#used to make flower crown edits back in the day

[im-no-jedi]

thought of a little scenario that idk if I'll ever implement into one of my stories but it's too silly to not write down

anyway Hunter gets out of the shower at my place and he's all clean and smells nice and it drives me crazy (like usual 😝) so I start giving him smooches and whatnot

and then at some point it basically goes like this

me: mmm babe I love how you smell right now 🥰

Hunter: of course you do, it's your soap 😏

me: I love how you're ok smelling like flowers and other girly smells 🥰

Hunter: ...?? what?? flowers are "girly"?? since when?? and why??? they're just plants???

and he continues to be confused and can't fathom the idea of a freaking plant having an assigned gender association, literally wtf

he ends up casually bringing it up to the others and Echo absolutely loses it, he goes on a long-winded rant about it and refuses to accept that; Wrecker also thinks it's stupid, and Tech pretty much has the same thinking as Hunter where he's genuinely confused on why anyone would assign the scent of a plant to a particular gender LOL

Omega then makes it her mission to fill the Marauder with flowers the next time they go to a green planet to appease her brothers' frustration (which I will gladly help with) 😌

[kjupchurch-xx]

💋 Sexiest Man Alive 💋

November 19th, 2008

                    New York City, New York

              

✨ Author's Note: In this one shot, for story purposes, Hugh is not married. We'll say he divorced from Deb recently to keep the flow of the story.

I double checked my appearance in the mirror before heading out. Today is the day I will be interviewing Hugh Jackman for his People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive crowning. The interview will be filmed and broadcasted live on national television. I decided to go business casual, wearing black capri slacks, a white and pink flowered cami tank top with black 6-inch heels. My dark brown hair was shoulder length and wavy. My makeup was flawless. To say nervous would be an understatement whenever you're interviewing someone that's been named the sexiest man alive.

Everything seemed perfect, so I rushed out to my 2008 Ford Mustang and sped off to our studio in downtown NYC. Traffic was hectic, but I managed to get there with 25 minutes to spare to go over the interview questions before our guest of honor arrives. One question in particular stood out to me, it was a question pertaining to his sexuality due to circulating rumors that he's gay. I'm normally shameless, but this would be an awkward thing to ask him.

"You ready?" My co-worker/camera man Justin asked, stepping in front of me.

I nodded, "As I'll ever be! Just going over some of the questions. 'How do you feel about the circulating rumors of you being gay?', 'What turns the sexiest man alive on?', Justin, what the hell are these questions?" I asked with a humorous horrified look spreading across my face.

He failed to contain his laughter, "I didn't write 'em, I just control the cameras."

I shuffled the cards, "This is going to be the weirdest interview. This dude is probably going to leave the set mid interview." I laughed.

Justin shook his head, "Hugh is a pretty good sport. He should take it in a humorous way. You should be good. He'll be here any minute, so get ready."

I nodded, "Alright."

I stood to double check the set and make sure the props were in their correct location, making sure the set was clean and presentable before sitting back down in my chair. I stood back up, hearing an Australian accent coming from the hallway, that must be Mr. Jackman.

"Glad to be here, mate. Thanks for havin' me." He said, shaking hands with our producer Mack, while walking into my view.

Mack smiled and pointed in my direction while walking Hugh up to me, "Mr. Jackman, this is Kaitlyn. She'll be doing your interview."

I smiled, extending my hand out to Hugh, "Hi, nice to meet you. I'm a huge fan and honored to be doing your interview today, Mr. Jackman."

He gave me a smile, shaking my hand, "Call me Hugh. Nice to meet ya, Sweetheart."

I can see why he was voted sexiest man alive now. No photoshop or CGI needed. This man was cut. He had the most beautiful smile I'd ever seen and did not look a day over 28 despite just turning 40 last month. He was wearing dark colored blue jeans with a white t-shirt adorned with a black blazer that made his biceps pop. I could swear the temperature in the room went up at least 20 degrees since he'd walked in.

As we sat down, I noticed him smiling at me and looking me up and down as if he were checking me out. I smiled back while grabbing the cue cards with the questions for the interview and looked towards Justin, who gave me a slight nod to let me know we were rolling,

I smiled from ear to ear as the camera zoomed in on only me, "Good afternoon, New York! Today's guest was just crowned People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive of the year. You can purchase his edition today in stores. Please allow me to welcome Mr. Hugh Jackman!"

The camera zoomed out showing Hugh and I both sitting in the chairs at the small table separating us. I looked over smiling in his direction, allowing him to speak.

He gave a huge smile towards the camera and then towards me, "Thank you for having me! How're you doing today?" He asked.

I smiled, "I'm great. How are you? How have things been since being named People's Sexiest Man Alive?"

"They've been quite interesting. I was told Brad Pitt wasn't available this year." He said with a cheeky laugh.

I failed to contain my laughter, "I believe a lot of people feel that you've earned the title, especially given your portrayal of Wolverine in Marvel's X-Men."

I could see him blushing, "Honestly, things have been great. I just finished up a movie with Nicole Kidman called Australia, which comes out next week. We're pretty pumped for that."

I shifted in my seat, "How was filming that with Nicole?"

He got serious for a moment, "It was great. She's a good friend of my ex wife's, so it was a bit awkward at first, but overall a great experience. Shooting the film back home in Australia was exciting."

I nodded, "We'll be sure to check that out next week once it premiers." I felt a slight smirk appear on my lips, "Okay, now for the good stuff you all have been waiting for. Juicy questions for the sexiest man alive. Are you ready for this, Hugh?" I asked with as much confidence as I could possibly muster.

He giggled, "Baby, I'm always ready. Let's go."

I took a dramatic deep breath for dramatic effect, "Alright, so given you're now the sexiest man alive, what are some of your turn-ons? What's something you find sexy in a woman?"

He chuckled, giving me a smirk, "Oh, getting a bit cheeky, are we? You waste no time." He noticed me trying to keep a straight face and continued, "What turns me on? I'd have to say confidence, a strong woman that can sometimes put me in my place. I also love a woman in summer clothing. I'm from Australia, I love the outdoors, I love the water. I feel like a woman comfortable in her own skin, enjoying herself on the beach is very attractive to me."

I smiled with a nod, shuffling the cards in my hands, "Good answer."

He smirked at me, shifting in his seat, "I have a question for you. When are we heading to the beach?"

I looked a bit flustered, "I didn't know we were! But I'm happy to go with you any time!" I said with a small laugh.

He chuckled, "Dually noted." He tapped his forehead as if he were retaining the information.

This man was gorgeous. I'm sure he's just being funny for the camera, but I'm still enjoying this.

Attempting to stop chuckling, I went with the next question, "So Hugh, what do you make of the circulating rumors of your sexuality?"

He shrugged, "I think they're funny. They don't really bother me."

I nodded, "What did your friends and family say after you broke the news of being the sexiest man of 2008?"

He laughed, "My mates found it funny. My kids think it's funny but also gross their father is being called sexy. My family also, but they were proud of the accomplishment."

"Given your recent divorce, the ladies would like to know, is Hugh Jackman on the market?" I asked curiously, with a slight giggle.

He looked at the camera, "Hugh Jackman is on the market, ladies." He turned to me, "Is my interviewer also on the market?"

I failed to hide the red blush appearing on my cheeks, "Is Hugh Jackman hitting on me?" I said to the camera acting as if I were in shock with a tilt of my head.

He laughed, "You didn't answer my question."

I smirked, "I'm the interviewer. I ask the questions."

He shook his head, "Feisty, are we?"

I chuckled, "Mr. Jackman, do you have a secret talent?"

He smiled, "I'm very well trained. Not toilet trained, but I'm trained in other things. Barbara Walters told me I give phenomenal lap dances."

I laughed, "Did she? Barb is a great judge, so I trust her judgment."

He immediately stepped up from his chair, looking towards Justin, "Do we have music? I'm going to demonstrate." Looking back towards me he continued, "I have to showcase my talent for you."

This has definitely been the most interesting interview of my two year career.

I looked at Justin as music began playing, "Oh? I'm getting a lap dance too?" I asked playfully throwing the cue cards across the room. "Forget the script."

Justin failing miserably to contain his laughter watched on as Hugh began swaying his hips, removing his blazer and stepping to me. I sat not knowing how to react or if this was some odd dream I was having. He was in front of me with both of my legs between his, while still swaying his hips in a seductive motion.

His voice now seductive shook me from the thought, "How're you feeling, love? Isn't this your best interview yet? C'mon, look at me, baby." His finger grasping my chin pulling it upwards to look at him with the cheekiest, sexiest smile on his face.

I nervously laughed, blushing, "Oh my god." Was all I could manage to say. His other hand gripping my shoulder as he moved closer, almost putting his crotch 2 feet from my face.

He immediately began dying laughing as he sank to the floor, placing both hands on my knees. "How was that?" He asked.

I shook my head with a smile, "That was... I mean, I've never had an interview leave me speechless."

I could hear the film crew failing to contain their laughter as Hugh reached up and hugged me, straddling my lap. This must be every woman's wet dream. His laughter piercing my ears as he hugged me.

"Job well done then." He said cockily. "Turn off those cameras. We're headed backstage." He managed to say through his laughter.

I squealed, dying of laughter, "And that concludes our interview with Mr. Hugh Jackman, ladies and gentlemen! Go pick up your issue of People's magazine's Sexiest Man Alive-" I struggled to grab the magazine but finally reaching it, holding it up towards the camera, "Today!"

The cameras immediately cut and Hugh hopped off of me, laughing at the crew's reaction as their laughter grew louder now that they didn't have to worry about the rolling cameras.

"Best interview of your life?" Hugh asked me with a knowing smile.

I laughed, shaking my head, "Definitely. I was not expecting my day at work to end with a lap dance from Wolverine."

He pulled me in for another hug, "Next interview I'll be giving you another lap dance."

I playfully rolled my eyes, hugging him back, "I'll be sure to remind you."

He got serious for a moment, "Would you like to grab lunch with me? I've got a bit before my next press."

I nodded, "Sure. I'd love to."

He gave me a smile, "Seriously though, are you on the market and when are we gonna go to the beach?"

I looked at him nervously, "I am on the market, and I'm available anytime after 3."

He grabbed my hand, leading me towards the hallway. "Great. All I needed to know. I'm looking forward to that next lap dance, beautiful."  He said with a smirk.

[innerfare]

Sabo Fluff // Angst Compilation

Summary: A compilation of Sabo angst and fluff from my multi character posts (You're Wounded, Brushing Your Teeth Together, Flowers, Type of Date, You See His Cabin, Fighting and Making Up, Paradise, Nightmares, I Love You, You're Jealous).

Genre: Fluff // Angst

CW: None // SFW

———

You’re Wounded: 

Makes a light joke, inspects the wound himself even if there’s a doctor present, will help bandage you up if you need it. Pretends to be nonchalant about the entire thing, is panicking inside. Fully realizes the depths of his affection for you, is terrified to realize it’s love.  

Brushing Your Teeth Together: 

He didn’t get his pearly white smile by slacking off. When you’re brushing your teeth together, he’ll pause to inform you he’s better at it than you, that he has the best technique, that his dentist always compliments his teeth. Doesn’t explicitly challenge you like Nami and Luffy, but can’t help but get competitive. 

Flowers: 

He’s gone for very long periods of time, so when he returns, he’ll bring you a bundle of peonies or calla lilies, but he also bought you a cherry blossom bonsai tree so you can have flowers even when he’s away. The bonsai tree ends up becoming his baby, and when he is home, he spends quite a bit of time tending to it, to the point you get a little jealous. But it brings you lots of comfort when he’s away, a symbol of your love that’s firmly rooted and eternal. Side note, he will most definitely use flowers to seduce you. 

Type of Date: 

Takes you to the aquarium or zoo, the two of you wandering around hand in hand, pointing at different animals and saying, "that's you." Also takes you on a lot of picnics (far less elaborate than the ones Sanji plans) that you spend either in silence or editing his manuscript. And he knows the lay of the land in terms of hole in the wall restaurants, quiet little nooks where you can cozy up to one another and not be disturbed. Will occasionally risk it all to take you to water parks despite being a wanted man.  

You See His Cabin For The First Time: 

His bedroom at the Revolutionary Army’s base is a total bachelor pad, and when you see it for the first time, it wasn’t planned, so he’s a little embarrassed by the state of it. He has some dirty dishes he forgot about, some dirty laundry on the floor, and a pile of books on his bed. He spends virtually no time there and probably wouldn’t even have furniture beyond a mattress on the floor if it wasn’t provided by the Revolutionary Army as part of his living quarters. That being said, he did pin Luffy’s and Ace’s wanted posters to his wall, and he has a couple of different lotions and skincare products on his bathroom counter. 

Fighting and Making Up: 

Sabo can be pretty hypocritical. He takes so many risks and claims he wants a partner who can keep up with him, but if you take risks without him to back you up (the way he constantly takes risks without you backing him up), he’ll get mad at you because it triggers him so deeply; he has nightmares about you dying, but he normally hides them from you. It usually devolves further when you accuse him of not living by the egalitarian ideals he espouses by trying to control you. Other times, you fight because he was shamelessly flirting with someone else (flirting is an instinct for Sabo and he's so naturally charming that sometimes he really just can't help it). But you two have a special spot (a pink peach tree on Momoiro Island) and whoever is ready to make up first goes there and waits for the other; he once waited two full days and nights for you. When you get there, he’ll offer you a pink peach and a sheepish grin. 

Paradise 1: 

Wandering through a flower field and picking some of the more beautiful blooms that catch your eye, sprawling out on a picnic blanket in the late morning to bask in the sweet scent, enjoying the breeze as it ruffles your hair, weaving some of the flowers you picked into a delicate crown that they wear proudly while the two of you share sweet kisses. 

Paradise 2: 

Meandering through the woods in search of the tallest, most impressive tree, him giving you a boost up to the first branch to get you started before climbing up himself, staying behind you the entire time so he can catch you in case you fall. Finally piercing the canopy and poking your heads up above the forest, his hand on your leg to keep you steady, the two of you grinning as birds fly by, basking in the afternoon sun. 

Paradise 3: 

Escaping the chaos of life and climbing a desolate hill, sharing a late afternoon snack as you stare up at the clouds and point out different shapes, saying, “that’s you,” when you see a funny one. Arguing over which one of you gets to be the dragon cloud, your argument turning into roughhousing and the two of you accidentally rolling down the hill, him laughing and kissing your cheek when he knows you’re okay and then starting the argument again. 

Paradise 4: 

Waiting until late evening to meet beneath a peach tree, speaking at first in hushed tones, worrying someone is on to the two of you, eventually forgetting about all of that and settling into easy conversation about nothing and everything simultaneously, him jumping up to pick a peach for you to have as an evening snack, you taking advantage of the last bit of light to carve both of your initials into the tree trunk. 

Nightmares: 

You’re on stage in an auction house being sold off to the highest bidder. He’s there, but he can’t get to the stage, as if he’s trapped behind invisible glass. He’s screaming his head off and throwing himself at the glass, but everyone just ignores him, the slave auction continuing as though he’s not even there, Sabo completely powerless against the injustice of it all. You’re crying and struggling in your shackles, but it’s no use. He wakes up thrashing, ready to fight anyone who stands between him and you. When he’s met only with darkness, he doesn’t relax but instead gets dressed and wanders off to find some work to do, the sound of your shackles clanking as you struggle against them stuck in his head like a sick song, the sight of Celestial Dragons bidding on you like an object lighting in him a fire that will burn down every auction house in the world. 

Wearing His Hat: 

You and Sabo were supposed to be sparring, but he wasn’t taking it seriously. You could tell by the way he kept looking over your shoulder, the way he pawed at you instead of striking when you gave him an opening. You considered complaining, but you knew better than to nag a man like Sabo. He would just ignore you like he did everyone else who tried to get on his case about something, the Army’s Chief of Staff being an expert at tuning out voices. 

So, you decided to get creative. 

The next time his eyes left your person, you swooped in. His arms went up to block you, more out of habit than anything else, but you didn’t strike him the way you normally did. Rather, you snatched his hat off his head with a victorious laugh. 

“Hey!” His eyes widened, and suddenly, his full attention was on you. “That’s mine.” 

“Is it?” You placed his hat atop your head with a mischievous smile. “If you want it back, come and get it.” 

Sabo’s expression lit up as you issued your challenge, and as he positioned himself back in his fighting form, you had to wonder if you would regret riling up the Chief of Staff.  

I Love You: 

Sabo is always taking risks. He lives a dangerous lifestyle as the Chief of Staff of the Revolutionary Army, and on top of being one of the most wanted criminals in the world, he is an incredibly reckless individual who thrives when his life his threatened. He does not, however, thrive when your life is threatened. So accustomed to being the one others are fretting over, so used to Koala telling him off for taking this risk or making that dumb decision, he is completely blindsided by the anxiety he experiences when he finds out you’ve been captured. Naturally he launches a rescue attempt, and when it succeeds, he wraps you in his arms and tells you how much he loves you. He always makes sure to say it after that, telling you in the morning when you wake up and at night when you go to bed together, the memory of not having you there to hear it all too fresh. 

You’re Jealous: 

Sabo is a flirt, and you knew that going into your relationship. It actually doesn’t bother you when he flashes that charming smile of his at someone else or swoops in to save a damsel in distress (a speciality of his) and even serves to entertain, especially on the rare occasions his flirtations are rebuked. What does bother you, though, is his tight relationship with Koala. You know it’s ridiculous to be envious, you know Koala would sooner saw off her arm than kiss the man she considers her irksome big brother, but they’ve known each other since they were little kids, and Koala has been through so much with Sabo that the pair have such a close bond. It’s not the angry kind of jealousy that bubbles up in you when Koala mentions something about Sabo’s past that she assumes you know but you don’t, just the sad kind that you try to keep to yourself. Surprisingly, Sabo notices, though you don’t realize until he hugs you from behind and mumbles in your ear that he’s glad you’re the only one who knows he has a skincare routine, his silly words diffusing your mood and acting as the exact affirmation you needed. If it’s not enough, though, he’ll happily prove his loyalty to you by challenging Koala to a karate match, though.  

