up and took a few steps forward. She saw a few of the Speakers getting off of the back of the wagon and her eyes widened.

“It’s the Codrii Speakers!” Sypha exclaimed. “Trevor, that’s my tribe!”

Before Trevor could react, Sypha was already running over to the caravan. The closer she got, the more certain she was that this was her Speaker tribe. When she got close enough, the last Speaker was being helped off of the wagon. Sypha stopped and stared at the older man, her eyes already beginning to well up with tears.

“Papi?” she asked softly. The older man turned at the sound of her voice and his eyes widened before giving her a soft smile.

“Sypha.” her grandfather replied, his lips curling into a delighted smile.

“Papi!” Sypha exclaimed as she ran over to her grandfather and hugged him tightly. Her grandfather returned the hug and they both held each other for a solid minute, both of them crying with joy.

“I missed you so much, Papi,” Sypha started, tears still flowing down her face. “I was planning to return to the caravan after we defeated Dracula, but so much happened and I-“

“Shhhh, it’s all right, my angel,” the Elder replied. Once they were finished embracing, he gently wiped the tears from her eyes. “We have plenty of time to catch up now. When I heard that there was a newer town in the area called Belmont, I had a feeling that I might find you here. I’m glad I trusted my intuition.”

Trevor finally caught up to Sypha, still holding Sonia in his arms.

“Christ Sypha, your eyesight is good,” Trevor said as he approached granddaughter and grandfather. “It really is your tribe! How are you, Elder Belnades?”

“Trevor! It is so nice to see you again.” The Elder said kindly to the Belmont. Sonia babbled and looked at the older man, big blue eyes filled with curiosity. “And who is this little one?”

“We really do have a lot to catch up on Papi,” Sypha said as she wiped the remaining tears from her eyes before standing next to Trevor.  “This is your great-granddaughter: Sonia Belnades Belmont.”

The Elder felt tears welling up in his eyes again when he learned the identity of the child. “I see. What a lucky man I am that I get to see 3 generations of Belnades’ during my lifetime. She’s beautiful. Congratulations to you both.”

“Would you like to hold her, Elder?” Trevor asked.

“It would be my honor.” The Elder replied as he stretched out his arms. As soon as Sonia was in her great-grandfather’s arms, she gave him an open-mouthed smile and cooed happily. The Elder gently stroked the baby’s cheek, a huge smile on his face.

“You were certainly telling the truth when you said that a lot has happened, Sypha,” the Elder said as he continued fawning over the baby. “The last time I saw you, you were making plans to urinate in a bucket and tell Trevor it was beer. And now the two of you have a baby.”

“I’m sorry, what was that?” Trevor asked, raising an eyebrow.

“There is a beautiful spot on the edge of the village where we can catch up,” Sypha said, ignoring Trevor’s question. “Come, Papi, I’ll tell you everything.”

“You were going to make me drink your piss?”

Sypha turned to Trevor and placed a hand on his cheek, a sly smile on her face. “Treffy, please. We both know that you’d never notice if I did."

With that, Sypha led her grandfather over to the spot she mentioned before, leaving a dumbstruck Trevor behind.

Sypha and her grandfather were seated on 2 crates underneath the shade of a large oak tree. The Elder was still holding baby Sonia, who was beginning to drift off in his arms. Sypha looked at her daughter fondly.

“She’s very comfortable with you,” Sypha started. “Not that I’m surprised. You’ve always been good with babies.”

The Elder chuckled lightly. “I’ve been caring for children for decades; you, your mother, and many of the children across our caravans. I’d like to think I’ve picked up a few skills in my time. Now, why don’t you start from the beginning, Sypha?”

Sypha told her grandfather everything that had happened since they had parted at Gresit; the journey to the Belmont Hold, perfecting the locking spell and dragging Dracula’s castle to its current position, the battle with Dracula himself, her journey with Trevor, the tragedy at Lindenfeld, the many times they thwarted Dracula’s resurrection, their time in Targoviste, the battle with Death… the crushing despair she felt after thinking Trevor had died. She told her grandfather every detail and he listened well, as all experienced Speakers do.

“When I thought I had lost Trevor, I was planning on coming back to the caravan,” Sypha continued. “I realized I was pregnant not long after the battle with Death. I knew that I could get the support I needed if I returned to my family. But Alucard convinced me to stay, told me about the community he was helping to build around the castle. And literally right after that, Trevor came back from the dead. I decided to stay and help with the community organization efforts, and before I knew it, Sonia was born. I was always planning to come back to the caravan, Papi. I don’t want you to think that I was just going to abandon you and the rest of my family. But at the same time I… I…”

“You weren’t sure if you wanted to return to us for good.” The Elder answered. Sypha looked down at her feet guiltily. He took the hand he wasn’t using to hold Sonia and gently squeezed Sypha’s hand.

“You certainly have been through a great many ordeals, my dear,” the Elder started. “And we always knew there was a possibility that you would not come back to us once you had fulfilled the prophecy. Do you remember how the prophecy of the Sleeping Soldier ended?”

“How could I forget?” Sypha said with a light laugh. “’Once the Hunter, Scholar, and Sleeping Soldier had saved the world, they lived with each other until the end of their days.’ But after I met Trevor, I was certain that I would want nothing to do with him after we defeated Dracula. You remember what he was like, you met him before I did. He stank, he was rude, he behaved like such a child. I couldn’t stand him. But then… I learned more about him, saw the man he really was. And I… I fell in love. I really do love him, Papi.”

The Elder smiled in approval. “I always knew Trevor was more than what he was pretending to be back in Gresit. He was a defeated man, trying to cope with a significant loss. I knew that you would eventually realize the same thing. You’ve always had a good head on your shoulders, a very strong emotional intelligence.”

Sypha smiled sadly. “After everything I’ve been through, I don’t think I can return to the life of a Speaker. My life is here now. With Trevor, Sonia, Alucard, Greta, and so many other people who make up this community. I will always carry the practices and principles of the Speakers with me. I will always provide aid and comfort to those who need it most. But I want to do these things here. I want to stay here.”

“As you should,” the Elder nodded as he squeezed Sypha’s hand again. “I always knew you were destined for great things, my Sypha. I knew it back when you were 5-years-old and you accidentally set our wagon on fire with your magic.”

Sypha laughed. “I remember that day very well. That was the first time I ever used magic.”

“I want you to look at me, Sypha,” the Elder began, waiting until Sypha’s eyes met his. “Know that no matter where the journey of life takes you, you will always be a Codrii Speaker. You will always be considered one of us. We are your family and will always be your family. Never forget that, my angel. Although you no longer travel as a Speaker, you will always be a Speaker. And you will always be my precious granddaughter.”

Sypha felt the tears welling up in her eyes again. She wrapped her arms around her grandfather’s neck. “Thank you, Papi. Thank you. I love you so much.”

“And I love you, Sypha,” the Elder answered, wrapping his free arm around Sypha. Once they had separated, the Elder’s eyes went back to the front of the village gate. He saw the 10 remaining Speakers surrounding Trevor and they appeared to be subjecting him to an intense interrogation session.

“And it looks like the rest of your family is making sure that Trevor is taking good care of their sister,” the Elder chuckled. “We should go back to him.”

Sypha laughed too. “Yes, we should probably save him. From Arn especially.”

“Well at least you smell better than the last time we met you.” Arn said to Trevor as Sypha and the Elder returned to the group. Arn noticed the pair and turned to Sypha. “Is this bum helping you take care of the baby? He’s not leaving all of the work to you, is he?”

Sypha rolled her eyes affectionately. “Yes, Arn, Trevor’s helping me with all aspects of childcare. This is me we’re talking about; do you think I’d let him get away with anything less?”

“Hmm, a fair point,” Arn mulled over before glaring at Trevor again. “You’d better be good to her. To her and your daughter. If not, we’ll come back and have something to say about it.”

Trevor held up his hands in acquiescence. “I promise, Arn, Sypha and Sonia will be treated like royalty as long as I’m around. They're my world and I'm always going to give them my best.”

Sypha gave Trevor a soft yet apologetic smile for Arn’s interrogation. Her eyes went to Sonia, who was now fast asleep in the Elder’s arms.

“Trevor, why don’t you take Sonia and put her in her crib for a nap?” Sypha suggested. “I don’t want her to risk waking up out here. You know how cranky she gets when her sleep is interrupted.”

“Hmm, good idea. Gotta make sure our little princess gets her uninterrupted beauty rest.” Trevor agreed as he held his arms towards the Elder. The Elder quietly passed Sonia over to her father. Sonia began making small whimpering sounds at the movement, which made Trevor gently shush her, hoping she wouldn’t wake up. She settled in Trevor’s arms and relaxed, which also made Trevor relax.

Sypha squeezed Trevor’s upper arm gently. “I’ll meet you back at the castle a little later. I want to spend a little more time with my family.”

“Take your time.” Trevor nodded to Sypha and the Speakers before walking away with the sleeping baby in his arms.

Sypha looked at each member of her Speaker family and smiled warmly. So happy that they had found her. So happy that she was still considered one of them. So happy that she would always have them no matter where her life led.

“I would like to introduce you to the other members of my family in this village,” Sypha started as she took her grandfather’s hand. “Would you like me to give you a tour?”

The Elder placed his other hand on Sypha’s and smiled fondly.

“We would love nothing more.”  

[twoidiotwriters1]

Written In The Stars CIII (Harry Potter xF!Oc)

A/N: I know last book ended horribly but I promise this one won’t be entirely sad, just a bit frustrating– Enjoy and please leave feedback! -Danny

Words: 3,888 

Series’ Masterlist

Book IV // Next Chapter

Listen to: Then -by Anne-Marie

Chapter One: A Lousy Summer.

1974

Emily wasn't going to cry where the girls would be able to hear. 

She could've used a spell to quiet her own sobs, but she just needed to be in a place where there was no need to hide. 

So she went to the common room, drowning her cries on a blanket and wondering how was she going to crawl her way out of this one. She thought it was unfair, she'd never experienced something so embarrassing prior this moment. Wasn't love supposed to be beautiful?

"Mily?"

The girl gave a start and cleaned her face hastily.

"Padfoot," She tried to sound casual. "What's wrong? Had a nightmare about cats chasing your tail?"

"Are you okay?" He walked up to her, ignoring the teasing. "I'm sure that if you were to talk to them..."

"I think it's clear enough," Emily averted her gaze. "All of us want things we can't have."

"That's not true."

"What exactly should I do after the humiliation I went through?" She sniffed. "He kissed me in front of everyone! I can't be near him and I refuse to be around Lily, I don't want to see any of them!"

"Mily, when I tell you Matt got the worse deal..." Sirius frowned. "The look on his face–"

"You don't need to remind me," Emily lamented. "Why can't I like him back?"

"You can't force things to happen," He shrugged. "If I could make all of you forget I would, but you'd find a way to do whatever you want anyway."

"This is not the time for jokes..."

"Talk to Moony then," Sirius complained. "I'm not good at comforting people..."

"I don't want to talk! Can we just... sit in silence?"

The girl curled up and got closer, he wrapped an arm around her awkwardly.

Really –Sirius thought with exasperation– What was she expecting? This was bound to happen, one of them would eventually develop a crush on her...

Well, more than one... but Sirius was going to take that secret to the grave. It was out of place, Matthew was way better than him– Hell, anyone was a better choice! But tonight it was just the two of them... and Emily had asked him to stay.

"It'll get better, right?" She asked quietly. "I'll get over my stupid crush and so will Matthew... we'll be back to normal in no time..."

"You were never normal," He joked.

"You know what I mean..."

"Yeah," He fixed his gaze on the dying fire, a hint of bitterness in his voice. "If you ask me, James doesn't know what he's missing..."

1995

It was the driest and hottest month of the year back in Private Drive, but Mel was freezing at the front door of Grimmauld Place.

Her mother led her in as she closed the door behind them, Mel hugged Grey's basket closer, thinking a ghost would walk out of the hall. Instead, Sirius walked in with a bright smile.

"You're here!"

Mel looked around dubiously.

"This is your house?"

"Mel! Don't be rude!"

"That's okay," Sirius made a face. "This place is hot rubbish. Your room's clean though. I made sure you'd be comfortable. I know it's hard to be away from home, stuck in such a... place."

"Well, at least you're here," She smiled. "I'm sure I'll get used to it."

"Hand me those," Sirius grabbed her trunk and walked ahead of them. "Let me take you to your rooms... Try to be quiet, my mother's portrait is mental. I tried to take it down but she glued it there. It's bloody torture."

"Language, Padfoot," Emily said, though she was far more interested in the house-elves on the shelves. "Love the decor..."

"Don't mention it," The man growled. "The house-elf that kept the house clean while I was young used to be here, I have no idea where he is, but I haven't found him. I can't wait to throw all those heads out."

"You think he died?"

"I'll find him eventually."

"So this will be the headquarters for the Order?" The girl asked, choosing to ignore his vague answer.

She'd read her mother's letters in secret until Emily found her snooping around, by then it was too late, so Emily didn't see the point on hiding it anymore.

"That's right," Sirius opened the first door of the second landing. "I figured, if I can't be of use out there, the least I can do is give a safe place where to have our meetings. It's secured with a Fidelious charm, Dumbledore did it last Saturday when he heard you were coming."

"Interesting..." Mel looked around. "Who used to sleep in this room?"

"Guests, that's why it's so plain. I thought you'd like it that way, my family wasn't keen on jolly decorations."

"I noticed," Mel grinned.

"You must be hungry, coming all this way from Remus' place. Why don't we go to the kitchen and have lunch? We can unpack later..."

Mel was helping her mother set the table when she heard a strange noise coming from the corner of the kitchen.

"What's in there?"

"It's where the elf used to keep his appliances... there might be rats in there, be careful."

When she opened the door something fell swiftly on her feet and she screamed, jumping on the table.

"What happened?" Emily circled the table. "Oh–! Sirius! I believe Mel found your elf..."

"Is he alive?" The girl asked in terror.

The creature looked ancient and dirty, with a sneer that she'd never seen in an elf before; usually, they were all smiles and compliments. This one started to insult them as soon as he lifted himself from the ground.

"Rats! Thieves! Traitors of the blood had come to rob my masters' treasures!"

"Kreacher," Sirius said. "Shut up."

The elf closed his mouth tightly but sent Sirius a deathly glare.

"He listens to me because I'm the last member of my family that still lives. Be of use, Kreacher, go clean my mother's room."

The elf's eyes shone with anger but he turned away and vanished.

"He always liked to throw tantrums," Sirius added, pulling Mel down from the table. "You're okay?"

"Yeah– it took me by surprise..."

"You jumped so high!" Her mother laughed.

"Laugh at your daughter, will you?" Mel scoffed. "Not like you're the adult or anything..."

"No one here is allowed to be an adult," Sirius crossed his arms. "Not unless we're holding a meeting. In which case we're adults. Today there won't be any, though."

"Don't listen to her, she's just upset about spending summer away from Harry," Emily mentioned.

"I'm not," She replied tensely.

"It's okay, I was beyond sad the first time I had to leave Matt for–"

"I don't feel that way about Harry," Mel retorted roughly.

"What?" Her mother's smile fell. "What happened?"

She bent down to pick up the things that fell when she'd jumped on the table.

"I'd rather not talk about it..."

"Am I missing something?" Sirius raised a brow.

"Last summer Mel told us she was having feelings for Harry..." Her mum began carefully, "I thought it was still a thing..."

"I'll tell you what it was. Stupid..." The lump in her throat formed at a remarkable speed. "I should've known better..."

"Did you talk to him?"

"He doesn't like me, Mum."

Sirius and Emily shared a look, the woman moved to hug her.

"We can talk about it if you want? Once you're ready..."

"Can we have lunch?" Mel asked quietly.

"Sure thing, little Em," Sirius nodded. "I'm a brilliant cook. Your mother's skills will be put to shame."

"How're you so sure?" Emily grinned.

"Because I remember your cooking."

Mel was spending some quality time with Buckbeak when Sirius walked in. It was almost midnight and her mother had gone out on a mission.

"Is it okay if I join you?"

Mel shrugged.

"I know you said you didn't want to talk about it, but maybe you'd like to talk to me now?"

The girl remained silent.

"C'mon, Mel! We'll live under the same roof for a while, let's practise our social skills!"

"My social skills are fine, thanks."

"I heard from a reliable source that you're still scared of speaking to large crowds..."

"I simply don't find it exciting," She lied.

"Well then, I'm not a thousand people, but I have a nice pair of ears that would love to listen to fifteen-year-olds' problems."

"I'm sure your godson will have plenty once he's back."

"He's been demoted to my godson?" Sirius taunted.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"All right, we won't talk about him... What about your father?"

"What about him?"

"Well, when he was about your age–"

"He kissed my mum and she turned him down?" She replied tiredly. "So what? They married anyway..."

Sirius frowned.

"They didn't know they were going to marry each other, that's what! Matt didn't look like himself for weeks! Your mother'd been rejected, that's why your dad kissed her. He thought it would help... to this day I don't know why he thought that, but alas, it worked!"

"Did you know the other?" Mel asked. "That kid mum used to like?"

"A fool," Sirius shrugged. "A nice fool, but an idiot nonetheless... your parents were lucky, Mel. They found a way to fall in love, but even if that hadn't been the case, your father would've found someone– your mother would've found someone... It's not that we're meant to find just one person and stick to it. Most times it's just finding an equal that understands you and suits your needs, and there are plenty of those."

"I don't want anyone," Mel pouted. "I hate this, and I wish there was a way I could avoid liking people. It's hideous."

Sirius laughed.

"Trust me, you'll regret it if you don't give someone a chance. Though I'll tell you this, no person in this world will ever be fully worthy of you, little Em. And even if it's true and you don't find one, your life will still be full of adventures."

Mel didn't think she was that great, but whatever had happened between Harry and she felt right, it felt natural, she'd been able to see a future with the boy. Then again, that could've been her childish and gullible self thinking that her first love was going to last forever. Maybe, if she were to try hard enough, she'd be able to see someone taking Harry's place.

"Have you ever been in love?" Then she added rather bashfully. "I mean, not that I have, but you know..."

Sirius cleared his throat.

"It was a long time ago. Long before leaving Hogwarts... It wasn't meant to be, nor my place."

They fell in comfortable silence, watching Buckbead nibble some bones.

"If you really want to help me," Mel started. "You can teach me how to avoid detention..."

"Nice try," Sirius laughed. "Emily warned me about you... My official answer is no."

"What about your off-the-record answer?" She inquired, standing up at the same time as him.

"Only the days Mily's not in the house."

