#updated the hair bit to be more inclusive !

[ceilidho]

john price would film amateur porn with his wife but it would all be weird videos of him like taking care of her hair or putting her socks on or shaving her pussy. just loves showing off how he takes care of what’s his. he makes her wear a pretty silk blindfold too so no one accidentally sees her face.

[burntheedges-updates]

over again, chapter 1

This is my updates-only blog! Follow me at @burntheedges

Joel Miller x f!reader

summary: you fell in love with Joel Miller in Austin, Texas, in 2001, but you thought you lost him and your whole family in 2003 when the world turned upside down. now it's 2024, and you find the surprise of your life waiting for you in Jackson, Wyoming. or, five times you and Joel fell deeper in love, on both sides of the apocalypse (and one time you did something about it)18+ minors DNI chapter tags/warnings: fluff, flirting, light angst, cursing, no use of y/n, no description of reader (see note below), smallish age difference (reader is 26, Joel is 32/almost 33 when they meet in 2000) (small for this fandom, anyway) (the smut comes later, y'all, we're just getting started here) a/n: Well, here we go! This is part 1. This fic is completely finished. It’s a 5+1 and for some of the 5 parts I’ll post them together (on Sundays) and for some I’ll post them separately (on Sundays and Wednesdays) just due to length. Obviously I'm posting this one early (lol). I’ll tell you whatever the schedule is for the different parts. I've paid a lot of attention to the reader's description in this fic. I've avoided skin color, hair type, body shape/size descriptions, and even clothing (except for one or two spots where you are specifically wearing jeans and boots). You are vaguely shorter than Joel. He does not run his fingers through your hair, and you feel the blood rush to your face or your face heat, but you don't turn red or pink. Please tell me if you notice anything I missed - I want this to be as inclusive as possible. word count: 1724 (for this part) series main post & chapter list | series playlist (w/ plot-related mix) ao3 | chapter 2

Chapter 1: Meet Cute

Jackson, Early Winter, 2023

You’ve been heading northwest from somewhere in Kansas, thinking you’ve never bothered going out this way, even Before, so why not? It’s been months since you saw another person. You’re not even sure the last time you spoke out loud. 

You blame the lengthy isolation for how easily they get the jump on you. 

It's just after dawn when you're rudely awakened - at first, you’re not sure why, but a second kick to your hip sends you scrambling to sit up in your sleeping bag, which is tangled around your legs. Looking around as you struggle, you realize you’re surrounded by people on foot and on horseback. Every single one of them is pointing a gun at you. You glance to the side and realize your backpack along with anything possibly useful inside of it has been kicked away from you. The woman who kicked you has a steely look in her eye that reminds you, in your half awake state, of the last boss you had Before. 

“State your business.” As she speaks you notice the two men closest to her start to fan out a bit, but you don’t dare look away from her.

“I’m just passing through, I’ve been looking for a good place to spend the winter.”

Or, that’s what you would have said, if not for the voice from your past shouting your name in shock just as you open your mouth. “No goddamn way, is that really you?”

You think you must be hallucinating, because everyone you knew Before is dead, but then Tommy fucking Miller pushes his way in front of the woman who spoke. For a moment you can’t do more than stare at each other — him with his gun hanging limply in his right hand, you with your legs still tangled in your godforsaken sleeping bag. Then you launch into motion and start to kick it away as you find your voice. It comes out shaky. Or maybe you’re shaking all over.

“Tommy? But — you’re alive? Where the hell have you been? Wait, are Joel and—“

Tommy cuts you off as he pulls you to your feet and into a tight hug. “Holy shit, we thought you were dead. Holy fucking shit.”

“We? Tommy wait, are they—“

Tommy pulls back, keeping hold of your shoulders as he looks you in the eye. He’s grinning, his eyes wandering all over your face. “He’s alive, sunshine. Or he was when he came through here about a month ago. We’re expecting them back in the spring.”

You can feel your heart racing and your whole body feels hot and tingly. You’re overwhelmed. You didn’t think you could still feel hope like this. It’s terrifying, but you have to know. “He’s- Them? They’re both alive? Sarah?”

You know the answer before he even says anything. Tommy’s face falls, his eyes drop from yours, and you feel it like a sucker punch, as bad as it was the first time around. Your knees give out even though this is what you’ve known, or tried to convince yourself must be true, for 20 years. Tommy falls gently with you to the ground.

Your baby girl. “Oh god, Sarah. And Joel, he must have been—“

“Yeah, sunshine. He thought he lost you both. It wasn’t… well. It wasn’t good.” 

You’re starting to feel numb. You have no idea what your face is doing right now, but judging by Tommy’s, it isn’t pretty. 10 minutes ago you were alone in the apocalypse, and suddenly you’re face-to-face with your almost-brother-in-law and you know, without a doubt, that your fiancé hasn’t been dead this whole time. Is this shock? It’s been 20 years since you felt a shock like this. Since you felt anything like this. 

“Tommy, I… I need to sit down.”

“Well, you are sitting down, sunshine. But get up, gather your stuff. You can come to town with us. Stay as long as you’d like.” You nod, unsteady, and Tommy guides you carefully towards what must be his horse. 

The day passes in a daze. You think you might actually be hallucinating, or still back in your sleeping bag, dreaming, because a whole, functional town? A commune, and a house they’re just going to let you have as your own? A real community? With your only remaining family, miraculously alive? It’s impossible. You float through the rest of the day and find yourself sitting on a bed in a house with indoor plumbing that somehow belongs to you, having just eaten real food in the company of the family you thought you lost 20 years ago.

You give up and go to sleep. (What else are you going to do?)

...

As you settle into life in Jackson, the knowledge that you might see Joel — your Joel, any day now — never leaves your thoughts. It’s like a drum beat at the back of your mind that only repeats his name, marking time every hour of every day. You don’t know how you’ll prepare yourself for it. How could you? You haven’t seen him in 20 years. Anything could be different. You can so easily picture him with a daughter, but it’s Sarah in your mind, not Ellie, who Tommy has told you a bit about. Every time you open those old wounds that you’ve done your best to bury it hurts like the first time. Would he still want you? Still know you? Do you still know him? Would Ellie like you? You can’t imagine not knowing Joel, or Joel not knowing you, but it’s been 20 years and people change. You’ve changed, after all. Some days you barely recognize yourself. 

You express these fears to Tommy once, but he only laughs and says his brother may be stupid but he’s not stupid enough not to want you. It’s reassuring and rude, so, exactly like Tommy. At least some things never change.

The day Joel Miller walks back into Jackson you happen to be standing on the road near the gates, talking to Tommy, and you swear he spots you in less than 5 seconds. It’s like you can’t help but look to each other first, even when you don’t know the other is alive, even when you haven’t seen each other in 20 years. You’d know the shape of him anywhere and your eyes have never stopped looking for it, never stopped catching on a set of shoulders, a cocked hip, a tilted head, only to be disappointed when it faded like a mirage. When the person in front of you didn’t fit the hole he left behind. It hurt every time. Maybe it’s been the same for him. 

Joel looks like he’s seen a ghost, and you have no idea what expression is on your face, but the moment you lock eyes all you see is the moment you first met, almost 24 years ago, like a film negative laid on top of what’s really in front of you. He’s older, of course, but so are you, and he’s still the most handsome man you’ve ever seen.

He steps towards you and whispers your name like a prayer.

Joel fucking Miller. 

Austin, Summer 2000

It was a Saturday morning in late summer, so not yet the hottest part of the day, but not comfortable, either. Your belongings were steadily moving from the truck to your new rental house under your somewhat careful supervision when movement from the house next door caught your eye. You looked up just as one of the guys from the moving company almost dropped your nightstand off the back of the truck, distracting you from the sight of a young girl, maybe about 10, rocketing out of the house next door and down her front steps. She was wearing a bright green soccer uniform.

By the time your nightstand had been righted and you looked back towards your neighbors’ house, she’d made her way to the bushes between your driveways, standing on her tiptoes and taking in all of the commotion. She met your eye and grinned. You grinned back as she called, “Hi, new neighbor!” 

You walked over, stopping on the other side of the bush to introduce yourself. “Hi there, neighbor.” 

It didn’t seem possible, but she grinned even wider. “I’m Sarah, that’s my dad.”

You looked up, realizing there was a man coming down their steps towards the two of you — the most attractive man you’d ever seen in your life. He was tall, with broad shoulders and the look of a man who spent a lot of time in the sun, tan lines peeking out of his shirt sleeves. His brown curls were a bit messy and his shoulders and strong arms drew your eye like a magnet. You caught yourself giving him a quick once over and felt your face start to warm, embarrassed, but when you met his eyes again you caught him doing the same to you. You realized you were both caught and you smiled, introducing yourself. 

“Nice to meet you, darlin’. Joel Miller, and I think you’ve met Sarah.” You felt your face turn hot at the endearment but you knew he probably didn’t mean anything by it. Southern hospitality and all. “Welcome to the neighborhood.”

You’d opened your mouth to respond when you were rudely interrupted by a crashing noise from the moving truck behind you, and you whirled around to see a box on its side on the ground that definitely should not have been. You glanced back at your neighbors as you excused yourself. “It’s great to meet you! Sorry, I need to see what that was.”

They shooed you along before you could even finish your sentence, reassuring you that they understood. “Let me know if anything broke, darlin,’ I’m pretty handy, could probably fix it. It’d be my pleasure.” He smiled at you a bit, just on one side, edging towards a smirk, and you did your best not to stare at his mouth. “Deal,” you agreed, grinning. Both you and Joel seemed unable to draw your eyes away from each other. You were stuck, pinned in place under his gaze until Sarah tugged on his arm and dragged him towards their truck. “Dad, we’re gonna be late!”

The view from the back was just as nice as the front. 

...

a/n: ch 2 is up!

taglist: @morgaussy

[strawberrysins]

Little Poll For Everyone, and A Little Life Update

Omg, first post in like... forever??? Sorry y'all, I got really depressed there for a while, and then I had to go back to school. Then personal stuff happened (Do NOT find yourself in a homoerotic codependent friendship, everyone.) But I'm back now :)

So Anyways, that other fanfic (Man In Red) got permanently discontinued for a number of reasons, but I still really want to write a long-ass fanfic for Alastor x Reader (I literally love him so much he is my husband).

So the question is, would everyone be interested in that? Fair warning, the reader will feel a little different from a lot of the other ones, since she (yes they will be fem, sorry I am not good at writing gender-neutral main characters, since my personal gender expression leans so heavily feminine.) will be based on myself and my own life experiences. I noticed a lot of readers in fanfiction, or at least in this fandom, tend to be more introverted and quiet, often lacking much social interaction outside of the main characters.

I am not like that. I do not know how to write someone like that, at least as a main character.

so would you be interested in this fanfiction, even if the reader has a bit more of a confident, extroverted, and easy-going personality? (I am going to try my absolute best to make the look of the reader as vague as possible, especially since last time I made vague mentions to their hair, which I feel really bad about, since I want to be as inclusive as possible)

Ok, I'm done word vomiting now.

[thesims4blogger]

EA has announced two new Sims 4 Content Updates for April and July!

The first Sims 4 Roadmap is slowly coming to an end, and EA is letting you know about their last bit coming in April!

The new Sims 4 Content Updates, scheduled first for April and then July 2024, are all about adding better representation of Black hairstyles and visual features. In a yet to be released blog from thesims.com, we’ve discovered that there’s going to be two drops:

24 new color combinations for two existing Hairstyles (April 2024)

New locs Hairstyle (July 2024 Content drop)

How The Sims and its partners are expanding diversity and representation in gaming

Maxis teams up with Dark & Lovely and Danielle “Ebonix” Udogaranya to help more players see themselves in games

Here at Maxis, inclusivity is one of our key values. We know that inclusion matters, and we aim to ensure that everyone feels represented—not just in our games but also in how we work; it’s ingrained in the very culture of our studio.

So when we got the opportunity to work with both legendary beauty brand Dark & Lovely and multi-award-winning gaming content creator and DE&I advocate Danielle “Ebonix” Udogaranya, we leaped at the chance. The result is “Play in Color,” a campaign and documentary that shines a spotlight on the importance of authentic representation in gaming.

For much of the history of the video game industry, authentic representation and features of people of color and other marginalized communities have been significantly underrepresented. These groups have made up a substantial segment of the gaming community from the very beginning, but games have often dramatically underrepresented Black hairstyles in particular.

At Maxis, we’ve been grateful for the chance to help make progress toward better representation through in-game releases. This includes Vitiligo skin features; updates to Townies, in-game characters, incorporating different backgrounds, regional features, and skin tones to match their story; and collaborations with our extensive community of talented creators. Our updates give players of The Sims the resources to create characters that look like them and tell stories that reflect their lived experiences - but there is so much more room to grow.

This is why we’re so pleased to be collaborating with Dark & Lovely and Ebonix to help draw attention to both the progress being made and the need for continued improvement. To start, we’re supporting our partners with the launch of this campaign that includes a documentary video showcasing the voices of Ebonix, The Sims 4 teammates Senior Creative Director Anna Huerta and Assistant Producer Kaelah Smallwood, and Taireek Simms from the Dark & Lovely team who are helping to drive this progress. Take a look:

Next, building on previous collaborations with Ebonix on in-game features like skin tones and nail options, we’re working with the hair professionals at Dark & Lovely to introduce 24 color combinations across two existing hairstyles in April 2024, inspired by the company’s newest color Immersive Bolds collection.

Then, in a free content drop, we'll introduce a new locs hairstyle that’s also developed in collaboration with Dark & Lovely and available to players in July 2024.

“Ebonix has paved an instrumental path towards greater representation in The Sims through her many years of dedication and work, from her first piece of custom content being a dashiki, to her many diverse and detailed hairstyles offered to the community,” shares Anna Huerta, Senior Creator Director, The Sims 4. “We’re thrilled to be teaming up again to have her as a key part of this campaign as we showcase and advocate for the importance of Black hairstyles in our virtual worlds as much as our real one.”

We’re also extremely excited about the inclusion of one of our own The Sims 4 developers in the campaign. Kaelah first got her start in the video game industry by creating mods for The Sims as a player. “Being very involved in the Sims community,” she says, “I started to notice that there were things fans were asking for that would really make whole groups of people feel better represented—so I decided to figure out how to do it!”

That wasn’t a simple process, of course. Not only did Kaelah have to teach herself how to create mods, but she also had to overcome the practical effects of the aforementioned lack of representation in the industry. “Growing up I always thought that working on video games would be amazing,” she says, “but I never really thought it was possible for me, since I didn’t see many people who looked like me making them. Seeing the diverse group of mod creators for The Sims made it all finally seem possible.”

One notable member of that group, in fact, was Ebonix herself. “Dani’s mods were some of the first ones I downloaded!” Kaelah says. “At the time there weren't many hairstyles in the game that really connected with me, but her mods let young Sims have the same little twists and braids that I had growing up—which is such a huge deal for representation.”

Now she’s able to continue the work of representation within the Sims team itself. “I started making mods,” she says, “all because I wanted to add more diversity and inclusion to the game. So helping make sure that The Sims is actively working to bring diversity and inclusivity to all players is a really big deal to me.”

Of course, this work is ongoing. There will never be a point where we’ll say, “Diversity accomplished!” We will continue to improve however we can. “At every step of the process, we’re thinking about ways to make the game more inclusive and diverse,” Kaelah says. “Because everyone should be able to see themselves in their Sims.”

[sweeter-innocence-fics]

My Sweetest Downfall - Chapter Two

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Reader

Work Summary:

Eddie’s back from the Upside Down, but things aren’t exactly how he left them. Hawkins is in pieces, his friends are scattered and the love of his life is… pregnant?

Eddie Munson x Harrington!Reader

Chapters: Prologue 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Epilogue

Rating: Mature

Word Count: 3394

Read on AO3.

Masterlists.

Taglist: @mrs-kai-anderson @ang3l1te @missryerye @eddiesgirlforever @harrys-tittie

Taglist info

Previous Chapter

Notes:

I don't think I mentioned this before but I'm never going to specify whether reader is full/half/adopted siblings with Steve, so she can be of any race/ethnicity. I'll try my best to be inclusive/vague in my descriptions.

Starting this week, I'm going to be updating this fic weekly (every Monday).

Warnings for shitty parents, pregnancy, vomiting (a lot), grief, depression, reader being kinda mean to steve even tho he's a good boy, reader not taking care of her hair (or herself generally), bad relationship with food, nested flashbacks

---

~ FOUR MONTHS EARLIER ~

A sharp tapping on your bedroom door roused you from sleep. You sat up suddenly, dazed and confused. Your bed was cold. You grimaced.

In the time since you’d learnt about Hawkins’ dark underside, you had gotten used to the nightmares.  You could handle them. What you weren’t prepared for were the other kind of dreams.

When you slept, Eddie was alive. He would lounge beside you in your bed, drawing long forgotten laughter from deep inside you. He would hold you, kiss you, tell you that he adored you. Touch you in ways that you never wanted anyone else to touch you.

Awake, you felt hollow.

When Steve called your name through the door, you tried to say, “come in,” as naturally as possible, but your throat was tight.

He opened the door, a dishtowel slung over his shoulder. “Hey. How are you feeling this morning?”

Now that was a question. How were you feeling this morning?

You took a quick inventory: your throat hurt; your eyes were crusty and sore from crying; you hadn’t showered in days so you felt sweaty and gross.

“I’m okay,” you said, and Steve frowned.

“I thought I could make pancakes?” he suggested. Admittedly, pancakes did sound good. “Why don’t you have a shower and I’ll make breakfast, and then we can go for a walk?”

You tried not to groan. Steve had been doing this since your parents left. You knew he was only doing it because he cared, but right now you bristled against even the gentlest suggestion that you should eat, or bathe, or exercise. You knew that Steve wasn’t judging you – you knew that – but hearing the words out loud still hurt.

But he was just trying to help you. You bit back your harsh response and nodded instead.

“I’ll be down in ten minutes.”

A smile broke across his face. “Great!” he said, as if the thought of you doing the bare minimum was actually impressive.

You hated all of this. Steve was treating you like you were made of glass. The two of you had always good-naturedly bickered at each other, poking and prodding and making sarcastic jabs, and now the only mode he seemed capable of was gentle, earnest compassion. It sucked.

Still, you kept your thoughts to yourself as you went into your bathroom and turned on the shower. It was a quick wash, dragging soap over your body and continuing to ignore the growing problem of your hair. When you were done, you brushed your teeth quickly and then dressed in clean(ish) sweatpants and a t-shirt.

You put your hair up and out of the way, and then covered it with your hood, trying not to think about it.

Steve was just plating up the pancakes when you made it down into the kitchen. He gave you a weak smile, which you returned even weaker.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“Fine.”

“Right.” Steve took that as his cue to not ask any more stupid questions.

Staring down at your plate of pancakes, you felt suddenly ravenous. You hadn’t been eating well. As you tucked in, you could feel Steve’s eyes on you.

You cleared your throat. “You’ve got work later, right?”

“Yeah, but not until this afternoon. Plenty of time to hang out.”