———

Hope you enjoyed it! If you want more, you can check out my masterlist here!

[nevernonline]

✧.* he's all that; lsm mini series

✧.*synopsis: every year the kappa sorority hosted a 'hot or not' greek life pageant show. you've luckily escaped having to bring your own "nottie" to give a makeover to and train in hopes of winning a big prize for the rest of your crew. but, just when you thought your lucky streak was going strong your name get's chosen as a representative and your sisters had just the guy for you to make over.

part of my seventeen movie series. 

paring: seokmin x reader (y/n uses she/her pronouns.) 

genre/s: fluff, strangers2lvrs, neighbors2lvrs or whatever.  

warning/s: alcohol mentions, swearing, cigarette mentions, swearing, some pg-13 jokes. no funny business iykyk. lots of mean girls (rip)

word count: 4.2k

note: im notorious atp for not editing, pls. this edition of nmm is inspired by a true classic she's all that (w/ a bit of greek the tv show/sydney white energy if any of u have ever seen ALSO classics, this was supposed to be one part, BUT! I feel myself getting so carried away so … three parts.) i was going to post my gwag update today but im gonna wait till either tomorrow or Tuesday <3.

beginning ▸ middle ▸ end.

Y/n was dreading the meeting she walked through the front doors of the sorority for this afternoon, the pageant. Kappa and all the other sororities on Greek row participated in what they call ‘Hot or Not’ every year since supposedly the 1980’s something her now head sister Heather claims was started by the legacy that was her mother. Which maybe was true, but y/n could never figure out why it mattered? And while it was fun it was a little bit old school.

“Hey, girls. Everyone settled in? We have a very exciting tradition here at Kappa as you may know.”

The cheers rang through the sitting room, with its white walls, pale pink carpets, and sherpa couches, the cheers and claps of girls hoping Heather draws their name from the glass bowl with her perfectly manicured finger tips.

“Yes. It’s so exciting, we have a few new faces so since you haven’t been a part of this week in past years we left you out of the bowl, but we will have many things for you to participate in this week. Like dine and dash, our famous Good as Gold party, and of course judging the competition at the end of the week. Before we get to the drawing, I wanted to congratulate our last year's winner, Suni. Give it up for her.”

Smiling, y/n clapped along with the other girls, giving Suni her flowers. About to step out behind the two french doors to grab a water or something to drink, when you hear Heather call your name loudly. All of your other sisters and friends spinning around watching her looking like she was attempting to escape the reality of her name being the one chosen after three years of getting out of it.

“y/n! Finally, Come back here, girly.”

Walking through the clapping crown y/n took her place next to the blonde and pretended to smile with excitement as her gut was telling her it was absolutely the worst day of her life.

The only reason y/n was in this sorority was to get extra college credits, that and Heather and her mother met here and have been friends since that very day. Heather was obsessed with being a legacy and clawing her way to the top of the food chain at the university. Y/n was just there for the ride.

“Everyone, you all obviously know my very good friend and our smartest sister, y/n. I personally have been waiting for the day she got chosen out of this bowl. It’s something our moms, co-vp’s of their 1980’s class of Kappas have been talking about for years. So I’m just as excited as I’m sure y/n is to be our guiding light to another victory this year. Anything to say, y/n?”

“Uh, not really, you said it all.”

Another big fake smile appeared on her face. Laughing and giggling at all the congratulations coming her way.

“Girls, before we enjoy our lunch. Don’t forget tonight is dine and dash, please find your dates and bring them to Carol’s Diner at 8pm. See you there.”

Checking the time on your phone you had roughly 45 minutes before your lecture and enough time to take off the gaudy Kappa logo’d sweater you had to put on for what Heather calls “official business.”

“Y/n what are you checking the time for? We have a lot to do today.”

“I have a class in 40 minutes, I have to go back and change.”

“I don’t get why you won't just move back in here with us?”

“I told you, Heather. I can't. I have to focus on getting into Med School and no offense to you or the other girls, but this isn’t exactly the best place for me to focus when I have to study.”

“Med School can wait just one day right? We have to set up the table at Carol’s and set up for the party later. Would you mind going with the new girl Sam to grab the alcohol? And then you can meet me back here and we will go to the diner together. I’m going to have the girls go out and look for some Nottie’s for you today before that whale from Delta picks them all up. “

“No, but-”

“Thank you! Love you!”

“Also her name is not Sam, It’s Soyeon.”

“Okay got it, toodleoo.”

Searching the house for the person and so called new girl, Sam you stumbled upon her sitting out on the back patio writing in her journal.

“Soyeon?”

“Oh, hey y/n.

“Hey, sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“No, you didn’t. I’m just so used to everyone calling me Sam I forget people know that it’s actually not.”

“Yeah, it took Heather a whole year to not call Suni, Sunny and everyone just kind of follows her suit.”

“I thought you had class? I didn’t know you were still here.”

“I do. It’s just a lecture on the importance of mammograms and breast cancer research so, I guess it’s okay. I can just find it somewhere online.”

“Ready to head out?”

“Would you hate me if we stopped at my dorm? I cannot wear this fucking sweater for more than an hour or I may spontaneously combust.”

“Yeah, I don’t want to be seen with you in public while you’re wearing that.”

“I appreciate your honesty.”

“You should.”

Y/n and Soyeon escaped the general excitement of the rest of the girls by escaping out the outdoor gate and walked viciously together to change the heinous sweater on y/n’s back.

Turning the corner to finally reach the hall her single dorm room lived at the end of, she ran into a tall boy who’s books scattered all across the floor, a boy she had never once run into literally and physically.

“I'm so sorry.”

“No, no I’m sorry, I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

“You’re y/n right?”

“Yes? Why?”

“Oh, no. Nothing like that. I live across the hall from you. I see your name tag on your door all the time and all the photos of you from all your friends. Which now that I’m talking makes me sound like even more of a weirdo? I’m sorry. I’m Seokmin, my friends call me DK or Dokyeom , whatever. And now I’m rambling, please stop me.”

“No, you’re okay. Can we at least just get off the floor now?”

“Yes.”

Seokmin or Dokyeom whatever his real name actually is, crawled off the floor and stuck his hand out to you for assistance pulling your pink colored body off the floor.

“This is my friend, Soyeon.”

“Sorority sisters?”

“Wait. How’d you know? Oh, fuck the sweater. Don’t tell anyone you saw me wearing this, I know where you live.”

“Don’t worry, I never will. But, sorry to uh, cut this meeting short I have to get to class. I’ll see you again, I’m sure. Bye, nice meeting you y/n. And you too, Soyeon.”

“Bye.”

In unison you and Soyeon watched the tall boy walk towards the elevators. Both of you have differing expressions of looks on your face, one of pure enjoyment watching the awkward interaction and one of pure dumbfoundedness.

“He’s cute.”

Soyeon brought you out of staring at the boy walking away and stepping into the elevator, throwing his fingers up waving goodbye while clutching his mounds of books in his hands.

“What?”

“I said he’s cute and he’s your neighbor. Lucky girl.”

“Oh. Yeah, I can’t believe I’ve never met him before.”

“Why don’t you ask him out?”

“We just met. Plus, I’m busy with school and now this stupid pageant. I don’t have time for cute boys.”

“I’m sure you can make it work.”

Unlocking your door and letting Soyeon in before you so you can sneak a peek at his front door in front of yours. Plain, just a few funny messages and cute stickers of tangerines and tigers pasted on his whiteboard. Maybe he already has a girlfriend? But a boy like that with that many books is probably much like you and had no time for dating.

“Wait. Y/N your room is so nice? Maybe I should move out of the house. It’s loud as fuck anyway.”

“Why are you in the sorority? I’m not judging because I was basically dragged into it too. I’m just curious?”

“My mom always wanted me to join. She said it’s a good way to find friends, I always had a hard time making them. So I figured why not?”

“Got it. Makes sense.”

“What about you? You also don’t serve sorority girl to me.”

“Because my mom also got me to join, that’s actually how I know Heather. Our moms were co-captains of the sorority at some point in the 80’s.”

“Oh, so you’ve known her your whole life?”

“Mhm.”

“No offense or anything, but she’s… kind of a bitch.”

“Kind of? It’s only gotten worse since she’s been in charge. She was okay when we were younger, but you know.”

Slipping out of your jeans and sweater, you threw on a black pair of pleated pants and a loose white button down.

“Also you have tattoos and a sick body, stop dressing like an old woman.”

“I could never pull off what you wear? You’re so cool and confident.”

“Promise me. One party this year you’ll let me pick out something to wear?”

“Okay.”

“You’re very trusting.”

“What? You’re going to make me wear a hot pink dress and try to dye my hair blonde too?”

“Hell no.”

“Exactly.”

Hours passed on as you were getting to know Soyeon more, a part of you realized what you had been missing meeting girls outside of your own circle at school.

People who share your interests and enjoy talking about things other than clothes, shoes, and boys.

It was actually the least stressed you’ve been around someone at the sorority in a long time. Almost like a breath of fresh air.

Getting out of the Uber you took filled to the brim with alcohol and snacks, you were back at the big White House at the end of the street. Not a flaw in sight. Almost like it wasn’t a real reality.

“Should we ditch the diner? We could always go see my friend play at the bar across campus instead?”

“I would love nothing more, but Heather will have my head shaved or something.”

“Okay, well when we ditch later we can head there.”

“It’s a date.”

“Ew, you’re so corny. Save it for your new lover boy across the hall.”

“Shut up.”

Soyeon and you laughed, dragging the last box up the stairs into the foyer of the house. Met with the blonde at the bottom of the stairs.

“There you guys are! I was going to send a search and rescue team to come for you if you didn’t show up soon.”

“We got a little distracted. Sorry.”

“No problem. You’re here now, Sam go up and get ready, I’ll help y/n from here.”

“Okay.”

Soyeon or Sam, picked her poison and shoved down Heather still calling her by the wrong name and walked up to her room to change and get ready for the rest of her night. While you were stuck unpacking the boxes.

“Y/n. Don’t forget to look out for the boys everyone brings tonight. We can pick one from the litter for your Nottie.”

“Look, Heather-“

“I know what you’re going to say and don’t even think about asking me if you can drop out of the pageant, okay?”

“I just don’t think it’s worth it or fair anymore, why don’t we just get the other frat guys to do it? Like Mingyu or Wonwoo, Johnny? I don’t know. I don’t want to make anyone feel uncomfortable.”

“You raise a good point. And it gives me an idea.”

“Which is?”

“We have the other frats competing too, we’ll get more payout and the three uglies will be more profitable than ever for us. You’re so smart.”

“That’s not wha-“

“Ah! I’m so lucky to have you. I’ll let everyone know.”

Heather bounced off into the other room, texting rapidly with her manicured hands on her cell phone, making the fire bigger.

With your head spinning around and around you don’t even remember walking your way to the diner waiting for the freshman girls to bring their guys along to the large table set for someone’s embarrassment.

Taking a seat near the end of the table next to Soyeon and Heather on your other side, you sat and sipped at the Diet Coke in front of you, feeling your mix of anxiety and angel swirling in your stomach and begging for something a little stronger.

“Are you feeling okay?”

Soyeon leaned over and whispered into your ear, seeing the look on your face and noticing your obvious quietness.

“I’ll tell you after.”

“Okay, if you want to go early, let me know.”

“I will”

Heather had her vulture eyes on, waiting to see which she would inevitably have embarrassed by the groups around you with no remorse.

She looked into your eyes and signaled to a cute shy boy across the table, sitting and picking at his nails, making it clear she had made her mark.

“Let me use the bathroom first okay?”

“Yeah, of course. You wouldn’t want to miss it.”

“Right.”

Walking briskly into the old blue stalls in the bathroom, which you didn't even really have to use, but just needed an excuse to go somewhere and release your anxiety.

“Y/n? Hey. Y/n?”

Seeing Soyeon’s platform heels under the bottom of the stall door you jumped up and swung your head out of the blue metal.

“What?”

“Remember that guy you met today?”

“Yes, of course why?”

“He’s here.”

“Someone brought him?”

“No. He’s here with his two friends and Heather invited them to the table. One of them is that dude that’s friends with Mingyu with the that acts like a tiger, the hot nerdy one, and the other one is just some hot short buff guy, never seen him before. Anyway, We either have to get out of here right now or stay and hide in here until they're gone.” L

“Why don’t we just go-“

“No. I don’t want him to think you’re a bitch? Are you crazy? You can’t go dunking on nerds in front of three hot dudes?”

“Okay let’s go.”

As the two of you tried to make your exit from the ladies room you heard commotion outside in the dining room, so you both slipped back quickly into the bathroom, locking the door for some reason as you head the chairs scooting and the bell ringing meaning people were slipping out on one of the boys at the table.

“You think they're gone?”

“Yeah. I hear the sink running in the men’s room, come on.”

As you walked out of the bathroom in front of you Seokmin was sitting at the table covered in a turkey club sandwich looking at the long tab Heather left for him.

“Hey, what are you doing here?”

“Your ‘sisters’ dumped a sandwich on me and left the tab? Do you guys do this a lot?”

“It’s just some stupid shit Heather came up with when she became president. Me and y/n were hiding in the bathroom so we could come and pay the tab. But, you got to it first.”

“Right.”

Not saying anything and standing in your tracks cold, you watched as Soyeon took the check from his hands and waved you on to help him as she went up to pay.

“She dumped her food on you?”

“Yeah, my friends and I were just coming for takeout. I saw Soyeon so I went to say hi and she wanted to come get you. But the blonde girl,”

“Heather.”

“Yeah, Heather. She told me to sit down for a second and my friends went back to their dorm so they could keep studying and deliver food to some other guys. She was okay at first, but once Soyeon left she dumped her soda and sandwich on me and when I came back they were all gone.”

“I’m so sorry? Let me get you dry cleaning money or something.”

“No, don’t worry about it. I can handle it. I’m glad you two were here though, I don’t have my wallet on me. Are you okay though? Have you been crying?”

“I’m fine, just had a moment.”

The small black haired girl popped back over, tucking her card back into her wallet and smiling at the two of you sitting and talking with Seokmin covered in an orange beverage, a little bit of lettuce stuck in his hair.

“Want to come to a party?”

“If it’s at the sorority then sorry, no thanks.”

“No. It’s just some of my friends from the music department. They’re playing a show at O’Malley’s.”

“I don’t think orange soda is really a good look for a party.”

“That’s okay, y/n has to go change too. You guys just meet me there? I’m going to head out and get us a table.”

“Well I do owe you guys both a drink. So, sure.”

“Oh, and Seokmin?”

“Yeah?”

“Make sure y/n actually comes back out, she’s hard to get her hands on.”

“Of course.”

Walking back to your somewhat shared dorm, you and Seokmin walked in silence past greek row, watching all the girls running around to get ready for a greeting ceremony to the frat houses as escorts to their party.

The boy looked at you up and down, imagining you inside one of those grand houses gossiping and dishing on sister life just trying to figure out why you joined in the first place, your friend included.

Reaching your destination with only smiles and small giggles shared between the two of you on the walk over, you both slid into your dorm rooms and found clothes that were far more suitable for a night out.

You noticed the black tank top Soyeon had pointed out before and slid it on, matching it with a pair of dark ripped jeans and your go-to loafers, sliding back into the hallway, finding Seokmin on the other side of the door waiting for you.

He was somehow on your wavelength wearing an oversized black t-shirt and jeans.

“I figured I should try to match Soyeon's aesthetic somehow.”

“Me too. You look nice, I like your shoes.”

“Thank you.”

“Shall we?”

“Yes. I definitely need a drink.”

“So, y/n what is your drink of choice.”

“Anything strong and not sweet.”

“Oh, so not me then.”

“Shut up.”

Seokmin made you laugh, there was no way a boy like him was not taken or at least could be interested in you.

“Have you and Soyeon been friends for long? You guys seem close.”

“Actually, not really. We hung out for the first time today. I mean, I’ve seen her at parties and stuff, but she’s sort of been like a breath of fresh air for me.”

“Really? I’m surprised by that. Why are you in the sorority anyway? You don’t exactly have the same.. Vibe? Or whatever as the other girls. Especially the ones I met today.”

“My mom. The girl. Heather. Soda spiller, her mom and mine were friends when we were kids, they're legacy members. So I just thought it would be fun, but now.. I don’t feel that way.”

“Can’t you just quit?”

“I guess.”

“Why don’t you want to?”

“I guess I just want to be someone who sees things through. I also can’t offer Heather the satisfaction of knowing I left.”

“She really is that bad huh?”

“Worse. It’s a long story. Can we table it?”

“Of course.”

Reaching the door of the bar, you caught a glimpse of Soyeon’s shoulder tattoo near the stage, through the large crowd of people mingling.

“Go. I’ll order us drinks and meet you there?”

“You sure?”

“You said you needed it right?”

“What about your wallet?”

“Apple pay, y/n. Duh.”

“Your ID?”

“My friend is the bartender, just go.”

“So sassy.”

Walking your way through the crowd by pushing yourself through other bodies you finally reach the girl on the other side and wrap your arm around her waist as a hello.

“What the- Oh my god, you actually came? You look so hot. I’m proud.”

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s fine. Where’s the puppy?”

“At the bar grabbing drinks.”

“On the leash already? You’re good.”

“No. He’s just nice.”

“True. But, he also likes you.”

“I don’t think it’s like that, but maybe someday you’ll tell me I told you so.”

“I look forward to it. I saved you guys a table.”

“My girl.”

Soyeon gestured her long manicured fingers behind you, noticing the boy making his way with two glasses in his hands and another tall figure following behind him holding a tray with various things on top.

“Hi, Soyeon.”

“Hi, Keom. Thank you for joining us. Who’s the glasses?”

“My friend Wonwoo, he works here, well he just got off. Is it cool if he joins us?”

“Of course.”

“Nice to meet you, Wonwoo. I’m y/n.”

“Hey.”

