#which i thought would be fine bc today was supposed to be chill but its been a little hectic

[sunnyleech]

Someone telepathicly send me a cigarette pls

[mikavlcs]

Sweater Weather

Pairing: Wednesday Addams x fem!reader

Summary: Wednesday gives you her sweater to wear on a cold day in Jericho.

Word count: 0.8k

Notes: it’s midnight here, so guess who’s officially 18... anyways this is literally the second story i ever wrote, based off an incredibly generic prompt. i never posted it bc it’s so short but i wanted to post something today so... hope you guys enjoy!

Masterlist

Admittedly, the current predicament you were in was one entirely of your making.

Today was one of Nevermore’s yearly field trips. And because there was apparently no other civilization within fifty miles of your school, that meant you and your peers were spending the day in Jericho. 

It was basically just another Outreach Day except you weren’t being used for free labor.

As always, you checked the weather the night before. The reports showed that Jericho would be sunny with a slight breeze for most of the day, so you wore a long-sleeved shirt and a light zip-up hoodie. And that choice served you just fine as you walked down the main streets of the town.

But you swore that each section of Jericho had its own weather patterns because the moment you stepped into Pilgrim World, the sky completely clouded over and the air around you chilled. 

A fitting atmosphere for the bleak “theme park” you supposed, but not what you were expecting.

Given the circumstances, you were fine, but poor Enid was shivering within minutes of the gratuitous tour Principal Weems was making everyone take. 

You watched from your spot next to Wednesday as Ajax tried his best to warm her, rubbing his hands up and down her arms, but her short sleeve shirt was doing her no favors and you felt bad.

Decisively, you ventured over to her, giving Wednesday a quiet “be right back” before you went. You unzipped your hoodie and slipped it around Enid’s shoulders. She accepted it with a bright grin and hug which you returned eagerly. 

You were happy to help your friend, and besides, you would be fine.

But the temperature kept steadily dropping as you and your classmates were guided around the park and before you knew it, you were in the same dilemma Enid was only ten minutes ago. You tried your best to appear unfazed by the chill in the air, knowing Wednesday would have no sympathy for your situation. The breeze that began making itself known was making that a challenge, however.

Briefly, you considered asking Enid for your jacket back, but you couldn’t bring yourself to do that to her. So you resolved to just keep moving and tough it out alone.

Well, not entirely alone.

Wednesday, ever observant, noticed your plight immediately. Actually, she had predicted it would happen the moment she saw you hand your jacket off to her roommate. Your kindness was easily one of your best traits in her eyes, but too often it got you into situations like this where you would deprive yourself of something for someone else’s benefit and suffer for it.

She watched your pathetic attempts to subtly warm yourself for a few minutes longer before finally taking pity on you. 

Wordlessly, she slipped the oversized black sweater she was wearing off and handed it over to you. You looked over, glancing between her and the sweater, your confusion palpable. Wednesday rolled her eyes.

“Take it.”

Confusion turned into disbelief when you realized what she said. You simply stared, incredulous at the thought of Wednesday Addams—tough, stoic Wednesday Addams—offering you her sweater to wear.

“Don’t make me repeat myself.”

“I- Are you sure? What about you?” you stuttered, not wanting the smaller girl to be cold for your sake. Wednesday scoffed, sounding offended by the mere insinuation.

“Please, I slept in mortuary cabinets for fun when I was younger. I still do on occasion, actually. This is child’s play. Now, take the sweater. Your constant shuffling is incredibly distracting.”

She punctuated her last sentence by all but shoving the article of clothing into your arms. This time, you took it with a grateful grin and slipped it over your head. Immediately, the soft material warmed you, encompassing you in Wednesday’s scent in the process. You closed your eyes, basking in it, before looking back at Wednesday.

“Thanks, Weds,” you leaned forward and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. Wednesday cringed, feigning disgust at the affection even as her cheeks began to burn. She flicked her gaze up to yours, her signature glare a bit softer than usual.

“I took pity on you in this single instance. Do not expect it to happen again.”

“Of course, Wens,” you chuckled. Movement in your peripherals caught your attention and you turned to see the rest of your group heading off to the fudgery. You faced Wednesday again with a warm smile. 

“Come on, let’s get this stupid tour over with, and afterward we’ll head over to the Weathervane. I’ll buy you whatever you want as a thank you.”

You linked your pinky with hers, gently pulling her along to trail behind the other students. And if Wednesday brought her hand up to lightly trace the skin your lips touched the moment your back was turned, well that was no one’s business but hers.

[fullmetalscullyy]

For the sharing a bed ask bc I can't remember for the life of me if I've sent one to you yet 🙈 'they took turns sharing it while the other was on watch' or however exactly that one was worded ❤️❤️

aaa tysm for the prompt! i loved it and i hope you enjoy! continuing with the no plot just vibes agenda~

send me a prompt

rated: g | words: 3679 | tags: royai, there was only one bed, shelter from the storm, snowstorm, tending to wounds, comfort, fluff

read on ao3

Exhaustion followed both occupants of the crumbling bothy like a shadow. It clung to them, slowing their movements, as if it was physically attached to their ankles like two weights. Booted feet were dragged across the polished, undulating stones underfoot, worn down after years of use, and finally came to stop in the centre of the main room.

Years of use didn’t warrant years of upkeep apparently, Riza thought, as she did a sweep of the building. It was not in the best condition however it was still standing, and it was shelter from the storm outside. That was all Riza was currently concerned with.

There were only two rooms, plus a bathroom with a functioning sink and toilet – surprisingly enough. The pipes grunted and groaned, screaming in protest at being used, but it worked and was clean. A worn plaque above the sink indicated the water was drinkable as well, which was the best news she’d heard all day. A small blessing in this wretched situation they’d found themselves in.

To counteract that thought, at that exact moment, a howling gust of wind rattled the door thoroughly and whistled through the cracked class of the windows to its left and right. The Colonel whipped around to stare, partly in fright and partly because he was on edge. They both were. The sudden scream that sounded as the wind tried to force its way inside through the glass made Riza jump as well.

They shared a look and the Colonel’s lips pressed into a thin line.

“So much for the famed northern hospitality,” he muttered. His words held a bite to them, however Riza was unsure whether it was directed at the situation itself or at anyone in particular.

It wasn’t anyone’s fault they’d found themselves in this situation, however it was not ideal, nor was it pleasant. The first point on their ‘bad things that have happened today’ list (at this point, they were up to around number six) was a snowstorm had rendered their transport from the station in North City to the town they were supposed to be visiting useless. The truck owner boasted it was an all-terrain, all-weather vehicle, that he was handpicked by the military for transport because of his “beauty’s” prowess. He quickly stopped bragging though and started muttering angrily at his prized possession, kicking the tyre in fury as it sat pitifully in a snowy ditch, unable to escape the confines of it. It was safe to say his “beauty” fell short of the mark for the two soldiers. No amount of pushing from the three of them would shift it. However, they had deadlines to meet, so were forced to say their goodbyes and go ahead on foot.

There was no way they’d make it in time but at least they could honestly say they had tried when questioned.

It was by a stroke of luck they’d stumbled upon a walker’s bothy. Night was creeping in quickly, especially with the ongoing snowstorm. The world was turning greyer by the second and when Riza spotted it, she made a beeline straight for the shelter. The wind was too loud to talk over, but the Colonel saw her beckoning gesture and nodded, following behind her without question, already trusting her judgement and thought process.

The main room housed a single wooden bedframe with no mattress. There was another spot where another bed frame should be, but only half it remained. It had been broken in half. Whether that had been from an accident, an act of vandalism, or due to the passage of time, Riza wasn’t sure. Not that it would be of any use to them split in half, but simple curiosity had the Colonel searching the rest of the small building for the other half. There was a large stone fireplace that was bereft of any wood, they noticed with dismay, however after venturing through to the second room on the left, there was a massive pile of it within. It was a supply for the winter months for anyone who needed it, so the piece of paper tacked to an old corkboard on the wall said. There were two chairs placed around the fire and some cast iron cooking utensils stacked in a neat pile upon the hearth, lifting their spirits slightly. They had rations from the truck driver that would not require their use, but the sight of them was still a positive.

“I think we’ll be safe enough to sleep here tonight,” she announced, ignoring the Colonel’s petulant comment.

“Lieutenant,” he called quietly to her, catching her attention. When she turned her head, he gestured to one of the chairs. “You should rest.” He glanced down at her feet, and Riza knew exactly what he was thinking.

She’d stumbled and twisted her ankle while they walked. The pain had eased completely the more she’d walked, so Riza assumed it would be fine. Now they’d stopped, it was throbbing in time with her pulse. It appeared to be worse than she’d thought.

Just what they needed.

She sighed and mentally added that as number seven to their list.

Sitting on one of the chairs, Riza sighed quietly in relief as it lessened the pressure on her injured joint. The Colonel followed suit and he too sounded extremely relieved to finally sit down.

“What a day,” he muttered, tilting his head back and closing his eyes.

Riza hummed in agreement, causing him to reopen his eyes and glance tiredly over at her. She shifted in place, feeling a shiver travel down her spine.

Without a word, the Colonel stood and ventured into the other room. He came back with arms full of firewood and started the process of arranging them within the fireplace. After a single snap the fire roared to life, filling the room with a soft orange glow and warmth. A few minutes later the invading bite of the winter chill was beginning to alleviate and Riza could feel her muscles relaxing.

“Do you think there will be anything outside waiting for us?”

His question was so sudden as he stared into the fire that it took Riza a moment to process it.

“Pardon?”

The Colonel blinked and tore his eyes away from the dancing flames. He repeated his question as he turned to look at her, expression serious.

“Like what?”

“What about bears?” He looked genuinely concerned.

Riza blinked at him. “Probably. I think so, yes.” She faintly recalled hearing stories about the size and might of the bears in the north but elected not to bring it up. She didn’t think that would have been beneficial or productive in that moment, especially not after recognising a faint glint of fear that was discernible in the Colonel’s eyes.

“Do you think we should be concerned?”

Riza glanced over her shoulder at the door as it rattled on its hinges. “I don’t think so. We’ll be safe in here.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Do you know any bears that can open doors?” Both her brows lifted as she regarded him.

“I know a bear could open that door,” he scoffed, jerking his head towards it. “It’s hardly a strong line of defence.”

That was true. One more gust of wind might snap it off one of the hinges. The top one rattled playfully to emphasise his point.

“I think we’ll be okay, sir,” Riza replied smoothly, trying to keep her amusement out of her tone.

The Colonel scowled at her anyway. Apparently she hadn’t been entirely successful.

Riza chuckled upon seeing his expression. “City boy,” she muttered to herself, her tone light and playful.

“I would say it was a legitimate concern,” he replied haughtily.

“You also thought there were bears in the woods outside my father’s house.”

“I think my point still stands.”

“Bears do not exist in every wooded area and forest, Roy.” She rolled her eyes at him in amused exasperation, momentarily forgetting herself.

It was so easy talking to him like this. The two of them were alone together and stuck in a predicament that neither could have ever predicted or conjured up, yet here they were. It was surreal, but it was nice. Despite everything that had happened today she was still relatively happy. She was grateful to be with him. Ideally, she’d have neither of them stranded in a snowstorm, however she was glad he was here. If there was anyone she’d want to be stranded with, it would be him.

After she’d realised her minor slip up, Riza paused and glanced over at him, noting his soft expression and smile. It was so genuine and happy that she didn’t cringe or apologise. She didn’t feel the need to.

“We sound like we did when we were children,” he replied.

Riza felt her own nostalgic smile spread across her face. “We do.”

“I’ll take first watch,” he offered.

Riza opened her mouth to protest but he’d already shoved a threadbare blanket he’d found towards her. Riza didn’t particularly want to use it – she had no way of knowing how clean it was – however the building was not heated in the slightest, aside from the fire. It was built for hikers who were well prepared with sleeping bags, which they were not. For survival, Riza had to accept any kind of warmth she could get.

“You need to rest that ankle,” he added.

She nodded and took the blanket from him. Riza settled herself on the hard, wooden bedframe so she was facing into the room. It was warmer than facing the cold stone of the wall beside the bed.

“Colonel?”

He glanced over at her expectantly.

“Watch out for those bears.”

* * * * * * * *

The wind had died down throughout the night at least. Roy had been partly joking when he brought up the bears that may be lurking outside for them, however now that he’d put the idea inside his own head, he couldn’t help but take an extra glance every now and then out the window.

Just in case.

It was worth bringing it up to hear the Lieutenant’s laugh. To hear her accidentally call him by his first name. It had been so worth it.

To whittle away the time his mind tried its best to summon a plan of attack against any bear that did appear, going over how he would react and how he would fend one off, but Roy had come to only one conclusion after about half an hour of plotting. It was folly. There was absolutely no way he’d be able to take on a bear. His eyes narrowed at the rickety old door and took solace in the fact the doorway looked too small for a bear to fit through. They were safe from them so long as they stayed inside, and that was good enough for him.

Now the bear appearance dilemma, likely or not, had been put to bed, Roy’s thoughts turned towards the Lieutenant. He glanced down at her ankle as she lay sound asleep, remembering how she’d stumbled and fallen in a snowdrift. Insisting she was fine, they’d pressed on. They didn’t have much choice in the matter anyway, but he was still concerned. He had a strong inkling she was suffering for it as they travelled. A sprained ankle under normal conditions would ease with rest, but that was not a luxury they’d been afforded as they traversed the snowy landscape to safety. Snowdrifts up to their knees were common and Roy had felt dead on his feet when they finally came to a stop inside this shelter.

That was one blessing of the day, at least. He’d simply laughed at their luck, shaking his head, now they were safe beneath shelter, dry, and out of the storm.

But if he’d felt tired down to his bones, then he couldn’t imagine how the Lieutenant must have felt upon their arrival.

Steadying his resolve, Roy determined there was no imminent danger. No bears coming through the night to get them. Now the storm had eased, looking through the shards of the window, Roy could see the gorgeous landscape splayed before him, illuminated by the moonlight, and enhanced by the heavy snow. It looked a lot more inviting than it had a few hours ago.

He wouldn’t, but he was tempted to wake up the Lieutenant to show her how beautiful it looked.

Roy smiled to himself, the thought dredging up an old memory from their past. He faintly recalled doing something similar when he’d experienced his first winter at the Hawkeye house. He’d ran to her room without a thought, excited and eager to show her how the dark forest outside had transformed into a silvery white and green wonderland.

It had been something he’d been desperate to share with her.

“Colonel?”

A tired voice called to him, and Roy immediately lost his interest in the world outside. He turned, seeing the Lieutenant blink tiredly at him.

“Lieutenant,” he greeted, an air of concern about him. He hadn’t expected her to wake so soon, and if she did, he knew she’d want to take over watch duties.

She shot him a small smile, placating his nerves somewhat. Pushing herself up into a seated position, the Lieutenant stretched her arms over her head.

“How’s the ankle?”

She grimaced, but only slightly. “Better now that I’ve taken my weight off it.”

That didn’t answer his question entirely. “Is there any pain?”

She was silent as she looked down at her legs. “It does throb every now and again. That’s what woke me up.”

Roy nodded, dismayed to hear she was in pain. If he could take it away, he would, but they didn’t have painkillers in their first aid kits. The only thing that would help was a support, which the Lieutenant had already put on after gently easing her boot off. She didn’t react to the angry red hue of her skin, but Roy felt his stomach tense. It hadn’t looked good. The compression support had been slipped on slowly, but Roy saw the way her eye twitched twice and how her jaw clenched while obviously trying to conceal any kind of pain.

“Why don’t you try and get a few hours sleep,” the Lieutenant offered. “I think I’ll be up for a while now.” She swung her legs around and to the floor, visibly wincing when her sore ankle contacted the floor. Another appeared when she tried to stand, but Roy quickly scrambled towards her.

“Please, stay seated,” he insisted. “You shouldn’t be walking on that ankle.”

The Lieutenant shot him a strained smile. “That doesn’t bode well for us for tomorrow,” she quipped.

Roy opened his mouth to reply, but she was right. Still, hewas right. She shouldn’t be walking on that ankle.

“Regardless,” he admonished, placing his hands on her shoulders as a gentle restraint to keep her in place. “All the more reason to remain seated and keep resting it then, right?” Triumph flashed through him, and he smirked when the Lieutenant’s lips pursed, because she knew he was right.

“You can’t sleep on the floor, though,” she warned.

His shoulders fell in defeat, glancing down at the bed. His mind rejoiced with the idea that sprung into it, however it was so far out the realm of what was appropriate that it was completely out of the question.

Roy retracted his hands as the Lieutenant placed both hands by her sides and effortlessly slid herself backwards, so her back came to rest upon the stone wall behind her. She made herself comfortable and looked at him expectantly, patting the space beside her to indicate he should join her and sit.

Even if it wasn’t appropriate to share a bed with his Lieutenant, Roy only needed to take one look around them both and remember where they were. This day was already bizarre enough. What was one more occurrence to add to that list?

He wouldn’t particularly class it as sharing a bed with her either. They would both be sitting upright, looking out at the room, with considerable distance in place between them.

“We can take turns with the blanket,” she smirked as she handed it over.

Roy snorted lightly and gratefully received her offering. The room was warm enough with the fire but the stone behind his back still stubbornly clung to the icy temperatures from outside, refusing to accept the warmth they’d provided the room. Wrapping it around his shoulders, Roy settled back in place and made himself comfortable.

He woke with a start a few hours later. His head jerked upright and swung left and right, unseeing as he still tried to shake the vision from his dreams.

“Colonel? Colonel!”

He paused for a second, recognising the voice. It was from someone he thought he’d lost in his dream.

“Roy,” the Lieutenant called to him.

It was enough to surprise him, that it brought him back to the present. Glancing to his right, he saw his Lieutenant still seated next to him, eyes wide and concerned.

“Are you okay?” Her eyes were searching his, moving back and forth frantically as she scanned his face with worry.

“Yes,” he breathed, trying to get a hold of his racing heart to slow it down. He was all right. She was all right. They were safe. He gulped down air, trying to get enough into his lungs and take away the fear that had both restricted them and wrapped tightly around his heart. “Just… A bad dream.”