He didn’t ask you if you would be okay alone in the house. Not since you’d snapped at him for treating you like a broken doll. Steve didn’t deserve that. He was trying, and you weren’t. So you decided to offer him an olive branch.

“It’ll be nice to get out of the house,” you said, as breezily as you could. Steve’s eyes widened, but a broad smile soon followed. You looked back down at your pancakes.

*

Hawkins being Hawkins, nature walks weren’t advisable, but when Steve suggested driving into town to walk around the mall, you shot him down. You really didn’t want to be anywhere where you might run into people.

So the two of you set off on foot, hiking along the edge of the woods, never straying more than 20 feet from the road. You both knew what dangers lurked in the darkness.

As much as you hated to admit it, Steve had been right about walking making you feel better. The fresh air cut into your lungs, an ache blooming in your chest. It was better than feeling numb.

Steve cleared his throat. “I was thinking that we could do a movie night some time soon. We could invite Robin.”

“Sure,” you said, non-committally.

“Or something with the kids. It’d be nice to all get together in one place again.”

All. You grimaced at the use of the word. There were some people who were never coming back, no matter how much you wished it.

Barb. Benny. Bob Newby. Chrissy Cunningham. Even Billy, for all his faults. Not that you would ever have invited him to your house.

And of course, there was Eddie. You would never get to have a movie night with him again. He’d never crawl through your bedroom window and fall asleep by your side. You would never get to kiss him again.

You stopped in your tracks, throwing your arms out to try and keep your balance.

“What is- Oh my god.” Steve jumped back as you vomited all over the patch of earth in front of you. You swayed on your feet, so he scooted around the splash zone to get to your side and put an arm around you. “Are you alright?”

You shook your head, and then bent forward to hurl again. Steve clutched at your jacket, trying not to let you fall.

You found yourself reminded of something that happened when you were a child. Your parents had been more present then than they were now, although that was a low bar. Your general needs were taken care of by nannies more often than not, but on this occasion, your parents were taking you and Steve on vacation.

It was a long drive down to the lake house, and at six years old, your feet didn’t touch the floor when you were sitting in the back of the car.

“Mommy?” you called out to her, but she was leaning on her neck pillow, sunglasses hiding the fact that she was asleep. “Mommy!”

“Keep it down,” your dad snapped, “I don’t wanna hear your whining.” You shrank back into yourself, crossing your arms over your chest.

“What’s wrong?” Steve whispered to you. He had been staring out of the window until you’d spoken, but now his focus was on you.

“Feel sick.”

He pulled a bottle of water from his door, cracked the lid open and then handed it to you. You took a big gulp, but the water was unpleasantly warm, so you pushed it back towards him.

He must’ve seen the expression on your face, because he said, “Dad? Can we pull over? I think she’s gonna be sick.”

“We’re not gonna make it there before sunset if we keep having to stop for you damn kids. Now shut the hell up.”

“It’s gonna be okay,” Steve whispered to you. He took your hand in his pressed his fingers against your wrist. “My teacher showed me a place where you can press to make you feel less sick.” As his clumsy, eight-year-old fingers fumbled to find the pressure point, you gripped the seat suddenly.

“Dad-” you tried to say, but before you could say anything else, you threw up all over yourself.

“Dad, she’s been sick.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” he muttered, readjusting his rear-view mirror to get a look at you, and then let out a deep sigh. “We’ll stop at the next rest-stop.”

Hot tears pricked at your eyes. Embarrassed, you sniffed, trying to keep them in, but to no avail.

“Hey,” Steve murmured. “It’s okay. It’s gonna be okay. We’ll get you all cleaned up and you’ll feel so much better.” You nodded weakly.

The next rest-stop, as it turned out, was very sparse, with only a restroom and a few benches. Your dad got out of the car and opened your door before you’d even had the chance to undo your seatbelt.

“You little shit,” he hissed. “You got it all over the upholstery. Do you know how much this cost?”

Bewildered, you stared back at him. “I don’t know, daddy.”

“Get out of the car.”

“What’s going on?” said your mom sleepily. She had evidently taken her sleeping pills for the drive.

“Get up,” he said to her. “You need to clean this up. Your daughter vomited all over it.”

“Why do I need to clean it up? She’s your daughter too and it’s your car.”

“I’m gonna take her to go get cleaned up,” Steve announced loudly. He helped you out of the car, snagged your backpack from the trunk and then took your hand. Your parents were still sniping at each other behind you as you walked away.

“Mom and dad are fighting because of me,” you said as he ushered you into the bathroom. There was only one stall, so you hoped no one came along and needed to use it.

“It’s not your fault.”

“Are they going to get a divorce?”

“No, sweetpea.” That comforted you a little.

With Steve’s help, you removed your soiled cardigan and t-shirt. He dropped them both into the sink to rinse them, and then wet some tissues for you so that you could wipe yourself down.

Ten minutes later, you were dressed in a clean t-shirt and sweater, and your dirty clothes were rinsed and shoved into a plastic bag. Steve got you a cold water from the vending machine, and the two of you sat in the sun on one of the benches while your mom cleaned up your seat in the car.

The memory made your heart hurt. The more things changed, the more they stayed the same.

Now, Steve was ushering you back to the house, one hand on your shoulder to keep you steady. At least this time you hadn’t got any on your clothes. This time, though, throwing up didn’t make you feel any less sick. If anything, you felt worse.

As soon as you were through the front door, you sprinted to the downstairs bathroom and bent over the toilet, hurling up the contents of your stomach. Your knees trembled, and you sank down into a kneeling position. You could hear the creaking of floorboards outside the door, as if Steve wasn’t sure if he should come in or not.

After a moment, his footsteps retreated. Fine. Good. You had wanted to deal with this alone anyway.

But he didn’t leave you to deal with this alone. Thirty seconds later, the bathroom door swung open and he placed a bottle of water on the floor beside you.

“Hey…” He rubbed your back soothingly. Another surge of vomit had you blinking tears out of your eyes.

Without warning, Steve pulled back your hood, probably to get your hair out of the way. You flinched.

He said your name softly, and his pitying tone convinced you that he had noticed the state your hair was in. You screwed your eyes shut and threw up again.

It took a few minutes, but eventually the vomiting subsided. It had left you sweaty and cold, with a horrible taste on your mouth. You opened the bottle of water and drank some down, trying to get rid of the burning acidity in your chest.

As you got shakily to your feet, you found that Steve was still watching you. He had a sympathetic look on his face that made you want to punch him. How dare he feel sorry for you, after everything you’d been through.

You balled up your fists, your face hot with shame.

“Hey…” he said, wincing. “Please let me help you. I want to help you.”

Reluctantly, you let him.

If there was one thing Steve knew, it was hair. At his behest, you took your second shower of the day, this time taking your time to properly shampoo and condition your hair. When you exited the bathroom, you found that Steve had stripped your bed of its sheets, which were starting to get a little musty, and put on a load of laundry.

You put on a clean, dry pair of pyjamas, and found Steve downstairs, cleaning up the bathroom that you’d spent ten minutes puking in, wearing marigold gloves.

“Get comfy on the couch,” he said, “I’ll be with you in a minute.” And sure enough, he returned to you holding a whole box of hair products. “Just trust me on this, okay?”

So you did.

It took many hours, several bottles of conditioner and all sorts of other products that you’d never even heard of, but eventually, Steve managed to tackle your hair into a manageable state. You had been crying on and off – it sometimes felt like Steve was yanking your hair out of your scalp – but now you felt all cried out.

Part of you appreciated the pain. You had hardly cried since Eddie’s death. If the pain managed to break through the numbness to make you shed a few tears, that could only be a good thing.

More than once, you suggested cutting it all off. Your brother adamantly refused.

When he was done, Steve looked exceedingly proud of himself. He held up a mirror like a hairdresser, showing off his handiwork. You just put your arms around him and hugged him tight.

~ PRESENT DAY ~

Eddie couldn’t help but steal glances at you. You were sitting in an armchair, a big, cosy dressing gown hiding your baby bump, clutching a mug of hot chocolate in your hands.

Making the hot chocolate had been a struggle, since Steve wouldn’t leave Eddie alone with you. It was like the riddle where you have to get a fox, a chicken and a bag of grain across a river and you can’t leave the fox with the chicken or the chicken with the grain.

Eddie supposed that made him the fox. He balked at the idea that he could ever hurt you. Steve had never trusted him before, but they had found an uneasy truce. Now, that was all out of the window.

Steve had made Eddie come into the kitchen with him while he made the hot chocolate, leaving you alone in the living room. In a brief concession to civility, he had offered Eddie some too, but he’d declined. He thought he might puke if he ate or drank anything right now.  

“Hop’s here,” Steve said suddenly, and sure enough, the crunch of tyres on the gravel of the driveway reached Eddie’s ears.

Eddie took the brief moment while Steve was answering the door to steal another glance at you, and found you looking back at him. He offered you a smile, but you quickly looked away.

It turned out to be not just the chief, but the entire Hopper-Byers clan. Eddie had never met Will, nor Eleven, but he’d heard plenty about them. The two young teens were wearing hoodies and shoes over their pyjamas.

He remembered Jonathan from school. Jonathan eyed him with suspicion, but he supposed he couldn’t blame him for that. Joyce barely glanced at Eddie, beelining over to you to give you a hug, which you received gratefully. Eddie knew that you’d always loved Joyce. She’d been good to you when your own mother would barely even look at you.

“Munson,” said the chief. Or not the chief. Eddie didn’t really know what Hopper’s rank was now.  Still, as a drug-dealer and general troublemaker, he had been all too familiar with the chief.

“Hop,” said Eddie, getting to his feet.

“Last I heard, you were dead.”

“I could say the same about you.”

To Eddie’s surprise, Hopper actually smiled at that. Perhaps Joyce’s influence had mellowed him out. Or so Eddie assumed, as they evidently seemed to be living together now.

“Are you a zombie?” he asked.

“Uhh, no?”

“Vampire?”

“Well, I have a certain thirst for blood, but that’s not new.” Eddie grinned, but Hopper didn’t.

“This isn’t a time for jokes, kid. Are you flayed?”

“Am I what?”

“Sit down. My daughter is going to tell us if you have any connection to Vecna.”

“W-What?”

Hop put one hand on his shoulder and shoved him back onto the couch. Eleven, whose short curly hair was tousled with sleep, perched on the edge of the coffee table. She closed her eyes.

“What’s she doing?” asked Eddie nervously. He’d heard a little about what she could do, and was mildly concerned that she might be about to snap his neck.

“She’s checking to see if there’s any trace of the Upside Down on you. If you’re a zombie, or one of Vecna’s puppets. If you’re dangerous. While she’s doing that, I’m gonna ask you some questions.”

“Maybe we should-” Steve started, putting a hand on your shoulder, but you cut him off.

“I’m not going anywhere,” you snapped.

He swallowed nervously, but acquiesced. Eddie could feel all eyes on him. He felt awfully exposed.

“What happened to you in the Upside Down?” asked Hopper.

“I don’t… I don’t really remember?” Eddie tried to think, but a flash of pain lanced through his brain, and he flinched. Eleven flinched too.

“What happened?” Hopper asked her, one hand on her shoulder. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. Keep asking questions,” she said, her eyes still closed.

“Well?” Hopper turned to Eddie again.

“We were… we were fighting the demobats. I got overwhelmed. There were too many of them.” He winced, blinking slowly. “They were biting at me. It hurt. A lot.”

“And then?”

“I don’t remember anything else.”

“He’s telling the truth,” said Eleven, opening her eyes. “He’s not flayed. Not a zombie. Human. Alive. Something is wrong with him. But he is human.”

“‘Something’ is wrong with him?” asked the chief.

“Well, what’s new?” Eddie forced out a smile.

The room was quiet enough to hear a pin drop. That was, until you huffed out a laugh. Eddie turned his head towards you, and found you wiping tears from your eyes.

After that, Eddie couldn’t focus on anything else. Hopper and Joyce were talking to you and Steve about what to do now. The gist of it seemed to be to keep a close eye on Eddie. Eddie wasn’t listening. He was watching the way tears kept rolling down your cheeks sporadically. Steve was tense beside you, arms folded across his chest.

“We could take Eddie home with us?” Joyce suggested. “That way we could keep an eye on him to ensure he’s safe.”

“No way,” you said. “Absolutely not. He and I have some catching up to do.”

Joyce glanced down at your baby bump, grimaced, but then nodded. “Of course.”

“If anything happens – and I mean anything – you call us, okay?” said Hopper. “But it’s four in the morning, so I’m gonna take my family home. Is that alright?”

“Fine by me,” you said, very abruptly. Then your expression softened. “Thank you for coming over. We really appreciate it.”

“Alright.” Hopper clapped Steve on the back. “You did the right thing, kid.”

You stood up to see them out. It was evidently a struggle to pull yourself to your feet, and Eddie was about to offer you a hand when Steve stepped in and helped you out.

You stepped forward and gave Joyce a hug. Then you gave one each to Eleven and Will. And then the family were retreating out the door, piling into Hop’s car and driving away.

You and Eddie and Steve were left alone. Steve was clearly fighting off a yawn.

“Steve? Can I talk to Eddie alone for a minute?” you asked.

His expression tightened. “What for?”

“Because I want to talk to him,” you snapped. “Why else?”

“Okay…” He looked from Eddie to you and back. “I’ll go and make up the guest room. Yell if you need me.”

Eddie waited until Steve’s footsteps had disappeared up the stairs. He started to speak, unsure of what he really wanted to say, but was cut off by you throwing your arms around his neck and hugging him tight.

---

Notes:

When I was at university, I went through a period of being so depressed that I neglected to brush my hair for months. The more tangly it got, the worse I felt, and the less I wanted to deal with it. Eventually I went to visit my long distance bf at the time, and he asked me why I wouldn't take my hair down. With his help, I tackled it. Using a shit-ton of conditioner, he helped me brush out some of the tangles, but the stress got too much and we ended up having an argument and me having the worst panic attack I've ever had. He stayed with me until I was calm, and then he went home. I finished my hair myself, using two bottles of conditioner. The next day, it was the softest it had ever been. I never let it get that bad again.

Recently I was in hospital with a broken ankle. My family came to see me after surgery. I was so hungry, I hadn't been allowed to eat all day and I was constantly on the verge of tears. My hair was a mess. It was super tangly, so my mum brushed it for me and then plaited it so it would stay neat and not tangle. I cried the whole time because I've been pretty starved for affection.

Honestly I'm not even sure why I'm telling you all this, but it feels kinda important that you know where I'm coming from here.

Ciao.

Next Chapter

[somebodys-fairy]

@okruee's beautiful "Jort Hair" in:

PuppyCrow by Simandy | Cakemix by Plushymoth | Poodles by Feralpoodles | Modmax by Qwertysims

While not my first time recolouring CC for TS4 it will be my first time sharing my recolours publicly so i'm hoping and praying i did everything right!

DOWNLOAD(S) + MORE INFO BELOW "KEEP READING"

You will need the original mesh "okruee-jort-hair.package" [HERE]

Recolours have been updated with the inclusions of more palettes check HERE for more info about that!

DOWNLOAD(S) FOLDER to all hair recolours!

Note that the recolours will appear like this in your game (since having them all be swatch add-ons would be a bit... much...)

Highly recommend downloading the "More Columns in CAS" mod by Weerbesu for easier viewing of swatches!

[pastel-tyranny]

Wanna be a Fashionista?: My opinions on Fashion Dreamer

Long post of my thoughts, follow my Fashion Dreamer showcase: Dyxyg5yr36

I’ll say it right here right now, this game has a chokehold on me as soon as I opened up the main menu. The gameplay loop is very addicting. But before I dive into my many praises I have to talk about some of my gripes with this game.

First of all the lack of clarity; it’s good that they have the button prompts on the screen because oh lord it’s very confusing when you first start out. It’s no wonder the first quarter of the game is a tutorial! I mean yes there are useful tips are there in the tip menu, but some things need to be written out directly. Especially when it comes down to Online Events such as the current (as of right now) Fantasy Butterfly Fairy event. I had to get help from a few other players and online video guides just to make heads or tails for some of the mission prompts. I have a few family and friends who either have the game or are in the process of wanting to get it, I think a consecutive written guide needs to be created so I don’t have to explain for the billionth time to ‘press plus then X’ and so on. (Pro tip: Once you reach platinum rank, the credits roll and take a very long time. Afterward you unlock the final cocoon.)

The next con is a bit of a personal one, the lack of fashion item variety and makeup limitations. The irony of this one I know, but items such as gloves, necklaces, leg warmers, bracelets, suspenders, and inners are relegated to specific shirts, one pieces and shoes. As of writing this there are no; jumpsuits with long pants, cat ears, traditional tiaras, and long mermaid / ball gowns. And ironically a lack of male fashion too. While yes, we get to play as a guy there is the fact some of the girls outfits don’t carry over to the guys. There’s a tee shirt from the Type A body that I really like and think would look perfect for the Type B body and vice versa with pairs of shoes or one pieces. Makeup isn’t as detailed to work with, they’re mostly relegated to prompts instead of picking blush, eye shadow, and eyeliner separately. The length of eyelashes are also regelated solely to the eye shape you picked and are only customized by color.

My final gripe is a smaller one in comparison is lag hiccups. When walking around the different cocoons with a gazillion downloaded items can cause gameplay optimization to stutter a snails pace both online and during Solo Mode. Even if it’s as short as 3 seconds or a “Loading Please Wait” prompt while running around can occur. It’s just a small issue so hopefully down the line, the devs will fix that with an update. I understand there are limitations to the game as a whole but that still doesn’t deter me from playing. Now for the major positives.

The fact you can walk around and play as a male avatar! I am beyond happy, it’s everything I’ve hoped for. Not only can you put lipstick prompts and different color eye shadow, but you can use some of the more feminine looking hair styles on the more masculine looking models is truly amazing! Same goes with facial hair on feminine models the option you can do that alone is spectacular! Both models can share hats, earrings, and glasses too! The clothing designs themselves are whimsical, fun, cute, and cool! And knowing that they could drop new online events in the future with new outfits are always something to look forward to. Another thing I have to praise is the amount of inclusivity we have at the start of the game with afro hair textures, facial features, and darker skin tones. It just goes to show how far we’ve come and I hope that the devs can push that further in future updates and installments.