“So. Since I didn’t get to ask Soyeon what she wanted and I wasn’t entirely sure what you liked. We brought over options. But, we have to finish them all because Wonwoo was nice enough to gift them to us and it’s unfair to not accept gifts.”

“Very charming.”

You made your second flirty comment of the night to Seokmin, even though your sober self normally isn’t entirely as bold as you find yourself being with him now. But, in all fairness you were just trying to catch his vibe. He didn’t respond verbally, but just scrunched his nose in your direction almost as if he was letting you know that he’s interested.

“First, a simple vodka soda, little lemon, then just a couple of beer options, this is a sour, this is just a simple light beer, and an ipa, which ew, but I think Wonwoo likes, some tequila shots and some lemon drop shots, also a whiskey soda and a jack and coke, and then a uh, gin and tonic i think? Right, Woo?”

“Yeah, maybe you should be the bartender, Seokmin.”

“I have other talents.”

All eight of your hands reach every which way around the table and end up with different drinks sat in front of them, you beelined for the vodka and the sour beer, Soyeon went for the whiskey soda and the tequila, Seokmin for the gin and tonic and light beer, and Wonwoo for the jack and coke and the ipa.

“Who wants what shot?”

Soyeon dipped her arm back to the middle of the table covering her eyes with her opposite hand, grabbing a hold of the small glasses very carefully and placing them around the small group.

“There. Decided for you, me and Wonwoo get tequila and you and Seokmin get lemon.”

Smiling widely at your friend next to you, you grabbed a hold of the shot glass and held it up signaling everyone to cheers. Which they all happily obliged.

Soon after the alcohol was going through your bloodstream the band started playing their music that hit you right in the chest, songs about living your life to the fullest and choosing your own path, much to your surprise Soyeon was the one who wrote the music that spoke to your soul.

After the set ended, Wonwoo and Soyeon wanted to stay back and have a few more drinks to congratulate their friends, and enjoy their night, but you were beat thinking about all the work you still had to do over the weekend and dreading the choice of man Heather would embarrass. So you decided to leave with Seokmin walking you back safely to your dorm.

“What are you studying again?”

“Me? Oh, I’m studying to be a veterinarian.”

“Wow really? That’s cool, I didn’t know. You must be busy as hell.”

“I’m sure you’re just as busy, being a doctor for actual humans is way more complicated considering a lot of them are assholes.”

“That’s unfortunately true. But, I love it to be honest. I can understand why people are afraid of the hospital and surgery I guess.”

“That’s good, maybe we should study together sometime? I know it’s not the same exact thing or whatever, but it’s nice to have company?”

“I would love that, tomorrow? I mean if you’re free. We can go to the coffee shop or library or anything really?”

“Yeah, just knock around 10?”

“Okay. Cool. I’ll see you tomorrow??”

“Yes, absolutely. Have a good night, y/n”

“You too, Seok.”

Trying to get comfortable in your bed, some pesky person kept lighting up your phone screen, reaching over to turn on do not disturb you and realized it was Heather. She was asking a bunch of interrogating questions about your new friend Seokmin, begging you to bring him over tomorrow.

Unfortunately for you, you knew her interest in him was about to make your new relationship a very complicated one.

[yandere-kokeshi]

hello! good day to you! can I request yandere hobie brown with a gn! reader that came from royal family. Like the reader is a princess/ prince! Feel free to deny this request :)

Warnings: yandere behavior

A/N: this idea is making me foam at the mouth! Thank you for requesting <33

A relationship that nobody, including himself, would think he would get into. Both of you are likely complete opposites. It’s possible you may have a refined speech and often wear clothes that a lot of people would assume you are bratty or at least spoiled rotten.

While Hobie isn’t one to wear bright and poofy clothes, he does love seeing it on you. Whenever you get excited to try on new clothes you've bought, he always lays back on the bed watching you rant about it, making him smirk.

Bows down to you whenever you pass by him, always jokingly saying ‘your highness’ (like when Miguel got angry at him in the movie) he adores seeing you laugh, especially with your smile widening largely. And yes, he’ll even do it when he gets food for the two of you; always asking for a kiss for ‘going into battle for ya’,’.

He will often ask about your family, wondering what they do and since you were born in a high royal family, he always asks if you had it easy or hard. Either way, when he does get a chance to meet your parents, they’ll be in for a surprise.

But, Hobie is very respectful of your parents. Especially when you tell him to knock it off if he’s being annoying or stretching it too far. While he doesn’t understand the whole ‘first impression’ meeting, he will do it out of respect for you.

If you love flowers, he’ll make sure to get a bunch of them - recreating his bouquets and making it both of your ‘themes’ of styles. At some point, if he’s in the mood for romance, he’ll put some flowers behind your ear and kiss you on the cheek.

Jewelry may be something you like, to which Hobie immediately hooks on and makes sure he decorates you with his designs - often making your bracelets, necklaces, and earrings if you have them pierced. Let’s not forget that he made you a special necklace made out of silver and connected to his guitar pick.

If you go out of your way to do things for him, especially make things that fit your type of style, he will wear them confidently and take no shit from anyone. No matter how ‘bad’ it looks, he always reassures you that it’s pretty and he’ll wear it. However, he will die from cuteness if you decide to make a necklace of a heart for him.

Though, out of respect, he won’t be wearing it when he knows he gonna be doing missions. He doesn’t want to get it ruined.

Flower crowns are something you may also be a fan of, and Hobie lets you put them on him all the time. Sometimes, he’s met with Gwen and Miguel wearing one, the colorful white flowers and green vines decorating his hair as he just raises his eyebrows and says, ‘What? Somethin’ on my face?’

Hobie would love to teach you how to play guitar, something he’d love as it means he gets to get closer to you. Being able to move your hands, teaching you the way of the different cords of strings and telling you to keep it easy.

—

Masterlist || Please consider reblogging and commenting instead of liking, it helps me as a creator!! Stay well!!

© yandere-kokeshi 2023 — Do not copy, modify, edit, repost, or use my works for ASMR readings, tiktoks, or other content.

[blackhairedjjun]

flowers of every color | 1. irises

overall summary: when your father is assigned as the new head gardener to the royal family, you are also tasked with helping him maintain the castle's many gardens and extensive floral arrangements. by chance you find yourself crossing paths with the "ice-cold" crown prince, choi yeonjun... who turns out to be not as ice-cold as everyone says he is.

chapter summary: as the head gardener’s child, you are introduced to the castle and to the royal family. your first task: deliver a fresh bouquet of flowers to the crown prince’s bedroom. thankfully, the task is not as bad as it seems.

word count: 1.6k

warnings: illness, one instance of the word “dammit”

author’s note: this chapter is VERY rough, since i wrote it before i turned this fic into a series. it wasn’t planned, and i wrote it in one sitting as “hey what if i explored this idea” kind of thing. i may go back and post an edited version, but only if i have the time and energy.

masterlist | next

after the old gardener passes away from old age, your father, who is already renowed in your region for his excellent green thumb, is appointed as the new royal gardener for the house of choi. you've always been your father’s assistant in his gardening work, so pack up your things and move into the castle complex. the next few days are a whirlwind of touring the castle and especially the surrounding grounds; there are multiple gardens bursting with all sorts of flowers, trees, and shrubs. 

all throughout your main point of contact has been with the chamberlain and with various servants tasked with helping your father manage the gardens. you meet the king and queen only once, when they meet you and your father in the main garden to give you their official welcome. you do not see their only son, the crown prince. the king and queen say that he is feeling unwell, but you have heard of the rumors about the “ice-cold” prince choi yeonjun. he is an arrogant one, they say, and turns up his nose at the thought of meeting commoners. perhaps that is the true reason why he failed to meet you, you think.

after the first few days of touring and briefing, you are given your first official task. it’s a simple one: replace the flowers in the vase of the crown prince’s bedroom using the ones in the royal greenhouse. you can’t help but feel an odd mixture of curiosity and nervousness at this task - you’ll finally see just how ice-cold the prince is, but you don’t look forward to having that coldness directed at you.

but duties are duties, so on one quiet morning, you make your way to the prince’s bedroom. the door is slightly ajar, but you knock anyway out of politeness (and to avoid receiving his scorn).

“your majesty?”

no answer.

you knock again, just to make sure, but there’s still no response. perhaps he isn’t in his room, you think -- royal duties are time-consuming, after all.

you let yourself in and spot the flower vase at the other side of the room. as you make your way to it and take out the old wilted flowers, you glance at the prince’s bed. it’s a fine four-poster bed, but it’s covered in all manner of sheets and quilts, and the bedside table is no better with the mass of jugs and half-filled water glasses on top of it. you sigh. surely even a prince has the dignity to clean up after hims--

cough! cough!

your thoughts are interrupted by a violent coughing fit, followed by a pained groan.

oh. you’re wrong. not only is yeonjun still here, but he’s also actually unwell.

still, you don’t want to disturb him too much, so you place the new flowers in the vase as quickly as you can and tiptoe out of the room. before you can make your way to the door, however, his voice calls out, scratchy and hoarse: “w-who’s there?”

you stop in your tracks and, unsure what to do, bow in front of the four-poster bed. “i’m sorry to disturb you, your majesty,” you stammer, and you hastily introduce yourself with your name and your new position. “i was just repla--”

“stay, please...”

“...your majesty?”

he repeats your name and is interrupted by another coughing fit.

at this point you realize it would be awful to just leave a sick person there, crown prince or not, so you make your way to the four-poster bed. yeonjun is buried underneath the mass of sheets, and you realize just how awful he looks. his face is pale, and his eyes look tired. immediately you feel guilty for trying to leave him, and for thinking that he intentionally snubbed you and your father when he was probably feeling much worse a few days ago.

his hand comes out from underneath the sheets and reaches out for yours. hesitantly, you take it. his palms are clammy.

“can you stay for a bit, please?” he asks again. he’s pouting now and looking at you with sincere eyes.

“ah- your majesty,” you stammer, but your words are jumbled as you try to speak. "i was only supposed to - the flowers - i’m not supposed to stay - i’m the gardener’s...”

“then i’ll...” he pauses to regain some of his energy. when he speaks again, his voice is softer. “i’ll tell them i asked for you. i’ll tell them not to punish you, okay? it’ll be my fault.”

you soften at his words and the guilt starts to eat at you again. here he was sticking his neck out for you; how could you have seriously believed that he was a cold man?

“please,” he repeats, “can you stay, even for a b--”

he starts coughing again, covering his mouth with his free hand. it strikes you at that moment that it doesn’t matter whether yeonjun is the prince or not - he’s a sick man who’s lonely and tired, and wants a little company to make the illness a little more bearable. you remember what it’s like to be sick in bed all alone, fending for yourself while your father is away doing work. 

“...okay,” you say at last. “i’ll stay.”

it takes all of yeonjun’s energy to move aside so that you can sit on the edge of the bed, but he does anyway. you sit with him, and he doesn’t let go of your hand, and the silence is surprisingly less unnerving than you expected it to be. you look around the room, taking in the fine furniture and lavish decor, occasionally sparing a glance at yeonjun staring up at the ceiling and trying to get some rest. it’s a nice room, you think, especially with the morning sunlight coming in through the large windows.

at some point, when you think that yeonjun has fallen asleep, you absentmindedly starting singing a song to yourself. you remember a lovely, lighthearted ballad that you and your father like to sing together while you two do the routine work of the gardens: watering, pulling away weeds, adding in fertilizer. you smile as you sing to yourself, thinking of all the work you’ve done together and all the work you still have to do in this castle.

“...pretty.”

your eyes widen and you glance down at yeonjun smiling at you from the bed. turns out he wasn’t asleep after all.

“e-excuse me?”

“your voice is pretty,” he repeats. “can you sing that again?”

you can’t help the blush that creeps up on your cheeks at his compliment, and you oblige.

---

it’s been five days since the incident in yeonjun’s room, and since then you’ve been so busy managing the gardens with your father that you haven’t had time to even think about what happened. the royal grounds are huge, with entire sections due for replanting, and you and your father set to work making sure that all the right seasonal flowers are planted in time for them to bloom. you two are also in charge of the various floral decorations adorning the castle, and it’s your responsibility to make sure that every flower in every vase in the whole space is as fresh as new.

you find yourself in the royal greenhouse one afternoon tending to some irises that are almost ready to be planted in the western gardens. you’re so busy inspecting them, checking their soil and plucking out any leaves and buds that look eaten by pests, that you don’t notice someone enter through the greenhouse door.

“excuse me,” a voice calls out, “ is y/n here?”

you whip your head and are startled to find yeonjun in the greenhouse with you. you almost drop your shears but manage to bow at him, and when you look up at him again you realize just how handsome he is. now that he’s recovered you can admire his cat-like eyes, his soft cheeks, his full lips. he really does look like a prince straight out of a storybook, you muse.

“your majesty! i - are you feeling better?!”

he smiles at you. his whole face lights up when he smiles, and he seems even more handsome to you now. “yes, i am. i wanted to thank you, y/n,” he says. “for staying with me when i was sick.”

you feel yourself blush again and you glance down at the irises to hide your expression. “uh, you’re welcome... and i’m glad you’re okay now.”

once again the old feelings of guilt creep up back onto you. no way on earth was this the same man that people called an ice-cold prince.

“you didn’t have to come here,” you say. you lift a hand to brush against the petals of the irises to distract yourself. “you feeling better is enough.”

“no, no, i wanted to!” yeonjun takes a step closer to you. “i really, really mean it. i was feeling bored and lonely when i was sick... you helped me. so thank you.”

you look up at him again, and the warmth from his words is greater than any amount of sunlight entering the greenhouse. you can’t help but smile yourself.

if you could hear his thoughts, you would hear him musing on how beautiful you look when you smile.

“you’re welcome, then,” you say.

[httpsyoungho]

when i first heard ‘what makes you beautiful’ for the first time all the way back in 2012, my 9-10 year old self was hooked. from that day on i was like a super fan of one direction. i remember getting ‘up all night’ for my birthday that same year, binge watching the video diaries they made during their x-factor days, watching anything and everything pertaining to those boys. i saved up allowance money to buy ‘take me home’, bought the unofficial books from book fairs at school, posters, shirts, drinking cups, etc. anything that had them on it, i was begging my mom to buy it. i remember getting our moment for christmas and it was the first real perfume that i’ve ever gotten. over the years, more and more memorabilia entered my little collection some of which i still own and hold near and dear to my heart today like those perfume bottles and my tickets to the ‘this is us’ movie. my bedroom had handmade art of liam and zayn’s tattoos, quotes they’ve said, lyrics, photos of the boys that i would use up all my mom’s printer ink to print, etc. i ran three separate fan accounts; one on instagram, one on tumblr and one on twitter. it was a full time job posting about them. i was a big niall and louis girl, my profile pics were always flower crown edits of them, my bios were either lyric quotes or just something they’ve said in interviews, etc.

i was never the girl that got to see them perform live but it was something that even as a little girl i wished for, every tour they announced, i wished that i’d win a radio contest, sweepstakes or just get tickets by some stroke of luck.

to say that the members of one direction meant and still mean so much to me is an understatement. i grew up with them, they sort of raised me. i remember crying when zayn left in 2015. i was unfortunately apart of that large bit of directioners that had twitter beef with naughty boy. i remember being there when it was announced louis was going to be a dad and the whole “conchobar” name incident. i remember exactly where i was when i read the hiatus news that eventually became a disbandment. the tears of shed for these 5 lads was insane.

so when i found out that liam had passed away i was and still am distraught. i never knew him personally, never met him, never had any interaction with the guy except when he replied to a question of mine on a tiktok live i believe it was. i have cried on and off for the past two days. it’s difficult to listen or even look at anything pertaining to one direction without feeling such an overwhelming amount of sadness. i’ve had old mutuals that have reactivated their fan accounts reach out and we’ve just cried about this together. i understand that the man he became wasn’t ideal and that he greatly needed help but he still meant so much to me and other people. he was bombarded with hate in the last moments of his life and i just wished he knew that he was loved and people will always have love for him.

i always thought this was something that i would have to think about until i was in my 60s. i never in my early twenties thought i’d ever hear about a member of one direction passing away.

i honestly hope that his family, friends and his son, bear, are doing okay during this time. loss is something that we don’t really expect or know how to process especially when it’s so sudden like this. everyone closest to him are definitely in my thoughts and prayers right now.

fly high, liam 🕊️

[anonymoushouseplantfan]

Episode 2

They’re in NY. It’s November 2021. They are running away from paparazzi that…aren’t there? Meghan says there was a guy recording them in the basement but the footage is Kate and Diana. Lol, they are in the NJ Turnpike pretending they are being followed by paps. This is bizarre and hilarious.

More bitching about social media harassment, which is apparently a bunch of Twitter posts. 

Doria does a confessional. Why isn’t Doria pretending she didn’t know who Harry was? Didn’t she get the brief? How does the yoga teacher know about the royals but the Northwestern International Relations graduate does not? She knew right away too. It’s a weird disconnect and the show is full of them. Every two minutes they say something that makes you go “Whaaaaaat? Didn’t they just say….”

Relationship breaks. They “felt tremendous relief.” Of course they did. They leaked it. No mention of the Reitman’s collection or the fact that this was leaking during on of Charles’ big trips. No spooning bananas instagram pic either.

Tatcha CEO is credited as “friend.” Wellness podcaster “friend.” Former agent.  Lol, these people are business associates, not friends. First mention of Meghan’s fauxlantropist work, which baffles me as they should have led with that. “Childhood friend” of Harry’s that I never heard of shows up again. Harry really was ringing up everyone in the Eton yearbook trying to find some desperate classmate hungry for exposure. Montage of the press Sunshine Sachs and Nina Crowne set up for her—UN, Rwanda, etc…. They did nice work and they should have spent more time on this. But maybe not. Someone may start wondering what happened to her passion for Rwandan women’s political rights, hygiene, and menstrual pads. But if you pay for an expensive pr makeover you should use it.

According to Tom Bower she was paying SS $7500/mo and I’m amazed at what a good pr company can do with a four figure monthly stipend. The “classy” makeover lasted three months so they turned her into a humanitarian princess for less than $25k. Impressive.