Kreacher kept insisting on following her around as if she were a criminal, making sure she wasn't touching any of his old trinkets. She didn't have any interest in doing so; everything had dark magic, she'd sense it without even having to touch them.

On a normal day, she'd go to the attic to spend time with Buckbeak, sometimes Sirius would make tea and they'd sit there talking about his adventures in Hogwarts. He'd tried several times to ask her about Harry, but she would ignore him every time.

Dumbledore visited one morning to ask her to keep it all a secret, what they were doing there, meaning that if she was planning on sending letters to Harry, she wasn't allowed to talk about the Order. But Mel wasn't writing to him at all, and her letters to Hermione and Ron were always vague. Both of them were under the impression that Mel, true to her nature, was keeping an updated knowledge on Harry's whereabouts, that she didn't confirm nor denied.

Erick wrote to her a week after she'd moved to Grimmauld Place. Anne went completely unmentioned, but that was expected. He was busy looking for young supporters, things got a bit complicated when Eliot Flint got sick again and Erick had to look after him. He seemed to be having just as a dreadful summer as she was.

It wasn't that her mother, Lupin, and Sirius would leave her to rot inside this huge house, but they were adults who had their minds set on important matters, and she had nothing to do but overthink about him.

She still had feelings, but she was doing her best to bury them. Mel was hoping that once in Hogwarts she'd find a way to be okay with his existence. She didn't want to get rid of him altogether, that was impossible.

"I take that you're having a rough morning?" Sirius spoke from the doorway.

Mel gave a start, looking up from her seat at the kitchen table.

"I had a nightmare," She said drowsily.

"Same as before?" Sirius knew about her dreams, but that day she didn't want to talk about them. Today all she wanted to do was to sit in silence and drink her coffee.

"Have you had breakfast already?"

"No. I came here so Kreacher would stop nagging about me trying to steal the rubbish he keeps in the living room."

Sirius chuckled, walking up to the stove.

"Maybe if you praise my mother's portrait he'll stop..."

"Would love to, but I'm not a good liar."

"I can help you with that," He turned around for a moment. "Don't laugh when you speak, don't smile– if someone accuses you of causing mischief, act like it was the most insulting thing you've ever heard."

"What if they don't buy it?"

"Confidence is key, Mel. If you believe it, then it's done."

"Sirius, you're not giving my daughter bad advice, are you?" Emily walked in.

"Not at all," Sirius said, feigning surprise. "It shocks me that you think so, the only thing I want for Mel is her well being!"

"He's good..." Mel snickered.

"You have to pick your battles wisely, Paddie. A fifteen-year-old, or an experienced witch that's old enough to hex you," Emily warned him.

"I'll trust my luck," Sirius smirked.

"I got Molly's answer by the way," She ignored him, "The Weasleys will be here next Tuesday."

"Hang on... where will everyone sleep? I know the place is big, but..."

"Ginny can sleep with you," Emily started, "Ron can sleep in Phineas' room, the twins can sleep in the room next door to yours– Molly and Arthur can stay in Walburga's room..."

"But Sirius is in that room," Mel tilted her head.

"Yeah..." Emily glanced anxiously towards the man. "Sirius will take my room. I spend the night outside anyway, remember? Like uncle Lupin."

"But sometimes you don't."

"Little Em," Sirius told her. "Don't worry, your mother and I will make sure everyone's comfortable. As much as this bloody house can be..."

Mel knew Sirius was less than happy about spending his days locked up in the house where he'd lived the worse years of his life, but he was glad to have her, or at least he'd said as much. According to him, Mel was a lovely housemate.

She also knew there was something going on between the two adults. She could see it in the way Sirius would stare at her mother when she wasn't paying attention, and the way her mother would look more cheerful than usual after talking to him. The nights where she had to eat with the two blatantly flirting felt like personal karma from all those months she'd spent recklessly ogling at Harry in front of her friends.

"Can Hermione come too?" Mel asked.

"D'you think she'll want to come to this musty old place?"

"Please?"

Sirius sighed.

"Look at those eyes, Mily. I can't say no to those eyes!"

"Those are my eyes," The woman crossed her arms. "I can."

"I got my father's smile though," She said cheekily. "Please? It could be my first birthday surrounded by friends!"

"You heard that, Mily? Her birthday," Sirius said without missing a beat. "Are you going to deny such a simple request to your only daughter?"

"Oh, you two are unbelievable!"

"Is that a yes?"

"You have five minutes to write that letter and send it– Wipe that smirk off your face, Black. You're washing the dishes tonight."

Mel and Sirius high-fived, laughing at Emily's annoyance.

"And here's where we'll be sleeping!" Mel dragged Hermione into the room.

The house was definitely more fun now that the Weasleys and Hermione were there, from time to time some members of the order would visit as well as her uncle. The place almost felt like home.

"You're not sleeping with your mum?"

"My mum and Sirius share–" She stopped abruptly. "Mum goes out a lot, sometimes when she's here Sirius will give her his room so she can take the bed and he sleeps on the couch."

"Ginny sleeps here too?" Hermione examined the jumpers laying around on the other bed.

"Yeah!"

"How is she? She's over Harry now?" Hermione smiled. "She's okay with him liking you and all?"

Mel groaned internally. This was going to be a long month if people kept asking her about Harry.

"Harry doesn't like me."

"Please, Mel–"

"No," The girl interrupted. "I actually talked to him this time. Don't ask. It's better if we just forget it."

Hermione stared at her in shock.

"I–I could've sworn he... that he..."

"'Mione," Mel stared at her. "Forget it."

Hermione nodded, sitting down at the edge of the bed.

"Careful with the twins, by the way," She continued calmly. "They're free to do magic now, and they're out of control."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Ginny and Hermione were acting oddly ever since they found out she wasn't talking to Harry. They had the right to be, it was strange to see how unfeeling she was about being so far away from her former best friend. The twins and Ron, on the other hand, weren't that worried. They thought it was her way of coping and, in a way, it was.

They kept asking a lot of questions about Erick though, whether if he was to be trusted and exactly how much could they get away with. Mel thought it was funny, so she answered as many questions as she could.

Her birthday passed without much of a fuss, suddenly she was fifteen and just as quickly, Harry was too, but he wasn't there to celebrate. For the first time in weeks, she wished he could be there with them, she didn't dislike him as much as to wish him a bad birthday.

Hermione and Ron started to write to him. She tried to write a Happy Birthday note but it sounded stupid, she knew it'd be far from happy, all alone in Privet Drive. That night he would open his window only to see hers completely shut.

Erick's present had been one of those old radios his Grandad used to make with a note that said 'So you can practice your dancing' signed with two E's. She and the twins used it a lot while working on their products, that way it would drown the noise and their mothers wouldn't suspect as much. Mrs Weasley was on edge lately, Percy and his father had gotten into a real nasty fight and now the boy was gone, it had the poor woman in a terrible state.

One night after dinner, Fred walked into her room.

"Hey," She said without looking up. "Erick told me there's a station where they do these radio novels? I'm trying to find them, bet they're hilarious..." She said while toying with the buttons of the object.

"You're all right?" He asked, sitting next to her.

"Brilliant."

It was a lie. She'd been having a terrible headache for the past twenty minutes, probably because of the lack of sleep and the white noise.

"I'm not the best talker, and you don't have to say anything, but–"

"Not you too, Fred," Mel rolled her eyes, turning off the radio. "I told you I'm fine–"

"Exactly. I'd never seen you so calm about leaving Harry before, there must be something," He raised a brow.

"It's called growing up," She scoffed. "He's capable of looking after himself. You know it, I know it..."

"A real grown-up wouldn't avoid confrontation."

"That's rich coming from you, considering you keep hiding your products away from mummy."

"That's not fair, you know it's a safety measure!"

"Okay then," Mel stood up. "This is my safety measure. I don't talk about things that don't concern others..."

Fred caught her wrist and stopped her from leaving.

"Lady..."

"Using my nickname in that aching voice won't change my mind," She raised a brow. "Let go."

"Don't be grumpy, you're starting to sound real' bossy and you haven't gotten the Prefect badge yet!"

"Fred..." She tried to move. "Please, my head is killing me..."

"Did you guys fight?" He tilted his head, finally letting go. "I don't get why you fancy him if you're always bickering..."

"I don't like Harry."

"Yeah, right," Fred laughed.

"I don't," She tried to follow Sirius' advice and kept a neutral expression. "We went to the ball as friends. He saved me during the second task because I was his friend. What Skeeter wrote was rubbish, I don't fancy him."

"If you insist," Fred shrugged, but she could see he wasn't buying it.

He stood up as well and she realized, with a strange sense of accomplishment, that she was tall enough to reach his chin. She was about to point that out when something completely different came out.

"Why did you ask me to the ball?"

"What?"

"You said it was because you thought it'd be fun. Was that it?"

"Why does it matter?"

That was a good question.

Why did it matter?

But also, why not Fred? He was handsome, funny, smart...

It wasn't that she didn't like him, it was that she hadn't picked him. Sirius said there was more than one person for her, she just had to find them. Mel wasn't ready, but she would eventually, and if she could pick...

"It doesn't," Mel sighed. "I was curious, that's all. Ron used to think you fancied me, you know? I told them it was stupid..."

"Well, not stupid," Fred was quick to correct. "Just... I don't know, unlikely."

"Am I unworthy of your affection?" She joked.

He eyed her intently, like pondering the idea she had put out there. Suddenly, her mother stormed into the room.

"Harry was attacked," The woman blurted out.

"What?" Mel snapped, walking away from Fred.

"He's all right, but he used magic. The ministry has been looking for an excuse to get him– I'm afraid he just gave them one."

"Get him?"

"If we don't do something, he'll be expelled from Hogwarts."

"How– we're not– Do what?" She stammered.

"They're bringing him here," Her mother replied. "Harry's coming."

Next Chapter —>

Taglist.

@dee123ksha​ @vampiregirl1797 @siriuslysirius1107 @stardusthigh @mikariell95 @vernon-dursley @thesuitelifeofafangirl @tomshollandz @kylosleftbuttcheek @reverse-hxlland @bloodorangemoonlight @omiwashere​ @t-rexs-world

[dorevenge]

where ignorance is bliss - chapter 2: where grass was green

SUMMARY: Obadiah is off to Washington to assist with the war in Vietnam, and Peggy and Maria grow closer, as Maria learns something she wishes she didn't. [AO3 LINK]

CHAPTERS: 1 [2] 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 ☆

November 15, 1959 – Bronx, New York, Obadiah’s Apartment

Struggling to find ways to pass the time after the war, Peggy frequented my apartment. The Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division (or, S.H.I.E.L.D., as everyone says to save precious time) has been involved in the fight with Vietnam for a few years now. Obadiah left for Washington right after the Stark Expo to give weapons consult in the war, and I haven’t seen him in almost three months. We would write letters sometimes, and phone even less. I moved into Obie’s apartment to take care of the place while he was away for an indeterminate amount of time, and Peggy crashed in the living more times than she would care to admit.

“Did you love him?” I ask, fixing the two of us another round of Old Fashions. The empty Chinese carryout containers are scattered across the coffee table before us. There’s a good restaurant between the S.H.I.E.LD. Headquarters and the apartment, and Peggy will frequently grab something on the way here.

“I only knew him for a couple months,” Peggy replies, taking the glass. I curl up next to her on the couch, our heads leaning in towards each other. “So it’s hard to say. It could have been. We were both young, thrown together during some of humanity’s darkest days. We were all looking for something to believe in.”

She swirls the glass in her hand, lazily watching the whiskey fall back down the side before continuing.

“What about you and Obadiah? Is this love?”

“I don’t want to talk about him.” The corners of my mouth curl downwards on their own. Peggy notices. Peggy always notices.

“Trouble in paradise?”

“It’s more like paradise when he’s gone rather than when he’s here.”

“Why is he your boyfriend if you don’t even like him?”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” I take a large gulp of my Old Fashion, the whiskey burning the back of my throat. “He’s my fiancé.”

Peggy sits up, and my head slides off her shoulder to the cushion of the couch.

“Your what?” She takes my left hand into hers and finds my ring finger bare.

“I keep it in my sock drawer. Whether out of safekeeping or embarrassment, I’m not sure.” I sit up.

“When did this happen? And why did you say yes?” She looks at me with a tight expression, concern and worry on her face. Her red lipstick is all but gone, a faint imprint of it left on the rim of her class, and her usually tight curls hang loose around her neck and chin. If she weren’t so upset, I’d reach out to tuck one of them behind her ear.

“The last day of the Expo. He… He’s comfortable. We have our routine. We play chess together, I straighten his ties, I smile at the men he wants to invest in his company. I get some of the profits for my charities, and we make each other look good.” I frown at the empty glass in my hand and contemplate fixing another.

Peggy sets down her unfinished drink and looks at me. She has a way of effortlessly shifting her gaze from disapproving to comforting in a second. I never know if I’m going to be talking to the “unrelenting founder of S.H.I.E.LD.” Peggy or the “let’s go shopping and day-drinking” Peggy.

“I’m sure there’s a man out there that complements you and makes you feel good. You just-”

“-haven’t found him yet,” I finish her sentence. I’ve heard it from everyone – my parents, coworkers, strangers who learn I’m 23 and still unwed. 24, I remind myself; my birthday was on the fifth, less than two weeks ago. I feel the effects of the whiskey settling in, my eyes growing heavy and my weight shifting to my stomach. “You’re lucky to have experienced two great loves.”

“Daniel is far from a true love, hence why I stay with you the majority of the week. I’m also fourteen years older than you and have had more time to find them. I was 24 when I met Steve; there’s still plenty of time.”

“There doesn’t seem to be many men like Steve left.”

-

Peggy was gone without a word the next morning, and I am left alone with a pounding headache. By the time I wake, its well past noon on Saturday, and the mail’s already been delivered under the door.

I rifle through the envelopes once my toast is done, the coffee pot almost full, and the majority of the mail is addressed to Obadiah. Bills and letters of interest from inventors that I’m supposed to forward to him in DC. There’s a letter addressed to me in his precise, meticulous handwriting, but the one that interests me most is from Roxxon Oil Company, a large, thick packet with “CONFIDENTIAL” stamped across it. Naturally, I open it.

Maybe it’s the lingering hangover or the knowledge that Obie would forgive me for anything under the sun, but I rip open the envelope as I sip on my morning coffee, pouring all its contents out on to the table.

Most of the information doesn’t interest me, talking about drill efficiency and rigs and pipelines, until I find the balance sheet and investing information. I did get my master’s in accounting, as Obie tends to forget as he relegates me to a trophy wife. As I drift back into sobriety, the pieces start falling into place. Roxxon isn’t investing in Stane International; Stane is investing in Roxxon, and they were already profiting, working together, inventing together. The copies of the blueprints are of Obie’s design, seeking to create clean energy to replace gasoline down the road. In the last two years, Obadiah has made hundreds of thousands of dollars, with deposits and withdrawals from countless accounts, and reinvesting it, the paper trail deliberately as confusing as possible. I’d call it embezzlement if it weren’t his own company.

I get a scratch piece of paper and start doing the math. It isn’t adding up. Nothing is adding up, the dates and locations, let alone the cash, with several documents addressed from Russia. I sit up, my heart in my throat, pulsing so hard it feels like the world around me was shaking.

Obadiah is not a sneaky man by nature. I knew that he was interested in me before he realized it; I knew when he was going to ask me to go steady with him; I know when he is on the brink of a great new idea. He tries his best to hide things, but every move of his body betrays him. I’ve caught him sticking things in the back of his closet and under his bed more times than I could count, and I’ve never had the opportunity to check with him there. But seeing as he’s away…

Kneeling, I fumble underneath the bed frame until my fingers find purchase on a briefcase, and I slide it out. I wrestle with the knobs until I realize there’s a four-digit code keeping it locked. Before I mess with the dials, I notice the number. 0213.

“Oh, Obie. Do you have to be so predictable?” February 13th was our first date; he chose the day before Valentine’s Day because he believed the holiday of romance should be reserved for people already together, and he made a spectacle on 14th because we were together at that point, by his logic.

The top of the briefcase pops open at my touch, and inside I find numerous telegram slips, copies of both those sent and received. I sift through them quickly, none of them really catching my eye, filled with code words that I didn’t have the motivation to try to decipher. One of them caught my eye, and this is one of the only times Obie’s over-organization paid off because the telegrams were in chronological order.

RECEIVED

September 21, 1957

To: Stane, O.

O., I am glad to hear you secured the trust-fund. Let me know what day you’ll tie the knot, and I’ll tell you where to wire the funds. I might just send you a gift to celebrate.

NEFARIA, G.

SENT

September 28, 1957

To: Nefaria, G.

I’ll be traveling for work extensively the next four months. Please send files to Location 2. She can’t know anything.

STANE, O.

RECEIVED

September 30, 1957

To: Stane, O.

O., safe travels. Remember the end goal – the reactor that threatens our future. It cannot be manufactured by anyone but us, for our sake.

NEFARIA, G.

Prior, my heart had felt like it was running a mile a minute; now, it feels still in my chest. Dead in the water, like a stunned minnow tossed in to attract larger fish. “The trust fund.”

I had been courted before for my parents’ wealth. In college, a boy had pursued me relentlessly. He made me feel beautiful, special, and like the only star in his sky. He had convinced me that love was this roller-coaster rush of emotions, one collision after the other, until his dormmate clued me in on his intentions. That’s why I try to keep Obie in the dark about what I’ll inherit, how big my trust-fund really is. Growing up, I was unaware of how good we had it; all my friends in boarding school were from the same social and financial class, we all vacationed at the same spots and shopped at the same boutiques. It took a lot of eye-opening experiences at university for me to realize life was different for others, and it honed my ability to detect insincere motives. Too little, too late, but I won’t let it happen again.

With shaking hands, I put the papers back in their order, and I snap the briefcase closed, pushing it back under the bed with a force. I return to the kitchen table where I had spread the other documents out, collect them, and place them back as they were. I’m not sure if I need to try to seal it to make it look unopened, or if I should destroy the whole thing. He hadn’t asked me about forwarding this one specifically, so he might not be expecting it. Under the documents, I find the letter addressed to me again. Obie’s handwriting hits me differently now. How well do I actually know the sender?

Mar- (God, I hate it when he calls me Mar.)

I am writing to you with success here in Washington DC. We have made valiant efforts with the war. We expect Vietnam to concede soon. Our troops are vigilant and the best America has to offer, and their farmers pose no threat to us or the hope of victory. I expect to return home to you Friday the 15th of November. I’m sorry, darling, that I missed your birthday, but perhaps I can make it up to you.

See you soon at home,

Your Obie

Friday. Today was Friday.