The ability to have as many clothes as you want without storage limitations is always major plus! Currency being relegated to just creating clothes makes sense to me. Yes it’s gacha based when it comes to getting rare patterns, however simply pressing the ‘like’ button on someone’s avatar can give you the clothes they’re wearing is very helpful. Especially during online mode when other people and clothes on the pop up boards have rare items. And people online can send you cute outfits, even while your switch is in sleep mode! This also applies to the show rooms, it’s great to see new clothes and furniture people get. I also like that this is a game solely deticated to walking around instead of jumping through menus like some other fashion games I know. I am also in love with the fact you can take pictures anywhere, the scenery in some of these maps are a sight to behold! Taking pictures in the photo eggs are fun, especially since you have a nice variety of stickers, filters, and a line of focus to fiddle with along with poses and held items. And finally I think the best part about this game for me is the many muses to see and meet. Whether they are a player or NPC, there’s no shortage of possibilities when it comes to the many choices of fashion. It gives me so much inspiration, and since you can make multiple characters (4 total) you can relegate specific styles to each muse! (Or at least that’s what I did, lol)

Now to address the big elephant in the room, does this hold up as the spiritual successor to the Style Savvy / Style Boutique / Girls Mode games? In some ways, absolutely. If you want to collect / make clothes, design your own custom avatar, and see things other people make then you gotta get the game! However the core of Style Savvy is its lovable cast of NPCs and story set in the world of fashion. And while none of the NPCs you meet have a large narrative to tell, there are a few to me that stick out and I love dearly, even if they’re one dimensional. I let the headcanons fester and make the rules up as I go. The only major goal is to reach Master Rank and get your brand up to the highest level. I heard rumors through the grape vine that a fashion show mode could potentially be added? But that’s pure speculation as of writing this.

So my final overall thoughts; as I said in the beginning of this post, the game has a chokehold on me. It’s fun, entertaining, and full of passion for fashion from the dev team that brought us Style Savvy. It scratches an itch I’ve had since the last Style Savvy game. And while it has its ups and downs, I personally think this is a pretty solid game for the average fashion sim enjoyer outside of the gameplay troubles. Thanks for reading all the way through and if you want to follow my showcase, the code is on the top of this post! :3

(Just for making it this far, I made a promise post that I would make a fashion dreamer version of Dominic from Style Savvy so I’m reposting the pics here again.)

[knightyoomyoui]

MoChaeng (Momo x Chaeyoung) - “Engraved Within Ourselves”

After nearly 4 months of not giving any update in this book, I'M BACK!

I'll be starting to update this as sooner as I can because I decided to give equal attention now on updating all of my books whilst trying to insert my hobby of writing stories on my free time between my schoolworks.

No more wasting time, let's get right into it with this newly made MoChaeng one-shot of mine nozesimp here's your request sis!

Momo has just completed serving a client of hers 45 minutes ago, which would only lead her to one remaining customer she needs to serve before she closes her tattoo shop.

To wait, she sat in front of her desk, eating some beef jerky while watching a dance performance of one of her favorite shows called "World Of Dance".

At the right timing, she was about to switch to another new video when she heard the bell on top of her steel door clang, signalling a movement coming from a person who must've opened it.

She looked to the side where she saw a short-heighted woman with blonde long hair wearing a white Calvin Klein sports bra, black fitted shorts, some pair of white sneakers and a black vest to top it all off.

Momo can't deny that this woman looks hella cool and... smoking hot. She has this chic aura that illuminated her just as when her eyes landed on her appearance.

The cool looking last customer of hers gently bowed at her in respect which Momo returned the same gesture as she stood up from her seat after turning off her phone.

"Hello, I would like to have a new tattoo."

"Sure ma'am, do you have a preferred design with you?"

Momo watched the woman tugged out some paper out of her pocket. She unfolded it and presented it to the artist.

Momo's mouth agaped when she saw the content of the paper she received.

It was an astounding drawing of a mermaid looking creature with some few strange additional features on it, and what got it very detailed was the inclusion of the colors on each parts.

"W-wow... did you draw this ma'am?", Momo said as her eyes still fixated at the drawing she's holding.

"Yes."

"I just wanna say that this is so impressive. I like how you sketched the design on your own."

"Thanks."

"So... do you have any specific body parts for me to place this on you?"

"My left shoulder please.", the blonde girl poked the spot she was referring.

"Alright. Well you can take a seat for a moment and fill these required information regarding our service today while I prepare all my equipments, is it fine to you miss?"

"No problem at all.", she shook her head.

"Okay. Thanks for being patient, I'll get things ready now.", Momo heads onto her tattoo room to organized everything she'll have to use while the customer sat on the vacant guest chairs placed in front of Momo's desk and started filling up the paperwork before scrolling down in social media as she waits.

Few minutes later, Momo has finally get everything settled. She only stepped once to call her customer as she can have her basically hear what she's about to say anyway because her place was just perfectly small.

"Miss, you can now come here."

The customer nodded in comply. She stood up and walked through the entrance of Momo's tattoo room where she roamed her eyes around to see some cabinets, a tattoo chair that kinda has a similarity to what is being used from getting a tooth removal by a dentist and a metal push-over table where all of the ink caps and the needle are laid perfectly.

"You can sit now on the chair, miss.", Momo instructed and the customer quickly followed.

"What's your name by the way, miss?"

"It's Son Chaeyoung, but you can just call me Chaeyoung."

"I'm Hirai Momo, you can call me just Momo too."

"Your name-"

"Yeah, I'm not Korean. Japanese, to be specific."

"That's interesting.", she ooh-ed and made her posture comfortable on the chair as Momo began wiping a rubbing alcohol on her skin. She took our some tiny bits of hair attached using a razor to ensure that the tattoo location would be very clean and smooth for her to draw.

Momo then sticked the stencil she made with Chaeyoung's picked design on it through her bare shoulder. She moistened it with water, swiping her fingertips across the surface of the stencil to press the stencil further on her skin before pulling it off, with its purple inks outlining the design now left on Chaeyoung's skin.

The outlining has started when Momo grabbed the needle with black ink contained inside, puncturing the skin of Chaeyoung who is just sitting relaxingly on the chair, since this isn't her first time taking a tattoo.

"You may be the first customer I ever encountered who gave me such a design illustrated with your own sketching.", Momo inserted a topic to talk about as to lessen the awkwardness filling around them.

"Oh? You serious?"

"Yeah. Most of them just shows it to me with their prepared images or they pick what they like through my book that consists of some different tattoo designs. But you... you're different to me.", Momo chuckled.

"Glad to be your most unique customer you ever had.", Chaeyoung smiled at the information.

"I just moved on to that apartment there at the corner of the street few days ago. I was exploring the new surrounding to get accustomed of then luckily, I found this tattoo shop of yours which I decided to take a visit and try."

"Oh there? So you only live near from here then."

"Yeah. I guess we're neighbors now?", she shrugged.

"Oh no no, my shop is just located here but my house is two streets away.", Momo denied.

"Ahhh okay.", Chaeyoung pursed her lips.  "You know, good thing I discovered this place. Looking nice from inside out."

"I'm thankful that you decided to give my business a try.", Momo grinned.

"All fine here. Perhaps this won't be the last of me visiting here. I'm liking the service of yours so far.", Chaeyoung smirked which costed a blush from Momo.

"Will do anything f-for my customers to be satisfied, that's why.", Momo sheepishly remarked.

Momo finished outlining the design before switching a machine to use for the next procedure which is coloring and shading.

"If that so then I'll be happy to be your regular customer.", Chaeyoung said in a jokingly manner despite being real with it.

Momo sweared that this girl doesn't fail to make her smile easily whenever she speaks which gives her a very nice feeling of communicating with her.

Now that it urged her to continue talking with her, she proceeded their flow of conversation with another topic. "So, Chaeyoung... it seems like you love drawing."

"Ofcourse. That's the skill I have which I mostly use as my hobby."

"We're just the same then. That's why I built this to use my artistic ability for a better purpose... through tattooing."

"Great idea you have there, Momo. Because of that, well for sure you are definitely earning some rightful amount of money these days."

"Yup. Enough to make my stomach full as always by buying food.", Momo giggled which Chaeyoung snorted at her revelation.

After half an hour later, Momo successfully placed a new tattoo for Chaeyoung after she completed the coloring of the design.

"Here you go. It's done."

Chaeyoung peeked at her shoulder and she was impressed at Momo flawlessly copied the sketch she wanted to imprint on her skin as a new tattoo to flex.

"Woah, this looks just like what I gave you!", Chaeyoung stated in awe as she admired her new fresh tattoo. She reaches for her phone and captured her shoulder to post it later on her social media account, also planning to mention Momo's business to recommend also to others in repay for good service.

"You did a great job, Momo. I loved it."

"I'm so happy to hear that you feel like it, Chaeyoung. Thank you so much."

Momo grabbed the ointment on the table and opened it, scooping some little amount as she smeared it all over the fresh tattoo to prevent infection.

The bandage was placed next as she wrapped it, treating it as if like just a wound that's needed a first aid treatment.

Momo taped it to end her duty for Chaeyoung who raised herself up from the chair, adjusting her coat before both of them walked out of the room.

Chaeyoung passed the signed papers to Momo including the payment for that particular type of design. Momo returned her the change.

"Thank you once again for coming, Chaeyoung. You're such a big help too. I actually only needed one last customer to wrap up everything here."

"Is that so? Well, good thing I did. A fair benefit for the both of us.", Chaeyoung beamed. "Thank you also for your service and it's nice to meet you too, Momo. You got me hooked on this now girl, I'll be visiting here from now on whenever I feel taking a new one."

"I'll be here always to give you what you want, Chaeyoung.", Momo smiled.

"Just call me Chae, consider this as we know each other now so might as well let's be comfortable with the name calling."

"Oh okay. Then Momoring would be fine for me too."

"Got it. Soooo.... wait what's your age?"

"26"

"Oh... i'm 23, so that makes you my unnie then.", Chaeyoung realized. "Back to what I was really to say uhm, can I get the name of your shop if by any instances, you made a profile in social media?"

"I did. It's also named Peach's Tattoo Place."

Chaeyoung typed it on the e-note in her phone. "There. I have it. I'll tag you on my post later, maybe I can attract some friends of mine to try coming here too."

"I appreciate the consideration, Chae. Thank you. Really, I am."

"No problem, Momo-unnie. You deserve it.", Chaeyoung flashed a thumbs up. Momo smiled at the younger's honorific mention.

"I have to go home now, bye Momoring!"

"Bye Chaeyoung. Take care!", both of them waved their hands at one another as Chaeyoung opened the door and exited the place, leaving Momo all alone again.

"Her personality amongst her looks just fits on her. Lucky to met a great person like her today.", Momo spoke to herself as the images of her first moments together with Chaeyoung appeared in her mind.

She smiled of it before heading on to clean all her equipments so that she can finally go home and rest.

THE NEXT DAY

Momo presented the inside of her bag to the guard before thanking and greeting him a good morning as she entered the dance studio.

Walking down in the lobby, a woman catches her presence around and excused herself to a staff she's talking just to catch on Momo.

Momo sensed that someone was walking alongside her, and when she looked who it is; she recognizes her immediately.

"Hey, Sakura."

"Hi, Momo-unnie. This is your first day being a solo instructor in your class, right?"

"Sadly, yes.", Momo's smile wore off in her face. It made her remember again that her previous co-dance instructor recently resigned in the studio with her decision all cleared up that she wants to spend her time now mostly with her husband that she's now engaged with.

"I'm gonna miss Sana teaching beside me but... it is what it is. What matters is that she told me we'll be keeping in touch still."

"Well that's good to know, unnie.", Sakura responded positive. "You got this unnie! C'mon don't forget that you're the best dancer we ever have here. Alone or not, you can ensure that those students will improve because of your masterful teaching."

"Hey hey, easy with the praises Sakura-chan.", Momo halts her friend's rapid-fire compliments which earned a bubbly laughter to her. "I may be the best if that's what you all can see me, but still it's way better than to have someone be there on your side to help you. I mean, I still feel quite nervous that I can't handle all 40 students by myself since this is my first time."

"I hope they can find someone for me though.", Momo added as she spoke it with pure hopefulness.

"It can be sooner or later, but as you wait I know you'll try your best to teach those students of yours very well. Fighting unnie!"

"Thanks, Sakura-chan. But before I do that, I gotta cheer up them first. They may still bringing the news with heavy sadness knowing that one of their favorite teacher is gone.", Momo elicited a tight-lipped smile. "Class won't go smoothly if those students has their mood aren't in good condition."

Momo paused at the door in front of her dance practice room as she turned around to see Sakura stopped walking and stood behind her. "I'll be going in. Thanks for lifting my spirit, Sakura-chan."

"Hehe, always for my big oneechan! Fighting!", she raised her fist up with jolly.

"Fighting!", Momo did the same gesture.

Sakura patted Momo's shoulder before walking back to the lobby to leave Momo who entered her class where her students are just talking with each other, some were focused on their cellphones or playing a random game together to keep theirselves entertained while waiting.

They all noticed Momo's arrival in the room, making them all stand up and greet their respected instructor with a bow.

"Hello and good morning Momo-senpai!"

"Hello and good morning too class. You may now sit down.", she told as she placed her bag on top of her large speaker.

3 HOURS LATER

Momo was busy guiding her students the dance choreography of the chorus part for NewJean's OMG when the lesson got interrupted with few knocks on the door.

She looked around and there, she saw her sister Hirai Hana, the founder of Hirai Dance Company standing there with her gym attire.

"Psst, Momoring. Can I give you a moment?", her sister asked her.

The class saw the higher up, immediately providing a polite greeting and a bow to her which made Hana smile sweetly.

"Thank you class, good morning to you all too."

"What's up, oneechan?"

"Seems like this is my first time seeing you teaching by yourself. Sana parted ways with the company, right?", Hana said. Momo nodded sadly which was contagious since the students felt down hearing about that.

"Sooo since you don't have a co-instructor together with you... then that only mean one thing, and that is to find a new replacement for you.", Hana pointed her hand at her little sister. The class began reacting with some fascinating oohs and others whispering to each other.

"But thankfully, we have one fully set for you, sis."

"Already?"

"Yeah, you know I can't stand seeing you do much of a hardwork to probably cause stress in you.", Hana said, making Momo feel touched at how caring her sister like she always is. "So I made a phone call last night with somebody to accept her application and just earlier this morning, she signed the contract and I let her begin today as our new member of the company.", Hana narrated.

"And right now, she's with me.", Hana glanced to her side. Momo along with her whole class wondered who might that be since that person is hiding from the wall beside the door, maybe to build anticipation.

"You can now show yourself to them."

Hana instructed to that someone and it followed, slowly revealing herself to everyone.

Momo's eyes widened in surprise when she initally recognized the lady who just stood beside her sister.

And when the latter had eye contact to Momo, she shared a same reaction as her.

"Momoring, this is Son Chaeyoung, the new replacement for Sana as your co-instructor for your class.", Hana introduced Chaeyoung to her. Little does her older sister know that she already met the woman beside her yesterday as her customer in the tattoo shop.

"H-hi, I-I'm Hirai Momo... pleased to meet you.", she stuttered, trying to disguise herself like she haven't know Chaeyoung yet.

Chaeyoung on the other hand, was stiffling her laughter to burst out at how Momo looked ridiculous on her pretend.

All she just did is to bow after at her too.

"I'll leave her to you now, sis. I still have class to teach.", Momo and Hana exchanged nods at one another before she urged Chaeyoung to enter the room.

Slowly walking towards Momo who playfully bounced her eyebrows, making her snigger; both of them faced the students.

"Class, you heard what my sister said, Miss Son here will join us offically as our new co-instructor. So please, take care of her and treat her with kindness and respect just like what you guys do to me okay?", Momo said to the class who are listening attentively.

"Yes, Miss Hirai!", the class chanted.

"Your turn, Chae.", Momo encouraged, patting her on the wrist.

"Nice to meet you everyone, don't worry and scared from me. I am very willing to interact and get to be close with everyone of you and I promise that as provider of Teacher Momo's assitance, I will do my best to help you all improve your dancing skills to become a talented dancer or better, to be just like us who can teach their own dance class in the future. Sounds good, class?"

"Yes, Miss Son!", the whole class agreed.

"Okay, all of you can rest for a while. Me and Miss Son will just talk okay?", Momo directed.

As the class now on the break, she and Chaeyoung faced to each other while holding a similar hilarious and flabbergasted expression to each other.

"What a coincidence, huh. I never expected that we will meet again Chae."

"Yeah same here. Just... how? Wait, you work here but... what about the tattoo shop of yours?", Chaeyoung confusedly asked.

"Ahh. That? Doing tattoos like what we talked yesterday, my hobby. Consider it as my side job and... this, being here as a dance instructor is actually my main job these days.", Momo elaborated.

"Ohh... now that makes sense.", Chaeyoung finally got enlightened. "And the CEO... she's your sister?"

"Mmmhmm. Hana's my older sister and the founder of the company. I decided to help her run the business so... I volunteered to be the CEO and she's gladly agreed."

"Ahh. Well that means it makes your full name to be Hirai Momo.", Momo nodded and smiled shyly at Chaeyoung's statement. "You know, I'm amazed at how talented you are. You were using both of it to earn money and be successful which is undeniably a great idea and very useful to be honest."

"Thanks. I guess I could say the same as you. I figured you were doing commissions also for sketches in your account.", Momo nearly lowered her volume in the end when she observed Chaeyoung's astounded emotion emerge.

"I-I just got to stalk your profile in curiosity, that's why... hehe."

"Ohh no problem, Momoring. I will do the same if I were you anyway.", Chaeyoung assured which Momo heaved a sigh in relief.

"Shall we head out to cafeteria to eat lunch together? I'll introduce you around here too after if you want."

"Sure, why not.", Chaeyoung giggled as she accepted Momo's offer.

They head out after and walked through the hallway as they continued talking on their way to the cafeteria.

1 AND A WEEK MONTH LATER

"Watch guys okay? In 3... 2.. 1.", Momo clicked the remote to play again the part of the song for the nth time.

She and Chaeyoung were currently teaching the dance choreo of 'Shape Of You' by Ed Sheeran to their students as their next challenge to sample a sexy / hot concept using the given song.

They were at the final chorus now so they had make the student pay attention to their moves because they already stated that the most important part they will anticipate is how impactful they're gonna end their choreo of the song.

All of the students are sitting on the floor quietly as they witness Momo and Chaeyoung return to their respective positions just as when the song started to play again.

C'mon be my baby cmon...

I'm in love with the shape of you After the beat drop, Momo and Chaeyoung stepped parallel to one another with their one foot advancing along to their arm which swayed sideward.

We push and pull like a magnet do Both of them stood aside with each other, Chaeyoung faced her back to Momo. They moved like what the line said, waving their bodies forward and backward with Momo clutching Chaeyoung's shoulder as if she's the one guiding Chaeyoung to join with her flow.

Whilst doing it, their other hand was laid on top of their thigh whose leg is pursed forward than the other. They did for like 3 streak of flows.

Although my heart is falling too In in love with your body

Chaeyoung switched where her front body is now directed at, now on her right side where she's now clearly visible by all of the students who are watching in awe.

Her right angle now in front of Momo, they both rotated their head clockwise while ensuring that some of their hair will scatter around their face to make it even look hotter with their hand on their nape as it followed the spin.

After that, Chaeyoung paused, leaning her back with the support of her arm standing at Momo's thigh which was pushed forward beside her before she advances her body as if she's falling, but Momo catched her by hooking her arm around her waist then pulled her back.

As Chaeyoung's whole front now presented to her arms as she's almost carrying her, she leaned her face very close to the younger's face with earned a loud shriek from the students as it seemed from them that they were about to kiss at that shot.