Flower shop pap walk. Interesting choice since this wasn’t the first pap shot of Meghan and she seems to imply it was. The first pap shot was days earlier at her house and she had a security team with her. I wonder why she picked the flower shop shot which is actually a lot less intrusive (in appearance at least) than the real first pic. Maybe because she had security in the earlier picture? Meghan claims there were 8 or 9 paps at the flower shop but there’s only one video so that seems unlikely. Shop wasn’t anywhere near her house also. Rumor was Marcus took this shot. Maybe she was trying to send some money his way by using his pic.

Stock video of paps because she has no video of paps chasing her of course. Pics of official royal events. 

Back to Toronto. Lol, those are clearly security guards in her porch and not paps. Ditto with her landlord’s security cameras. I think there was a DM article when those went up and Legion Media’s pic still states that those cameras were mounted on what was Meghan’s garage and not on her neighbor’s house as the documentary implies. 

At least she doesn’t mention the fake break-in. Guess she knows that won’t fly anymore. But still, how can you show video from the cameras in front of the house and then claim the cameras in the back were from the neighbors? Obviously the house had cameras in the back too.

[Edited to add: She says Toronto police didn't protect her and the police strongly disagree.]

“My face was everywhere, my life was everywhere.” She blames the tabloids, but that wasn’t true. You were leaking stories to US Weekly and Lainey every other day, girl. It was part of your “classy” makeover. No mention of that weird video of Ivy Mulroney that was sent to the DM. Odd since you would think that would be a big intrusion, if it had been done by a pap.

“There were things that were said and things that were written that I had to go to her to ask.” That would be the cheating on Cory and Del Zotto, I guess.

Back to LA. My husband asks what she did to her nose. It does look weird in this shot.

Doria and Meghan tour LA and Meghan’s life was not that interesting. This should have been edited, heavily. I do love that she sold the same childhood pics her dad sold. Like father, like daughter. Dish soap commercial. My husband asks how much plastic surgery she has had because she looks nothing like her old self. Interesting that he’s only half-watching and his main impressions are drugs and plastic surgery.

Racism and media persecution. Wait, some of these pics are from before the relationship broke. They are from the paps she hired during her European vacation with Jess. 

Academic guy blames the UK tabloids for fanning the madness. No mention of Omid Scobie and USWeekly, who were the ones steadily pushing the romance narrative with stories about Charles meeting her at Birkhall and William meeting her at Kensington Palace, as well as their vacation plans.

And Lainey Liu was boasting that the US mags were getting the scoops and not the UK tabloids because Harry was feeding the stories only to the US. So why blame the UK tabloids, Harry? You knew what you were doing. They could finesse this in 2016 when no one knew that Lainey was friends with Meghan and that Omid was their mouthpiece, but that is not the case anymore. Their unofficial biographer was leaking these stories in 2016. It was not the UK tabloids! 

And then there was Meghan herself, Instagramming all over the place.

Whole Foods pap walk. According to Tom Bower, Richard Kay was the guy who got the pic. Unbelievable. That actually surprised me. No wonder that detail was never released. No one would have believed that Diana's big confidante just randomly noticed Meghan walking into KP.

Kensington Palace statement. No mention of William supporting the statement. No mention of the Caribbean tour that got overshadowed by the romance.

 NAACP award really was in front of a green screen with an applause soundtrack.  LOLOLOLOL. It looks so sad, particularly when compared to the footage of the royal events. I think this is supposed to show that their life is better than before (They get awards! In front of green screens!) but it gives the exact opposite impression.

Harry with the hummingbird feeder also looks sad and pathetic. Archie could be in Africa petting elephants but he’s in Cali admiring hummingbirds instead.

Meghan’s personal assistant talks about how she would be recognized in the Toronto grocery stores. Lol, no. She wishes!

Security stuff, including complaints about paps around the Suits trailers which seems odd to me since those are pretty standard for television productions. Also, why are the Invictus Games pictures intrusive? Suits security guy says they were coordinating her security with the palace and “they would handle that stuff.” Interesting detail since she claims she wasn’t protected by the palace and Harry was “hearing this from miles away, completely helpless.” Apparently, she was protected and from day one. Did they watch this before they sent it to Netflix? Did they not notice that half the stuff they put in it contradicts the other half? 

Boring stuff…April 2017 already? They are booking flights to Pippa’s wedding and her Vanity Fair photoshoot through texts. LOL, she was doing a huge interview at the time, but she’s complaining about media intrusion. Make it make sense.

Pics with friends riding bikes. Old pic in her Toronto kitchen. Did they use this one twice? I would not have used it even once. Wait, was this what she was wearing when she met Will and Kate? LOLOLOLOL. “That formality carried over in real life.” I guess Kate was wearing shoes when she met Meghan. The nerve of that girl!

Andrew helped them ambush the Queen at Royal Lodge. That got leaked to Scobie at US Weekly too.

“How do you explain that you have to bow to your grandmother?” Uh, she was like….The Queen? What part of that is hard to understand?

She just compared meeting the Queen to Medieval Times. Wow. Big, exaggerated curtsy. She sounds and looks like an idiot. Fergie said she did great. Of course she did. She didn’t know how to curtsy? How does someone go through high school theater in the United States of Disney without knowing how to curtsy? [Edited: HRH Emilie found a clip of a curtsy scene she did for Suits because of course she did]

His family was impressed. LOL, I don’t think so. The actress thing was the biggest problem…wait, wasn’t her race the biggest problem? Can’t they keep their stories straight?

Interestingly the very first Blind Gossip blind was about how her profession was the problem and not her race. I suspected these blinds came from the Yorks and now I feel pretty good about that guess.

Meghan’s career. No blow-job or cocaine scene. No mention of her old blog. Interesting. I guess I can sort of understand that, but no mention of Trevor either? Are they going to pretend she was never married? No stories about being poor and crawling out of the back of her dad’s old truck either.

First biracial character? Eh, no. Meg was the glue for a lot of those cast relationships, but only one cast members participated in the documentary. Did no one do a consistency check on this show?

Screenshot of the Tig…with Cory front and center. That is hilarious because I don’t think they’ve mentioned him yet. Okay, now I’m sure Meghan didn’t watch this before it went live. She would have caught that and asked them to use a different shot.

“I didn’t want to find the great indie film that would win me an Oscar. I just wanted to volunteer.” She was literally releasing an indie film at this time. It was terrible. This documentary is like a lie-a-thon. Every other statement is a complete lie.

UN Speech. Is the crowd shot a stock picture (or archival picture, whichever is the right term)?  It feels edited in. Jump to September 2021 at the UN. Okay, so the whole point of that meeting was the documentary. We knew that.

Proposal. He couldn’t do it outside the UK? Everyone else has done so outside the UK. What are you talking about, Harry?

Also, no mention of her appearance at Invictus Games? How come none of their charities are getting shout-outs? No mention of the “Mad About Harry” Vanity Fair article or the backlash and you’d think that would be a big deal because she eventually called it racist, no? I guess they don’t want to admit that she was feeding the flames of press coverage.

Funny how they aren’t bitching about the UK tabloids harassing her after the moved to the UK. Could it be because the tabloids were not reporting on that…but Lainey and Hello! Canada (Where Jess started leaking after US Weekly got bought out by National Enquirer and Omid got fired) did.

She got the proposal on video. That’s is hilarious. He proposed with fake candles in their yard. How…tacky. Penguin onesies? Why would you want to tell the world that? I’d love some inside info as to how they pitched this to the director. “Sure the palace made sure our engagement sounded glamorous and romantic, but we are not about that. We want to tell them about the LED candles and penguin onesies. It will make us look cheap and tacky? Of course not, everyone will think we are fun and relatable.”

Cheesy Calvin Klein perfume ad engagement pictures with hideously expensive feather dress. We thought that was super tacky and we didn’t even know about the LED candles and penguin onesies. No mention of how much the dress cost or the backlash it caused. Lots of interviews about how excited people were. 

Engagement photocall was a lot more glamorous than anything they’ve done for this documentary. The royals really know how to manage occasions. Hard to believe these two are the same couple from the grainy proposal video. Goes to show how persuasive good pr can be. They almost looked regal.

Brexit? Boris Johnson? Really? Intrusion into the lives of the royal family was due to…Brexit and anti-immigration sentiment? I swear this documentary is like Mad Libs. They are just throwing stuff out at random. Paparazzi….penguin onesies….racism…..Brexit…. The Brexit referendum was in June 2016 and the engagement was in November 2017 so I’m not sure why they are even bringing it up. 

“They are just trying to destroy me.” The Brexit movement was trying to destroy her? 

It’s over. Wait, they didn’t mention her prior marriage at all??? Lolololol. Brexit is apparently more relevant to her story than her previous marriage. I guess that’s why she didn’t add her first wedding pics and the weed wedding favors to the list of press intrusions. The “phone hack” wasn’t mentioned either or the leaked topless pic. I guess she’s still pretending those weren’t pictures of her.

We seem to be at the engagement and there have been some other interesting omissions, namely Skippy’s wedding and Pippa’s wedding. Weird because you’d think Skippy’s wedding would be a perfect example of press intrusion too. I understand why they left out Pippa’s wedding though. Kinda awkward to admit Pippa invited you to her intimate, family wedding in the same episode where you call her sister “formal.” 

Plus Audi polo, the birthday trip in Africa, Vanity Fair, Invictus…they all got left out. This episode curated the timeline to make it look like Meghan did nothing to encourage coverage and press speculation, and that is far from the truth. Her family is also missing and they were stirring the pot all through this time period. They were talking to the press basically every month.

My husband lost interest at this point. He had no comments other than to say her nose looked fake and the pap chase was fake. The group chat discussed whether they truly thought they had a pap chasing them. Everyone thought that was fake because the camerawork was too perfect. They scoffed at the Medieval Times comment and the curtsy. Someone laughed at the Oscar comment. 

This was pretty boring. The fake pap chase was the best part.

BTW, Tumblr has a 10-link limit now? How annoying.

On to the next episode.

[miffy-junot]

Paul Gavarni and the Junots

A portrait of Constance Aubert, née Junot d'Abrantès, by Paul Gavarni, December 1839.

In the appendix of a biography of Laure Junot sent to me by my friend @apurpledust, I found some poems and an article by the French writer and illustrator Paul Gavarni relating to the Junot family. Laure Junot and her daughters Josephine and Constance were all published writers, and inhabited the same artistic social circle that Gavarni did.

Article by Gavarni about the last volume of the second edition of "Memoirs of the Duchess d'Abrantès", published after her death:

Here we have arrived at the last page of these memoirs of a great lady written by a woman artist: a book in which two celebrities merge, each of which would have sufficed for many ambitions. And as struck as we are by such a rich organization, we are even more struck by the feeling of personal dignity which sustained and developed it. Madame d'Abrantés was a very rare example of this true greatness that events could not achieve. A storm carries away an empire around it, then the years come; she lost almost a throne; and yet she remained with her forehead raised above the crowd. This is what those who seek life in its beautiful aspects will first find in the books she wrote. Read! Sparkling in spirit, a pretty woman, with this great name, this ducal crown, all this gold, all this glory, with how many tributes, and with what tributes the young Duchess of Abrantés must have been surrounded! And she had to resign herself to losing all this, and, having lost all this, find in the superiority of her intelligence a consolation for so many regrets! and make a new life at fifty! another glory! Have we thought carefully about the true nobility in this courage? We cannot dispute this, we artists, born of the people, so proud of our aristocracy because it comes from us, but who see so much nobility in the work. Madame d'Abrantès worked as none of us could do. She not only wrote four times as much as a man of letters, she also drew, she acted, she composed music; or she dug the flowers in her garden, or classified her herbarium, or even embroidered a few tapestries. Must we add to these works the cares of the world, the visits with which she was besieged all day long, the long evening chats, a busy correspondence, to admire this existence so prodigiously active! These are the laudable things the second half of this life endowed with such diverse fame was filled with. The duchess's days had been brilliant, no doubt; but were these not also glorious for the author of the Amirante de Castille? Shouldn't she have seen with legitimate pride crowding around her this young swarm of artists of whom she had become the queen? These friends will say that it was a golden bee torn from the mantle of the Empire and fallen among us. Also the men who usually gathered at the Duchess of Abrantès' house were of two ages and of two kinds: white-haired men with names born from battles won, and men born with the century and becoming names with books, operas or paintings. We saw her smile at these two aristocracies who claimed her as equals, and by whom she was equally honored. Today I remember a charming remark that she said one evening about these double affections: old Mr. Suchet, the brother of the Duke of Albufera, had come unwell that evening to sit in the corner of a small living room where she runs worried about him, exclaiming: “It’s because I really like my old friends!” Then she turned to some of us, and holding out her hand, as if to stop us from being jealous, she added: “And my young ones too, at least!” We all loved him; young and old, we headed towards Chaillot to pay her a sad and last visit, a last procession, and we took her back to the cemetery of Montmartre: there, when we had a little earth thrown on this coffin which forever took this good friend from us, for every funeral oration we cried.

Below the cut are two poems written by Paul Gavarni on the album of Constance Aubert, the second daughter of Laure and Jean-Andoche Junot:

The first poem:

original French:

Les Rêves.

Quel autre monde rêvez-vous? Et que voulait votre âme errante? Loin d'un présent qui désenchante, Où sont vos pensers les plus doux?

Quels chants vous sont mélodieux? Qu'attend la foi qui vous est chère? Et de quel autel solitaire Voyez-vous le ciel de vos dieux?

Si, de beaux jours trop inconstants Vous avez vu venir l'automne, Pour les roses d'une couronne Regrettez-vous quelques printemps?

Où votre âme dans le lointain, Voit-elle un ange sur la route? La magique voix qu'elle écoute Lui dit-elle: "hier" ou "demain"?

Votre orgueil était-il jaloux Du faste des rois de la terre? Et sur un trône imaginaire En secret vous endormez-vous?

Livrez-vous de vastes Etats A des conquêtes idéales? Rêvez-vous l'éclat des cymbales, La palme ou la mort des combats?

Flattant de plus humbles désirs, Peut-être une muse pensive De quelque image fugitive Rajeunit-elle vos loisirs...

Mais, au charme du souvenir, Tout ce qu'on a se décolore: Le passé, que son prisme dore, Brille aux dépens de l'avenir.

Laissez le poète chanter Des plaisirs où son luth convie: Il prodigue à rêver la vie Le temps qu'il a de la goûter.

Dans les plis d'un manteau royal L'ennui s'enveloppe et se cache, Et, dans les combats, le sang tache Les panneaux du char triomphal.

Un moment peut éterniser Les regrets que laisse une idole Dont la scintillante auréole S'évapore au premier baiser.

Mais l'amour, ce léger sommeil, Ce rêve d'un jour vaut la vie... Et qu'importe à l'âme ravie Ce qu'en peut coûter le réveil?

English translation:

The Dreams

What other world do you dream of? And what did your wandering soul want? Far from a disenchanting present, Where are your sweetest thoughts?

What songs are melodious to you? What does the faith that is dear to you await? And from what lonely altar Do you see the sky of your gods?

If, beautiful days too fickle You saw autumn coming, For the roses of a crown Do you regret some spring?

Where you soul in the distance, Does she see an angel on the road? The magical voice she listens to Did she tell him: "yesterday" or "tomorrow"?

Was your pride jealous Of the splendour of the kings of the earth? And on an imaginary throne Do you fall asleep in secret?

Do you deliver vast states To ideal conquests? Do you dream of the brilliance of cymbals, The palm or the death of combat?

Flattering the humblest desires, Perhaps a pensive muse Of some fleeting image Rejuvenates your leisure...

But, to the charm of memory, Everything we have is fading, The past, that its prism gilds, Shines at the expense of the future.

Let the poet sing Of pleasures where the lute is suitable: He lavishes on dreaming of life The time he has to taste it.

In the folds of a royal cloak Boredom wraps itself up and hides, And, in the battles, blood stains The panels of the triumphant chariot.

A moment can last forever The regrets that an idol leaves Whose sparkling halo Evaporates with the first kiss.

But love, this light sleep, This one-day dream is worth life... And what does it matter to the delighted soul What can waking up cost?

The second poem:

original French:

La Pie de la Prison

Du grain qu'ils ont semé, laissez la fleur éclore. Allez! Margot; la loi leur a permis des fleurs. Eh! quoi, méchant oiseau, vous revenez encore De ce triste jardin becqueter les primeurs!

N'en privez pas au moins leurs jours que rien n'abrège; Les ans laissent ici de bien longues saisons, Margot, et de l'hiver ils n'ont eu que la neige; N'allez pas du printemps leur ôter les bourgeons;

Et qu'au moins du soleil un bouquet les console. Demain, le savez-vous! ils attendraient en vain Ce printemps qu'aujourd'hui votre audace leur vole. Margot, les prisonniers vous donnent de leur pain!

Comme cet oiseau noir il est une pensée Qu'ici le malheureux apporte avec ses jours, Qu'il nourrit et son âme et qui, toujours chassée, Dès qu'il voudrait sourire, hélas! revient toujours.

C'est le deuil qui le suit, c'est la voix qui le raille, C'est le regret qui veut de son moindre bonheur; Tourment qui de son lit a remué la paille Et out le bec aigu lui cherche au fond du cœur.

C'est la faim d'être libre. Un oiseau mord la cage; Vous voulez à la vôtre attacher un roseau, Souvenir des jardins dont vous aimiez l'ombrage, Amis, et vous coupez les ailes d'un oiseau!

English translation:

The Prison Magpie

From the seed they sowed, let the flower bloom. Come on! Margot; the law allowed them flowers. Hey! what, wicked bird, you come back again From this sad garden to peck at the early fruits!

Do not deprive them at least of their days which nothing shortens; The years leave many long seasons here, Margot, and all they had in winter was snow; Do not go and remove their buds in the spring;

And may at least a bouquet console them from the sun. Tomorrow, do you know! they would wait in vain This spring that today your audacity steals from them. Margot, the prisoners give you their bread!