The living room was a mess. Peggy’s and my drinks and dinner dishes scatter the room, the mail on the table, and I look equally disheveled. I know Obie would be disappointed, as the apartment is always speckless when he’s here.

I am a flurry around the house, collecting garbage in the bin and dishes in the sink. I tie the heaping garbage bag and leave it by the door, and rush to check my appearance in the bathroom. A scarf around my hairline will make the windswept, frenzied style look intention, and I change into a simple blue sundress. Obie didn’t have a dishwasher, so I put an apron on to protect my dress from the dishwater.

As I was setting the last glass out to dry, a knock resounded from the front door. I could feel it reverberate in my chest, and my heartbeat pulsed in every finger in my hand. Shaking, I set the glass down, wiped the water off my hands, preparing myself to smile and wine-and-dine the man I’ve already committed myself to.

[asmolbirb]

Pairing: Geralt/Jaskier Rating: T Word count: ~2500

Jaskier doesn’t start on the sweeter ballads until after he’s eaten his dinner and enjoyed a mug of ale. By then, the last vestiges of daylight have given way to inky darkness shot through with stars, and the innkeeper has stoked the fire to a roaring inferno, and the kind of lazy contentedness that accompanies a full belly has settled over the locals like a blanket, all of this working to create a decidedly more receptive audience for tender tales of lost love and distant adventure. So Jaskier looks around and notes how the conversation has dulled, and he begins picking out chords and runs, starting simple and working his way to more melancholy melodies.

He gets “Toss a Coin” out of the way early. It’s a crowd-pleaser and guaranteed to recoup the cost of his supper—and Geralt’s, when the Witcher deigns to join him—at least twice over. He fumbles his way through a couple of local ballads he’s still learning, about old spirits and familiar legends, and he tells the poeticized tale of a kikimora Geralt recently dispatched. And then, to end of his performance, he indulges himself with one of his more wistful ballads about love and heartbreak.

He has an alarmingly robust collection of those, and he rotates through them: the bittersweet lament about a love that slipped out of his reach; the tragic tale of the woman with no smile; the ode to the muse whose quick wit enthralled him only to leave him desolate, yearning, utterly alone. These ballads are too forlorn to see frequent use, but Jaskier has a soft spot for them. They tell his own story, after all. It’s cathartic to lose himself in the movement of his fingers across the strings of his lute, the plaintive runs that bookend his choruses. And the ballads have the added bonus of occasionally attracting a barmaid sympathetic to his plight and willing to help him forget his sorrows.

By the time he and Geralt pay for a room in a town where the air is sticky with humidity and sharp with the faint scent of seawater, it’s been more than a month since his last tumble with an eager barmaid, and Jaskier is thrumming with excess energy. He works his way through three ballads that night before noticing he’s picked up an audience.

“She must have stolen your heart quite thoroughly,” says one of the women lingering near Jaskier and Geralt when Jaskier finally shakes himself out of his trance, “to have inspired three ballads.”

“She is the beauty of my world,” Jaskier agrees. He begins packing up his lute; he’s indulged himself enough tonight. “My ballads capture only a fraction of her splendor.”

“Tell us about her, then,” says a barmaid, and the rest of Jaskier’s audience sends up a chorus of agreement. “She’s a lucky woman to have caught your attention.”

Geralt, who has been silent until now, snorts. “Yes, Jaskier, tell us. I can’t wait to hear about the fair lady who has caught your eye,” he says dryly, and it’s only because Jaskier is now fluent in Geralt’s sparse manner of speaking that he hears the words Geralt isn’t saying, hears you’ve been on the road with me for a month, how will you spin your way out of this?

Jaskier meets Geralt’s gaze without flinching. He grins slightly, casts his eyes over his captive audience, all hanging off his every word. “I’m not one to kiss and tell,” he begins, affecting wistfulness, “but she deserves to be told about.” Minding his pronouns, he continues, “She’s incredible. The kindest soul I’ve ever met. Her nobility is unparalleled. She would never leave a debt unpaid, nor a soul in harm’s way. She is unafraid to face any danger, be it a dragon or a man sick with corruption.”

He catches Geralt’s eye again, but the other man doesn’t seem to notice anything amiss. He lets Geralt’s lack of reaction embolden him. “She doesn’t say much. It is my punishment, I suppose, for barging into her life the way I did, that I must interpret her moods from her expressions alone.” He sighs dramatically, letting his eyelids flutter and his lips fall into a besotted smile. “But how exquisite those expressions are, and how I delight in coaxing them upon her face.”

“To hell with that sappy bullshit,” says one of the women sitting near him. “You speak in metaphors enough in your ballads. What does she look like? Is she noble or a commoner?”

Jaskier swallows. Involuntarily, he glances at Geralt, but the Witcher only looks amused, still waiting for Jaskier’s lies to fall apart. Jaskier understands his amusement. From Geralt’s perspective, Jaskier hasn’t properly courted a woman since the Countess de Stael.

Just as well for Jaskier, then, that Geralt hasn’t yet figured out the true object of his affections. “She’s fair-haired,” he says now to his audience. “With locks that reflect the sun like a thousand mirrors, and eyes golden as honeycombs. Taller than me, but with hips as slender as any child’s. And a bottom round as an apple,” he throws in with a cheeky wink. “She isn’t a noble, but she’s no commoner, either. She isn’t the type to sit back and let others do her work for her. She is strong—stronger than I, that’s for certain.” And he has to pause here as he remembers the way Geralt has thrown him over shoulder, has hauled him across terrain both rough and smooth with naught more than a grip on his collar. He swallows shakily, wills himself not to look at Geralt, though he can see out of his periphery that Geralt is staring at him now, intently, brow furrowed, lips thinned. Nonetheless, Jaskier continues digging his grave. Can’t leave his audience waiting, of course. 

“She isn’t one for tender touches,” he admits. “But still, she tolerates mine. I confess, I often wonder why she allows me to grace her side.”

“Perhaps you offer a nocturnal performance worth suffering the rest,” suggests one of the barmaids, and the others cackle in agreement. Jaskier simply shrugs. 

“Perhaps,” he acknowledges. Unable to help himself, he sneaks another glance toward Geralt, only to find Geralt’s intense glare trained directly on him. Try as he might, Jaskier can’t tear his eyes away. “Perhaps she keeps me around as a bedwarmer,” he continues slowly, his eyes locked on Geralt’s, “until she finds someone who is sweeter than me, or until she grows tired of my antics. Perhaps I am naught but temporary entertainment. But I adore her, truly. The sight of her is as water to a man lost in a desert, and her touch is softer than the finest Toussaintian silk.”

Geralt growls at that. He stands up abruptly, his chair skidding across the floor with a screech. “Say good night, Jaskier,” he rumbles, his eyes narrowed. “We have business of our own to attend to.”

Jaskier swallows. Finally, he looks away, back at his enraptured audience. “That’s enough for tonight, I suppose,” he concedes good-naturedly. “You’ll have to wait for the next ballad to hear more, though it won’t be long until I write it. My lady is too exquisite to keep her name from my lips for long.”

Geralt’s voice rumbles again, wordlessly, before Jaskier can get lost in his own words again. He claps a large hand on Jaskier’s shoulder, using it to steer him toward the stairs and their room. “Sweet dreams, ladies!” Jaskier calls over his shoulder, doffing his hat clumsily. “May you be luckier in love than I!”

Geralt doesn’t slam the door behind him, but it’s a near thing, and Jaskier would wince in sympathy if Geralt’s hand wasn’t still bearing down on his shoulder, rooting him in place. Geralt lets go after a moment and leans against the door, his arms crossed in typical Geraltian fashion. Jaskier collapses onto the bed, taking the opportunity to roll his shoulder a few times in exaggerated discomfort. “I swear I end up with more bruises than you do sometimes,” he complains. “I understand misery loves company, but perhaps next time you feel the urge to rough someone up, you could find another monster. Plenty of those around, and frankly, we could do with the extra coin, seeing as someone kept me from buttering up the crowd to fatten our purses tonight—”

“There’s no lady,” Geralt says.

Jaskier trails off. “Well, of course not,” he says instead. “I imagine a woman would take grave offense to the frequency with which we give our patronage to brothels, not to mention your unseemly habit of bathing in monster blood and other revolting gunk.” He wrinkles his nose. “Perhaps I should write an ode to your masterful powers of observation next.”

“But you were talking about a woman tonight,” Geralt continues, ignoring Jaskier entirely. He tries not to take offense to that. Something tells him that any protest he offers will be utterly disregarded. “The same one your ballads are about, the one who broke your heart and left you wanting.”

Warmth blooms, unbidden, in Jaskier’s heart. Geralt has been listening to his songs. Geralt remembers his lyrics. Geralt knows enough about Jaskier’s lyrics to notice the details consistent through them all.

Geralt knows Jaskier is in love.

The warmth transforms instantly into a spear of ice, chilly tendrils spreading through Jaskier’s chest and pulsing through his veins even as he says, with false cheer, “They’re stories, Geralt. Hyperbole. I’m a poet. It’s what I do. Heartbreak is a universal emotion, and the gods know I’ve experienced it often enough in my short time upon this mortal coil. I could write songs about heartbreak in my sleep—and just you watch, I’ll be doing it tonight, you’ve really dug your own grave with this, my friend.”

“Hm,” Geralt grunts. He pushes off the door and stalks towards Jaskier, stopping just inches from the bed and forcing Jaskier to crane his neck to keep looking Geralt in the eye. Briefly, Jaskier considers climbing to his feet as well, to be on even ground with Geralt. However, doing so would place him chest-to-chest with the other man, and that isn’t something Jaskier can physically handle right now. So he stays put, his heart hammering wildly against his rib cage, and he’s certain Geralt, with his enhanced hearing, must be deafened by the sound.

“Someone once told me,” Geralt starts slowly, “that all good stories stem from a kernel of truth. So either your stories are shit, or you aren’t telling me the truth. Which is it, Jaskier?”

And here’s the problem with traipsing across the Continent behind a Witcher like a lost puppy, Jaskier reflects. He’s experienced a lifetime of adventure and filled uncountable notebooks with lyrics and learned more about Geralt than possibly any other being on the planet. But then, Geralt has had ample opportunity to peer into Jaskier’s soul, too. It’s easy to get caught up in Geralt’s brawn, and his stony silence, and his aversion to emotional commitment. It’s easy to forget how perceptive Geralt can be.

“The former, obviously,” quips Jaskier, a little breathlessly, a little too quietly. He wants to look away, wants to find an escape route, but Geralt is magnetic. Jaskier could drown in those golden eyes. And all the while he’s still running his mouth, trying to stave off the inevitable. “I’m all pie crust and no filling, didn’t you know? It’s a wonder I manage to earn enough to pay for a warm meal and a bed at the end of the day. That’s why I keep you around, actually. For your income. Certainly not for the riveting conversation. Certainly not because I—because I need you.”

“And yet,” Geralt murmurs, reaching out to tip Jaskier’s chin up with a single knuckle, “here we are.”

When did Jaskier’s mouth get so dry? He licks his lips, watches Geralt’s eyes dip down to track the motion. “Here we are.”

Jaskier doesn’t know whether to close his eyes to give Geralt implicit consent or leave them open to track every emotion crossing Geralt’s face, doesn’t know whether to lean into Geralt’s touch or pull away and offer Geralt an out. Instead he waits, pulse racing, teetering on the edge of a cliff, waiting for the slightest gust of wind to send him careening into freefall.

And it comes: a shallow breath against his lips, before Geralt’s mouth is covering his, stealing a kiss and Jaskier’s breath in one fell swoop. He doesn’t pull back, doesn’t give Jaskier a chance to collect himself before he’s surging in again, teeth tugging gently at Jaskier’s lips and coaxing a gasp from him, tongue pushing past the moment Jaskier’s lips part. It’s heady and intoxicating, and Jaskier can feel his mind going fuzzy as he focuses solely on matching Geralt’s intensity.

Somehow they end up horizontal, with Jaskier’s feet still dangling off the edge of the bed and Geralt on his hands and knees above Jaskier. Geralt presses close, his weight pinning Jaskier down, and Jaskier thinks there’s no place he would rather be than right here, Geralt’s thighs bracketing his, falling into a sweet messy rhythm that has Jaskier arching his back and scrabbling uselessly at Geralt’s broad torso and keening into Geralt’s mouth. Eventually he gives in and tosses his head back, opening his neck to Geralt’s ministrations and giving himself over entirely to the quicksilver pleasure coursing through him.

Once they’ve stilled and caught their breath, Geralt moves just far enough to drag Jaskier fully onto the bed and no further. He continues stealing sweet kisses, seemingly determined to swallow all the air from Jaskier’s lungs before letting him go.

“You’re not temporary entertainment,” Geralt rumbles an eternity later against Jaskier’s lips, their breath mingling. Jaskier revels in that simple phrase and the intimate action that accompanied it, feels his blood singing with the knowledge that Geralt reciprocates his feelings, might want Jaskier as a permanent fixture by his side—until Geralt continues, “You’ve never been entertaining.”

“Oi, fuck off!” Jaskier gasps in mock indignation. He pushes himself away and braces a hand against Geralt’s chest to keep him at arm’s length. “You weren’t complaining about my performance just now!”

But Geralt is laughing quietly, his whole body shaking against Jaskier’s, and Jaskier lets himself be pulled back into Geralt’s arms, lets Geralt kiss his anger away. His last thought before he launches a campaign to make Geralt regret his words is an apology to the women he’d been singing to in the tavern below; his next ballad may be a long time coming yet.

[putschki1969]

Hikaru//’s Free Writing Vol.#2

Note: This is my English translation of Hikaru//’s Free Writing Vol.#2. Please enjoy!

『teamLab Borderless Forgetting Time Within “Art without Borders”』〜 Hikaru//’s Free Writing Vol.#2〜

Hello, this is Hikaru//. In this second column I will be doing another "report" just like I did in Vol.#1. I was super thrilled on the day of the shoot because I have always been interested in this place! This time we went to... 『MORI Building DIGITAL ART MUSEUM: EPSON teamLab Borderless』 !

The nearest stations are Aomi Station on the Yurikamome Line or Tokyo Teleport Station on the Rinkai Line. In the stations you will see lots of posters guiding you to the venue. When you look at all the ads you will get even more excited!

At the venue itself visitors are asked to wear a mask as a measure against COVID-19. You also need to disinfect you hands at the entrance. If you wish you can also get disposable vinyl gloves. On the left side of the entrance there are also lots of coin lockers where you can store your luggage. You should definitely make use of that...I recommend going inside carrying as little as possible! When entering the first room your temperature is measured with a thermo camera.

After the temperature measurement there is this huge message plastered to the wall. What do they mean by "wandering"? That’s what I asked myself when I saw these words. But once you have experienced it all, the words will make sense *laughs*  Well then, let’s go inside! You have three options at the beginning. Many museums have a certain route that you need to follow in order to enjoy everything properly but with "TeamLab Borderless" it’s up to you where you want to go, you can go wherever you feel like going. Being led by your feelings is the best way to enjoy art!

I really like butterflies so I am going to the "Butterfly House" first. Butterflies are flying all over the room! If you try touching the butterflies because you think they are so beautiful and cute they will crumble and fall to the floor...The butterflies born here jump out of the room and move on to join the other art in the museum. So you don’t have to feel sad about saying goodbye to the butterflies since you will meet them again soon, you only have to take a few steps to see them flying around in various places.

After chasing butterflies I went to the "Forest of Flowers and People, Lost and Reborn". There are flowers all around the ground and across the walls! Flowers will appear where people are standing and after a while they scatter again, when you stay at a single place for a longer time the flowers will bloom. It’s a very photogenic space. It's large as it is but since there are so many mirrors the space feels even wider! ♪ You can easily take a ton of selfies here *laughs*. Enjoy the various flowers! There are some smaller rooms with several little spaces where the work is displayed on monitors. Also, you can see some animals decorated with flowers moving along the walls. Please try to touch those animals and see what happens ♪

After encountering the animals I entered a space with a big waterfall. The flow of water changes when people stand or sit on it and when you stay there for a while flowers will start to bloom. On the walls where the water doesn’t flow you can see all kinds of art. What might happen when you touch the flowing kanji? Please experience how the art changes when you manage to touch it!

"Team Lab Borderless" is a permanent exhibition but depending on the season you can see lots of different art! Right now you can experience a special "seasonal exhibition", I got to see it. iI’s amazing art that feels reminiscent of Japanese paintings! Apparently this is the first time the exhibition, “Proliferating Immense Life” is open to the public in Japan. Even though it’s a seasonally limited exhibition I would like to talk a little about the art. In the “Flowers - Layered Ultrasubjective Space” you can drown within countless semi-transparent images of hydrangea from June to July. The space “Memory of Topography“ depicts a rural mountain landscape of varying elevations. The scenery instills in the viewer a feeling of eternal permanence. From June to August you can enjoy lush rice fields and crepe myrtles. With the flow of real time the scenery is continuously changing so when I was there, thunder struck and it rained down heavily onto the rice fields (※ Please note that there is no actual water in this exhibition).

In the “Forest of Resonating Lamps” you can experience the sensation of being surrounded by the soft light of lamps whose colour scheme changes as people stand nearby. This production is very much reminiscent of the hydrangea you can see from June to July. The lamps are specially arranged and they are hand-made from Murano glass (Venetian glass). If you take a close look at each individual lamp you will notice that they all look different. The seasonal art is constantly changing. Even the staff members do not know when something new will be installed. So I consider myself very lucky to have been able to experience all these seasonal exhibitions.

Now, let's return to the permanent art. When you continue onwards you will be joined by crows as you enter the “Cave Universe”. This work is to be viewed from a position close to the entrance. The work begins when crows of “Crows are Chased and the Chasing Crows are Destined to be Chased as well” enter into the Cave Universe in the middle of the aisle.  If you stand at position close to the entrance the boundary between the wall and the floor disappears, the real space dissolves and the lines drawn by the trails of the crows appear to be drawn in three dimensions in the space. Eventually the body becomes immersed in the artwork world, and the border between the artwork and the viewer dissolves. I really want everyone to experience this!

The next space you will reach is "Wander through the Crystal World". This interactive installation artwork uses an accumulation of light points to create a sculptural body. The Crystal World is created when people use their phones to send elements of the natural world into it. It's beautiful and fun ♪

Then we continue towards the “Athletics Forest“ area. In the “Weightless Forest of Resonating Life” you can be three dimensionally immersed by various objects of light that move as though they’re defying gravity, they will also be changing colours... I tried putting an object above my head *laughs*. The “Aerial Climbing through a Flock of Colored Birds“ space features connected boards hanging in mid-air on ropes, creating a floating three dimensional space. You can train your body by trying to navigate the space in mid-air *laughs*.