Last night you were in my room And my bedsheet smells like you Everything 's we're discovering something brand new I'm in love with your body

Momo assisted Chaeyoung to stand up before both faced the students again with Chaeyoung still in front of Momo.

Chaeyoung bended on her knees as Momo traced her back with a swipe touch before Chaeyoung swept away to switch on Momo's side to the left.

They did the same body wave thingie again in tandem before striking their body forward in sync with their fist clenched on their chest then spreaded apart as if it got knocked from the impact of their body.

Momo slowly kneel behind Chaeyoung as both her hands are on each side of her co-instructor's body figure like she's tracing its curves downwards to signify the line before it goes to the chorus of "ooh aahs" in the background.

Once again, the very entertained student sounded their astonishment at the move especially when Chaeyoung helped Momo get up but cupping her chin and nearly getting it close on her face before she gently pushed Momo to give her space as they began dancing at the adlib.

Everything's we're discovering something brand new I'm in love with the shape of you Momo spun Chaeyoung, tugging her arm before spinning her towards her and ended the song with them being very close to one another as Momo stared at Chaeyoung's face with her hand on the back of her head and the latter's own located on her lower back.

The students erupted as the choreography has finally finished but Momo stayed for more seconds to unconsciously admire how actually beautiful Chaeyoung's face is.

It like she got lost in transition on returning quickly back to her senses when her eyes wanted to take a look more at the younger's unique beauty.

Those cute small strawberry smelled lips, pinchable nose, plump cheeks, black orbs in her eyes as if it contains it's own universe for Momo to float within the deeper she got sucked on the  black hole of a stare she's having.

Her clear white shining skin, strands of golden blonde hair in her bangs blocking off some area in her forehead but doesn't disturb her features; probably even more contributing as it seems.

Everything about her is just... surreal. Momo never got stuck at the view like this. Chaeyoung's definitely a unique one.

She never knew that the one thing she wanted to feel someday was beginning to increase distributed by the arising beats of her heart which at the same time, joining the timing of the students who are about to tease her and Chaeyoung in three seconds.

"YIEEEEEEEEEEE", all students chanted, effectively breaking Momo's drowning in her thought as reality attracted her back inside.

She slowly blinked her eyes before it widened as she realized that she was still having Chaeyoung very close to her.

Because of her doing, Chaeyoung was actually fazed for a while too as she joined Momo taking her time to look closely more on their faces.

Just like Momo, Chaeyoung was amazed and attracted at Momo's own possessed beauty.

Basically, the two were just pouring compliments in their heads as it results only for their hearts to beat rapidly with an unknown strange feelings for each other.

Momo takes off her hand very fast away from Chaeyoung who fakely coughs at what just happened.

"S-sorry. I got spaced out.", Momo apologized.

"It's fine. Me too.", Chaeyoung said with a timid smile, glancing quick at Momo before looking away in shame.

They both looked at the students whom they realized that they were all teasing them both, doubling the embarassment they feel.

"TEACH, THAT WAS INTENSE!"

"YIEEE MISS SON AND MISS HIRAI WERE REALLY FEELING IT!"

"THAT STARE WAS TOO HOT, UNNIES!"

"LOOK, MOMO-NOONA'S FLARING RED!", one of the male students pointed his finger at Momo who's face looked exactly as what he's saying.

Chaeyoung along with the rest all looked at Momo and when they noticed that the youngster is correct, Chaeyoung grinned and chuckled awkwardly while the students had their jaw dropped and made a teasing smirk and sounds again at the helpless Japanese woman.

"I-it's not what you think, guys okay?!", Momo tried to reason out. "I'm just getting too brought on with your teasings that makes me shy now!"

Momo tried to fan her face with her hand before covering it. Chaeyoung patted Momo's shoulder which caused her to shook in shiver at the touch.

"S-sorry... agh these kids really made me so embarassed right now."

"They're just playing around, unnie. Let them be.", Chaeyoung eased.

Momo sighed for a few counts before fighting back to her students.

"That's it, playtime's over. Did you all memorized the steps we just did?", she asked which thankfully made the students become silent and return from being serious again.

"Yes, Miss Hirai."

"Good, again as reminder; we'll be waiting for your performances on the evaluation day okay? You guys still have one week available to practice it so do your best to earn the best duo to be graded next week. Are we clear?"

"Yes, Miss Hirai!"

"Okay. Prepare your things now, class dismissed. Good job everyone.", Momo clapped to urge the rest to join her too before they minded their own business.

Returning to her bag, Momo was asked by Chaeyoung who's also placing her things back inside. "A penny for thoughts inside your head earlier Momoring?"

Momo was startled, forming a blush again as she knew from what she can clearly remember that the only thing filling up her mind was just all about Chaeyoung.

"N-nothing relevant. I just craved instantly for jokbal that i'm thinking to have it as my dinner tonight, I guess.", Momo pretended not to be guilty on the truth.

"Oh... okay. Guess you were that hungry again that you were almost imagining me as a jokbal for you to eat.", Chaeyoung joked but she felt Momo's weirded look at her, she had a late realization of what her words also meant like.

"I-I mean no other thing, I'm just talking about... j-jokbal as y-your dinner like... yeah, what you s-said...", Chaeyoung stuttered in complete embarassment before quickly went for the speakers to be turned off just so she can break the awkward tension going on between her and Momo.

"Pft. Pabo.", Momo muttered before she fixed back her belonging.

Chaeyoung didn't fail to catch that which she gave herself a facepalm because of it before giving Momo a sour look secretly when she recalled what she heard from Momo.

"Heh. Liar.", she rolled her eyes and flipped her hair sassily.

ONE WEEK LATER

All of the students left the building and some went home already after the class, with Chaeyoung and Momo remained still on the dance practice room to rest since both were kind of lazy yet to leave.

While Chaeyoung was sketching on her paper pad, she could hear Momo's soft groaning and grunting sounding like she's in pain as she stretches and touches her back and her legs before she returned scrolling on the phone.

Chaeyoung's concern was set on just in case until she got the sign that there's something wrong with Momo, hearing again that same groans for the second time.

Stopping her sketch, she stood up from the couch and walked near at Momo who got alerted at her presence.

"Does your legs and back hurt?"

"Yeah... it got too stiff today. Goddamn irritates me with the numbing sensation it makes.", Momo said while twitching her face in pain.

"Allow me to give you a massage then"

"You sure?"

"Mmhmm I want to help. You made me worried about you.", Momo nearly exposed her blush about to form in her cheeks when she heard it.

"Okay. Permission granted, cub.", Momo called Chaeyoung with her other nickname she created for her.

Chaeyoung smiled as she went for her bag to grab out her small bottle of pain reliever ointment that she always bring with her only when she's going for class if it gets handy... like the situation right now but it's not her who needs it but someone who she would really love to help anytime.

Chaeyoung rushed back on Momo with the bottle now on her hand.

"Uhh unnie... mind if you take off your shirt so that I can apply it further into your back?", Chaeyoung cautiously persuaded. She knew that her request would be not that quite easy since she's  just telling Momo to expose her upper body that includes also her one of her private area which is her breasts.

She may be a girl if you'll look at her but Chaeyoung has gone to be a lesbian  all because of that particular woman who made her be like this from weeks ago.

"O-oh okay.", Momo shyly complied.

Momo tugged her t-shirt up as she unwears it, revealing her well-built upper body that has a incredible 6 pack abs she earned from working out as well as her... well Chaeyoung doesn't want to include it but it's too hard to ignore and resist.

Momo does have a perfectly sized pair of pillows which are being contained by her white sports bra, she confirmed it in her thoughts which got her heated for a moment.

Scratching out of it to avoid luring it into a much pervy way, Chaeyoung commanded Momo to lay down on the couch with front first to the cushion.

Chaeyoung poured some ointment and rubbed it in her hands to create a friction which would somehow provide an increased temperature to the liquid to give a much relaxing feeling when it got applied.

She began massaging the muscle near her waists then moved it through the middle where her spinal cord is connected, as her hands grinded and pressed further onto her skin gently.

Momo on the other hand, was eliciting some refreshed whimpers and sighs; some went a bit too much as if she sounded like she's moaning, making Chaeyoung tensed up and return that familiar heat cursing through her body to react.

Trying to maintain her composure  she instead focused more on massaging Momo's back. Once she was done, she went next for her pair of numbing legs which Chaeyoung was fighting again from not getting purely distracted by Momo's erotic-like noises.

"You can rest it now for a while, Momoring.", Chaeyoung said, declaring that her massage has finished.

"Thanks, Chae."

"Welcome."

Momo raised her body back up to wear her shirt easily, making Chaeyoung unaware at herself that she got a bit disappointed by it.

As Chaeyoung returned the bottle back in her bag, Momo speculated it differently which made her a bit afraid at the possibility.

"A-are you going home now, Chae?"

"Nah. I'll finish my sketch first and... I suppose, to stay with you more so you won't get bored.", Momo smiled at Chaeyoung's considerate act.

"Good, because I... I want to talk with you about something...", Momo started to become nervous. She prepared herself for this moment to come.

To confess her feelings to Chaeyoung.

Momo was already having secret deep admirations for Chaeyoung as it became too obvious for her too with the help of her friend Sakura and her sister Hana contributing with the evidences that aligns to her point to prove it as fact.

She was discreetly eyeing Chaeyoung whenever she has her back faced on another direction away from her, can't handle the urge to do it caused by her grown perspective to the younger as her crush.

She was already admiringly doing it by  watching her teach and dance along with complimenting her looks silently, and when it's not; she only covers it with either a joke or a reason just to save herself from not getting too showy.

Lastly, she always gets to build a desire to be with her throughout most of the time.

That's how Momo has became when she fell in love with her friend and co-instructor Son Chaeyoung.

"What is it?", Chaeyoung curiously asked. She sat on the floor, looking at her.

Momo heaved a breath before turning her eyes back at the tiny cub in front of her.

She looks so cute, she said in her mind; doing her habit again.

"Remember last week when the students teased us because of me ended up staring at you when I got spaced out, making it seem for them like we're lovers attracted at our immense contact?"

"Y-yeah, what about t-that?", Chaeyoung gulped after.

"I... I want to clarify something about it.", Momo stopped as she checked her courage again whether she can still do this.

It was still going fine, so with no other hesitation; she proceeded.

"Which is?"

"About my words of denial that the students were saying to me aren't correct."

Chaeyoung squinted her eyes, slightly not getting where is she going with this.

"C-chae... those were lies. W-what they're saying... I took it willingly because... it wasn't an accident.

I did it on purpose. I had to stare at your face while I... compile all my praises regarding how precious your face to be admired so much.

B-because... it was me being... head over heels for you, Chaeyoung. I had grown a fond of liking you more than the boundary of us being friends.

So in simple terms, I have a crush on you, Chaeyoung.", Momo confessed.

Chaeyoung was left speechless. She didn't know what to respond about the unexpected confession Momo just did of being her secret admirer for this whole week.

"I had to make up my reasons because I-I just don't want you to find out and the whole class yet, I guess? Because if I had to instead, m-maybe... you won't take it nicely and... and... you might set your gap from me of not seeing you only as a friend anymore since maybe y-you don't feel the same as me.", Momo frowned.

Chaeyoung's mouth parted as she felt pity at what Momo was thinking around that time.

"I don't know when this all started but being around with such a wonderful person whose not only her personality makes her special than the others but her captivating beauty that I got too attached in for my heart to start developing this strange feeling they call love were all enough to me to tell it to myself and to let you know why.

So... yeah. That's all. I'll be accepting whatever your answer will be. Whether you re-"

Momo didn't got to continue her words when suddenly Chaeyoung lunges onto her a wrapped her in a tight hug which made her completely taken aback.

"C-Chae?"

"I knew it."

"Ehh?"

"You were lying, Momoring. I called it already way before you were able to verify it.", Chaeyoung whispered which surprises Momo.

"From the way how you look at me especially those rough, foolish defense of yours just doesn't perturbing the same as what you were actually feeling for me when you did that last week.

And because of that, I blame it for you passing it on me too.

Now I just feel the same as you, Momoring.", Chaeyoung admitted that she reciprocates Momo's confession.

"T-that means...? Y-you..."

"Yeah. I like you too, unnie. You progressed further for me to began treating you as my crush also.", Chaeyoung giggled.

Unbeknownst to Momo, during all of those signs she did which were unaware of her at that time; Chaeyoung went on to secretly give her the same as what she's doing whenever Momo would set off her focus at her after.

They were literally just exchanging gestures but they didn't know about it, not until today.

Momo grew a wide grin on her face as it made her very happy to know that Chaeyoung fortunately's in love with her too, enabling to made her less scared of being rejected anymore.

"Thank you for welcoming my feelings in return, Chae. I would be very lucky to have you as my girlfriend.", Momo compressed the petite figure of this younger woman in her arms more for a tighter and warmer embrace.

"I never knew before how delightful it must've felt being called as your lover's girlfriend. Now... it was turned to be possible, and I can't ask for a better thing than to only have you be the one who has the rights to do so for me."

Chaeyoung seperated from the hug as she looked intently at Momo, sandwiching her dazzling yet adorable face with her baby hands. "Thank you for being my first romance, Momoring... and I hope you'll be the last too."

"And I hope in the future I'll not only get to call you as my girlfriend... but as my wife also.", Momo added.

Chaeyoung nodded as she liked-no- loved the idea of it.

Without hesitation, Chaeyoung pulled Momo's head closer to her to perform a sweet, hypnotizing, passionate kiss, sealing their confession and greeting the new chapter of their lives together as an official couple.

ONE YEAR AND FOUR MONTHS LATER

Momo parked her car to the front of her... or should I say... THEIR tattoo shop. Peach and Strawberry's Tattoo Paradise

Momo decided to make Chaeyoung as the owner also of her own beloved second business.

Opening the steel door with bunch of plastic bags full of groceries, she entered the place which greeted her with a loud symphony of hilarious laughs coming from the other side of the interior.

Momo chuckled and whispered a "what the hell?" at the sound echoing throughout the placeas she placed the bags on top of her desk.

She flipped the "YES, WE'RE OPEN' sign hanging on the door into "SORRY, WE'RE CLOSED" before approaching the source of where that laughter came from.

Swaying the curtain aside, her lips curved higher and shoulders fell when she saw Chaeyoung's friend-which became hers also- named Somi bursting out another sequence of laughter with her fiancee' trying her best to maintain her client from being relaxed.

To inform you, Chaeyoung and Momo are now engaged last February; in which Momo proposed to Chaeyoung exactly at their 9th date scheduled in Valentines Day.

They are set to be married next month, on Chaeyoung's birthday in specific. She just wants to make her strawberry princess to be happy, that's it.

"OH- OH MY GOD... I- AAAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA CHAE STOP! IT TICKLES!", Somi said as she hysterically reacted at Chaeyoung piercing the needle onto her skin.

"FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, JEON SOMI CALM YOUR ASS DOWN! AND WHAT DO YOU MEAN STOP? I'M ABOUT TO FINISH THIS SO HOLD IT!", Chaeyoung slapped her friend's stomach after.

She then saw her fiancee' Momo standing near the curtain with a mix of  amused and perplexed expression im her face at the sight.

"What the heck, Somi-ya? Are you a masochist or what?"

"This bitch has no right to be very scared at taking a tattoo first when all she did was to treat the needles as if a goddamn feather that tickles her hard.", Chaeyoung glared at her friend Somi who was recovering from her exhaustion of laughing her ass off.

"A new record for me then. My very first encounter of a client being felt tickled throughout the whole tattoo progress in her first time instead of getting intensely hurt.", Momo snapped her fingers at the achievement.

"Welcome back love.", Chaeyoung said before focusing back on finally ending Somi's suffering.

"Hiiii~", Momo replied, sitting confortably on the another spare chair.

As expected, Somi laughed hard again for the nth time before earning a not so strong slap on the face from Chaeyoung who is successfully done tattooing her wrist.

"I'm done you crazy ass.", she said to Somi who slowly breathe and regained her strength.

"T-thanks bestie.", Somi responded. "Hey, I didn't know that tattoo would turn out to be a pleasure for me in my first time okay?"

"Aish just admit you have a very low pain tolerance.", Somi just giggled at it like it belongs on her advantages.

"Hi Momo-unnie!"

"Hi Somi-ya! Thanks for stopping by."

"No biggie, glad to help you guys earn more money today.", she boastfully said before standing up after Chaeyoung finished pasting the bandage on her fresh new tattoo.

"Where did you went?"

"Grocery."

"Oh okay.", she said as she lend her payment to her friend in return for the service.

"Hey, congrats on the engagement my unnies.", she lifted Chaeyoung's hand where her engagement ring that Momo gave was inserted on her finger.

"Appreciated it, Somi-ya."

"Thanks, bestie.", Chaeyoung fist bumped Somi.

"I'll be supporting you both always, you two deserve to be together and I'm happy that you see yourselves as the right person for each other.", Somi added.

"You know what, take this as our gratitude for that fluttering message if yours, Somi-ya.", Momo opened her mini cabinet below her desk and took out something from it.

Somi's eyes enlightened when she saw Momo giving her a pretty sealed red and pink colored envelope.

She opened it and read its contents with amused emotion building up in her face.

"See you at our wedding, Somi-ya.", Chaeyoung gently shaked her bestfriend's body.

Somi looked at her with teary eyes and hugged her after. "Awwww thank you guys! I'll be attending, mark my words. I have to, okay?!", Somi said with a pumped up tone.

"Yeah, you better have to or else... friendship over."

"Not gonna let that happen, Penelope.", Somi called her bestfriend using her own custom nickname she created for Chaeyoung after they both once watched Wreck It Ralph together and saw some similarities of the character there with her bestfriend.

"I'll be heading home now, bye unnies!"

"Bye!" "Be safe, Somi-ya."

As Somi exited and closed the door. Chaeyoung walked through the desk where Momo lifted all the bags again to present the newly bought grocery items to her.

"Do you have it?", Chaeyoung interrogatively asked.

"Always.", Momo winked as she revealed a tray full of strawberries to her lover who is obssessed at it.

"Yayyy!", she kissed Momo's cheek before opening it and quickly took a piece to her mouth for a chew.

"Momoring..."

"Hmm?"

"Can you help me with something?"

"Do you really have to ask me that, dear? Ofcourse I will."

"Sorry.", Chaeyoung apologetically smiled. "So... I have this problem of not being able to choose what design I should put as a new tattoo on me. Can you help me with it, love?"

Momo became silent as she started running the ideas and construct it piece by piece until she had one to go.

"I already know."

"Tell me."

"No need. Just watch, I bet you'll like it.", Momo smiled before they entered the tattoo area together.

Chaeyoung sat on the tattoo chair as she waited for her lover to transfer her planned design on the stencil.

Now bringing it with her, Momo laid it on Chaeyoung preferred spot this time: her chest.

She began tracing the text with black ink on the needle. It only took not more than 10 minutes before she finally finished it right away.

"Take a look.", Momo insisted.

Chaeyoung went in front of the full body mirror and to her astonishment, she gasped until it transformed into a soft smile full of heartwarming and touching feeling.