Like this black bird, there is a thought That the unfortunate brings here with his days, Which he nourishes and his soul and which, always chased away, As soon as he would like to smile, alas! always comes back.

It is mourning that follows him, it is the voice that mocks him, It is regret that wants his least happiness; Torment which from its bed stirred the straw And the sharp beak searches the depths of his heart.

It's the hunger to be free. A bird bites the cage; You want to attach a reed to yours, Remembrance of those gardens whose shade you loved, Friends, and you clip the wings of a bird!

source

[babybluebanshee]

Things I've Had to Deal With As a City Librarian - Another Mega Edition

Been a while, huh? There's been a lot of crazy shit going on at work recently, so here I am with another installment of chronicling the madness. Enjoy.

A man came in and asked Rachel for copies of sheet music, and this somehow devolved into him going on a ten minute speech about how he knew God wanted him to become a musician because he had a dream where he was told to play a massive organ. The guy was thoroughly convinced that the dream had been planted in his head by aliens who were working for God, and that he was destined to play the organ he saw in his dream when the world ended. Poor Rachel just stood there, unable to anything other than smile and nod.

A woman wanted to check out books. I asked for her library card. She handed me her civic center card. I told her that that wasn't the correct card. "Yes it is," she replied. I told her no, this was her civic center card. I even handed it back to her. "Why do you have my civic center card?" she asked. Ma'am, this is what you gave me. "Don't you need my library card?" At this point I can't tell if she's being serious or just fucking with me. Eventually she gets me the right card, all the while grumbling about why I took her civic center card and not her library card. If it wasn't for the fact this woman seemed totally lucid up to that point, I would have just assumed she had some form of dementia.

A mom and her little boy came up to check out her book. The little boy had a Hot Wheels car that he was rolling around on the counter, and ended up rolling it towards me. I turned it around and rolled it back to him. He rolled it back. We did this the entire time I was checked out the books, somehow timing it perfectly to scan a book in the time it took him to roll it back to me. His mom watched us the entire time and was clearly tickled by the whole thing.

Someone stuck a wad of chewed gum on the circulation desk, right behind the computer. I just happened to notice it when my pen fell back there and almost landed in it.

A little girl came up to the desk and handed Angie several used needles in a baggie, saying she found it in the parking lot. The mother was more horrified that they found the needles at all than she was by the fact her young daughter was holding the goddamn bag full of them.

We found a grocery bag in the cafe that contained nothing but a pack of toilet paper. No one ever claimed it. We hope that wasn't an emergency purchase that got forgotten.

A family of three - a mom, dad, and an adult son - came in with recording equipment and set up shop in one of our study rooms. They came up to the desk and basically said upfront that they were going to be loud for about two minutes, and that if anyone complained, they were sorry, and they'd be done quickly. There wasn't anyone in the other two study rooms at the time, so we were like yeah, sure, whatever. We still have no idea what they were filming, but they were there for almost four hours. They even brought their own props; at one point, the assistant director walked by and the son was wearing a really ratty blond wig. Another time, I walked by and the dad was wearing a scuba mask. It was one of the oddest things I've ever seen.

One of our long-time patrons came in with her two daughters one day, on the older daughter's birthday. She was wearing a flower crown and it was very, very cute.

A little girl checking out books with her mom kept telling me jokes. I responded with more jokes. Another instance of the mom trying really hard not to crack up.

A girl came up to the desk with a bag of food and a drink, asking if she could eat in on of the study rooms. She knew we generally wanted people to keep food down in the cafe, but there was a guy down there who was making her uncomfortable. I figured it was just a dude being a pervy creep, so I told her to go ahead and went down to check things out. I did indeed find the guy she was talking about, crouched down in a squat on the floor, staring down vacantly. I asked him if he was okay, and he looked up at me sleepily, saying he was fine. I headed back up to the desk, and he followed not to long after. He reached the front door, stopping the table where we have free masks in a basket. I figure he was going to take one and then head, but he just started...slumping forward. I thought he was going to faint or be sick, so I rushed back over and asked if he was okay. He said yeah, he'd just had a "rough morning". After another few minutes, he left. I told the director later and he checked the camera to see if he'd bothered the girl directly, and while he didn't, he had been in that crouching position for almost ten minutes before I went down there. He was sitting so still the cameras didn't detect a human being nearby.

A man came in about ten minutes to closing, went down to the cafe, screamed and cursed down there for a few seconds, then left. Feel your feelings, I guess.

We had a hair salon do some training down in one of our conference rooms for a couple days in a row. Julie was shutting down the cafe for the night and went to check the conference room trash cans. The hair salon had left two entire bags of training heads and a bag of fast food trash. Julie went to throw the fast food trash away, and screamed, because they'd thrown one of the training heads face up in there. I ran down there because I thought she was being fucking murdered, and ended up screaming myself because there's a fucking head looking up at me. As far as I know, the other bags of training heads are still in the workroom, waiting for the salon to come get them.

We have a patron named Reggie who comes in a lot to do two things - check out DVDs and use our computers to watch Hell's Kitchen. And Reggie really likes Hell's Kitchen. He will yell at the computer while he's watching Hell's Kitchen. Shockingly, only one person has ever complained about him before, and they didn't even care about him talking at the screen. They just wanted him to do it more quietly.

[vikingsarememes]

Of Broken Rabbits - Part 1

Next Chapter

Characters: Ivar “the boneless” Ragnarson x Reader, Bjorn “Ironside” Ragnarson

Summary: Y/N is being forced to marry the cruelest of Ragnarsons to keep the peace of her hometown, she sees Ivar’s cruelty first hand and finds an ally in the most unexpected places. 

Word count: 1422

Warnings: mild aggression and violence

A/N: Hi, so… it’s been a while since I published any kind of fics here, so yeah, enjoy and let me know what you guys think!

Credits: photos from Pinterest, editing app is picsart

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

You wept as you walked down the aisle with your white dress and flowers crown, cursing the day you heard the news, you were happy, the daughter of an Jarl that lived in Oslo, a place far from Kattegat, but gods decided that when you go to buy milk in the market with your brother, the king of Kattegat would come across you and admire your presence.

He had threatened your father and brother, you either marry him or he will terminate your entire village, you had begged your father to decline, telling him of a death sentence that he was agreeing on, his first was sent to madness, his wife was murdered by him alongside with his unborn child, but your father reminded you of your duties and sent you off to marry him, sealing your fate with doom and misery.

He sat at the end of the aisle, a crown on his head and a man in white robe ready to marry you, all eyes on you as you tried to held back tears, your father didn’t attend the wedding nor allowed your brother, you were all alone, the ceremonies went hazy the moment you arrived the altar, it was meaningless conversations and congratulations from different people.

After the wedding you were accompanied to your husband’s chamber, he requested to have private time with you, everyone respected their kings’ wish, you stood frozen in the middle of the room “don’t worry, I have no interest in your body” he had told you, untying his leg braces, lifting the damaged ones on the bed to rest “then why did you marry me?” He shrugged “because I wanted to” his answers only made your blood boil “go on, make yourself comfortable, this might become your home for a while”

You took a deep breath to calm yourself down then took off your white dress and replaced it with sleeping gown, you crawled into the bed, sobbing quietly, that’s when you felt his breath on your neck, your eyes were open wide “I know you are awake and that you can hear me, if you tell anyone that nothing happened between us I will sacrifice you to Loki” he whispered, you felt your body trembling with fear.

That night you cursed your father and brother for not being strong enough, for not telling him off, for giving you to a monster as if you were nothing but a replaceable treasure of theirs.

**

The celebratory week passed quietly, Ivar ignored your presence unless someone was watching, his brothers looked at you with pity, knowing too well that you are miserable in this marriage, who wouldn’t be? Imagine marrying the bloodiest man, one that can not walk, one that can not defend you, one that can not give you children, one that can not love.

When you walked down the alter that day, your father’s words repeated themselves “a woman who knows how to love a man can make a rock turn into water” you had hope, that your presence will matter to him, that perhaps he will love you or at least acknowledge your existence, you had hope that the rumors were untrue, but you were nothing more than an arm accessory to him.

**

He returned one night, wet from the rain, barely able to stand with his crutches and braces, a feeling of worry took over you, you rushed to his side and wrapped an arm around his shoulder to drag him into the bed, he pushed your hand away “don’t, I’m fine” he said aggressively “let me help you, no need to play a strong act in front of me” you whispered, soothingly, but your gesture was met with a slap on the face “I said I’m fine woman!” 

You fell on the ground, your hand right where his handprint was left, with tears in your eyes, you looked at him “you- I wish I never met you” you said, picking your fur coat and running outside of your marital chamber, sobbing, you stood in the rain, trying to wrap your head around what mistakes have you made for the gods to be so cruel to you with this marriage.

You cursed yourself, you cursed him, you cursed your father, and your brother for being too weak to save you from this doomed fate, you prayed for Odin, for Freya and even for Loki to have mercy on you and take your life.

You were sinking in sorrow that you didn’t notice the man standing in front of you until he cleared his throat, your weeping eyes moved to his sight, Bjorn Ironside, Ivar’s brother “Y/N, what are you doing here?” he said, stepping closer, you shook your head, he noticed the handprint on your cheek and sighed “did Ivar do that to you?” 

“Why would you allow such a monster to marry? You are the son of Ragnar, the bravest, yet you couldn’t find the guts to tell him that wedding me is not right” you bursted, the man looked at you with pity, he took off his cloak and covered your already wet one “let’s go somewhere warm before you fall ill” he spoke softly, you rejected his offer and handed him his cloak “let me be, perhaps I would die and my misery will end”

The man sympathized with you, truly, but you knew he wasn’t able to do anything about your situation, you knew he wasn’t going to help you, all he could do is pity you.

Bjorn stood next to you until you calmed down, your guessing was to protect you in case anyone decided to take advantage of your vulnerability, and when you were finally calm, you returned to your bedchamber, the maidens prepared a warm bath for you, and you tried to relax as much as possible, ignoring the man staring at you from the bed.

Once you felt warm enough, you dried your hair by the fire and headed to your shared bed, your back to him, if you can’t get out of this marriage you might as well ignore it, you closed your eyes, that’s when you heard an apology, followed by the  placement the gentlest kiss on your cheek, the one where he hit you, a kiss that you couldn’t believe is coming from the same man.

You didn’t move or say a word, you waited  for him to sleep before you could, although he apologized but part of you still feared him.

The next morning you woke up with him gone, and three maidens showering you with food and gifts “what is all of this?” you asked sleepily “King Ivar had requested that we bring you our finest” the maiden had replied, you examined the items, fresh fruits, gowns of silk, cloaks of the rarest fur, jewelry from different raids, the gesture was nice, if only it wasn’t to beg for your forgiveness “and where is king Ivar?” you requested “breaking the fast with his siblings and the earls, do you wish we call him?” you shook your head.

“Tell him that I reject his gifts when you see him” you told them then returned under the fur blanket, the maidens’ faces were colored yellow of terror, who dares reject anything from the king “but my queen-” one of them pleaded “I don’t remember stuttering” you snapped, they lowered their heads and left the room at once.

It didn’t take long for Ivar to storm into your bedchambers, angry, you knew from the sound of his unpaced crutches and the dragging of his foot, he glared at the maidens who knew it was their cue to leave “why are you being difficult, huh? I apologized, I brought you gifts, what else do you want?” he yelled at you, you rolled your eyes and sat up “I want for you to leave me alone!” you snapped “I can have you beheaded for picking that kind of tone with me” 

You scoffed “please do, it is a better fate than a lifetime with you!” your answer caught him off guard, he was surprised, speechless for a moment, you could swear that you saw sadness in his eyes as well “fine! You can stay here until you rot” he said calmly, then looked at the maidens “she is not to leave the room until she accepts my offerings, if she does not wear one of the gowns and the jewelleries and come dine with me, then she is free to starve to death”

[otomefiend]

Victor

Story Event: Wicked love blooming in the dark night (part two)

Chapter 1

There are translations of this event floating around already but since I finished it a while ago and just needed to edit it/add some pics I thought I would share it.

Never too much Victor in your life.

Not much in terms of warnings. Just a sexy dork doing shady things.

~~Part 1~~

~~~

Queen's aide Victor. People around him call him the 'Grim Reaper'.

His gentlemanly outstretched hand invites me to hell, heaven, or...

~~~

The atmosphere in the Royal Court was so calm, it naturally straightened one's back.

As a guest of the Queen's aide, I was free to enter and leave the place at leisure; there was no reason to be nervous.

The Crown, an imperial organization under Her Majesty's direct control, was composed solely of the 'Cursed'.

Its existence was a big secret only few people knew, and those unlucky ones who found out would soon lose their lives.

Having learned that secret, I managed to evade death on the condition I would become a fairy-tale writer for a month.

(I already agreed to it, now I have to do my best to fulfil the contract)

As I was walking towards Victor's office, I suddenly felt someone's eyes on my back.

Kate: "...?"

I looked around but there was no one to be seen.

(Ever since I came here, I've often felt this way...)

(…but that's just my imagination, right? I'm just anxious in an unfamiliar environment)

Shaking off the discomfort, I knocked on the door and opened it—

Pop! Victor welcomed me with a smile and the sound of a party popper.

Victor: "Welcome to my office. I've been eagerly awaiting your arrival, Miss Kate."

~~Part 2~~

Victor: "How are you? Any new developments? Problems to solve? Me? I'm in great shape today!"

The fact that this high-strung individual was the right-hand man of Her Majesty the Queen, the ruler of this country,

was difficult for me to swallow.

The person in question hummed a song as he pushed me into a chair and gracefully brewed me a cup of tea.

Kate: "...so Victor. What did you need me for?"

Victor: "Oh! I was so happy to see you, I almost skipped over the important matters."

Victor: "Kate. From now on, your task as a fairy-tale writer is to further your understanding of the Crown."

Victor: "For this reason, I will ask you to choose one of us and spend the whole day as lovers. Yay!"

Kate: "...erm. Why lovers?"

Victor: "That's, hmm, somehow! Wouldn't you say this sounds like a fun idea?"

Kate: "...If you say so?"

Victor: "That's why say yes! Yes! Ye-es!"

His long arm was stretched out towards me.

Kate: "Um, yes. Victor...?"

Victor: "Yours truly is running for the position."

Victor: "Heh, as it happens no one knows more about the Crown than I do."

Victor: "I'm the caretaker of the Crown, also the mother and the father..."

Victor: "Kate, I'm the Queen's aide, but I'm also a member of this fine organization, you know?"

(I could learn a lot by being at his side)

Victor: "Then, if you don't mind, please treat me as your one-day lover."

~~Part 3~~

Victor: "Oh, of course! As your lover, I promise I'll make you smile more than anyone else would."

Victor: "Come on, I can't lose here."

Kate: "You can't lose?"

Victor: "I want to steal your heart before anyone else in the Crown. It might come as a surprise but I'm exceptionally greedy."

He winked mischievously as he proceeded to link our arms.

Kate: "Whoa..!"

Victor: "Alright, come with me! Since you just arrived, is there anything in particular that you need?"

Victor: "We're shopping at Harrods, the UK's number one department store! Let's go!"

~~~

Kate: "Erm... Victor. This isn't a hallway, it's a parlour!?"

Victor: "It's a shortcut if you pass through here. Worth remembering, isn't it?"

He casually strolled through the room where government officials were gathering for a meeting.

(...their stares are incredibly painful!)

Victor: "Oh? The flowers on the table have withered. That's no good."

Victor: "At times like this, Victor's Magic Show to the rescue—! Yay, Fooooo!"

Victor: "Here's a dead flower. But when I put my hand up like this..."

~~Part 4~~

Victor: "At times like this, Victor's Magic Show to the rescue—! Yay, Fooooo!"

Victor: "Here's a dead flower. But when I put my hand up like this..."

At that moment countless pigeons flew out of his hand and scattered around the room.

Kate: "Huh, pigeons!?"

Victor: "Oops, I failed. I'm such a troublemaker."

One of the pigeons landed on the head of a man in a suit.

Councilman in glasses: "...lord Victor. Even though you're the Queen's aide, the Privy Council can't overlook the fact that you do as you please."

Kate: "...Privy Council?"

Victor: "I haven't told you yet. They're called the Privy Council."

Victor: "The official name is 'Her Majesty's Highest Privy Council'. Hmm, that's right, to put simply..."

Victor: "Gathered here are court officials who have the right to advise Her Majesty the Queen!"

Kate: "I see. Thank you for the explanation, Victor."

Victor: "Gentlemen, this is my guest. I asked her to temporarily support me with my work."

Victor: "Her name is Kate. I want her to be treated with plenty of care, like a delicate flower."

Councilman in glasses: "I see. Then, would you like to come to a tea party held by the Council this afternoon?"

Victor: "What do you think, Kate? I want to respect your wishes."

(I may be involved with them in the future. In that case, it would be better to start building a relationship)

Kate: "Then please allow me to join you. Thank you for your kind offer."

~~~

After parting ways with the Privy Council, we boarded a carriage to head into town.

Victor: "Kate, members of the Privy Council are amongst the few who know about the existence of the Crown."

Kate: "...is it possible they don't like the Crown?"

Victor: "Huh?"

Kate: "Something about the atmosphere in there, and the cold stares directed at me."

Victor: "Miss Kate. I am in awe of your powers of observation. Indeed, that's right."

Victor: "They are a group of people with a strong sense of justice who follow Her Majesty the Queen."

Victor: "That's why they don't approve the existence of people who deviate from justice and morals; those whom the world would call 'less ordinary'."

Although it was a fragile coexistence, it meant that the Council couldn't expose the Crown that reported directly to Her Majesty the Queen.

Kate: "I don't know what you'd usually consider 'ordinary'..."

Kate: "...but imposing your standards on others is sad, isn't it?"

Victor: "....."

~~Part 5~~

Kate: "Oh, sorry. This sounds conceited..."

Victor: "No, I agree."

Victor: "One is at liberty to have their opinion. However, no one has the right to deprive people of their freedom."