The Lieutenant nodded in understanding and patted his forearm. That was when Roy realised she didn’t remove it, and that it had been there the entire time.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Roy shook his head. “It’s okay,” he breathed. “Thank you, though,” he quickly added. “It was just… the usual,” he offered. The usual nowadays was him losing someone dear to him. The Promised Day had not been kind on his mind. To this day he still suffered, and he didn’t particularly want to relive it after it was so fresh. His reply was code enough that the Lieutenant knew exactly what he was referring to. They’d already been open about what their ‘usual’ nightmares consisted of nowadays.

As suspected, realisation dawned upon her features, and she nodded in sympathy.

“I… I need some time before I can sleep again,” he admitted. There was no shame in his voice though, not with her. Never with her. They were both very well acquainted with the reasons the other struggled to sleep. “You should try for a while.”

“Okay,” she acquiesced. She gave his forearm a squeeze and again, she didn’t remove it. “Wake me if you need anything, all right?” She waited for him to verbally agree with her. Only once he did, did the Lieutenant’s eyes close.

Watching her do so caused Roy’s brow to furrow slightly in confusion.

She must have moved closer to him as he slept, because where there had been about two feet of distance between them before, there was now mere centimetres. Just enough distance for the Lieutenant’s head to loll and fall against his shoulder comfortably as she slept.

He’d been startled awake, so Roy hadn’t realised he’d initiated it. In sleep, his head had bowed and rolled to the side, seeking out her presence. After shifting closer, the Lieutenant had eased him from his uncomfortable position and lifted his head to lie upon her shoulder.

Now recovered from the turmoil of his dream, Roy smiled down at her and relished in the comfort her presence brought him. The weight of her head against him eased his mind and slowed his racing pulse. He could breathe easier with her lying against him. A peace washed over his body, relaxing his taught muscles, and soothing his very soul.

Despite their predicament, he was glad she was here with him.

The grip she had on his forearm loosened, so Roy snaked his hand over to it, hooking their fingers together and holding on tightly. The Lieutenant stirred next to him, disturbed from sleep.

“Sorry,” he whispered, “it’s okay. It’s just me.” He gave her hand a quick squeeze.

There was a brief pause with no reply, then the Lieutenant’s grip on him tightened and remained.

“Okay,” she exhaled peacefully. She moved next to him, shuffling closer, which Roy was more than happy to indulge in.

As she was lulled back to sleep, her grip on his hand slackened but Roy never let her go. He anchored himself to her.

They’d get through this and get home. Not that she’d allow it of course, but Roy would carry her through the snow with that ankle if need be to ensure their safety. It had been the day from hell professionally, however ending it with the two of them curled together on that uncomfortable bed, gripping onto one another, was not bad in the slightest. Roy thought that was the closest to heaven he was ever going to get.

* * * * * * * *

Their luck must have finally been turning for the better, as that morning a group of hikers entered the bothy loudly, laughing and joking with one another, while Roy helped the Lieutenant strap up her ankle. They were offered food and directions to the nearest town, which was only two miles away. The group set off with them, insistent on offering their help and support, and even assisted the Lieutenant with some painkillers as well.

After the day of travel they’d had before, it brightened up both soldier’s moods somewhat as they set off again through the snowy northern landscape with their new company.

Thankfully, they didn’t come across any bears.

They made it to the town in one peace and called North City Headquarters for assistance. And also requested back up for that assistance.

Just in case.

[emilycollins00]

Two faces of the same coin

Pairing: Tenma x ghost-looking! reader Part 1.

Hey! I had this awesome ask from sadly ages ago which I appreciated a lot bc honestly, just the fact that someone sent such a detailed thing?? My heart.

Request: (...) Tenma finds someone who looks like they got out straight from a horror movie- They could literally pass as a ghost anytime of the day! But once he talks to them they are just an extremely chill introvert, and actually really thoughtful and considerate? (...) So yeah, imagine Tenma who once was shitting his pants whenever that person was around slowly starting to enjoy their presence and even better: fall for them.

Enjoy! 💕

.

Classic horror icons and other disturbing creatures share common characteristics, pale skin, dark, sunken eyes, hunched posture, sharp teeth, and the like. These images inspire fear and revulsion in many with good reason. And while Tenma would insist he was okay with them- he really was and Yuki should really just shut up- he wouldn’t go out of his way to watch or read about that specific genre. And he was okay with that.

“A ghost in the school?”

He tried to not sound as worried as he internally felt, his brain still processing what Taichi was talking about while waiting for their drinks to drop. The redhead nodded unaware, eyes fixed on the vending machine “Yeah! You haven’t heard about it before?”

“W-why should I? It’s stupid to think paranormal stuff like ghosts exists anyway.”

With a clank, both drinks finally fell. Taichi crouched down to retrieve them humming happily, handing one of them to the summer troupe leader and keeping one for himself.

“I don’t know man, it’s kind of cool!” he crossed his arms behind his head, resuming their walk and looked behind. “What about you, Juza-san? You seen anything?”

The purple-haired boy considered it lazily, but ultimately shook his head. He didn’t seem too interested in the conversation anyway, and Tenma was pretty sure the main thoughts running through his head were today’s melon bread from the cafeteria.

It had been a while since their Ouka-high group had been able to have lunch together.

“Did you see? That Sumeragi Tenma is back!”

“Gosh, he looks so handsome!”

“Wait- don’t push me!”

“I heard he’s going to be a possible cast in that famous saga-”

“Are you serious?”

Whispers and tiny squeals kept circling them as soon as they entered the boundaries of the canteen. And while Tenma barely notices it at first, he can definitely see Juza’s stance going more rigid and Taichi’s eyes glowing at the attention received.

“I’ll go get our lunch” the golden-eyed teen announces heading towards the queue, hands buried in his pockets. He motioned Tenma with his chin. “You wanted set B right, no carrots.”

“Uh? Well yeah, but I can-”

“S’okay, you two go find some seats” he shrugged, looking around. There weren’t many spaces to start with and he’d honestly prefer focus on the food rather than the stares. “It’d be difficult to keep ‘em free with just one person anyway.”

“Roger! Come on Ten-chan, let’s go!”

.

.

.

“Aw, man. Everyone has their eyes on you as usual!” Taichi looked around, still indulging himself with all the people that were staring at them, some more blatantly than others.

How he didn’t get bored of mentioning it every time Tenma didn’t know, though he was low-key grateful. Not many people enjoyed being part of those types of reactions from a crowd- Juza for example-. When they finally managed to find some empty seats, Taichi placed his own bento on the table visibly excited. Tenma frowned.

“Since when did you start preparing lunch by yourself?”

“Ah, this?” the redhead laughed proudly at his confused look “See, I’ve been practicing my cooking skills! Tsuzuru has been super cool teaching me how to prepare some dishes for my siblings- plus, I’m sure I’ll get the attention of girls if they see my new talent!”

“Right…”

Tenma couldn’t decide whether he should make a comment as he took a long, thoughtful sip from his own juice can. Taichi’s lunch was a side of string cheese, a broken omelet, and some semi-burnt rice and it just didn’t seem very tempting.

He ultimately chose to leave it aside. Omi would surely know soon enough.

“So, uh, Taichi.”

“Yeah?”

He coughed, leaving aside the can and resting his back on the chair nonchalantly. “N-not that I care about that rumor, but- where is that ghost supposed to be?”

“Ah, the one we talked about? Mmm…” the autumn member caressed his chin, closing his eyes in deep thought. “No one really knows. It’s been spotted in pretty much all parts of the school” Tenma’s stomach sank at that. “But I’ve heard it likes room 1001 for some reason, you know, from the old side of the school? No one really uses it anymore- guess it makes sense!”

The redhead took again the chopsticks and started digging on the rice carefree.

“R-right.”

Tenma shook his head. Cool. Great. Now he knew which side of the school he would never even try to approach at least.

“Tenma-kun!” a female voice, not familiar, made him jolt from his seat. When he looked up a girl followed by two others were are already making themselves comfortable on the chairs next to them- one of them even deciding to sit on the table. “Hi there!”

Third years.

"Hi” he repeated.

“We saw your appearance in that new series, it was unbelievable!”

“Are you going to be a recurring character there? I’d love if you could ask one of the leads to sign a shirt of mine!”

He simply showered them a practiced smile. He could already tell what type of fans they were. It wasn’t something out of the ordinary- people approaching him about his shows or to ask for favors- and honestly, it was better not entering in that dangerous territory. “Thanks. Nothing’s been said yet, that’d depend on the company. I’ll be counting on your future support.”

They instantly beamed at his reaction. “Of course!”

One of them clapped her hand together “That reminds me, when is your next performance in that theatre company you play? I so want to go see it again!”

“Ah, that will take a while. We just finished a month ago so next up is the autumn troupe” he motioned Taichi with his head, a proud, real smile featuring his face this time “These guys have been going all out, you won’t be disappointed.”

“O-of course!” the shortest Ouka high student practically jumped into the conversation. “If you all want, we could ask for a few tickets from our-!“

“But Tenma-kun is not in that troupe, right?” the girls looked at each other confused. As if it wouldn’t be something it’d cross their minds to do, had the child actor not participated before.

“W-well, no but…”

“Plus, the summer troupe is hilarious! I kinda prefer those types of performances, you know?”

“I totally get you!”

From his peripheral vision, Tenma could register Taichi’s face growing red- a strained smile before sitting back on his seat, not trying to add anything to the conversation anymore.

Smile. Remember to smile.

“…We all give our all on those performances, I don’t think it’s fair if you have just watched the summer troupe. You’ll definitely enjoy it if you give them the chance.”

“Really?”

“I mean… If Tenma-kun says so maybe we could go take a look.” one of them gave a chuckle, playing with their hair. “You think we could ask you to get us some tickets for-?”

“If you are not eatin’ you should leave.”

“Uh? Can’t you see we’re-” the sentence died in their lips as soon as they turned and encountered Juza. Not that he himself was proud of his reputation, but during these situations at the very least it paid to see they knew who he was.

“Move.”

The resulting glare was terrifying in its intensity, and the retreat took no longer than a few seconds. No one mentioned anything afterward- Juza’s calm and blank expression coming back as he sat down, handing the summer leader his lunch and squinting down at Taichi’s.

“What the hell are you eatin’.”

“Hehe it caught your attention too, right? You see…”

Tenma observed them. They were acting as if nothing had happened. Not so long ago people tended to stay away from him for those same reasons, so it still took him a few seconds to find the words again- For feeling this relieved at their reactions.

He left the chopsticks aside. “Sorry this... keeps happening."

They momentarily stopped the conversation, sharing a silent look before turning to the teen actor facing the table in awkwardness.

“I-It’s okay, Ten-chan! They would obviously be more interested in watching you than an unknown performance” Taichi laughs and scratches the back of his hair. He seemed to be fine- a bit uncomfortable, but fine. “Besides, that just means we have to work even harder to be recognized, right, Juza-san!”

“Yeah, don’t get stuck thinkin’ ‘bout it. We ain’t losin’ any time soon.”

“Anyway Juza-san, are you sure you’re okay with only melon bread and pudding for lunch? I can give you some of mine!”

Juza didn’t verbally answer Taichi’s offer, merely staring at the burnt rice being held in front of him with skepticism “…nah. I’m okay.”

Taichi frowned at his own food, tilting his head confused. A few seconds later, he gave it an ultimate shrug before going for one more bite, Juza doing the same with his own lunch. Tenma scoffed at the view, trying not to smile amusedly. The autumn troupe really was made out of beasts.

“If Sakyo-san saw what you two are eating he’d skin you alive, you know.”

“Why.”

“What do you mean why, Juza-san you can’t expect-“

"Ah, that reminds me!” Taichi suddenly rambled, mouth full of rice “We should totally go to the arcade before we head up to the dorm. I heard they have these new games that are supposed to be super exclusive!”

Tenma winced “Can’t. I have a meeting with my homeroom teacher after classes.”

The other two replied with a similar expression.

“I almost forgot you came from a big shootin’ and all. We’ve been seein' you in the dorm pretty much everyday.”

“Yeah! Geez I always say I envy you, but dealing with that after working must suck!”

“You tell me…”

Taichi shook his head, giving him both thumbs up “It’s okay, we can go another time. Good luck though!”

.

.

.

“You can sit here. I’ll go bring your work in a second and then we’ll talk.”

With a lazy look on his face, Tenma caught a glimpse of his own reflection from a trophy case- one of the few resting at the entrance of the teacher’s lounge. He had never paid attention to them before; Second prize in a football tournament, first prize in some races and a few diplomas regarding different competitions, nothing too special. Ouka high had never had the best score regarding academics, which is exactly why he was able to enter.

Igawa liked to insist it wasn’t entirely Tenma’s fault he had so many troubles keeping up with schoolwork though- well, not more than the usual of not being good at studying. No one actually knew how hard celebrity kids had to push themselves- at least that’s what his parent had said. On the other hand, they hadn’t really cared much more, so long the school allowed him to be flexible with his schedules.

School time was usually done while moving sets and camera changes. He and other kids and teens were at different levels of schooling most of the time, so the teacher was forced to divide their time. Honestly, one would be lucky to get 30 minutes of full tutoring.

Anyway, it was rotten work and even Tenma knew it. He also knew what his homeroom teacher thought about it, which is exactly why he couldn’t help himself raising his eyebrows concerned as he saw the pile of papers being drop over the desk.

“Is this a joke?”

“I know you’re busy, but there’s a minimum to do keep up with your classes and… general results.” the old man frowned scratching his grey four-days old beard. He clicked here and there at the computer, probably revising the latest results of the tests they had done.

He then leaned back on his chair, trying to find a comfortable position before his wrinkly eyes turned to him again. “I wish I could think of another way, but you are getting quite behind everyone, Sumeragi-kun. We’re worried.”

Well, it was not his fault he couldn’t remember all the information they gave him like a script. Was it really the solution giving him the same amount of work as his classmates with half the time?

Before he could open his mouth to complain, the man placed his hand on Tenma’s shoulder. It felt heavy. “I already talked with your manager. It seems you’ll be having a break for a month and a half just before finals and I’d like to help you. We can’t have one of the biggest faces of the school repeating a year, can we?”

Tenma’s jaw clenched. Of course, everything was always for Sumeragi Tenma the actor. Student Tenma could go drown himself.

“Here you’ll find some reinforcement materials I think will be good for you to do in school. Less time wasted while moving and I’ll be here in case you have any questions.”

His face twitched. That would mean he wouldn’t be able to ask for Tsumugi’s help or any of the adults back in Mankai. “I actually-”

“Suguro-sensei, Someone’s calling for you about tomorrow’s meeting!”

“Is it that time already... I’ll be right there in a second! In any case, I would suggest you go work on the library Sumeragi-kun.” the man got up, finishing that way their conversation. “It should be quiet enough, but if you see any students being too loud, give them a call.”

Tenma side-glanced again at his workload, groaning internally.

Just about his luck.

.

.

.

Twenty minutes walking.

How could such a big school not have a single sign to indicate where things were?

Squinting his eyes, Tenma looked both ways across the hall annoyed, his already short temper from before increasing. He was sure the library was two turns to the right, then left, and then up the stairs from the teachers’ lounge.

...or maybe it was a floor down now that he thought about it. Damn it. It wasn’t as if he had ever stepped inside that place, shouldn’t they make it more accessible for everyone?

“This sucks…”

It had been a while since he had seen other students or even teachers around, which also made him feel uneasy. He glanced down at the paperwork in his arms, gripping it tighter. He hoped no one would see him walking around like this.

Just where was the stupid library?

It wasn’t until Tenma decided to try entering inside any room that would allow him to work, that he found many were strangely closed. He was about to gave up when he finally saw the dusty word ‘library’ at the end of the corridor. Finally. With effort he managed to open the heavy door, immediately pinching his nose.

“Ugh, stinks.”

The person in charge of cleaning the school really did a worse job than Matsukawa- at least the man cleaned from time to time and organized stuff. The place was an absolute mess; boxes over the floor, piles of books on chairs and shelves full of documents and other various things he didn’t quite distinguish.

Leaving everything on the closest table Tenma sighed when he felt his arms relaxing without the weight. Frowning, he walked around the place, smelling a mix of dirt and old- even some shelves were full of dust. Really, how did a school like this had such a gross place to study? No wonder students didn’t try to come here.

He should have asked for permission to take his work back to Mankai. Less danger of someone noticing he was behind his studies and it becoming a gossip- or worse, finding he had been walking without an absolute clue for the last half hour.

Yeah, he had more options to pass the year with Tsumugi’s help rather than on his own. Just looking at the amount of work he had he was sure it’d-

The faint sound of walking steps brought him back from his thoughts freezing him on the spot- all his breath trapped. He hadn’t heard anyone since he entered, but it shouldn't be surprising to find others studying.

I’ve heard it likes room 1001 for some reason, you know, from the old side of the school? No one really uses it anymore- guess it makes sense!

Or it was probably the wind. The wind tends to make noises, Tenma reminded himself while swallowing with difficulty.

Was the air suddenly thick?

Crack!

He strained to hear, his heart pounding loudly. “I-Is anyone there?” the nerves made his voice come out higher than he had hoped.

More cracks and sounds of steps. He couldn't see anything yet.

His stomach turned as his breath became louder. This wasn't happening. Yup! It was his imagination. What was happening could not be real, because ghosts didn’t exist. “I-I’m not afraid, you know?!” he shouted, positioning himself on a fighting stance while carefully moving backward.

That’s right- Tenma wasn’t scared. He had just rested enough, with or without a ghost in the room, and it was about time to leave. Ignoring his sweaty palms and nodding once more to nothing in particular, he turned around at the same time a pair of eyes made contact with his.

The figure opened its mouth.

And Tenma proceeded to absolutely destroy his throat.

_________________________________________________

This took so long though I’m not even sure If they are around. If you are love, I apologize! I found a few walls writing-wise. So not entirely to say I made it longer to make up for it but on the other hand... maybe. Thank you so much for sending such a nice idea so I was able to make this, really hope you like it. 💕

I promise this is a reader insert lol thank you for reading!

Part 2 soon!

[common-blackbird]

Started!

This is my Inquisitor (so overjoyed you can be a qunari), her name is the default Herah and I decided I’m going to approach this game by staying true to a character and not looking to do everything and be on everyone’s good side u_u

I want to make a good background for her so i’m not telling anything. Yet. I’ll just say she’s a qunari mercenary and prefers using two-handed weapons.