In “Graffiti Nature - High Mountains and Deep Valleys, Red List” various creatures drawn by visitors live in a large, three-dimensional space consisting of slopes with different elevations. Challenge yourself and draw one of the endangered animals! I did it, I completed my drawing! Once you hand your drawing to a staff member it will appear within the space..It almost feels like you are a parent watching over your child *laughs* You start getting attached!

Last but not least I would like to introduce the "EN TEA HOUSE Genka-Tei". This is the only food and drink art space in the museum. The first thing you will notice when you enter the room is the strong aroma of tea. There are four types of tea, tea leaves from the mountains of Hizen in Kyushu are used. There is also a set menu with rich green tea ice cream filled with umami flavor and accompanied with shirotama. You have to order first at the reception. Then you will be guided to your seat. Tatami mats are used for the tables and chairs, making it a relaxing space. Tea and ice cream are brought in, the art starts once the set is placed in front of you. Make tea and a flower blooms inside the teacup. Flowers bloom infinitely as long as there is tea. Smell, taste, sight... It was a space where all senses were stimulated, a truly healing experience.

There are so many great artworks in "Team Lab Borderless", I cannot possibly write about all of them. I hope you will visit and experience it all for yourself! These are the words written at the exit.

This time, I was wanderiing around the museum for about two and a half hours without a map. Even though I spent so much time there I still couldn’t go everywhere, I only saw parts of it. There is still so much left to discover. I wanna come here again! And here’s a bonus pic for you! I was so absorbed in the art that I didn’t really take too many pictures of myself... *laughs*.

I had a great and exciting time, this experience gave me the opportunity to reflect on many things! Well then, until next time! Text = Hikaru// Photography = Yuki Ohashi, Hikaru//

[vannahfanfics]

Hiiiii again! I would love a current chapters compliant soowon x yona and I trust!!

So... I am honestly not sure if you’re the same YonaWon Anon that requested this story (which also happens to be Part I), so I just wrote another story anyway! So, if it is you, lucky you! Two stories! XD 

Mad World Part II

After wresting the dusty tome from the towering bookshelf, Yona fell back on the flats of her feet and tucked the volume underneath the crook of her arm. She paused to sweep an errant strand of her dawn-red hair from her forehead and tuck it neatly behind her ear. She pulled the book out from underneath her armpit to inspect its front cover; it was an accounting of a specific war from antiquity, written by an esteemed general. Soo-Won had requested she retrieve it from within the stacks and she obliged because, well, she was his assistant now.

Following her manic fit, Soo-Won had given her leave to enter and leave his personal study as she pleased. It was a far cry from the freedom she desired, but it was much better than being basically imprisoned in her bedroom to talk to the walls all day. As promised, Soo-Won had sent some contractors to repair the destroyed curtains with the concocted explanation that Yona had tripped and accidentally wrecked them. Their concerned side-eyes at the princess as she sat at her calligraphy desk silently drawing characters on parchment indicated that they didn’t quite believe that story, but they knew better than to openly dispute the fact. Yona had not since been gripped by that manic anger since that night, most likely because Soo-Won had taken her fragile mental health in mind and afforded her the tiniest bit of liberty.

The castle was quiet as she walked back towards Soo-Won’s study. Yona’s prior residence in the castle seemed like a lifetime away, but she still didn’t recall the castle ever being so… lifeless. Her memories, hazy as they were, were of a castle filled with laughter and smiles, of jovial parties and consular meetings, of bright days and the sense of home. To Yona it now felt like a foreign fortress of which she was a tolerated guest- fed well, clothed well, but looked upon like a stray dog or relative overstaying their welcome. The servants embraced her presence, at least, and always greeted her with genuine smiles and friendly words; however, Soo-Won’s cabinet always eyed her like a scheming wretch, a bug to be squashed before it could nip the tender flesh of their king and mar it forevermore.

They weren’t exactly wrong. Yona was indeed scheming, even if her scheming yielded no useable strategies. Scheming, as well as performing mundane chores for the king, at least kept Yona sane. Although… There was still one maddening gear that just didn’t fit properly into the clockwork of her mind.

The king himself. Soo-Won. Current sworn adversary whom she was also madly in love with and may or may not have kissed him in a very un-princess-like way after tearing curtains from a wall like a deranged maniac. Yes. A very oddly-shaped and uncooperative gear in her little whirling mind.

Yona’s steps faltered until she was standing in the middle of the hallway, just hugging the large book to her chest and staring pitifully at the stone floor. She had tried to forget about that kiss, to cordon it off in the recesses of her mind to be blissfully forgotten. She couldn’t, though. She couldn’t forget about how good it felt to have his lips moving against hers, to have his tongue swirling with hers, to have his hands roaming her body and lighting up a fire in her nerves. She couldn’t forget about what might have happened if they hadn’t stopped. She couldn’t forget about the headspace that one kiss had created, that temporary world where she could forget about all the maddening aspects of her reality and just be Yona. Not Princess Yona, not Yona the reincarnated Dragon King, not leader Yona of the Happy Hungry Bunch. Just… Yona.

Groaning, she knocked on the side of her head with a fist to shove down the tempestuous feelings that were once again rising up. It was already so complicated; she didn’t want to complicate things further by dredging up her old love for Soo-Won. Come on, Yona. Just deliver the book. It’s late in the evening, so you can retire to bed after. In her head, it sounded like a perfectly simple plan. With renewed vigor she set off to the study. Her pace was less than leisurely so she arrived in no time at all.

“Here’s the book you asked for,” she announced as she strolled in, holding up the book by the spine. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll…” she trailed off as Soo-Won leaned back in his desk chair to gaze at her with a small smile. Her words, and her plan to retire to bed, were completely forgotten in a mere instant. She stared owlishly at the taller man as he languidly rose and walked over to pluck the book from her hand.

“Thank you.” Her mouth made some gratuitous remark, but her brain did not register it. Her arm flopped limply to her side as he turned to begin thumbing through the pages. She was fixated on the way he moved, unbothered yet purposeful, languid yet graceful. Soo-Won had always been beautiful in his own sort of way. She was yet again reminded of that fact, and all it had taken was for him to get up from a desk and walk over to her. He suddenly looked up to eye her through his peripheral vision and she quickly shut her mouth after realizing that it was, in fact, hanging open. “You were going to say something?”

“Uh.” Yes, she was, but now she had no recollection of what. That little gear had tried to once more wedge itself into the cogs of her mind and sent her thought processes careening. Soo-Won raised an eyebrow and snapped the book shut to set it on the desk, turning back to face her. She found herself dimly wondering if his profile or his full face was more handsome. It was a very tough decision.

“Yona? Are you all right?” he asked. The genuine concern in his voice made her heart twist up, finally returning her wits to her. It was always that concerned, guilty look that did her in. It was so confusing. How could Soo-Won be so troubled about her well-being, and yet set this entire maddening situation into motion? How could he care for her, and yet murder her father in cold blood? She felt her throat begin to close up with mounting anxiety.

“I-I need to sit down,” she wheezed and stumbled for the nearest seat, his desk chair. He caught her underneath her elbow as she tripped over the hem of her dress, gently guiding her fumbling form to the chair. She sank down into the cushioned furniture with a shaky whine. She looked down at her hands to find them sweaty and frightfully trembling. Her face was beginning to feel clammy and sweaty, too. It was happening again. It was all surging up, the anxiety and the hypotheticals and the reality, a tsunami threatening to take her under and spirit her down into the dark abyss.

“Yona.” His voice was so soft, so reassuring. It shone out to Yona like the convivial beam of a lighthouse, and without thinking of its implications, she swam headlong towards it. Soo-Won was kneeling down in front of her. He reached out with his hands, then hesitated, leaving them hovering over her lap. When she made no move to resist, he slowly grasped her trembling hands in his own and squeezed them. “… It appears I have made you displeased again,” he remarked wryly. Despite it all, Yona sniffed self-deprecatingly.

“No. It is my own mind that is the problem,” she answered wretchedly. “I simply do not know what to do with you, Soo-Won, and it maddens me.” He glanced up at her with slightly wide eyes, then smirked dryly.

“If I told you that you don’t have to do anything with me, would you listen?” His own tone of voice indicated that he already thought he knew the answer. Before the establishment of the alliance, it would surely be right; Yona would scoff and agree that no, she would not listen. That’s what would have made sense to her. However, nothing made sense to Yona anymore. After months of spiraling down into a maelstrom of secrets and plots and myths made reality, nothing made sense at all. All Yona wanted was to reach out grasp the one thing that could make sense to her, even if it went against everything she had learned and experienced up until then. None of that made sense either; she knew not how all the puzzle pieces fit together. All she wanted was to shove the puzzle aside and for one brief, short, single moment, breathe.

“Yes,” she answered before her addled mind could convince her otherwise. Her eyelashes fluttered as she committed herself to the decision, and then repeated again more softly, “Yes… Just for one moment… I want to pretend that’s true.” His expression was calculating as he tilted his head to the side and searched her face for any sign of hesitation or insecurity. No such sign appeared. Yona closed her eyes as a sense of calm swept back over her just by the way he squeezed her hands again. Just for one moment… I want things to be uncomplicated.

On some level, she knew the kiss was coming. She knew the instant his hands met her cheeks. She knew the instant his thumbs swept away her falling tears. She knew the instant he ever-so-slightly tilted her head and the instant his warm breath ghosted her face. She knew it was coming, and she shamelessly welcomed it. Maybe she had gone mad, during those days isolated in her room poring over possibilities and hypotheticals. Maybe she had descended into insanity, but just for one moment, Yona wanted to delve into that madness where somehow things made sense.

She sighed in relief the moment his lips met hers. She leaned into the kiss, moving her mouth in tandem with his, and reached out to grab onto the front of his robes. His hands fell from her face to her shoulders, slowly making their way south until he had a firm hold on her waist. A small moan reverberated in her throat when she parted her lips and his tongue immediately moved in to claim hers. The chair creaked as she shifted forward, legs bumping into his as she searched for any semblance of closeness. It wasn’t enough, not nearly enough. She wanted to feel him, to know him. She keened with a needy whine, hoping Soo-Won would understand her wordless plea.

In an impressive display of athleticism that contradicted his fair physique, he deftly and swiftly wrestled her from the chair and spun her around, such that he was now seated, and she was sitting in his lap. At first, she was sitting with her legs hanging off the side; however, pressing herself into him was incredibly awkward and still didn’t provide that proximity she craved. With a grunt of frustration, she loosened her obi and opened her kimono just enough that she could swing her leg around and straddle him. Soo-Won made a choking noise of shock as she surged forward to kiss him with a ferocity, every square millimeter of her torso pressed against his.

The hairpin securing a segment of her red hair clattered noisily to the floor as his hands fisted the wavy tufts; they soon fell away to run down her back, pulling her loose kimono away from her shoulders. She whimpered as his mouth left her bruised lips, only to sigh contentedly as his lips reconnected with her neck. His name left her mouth like a divine prayer as he planted kisses down her neck, along the column of her throat, and then across her right shoulder. He finally stopped there, mouth resting against her flushed skin as he side-eyed her thoughtfully. She had her head tilted back, eyes lidded and hazed as she gazed up at the ceiling. Lost in the fog, where reality couldn’t touch her. So lost that it took her a moment to realize that Soo-Won had stopped showering her in his affections. Slowly, it dawned on her how very improper the whole thing was, and every inch of her face turned the color of her hair.

“Feeling better?” She felt him smirk against her skin. Blushing fiercely, she looked in the opposite direction of him but made no move to get up. She was feeling better. The tempest had receded back into the depths, biding its time for another moment of weakness. He took her silence as affirmation. He snorted in laughter and rested his cheek on her shoulder, staring at her in mild amusement. Yona, realizing how close she was to unveiling her modesty, pulled the front of her kimono together with her hands. “Yona?”

“What?” She couldn’t force any venom in her voice if she wanted to. She’d just let the man kiss her like a common harlot; she couldn’t pretend that she hated him now. Her mouth twitched with the urge to frown, and she rolled her eyes in their sockets to meet his heady gaze. The look in his eyes electrified her. There was no pity or triumph burning in those pools- only affection and longing. His hand shifted at her back, holding her tenderly to his body.

“If I told you that you could trust me, would you listen?” Her mouth ran dry and her throat bobbed like she was trying to choke down a rock-hard biscuit. Trust. That was a very complicated notion. Yona had not trusted Soo-Won from the moment she had watched him yank a blood-soaked sword from her father’s limp corpse. She wanted to. Oh, how she wanted to. Yona wanted to trust Soo-Won more than anything in her life. It would make things so simple. It would take her maddening reality and just paint it all in black and white; blissfully, she could just submit to that trust and everything complicated would all go away.

But yet… But yet…

“No.” He offered no resistance as she climbed off him and turned her back. With numb fingers still tingling with exhilaration, she fixed her disheveled kimono and refastened her obi snug around her waist. “No, Soo-Won. I wouldn’t.” Tears glistened on her lashes and she discretely flicked them away with her index finger.

“That’s fair.” He had said that the other night, too. That’s fair. Was it? Yona didn’t truly know. But that was the reality of things, in this mad world of hers. She could trust herself; she could trust Hak; she could trust Yoon and her dragons. No matter how much she wanted to, no matter if she loved him so much it was painful and allowed him to romance her as he wished… She couldn’t trust him.

And that was the only thing that truly made sense.

The chair squeaked as he reclined back against it. She glanced over her shoulder at him as he sighed deeply and rested his arm on the desk, the other stringing his fingers through his slightly sweaty blonde locks. He made no move to fix his ruffled robes, but instead picked up the tome he had discarded earlier and flipped it back open. Yona finally remembered the words she was going to utter earlier.

“If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be retiring to my room now.”

“Goodnight,” came his only response, but he did not miss the way his eyes flickered to her form to watch her leaving. Just as she reached the door, he called out to her. “Yona.” She froze in the doorway. Was he going to ask her to stay with him tonight? Honestly, she didn’t know if she had the will to refuse him, as much as that would complicate things. She did not look back, afraid of what his expression would be. “… If you can’t trust me, trust in my love for the people.” The utterance caught her off guard. She stood in the threshold for a few seconds, processing it. Yes. Yes, she could trust in that. If anything, she knew deep down that he wanted what was best for the country.

“All right. Goodnight.” And with that, she left. He may have had her trust, but that did not mean that Yona was giving up. After all, if she did not continue fighting to uncover the truth, what was her purpose in this web of lies, deceit, and secrets? Yes, Yona would still fight, even if she believed in Soo-Won’s will to protect the people.

After all, in this mad, confusing, scary world, the fact that they were somehow working together made a comfortable amount of sense… but not enough. Not nearly enough.

Enjoy this oneshot? Feel free to peruse my Table of Contents!

Tag List: @deliathedork

[sunniebelle]

31 Days of Doctor Who Fics-  An Unexpected Misadventure

Nine x Rose

The Doctor and Rose are forcibly separated by a tribe of bird-men, tasked with finding one another in the midst of a muddy dangerous swamp.  

A03

Rose Tyler huffed out a breath, partly from the energy she was exerting and partly in frustration. Her arms held out to her sides to provide balance, she slowly made her way through the muddy swamp she was traipsing through. She was both grateful and annoyed by the trees surrounding her in every direction; they aided her in keeping her balance, but they severely hindered her vision of the area, making it nearly impossible to know where she was or how far she had to go. Each step was carefully made, so as to prevent herself from falling face first or flat on her back into the ankle-deep mud which was as thick as wet concrete.

Of course, when Rose had woken that morning—in her head she could hear the Doctor’s Northern accented voice teasingly reminding her that there were no mornings on the TARDIS—she had expected to have a fun and relaxing day visiting Pygriffus, a peaceful planet which had the best banana-themed baked goods in the galaxy; or at least that’s what the Doctor had told her.

Really should have known better than to trust the Doctor’s bloody driving skills, she thought to herself, irritated with her designated driver.

Stepping outside the TARDIS and expecting to smell the pleasant aromas of baked goods was a far cry from the reality she and the Doctor had found themselves in.

Still chuckling and teasing each other, they had managed to walk only a few meters from the time and space ship before being surrounded by a horde of spear-wielding, humanoid-ish tribesmen. Rose had been mesmerized by the Lotyprus, the bird-men whose appearance were a fairly even mixture of human and something like an eagle. They were quite beautiful, their feathered bodies a shimmering chocolate-brown color with honey-yellow beaks and golden-brown eyes.

Of course, her fascination with the tribesmen had ended as soon as the chief had placed a claim on Rose, saying that she was to be his bride, due to some mysterious tribal legend of a golden-haired goddess. The Doctor had kicked up quite a fuss at this point, which had led to the two of them being forcibly separated—which did not improve the Doctor’s mood at all—and taken to opposite sides of the swamp.

They were told that if they could find each other in the swamp and make it out together—apparently it was a test even the Lotyprus were wary of performing, likely due to the size of the swamp and hazards within it—then they would let the two of them pass unharmed, but if not...well, Rose’s future would be very, very different from what she had planned. She didn't worry too much though, because she knew the Doctor would never allow them to go through with whatever they had planned.

Rose wasn’t exactly sure how long she had been trudging through the swamp, but it had to have been several hours at least. She was starting to tire and her stomach had long ago told her how unhappy it was with its empty state.

As unhappy as she was with this particular adventure, her displeasure mostly stemmed from the fact that she was missing having the Doctor’s hand in hers, his sarcasm and dry sense of humor, and his company. She suspected if she just kept walking, the Doctor would eventually find her, what with his superior Time Lord senses and all.

Trying to occupy her mind from her hungry stomach and waning stamina, she let her mind wander to reminisce on some of the adventures she and the Doctor had experienced in the past few months.

She will never forget how boring and monotonous her life had been, back when it was the never-ending cycle of work and food and sleep; nor will she ever forget the day her world had turned on its head with meeting the Doctor. No matter what messes they got into, what trouble they found themselves in, she would not have missed one moment of it for the world. She would never regret any of her time spent with the Doctor; she couldn’t.

The Doctor had opened her eyes to the wonders of the universe and she would stay with him for as long as he let her—hopefully the rest of her life, if she was lucky.

Her thoughts and body stopped the moment she thought she heard the faint sound of someone calling her name. She held her breathe, not moving a muscle, as she strained her ears to listen. There it was again, just on the edges of her hearing, her name being called.

Knowing it was more than likely the Doctor, and that he had very keen hearing, she turned her head to the left—the direction she thought the voice was coming from—and shouted, “Doctor!”

