#which depending on your story it’s nice to have a weird quiet dude in the flow of a giant conversation 💀

[no1ryomafan]

Thought about how given I’ve written so much for getter and rotate enough in my brain I could make hypothetical “how to write this characters” post if those even exists until I remember the factors of:

<the status of the tags doesn’t warrant a lot of writers as is and the only person to ask me this was a irl <I don’t wanna be gatekeepy even if I wouldn’t put my bias into it <who the fuck would it really be about besides ryoma and maybe hayato bc honest to god just grasping the team dynamic of the getter will make you be able to understand each individual pilot <I doubt myself I even write 100% in character despite what I’m told 💀

[s-horne]

based on this prompt, making this a 1500 word stony meet-ugly... 

**

Tony was about to fall asleep when his phone suddenly started to buzz. Groaning, he threw his hand over his face and cursed the day that he’d made his agreement with Natasha. But he had made the deal and there was no going back, for better or for worse.

With another loud groan and a childish kick of his legs, Tony reached for his phone and lifted it to his ear.

“Hello?” he snapped and he didn’t even have to fake the agitation for once. He was genuinely exhausted and he didn’t like to be interrupted on the verge of sleep when it happened so rarely. “Hello?”

“Oh, uh, hi? I - is Nat there?”

“Nat? Who the fuck is this?”

There was a short pause before someone cleared their throat. “Sorry, sorry. I thought... I met Nat tonight? We got chatting in a bar.”

“Well, that’s obviously bullshit,” Tony said, looking up at the ceiling. It made a change, really, that the guy sounded quite unsure of himself. And not at all like the usual shitty men that Natasha seemed to attract, with his questions and his soft tone. “I’ve never heard of a Nat and this number belongs to a family friend who’s been dead for fifteen years.”

“Oh god. Oh god, I’m sorry. I - I only wanted to. Fuck, I’m sorry.” The voice actually sounded it, the man almost tripping over his words in haste to apologise. Tony hadn’t had a call like it before and he found himself oddly curious. “I swear she gave me this number. I only wanted to see if she wanted coffee. She – I’m–”

“Woah. Woah, dude,” Tony said quickly, waving his hand in front of himself as though the stranger would see it, “it’s alright. I’m messing, wow.”

“What?”

“I’m Tony, Nat’s best friend.”

There was a pause before, “what?”

Rolling onto his side, Tony tucked his free hand under his head and bit back a yawn. “It’s a thing we do. Nat isn’t exactly good with guys. No exactly about it, actually, she’s the worst at picking men.” And that included all of Tony’s bad decisions - and he’d made a lot of them in his college youth. And his adulthood, for that matter.

“So you... what is it that you do here?”

“Whenever I don’t go out with her, she gives my number out to the people she can’t get rid of and I answer the phone when they call and give them the dead person’s number speech.”

“Oh. Oh, so, that... That makes me a person that she couldn’t get rid of.”

Whoops. It did, indeed. “Yeah, sorry about that. You sound different to the others, though, if that’s any consolation? There’s a lot less cursing and yelling.”

“People curse at you?”

“Uh, yeah, Romeo. Did you not hear the part about Nat not knowing how to pick guys and having to give out a fake number?”

There was a soft laugh before a cough. “Sorry. That makes sense. I – I’ll let you go, then. It’s late.”

“It is,” Tony mused, biting down on a yawn. He’d been up for a few days writing code for hours until his eyes blurred and his fingers hurt, which was the reason that he’d had to leave Natasha alone at the bar and sign himself up to receive at least one phone call. As tired as he was, there was still something intriguing about the call and he found himself not willing to hang up. “You must have been eager.”

“I was,” the man said and Tony almost jolted with the honesty in his voice. It wasn’t hidden behind bravado or cockiness, or played off as a joke. “You’ve met her, right? Can you blame me?”

“Absolutely not. You forget that this isn’t the first call I’ve had, late-night-Lothario.”

“Oh. Right. Of course not. I just wanted to talk to her, though. She’s clever.”

Tony had been about to agree, when the words hit him and he frowned. “What?”

“Nat? She’s clever.”

“She’s a genius,” Tony said automatically, “but no one ever says that. They only ever talk about how hot she is, or what she was wearing, or what they wanted to do to her.”

“I didn’t want to do anything to her,” was the slightly bemused answer, “she was talking about her work and it was interesting. I used to beg my Ma to take me to museums every weekend and I thought it sounded so fun to be paid to be there.”

Nerd. “You were in a bar and you wanted to talk about museums?”

“Okay, when you put it like that I sound like a nerd.”

Tony snorted. “You said it.”

“Yeah, yeah,” the man huffed a short laugh, “I get it. I’m a loser. Maybe that’s why she - well. Who wants to talk about work at a bar, right? She was really cool, though. And seemed super – I don’t know, open? Easy to talk to and I thought she was in to it.”

To be fair to the guy, Natasha had the sort of personality that drew everyone in and she knew how to make use of her sultry gaze, always making whoever she was talking to feel as though they were the centre of the universe; for better or for worse.

“Sorry, dude. You,” Tony sighed and rolled onto his back, “you sound like a nice guy, but Nat’s careful.” 

Too careful, sometimes. For a stupid, brief moment, Tony almost contemplated asking for the guy’s name and maybe making Natasha reconsider. It was time for her to meet someone and Tony could vouch for the guy, in a weird sort of way.

“I’ll let you go,” came the quiet voice down the phone before Tony could open his mouth, “I... tell her I’m sorry, please?”

“What?”

“For whatever I did. However I made her uncomfortable. I’ll work on it, I swear. I don’t want anyone else to… I’m glad she had this method. It made me–”

“Woah, hey, uh…”

“Oh. Steve.”

“Listen, Steve,” Tony sat up and ran his hand through his hair, cursing his friend and his tired mind and the way that he seemed to be feeling something other than annoyance towards the asshole who had apparently made his friend uncomfortable. “You’re already miles ahead of the others by even saying sorry. I’m sure that–,” his phone buzzed in his hand before he could finish his thought and he muttered a curse as he pulled it away from his ear. “Steve? Hang on – I, oh. It’s from Nat.”

“What?”

“Nat’s texted,” Tony said, feeling as confused as Steve sounded as he read the text a few times.

“Oh, God. Is it about me? What did I do?”

Tony swallowed. “She, uh, she’s said ‘only gave it out once tonight! He’s a nerd, a gym-buff, and a sweetheart. Definitely your type and caught him looking at my lock screen pic of you more than once. Go for it’.”

“I... what?”

“That about sums it up,” Tony said on a slight chuckle. He ran his hand over his face and his laugh grew stronger. “You’re not an asshole at all, are you?”

Tony could almost feel Steve’s frown through the cell as he lifted it back to his ear and heard Steve’s confused voice. “I – I’m gonna go with no. I hope I’m not and I really, really would like to think this is some giant misunderstanding.”

Falling back onto his mattress, Tony grinned. “Nat’s the asshole tonight, Casanova. I think we’ve been set up.”

A deep sigh sounded in Tony’s ear, the following laugh as throaty as it was relieved. “What?”

“I think I was supposed to get the text before the phone call, in fairness to her. Don’t think she expected you to be so eager, though…”

“Oh, my God,” Steve said. “I’m never going to live that down.”

“You don’t sound all that upset,” Tony mused. He knew he wasn’t a patch on Natasha, but he did actually like the photo someone had taken of the two of them at Natasha’s last work gala. Maybe there was hope.

“I’m not. Not if you’re the guy from her lock screen,” Steve said and Tony laughed loudly at the clearly audible smirk.

“Guilty as charged.” A few more grey hairs, though, and an eye-bag or two, but who was counting?

“There we go then. A win all-round for me. I’m not an asshole and I got the actual number of a gorgeous guy. In all honesty, though, thank you. I thought I was gonna have to call my Ma and make her take me to her book club again.”

“Nope,” Tony said, pulling the comforter over himself again as he got comfortable, Steve’s laughter in his ear. “You’ve lost me.”

“Oh,” Steve said and Tony could really appreciate how nice his voice was when he wasn’t tense, “it’s a long story.”

“A bedtime story? I hear those help people sleep.”

“Isn’t it a little late for that?”

Tony grinned, fingers tightening on the phone when Steve’s voice dropped a little. “I don’t know. Depends what time you go to bed.”

“Alright, alright. I guess I have time for one short story.”

Dammit, but Natasha really did know how to pick them, Tony thought as he settled in to hear about book club.

[bigbrotherlouis]

✨✨

hello lovely!! if it’s okay with you, i’m going to do a scene from the latest chapter of tried to keep myself from hurting bc i am proud of that one a lot!

Mitch tips forward again, determined to try again, and get stopped by the press of Dylan’s palm to his forehead.

“Mitch,” Dylan says, his voice shot through with something. “What are you doing?”

He blinks at him. “What the fuck does it look like I’m doing?” (i really went into this last chapter not wanting to do an happy ever after. like, yeah, they’re going to end on a positive bc i like those kinds of stories, but i didn’t want everything to be fixed by talking to each other. they still have stuff they have to work out, and i wanted it to be realistic)

There’s a pause. “Okay, fuck this,” he mumbles and shoves carefully at him, enough so Mitch tumbles back and he can stand. It’s a weird sense of deja vu, sprawled on the ground, watching Dylan fix himself up after rejecting him again. (parallels!) It aches in a way Mitch didn’t know still ached. He swallows hard.

“Where are you going?”

“Hotel.”

“Why?”

“I’m not doing this shit,” he says and pulls out his phone, tapping at it too quickly. (they both try to solve things mostly by ignoring them, and this is dylan doing that) His hands are shaking slightly. Mitch swallows again, the taste of Dylan still on his tongue, and his throat way too dry.

“Are you, uh,” he says, still aching. “Are you breaking up with me.” (this maybe was a little too obvious for mitch to ask straight up, but i think it made sense in context. the last time dylan did this, they broke up. it’s reasonable for him to think that history’s repeating itself)

That gets Dylan’s attention; he glances up from his phone to stare at him. “What? No.”

“Are you mad at me?”

“Yes,” Dylan says and then frowns. “No. I don’t know.”

“Okay, then why are you leaving?”

“Why are you trying to blow me on the sofa?” (i never know how to refer to blowjobs. it’s awkward for me every time.)

“Getting you to the bedroom seemed like too much work,” he says, too honest and too unthinking. Dylan levels a look at him. (this is less supposed to be flippancy and more supposed to be mitch not thinking. his brain’s busy trying to think through what’s happening)

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.”

He shrugs his shoulder. “You looked like you needed a blowjob,” he mutters and makes a face, nothing left in him to keep it away. (mitch in this fic has a history of trying to fix things with sex and this was him trying to fix the weirdness between them, or manage dylan’s mood)

Dylan stares at him some more and then sighs. “Just— hold on for a second.”

Mitch watches as he turns around and disappears in the direction of the kitchen, holding his breath until he reappears with another protein bar. He drops it on Mitch’s stomach.

“Eat that.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Take a fucking bite, Marner.” Mitch obediently unwraps it and takes a bite, chewing quickly. (more managing) “You told me that you wanted to gargle bleach.”

“Huh?”

“Every time you suck a dick, you said you want to gargle bleach,” Dylan says and then nods at the protein bar. “For the taste.” (i really tried to make dylan attentive and and thoughtful in his own way and this was the culmination of that)

Mitch looks at what’s left in his hand, tastes the mild sweetness on his tongue instead of— well. “Oh. Thanks?”

“Why the fuck did you try to suck my dick?” (very delicate, dylan)

“Why not?”

“Jesus Christ, do you have to play so dumb? Or have you forgotten the massive fight we had about this?”

“I’m an adult, Dylan. I can do what I want.”

“Sure, but what if I didn’t want a blowjob, huh?”

“Dunno, dude, you were enjoying it for a while there,” (trying to balance dylan’s interest as someone who experiences sexual attraction with his refusal to make mitch do something he doesn’t want to do was really hard in this scene! i don’t know if i did it well, honestly, but i sure as hell tried. dylan’s still trying to figure out what boundaries are) Mitch tells him and finishes the rest of the protein bar, feels it settle uncomfortably in his stomach. “You were still mad and I thought it would snap you out of your sulking. I was wrong, apparently.”

“I wasn’t sulking.”

“Oh, yeah you were, bud. Big time.”

Dylan breathes hard for a second. “So, what? You decided to try and suck it out of me?”

“It was working until you got pissy.”

“I’m never pissy.” (they’re still young and dumb)

Mitch snorts, pushing himself into a better sitting position. “Sure.” Dylan looks down at his phone again and then moves, snagging his jacket and looking for his shoes. “Shit, wait, you’re still leaving?”

“I— yeah?”

“Because I tried to hook up with you? You, my boyfriend?” (mitch is also trying to figure out boundaries!)

“I’m still mad at you and I don’t want you throwing yourself at me as, like, some weird omega thing.”

“Weird omega thing,” Mitch repeats, testing the words against his teeth. (unapologetically one of my favourite phrases) “Okay.”

“You’re telling me it’s not?”

“I’m telling you that I’m an adult who makes my own decisions and I can do what I want.”

“Fine,” Dylan says and looks at him head on, eyes keen and sharp. “Did you want that?” (i really wanted to show dylan changing and learning through this fic and this is one of the ways i hoped it showed!)

“I wanted you to be in a better mood.”

“Not what I asked.” (okay, maybe it’s a bit much to ask hockey players in their early twenties to understand the nuance between wanting sex and wanting the outcome of sex, but it was an important point to make to the reader, in my eyes)

Mitch tries again. “You wanted it.”

“Also not what I asked,” Dylan tells him. Mitch thinks about it for a second and then drops his shoulders, sighing.

“I mean, does it matter?”

“Does it— of course it fucking matters, Mitchell. What the fuck.”

“You’re upset, I can make you feel better, it’s what I’m supposed to do. (something something we live in a society) So it doesn’t matter,” he explains, watching emotions cross over Dylan’s face too fast to catch fully. Dylan seems to settle on a determined sort of anger, mouth pressed into a tight line.

“Listen to me, no, listen. I don’t— I don’t care about the whole fucking omega thing, okay? I really don’t. I’m trying to care less about the alpha thing, but it’s me so it’s a little harder. (meaning, it’s really easy to give people grace sometimes while beating yourself up for the same thing. dylan doesn’t care about mitch being a good omega, but desperately cares about being a good alpha) But you? This? I care about you, as my— as my boyfriend, not as my fuckin’— omega, or whatever.” (there’s probably a whole other fic here about what omegas mean in this particular au but i will most likely not be writing it)

“Dylan—”

“Shut up, I’m making a point. I already told you, and I don’t know how many times I’m going to tell you again, but I don’t fucking care that you don’t like sex. You don’t want to have it, so we won’t, and you can stop feeling so fucking gulity about it. I can deal with my own dick and you can just leave it alone. Can you get that into your thick skull, already?”

Mitch is quiet for a second, waiting, but the anger doesn’t fade from Dylan’s face, from his body. “Then why are you so mad?”

“I’m mad because you just do shit instead of talking about it, or, like, asking, and I know I’m not one for talking about feelings, but shit, Mitch, at least I’m not trying to fuck my way into feeling secure.” (could he have said this more delicately? probably. would it have been true to character? no. also it’s nice and succinct, thanks dylan for wrapping that up so neatly)

“Hey,” Mitch says lowly. It’s the only thing he can make himself say.

“You don’t trust me.”

“I trust you.”

“No,” Dylan says. “You don’t. Which, like, it has to be earned n’shit, but that goes both ways, and I can’t trust you if you’re not going to be honest with me. I can’t trust you if I think you’re going to keep bulldozing over your own emotions to make me happy. Or, what you think will make me happy.”

“I don’t want you to—” He cuts himself off because he doesn’t know how to end that sentence, everything muddled in his brain. (this was where i thought about starting the whole “i’m scared you’ll leave me if i don’t want to have sex with you” argument but then decided it was too much for the last chapter) “You liked it, though.”

“Yeah, because I like sex and I think you’re hot, and there was not enough blood in my brain to understand what was happening right away. I’m sorry, though. I should’ve stopped you sooner.” (originally, they weren’t going to get as far as they did with the blowjob but it didn’t work to stop it any sooner, so i kept writing. this is also not an excuse necessarily but again: hockey player)

Mitch’s ass is starting to hurt, so he hauls himself up from the floor to sit on the couch again, twisted around to keep Dylan in his sightline. “I’m sorry too,” he says and tips his head up. “Are you still going to leave.”

“Depends,” he says warily. Mitch digs his fingers into the back cushion and hates the thought of him walking away.

“I’ll keep my hands to myself. (*selena gomez voice* i mean i could by why would i want to) C’mon, Dyl, we’re not going to see each other in forever.”

Dylan visibly hesitates, but eventually he drops his coat again, toes off his shoes, crosses around the sofa to stand in front of him, Mitch twisted the right way around. “Okay, fine, but I want to go to bed. I’m tired.”

“It’s still early,” Mitch says, just to be difficult. He’s tired too, bone-weary from the game and from the rest of the night, and he gives over his hands so Dylan can pull him up. (it’s about the hand touching!! the intimacy!!)

anyway this was a tricky scene to balance while being respectful of 1) where characters currently are 2) where they used to be and 3) where i wanted them to end up. so mitch defaulting to sex to make dylan feel better and dylan letting him fulfills point 2, dylan stopping them but only after he realises fulfills point 1, and agreeing to talk fulfills point 3! not sure if it was executed well re: motivations and reactions, but i definitely did my best :)

[yanderefreak1213]

Little Sunshine~pt2

Warnings: Cussing, violence, and yandere themes

Quick Note: There will be mentions of Tamaki’s darling in this, but don’t worry. Nothing detailed. Just mentioned.This is so you can imagine your characters in this -or yourself XD- But I wanted to keep this connected. Darlings will meet and keep the personalities to their respected stories. I will figure out a way to refer them, like sunshine or mouse.  depending on what story you’re reading.

You groaned shifting in bed, normally c/w/n would’ve woken you up by now, you never got up before him it was then you heard it “Are you awake?” A cheery voice that was for sure not your co-workers name quickly your eyes shot open and quickly you shot straight up but groaned from the sudden pain in your head “Oh! Careful, sunshine! I didn’t mean to hit you that hard but I guess I forgot how weak humans were.” he says this like what he’s doing is completely fine, you attempted to crawl away from him but he grabbed you “No no, none of that! I’m not gonna hurt you. I mean originally, but you’re just so sweet! I had to keep you.” you struggled against his grip “Look, I-i don’t know what you want from me...But I can assure I have nothing of value to you!” you flinched when his grip tighten a bit “Oh sunshine! Weren’t you listening? I said I wanted to keep you. Honestly I thought it was a bit weird Tamaki wanted a human for a mate. But then you came and now I get it!” you stared him surprised, you couldn’t believe what you were hearing, do they have another poor human here? “H-how many humans do you have here?!” he just kept that smile as he answered “Oh! We have many, but don’t worry, you won’t be sorted into with them. You and Tamaki’s mate get a special pass in that.”

You froze for while before speaking “Let me go...” you felt like you couldn’t breath. He chuckled like you just told a joke “Sorry Sunshine! No can do! You saw me which means I can’t risk you telling anyone. But atleast you’re not being used as a food source!” you started struggling and kicking trying to get out of his grip “Now, now sunshine! Unless you want anything happening to that friend of your’s I’d suggest playing nice.” his voice was coated in a fake sweetness, you froze, he’s talking about c/w/n “I was nice enough to leave him be. Even after he touched you.But I’m not afraid to go back and take care of it if you’re not gonna behave yourself.” you huffed, he knew about your co-worker. “H-how-” “I saw you two entering the island, originally just keeping an eye on you guys and making sure you weren’t up to anything, but you were such a sweetheart, you were so gentle with the other animals and creatures here. You even helped me, a complete stranger you met! You’re just to precious for humans, Sunshine!”

You hated how he played your heart the way he did. “Please..I don’t..I don’t want this.” your voice sounded weak and you hated it “Aww, Sunshine don’t worry! Besides you wouldn’t be able to survive without me. You don’t have any teeth or claws.Honestly if it wasn’t me, some other creature would’ve gotten you!” you honestly weren’t sure if he was delusional, or playing some kind of mind game with you.He’d go to threatening you to saying how much he wants to protect you.

He finally pulled away from you at his name being called, you finally got a decent look at him, honestly what you saw terrified you,  this dude had to be pure muscles, he towered over you by a lot, honestly you were surprised this dude didn’t crush you. Blonde hair and blue eyes. But his snake half really stood out, scales scattered all over his body but the corn snake half to him really stood out. Honestly the researcher in you was excited about this discovery, but the fact you were forced here with a violent creature was not what you wanted “Well I need to go!” He gave a small kiss to your forehead before slithering out, and before you could run out of the cave entrance, he closed it off. You banged against -stupid idea on your part- and cried in frustration, you were about to explore a bit before you heard a tiny voice “H-hello?” you gasped “H-hey! Can you hear me?” the voice was silent for a while before speaking up “Yes...A-are you okay?” the voice for sure sounded shy but was feminine “Yes! Are you human?” you felt relief flood through you, “Y-yes...I-I heard....E-er..Mirio? Talk a-about you...I’m n-not suppose to be over here...B-But..” She was quiet, you got worried before she spoke “I-I needed to meet you..” you wanted to respond before a voice interrupted anything “Y-you know you’re n-not suppose to be over here, C-come on. Y-you need to stop wandering off.” you heard a little whimper from her, you felt bad. You didn’t want her to leave. But before you knew it, you were alone again.

(Lemme clear this up, the darling from Little Mouse will not be an oc, I will not give this character a clear description besides personalty since that was part of the story originally. This is so you can keep the character up to your imagination. If I call the character anything it’ll either be “Mouse” or T/D (Tamaki’s Darling). And the same for Nejire once I get her’s started.)

[lyndiscealin]

Kevin Day and my take on anxiety (disorder)

So... this is bothering me for a few weeks now. The following post will be more about me and my own problems than about Kevin’s. 