In her chest labeled a text of Moml's name written both in English, Korean and Japanese all stacked together. Alongside was a cute small peach and the other one was what it looks like to be a wedding ring.

"You were wrong."

Momo got befuddled.

"Eh?"

"I don't just like it, I love it Momoring.", Chaeyoung turned around and beamed a bright smile on the Japanese.

In return and also joining with the idea, Momo took the turn next as Chaeyoung tattooed her name also in three translated into three different languages, with a small strawberry this time as her representative design on Momo's chest.

They both looked at their own tattoos admiringly after.

Momo grabbed Chaeyoung's hand and kissed the engagement ring she has on her finger before placing one also on the top.

"Now that our names are now engraved within ourselves, I promise that just like these tattoos... my love for you won't go away forever even if we die, and will stuck by you whenever you go, Chaeyoung.", Momo smiled sweetly at her lover.

"And rest assured that I will do the same for you in our whole run of relationship, Momoring. I love you."

"I love you too.", they proclaimed their blooming romantic feelings for each other.

Momo and Chaeyoung then kissed straight on the lips before cleaning up the whole space as they prepare to go home.

[pepperbox]

What are your thoughts on the Trigun reboot?

the big tl;dr is that i'm enjoying it a lot!! there are a couple things that i'm like, not suuuuper thrilled about but overall: it's a yes from me!

(for clarity, i was a huuuuuge fan of the '98 anime and watched it with my mom as a kid! i read trimax later in life and adored that, and now the og anime is like. fine?? but comparatively falls flat for me now as an adult in my 30s. i've rewatched the anime only once as an adult but i've reread trimax uhhhhh three times in the past year alone lolol)

i'm gonna bullet point this bc that's just how my brain works best:

i love the animation! there have been a few instances where it felt off, but overall it's been a feast for my eyeballs

I'M SORRY BUT I LOVE THE NEW VASH DESIGN transmasc icon, he's perfect. i am absolutely not biased, ignore my undercut--

also it updated his look for the 2000s?? the broomhead was a Look in the 90s but it's so dated now i'm SORRY LMAO

also who out here is making hair gel on this fucking desert planet, i s2g,

the inclusion of roberto at first i was kinda ??? about but i quickly adjusted to him, esp as he started throwing soon-to-be-dead-mentor flags all over the fucking place. he cracks me up but i'm legit just waiting at this point for him to die to further meryl's development and to pass the torch derringer on to her

i do hope millie makes an appearance for meryl (so they can be girlfriends, as is only right) but her absence really doesn't break trigun for me bc uhhhh y'all, her and meryl have relatively minor roles in trimax and straight up disappear for like, volumes at a time

also i really hated her random romance with wolfwood in the 98 anime even as a kid and i will never forgive it for that

but ymmv!!!

i do think the pacing is a bit fast and i wish they either had longer episodes or more episodes to let it breathe a little! not entirely plot-wise because i actually like the reveals so far we've gotten because it's keeping even long time fans guessing for what's coming, but just for the relationships between the characters

like i would like more casual interactions between the four protags, and more vash & wolfwood getting to know each other before we jumped right to them butting heads so aggressively over morality and killing

but i do love that it also heavily showcases the consequences of vash's actions (or inaction)

because as meryl pointed out during the nebraska fight, he isn't actually doing anyone a kindness, he's just running away from pain

i am also sad that they took wolfwood AND livio's tits by the looks of it

rip 😔

also i am. not thrilled about elendira? i was really excited to see my wife on screen but instead they did that to her :(

ANYWAYS

i am curious about where the story is going to go!! because lost july hasn't happened yet but we're walking towards it, but when?

is it going to be mid-season? is it going to be the end of s1 if we're getting more than one season? will there be a time skip?

will [redacted manga spoilers] arrive?

will we get to see chronica and domina??

there's still SO much to cover, but i know they're mashing some things together (like jeneora rock was a couple different settings smashed into one, and it seems like the gung-ho guns and the eye of michael are even more woven together??) so we'll see but

I HAVE QUESTIONS

BUT YEAH like!!!! i am enjoying it a lot overall!! i have a few gripes with it but i am so fucking happy to be watching trigun again, and as much as i would adore a 1-to-1 trimax adaption like they did with fma, i am really enjoying it being a retelling because i genuinely don't know what's going to happen!! it's fun!! i'm having fun!!

also there's a really emo thought i had about all trigun adaptions just being different lives for everyone and they're just caught in a loop

history doesn't repeat but sometimes it rhymes

but!!

i also love the fact that it's screaming that it's a passion project. that people who love the source material are all working on it, with nightow. they're bringing back VAs for both japanese and english versions, fans are animating and voicing it, it's amazing and shows how much love is going into this series, and i'm so glad to be able to experience it again

[jackalopesao3]

Really disappointed in the update…I may actually quit SN 🙃

The DST’s look so much lighter. You can see a bit of a difference in the preview and even on the scroller image.

Not pictured: hair dyes that are vastly different after the update - I had spent a lot of my dye resources making various shades of hair dye, many being natural shades of brown and red that now look nothing like what I had then dyed as. Even shades of blues and pinks that I dyed looked so different I had to go back in and change them. So many resources wasted. I am out of the limited event dyes so some hairs are a completely lost cause for now.

I am a veteran Nikki player. I’ve been playing SN daily since launch and used to play LN daily since 2018 (quit LN a few months ago due to just not having fun anymore).

I am a VIP member (22 to be exact) and have almost every event completed except for awakening that one Lilith Halloween event that never returned.

Below are my stats and what I’ve invested:

I wanted to share my opinion on the update as someone who has invested not only time but also money. I believed in this franchise. I appreciated the attention to detail with the story telling, character development, and the fact that even the clothing items had their own unique stories to tell. I could feel the love being poured into this series. I wanted to support it.

The writers put good messages into their works: everyone is beautiful (there were plot points in the story and events to include people with scars and people who are overweight), never give up/keep fighting for what you believe in, one person can make a difference, there is always hope no matter how grim it may seem, and everyone is important and has a part to play in the world.

The update did improve the quality of the fabrics for clothing. They look incredible now! Some of the makeup is more visible on all skin tones now.

Why did it have to come at the cost of lightening skin tones and messing up the color of the hair dyes? I’ve heard the devs are trying to fix this but couldn’t they have just delayed the update until this was resolved?

SN has a diverse fanbase and the skin tones are already limited as is. We don’t have many textured hairs either. Inclusivity is important in dressup games. Players want to dress up characters that look like them.

The small amount of skin tones we have isn’t enough to represent all the players we have. We are long over due for a slider for skin tones.

I could argue the same for hair. A lot of us want all the hairstyles available in dye that’s similar to our own. There’s no slider available for that either. You can only get so many dyes at a time, including purchasing them and some dyes are only available during events.

We cannot pick our eye color either. It takes a while to get contacts through guild and events. A slider for eye color would help with inclusivity too.

Hair and eye options are often stuck behind a pay wall or are extremely time consuming. I can see where this might dishearten players.

I know we are dressing up Nikki but the devs are already allowing some customizations, why not allow more? Height? Weight? Facial features?

We are supposedly a player character. Why can’t we make our own character along side Nikki?

There’s so much that could be done better. I find myself wanting for more and the writing isn’t enough to keep me invested any longer.

We need inclusivity!

[jcmarchi]

Street Fighter 6 Preview - Director Takayuki Nakayama Talks Akuma's Arrival - Game Informer

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/street-fighter-6-preview-director-takayuki-nakayama-talks-akumas-arrival-game-informer/

Street Fighter 6 Preview - Director Takayuki Nakayama Talks Akuma's Arrival - Game Informer

Street Fighter 6 is poised to wrap up its Year 1 character offerings with one of the franchise’s most iconic fighters. Akuma brings his Satsui no Hado mastery to the renowned title this week. Introduced in 1994’s Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Akuma represents the most classic post-launch character added to Street Fighter 6 during its first year of post-launch content, following Rashid (Street Fighter V), A.K.I. (Street Fighter 6), and Ed (Street Fighter IV/V).

In preparation for Akuma’s arrival, we interviewed Street Fighter 6 director Takayuki Nakayama about bringing the Great Demon to the game. You can see our full interview below, ahead of Akuma’s release on May 22.

The introduction of Akuma has traditionally been a tricky thing for the Street Fighter series, as he is often not super balanced. Can you talk about the challenges of balancing Akuma and how you worked to address those challenges within Street Fighter 6? Akuma is a powerful character with a lot of moves in his arsenal, with many different approaches to try against his opponent. At the same time, players will need to be skilled with him in order to achieve consistent results. Similar to past iterations, we have decided to balance him by giving him many powerful techniques, while setting his vitality on the lower end.

Many of the additions in Year 1 have been newer characters to the series. What does having a character like Akuma, who dates back to the Street Fighter II series, do to round out the SF6 roster? New characters, and characters that have appeared in recent titles, are more difficult for people to become familiar with. The inclusion of an iconic character like Akuma helps bring cohesiveness to the lineup. We want Street Fighter 6 to be accessible to everyone, from players who have been playing for a long time to those who have only played the recent titles and those who are new to the series.

Given Akuma’s extreme in-universe power, are there ever any struggles with fitting him into the story in believable ways? Like Ryu, he is a bit of an enigma, but we thought this would be a good opportunity for people to get to know his feelings and thoughts, especially through World Tour. I didn’t find it too difficult to incorporate him into the story.

Back in February, you told me a fun anecdote about Ed’s importance to the development of Street Fighter 6. Does Akuma hold any special places in the hearts of developers besides being a very popular and long-running character? Yes, we consider him to be a special character. He was the first hidden character to appear in the Street Fighter II series, and his techniques and settings were shrouded in mystery. We believe that his appearance will make the game more complete.

When designing an updated look for Akuma, how do you go about ensuring longtime fans will enjoy his visual aesthetic while still showcasing the visual evolution you hope to portray? In Street Fighter III, the previous title in the chronological order of the series, his characteristic red hair had some white in it. This was a great way to express that even a character like Akuma is aging and has reached a higher level of mastery. In addition, the illustration of Akuma selling fruit to children, which was depicted in the Street Fighter Alpha series, shined a light on the unexpected aspect of his life. As we pondered how Akuma grew older and more powerful, and followed his life’s path, it led us to a more Ashura or Buddhist statue-like design. Our intention was to design him to be a fighter with the intimidating presence of a beast while transcending human existence.

Speaking of evolution from game to game, what differences should players expect from how Akuma plays in Street Fighter 6? Most of the techniques used in past titles have been implemented. An aggressive fighting style suits him very well, so take advantage of your opponent’s openings and defeat them. The match should conclude quickly.

With Akuma serving as the final character from the Year 1 pass, how has the process gone for selecting the characters for Year 2? I know you likely can’t go into specifics, but did the team identify any holes in the current roster that needed to be addressed or filled with the next batch of playable characters? Of course, I can’t make any specific comments yet, but I think you will find there to be some unexpected characters. Sorry, but the method of selection is also a secret (no fortune-telling or divination involved). We hope you’re looking forward to it.

Street Fighter 6 arrived on June 2, 2023, meaning its one-year anniversary is right around the corner. We don’t know when we’ll learn about what Capcom has in store for the game’s second year, but with the anniversary and Summer Games Fest right around the corner, we might learn about the next batch of characters coming soon. In the meantime, Akuma joins the Street Fighter 6 roster as the final Year 1 character on May 22. 

For more on Street Fighter 6, read our review here.

[kqote]

RULES

NOTE. more rules may be added later on depending on what happens ; these are rules meant to protect me and my readers so please read and respect them ; if you do not agree with a rule, i am open to discussing making any changes but i am more likely to not change it as all rules were very carefully thought out by me ; if you feel like i should add a rule, im open to discussing that too

LAST UPDATED : 07/10/2023 | (dd/mm/yyyy)

REQUESTS : CLOSED X REQUEST HERE

CONTENT

i. all content posted on this blog contain nsfw, mature content that is not suitable for minors (under 18s) ⏤ please read at your own discretion ii. all nsfw and mature content will be under a 'read more' line iii. all nsfw, mature and potentially triggering content will be listed as content warnings at the top of every post to provide fair notice for all readers vi. i am only comfortable writing about content that are listed in my kinks list below vii. if you are curious as to whether or not i am willing to add any additional kinks to my current kinks list, please feel free to ask me and i will consider it viii. i mostly write 'x reader' fics and write the reader as a female unles requested otherwise (requests rule v.) ix. i do my best not to mention physical traits about the reader in my writing e.g skin colour, hair colour/length/texture, eye colour etc ⏤ i want to be as inclusive as possible x. i do my best not to use 'y/n' in my writing either just to keep up the immersion

xi. this is nsfw content written by a very very very inexperienced virgin person so please don't expect anything realistic okie? (ó﹏ò｡) xii. all characters i write for are immediately over 18 years old xiii. i am very much a disciplinarian of ornate plot lines and slow burns so my works ⏤ that aren't requested ⏤ may take a while to upload and most will be a bit lengthy; feel free to jump to the spicy bits if you aren't up for that stuff hehe~ xiv. for my longer, plot-heavy, really slow burn smuts, i post two versions, a shorter version that’s purely the smut and another where the heavy plot is included; just to save everyone the trouble of scrolling through

REQUESTS

i. if you request anything, please bear in mind that i am only willing to write about kinks in my kink list below, nothing else ii. if you still want to request something that isn't on my kink list but isn't on my non-negotiable list either, i may consider writing it but that is up to me iii. if my requests are closed and you send in a request, i will not be writing it ⏤ i will delete it right away and you will have to request it again once my requests are re-opened iv. your requests don't have to be 'requests' per say, they can just be you gushing about a particular idea/imagine/scenario you have and i can add to it or write it however i feel will go well v. referring to content rule viii. if you would like to request anything specific about the reader e.g male/gender neutral reader etc, please feel free to do so, just please refer to content rule xi. and keep your expectations realistic for me (╥﹏╥) vi. to ensure the best quality and my own personal pride in posts, i only write requests based on my level of motivation and inspiration, so please be patient and bear with me if you ever send in a request vii. if you send in a request, please remember that i will double check your profile to see if you are a minor or not ⏤i will not be writing your request if you are under the age of 18 viii. if you send in a request and you do not have your age or an indication of your age (ie. '90s baby' etc) displayed on your profile, i will message you to ask for your age and if you confirm that you aren't a minor then i will be able to write your request ⏤ this will make the process longer, however so please just have your age/an indication of your age on display before making a request

KINKS LIST (i will be able to write content on these)

impregnation/breeding etc

unsafe sex/no condom

roleplay/dressing up

exhibitionism

voyeurism

mutual masturbation

orgasm control/edging

degration

food play

corruption

alpha/beta/omega dynamics

age gaps (both adults)

possessive/obsession type dynamics

bdsm

crying/dacryphilia

pregnancy kink

DARKER KINK LIST (i can write about these but they can be considered more triggering)

CNC (consensual non consent)/dubious consent

rape play

kidnapping/yandere-esque

somnophilia (with consent/cnc)

NON-NEGOTIABLES (i will not be writing any content on these)

gore : stabbing, blood etc

violence

necrophilia

pedophilia

abuse (of any kind e.g child, drug, domestic etc)

animal cruelty/abuse

full yandere

scat

infidelity/cheating

rape

[tehuti88-art]

2/3/23: r/SketchDaily theme, "Free Draw Friday." This week's character from my anthro WWII storyline is simply named Alarice (no last name given). She's not currently an important character at all; she was intended to be, but fell on the back burner for now. (Truth is I'm trying to get some less important characters out of the way to catch up updating my art blog since I get carried away writing entries.) She may develop more of a role as time goes on, though. There'll be more about her later in my art Tumblr and Toyhou.se.

Regarding her design, she's not any specific breed, though as I was drawing her my brain suddenly went, "Borzoi," so I gave her a very vaguely borzoi look. She may not be a pure borzoi, unsure. I had trouble drawing rose ears so rather gave up.

TUMBLR EDIT: This I believe has been my highest-rated SketchDaily character portrait so far, with about seven upvotes. Which is just bizarre to me, I don't know why this particular portrait garnered such attention; contrast with Sophie Sommer, who got downvoted twice, though that may have been because I originally used the word "mistress" in her caption. 🙄 I'm pretty sure it's a fluke, albeit an odd one. Anyway.

I've never mentioned Alarice in any of these entries, I don't think. Already I'm confused as to her origins. My brain FEELS like she dates to the circa 2000 reboot, but she's not on the character list dating to back then--I also seem to recall she was specifically created to be a member of the Diamond Network, which dates to the current reboot. And that's where my brain does a double take--it feels like I've been mulling over the Diamond Network for YEARS when, in fact, neither it nor Josef Diamant existed prior to late 2021. Which is...just so weird. They feel a lot older! I've been brainstorming these new plot developments so much that they simply feel like they've existed for years.

So I have to assume Alarice, too, dates to circa 2021, since I seem to recall she was created earlier than the characters who ended up becoming the core of the Diamond Network (Josef Diamant, Lukas Mettbach, Gret Dannecker, and Arno Spiegel--toss in Andreas Cranz and Trudi Detzer to be a bit more inclusive). You can see from my entries that, for some reason, this never happened; Alarice dropped out of character development along with fellow character "Rehn." Both were intended to be characters Diamant found still dwelling in an abandoned psychiatric facility--mental patients. They were meant to join the Diamond Network and accompany the others around the city; I have a mental scene of Rehn pressing himself against a wall as a Nazi sleepwalks by, though I think Lukas has since replaced him. Alarice appears in an imaginary musical scenario running into Adelina Dobermann when she ends up lost in a ghettolike area--this may in fact be the ghetto I introduced in Isaak Schindel's entry, abandoned to poorer, non-Jewish city residents following its clearing out--unsure. I guess I just got so hung up on Diamant, Lukas, and Gret (I've rather neglected poor Arno 😔 ) that the "mental patient" part of the plot fell by the wayside. Senta Werner's plot, with her mentally unbalanced mother, may have also contributed to this; Frau Werner and Alarice have some personality traits in common. So I've spent no time, really, developing Alarice's character, and she hasn't stepped forward to offer anything. Yet she's still appeared in a mental scenario or two, so she's still there; I figured I should offer a drawing.

I clearly pictured her as being pale (white fur) with long, dark, lank hair; I changed the color from black to dark brown to keep her from looking too much like Inga Dobermann (Alarice's hair isn't as pretty as Inga's, just that I suck at drawing lank hair, I guess!). As I said, the image of a borzoi with its long sloping nose popped into my head as I was drawing, so I modified her a bit; she doesn't look quite like a borzoi to me because their noses are so goofily caricaturish, and I have to admit here, I want to be careful to avoid what might be racist stereotypes--Alarice isn't Jewish, but you can see why I'd want to be careful. Mirjam Zweifel is a better example--I pictured her as an Afghan hound, another breed known for its long nose, so I felt uncomfortable drawing her that way, due to a common antisemitic stereotype. There's also the fact that most of the "Aryan" characters are purebred German breeds (the canine characters, at least) whereas the non-Aryan characters, Jews and non-Jews alike, are more frequently indeterminate breeds. This is intentional, based on the Nazis' unscientific view of the "superior races"--of course those characters, to fit the Nazi trope (hey, I don't mind stereotyping my racist characters ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ), would be purebreds, whereas there's more room for "racial" (breed) diversity among the non-Aryans. What I DIDN'T intend with this choice is the implication that non-Aryans are "mutts/mongrels." 😕 That is genuinely not my implication. It's just kind of impossible to avoid when your characters are literal dogs. So, there, I've gotten that out of the way, in case anyone wondered if that was on purpose--it was, and it wasn't.