Highlights from today:

Studying history does pay off! This was a reference to the famous book in environmental history - Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond. So proud i recognised it x)

Also i don’t have a good shot of solas but he cracks me up so much.. The guy has a posture of the typical retired grandpa (the only thing missing is to have him walk with his hands on his back). And there’s a scene where the party sees the rift and there’s the inquisitor facing it, cassandra bracing herself and solas... just standing like an old man

On a side note, Cassandra is so gorgeous and good and i already love her, i just keep taking shots of her TAT

As for varric, it’s so different than from da2, this is so much more “official” and you can see he’s the same as ever, but you’re not hawke, hawke’s not here, the gang’s not here and there’s nothing casual about the whole situation T-T

And lastly, my inquisitor has a horse now, i didn’t know that was possible in the game ;__;

played some more...

Let  me start with.... The advisors! (+ cassandra... or is she also an advisor too?)

What a bunch. I love Cassandra’s and Leliana’s faith having a crisis bc they believe that Inquisitor is the Herald of Andraste and the way they deal with it. It’s really interesting. Leliana is completely opposite than what she was in origins and i’m surprised it doesn’t bother me at all! I love seeing this whole darker side that was only hinted at in origins, though it’s also sad when i think how she used to be. I wonder how she’s gonna overcome her doubting of faith. 

Josephine is a delight. I keep using her for almost every war table mission for now. She radiates capability. She reminds me of those bureaucrats that are super nice and helpful and chill and even if you’re doing everything wrong she’ll just smile and say “it’s ok, we can fix it” and then goes and fixes everything herself (and you feel this insane amount of gratitude you send a whole separate email to thank her for her patience and help )

As for Cullen... It’s interesting... I got impression from what i saw in the fandom that he’s supposed to have had his allegiance changed and him rejecting the templars should have been him ultimately siding with the mages (or at least being anti-templar(?)), and that turning point that could have been a great way to show his character development during the game. Which i agree, only... i did not get that impression from the game so far at all. I mean, so far everything that i can remember him saying is totally smth he’d say in da2... He didn’t leave kirkwall bc of his disappointment with the templar order, he doesn’t seem to have any issues with the templars except those who go full war mode instead of trying to balance the situation. And it’s a really chaotic situtation, i love how they did it.

This line was amazing, i wish there was a special cutscene for that.

I’m loving the way they made this huge religious organisation in crisis have a complete collapse with the death of a key figure. I love the concept of inquisition and problems that it poses. I love you can see everyone’s reasoning and doubts reflect their background, but also see why inquisition can be understood as another power-grasping organisation trying to topple the templars, the mages and the chantry. Everything is divided. We got templars leaving the chantry, seekers leaving the chantry(?), rebel mages, loyal mages, rebel mages gone rouge, templars gone rouge, and suddenly there’s another organisation forming that you can totally believe is just another powerhungry force trying to get the piece of the cake by taking advantage of the power vacuum left by the sudden lack of the religious authority. (and only we know we’re The Good Guys). I love that we have characters who need to believe in the greater plan, characters who question the greater plan, and characters who want to utilise the power of belief and characters who don’t care for divine plans. The chaos is real and it feels real. I love that the centre figure of the whole holy business is a heretic of another culture. For the chantry this is the lose-lose situation (unless the inquisitor becomes religious by the end of the game). Which is why this line works so well. 

Ok, now shorter updates:

Red Jenny! I know it’s not her actual name but it is in my head. Where’s that box i delivered ages ago >_> Anyways, she makes my brain work on 150% capacity. I can understand what she means only after i go over it for 5 times.

Forgive me but oh my god, i can’t believe that i can recognise one voice actor and now i have another mental image whenever he speaks. Like, he’s really good at bringing out a new character, but when he gets more casual he sounds like kanan jarrus from star wars rebels and i’m just “what are you doing here, space dad” ;__; Hopefully it’ll get old and i’ll be enjoying more iron bull. he seems nice...

Vivienne on the other hand is like a reverse Josephine(?) She seems insanely capable but hates customer service, however somehow she likes you very much and will do everything you need for reasons you can’t fathom. Have a screenshot. So classy. I already feel humbled.

and lastly, BREAKING NEWS: aveline finally hired carver ;__;

Tbh Kirkwall is still a mystery and i have so many questions but i don’t think i’ll get any answers... If a powervacuum of the divine cause this much chaos, how’s kirkwall faring without a new viscount? Like, yeah, aveline can keep in check, but umm it’s in a very vulnerable state which makes it a good target for any invasion... didn’t sebastian promise bloodshed?

That’s all for now, bc otherwise i’ll start writing an essay on cassandra.

We befriended a bear in the hinterlands!

lets start with this cool shot

so, i have been to the mages and to the templars and... i sided with the templars.... First i was all for mages since they offered negotiations while the seeker just walked away, but then it turned out that was a trap, there’s also tevinter mages there (which is a red flag for my inquisitor) and then there’s some time magic involved (which is a big no for me), and i just walked out. Felt bad for the mages but my inquisitor comes from a culture where mages have their tongues cut so...

Also this guy deserves a medal for putting up with corrupted superiors and annoying nobles.

And i met cole ;__; Where are Rhys and Evangeline ;___;

the templar mission was ok i guess... I was surprised that red lyrium was apparently circulating around for some time, not sure if that means since meredith or even before. I love the stories of corruption tho and to imagine what it’s like to be trapped in this organisation that just keeps breaking everything it stands for

As for the important mages, i’ve Dorian twice since i bailed out on him in Redcliffe :I I love the guy, he seems arrogant yet so kind (like, no one would have carried that annoying priest and yet he did, after he ran from his own people to warn us after i ditched him in Redcliffe? man ;A;) Every time i go with “ok the inquisitor fears tevinter and distrusts this rando who just popped in” i am marinating in guilt.

and then we fight some mages and die several times but we succeed and we meet the bad guy...

Is it an unpopular opinion to say that i like him as a villain so far? i saw so many jokes on his incompetency. Idk, i like that part where he said that he reached the fade in someone’s name, it makes me think he’s not just power-hungry person(?) who’s just evil,but was originally serving someone, and he said that the gods were either gone or corrupted and he spent hundreds of years thinking what to do with whatever happened so he seems like he knows what he’s doing and maybe(!just maybe) he is trying to fix things that are wrong but we can’t see that? And of course he hates the inquisitor, he has to redo his stuff all over again, i’d hate the inquisitor too. im probably looking too much into it. My wish is that, if he’s evil, he became so gradually, but originally had good intentions? Or there’s more to things going on that we just don’t know and he does... Maybe this was his tragic attempt to fix things but he would ultimately fail and be branded as a villain etc etc. I’m getting carried away

If it turns out he’s just evil for the sake of being evil then feel free to tell me so now so i don’t embarrass myself further with plotting myself lol.

A side note, is he the Architect? Or the same? In DA2 he says he’s a tevinter magister, right? and he ceased to be a human. Also in DA2 it seemed like he was the boss, and here he said he reached in the name of someone (probably more important than him). But what is the Architect then?

And with that we reach the skyhold.

in skyhold

I didn’t know you meet hawke so soon ;__; i thought that was like, somewere more to the end of the game, since the big decision and all. But the mission is already opened and i am going to procrastinate on it until i finish every side mission :<

Also he is so sad ;__; i understand, but at the same time... all that humour now bitter sarcasm :’(

(also, very shallow remark, but i really really prefer his looks in da2 than here... it’s like they softened him. He’s more...oh god idk bearish(???) than hawkish(????) you know what i mean? the nose isn’t as sharp anymore, the beard is... what is it with the beard... anyways i get the game has its limits so it’s fine. it’s fine! fine.)

then there was the fight that i remember since twitter >:D

It’s what made me want to play dragon age and i finally reached it T-T so good! I love how you can see the both sides and everything they say is true but they’re so angry at themselves they’re taking it out on each other TAT

Cassandra later says Hawke probably wouldn’t have joined the inquisition even if she found him, and i wonder now if that’s true... At first i thought, nah, Hawke has too much of a hero complex, he would feel too responsible to just say no. Besides, he’s with the inquisition now (tho i can’t find him anywhere anymore!). But at the same time, the way da2 ends was such an iconic walking away from everything, and not taking into account the hocus-pocus rift stuff, i can imagine him refusing, especially seeing how bitter he is now. It’s also a question of how much would have cassandra told him i guess. idk, what do you think? Would he lead or nah?

another person i want to find but can’t in skyhold are the templars with ser barris. i can use them on war table missions but otherwise they’re non-existant? i forgot to talk to him back in haven but now i wonder if it was even possible and if he was even available there, since he isn’t here. I spent hours just running around skyhold looking for the guy :(

and then everything becomes unimportant bc aaaaa!! she! is the arcanist! Dagna! im so happy and proud(?) she went and reached her goals x)

anyways that’s all for now, laters

some random updates:

so i did the halamshiral and gave up to my “stick to the character” mode, and nothing went my way, but that’s life. Met morrigan! i almost forgot she appears lol. And, despite also jumping on the wagon of give-morrigan-better-clothes train, i have to admit seeing her in her old clothes was a relief after that dress at the ball. It’s not the way the dressed looked, but the way she moved in it... god im shallow

i also initially didn’t like morrigan being at orlais court of all places, but after the conversation that’s supposed to explain why she’s there i’m kinda ok with it. I mean, i still need some more info. Wouldn’t Tevinter be better? she’d practically become a magister overnight if she got this good in the game so fast. It’s also unconvincing how everyone knows everything in orlais but somehow nobody connected that the random kid that has no bakcground whatsoever with morrigan who keeps checking on him? But at skyhold she’s just “hey i have a kid, he’s no trouble, right?”  but hey, it’s morrigan. She can do anything. I’ll just have another story idea in my head.

Then there was news of the new divine that could be either cassandra or leliana and i don’t honestly know whom to choose. I’d prefer leliana over cassandra simply bc cassandra is more of a military mind, while the position of the divine would be more political. But lately every mission with leliana was spy spy, kill kill... Do we really want that for a religious leader? On the other hand, it would nicely round up her story from origins to inquisition... But cassandra is more of a public figure than leliana is...

when cassandra said:

“I want to respect the tradition, but not fear change. I want to right the past wrongs, but not avenge them. And I have no idea if wanting any of them makes them right.”

great moment. She’s usually so convinced and rash, i forget she’s more doubtful and open minded than what she looks like. Everything about cassandra is different from the impression she gives ;__; I love her so so so so much. (when she says she considers the inquisitor her friend i melted, next time varric pulls up the “seeker has no friends” joke, my heart will no longer be breaking).

I did a bunch of personal missions. Some were cool, some were ????. Also there were war table missions with zevran, that was cool. Also i love the codex entries in skyhold. The archery competition with varric banned? Dancing lessons failing bc lace harding is on the move all the time? Perfect.

And i met chargers, i like them, and aaah that staff-bow from the trailer is such a cool idea ;A;

What i don’t get with bull’s chargers is - they’re a mercenary group right? But isn’t swordselling seen as the complete misunderstanding of the qun? I get only bull is qunari, but he’s the leader of them? How is that not frowned upon?

And lastly, i don’t think i’ve said this, but i love that they added codex entries in the loading screens. love it.

update

After months of procrastination, i have faced my fears and have met alistair. it was very anticlimatic beating 11 level monsters when i was level 21...

but.. ALISTAIR TAT He’s changed... but not changed... but changed! Like, his personality is the same, but he’s more serious, doesn’t run from responsibilities, isn’t as bitter as hawke (also, why do i get impression that i am supposed to get the impression that they’re friends? they’ve met like, once, and talked for less than a minute.. whatevs. let’s pretend they’ve met again when on the run), i really love the inquisition alistair ;;__;;

Also, i managed to get that awkward demon baby family reunion :D

 know that morrigan says the vaguest generic thing “i told him his father was a good man” bc of various world states, but i also think she’s come a long way not to mock alistair, and then when he notices that she didn’t use the opportunity he mentions that the kid changed her and she’s like “pfft, yea right, you wish”....

... when she was the one who said that in the first place ;;__;;

Awwww :> I love that they bicker but softly. Kids have grown up :’) Anyways, when will alistair start paying alimony

The only weird one is Leliana bc when morrigan was introduced she was like “danger danger” (smth i’d sooner think alistair would do), and when alistair is (supposedly) in skyhold, Leli doesn’t even mention him, only hawke.  bruh, what were they to you, you almost died together ;;__;;

oh i also slayed a dragon.  I didn’t even want to fight that dragon. It was a hillarious feat of inquisitor, solas, cole and blackwall, all on level 21, having to chug all the health potions right at the beginning while fighting a dragon that was... level 13, after which i just let go of controls and suddenly everyone was hella good at fighting and slayed it (only cole needed revival several times).  

And, befitting the wild-dream feel that it had, when i got back to skyhold and visited companions, suddenly i was drinking pelin with iron bull, and he’s reminiscing on that fight with the dragon and i’m like

it was awful and you weren’t even there.

i forgot to update

but last time i was playing i finished the hawke/alistair sacrifice and all the torture i went through with deciding whom to sacrifice vanished bc frankly, at one moment, i wanted to sacrifice both of them, but in the end it was much more easier to sacrifice hawke bc inquisition hawke just didn’t feel like hawke to me, while alistair improved since the origins!

and now i remembered why i didn’t update, in the same day cassandra rejected me so i was sad and didn’t continue playing since then (i think last time i played it was around easter?)

new update

BLACKWALL!! or should i say Thom Rainier? Wow, what an arc! It was also so fun bc i was all strict mode, picking the third option, telling him his life is in inquisitor’s hands and all that, but in the end i set him free. He’s so good, a true knight T-T

Also i romanced sera. we’ll see how that goes.

Also, fave point in the game so far, i wanted, for so long, to sit at that val roeayoux (can’t spell) cafe and finally did it with cole’s personal mission. THANK YOU COLE YOU TRULY CAN READ PEOPLE’S MINDS.

another interesting thing was that after specialising as a reaver, cassandra said that drinking dragon blood makes you grow scales and become mad. Iron Bull said that inquisitor smells better bc dragon blood and that qunari generally smell better than humans. So i’m guessing qunari have fractions of dragon in them? ok...

and now i started that mission with morrigan and the puzzles are killing me lol, i am this 👌 close to just go chase calpernia and give up on a well of sorrows.

[waveridden]

JAMIE have you ever considered a modern AU for blaseball because I would love to hear your thoughts on one

cola... have i told you lately that i love you

i know i’ve talked a little about various modern aus however tonight i am thinking about the marijuana family so i present to you:

HIGH ON LIFE: a marijuana family sitcom (name subject to change) (many thanks to @leonstamatis because some of this comes from conversations with them. mostly the jokes.)

here is the setup for this mini universe that lives in my head

dom (23) is the pseudo parent to randy (19) and lenny (14 but she’s almost 15 guys she’s basically an adult) and the three of them have lived in new york city their entire lives but dom gets a job offer that’s too good to pass up... in denver*. so the entire family has to pack up and move to denver.

( * i would do somewhere in utah, bc hellmouth, but i have to be honest. i’ve known several people from utah and all of them have been just like... horrible to be around. so this is a personal bias thing. colorado’s better anyways.)

so our family is in denver now! denver is a major city ofc but it’s still a MAJOR change from new york so that is our inciting sitcom incident. Uh Oh What Kind Of Wackiness Will Our Protagonists Get Up To!

dom works at a warehouse, he’s a shift lead or something like that, and it’s his first ever full time job (as opposed to stringing together three part-time jobs). it’s supposed to be a great job and he fucking hates it but the pay is better than anything in new york and it’s better for the family if he’s here so, well, he’s here

andrew solis is a local union rep who dom gets in touch with because his job sucks and they have a lot of clandestine meetings about union stuff that turn into non clandestine meetings because they enjoy spending time together that turn into a nice normal committed relationship

andrew gets along really well with randy. he’s a nice kid, if a little much sometimes. it’s fine.

andrew is terrified of lenny

you know that john mulaney bit about how a group of thirteen year olds can sense your insecurities? lenny is an entire group of thirteen year olds on her own. she is mean and powerful and andrew is afraid of that.

obviously a lot of dom’s friends (ie the mills) are back in new york but he calls them CONSTANTLY. like, once a day. they are very loud and they love him and they miss him and are so proud of him for helping his job unionize and shit like that. they can’t visit in person often but every now and again they do.

randy gets a job at a local theatre company, which is the last thing he expected to be doing but it’s kind of... awesome? everyone here is super chill and funny and loud and he gets along with them great.

this is the jazz hands. i know they’re in breckenridge. this is my au. they’re in denver today.

his immediate best friend is layna, who does bit parts in musicals and more importantly writes a lot of weird experimental short plays that the theatre produces. she’s a couple years older than him and is far too cool and pretty for him. she tells him this every day and he agrees. she works at a zoo/botanical garden and lenny is constantly hounding her for free zoo passes and stuff (layna agrees because she adores lenny and also it’s an excuse for randy to visit her)

is the botanical garden an excuse to have the flowers players here? yes. geography is less powerful than I Want Everyone In The Same Place

randy’s OTHER best friends are nagomi (community college student/works in the aquarium part of the zoo) and emmett (computer science student at a four-year). most of the time the three of them just chill out and get high and do dumb 19-year-old shit together they’re just three chill friends

do not leave nagomi and lenny in a room together. don’t do it.

lenny isn’t allowed in costco anymore. this is nagomi’s fault

one time randy leaves both emmett and nagomi to watch lenny because surely emmett will prevent any shenanigans. when he comes back nagomi and lenny have stolen three street signs. emmett allowed this to happen because lenny and nagomi specificall stole a sign that said “emmett drive” and they can’t drive and they think it’s funny. so emmett is ALSO not allowed to watch lenny/nagomi

(emmett’s fine watching lenny on their own, it’s just that nagomi “fuck around and find out” nava is too powerful to be overridden)

occasionally nagomi’s twin sibling margarito also hangs out with her randy and emmett. when margo/randy are together they’re A Force To Be Reckoned With. they’re chaotic and easy to manipulate so nagomi can convince them to do some wild shit together. it rules.