I write this because I had a false picture of Kevin for a long long time, which is entirely Neil’s fault. Or it’s my fault mainly because you never should believe what people tell you about other people. Only because Neil says that Kevin is a coward it doesn’t mean he is. So let me tell you why my own nervous breakdown opened my eyes and let me tell you some things about my own anxiety disorder I discovered only a few weeks ago.

But before that, I will explain you why Neil thinks Kevin is a coward. The facts are these: Kevin grew up relatively sheltered. Yes there was some abuse but it’s nothing compared to Neil’s or Andrew’s childhood, right? Yeah I think we kind of are on the same page here. Kevin’s childhood was far from nice or sheltered, but Neil and Andrew had it so much worse. And they turned out kind of brave and Neil seems relatively fine if you think about it.

But let us step a bit back. In our culture we have a really weird take on mental disorders. For us it is okay that Andrew sometimes is not able to function, it’s understandable, because he had it so bad. And we can fully understand that Neil is afraid of older men and can’t accept gifts without having a mental breakdown. But we are not able to comprehend that Kevin has a meltdown when only thinking that he could perhpas meet Riko. With two guardians at his side, with a lot of people watching so there is no way that anything could possibly happen even if Riko would be stupid enough to try something. And that is not understandable because rationally there is no threat, nothing to really worry about. Why can’t Kevin see it? Why can’t he be like Neil or Andrew? Why don’t we get that people can’t control what part of our brain breaks if we get hurt? Let us step even further away. Did anyone you know ever told you they sometimes can’t get out of bed? And you thought perhaps ‘why? Your life is good, no big drama in your family or anything particularly bad happened to you. Why are you depressed? Why can’t you function properly?’ If so, I have an answer for you: Our society treats mental illnesses differently to physical insuries. It’s in all our heads that you have to have a trauma for ‘being allowed’ to get mentally sick. There are people who fall out of a window on the second or third (or even higher) floor and they are okay. And we say ‘oh wow that was luck’. And then there are people who slide on the last step of a stair and break their ankle and their hip and their arm. Nobody says ‘but you just fell down one step??? How are you not able to hold it together? How did you break all those parts of your body? WTF dude?’. No, we accept that it happened, because we can see that it did. We have proof. Someone telling is ‘I broke my arm three years ago’ isn’t proof. We have to believe this person. Someone telling us ‘Nothing really bad happened to but my brain broke nevertheless’ can’t be proven either.

So... it depends a bit on the circumstances. If you fall there are circumstances, too. How good are you at catching yourself? Are you quick enough to grip something which can hold you up? Are you carrying something with you and on instinct you cling to it instead of letting it go and save yourself from the fall? Were you tired so your reactions are slower? Was your body angled weirdly before your fall because you were talking to someone? Is your bone structure alright?

It is the same for mental issues. There are circumstances and every individual lives in other circumstances. For someone who lived very sheltered being yelled at for the first time can be a traumatic experience. There are different coping mechanisms which develope pretty individually and without much control.

Everyone seems to get that there may be people who are just clumsy, but there are not much people who understand that there are some people who can’t defend themselves because they don’t know how. 

So let’s get back to Kevin: Even if the hand breaking was the first cruel thing Riko did to him, Kevin’s psych could have broken nevertheless. And it would be valid. Even if Riko just insulted him from time to time, it could have broken Kevin and it would be valid.

But Neil and Andrew are protecting him! - You might think. There is where my story comes in. So sit back and let me tell you a bit about anxiety disorders. You might know where this is going about now, I will tell anyway.

Let’s inspect my circumstances:

I was born sensitive. I am not sure if this is a genetic thing (I think it isn’t, my family has no sensitiv or empathic bone in them). Recent studies show that new borns try to please their mother so they will get fed. If I don’t mix anything there it is even more obvious with premies,  but I forgot why. I was born nearly 3 weeks early. I don’t know if this is true, but it would explain SO MUCH.

I was one of this babys who are really, really quiet. My mother tells stories about her checking in on me when I slept because she was afraid I had died in my sleep. I nearly never cried and always kept myself entertained. Not much work there.

But I turned out to be a pretty normal kid. There are stories about me getting my bigger sister in trouble and such things.

But then I got this eating disorder. No one knows why and I can’t remember properly. I can remember one day where my sister tried to trick me into eating dinner and I remember being annoyed by it because I knew what she was doing, but I can’t remember why I didn’t want to eat anything. I was fairly young. I don’t know if I was going to kindergarden at the time. So perhaps I was 3? Maybe 4?

Of course my mother was pretty worried. And then this friend of hers told her she should stop putting tableware for me on the table. And when I asked she should say ‘You won’t eat with us, why should I put it on there?’ I can’t remember this day, but every time my mother tells this story, she is proud because she fixed the issue. And I think she did something really horrible there. I don’t blame her. She didn’t know better and she was worried her child might stop eating altogether. But... but a child can’t understand this, right? ‘If I don’t behave like they want to I won’t get something to eat’ might be what I was thinking when she did this. It would make sense. Because I was a really angsty child. There are stories of me not even going to my grandma (who lives in the same house as my parents). I remember being afraid of using the wrong shampoo. I was so afraid of getting in trouble for things normal kids did without thinking about it. My mother has a short temper and she is pretty good in making you feel guilty, but none of my other siblings were as afraid as I was. I was terrified. 

And then my mother got depressed. I don’t know why, I don’t know what happened and I don’t know exactly when it happened but I remember being in 7th or 8th Grade and explaining to my teacher that I fucked up an announced and pretty easy test because my mother had a nervous breakdown a few days earlier. And that wasn’t the starting point of all of it. It began months perhaps years prior. in 8th Grade I was 14 or 15. (I was bullied in school, too, but that has nothing to do with my anxiety and I got over that about 10 years ago, so I will skip this part)

Because I was the sensitive one I was the only one who told other members of my family that whatever my mother did, she couldn’t help herself. I didn’t know what mental illnesses were yet, so I told the others she was pretty stressed and tired. My mother doesn’t know about this. She doesn’t know that for years people came to me to complain about her and I tried to defend her. She had huge fallouts with my sister and my father and my grandmother. Again and again and again. My sister moved out before it got really bad. I don’t even know how much she knows about what happened in the house. 

My mother never did anything more than yelling. She never beat us, she never took away our meals. She tried to be a good mother, I know this. She taught us how to swim and how to ride a bike. She got us through school and all three of us went to university (they are free in my country, she couldn’t have afforded the fees of an amarican university).

But she was emotionally abusive. My whole teenage life I felt like it was partly my fault that she was hurting so much. Because I couldn’t do it right. She never cumminicated enough with us. And every time something went wrong she yelled at us and made us feel like we were a burden. And there was more and more that went wrong because I was so afraid of doing something wrong that everytime I had to ask my mother of something, I waited until the last possible time. Until today my mother thinks I am unreliable and unorganized, but in reality I am obsessive with all my tasks and the only reason I was sloppy as a teenager was because I didn’t had the courage to ask my mother things. 

There ware months (perhaps a year or two even) where she seemed to do nothing but yell. I now call it the ‘divorcing phase of my parents’. They are still married but whenever I hear someone say how their home was a year before their parents divorced I think ‘Oh, that was this thing that happened there’. My parents still live together. Because you don’t give up on family.

That’s the other side of my family and until this year I was kind of proud about this fact: We are holding together. If someone is in need of help, he gets it. Or at least it seemed that way. Turns out that first of all: This is only for non mental things. When I first talked with my mother about my own depression she told me I shouldn’t go to a therapist because they were evil (that’s the short of the speech she gave me).  Second of all: I don’t even know how I should call this. Or how to explain. let’s say... there are a lot of exceptions to this rule and sadly my brother and I fell out of this rule pretty damn often. Third: Helping in need doesn’t mean being nice to each other the rest of the time. I would rather take it the other way around if I’m being honest. It would be shitty still but I can handle my own problems. I can’t bear my familiy....

In the 10 years or so where she was sick and kind of unbearable there was one rule in our household: Don’t get your mother angry. NEVER!!!!

And because my mother got used to it that her emotions were the most important of us all she stopped caring about others emotions. At least it seems like it. Let me give you some of her greatest hits, she told me in my face (it will sound a bit fake because I have to translate it from the german in my head to understandable english without losing information):

You don’t want to see your sister? What happened this time? Really, I can’t stand this right now. 

You are crying because you are afraid of the exam tomorrow? You can’t not write it, you would need even longer for your bachelors degree.

(When I had 2 days every week were I was out of the house from 8:20am until 9:30pm, two days from 8:20am to at least 5pm and had fridays off from university but had to do my homework and other prep still; and she all but worked for 30 hours a week): You never do anything in the household! Every time I come home it looks shitty! You have the weekends off, do something!

And then a week later after I didn’t eat more than one slice of bread each day and she asked me why and I couldn’t say ‘because of her’ because NEVER GET YOUR MOTHER ANGRY!!!! I told her that I was worried about my grades at University so I had some reason for feeling shitty that didn’t involve her... she told me that I had to get my ass up and study more because apparantly I had my weekends off so I had to do something on these days...

After the fall out with my sister which finally got me to go to therapy my mother told me that she wouldn’t get involved in any of our interpersonal problems anymore and that she expected us to behave around one another because we all are family and can be expected to get along (the translation of this sentence is: if you don’t keep swallowing the shit your sister does to you and say another word I will get really angry (AND YOU AREN’T ALLOWED TO GET YOUR MOTHER ANGRY!!!!)) She also told my sister that she was grateful my sister lived so far away and they weren’t able to see each other that much

So over time this whole ‘don’t get your mother angry’ thing muteted to ‘shut the fuck up because if you have a problem I get angry.’

This is my context (it is a lot I’m sorry)

But for 6 years now I don’t live with my parents anymore. My mother is better now, the last two years I visited regularly and we even had kind of fun together. I stopped talking with my mother about important things in my life. I still don’t get along with my sister because everything I am she either doesn’t understand or detests greatly (she hates that I am still a student after 10 years (I never took a dime from my family for going to university... just to be clear. I earn my own money since before I moved out))

But it was okay. We got along, most of the visits were pretty nice.

And then corona happened. Not because one of my family members got sick. We are healthy as can be. No... but because of corona I stopped visiting. Additionally my sister got a child.

I called my mother, father and grandmy regularly, everything was fine. I was so well me and my therapist talked about ending therapy. I was happy.

And then I heard that my sister still wanted to get her child baptised and wanted to make it a family event. With 12 people overall.

I didn’t want to come, because for me it was too dangerous. And because it wasn’t just the church visit, it was visiting a restaurant too. No possibility to wear a mask all day, keep distance... a fucking restaurant.

To her defense it was well planned. Both families (hers and her husband’s) were at seperate tables and it was in a seperate room from the rest of the restaurant. The possibility of someone getting sick was low. But it was there. And I was terrified so I said ‘No’.

I talked to my therapist first for a professional opinion on things and he too said it was okay to say no because of the corona situation. He advised me to write an e-mail so I did. I had anxiety attacks for 3 days while I wrote this mail. I let 10 or so people beta read it. I talked to friends if it really was okay to say ‘no’ because I was about to hurt my sister pretty bad with this. AND YOU DON’T HURT YOUR FAMILY!!! YOU JUST SHUT UP AND DO WHAT THEY WANT!!!!

On the day I sent the mail to my sister (and a copy to my parents so there was no ‘he said she said’ situation) my father called me. He was furious. How could I? My poor sister! My mother was also furious. How could I do this? I shoudl think about this. You are afraid? You can’t be afraid all your life you have to take risks and this isn’t even a risk you are ridiculous. It’s still 3 weeks until the event, think about it. He ended the call after 10 minutes with ‘I have to go, I am starting to cry’.

I couldn’t stop walking after this for hours. I walked miles in my apartment. I cried and cried and walked and hyperventilated. I don’t know what I would have done if not for my roommate who held me together somehow. I turned my phone and my mobile off, I was terrified to look into my e-mails. I hurt my family, all of them... I feld like dying. I can’t explain this feeling. This one phone call destroyed me. Completly. And I was better then... I had wanted to... ending therapy wasn’t an option now (and god was I glad we hadn’t decided to end it)

And this was only my father. My sister called me a week later or so. To her defense she really tried to be understanding. She wasn’t, but she tried. She didn’t yell, she didn’t even tell me that she had cried (she did, my grandma told me later) ... she really tried... but she also said that I should call my mother because she was ‘worried’ about me. My brother later told me, that my mother expected a call from me. I waited. Terrified. One panikattack after the other. The babptism went by... My grandma called and told me she wanted to kill my therapist for making me abandon my family. (never told her I even talked with him about the situation, she just assumed)

I somehow lived through her accusations and we ended the call on kind of good terms? But she told me I should call my mother. She wasn’t mad jsut worried. I didn’t want to. I waited.

I missed 4 calls of my mother and on friday I called her back. 5 weeks after I send the mail. I won’t tell you how the call went. It isn’t the point. I think I overshared enough here. It wasn’t pretty, but I have to come back to my point here.

After hearing this story you may imagine what a lot of my friends said: Just shut them out of your life.

But I can’t. My flatmate and all of my friends would help me through it, but I can’t. I want to, but I can’t. They threw everything away what I build the last years with them onyl because I didn’t went to the baptism (my family is not really religous btw. This isn’t about their believe. It’s because it was a family event and I opted out). I am at the end of my tether. But I can’t end it. Because I am terrified.

Because my brain is screaming at me that I can’t do this. I can’t.... I can’t... I can’t. And the longer I wait til my next visit the worse it will get.

I am stuck. My therapist and I try to work on it but it is difficult. There are so much layers of problems there, we aren’t through all of them and I am panicking everytime I have thoughts about my family. And I am angry. I am so, so angry. But I can’t do anything.

I am not a coward, I now this. I grew up in a family I had to duck my had to live. I moved out, started my own life, will get my masters degree in computer science at some point, I go to work like a normal human being and I am able to keep myself together. I am not a coward because the anxiety I feel was forced on me. I am mentally sick. All my coping mechanisms which helped me survive my childhood home are useless now and stand in my way.

I am not spineless. Visiting my family again is the most terrifying thing I ever did even if I know that nothing will happen there. No one will hurt me physically. I will go there and after a few hours I will come back to my home and my cats and everything will be fine. I know this. But I keep having panik attacks. I am still furious. I am terrified. And I feel powerless. Rationally I know that I have all the power here. My family is terrified of me breaking the bonds. I know that. It’s so much leverage, but I can’t use it. I just can’t...

I am not even able to ask my mother to one of my therapie sessions. So my therapist could help me say a few things.

I am terrified of Christmas. I don’t want to go. But I don’t know how to say ‘no’.

So back to Kevin.  I know how he feels when he is forced to see Riko again. I know the feeling. And he is not a coward or spineless; because he goes to games against the ravens, he goes to the banketts and in the last book he gets rid of the number and faces Riko on the court, spits some japanese which makes Riko furious and wins the fucking game. Only because Neil and Andrew can cope better with their Anxiety doesn’t mean Kevin is a coward. After everything I went though the last 12 weeks, I can say loud and clear: Kevin Day is a fucking hero And he has my respect. I hope one day I can get free of my boundaries, too. 

[dalamjisung]

lost in translation ❁ lee minho

word count: 3318

genre: fluff, angst

pairing: reader x lee minho

description: speaking another language has its perks. But what happens when the one you’re talking about can understand almost everything you’re saying?

“Did you hear about the new international student?” 

“There’s a new one? Where from?”

“I don’t know, man, but I heard she’s hot.”

“Really? I think she looks weird…”

“You’re just jealous.”

“Shut up, you!”

“It’s true thou-“

Smack.

You sighed as you listened to the discussion behind you. Foolish of you to think that this wouldn’t happen in college. High school had been hard enough, but now you had to put up with this all over again. 

Look at her hair, is so… different. 

What is that accent I hear?

I’m sorry, can you repeat that? I couldn’t understand you…

Your name is so weird.

You shake your head and take a deep breath. You chose to be here. You chose Seoul National University. You chose to move to this new country. Now you handle it. You got this, Y/N, you think to yourself and straighten your back. Students were overflowing the lecture hall as you waited for you professor. He was well known around the department and you were lucky to have gotten a seat in his class.

You pull your worn out notebook from your backpack and opened it on a blank page. I need to buy a new one, you thought, going through your old notes from other classes. This one is almost done. 

“Wah,” Someone gasps near you. “Your notebook is so full!”

“Uh…” You didn’t really know how to answer that. 

“I never take notes,” The boy smiles and shrugs. “So I’m impressed. Really.”

“Oh, okay.” 

You smile politely and go back to looking through your notes. They remind you of the places you’ve been before; the countries you moved to, and the languages you heard. The cultures you’ve adapted to were the most impressive thing you’ve seen in your life, and that was partially why you ended up in Seoul– not only was this university one of the best in the world, but also the culture shock you were about to have would give you so much to study and learn. It would be great… as soon as you managed to mute those people around you. 

“Oh,” A hand– the boy’s– snatches your notebook away from you. “You’ve had this class before?”

“No,” You blush, turning to look at him. “I’ve had classes that add to this one, but not this one exactly…”

“Ah, so this must be your major!” 

This boy is so enthusiastic about everything that you can’t help but stop sulking. You nod and ask his. Dance. You’ve never met someone who was majoring in Dance, and you start asking questions. What are the classes like? Do you have a specific style of dance? Or is a genre? Do you showcase? He laughs and answers them patiently, smiling with fond memories and puffing his chest out when you compliment him on the video he showed you. 

“I’m Minho, by the way,” He says, quieting down when the professor walks in. 

“Y/N,” You whisper. “Nice to meet you, Minho.”

The class goes by smoothly and you take notes, fervently writing as if your life depended on it, while Minho only nodded and hummed as the professor explained theories and gave practical examples. His arms were crossed over his chest, and you couldn’t help but chastise yourself for focusing on that instead of listening to the professor, but you couldn’t help yourself when he just looked that good– you were young and single, after all. His hair fell a little over his eyes and his small smile was just… inviting. You felt invited, as if he had opened his arms and asked you the story of your life. Stop it, Y/N, you scold yourself yet again. You just met him, for christ’s sake! It wasn’t your fault, really. Anyone that met Lee Minho had the same reaction; there was just something about that boy that seemed warm, and cozy, and weirdly familiar. And it was just that, the sense of familiarity, that got you. You hadn’t felt like that in years, and to finally have it again– sitting right next to you, on top of that– was inexplicable. 

Once the professor leaves, you start to gather your stuff. By then, you couldn’t help but want to spend more time with this strange boy you met. He looks at you and nods with his head to the door, signaling you to follow him outside. Once you two step outside, he starts giggling. 

“Saw something you liked?” He asks, with a teasing smirk and a soft elbow to your ribs. 

“W-what?!” You gasp in surprise, not really expecting that. To be fair, you were pretty sure no one expects that. Ever. 

“I saw you looking at me during the lecture,” He giggles again and you can’t help but smile. “But don’t worry. I saw something I like, too.” 

You blush. And laugh. And find yourself in a mixture of feelings that leave you overwhelmed. How on Earth could this boy make you feel so comfortable even when hitting on you? You two keep walking until you reach the cafeteria, where you decide to grab a bite before your next class. Minho had dance practice in two hours, so you two had some time to kill. 

“Where are you from?” He asks once you start talking about your friends back home. 

“I’m fro-“

“Hey, is that the nee international student?”

You freeze. Swallowing dry, you take a deep breath. 

“Yeah, dude,” Another voice comments. “She doesn’t look like-“

You mute them there and then. You’ve heard those words before. 

She doesn’t look likes she’s from there, though. 

You smile politely at Minho, who was still talking about his new choreography. He smiles back and enthusiastically motions as he goes, voice getting louder and firmer. At that point, you had no other choice other than listening to Minho. Focusing on Minho. Smiling at Minho. 

“Do we have more classes together?” He asks once you leave the cafeteria, walking to your seminar class. 

“I don’t think so,” You shrug. “But we have that lecture twice a week, so you won’t miss me too much.”

It’s a joke and he knows, but Minho can’t help but scoff and grab your phone from you hand. He types in what you assume is his number and texts himself. 

“Now I won’t miss you at all,” With a wink, he leaves. 

Rolling your eyes, you go back to your routine. However, you couldn’t help but notice that when you were with Minho, no one bothered you. 

The next day was hard. Five people approached you spitting out stereotypical nonsense. Other two students judged you because of your hair, and one even stopped you mid argument to say that they couldn’t understand you because of your accent. That shut you up for the rest of the class. For the entirety of the day, the floor was the only thing you looked at. And it wasn’t even a pretty floor, at that. 

As you walked back to your dorm, you talked to your mom on the phone. Because you knew no one would understand you, you spoke freely about people and your feelings. 

“I don’t know if I can do this, mom,” You said, ignoring the curious glances people sent you as they heard a strange language. “They are such assholes! Every time, I swear I feel like an animal in a zoo! They touch me as if I have a strange virus or somet-“

“Honey, calm down,” You mother chuckles. “You always say that. Every time. You know you can do this. You are stronger than them, sweetie.”

“I know,” You sigh and pouted. “I still miss home, though.”

“I know you do, Y/N,” Your mom coos. “And we miss you too, endlessly. But this is for your future, baby. Keep that in mind.”

“Yeah…” Your eyes wonder as you pondered on what she said, and you see Minho. He’s talking with someone and you hear his laugh. “Not everyone is bad, right?”

“Right,” Your mom repeats. “Did you meet anyone nice yet?”

“Yeah,” You smile. They are not that far away from you, but you know he can’t understand you, so you are not really worried about it. “He’s really nice. There’s something about him that I just… adore. I met him yesterday, and it feels as if we’ve been friends for years, mom. It’s so weird.”

“It’s a he?!” She shouts, laughing loudly. “Love at first sight? Really?”

“No,” You whine and stomp your feet a little. “Not love at first sight, mother. He’s just… familiar.”