Victor: "Ah, it looks like we've arrived. Come, let's go Kate."

~~~

On the way to Harrods, Victor bought me a three-tiered gelato.

Victor: "This gelato is excellent. Harry, who has a sweet tooth, also likes it and often comes here after a mission."

Victor: "Oh, there's a bakery down the street, isn't there? Ellis likes their baguettes."

I was taking in all the information about the Crown members that Victor shared with me.

(Hehe, he looks like he's having a lot of fun. He really loves everyone in the Crown)

His affection was so contagious I found myself warming up to him and the others.

Baker: "Isn't that lord Victor?! Bring the cute lady here, sir."

Victor: "Hi James. As it happens, this lady is my lover."

Victor: "Can I have your special croissant for her? The one with plenty of powdered sugar!"

Bookstore clerk: "Lord Victor! The book I mentioned the other day has arrived!"

Victor: "Mike! Really? I have to stop by for a chat."

(He's so popular! How can he remember everyone's names?)

One might think the title of Queen's aide would turn people off,

but on the contrary, he was adored by so many.

It was likely because he approached them as people first, regardless of their class or titles.

(I could understand why Her Majesty wanted to have him at her side)

Spending time in Victor's company, surrounded by joy and laughter, I could feel my heart lift.

~~~

A few hours later, after shopping and talking to countless people in Harrods,

Victor: "This might prove challenging."

Chapter 2

[sweetestofchaos]

Blackthorn Ch 6 | M.YG

Pairing: Crown Prince Dragon!Yoongi x Crown Princess Impundulu!Keena  Genre: Soulmate AU | Arranged Marriage AU | Fantasy AU | Fluff  Word Count: 4.5K Warnings: Talks of Reincarnation | Use of Magic | Daechwita Yoongi’s Outfit Rating: PG16

Dream of Me - Namjoon discovers something about himself and Ceyeh enjoys her time in the palace.

a/n: Huge thanks to @theharrowing​ for offering to beta this on such short notice. Thank you @sailoryooons​ for making the banner. Credit to @colormepurplex2 for making the Namjoon edit. a/n 2: I apologize for the short update. I broke this up because a few major events will be taking place soon and I don’t want to rush it.

Taglist: @thickemadame

Series Masterlist | Masterlist

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Outside of the butterfly house, Namjoon stood with the royal carpenter and compared the blueprints to what was in front of him. A six foot wall made of stone enclosed the new and improved butterfly house within a large rectangular barrier that was split into five sections within. The outside would be guarded by the royal guard while inside Aga, Mingi, Minho, Chan and Jooheon would rotate stations. Thick oak doors with intricate artwork of phlox, lupine and a rock cress were carved into the wood. Mother of pearl and opal butterflies were made to be the knocker as well as detective accents embedded through the length of the walls.

The courtyard inside was large with its own koi pond and a wooden bridge to cross over to the main house that followed a stoned pathway. The main house was a large hanok with flooring that was able to be heated during the colder months. Latticework windows and support beams added a little flare to the building and Namjoon was impressed. The majority of the butterfly house was complete and it didn’t take long at all. The only thing left to do was add art and homely items.

The courtyard needed a garden and the servant quarters, kitchen and personal hot spring were being built. Namjoon thought it best that the Princess have her own bathing chambers so that she wouldn’t have to walk the distance or be carried by a gama just to bathe in the palace.

Namjoon nodded his head in delight; things were coming along nicely. He was sure that the butterfly house would be finished by the end of the week, at the latest a day past. Namjoon turned around with his back facing toward the butterfly house and pointed towards where old Monie used to be. He had envisioned another lily pond with a beautiful statue in the center surrounded by pretty flowers. A wooden splint was on his ring finger, the same finger that got a splinter, and it hurt a lot. Namjoon couldn’t bend his finger without a sharp pain shooting up his arm, so he had Doctor Hyungwon stabilize it.

“When can we start on the pond?” Namjoon glanced over at the carpenter as they looked at the empty space. A bird house would look really cute…maybe it could hang from the statue.

“My men wouldn’t need much time. It’s a simple enough project, would you like this finished before the rest of the house?”

Namjoon turned his head to look at the seventh garden that was nearly finished and he flexed his jaw. “It would be beneficial to have it finished at the same time as His Highness’ gift to the Princess.”

“As you wish, Namjoon. I will work on the drafts later and send them for your approval.”

Namjoon nodded his head and winced as his head started to throb, “I will take my leave for now. I have another matter to attend to.” Namjoon bowed his head to the carpenter and started his way back into the palace. He had one artist in mind to help complete his vision for the butterfly house and it would take his friend two weeks to reach the palace. Namjoon had sent a messenger bird to his dear friend and he had noticed that the bird had returned when he was discussing the pond.

Namjoon hurried his way to his chambers and grinned that deep dimpled smile once he saw the cornflower blue bird sitting at his window. Namjoon walked over to the bird and held out his bad arm. The bird jumped onto his outstretched wrist and Namjoon tickled underneath the bird’s beak.

“Thank you for coming home safe, Koya.” Namjoon carefully unlaced the small canister from Koya’s leg and released the bird. He sat on the edge of his desk and smacked the note out before he unrolled it. The uneven and slightly slanted handwriting on the note in Namjoon’s hand put a smile on his face. He knew the handwriting for he had seen it a million times. Namjoon looked down at the message and his stomach knotted in excitement.

His friend had accepted the commission and would start his journey to the palace tomorrow before sunrise. Namjoon quickly scribbled out a reply, he was far too excited to see his friend after so long and thought it would be nice to spend some time with him before he got sucked into his own creative mind. Rolling the message and slipping it into the carrier, Namjoon placed it back onto the bird’s leg and tickled under its beak.

“Have a rest and set out in a few hours.” Namjoon set the bird free and watched as it flew over to one of the many bird feeders within the palace walls.

Namjoon took a step away from the window and he felt himself stumble before his hand shot out and caught the edge of a table. He blinked his eyes quickly to clear his vision and placed a hand on his forehead. That sharp pain from before was back and it started to drum behind his eyes. Carefully, Namjoon made his way to his bed and stripped himself of his outer layers before he laid down. He had clearly overworked himself within the last few days and this was his body’s way of telling him to rest. As he closed his eyes, Namjoon muttered a soft prayer for himself before the pain pulled him under.

The next time Namjoon opened his eyes he was in a lush forest of green vines that wrapped together to create a shabby yet beautiful home. The ground was covered in moss and fallen yellow ginkgo and unknown leaves, and large trees with thick branches created a scattered overcast as diffused sunlight poured down from above. It was a beautiful sight and in the center stood a tall wooden figure with yellow-brown eyes and rich green oak leaves on its head for hair. Small twigs stuck up from the being’s head that resembled a crown, and where tiny chunks of wood were missing moss filled in the gaps.

Namjoon stood frozen before the being; he didn’t recall ever seeing it before yet the familiarity that flooded his heart was strong.

“Namjoon, son of Junghee. Next in line for the title of royal gardener…my dear boy. Look how much you’ve grown.” The being’s voice was strong and warm, it soothed what little fear clung to Namjoon’s mind. “Do you know who I am?”

Namjoon bit his lip, he did not know the being in front of him and he feared that would anger the creature.

Namjoon was sure that the being smiled, though it was hard to tell since it was wood. The being beckoned Namjoon forward with one long splintery arm and Namjoon found that he could not ignore the silent command. He stood in front of the being and craned his neck back as he stared upwards.

“You called me Monie.”

Namjoon’s eyes widened, “Monie? O-Old Monie…t-the mongolian oak from the seventh garden?”

“The very same -'' Monie smiled and squatted down in front of Namjoon so that he didn’t have to look up, “I am the eldest son of the guardian in the Irotra forest. Two millennia far into the past, when the Min Empire was but a dream, my home was being destroyed by greedy bandits who wanted to use our wood for their weapons and profit.”

Namjoon had heard this story from his father. Old Monie was a gift but Namjoon never knew who the gift was from.

“A young general of the army had passed through with a small group of armed soldiers and when he saw what those bandits were doing, he killed them all. My father at the time ordered me to keep the animals from the area while he went to deal with the humans. The general and his men prayed to the trees and at the time my father had heard their prayers. They prayed for the souls of the trees and asked for a cleansing rain to wash away the sin of those bandits.”

Namjoon felt his mouth drop. They prayed for the souls of the trees…he had thought that only his family and a select few knew of that. It was their belief that everything in the world had a soul and it was only right to pray for the soul when it passed on.

“My father at the time was impressed by the humanity that the general showed along with his men. As a show of gratitude, I was gifted to the general and it was my duty to oversee the gardens of the Min empire. One of the soldiers, a Kim of your lineage became my friend and that is how the Kims came to be royal gardeners.” Old Monie placed a hand on Namjoon’s shoulder as he spoke again.

“My name is Esrym and I am a hamadryad. I was unable to leave the Mongolian oak tree that my soul was placed in, that was the deal I made with my father. Through your blood, and your blood alone, I was able to escape death. However, it is your choice to allow me refuge in your body.”

“What do you mean?”

“If you allow it, our souls will fuse together and you will become the new guardian of the Min gardens as well as the forests of the Min Empire.”

Namjoon’s stomach lurched as goosebumps broke out on his skin and he took one step backwards at the offer. “I won’t be human anymore?”

Esrym shrugged his shoulders, “What is human to you, Namjoon?”

Namjoon opened his mouth and closed it. What was it to be human? What did it mean?

Esrym continued to speak in place of Namjoon’s silence. “Your looks will not change nor will your heart or mind. I will give you my strength and power to do more for those you love and hold dear.”

As Esrym’s words sunk into Namjoon’s mind, the faces of his parents and friends flashed before his eyes. A single set of large brown doe eyes struck his heart and Namjoon nodded his head. “I offer my body as refuge.”

Esrym grunted and held out his hand, “Give me your hand Namjoon.”

Namjoon lifted his right hand and Esrym motioned for the left, the hand with the finger splint. Namjoon rested his left hand in Esrym’s palm and he inhaled sharply when a small light glowed from the tiny hole in his finger. He remembered getting a splinter and now he understood that was Esrym entering his body. Namjoon’s finger started to warm and he felt Esrym’s power seep into his bloodstream, it was heavy and featherlight all at once. A blissful feeling that muddled the mind with a silky overcast. Namjoon felt his eyes flutter and his balance waver.

“Thank you for saving me, Namjoon, son of Junghee.”

Namjoon jumped up right with a gasp. He was in bed, covered in a cold sweat. He looked around his room as he breathed harshly and stared down at his hand. His finger was no longer in the splint, the wooden contraption was broken on the bed and Namjoon squinted at his hand. There were no markings, no heat…was it a fever dream? Namjoon slowed his breathing and wiped at the sweat on his brow with the back of his hand.

“What a crazy dream,” Namjoon muttered to himself and he turned his head to glance out the window. The sun was high in the sky, so it was a little past midday. He needed to get up and check on the gardens. Carefully, Namjoon slid from his bed and redressed himself into a fresh hanfu. The robes were a dark yellow with grey undertones, white mismatched sized clemati covered the robes and a yellow cream sash was wrapped around his waist. Namjoon wasted no time as he pulled on a pair of grey boots and pulled his hair into a messy ponytail at the back of his neck with a grey ribbon.

The dream was fresh in Namjoon’s mind as he stepped outside of the palace and started to walk through the gardens. The plants around him looked brighter, the colors so vivid and blinding that Namjoon had to step away. He hid away in the shade of a gazebo and sat with his head in his hands. He felt fine, his finger and head no longer hurt but something felt off…different.

“Nammmmmjoon. Nammmjoon!”

A tiny voice rang in his ear and Namjoon flinched at the sound. He picked his head up and looked around, there was no one around.

“Nammmjoon! Excuuuuse meeeee!”

Namjoon flinched again and when he turned his head towards the sound of his name he came face to face with a bumblebee. Namjoon blinked once, twice…no. No….Namjoon raised an eyebrow and glanced around.

“A-Are you talking to me?” Namjoon whispered as he leaned closer to the bumblebee.

The bumblebee buzzed around his head and landed on Namjoon’s upturned palm.

“Yesssss! Nammmmjoon!”

Namjoon stared at the bumblebee with wide eyes, this couldn’t be - the dream flashed in Namjoon’s mind and he bit his lower lip. His jaw tensed as he thought about what Esrym had told him, what he had agreed to in his dream.

“Yoooou, Nammmjoon are the neeeew proteeector!”

Namjoon raised his hand up to his face and he almost went crossed eyed as he stared at the bumblebee in his hand.

“What did you need, little one?” Namjoon whispered as he silently accepted that what took place in his mind with Esrym really had happened.

The tiny bumblebee fluttered its wings and crawled around in Namjoon’s hand, “Neeeeed? Nothiiiing! Jussssst cameeee to sayyyy heeeello!”

Namjoon grinned and bowed his head in thanks. “Should I expect others to say hello?”

“Theeeeey willlll nooow! Theeeey weeeere scareeeed of the neeeew proteeector.”

Namjoon looked out at the garden before him and he could feel every plant watching him. A weight in his chest shifted and he felt lighter.

“You may tell everyone that I look forward to meeting them again. Properly, this time.”

The bumblebee seemed to wiggle its butt in a tiny circle in Namjoon’s hand before it zoomed up into the air and dashed off to deliver the message. Namjoon shook his head with a laugh, his dimples dug into his cheeks and his eyes sparkled as he took in the new world around him. He was the guardian of this beautiful garden and every garden in the empire. Namjoon rose to his feet slowly and inhaled deeply. The air was fragrant with tiger lilies and he paused in his steps. Jungkook! He had to tell Jungkook the wonderful news.

In the palace, Ceyeh sat in front of the vanity motionless. Her silver eyes watched as Wheein and Hyejin worked on unbraiding her hair. They took careful steps to not ruffle any of the feathers on Ceyeh’s ears; they learned very fast that they were sensitive and put the bird spirit in a foul mood. Fatsani stood close by to make sure the two women were okay and had no questions as they chatted with each other. Today was wash day since Izaso wanted to make sure that the new handmaidens would be able to rebraid the Princess’s hair afterward. They had done very well on the dolls they were giving but Izaso was still skeptical.

Ceyeh’s cycle wasn’t as bad as everyone feared. The hamerkop spirit kept to herself and only grabbed someone's attention if the pain in her stomach was too much. She stayed by the window most of the time and listened to the birds that dropped by to sing of their travels. Other times, Ceyeh was found with the new handmaidens as she taught them basic sign language based on the Laibic alphabet.

“That was the last braid!” Wheein announced and Byulyi stepped up to lead the Princess into the washroom.

Ceyeh stripped herself and carefully stepped into the heated water. Her eyes closed as the warmth engulfed her sore body. The cramps were mild at best, but the constant squeeze made Ceyeh thankful that she was able to protect the Princess. Byulyi washed the Princess’ body twice before Yongsun entered the room with Fatsani beside her.

“Do not be afraid to work section by section. The Princess has a lot of hair.” Fatsani smiled as she handed Yongsun a wide toothed comb and a special elixir that helped to detangle the hair.

Together, Yongsun and Byulyi sectioned the Princess’s hair and started to detangle the sections. The Princess did have a lot of hair, it was thick and coily, unlike the pin straight hair both handmaidens had. Once they were finished washing the Princess’ hair, Fatsani double checked and she was impressed. She asked if Ceyeh had felt any pain and when the Princess shook her head, Fatsani motioned for them to move on.

They helped the Princess from the bath and patted her dry with the softest of towels. Fresh out of the heated water in her wash room, Ceyeh stood in silence as Byulyi rubbed oils and creams into her skin. A dark greyish violet silk robe was placed around her naked body and she was led back in front of the vanity where Wheein and Hyejin waited. Oils, combs, pins and fabric ties were laid out on top of the vanity and Ceyeh watched in the mirror as the two handmaidens thought of how best to style her hair.

“Take your time,” Izaso instructed as she watched from the side. “Why don’t you try the style we practiced while the Princess was bathing?”

Wheein and Hyejin nodded their heads and started to work on the Princess’ hair. They used two different magic stones to help dry the Princess’ hair. A cemetan stone (a pale green and white streaked stone the size of a lime) that pulled the excess water from the hair and an aeninic stone (a murky green stone carved into a comb), that helped minimize frizz. A zigzag part down the middle, two long fishtail braids on either side with golden string woven throughout and two smaller braids draped across the forehead like a crown finished the hairstyle and Izaso was pleased.

“Beautiful job ladies. Ceyeh, do you like it?” Izaso asked and Ceyeh nodded her head.

The hairstyle was simple enough and she appreciated that they didn’t try to force her hair to be pin straight more than it had to be. There were still a few waves from the slicked down coils and Ceyeh was grateful. She stood from the vanity and allowed Hyejin and Yongsun to dress her. The outfit was simple, a grey and magenta collarless dress with wide trumpet sleeves. Dark grey and pink cichlid fish lined the hemming of the dress and sleeves while golden thread ran in thin bold vertical stripes of the skirt.

Ceyeh slipped her feet into a pair of greyish magenta slippers and bowed her head in thanks. She grabbed the chalkboard off the bed and requested to be escorted to the cherry blossom garden where she knew the Empress was waiting to have their morning meal together. It had only been three days since the Empress had first come to visit Ceyeh. The Empress had requested that the bird spirit spend some time with her in the mornings before the Empress’s day became hectic.

Chimika walked over the main door and stepped out to inform Aga that the Princess was ready to start her day. Aga entered the room with a bow as he crossed his arms over his chest and Ceyeh rolled her eyes. She knew that the man before her had angered her host and it was not her place to forgive him. Ceyah allowed for Aga to lead her out of her chambers and she smiled politely to Chan and Jooheon as she left. Mingi and Minho were behind as she walked side by side with Aga.

“What are your plans for today, Ceyeh?” Aga glanced down at the Princess as he spoke and Ceyeh fanned her hand outward which made Aga laugh. “It is for your own safety that you stay in the room as much as possible.”