Not daring to move or breathe, she listened. Sure enough, the voice came again, just a little louder and nearer. She made to move in that direction, but found that while she had paused to listen, the mud that had been around her ankles was now at the bottom of her calves and was nearly solidified.

Trying to lift one foot, then the other, she found that she was only succeeding in making her situation worse, her legs sinking further into the thick mud. Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, she forced herself not to panic, knowing the Doctor was relatively close. She intermittently called out to him, guiding him to her.

About ten minutes later, the mud more than halfway to her knees now, she saw the first glimpse of her Doctor’s leather jacketed form as he made his way around a rather large tree. She was so exhausted—and loath to admit how frightened her current situation made her feel—she suddenly burst into tears. Within moments his strong arms were around her, enveloping her in a comforting hug. Feeling self-conscious, she quickly dried her tears and then gave him a small, embarrassed smile.

“’M afraid ’M kinda...stuck,” she said, looking down where her legs were continuing to sink into the mud's relentless grip.

“Jeopardy friendly, you are,” he says in mock annoyance, though his eyes are twinkling with mischief and laughter held in check.

She finally noticed why he wasn’t sinking into the mud as well. He had taken several thick, wide pieces of bark—nearly two feet in length—tied them together and then to his boots with thick red string to make a couple of impromptu snowshoes, or in this case, mud shoes. She gave an internal roll of her eyes, thinking about his bigger-on-the-inside pockets.

When he saw that she noticed his improvised footwear, he flashed a wide, daft grin at her, effectively chasing away her anxiety and irritation with her predicament.

She watched him reach down and use his large hands to dig into the mud, freeing her ensnared legs. He pulled her feet out one at a time—though her shoes remained in the mud’s clutches—and found herself standing on the toes of his boots, preventing her from sinking into the mud again. His strong arms held her around her waist to balance her, while she kept her hands on his leather covered biceps. She had to remind herself to breathe with their close proximity to one another.

“Can’t let you walk barefooted through here, Rose, one puncture of the skin and you’d be in trouble. Serious trouble,” he says, looking around them as he rambled. “There’s bacteria in the mud that’s poisonous to most humanoid species. It’s why the Lotyprus won’t go through here themselves. The same pathogens affect them as well.”

“What about you though, you’re not in danger?”

“Time Lord, me. Superior—”

“Yeah, yeah, I remember. Superior biology. You think you’re so impressive,” she says, her voice teasingly mocking.

“Oi! I am so impressive!” Giving him a tongue-touched smile, she couldn’t help but chuckle at how easy it is to wind him up.

“So then, Mr. Impressive, how we gonna get out of here without me walking out?”

He looks around once more, then, before she can react, he scoops her up in his arms in a bridal carry, causing her to give a small squeak of surprise as she throws her arms around his neck. She was surprised to find their faces even closer together than a moment before. Suddenly she feels mesmerized by the exquisite icy-blue of his eyes. Looking into them, she felt lost within their depth and the knowledge of the universe locked behind them.

Breaking her stare, she looked around them and said, “Might want to head back to the TARDIS, now that we’ve found each other. ’S getting’ a bit dark.”

“Right.” With a nod of his head, the spell was broken.

Over the next couple of hours they joked and teased each other about their current and past misadventures. Soon they were nearing the outskirts of the swamp and they were both grateful, as the sky was turning a dusky orange and it was getting harder for Rose to see.

They noticed the tribesmen in the distance waiting for them. Within a few minutes the Doctor was standing before the chief of the tribe, Rose still in his arms, both of them a muddy sight.

The Doctor wore a stony mask, letting a hint of the Oncoming Storm brew in his eyes. He was not willing to let Rose out of his arms for anything, especially around these creatures that had tried to steal her from him.

“You have completed the task,” the Lotyprus chief stated, staring at them both before continuing. “We can see that you are two halves of the same whole. Go in peace, but know this...keeping a whole separated for too long will cause devastation to both halves. Do not keep yourselves separate for too long, or you will both wither and be in great anguish.”

Looking at one another in surprised shock, the Doctor and Rose looked back to the leader in confusion and said a simple thank you as they made their way to the TARDIS.

Once back inside, the Doctor quickly divested himself of his improvised snowshoes. Rose then watched the familiar dance of the Doctor sending the TARDIS into the vortex. She was silent for a few minutes as she thought on what the chief said.

“Doctor?” Seeing him looking at her expectantly, she asked, “What do you think the chief meant? You know, the ‘separating a whole for too long causes devastation and anguish’ thing?” Suspecting that the Lotyprus leader was talking about the obvious connection she and the Doctor had, she wanted to know if he thought the same as her.

Looking away from her quickly, he played with some buttons and levers on the console that she suspected did nothing more than give his restless hands something to do. “Not sure. Could mean anything really. You, Rose Tyler, better go shower and change. Need to get all that pathogen-infested muck off your body.” He guided her toward the entrance to the main corridor.

“You’ll find a small green bottle in your shower. Use that in your hair and as a body wash before you lather with your regular shampoo and body wash. It’ll kill any of the bacteria still lingering on you. I’ll do a blood test in the infirmary later, though, just to be sure. And don’t forget to eat something. Gotta restore your little human body’s stamina. Now, I’ve got some repairs that need to be done on the TARDIS, so I’ll see you later, Rose.”

With that, he turned and walked back to the console, lifting a piece of grating and climbing down beneath to hide from what he obviously didn't want to talk about. Knowing that trying to make him talk to her was pointless and knowing that she did in fact need a shower, she made her way to her room.

She was grateful that they had made it back to the TARDIS safe and sound, despite their temporary separation and the day���s frustrating circumstances. Rose only hoped that the Lotyprus chief’s words would not drive the Doctor so far away from her that she lost him completely. Her greatest hope was that, one day, he would reciprocate her love for him.

In the meantime, she contented herself with the knowledge that they were best mates. After all, she was the Doctor’s companion and he only took the best.

(Part of @writersmonth Writing Challenge for August 2019. All rights for Doctor Who and it's characters belong to the BBC. Day 1 prompt: annoyance.)  

(Also tagging @doctorroseprompts

[jennytranly]

Bringing this up because I still miss you in my life and just want to be close to you again, even if it is as just friends. I want to meet you and get to know who you are now.

This post is all about you. This will be a really long post but it will be my last one. I won’t be posting anymore. Tumblr will forever be our thing lol. The post is really sappy and confusing but it’s full of love.

If you’re reading this or if you ever come across this, I want you to always look at this and feel happy, loved and receive strength. I want to start off by saying, I love you, so so much. Sometimes I wonder if I should have said it in the car but it wouldn’t have changed anything. But I just hope you know that I love you. And maybe just you knowing it, is enough for me.

I love you with all your flaws, with all of your mistakes and all of your regrets. If I could, I would talk to you for hours, I would talk to you forever. I would tell you how great you are, how wonderful you are. But forever doesn’t seem to be for us, so I’ll leave you with this love that will stay here forever. I love that you’re changing and growing, for you. I love that you have dreams and I love that you put your family first. I want you to have everything you desire. If you want to live in Seattle, if you wanna travel, if you wanna meet more people, If you want to meet a new love, if you already have a new love, I just want you to get everything you desire. I know you will get there one day and I will pray for you to get there. I pray for you to be happy, healthy, and cherished.

If you ever feel unloved, negative or down on yourself... God is always with you, every step of the way. He created you to be the amazing you that you are. He created the loving, gentle, kind hearted, hard working, handsome, cute, strong man that you are. He created your bread hair, your hazel/light brown eyes, the large pores on your nose, the scar on your finger from the wart you froze off, your long finger and toe nails, your innie “black hole”, your fuzzy tummy and toes, the dark scar/skin behind your thigh from exercising and laying lol, your cute sensitive baby butt, your hairy legs yet bare ankles, your beautiful feet that is full of callous from basketball. I used to remember your moles and other markings on your body but it seems to slip my mind now that I can’t run my fingers to admire the beauty of everything that you encompass. Because they are all beautiful, at least to me. I hope no one makes you feel ugly, self-conscious, or inadequate and I hope the person you love will love every single part of you. You deserve that love.

God created you to grow at this time of your life, things happen for a reason. We met for a reason, the path you’re currently on will take you to where you’re meant to be. God placed you at WWU, He places you in spaces to experience “immaturity”, which it isn’t. It was my mistake to say that about you. It’s spaces to find your own personal growth. You’re not immature, you’re you. Goofy, funny, silly, easy-going, kid-hearted are WONDERFUL qualities, please don’t grow up for the sake of growing up. You can still be all those things and responsible. I’m a serious person because life hit me hard, my trauma and family stress forced me to be serious. But I dont like this part of me, I wish to feel simple joy of being goofy. I wish I was a child at heart because you’re just so much more joyful and radiant being silly. And I am so sorry to have made you suppress it, it was my fault. You are mature for being able to sacrifice yourself for your family and future family. You are smart and responsible to run a business, or two or THREE at the young age of 26. That’s insanely awesome!! You are so much more responsible and mature than most folks working the 9-5. You have more responsibilities than anyone I know. You’re a house manager of 3, business owner of 3, supervisor, office coordinator, CNA, student, driver, chef, photographer, videographer, basketball player, weightlifter, pianist, gamer, simple carpenter/mechanic, cleaner, future husband, future father, lover, son, amazing friend, brother in Christ and most importantly, a child of God. A talented, skilled, mature, hard-working, strong, capable, kindhearted, loving, and intelligent man. These are A LOT that you’re currently doing, have done, and will do, it’s definitely no small feat. This is way more than most, than me. Please never forget how hard you are currently working and have worked. It’s very difficult to juggle it all, but you’re doing so much better than you think you are. You’re talented in all those aspects! I only worked 3 jobs and school which is kinda equivalent to your current hours. But your duties far exceeded mine and you’ve been at it for way more years than me. You are so much more than what you think of yourself and I hope someone reminds you how amazing you truly are. If not, please feel free to come back to this, any time you feel down on yourself.

You’re the best person I’ve ever met in my life. I’m still on this earth in part because of you. Mainly because of God but I am so lucky that God created such a wonderful man. I am saved and alive because of your faith, love, care and kindness. I will go on to impact others and students because I am alive and know Jesus. That’s because of you. You... your faith and your heart are changing others lives because I learned it from you, by knowing you and loving you. My current heart, spirit, faith, love, etc. is because I met you and have loved you. I grew and continue to grow because of our love, your love and Gods love through you. All of the lives I’ve impacted is because of your impact. Please give yourself credit for impacting all these lives as well.

Lastly, if I could, I would be with you. If I could, I would knock on your door and tell you that I wish it was you. I would tell you that I want to stay in Washington because I don’t want to be away from the two people I love the most in this world, Sean and you. I would tell you that I imagined a life with you, to be a teacher, live life with you in Lacey, care for Sean, help you run the business, and have a family. It’s an imagination that has been there since we dated. But I know that I am not what you need right now. Maybe you’ll find a nurse wife, or a Filipina gal your parents will love, a Christian woman, idk your dream love. I want you to have that dream life and dream love. Only you know yourself and your life. I don’t want to impede your growth, I don’t want to be in the way of all the things you want to experience for yourself. You always said that you can’t make me happy. How do you know those things are still what I want? How do you know if I’ve changed? I don’t want you to think that way because I’m just happy to have known you and loved you. I’m just happy that you exist in this world. I am so incredibly blessed and lucky to have met you, loved you, and be loved by you. I am happy if you’re happy. I am happy to have experienced life with you, even if it wasn’t forever. If I could figure out a way or ideas to hold you close again, I would. But I don’t know how to move forward with you. I can’t individually lol cause that’s force. I can only force myself to let you live your life. So I leave this here, for you, whenever you want to read it. Or if you never want to, it’s ok too. If it’s creepy, please don’t report me lmao or just never read it.

I sia so much. I always wish you were next to me experiencing life. I wish to tell you simple things like how clean my room is. How weird that I live only 35 mins away now. How terrible mom is. How loving dad is. I wish to know your life. Your family, your friends, your trips, your work, your residents, your hopes and fears. I wish I could be with you and I wish for forever with you. But, I’ll just leave this here. I’m sorry I hurt you, I’m sorry I’m not enough for you, I’m sorry I ever made you feel like you weren’t enough, I’m sorry that my insecurities messed you up, I’m sorry I’m a coward and can never say this to you directly. I couldn’t look at you in the car because of what I did to you. Because you light up my world. But I know you don’t want to be with me so it breaks my heart at the same time, this is why I can’t look at you. I don’t regret ending it because look at you now, you’re happy and growing! Yay you! I’m proud of you. I can tell how much you’ve grown and changed from our short conversation. Just hearing about your life makes me happy, I’m happy because of you. I’m sad because I can’t let go, it has nothing to do with you. I’m sad cause I love you too much, that’s my own issue. Anyways, I hope one day someone will love you more than I did, more than I do, more than this post and I hope you are reminded how truly beautiful and extraordinarily amazing you are. Thank you God for a creating a true blessing on this earth and thank YOU for just being a wonderful you. Sia forever! No one will ever take your place. You’re unreplaceable. You are my warmest home in this lifetime, nothing and no one can replace your warmth in my heart. I love you. Bye bye best friend. I want to be with you and love you foreva. But I guess that, I can do on my own, the loving you part. So I will, I will miss you forever and I will love you forever. 💜

I’ll be ok. Don’t worry, life moves forward and one day, so will I. Maybe I’ll meet you in another lifetime, when we are meant to be. But until that lifetime, I hope you’ll be more than ok without me. I know you will, you’re doing just fine now. 😊

- Jenny

[space-princess-genesis]

Caged Bird. Chapter I (Kabal x Genesis)

(Ta-da! First Chapter of my How Genesis and Kabal Met! Yes split into two parts because its a big one! Please enjoy it! I worked really hard on these so I appricate the love and support!

Pairing: Kabal x Genesis (OC)

Warnings: Small mentions of abuse, violence, angst, and fluff.

Word Count: 4,277

Beaten up. Broken. Lost. These were all thing Genesis had felt. Her home world had just been destroyed by Cetrion and Shinnok. What was once a beautiful and lavish world called Kosmos, no longer existed. The Elder Gods, mainly Cetrion and Shinnok, had felt threatened by the Kosmos beings becoming more powerful than the Elder Gods. Throughout the millions of years, they had become stronger through their abilities. Soon enough, their powers began to rival the Elder Gods. So, Cetrion and Shinnok ambushed the world in darkness and chaos. Some managed to escape the two all-powerful Elder Gods and flee to other realms for sanctuary, but many did not. Genesis, after having a huge fight with her mother had tried to get out of her locked room. She couldn’t even escape through her balcony as there was a shield around it from her mother. Luckily Genesis’s father could make it vanish, so she could escape her room. Genesis ran through the crumbling palace. Dead guards and servants turning into stardust, a sight certainly that will be engraved in Genesis’s mind. Genesis got to the two Elder Gods that had beaten up her father. He was on the edge of death. Genesis quickly battle Shinnok and defeated him easily. However, she had tried to battle Cetrion but was unsuccessful. Cetrion was more powerful than her. As Genesis attempted to throw one more final blow at the goddess of virtue, Genesis’s dying father had phased her off of the crumbling world and into Earthrealm’s atmosphere. Earthrealm’s gravity began to pull Genesis in, as she began to descend to its surface. All Genesis could think about while falling down upon Earthrealm were her people and family. How many had survived? Where did  the survivors go? Is my family okay? Mother…Father…my brothers…These were the thoughts that Genesis was having as she was quickly falling down to Earthrealm. Lucky for her, Genesis had landed in front of Raiden’s Sky Temple. Thankfully, Raiden was around to hear that something had crashed. Raiden ran over to where the sound came from, and saw a large hole in the ground. Through the dust and dirt, he saw a small figure. He could barely make it out. But he recognized the purple hair from afar. Could it be? Princess Genesis? He ran over to her and carried her into the Sky Temple. He aided her in the Jinsei Chamber and she told him what had happened. Tears were shed as she told Raiden everything - even the stories about her mother, as it got to a point where she had mentioned being taken advantage of her powers. Raiden felt empathy for her, which was a rarity as he did not show his emotions that often. He offered her a home in the Sky Temple to regain her strength and regroup from what had happened. And also train a little bit. Genesis gladly accepted, she had nowhere else to go. She trusted Raiden. As he was the only person she knew on this brand new world to her…

~ A few months later ~

It’s just another day at the Sky Temple. It was sunny which was unusual. It usually rained a lot giving the area a gloomy look. But now, the air was fresh and the temple had a beautiful glow to it. Genesis was in her usual battle suit, as it was the only thing she had from the incident. She realized thank she never gave her thanks for Raiden allowing her to stay at the Sky Temple. She runs around the Sky Temple trying to find him. She quickly finds Raiden, doing his usual meditation. “Raiden…um… I never told you this, but… I very much appreciate you letting me stay here.” Genesis enjoyed Raiden’s company; he was almost like a second father to her, along with Fujin. He and Fujin had known Genesis when she was a princess on Kosmos long ago. Occasionally the two would visit the world of Kosmos occasionally to keep the peace alliance with Earthrealm in tact. Every time they were visiting, Genesis would always have conversations with the two about what Earthrealm was like and how she wished she could get off this world and visit. But with the strictness of her mother, she wasn’t able to even leave her palace. But now, Genesis had no authoritative figure looming over her. She was free - somewhat. “And thank for all that you are doing for my flashbacks, I really appreciate that as well.” After what had happened to Kosmos, Genesis had been getting bad flashbacks of her home world being destroyed by Shinnok and Cetrion. Rewatching and hearing the screams, people dying, and the once beautiful world crumble occasionally would flashback into Genesis’s mind and haunt her to the point were she herself was crying. Raiden would always hear the cries, and be the one to comfort her. “Princess, I am glad to have you here on Earthrealm safe and sound. Who knows what would have happened to you if you had not escaped.” Raiden said in his usual tone to Genesis. “Probably gone and made up into stardust…” Genesis had given a sad smile. Even though Genesis had lived a long life, she felt she had not reached her full potential. There were many things to see and do. Luckily, her people live eternal lives, so, now she had all the time to do what she had wanted to do. But something was missing. Oh yes, another reason she wanted to talk to him. “Hey Raiden? Could I ask you something?” Genesis was reluctant to ask this question too Raiden, as Raiden did not understand emotions, being a demi-god and all. “Anything you want Princess.” Raiden answered. “Do you ever feel…something is missing from you?” Genesis had felt this way even long before her world had vanished. She always felt this missing feeling in her heart. “What do you mean princess?” Raiden was confused. He had never been approached with these kinds of questions. “I always feel that something is missing from me…deep down in my heart…” She put her hand over her heart. Genesis couldn’t describe what this feeling was. “Do you miss your family?” Raiden suspected it was her family, because for most beings, family was the most important aspect to one’s self. “It’s not that Raiden… I can’t describe it…” Being stuck in a big palace meant not experiencing the greatest joys in life. Exploring, meeting new people, adventures, love… “I’m sorry princess, I do not have any knowledge in that area of feelings and emotions. I wish I could help you more.” Raiden, being a demigod, did not quarrel in Earthrealmer activities, or any beings behaviors, emotions, and feelings, he just simply did not have the time to understand it. “It’s okay Raiden…say, I’m up for a little training today, I need to release some repressed emotions. And what better person than you Raiden? I’m obviously joking on that last part. Hehe…. Are you up for it?” She knew she would get that sort of answer from Raiden, but at least he was aware of her feelings. “As you wish princess.”