“You can’t fool me,” Your mom says. “But I’ll let it slide. I have to go, now, sweetie, but we’ll talk tomorrow. I love you.”

“Okay,” You smile. “Love you too, mom.”

And with that she was gone. You always had a nostalgic feeling when talking to your family on the phone, and it took a while to fade away. 

“Why so sad?” 

You turn around to see Minho walking towards you. 

“Ah,” You blush a little. “I was just talking to my mom. I miss her.”

“That much I understood,” He chuckles. “And some other things too…”

Your head snapped to look at him. He had this mischievous look in his eyes, as if he had caught you in the act… which, if he wasn’t lying, he did. 

“What?!” You shriek. “You understood me?”

“Just a little,” He shrugs, looking too smug for your taste. “I took classes in high school, and I’m glad that they finally served for something.”

“Oh my god,” You whisper, hiding your face in your hands. “You have got to be kidding me…”

“Hey, relax, I didn’t get everything,” He laughs. “You spoke too fast, and I was never that good as a student.”

“Still! This is so embarrassing, Minho!”

“Why would it be embarrassing?” He asks. “Unless… you were talking about me?”

“What? No!” You lie, shaking your head desperately.

“I figured,” He said with a small smile. “But I want to know who’s the asshole, then.”

It was then that it clicked. He wasn’t talking about the last part of the conversation, but the first. You thanked everything that was sacred in the world and looked at him. His brows were down in a frown, and his mouth, for once, was in a straight line. 

“I didn’t understand much, but I got that, at least,” He mumbles. “And I want to know who’s been bothering you.”

“Ah, that,” You laugh humorlessly, looking at the floor once again. “It doesn’t matter. It’s normal; I get it. I’m new, fresh meat or whatever. It’ll die down soon, so don’t worry.”

“I’m already worried,” He sighs and looks around. His friend is on his phone, waiting for Minho. “My friend and I are going to the diner nearby, wanna come with? Food always helps me when I’m down…”

“Sure,” You say after a pause. “Why not?”

He was right. The food in that diner was divine, and you were also really happy about meeting his friend, Chan. He was born in Australia, although he moved to Korea when he was younger. It felt good knowing that someone could relate to your problems– or a few of them. After Chan shared his story, you couldn’t help but share yours. To say Minho was angry was a lie; he was livid. He wanted names and faces, he wanted to talk to those people himself. He hated how people were such idiots towards the different. 

“Different is not wrong,” He spit out, anger seeping through his voice. “It’s just new. People are stupid Y/N, don’t hang out with them. Just hang with us, instead.”

“Okay, Minho,” You say sarcastically. “I’ll be by your side 24/7.”

“Good,” He said seriously and you look at Chan, who only shrugs in response. 

After that day, you and Minho got incredibly closer, incredibly fast. It had only been a couple of months since you two met and you’d be together almost every day. Girls didn’t even hit on him anymore, sure that you two were dating. A few guys still made comments about you, but Minho was quick to shut them down. Now, you were way more careful when talking about him on the phone with your mom or your friends back home, using slangs and nicknames so that he wouldn’t understand a single thing. You could see him trying to translate what you were saying, but being unable to do so– his forehead would crease and he would close his eyes, focusing on your voice. Lately, you noticed that his knowledge of your language had improved a lot, and at the same time that you adored the fact that he seemed to be actually trying to learn, you were a little scared that one of these days he’d fully understand you. 

“Yah,” He shouted as you walked out of your class, jogging to you while evading the other students. “Lunch?”

“You read my mind,” You groaned, throwing your head back and closing your eyes. “I’m exhausted.”

“Don’t do that,” He mumbled with a frown and grabbed your hand, pulling you out of the busy hallway. “It’s… suggestive.”

You don’t respond, squinting your eyes at him. His face and ears were red, and you smile. Did you, by any chance, make him blush? Could it be that… he liked you? You smile, just thinking about it, and that’s when Chan approaches. 

“Thinking about Minho?” He whispers in your ear when Minho isn’t looking, and now it was your turn to blush. Chan was the only one that had you figured out, and you made him promise that he wouldn’t dare tell his friend. 

“Stop that,” Minho whined, pushing Chan away from you. “She’s uncomfortable.”

Chan only winked at you, getting punch in the shoulder from Minho. This had been going on for about a month and you didn’t know what to do. As soon as you realized you had feelings for Minho, so did Chan, and now he teased you every time he saw you two hanging out.

Apart from Chan making his usual comments, the day went by smoothly, and now you were back in Minho’s dorm, trying to ignore Seungmin’s loud TV show, and Hyunjin’s laughter from probably another stupid YouTube video. Chan was still in class and would be home soon to tease you two a little more. You were reading a book while Minho worked a problem set for one of his mandatory classes, when your best friend from home called. She’s been keeping tabs on you and demanding a daily update of your relationship with Minho. You pick up, automatically letting her know that you were in his room with him.

“Are you guys-“

“No!” You interrupt her, apologizing to Minho after realizing you were a bit loud. “No, we’re just doing homework.”

“Are you sure?” She teases and giggles. “I can’t wait for the day that you’ll call me saying you two are dating…”

“I don’t think he likes me like that,” You sigh, looking at the back of his head. “We spend a lot of time together, but he never hinted at anything, he only teases me sometimes.” “Well, that must mean something, right?” She tries to cheer you up, but there’s no use. 

“He’s pretty popular with the girls,” You grumble, frowning at the thought of him with someone else. “And I hate it.”

“That means he’s handsome,” Your friend says. “So don’t give up yet.”

“Sure,” You laugh and change the subject. You two talk for a while more and then you hung up, afraid you won’t be able to finish the book in time if you keep talking. 

The silence, for some reason, is now uncomfortable. You look at your friend, and you notice he’s not doing his homework anymore.

“Hey, are you do-“

“You are great, you know that?” He says, loudly enough to startle you. He turns on his chair to look at you and he looks angry. “You are so fucking great, and I don’t think you know. Because he doesn’t know.”

“What are you talking about?” You frown in confusion.

“Don’t play dumb, Y/N,” Minho sighs in exasperation. “You’ve been talking about him with your friend for a month now, and every time is the same. “He doesn’t like me,” or “I don’t think he sees me like that,” and I’m so done with this! Maybe he does! Maybe he will! But don’t put yourself down like that, because you are so fucking amazing and I hate it when you do that.”

You stay quiet, and all you can hear is Minho’s harsh breathing and then, the door slamming. Something happens, when that door slams, and you see a weird glint in your friend’s eyes;.

“Actually,” He takes a deep breath. “We’ll find out now.”

“Wha-“

And he was already out the door, only to come back seconds later with Chan in tow. 

“Minho, what the-“

“She is incredible, alright?” Minho shouts, frowning at his friend. Chan looks at you in confusion and sits next to you in the bed. “Honestly, she’s a little too incredible, and maybe even too good for anyone, but what you’re doing is ridiculous, Bang Chan!”

You two just stared at him.

“And what exactly am I doing?” Chan mumbles, scared of his friend’s reaction. 

“Don’t play dumb!” Minho laughs and points at you. “Y/N, I honestly believe you’re too good for him, but if you like him, that he has to know. He has to cherish you!”

“What?” You and Chan scream in unison. You two look at each other and then are quick to get up from the bed, putting some distance in between you. 

“I don’t like him!” You exclaim. 

“You don’t have to lie anymore,” Minho spits. “I understand you on the phone, okay? I know you’re always talking about him. It’s okay-“

“You are so, so, so stupid.” Chan mumbles to Minho and leaves the room with a pat on your back. It was time to confess and you knew it. When the door shuts behind you, you look to the floor, take a deep breath, and walk closer to Minho.

“I don’t like him, Minho,” You say again, as forceful as possible. “And even if I did, after what you just did I don’t think I’d be able to look him in the face…”

“Then who?” Minho rolls his eyes. “You’ve been avoiding every time I ask you, and you keep talking about a guy that teases you, is always with you, who else other than Chan? He’s always with us!”

“You’re right,” You smile. “He’s always with us…”

It takes him a minute, but he seems to grasp it.

“Wait,” He mumbles, looking at you with doe eyes. “What?”

“You tease me all the time,” You shrug. “And I might be always with Chan, but that’s only because I’m always with you. It’s you, really… It’s always been you, Minho.”

“Me?”

“You,” You chuckle. “Sorry if this makes things awkward, but I didn’t tell you sooner because I didn’t want to ruin our friendship and all of that. I hope we’re still okay now tha-“

“How can we still be friends after this?” He says, looking at the floor.

You stand there for a minute before sighing. “You’re right… I’m so-“

“We’re obviously dating now.” 

“-ry?” You are extremely confused.

“I’ve been crushing on you since I met you,” He giggles walking to you, pulling you into his embrace. “And from what I could translate, you were always talking about this guy, so I never asked you out. Sorry.”

“Forgiven.” You mumble, smiling against his shirt.

“Wow, that easy?” He jokes, looking at you. And he kisses you, as if you two did it before time and time again. And it felt like it always does with Minho. 

Familiar.

-------

i am back! hi! hello! how’ve you been?? I hope you enjoy this! I didn’t think it was one of my best works, but I like it nonetheless... let me know what you think <3

[iwannawritepls]

Writing Update 04?

So much is happening. Like gosh.

Welcome back to me not using paragraphs correctly!!

So! We have 17ish chapters now which is like woah.

It took me much much too long to write but now we’re on 50k!!! we got there folks and I can confidently say that I will most likely have 20 chapters with around 54-55k words as I predicted. Is it weird that um feeling super melancholy about that??

But on the positive side there will be another book after this because uhhh there’s too much to wrap up in just one.

I wrote and deleted chapter 14 over and over again but now I have something I'm proud of at lastttttt! I realised after talking about it to some friends that

1) I skipped something huge by accident  

2) In the first few versions of chapter 14 there was no climax to what was happening

3) I was adding things but at that point I should’ve started to answer them

So we fixed it up and now she’s pretty damn cool. The second half of the chapter still needs a little bit of editing until I can become happy with it but oh well.

I also edited chapter 15 so they’re ready for the most part but the last 2 need basically a rewrite for them because they’re soooo bad. I shouldn’t measure by words but generally for a fist version of a chapter I write anywhere between 800 and 1000 words and then I manage, through editing, to make it become somewhere between 1500 and 4500 which is a big leeway but it really just depends on what’s happening.

There’s something huge that happens in chapter 17 but I only wrote 459 words for it because it was 2 in the morning and I wanted to get it done before I tried to sleep. Inevitably it was quite bad. Chapter 16 is the same but thankfully that’s 914 words so there’s something more to work with. Yayyyyy.

Needless to say, I will not be including excerpts from them in this.

So chapter titles?

Chapter 13 - Metamorphosis of a Blizzard

Chapter 14 - Curtain Call (subject to change)

Chapter 15 - Kingfisher Flurry

Chapter 16 – Catgut Bindings

Chapter 17 – AHHHHHHHHH (this is 100% changing I just needed to put something and I was freaking out)

Oh, oh and! I have a proper actual name for the book! Sisyphus Lies on Unmade Beds. How suitably edgy.

There are so many references to Greek mythology that the title fits and it can link to all of them in some way, so I thought why not. There’s #symbolism to it all. And who isn’t a fan of accidental symbolism you find halfway through your book.

What happens??

Chapter thirteen is a long-waited apology from Bas to the one person who deserves it most. We find out about someone vaguely important for the next book as well as a character that maybe might have his own little book of his own.

Chapter fourteen includes our boy Sebastian coming along and helping by not helping at all!! Yay…but really what else is new, his motives don’t align with the boy’s and so we shouldn’t expect him to be helpful in any way.

Chapter fifteen is a dangerous thing…out dude the devil makes an appearance. For those who’ve listened to the magnus archives or watched Everyman Hybrid I tried to emulate Michael/Habit in it but it hasn’t really worked out yet. I'm getting there but I'm not at terrifying levels of suave. When writing characters that are so powerful they could murder you with a single flick o’ the wrist you are treading a careful line between edginess and not threatening at all.

chapter sixteen is the fallout. If we follow the lovely 3 act structure we are at the darkest moment in chapter sixteen and chapter seventeen continues with that mood but follows through with the whole ‘hope’ thing. jk there’s no hope just crisis.

I find that I managed to actually keep to the 3-act structure naturally?? I'm a discovery writer so it’s a little more difficult for me to not meander off into the sunset/make everything happen much too fast. But I think pacing was okay in this as long as I keep track of the seasons – which I hope I did.

We have a few memes from dearest friends – kinda old but have them

And now,,,the excerpts!!

Everything felt like cotton was stuffed inside, swelling, and soaking through with excess fluid. Fluid that was still building in his lungs, he felt them pressing against his ribs and rubbing together eating away more at his already damaged body. Gorging on him, dissolving him, water couldn’t ever be full only overflow and so it would continue to erode his body to fit the ever-greater capacity he needed to hold.

He's not dying! I mean he is but not yet!! I feel so bad that Albert has spent more of this book sick than anything, but I feel like I'm constantly mentioning him and I don’t want people to get annoyed by him? idk I feel like someone would find him annoying and that he did nothing but whine – probably a carryover from the original book where he could’ve been beaten up by his own shadow. He can and does stand up for himself in this more than in the original but

They began to mend themselves in a way that neither Narcissus nor Prometheus could have foreseen. So maybe they weren’t quite butterflies or moths. Maybe instead they were snakes, the devil’s advocates turned serpentine after rebelling against God. But that meant that at least they could change again, shed their skin, and start afresh after mountains of pain and healing from accidental words fallen from temporarily false tongues.

Let’s play how many references to classic literature can you fit into one paragraph at least 4. One of which is Paradise lost. Because Greek mythology just wasn’t enough.

The old man shivered and croaked out a few more words so quiet that the wind ate them. The woman just stared at him with wide eyes before fleeing back to the cold.

This is the ending of a while thing from a book that Al’s reading. I kinda wished this book existed its got some of my favourite techniques in it and some of my favourite lines but this one was the only one I could just take without a pause for drama between Alberts reading.

Enoch wanted to skip the walk the moment he realised there wouldn’t be any talking, every single one of his steps was too slow, every single breath was too loud. Even as he tried to listen to the conversations of those they walked past, it was too distant and blurred for him to listen to in any kind of concordant manner.

My boy hates the quiet and I feel that

The very first promises of autumn began to chew on the leaves, She took each one into her embrace and changed the deep greens that summer left in His wake and transformed them into a cacophony of yellows, reds and oranges. She plucked the ripened ones from their cradles and pulled their colour from their grasp placing it on Her tongue and dropping the carcases into winters waiting hands.

This is kinda purple and I had just read Der Sandmann so I was super into the vibe of it. I referenced it more originally before editing it so now all we have is a very slight call back if you know the story that you can vaugly make if you try.

Nature was so simple and yet beautiful, complicatedly captivating.

William is yearning

“Enoch.” Basil called out

“it wasn’t me!” he replied holding his hands up “I came out here to get him a new hat, it was Valentine that dragged him in.” he held up a lily pad with a grin.

“where is Valentine?”

“probably wrestling the heron.” He replied wading towards the shoreline.

Just some fun from them because you all need to see that they can be friends I swear.

A man was stood in the middle of the flurry, he stepped through them as if they were nothing but a reflection on the glassy water.

And that’s all for chapter fifteen I think unless there’s something at the end because I know people who read this irl and they haven’t gotten any of this yet. So I don’t want to ruin things but I also want to give you all things so it’s a struggle.

because you cannot help the diseases in your mind

this is something I wish I heard more often so here. You’re super awesome and the dude who said this is big brain mode.

But yeah that’s all. I probably won’t update again until I'm done and even then it’ll be one I’ve sent the last chapters to my friends so that they can read it and I can talk about the plot for real because I’ve been vague for spoiler reasons outside Tumblr.

I love these guys so much, but I'm excited to begin something newer y’know? I want to stay in this world, but I want to follow different characters before I go back to these guys because they are dysfunctional as all hell.

Anyway, I’ll talk more about that later. Until next time!!

Hope you have a nice dayyy!!!

[sastrugie]

my christmas break starts this friday as well! what’s up with your coworker? have her test results come back? is she doing okay?

alright, so my fav topics include:

- the russian revolution, as already stated :D

- the cold war (mostly from the east european point of view)

- the tudors

- victorian era england

i also really love peaky blinders (the show) and i occasionally enjoy reading about how different gangs operated back in those days but i don’t know much lmao

also, monarchy is just such a terrible system but i completely get your interest in the people! for example, i also adore reading and learning about the tudors and the romanovs but only as a part of history and not because i’m such a big fan of the monarchy? lmao if that makes sense.

and like, i lowkey get why the bolsheviks thought they needed to assassinate the whole family but it’s also really sketchy, dude ://

i think i like britain’s history just because it’s so rich and influential, but like we simply can’t ignore the fucked up shit they’ve done through the centuries. so again, i enjoy it but mostly because i love judging them for their actions lmao

and to answer your question, i don’t really know if i have many historical favs? i feel like i enjoy way too many problematic people lmao. nevertheless, the ones i’m most interested in atm are: lenin (shockers), anne boleyn, anne bonny, malcolm x - this list shifts constantly depending on my mood though.

oh shush you, i’m sure your style is bombing based on everything i just read :)

lmao i actually do that sometimes, but mostly in my mother tongue! but i also just love shakespearean insults in english, those are impeccable

and merci beaucoup! good luck with russian; maybe you’ll be able teach me a few phrases in the future :D

ooh what are you studying atm? if you don’t mind sharing, that is.

and me, i’d like to become a psychologist some day, so that’s pretty far from history as well haha but i never want the enthusiasm to die ever and i’m really loving how the two of us can just scream to each other about history in every single ask/answer :D

thank you so much for these beautiful recommendations, i’ll definitely check them out!!

here are some of mine:

books:

- maria stuart by stefan zweig (german author, so it shouldn’t be too hard for you to find it!!)

- red crosses by sasha filipenko (fiction about the stalinist regime)

- the age of light by whitney scharer (historical fiction again lmao; tells the story of photographers lee miller and man ray’s romance in the 30s with little snippets into wwii through lee’s pov; the writing was stunning)

- sapiens by yuval noah harari (basically the history of mankind; so informative and enjoyable, i adored it)

- the real peaky blinders by carl chinn (what the title says, really; the actual gangs of birmingham and their not so shiny careers)

these are the best ones i read in 2020 but i’ll let you know if i remember any of my other reads!!

i also haven’t read any actual books about the 1917 revolution because i haven’t really had the chance to go to the library yet and i’ve been busy doing my research on the internet haha (it’s a fairly new hyperfixation of mine, to be frank). however, i’ll hit you up if i find anything worthwhile <3

documentaries:

- the russian revolution (the title speaks for itself lmao)

- genius of the modern world (3-part docuseries about marx, nietzsche and freud)

- world war ii in colour (lmao just a classic, innit)

- secrets of great british castles

- the last tzars (tho i’m pretty sure you’re quite familiar with this one haha)

- forbidden history

- secrets of the six wives

- anything by lucy worsley, tbh

these are all off the top of my head but again, i’ll let you know if i remember any more!!

oml i apologise for the long message and i hope your week is going well :D

dont apologize for long messages! <3 im always happy to talk to you 

sadly her test was positive UGH which means i have to get myself tested too (today) and if the worst case happens: i´ll have to spend christmas alone in my student flat bc then i obviously cant go home to my family (my grandparents live there..) so yeah, today 14:20 o clock... i have the test :( cross your fingers for me pls huhuhu

thats cool that we have the russian revolution and vicxtorian era as common interest ^^ i read a book recently its called “the ordeal” and its a triology written by alexej tolstoi during the times of the revolution. its a story about two sister and their love interests during the war times and its really good!!! 

oh i barely know anything about the tudors! pls hmu

ah yes.. the cold war... i have to admit im rather interested in the music and sociology of the cold war times but the political stuff is super interesting too! esp as you said from an east european view, so we can talk about that too!

yep. monarchy sucks! i understanbd from like a logical point of view why they shot them all, but the human side of me thinks its just cruel.. i mean yeah tsar nicholas wasnt a good politician but he wasnt a bad person either. but yeah, a difficult topic.. tbh he´s the only romanov im really interested in (i really dislike his wife alexandra tho lmao) hbu? 

leninnn :D i kinda excpected that! i havent really read much about him but he seems to be an interesting person! and who is anne boyd? malcom X yes! im really interested into the civil rights movement as well. I really like martin luther king jr.

englands history really fascinates me, and i honestly cant tell you why... but it is what is is hahhaa! nand duuudeeee omg they fucked so many shit up.. the british are a funny nation. but honestly none is unproblematic and every nation screwed up big time once:D judging is really important when youre intereste din history! like im interested in king george and queen mary but not solely for political reasons, more actually for their personal lives and victorian times and how they were as a couple, but i know... they did bad stuff too!

omg teach me some shakespearean insults pls! i only know a few victorian ones! and a bit of sixties slang :D 

im gonna reblog this and add some russian phrases bc my russian keyboard in on my phone :) but i use duolingo so the sentences are ... really weird lmao

im studying physical geography in Erlangen right now and am in my 7th semester.) im actually writing my bachelor thesis rn UGHHHHHHH

ohhhhh psychology is cool!! im really intersted in it, sadly i cant ever be one bc i suffer from poor mental health too much myself, in fact i have an appointment my therapist in a few minutes haha BUT i think youre super trustworthy and nice and easy to talk to so these are really good qualities for a therapist <3<3<3<3

AHHHHHHHHHHH THANKS!! 

i already read sapiens! its so good! and i know maria stuart by schiller haha but oml i love stefan zweig so imma add it on my list

ok and i will watch ALL of these (except the last tsars bc yeah i already saw it! and liked it ... kinda .. i didnt like the actor they chose for nicky, he didnt remind me of him at all)

i have alot of historical fiction books to recomment too: 

if you like ww2 “a time to live and a time to die”

ww1: “all quiet on the western front”

russian revolution and war time “the ordeal”

“intrige” by robert harris is also good (france 1896)

oh and documentary wise:

they shall not grow old is a coloured ww1 docu!

thank you so much for everything again i love talking to you :) have a nice day <3 (sorry for typos i was in a hurry)

[victorluvsalice]

AU Thursday: Tell Me Where To Find Shelter -- Layers of Victor

Saw this meme going around the #fallout4 tag a while back (I believe I specifically ganked it from @radbeetle), and thought it might be fun to do for my Sole Survivor!Victor. And my Malkavian!Alice, but let’s start with SS!Victor. XD

LAYER ONE: THE OUTSIDE

- Name: Victor Fitzwilliam Van Dort

- Eye Color: Very dark brown – it can be very hard to tell the difference between pupil and iris!