Ceyeh raised an eyebrow at Aga’s words and clicked her tongue.

“What would happen if you were taken? How would we-”

The sky above started to darken and Aga sighed.

“Yes, the weather…how did I forget?”

The blue skies came back and Ceyeh patted Aga’s arm as they walked. The gazebo in the cherry blossom garden came into view and Ceyeh spotted the top of the Empress’s head. She wore her hair up in elegant loops with golden dragon pins to hold it in place while large gold and diamond clips were scattered throughout. As Ceyeh approached the gazebo she saw more of the Empress’s face and today she wore bold blue and gold eye paint with a light pink lip tint. Her robes were black with a blue and gold lotus flower pattern. The sleeves of her dress were lined with golden leaves and she sat with her hands folded in her lap.

“Your Majesty,” Aga greeted with a low bow as he offered Ceyeh his arm to help her up the steps.

“Thank you Aga.” Empress Min nodded her head and turned her attention to Ceyeh. A large smile took over her face as the Princess sat beside her. “How are you feeling today, my old friend?” Empress Min placed her hand on top of Ceyeh’s making sure to leave one free so that she could write on her chalkboard.

Ceyeh smiled and knocked her shoulder into the Empress’ which made Empress Min laugh as her eyes crinkled.

“I believe your cycle is almost over correct?”

Ceyeh nodded her head and started to pick at the breakfast cookies that were in front of her.

“Should we spend some time in the library? There is a beautiful spot where the sun spills in and warms the soul. It makes for wonderful leisure.”

Ceyeh’s eyes shined bright, the silver started to shimmer and Empress Min nodded her head as she understood.

“Very well. Let us enjoy our meal and then we shall depart for the library.”

Seokjin laughed loudly as he used Hoseok’s shoulder to hold himself upright. Hoseok sighed but his lips quivered slightly as he tried not to laugh. The joke was in extremely poor taste but Seokjin’s laugh was contagious and Hoseok struggled not to laugh. Prince Yoongi stared at his friends from his seat behind one of the two desks in the royal advisor’s study and rolled his eyes. Leave it to Seokjin to make the Prince lose his place in his reading.

“Are you done?” Prince Yoongi questioned as he placed the papers in his hand on the desk and folded his hands together before he rested his chin on his fingers.

Hoseok pushed Seokjin off of him and cleared his throat, “Did you need something, Yoongi?”

Seokjin straightened up and wiped the tears from the corner of his eyes before he inhaled and coughed. “S-Sorry.” Seokjin pushed his hair from his face and the butterfly sleeves of his navy blue duster danced around him. “Did you want to head to the library now, Your Highness?” Seokjin offered and the Prince gave a single nod of his head.

Seokjin smoothed his hands down the length of his torso, the navy blue knot shank buttons of his frog closure duster were rough against his finger tips. He cleared his throat and spared a glance to Hoseok who just sighed and clicked his tongue. Hoseok was back to his everyday hanbok, now that the Prince was up and moving around the palace. A simple black robe with golden leaves stitched along the cuffs and collar with a deep plum changui on top, the same golden leaves stitched on the collar, down the center and hem. A wide black belt with matching gold leaves was tied around Hoseok’s waist and a plum colored jumeoni sat at his right hip.

Seokjin and Hoseok both wore similar hairstyles today, a ponytail with two sections of hair framed their faces. Seokjin wore a high ponytail with a silver donggot to hold it in place with a navy ribbon flowing freely while Hoseok wore a low half ponytail with a single gold bead on each section of hair that framed his face.  

Prince Yoongi rose from his seat and held his head high. His hair was piled onto top of his head, the golden sangtugwan covered with beautiful quartz stone while a golden dragon with emerald eyes was carved into the donggot. A black headband kept any flyaways out of the Prince’s face while his ears and neck were dressed in thick gold jewelry. As he walked around the desk, the Prince’s black robes caught the light and the golden four toed dragon in the center of his torso reflected against the wall. Dressed in a more simple hanbok, the Prince’s rank stood out with the gold dragon that sat on each of the shoulders of his jacket and the gold brocade fabric on the collar. Hoseok and Seokjin weren’t sure why the Prince had decided to dress that way but they knew better than to ask.

Hoseok chalked it up to Prince Yoongi wanting to put any negative rumors to rest. In his current dress he looked powerful and Hoseok knew that no one would say any different. The Prince clasped his hands behind his back and raised an eyebrow as he stared at the closed door. Hoseok moved first to open the door and he stepped out of the room. Seokjin motioned for the Prince to exit and once he was out of the room, Seokjin followed behind.

The three men walked the halls and ignored everyone who bowed low at the sight of the Prince. Hoseok kept his eyes open for any sign of disrespect while Seokjin openly chatted with Prince Yoongi about a book he felt the Prince would enjoy. As they got closer to the library, Hoseok noticed a small increase of guards. He squinted his eyes in thought as he passed another guard that he usually would not see in this section of the palace. Hoseok’s eyes widened as he realized why. There guards belong to the Empress and if they were around then that meant -

“Your Highness!” Hoseok spun around on his heels and held out his hands. “T-The garden! Namjoon requested that you meet him. He had a question!” Hoseok kept his face neutral as he spoke and the Prince’s smile slowly dropped from his face.

“We can go later,” Prince Yoongi stated and Hoseok shook his head.

“It sounded pretty urgent to me, Your Highness. In my haste to forget Seokjin’s horrible joke-”

“Hey!” Seokjin stepped back and threw a hand over his heart.

“I forgot about Namjoon,” Hoseok prattled on quickly as he ignored Seokjin’s dramatics.

Prince Yoongi frowned and then pressed his lips into a tight line as he tried to figure out what Namjoon could possibly need so badly. He sighed and nodded his head, “Very well. Let’s not leave him waiting any longer.” The Prince turned on his heels and started to walk off.

Seokjin shot Hoseok a confused glance and Hoseok jerked his head towards the guards, “The library is closed,” he whispered to Seokjin and hurried to catch up to the Prince.

[saints-helen]

Hi hi hi! Back with another thing i see! Yes i am~

Anyway,

Oh Eurydice,

(that's our title for today! AND THERE'S NO ROMANTIC CONNOTATIONS ABOUT IT YOU FREAKS, DISGUSTING.)

(anyway, I've been meaning to post Oh Eurydice for a while now (as in like, literal Months) but it's only a few days ago that i actually got to transcribing from my gallery and editing it in my notes app.)

(i poured blood, sweat, and Helen's tears into this)

(i won't bore you for Too long though, so this is basically a prologue (?) to the Medieval Au thing so, enjoy!)

(4,080 words)

Queen Nim dies while her children are still babies, basically about 4 years old and they end up getting raised by her advisors.

They want to make Dream the ruler, eventually, since he's easier to manipulate, and end up pushing Nightmare to the side in favour of his brother and making snide comments about him.

And since it's normal to hit your children back then, they hurt him, a Lot, for the power trip of hurting a royal and Surviving.

Anyway so, cue Blue entering the picture as their new royal guard at some point, via order of the late queen Nim, and they do Not trust him, neither advisors nor princes.

Nightmare especially.

But eventually, the twins warm up to him, because he's just so damn Nice (unlike a Certain group of people).

He's not only tasked with guarding them, oh no, he's tasked with Specifically, word for word, "guarding and looking after them" and he uses that as his leeway, his loophole, to get away with doing things a knight normally wouldn't.

He gets in trouble on their behalfs, sneaks them treats from the kitchens and sneaks them outside every once in a while to play when they're supposed to be having lessons.

Always with that grin on his face and a finger against his mouth, "shh!", starry eyes in crescents.

He dances with them, plays and teaches them how to make flower crowns, sneaks into their rooms at night under the guise of being a "Diligent Knight" because of Course he wouldn't stand outside! what kind of person would he be if he did? Leaving them all vulnerable during the night? (he sneaks in to read them bedtime stories, silly voices and all, and to kiss them goodnight, telling them that "If the queen were still here, I'm sure she'd be very, Very proud of you both :)"

He bandages up Nightmare a lot, and tutting at his injuries, muttering insults about how "honestly, they're Advisors and they don't even know how to advise children? what sorts of people would even get a job and fail at it so spectaculaly that-" and he goes on and on and Nightmare's eyes Glow, because Blue could be Beheaded for this, beheaded for insulting the acting royalty, with their trigger thin tempers, but he does so anyway, Just to make it clear that they shouldn't be hurting him at All OR favouring Dream over him.

And Nightmare just nods, looking at him like he hung the moon and stars.

Not hurting kids is a very controversial opinion these days, and Nightmare tells him that straight up.

"You're very strange."

"Well!" Blue huffs, tying up the bandage "I'd rather be strange than lay a hand on a child!

"Better weird than cruel, no?"

"...

"i suppose.."

...

But... Then again..

There are eyes everywhere in the palace.

And where there are eyes, there are spies.

And where there are spies..

...

Siege is layed unto the castle, and the entire palace Burns.

Fire raging everywhere, beginning from the twins' rooms while Blue was away getting them a midnight snack, and the tray falls from his hands as he rushes inside, calling out to them and coughing and Calling-

"HERE!", and he Runs towards the voice, all hoarse and childlike and Terrified, getting them out of the fire and running out with them in his arms, and the entire castle is aflame, no rooms left unburned as he runs and runs aiming for the gardens, all wet with night dew and vapour from their ponds and lakes.

And he runs into other servants, skidding to a halt as everyone exchanges what clipped information they may have about what happened as they all run together, and an assassin suddenly attacks them, his helmet, bearing the crest of Nim and her guard knocked off by blue with a kick before he shoves the twins into the waiting arms of his colleagues, with a shout of "I'LL BE BACK BEFORE YOU KNOW IT, NOW GO!" before turning back to fight, a sharpened bone in each hand and smoke in his eyes.

And the servants escape with them while he and the assassin exchange blows, and eventually, Blue is found victorious as he pins the assassin down, forcing his hand into the man's mouth and ripping out a glass vial from between his teeth, glowy with the green poison inside it and throws it at the fires raging around them. It shatters against the wall with a crackle of flame as the man all but Growls with human teeth.

"Who sent you."

"I'm not telling-"

*CRACK* and he lets out scream before he bites his tongue.

"It'll be your other arm next now who Sent you."

*Grunt*

"Now who. Sent you!"

"I-.." he pants "I will Not-"

Another crack, this time of his pointer and middle fingers.

"I'll break every bone in your body stars help me if you don't Confess.

"I was in a good mood before all this happened and it is just now beginning to taper off now that my children are gone so tell me, while I'm feeling merciful, lest i grab your neck and break it who Sent you."

So he does, eventually, and despite the flames all around him, all Blue's body can feel is Cold.

An advisor. Of course. One who got anxious, too impatient, scared that Blue's influence would sway the twins in his favour but not wanting to just Kill him, lest he fall under suspicion by the others. "Competitors, the filthy lot of them." The assassin spits, that crazed grin on his bloodied face eerie as he explains.

Dream was never supposed to be in the room today, he was supposed to be studying how to rule, but Blue had snuck him out as he was tired due to the late hour. The assassin was to, originally, simply suffocate Nightmare in his sleep, alone in his room none would be the wiser. But unbeknownst to the advisor, the assassin he'd hired was a spy from a rival kingdom, the one they were at war with, the kingdom who sent for Nim to be Killed. And he had just given him the palace and it's princes on a silver Platter.

And if Nightmare were to die, Clear signs of foul play, Blue, as the one closest to him, would be the one suspected and subsequently sentenced to death. His close relation to the twins and his intimate knowledge of their schedules would be more than enough to convict him and Besides, doesn't he Always sneak into their rooms at night? Under the guise of his "knightly duties?", if not for his remarkable ability to guard, then his keen eye and ear would catch anyone daring to assassinate the dear prince, for all they know, he sung him a lullaby one moment and suffocated him with a pillow the next. Two birds with one stone, leaving Dream all the easier to control. With no guard or brother at his side, the advisor would be his Everything.

"And now, oh now my Darling Knight," the assassin said, "All eyes are on You."

He'd already spread word, having been watching him for months, that Blue could Not be trifled with, as he could fight like no other and would stop at near Nothing to guarantee the twins' safety.

He could be used against them, or, they could be used against Him. Every fellow spy and assassin that snuck in during the chaos had memorised his face, "Courtesy of their dearest Painter." he said, grinning. "Eeeeeeeveryone knows how Attached you are to this kingdom's beloved two poor, orphan, little Princies."

"You leave with them," he says, "Recognizable as allll your pretty little faces and figures are, you Die. All of you."

He grins, the curve of it Sickening.

"And your two princies and your cute little game of house will be no More."

.....

...A tear runs down Blue's face, his hands, gripping the man's arms to his back, Shake with the effort of keeping them still, clenched into fists as they creak his bone, the blood beneath them all dried out after their little talk.

The fire around them burns hotter, the flames dancing with mirth in the man's eyes as he sucks up Every Single Bit Of Blue's misery at having to make such a decision.

But.. alas.. the decision is made immediately.

It was scary, So scary, how easy it was, how easy he decided to-

"I'll take them." he glares "You think you can take them away from me? You think you can even Dare? Fine,"

He winds back his hand, trembling as his fingers Curl,

"I'd like to see you Try." he grits his teeth as he knocks the assassin out cold, dragging his limo body against the ashen floor and stuffing him into a charred room with nothing in it left to burn and closing the door, making sure Not to lock it as he Runs

His tears are vaporised near instantly, the steam burning his face but he doesn't care. As long as he doesn't take any damage he doesn't care, as long as he can get to them as long as he can make it he doesn't care, not at the burning on his face or the tightening of his throat or the Aching in his chest. He needs to go he needs to Run, turning corners and tripping on debris. He needs to get to them, before it's too late. He needs to see them.

He needs to hold them while he still Can.

He Bursts into the gardens, the air so much more Alive and Wet but he barely even notices, making secret twists and turns through the grassy maze, thanking the stars that the fire hasn't reached here yet and entering a hidden part of the garden, designed by Nim herself, Just in case something like this happened.

It hides a hidden archway, tunnels and chambers weaving and winding underground, connecting beneath the entire palace. Paths that curl like what the monkey's paw that heard him think "i want to save them." did.

He sees the servants there, one with platitudes Right on her tongue, kneeling with what she hopes is a reassuring expression as she tells the twins he'll be back before they know it.

When they see him, hear him come in, their heads whip around, and they jump away. Shouting and runnibg towards him and oh he's never been so desperate to catch them in his arms.

They're both crying, he hears, feels, Sees, and he only squeezes them tighter, the servants, previously having let out sighs of relief at the sight of him, now exchange nervous glances when they see he's also crying, his expression scrunched up behind the children's backs in deep pain and grief.

Something is Off.

He lets go of them, sniffing, and smiles, tells them he has to talk to the other servants for a moment. And in hushed whispers, he does, some faces shocked and some solemn, glancing at the twins and glancing away, hands clenched in fists and eyes widening in disbelief at the fact their math is Right. Shouting matches are whispered as he seals their fates.

The servants exchange looks, look at the twins, look at Him... And Nod.

One of them, a muffet, an old Friend who'd nag at him for always tearing his clothes, grabs some cloaks hidden there in the chamber and begins sewing, other servants go back to what they were doing, some coming back out from outside, panting, with vegetables from the gardens and some cracking open decades old spell bound crates that contain meats and milks and all manner of essentials, kept safe with the late queen's protective magic. They pack them up in bags, some stitching each others' injuries and packing supplies with grim, determined faces.

Blue breathes out, all soft and decidedly Not shaky, and goes to the twins, kneeling to them as Dream bawls in confusion and terror and Nightmare tries Stubbornly not to cry. He pulls them both to his chest, arms squeezing so Tight he fears their little bones may creak, and Nightmare finally gives in, hus body slumping into him and beginning to shake. Dream asks what's happening and Nightmare asks what will happen Now.

...

He takes a deep breath in, pulling back with a smile, their circlets tugged from their crowns in hand. "We're gonna change your clothes first, so no one knows who you are." He says.

They both nod their heads, all pliant and quiet, and trusting him to know better as he leads them away to a corner, the clothes the muffet was making being handed to him as she begins making something else.

He tries not to look at her as she does, he can't bear to do it, and she does the same.

He helps them change, the familiar routine now discarding the chatter as they all remain quiet. And throwing the old clothes to the muffet, he's comforting and reassuring them all the while

They step out of their little corner, the twins now looking much less like royalty and more like two regular skeleton children, the muffet turns to him sharply, panting, and after a terrifying beat... She nods.

He lets go of their hands and steps toward her, the other servants, now all packed up, calling out to him that they're ready to go now, whenever, and for Blue to hurry up.

She hands him what looks like two bundled up pieces of cloth, and he holds them a bit closer than he should, his eyes almost hazy.

...

Dolls.

She hands him hat used to be cloaks, two of them, tied up with the vague measurements of small children. Covered completely top to bottom with white spider string to colour them white, the twins' silken clothing sewed onto them.

He nods, hands her the circlets and steps back. And the she begins to sew those on, too. Fixing them in place with practiced ease.

In broad daylight, there'd be no mistaking them as strange, hand-made doppelgangers, but during a chase, in the dead of night, with only the light of the nearby moon to guide in the chaos of an ongoing assassination attempt...

It would have to be Enough.

... Nightmare is the one who asks first. Smart boy. And blue has no doubt he's figured it out from the way his voice is shaking.

"What.. what's that." He asks cautiously, "What.

are you doing. Why are our..." He looks between Blue and the dolls, and it Clicks, horror and utter Betrayal dawning on his face.

"No." he says, head shaking, and Blue steps forward and he steps back, smacking his hand away when it reaches for him "No no No! NO! NO YOU CAN'T!" he heaves out, choking on a sob when Blue pulls him closer, pulls them both closer, and they both Cling.

"This isn't a fairytale you can't- You Can't- .." Nightmare beats at his back, tiny fists barely even felt through the thickness of his armour.

"Blue.. what's- what's happening why- why is brother..." Dream's voice, always so trusting, trails off when Blue pulls back, face wet and devastated and Pained.