Anyway. Alarice didn't end up quite as borzoi-ish as I'd preferred, though I guess it doesn't matter so much as I didn't intend her to necessarily be a borzoi--she might be crossbred. I know almost nothing about her and Rehn's histories, though this could of course change at any time. This is how Alarice is described in the more recent character list:

Alarice: Last name unknown. "Mentally defective" woman Josef Diamant finds left behind in a bombed/abandoned psychiatric institution; erratic behavior, unknown mental disorder. He recruits her into the Diamond Network.

So, yeah...that's not much. Based on the scattered mental scenarios of her, uh...well, I really am not sure what her diagnosis would be. Abnormal psychology is one of my interests so usually I can clarify these things but Alarice is an odd case, she doesn't seem to fit a particular mental disorder but rather displays stereotyped traits that may be intentional; i. e., she's definitely mentally ill, but I suspect she may be exaggerating her own symptoms for dramatic effect. She strikes me as highly manipulative and cunning--her symptoms more closely match some sort of personality disorder rather than psychosis. She COULD be paranoid, but she's not outright delusional, and she doesn't hallucinate--she's in touch with reality and very self-aware. I think she uses her status as a "mental defective" (Nazi terminology, not mine) to disguise how closely she observes the world and people around her. She's not nearly as unbalanced as she presents herself, and is very, very clever. Her "crazy" actions are intentional.

Alarice and Rehn, a male patient, were intended to be discovered by Diamant in the remains of a psychiatric facility which wasn't systematically cleared out before the staff fled. He recruits them for the Network, even though he's unsure how helpful they can be, considering; they might even be a liability. For this reason, I may modify this part of the plot so they're merely rescuees rather than Network members. Rehn's role in the plot is even murkier than Alarice's, so I can't add more about him now.

I already mentioned a "musical" (shut up 😒 ) scene featuring Alarice meeting Addy Dobermann as she wanders a derelict area of the city. Alarice perhaps seeks shelter here with some other "dregs of society," and although not hostile, she does rather warn Addy that it isn't safe for her to be there. (The song I imagine here actually says no such thing, but Alarice's exaggerated actions are intended to spook Addy away. Earlier in the plot, Addy's family friend and informal father figure, Lt. Gunter Hesse, had lost his SS cap; Alarice wears this while talking/singing to Addy and also hints that she faces danger closer to home. The cap is returned to Addy at the end of the imaginary musical number.) Addy starts getting a clearer picture of the darker side of society that the Nazis have been working hard to hide.

The other main mental scene I have of Alarice is another musical number, go figure. In this one she appears at a formal SS gathering and dances wildly around the room as the SS orchestra plays (yes, they have an orchestra--mine is a fictional version although I've seen photos of SS musicians, yet can't figure out the right Google search terms to bring one up) (EDIT, okay I sucked it up and Googled "Schutzstaffel orchestra" and eventually got to the Musikkorps der Leibstandarte-SS, and here's a pic, urgh I feel skeezy now) with some attendees assuming she's part of the evening's performances. The reactions of the various attendees are vastly different: Rupprecht Heidenreich is aghast, his wife Eva is disgusted, Dr. Mengele is vaguely confused but intrigued, Erich Arzt is amused (both by Alarice's routine, and by the reactions of those who like the Heidenreichs are scandalized by it), etc. Lt. Hesse is especially perplexed; I think he's the one who ends up trying to resume control of the situation by subduing Alarice and shuttling her out of there, but she probably eludes him. I don't yet know the point of this scene or if it indeed takes place, though it may be some sort of distraction tactic on Alarice's part while the Diamond Network or somebody else does something.

Hesse's reaction to Alarice is the detail that's gaining the most ground. While he's certainly racist, antisemitic, and homophobic like most of his fellows, he doesn't share the Nazis' view of the mentally ill and addicts. This is likely due to his personal experience with the issue; Hesse struggled for a time with morphine addiction following the Great War, and he knows also how addiction can feed into mental difficulties (his loneliness and isolation contributed to his addiction as much as his physical pain did, plus he nearly relapsed while in a deep depression). He feels empathy and pity for the mentally ill, not disdain, and suspects that at least some of them are capable of rehabilitation. In one scene, while he's talking with another SS officer in the other's home, he notices the guy's odd reactions and dismisses the officers who'd accompanied him so he can talk to the guy privately; once they're alone he slams the guy against the wall and demands to know, "Where is it?--You know exactly what I'm talking about," he adds when the guy expresses confusion. Guy guiltily nods toward a cabinet; Hesse digs around, finds the guy's works (drug kit), stomps it under his boot and tosses it. "Where's the other one?" he then says; the guy feigns ignorance for all of a few seconds before caving in and pointing out another hiding place. He moans when Hesse destroys his backup kit so Hesse can tell that's all he has; he threatens the guy to "clean up" or he'll report him to his superiors. Yeah, this seems pretty cruel and insensitive, especially regarding Hesse's own former addiction, but in truth he's giving the guy a lot more leeway than most of his fellow officers would, as well as endangering his own position in the SS by not reporting the guy's misbehavior--he's helping him out the only way he knows how, under the circumstances. Hesse is usually a stickler for SS rules, so the rare occasions when he does break them--for example, not turning in Tobias Schäfer, a Jewish doctor, or the Dobermanns, who illegally employ him--are special circumstances indeed. So the way he reacts toward addicts and the mentally ill is very unusual for someone in his position.

Hesse gets a good look at Alarice at that SS party--Heidenreich orders him to restrain and get her out of there, but he's a lot more circumspect, guiding her outside instead. I'm not sure what occurs afterward, presumably she eludes him but he runs into her again once or twice, and his interactions with her are always respectful--he wants her to get some sort of help. Alarice laughs at his suggestion: "Oh, I know very well what your people mean by help. I want to leave one of your hospitals, I leave through the chimney, ja?" Hesse insists he knows people and can ensure she's helped rather than harmed--this much is likely true--but of course she doesn't believe him, and avoids his attempts to get her aid. I get a strong feeling she ends up playing him somehow because of this, though I'm not sure how or for what. Just seems it'd be like her to manipulate his weakness for her own ends, if I could figure out what her own ends are. So this is still very much a developing plot point.

You'll notice I deliberately avoided naming the two songs included in the imaginary scenarios described above. This is because one lyrically has very little to do with the plot, while the other is goofily anachronistic. I imagine plenty of anachronistic music in this series--I have a tentative Spotify playlist I've been noodling around with--yet I try not to get WAY out there, plus I imagine some of these are more like "music video/trailer/inspired by" music. Still, here they are; just imagine the first is in German rather than Italian/Spanish, and the other is more orchestral/big band without such a silly title, and you're almost there.

"Ghetto" scene (actually, now that I translate the lyrics, they're not as off topic as I'd thought)

SS party/dancing scene

Alarice will likely have more to come, given that my brain hasn't completely given up on her, though it may not be for a while yet.

[Alarice 2023 [‎Friday, ‎February ‎3, ‎2023, ‏‎3:00:34 AM]]

[kazewhara]

Congrats on 2.6k!! It's so great to see your blog growing, especially because it's one of the most inclusive genshin blogs that I have found thus far. Seriously, so many of your fics are gn and I really appreciate it, as I'm sure many others do as well. May I participate in your event? If so, I would love to see a drabble and/or headcanons for Aether and the Siren!MC like the ones you have done for Xiao and Kazuha.

🌿 — eclipse !

✧ — pairing: aether x siren!reader

✧ — format: hc/drabble

✧ — warnings: apathetic feelings towards death (reader)

✧ — tags: siren!reader au, brief fluff, angst, canon divergent, secret-keeping, chance meetings, implied one-sided feelings (aether -> reader)

✧ — notes: thank you so much! and you certainly can participate! i've been meaning to revisit this au, but i was never sure how to.. i'm gonna have fun with this <3 (update: oh god this is so long i am so sorry) but i hope you enjoy this!

✧ — 🌥 — ✧

so i want to approach this one differently from kazuha and xiao. in this one, you're still a siren, but you live out a human life.

it sounds cliché, i know, to have a siren walking amongst normal people in broad daylight with no one suspecting a thing, but your life is just a little bit different.

the archon war had its effects on both people who lived on dry land and underwater. due to some serious long-standing issues, you were exiled from your home and forced to roam the land above the waves. the ocean is far too dangerous for you to navigate alone, so this was the next best option.

you experienced the worst withdrawals; it took you literal decades to get used to having legs, and you nearly succumbed to the universe in your desperate attempts to breathe through your nose as your gills slowly shriveled due to lack of usage. you carry a myriad of scars from having been mauled by monsters. you were easy pickings for them -- a free target.

but one day, as you were being attacked and preparing yourself to finally meet your end, someone saved you.

he is like the sun, you think as you watch your savior cut down a rabid monster before you. he is ferocious; powerful in the way he swings his sword mercilessly. he is nimble; he skillfully dodges every attack that comes his way and counters with a practiced ease. he is tenacious; even when knocked to the side by a monster's hand at full force, he still get back up and makes his next move.

and when it's all over, when he approaches you with his chest heaving, his long hair thrown over his shoulder, and sweat glistening on his sun-kissed skin, you understand that he is made of gold.

his lips are moving and sound is coming out, but you don't recognize much of what he's saying. in all your years, you'd never come across an actual human before. you've only ever heard about them in the scrolls that you would read as a hatchling. you blink dumbly when you hear him finish speaking. you did learn some of their language as was required of you. would you happen to know any now?

"do you think they understand what we're saying?" a smaller looking human materializes in a flash beside the golden man. you jump back with a startled noise and the little being puts her hands out. "oh no, paimon didn't mean to scare you! paimon's sorry!"

the golden man frowns. you don't like that look on his face; it doesn't suit him. "i don't think they can understand us." he steps closer to you and on instinct, you stumble backwards. you trip and fall onto your backside with a cry, which only makes the golden man approach you, his hands hovering over your body. "are you alright?"

you recognize that phrase. you open your mouth to answer, but no words escape you; you make a wheezing sound instead. you shake your head desperately. "not... okay..." you rasp.

the golden man looks up at the floating being and says more words you can't understand. "paimon, we need to get them to a healer. now." he reaches out and touches you so lightly, you wouldn't have thought he was capable of fighting so capably. when you jump, he pats you gently. "i won't harm you," he says softly. "do you understand?"

you take a moment to process. is he saying that he's not a threat? well of course he's not -- he saved you, after all. you nod stiffly. "understand," you echo.

the golden man's lips curl into a smile so gentle, you feel your insides warming. like you were being warmed by the sun. your troubles start to fade. "we're going to take you to the city to get you some help." he speaks slowly to help you understand him better. "will you let me help you?"

the only word you recognize is 'help'. you agree immediately. finally, after all these years of suffering, you're going to get some help. if not that, then maybe someone can put you out of your misery -- anything to bring an end to this hell.

the golden man helps you up onto your shaky legs and guides you by the hand to your new destination. even through his glove, you can feel how warm his hand is.

aether helps you to mondstadt where he gets barbara to help you. her healing works wonders, particularly because she uses hydro, and you're completely dehydrated. so dehydrated in fact, that barbara has to stay by your side constantly for almost two days before you're stabilized.

these humans wouldn't let you out no matter how much you protested. they likely didn't take you too seriously because you couldn't speak the language -- all of your disgruntled complaints came out as indignant cries and frustrated clicks and chirps.

(you resorted to cursing the humans in your native language whenever they spoke to you.)

you're not allowed to walk yet; you heard a human say something about 'leg' and 'damage' and figured that, since you're the only injured person here, they must have been talking about you. you're bedridden until they say you can walk again. (fine by you. any excuse to not use these horrid legs.)

your savior comes to visit you every day. and every day, he has a smile on his face and he speaks to you in this new language. you make an effort to try and learn it -- you have to if you want to be able to thank him properly. he's patient as you stumble over your words with your thick accent, and he's kind enough to help you sound words out.

you learn that his name is aether and the little being's name is paimon. you quite like those two.

days become weeks, and soon enough, you have a pretty decent understanding of the language. by the time a month passes, you're walking and talking rather casually with aether. by two months, you're leaving the city to accompany him as he does simple commissions.

at the dawn of month three, aether finally asks about your past. sort of.

you're on the outskirts of the city of mondstadt right by the lake. dandelions sway in the wind nearby and you can hear the distant sound of a bard singing a sweet song. you close your eyes and sit on the grass beneath a cedar tree. you can hear the rippling of the lake before you. nostalgia threatens to take you under.

"there you are," a familiar voice comes from behind you. it's aether. you'll always recognize that voice. you spin to see him leaning on the cedar tree with a smile. "i was wondering where you'd went."

"i was feeling..." you frown for a moment. "what is that word?"

"which one?"

"when you feel like you can't breathe." you gesture to drive the point home and rest a hand on the side of your neck, feeling your now dried-up gills. "i felt that way, so i decided to come out here."

aether's expression falls just a bit. "i guess 'stifled' would be the correct word." he walks over and sits beside you, his knees pulled to his chest. he looks out at the lake. "whenever you feel that way, you come here. you must really like the water, huh?"

oh, how you yearn to be submerged in water once again. you long for your tail and the scales that once decorated your skin; for the spray of bubbles that would trail after you with how fast you were swimming. you miss slapping your tail on the water's surface and hearing your friends complain. you miss...

"i miss it." you answer softly. you're not close enough to touch the water now, and it's probably a good thing. if you do, you fear that you might just throw yourself in.

"miss it?" aether asks. "were you a sailor before?"

you gulp. you never told aether anything about your past because he never asked. he was just kind like that -- he never pried, never poked or prodded to try and weasel information out of you. he wasn't like that human with the eyepatch. you don't like him much.

but you suddenly feel reluctant to explain your past to aether. the only indications of your non-human status was your ears and your sharp canines. in place of ears, you had fins on either side of your head. you've never been self-conscious about them, but now that you're around humans, you find yourself lowering them so as to gain as little attention as possible. you also try your best to not open your mouth too wide -- you don't want people asking more questions than they already do.

so you lie. "yes." you reply. you don't want to explain your story to aether, lest you remember the waking hell you finally wormed your way out of. you don't know enough about sailors to keep up such a flimsy lie, but if it holds up, then you won't correct yourself.

"why didn't you say so earlier?" aether pushes your shoulder lightly. "i know a pirate captain in liyue. why don't we pay her a visit so she can take you back on the sea?"

the sea... you look at aether, your eyes wide. "would she really?" you fist at the grass, your heart flipping with joy at the thought of being in the ocean once more. you inch closer to him. "can you take me to her?"

surprised by your enthusiasm, aether raises his brows. his eyes search your face and for some reason, his cheeks begin to turn pink. "uh, yeah! yes, i can. how about i take some commissions in liyue, and we can go when it's all done?"

you can't help but let out an ecstatic crooning noise and lay yourself back on the grass by aether's side. "thank you! thank you so much!"

aether looks down at you, his face still pink. his eyes are so kind and so bright. you've told him on a number of occasions and he often looked at you the way he's looking at you now. you peer back up at him curiously, wondering if you said something wrong. he looks away suddenly and clears his throat.

"you're welcome." he says. "it's nice. um... seeing you so happy, i mean."

aether keeps his word like always.

it's your first time in liyue harbor and the overwhelming scent of the sea brings you to tears. this place, though foreign, is still somehow so familiar to you. liyue harbor is the closest thing you have to home right now.

he guides you to the docks where an enormous ship floats. people are loading and unloading huge boxes of stuff and you just look on, fascinated.

aether leaves you standing on the ship for a moment as he goes to retrieve the pirate captain he spoke of. when he returns with her, you're surprised to see such a tall woman. she's golden, much like aether is. loved by the sun and scarred by time. they must be good friends.

her name is beidou, you learn. she's a little loud, but she's friendly.

beidou takes you for a quick tour of the ship and introduces the crew to you. it's a lot of information and it makes your head spin, but it's not unpleasant.

"y'know, i've come across a few adepti before, but none of them -- whoa, careful there, juza," beidou ducks under a box that a crew member comes by with. "none of them have features quite like yours. you're very pretty."

you flinch and the fins at the side of your head stick up with surprise. both aether and beidou chuckle at your reaction. no one has ever told you that before. "do you really think so?" you ask meekly.

beidou nods with a smile. "absolutely! where'd this one even come from, aether?"

aether's eyes soften as he looks at you. "the sea, apparently." neither of them notice the way you go completely still. he keeps talking. "they said they were a sailor before we met."

"oh, a sailor, huh?" beidou gives you a once-over. "you wanna join the crux fleet? there's always room for one more."

you're not sure what this 'crux fleet' is, but you assume it has something to do with this ship. you nod hesitantly. "i suppose so?"

beidou's grin widens. what a bright human. "then you two stay put; i'm gonna go find juza." and before aether can tell her to stay put, she's off to find that juza human.

aether sighs and heads over to the edge of the boat and rests his arms on the rail. "so? what do you think so far?" he asks. "do you want to sail with her?"

you start to say yes, but when you walk over and see the way he's looking at you, you hesitate. there's a strange sadness resting just beneath the surface. did he not want to ask that question? you tilt your head curiously. "it would be nice," you answer honestly.

aether's smile is bitter. "right..." he looks at you for a moment longer, his expression unreadable.

he's been acting like this a lot more lately and you're not sure why. he's been giving you lingering looks and his face has been pinker than usual whenever you're around. you're not upset about receiving his attention -- he is like the sun and you could never hate being in the presence of such warm light -- but his behavior is a little bit concerning.

"aether, is everything alright?" you step closer and rest a hand on his arm. "you have been acting... odd."

aether's eyes drop to your hand. "have i?" when you nod, he sighs. "i can't hide anything from you, can i?"

you shrug. "you once called me an open book. i still have yet to understand why, but i know that you are one as well."

"touché." he laughs. he lets a beat pass. "when you look out at the water, do you... ever feel like leaving?"