- Hair Style/Color: Black, generally combed back with two "tufts" of bangs falling over what little forehead he has

- Height: Six feet three inches (and thin as a rail)

- Clothing style: Relatively formal pre-War – he grew up in a household that impressed upon him that you wore ties and suits whenever you were in public, and often even in private. Post-War, he spends a lot of time switching between a pair of upgraded Vault suits from Vault 111 while looking for clothes that actually fit his lanky frame. He's a lot more casual in his style once he does – though he still likes a good sweater vest, and he keeps a few suits if he needs to look fancy.

- Best physical feature: Victor would personally say his hands – he's a pianist and a tinkerer, and he appreciates his long reach over a keyboard, along with his ability to finely handle delicate parts when upgrading or repairing things!

LAYER TWO: THE INSIDE

- Fears: Total darkness (as in you can't see ANYTHING – as long as there's some sort of light source, he can manage); blindness (related to previous); small enclosed spaces (being locked in a cryonic pod will do that to a guy); losing those he cares about again (he – has a lot of trauma from seeing Victoria shot, Shaun kidnapped, then trying to open Emily's pod after he finally got out, only to see her corpse half-rotted inside)

- Guilty pleasure: Pre-War, it would have been comics – he was always a little embarrassed about how much he continued to like the adventures of Grognak and the Unstoppables and whatnot after his teenage years (not helped by his mother sneering at the stories). Post-War, though, he ditches the "guilty" part – especially after meeting Kent Connolly and getting to play Silver Shroud. XD I'm not sure he has one post-War – he occasionally feels weird about how much he enjoys modifying his weapons and armor? But that's quite practical as well as pleasurable, so. . .

- Biggest pet peeve: Being rapidly promoted in organizations that he's only just joined (Preston, you're easily one of his best friends, but SERIOUSLY, dude, GENERAL?)

- Ambitions for the future: To continue keeping his little portion of the Commonwealth safe, and start training up someone with some more Charisma to be the General of the Minutemen once he retires (he's still not sure why people follow him when he's so socially awkward)

LAYER THREE: THOUGHTS

- First thoughts waking up: Depends on what wakes him up. If he's waking up on his own, it's generally a variation on "Breakfast? Where breakfast?" If someone else wakes him up, it's generally "Why are you shaking/licking me, I don't wanna get up yet." And if it's combat nearby, it's generally "SHIT WHERE'S MY GUN oh wait are they shooting at me still should find gun."

- What they think about most: All his various responsibilities – finding his son, acting as General of the Minutemen, working with the Railroad, helping the people on the settlements, wondering what the hell is going to happen between him and the Brotherhood of Steel, or him and the Institute. . .it doesn't do much for his anxiety, is what I'm saying.

- What they think about before bed: If he's not exhausted enough just to collapse onto the nearest sleeping surface, then probably what I mentioned above. He's probably up late trying to plan routes to help settlements that have called for assistance and follow leads on the Institute and whatnot.

- What they think their best quality is: Victor would consider it his willingness to be helpful whenever possible. He generally enjoys helping people, and it makes him feel better in general to help improve the Commonwealth in some small way. (Not to mention, him helping out personally with the problems of a lot of the families/communities in the Commonwealth has earned him a lot of friends for his Minutemen! A General so hands-on seems to impress people.)

LAYER FOUR: WHAT’S BETTER?

- Single or group dates: . . .this gets a little harder to answer when he was in a polyamorous relationship pre-War, you know. XD But yeah, Victor prefers one-on-one, or one-on-two in the case of Victoria and Emily. A group date puts the pressure on him to perform like the perfect boyfriend/husband, and he doesn't need the extra stress. Maybe he'd be okay with a double date if it was with some very close friends.

- To be loved or respected: Victor would rather be loved, or at least liked – though part of that is low self-esteem telling him people aren't going to respect him. (Or like him, for that matter.) It's what informs his desire to help people, at least in part.

- Beauty or brains: While Victor isn't immune to a nice face or body, he really likes having someone he can talk to about stuff. Sharing interests is fun, and he appreciates someone who will at least try to keep up with his nattering on about butterflies and robots and whatnot.

- Dogs or cats: Dogs! Victor gets along decently with cats, but he is first and foremost a dog person. He had a dog named Scraps when he was a child, and he, Victoria, and Emily were making plans to adopt one before the bombs fell. Meeting Dogmeat at the Red Rocket really helped pull him out of his post-War "almost everything I knew is gone and I'm a stranger in my own state" funk.

LAYER FIVE: DO THEY?

- Lie: Yup. Victor will tell the usual social "white lies" (even if he's not very good at them), and he's done bigger lies in the past – like not telling his parents that Emily was more than their "roommate." (Of course, that was done not to have a family blowout about him and his wife having a girlfriend.)

- Believe in themselves: Not usually – as stated, Victor has pretty low self-esteem, thanks mostly to growing up with a mother who was criticizing him and everything he was when she wasn't absent doing social climbing stuff. It's hard for him to think of himself as being someone who has worth, sadly. He gets better when he starts seeing more results of his actions in helping the Minutemen and the Railroad, and realizes he's genuinely making a difference for people.

- Believe in love: Yes – his relationship with Victoria and Emily was one of the high points of his pre-War life. He was utterly heartbroken when Victoria was shot, and Emily later died due to the life support to the other pods being cut off. But then later he meets Alice, and. . .well, it takes some time, but he manages to come around to loving and being loved again.

- Want someone: Pre-War, not really – he was in a happy threesome and wasn't currently looking to expand. Post-War, most of his life precludes wanting anyone – though he does develop a bit of a crush on Piper as time goes on. And then, of course, he meets Alice, and eventually ends up wanting her. . . (Yes, in-game I intend for him to romance Piper – and there's a chance in the AU he, Piper, and Alice would end up in a poly situation. We'll see where this goes!)

LAYER SIX: EVER?

- Been on stage: Pre-War, never officially – Nell had him play piano at some of her parties (which was always stressful, as he felt all her guests were either judging him or just hated him for being related to her), but that was as far as performing got. He of course had the speech he was asked to do that he was practicing the day the bombs dropped, but – well, the bombs dropped. Post-War – he probably will have to give some inspirational speeches to his Minutemen troops, which he will somehow get through and then go have a little quiet panic attack somewhere.

- Done chems/drugs: . . .I have occasionally toyed with the headcanon that Victor was unwillingly dosed with Psycho, or a drug like it, back in his Army days and has been haunted by the experience ever since. But other than that, not the hard stuff – Victor doesn't even smoke (he tried once – after nearly coughing up a lung, he refused to ever try again) and he tends not to drink (he's tried that too, and discovered he's an embarrassingly chatty drunk, so he doesn't typically indulge). He will, of course, take Rad-X and Rad-Away, because those are freaking necessary to survive in parts of the Wasteland.

- Changed who you were to fit in: Occasionally attempted, never stuck. He's not good at keeping up a facade. One of his most embarrassing memories is trying to ask a girl to dance at a party his mother dragged him to when he was about 16, imitating the more popular "jock"-kinda guys, and getting laughed at so much he retreated to the buffet for the rest of the night.

LAYER SEVEN: FAVORITES

- Favorite color: Blue

- Favorite animal: Dogs, butterflies

- Favorite movie: Victor will confess to a love for schlocky monster movies, so he was quite enamored of Night of the Fish Men's Revenge when it came out (he's quite excited when he sees it in the projector in Eden Meadows Cinema, and quite sad that he can only get it to play the title screen). He also enjoyed Another Day In the Monster Factory for much the same reasons.

- Favorite game: With his affinity for comic books and a secret love of roleplaying (which becomes not-so-secret once he starts Silver Shrouding), Grognak & The Ruby Ruins quite appeals to him. He likes that it has some replay value too, with changing up your party and whatnot. The action of Pipfall appeals to him too, though that time limit can be stressful!

LAYER EIGHT: AGE

- DOB: June 9th, 2050 (he was 27 and a few months when the bombs dropped)

- Day of their next birthday, they will be: His next birthday according to the game would be June 9th, 2088 – he'd be 238 in terms of time passed, 28 in terms of biology

- Age they lost their virginity: Twenty – Victor had been yanked by the Army into Canada to help with the Sino-American war shortly after graduating high school, but got some leave around his twentieth birthday to go home. He immediately caught back up with his high school sweethearts, Victoria and Emily, and ended up doing the deed with Victoria. They managed to keep it a secret from their conservative parents, fortunately.

- Does age matter: In general? Victor is willing to listen to advice from those older than he is, certainly – though he tends to take it with a grain of salt depending on their obvious biases. In a relationship? Unless one of the parties is a minor, Victor won't get involved, though bigger gaps will probably make him wonder what exactly they see in each other. (He allows this is hypocritical of him to a degree, as Alice is much older than him even taking into account the freezing – but on the flip side, she was Embraced at 20, he was frozen at 27. . .)

LAYER NINE: IN A BOY OR GIRL

- Best personality: Victor likes people who are sweet and kind, but have a tougher or sassier side to them as well. Victoria leaned mostly toward the "sweet" side, but was also pretty determined when it came to getting what she wanted from him; Emily was cheerful and enthusiastic, but if you angered her – wooo boy; Alice of course is snark incarnate, but is kind to people and generally likes helping others. Even Piper is one of the kinder companions, but doesn't shy away from sarcastic comments.

- Best eye color: Well, Victoria and Emily both had blue eyes (of differing shades), and Alice's green eyes were one of the first things that struck Victor about her, sooo. . .blue or green!

- Best hair color: I'm not sure Victor has a preference here – Victoria was a super-light brown, almost gray; Emily was a blonde; Alice has dark hair that looks black or brown depending on the light/how well cared for it is (and she says her hair was almost red when she was a kid!); Piper has dark brown/black hair. I guess pre-War he went for lighter; post-War he goes for darker?

- Best thing to do with a partner: Victor likes finding some sort of creative interest they can share, or at least do at the same time. He would sit in the living room and draw while Victoria embroidered in the afternoons; and he and Emily both played piano, so they'd often have little duets. With Alice, he probably ends up illustrating some of the stories she tells – maybe eventually they throw together a book of sorts, with Piper's help!

LAYER TEN: FINISH THE SENTENCE

- I love: Alice! And the rest of my friends too, of course.

- I feel: completely out of my depth, most of the time.

- I hide: how anxious all of this makes me – not sure how well I'm succeeding, but. . .

- I miss: the life I had before, in Sanctuary.

- I wish: that Victoria and Emily hadn't – that t-they were still here to meet the friends I've made.

[srprincess]

Fictober Prompt 5 - “I might just kiss you”

fandom: check please

part 8 of the spookydooAU

He could do this.

Easy as anything.

Just a few days of socialization.

Show them around, maybe hold a thing that dings when there’s stuff.

Which it wouldn't. Probably.

And if he helped them, then he would at least know where they were.

No more surprise public humiliation, big bonus.

This would be fine.

Better than.

What's the worst that could happen?

 He instantly regretted even thinking that last part.

Too late now, there went the doorbell.

He plastered on a smile, hoping his eyes didn't look as wild as they felt, and opened the door.

”Hi,” Will paused with a look at the group. All nine of them. He took a deep breath and asked, ”Would you like to come in?”

 Actually letting them in felt like the most terrifying thing he'd ever done.

 Obviously on ’best behavior’ the group filed quietly along behind him into the kitchen, filling every available seat and surface. Will was surprised by how it felt more comfortable than crowded.  

 ”This one smells even better than the last one.” Will said appreciatively as he set the pie on his counter. ”How’d you manage to make something like this in a hotel room?” He didn't much, hardly at all, but knew from even that little experience that you were generally lucky to get even a microwave, let alone a stove.  

”Oh, we're not staying there, we got a little place in town.” Bitty answered.

Jack added, ”We learned better than to rent a place without kitchen access years ago, and the inn wasn't willing to let him in theirs.”

”Something about ’health codes’ and ’safety violations’, nonsense,” Bitty huffed, with finger quotes and a dramatic eye roll.

”You can consider me selfishly grateful you found a suitable place in town then.” Will said, pushing down the desire to dig in immediately, because while he was selfish enough to not want to share he had raised well enough to not eat in front of guests.

Still trying to be a half-decent host, Will did ask if he could get them anything to drink, coffee, tea or whatever. Jack tried to say they were fine, but when a whimper came from the tall girl slumped over the table in the breakfast nook Will decided to start a pot of coffee anyway. There was a bit of awkward small talk as they waited for it to brew. When it was done, Will pulled a few mugs off the shelf for anyone to grab, but filled one up and took it straight over to the table.

”Bless you,” she whispered, flipping her sunglasses to the top of her head before draining half the mug in a single sip.

”Farmer had a rough night trying to keep up-” started the big blond guy, loudly. Holster, Will reminded himself. He was beginning to think the guy only had one volume setting. Eleven.

”Shhhh! Less you, more quiet,” the guy who had been buried under the display with Derek said.

”Thanks, babe” Farmer said, into what remained of the cup of coffee.

 Furthering the ’good host’ efforts, and in a rusty attempt to be friendly, Will said to the group, ”Okay, so you all know my name.” Adding in a mutter, ”thank you tourism office. I guess. Let me see if I have yours all straight,” and then he made his way around the room.

”Bitty, Jack,” he started with the two that seemed to be the leaders of the group, if they had such a thing. They both nodded.

”Shitty, umm Lardo?” he cringed on the second name because every part of him rebelled against calling her that. He got a thumbs-up back though, and he continued on.

”Holster and, I think I heard someone say, Ransom?” Two more nods.

”And Farmer with- sorry I don't think I caught yours?” Will faltered.

”Chowder,” came the answer.

”Which leaves Derek, ” Will finished.

”Oooo! He real named you, dude!” Chowder teased.

”Sorry, Nursey,” Will corrected. ”It’s just- what's with all the nicknames, anyway?”

There was a chorus of simultaneous answers - School, sports, college, hockey.

 Will nodded like he had an idea what any of those things were like. He didn't often feel like he’d missed out, staying behind here, but sometimes...he wondered what it would be like to have a close-knit group of friends like these. Might be nice, strange nicknames aside.

 ”I’m still working on yours,” Shitty said. ”I’m leaning toward Dex.”

”Do I get a say in this?”

In unison, like some sort of creepy hive mind, ”No.”

Three pots of coffee later, with a sink full of rinsed mugs and a lull in the conversation, Jack said, ”So, um, I guess we should be going? Let you get to,” he made some vague hand gesture at the room.

 Will knew this was his last chance. Either to say goodbye and let them go - Return to his quiet, solitary, week. Or to offer up his knowledge and help - Maybe feel part of something for a change.

It was weird. He never felt lonely once before he had been forced into their company. It had only been a couple days since, but as he looked around the room he realized - he wasn't sure he wanted to go back. Not yet anyway.

  ”Actually, did you still need help with, you know, the wooooooo stuff?” Will asked, quickly before he could talk himself out of the offer.

”’Wooooooo stuff’ being?” Ransom asked, copying Will’s odd hand motions.

”That means ghost things, ” Nursey explained.

”Is this a trick?” Bitty asked. ”You really want in?”

”Yes?” Will tried to answer confident, but it still came out more as a question.

”So, you mean we can look around your property?” Jack questioned.

”No,” Will started, then seeing their looks of confusion clarified quickly, ”I mean you can. But here’s not where you really want to be.”

”But the pamphlet said-”

Will interrupted Chowder with a wave of his hand, ”Yeah, that's 90% nonsense. I know where you actually need to be. And even if it's not the right time of year for what you're thinking to do, if you believe the stories-”

”Do you?” Lardo stopped Will to ask.

”Do I what?”

”Believe the stories,”

”Well, I don’t not believe in them,” Will said, sharing a secret smile with Derek. No, Nursey. His friends called him that, maybe he should too? I mean they were getting to be friends, right? Kind of?  

”An open mind, I can dig it,” Lardo declared approvingly. ”Carry on.”

 ”Anyways, as I was saying, the stories would all have you here later than you are, but I'll help best I can now. If you want, that is. Just, ya know, don't take it too hard if you don't find what you're looking for?”

Bitty with the question this time, ”Why the change of heart?”

”Community service?”

”I know we basically just met, but sounds fake.” Chowder shot back, with the rest giving equally dubious looks.

 Will sighed. ”Okay. So maybe someone pointed out that taking a break from being a shut-in might be good for me.”

“Now that tracks.” Nursey added, with a bump to Will’s shoulder, ”aaaand you like us.”

”I wouldn't go that far.” Will denied, weakly even to his own ears.

Nursey gave a hugely put on pout.

”Maybe you're starting to grow on me.” Will allowed. When he got a hopeful smile back, he added with a smirk, ”like a fungus.”

”Nah, you like us, just admit it.” Nursey pushed.

”Invasive parasitic fungi,” Will insisted, but his blushing smile gave him away. Damn his glass face.

Jack spoke up, reminding Will there was an entire room full of other people, ”You really mean it? You'll help?”

”I do, yeah.” God help me, he added silently to himself.

  “I might just kiss you for this, you beautiful ginger fuck.”

Will looked pained as Shitty tackled him into a tight full-body hug.

“Don’t make me regret this. That’s all I ask. Well, not all-”

 Will went on to list some ground rules, which actually boiled down to two main things. First, no one explores the shore road alone after dark. No exceptions. Second, no random trespassing. He would let them know where was okay to go, and that was that. No lurking around people’s homes without permission. That one directed mostly at Nursey, who, in his defense, did look apologetic. They talked out a plan, deciding everyone should rest up for a couple hours in anticipation of the all-nighter to come. Then the group would gather their materials, pick up some pizza and meet back at Will’s for dinner. With them supplying dinner, he would supply the game plan for the rest of the night. Depending on how things went, well, they play anything beyond that by ear.

 All in all, everyone felt good about where they stood. Even, to his own surprise, Will.

He wasn't sure he wanted to give his neighbor the satisfaction of telling her, but he was cautiously optimistic about the night to come.

[inactiive-shit]

When The Violence Causes Silence

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Warnings: apocalypse, zombies, fighting zombies

Pairing: platonic Moxiety

Words: 2,900

Summary: Virgil has to train the New Recruits.

And he is just ecstatic about it. /s

I’ve been trying to finish anything recently because I am working on a thirteen chapter story and I just need something to be finished to feel like a successful person. So I wrote this. Happy Hunting.

They were on a mission. In full honesty, it wasn’t even a particularly hard mission. They were just going to go into the nearby town for food and supplies, and avoid the reanimated corpses while they were at it. The town had mostly been wiped out of zombies already, which was why it was a great training ground for new recruits.

Virgil, on the other hand, was not a new recruit. No, he was the lucky member of his mid-apocalypse society that was chosen to show the new recruits the ropes.

Fortunately, he wasn't alone. Talyn was chosen to help him, though they didn't get his annoyance with the situation at all. Somehow, they thought teaching the scared people who should know better by now was fun. Then again, Talyn thought puke was fun. Maybe their ideas of what constituted enjoyable were a little fucked up.

But whose weren’t, nowadays?

Anyway, the point remained: Virgil hated this work. He hated doing it, he wasn’t good at it, talking to people and showing them how to do things they should rightfully already know was absolutely not something he could force himself to do with any degree of effectiveness. But they made him, because newbies didn’t die on his watch. What he did could not be classified as teaching; it was coddling and everybody pretended it was a good thing because nobody wanted to be on training duty and Virgil was new enough that he wasn’t allowed to complain too much.

So Virgil sat brooding in the passenger seat of the jeep with the three new recruits in the back and Talyn driving. They were going about a hundred feet back from the edge of the forest and then they’d walk the rest of the way into town, fill their packs, and head back out. It was a nice, easy little introductory trip that let them get used to moving with packs, using their brains to decide what was a need versus what was a want, got them used to seeing zombies, and, most importantly, how to take down a zombie in real time.

Talyn threw the car into park. Somebody whimpered. Virgil tried not to groan.

“C’mon, get your bags and stay quiet,” Virgil ordered. He climbed out of the car and didn’t wait for them to set off for the city. They scrambled after them, and Talyn shushed them before turning to Virgil.

“You think any of ‘em are going to die?” they asked. Virgil snorted.

“That’d ruin my record,” Virgil said back. It was Talyn’s turn to huff a laugh in that silent way you did when in a forest that there could be zombies wondering through. Virgil grinned at them, and Talyn smiled too. It was warm enough out today and there was plenty of sun. Not the best for going unseen, but it felt amazing on Virgil’s skin and it was way better than being cold.

“So, uhm, where are we going?” asked one of the newbies. Virgil shot Talyn a look. They rolled their eyes.

“The town.”

“Are we going to be...ya know? Killing things?” the man asked. He was walking close enough to be stepping on the backs of Virgil’s shoes. They were about to get their first real-time lesson early, and it was going to be about personal space.

“I don’t know,” Virgil hummed. “Are you holding a knife?”

“I-yes?” the guy stammered.

“I wonder why on earth that would be,” Virgil said. He chanced a glance back. The one speaking was eyeing the forest around him like they were going to be swallowed up any minute. The woman was walking cavalierly like she didn’t have a care in the world, knife in her hand and swinging by her side in a way that tickled Virgil’s anxiety. The third man was hunched in on himself, eyes darting around the trees at every noise, knuckles white from how hard he was holding onto his own hands.