"I'm sorry sunshine, I'm.. I'm not gonna be escaping with you." he murmurs, and Nightmare only sobs harder, his voice caught in a scream as he Refuses to let go of him.

"....Wh... what?"

He shakes his head, "I'm sorry.. but- but i Can't"

"wh- WHY!"

He shakily breathes out "It's too-"

A Slam from the maze's entrance, so far away yet echoing down down until everyone here can hear it, and they all freeze. Shouting of "OI! SECRET ENTRANCE HERE!" and everyone suddenly Springs to action.

It's time.

Blue leans in and kisses them both with a choked apology and Nightmare starts to Beg "No! NO NO NO YOU CAN'T! YOU CAN'T YOU CAN'T! I ORDER YOU! I ORDER YOU TO- STOP!"

Blue grabs them both and shoves them towards the other servants, Nightmare's soft claws digging into him and refusing Refusing to let go as he's grabbed by them and pulled back.

"LET- GO OF ME YOU-! YOU CAN'T! YOU CAN'T LEAVE YOU CAN'T!"

His brother, now beginning to feel the panic as well, begins to squirm in their tight holds.

"I DON'T UNDERSTAND, BLUE I DON'T UNDERSTAND! WHY-"

He finally manages to pry his fingers away, and Nightmare is yanked back with a soul crushing "*NO!*"

"No time to explain!" he yells, grabbing the dolls from muffet as everyone runs to the back door, save the ones holding the twins.

"I'll be Back." he presses his forehead to theirs, Nightmare's arms pinned to his sides by the servants so he doesn't reach for him again as he kicks and screams and Refuses. "YOU DON'T GET TO LEAVE! YOU DON'T GET TO I ORDER YOU TO STAY-"

"Sorry, moonlight, Sunlight, i-" he chokes back a sob "I won't be following your orders this time."

"NO! NO NO NO YOU DON'T GET TO-"

"BLUE- PLEASE DON'T-"

"I'll come Back, one day I'll come back Remember me-" he suddenly tears off chunks of his bandana off and shoves them to the one holding them, his tearful look saying more than he needs to.

Two last kisses, they both taste acidically Salty.

He steps back, the hesitance shoved into its prison inside his chest.

"I'll come back. i love you, i love you both so much."

And he turns, they both scream for him to "NO! NO COME BACK! COME BACK PLEASE, DON'T G-"

"NO! NO PA-" they're interrupted, of course, as fate would always have it thus that their parents could never hear them cry, their mouthes muffled by much bigger hands, both arms unpinned from their sides as he's too far away to reach now and yet they reach for him anyway. The servants running one way while he runs the other. He doesn't turn back, doesn't turn back to look at them, and the last they ever seen of him is him grabbing a cloak, shoving over himself and Running back out to the gardens.

Blue Runs outside, his heart a jackrabbit in his chest as his sudden dash from the bushes catches the attention of surveying eyes, all intentional, all so painfully Intentional as the wind pushes the hood of the cloak off of his face, the fabric swaying in the breeze as the glint of two hidden crowns glint beneath the reflected light of a sun that will not rise Yet, his only ally in that very moment, the single voyeur to his wicked plan. He lets it flap Just long enough for the circlets to be seenz to blind their power hungry eyes before he yanks it back on and keeps running.

Shouting follows, the shine of Gold in the moonlight being more than enough to draw the attackers' attention towards Him, and like crows the flank him, cawing orders to each other, theur beaks snapping in bows hastily drawn and loaded. Instead of on the fleeing servants downstairs, all eyes are on Him.

He'd made Sure to leave that assassin alive, made sure to keep the door unlocked, made sure to tell him he'd like to see him try make sure to be Cocky, just as is expected of a royal guard, and even though the man knew him, watched him, Had been watching him for months if not Years, Blue knew, that when you stick your hand in the water, that the sly catfish simply cannot help but Bite.

He'd be proud of it, really, in any other circumstance. The Magnificent Blue, strategic, careful, perceptive and amazing as always.

He would be, he really would be, if he could just get what Dream had just said, had Almost said, out of his head. Dream who always assumed you found him bothersome unless you wanted him for something. If he could only get Nightmare's sobbing out of his head, Nightmare who never cried when beaten or hurt or with a broken bone but Did, how've, cry when sung a soft lullaby to sleep. If he could only get that Screaming out of his Head.

He doubts it'll ever happen, doubts he'll ever be allowed to forget what he just did for them tonight, to save their lives, to ruin their lives to Break their little Souls. What he did To them could never be forgiven, he knew that, and yet he had to Try.

Dream had called him- had Almost called him- and what other word starts with "pa" that could Ever be said in relation to the one who dressed and bathed and sung and played and rocked and caved and loved and fed them? What other word could he use for "knight" that starts with the second easiest syllable for a baby to say?

If Dream viewed him that way, and he didn't even know if he Wanted him to right now, then it means that Nightmare probably also viewed him that way, and he shoves back the endearments of "Son" back into the recesses of his heart, refusing to allow it to get out. He'd called him he'd Almost called him, and Blue wonders if it was a mercy from the hand of their newest captor, a mercy to Him, that they'd stopped Dream before he could get the words out. And he knows that he will.most often wonder if, after tonight, he could Ever be deserving of such a mercy.

In exchange for that trust, that Dream almost gave, Blue has thanked him most cruelly; he had torn him away from his parent a second time. First Nim, dead before their pattering feet, and now, him.

How fitting it is, then, that it must all end in fire when she was greenery itself?

How fitting it Is, then, that a person who was supposed to protect them has failed? Abandoned them to the wiles of the wolves and left them to Die a most horrific "death"? Exactly as the advisors did? Looked them dead in the eyes as he stepped on what little trust they had in him and Crushed it beneath his heel. It nothing more than an irritating Pest, a counterfeit diamond in the marketplace, or a candy too sour when ut was supposed to be sweet. (and oh it wasn't little. it wasn't little at all and that is what Hurt.)

They won't catch up to him for a while. He keeps his pursuers on his tail, a doe with a white tail prancing through the woods as it reaches the edge of the treeline, her fawns safely tucked away where no poacher will find them. He has the stamina for it, the speed, too, and he could outrun them right now if only he didn't want their eyes on Him.

He clutches the two bundles of doll to his chest, squeezing his eyes shut, allowing himself a small luxury, a moment of imagined soft, sleeping warmth in his arms and then opens them again with new renewed Vigor.

He rcalls the games he'd play with Dream, hide and seek, begs in hus mind "hide hide hide and don't let Anyone find you."

Recalls the books he'd read with Nightmare, greek myths and norse and foreign, recalls one.

"Oh heroic Orpheus," Nightmare quietly read, "A heart of gold shattered, gates of void-black closing behind him, the key of his love not being enough to open them once more.

""Oh!"" cried Orpheus "Oh Gods above if only i had not looked back, if only i had not looked back at mine Eurydice!""

"Very good" blue had praised, impressed, and Nightmare had hidden his face in his book to hide his blush, as he did with every compliment, as Blue hides his face in these dolls to hide his tears.

New resolve, then, new determination. "I won't look back." He thinks. He believes. He Excucutes.

Not at his footsteps.

Not at the Fire.

Not at the cold bright moon.

"I won't look back." he thinks again, not at the arrows shooting.

Not at the words spoken.

Not at the assassins.

"I won't look Back." one more time, not at the garden.

Not at the rising Sun.

Not at his little Stars.

"I Won't look back." he repeats like a mantra in his head.

"I Don't look back.

"I don't look back at my Eurydices.

"I Don't look Back."

[annonniiiiieeeee]

Hey, I’ve actually got a few questions to ask you as you’re a writer, so if you’re alright with answering them? But it’s alright if you aren’t, I’m just curious! ^w^

What inspired you to write a Rise!Leosagi fic?

What was your favorite scene to especially write for A World of Samurais and Ninjas?

And -

Do you listen to music when you write? If so, is it the songs from the playlist you put together for the story, or is it songs that get you into a certain mood for writing?

It’s not a problem at all.

I fell in love with rottmnt. I saw people talking about the movie and I’ve always loved animation so I figured I’d watch it and I got hooked. I love all the characters and their relationships. I love how much it focuses on familia love.

Leo was (obviously) my favorite.

As I went down the rabbit whole that is joking a fandom I saw Usagi’s name popped up and I love doing deep dives and research. This lead to me watching tmnt 2003 episodes for context and deep diving into the Usagi comics lore. I really love the relationship they had in 2003 and wanted more of it but in a universe I was more familiar with. So I went out to find it.

And while there are great leosagi stories in the community both of 2003 variety and of Leo x Yuichi, nothing really hit exactly what I was looking for.

Mind you we would not be here with out “The Rabbit Has Always Loved The Turtle” by HailSam (if someone has their tumblr let me know) and the “The Tortoise and the Hare” series by @bluepeachstudios their stories really had me falling in love with this ship.

I had read and seen plenty what if Leo was thrown into cuz dimension instead of escaping the prison dimension and was like what if. I watching Inuyasha and played Pokémon legends of arceus and something about putting a modern day person in feudal Japan has always been fun for me. So I took inspiration and I wrote.

I have experience helping my friend set up dnd coma pins and making mini intro coma pins for kids who are just learning how to play. And I love world building so it was a fun exercise in my skills. I got to learn more about feudal Japan, the turtles and Usagi. It’s was really fun for me.

I write kinda like how a movie is filmed. I would write what ever scene was in my head at that moment and then figure out how to build up to it. At first I was just playing around. I wrote the flower crown scene first followed by Leo revealing his powers and then the confession and I realized I was to far in not to make it a story. I started laying out all the prices and planing it all out. I knew the ending I wanted right away and now it was just putting the prices together. I also knew I wanted to honor rise and focus on the beautiful family relationships they gave us and build them which is why you get so many chapters with the rise family.

My favorite scenes are probably Usagi seeing leo under the tree (AWoSaN 8) as it is what started this madness. But I also love their confession (AWoSaN 12) and gift exchange (AWoSaN14)

I am also very proud of some of my horror scenes the Krang’s almost escape in (AWoSaN 9) Shingen’s death (TWoFFaF 1) and I am very proud of Hikiji’s backstory as I already have it written but you will have to wait for that.

I actually don’t listen to music while writing. I can do it when I’m sorry boarding or imagine the scenes but not when I’m actually writing. My brain hooks on the the noise around me and then I can’t write or I’m writing the song lyrics. I will listen to instrumental music when editing as long as I don’t know the words to the song. My brain will start sing along to the instrumental and then we’re back to the original problem. So normally it’s me, my thoughts, and my dog who is not happy that I’m writing and instead of petting him

I listen to the playlist I made when I need ideas or need to get into the mood to write/story board. That and to pick out chapter titles.

In conclusion I have the worst case of brain rot and you all get to benefit from my torture.

[safyresky]

Hello, I need to drop this in here before Season two of TSCS drop kicks me in a few days.

But I've had Fusion Au on the mind. In the brain. And I just frankly wanna know more about it. Whatever other information you can give I will GLADLY take. (Maybe even drop the fusion height chart 👉👈 if it is to be found)

Steven Universe has permanently altered my brain chemistry and I just wanna hear you talk about this silly little au that has been fluttering around lately.

F E L T. I have been hitting the ground RUNNING for Crystal Springs just to give myself decent AC for when the series picks up again (not sure if I'm gonna post the same day of the new episodes or the day AFTER, but New CS will be there to comfort me and maybe others in my our time of need).

I am not ready. I NEVER will be. I hope and pray that the Council isn't butchered, bc if we've got three confirmed Legendary Figures, I can't see us NOT getting the others. Or, maybe it WILL just be Sandy and Cupid and EB 2.0!! But idk. Idk man. Idk. I really want the snowball that gets thrown in Scott's face in the trailer to be courtesy of Jack. I know it won't be. But I fucking WISH and HOPE and AH.

OFF TOPIC!

I have a height chart floating around somewhere, but it is a stick figure doodle, so I will ATTEMPT to give you a proper?? Chart???

I think I said that Berline is about the size of two Elles stacked on top of each other (sitting on her shoulders) so I kinda eyeballed it based on that??? (me retconning so much about heights knowing that I had Berline pick Elle up and seat her in their palm lmao) So here we go, the main line up:

I eyeballed the SHIT out of this??? I may boost them all a whole ass foot lmao but Richard was liek "DANI. SEVEN FEET IS TALL!" and I was like I GUESS.

Also, as an aside??? The height chart site has a 3D one?? That actually disturbed me??? Thank GOD I was able to switch back! If I find the shitty lil stick figure height doodle I will edit to add it. Or reblog to add it, lol. ANYWAY.

Some info, you request? Okay! Let me marinate it in my head and see what I can do throughout the day:

If the entire frost fam fused they'd be called Frost and they'd be a DELIGHT. They don't talk much except for to be polite and they will throw melty molten rock at you at the drop of a hat, so it's a GOOD THING that Jackie doesn't exists when Frost does! Because they WOULD drop their hat on purpose just to see a fire show

Frost probably freezes in place a lot while thinking since there's 6 whole ass sprites in there having a discussion, which is a very funny mental image--just this blob of ice and fire BUFFERING and then suddenly some asshole gets pompeii'd lol

They're very sweet! Very polite. Always say please and thank you!

When Fino and Fiera fuse, Fire is just the opposite of the THERE'S TWO meme. There's ONE. And they are making it YOUR PROBLEM (they also do unfuse in my head very similarly to the THERE'S TWO meme)

Fire is also the most humanoid looking fusion, for sure!

Diteline really likes flower crowns. She will make you a flower crown or a lil grass bracelet if she's left alone with no threats and a bunch of nature. She's a big old sweetie, an absolute delight

Diteline kids, meanwhile, are a pain when they learn about fusion, and incredibly hard to keep track of once they master it. Those three lil buggers will bounce from fusion to fusion, going from helping to causing trouble to wreaking havoc to trying to fix something as simple as "oh shit, mom and mater will be home soon and we DIDN'T CLEAN THE KITCHEN LIKE THEY ASKED"

Inter season squabbles take on a whole new meaning when it's "shoulder season" time, as 9/10 times it's because the two seasons have fused and are still doing their jobs 😂😂

Of all the Frosts, Fino is the least likely to fuse! It's fun but not like, a big deal, y'know? Orc Friend (who's name is, in fact, Ken, and then I saw Barbie and. Well. But I can't not see him with any other name! It's short for Kenothy) was tres relieved about this, had a whole crisis about if they'd have to fuse at all and of course, overthought it in leaps and bounds 🫠🫠🫠

Fiera and Normal Man (His name is Norm bc I am a SUCKER for a PUNNY NAME) probably would equate to the Stevonnie plotline lol. Like, they'd fuse and Fiera would be like "I DIDN'T KNOW ORDIBEINGS COULD DO THAT! WOW!" And they'd be so excited and have a regular time, bc the normal and absolutely unhinged wild crazy balance out :)

I think their fusion is named Norma lol

Blaise and Pyros never fused, ever. They were not allowed to bc it "wasn't proper" for royalty to resort to something like that

(King and Queen Frost had a very hands-off approach with...messier conflicts. There's a reason they managed to scrape by when The Call happened)

If a redemption arc ever happened for Pyros, it A) wouldn't be one like Jack's, it'd be a more "oh so this was a fucked up upbringing and I need to stop blaming others and confront myself and maybe fix my shit or maybe get worse, who's to say" kind of thing, and B) there'd deffs be a fusion related plotline in Fusion AU, potentially involving murder of parents and/or falling into a volcano.

I think, somehow, of ALL the fusions, Elline (Elle and Jacqueline) are the most chillest one. She is SO chill. She probably always has sunglasses on or on her person. She's got great advice. She'll go with you for ice cream any day! She has such good vibes it's unREAL.

I want to/am in the process of giving the inter-season fusions names. So far we've got:

Flora: Spring/Summer

Fauna: Spring/Autumn

Mud: Spring/Winter.

She's very insistent on this name presently, but I think a wintry plant would be cuter, like Winterberry or Poinsettia or Snowdrop (my personal fave tbh) but NO. She's like "I make Mud therefor I am mud."

Everyone calls her Snowdrop and she's like "No, just Mud for short is fine" It's like. None of those letters are even IN "Snowdrop" Mud, the FUCK? CAN'T YOU CHARACTERS BE NORMAL. TO A POINT.

Evergreen: Autumn/Winter

Sunflower: Summer/Autumn

(I was torn between something plain and obvious like "Harvest", or a silly crop related pun like "Melony", then I remembered that in SDV Sunflowers grow in Summer and Autumn, you know, like they do in IRL and went OH THAT'S PERFECT!)

Summer/Winter fusion is definitely the poster fusion for vacations, lmao. Probably I'll think of something like THAT for their name. Maybe Snowbird? Bc that's what they call people who fly south for the winter on vacations? Lol

(smacks head of Season sisters) These ladies can fit SO MUCH PUNS in 'em

Blaise and Winter I don't think really fuse with the kiddos, not until later years. I know for sure Winter and Jacqueline on occasion have! She's called Flurry and has the MOST energy ever always and is a sentient storm's WORST NIGHTMARE

Blinter the fusion. Can deffs. Pull other fusions apart. They can just pick up a fusion and be like "nope" and separate their asses. They do not abuse this power; it is just something they can do and it came in handy a LOT during the War of Succession

Which is probably actually when they first appeared! Trauma bonding 🥰🥰

So that's what I managed in a day! The heights are...average, I'd say. Not gospel, but like, the differences between the fusions? Solid. I eyeballed it 100%. I'm like MAKE EM BIG but then I'm like I WANT THEM TO BE SNEAKY AND BLEND IN WHEN THEY CAN AS JUST VERY TALL PEOPLE HUEHUEHUE. For some of them. SO YEAH. I HOPE THIS SATISFIES THE LIL ITCH? THE LIL TICKLE? THE LIL FUSION BUG??

I gotta like. Tidy Fusion AU up now that I've got Crystal Springs tidied up, too! It'll make it easier to write the Jackie Frost instalment, lol.