lenny loves margo. xe’s never allowed to know this. but she adores xem.

meanwhile lenny is experiencing the worst thing that a teenager can experience: moving during high school. she is doing her absolute goddamn best to fit into the social scene here but it’s so different from new york and she doesn’t know how to handle it

her first friend is kiki familia because i just think fourteen year old girls should stick together and because i think lenny is not above very loudly very rudely making sure that kiki gets all the accommodations she needs

andrew visits one day and lenny is practicing asl in front of a mirror and he’s like oh do you want a conversation partner? because he knows enough to hold a conversation. this is how lenny and andrew form an actual relationship

(andrew is also fluent in spanish and he helps her with spanish homework but she resents this because she thinks it’s nerdy. at least with asl it’s for a good reason.)

and then a couple months later another new student shows up and she is having the opposite experience from lenny because she lived in wyoming for a really long time which is... not a big city... and denver is comparatively HUGE and she’s just really overwhelmed? and lenny is like. oh i can show you around! for sure! definitely! new students have to stick together!

kiki, suspiciously: you’re not new anymore

lenny, very non-subtly: kiki shut the fuck up

this new student is chorby and she gets along great with both kiki (i’m not sure what the analog for magical girl is in a modern au but like it’s something and they bond over it) and lenny, who immediately has a massive big huge crush on her

kiki knows this. kiki mocks this relentlessly.

lenny makes it super super clear that kiki is never going to be the third wheel and kiki’s like yes i am and that’s fine

dom and randy both absolutely adore chorby. she’s so polite. lenny knows that chorby can curse like a sailor and has very specific opinions about screamo bands but when she meets lenny’s brothers she is a saint and lenny is like... swooning over it

and like lenny/chorby are teenagers which means sometimes they get into fights over dumb things and sometimes they get into fights over serious things but they always work it out in the end

there’s definitely a whole Thing because chorby goes to the sadie hawkins dance with juice collins and lenny is like. what the fuck.

is juice a teen? she is in the jamie cassidy extended blaseball teen universe. at least for today

anyways you might notice that there is not a lot of plot here. that’s because this is a sitcom and it is really just a very long setup for me to think about various ideas happening in (i.e. lenny trying to intimidate andrew for absolutely no reason, randy/nagomi/emmett shenanigans) it’s genuinely just like. a fun little world for me to play in when i need it.

the MOST IMPORTANT PART of this au is the family tho. cannot stress this enough, dom and randy and lenny all have family time constantly. they love each other so much. and that family expands to include andrew, and chorby, and emmett and nagomi and kiki and layna, but at its heart This Is A Sibling Story and i love them. the end

[tintinwrites]

the fallen soul | Poe Dameron x Reader | Part One

A/N: Is this incredibly sinful? I hope y’all like it anyway YA SINNNERS. I did research for this fic and I hope the confession is legit? I suppose it doesn’t matter too much simply bc Poe is half-BSing his way through it bc he don’t care!!

Rating: T but this WILL turn to M.

Warning: Religion. Confession. Men are trash except for Father Poe Dameron himself. Sexual themes.

Word count: 2,171, apparently!!

Summary: You’re a young, aristocratic woman in the early 19th century, destined for a life of empty marriage to an adulterous, uncaring man and multiple children that you won’t even get to raise. Your inappropriate thoughts of wanting more than is expected of you from imperfect people leads you to confession where you unknowingly meet the young, new priest, Father Dameron.

GIF credit: I thought I had this in my likes but I didn’t but it’s not mine and if anyone knows whose it is let me know!!

Tags: Open if anyone’s interested!

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

You looked around the ballroom with disinterest, watching primped up men kissing the hands of primped up ladies as if they actually paid them any respect, and you wondered which one was going to glide over to you with sugar in his mouth and greed in his eyes.

All you were to them was a dowry and a body to birth multiple children until you bore him a son.

Not even a bed warmer to them, since they would take mistresses in the day on a mattress you would sleep on in the night.

It was a pity; some of them were quite handsome and perhaps there was this foolish spark inside of you that wished to be the mistress of a man who showered you with jewels, but your parents would never allow it.

No, you were destined to be a wife and a mother, bored out of your mind as your husband had other women and your children were raised by other women.

Sometimes you would get into your own head a bit, falling into a silly fantasy of being in the arms of a man who was passionate about you, whose handsome face would gaze down at you, then disappear between your—

Then you would swiftly reprimand yourself for not only going against the purpose that was correct for you, but for thinking of things you had no business even having an inkling of an idea about.

Perhaps no suitor had intrigued you because your thoughts were too sinful, because you were too busy thinking about wrong things to appreciate what was meant for you.

Your parents would pester you with his father is the owner of the local dressmaker’s shop or he’s acquired a large plot of land with the intention of a large family and you would hum as if you were listening, but you never were.

Was it a sin to want passion? Adventure? Something that stirred the barest hint of desire in your otherwise bored disposition?

You supposed it was, otherwise no one would hide it.

Suitors would not act demure when they had taken many women before their wedding night, and those women would not act pure to new men when they had been bedded by the one to their right, and fathers would not lie about how they made their money, and mothers would not put arsenic in their vicious husbands’ tea.

You knew the fabrication that was needed to make the upper class seem better than the lower, yet you still felt guilty for your own thoughts of wanting more.

They all took what they wanted and hid it beneath expensive clothing and charming words.

Why couldn’t you do the same? Why did you merely do as you were told and continually berate yourself for letting your thoughts stray to something you enjoyed more?

Perhaps you were smarter than them and knew it was wrong to do these things even if you kept them hidden away.

When a fair-skinned man with light hair and beautiful yet untrustworthy eyes bowed to you and pressed a kiss to your knuckles, and all you could think of was how he had been with a woman you knew dearly, you felt dirty.

Like you knew, and felt, and thought, and wanted too much.

It seemed like there were too many people in the large room now, like they could hear your thoughts screaming in your head louder than their own.

You stuttered a few words about retiring for the night or you hoped you did as you turned and ran from the room.

The darkened hallway offered you solace, the music slightly muffled and no people watching you like they wanted to devour your very soul until there was nothing left of yourself.

Shouldn’t you want to be married? You would be with a man who would provide for you, to keep a roof over your head instead of your father, and your thoughts kept bouncing back and forth between disgust at your desires and comfort in them.

Perhaps you needed to tell someone about it.

Certainly not any of those men or women or your family, but someone who would tell you what to do without judgement; it was likely you only needed to get these thoughts out of your head to realize how ridiculous you were being and then you would be in your right mind.

You would not lie to society like you were pure when you were not. You would be the very model of a modern wife in honesty, not only in appearance.

And you would smile as your...husband fucked anyone but you when it wasn’t time to conceive a child.

You needed to say all of this out loud and you prayed to God it would fix your damaged mind.

God.

That was it.

Dashing to the grand entrance of your father’s manor with your dark blue skirt gripped in your fingertips though the hem did not entirely reach the floor, you grabbed your cloak and fastened it around your neck securely.

Some servants might have questioned you, worried of your parents’ reactions if it was discovered you had left home in the middle of a ball where you were supposed to meet a suitable husband, but you ignored them and stumbled determinedly out into the night.

You weren’t supposed to walk alone at night — no women actually were. You were scarcely allowed to walk in the day unless you had a reputable chaperone.

But you did not fear getting in too much trouble or meeting a stranger that was less than acceptable, since it was late and most everyone was inside your home.

Maybe you were a touch fearful as you walked from your father’s land and down the road, and you realized the farther you walked how close the church was to the poorer part of town.

They were people too, you reminded yourself quickly. They had children like your people, dreams like your people.

Drugs and alcohol like your people, prostitutes like your people.

No different from you and yet scarier simply because their houses were smaller, their clothes not made of fine silk?

You clutched your cloak tighter more from the chill of a spring evening’s wind than your baseless fear, seeing the church slightly up ahead and hoping they had lit some sort of fire despite the warm day it had been.

The door was made of oak that was almost too heavy for arms that did little more than embroider, but you managed to pull one open and slip inside.

It was warmer inside; you stopped for a moment to let the warmth smooth the goosebumps that had risen on your skin, then you carefully lowered your cloak and looked around the room.

You were not used to coming here alone or seeing this place empty, but the bare pews seemed to put you a bit at ease as you walked further inside.

But the confessional to your right made you nervous again, wondering if you really should be confessing these things, imagining that if there even was a priest inside at this time, he might tell your parents who expected you to be pure despite their own sins.

These thoughts had been plaguing you, however, and you wanted them to stop.

You wanted to be satisfied with the life that you were meant to live, and you were sure that pouring your thoughts into the air would lift them from your mind.

Perhaps if you had known the priest a bit better, it might have been easier as you stepped into the booth, but you only came here on holidays and heard gossip that the aging man had begun training someone to take his position.

You did the sign of the Cross over yourself with some uncertainty, having to admit that you were a bit rusty since religion was something that was more talked about than practiced. “Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. My last confession was...I...I suppose my first confession tonight is that I don’t quite remember my last.”

Was that a soft chuckle you heard from the opposite booth?

No, you reasoned, priests did not laugh.

“I have come today because I...my thoughts are simply…you see, I cannot get out of my head and...and it’s such a…” You dropped your head in your hands, unsure of how to properly get your thoughts out with how used you had grown to keeping them in.

“Relax, child. Tell me what is on your heart.” The voice was young and smooth, and sounded like he was reading from a book with how flat it was, but you were too intrigued by its other qualities as you lifted your head.

“Yes. Of course. I am descended from noble blood and my destiny is to marry a man of similar status and bear his children. Yet...I...don’t necessarily wish to. I keep finding my thoughts wandering to...to more. Sometimes I do not even know what more entails, simply that it’s something I desire. Often I do think...of having sexual intercourse. Of...of running barefoot through a field and swimming in a lake without a stitch on.” You loved it all so much that you giggled beyond your shame, falling silent as you weren’t sure what else there was to confess.

“And?” He cleared his throat.

“I believe that’s everything.” You furrowed your brow, not sure you could say much more other than your forbidden desires.

“You’ve forgotten something, child.” Now you were sure he was laughing.

You thought for a moment then your eyes widened in a display that could have almost seemed comical. “This is all I can remember! I am sorry for these and all my sins!”

It was said so quickly that your words were hardly intelligible, but the priest hummed in acknowledgement and amusement.

“What do you think my penance for this should be, Father?”

“Have you acted on any of these thoughts?”

You quickly shook your head even though he couldn’t see you. “Of course not!”

“Then you haven’t, really, committed any sin.”

“Father, please, I truly feel that I should be punished for having these thoughts.”

“Very well. Uh...let me see...when you kneel by your bed to pray tonight, I want you to do five Hail Marys.”

“Yes, Father.”

It wasn’t the harshest punishment you’d heard of, but it was going to encourage you to actually pray before bed that night and perhaps that would help with your thoughts.

You were curious about this priest, with his charming voice and the monotone way he went about conducting this confession.

Not that you had met many priests who were all that lively, this man seemed like he was hardly even paying attention to his duties.

However, you were correct in your belief that talking about your thoughts would make them go away, and you closed your eyes in preparation for your prayer asking the Lord for forgiveness.

Your prayer discussing your regret for your sinful thoughts and a promise to do your best not to sin anymore was followed by the priest praying to absolve you of these sins — still sounding like he was reading it in a book right then and there — and you smiled softly, doing the sign of the Cross again. “Amen.”

The priest stuttered a few times and then seemed to formulate what he wanted to say, “You have a good soul to beg for penance over something so trivial. Now thank God for this good confession, and, hm...peace be with you.”

“Thank you, my Lord. And thank you, Father.” Perhaps he listened to many confessions that day and had grown tired of saying the same thing, and you were happy for the help from him either way.

“Go now and...sin no more?” He seemed to chuckle at himself.

You stood and stepped out of the booth, finding yourself charmed by the empty church now as you walked to the door.

Father Dameron waited a moment to keep your privacy hidden before he stepped out of his booth, seeing a glimpse of a dark blue skirt slipping out the heavy, wooden doors and into the night.

Were you all by yourself this late at night or had someone been waiting for you to finish and walk you home?

He hated that he had to worry about you simply because you were a woman, but he knew the sins men confessed in the little time he’d been the head of this church.

Men would confess to taking prostitutes despite having wives at home, then come back the next week to beat their breasts all over again as if they actually cared.

Such a pretty voice with barely a sin to confess was a breath of fresh air for once, and he hoped you didn’t punish yourself too much for thoughts that any normal, interesting human being — including himself — had.

[ambitionsource]

what are our favorite aaa couples doing this valentines day?

i actually discussed how each of them feel about V-Day once before so i have the necessary lore in my head to answer this hehe, so i’ll just give the general rundown!

as you can imagine, valentine’s day is one of dylan’s fave days of the year period end of the story. it might be his favorite holiday. not even bc he has a boyfriend who is the love of his life but more so because he just... is love in such a compact form and so he thrives on a day that’s just about appreciating All the people in your life and celebrating the concept of love. like he FLOURISHED in elementary school giving out valentines to all his classmates in their little desk mailboxes and i think he carries that instinct with him even now. he makes all his friends handmade small cards and a little baked goods care package (so all the techies get one, riley gets one, his brother and dad get one), he Always does a vlog video to post on valentines thats like about love or related to preparing for the holiday etc etc. he just... loves it. its his day.

(he’s also the only person who can get lucas to acknowledge the day. lucas is like fuck vday its fake i dont know what that is and then dylan swoops in with his valentine and is like here lucas!!! i love you happy valentines day!!!!!!! and lucas is like........ okay fine i will accept this but thats IT otherwise its fake *takes bite of cookie*)

as for asher and dylan specifically, i feel like valentines day isn’t necessarily... here’s the thing like they’re appreciative and kind and thoughtful towards each other all the time so in that respect vday is just another day lol but i feel like they do make an effort to mark it in some way, but lowkey ways? like they definitely always go on a date of some kind, not super fancy but they make a point of doing it on that day, and i also think they exchange small gifts that are particular to their relationship on that day. like for example one time i saw this post talking about how a gf made her bf a scrapbook of all the things he had baked for her and like wrote little notes about what she thought about them + something she loved about their relationship on each page with each baked good and thats the kind of thing asher would give dylan one valentines day. you know what i mean? that’s the kind of thing they do

on the flip side, riley and lucas don’t celebrate valentines day. they’re of the thinking that having a day specifically to acknowledge your partner is kind of stupid since you should be doing that every day, and both of them are very lowkey people in terms of stuff like that i don’t think they like... want or need to do anything. and as we know they both have such weird relationships with romance in general bc of watching their parents implode in different ways, so i think they both are somewhat averse to traditional “love” things? i mean lucas is the dude who doesnt even want people to acknowledge his birthday, holidays just are not his thing. time is fake. but i think if they do acknowledge it at all its just in something really small and simple, like a quick “happy valentines day” after a kiss before they part ways for the day. maybe lucas gets her her favorite pastry again, maybe she makes him lunch. you know? nothing intense

for zc, i think charlie has a really complicated relationship with the day because of how he was raised. like on the one hand, vday should be charlie’s day, because i think charlie is the most hopeless romantic of the front nine. but i think they talked about it in such a different context at catholic school where its like yes this is about christian love (which is nice!) but this love can only be valid and christian in the context of one man and one woman and after a certain time / commitment etc etc (i read a couple of websites to see what the general catholic perspective on it is lmao) so i think charlie is just... all turned upside down and around internally about what its actually supposed to mean / where he fits in that and it just. is a mess. so pre-zay i think he just spent the whole day avoiding girls who were praying he’d give them a valentine and then went to bed all torn up and then laid in the wistful meadow in his head until he fell asleep LMAO but. as for how they approach it as a duo, i think they’re somewhere between rl and da... some years its like lets do something, lets go out, and other years its just not the vibe and they choose to just brush it off and be lowkey. but i think even tho he knows charlie is so conflicted about it, zay will find SOME way to appreciate charlie on that day in the sense that he knows he’s such a romantic and deserves a day like that so he’ll... order in their favorite meal, or theyll go on a picnic (like their first date) or something like that. you know what i mean? like zay personally doesnt care that much bc he’s less of a romantic intrinsically but he tries to read the mood of how charlie feels that year and then match it

farkle and isa...... who the fuck knows with them honestly LMAO i dont think either of them even know how they feel about it. they don’t know how they feel about anything when it comes to romance... messes. i think jade and nigel are similar to rl, for them neither of them are especially romantics so they’re chill just saying hvd and exchanging a little card or gift or something and letting that be that. jack and eric are both long past the days of making vday a big deal, but i could see them leaving small / somewhat silly or sarcastic notes for each other that matches their humor

as for on THIS valentines day? in 2021? today? rl is probably hanging out at the hideaway in riley’s car sharing the baked goods dylan made them but not acknowledging it’s vday; dylan and asher are probably getting ready to have dinner together that dylan is making after chilling together all day; and zay and charlie are pretending its a normal sunday and no such holiday exists.

-- Maggie

[legolaslovely]

Summer Rain

A/N: Happy Fili Friday! Today, Iolaus is also getting some love! BECAUSE HE DESERVES IT OKAY. Sorry, I’m a little emotional. Hope you guys enjoy this one! I certainly loved writing it. Get ready for some ROMANTIC FLUFF.

Pairing: Iolaus x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 3,186

Warnings: fluff, makeout sesh

Summary: BF&GF Playing hooky< all you need to know. But also (lemme geek out for a sec) I like to think (Y/N) is the top cadet academically and she HATES Iolaus for his cocky and lazy demeanor UNTIL Fiducious asks her to tutor him. Then she falls head over sandals in love with this golden boy’s true heart because wouldn’t we all

A Note About the Poetry/References: The poem (please just read it for me and my romantic little heart, okay?) is called A Lover’s Sigh, written by Anacreon who lived in Ancient Greece (in Teos AKA across the Aegean Sea from Corinth) around 500 BC. ISN’T THAT COOL. Also, some of The Odyssey (translated to English, of course) is quoted here. 