Weird. He’d done pretty damn good in training. Wonder what he was so worked up about.

“Oh, well-” the first man started, but the woman cut him off.

“We only kill them if we see them. We’re not looking for them,” the woman said. “That’s what you said, right Tal?”

“My name is Talyn,” Talyn replied, and Virgil knew they were going to have fun with this batch. Conflicting personalities and all. “And yes, if you listened you would know that we’re only here for supplies and some controlled-environment action, should any show up.” The group slipped through the fence and crept up behind the first building. Talyn sent a chilling grin over their shoulder at the newbies. “Word of advice: don’t get bit.” That garnered another whimper, and Virgil sighed through his nose. This was going to be a long day.

They went through a quick round of rock-paper-scissors, which Talyn lost. “Damn. Alright, you two with me. We’re on a food run.”

“We’re splitting up?” squeaked the one Virgil was taking; it was the man who hadn’t spoken at all to this point. Virgil repressed another sign of his exhaustion and nodded.

“They’re on food, we’re on meds. Trust me, we’re better off,” Virgil said. “You know how to make a lot of noise?” He nodded, eyes wide. “Good. Don’t do that and we should be fine.” Virgil spun around, surveyed the empty streets, and then set off. The newbie kept almost on top of Virgil, obviously terrified despite his proficiency. Virgil waved him back, and he only stayed back for a few yards before getting close enough Virgil couldn’t breathe without bumping him again.

“Dude, back up,” Virgil snapped, glaring. “You’re fine. Stop acting like a fucking toddler and get your shit together.”

“I’m sorry,” the man said. “I just-I don’t-”

“I don’t care about your sob story,” Virgil cut in, sighing again. “We all have one, and I guarantee I’ve heard it before. Right now, you need to focus. Don’t think about what’s already happened to you or all the bad things that might right now. You are getting supplies for a community that is depending on you with a partner who is very good at he does. I know this isn’t the first time you’ve been around the zombies, you were out here for a long time before you came to us. You’ve lived this already, you’ll be fine right now. Okay?” The man seemed sorry-confused-embarrassed, but nodded nonetheless and then Virgil continued on. He lead them right up to the pharmacy with no other problems, and he carefully showed the man where to step so that he wouldn’t crunch the broken glass littering the floors and alert every dog-eared dead thing in the town.

“Alright, look,” Virgil said quietly. “Do you see how most of the shelves are empty? That’s because we hid a lot of the meds. It’s so that they’re not all in one place and if we’re sacked or over-run or whatever there will still be some for emergencies. Got it?” The man nodded. Virgil stared him in the eyes for a moment, examining his broken glasses and freckles, the deep brown eyes that...didn’t seem scared. Something else, maybe. Like hesitant or reluctant, but not afraid.

Stranger and stranger.

Virgil looked away. “For now, you’re just going to empty all of this section into your bag.” Virgil pulled open a few sets of cabinet doors hiding a treasure trove of bottles.

“Yeah kiddo, alright,” the man said quietly. Virgil wondered how old he was; if he was any older than Virgil himself or younger. It’s hard to tell, everyone so dirty and tanned and wrinkled and gray-haired well before old age. Anway, age didn’t really matter at the end of the day. What mattered was what you had been through, what had aged you whether or not you had the years to match, and Virgil knew for a fact that this man could not hold a candle to what Virgil had been through already.

He didn’t say that. Instead, he sighed again and started to shove droves of pill bottles into his pack.

The man made quick work of the pill bottles, and he moved astonishingly quietly. They barely even clacked as he dropped them in. Virgil wondered if this had been his primary job with whatever group he’d been with before. Getting in, getting supplies, and getting out quickly and quietly enough that no fighting had to be done. Virgil wondered what had happened to his old group that he had shown up alone in the middle of the night, half dead and being followed by a dozen zombies. 

Either way, it didn’t matter. It didn’t do to ask questions about where people had been or who they’d been with or what they’d done. It really was all just one communal sob story, varying a little from one person to the next. Virgil had his own leg of the journey stored away in a locked box; he didn’t need anybody else’s.

Getting all the supplies they needed only took a few minutes, and then Virgil was showing him again where to step. They made back onto the street without incident, and Virgil began to lead the way back at a leisurely pace. There was no way Talyn’s group would be done with the grocery run yet, and even if they were, Virgil wanted all the time away from those two as he could get. They were both so loud and talked so much it made Virgil want to scream. After living so long in silence, loud was hard to adjust to.

The shuffle of feet echoed around a corner a few yards behind them, and Virgil spun around. Perfect. A fucking zombie.

The newbie let out a short, trilling scream and pinwheeled to get behind Virgil. “Let’s go, let’s go. We need to run. We have to go, please. Please, we need to go.” The man wrapped one hand in the strap of Virgil’s bag and started to tug, trying to force him to move. Virgil planted his feet wondered how long it would take before the man gave up and left without him.

“Nah,” Virgil said. He motioned. “That one’s yours.”

“What? No.” The man shook his head wildly. “No no no. I can’t. I can’t do this, I’m not-I’m not made for this, please, we need to leave.”

“We will,” Virgil said. “Just as soon as you kill it.” He reached over and unsheathed the knife at the man’s side and pressed it into his shaking hand. “You know how to hold a knife, and how to dispatch a rotter. I’ve seen you in practice. This is your next piece of practice. Go do it.” Virgil dragged the man to stand slightly in front of him.

“No, no. I can’t. I can’t do it.” The man frantically pushed back against Virgil, but as much as he tried he still had nothing on Virgil’s strength.

“Why can’t you?” Virgil asked.

“I’m scared,” the new recruit whimpered.

Virgil, who had been scared most of his life, said, “We’re all scared. Be angrier than that. Be spiteful. Be compassionate. And do it anyway.”

“Compassionate?” the man whispered.

“They're suffering. If you're too afraid to do it for yourself, put them out of their misery. Bring food back to the kids. Find a reason that’s bigger than your fear and go.” Virgil shoved the man harshly at the zombie. He froze for a second, then brought his knife up in precisely the way he had been taught - he was surprisingly good in practice, caught on quicker than most, but moved with a certain stiffness and fear that they needed to work out of him before he was being depended on for protection - and slashed at it. The swing wasn’t perfect - most things weren’t - and it didn’t completely decapitate the zombie.

Three more rounded the corner.

“Shit.” Virgil ran up to the combat-engaged newbie. “You just worry about this one. Make it stay down.” He continued past him, drawing his own knife. His first hit drove the blade right into the temple of the first zombie to reach him. It went down like a ton of bricks, but the knife caught in its skull. Virgil released it and drew his second knife. Either he’d win and have to time get that weapon back after, or he wouldn’t be needing it anymore. It could wait for him.

The second zombie he kicked in the stomach. It staggered back and then crashed down to lie with the first. Not dead-dead yet, but out of the way for the moment so it wasn’t two-on-one. Virgil brought his knife up and, in a much better rendition of the same move the other man had attempted, slashed through the neck and spinal cord in one. The zombie fell. Virgil dropped to his knee near the last creature and jammed his knife through this one’s forehead. The knife hit concrete on the other side, and Virgil yanked it back out. He wiped the brain matter on the dead thing’s rags, and then man-handled the other knife out of the head of the other zombie. He wiped that one on the same rags and turned around to see whether or not the newbie had lived through his induction.

The man was standing, staring at Virgil with those wide, disbelieving eyes. He looked sick, and there was something on the ground next to him that could definitely have been puke. Virgil stalked over and poked at the zombie the man had killed with his boot.

“Good job, uh,” Virgil said. 

“Patton,” the man supplied, still shaking.

“Good job, Patton,” he reiterated. “You did it once, despite not wanting to. Now ya just have to do it again.” Virgil turned and began walking away. Patton looked almost dead himself when he got to Virgil’s side.

“Does it ever get easier?” he asked, and Virgil was struck with the urge to play dumb and pretend he didn’t know what Patton was asking about. Or to lie, and tell him what he probably wanted to hear - what Virgil wanted to be the truth.

Instead, he sighed. “For some people. For some people it gets easier, for some people it was never hard to begin with. But-but for people like you? I doubt it.” Patton let out a breath.

“Good. I don’t want taking life to be easy. Even if they’re already dead.” Virgil stumbled slightly at the words, turned to look wide eyed at Patton, but he seemed to not realize what he’d said at all. He kept shuffling along quietly, gray in the face and eyes scanning their surroundings quickly enough Virgil doubted he was seeing anything that was actually there.

He wondered what Patton was seeing.

Virgil shook himself out and grumbled, “I’ll make sure they don’t put you hunting duty, then.” It startled a laugh out of Patton, who then clapped a hand over his mouth and gave Virgil a sheepish look.

“Sorry. You just-you caught me by surprise there, kiddo.” He smiled, looking actually kind of genuine. Virgil didn’t return it.

“Yeah, well, get used to it. There’s plenty enough surprises out here.” Virgil sped up slightly so that Patton was following him instead of walking even with him, and they made the rest of their trek in silence.

Talyn was back at the jeep with the other two already, leaning back, doing a poor job of concealing their worry. Virgil waved a hand and they jumped up, watching closely as they approached.

“What took you so long? I thought we were going to have to send out the search party.” They raised an eyebrow - something they did roughly as often as Virgil sighed.

Virgil sighed. “We ran into a little trouble.” He stole a glance at Patton, and decided Patton probably wouldn’t want anybody to know that he’d killed anything. It wasn’t going to be a point of pride for him like it was for some. “We handled it, though. Wasn’t a big deal.”

“Did you kill one?” demanded the woman, eyes locked on Patton. “No, I bet you didn’t. He said ‘we’, so you probably didn’t help at all.”

“He was very helpful,” Virgil said.

“Unlike you,” Talyn added, sending a terrifying look at the pair. “They almost got us killed. Not once, not twice, but four times.”

“Wow,” Virgil said, deadpan. “I think that might be a new record.”

“People can always get stupider.” Talyn sighed, rubbing at their arm.

“I wouldn’t feel too bad about it, kiddo,” Patton said. “I cried when the zombie came up.” The woman and man looked oddly relieved at this information, and Virgil looked at Patton.

“Maybe we should all practice together,” the man suggested. “You know, so we’re all better next time.” Virgil made eye contact with Talyn. They shook their head. Virgil had absolutely no idea what was going on right now. He sighed.

“Get in the car. We’re heading back before something else shows up and somebody does die.” He climbed into the passenger seat, bag settled between his feet, and stared out the window. Yeah, what Virgil did? It wasn’t teaching. It was coddling and everybody knew it. He didn’t know why they had to send him out on these missions. He wasn’t any good at it.

In the backseat, Patton started to hum.

[amnachil]

The College Society Chapter 3 Part 12

Here’s the next part ! One part left after this one for Chapter 3 !

Damian Nicholas Smith-Carrey Monday March 4, in France

"Dude, it's fucking okay. You're out of the water for god sake. Calm down"

They were almost at the hotel. Fuck this cruise. Fuck this trip. Fuck these guys. How the hell the fatty roommate managed to fall in the Seine exactly ? Well, to fall. This moron probably didn't go there all by himself. He looked dumb, but not that dumb. Anyway, the real question was : why he, Damian Nicholas Smith-Carrey, decided to bring him back to the hotel once they had pull him out of the water ? Why he, Damian Nicholas Smith-Carrey, the god among the hunters, was nice to the baboon's friends ? I hate my life. But I'm also so eager to see my fuckin' boyfriend. Damnit.

"I'm sorry." muttered the fatty roommate (what was is name again ?). "I ruined the day."

"Don't open this stupid mouth of yours to talk nonsense." replied the Dean's grandson. "You fell into the water, you had the fucking right to lose your shit. And these filthy assholes who laughed can go eat dicks in their mother's pussy."

The freshman looked at him with amazement.

"You sure are swearing a lot when Liam isn't around." he noted.

Damian Nicholas Smith-Carrey did not answer. It wasn't worth it. To be clear, yes he had spent a good weekend with his baboon's friends. Yes, they were good people. But who cared ? Yeah, this damned Nate had some sense of humor after all. Yes, Colton was a pure good heart built like a gigolo. And yeah, Nick (now he remembered his name) was a freakin' genius. But seriously, the best hunter wasn't here to make friend. Definitely not. They arrived at the hotel at that moment.

"Thank you." says the dark-haired lad. "I'll take a shower and I'll work with Liam on our group project. What are you going to do during this time ?"

"Don't know. Don't care."

He hadn't planned anything. He just went in France for the baboon, and he did not know what to do without him. I can't even believe I thought this. Am I really dependent on him now ? Quite pissed by is own stupidity, Damian Nicholas Smith-Carrey just left.

For a while, he just wandered in the streets, at least to calm down. I need to bang someone. He was tore apart between two opposed feelings. A rational part of him only needed sex. Another, stupid and weak, desesperatly wanted Liam. I'm like a fuckin' teenager. I hate it. Finally, he went in a nightclub with the hope to pick up a chick or two. French people knew how to make a good party. It was loud and noisy, but also very sexual. They had their own way to dance, more sensual, more appealing. At first, Damian Nicholas Smith-Carrey had great fun. And he found a guy more than eager to please him. They ended up in his apartment for sex. Trust me, you won't wake up after that. They banged in every corner of the flat. The Dean's grandson was so demading. Only he pictured Liam with him, and not this random dude. For god sake. The more he was thinking about the baboon, the hornier he was. He could feel his sweet and wide hands cuddling his body. He could imagine the contact of his strong chest. He wanted to stroke his soft belly. To squeeze his ass.

"Je suis rentré." shouted someone.

It stopped this stupid asshole who obviously wasn't Liam to continue. C'mon. You would not let me so horny, would you ? The idiot who interrupted them arrived in the living room. When he noticed them, he opened his mouth wide, like a big and really dumb carp. I saw him somewhere.

"You... You were with Liam last night." he said.

Now I recall. It was this bloody hell ex-boyfriend. Kevin, Kilian or whatever. Damian Nicholas Smith-Carrey understood he wasn't gonna get laid anymore tonight. He put his pants back, annoyed.

"Wait, before you leave... Can you tell me how is Liam ?" asked this blonde guy. "I mean, we didn't have the time to discuss yesterday."

The Dean's grandson scrutinized him. He was very tall, at least 1m90 (6'3"), and rather imposing. Well, I fucked almost the whole football team of my university, and some of them were bigger.

"Look, whatever you want from Liam, just forget it. He doesn't need any extra problem right now."

His bestfriend's situation plus his family, it was enough.

"It was just a question." mumbled the other.

"A stupid question."

Damian Nicholas Smith-Carrey didn't wait for an answer. He left this brat and went back to the hotel.

When he arrived, the baboon had already fallen asleep. Same for the fatty roommate. But Nate was waiting in the corridor, looking a bit weird. What more ? I'm done being the fuckin' shrink of everyone for today. But when he came closer, he realised the dwarf wasn't just a bit weird, he was literally crying.

"Bud'. What's wrong ?" he asked with a more gentle tone than he intended to.

"I... Sorry..."

Nate took a moment to calm down. He sniffed loudly.

"You weren't supposed to see me like this." he mumbled.

"Dude. I saw the worst part of you, this is nothing."

Honestly, Damian Nicholas Smith-Carrey did not care at all about this short guy. Am I, really ? He was just fooling himself, right ? I hate all these feelings which cross my mind. He never felt the need to help anyone, well maybe except Archie and Zack, and now here he was.

"It's harder than I thought." confessed Nate. "To be normal again I mean. I truly need a talk with Archie right now."

The junior sat down next to his friend (let's call him that way and fuck it) in silent.

"Thank you for having introduced him to me by the way. Archie helps a lot."

"Well he's experienced some rough stuff too." replied Damian Nicholas Smith-Carrey. "And you shouldn't try to act normal after what happened. Whatever happened. You seems smart enough to know this wasn't a random accident."

A blank followed. Of course, Nate did not want to remember this dreadful night. Me neither.

"Look midget, I need to ask." grumbled the Dean's grandson. "I already know what we're talking about, but I wonder... Am I fuckin' protecting a criminal who did a truly stupid and horrible mistake ?"

Better that than a sociopath with very good acting skills... Nate remained quiet for a while. His eyes showed all his suffering.

"No." he finally responded miserably. "You're helping a weak, pathetic and unworthy person. An idiot as you say, who can't even protect himself. Who can't even take care of himself."

He started to cry again. Fuck this wicked world. Fuck these assholes who thinks they can do whatever they want without the consent of the others. I hate them so much. Damian Nicholas Smith-Carrey hugged the midget. It reawakened bad memories of a miserable Archie.

"You're not unworthy." he whispered. "And I will find all the help you need."

He dialed Archie's number. Thankfully, it was dawn back home and the quaterback replied. The blond lad gave him to Nate, and only when he was sure the boy was okay, he left silently. I'll have to talk with D.R about this one day or another...

Liam Tuesday March 5, in France

In other circumstances, the young lad would have enjoyed this visit of the economics departement. After all, he had a wonderful breakfast before, and he was feeling nice. But he sensed the force of evil everywhere. This morning, Nate wasn't feeling great, and he had stayed at the hotel with Dami. In the meantime, Liam and his group were supposed to work on their project. But it's like the Cold War. Nick was sulking. He still resented Rebecca, but he also seemed to dislike Barbara. The two girls were mean and they often mocked the poor major of their promotion. As for Colton, he tried his best to apease the tension, without any success yet. So Liam did what he did the best. He let his mind ramble. He imagined himself in a paradise. There were living pancakes everywhere. They begged him to eat them. (Liam is a nice guy, you all know that. So he kindly agreed to ate them.) (Ate them ALL). Nick brought him back into reality with a nudge.

"Now, you'll split into your groups." was saying their professor. "Students from the Economic College of Paris will guide you."

Liam followed his roommate towards a group of students, but he froze when he saw them. Tell me it's not happening. Why ? Am I cursed ? Kilian was right here, looking straight at him.

"My god. Kilian is that you ?" asked Barbara. "You have grown so much. My lord, you're so impressive !"

Their old classmate thanked her.

"It's nice to see you again Barb'." he said. "Liam."

Send help. Send help. Send help. (Liam knew his internal screams weren't helping at all.) (But maybe Dami would hear him ? His boyfriend could read minds, right ?).

"Okay, this is weird." intervened Nick. "Can we start the tour ?"

Kilian smiled.

"Of course. Follow me."

It was a true nightmare. An impossible situation. Liam was running right into his death. (Maybe not, but he always loved a bit of drama). What should I say ? What can I say ? He knew Kilian had left the United States after the... incident to go back to France. But what were the odds they would meet again here, in Paris ? I'm convinced this is an international scheme to destroy me and the unicorns.

"Dude, you're so tensed." murmured Nick. "What's the deal with your ex anyway ?"

Liam did not answer. He was truly panicing. Without Nate or Dami to support him, he was completely lost. And what if his new boyfriend discovered the story ? He'll hate me. He'll realise how unwrothy I am.

"I need to go. Far far far away. Right now."

He didn't wait for an answer. He wanted to avoid a panic attack.

Because he wasn't thinking clearly, Liam finally got lost in the building. A bit relieved to be alone, he sat on a bench and got his breath back. What am I supposed to do ? His mother never prepared him for a moment like that ! (He wasn't blaming her, but she could have anticipated right ?) (Educate your children to face their exes ! It's crucial !).

"Why did you run away ?" asked suddenly a voice he recognized (much for his displeasure).

Kilian looked curiously at him. (How he managed to find him ? Did a witch lead him here ?) His ex-boyfriend smiled softly.

"You know, I'm very surprised to see you here, but it's nice."

"What do you mean, it's nice ?" asked Liam, surprised.

"Well, we never spoke since... the middle of 12th grade. Since what happened. I never had the chance to thank you."

"To thank me."

Right, Kilian had lose his mind. The french food must have turned him crazy.

"I almost killed you with my stupid plan." recalled Liam. "I... I have been selfish, reckless and stupid. How come you want to thank me ?"

"You kiddin' right ? My parents blame you, but I don't. It wasn't your idea, but ours. And it was the first and only time someone wanted to take so much risk for me. I owe you Liam, for real."

It was too much for the chestnut lad. He wasn't able to come to terms with all that stuff.

"I thought..." he mumbled. "I thought you resented me. It's what your parents said."

"They lied to you obvious... Wait... you blamed yourself for what happened ? Oh man I didn't know you were putting so much on yourself. I'm sorry Liam, it must have been hard for you."

Hard for me ? He had been through hell with this story. The freshman couldn't think clearly. Everything he thought about Kilian was... false ?

"The others are here." whispered his ex-boyfriend. "Look, once this tour is over, I think it would be nice to talk. I can't tonight but maybe tomorrow night ?"

Liam only nodded, completely lost. Does that mean... I blamed myself for months for nothing ?

Barbara Tuesday March 5, in France

It was better than everything she had planned so far. Way better. She never expected Kilian to be here, in Paris. But this is a godsend. I will make the most of it. Catch Liam would be hard for her, but for his ex ? All she needed to do was to bring back them together for one night. One night and she would dethrone Damian Nicholas Smith-Carrey. Afterwards, it would be chaos, and she would appear as a savior for the university. This is perfect.

"Your smile is so creepy. I kind of like it."

Barbara turned towards Matthew. He was almost living in their bedroom with the two girls. I'm glad they didn't have sex while I was here.

"I just came up with a good plan for my next move." she explained. "Soon enough, you'll be proud to be close with the queen."

He snorted.

"You mean, all of this was to be the queen of the university ? Oh man, that's funny."

"Why ?"

"It's nothing." he mysteriously replied. "Good luck girl."

She left one hour later. The short girl had done some research before. Apparently, Kilian  had moved in France approximately one year ago, in the middle of 12th grade. Well, after this sad incident with Liam. He was living with his uncle, and was studying this year as a freshman at the local university. He had multiple friends, but no boyfriend in sight. Which meant he was avaible. Barbara also managed to find his adress, so she came right at his home. When he openned the door, she felt again surprised by his height. He is so tall now.