~

Kabal stood behind a bush near the Sky Temple. Another mission from the Black Dragon? More like Kabal doing Kano’s dirty work. Apparently the mission was to find a space princess? What does that mean? How did Kano know about her? What was she? Valuable? Probably, but Kano promised him the big bucks to find this chick alive. Alone. Apparently she’s all powerful and shit like that. But why would Kano want her? Who knows? Why doesn’t he do this himself? But it didn’t matter to Kabal. A job is a job right? Kabal eventually makes his way up to the Sky Temple. He looks around the temple trying to find this chick and get out of there quickly. It’s kind of quiet around here. Too quiet. “Shit, where would this chick be?” Kano had given him the most vague description of this princess-chick. Short and pretty. That’s it. Well, that’s Kano for you. Short and sweet, and vague. Don’t forget, smelly and drunk. It took Kabal well over half an hour to find where this girl would be. Dodging monks all around, he runs into many empty rooms, not finding what he is here for. As Kabal is running around the Sky Temple, he comes across a room, more like a chamber, that is penetrating blue light. Maybe that’s where this chick is. He walks slowly into the chamber but quickly hides behind a rock as he sees a figure of girl.“There she is! I think…” Kabal thinks in his mind. Kabal waits for his chance to snatch this girl and grab his big buck.

Genesis was facing towards the blue light as the power of the Jinsei heals her after her and Raiden’s friendly sparing. The sparing got a little rough today because Genesis’s repressed feelings. She even almost knocked Raiden unconscious due to the thoughts of what had happened not too long ago. It’s gotten worse the past couple of days, but it felt good to release some of that tension. Well, for Raiden it was not all that pleasant because he almost lost a tooth due to it, but at least Genesis felt a lot more relived. But now, she could relax under the power of the Jinsei and revitalize herself. However, what she does not know is there is someone else in the chamber with her. Kabal waits for the right moment and makes his move, and runs over to her to grab her. Unfortunately for him, Genesis turns around. Kabal stops in his tracks and is only a couple feet away from her. “Whoa…” Kabal is in awe. This chick isn’t like anything he’s seen before. She’s out of this world. Literally. Genesis is also in awe of him. He’s quite the handsome guy, much more handsome than the men that were on her home world. Kabal stares at her in awe for a good minute or two before Genesis starts to get creeped out. “Uh sorry to interrupt but, who are you? And why are you here?” Kabal is snapped back into reality. That’s right! He had a mission to finish, But did he want to? “Oh yeah, so… I’m here…to… take you…” Kabal honestly did not know what words to say. How do you properly say ‘Hi! I’m here to take you to my boss ma for money?’ without sounding like you’re actually trying to kidnap someone. Yeah no… not possible. “Excuse me?” Genesis was confused and concerned. What did he mean take her? Take her where? “Take you to…uh… you know what, this is hard to explain.” Kabal attempts to grab Genesis but she blocks him with her purple energy. “Do not even dare to touch me.” A stern tone comes out of Genesis’s mouth. Who is this guy to even come approach her and take her? “Shit… this is going to be even harder than it look. Fucking Kano..” In the next moment, Kabal  immediately regrets what he had just said. “Kano? The man whose the leader of the Black Dragon?” Kabal nodded at her questioned. “No…this can’t be… you need to leave. Please.” Genesis started getting stern and scared. Raiden had told about the different factions of Earthrealm. He told her all the things about the Black Dragon and how they were mercenaries and all the awful things they do. He told her many things about Kano - bad things. Lying, cheating, stealing, killing, and money. All the things that he cared about and did. “Look, I’m not here to hurt you or anything. I just-“ Kabal is suddenly interrupted by an angered Genesis. “No! I won’t let anyone take advantage of me. I know what you mercenaries do for a living. I already had someone do that for me.” A quick visual of her mother rushed through her mind. All the verbal abuse and actions that her mother had did to her - no, never again, she wouldn’t ever let it happen again. Genesis gets into her fighting stance. If Kabal wouldn’t negotiate with this girl, what else could he do? So the two fight. Nomad spins, conjured purple energy, and punches fill the chamber as the two fight. Throughout the fight, Kabal is impressed by Genesis’s fighting ability. Like this chick is kicking his ass big time. He almost can’t keep up with her. It’s like there’s this motion of grace while she fighting. It’s kinda hot. However, Genesis’s repressed feelings come out during this fight like it did earlier. Each punch and kick becomes more powerful as more and more are thrown. Towards the end of the fight, more memories of her mother completely fill her mind; the verbal abuse, the lock ups, everything, start to make Genesis tear up.  Kabal gets distracted by the tears and doesn’t realize the last punch that knocks him to the ground. She pants heavily and starts crying softly for a few moments and drops to the ground. Soft cries can be heard all around the Jinsei. Genesis honestly thought that her new life on Earthrealm was going to be different than her life on Kosmos; nobody taking her advantage of her would be non-existent for her. Turns out, that was wrong…

Kabal slowly gets up and sees this strong girl that just kicked his ass is crying. How could someone who had kicked major ass, Kabal’s ass to be exact, be torn down to tears in just a quick moment? He walks over to her and lowers himself down to her level. Genesis slowly looks up, meeting a melancholic Kabal. She latches on to him and cries into his jacket. Kabal is struck back for a second because this chick literally tried to kill him, but realizing what’s happening now, there’s something more to this. He can’t take her to Kano. No. He couldn’t. He wraps his arms around Genesis as a way to comfort her. “Do you wanna talk about this? I’ll take you to the nearby beach or something so you can cool down or something like that…” Kabal wanted, no, he needed to know more. Fuck this mission. He’ll tell Kano that he couldn’t find her or something or he found out she moved somewhere else. This girl is his own priority now, not Kano’s. “Yes…please…” The beach was one of Genesis’s favorite places to escape too whenever she would sneak out of her palace. She felt free there and it aloud her to feel at peace with herself.

Kabal carries her out of the Sky Temple without being seen by anyone around. He then runs over to the closest beach and sets her down on the sand. It’s sunset time, the sky is changing color, it’s getting colder, and the air has that usual sea smell. She sits down on the sand and takes in the ocean air. Kabal follows suit. Genesis then goes on to tell Kabal her whole story on how she was a princess, locked up in a palace for being the only one of her people with purple hair and how she had powers no one else had, which meant that she was the universe’s chosen one. She told him about her abusive mother, the attack on her world, and everything else about her. Kabal listened to every second of her story. He couldn’t believe that such a beautiful and talented girl like herself could be locked up by her own jealous mother. “Shit… you’ve been through a lot haven’t you?” Kabal had started to feel empathy towards this girl. He began to rub her back. It felt nice and comforting for her. “I have…and living here now, I thought my life would be for the better, no more yelling, being talked-down too, and being taken advantage of for being basically stronger than the whole world combined…but I seem to be wrong yet again…” A lump in her throat forms, tears start to form again. Kabal brings her into his arms and hugs her. “Hey, I’m not going to take you anywhere. I promise. Screw my mission. Screw the pay. I don’t want to see you get hurt again.” There’s plenty of missions that don’t require stealing broken princesses; this one can pass. “Thank you.” A small tear falls down her face. Kabal catches it before it’s halfway down her face. “By the way, what is you name?” Genesis realizes after all this talk, they have not gotten each others names.  “Kabal. Yours?” Kabal…What an interesting name… Genesis wondered if that was his real name. “Genesis. Princess Genesis. You don’t need to call me Princess, usually those who have met me as a princess can call me that. But I guess you have what they say the ‘green light’?” Genesis…what a pretty name, Kabal thought to himself. He hadn’t known a lot of people with that name. Pretty name for a pretty girl. “Hehe…I like it. Princess….Okay Gen. Whatever you say.” Genesis gives a quizzical face to Kabal as she thinks that he said her name. “Gen?” Kabal gives a chuckle. “Like a nickname? Gen from Genesis?” “Ooooh. I get it. That’s kinda cute…I like that…”  “I mean you are pretty cu- I MEAN… aw shit… you are cute and pretty.” Genesis giggles as Kabal has blown his cover. Suddenly, he begins to feel his heartbeat quicken. Damn, there’s something about her that’s making Kabal feel some type of way. “You are pretty handsome yourself.” She chuckles as she confesses that herself and also feels her heartbeat thump really quickly. Could she be…no…she couldn’t. He couldn’t. Were they…? They stare deep in each others eyes for a moment. Could they be falling for each other? No…they just met, and Genesis kicked his ass. The two shake it off and Genesis breaks the silence: “I should be getting back to the Sky Temple now…” Raiden must be worried sick right now, she has been gone for a long while. “Let me lend you a ride.”

Kabal runs fast back to the Sky Temple with Genesis in his arms. Kabal stops in front of the entrance of the Sky Temple. “Thank you for listening to me and taking me to the beach as well.” “My pleasure Princess.” as Kabal starts to walk away, he has this urge. He wants to see this girl again soon. He turns around and approaches Genesis with a simple question. “Hey so, I was wondering when can I see you again?” Genesis smiles when he asks that. “Well, I’m always here so, please come anytime. I guess it will be a little hard because you don’t have any way to contact me….But I do have this.” Genesis raises her arm to the sky as if she was grabbing something. Suddenly, particles of stardust fall from the sky. Genesis lowers her arm and the stardust turns into a gemstone. A purple one. “Wow…” Kabal is just astounded by the abilities Genesis has. What else can she do? “When this glows purple like so, you’ll know when you can come and see me.” She demonstrates how the gemstone will glow purple so Kabal knows what to look out for. “Sounds great. Well, see you soon.” Unconsciously, Kabal almost lands his lips on hers, he halts himself and instead kisses her cheek. She giggles. For a short moment they look into each others eyes before Genesis gives him a hug. Kabal accepts the hug before momentarily letting go. The two smile at each before Genesis waves good-bye. Kabal waves back and leaves. Is Kabal in love? No, he just met her. But she’s just so…wow…thats the only word he could say every time he thought of her.

~

A year goes by as the two get to know each other even more and become closer. Kabal would either tell stories about his childhood or funny stories that have happened in the Black Dragon. Genesis would tell him her stories about the good things that had happened in her life, plus her hobbies and what not. All of the meetups were filled with laughter and fun, and Kabal fell deeper and deeper in love with her. He wanted to confess to her every time he met with her, but never had the courage to speak up. He wondered if she felt the same way. And she did, but she didn’t have the confidence to tell him either. They always would meet down by the beach, or even have a walk in the forrest. Raiden had started getting worried about Genesis going out so much. He had no problem with it, but he was worried if she would get hurt. She always reassured him that it was never a big deal and she could handle herself pretty well. Raiden always felt a relief when she would come back but had superstitions on where she was going and what she was doing. She would always tell him she was going for a walk or hike, but he started to doubt her.

A year passes by and it’s a typical day for Genesis and Kabal’s meetup. Genesis would send a mind signal for the gemstone, Genesis would wait at the beach, and Kabal would come. Today was no different. Kabal had gotten to the beach and saw Genesis looking strait towards the ocean. However, Kabal had to confess something to Genesis, something that he had been bottling ever since he first saw her. It was time, he could not hold it in anymore. “Hey Gen!” She loved it when he called her by that nickname, it felt like she really had a true friend that she could be causal with. “Hi Kabal, how are you today?” Genesis was in a happy mood today. Raiden had some business to take care of so she was free to roam around wherever she wanted. “Aw, well couldn’t complain. I don’t have Kano busting my ass off today so I’m doing well. Yourself Princess?” Genesis had gotten used to Kabal calling her ‘Princess’. It felt more casual. Not formal, like with Raiden or Fujin. “I feel great! Here I am at my favorite place with my favorite person ever!” Genesis started to feel more confident as she met more and more with Kabal. She went from down and dispirited to happy and cheerful. The two go on to talk about stories about their families. Mostly the good things, like how Kabal’s mother would always cheer him on in running competitions when he was younger, and how Genesis’s two older brothers would always bring home girls into the palace, and do…questionable things with them. “And then he kissed her and told her I love you and she slapped his face and almost left the palace with no clothes on!” Kabal started laughing so hard his stomach was hurting. Genesis always had stories about her brothers shenanigans in the palace, there was a time where she woke up to both brothers lying across her bed and when they woke up they had no recollection of how they got there. It was stories like that that would make Kabal laugh so hard, it would make his stomach hurt. After Kabal had recollected himself from almost dying of laughter, it gets silent for a moment. Not awkward silent, but intimate silent. Genesis looks deep into Kabal’s chocolate brown eyes. Genesis accidentally lays her hand on Kabal’s and immediately takes back her hand. “Ah! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do that…I-I just.. !” Genesis didn’t know what to say, it was hard for her to really tell Kabal how much she admired him and dare to say, even loved him. Kabal just chuckles. “It’s okay Gen… I really don’t mind that.” Kabal had not felt this romantic in the longest time. The last girlfriend he had cheated on him and he pretty much vowed never to see her again. Even then, he never felt any romantic feelings towards her. With Genesis, it’s drastically different. He felt different inside. Warm and fuzzy would be the words to describe it. “Genesis I need to ask you something.” Kabal heartbeat rises and the adrenaline is rushing through his veins. This is usually so easy for him. Why is so hard for him right now? “Sure. Anything Kabal.” Genesis doesn’t know what’s coming. Will he confess his love for her? “Come live with me.” Genesis is taken back by that question “Really? Why? Why me? I’m just… a nobody Kabal…” With all the thoughts of love for Kabal Genesis had, she still had doubts about her self. “You’re not a nobody Genesis. You’re a beautiful and wonderful girl who I happen to…” He couldn’t say the last word, the ‘L’ word, but he wanted to - badly. He just didn’t know how she would react. “We’ve know each other for a while now, and I really like you but I need to confess something with you. Well, it’s hard for me to say it…” Genesis looks down. Kabal lifts up her head with his thumb. Her hair is in the way, he then pushes it away from her face to get a clear view of it. Gosh, her white sparkling eyes, the hair, her personality, everything about her made him so wild. He goes in again to kiss her on the lips but is interrupted by a voice. A familiar one for Genesis. Oh no…

[tinamaetales]

Anti-human?!

Thirteenth K Drama: I am not a robot

They said that no man is an island but what if a person chooses to live in seclusion because of his allergy to his fellow human? Is that really possible for someone to survive just by himself? Is it possible for a human to have an allergy by having even the slightest human contact?  And what triggers such allergy? I am not a Robot is a romantic comedy drama that tells us the story of Kim Min Kyu, the Director of KM Financial Corporation, who lived 15 years of his life in seclusion – avoiding human contact at all cost.  Until, he met a robot that looks exactly like a human, AJI 3. With AJI 3, he was able to interact with her as if she’s a human and his allergy is not being triggered because he knows that it is just a robot and not a human. But what if the AJI 3 that he knows is actually not a robot?

Synopsis

For a successful man like Kim Min Kyu, Director of KM Financial Corporation, you would think that he has it all in life. Sure, he’s rich, good looking and intelligent but if there’s one thing weird about him is that he’s not fond of being near with people. And by that I mean, you’re not literally allowed to have even a slightest contact with him for there would be an extreme allergic reaction on his body. Despite being the chairman of a large corporation, Min Kyu is seldom seen in their office and when he shows up, everyone’s instructed to hide and is not allowed to go near him. Although he never told anyone about it, it has become the norm in their office. He’s always fully clothed and even wears gloves no matter the weather and he also carries a “baton” which gained him the title “three part baton”. What people around him don’t know is that the reason why he behaves that way is because he has an extreme allergy with human contact. Ever since his parents died, he lives alone in their mansion (although he has a butler but he lives in a different house). He doesn’t trust anyone for at such a young age he already experiences betrayal and that traumatized him so bad that even a slight touch would cause for an extreme allergic reaction. And then, he met the Santa Maria Team. They are a group of scientists who specializes in creating the most advanced robot. They introduced Min Kyu to AJI 3; AJI 3 is a super advanced AI robot that functions and look exactly like a human but is more intelligent than an average human. Seems like an answered prayer for Min Kyu who’s been living his life in seclusion however, before they can even get the chance to send AJI 3 to Min Kyu it encounters a problem. Out of desperation, they seek the help of Jo Ji A, the human that AJI 3 was modeled after. They made Ji A pretend as AJI 3 until they fix the real robot. What will happen now that the AJI 3 that Min Kyu knows is actually NOT a robot?

Okay, I know this is another drama that would make me say “I can relate so much to the main character” but I swear this time it is on a whole different level of connection. Early this year, I was diagnosed with Social Anxiety Disorder and the name itself is already the clue that it has something to do with being around people. Actually, I can tolerate people when they’re about a kilometer (I’m bad at this measurement thing, sorry) away from me and they’re minding their own businesses. But once I get myself in a crowd and people starts being noisy and if bad luck would have it, they will strike a conversation with me, I will start having panic attacks. It will start with having difficulty in breathing, then my heart would feel like it beats faster than normal which will then led to the feeling of my chest tightening and then the rest of my body would be numb. I would have this paranoia that those people would hurt me. Most of the time I will run to the nearest bathroom but sometimes if I’m lucky enough to have a brown bag, I would inhale through it. When I started taking my meds for my anxiety disorder, the attacks lessened and somewhat become milder. So there are days wherein I would be confident enough to not take the meds at all – some days are good because I get to have zero attacks but there are days wherein I would have at least 2-3 attacks. The worst part is that, I work outside Cavite and has to take public transportation. The work that I have is related to frontline services so imagine the kind of suffering I have to endure for months before my former boss decided to transfer me to the back-end operations office (God Bless her, she’s the best!) Now that I’m not in the frontline, I can say that I’ve calmed down already. However, there are still series of attacks. I guess it will really take time – maybe years, before I can recover. I’m not rushing into things but sometimes I feel so bad about it – it makes me feel like I’m not normal and will never be. In Min Kyu’s case, it was more visible physically. A slight contact with another human would result to him having severe allergic reaction in which his body will be covered with rashes and he will also have difficulty in breathing. It was somehow deadly. His doctor pointed out that it was being triggered psychologically since Min Kyu doesn’t trust anyone. So, his body would definitely react when another human, whom he doesn’t trust, would make a contact with him. The root cause was the betrayal he experienced when he was still younger. After that, he doesn’t have the ability to trust anyone anymore. Who could blame him, though? Humans tend to do that all the time – betrayal, even though you’ve shown them nothing but kindness. I truly understand why Min Kyu chooses to live in seclusion. Most of the time, it is better to just be alone than be with people who will turn their backs on you once they’ve realized that the benefits they’re gaining from associating their selves with you ran out. What makes this story unique is that it shows the journey of Min Kyu’s healing and the romance aspect is a beautiful addition to that. Its theme might be rom-com but there really is more to it.