LOOK AT HIM LOVE OF MY LIFE 

(Y/N) loved falling asleep to the symphony that came with the falling rain. Whether it be a downpour slapping against the soft grass or a sprinkling of misty drops landing on a roof of thatch, the lullaby was always welcomed. However, it was especially cherished after a day of endless drills and exams that left her with an exhausted mind and aching muscles to match. When she climbed into bed, her woes were forgotten and replaced with nature’s soft tune raining down and the scent of fresh earth sneaking through the cracked windows in the academy. (Y/N) loved every part of the rain.

Except training in it.

She woke the next morning with a start at the rumbling thunder that snapped to a crack right above the academy. Some of her classmates were already awake, watching the storm from the doorway and planning their route across the wide grounds to the dining hall’s entrance. She had rebraided her hair for the day by the time those cadets had mustered up the courage to skitter out from under the doorway and across the fields. She snorted as she pulled on her boots.

“Don’t laugh, (Y/N),” Hercules said from his bed above. “That’ll be us next.”

“Can’t you ask your dad to chill out with the thunder already? He’s been at it all night.”

Hercules noisily mocked her. “Yeah, sure, I’ll send a request right up. Anything for your convenience, (Y/N).”

“I appreciate the diligence,” she said. She chased Hercules to the door and pushed him outside into the drip. Cold droplets fell down the back of his neck and he shivered and cringed, dancing back into the shelter. He grabbed her shoulders but she slipped out of his grasp, giggling. “Not fast enough, Herc,” she said.

Jason stepped between them, acting as (Y/N)’s shield as Hercules shook his dripping hair. “Listen, the quicker we run to the dining hall, the quicker we can eat, okay? By the time we go to morning drills, we’ll be dry.”

“Just in time to get soaked again,” Iolaus said. As usual, he’d been the last to wake up. He ran a hand through his messy curls and placed the other discreetly on (Y/N)’s back for no one to notice but her. “You know they’ll make us train in the storm today.”

“It builds character,” he and Hercules said at the same time, both mocking Chieron perfectly. 

“I’m not intending on training anywhere on an empty stomach so are you all coming to breakfast with me or not?” Jason said.

“You’re grumpy,” Hercules mumbled.

(Y/N) laid a hand on Jason’s shoulder. “All right, all right. Herc, take the starving king to breakfast, I’ll meet you guys there,” she said, having to gather her scrolls and bag for classes. Probably a few towels as well.

She turned and dug her things out from under her bed, sighing to herself. 

“I thought you liked the rain?”

She leapt from her place in fright. “Gods, Iolaus, you scared me. I thought you went with the guys.” She set down her scrolls and watched the wet sheets fall through the doorway again. “I do like the rain, but not when I have to go out in it.”

Iolaus hummed, following her gaze. He didn’t notice her sneak behind him until she rested her head on his shoulder. 

“I’d much rather spend a day like today in… the hay loft? The barn is empty until after dinner is served anyway. No one will be up there, especially on a day like today.”

“Are you, (Y/N), stealer of library scrolls, actually suggesting we play hooky?” Iolaus asked.

Her head snapped up. “I do not steal scrolls!”

“Only the ones Fiducious doesn’t let you borrow,” he said with a poking finger. “You aren’t supposed to know about that.”

“Oh, (Y/N), you are forgetting about the life I led before I came to this charming academy. I know a lot of things I’m not supposed to know.”

She scoffed, but grabbed his hand and her bag. “Fine, then, Master Burglar, how do we get to the barn without being seen?”

He led her to the opposite exit of the small building. “Considering the barn is on the other side of the grounds and we will have to pass the window of Chieron’s office and his horses don’t exactly like me-”

“What did you do to the horses, Iolaus?”

“Not important- we just have to RUN!” 

He dragged her out into the rain, shushing her surprised squeal with smiling lips. Their sandals squeaked in the wet and squished in the mud as they ran past the well, jumped over the short wall, and skittered along the side of the main building of the academy. 

“Wait!” he cried out in a harsh whisper. “Wait here. That’s Chieron’s window.” 

Before he could formulate a plan, (Y/N) slipped from his clammy grasp and bent forward, crawling underneath the window. She called him to follow. “We’re almost there!”

With no roofs to slither under, Iolaus tore off his vest and it quickly became their umbrella for the second half of the journey through the wide field. As they neared the barn, (Y/N) was just as relieved as Iolaus to see the horses already inside. That meant they truly would be alone in the hay loft until someone came to feed the animals at night. The barn was all theirs. 

“Do you think anyone saw us?” (Y/N) asked after they’d slithered inside and closed the barn door. Iolaus held the ladder for her as she climbed up to the hay loft.

“I don’t think so,” he said. “Everyone is in the dining hall at this hour.” He followed her up, sending nervous glances to the horses below. A shiver ran up his spine. Whether it was from the dark eyes staring up at him or the icy beads of rain still trickling down his bare skin, he wasn’t quite sure. 

He threw his sopping vest over a bale. “Well, I won’t be putting that back on any time soon,” he said with a wide mouthed wink.

(Y/N) shook her head at his never ending antics, but smiled at him all the same. “Good thing I brought something dry and warm for you, then.” Out of her bag came one of his own tunics he didn’t realize had been stolen. 

“You sneaky little cadet,” he said, putting it on. “You planned this.”

“Maybe.” She had pulled her braid apart and was squeezing her hair dry with one of the towels she’d brought. 

“Lucky for you, I too came prepared.” He slid the tunic over his head and it didn’t take long for drenched, golden curls along with a dimpled grin to pop out of the neck. Then he reached for his bag, rummaging around the small rips in the lining until he uncovered two loaves of fresh bread. He gave one to (Y/N) with a flourish and a bow, savoring her laugh. But as she leaned forward to take the treat from him, a stiff, crinkling chattered that was just loud enough to hear over the rain outside. He watched her sit quickly upright and hide her twitching lips behind the crust of bread. “What was that?” he asked.

“Nothing.”

“No. You-you didn’t.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said around the hunk of bread in her mouth.

“You brought a scroll? We are playing hooky and you brought homework! I knew this was too good to be true.”

She stood, pulling the small scroll out from under her shirt. She’d managed to pack everything else for the day when Iolaus wasn’t looking, but this was a last minute addition that didn’t quite make it into her bag. 

“It’s not homework,” she said. “It’s for pleasure.”

“That is no pleasure I’d like to be a part of!”

She laughed out loud at that and Iolaus only half enjoyed it. She skipped to his side, turned his stubborn face to her, and wrung out his curls into her towel. “Come on, Iolaus. With all our exams coming up, I never have time to read anymore. Especially not poetry because we haven’t covered any of it in our modern literature classes yet. Now I have the whole day free to-”

“To read poetry,” he grumbled.

Her soft touch through the towel traveled over his shoulders and down his chest, collecting the raindrops that still gathered in the hollows of his tanned skin. “I know you don’t like poetry much, but what if I promise to read you something I know you’ll enjoy?”

“Then you don’t know me very well.”

She took his chin in her fingers. “You are such a grump! Let me read for one hour and then we can do what you want.” She wriggled out of his grasp that consisted of roaming hands and squeezing fingers. “Within reason!” she said, snapping the towel at him.

A childish, roaring groan filled the barn as she sat on a bale of hay. She patted the spot next to her, beckoning him to sit. “Just trust me.” 

Heavy feet stomped across the loft until Iolaus sat on the floor beneath her, scooting around until he could lean back between her knees. He looked up at her, chin to the sky and blue eyes gleaming. “Tell me about this poem.”

“It comes from across the sea,” she said, unrolling the scroll by its pins. “Listen.”

“The Phyrgian rock that braves the storm Was once a weeping matron’s form; And Procne, hapless, frantic maid,  Is now a swallow in the shade. Oh that a mirror’s form were mine,  To sparkle with that smile divine; And like my heart I then should be, Reflecting thee, and only thee! Or could I be the robe which holds That graceful form within its folds; Or t-”

“Wait, wait, wait, wait. This is a dirty poem?” He spun and took the scroll from her, turning so fast, his hair sprayed droplets over her and the parchment. He stared at the words, then turned to her. “You read dirty poetry?”

She laughed. “They’re not all like this.” She swiped his curls over his shoulder, running a fingertip around his ear and down his neck. “Read the rest of it.” Gentle hands turned his shoulders forward and she asked again. “Read to me, Iolaus.”

He coughed, unconsciously leaning toward her breath on his bare skin.

“Or could I be the robe which holds That graceful form with-”

She was kissing his neck. Warm, soft lips over his jaw, under his ear, down his neck to the bit of shoulder his tunic left open to her. The little clicking sound of her mouth against his skin sounded louder than any lightning crack Zues could send down to them. He curved into her hold.

“Keep reading,” she said.

“How am I supposed to concentrate with you… kissing me like that?”

“Does it feel good?” The tip of her nose traced over the sensitive skin that her lips left damp.

He could only hum his appreciation. Her hands rolled forward to the front of his tunic, wanting the deep rumble to sound again so she could feel it in her palms. 

“Keep reading or I will stop.”

He grumbled. “Her gifts were mixed with good and evil both.”

She breathed out a laugh, tightened her grip, and sunk her teeth into his skin. He lifted the scroll.

“...Within its folds; Or, turned into a fountain, lave Thy beauties in my circling wave; Or, better still, the zone that lies Warm to thy breast, and feels its sighs! Or like those envious pearls that show So faintly round the neck of snow! Yes, I would be a happy gem,  Like them to hang, to fade like them. What more would thy Anacreon be? Oh, anything that touches thee, Nay, sandals for those airy feet-- Thus to be pressed by thee were sweet!”

Iolaus rolled up the scroll and set it aside, turning in her arms to kneel between her legs so they were face to face. Her damp hair fell around her as if to frame the portrait of a goddess. He kissed her lips.

“Did I not say you would enjoy the poem?” she asked.

He kissed her cheek and ran his fingers through her hair. The sight of untied tresses was rare, and he took this chance to feel their softness and marvel at the delicate waves. “I would enjoy anything as long as I am with you.”

When he drew away from her cheek, he saw her eyes had closed from his tender touch. Half of him wished she’d open them for they were the brightest light there was on this dreary day. However, the more selfish half of him wanted them to stay closed. She’d never permit his staring if she saw the way he was watching her, taking her in. His finger curled over her forehead down to her chin to hold her face still. Even as her curious eyes opened to him, he gazed on.

“Never have I set my eyes upon such a beauty, in either man or woman. I look at you and I am bedazzled,” he said.

All breath left her. “Where did you learn that?”

“I said I would enjoy anything as long as we were together. Do you really think I’d ignore your passion for poetry and stories? That I’d leave you alone in it?”

She shook her head, left speechless by his words. 

Just as a log split open by a heavy ax, so seemed Iolaus’ armor of deceptive reputation: cracked and gaping, revealing a true, tender heart underneath. From its center radiated unmatched compassion and care that shone brightly enough to play the part of the sun on this murky morning. Her own thoughts cowered from his brilliance.

“No, I-just-”

“I love you, (Y/N).”

She kissed his lips, arm circling his shoulders to pull him close. His dimples caved in under her thumbs as she cradled his face, pouring her appreciation, astonishment, admiration- all of it into her kiss. 

“I love you too,” she whispered against his lips.

He dove into her again- lips, tongues, hands, fingers- and she keened, falling into his lap on the floor. 

“Iolaus.”

Over her own sigh of his name, she barely heard someone else’s voice. She drew away to listen, but Iolaus’ lips only fell down her cheek to her neck, serving as a further distraction.

“Do you hear that?”

He hummed against her skin.

Thunderous footsteps banged outside, squishing and spurting in the puddles of mud while the looping chains of the hitching posts crashed together, sending a harsh, bright clanging sound up to the loft of the barn.

“What is that?” (Y/N) asked.

“You know exactly what that is,” Iolaus said, tugging her hips closer.

The slam against the barn door sent the large handle rattling and yanked Iolaus from his heated stupor. Surely the storm’s angry power couldn’t be the manifestation of a godly punishment for two students playing hooky, they thought. But that fear shifted as the warning voice outside eventually gave them a different, but no safer, solution. 

“I don’t think (Y/N) and Iolaus would be in here, sir, Fiducius, sir. I really don’t. But if you insist, I guess we’ll have to go inside the barn and see!”

The pair in the loft shared a look. Eyebrow waggles and waving hands gave silent orders of “Tuck in your tunic” and “Tie back your hair,” while soggy clothes and bread were thrown into their bags. A wicked bale of hale sent Iolaus hurdling to the floor. Then the barn door below slid open. The drumming of rain and Fiducius’ prattling of Iolaus corrupting his best student were deafening to ears that had grown used to accelerated breaths and soft whispers. 

“(Y/N), are you in here? With that Iolaus?” Fiducius called.

Her eyes blew wide, wordlessly begging Iolaus for advice. “Um, yes! Up in the loft?”

Iolaus holding his head in his hands told her she’d given the wrong answer. She slapped his shoulder. The rungs of the loft’s ladder squeaked and Fiducius’ head popped into view.

“What are you doing up here? You should be in class!” he said.

“Is it that time already?” Iolaus asked. He shut his mouth when (Y/N) pinched him.

“I’m sorry, sir,” she said. “I lost track of time. We were only trying to get some studying in before breakfast.”

Their teacher’s nose wrinkled. “Studying?”

“Yes. I’ve been helping Iolaus with his classwork in the mornings and this is the best place to go. It’s… quiet.”

“And!” Hercules added from below the loft. “And with all the rain this morning, you had no idea what time it was because-”

“Because there was no sun,” Fiducius finished. “I see.” His eyes narrowed in on Iolaus’ strategically covered lap. “What is that scroll you have there?”

Iolaus shifted on the bale of hay, moving as far from (Y/N) as possible in the small space. He inspected the scroll, wondering if it could give him any answers for this type of exam. “Poetry, sir. (Y/N)’s been teaching me about… Anna-cree-on…”

“Anacreon,” she corrected.

“Yeah. His poetry. From across the sea.”

Fiducius was not impressed. “Odd thing to study since we’ve never covered modern works in class.”

A noise caught in Iolaus’ throat. He looked to (Y/N) for help. 

“Iolaus asked for it,” she said. “He enjoys poetry.”

Another suspicious hum traveled across the loft. “Come down here now, please. I will escort all of you to class this instant.” Then his head fell as he descended the ladder. 

Before (Y/N) could rise from her seat to follow, Iolaus pulled her into one last kiss. Though it was against her nature, she could have defied all orders to steal another, but Iolaus only smiled at her and stood, leading her to the edge of the loft.

He climbed down the ladder first, ignoring (Y/N)’s mumblings of “I don’t need help” and “I’ve fought off gods, I can handle a shaky ladder.” Before her foot could touch the ground, he grabbed her hips and pulled her out of the barn, clear from Fiducius’ view.

“You didn’t get your hour of reading,” he said.

She shrugged. “I think I got something just as good.”

They parted as Fiducius emerged from the barn and led the way to the main building of the academy, thanking the gods for stopping the rain and mumbling about students turning into muddy hogs to be slopped. He was easily ignored by the couple behind him twisting together like vines of ivy.

(Y/N) looked up to the sky as if watching the dark, rumbling clouds move on to the next village. Truthfully, she was leaning into the arm Iolaus was holding around her and looking into the summer sky of her love, all clear blue eyes and curls like golden rays of sun.

@emrfangirl​ @misslongcep​ @raindancer2004​ @ladybugg1235​ @xxbyimm​ @burningcoffeetimetravel​ @fire-flv​ @nerdbirdsworld​ @dashesofink​ @teagarages​ @dreams-of-wander​ @winchesterandpie​ @bluebellcotton @tumblinglringlring @fxngsfogxarty @specialagentsnark @afeistyfairy12 @queenofmankind @karlthecat15722 @sagabriar @marymegger 

[ditto]

wi rehab week 3 review: the Week™. i KNOW this post is long but god please read about my misfortune if yall want a Saga

current status on raccoons: clement

number of monster energy drinks consumed: 2

number of buns directly killed: 1

Days Since Last Diarrhead on: 1

Baby Raccoon Count: 150ish? probably 130 that need to be bottle fed 

new tasks performed:

baby opossum cage maintenance

baby waterfowl cage maintenance

SQ fluid administration on raccoons

SQ vaccine administration on raccoons

What To Do When Your Tire Goes Flat 101

oral medication administration on possums

CHRONOLOGICAL TALE OF MISFORTUNE: i’m not going to do this regularly but the sheer amount of bad shit that happened this week was COMICAL so let me break down everything that happened to me this work week

MONDAY 6/8

got diarrhead on during 6am raccoon feeding

straight up killed a baby rabbit during bun feeding. they stress real easily and i’m bad at tubing so i had him out for a while and he just fuckin. died. from stress. in my hands. directly because of me being bad at my job. so you know that was uhhhhhhhhhhhhh

shovelled out wet dirty woodchips out of a walk-in enclosure with like 8 goslings using a snowshovel w/ another baby intern. you can’t put a ton of woodchips into one trash bag so we had to keep changing out the trash bag and it was like 92 degrees out and we were both wearing cloth masks and on god i really thought we were gonna die in there

during the pm feeding i get peed on by the EXACT SAME RACCOON that diarrhead on me during the am feeding 

TUESDAY 6/9: the Day(tm)

i have a therapy appointment scheduled at 2pm. my shift is 6am-2pm. i’ll need to leave at 1:30pm to get to it. i tell my supervisors this. it’s chill. i still feel bad about it, because i have anxiety.

right off the bat, i get scolded by my Actual Boss for doing something i watched one of the supervising interns do 

6am raccoon feeding: get diarrhead on again. 

a rac RIPS the fucking nipple off of the baby bottle we’re feeding them with and formula gets fucking everywhere. i say out loud at this moment “IM HAVING A GREAT WEEK”. one of my supervising interns feels bad for me and keeps trying to cheer me up throughout the day. she does make me feel better.

i get dishes which is fine bc i dont mind dishes for real but my hands turn into sandpaper the day after doing dishes for 2 hours so this is more :| than :/. i make jokes about how bad my week is going. the mood is, generally, looking up.

next raccoon feeding is scheduled for noon. raccoons are housed in a separate building, so it’s about a 5 minute drive to get there from the main area. we get ready to leave around 1pm. recap: i need to leave at 1:30pm for a therapy appointment. i’m planning on driving my own car down there so i can do this. it’s chill.

on my way down there, i start hearing the most godawful screeching of metal. i am, quote, “like uhhh.” when i open the gate to turn onto the highway, i stick my head out the window to look

my tire is flat.

i have a flat tire.

my fucking tire is FLAT dude.