"Barbara ? What brings you here ?" he asked.

"Hey Kilian. I wanted to talk, in memory of old times."

And at first, they did. They lengthly shared memories. He was nicer, more talkative than she remembered. Well, his parents were beating the crap out of him, and the whole highschool bullied him. No wonder he feels better now. Eventually, she led the subject towards her main concern.

"It's nice to see you." she laughed. "I mean, I was already surprised when I met Liam at my university."

She glimpsed a shining light in Kilian's eyes. He wanted to talk about him. Nice. Maybe the story she heard from Jessy wasn't completly right.

"Yeah, it was quite a surprise for me too..."

A little blank followed. She sensed he wanted to add something. He was so predictable.

"I never wanted things to end like this." he whispered. "I would love to... come back in time. I missed him, you know ?"

"He missed you too." she revealed. "He told me."

A little lie can't hurt. Kilian didn't know she wasn't her friend anymore. He would trust her.

"Really ? It doesn't seem like that..." he mumbled. "I mean, he looks so paniced everytime I'm around. We barely had a normal conversation. He was so stressed."

You sure have confidence now. He was way more assertive than before, and it was kind of attractive. Liam can fall for that.

"Well, it's... Look, I'm not supposed to say this but... Liam fell into the wrongs hands. There's a guy who uses him for sex."

Kilian frowned. Please, believe it. It was the hardest part of the plan. She needed him to trust this.

"Is this by the aggressive guy ? The one with scary eyes ?"

"Yes. How do you know ?" she wondered, surprised.

"He was here last night." explained Kilian with a bit of rancor. "He was having sex with my cousin all over the place."

Oh man. Damian Nicholas Smith-Carrey was playing against himself. That was so ironic.

"I think... the best way to help Liam would be to reveal what you're feeling." she stated. "You want him right ? As your boyfriend ? I'm sure you two will work together. Just tell him."

Kilian barely hesitated.

"Okay. I'll give it a try. I don't like him being exploited by this bad guy anyway."

And now, this is the fall of the king.

To be continued

Well things are escalating. Kilian’s in the place and it changes everything. What will happen to Liam and Dami now uh ? Will they escape the dangerous plan of Barbara ? We’ll see that soon :)

[katedoesfics]

Shadows of the Yiga | Chapter 13

Revali didn’t leave until Aryll got home from school, and it wasn’t without him raiding Link’s fridge of most of his beer as ‘payment for babysitting.’ Link didn’t argue with him, and in fact, felt a sense of relief to know that there was less beer in there, which meant less of a temptation for him. Of course, nothing was stopping him from going out and restocking, but the idea didn’t really cross his mind as he was too anxious to see Mipha again.

At some point during the day, Kit had called to check up on him, making Link vow to never show his ‘ugly mug’ in his bar again. He seemed satisfied with Link’s promise, even going so far to promise not to serve him if he ever stumbled in again.

Aryll seemed genuinely relieved to see her brother when she got home, but otherwise, she said nothing about their interaction that morning. All in all, she appeared to be in a good mood, humming to herself in the kitchen as she made them both peanut butter and banana sandwiches.

It was then when Mipha poked her head into the kitchen. She stepped in and rolled her eyes at them as they turned to her from the couch. There was a box in her hands.

“Is this what your diet consists of?” she said with a frown. “Are you ten?”

Aryll bit into her dinner with a grin. “And pizza,” she said as she chewed. She took a moment to swallow before speaking again, looking between her and Link. “What are you doing here?”

She raised the box and sighed. “Pizza.”

Aryll threw herself over the couch excitedly. “It’s a good diet,” she said. “I’ve got all my nutrients.” She took the pizza from Mipha, setting it on the table and taking a slice. “So,” she started slowly between bites. “Are you guys back together or something?”

Mipha hesitated. She turned her gaze to Link, who was letting his arms dangle over the edge of the couch. He pointed at his sister.

“Pizza.”  

“Get off your ass and get it yourself,” she sneered at him. She made a dramatic display of shoving her own pizza into her mouth before turning back to Mipha. “Yeah?”

Link sighed and dragged his feet across the room, but before he could grab a slice, Mipha pulled the box away with a sly smile.  

“That depends,” she said.

“Gimme,” Link said simply.

Aryll looked between them, her brow raised. “Depends on what?”

“How badly he wants pizza,” Mipha said, grinning.

“An interesting ultimatum,” Aryll said, her hand on her chin. “But do you really want to force him to be with you for pizza?”

“I’ll take what I can get.”

“That’s a terrible relationship.” Link grabbed the box from her and yanked it out of her hands. He took a slice and immediately shoved it in his mouth. “But I accept your proposition.”

 “Congratulations,” Aryll said dryly. “You’re stuck with him, you know. He’s your problem now.”

“It was much more romantic the first time,” Mipha said.

“You conned me for pizza,” Link reminded her. “How is that romantic?”

“Should I get on one knee and offer you another slice?”

Link grinned. “That’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

Mipha sighed. She took a slice, got on one knee, and shook her head. “This is what my life has come to, apparently.”

“That’s so sweet,” Link said. He took the slice from her and pulled her back to her feet, planting a kiss on her lips. He pulled away quickly to devour his next slice.

“Did you miss that?” Aryll said, rolling her eyes. “Did you really, honestly miss this idiot’s bullshit?”

“Love makes you do weird shit,” Mipha said.

“Well.” Aryll picked up her bag from the corner of the room and swung it on her shoulder. “You guys have fun being weird. I have finals to study for.”

When she heard Aryll’s door close, Mipha pulled Link toward her, kissing him once more, but after a moment, he pulled away.

“You know the rule,” he said. “Pizza first. Sex later.”

Mipha rolled her eyes. “It’s like nothing ever changed,” she said with a dramatic sigh. “Honestly. Who puts pizza before sex?”

“You’ve had pizza, right?”

Mipha cocked a brow. “You’ve had sex, right?”

Link paused to consider this for a moment. “They’re comparable.”

“Well, see if I give you pizza or sex ever again.”

Link frowned. “That’s cruel. You’re a monster.”

“You know,” she started. “We’ve never had makeup sex.”

Link’s eyes widened. “I’ve heard incredible stories about that,” he said. “I thought they were just fairytales.”

Mipha smiled. “You sure you want to pass that up?”

Link look towards the pizza, then back to her. “I guess I can have pizza any day.”

Mipha grinned. “You’re an idiot.” She took his hand. “Come on,” she said. “I have a tiny apartment with a shared wall that doesn’t have your sister on the other side.”

“Good plan.”

*****

The rest of the week went without further incident. Link fell back into his usual routine at work, and though he originally found it dull, he came to appreciate the normality of it all, especially considering the depression he had fallen into. For once, life felt almost normal again. Though he was still working two jobs and barely keeping up payments on the house, the world felt right again. The weight of his responsibilities didn’t feel so heavy. A part of him knew the feeling would likely not last long, but he wanted to enjoy his moment of happiness for as long as he could. He wanted to forget his worries for as long as life would allow him. Mipha was back in his life, his friends were coming back to the city, and everything felt the way it should.

When Saturday finally came, he found himself in the company of his friends, standing around the firepit in the backyard as the first stars of twilight began to show themselves. Aryll was speaking excitedly with Mipha and Urbosa on one side, while on the other side, Revali passed out cigars to Link and Daruk.

“ Well, here we are,” he said with a sigh as he blew out smoke. “The boys are back in town.”

 “I heard you’re sticking around,” Daruk said. “I didn’t know you were so in love with Link.”

“What can I say?” Revali said. “The heart wants what the heart wants.”

“He’s in the mafia or something,” Link said. “He’s here on business to bust some kneecaps.”

 Daruk raised a brow. “For real?”

“He tried to drag me into it,” Link continued with a nod. “I think he might be considering blackmail.”

“Why does everyone assume I’m doing something shady?” Revali whined.

“Because you won’t tell anyone what you do for a damn living,” Daruk said.

Revali grinned and brought his cigar to his mouth. “The less you know, the better.”

“He’s working for the Yiga Clan,” Link said. “I’m sure of it.”

“It makes sense,” Daruk said thoughtfully. “Getting some dirt on you. Trying to lure you into their trap.”

“Please,” Revali said. “What would they want with that dirtbag?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Daruk said dryly. “Maybe the Triforce?”

Revali considered this. “Wait. Let’s be real for a second.”

“We weren’t?” Link muttered.

“That’s a totally plausible explanation,” Revali continued.

Daruk raised a brow. “That you’re working for the Yiga?”

“No, no,” Revali said quickly, waving them off. “No, I mean. The Yiga were once Sheikah. They’re followers of Ganondorf. So, wouldn’t that be their main directive? Get the Triforce and bust Ganondorf out of his seal.”

“This is true,” Daruk said. “But, we’ve also never encountered them, even when we were running around Hyrule closing portals.” He shrugged. “Maybe they’re really not a threat.”

Revali shook his head. “I don’t buy it,” he said. “Dorian and Rusl had beef, remember? Dorian’s up to something. Maybe he’s keeping things quiet.”

Link stared into the flames. “I thought we agreed not to worry about the Yiga Clan?” he muttered.

“How about the Termina festival, then?” Revali pressed. “King Roham kept that real nice and quiet. Come on, Link, your father -”

“Enough,” Link snapped at him. He hesitated as Revali fell silent. He turned his gaze back to the fire. “I told him I would stay out of it,” he said softly. “Zelda’s convinced Dorian is innocent. I promised her I would drop all of it.”

“You sound like a conspiracy theorist,” Daruk said to Revali. “Link’s right. If they were an issue, they would be an issue by now. They wouldn’t be silent for ten years. They would actually be relevant.”

Revali didn’t press the matter further, mainly due to the fact that he did not want to upset Link any further. While he had not originally meant it to be a serious accusation, the more he thought about it, the more uneasy it made him. Still, he pushed those thoughts aside and changed the topic.

“So, are you gonna work for me or not?”

 “Not,” Link said.

 “Why not?” Revali whined.

“I have absolutely no skills worthy of any job,” Link said. “The fuck do you want me for? I don’t need the pity party.”

“Dude. I’m making you work for this money. There’s no pity party.”

“All the money in the world -”

“One hundred,” he said quickly. “One-double-oh.”

“Dude,” Daruk said. “Take it and run.”

“I’ll be running for my life,” Link said. “He won’t even tell me what the damn job is.”

“Fine,” Revali said. “Look. All I need from you is your signature. Sign the papers I give you, and that’s it. Literally all you need to do. You can sit in a big fancy office all to yourself for eight hours a day, sign some papers, and go home to bed on your pile of cash.”

Link stared at him for a moment, then narrowed his gaze. “Signing what?”

“Documents,” Revali said. “You just sign them. Don’t read. Just sign.”

“What the fuck…” Daruk murmured under his breath.

“That’s shady as fuck, man,” Link said.

“And that’s why we have lawyers,” Revali said with a grin. “To cover our asses.”

“Hylia, I don’t even want to know,” Link said, shaking his head. “Leave me out of your shady ass business.”

Revali shrugged. “You’ll come around sooner or later,” he said. He winked at him. “They always do.”

“Don’t do it, Link,” Urbosa said, shaking her head as she caught the end of their conversation. “I won’t let you.”

Mipha frowned. “Do what?”

 “Work for Revali,” Urbosa said, placing a hand on her hip. “I checked the contract you’d have to sign. You’d be lucky if you only had to give up your left nut.”

“That’s my favorite one,” Link said with a playful pout.

 “Who really reads contracts, anyway?” Revali muttered.

“I do,” Urbosa said. “That’s my job.”

“Hey, you’re my lawyer, not Link’s.”

“Free advice,” Urbosa said, turning her attention to Link. “Don’t do it.”

“Why you gotta ruin everything for me, woman?” Revali barked at her.

Urbosa grinned. “Why do you need to be working for such a shady company?”

“Because they know how to pay.”

“Revali, you could go to jail.”

Revali waved her off. “They keep me protected.”

“Come on,” Daruk pressed. “You gotta give us more than that.”

“Alright, alright,” Revali said. His voice lowered and he looked between his friends as if he were about to reveal kingdom secrets. “My company is the largest company in the industry of producing energy, to put it simply. They do everything from oil to gas to solar and other various clean energies.” He air quoted this last part.

The group was silent for a moment, staring at him.

“That’s… that’s it?” Daruk raised an unconvinced brow.

“That’s it,” Revali said simply.

“That’s it on paper,” Urbosa said. “But what they do in the dark is a totally different story.”

“So, what do you do, exactly?” Aryll asked.

 “I oversee all transactions,” Revali said. “Contracts come across my desk and I implement them. I send out jobs all over the world.”

 “So, why do you need Link?” Mipha asked.

“To sign off on contracts I can’t.”

 “And why can’t you?” Daruk asked, narrowing his gaze.

“Because I’m too closely involved in the company. Link would be acting as, say, an outside employee.”

“To sign off on the shadier jobs,” Link said. “So that when your company gets sued, I’m the one going down.”

“That’s why we have lawyers,” Revali reminded him. “To cover your ass.”

“You’re insane.”

 “I am not representing you,” Urbosa snarled. “Link’s right. You are insane.”

 “You would slander the name of the hero?” Link said.

“That’s exactly it,” Revali said. “There’s no way the hero would be involved in anything questionable. They see your signature and all their doubts and worries wash away.”

“Right,” Link said dryly. “That’s exactly it. No problem at all.”

“What I tell ya?”

 “Not happening.”

“It’s not like it’s that big of a deal,” Revali said. “We have other people that do this. I just need someone in my new office.”

“So take whoever you had before.”

“Can’t,” Revali said. “He’s in jail.”

 Link just stared at him.

 “He’s in jail for trafficking drugs!” Revali said in a exasperated tone. “Goddesses!”

“Did your company have him do that?” Daruk asked.

“The point is,” Revali started, blatantly ignoring Daruk’s question. “It’s not as bad as ya’ll are making it out to be.”

 “No, I think it’s that bad,” Urbosa said.

 “Dude,” Daruk started. “How did you even get involved in that?”

 “Headhunters,” Revali said proudly. “They saw my skill and worth. I am a valuable asset.”

“What skill?”

“They had me doing the same shady ass job in my early days,” Revali said.

“So you admit it’s shady?” Urbosa said.

Revali ignored her. “I proved myself and I got promoted.” He crossed his arms. “If you don’t want the shit jobs, you gotta prove your worth.”

“So, now I get the shit job?” Link said.

“Don’t look at it that way,” Revali said. “See it as a stepping stone.”

 “To a future in jail.”

“Whatever,” Revali said, crossing his arms. “I don’t want you to work for me, anyway.”

 “So, how’s the apartment?” Urbosa said to Mipha. “Glad to be back?”

 Mipha frowned. “My neighbors are either having an affair with the pizza delivery guy, or they really like to roleplay.”

“Why don’t you just move in with Link?”

Mipha’s cheeks reddened and Link made a sound of disgust.

“Wow,” Daruk muttered. “Tense.”

“I don’t need to live with two women,” Link said, narrowing his eyes at his sister.

“Hey, fuck you, man,” Aryll said.

“He’s right,” Revali said, coming to his defense. “That’s double the PMS. Nobody needs that shit.”

“Move forward in your relationship!” Urbosa barked at them.

“We’ve been together a week,” Link said. “At that rate, we’ll be married by next weekend.”

Urbosa rolled her eyes. “You’ve been together forever. You might as well be.”

“Don’t do it,” Revali said. “It’s a trap. Teba got married, had a kid, and I haven’t seen him since.”

“That must be so hard for you,” Urbosa said dryly.

“Don’t worry,” Link started. “I won’t fall into that trap.”

Mipha sighed and turned to Urbosa. “Do you have any single guy friends?”

Urbosa grinned. “Don’t worry,” she said. “I’ll get him to come around.”

“That sounds like a threat,” Revali said, and Urbosa winked at Link.

And under the stars muffled by city lights, the night went on.

[winnipegpatty]

baby just say yes | s.m. one shot

a/n: here’s a cute little one shot, nothing related to the post i made yesterday. just some fun! 

Taylor Swift wasn’t like your idol or anything; she was pretty bad ass though. And you were a sucker for a good concert. So coming to Taylor Swift’s Reputation Tour with your best friend wasn’t exactly a chore for you. Cassy was the true T Swift fan and was, rightfully so, in the middle what she would no doubt call the best night of her life tomorrow morning.

Going to a Taylor Swift concert was never a bad decision, if you catch the drift. She just knew how to perform. She had quite possibly some of the best visuals you’ve ever seen in a live concert, and it was hard not to feel completely engrossed with her and her stage presence. Which is why Cassy hadn’t as much as looked over at you in the 45 minutes that Taylor had been on stage. Her eyes were glued to the singer like her life depended on it. You weren’t much better yourself though. Lights were flashing everywhere, fireworks shot into the sky. And frankly, you felt a little disoriented in the best possible way.

Taylor was singing a shortened version of Style currently, before she finished it out.

“Would you please make some noise for my band!” She screamed, throwing her hands into the air where her band began making their way onto the stage with her.

The tell tale notes of Love Story began playing, and it was suddenly 2008 again. And you were suddenly a middle schooler again, playing on your sidekick phone, listening to your iPod nano.

Despite being eleven years old, this song still had you (and let’s be real, everyone in the stadium) rocking out like you were listening to the greatest hits album of a class rock band. As the chorus of the song came around, it felt like the stadium was literally shaking. Everyone around you was jumping, including yourself. Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone. You and Cassy turned to look at each other, screaming the lyrics at the top of your lungs. I’ll be waiting. All we have to do is run. You’ll be the prince. And I’ll be the princess. It’s a love story, baby just say yes. The energy was unlike anything you’ve ever witness before, and the crowd settled just a bit as the second verse came around.

Taylor was on stage going to town with her band, jamming out just as hard as we were. You could tell, it didn’t matter that the song was so old. She wasn’t tired of it. It were her own words, and she was proud of them.

The second chorus came back through, and the crowd upped the ante. Flashing lights were everywhere, and it felt like you couldn’t even see straight. You screamed the lyrics at the top of your lungs, not caring who heard you. You flipped your hair a bit dramatically just for the hell of it and you were having the time of your life. It wasn’t until half way through the chorus that you noticed the guy next you slowly creeping closer to you, completely unaware of his own surroundings. He was just up and down, pumping his arms in the air with a beer in his hand. He was faced away from you, and you figured it wasn’t a big deal. He was clearly just enjoying the song as much as you were. Romeo save me, they’re trying to tell me how to feel. This love is difficult, but it’s so real. Don’t be afraid we’ll make it out of this mess it’s a —

You felt a elbow jam into your ribcage completely unexpectedly and your breath shot out in a sharp yell.

“Fuck!” You heard the boy say as he swung around to see you.

You let out a breath for completely different reasons. He was beautiful. Like, a greek god sculpture beautiful. He had these perfectly smooth brown curls and rosy cheeks. His eyes were so kind. He grabbed onto your forearm to steady you. He had fucking gigantic hands.

“I’m so sorry!” He shouted at me, leaning in closer to make sure I heard him.

You nodded stupidly for a moment before coming to your senses, “It’s okay, yeah. No problem.”

It felt like a little bit of a problem, considering your rib cage was throbbing, but he didn’t need to know that.

“Jesus, I’m sorry. I should really be more careful!”

You smiled at his second apology, “We’re just all trying to have fun. No harm,” you shrugged it off.

He smiled at your, finally letting go of your arm. “Let me make it up to you. I’ll buy you a drink.” He was still shouting, even though the song had just gone into the quiet bridge, causing Cassy to look over at you in concern.

“It’s really not a problem,” you smiled at him.

“Please,” he asked, quieter this time. His smile was absolutely blinding and you couldn’t find it in yourself to deny him again.

“Well, okay…” You trailed off as he turned away from you.

You expected him to leave to go get a drink. But he only took a few steps away from you, speaking a few words to a tall man in a black shirt. The man nodded before he turned and went in the opposite direction of the stadium’s concessions area. It was weird, but you decided to turn your attention back to Taylor on stage who had just shifted to the song You Belong with Me. You looked at Cassy, who was still staring at you. You just shrugged before you both when back to singing the lyrics along with Taylor.

“Let me see you jump!” Taylor shouted, and again the stadium erupted.

Soon after, the song finished out, screams filling the entire stadium so it was impossible to hear. The lights fell dark, and the stadium full of people quickly went silent. A eerily dark video of Taylor playing remixed clips of old songs began to play in front of you, and you knew something big was about to happen. Next to you Cassy was literally vibrating from excitement. The video ended as Taylor dramatically took her place on a throne, looking like a mother fucking badass queen and she winked, just as the beginning of Look What You Made Me Do came to life.

You felt a hand reach onto your lower back, and you quickly looked over to your friend with spastic elbow, smiling lightly. He handed you a Corona, which you thanked him for before you both returned to looking at Taylor. As the lights came up, and Taylor came through the floor of the stage. The boy dropped his hand from your side, but didn’t make any move to step further away from you.

Deciding to ignore the obvious move to stand closer to you, you simply sipped on the beer and continued to enjoy yourself.

It surprised you every time the boy got hyped up for certain lyrics. Throughout the concert, it was clear that he knew most, if not all, of the lyrics to her songs. He wasn’t drug along to this concert against his will, but was certainly here for his own enjoyment.

“Look at the stage, you’re gonna miss it!” Shawn shouted to one of his friends, right before a giant fucking snack crept in behind Taylor.

“Oh, god, Brian!” He shouted at one point to his friend, “I love when she does this! Watch! Watch! Watch what she’s about to do. God it’s so fucking epic!”

“Listen to the note change, ugh.”

It was odd, he somehow knew what was going to happen before it happened. Like he’d seen it before, but not just once. Like he had to know...more.