Picking up the broken pieces

As they say, pain changes people and I truly believe that. Min Kyu’s life changed drastically after his parents died and at such a young age he was forced to face the world by himself. He chose to live in seclusion as to not get hurt anymore. He ended up being a bit arrogant because of that. As I’ve said earlier, I can truly understand where he is coming from. Most of the time, dealing with people is stressful. I’ve experienced a lot of horrible things with people too, especially at school wherein bullying is common and sometimes can’t be helped. Once you’ve experienced betrayal, trusting people again would be a challenge. Min Kyu kept his guard up as to not experience the same kind of pain he’d been through when he was young. However, even though he won’t admit it, he’s lonely. Having that kind of medical condition didn’t only affect him physically but also morally and psychologically. He can’t even enlist himself in the military and fulfill his obligation as a citizen of his country because of it. But I guess fate is on his side because he gets to meet the Sta. Maria Team who are developing the most advanced AI robot. With AJI3 by his side, he slowly learns how to face the world again. It was as if AJI3 gives him the confidence and assurance that despite the craziness of the world, if you have at least one person by your side that you can trust, then life is bearable.

Nobody’s perfect

I’ve read this phrase somewhere online before and I couldn’t agree more to it: We are very good judges with the mistakes or others but are also very good lawyers with our own. And, I can pretty much relate it to Min Kyu’s situation, somehow.

It is already a given fact that in this world, people has the ability to hurt and disappoint us whether it be intentional or not and that’s okay because it is part of our journey and character development. What we often forget is that everyone makes mistakes for nobody’s perfect – something that Min Kyu seems to be struggling with. He tend to get mad at the slightest mistake of his employees without thinking that most of the time he is being too much; he is already hurting people. Sending AJI 3 to him is actually a good step towards “transforming” him to become and live like a normal human being should be however due to the circumstances, the Santa Maria Team has to do something out of desperation, a “detour”

 Letting go

Someone once told me that in order for me to live better, I must let go of all the negative emotions that I am carrying – anger, pain, resentment. It is not easy but once you’ve done it, you will feel better – as if something heavy has been lifted off your chest. It is when you learn that the world is cruel yet you can make it become less of it that can make you feel more at ease – acceptance is the key.

Min Kyu is not anti-human, he’s just protecting himself from the pain he once experienced that’s why he ended up that way and I totally get where he is coming from when he gets mad at the Santa Maria Team and Ji A for manipulating him. Although their intention’s a bit good, what they’ve done is dangerous and lies, no matter how big or small, are still lies and they are not good. What Min Kyu has to learn, the hard way though, is that there will always be people who would hurt you and betray you but that’s okay because what they do and/or say actually says more about them than you. And even him, he can also hurt people, may it be unintentional or not but what’s important is you know how to accept mistakes and learn from it. After all, a single mistake should not define who a person is. People change, they do it all the time so we should be ready to forgive because despite the cruelties in this world, there are still a lot of people who are willing to learn from their mistakes and make up for it. Sometimes we do things that can hurt people that we never intended to and it sucks that we can’t just go back in time to change it, we only have the present to make up for the mistakes of the past and I strongly believe that we all deserve a second chance. At the end of the day, the good will always outweigh the bad.

It is when he decided to let go of all the anger, resentment and grief that he’s been carrying on his shoulders ever since he was young that he finally opened himself to love – self love. It is when he realized that people make mistakes but that doesn’t mean that they won’t learn from them and change for the better that he was able to open his heart to accept people in his life again. Of course there would still be people who will try to take advantage of him but upon realizing that those people can be outnumbered and overpowered by those who truly care for him, then life is still worth fighting for. Min Kyu’s journey towards healing is a great inspiration. This drama is really something else. There are a lot of life lessons that we can get from it. Give it a chance, go watch it I promise you won’t regret it.

x,

TinaMae

for more of my kdrama review, click here: https://tinamaetales.tumblr.com/tagged/k-drama

PS, I have so much backlog with my kdrama review/reflection posts (the ones I am posting so far are the kdramas I’ve watched in 2018! ) because I just recently recovered my tumblr account wew

[hannahindie]

Something Good

Character: Dean x Cas, random girl Word Count: 1,798 Warnings: There’s some smut for like a second. Angry Dean. Sassy Cas. Alcohol use. Dean throwing stuff. Language. Angst? Not really? I dunno, man. Some pissed off kissing. Ya know, for science. It is not for those under the age of 18. If you are on my tag list and I know you are under 18, I did not tag you. That means you do not read this. If you aren’t on my tag list and you are under 18, you don’t read this. Stare longingly at that gif if you want, which is also weird, but don’t you dare read this. Do you get it? Understand? Good. A/N: @pinknerdpanda asked for something kinda angsty but also fluffy, and a little...-fans self-. So here we are! She also beta’d it for me, because she’s an angel that’s too precious for this world.

I’m going to go ahead and tag my forevers just in case anyone is interested. If you aren’t, please let me know. If you are, and would like to be added to a specific Destiel list, let me know. If you know a friend who would enjoy reading more things like this, let them know, so they can let me know. Ya dig? Yea? Cool. I don’t know how often this will happen, but I’d like to show it to someone when the muse strikes. lol

Dean has been angry. He's been scared. But he is pretty sure he's never been so much of both, ever. Of course, whenever Sammy is involved, one or both are off the charts, but this? No, this is new.

It burns deep in his gut, like an ember that just won't go out. Somehow it sinks, deeper and deeper, the warmth creeping into the cracks and crevices that have been carved out during the years, and the longer he lets it settle, the more that fire rages.

He stares at the bloody man in front of him, head down, hands hanging between his knees, and the strange feeling is magnified tenfold. His hands practically itch, and he can’t tell if he wants to beat the shit out of something or find someone at the bar to screw it out of his system.

After several long, awkward moments of him standing there, clenching and unclenching his fists and being ignored, he picks up a chair and throws it. The already flimsy wood hits the wall with a crash and the chair flies into pieces. The man on the bed doesn’t flinch; he has seen worse anger, experienced more violence, and though he is not usually well versed in human behavior, knows this will pass.

“What the hell was that, Cas? Huh? What the actual fuck did you think you were doing?”

“I was hunting.” He doesn’t look up, though he does link his fingers together and begins rubbing one thumb against the other.

“Hunting? Is that what that was called? Because it looked more like you were getting your ass kicked. You’re lucky I showed up when I did!”

This time, Cas does look up, his blue eyes narrowed. Dean almost forgets why he’s angry, but then Cas speaks. “I did not need your help. I had it under control. I am not sure why you felt the need to rescue me, but you could have saved your time. I have been alive for several millennia without you, I can continue to do the same.”

“You are an absolute ass!” Dean grabs the bottle of whiskey off the table and takes a large gulp, relishing the burn as it slides down his throat. “You’ve lived for several millennia, sure, but you aren’t the same angel. You’ve barely got any mojo left, you can’t just run into a fucking vamp nest by yourself.”

“And whose fault is that, Dean? Why do I not have any ‘mojo’ left?” he spits out angrily, his voice gravel as he air quotes sarcastically. “Could it be because I have given nearly everything to help you and your brother? Or maybe because I have betrayed most of my brothers and sisters, chosen you over them, time and time again? Which one is it?”

This time, Dean throws the bottle. It hits the mirror in the bathroom and it explodes, glass and whiskey covering the bathroom floor, glinting dangerously in the yellowed light.

“I didn't fucking ask for that! You're the one that said there were plans for me, I didn't want it. So don't you fucking dare blame me.”

“So you would have rather been left in hell, to torture and be tortured, for all eternity?”

“How did this turn back around me?! You are the one that ran off on some half cocked mission, without telling anyone. You could have died! You would have if we hadn't shown up!”

“I would have been fine. I do not understand why you are so upset with me. You wanted me to act less like an angel, correct? More emotion, less taking orders from Heaven. So that is what I am doing. You and Sam risk your lives all the time without asking my permission, I am not sure why I am not afforded the same options.”

Dean opens his mouth to respond, but snaps it shut before he says anything.

“What? No scathing Winchester come back? I am disappointed, your snark usually knows no bounds.”

Dean grabs his jacket off the back of the chair, “Fuck off, Cas. I don't give a shit what you do, get yourself killed for all I care. I'm done.” He storms out and slams the door shut, leaving Cas staring at the closed door.

“Another.” Dean slams his shot glass down and the bartender gives him a look before cautiously pouring another drink.

“Someone's having a bad night.” Dean looks over to see a brunette, hair so brown it's almost black, staring at him, bright blue eyes almost glowing in the darkened bar.

“That obvious, huh?”

She shrugs, “It's not as if you're being very inconspicuous.” She nods at the bartender and he sits down another glass, filling it with the same whiskey Dean is having. “I'm not having a great evening either, so maybe I'll join you.”

Dean raises his glass, “To shitty nights.”

“To better companions,” she clinks her glass against his as she says it, then turns and drops a hand on his thigh. Dean looks down at her hand, then back up at her. Neither of them say anything; they don't have to.

Dean grabs her hand and drags her to the back and into the bathroom. Her hands are in his hair before he even has a chance to spin around with her, pinning her against the bathroom door as he locks it. He wraps his fingers in her long tresses, pulling her head to the side so that he can get to her neck. She groans and he can feel her hand as it travels down and palms him through his jeans.

“Holy shit,” he whispers into her jaw, letting his guard slip just long enough for her to push him across the small room and against the sink. She smiles at him, then makes quick work of his belt. He bites his lip when the buckle opens with a jingle and she drops to her knees, unzipping his pants as she moves.

“Maybe this will help,” she says as she pulls him free of his jeans and his boxers and begins to stroke him.

“Fuck...yea...maybe it...will…” he stammers between ragged breaths as he watches himself disappear into her mouth over and over again. She looks up at him through thick lashes, and his heart aches at how beautiful her eyes are. They're blue, but they seem to change colors depending on how she's looking at him, her dark hair making them stand out even more. He can barely stand it, and he squeezes his eyes shut as she continues her ministrations.

“Oh...fuck,” he reaches down and once again takes hold of her hair, “Don't stop...Cas…”

She does stop, and looks up at him in confusion. She pulls away with a slight pop, “Who’s Cas?”

His eyes fly open and he looks down at her, “What are you talking about?”

She frowns, “You just called me Cas.”

“No...no, I didn't.”

“Yes, you did.”

Dean pushes her away as gently as he can muster, then pulls up his pants, “I have to go.”

“What? What the hell?”

“I just...this is a mistake. I have to go. I'm sorry.” He fumbles with the lock on the door, then stumbles outside into the back alley and leans against the wall, his head back and eyes closed.

What the fuck was that?

“Dean?”

“Jesus Christ!” Cas is standing just mere feet from him, his wounds already starting to heal, although slower than normal. His hair is tousled and his head is tilted as he stares at Dean, who is breathing heavily from both the incident in the bathroom and Cas surprising him. “Why are you here? I told you I didn't care, I'm done.”

“I heard your prayer-”

“I wasn't praying! Fuck!” Dean closes his eyes, hoping that the world will quit spinning for a minute, just long enough so that he can think.

“Are you okay?” Cas takes a step forward and Dean’s hands get that itch again, like they don't know what to do.

“I'm fine, Cas. I just…” he trails off, thinking about the girl with the messy brunette hair and blue eyes, and suddenly there's anger. Anger that he feels this way, anger that it took him this long to realize just why he was so angry. “Why can't you just get it, huh? We care about you! We want you to stay safe. We've lost enough people, and then you - you just go running off after things, and it's fucking stupid! You're so fucking stupid!”

“I do not think calling someone stupid is a good way to show how you feel. I have heard it is offensive.” His eyes narrow and a fresh wave of anger floods Dean.

“Oh, it's not a good way, huh?” He takes a step forward, his fists clenching at his sides, “Did I offend you?” He grabs Cas by the collar and shoves him into the wall, “I am so sorry that it didn't seem very sincere.” Cas says nothing, just lets his hands hang by his sides as he glares back at Dean, which infuriates him even more. He wants to punch him, hit him in that perfect mouth, bruise his perfectly chiseled jaw.

Then his lips betray him, and he's kissing Cas hard, so hard he can feel his lips bruising as he crashes into him, desperately seeking some kind of relief from this unbearable feeling. His tongue dances along his bottom lip, and Cas groans into him when Dean bites at him.

“I...care...about...you…” Dean grinds out as he moves from Cas’ lips along his jawline, and to the sensitive spot just behind his ear. “I want you to be safe.” One hand cups his neck while the other gets buried in brunette hair that is so dark it may as well be black. One of Cas’ hands slips along Dean’s back, right along the top of his jeans, then dips down below the band. His breath catches and he pulls back so that he can look at the angel. “I get angry because if I lose you...I just can't lose you, okay? It's just not an option.”

“I understand.” Cas kisses Dean again, softly this time, lingering for just a moment before he pushes away from the wall. “Love can sometimes be camouflaged as anger. I appreciate the sentiment.”

“So we’re good?” Dean’s face is unsure, as if he thinks Cas is going to reject him now that he knew what was going on.

Cas smiles, “Very much so. I am sorry I scared you.”

“It's okay. At least something good came out of it.”

“And what would that-” Dean interrupts him with another kiss, and Cas nods, breathless.

“I see. Something very good.”

Like what you see? Would you like to see more? Check out my master list HERE.

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[booksaroundtheworld]

A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi

3.5 STARS I have never once read a book about a girl like me - a Persian girl with immigrant parents who feels out of place. When I read YA books, I scrounge around, clinging onto anything remotely middle eastern. It was nice to, for once, be totally in tune with the culture I was reading and not have to be like oh that’s kind of like what Persians do! because everything in this book is what Persians do. And for that fact alone I want to thank Tahereh Mafi. Her book wasn’t perfect (quite honestly I had a lot of problems with it) and there were also a lot of things I didn’t relate to (for one, I don’t wear a scarf), but she gave me a Persian character. And that alone means the world. A Very Large Expanse of Sea is about Shirin, a 16-year-old Persian, Muslim girl who, in addition to facing the general awfulness that is high school, also has to put up with the racist and bigoted assholes at her school that subject her to constant microaggressions and actual aggression. Her life turns around, however, when she and her brother finally fulfill a lifelong dream of forming a breakdancing crew and she meets Ocean, a boy in her biology class that actually seems interested in her in a non-creepy, fetishy type way. I get what Tahereh Mafi was trying to do with this book. I also wonder how much of this book is based on her own experience going to high school in the US, because if it was, that’d truly be awful. I’m lucky that I never really experienced any racism growing up here, and neither have my parents. Like many other children of immigrants, I was just asked questions about my “weird” food or my “dangerous” home country, which, while obviously racist, have become so normal that at this point I barely blink twice. That being said, I think that Tahereh missed the mark in a couple of ways. One, she made some of the students so obviously racist and bigoted that they seemed like caricatures of real people. While I don’t doubt that each of these experiences happened to some Muslim girl at some point in time, the sheer amount of comments and incidents and general backlash to her relationship with Ocean seemed excessive. And on that note, my biggest problem was Shirin’s relationship with Ocean. I don’t have any problem with Shirin’s physical relationship with Ocean. It may seem “un-Muslim” to some people but I don’t find that to be true at all. For one, Persians as a whole are a different type of Muslim than other Muslims. Despite the fact that Iran is the only country where all women are required to wear a hijab, as a whole we aren’t very Muslim. There is actually a joke that we’re too Muslim for non-Muslims and not Muslim enough for Muslims, alienating us from both groups. And of the other Muslim girls I know, many of them are like Shirin, going out with boys and not really following the whole “no touching” thing. No, my problem was first with the insta-love. Shirin and Ocean probably had like one conversation before he was in love with her, and she followed suit shortly. Their conversations were also so…. weak. Half of it was Shirin educating Ocean on something, and the other half was him saying “Wow” or “I feel pressure from my family” or “I want to see you”. See her to do what exactly? Stare at her and say she’s beautiful? Okay lol. I also disliked the way she treated him. I get why she was so against being in a relationship with him, but she was so bitchy about it. Realistically speaking, I just don’t get why Ocean was so adamant on being in a relationship with her based off that one conversation and then be in such anguish whenever it didn't work out. Especially after she would ignore him for a week and then just say “Hi” like nothing happened. The fact that their relationship went from 0 to 100 in a matter of what felt like days was something I just couldn’t get behind. Then there was the issue that within a couple months of them hanging out, he was willing to throw away his whole life for her. The level of idiocy and lack of communication displayed by YA couples always astounds me. Furthermore, once she and Ocean started hanging out, everything became about him. Nothing more about the Persian experience, barely anything about breakdancing (which I feel, as a whole, wasn’t talked about enough), nothing about school or making new friends - it was just Ocean. I’m also always so annoyed when a female character only has male friends because apparently, girls are too bitchy to be friends with. Idk. Tahereh tried to fix that in the end, but too little too late. I also think that Tahereh introduced characters only to forget about them later. Navid’s friends and Yusef had great potential, but she included them only to raise Shirin’s self-esteem, and then didn’t include them again. The last thing I want to say is about the end. We resolved things way too quickly and I was left feeling profoundly unsatisfied. The last chapter literally felt like Tahereh was like alright well it’s time for this to end let me just put together a few summarizing sentences and leave it at that. After I had to read pages and pages of empty dialogue between Ocean and Shirin, I kind of expected something more than what we got. I’m so torn about A Very Large Expanse of Sea. While I love Persian representation and am grateful Tahereh decided to write about her own experiences, she ruined it with a dramatic romance that didn’t really need to be there. Not to be that girl but do we really need a white man to save the day and ~open our eyes~? Probably not lol. Honestly, after the emotional rollercoaster that was the Shatter Me trilogy, I don’t really know why I was expecting something different, although I have to say that Tahereh’s decision to NOT include the frilly flowery language of Shatter Me was an excellent one. I don’t think this is an important book the same way The Hate U Give was, but I also know that Persian and Muslim representation is so little that even this small education is better than nothing. Ultimately, this isn’t a book that you have to read. But it is one that, despite all its issues, is one worth reading.