>mfw

>

>

pull over after gate

tell the staff member following me “hey i have a flat tire so im probably not going to make it down to feed today” and shes like flkdjsalfksd okay

call the ONE supervising intern whose number i have, who is the one who heard me say IM HAVING A GREAT WEEK, like GUESS WHICH BITCH HAS A FLAT TIRE LMFAOOOOOOO. just making that one call was the funniest fucking thing that’s ever happened in my entire life

to quote her verbatim: “i guess you are having a bad week”

call my dad, who as it turns out was actively teaching a class when i called, so i am well and truly facked and am DEFINITELY not making this therapy appointment

ok. take a deep breath. check my car. i have a donut in my car. i have not changed a tire in three years, and have never changed one in the scenario of I Have A Flat Tire. fack. relay this to the one supervising intern whos number i know (i’m going to call her supervising intern 1 going forward here). ask her if anyone knows how to change a tire. 

supervising intern 1 calls back. apparently there’s a guy who lives on the same property we’re on named donnie. donnie is a maintenance worker who helps out a lot around the rehab place. donnie can help me change my tire. apparently someone currently down feeding raccoons is going to come pick me up and bring me over there so i can continue to feed raccoons until donnie can fix my tire. 

get call from supervising intern 2, whose number i did not have, apparently it got relayed. i ask her if anyone down there can change a tire. she says she can change a tire. she will help me change my tire she finishes on raccoon feeding. ok sounds good. someone is still going to come pick me up.

get call back 10 minutes later. apparently donnie is in the middle of a field right now and it is unlikely that he can fix my tire. someone is still going to come get me to feed raccoons, maybe. i tell her supervising intern 2 can help me change my tire after we finish our shift. she says thats fine. ok cool sick.

try to call therapist. i have no signal. send email which is, verbatim: “Hey! I'm currently on the the side of of the the road in [TOWN 30 MILES AWAY] with a flat tire, so I'm not going to make our appointment today. If we could reschedule for sometime soon, that would be great.” signal is bad, so this ends up being sent at 3pm.

(ALSO I LEARNED ABOUT THIS TODAY BUT APPARENTLY IN THE TIMELINE THERE’S A FIGHT HERE BETWEEN SUPERVISING INTERNS 1 AND 2 OVER HOW THE SITUATION IS PLAYING OUT WHICH IS EQUAL PARTS HILARIOUS AND “MAKES ME FEEL BAD”)

one of the other baby interns comes to pick me up and bring me down to racs. i walk in like AYYYYYYY and start feeding raccoons.

i get diarrhead on again.

i get diarrhead on again again. 

apparently 3 in one day is a record.

my shift is supposed to end at 2pm. we usually end up staying until 2:15-2:30ish, because that’s usually when the other team gets down here. since supervising intern 2 is currently my savior, she is going to drive me back over when the other team gets here and she leaves. other baby interns leave at 2:15ish, i think. 

the other team is, apparently, running late. they get here at 3pm.

supervising intern 2 drives me back over at 3pm. we get to my car.

the donut is on.

the tire is in the trunk.

apparently donnie was, in fact, able to come change my tire. no one told me this. 

im like ok. this is fine. i tell supervising intern 2 thank u for my life. i leave.

my donut has a 50mph max speed limit. i tell google maps to avoid highways on my way home. this turns my 30 minute drive home into a 50 minute one, and still ends up with me being terrifyingly tailgated by trucks for going 10 miles under the speed limit. i almost, but do not, run out of gas on the way home.

i get home around 4:10pm. i call the auto shop across the street from me and tell them i have a flat tire, but i need the car by 6am tomorrow. do they think they can have it fixed by then. they tell me to bring it over and they’ll let me know.

i bring the car over. i give them my keys. i say thank you and leave.

i realize that my garage door opener is in my car, which is now locked. i have no other way into the house, because our garage door keypad has been broken for 2 years. the sliding glass door in the backyard is locked.

i walk back into the auto shop 5 minutes later and ask in the Polite But Obviously Having A Day tone if i can have my keys back so i can get it. i get my garage door opener out of my car. i give the keys back.

i enter my home. i lay spread-eagled on my bed for one hour.

auto place calls back and tells me they fixed the tire. im like did you replace it or did u fix it. theyre like we fixed it come on over. i almost cry on the phone.

go back over. guy is like “ya u ran over a screw LOL”. gives me my keys back. i wait to pay

after a bit hes like “you dont have to pay anything. this is on the house.”

almost cry

thank him

get car

go home

eat

shower

go to bed at 8pm 

WEDNESDAY (6/10)

everyone at work is immediately like AYYY and in general just very nice about the whole thing. i thank everyone involved for helping. its chill

dont get diarrhead on this feeding but i do get bit for like NO got dam reason what the fack

next up is cleaning juvenile cages and i swear to god i get the nastiest. fucking. raccoon cage i have ever seen in my entire life. there was an...i wanna say eigth-of-an-inch thick layer of raccoon diarrhea across this 2 foot x 4 foot cage

like on GOD the smell was so bad i was gagging through a goddamn cloth mask just. oh my god. i had to just go stand outside and stare into the abyss afterwards for a few minutes it was so NASTY IT WAS SO NASTY

mercifully, i am spared from further misfortune for the rest of the day. i come home. i am so tired.

WAIT I HAVE TO MENTION THAT SUPERVISING INTERN 1 HAD SUCH BAD LUCK FEEDING RABBITS TODAY SO LIKE...my luck is contagious 

notes and observations

anyone who is anti-euthanasia in animal shelters and any other large-scale animal welfare places in general can absolutely suck my dick

most other baby animals will generally have various stages of “baby x”, but opossums look like Adults Except Tiny from a very early age. they have stolen my heart.

birds are poopy little creatures

[shuwuwua]

farmboy!joshua

in which your first time in the rural countryside–crap internet, 20 minute drives to the nearest grocery store, random deer in the roads, and all–is not bad. not bad at all. (aka joshua and animals and being very soft) [fluff]

word count: 3k

disclaimer: not all rural areas are the same. you can get high speed internet. (just not in my personal experience lmao)

you were born, raised, and spent most of your livelihood in the same city

a proper skyscraper sort of city, not a “it’s bigger than a town so i guess we have to call it a city but the tallest building here is still only 4 stories high” city

your family wasn’t really one for vacations but this summer your parents decided to switch it up and spend a few weeks with your relatives who live in the countryside

and although you’ve been skeptical as to what’s possibly worth spending that long in the boonies, you figure it’s been a while since you saw those relatives and don’t say much against it

you’ve tried unsuccessfully for the past few days to avoid nature by browsing YouTube, but it’s proving difficult with your relatives’ lack of surfable internet

they finally suggest you go to the petting zoo

and you snort a little at first bc it’s not your ideal pastime but you suppose that’s what you gotta work with now in the boonies

so you drive to the nearby petting zoo. you exit your car.

and your hit with the Smell™ (of dried grass and poop, to clarify)

and you’re like. oh yeah. i’m definitely in the countryside.

you proceed.

as you walk up the path to the main buildings, you see some of the larger animals around you. horses. cows. the pigs are outside feeding at this hour. you’re kind of in awe because you’ve never seen a Live Cow and,,, they’re kinda cool how they’re so chill and they look sorta Smooth like they’d be really pettable and you wonder if you’d be able to milk one or smthn

but you’re getting a little ahead of yourself.

you open the barn door. and are immediately hit with more Smell™

you wonder if it’ll attach to your clothes. you figure you will deal with it later.

there is something else to deal with at the moment.

“wait, no–lucky! come back!” someone yelps as they rush around in front of you, chasing what seems to be a ball of fur that moves at the speed of light

or a puppy. same thing, really. 

that someone takes a giant leap of faith, only to just barely miss the pup and end up face first on the floor, which you can’t imagine being the most sanitary of surfaces

you look away in search of the flurry of fur. you can’t see it, but you can definitely hear it. unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like it has a collar, so you prepare yourself to scoop it up completely rather than grabbing its collar. as expected, it runs into your direction and you launch at it...

success!

lucky squirms in your grasp, barking and sniffing at your shirt. they must decide that you’re an agreeable human, because they start trying to lick your face

“wow, you caught him!” you look up at seemingly the body from earlier

and like,, not to exaggerate but is this what looking at an angel is like?

the boy you’re looking at looks back with such bright eyes and with a gaze full of affection, although after a second you realize the affection is probably for the dog. he has the best smile you’ve seen in a good while, because people you pass by in the city don’t smile that much. he just radiates Warm and Good and is probably great for business, because he’s just as cute as the puppy who is still going at your chin

“i… yeah, guess i did. uh, you kind of have straw all over you” is what you settle on saying to him, because out of all the things you noticed about him, your brain decides that the straw and dirt still sticking to his cheek and various parts of his shirt were the most acceptable features to point out. while they weren’t the more flattering options, they probably saved you from the complete AWKWARDNESS that would have come from mentioning his eyes or beaming smile or really anything else bc the straw and dirt were the only flaws.

“oh!” he exclaims, straightening up and brushing off his shirt

“… here too,” you say, grasping lucky in one arm as you move your other hand to your cheek

of course, he wipes at the wrong side.

“the other side”

“right. ok. am i good? sorry, that’s not a great first impression.” 

he still has a smear, but you decide it’s probably not going to budge and he’ll figure it out later. and he has no clue what a great first impression it was. clearly. “no, it’s fine.” 

he continues to smile at you and you’re still crouched, clutching lucky. lucky then decides to yelp because he’s tired of the severe lack of attention, which snaps you back to the situation. 

“oh, right.” you stand and give lucky back. 

“here he is!”

once lucky is back in the boy’s arms, he immediately starts to lick at his jaw. the boy sighs and pulls a treat out of the pocket of his apron, waving it around lucky’s face. “what are we going to do with you?” 

he turns back to you. “sorry about that, lucky is a very excited young pupper, as you just saw. the most problematic of all his siblings. anyway, i’m joshua! welcome to nabiya petting zoo. is it your first time here?”

you nod. “er. it’s actually my first time in this area, or in this part of the country, really. i’m from a pretty big city.”

“oh! well, a bigger welcome, then. i hope you enjoy your stay.” 

he rubs lucky between his ears. “isn’t it nice to get away from the busy urban life sometimes? i’ve always thought it’s really relaxing around here.”

“yeah, it seems… nice so far,” you say loosely, reflecting on how you haven’t really seen enough to come to that conclusion

he still has that warm smile. “i’m going to put lucky in his pen. hm… you’re the only one who’s come in so far today, so i could show you around if you want?”

“yeah, sure! i haven’t seen a lot of these before,” you reply, going down the list of animals at the side on the wall.

“ok, i’ll be right back!”

when he comes back y’all walk around n look at things and he asks you if you want to hold or feed some animals and you take everything pretty well, more than even you expect

you look at the normal domestic sort of animals like a litter of kittens, and the pen with lucky and his other pupper brothers and sisters

typical farm animals like pigs and sheep

sheep are not as fluffy as you imagine, they’re actually kind of gross looking if they haven’t had a bath recently

nonetheless you find them kind of cute, and you even pet one of the rams, aptly named… sam the ram

something tells you joshua was responsible for the name

you guys go out to the field and observe some turkeys strutting around

“huh so that’s the thing you see in clipart, the thing hanging off their faces”

“yeah it’s called a snood”

“LOL huH”

“only the dudes have snoods”

“um”

“during mating season, female turkeys pick male turkeys with longer snoods. you could say they’re in the snood for love.”

“please stop”

y’all spend a lot of time with the rabbits bc “bunnies are my favorite animal” says josh as he crouches next to a brown fluffball of a bunny, petting it

it’s just such a Good n Wholesome scene you can’t help but let slip “wow ur so cute”

he looks up, but his expression says he is otherwise unbothered

“sorry, what’d you say?”

“i SA ID the buNNY is sO cuTE” panics

“oh” joshua says. “alright” he turns back to the bunny, a tiny smile on his face

before you know it, 4 hours have passed and your stomach is letting you know dinnertime is approaching, so you bid josh farewell and wonder if you’ll ever see him again because that was a hecking nice 4 hours

you find yourself coming back again two days later lmao

today, joshua is putting out slop for the pigs. he grins at you. 

“hey again. what brings you back so soon?”

you find some excuse like “ykno i just bonded with sam the ram so well i had to come back, we’re bros now” and josh just laughs softly at you

“ok. you wanna look at some horses today?”

“whoa. o-okay.”

when he brings them out ngl you’re kinda intimidated bc like,, they’re some toL bois.

one time you saw a pony at the state fair but that was smol n cute and walked at a pace of 3 miles an hour

but these horses?? threatening. now you understand where the horse in horsepower comes from

“hey, don’t look so scared. they’re harmless!” the black stallion chooses that moment to snort and buck a little. 

you gulp.

“no, really.” he pets the stallion. “snuffles has never hurt anyone.”

you blink

“,,, snuffles ??”

joshua gives you a hard stare. “7 year old me thought that was an appropriate name and today years old me still thinks it’s fine”

you raise your hands to say “ok man ur turf ur way”

joshua clears his throat dramatically and turns back to ,, snuffles. “so aNyway, i brought snuffles out because i think he’s the best for a beginner to ride, and i’m assuming you’ve never ridden a horse before.”

“yeah i haven’t… wait did you say we’re gonna riDE them??”

“yeah, we don’t usually let people do that but i feel like you need the whole farm experience so you can go home and tell your friends the country isn’t just yeehaw and old town”

“but like… isn’t this just proving the point of old town? you literally have the horses in the back.”

“however, my hat is not matte black. i don’t even have a cowboy hat. or Wrangler. or anything else the song mentions. just the horses.”

“ok joshua if it makes u happy i will take snuffles to the old town road”

he gives u a big :D

he instructs you on how to mount the horse and stands behind you in case you start falling but thankfully you don’t so we don’t have to go over any kind of cliche

~ gripping of the waist for balance ~

or

~ catching you in his arms ~

scenes

: ))

“hey, good job! give snuffles some pats or something.” you reach a hand out to stroke the side of snuffles’s face. he whinnies a bit. Well frick, you think, that was kind of cute.

joshua decides he’ll walk some laps around with you before letting you actually ride snuffles by yourself. after you seem to be comfortable, you guys walk/trot around some and that’s how the rest of that afternoon goes :)

picture this with me

the sun is low in the sky

and y’all and your horses are just looking out over the hill

skin lookin immaculate bc it’s the golden hour

a massive grin you don’t even realize you have on your face.

and then you gotta go home, as your stomach reminds you again.

over your stay at your relatives’ place, you visit the petting zoo more times

you and josh become pretty comfortable with each other

he always has a lot of time to spend with you bc people don’t come that much this early in the summer, and in general they don’t get a huge amount of traffic but that’s okay financially bc the petting zoo is just a side thing, it’s mainly his family’s farm

and so you learn more things about him and his family from your times together, you guys sometimes sit around with some lemonade and hold some bunnies. lucky has also taken a liking to you, so you hold him a lot.

joshua tells you about his parents having always wanted to live peaceful and healthy lives, eating their own produce, moved to the area before he was born and it just expanded into the farm.

so although no one lives on the farm, they live pretty close by and he spent most of his childhood around all the animals.

you wonder if he was born with the soft, patient, and gentle nature needed to care for all the animals or if the animals shaped him to be that way.

but on top of that, he really loves spending time with them. even though he’s there basically every day, he never seems tired of his job.

“but what about you though? i’ve never really been that far from here, so i wonder what a big city is like.”

you trade your chaotic urban stories for his peaceful rural ones, and he trades his farm accident horrors for your memories of solidarity in the city.

you tell him about all the great food, countless different flavors of restaurants and a bubble tea chain every few blocks

you tell him about the convenience, the variety of transportation and the proximity of things, like basic groceries

the crowded sidewalks, the crowded metro, the crowded shops

the neon signs that light up the night, the period of quiet and calm somewhere around 3 in the morning, when you can open the window and hear the city nightlife in its most muted yet most raw state.

not only has time in the countryside made you appreciate it more, but also your home life more.

while you’re still wrapped in your memories, joshua smiles softly at you from the side. lemonade long forgotten, ice long melted. “that sounds really nice. your stories make me want to visit you in your hometown some time.”

huh. he could’ve just said visit the city, but he said visit you in your hometown. joshua has such a way with making the conversation personal.

you process what he said again and think about what it’d be like if he came. you could take him to all those places you raved about… it’d be like…

,,, a bunch of dates really. your brain frazzles a bit at the thought.

“… yeah! … that’d be pretty cool.”

and that’s how your afternoons pass these days. lemonade at the side, bunnies in hand, breeze passing through hair.

eventually josh asks you if you want to hang out like… nOT at the petting zoo

and you’re like whoa ok what’s your idea

and he’s like “can you meet me at watchtower hill tomorrow at 8pm?” 

he thinks about what he just said and quickly follows with “i know that’s kind of a really late time, but i promise i have no nefarious intent! oh, shoot that makes it seem like i do. i really don’t i promise! i just wanted to show you what the sunset and night sky are like in the countryside. oh, i just spoiled it…” he flashes you an awkward smile and some finger guns. “yep, that’s what we’re doing! no nefarious activities.”

you grin at him. “calm down dude, i didn’t think like that in the first place. i’m usually out even later at home anyway.”

he rubs the back of his head and laughs it off with you.

you do meet the next day at 8pm. he brings some midnight snacks that his mom made. except they’re not really midnight snacks, because you’re not trying to stay out there until midnight (spoiler: you do, because y’all yak a lot)

you guys sit on your jackets, watching the sunset. it’s the kind of temperature that’s says it was mad hot during the day, but now that the sun is going down, it’s cooled into a pleasant room temperature with an occasional warm breeze. 

for once you all don’t say much, because it’s nice to just share the moment. 

you reflect on how you’ve come to experience the area recently. most of it was the petting zoo, but sometimes you’d take up some of joshua’s suggestions about the area and report back to him how the experience was later on. 

looking out at the sun that bleeds out into the blueish black night, you think that it’s been a pretty good time here, and maybe it does have an edge on city life.

as the last of warm colors finally seep out of the sky, the moon takes over the night and the stars become more apparent than you’ve ever seen before.

seriously, it’s a scene out of a movie. you know, the wide screen shot of the protagonists staring at the sky, mystified. the panorama over the constellations that twinkle down at you, a little gift from the galaxy.