About half way into the concert, your curiosity had peaked. He still stood close to you, and you were close enough to touch. You lightly bumped your shoulder against his, and he looked over at you with that blinding smile. He bent down a bit so that he could hear you when you said, “How do you know everything that’s about to happen?”

He looked at you confused for a moment before realization seemed to set in.

“You’ve seen her before, I’m assuming?” You questioned again.

He laughed at that, his head falling back, and hand coming to his chest. “Try over thirty times.”

You eyes blew wide, “What? How is that even possible?”

Shawn laughed again, “I opened for her 1989 tour, hun.”

You stared at him, and then looked back at Taylor. Then you looked over at Cassy, who was completely unaware of these proceedings. Surely she would have recognized a famous person standing next to them, right? She was always up on the latest celeb gossip and stuff. That was her scene, not yours. You turned back to Taylor who was now standing in a beautiful black dress singing a song called Dress. Finally you looked back at him.

“You’re shitting me right?”

His eyes gleamed, “No, I swear to god.”

“Who are you?” You finally asked.

“Shawn Mendes,” he reached out his hand to shake yours. You slowly reached out, in complete shock.

You didn’t know who Shawn Mendes was, if you’re being honest. Not based off pure facial and name recognition, but maybe you’d heard his songs before in passing?

“Nice to meet you,” Shawn said sweetly. “What’s your name?”

You told him your name, still completely lost for words.

“So, you like...sing?”

He just nodded, beaming with pride.

You turned to Cassy, tapping her. She looked at you, and you leaned over to her. “Do you know this guy?” You kind of shouted at her over the music.

Cassy leaned past you to look at Shawn. She smiled and waved before turning back, “Yeah dude, that’s Shawn Mendes.”

You’d never seen Cassy so calm in her entire life. She was feet away from a celebrity and couldn’t care less. It was so out of character for her, but you figured she must have been more interested in seeing Taylor Swift sing than care about some boy singer standing next to you.

You turned back to Shawn, “Guess I’m the only person who had no fucking clue who you are.”

“That’s okay,” Shawn smiled. “I’m nobody special.”

You highly doubted that just based off what little interaction you’d had with him, but you let it slide anyway. Returning your focus to Taylor, you did your best to forget about the utterly gorgeous famous man standing next to you. Shawn, however, seemed to be doing the exact opposite. Instead of saying things to his friends, he now spoke to you randomly. Saying cute comments about something Taylor did on stage to you. His arm was pressed fully against your own, and his heat radiated off of you. People jumped and screamed around you, but the two of you stood still. Connected in some odd way.

“Oh, this is a good song!” You told Shawn as Taylor started singing This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things.

“Oh yeah, and she totally kills the stage aspect of it too. It’s absolutely epic.”

And he was right. Taylor completely destroy the stage for the last song of the concert. It was the perfect energy to go out on. Shawn, standing next to you, was singing along with Taylor, his head bobbing up and down. You took the moment to just look and admire him. His jawline and rosy cheeks. The cute hoop earring that you’re just noticing in his left ear. He was a site to see, and his voice was heavenly. So you understood why he must have fans.

Shawn eventually turned to you, smiling when he saw you looking at him. You quickly looked back towards the stage, hoping it wasn’t as obvious as it seemed like it was. He bumped your shoulder lightly, chuckling as he did. You looked up at him, and he looked down at you. You could feel the smile across your face, and frankly your cheeks were starting to ache.

“You know, I’m glad I elbowed you earlier,” Shawn laughed.

You laughed with him before responding, “Well it hurt, so I mean...maybe next time just say hi?”

Shawn nodded, “I can do that.”

Taylor finished her show only minutes later, and you started to feel a sinking feeling in her stomach. A tightening in your chest formed, thinking about how this was the end. The end of a concert always sucked, and post concert depression was always sure to follow. In the moments after such a huge high, a rush of excitement and adrenaline, the low point sucked. But you were thinking about a different end. The end of a night spent with the boy standing next to you. Who still had moved, despite people hustling out of the concert quickly trying to get out before the rush of cars. Cassy was crying next to you and you and Shawn stood completely still for a moment, before he finally turned to you.

“It was really nice meeting you, Y/N. I’m really sorry for elbowing you,” He smiled shyly. He paused for a moment, tugging at a few of his curls. “Uh, would you? Could I maybe, give you my number?”

You felt your heartbeat quicken as you smiled at him, “Yeah. I’d really love that.”

tagged: @peacedolantwins2 @fourtristattoos @rosecth @unhealthyobsessionwithmarvel 

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[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Iruma-kun 13 - 14 | Somali 1 | Magia Record 1 | BnHA 75 | Eizouken 1 | Idolish7 s2 1

New season...incoming!

Iruma-kun 13

How did Iruma even notice that collar? Geesh, that kid is perceptive…

This “spitting blood” joke is getting old already…

*Kiriwo starts his machine* - Why do I get the feeling something bad’s about to happen…?

Could you possibly call this “rank is the most important thing” a study of class consciousness, to throw some of Anime Feminist’s words? Or maybe this is a fantasy version of technology and it’s extolling the virtues of technology advancement?! *eyes sparkle*

Can Iruma join Kiriwo already? Please?!

Aw, dear darling! (<- I’m not sure if I’ve said that a lot in these notes, but I say that when I get the warm fuzzies and wanna protect a character…basically, platonic love, I guess…? Oh, “moe instinct” - that’s the words I’m looking for.) Iruma, go and live your best life, okay?

Thank you, story! Even though I knew it was being foreshadowed so heavily by being the focus of basically 24 minutes of this show’s runtime (= about 1 ep), I thank you from the bottom of my heart that Iruma went to the right Battler.

Wait, so Ameri is actually Iruma’s senpai by one year?! Hmm? I never realised that and I read some spoilers!

I like this new chibi animation style! Yay!

I never noticed this until now, but Kiriwo has one big horn and one little one.

I think the title, aside from the pronunciation of “Thirteen Dinner”, is meant to mean “The Thirteen Counts’ Gathering” (or some other high rank) or something of the sort. Update: So I checked and the character used, kanmuri/kan, is used to mean “crown” or someone who wears a crown, i.e. a peerless person, so it would be appropriate to translate that using the term for a high rank which is presumably going to be stated in the segment itself.

Turns out Babel…is just makaitou (the demon world tower). I don’t think it’s really Babylonian in any strict sense.

Depending on where you live, the 665th floor could count as the 666th or…well, the 665th. I know in Japanese, the word for the floor on the ground is ikkai (first floor)…I’m not going to tell you what I know it as though…that would reveal my location outside cyberspace, no?

According to the katakana, the guy’s name is Beruzebyuto (hence the translation as “Beelzebuth”). Beelzebub is the Lord of the Flies and a quick google tells me Beelzebul (close enough) was apparently an alternate spelling for him (or something like that…?). Patron demon of gluttony.

Astaroth, also a demon (king of rot, I think it was from Blue Exorcist)…interestingly, Beelzebub, Lucifer and Astaroth make up an unholy trio and all of them were referred to by a dude called...Solomon (which does kinda sound like “Sullivan”, if you think about it). There’s the connection between these guys…I like his top, too.

Asmodeus, patron demon of lust. We already knew that demon was represented through Azz-Azz, but now you see a spoiler I’ve been hiding for a while – Azz’s mother.

Amaimon…uh, I don’t remember what kind of demon he is in the demonic canon but I know him from Blue Exorcist.

Behemoth…?

Ooh, Ameri’s father is smokin’ hot! (Dangit, I do not want DILFs…) Azazel, a fallen angel and apparently personification of uncleanliness(…?)

Belial and (Lady) Leviathan, which we already knew existed from initial namedrops.

Who’s Baal? Even I have no idea…Update: Apparently he’s a Middle Eastern equivalent to Zeus, which explains his thunder allegiance.

Paimon kinda looks like Chaika, LOL.

LOL, “lifehack” is certainly the right word for it, Sullivan.

LOL, Belial is so short!

Although it’s kind of awkward to not see Lady Levi take a position of power for herself, it’s nice to see she has spirit!

Aw, this is cute. In much the same way I wanted Iruma to join the magical apparatus Battler, I want Sullivan to be Demon King.

Is Opera perhaps related to Ameri somehow…?

Somali 1

I was hoping to get to Plunderer, but got carried away writing another post and then lost the ability to watch both episode 1 and 2 ahead of schedule. So Somali is the new start of the season, but the last relic of the fact Plunderer was meant to start my season (outside ID: Invaded’s advance premiere) is the visual I have for this season. (Oh yeah, one of the reasons I’m supporting this – aside from it being a mid-ranker on my hype list – is that I heard a French animator, a friend of Thomas Romain, is getting his big start here.)  

“Dad.” – Oh, f***. I have myself an Usagi Drop. I knew I was going to get something of the sort going into this show, but…Usagi Drop’s experiences (or rather, watching the anime knowing the manga has that ending) have left their mark. Not to mention Somali (as this girl will come to be known) has Latina eyes, which annoys me even more since I dropped that on the basis of being scarred by Usagi Drop.

I’m wondering what Crunchyroll was thinking when they decided to coproduce this – sure, it’s probably quite cute and wholesome, but I’m far from the target audience. Did they think, “Is this what Western audiences will like?” Sure, it would hit a niche that likes this surrogate father/daughter stuff, but I don’t think it’s for me (and I’ve been thinking that all through the OP). I’ll give it a bit more to wow me, but it’s doing pretty terrible so far (because note all other anime of this particular reputation I’m more on the “neutral” side than the “like” one). Somali’s voice is probably the biggest factor – it sounds like an adult woman’s voice got pitch-shifted to attempt to be a child, rather than an actual child.

How can this golem talk about sight when he doesn’t even have eyes??? (Kinda like Juzo from NGL.)

Alright, that’s it. I can see when you’re trying to bait me with supposedly “cute” children, show. You’re gone.

Okay, since I have time and the reviews say otherwise, I’m trying again. I don’t expect to be sold to this though…

Was it just me or was there a reduced frame rate when Somali’s cape was the only thing in the frame…?

For some reason the subbers put “Why?” when the word was actually “What?”, which is a bit silly to be honest with you. (Nande?/Doushite? vs. Nani?...it’s kind of similar-sounding, but the sound is distinctly different.)

Still dropping this show. I just have another episode to add to my list now.

Magia Record 1

I heard there’s no Urobutcher this time around, but the first time I encountered the Urobutcher (in ConRevo) he made a particularly weird-feeling (in the context of the show) episode, so…uh…let’s say the Urobutcher is only as good as the material he writes, and leave it at that. Anyways, this topped my list – even before ID: Invaded came to hunt down that top position – so this better be good.

Um, am I just imagining it, or is that Sayaka and Hitomi discussing magical girls (or Madoka?) over the top of Iroha (I know that’s her name already from the synopses floating around the ‘net) and her fellow magical girls fighting?

Letterboxing? Now there’s something I thought I’d never see in Madoka Magica, ever.

One of the books was on organic recipes.

The teacher talks a tad too fast – I can understand what she’s saying, but it’s like she operates on x1.5 speed compared to the x1 speed of everything else…

“Nakama – because we can do it” – I wonder if that will mean something later…? In Madoka Magica, strange details always mean something.

“The only good witch is a dead one!” “Speech is silver, silence is golden.”– The tiny English isn’t particularly subtle, is it?

Uwasa = rumour.

Takarazaki, huh? I’ll make a note of that.

Who’s Ui?

According to the credits, I assume the blue spear girl is Nanami Yachiyo.

This is a respectable re-entry into a universe which I left not too long ago (in 2017). I’m definitely going to be able to stick with it for a season or however long it lasts.

BnHA 75

All this talk about a database…reminds me of the Quirk I designed for the wiki (also called “Database”). I conceived it in 2015, but I don’t remember who was meant to use it before I retrofitted it to fit the BnHA universe. Update: Welp, I found the document. The superpower Database (which was retrofitted to be a Quirk) is for one Itsuki Hatano.

“One blow to the top of the head!”

Iruma-kun 14

(Note: Some notes may be missing because I was busy multitasking while watching this episode.)

Go, Iruma! Live your best life!

Note “speak of the devil” isn’t how it’s said in Japanese. It sounds something like “whisper a rumour and it will come back to you” based on what I heard Kiriwo say (since I heard the word uwasa in there). Update: Apparently the phrase is uwasa wo sureba… (if you spead a rumour…) and then you cut the saying off to finish the rest of the sentence, just like you would in English.

You can’t even see a substantial part of Iruma’s hair when that demon on the phone (<-I know who it is, because I read spoilers, but I’ll keep quiet on that front!) yells for the first time.  

Makura (demon pillow) has that demon pun going on.

Ooh, Kiriwo-senpai is actully kinda sexy with his hair up like that…not that I know the first thing about sex appeal…

So is the ED about the Battler Party, in a sense?

Eizouken 1

I picked this show up because of the rave reviews it was getting.

Very Future Boy Conan, that.

…what? That OP was trippy. Then again, I didn’t mind ConRevo and that was trippy…this negative feeling is probably because I don’t know much about Masaki Yuasa’s quirks, I guess.

Why do people not translate “Eizouken”???? It means “video research club”.

The back is a good spot to sit in a theatre for anime. Why do I know this? I sit in the back of my anime club all the time, that’s why!

“Are those MiBs?” – I laughed pretty hard at that one sentence.

Why does this strawberry milk seem to be a parallel to the milk Asakusa promised Kanamori? (P.S. Asakusa is in Tokyo, IIRC.) Update: Mizusaki means “on top of water” if I understood the kanji right and Kanamori, with the right combo of characters, can mean “forest of gold”...which makes a lot of sense, considering how gold is equated with wealth and currency. Also, here’s proof Asakusa is in Tokyo...not to mention it’s the place from Sarazanmai! Meanwhile, I was thinking there was some sort of anime-related significance to the name, but I was thinking of Asagaya.  Update 2: Mizusaki actually means “water peninsula”. Sorry, wrong saki.

I know there’s a chase scene at the end of this ep, thanks to reading reviews. I want to be wowed by it, which is why I’m (metaphorically) holding my breath.

I like how Asakusa and Mizusaki are bouncing around ideas. That really brings the process to life.

Long skirts and wind but no sexualisation. That’s a good sign!

Whoa, that scene with the comets was AWESOME! I want more!

Idolish7 s2 1

Back with some good boys one season too early…let’s have some fun while these simulcasters can get this stuff fast!

Oh no! (<- self-censored) Nagi’s stupid accent is back! *yells incoherently for a second*

I like the little sound effects that happened whe Nagi’s finger moved around (to suggest “magic”).

I think the joke was something to do with the word gera (?). I don’t quite get it myself.

Misuta- Shimooka, LOL. I love how this s2 isn’t doing any hand-holding, though! I half-expect a flashback to appear and it never does.

Yamato, how are you so-*crying and Yatta! can be heard in the background*Okay, nevvvvvvvvvver mind…

I remember mistakenly saying that Nishiyama was part of Idolish7 (since I looked through some of my old notes lately). Nishiyama is part of ZOOL, so now…I’m not wrong anymore…(That’s not quite relevant to the random announcement of Re:Vale showing up, but it’s on my mind now.)

Hmm…Yamato’s thoughts on Re:Vale…I’ll keep an eye on him.

I think people like Tamaki because he treats them like he would his little sister…a true gentleman. Or maybe that’s all in my head? I haven’t been in the fandom properly, y’know.

This switch to occasional chibi antics…I’m not sure I like it…

Ohmyglob! Another boy to add to my growing list of husbandos! *points at Yuki* I knew he existed, but I haven’t had a proper chance to have a reaction to him ever since I started really “having a thing” for long-haired guys.

Re:Vale are like a comic act (manzai).

Momo has pink nail polish…I just noticed. Update: It’s probably more red than pink.

“Chan-momo” appears to be a variety of modern slang similar to Pig Latin. Apparently Gen from Dr Stone uses it as well.

Yuki has these cute little diamond earrings and Momo has studs. I’ve also never noticed this until now. (I, myself, can’t wear anything past clip-ons because I have a genetic quirk that makes it annoying to get my ears pierced, called beta thalassemia, so I can only fangirl about other people’s earrings.)

What’s the FSC again…?

Kyu-to aidoru!

I think Momo and Yuki are going to reach out to Mitsuki and Tamaki (respectively) most this season…just a feeling, based on their dispositions. Tamaki and Yuki have similar faces, on top of that, so thank goodness we can tell them apart by hairstyle.

Yuki wears this steel blue shade of nail polish…ooh, also cute.

*Riku goes stiff-faced* - *audibly facepalms at Riku’s reaction*

Momo has a black and green earring set on one ear…huh.

Ooh, very nice. It’s a keeper.

Update: Apparently, you pronounce their name “Re:ba-re”, which is a bit different to what I was expecting (essentially “Re: veil”).

[comicteaparty]

February 24th-March 1st, 2020 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party week long chat that occurred from February 24th, 2020 to March 1st, 2020.  The chat focused on Whispers of the Past by Crona J.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB START!

Hello and welcome everyone to Comic Tea Party’s Book Club~! This week we’ll be focusing on Whispers of the Past by Crona J.~! (https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/whispers-of-the-past/list?title_no=191366)

You are free to read and comment about the comic all week at your own pace until March 1st, so stop on by whenever it suits your schedule! Discussions are freeform, but we do offer discussion prompts in the pins for those who’d like to have them. Additionally, remember that while constructive criticism is allowed, our focus is to have fun and appreciate the comic! Whether you finish the comic or can only read a few pages, everyone is welcome to join and chat with us!

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 1

1. What did you like about the beginning of the comic?

2. What has been your favorite moment in the comic (so far)?

3. Who is your favorite character?

4. Which characters do like seeing interact the most?

5. What is something you like about the art? If you have a favorite illustration, please share it!

6. What is a theme you like that the comic explores?

7. What do you like about the comic’s story or overall related content?

8. Overall, what do you think the comic’s strengths are?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

FeatheryJustice

So far, first impressions, holy cow the art is amazing.

Ash🦀

1. My favorite part about the beginning was the style. It immediately drew me in how everything was lovingly rendered in color that made me feel like I was seeing the world for the first time. It made me want to paint, too! 2. When we first see the man. Whoo buddy. Whoooooooo buddy. That was... a finely sculpted painting there. I could’ve framed him and hung him on my wall if the artist would let me. WHOOOO BUDDY. 3. My favorite character so far is Martel. I don’t write them often, but I love seeing kids in media, and I love the design of her hair. I know it’s a random thing to make me like her but I just... really like her hairstyle. She’s cute, and I’d guess she’ll be a breath of much-needed light air later in the story. 4. Mystery man and Martel are precious. 5. I point to answer 2 here. That lovingly sculpted chest? My heart was a-flutter I tell you what. 6. The art style is just... SO LOVINGLY RENDERED. The quiet moments of baking bread juxtaposed against a chaotic battle was SO. GOOD. Aaaaaah Could also be that that particular part is my favorite part of making bread so it was extra special aaaaaaah 7-8 I haven’t seen enough of the story to answer these yet! But the art is banging and I can’t wait to read more. Subscribed.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I've read this before and the art and story aren't really my thing. Since critique is allowed I could give art comments if CronaJ would find that kind of thing helpful? But even though I won't be following the story I was still impressed by how much care the author puts into it. Both from looking at their comic and from reading their comments on this discord and on the tap forum it's clear they've put a ton of effort into the art and story, and haven't cut any corner.s And all the panels are so rendered. I wonder how long it takes to draw a page?(edited)

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Hey everyone! I'm the artist and writer of Whispers of the Past. I want to thank you all for your kind comments and observations so far. It really means a lot to me to hear what others think of this heartfelt project. I know that the story is in the beginning stages right now. But I'm looking to post the end of the first chapter this week, so hopefully a bit more will be revealed soon. Please feel free to ask me questions about anything, or (to answer @Eightfish (Puppeteer)'s question), to offer critiques for how I can improve what I'm doing.(edited)

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

@FeatheryJustice & @Ash🦀 I'm glad you enjoy the artwork. The painting process is probably what takes me the longest when it comes to pages. In response to @Eightfish (Puppeteer)... It takes me around 30-40 hours per page, and I try to post 2-3 page updates. Obviously, the amount of time spent per page varies depending on several factors, such as: the number of panels, the level of complication of poses, how many characters/background elements there are, and sometimes just whatever weird reason my brain isn't working that day ^^; So for my average 5-7 panel pages, they typically take longer than, say, a full-page spread. @Ash🦀 I'm so happy that the first few pages pulled you in! I spent a lot of time deciding on how I wanted to draw those panels, and what style to use, etc. I actually redrew the first 3 pages at least 5 times before settling on them as they are. And, you can hang and frame the image of our male MC if you want, haha, I actually don't have prints of it, but it is something to consider That particular panel was a one-page spread, so I was able to dedicate a bit more detail to it. Maret is a worthy favorite character. She is too pure and precious, and she just wants to make friends with everybody. Even when the "strange man" is kind of curt and unfriendly to her, she wants to befriend him. Also, I am SO unbelievably glad that you picked up on the juxtaposition in the bread-making scene! Ahhhh! I had a lot of fun with that one

FeatheryJustice

1. The Pacing, I love slow starts to comics because I get to absorb it and learn more. 2. Favourite Moment? Dude trying to climb out the window and failing. That was really funny XD 3. Mysterious dude from the water of course. He has pointed ears, you know something is up. 4. I like Maret and the mysterious man, it seems like a child being like 'this is new and I want to learn more' Also thank you for not writing a grating child character. They sometimes turn up too pure to be real, or too grating because they are too real. Maret at least has that nice balance of a healthy child will not acted spoiled but still want things because child like the scene where she was shoo'ed out of the room. 5. I think we talked about htis a long time ago, but I love the way you draw hands and feet! 6. Nothing so far, not sure where the story will head so I can't answer this. 7. I like the start of the mystery and the slow ramp up. We are just getting comfortable and I'm sure we are going to get rocky soon! 8. Art, from seeing Cronaj spend so much time on it, it's freaking amazing. I can almost feel the characters come to life.