"all the time," you answer honestly. "why?"

that must be the wrong thing to say, because aether's expression sours. he covers it up, but not very well. "if you... if you want to stay here with beidou then--" he stops abruptly and looks behind you at a crew member carrying a large box. "be careful-- no, wait--!"

it happens very quickly. one second you're listening to aether tell someone to be careful, and the next, you're falling off the side of the ship into the water below. the crew member who aether was speaking to turned sharply to face him, knocking you over the side in the process. you hit the water with a rather loud splash, and everything goes quiet.

it's so quiet. you blink your eyes open. they sting -- it's been such a long time since you've been here.

the changes happen slowly, painfully. the webbing between your fingers returns and your fingernails return to their usual pointed shape. your entire body screams with agony as your gills force themselves open once more. if you thought you were living in hell before, you were wrong -- this is hell.

the feeling of your scales re-emerging from your skin on your shoulders; the feeling of your eyes readjusting to the water, your eyeballs completely clouding over; the feeling of your legs disappearing and your tail growing back. your body creaks and pops in the most painful ways imaginable. nothing could have prepared you for this change. it's been centuries since you've been yourself.

when it's all over, you gasp and look at your hands. you turn them over a few times, inspecting the webbing. these are... your hands. you finally have your hands back! you excitedly look down to see your tail -- it's there! it's really there! your scales are still a little dry because you're still adjusting, but you're finally back to your old self! you can finally go home and--

you freeze. you can't go home. that's why you were on dry land to begin with. home is where aether is now.

"aether." you mutter to yourself. you completely forgot about him just now. you quickly swim to the surface and look up at the ship where you find at least ten sets of eyes looking down at you. you see beidou and aether, both of them looking ready to jump into the water themselves. the commotion aboard stops and everything goes still.

aether calls out your name from aboard the ship. you lock eyes with him and see the very expressions you never wished to see on his face. repulsion. disappointment.

fear.

he calls your name again. "is that you?" loud chattering starts all around him. you don't know what they're saying. "please, answer me! is that--"

"i have to leave." you call back. you wince at the sound of your own voice. it's loud, echoic. you're reminded of what your people were most known for -- what you haven't done in many a moon. the chattering stops and all eyes are back on you. every human aboard that ship is entranced by you; captivated by your presence. "i cannot stay."

all seem to be in a daze except aether, who looks hurt. "why not? what's happening? why is everyone quiet? what are you?"

you feel like crying. you never wanted him to see this. you lied just to avoid telling him about this. now that he knows, you have to let go. but you don't want to say good-bye to your savior. anything but that.

aether is your teacher, your best friend, your confidant. aether is your sun.

but you're a creature of the moon. he wasn't made for you to be close to in the first place. your eclipse has lasted long enough.

you take a deep breath and channel an energy you haven't tapped into for centuries. it still comes naturally to you, even now. when you speak, your every word is laced with it. your power is meant to numb the mind of whoever hears it -- typically, it's used to lure human prey into the water. but you're using it to keep them away.

even from here, you can see aether's eyes clouding over. it's working. "you must forget about me." you croon at him. "live on as though i was never here."

one by one, the sailors leave the edge of the boat and return to their tasks, but aether doesn't budge. this is normal -- there's always one who resists. "aether," you call his name. "please. forget."

it takes a few more seconds, but soon enough, aether turns back and picks up a conversation with a sailor. you finally dip beneath the waves and start towards the east. your tail aches from having not been used for so long, but you'll adjust eventually.

the moon has chased the sun long enough. like this, everything is as it should be. you're in your rightful place, and he's in his. each celestial body continues on their paths, never to cross again.

✦ oh god this was so long i am so fucking sorry i'm sorry

✦ but hey,, remember what happened last time i ended a siren!au like this? wink wink nudge nudge

[nunchiimagines]

Choco Bun: 4

Choco Tart

— Summary: When you moved to Korea after finishing college to continue pursuing latte art and baking, the last thing you were expecting was to open up your very own coffee shop under BTS Corp, Korea’s biggest entertainment service company for idols, models, singers, and more. Thanks to your hard work, creativity, and approachable personality you managed to become friendly with some pretty big named individuals as well as up and coming talent. As exciting and fun as it was for you, you slowly began to realize how much your 7 bosses weren’t particularly fond of this, acts of jealousy, pettiness, and aggression poking through in the most unsuspecting of ways. But what could 7 big named dragons want with a little foreign bunny?

HYBRID TYPES: Reader-Bunny Namjoon-Earth Dragon Jin-Water Dragon Yoongi-Moon (Dark) Dragon Hoseok-Sun (Light) Dragon Jimin-Wind Dragon Taehyung-Ice Dragon Jungkook-Fire Dragon

— Pairing: ceo!mythical hybrid!bts x poc!curvy!hybrid!coffee shop owner!reader

— Genre: fluff / poly!au / ceo!au / hybrid!au / mafia!au (if you squint)

— Status: Completed

— Warnings: fluff, verbal insulting (bullying), hurt & comfort, alcohol consumption, intrusive thoughts, self degradation

— Word Count: 6.8k

~MASTERPOST~

CHAPTERS: Prev _ Next

**AUTHORS NOTE**

Here’s chapter 4! Dear god it’s been a minute and I’m sorry for the late update. I suddenly had a burst of inspiration and somehow managed to finish the rest of chapter 4! That being said, all chapters after that are going to be really short and more like various progressive scenarios in their life. I’d like to do that with all stories moving forward but we’ll see how that goes. Haha, please enjoy!  

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It had been 6 months since the night of the gala and you had blossomed a very unexpectedly close friendship with the 7 CEO’s of BTS Corp. The men would often visit you during odd hours throughout the work day and sometimes more than once if they had the free time. It was even becoming natural that, depending on their work, they would spend their entire time in your small cafe. You liked days like that. It made you feel special that one, maybe even a few, of them would resort themselves to indulging in your presence. Of all the places they could’ve easily gravitated towards, it was always you in the end.

You didn’t want to think too much into it though, pleased with the current standing of your relationship with them. You were already considered lucky and you didn’t want to seem selfish or greedy by asking for more. But a girl could dream right? She could imagine that they really did want to be there to be closer to her. To adore her from afar, watching her every move as she worked. To believe they would look up and smile at her soothing voice or the way her hair had framed her face that day. You marveled at the mere thought of the idea, relishing in the possibility that they really could view you the same way as you did to them. How unfortunate  you never once realized how true those scenarios were.

But such concepts would slowly start to burn under the intrusive thoughts that were becoming more and more frequent as of late. It was no hidden fact that the guys had shown a form of favoritism for you and they made no need to hold back during your interactions. They never did anything unprofessional or inappropriate openly but it was clear to many that you guys had exceeded past mere employers and employee. It didn’t take long for rumors to spread, more so than they had already, and you unfortunately had the luxury of hearing many of them when it was assumed you couldn’t. Few were innocent but many weren’t the most positive.

“Not the most ideal partner for someone like them.”

“I know dragon hybrids are a bit inclusive with their partners but doesn’t that kinda still make her a slut for like, I don’t know, flirting with all of them?”

“She’s probably putting herself out to get some type of extra benefit?”

“People like that are easy to read. First you reel them in, get pregnant by them when the time comes, and keep them locked in for their money. Foreigners are all the same.”

“She’s not ugly but...she’s not that pretty.”

“She’s a bit...bigger than I was envisioning. Can you imagine her having sex with them? She’d crush poor Jimin under her weight.”

“I mean, she could try to lose a few pounds to at least look nicer.”

“Only a few? What the hell are they thinking? So what, she’s exotic looking. Doesn’t mean anything. I’ve seen prettier and guys like that could do better. Seriously, even I outdo her!”

When you would make eye contact with some of the people who you’ve overheard say these things, they would often freeze and scurry off. Sometimes you wondered if they even remembered you were a hybrid and had far better hearing than most humans. You also started to believe they forgot you spoke Korean. You knew most of what was said stemmed from jealousy and maybe even insecurity. In fact, it was always the same group of people who said the negative things about you. Most of the other staff who even witnessed your interactions with them either didn’t care or smiled at the cute engagement. Some would tell you how lucky you were and asked about their personalities. But it never went further than that.

As much as you knew that their views about your relationship did not define it, sometimes their words cut deeper than you’d care to admit. You often felt inferior to them in more ways than one. You were fairly self-conscious about your physical looks and felt you weren’t good enough to be more than friends with them, even if you wished for it from time to time. They had always been so kind and welcoming to countless individuals regardless of their gender, ethnicity, body shape, and hybrid type. But deep down you felt you weren’t exactly on equal footing with them even when you so badly wanted to be. They were so close yet so far and that hurt more than anything. So when you heard these hurtful statements, you couldn’t help but find some form of truth behind them based on past experiences and toxic beliefs.

What made it even harder for you was the fact they made it so easy to fall for them. There was something about all 7 of them that made it almost impossible to not be charmed by. In your case, it became much deeper than surface level circumstances as you were fortunate enough to see sides of them not many others had before. Namjoon was much clumsier and unaware of things than people realized, even with his curious mind and high IQ. Yoongi was far more sensitive and emotional towards people, especially those he cares the most about. Seokjin was very self-conscious about his role as the oldest, fearing he wasn’t good enough despite being so confident. Hoseok wasn’t as bright or as happy as people liked to assume that he was, often being very mellow and laid back. Jimin was far too hard on himself about almost everything even though he had the whole world at his fingertips. Taehyung was far more creative and insightful than people gave him credit for, his popularity usually stemming from his looks alone. And Jungkook had days when carrying the burden of being the “golden maknae” was just too much for him, even when he did a phenomenal job at hiding it and proving himself.

These circumstances put many things into perspective and honestly, you were grateful for them sometimes. As much as you felt inferior to them, instances like this made it a little easier to view yourself otherwise. It wasn’t the best feeling to admit but it never disregarded the indescribable pain and deepening hurt felt when you would hear and see the guys view themselves in not the best of light. Of course it was natural to feel inadequate and to have bad days, but there was just something about seeing them in that way that almost transferred to you. Almost as if you guys shared the feeling. But it wasn’t just with the negative feelings, it was with the positive ones too.

When they were happy, you were ecstatic. When they felt proud, you felt honored. When they were giddy, you were slaphappy. It was almost as if the feelings shared between you all were amplified to an incomprehensible level for you. You weren’t entirely sure if they felt the same intense emotion but you knew that it was becoming more prevalent the more you spent time together. When you noticed things really got out of hand, you decided to take it upon yourself to do some research. At first, you didn’t really receive anything helpful, some websites and blogs going on tangents about medical issues that you’d never heard of before. But after a while you discovered something that surprised you. Something that you’re not sure if you should truly believe in.

They claimed it was the first stages of mating, something specifically pertaining to mythical hybrids. When a mythical hybrid finds strong interest in a potential mate, they court them subtly. This courting process is actually something that happens between the mythical animal and the partner of choices' inner animal (if hybrid) or inner instinct (if human). If the partner of choice reciprocates the courtship then the mating bond goes up to the next level. And that level includes intuitive feelings and shared emotions. Between two hybrids, the instinctual connection of mates is far better felt than between a human and human or a human and hybrid. Regardless, when the recipient starts to have a heightened sense of shared emotions, it is a clear indicator that the mates are ready to move on to the next stage: fulfilling the bond.

Your face set ablaze at the next part, the talks of intimate sex that would last for hours maybe even days depedning on the mates in question. The mere thought of being heavily intimate with 7 sought after individuals made you feel all sorts of confusing things and you’d rather not dapple into that at the moment. You didn’t, no, couldn’t completely rid yourself of the possibility of you being their mate, not when too many things lined up. But you also had a really hard time believing you’d ever be so lucky. You knew dragon hybrids had multiple mates or even mated within a group. It honestly varied depending on the den the dragon’s were associated with. When you really thought about it, you weren’t exactly sure what kind of dynamic the guys had. You also never asked. You weren’t sure if it was appropriate to be honest. Of course you wanted to but you spent more time in your head thinking about it than actually confronting them.

“She okay?” Jimin questioned, never taking his eyes off of you.

“She seems a bit dazed out.” Hoseok added on in agreement.

“She’s beautiful…” Jungkook mumbled out, staring at you.

Jimin and Hosek shot Jungkook a look before snickering at him. He realized what he had said and quickly averted his gaze to his hands. He didn’t mean to say that out loud.

“Yes she is, but our little bunbun still seems a bit out of it.” Jimin pouted, a heavy sigh following suit.

You were completely oblivious to their staring, per usual, as you were dealing with the last of your customers for the lunch period. When you had finished up you glanced over at the trio who looked more than pleased to finally have your attention. You couldn’t help but smile and shake your head in their direction. Jimin was the first to get up and rush towards you, excited for this evening's promised venture. Hoseok and Jungkook were quick to follow. You had told them you’d help them practice making latte art. They were so excited and so happy that it became infectious. In fact, you were grateful because it served as a nice distraction from your hectic thoughts.

“Uhm...mine looks like a blob.” Hoseok stated disappointed.

Jimin fell back in laughter, cackling and running into the cabinet behind him. Hoseok looked over at Jimin’s cup and scoffed, pointing at it with a smirk.

“If you think mine’s so funny, what’s that supposed to be?” Hoseok questioned.

“It’s a heart.” he stated proudly.

“It looks like poop.”

“I know! A poop heart.”

The two bursted into laughter, reminiscent of immature school boys who even thought the word “peepee” was funny. To be fair, though, you couldn’t help but chuckle along with them, the fact Jimin openly admitted he made a poop heart being kinda funny to you. But it was the lack of response from the youngest one that ceased your chuckling. When you looked over at Jungkook, you were pleasantly surprised to see him so invested in his design still. You didn’t want to make him nervous or bother his concentration but you decided to take a quick peak anyway. So did the others when they realized your attention fell somewhere else.

“Is that a peacock?!” Jimin called out.

“How’d you do that?” Hoseok asked.

Jungkook blushed a little, refusing to look up and make eye contact with anyone.

Kookie! That’s amazing! Have you been practicing? Seriously, you all are doing so well. Some people pour the milk straight down and nothing shows at the top on their first try.” you said with astonishment, proud of all the boys for managing to have the foam concentrated on the surface.

The three froze at your words, eyes wide with shock at what you said. You were too busy admiring the insanely well done design, despite it being a relatively new concept for him, to even realize the three faces concentrated on you. When you finally did look up at them, you were a bit confused by their jarred expressions.

“What’s wrong?” you asked with rising concern.

“Kookie...you called him...Kookie.” Jimin stated.

“I’ve never heard you call him that before.” Hoseok said, somewhat surprised.

“She’s never called any of us cute nicknames before!” Jimin retorted with hints of jealousy.

You started to feel self conscious the more they kept pointing it out. You honestly didn’t mean to call him that, a nickname many fans would often give Jungkook. You got so excited that it kinda slipped out of your mouth without thinking. Yes, you considered them friends, but you weren’t sure if you were granted the ability to start calling them affectionately like that. You stiffened a little, the worry evident in your features as you bowed slightly in Jungkook’s direction.

“I...I’m so sorry Jungkook. I was being way too informal with you. I apologize.” you said with sincerity.

It was relatively rare when instances like this occurred but it was the first time in a long time Jungkook shot both Hoseok and Jimin something deeper than irritated looks. It was quick and it didn’t go unnoticed by the older males but nothing was said as a result. You, of course, never witnessed it yourself, instead you were met with Jungkook standing directly in front of you holding your hands in his larger ones.

“Please don’t apologize Y/n. I like when you call me that. It feels like we’re closer to one another and that makes me really happy.”

Before a blush even had a chance to make its way to your face, Jimin pushed Jungkook out of the way. Jealousy was too soft of a word to describe the feeling coursing through the smallest male.

“What about me? I want a cute nickname too! I thought we were closer Y/n!” Jimin claimed.

“Seems like you’re playing favorites little one. That’s not very nice.” Hoseok added with a fake pout.

You raised your hands in defense, a slight dread falling over you.

“N-No! I don’t have a favorite! I love you guys all equally.” you blurted out.

The room fell silent for a moment, your nerves blocking out the realities of what you just admitted aloud. Oh but they heard it and they soaked up every last drop of what was spoken. That indescribable color clouded their dark irises again, something you hadn’t seen since the gala a few months back. When you studied all the boys, glancing at each of them for a moment, it finally hit you.

“W-Wai-”

“You love us, bunbun?” Hoseok asked first with an underlying tone of seriousness.

“Do you mean it?” Jimin asked, almost hopeful.

Jungkook stayed silent but his eyes were filled with the same desperate urgency for an answer. Your immediate response was to say yes, as you truly loved them in a sense that friends love and care for each other. But deep down, you wanted to admit that it was a little bit more than what a friendship could ever define. However, you were scared. Really scared. In an attempt to hide that vulnerability, you smiled while standing up straight. Eyes locked with Hoseok as your features softened.

“Of course I love you guys. We’re friends aren’t we? You all mean the world to me and I care about you! Unless...am I overstepping...again?” you asked almost hesitantly.

It was the word “friend” that made Jimin’s smile falter and eyes cast to the floor in disappointment. Jungkook also looked away, not wanting to make eye contact with you, his heart aching as a result. But it was Hoseok who kept up an unwavering appearance. The younger two made it hard not to notice the unexpected reaction but Hoseok stepped in to keep your attention trained solely on him.

“Of course we are little one! Just making sure Jungkook wasn’t getting all the love. Which, on that note, we have to head out.” Hoseok announced.

“A-Already? So soon?” you asked, a little desperate.

Something seemed off. Really off. Their scent changed and even though Hoseok was doing a really good job at hiding it, his smell was different too. Your eyes looked over all of them absolutely knowing something was wrong and for some reason, you wanted to cry. What have you done? What did you do wrong? Was it something you said? Something you did? Your mind went into overdrive and before you could even process it, the tears had started to fall. They froze, the rapid change in your scent putting them on high alert.

“Y/n? Y/n, what’s wrong?” Jungkook called out worried.

Jimin was quick to come to your aid, cupping your cheeks in his palms to wipe the tears with his thumbs. He was the first to immediately realize what was going on. Your emotions were becoming more aligned with theirs and they were heightened far more than they had realized. That instantly sent Jimin into regret, foolishly acting without thinking. It was no brainer that you were their mate. They realized it far quicker than you ever had and they knew how dragon hybrids affect their mate, especially when they’re not the same hybrid at all and there’s 7 of them.

Jimin had almost instantly eased your anxiety, humming soothingly while he rocked you back and forth. He held your gaze lovingly and smiled such a sweet and charming smile. The tears had ceased and you caved under his touch. You were scenting his hands without even realizing it and that made his little heart jump in joy. Jungkook and Hoseok watched in awe, witnessing the powers of a wind dragon firsthand. However, it’s what he did next that caught you all off guard.

Your eyes widened, almost as if the trance was broken as soon as his lips touched your forehead. First laced with shock, it was instantly replaced with annoyance and jealousy as Hoseok and Jungkook continued watching. Your cheeks heated and you shied away as soon as he lifted himself away from you. Upon first glance he looked so innocent but his devious eyes told another story.

“Don’t cry my love. We’ll be back together soon. No need to worry your pretty little head.” Jimin assured.

All you could do was nod your head as you were too nervous to say anything in return. Jimin was pleased with your response and waved you goodbye before being the first to head out. You all watched him saunter out before you felt someone grab your hand gently. It was Jungkook.

“Y-Y/n...I promise you I’ll visit you as soon as I can, okay?” Jungkook added, a genuine smile present on his handsome features.

“Okay…” you mumble softly, a small smile appearing as well.

When Jungkook exited it was just Hoseok and you. When you locked eyes he took his hand and placed a loose strand of hair behind your ear. He smiled with so much love and admiration that it made your heart go crazy.