“i’ve never seen the sky like this. all the twinkling lights in the city come from the streets, and the buildings. which are pretty in their own way, i think. but Mother Nature… is really something else,” you say.

“yeah,” he says, looking at you as you’re still in awe at the sky. “something else.”

a few more moments pass, but it’s a timeless night as the sky is frozen in space.

joshua lays back on his jacket.

“hey,, maybe this is sort of crazy but.”

you turn to him, raising a brow.

“it’s been really, uh.. it’s been. really awesome getting to know you. i’ve just kind of… seen the same sorts of things all my life. the same sorts of people. i mean! of course, everyone is unique in their own way but! you know.” he takes a glance at you. “rural folks, urban folks. there’s a difference. so I’ve really enjoyed talking with you. uh, i mean i enjoy talking to you regardless of if you’re from the city or not!”

he puts a palm to his face and sighs. from behind his hand, he says, “i just like you.”

“i like you too, joshua! you’re a really great guy.”

“no, not like that. i mean. i like you.” he finally removes his hand.

you blink a little. and finally burst into a grin. “yeah. i like you too. you’re a really great guy.”

it’s his turn to blink

you lie back as well. he slowly starts to smile next to you

the stars above shine on.

yeah. this is a life you could get used to, too.

a/n: i stole the snood puns from a website i was reading sry website. hope you guys enjoyed and i had a lot of fun writing joshua this way (he’s all squishy, not exactly canon i would say lol)

[hobidara]

3 am; Zach Herron

a/n: another Zach imagine Bc I’m slowly swerving to Daniel and jack’s lane and I’m trying to stay loyal to Zachary ok!! I really hate the titles of my imagines btw

genre: fluff

words: 1,421

+

“Zach?” You ask quietly, your left hand rubbing your eye.

“Were you asleep?” He asks back in a hush tone as well.

Your heart swells up at the sight of him at your door late at night but you quickly cover it up by rolling your eyes at his question, stepping back to give him space to walk in to your dorm room.

“Obviously, i was. It’s 3 am.”

“Yeah.” He sighs, plopping down on your bed. You glance at him before locking the door again.

“So, what’s up?” You ask, sitting down beside him on your single bed.

“I had a nightmare.” He replies, running his fingers in his hair which is not styled with gel like usual. And when its not styled and is just falling down on his forehead, he looks absolutely adorable like a puppy.

“What was it?”

“A ghost was chasing me.”

You stare at him for a good 10 seconds before shaking your head, “Typical Zachary Dean Herron.”

“Yeah, Yeah. Whatever.” He groans.

You smile at him before lying down on your previous position on the bed before he interrupted your sleep.

“Well, you can stay here tonight. I have class in the morning so I’m going back to sleep.” You say, pulling the blanket over your body and trying to act nonchalant at the fact that he might sleep on the same bed with you.

“No, you don’t.”

“I don’t what?”

“Your class starts at 2:30 on Fridays.” He says, looking down at you.

“2:30 is morning for me.” You reply, already closing your eyes.

You hear him click his tongue, muttering something about having 8 hours of sleep for a human is enough.

Noticing he is not lying down beside you, you open an eye to look at him.

“Are you going to sit there like that the whole night?”

He averts his eyes from the plain wall to your eyes.

“Yeah..?”

You blink, nodding at the space beside you.

“W-What?” He questions.

“Zach, I knew you were stupid but I didn’t know you would be this stupid.” You groan. “You can sleep beside me.”

He opens his mouth and closes it again before opening it again. “Are you sure?”

“I don’t want to sound cringe but what are bestfriends for?”

He nods his head slowly before lying down beside you which you also notice the fact that he was hesitant.

Well, the first time you met this guy was on the first day of class which was 3 months ago. When you saw him, you didn’t think you guys would click and become best friends as he somehow looked like a fuckboy who by the way, looks amazingly good and also smells great.

“Goodnight.” You mumble, finally closing your eyes with a sigh of relief.

You literally swear at him when he calls your name again.

“What is your problem!?”

He flinches slightly at your annoyed tone.

“Sorry. Nothing.”

You pinch his arm lightly, turning your body on the side to face him.

“What?” You ask deadly.

“I said it’s nothing.”

“Oh yeah?”

He glances at you and looks away quickly, something he does a lot when he’s lying.

“Bro, you are lying.” You say.

“Fine!” He grumbles. “I was just um, wondering if you have ever seen me as a guy.”

“Zach, I am aware you are a guy and that is why I always kick you in the balls when you get on my nerves.”

“No! I mean, like..” He trails off, “You seem chill with the fact that a guy is sleeping beside you on the same bed.”

“I am not a whore.”

“Y/N, I didn’t mea—“

“I know!” You cut him off, “I was being sarcastic and of course I am chill. It’s you who is on the same bed with me and who are you? Zach Herron, my bestfriend.”

lies

He rolls his eyes, “Can you stop repeating the fact that I’m your bestfriend? It’s like rubbing in my face 24/7 that I am friendzoned.”

“Um, it’s not called friendzoned unless you like me or something.”

He whips his head towards you suddenly, “What did you say?”

“What— isn’t that the definition for friendzone?”

“Y/N, don’t tell me you don’t remember —“ he cuts himself off, groaning for the umpteenth time tonight.

“What?” You ask, confusion taking over you. “Am I supposed to remember something?”

“Jonah’s party...you remember?” He asks, hesitating.

“Yeah. The first and last time I ever drank alcohol.”

“You remember what happened, right?”

“I got drunk.”

He bites his lips, making you go insane, “Anything else?”

“What? I went there and tried alcohol and got extremely drunk and that’s it?” You reply, coming out more like a question than an answer.

“How did you get home?”

“I guess you carried me here?”

He repeats, “You guess?”

“Yeah. You were the only one I went to that party with so.”

He huffs, “Wait a minute. You are telling me you don’t really remember what happened.”

“I don’t know what you mean but —“

“Y/N, we kissed.”

Your jaw drops and you look at him, shocked.

“W-We, as in you and m-me?” You ask.

“Yes.” He replies, his voice a lot deeper and quieter than before for some reason.

“Do you not remember?” He asks.

“No.” You answer, shaking your head furiously. “You never told me.”

“That’s because I thought you regretted it and just wanted to remain as friends with me.” 

“Zach, I —“ You pause, taking a deep breath, you utter, “I like you.”

He lets out a shaky breath before he abruptly, cups your cheek and pulls your face downwards towards his. A small surprised squeal leaves your lips when he presses his lips against yours. 

Seeing his closed eyes, you also close your eyes, following his lead in the kiss.

His lips are so soft just like how you’ve always imagined. You rest your hand on his chest, needing something for support though you are seated on your bed and there’s no way you would fall down from it.

And also at the same time, you feel his fast heartbeat under your palm which makes you wonder if he could hear yours as well. 

He pulls away from the kiss. Still cupping your cheek, he looks at your eyes and that’s when you notices his dilated pupils. 

“I like you too.” He whispers. “It was like since a week after I met you. I really thought the kiss was just a mistake to you.”

You gulp, feeling your cheeks turning red at his gaze on you. “I’m sorry. I don’t remember it.” 

He nods, sighing but with a smile on his lips, he pulls you down on the bed beside him again as earlier, half of your body was seated from you trying to make him answer why he called your name. 

“But I do.” He says, intertwining your fingers with his bigger and longer ones. 

“We arrived back here, in your dorm and I was in the middle of taking your shoes off and you just abruptly pulled me and kissed me.”

“And then?”

“You giggled and fell asleep.” He chuckles, brushing your bangs away from your face. 

You sigh again, “I’m sorry.”

“Stop saying that.” He replies, his brows furrowed. “At least, I now know that you like me too.”

You respond with a nod, feeling extremely shy at this whole situation.

“Will you be my girlfriend?” He asks suddenly, catching you off guard. You tip your head upwards to look at him. 

“I know we kissed but I haven’t asked you the official question.” He says, quoting official with his other hand which isn’t holding yours.

“Yes.” You reply. “My answer is yes.” 

He chuckles dreamily before fishing his phone out of his pocket, muttering about what date is today.

“March 25th.” He grins, also showing you the date on his phone. “Our monthsary would be on Christmas!” He giggles, putting his phone beneath the pillow. 

The fact that he’s thinking about monthsary — the future with you makes you smile and you reach up to squish his red cheeks. 

“I like you.” You repeat. “A lot.”

“You are scaring me.” He replies jokingly, causing you to scoff and pull away from him but of course, he doesn’t let you by snaking his arm around your waist and pulling you closer to him. 

“I like you, Y/N.” He says as you also wrap your arms around his torso.

[neo-shitty]

toffee!

ah yeah i suppose ur right. yeah i think quarentine has had that sort of effect on a lot of people :( sorry to hear abt ur strict parents, hopefully ur friend will be able to come back soon. small outings (even with family) are still good tho, make sure ur taking care of urself toff.

youre totally right! ah yes thats good advice (/gen) ill try and use that when im in a slump ty. any music suggestions?

lol sames. even some of the stuff abt seungmin, innie etc is a little uncomfortable, like theyre grown ass men for sure, but at the same time, theyre still young, still just over being a teenager in the grand scheme of things. (on that note, i do struggle with worrying that im infantalising them, obviously theyre adults but at the same time, theyre still young. i do treat all fictional characters as my children, but i guess its different when its real people. idk. what do you think?) yeah some stans rlly need to take a chill pill, some are rlly walking the wire between 'ah theyre attractive/that look rlly suits them' and making fucking smut fics abt minors, like... they do not see a problem with that?? yeah tbh i feel like unless theyre 18 they shouldnt be put into the spotlight, weve seen what it does to peoples mental health, but modern day kpop industry is a lot like old hollywood with a lot of popular child actors -_- hopefully the big companies will learn but i agree, its unlikely

suuuuure toff haha. ill go searching for them, but idk if ill be able to find the fluff needle in the angst haystack (jkjk) yeah, fair i groan and complain but you do write angst etc rlly well, so if its what ur comfortable with, then pls continue, it is one of your strong suits, well as you write fluff aside

ah okay good! ill continue to send you essays then

THE ALBUM YES. so ive been looking forward to it for literally months, this is actually my first skz album release as a stay (since the last on was 9 months ago) i was sitting there hitting refresh on my spotify the second 6pm kst came around. (speaking of which, how did you do the release? i couldnt decide whether to watch or listen first but i ended up on listening cos there would be more material) okay: so cheese was super cool, very skz ya know? tho i almost wish theyd made domino the title track, tho obv it was a more experimental track and would have been a bit controversial (much like whistle for bp) i looooved domino and thunderous was absolutely impeccable. all the songs were amazing but standouts were- secrets, secrets which lowkey made me tear up idk why, red lights which almost killed me (it did not have to go that hard, but it did) and OT8 WOLFGANG omgggg i wasnt sure if hyunjin was going to be included in it but i was hoping and, ya know people had said hed be in there, but the further i got in, the less i was sure and then BAM hyunjin started what had been jisung's part and i just sat there grinning for about 5 minutes. surfin was absolutely adorable and gone away almost made me cry AGAIN. star lost was so touching, almost a nod to hyunjins little star? silent cry was relatable beyond anything. SSICK was funny? for some reason I was laughing while it was playing, idk the combination of added cheering and minhos aggressiveness and the totall seriousness they sung it. but i rlly enjoyed it. sorry i love you showcased their vocals like nothing else. the view is THE BOP of 2021, absolutely going to be stuck in my head for the next decade, that hook is genius. what did you think?

also did you watch their grow up performance? with all the stays and ALL THE TEARS? ;n; i feel like this is the end of an era of skz and tbh im kinda happy but also sad. super excited for their promotions but super bummed they wont get to tour. ah well

<3 w.a. 🐺

answer under the cut bc i gave an equally long answer to this already long ask HAJSH

oh yeah, abt quarantine having an effect. my friend and i talked about this earlier actually. i didn't realize the world was moving so fast until the pandemic happened. being in quarantine gave me time to think and i got to know myself more. it's just the sole good thing i got out of the isolation lmao. and abt my strict parents, ironically i got to go out today so i got to hang out with a few of my bestfriends. i had fun but my legs are a bit sore from walking. but they're a different set of friends. i'll get to hang out with the others when my getaway driver comes home in december.

hmm music recommendations for writing? depends on the plot you're writing. care to share what story you're working on and i'll try to rake my brain for a song that might match the vibe. i listen to classical / lo-fi if i don't have song inspo for a fic because lyrics sometimes distract me.

i don't think that's infantilizing tho. for me, it has something to do with my environment and the way i was raised. maybe it's the same the other way around? like this certain age (for the ones above 18 but below 20) is thirst-able for them. idk really. it's just not for me ?n? what i do NOT condone is writing smut for minors??? like get checked : D // i agree with everything with the idols being 18+ before they debut simply because it's for the best for their well-being like. how can young idols decide that this shit is the thing they want to do for life? or at least until their contracts last. idk :// it's unfortunate that it's unlikely to happen.

WELL. i have a list so you won't have to go search for them! in class (minho), in the rain (seungmin), gladius maximus (chan) and you've read five star already. and i just realized that most, if not all, of my upcoming fics are fluffs and i'm fond of all of them :D i used to focus a lot on angst because fluff disgusted the living shit out of me. i think things changed when i wrote champagne problems and hurt myself so bad i wanted to drop angst entirely. i didn't, of course, but i allowed myself to be self-indulgent now.

for the release of the album, i was on twt and watched the vid at 12 views (if i remember correctly, i watched back door at 14 so HASJH) i’m gonna talk by track so it wont be too confusing? bc i wrote this in paragraph format and it just ???? beware im very picky with tracks even if they’re my ults. so no offense if we have opposing opinions and i’m not fond of reading lyrics so these are all music wise.

cheese - oh god i hated cheese at first listen but it grew on me easily. i was singing the yeahyeahyeahyeah bit all day today :D

thunderous - i cant say that it’s my favorite title track. it felt really dry sometimes, both mv and music wise. but at the same time, it’s not that bad. the choreography carried the song tho o.O it’s so fucking cool. but like go live, another track has my heart and it’s

domino - AND YES I AGREE THAT THEY SHOULDVE MADE DOMINO TITLE TRACK UGHHHHH WHAT A WASTED FUCKING OPPORTUNITY. WORDS CANNOT EXPRESS HOW FOND I AM OF THIS SONG. it stands close to the level i love easy.

ssick - was a skip on first listen too because i found the chorus underwhelming but it grew on me? not that much but i can bear listening to it.

the view - it’s something the gen public like, hence its something i dislike. im not fond of songs that are structured like this? it’s not a bad song, just not the type of song i like. but i agree that the hook is very not catchy but it would get stuck in ur head.

sorry, i love you - it’s not as sad as i expected but i actually like it??? i can’t wait to write a fic out of it (1) HAJSHAJ it’s like a 3/5 for me. it’s angsty but chill?

silent cry - i’m pissed at this song bc it hits but sometimes it doesn’t?@?#!? but it’s starting to grow on me but definitely not my fave track.

secret secret - glad i found a secret secret enthusiast because my irls thought it was a skip?$?#@$? it gives me ikon vibes and i’m a huge fan of ikon’s discog so this was a win for me T_T +

STAR LOST - gives me bigbang song vibes and now im very sad :(( in case u didnt know, i’m a hUGE yg fan and 2ne1/bigbang introduced me to kpop so when i heard this track that gave me yg feels i just <3___<3 and it’s one of my favorite tracks anw moving on,

red lights - I WANT TO SKIP THE FIRST TEN SECONDS OF RED LIGHTS EVERY TIME IT PLAYS LIKE IT MAKES ME FEEL AWKWARD KDSJFSK but fine. i’m adding this to props and mayhem’s playlist LMAO it’s more aggressive than sexc tho. more enemies to lovers o. O

surfin’ - this coming right after red lights just wasn’t the best decision arrangement wise because how did we go from ooh sexc to aigh pARTAY. felix saying sheesh T___T it’s such a fun song i want to go to the beach ;n; do you like beaches?

gone away - i have yet to read the lyrics because i’m using this as inspo for a jeongin fic jskjash it’s not the type of ballad i like but it’s so fucking sad to listen to :’ ) the pitch change caught me off guard? still does. it’ll grow on me prolly.

wolfgang - I YELLED WHEN I HEARD HYUNJIN IN WOLFGANG. i didn’t like this song until recently. it gives me the confidence boost i need to pick myself off self-esteem crashes.

and no i haven't watched that performance and i prolly wont because i’ll cry. i’m excited for the promotions too. do you think they’ll still have a repackage?? i cant fucking believe that i just finished waiting for 12am kst for skz teasers and now i have to look forward to 12am for nct 127??@?#? NOT A SINGLE DAY OF REST FOR THIS STAYZEN

[survivesalem]

Episode 5 - “things got extremely messy.” -Raffy

After voting out Keegan, things got extremely messy. Lukas basically threw an entire tantrum in the tribe chat (which he claims wasn't one, but we all know it is one) that rubbed me completely the wrong way. He somehow found out that I was a person who threw the challenge last round. Apparently, someone in my alliance is a little rat. It wasn't Brien. And it wasn't Jessie. Because he's mad at Brien as well (didn't know Brien was flipping at all) and Jessie didn't know that we were throwing. That leaves Jay and Mac. Lukas apparently has quotes from the conversation that occurred. It can't be Jay because I never mentioned throwing in our PMs, so it has to be Mac who was probably trying to cover his own spot. That's why he keeps sending voice messages instead of text. He's definitely too strategic and wily. He's trying to cover himself on all bases when he doesn't need to. If he wasn't on my target list before, I know he is now. I don't know why he did it, but I am going to snake him out. Someone did tell Lukas. I feel like I can trust that. But all of this nonsense Lukas pulled has just sealed his fate. Also, on an alliance call, Mac was a little too quick to be like "I'll put a throw away vote on one of you to throw people on the other tribe off." And he wants to throw the challenge again? This dude needs to learn that not everything can be based on strategy. He's the traitor and I need to watch what I say to him from now on. We really need to win this challenge though. Because I am now in a super uncomfortable position with all that has happened.