Also on a side note, I want Maret to hear from the Conch shell (As a memey joke) "Under the sea, under the sea" XD

(Mysterious man has red hair, I wouldn't be surprised he turned out to be a mermaid XD Sorry I'm just on slight crack theory mode right now. He didn't sell his voice though)

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

When I was first writing and planning this comic, I was a little scared about how slow the start was, but I'm glad that it has been interesting despite the slow nature of the exposition.

2. Favourite Moment? Dude trying to climb out the window and failing. That was really funny XD

@FeatheryJustice Accurate! He's kind of an idiot, and he panics over nothing. For Maret... I actually based her character partially off of my two younger sisters, so that might be a lot of what contributes to her personality and realism. We did talk about hands and feet before! I love drawing hands, because they are so expressive and complex, but hate drawing feet because they are complicated. But I did study from life to draw Maret's feet, because I felt like I would mess it up otherwise ^^;

Hahahaha! I could definitely make an edit of that, tbh.

FeatheryJustice

That would be a funny joke panel if you ever want to do one. XD It's like replace the diaolgue memes XD

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

And I was partially making a mermaid joke when I had the reference to mermaids in the comic because he is a redhead

Definitely an idea....

I would title the episode "Whispers of the Crack"

FeatheryJustice

OMG YES I would love to see that XD

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

I have a WotP meme folder on my computer already

carcarchu

1. What did you like about the beginning of the comic? Mystery man pretty 2. What has been your favorite moment in the comic (so far)? i liked the part where maret was listening to the conch for mermaids, had a lovely magical charm to it 3. Who is your favorite character? mystery man 4. Which characters do like seeing interact the most? not too many interactions so far but maret and the mystery man were cute 5. What is something you like about the art? If you have a favorite illustration, please share it! the sunset scenery had a nice vibe

also i can see why people were saying it reminded them of ruroni kenshin, mystery guy especially with his hair up and on the cover image is reminiscent of kenshin but storywise doesn't remind me of it at all

carcarchu

I have some critiques that i'll cover in case you don't want to see them. SPOILER The anime-ish emotes (the blush and the anger vein) to me clash against the realistic artsyle and detracts from the moments, some more subtlety with them would be appreciated. And Maret doesn't really look like a child to me, her face is very mature so it makes her look older than she is. Moreover the 3 characters that have been introduced thus far have very similar facial features. For maret and agatha they are siblings so it makes sense but the mystery man is (presumably?) not related to them so i'm not sure if that's intentional. In any case more facial diversity would be appreciated going forward (if it's just your style that's fine too). And this is a really small nit-pick but the first panel of chapter 6 has horse hooves with the sfx thump thump thump. In my opinion this sfx should be clip clop clip clop END SPOILER

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

@carcarchu Thanks for the notes! I actually had a hard time deciding how to portray blush noticeably in a more realistic style, haha, but I can definitely see why it's jarring. Do you have any tips for how to depict blushing without anime emotes? I would just make it more reddish/pink, but it always looks weird to me (or too unnoticeable). As for Maret... She looks like a child to me? She's six, so she isn't quite a toddler, so I don't know if that changes your perception of her. She actually resembles my youngest sister a great deal, and my youngest sister was 5, almost six, when I designed her. (I just looked through the pages again, and there's maybe one panel that I think she looks slightly older in, so if anything, I'll try to fix that panel.) So yes, obviously Agatha and Maret look very similar, hahaha. They are biological sisters, so that makes sense. There will be at least two more characters introduced that are also related to them (and look fairly similar as well) and one character who will be mentioned who is also related and looks just like Agatha. Other than that, Izrekiel does look somewhat similar, I suppose, but it might also be partially that he canonically has a very feminine face as opposed to other male characters to be introduced later. It could be that and also a bit as a result of my style. I'm not sure. Ahhhh, sound effects! I also struggled with deciding what to do here. I wanted to do something different than "clip clop," mostly for a stupid personal hang-up. (I don't know why, but "clip clop" always looks so comical to me.) But if it helps translate the sound better, I might just have to bite the bullet and change it. Thanks for your feedback! Even if I don't agree with all of it, it does help me to take a closer look at what I've done with some different eyes. (edited)

carcarchu

That's fair! You don't have to accept anything just my thoughts (i hope nothing i said was too harsh) for me thump thump is a dull sound whereas clip clop or clippity clop is a sharper and harsher sound

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

yeah, I think you're right about that

thump is more like a heartbeat

or someone falling on carpet or something

carcarchu

and as for the blush question i think there are ways to depict a similar emotion without relying on the blush itself as a short hand like the softening of the eyes, the shape of the eyebrows, looking down and heck even body language can help with this. expression is more than what is shown on just the face

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Thank you. I always feel like my characters look too stiff, like mannequins. ^^; I'm probably not going to completely redraw any old panels at this point, but I might make a few alterations to these panels to make it more consistent with later panels down the line.

carcarchu

i also noticed that a lot of your panels are the characters looking straight towards the "camera" and i would appreciate more varied angles and perspectives

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Particularly with the first ten pages, that is certainly true

I got that note before, but I didn't redraw every panel, only some which looked particularly bad.

carcarchu

personally i never edit old chapters unless i 1. forgot to draw something important 2. there's a huge typo 3. it's missing a panel

any critique you can just keep in your heart and implement if you choose to do so moving forward

keii'ii (Heart of Keol)

2. I really liked "what if it's mama?" - a lot of hints condensed there: family history, how the topic of deaths/ disappearances are handled around children (either in that family specifically, or in that culture), and also a moment that shows a glimpse of Agatha's sisterly love instead of having the readers assume it.

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

Really loving the comic so far! Right now, I'm most interested to learn about this family situation. I'm guessing their mother is dead or missing, but what about their father? I suppose his clothes were still in the house so maybe he just went out? Or maybe they're both missing and it was just fairly recent?

Also, the paint-y style of this comic is just incredible

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

https://media.tenor.com/images/878a64d90a1139bcb1e863ee29bfa929/tenor.gif

I'm so happy that you guys picked up on the clues about their mother. It alludes to some pretty plot heavy stuff that very few people have really commented on so far.

eli [a winged tale]

Oooh I’m so excited for your story Cronaj! Here are my answers~ 1) I love the beach scene! Maret with the shell is adorable and you established their relationship right away 2) Fav moment is probably the scene transition to our lad waking up with Agatha going about her day. It’s very peaceful and I’m a sucker for slice of life stuff. 3) Can’t pick just yet~ I like Agatha as a solid protagonist though. 4) More Agatha x mystery man please 5) I loooove the illustration aesthetics. Bold colours! 6) haven’t gotten to the core theme yet I’m sure but first impressions/meeting are always exciting. 7) I’m excited for what is to come. Can’t wait for the call to adventure. 8) Strength is definitely the art - beautiful and bold. Keep up the wonderful work!

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

@eli [a winged tale] Woah!!! You're the first person I've heard say that they like Agatha! She's mah girl! (And don't you worry, there will definitely be a lot more Agatha x Mystery Man ) Thanks for participating

eli [a winged tale]

she’s a solid sister!

sagaholmgaard

1. What did you like about the beginning of the comic? I like how the intro had a nice balance between art and text. Usually if there’s a lot of text on the first page I can get deterred from heading a comic, but here I think it worked really well! And the loverly painting of the ocean sunset also reeled me in and fit really well with the poetic text! 2. What has been your favorite moment in the comic (so far)? ”He’s the prettiest man I’ve ever seen!” LOL (and she’s right too…) 3. Who is your favorite character? I like the kid! But I’m excited to learn more about the other characters as the story goes on! 4. Which characters do like seeing interact the most?
I liked Agatha and Mystery Man interacting, it felt very natural and I’m curious to see what comes of it. But the dialogue felt pretty strong which I gotta applaud 5. What is something you like about the art? If you have a favorite illustration, please share it! The beautiful shot of Mystery Man on the beach of course, lol! I love the way the hair is rendered, it really feels like it’s has weight and is spread out in the sand, if that makes sense? 6. What is a theme you like that the comic explores? It seems like it will explore a lot of interesting themes in the future, such as grief and finding where you belong, so again I’m interested to see what the story brings! I’m sure it’ll be good no matter what :D Overall I like what I’ve read so far! It’s not the type of art style I usually gravitate towards, but I can tell a lot of love is going into rendering and I think we’ll be seeing Crona’s art improve a lot as the story goes on, which is always exciting to see!

RebelVampire

What I like about the beginning of the comic, which also goes for what I like about the art in general, is the attention to detail in the background colors and lighting. I've never seen such a beautifully rendered (what I assume is) a sunset. It really makes everything have this great almost mystical atmosphere to it. In general, though, the art so far is definitely the comic's strength because you can see the sheer passion in every drop of it. My favorite moment so far is when Maret gives Izrekiel some flowers and then drags him off and he's just meekly protesting. It was both cute and comedic and the preciousness hurt my heart. This is also why this is my favorite pair of characters interacting so far. I think the age gap combined with the context of Izrekiel's situation is gonna lead to lots of awkwardness that I look forward to. As for fave character, though, I would have to go with Agatha right now. I don't know what it is about her, but everytime I see her I feel like I'm looking at an old soul. Like maybe someone who still has a lot to learn about the world, but is wise beyond her years in other regards. And it makes her a captivating character for me.

While I'm not sure if this will be an overall theme throughout, I like that the comic starts to deal with the theme of loss and hope. On one side you have Agatha who just kind of accepts loss and deals with it, and then you have Maret who just lives on in hope. And I kind of feel they represent two dynamic sides to the issue about whether its better to cling to hope or just move on and deal and how both can be harmful if not expressed in the correct way. As for overall story content, while we're not that deep in, I do like it starts with a multitude of mysteries cause mysteries are always great for making ppl want answers

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Since Crona said they were good with art critique: The main thing I noticed when I first saw the art was that, though lovingly rendered, the characters' faces and bodies are kind of stiff. They don't really scrunch up their eyes and faces when they emote- it's mostly just the eyebrows (this was especially noticable when Maret was crying, or on the latest page, first panel, where Agatha's face doesn't really match her body language or words). And characters often don't seem to twist their bodies as much as they should. Oh- also the same camera angles of faces and bodies are repeated a lot. Front, 3/4, and profile. It'd be cool to see some shots with foreshortening from above or below the characters. Also the lighting is pretty diffuse- the characters seem to be shaded about the same way, and with the same colors, regardless of the lighting situation. I can still tell where the light is coming from, because there are those strong bright highlights in the direction of the light, but other than the bright highlights everything else seems to be shaded as if there was another light source coming from straight ahead. Also, sometimes characters seem to lose their shadows? Like on this page https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/whispers-of-the-past/ch-1-what-the-waves-left-behind-pt-3/viewer?title_no=191366&episode_no=4 where Agatha doesn't cast a shadow on the man, or this page https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/whispers-of-the-past/ch-1-what-the-waves-left-behind-pt-8/viewer?title_no=191366&episode_no=10 where they're running.

Those things being said though, I was still very impressed by the sheer amount of effort put into this comic. 100 hours/ update is absolutely insane. And you pay so much attention to the inanimate objects of this world. It makes the story feel grounded. About what someone else said: I agree that the cartoonish blush looks out of place. But I disagree about Maret- I think she does look like a child. 5. Favorite illustration? Definitely Agatha's hands when making dough. Not a critique but just a question: I was confused on the location of the story. Where is this?

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Ooof. Finally got a chance to sit down and respond to all these comments. I keep rereading them over and over again, so thank you so much for sharing your thoughts everyone! I've noticed a few themes with what people have commented so far: Maret is most people's favorite character, the panel of Izrekiel on the beach is also very popular, and the theme of loss/grief is apparent to the readers (which I'm very happy about.)

@sagaholmgaard I'm glad that you mentioned the theme of "finding where you belong" too, because it is and will be a very prevalent theme in the comic. And reading your comment about how the dialogue seems natural made my day. I used to worry about how the dialogue came off constantly, and to hear that it's strong is so encouraging.

@RebelVampire As is expected, your comments are very thought-out. The interaction between Izrekiel and Maret after he falls from the window is one of my favorite moments so far as well. I'm happy that Izrekiel's behavior came off as meek in this scene, because that is one of the defining traits of his personality. I'm glad for another Agatha fan! She is such a fun (and difficult) character for me to portray. There are so many layers about her that even I am still discovering. She is definitely an old soul, and he experiences growing up have definitely matured her beyond her years. As I mentioned before, the theme of loss is definitely a major theme of the comic overall. And hope as well, since I think the two are very connected.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

@Eightfish (Puppeteer) Thank you for offering your critiques! Character stiffness is definitely one of my major problems that I'm working at. I definitely see what you mean about Agatha's face in the latest update. Her eyebrows look painted on (pun not intended). I have been looking forward to having some more dynamic poses, especially foreshortening, but I do find it somewhat difficult when most of what the characters are doing so far are standing, sitting, talking, and maybe doing something with their hands. ^^; Hopefully, in the future, when more "action" happens, it will be easier to do this. As for bird's eye or worm's eye shots, I'm not gonna lie, I struggle with them so much. I had two bird's eye panels, and those took so much time, and I still don't know how I feel about them. If you have any tips for exercises, I would be so grateful. (Finding reference isn't always possible.) I also would love some tips/resources on how to get better at lighting. Again, lighting reference isn't always possible for specific panels, so it would help me a lot to learn how light works in general. OOOOOOF! I don't know how I missed the lack of shadow on Izrekiel in that panel. That was 100% a stupid oversight on my part. The scene with Agatha making dough had some of my personal favorite illustrations for a while. :) Also, your question about the location, I'm not entirely sure how to answer it?(edited)

It's a high fantasy story, so the location is entirely fictional.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

The best I can answer that is to say that the story takes place in a country called Shai-Ryam, consisting of four major "districts" in a semi-tropical temperate peninsula called "The Aka Peninsula," named after the native people who originally lived there. As of right now, they are in a city called Gon Atam, a seaside village on the western shore of the Nuata District, near the Ocean of Saturuna. It is a city heavy in trade and with a long history, yet quaint and small due to a disaster several hundred years ago. It is only now being repopulated.

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 2

9. Where do you think Izrekiel comes from, and what is his past history that seems to haunt him? Additionally, how do you think he wound up with amnesia and seemingly abandoned by the sea?

10. How will Izrekiel’s past history affect events of the story? In particular, how will revelations about his past affect his relationship with Agatha and other characters?

11. How do you think Agatha’s life will change from her encounter with Izrekiel? Will it somehow lead her to a more exciting life? If so, will it make her miss her simpler life with her family?

12. What are the biggest questions you have so far and are hoping to see answered over the course of the story? Also, what do you think will happen in the story in general?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

Ash🦀

9. Okay, so, here’s my theory. Just a guess. So Izrekiel is from a very war-friendly people up north who need land. Izzy just isn’t all about that life, but feels like he has no choice. Then he gets hurt fighting someone close to him (I’m putting money on brother or cousin who lives on the “wrong” side of things, hurt because he just couldn’t fight them at full strength. And then he realizes he can’t do it, while on the ship bound for new fight zones. His captain gets wind of it and is like “oh no I can’t let Mutiny Happen” so HeS all long ike “either fall in line or get off my ship” and Izzy is like “no I don’t wanna fight anymore heck you guys” and the captain proceeds to yeet him off the ship, leading him to the island, which, unbeknownst to him, is the next target. That’s my guess. Might be wildly off. He might be part mermaid. (Merman? Is mermaid gender neutral?) 10. Izzy or his bros probably killed one of Agatha’s family members, possibly the mom? Possibly violently? Which is why she never told babygirl what’s up. It’s probably going to be remembered in the buds of their relationship, hes going to try to hide it but it’ll come to light and she’s gonna be like “Izzy I hate you” and it’s going to make me cry. 11. She’s going to have a bread making partner in the end. They’re going to have adventures and go back to a domestic bread making existence, I speak it into being now /smacks table That may just be what I want to happen, though, as I very much enjoy bread making and wish others the same simple joy of giving dough a good smacking. 12. IS THE MOTHER REALLY A MERMAID OR WHAT Is Agatha a mermaid Are they like Selkies where they can come onto land a little Is babygirl a mermaid too(edited)

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Omg... I love reading these theories. I won't say you're wrong or right, but this is a riot. I'm thoroughly enjoying this.

FeatheryJustice

9. Pulls out my Crack Theory brain Okay, so Iz is actually not a very hot man, but actually a really hot princess, transformed into a man since she was exciled from her country but their rules are to give the exiled a new life so they shape shift them into something else. Iz got shifted into a man, and the lovely wide bare chest was because their top was lost to the ocean like how someone would lose their bathing suit top to the sea. Anyways, knowing nothing about themselves, Iz now lives their life as a man never remembering they were a princess in the first place. Ends Crack Theory 10. Don't know, can't say for now. 11. She could always politely kick him out later, so I can't say for now. XD 12. I want to know if there are monsters in this story or just like different species warring it out.

RT|NitghVision

^ I like this theory

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

@Cronaj (Whispers of the Past) Oh! I missed that it was high fantasy. I thought the story was historical fiction. No wonder mystery man has pointed ears. I was so confused- I kept thinking, oh, she looks Polynesian and lives by the ocean. But wait, her name is Agatha and she makes bread? And the houses look Japanese? What culture are her clothes from? The world being completely fictional explains all that. I think I was confused by the real names in a high fantasy story- you don't really see that a lot. Finding the right reference for lighting or pose is impossible for me. I have no tips. The only way I've found is to make my own references. I will sit in front of a window, or take a lamp into a dark room or something, and prop my phone up and take photos of myself in the poses and lighting direction I need. But hey, at least that way I don't have to worry about stealing someone else's work?

(i also like feathery's theory)

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

@FeatheryJustice Crack theories are best theories.

@Eightfish (Puppeteer) Oh! I had no idea you thought it was historical fiction No wonder you were confused! There's a lot of weird cultural-mixing shenanigans going on in the setting, and it's a bit confusing.

I should try that, for now the lighting has been primarily sunlight, or diffused sunlight (which I don't think I depicted correctly).

RebelVampire

Time to crack story theory. I don't know enough about the world to guess a name to where Izrekiel is from. However, wherever it's from, I get the impression its embroiled in a bloody war that is suffering heavy casualties. I imagine that Izrekiel mightve been in a battle and just wound up in the sea by circumstance - like maybe was taken as a prisoner of war and jumped overboard to escape. Something like that. As for the amnesia, well, Imma chock that up to PTSD cause the brief flashbacks we got don't look pleasant. However, I definitely think someone will come looking for him, and that these someone's will make trouble with the people he's just met - perhaps even forcing them to abandon their home with people in pursuit. And I'm sure as Izrekiel remembers more, others are going to really view him as potentially dangerous and blame him (but then get over it cause he's pretty O_O) Given that, I do think Agatha is gonna leave home because of Izrekiel's past running after them. I do think she's inevitably gonna miss the simpler life. Not to the point she won't rise to the challenge, but to the point that she's gonna be like "wait theres danger out here and i didnt even get a sword from an old man in a cave!" As for biggest questions, right now I'm just kind of hoping to see more of the world cause current world events really are gonna dictate a lot where the story could go.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Dude I was literally googling the names to see what country they were from because I thought they were from some obscure real island with a history of cultural mixing that I hadn't heard about before.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Hahaha! Yeah, Agatha is an English name. Maret and Kelan (a character that hasn't been introduced yet) are Irish names. Aalia (another character that isn't introduced yet) is an Arabic name. Kehhasan (another character) is a made-up name. Izrekiel is a made-up name inspired by the biblical names Israel and Ezekiel (although technically it is often spelled in their alphabet as "Isarikieru," which has a particular meaning and pronunciation in an even older—fictional—language). Ryukou (another character), is a real-ish name, based off of the Japanese names "Ryu" and "Kou," which mean "dragon" and "peace/light" respectively. Four other characters have fictional names: Ia, Tammamori, Soro, Ghita (although technically it's a Greek name, that wasn't my inspiration). And of course there are hundreds of side characters with a combination of weird names and name origins.

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 3

13. What are you most looking forward to seeing in regards to the comic?

14. Any final words of encouragement for the comic?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

Deo101 [Millennium]

So! I don't really do so well with answering questions, but I do want to say it's inspiring to me to see just how much WORK is put into this comic. It's really lovely to see so clearly how much you care for it. Just want to give some general words of encouragement, keep it up!

Ash🦀

I’m most looking forward to seeing more of Izzy how the story develops along with your painting. There are so many hints and peeks at the world, and I can’t really guess where it’s going. I feel like I already care for these characters, and I can’t wait to see their journey. I am also not good at encouragement, as generally I’m fueled by spite. But I just wanted to say, keep going! You got this! We believe in you!

eli [a winged tale]

Keep up the good work Cronaj! Your art is beautiful and I can’t wait till we start rolling into act 2!

FeatheryJustice

I'm excited to see what else comes up next!

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Thanks for all the kind words and encouragement everyone! I'm so happy to know that you are enjoying the story so far!

RebelVampire

I'm most looking to learning a bit more about the world structure I think. Since I think current events are really gonna hint at a lot what's going on. As for final words, this is an artistically wonderful comic with a lot of love put in, and I can only imagine how things will improve in the future!

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

I'm just really looking forward to seeing these characters grow! This is a beautiful comic, and I can't wait to get more of it!

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Before the book club ends, I just wanted to pop back in and say thank you to everyone for their participation. Your kindness, insight, and critiques will stay with me for years to come. I'm so happy to have found a supportive community of readers and fellow creators!

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB END!

Thank you everyone so much for reading and chatting about Whispers of the Past this week! Please also give a special thank you to Crona J. for volunteering the comic and creating it! If you liked Whispers of the Past, make sure to continue to support it via some of the links below!

Read and Comment: https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/whispers-of-the-past/list?title_no=191366

Crona J.’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cronasonlyfriend

Crona J.’s Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/cronaj

Crona J.’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/CronajArt