[dragon-cookies]

fluffy batim fanfic ahoy

Okey I decided to post the fic here! It’s literally just a short story about when Luna was born, with copious amounts of cute family fluff. Set in some sort of AU where either the events of the game didn’t happen or they did and everyone got out okay. Please enjoy! :’’)

Night had fallen not long ago in the city. Joey Drew Studios had closed up for the weekend, and the building was all-around quiet. That was, for the most part.

Bendy nearly tripped over himself as he adjusted his hold on the pile of towels he was carrying in his arms. It was times like this he could hardly stand being short. "You keepin' up, Boris?" He glanced behind as he stumbled down the hall, clearly struggling to both see where he was going and keep his balance.

"I'm comin', Bendy." Boris replied not far behind, carrying his own stack of towels, albeit with much less trouble. "Are you sure you don't think we might've gotten too many?"

Bendy bit his lip at the question, his expression laced with worry. "I... I really don't know, Boris. We might not need all of them, but I'd rather have too many than too little, y'know?" He chuckled weakly, although it was evident he was hardly in a mood for jokes. "It's not every day someone 'round here has a baby, after all, and... Well, I just wanna be prepared."

Boris's ears lowered slightly. He couldn't stand seeing his best friend so nervous, but at the same time he could hardly blame him. He wasn't at all experienced with this sort of thing, none of the toons were for the most part. "Uh-huh, I understand. Better safe than sorry..."

They finally came up to the bedroom door, with Bendy slowly coming to a stop right outside of it and setting the towels down on the wooden floor. 

"What's the holdup?" Boris tilted his head slightly and looked over the stack in his arms.

Bendy stared at the door for a moment, his hands fidgeting. "Just... preparing myself, I s'pose..." He took a breath and exhaled slowly. "...I'm nervous, Boris. I don't have any sort of first hand knowledge about this sort of thing, and come to think of it neither does Alice. Everything we know is just stuff we've read and heard about..."

"Hey..." Boris set his own pile of towels down and came over, putting a hand on Bendy's shoulder. "It's gonna be okay, Bend. Alice is tough, I'm sure she'll be just fine."

"I know..." Bendy nodded quietly. "I know, you're right... I just gotta stop being a worry wart and be ready to help her, no matter how scared I am." 

"That's the spirit." Boris smiled, his tail wagging slightly. "You've got this, I'm sure of it. You and Alice both."

Bendy nodded again, looking up to give his friend a smile. "You're the best, Boris. I really don't know what I'd do without you."

Boris chuckled, his tail wagging faster. "Aw, you know I'm always here to help. 'Capable canine' is my middle name." He stood up to his full height once more, glancing back down the hallway. "Well, I s'pose I'll leave you both to it. Just holler if you need me, alright?"

"Will do." Bendy smiled once more, waving as his friend started back down the hall. He took another breath and turned back to the door. No turning back now.

The door to the bedroom opened with a gentle creak. It was dark outside, the room's main source of light coming from a small lamp in the opposite corner. A simple, two-person bed lay situated near the adjacent wall, it's loosely-tied curtains about each bed post giving an extra layer of privacy to its occupant. Bendy paused for only a moment to take in the scene before entering, a few towels wrapped tucked under his arm. The rest could wait outside for a moment, right now he had someone else he wanted to check on.

He quietly approached the bed and drew the thinly veiled curtain back. There she was. His beautiful, darling angel. She was wearing a soft, silken robe, reclined on a pile of pillows, a book in one hand, and her other hand gently cradling her large belly. She looked up the moment she saw him pull the curtain aside and gave him a smile as she set her book down. "Evening, dearest..."

"Hey Al..." Bendy replied, his voice barely above a whisper. He set the towels on the nightstand next to the lamp and sat down on the edge of the bed, reaching up and entwining his hand with hers. "How are you doing...?"

Alice took a small breath, her free hand gently making circles on her rounded stomach. "The same as when you saw me ten minutes ago. They've been coming pretty regularly now..."

He nodded, a small sliver of worry still twinging inside of him. Alice's contractions, as Susie told him, would be coming at steady intervals with a high intensity by the time the baby was ready to be born. He already didn't like Alice being in pain, even if it was still mild, and the prospect of it getting worse only added to his unease. 

Alice squeezed his hand tighter, sensing the worry on his face. "Did you find the towels you were looking for?"

"Hm? Oh, heh, yeah..." He gestured to the door behind him. "We didn't know how many to grab, so we just... sort of took them all."

She laughed softly. "Well, better safe than anything, I suppose. We definitely won't be short on them now."

"Yeah, phew, that's a relief," he chuckled and pretended to wipe sweat off his forehead before going quiet again. "... Is there anything else I can do to help? For now, at least?"

Alice glanced back down at her belly before giving him another smile. "If you could just stay here, with me, that would be enough. We've got time before anything exciting happens."

Bendy didn't have to be told twice about that. Another nod and he had already climbed the rest of the way onto the bed, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and nuzzling his face into the crook of her neck. He brought his opposite hand down to her stomach, his fingers tracing random little patterns across the fabric of her robe. He could feel their little one shifting about in there, as if they were adjusting their position until they got comfortable. Every little movement made his inky heart flutter with a joy and pride unlike anything he'd felt before. This was their baby. Their baby that they had made together, against all odds. And now it was almost time for them to finally come into the world.

Starting a family had truly been a long series of trial and error for both of them, seeing as they were toons created from an ink machine and therefore had no actual parents. The ink machine may have given them life, but who was to say whether they create life of their own? It had taken months of trying, buildups of hope that would only be dashed later on, late nights filled with disappointment and tears, but they eventually finally got what they wanted so badly. Bendy knew he'd never forget the joy he felt when Alice told him the news. How they held each other as tightly as they could, tears flowing freely. He couldn't even begin to contain his excitement during that time. He was going to be a father. 

Alice nuzzled the top of his head, bringing her hand to rest on top of his on her belly. "What're you thinking about...?”

"Mmm..." He hummed softly and nuzzled her back. "Just thinking about how..." He trailed off a moment, searching for the right words.

"How big I've gotten?" She murmured with a small laugh.

"No," he snorted softly and pulled her closer, "I was gonna say something along the lines of how beautiful you are... How lucky I am to have you..."

"Ah," she grinned and pressed a small kiss to his head, "I think I'm very lucky to have you too."

Bendy couldn't hold back a small purr as she kissed him."I love you so much, Al..." He leaned his head down and gently kissed her belly. "And we love you too, kiddo. Don't be afraid to hurry up so we can meet you sooner, now."

Alice managed a small laugh before another contraction made its way down her back and across her stomach, causing her to wince slightly and take a breath as it ran its course. "Oh, she'll be here soon enough, don't worry..." She spoke with a slight strain in her voice, her hand massaging small circles on her large baby bump.

Worry crossed Bendy's face again as he felt her tense up. He brought his hand that was previously across her shoulders down to gently rub her back. "Think it's a girl, huh?" He gave her a small smile and gently squeezed her hand, hoping he could help take her mind off the pain.

"Mm..." She leaned into his touch, exhaling again as the contraction started to subside. "A little girl would be wonderful... But don't get me wrong, I'd be equally happy with a boy..."

Bendy nodded, continuing to rub her back as she relaxed. "I understand. I'll be just as happy either way as well. Boy, girl, as long they're healthy, I'll be the happiest demon." 

She nodded quietly, another small smile crossing her face. "And I'll be the happiest angel as well..." She closed her eyes and rested her head on his once again. "In the meantime, think I might try and rest a bit... Just while I still can..."

"Oh, of course..." He pulled her close once again. "Rest as long as you need, darling."

"You promise you'll stay here?"

"Cross my heart."

She smiled sleepily and kissed his cheek once more. It wasn't long after that she had dozed off, leaving Bendy awake and still holding her gently. He brushed a lock of her dark hair behind her ear, pressing a small kiss to her forehead and resting his head on hers. Even when she was tired and waiting for their baby to arrive, she still looked absolutely divine to him. He closed his eyes and buried his face in the crook of her shoulder, eventually nodding off himself.

------

"... Bendy..." 

Bendy's eyes twitched as he started to come back to. "Mmm...”

"Bendy, darling, wake up..." He felt a hand squeeze his arm.

"Alice...?" He mumbled and blinked his eyes, lifting his head up from the pillow and rubbing his eyes. "You okay...?"

Alice's panted softly, her chest rising and falling with every steady breath she took. Her hand closest to Bendy was gripping his arm, her other hand was holding her swollen belly. "I think... you might need to get the towels ready..."

Bendy's heart leapt into his throat. He scrambled off the bed and gathered up the towels he'd left on the nightstand. "Y-You think it's time?" He set the towels at the foot of the bed and helped her sit up against the pillows, quickly taking his hand in hers once more.

Alice winced as she pulled herself into a sitting position, immediately gripping his hand tightly. "I don't know for sure, but... It hurts a lot more than it did before..."

Bendy bit his lip. She had to be getting close. How close, he wasn't sure, but she had to be getting there. He sat on the edge of the bed again and squeezed her hand. "It's okay if it hurts, Al... Susie told us it should feel like that..."

Alice nodded and took several more deep breaths as she reclined her head back on the pillows. "One thing's for certain... This baby is definitely part demon..." She gave him a weak smile.

He managed a small grin at her little joke. "Hey, all the more proof that I'm the dad, right?" He brushed her hair aside and kissed her cheek, quietly praying she couldn't hear how loudly his heart was pounding. He was terrified, but he knew Alice needed his support more than anything else in this moment. "Just hold my hand if you want and keep breathing. The baby'll be here before we know it..."

She nodded again and closed her eyes, her eyebrows knitted in pain and concentration. In. She breathed in deeply. Out. She exhaled slowly. In... Out...

Bendy inhaled and exhaled with her, both to help her keep time and ease his own nerves. Alice is strong, he told himself. Their baby would be just as strong. He just needed to be there for her.

They continued together for what must have been hours, although to Bendy it could have just as well been only a few minutes. Through every painful contraction, every time she gripped his hand, every time he helped her breathe through it, he never left her side. 

More time passed. Alice only cried out in pain a few times, but it shattered his heart every time. He went to the foot of the bed to check her later on, where he could confirm things were definitely progressing. He pulled the bed sheets covering her legs up to her knees and gave her an encouraging grin. The baby had her hair, he told her. Despite her pain, Alice couldn't hold back a smile at the statement. Time passed again, things progressed again as well. Then, not much later at all, the cry of a newborn filled the room. 

Alice fell back against the pillows as she heard the shrill cry, panting heavily as she grinned up at the ceiling. She did it. She lifted her head just in time to see Bendy hold up a tiny, squirming infant in a ink-drenched towel. 

"It's a girl, Alice!" Bendy laughed and gave her the biggest smile he possibly could. "We have a baby girl!"

A choked sob of delight escaped Alice at the announcement of their baby's gender. Tears ran freely down her face as Bendy carried the wailing baby girl over and gently placed her on her chest, towel and all. "Oh, hello, hello little one..." Alice spoke softly between sobs, gently rubbing her newborn daughter's back and wiping away the ink she was covered in. "Look at you... Oh, you're so beautiful..." The baby continued to cry loudly and squirmed in the towel she was wrapped in, trying to get closer to the voice she heard. Alice gave the infant a tiny nuzzle and kissed her head. "Shhhh... Mama's here. Mama's got you, sweetie..." Slowly, the baby girl's cries reduced down to whimpers as she was soothed by her mother's voice and touch.

Bendy grinned and wiped away his own tears as he watched his brand new daughter meet her mother for the first time. They'd done it. After months of trying and another nine months of preparing, their little girl was finally here. He sniffed and wiped his eyes again before coming over to sit next to Alice. "She's perfect, Al... I'm so proud of you..." He kissed her cheek and laid his head on her shoulder once again, his hand coming up and gently playing with their baby girl's hair, absolutely enchanted by this tiny little life that he helped create.

Alice blinked back more tears and leaned into Bendy, smiling as their daughter finally calmed down and stopped fussing. She made small noises as she lay on her mother's chest, her eyes still closed tight. "Have you ever seen anything as beautiful as her?"

"Never... I've never seen anything like her at all..." Bendy smiled as he continued to stroke the baby's hair. He could just barely feel tiny nubs on her head underneath her hair, where horns would most likely grow when she got older. "Say, you remember the name we'd picked out if she was a girl?"

Alice nodded quietly, turning her head slightly to meet his gaze. "You think it's a good name for her?"

Bendy nodded in return, another smile coming to his face. "Yeah... Luna. That's what we should call her."

Alice smiled back at him, returning her gaze back to her sleeping daughter. "Our little Luna..."

The couple lay together in silence, simply taking in the sheer beauty of the moment as a new family. Bendy eventually got up and fetched a clean blanket, and Alice used another towel to dry off her daughter before transferring her over to the blanket Bendy had brought. Now all clean and warm as she slept, Bendy gently played with her tiny hands and laughed softly when she gripped onto one of his fingers in her sleep. "Wait till Boris sees her. He's gonna be so excited..."

Alice hummed softly in agreement. "Susie's been excited too. She's going to flip when she learns I had the baby over the weekend."

"That'll be a fun way to start the Monday, huh," Bendy chuckled. "I bet Henry will be happy to meet her too."

"Mm, I couldn't imagine anyone wouldn't be happy..." Alice closed her eyes and rested her head on Bendy's. "She might even get a smile out of Sammy, I'd bet..."

"Oh, now that would be something. She'd have accomplished something few people have done."

Alice was about to reply when Luna started to fuss again, whining softly and nuzzling her mother's chest as if she were searching for something. "Oh, hold on, I think I know what she wants." She gently scooped the baby up with her blanket. "Bendy, could you...?"

"Hm? Oh, I got her." Bendy carefully took Luna in his hands and cradled her, grinning as she squirmed in his arms and blearily opened her eyes. "Hey there, sweetie, you have a nice nap? I'm your dad, by the way, in case you were wondering." He grinned as she blinked and looked up at him curiously. She had the same pie-cut eyes that both of her parents did, and the same off-white skin. "You know, I think the two of us are gonna be good friends. You, Alice, and I, we're goin' places, I just know it."

Alice chuckled softly as she watched Luna meet her father. Even to babies, he seemed to have an irresistible charm. She pulled the shoulder of her robe down, exposing the lower part of her chest. "Alright, you can hand her back now."

"One baby, comin' right up," Bendy chuckled and gently passed her back. He leaned back on the pillows once more and watched as Alice carefully adjusted her hold on their baby girl until she was in a comfortable position to nurse. 

"C'mon, sweetie, you must be hungry," Alice murmured softly, letting Luna familiarize herself with this new position. After another moment she finally latched on properly and started to nurse. "There you go..." Alice breathed a small sigh of relief and leaned back again. "From what Susie's told me, I'm gonna get used to feeding her like this. Some babies can nurse for up to a year."

Bendy nodded quietly, not taking his eyes off their daughter. "It's pretty fascinating, if you ask me." 

Luna nursed for a short while longer before she finally had her fill of milk. She released and made a soft squeaking noise before nuzzling her head into her mother's chest once more, making a tiny rumbling sound very much akin to a purr.

"Hold the phone..." Bendy leaned down to listen. "Is that coming from her?"

"I think so," Alice laughed and stroked the baby girl's head. 

"You sure you didn't give birth to a cat, Al?" 

"Hey, out of the two of us, she definitely got that from you, mister." Alice chuckled and gently headbutted him. "You purr all the time."

"What? Nooo," he nudged her back, trying to feign innocence, "surely you must have mistaken me."

"Oh no, I'm not mistaken at all." She gave him a quick kiss. "One of these days I'm going to catch you holding her and purring, mark my words."

"Hmm, I frankly see no problem with that at all." He hummed playfully and kissed her back. "We just purr to show affection sometimes. It's a demon thing..."

Alice hummed softly in response and nuzzled him once more. "Say Bendy, do you want to go and get Boris? Just so he can meet her before we go to sleep tonight?"

"Oh, of course, toots." He nodded and got to his feet once more. "I'll be right back, I promise."

-------

"Shoot, if only I had a red five..." Boris scratched his head as he mulled over his cards on the table. 

Bendy quietly entered the room where Boris was, softly knocking on the open door. "Hey Boris?"

Boris looked up from his game of solitaire, his tail wagging slightly. "Bendy! Is everything alright?"

Bendy exhaled quietly and nodded, giving him a wide grin. "...It's a girl.”

Boris stared at him dumbfounded for a split second, then leapt to his feet and scooped Bendy up in the tightest hug he could muster. "Gawrsh, Bendy! You're a father!" He barked excitedly and spun around. "And Alice is a mother! Congrats to you both!"

"Grk-!" Bendy could barely utter a word as Boris nearly crushed his ribcage. "Y-Yeah Boris! We're parents-! Please let me get some air!"

"Oh! Sorry 'bout that!" Boris quickly released him and set him down. "Guess I really don't know my own strength when I'm excited. So, when can we see her? Can we see her now?"

"We can definitely see her now if you want," Bendy laughed as he caught his breath. "We'll have to be quiet, though."

"Oh! Right, right! I'll be as quiet as a church mouse! Ahem, starting now." Boris grinned sheepishly. 

Bendy pushed the door open to the bedroom once more. "Hey Al, Boris is here to say hi..." 

Alice grinned as she looked up from the tiny bundle in her arms. "Hey Boris, come right in..."

Boris approached almost cautiously, slowly kneeling down at the edge of the bed so he could get a good look at the baby Alice was holding. "Oh my goodness..." He whispered as his tail thumped gently against the floor. "She's so tiny... And so cute!" He grinned up at Alice, practically wiggling with excitement. "I've never seen anything like her before."

Alice smiled back down at him. "Neither have we, to be honest. She's probably the first baby toon, ever."

"Gawrsh, that's real exciting!" Boris wiggled happily again as he looked back to the sleeping baby. "So, whatcha gonna call her?"

Alice looked up at Bendy as he smiled and walked over. "We were thinking of calling her Luna."

"Luna?" Boris repeated the word, giving the new parents another excited smile. "That's a real nice name! You two must be so proud right now!"

Bendy and Alice exchanged smiles with each other. "We are, Boris." Bendy wrapped an arm around Alice as they both smiled down at their new daughter. Things were going to be different from now on, that was for certain. But the future most definitely looked bright. "We really are..."