“Here little bun.” he said, handing you an envelope.

“What’s this?” you asked curiously.

“It’s a personal invite to have you join us this weekend. We’re hosting a monthly fundraiser to help lower income neighborhoods across Korea. We would like to have you there. Things have been so busy setting up that we hadn’t formally asked you yet. Sorry if it’s last minute.” he explained.

“Oh! That’s amazing! I’d love to help out. Is there anything specifically I should make? Or a location I should set up in? Oh where’s it being held? Should I dress up??”

“Y/n.” Hoseok sternly said, gripping your cheeks gently.

“We’re not asking you to come as a worker. We’re asking to come as our personal guest.” he corrected.

“O-Oh! Really?” you asked once more.

“Yeah, love. But we can talk about it later. Don’t get too hung up on the details right now.” he encouraged.

“Okay Hobi...I’ll see you later.” you said, waving sweetly as he exited.

Hoseok smirked at the sudden name, pleased with it falling from your lips. You assumed it was just a natural response from his normal demeanor as he winked and fully disappeared from your sight.

_______________________________________

Feeling a little out of your element was an understatement, especially from the point of view of a guest instead of a worker. Last time you were at their mansion, It was easy to be preoccupied when serving the guests, you were almost guaranteed a conversation about a topic you understood, but here in the midst of all the fancy, well dressed, high class individuals; that was a bit harder.

Instead of worrying too much about it, you decided to make your way around, briefly looking at all the well designed boards and professional banners on display for guests to donate money. It was admirable the amount of charities partnered with BTS Corp and their reputation only encouraged the prospects here to follow suit in providing funds. With what little you had, you tried to offer up something to each booth you came across. To them, a little bit of money was better than none, and they were very grateful for your donation.

Something about helping people always made you feel good. Rather it be serving them, providing comfort, or even donating a little bit of money; there was always this lighthearted feeling of accomplishment. As an additional reward, you opted to eat a Chocolate tart, one of few dishes available to the guests. But, unfortunately for you, that happy feeling, the delicious tart, all paled rather quickly at the sudden giggle coming from your right. When you looked up, your heart almost stopped in its tracks, your blood ran cold, and your ears stiffened.

She was a pretty little thing. Dressed in a sparkly, form-fitting, cocktail dress, her long hair was pinned to the side revealing her unblemished slender shoulders. From where you were standing you couldn’t tell if she was Korean or not, but from her words, she spoke the language like a true native. Short in stature, natural make-up, outgoing, preppy, pretty; she managed to catch the attention of a few of the male guests loitering around. But it was the two males she was currently occupying that made you react the way you did. Jimin and Seokjin. It was clear that they were smitten with her. I mean, you couldn’t blame them. The way they crowded around her. Looked at her. The light touches shared between them came off as flirtatious. You hated it. Deep down inside, you wanted to rip that human's throat out.

But as soon as the thought came to your mind you averted your entire being away from the group. You felt disgusted, ashamed, vile. You hated this sudden rise in jealousy. Your animal instincts, when feeling threatened, was to leave away from the danger. So that’s what you decided to do after you discarded the treat. But tonight wasn’t going to be so kind to you. You didn’t even take several steps before you were met with the next heart wrenching sight.

Namjoon, Yoongi, and Jungkook were speaking to an elderly pegasus hybrid. Her long wings sparkled beautifully against her pale dress. Her hair was braided and adorned with small flowers. Accompanying her were two younger female pegasus hybrids who were as equally, if not more so, beautiful as her. One was roughly your age while the other was slightly older. You figured they were sisters and by lingering around a bit, you managed to catch a glimpse of the conversation.

“I’m surprised to see such fine, young, and successful bachelors without a mate yet. You boys should consider settling down soon!” the elderly woman proclaimed.

Yoongi just chuckled dismissively while Jungkook stayed quiet with a slight smile.

“That would be something ideal for the future, but right now our sights are preoccupied.” Namjoon responded vaguely, a respectful smile adorning his features.

The elderly woman chuckled and waved him off, far from letting this topic go.

“Nonsense Mr. Kim! The sooner the better! Here, let me introduce you all to some very important people.”

The woman gestured to the two younger girls to come to her side. They did as she told, the youngest one shyly averting her gaze while the oldest tried to maintain confidence.

“These are my granddaughters. They’re both around your age you know. Seona here is a natural born singer. And the little one, Mora, has an eye for design. They are my most prized possessions. Beautiful, talented, charming, and smart.”

The conversation carried on as you’d expect. When you looked at the two girls, it was undeniable they were beautiful. From the looks of it, they all felt the same way. It didn’t take long for them to warm up and start conversing, the two girls becoming more bold with their touchy actions. But what irked you was they were all doing it back almost as if on purpose. You knew if a rabbit and a pegasus would ever physically fight one another, the rabbit would fall immediately. But that didn’t stop the thought of still trying. At this point, you were getting more irritated.

Quickly dismissing yourself, you attempted to make your way to the balcony. However, you were blessed with one last push over the edge before calming your nerves. Tonight's festivities were made to be a bit more fun and they sectioned off part of the room for a dance. Whoever could dance the themed routine perfectly would donate the prize money to whatever charity of their choice. Little games like this were stationed all throughout the mansion and made the atmosphere a bit livelier. You didn’t much care that a dance was taking place but something still made you look over there. And as soon as you did, you froze.

There they were, Hoseok and Taehyung dancing with two women doing the Rumba, one of the most romantic ballroom dances known. The one with Taehyung was much older than him but no less pretty. She was the true definition of a cougar, which was fitting given the fact that she was a cougar hybrid. They didn’t know the dance all that well but did a hell of a job trying. The one with Hoseok was younger than you but seemed to be a bit more mature for her age. Sharp features, smokey eyes, tall, and thin. She was fit to dance with someone like Hoseok, as they shined perfectly on the floor.

It wasn’t so much as the dancing that bothered you, but the way the both held the women and looked at them. It almost made your anger deflate, you sighing in defeat as this night progressively deteriorated. Your ears flattened and you promptly removed yourself as soon as the dance was over. Finding the balcony, you noticed a staircase leading down to the garden below. Without so much as a second thought you took the stairs until you were met with ground level.

Surprisingly, some of the staff were also here and they were filling up champagne glasses to take upstairs. You, uncaringly, decided to nab a bottle of what you thought was champagne and take it with you as you made your way further out into the garden. The flowers were beautiful under the moonlight, freshly watered with little dew drops kissing their petals. You felt so much more calm when around nature and right now all you wanted to do was submerge yourself in it. As well as that bottle of...champagne.

The party had reached its limit and guests were leaving in groups at this point. Over 1 billion won was made tonight across all the charities and the guys felt drained. But most of all they felt...off. Uncomfortable. Sad. Angry. Hurt. So many things at once and it was becoming taxing. Once all the guests left the vicinity, they grouped up.

“Have you seen Y/n at all?” Jungkook asked, almost frantic.

“Only in passing but I hadn’t had a chance to really talk to her tonight.” Yoongi sighed, grueling over the previous conversation with the persistent elderly woman.

“Something feels wrong you guys.” Jimin said, his voice low and almost fragile.

Namjoon and Hoseok approached the group shortly after.

“We didn’t see her leave with any of the guests.” Namjoon stated.

“The guards hadn’t seen her leave either.” Hoseok added.

“Oh!” Taehyung chimed in.

All attention was on him immediately, waiting impatiently for his response.

“Just after the dance had ended, I saw her go to the balcony. But…” he trailed off.

“But what?” Seokjin pressured.

“She seemed sad. She smelt sad. I felt sad.” Taehyung finally said.

“The balcony?” Jungkook questioned, making an immediate dart there.

The others followed close behind until they were all standing outside. Searching around, Seokjin eventually spotted a figure sitting in the midst of the flower garden.

“There. Next to the daffodils.” he pointed out.

The group rushed down the stairs and towards the middle of the field. Before they reached you they found the bottle of half empty vodka and heard sniffling coming from you.

“Y/n?” Namjoon called out to you.

“I….I...knew...that stwoopid bottle wasn’t...uhm...wasn’t...champion.” you slurred with tears running down your puffy cheeks.

“Love, you drank half the bottle. What made you do that?” Hoseok asked out of concern.

“I...was...hurting...wright here.” you said childishly pointing to your heart.

“God she’s drunk.” Yoongi said, slipping off his jacket and draping it over your shoulders.

“I’m not drunk! I...I’m sad…” you said whiny.

Jimin was the first to sit next to you, gripping your shivering hands in his. He gave you a long stern look, witnessing the tear stains littering your cheeks.

“What happened Y/n? Did someone hurt you?” he asked hesitantly.

You just chuckled, falling limp in his hands.

“That’s…*hic*...an understatement.” you said solemnly.

“What do you mean?” Jungkook asked.

It went quiet, your mind not fully registering who you were talking to. But it was the first time you felt the urge to spill out everything you had been harboring for the past 6 months. Your eyes began to sting from the welling tears. You bit your lip and clenched your fists as hard as you could given your current state as they waited patiently for you to admit your concerns.

“Have you ever loved someone you knew would never love you back? That’s the story of my life actually. Every guy I’ve ever liked has never wanted to be with someone like me. In a way, I don’t think I could completely blame them. I’m not that pretty, I’m not thin, I'm socially awkward, and very shy. Hell, I’ve even had people say how my skin color is undesirable. I try to not let these things bother me, believing that one day my prince charming will come along and prove to me why I had to experience so much rejection. But it really seems like the universe hates me. Here I am catching feelings for not only one man, but seven. Ha, to make matters worse, they’re my bosses and individuals who I’ve looked up to for a very long time. How cliche is that? But they’re so charming. So genuine, and kind, and warm, and sweet...and…” the tears started to fall and you began sobbing.

“I’ll never be good enough for them and it hurts so badly! Those girls in there are so damn pretty. They’re smart, and talented, and...they’re everything I’ll never be. There’s no way any of them, let alone all seven of them, would ever fall in love with me. I should just be happy I even managed to meet them let alone become friends. I’m so stupid!” you said breaking down, crying loudly in Jimin’s lap.

All they could do was stand there silently, their hearts shattering at your sudden confession. Have you really thought so little of yourself? Did you truly believe you were undesirable, someone undeserving of love? Something deep inside them was filled with a distastable mix of rage and pain. Individuals like Jimin felt the pain and individuals like Hoseok felt the rage. In that moment, all they could think about was comforting you the best they could and if they were given the opportunity, they’d track down every guy who’s ever once said something cruel to you and kill them.

_______________________________________

When you finally woke up, you were in a room that was oddly familiar. You couldn’t quite put your finger on it but the more you attempted to sort this out the harder your head pounded. you barely remembered what happened last night and your eyes felt puffy. However, you realized you were out of your dress and your face was clean from the makeup you put on. Sitting up was a bit of a challenge but you somehow managed. Looking around the room was easier now and it took a couple of minutes to realize that you were inside the mansion still.

“What happened last night?” you called out loudly.

Suddenly, at the drop of a hat, bits and pieces of yesterday flooded your mind. You remember the pang of jealousy each time you saw the guys with another girl. You remember feeling angry with them and then that anger turned on to you. You remember the self deprecating thoughts that entered your mind. You remember feeling overwhelmed and venturing off to the garden. You remember drinking out of spite for your own health. And then...you remembered the one thing you wish you hadn't. Your overly honest confession...to...Jimin? Or was it Yoongi?

You vaguely remember who was there, your low tolerance for alcohol fogging your memory. You weren’t even sure if it actually happened, hoping deep down inside it was merely a dream. But you knew it wasn’t and your heart dropped at the massive blunder you made. Pulling your knees to your chest, you sighed heavily. You felt like a bratty child who didn’t get what they wanted. You felt ashamed for being so jealous. It’s not like you owned them. You weren’t dating. They have every right to be smitten with other women. You are far from the only one pinning after them and to go and dump all of that onto them like you did was not only unfair but it was unprofessional.

As much as you hated to admit it, you knew you needed to own up to your actions and formally apologize to them. The thought of seeing them scared you though and deep down inside you wanted to selfishly stay hidden in this room. So after a few quick breathing exercises, some meditation, and freshening yourself up; you made your way out of the room. Luckily for you, Mrs. Choi was just passing by. You two spoke briefly before asking the dreaded question on your mind.

“May I ask you something?” you hesitated.

“Of course my dear.”

“Do you know...uhm...do you know where the guys are at?”

She smiled softly at you as if she knew exactly where this was going. You got a weird feeling that she anticipated your question and the intent behind your reasoning. You had no proof, just an intuitive feeling that she knew.

“Of course. They’re in Mr. Kim’s office. All of them, actually. They requested that you were to be looked after until you were feeling better. I’m sure they’re waiting for you.” she said.

She provided directions to get there and hugged you. No words were shared between you two when you departed but her eyes spoke to you. Saying as if everything was going to be okay and not to worry. You took your time reaching there, using the journey to conjure up what you should say, how you should apologize but your anxiety was making that hard. Before you knew it, you had already reached the doors and knocked.

“Here goes nothing.” you mumbled, hoping to rip the bandaid off asap.

“Come in.” Namjoon spoke from the other side.

You could hear shuffling and slight movement. Putting your hand on the handle, you took a deep breath before entering. As soon as they spotted you, they all froze in their spots, eyeing your every move. They seemed just as thrown off as you. Unfortunately, your nerves were resurfacing rather quickly at all the staring and silence. So you took your chance to be as honest as possible before backing down.

“Mr. Kim….no...everyone. I am so sorry about last night. What I did was way out of line. Not only was I unprofessional but I acted like an immature whiny brat. I dumped my personal feelings on to you all after I had taken a bottle of your alcohol, which I promise I will pay you back for. I completely understand if you would like to reprimand me for my actions. I will not argue or fight back against whatever punishment you all decide. And...I’m sorry for what I said. It’s probably best that I take my leave very soon.” you explained in full as you bowed apologetically.

The silence was deafening. You were too afraid to look them in their eye but you jumped when you heard someone get up from their seat. It was Namjoon, you knew it. He approached you, getting directly in front of you.

“Look at me Y/n.” he demanded, but in a soft tone.

You did as he told, fear evident in your eyes. But in his, it was nothing but sadness. That confused you. Why did he look so sad?

“Are you saying that you didn’t mean what you said? That you don’t have feelings for us Ms. Y/n?” he asked with stern authority.

“I-I…”

“You meant it, right?” Jungkook impatiently asked.

“The feelings...because I...we…” Jimin chimed in nervously.

“We feel the same way about you.” Hoseok admitted with a sheepish smile.

“But we need to know for an absolute fact you feel the same way. That you truly meant everything you said last night.” Yoongi added looking you directly in your eyes.

“But this...this doesn’t make sense. How could...why would any of you...want-”

“Why would any of us want you? Fall for you? Be with you? My love, I could go on forever as to why we would want to be with you.” Seokjin chuckled before smiling softly at you.

“And I can promise that we’d spend our days proving to you those reasons. I swear it.” Taehyung promised.

The sudden and unbelievable confession brought tears to your eyes. Your heart wrenched at their words. It was a dream that you’ve played over and over again in your head. It wasn’t quite like this but it was presented before you nonetheless. But you couldn’t bring yourself to truly believe such an amazing dream so all you could do was cry.

“Why...I’m not...I can’t! You all deserve someone who’s, someone who…”

Your words were fumbling. Your brain went blank. You were nervous and scared, this vulnerability being new for you. Namjoon noticed this and took the opportunity to embrace you in his arms, holding you tenderly against his chest. It was warm and safe and it felt so unreal. Is that what hugging a man you love feels like?

“Yes, I meant everything I said! You all mean so much to me. I’d do anything for you. But I...I never thought you’d...any of you would ever like me like that. I so badly wanted to be something more for you but I...I’ve never had anyone...like me back and I don’t know what it’s like and...I’m so scared that this opportunity is too good to be true because my heart can’t handle being this vulnerable and then instantly rejected.”

Namjoon just rubbed up and down your back as you cried in his arms. The others looked desperate to be in Namjoon’s position, hints of jealousy evident in some of their eyes. But for the most part they just wanted you to be okay. When you began to calm down a bit, Namjoon cupped your cheeks. He looked so lovingly into your eyes, using his thumbs to brush away falling tears before speaking the words that sealed your connection.

“Let us love you in a way that you’ve always deserved. Let us prove to you that everything we claim comes only from our heart. A genuine, loving, yearning desire to be with you. And my love, let us walk through this journey together, side-by-side into something more beautiful.”

“Do you mean it? All of you?” you asked for clarification.

“We’d stake our whole lives on it.”

“Then….I’d very much like that.” you said with a sweet smile.

______________________________________________________________

[stella-lol]

this is awesome! yay! for some reason I forgot to write it, but my name is Stella (she/her). I'm a student here at QU, although I don't major software engineering anymore. for those who are curious about the more serious things I do, I generally participate in a bit of marketing for the university, talking about trans people and stuff. mostly, I do a lot of advocacy for trans/enbies to our med students here; I've spoken at panels in front of faculty and staff, I've acted out medical cases for about a hundred students, and a bunch of other stuff. I've also been invited to help shape the medical curriculum to be more inclusive for next fall. it's really fun and you meet a ton of other amazing people in the process. but when I'm not doing any of that, I'm doing silly stuff like this. I am just a silly little girl

edit: also I figured out how to read reblogs lol

thank you all so much for the support <3 there's so many nice comments

some people ask why I had that sticker on my school laptop. I didn't have many good stickers at first and I asked another queer friend what ones I should put on it. she told me I should put a BD sticker on it, because nobody would ever be able to call me out on it. and nobody did! until now lmao

the rest of the stickers were just random ones I got for free from some other students a while back. edit 2: yes I have programming socks

no I'm not Michael Reeves for fuck's sake. also this photo is a few months old, I look slightly more masc in it. I've started HRT and grown out my hair a bit since so I look more fem/androgynous cuz that's kinda how I wanna look.

yes compsci does trans your gender

no I'm not still doing compsci, I'm going into nursing because it aligns better with my personality and goals now

yes, this school is somewhat accepting, moreso than most I think. It's a cis white girl majority, but there's a lot of work to make the campus more inclusive. for one, they'll give you an ID card with any name you want on it, and you can update your name and email address even if you haven't changed it legally. I like that a lot. also we have big clubs like GSA and dedicated housing for first-year LGBTQ+ students if they choose to want to live with other cool (read: gay) people. I've never met a professor who hasn't been supportive of me.

Hello! I saw you wrote abut that sponsored instagram post with me in it. It's not edited, for anyone wondering - it was an inside joke at first when I figured out that it actually made it into the university's marketing, but I'm surprised to see how far it spread. Thank you for spreading the gay word of our university!

The girl on the left is my friend Momo. For anyone wondering what I was doing on that computer at the time, I'm pretty sure I was playing Minecraft. We had a hackathon and I was just screwing around but they took a picture of me because trans flag lol. I don't mind it though!

Happy trans day of visibility too c:

P.S. I have no idea how tumblr works lol

youre a legend fuck the troops i salute YOU happy TDOV to you and anyone reading this