So. My plan worked 100%. Mastermind shit. Things popped off afterwards. Lukas was a lil messy and quite annoying about being left out, even though they said A) Lukas said he knew Keegan was getting votes and B) Lukas and Keegan are good mates. Now, here’s my issue. Raffy doesn’t wanna throw this next challenge. I mean fair enough BUT...I’m pretty sure Raffy and Lukas are working together, and Raffy would want to flip at merge, probably take Jessie too. That’s super worrying. I’m happy the 5-2 vote worked perfectly. I just need some damn Olive Oil for this idol!

To be completely honest this is the most comfortable I felt all game and I know in survivor you’re not supposed to feel comfortable bc that’s when you’re blindsided but I would bet my bottom dollar that the vote is coming down to Keegan and Mac unless something changes hours before tribal.  the 4some of me raffy jay and Mac is strong at least for the time being Lukas and Keegan suspect something which means one of 2 things. 1 someone told them something or 2 everyone is being quiet with them and they are getting suspicious. I hope this is the right vote for me to allow me to make merge and not be the next boot but I know one thing is Lukas is gonna be mad coming back to camp without Keegan I came into this tribe I observed the dynamics and saw it was 3-3-1 but I took the swing vote power away from Jessie and flipped myself to hopefully give me more agency later in the game and more allies amongst all the original tribes. I feel bad voting Keegan but it’s the name of the game and he seems like a real nice guy otherwise

So tribal went well for me I stayed . I really thought Keegan was gonna pull some sort of advantage out but that never happened . So then we are all chilling on call a few minutes after tribal and Lukas joins the call and accuses us of throwing the last challenge . Everyone seemed kinda shocked so I was like yeah no we didn’t throw the challenge . So after that he spammed the chat for a good twenty minutes . I think he was drunk or high idk . Anyways according to him I have a blue aura and I am a Twizzler /jolly rancher when it comes to candy . So that was an eventful night oh yeah I also told the tribe to please give me the easy puzzle because I’m not good at puzzles . So today comes around and everyone’s quiet until Brien comes to me asking how I’d feel about a trio and of course I’m gonna accept like the fuck? Why wouldn’t I accept a group of some sorts I’ve been trying to get in one all game . So me, Brien and Mac the oak tree man are now a trio which is cool because I vibe with them. I’m also vibing with this lovely puzzle its spooky spooky . I am also loving these random items I pick up that don’t help me get advantages I’m really hoping there’s some merge spells that include this items . I mean I’m looking ahead to merge when I may not make it that far but I’m gonna hope I do . I really need to stop with these long confessionals but these are my thoughts so you know gotta get them out there ! Anyways witch out 🔮

Brien came up to me thinking about how Lukas knew about the throwing. He thinks Mac was the one to do it as well. I am glad we are both on the same page because I now can express my plans for if we go to tribal. I want everyone to put a vote on Lukas, then I want one of either Brien or I to put a vote on Mac. That way it will turn into a 5-1-1 vote. If Lukas plays an idol, then it will tie between whoever he voted for and Mac. And if he voted for Mac then it's even better. I told all of this to Brien who was concerned about how we would do if Mac did not go home. I told him that we can blame the stray vote on Jessie. At the very least, Brien and I do not trust Mac anymore. Thank god someone sees his treachery besides me. Brien was also concerned about Jay's relationship with Lukas. I feel the same way, but I think that Jay will stick with us in the long term because Jay is smart. I have no plans at the moment to turn on him like I do with Mac. However, I am going to keep my Lukas dislike at a minimum so that I do not rub Jay the wrong way. Who knew that I would end up being a duo with Brien lol. I've talked to Jessie more than I've had in the past few rounds which is good. She seems to be oblivious and not believe Lukas in the throwing. But, she might make for a great ally and snoop if we go to tribal. Because of the mess that tribal might become, I am really hoping that we can pull out this win. I've gotten the best that I possibly can get, and I put the people who would most likely throw on the same section so as not to fuck us up (Lukas and Mac). Crossing my fingers that all this planning is for naught and I can relax tomorrow for my mini.

JUST A QUICK BACKTRACK I REALLY DID EXPOSE AUSTIN AND GET HIM VOTED OUT I'M SHOOK ANYWAY. I think being shy is a bit part of my nature at first so I think I've come off as a lil blunt or not caring or something, I think that's also why I don't really have a solid alliance. I miss my boi Mac! I love Mac I truly do and not in a romantic way or anything but he's literally a brother and a friend for life. I wanna meet up with him and possibly meet people who are more willing to work with me. I miss Jessie too! I actually really liked her so I would love to work with her again. Gizmo right now is someone who I think I wanna work with the most I can see us 2, Alex & either Paolo or Christian forming something and taking out someone like Dylan who is super intelligent. I love Dylan I think they're a great person but Dylan is like a walking Wikipedia and Zach has also shown his strategically strong in the game. I've been using the "I'm new to ORG's this is my first what do I do" thing a lot but I think that's made my social game a lil shit so I need to befriend these people more. Wish me luck hoes adios

My tribe won. I personally would rather lose but it’s fine. I just need Alex and Liam safe. I need my kings at merge with me 🥺🥺🥺🥺. Meanwhile I don’t trust Raffy as much as I did. Jessie, Brien and I made a trio chat.

FUUUUUUUCCCCKKKKKKKK I MISS THE CABIN i didn't have to do anything.....i got food...........i didn't have to vote people out.......this sucks

So uh....we lost. my initial thought for a vote is Liam because he threw Dylan and I under the bus for leaving gizmo out of the last vote because we thought he would tell Austin. that’s not true at all. Tbh I forgot to tell gizmo lmao. I truly felt bad about it, but I’m not happy with Liam throwing us under the bus like that.

Well I have a 50/50 shot at being the one going home. Hopefully I did enough to cast the vote off me and onto Alex, but who knows. At this point I've really done all I can to get me out of this situation. Sadly, if I do get voted out my boyfriend will have to break up with me because who wants to date someone who gets pre-Jurried

So we lost which....i wish we could’ve seen individual scores so we have an idea of how everyone did? idk though. it sounds like the vote is Alex though. I truly am just following what other people are doing and trying to play low key this premerge

[eledritch]

Hello! I gotta say I love your Voltron fics, started whith How to Train Your Galra when THIHV was just a couple weeks old and got sucked in your writing style right away! Your worldbuilding and hability to completely change the feel of the piece depending on the character's perspective its really awesome! I'm from Spain, so after i was reading THIHV for the second time I tried doing research on the locations and Shasta Trinity was so well chosen as the place where all the action happened... 1/3

Anyway, for the true ask! I always wondered how would Lance feel when he started the true domestical vampire bliss that is living with his sires, would he be insecure about being the youngest vampire? After the epilogue I pictured him as being -ironically- more full of life than ever before, a bundle of pure energy that was able to even overload Shiro and Keith in his first weeks, 2/3 but for me when I’m the most active, its also when bad moods hit me the worst. I was just wondering if you could give me a few headcanons of them three getting used to the new Lance, like when in HTTYG Keith was learning about his newest instincts as galra! I hope my english was good enough to deliver my thoughts propery, thank you a lot! 3/3

Aw thank you so much! Your English is great, don’t even worry about it 😊I’m so glad you were inspired to research the setting omg, it’s such a cool place. I think. I’ve never actually been there oops.

Yes Vamp!Lance is an even bigger bundle of energy than before :’D as for hc’s….

1. Lance has some difficulty adapting to his new senses, he doesn’t really understand the pack instincts especially and although he trusts K&S to walk him thru it he gets a little weirded out by wanting to be, like, covered in their scent and get all marked up and stuff like that. He’s willing, but weirded out.

2. Lance also has some difficulty bc he has 2 sires and vampires aren’t really supposed to operate like that, so for the first year or so he often feels confused and torn between the two of them when it comes to pecking order/who to follow/who’s in charge. This leads to a lot of frustration and, since the sire bond & authority over Lance is split in two, he’s a lot more unruly and less instinctually submissive towards them unless they make him shape up lol.

3. Keith has some getting used to with his new sire instincts too. He always had strong pack instincts and his sire bond with Shiro wasn’t quite typical, he can be as protective of Shiro as Shiro is of him; so it wasn’t a super difficult transition for Keith. It’s almost unheard of for 2 sires to live under the same roof and most other vampires are skeptical that K&S can coexist without having constant spats of jealousy over Lance…but it’s kind of hilarious bc they are so chill. Sharing is caring. K&S are never territorial or threatening towards each other and while Shiro is the unofficial leader of their little pack bc he has seniority & the most experience, they are pretty democratic for a vampire pack, including Lance.

4. Lance’s magic is still a thing! I know some people were worried it became evil magic in the turning but that’s not the case. He’s a Druid and his magic is more base/primal/potentially destructive than before, but he can control it and he can use it for good. Lance often taps into the sire bond & his ability to manipulate energies/other magic to lighten K&S’s mood or make the mood a lil hotter~ He also eventually reconnects with Allura and she helps him fine tune his magic more, which is a good bonding experience and gives Lance greater confidence in his abilities.

5. It’s initially very upsetting for Lance to realize that a part of him is now pretty keen on wanting to take a bite out of his friends. K&S don’t let him meet up with Pidge & Hunk or his family until they’re certain he’s stable enough to do so, and even then they’re chaperones. Lance can control his bloodlust but he’s very overwhelmed by the fact that he can smell the scent of their blood intimately & doesn’t know how to feel about it. Eventually he’s able to ignore it enough to be unbothered, but sometimes it’ll just hit him and Hunk will be like “dude…can you maybe not…sniff me” and Lance will be like *nuzzle nuzzle* “you smell like apple pie today” and Hunk just resigns himself to it - Lance has always been touchy feely so it’s not that weird.

[my-lazy-genius]

Shelter

Fandom: Hetalia: Axis Powers

Characters: APH Spain (Antonio Fernández Carriedo), APH England (Arthur Kirkland), APH Italy (Feliciano Vargas). Mentions of: APH Germany (Ludwig Beilschmidt), APH Romano (Lovino Vargas). 

Pairing: SpUk/EngSpa [Spain x England]

Summary: In which Antonio wages the cost of war over his own personal shelter.

Author’s Note: Dang, late again. This is for @engspaweek, Day 3! Historical prompt 3, Spanish Civil War! Uh, not everything is 100% accurate, I changed a few minor things for plot purposes. Trigger warnings are all tagged. This is basically me trying out new WWII characterizations tbh bc headcanons..

Two years, eight months, three days.

Spain is keeping count. Somehow, even through the pain he feels with every step he takes, he’s keeping count. His people have been tearing each other apart for two years, eight months, and three days.

He’s just so tired. He can’t keep tearing himself between his people like this. He doesn’t know what he needs to do, he just knows he needs it to stop. Grave after grave after grave, he grows weary of burying his people, his friends.

Spain doesn’t like the color red anymore. He’s seen it too much, felt it too much, hot like anger and a phantom on his skin even after he scrubs it off. He wakes, often, in a cold sweat, body aching with imaginary wounds. He doesn’t ever remember his dreams - nightmares - anymore, but he knows they’re bad.

The emotions always linger with him for long after he forgets; anger, agony, grief. He’s not sure he wants to remember.

Two years, eight months, four days.

--

“Look at what you’ve become, Antonio,” a familiar voice lilts, but Spain doesn’t quite recognize the words he’s using, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone look so lost in their own home before. All that blood looks good on you; really brings out your eyes.”

Spain blinks slowly at him. Hazel eyes fix on him, cold. No, Spain recognizes him. He smiles, tightly, weak.

“Veneziano,” he laughs softly, lowering himself slowly to the floor and leaning heavily against the wall, “come to brag? How is Romano?”

Veneziano folds his arms over his chest, gaze sweeping over Spain. Spain knows how he looks, blood splotched and covered in ragged bandages, disheveled and dirty, eyes sunken and bloodshot, lips dry.

“Romano is still part of the rebellion. I don’t know how he’s doing,” Veneziano informs him, sharply, oddly.

This isn’t Veneziano. This is a brainwashed man, conformed to the ideas of the crook who leads his nation. This is the man whose country is aiding one side of his people, the Nationalists, alongside a Nazi Germany. Spain struggles to drag one knee up and drapes a badly bleeding arm over it.

“What happened to you, Feliciano?” He asks softly, searching for a spark of that cheerful kid he once knew.

“You’re not going to survive this war,” Veneziano tells him, avoiding the question entirely, but Spain sees the way his shoulders ripple with tension.

Spain just laughs. “If I were concerned about that, Veneziano, I’d have brought it up months ago,” he informs him, dragging himself up, slowly, to his full height, “I’m old, Veneziano. I’ve seen it all. War, death, murder… Some things never change.”

It’s only when Veneziano, frustrated, sweeps out of the room that Spain allows himself to feel the weight on his shoulders again.

--

Once the dust settles, Spain walks among the bodies of his people. He closes his eyes as he steps around the mangled, bloody corpses, remembering them, trying desperately to ignore the caws of the scavenger birds as they circle threateningly overhead.

“Antonio,” comes a voice, and suddenly everything is steady all at once.

Green meets green.

“Arthur,” he breathes.

His shoulders tremble, and despite the blood he’s half covered in, England practically cradles him as Spain cries for his people at last.

--

“I just want this senseless fighting to end,” Spain tells him, later, staring at the ceiling.

England’s fingers comb through Spain’s tangled hair, slowly, relaxing. Spain’s mind is clear for once, grounded by England’s presence. This man is his tether here, his only shelter in the turmoil of this civil war.

“I’m so tired, Arthur,” he says, voice rough, choked, “god, I’m so tired. How do you stand so many wars? I’m killing my own people… And little Veneziano, I don’t even recognize him anymore. He’s become so cruel…”

His chest feels as though it’s trying to claw itself apart from the inside and recently he’s been coughing up blood. It’s not himself he’s concerned about. He’s frightened for his people, for the widowed women and orphaned children and the young men running into a meaningless fight. He wishes it would end; he’s so desperate. He’s fighting himself and his own people, and Spain’s starting to think it’s an uphill battle.

England shakes his head. “Don’t speak, Antonio. Rest.”

Two years, eight months, one week.

--

In his dreams, Spain is standing over a faceless man. He doesn’t know who he is or which side he’s on, but there are people whispering behind him and a loaded gun in his hand. Phantom fingers squeeze his shoulders, pressing down, a weight on his back. His pulse is throbbing beneath his skin, a steady thump thump across his entire being. There’s blood rushing in his ears, but he can hear the whispers over his own thoughts.

Kill him, Spain, one disembodied voice tells him, kill him and end the war.

Kill him, says another, lighter, familiar, because you have no other choice.

Kill him! The third is low, wavering, chilling. Kill him because you want to.

Does he want to? For a moment, Spain doubts himself and all he knows himself to be. He looks at the gun in hands that don’t feel like his own, looks at the faceless man below him, and looks at the bodies that suddenly cover the ground as far as he can see.

Two years, says the third voice, and with a start, Spain recognizes it as his own, eight months, one week, two days.

Spain flicks the safety off. The corpses are groaning, a perforating sound in the unnerving silence.

Kill him, says the first voice, demanding.

In the distance, somebody is being executed. Spain isn’t sure who is on what side anymore. He isn’t sure who he is anymore. He’s staring at the hands that are his but not his, staring at the gun, staring at the man. Antonio lifts the gun-

Kill him!

-and points it at his own head.

--

Lately, Spain is glad he doesn’t remember his nightmares.

It doesn’t stop the subtle trembling in his fingers. Are these hands his own?

--

The next time Veneziano shows, England is with him. He’s going against the wishes of his own government - the English aren’t supposed to be aiding Spain, but England manages to slip away often, comes when Spain needs him most.

Spain keeps trying to ground himself, struggling. His heart thrums rapidly in his throat and his breath comes in quick gasps. It feels as though there’s a foot crushing his throat, pressing down harder with every struggling breath. He’s tucked up against the curve of England’s body, clinging onto the arm wrapped over his chest as though it’s his lifeline.

“I can’t breathe,” he chokes out, “Arthur, I can’t breathe.”

He feels the way the other man is tense against him, fingers combing through Spain’s hair, holding him tight, but not tight enough to make him feel more suffocated.

“Focus on me, Antonio,” he tells him, softly, “only on me. I’m here.”

Spain listens to the sound of his heartbeat. It’s picked up, and Spain can’t tell if it’s because of worry or something else. His throat and chest feel tight and he’s shaking violently, fingers dragging hard against England’s arm, no doubt bruising the skin. He’s sweating, hair clinging to his face. But god, he focuses on the sound of England’s heartbeat. It’s the only thing keeping him steady, keeping him grounded.

Gradually, it stops. His shaking ceases first, his vision clears second, and finally, slowly, he manages to breathe. He doesn’t release England’s arm, only stares blankly at the peeling wallpaper past England’s shoulder.

His chest feels hollow.

They stay like that until steady, deliberate footsteps echo in the room.

“Veneziano,” England regards him with chilling eyes.

“England,” Veneziano smiles, “I wasn’t expecting to see you here. Isn’t your government forcing you to stay neutral?”

England doesn’t reply. Spain’s energy is depleted. He just wants this to be done. He lifts his gaze slowly, dragging it over to the Italian. “Why are you here, Veneziano?”

“I think it’s about time you gave up,” says North Italy, “after all, look at yourself, Spain.”

“Fine,” he replies, softly, “whatever makes this stop.”

“No,” England’s voice is harsh and sudden, “you aren’t going to give in to this so easily, Antonio. And you aren’t going to make him. Leave here, Italy.”

Veneziano tips his head, and just for a second, Spain wonders if he sees a flash of that childish curiosity he knows. “Oh,” he muses, “I see. You two have a different relationship than I originally thought.”

Spain’s thinking. His mind is whirring, registering England’s words and Veneziano’s words and the civil war.

Two years, eight months, two weeks.

“Get out, Veneziano.”

The Italian starts, hazel eyes going wide. He takes a step back, hands coming up near his lower chest. Spain’s voice is hard, stronger than it’s been in a while. Delicately, he slips free from England’s grip and staggers to his feet. Briefly, fear darts over Veneziano’s soft features, then something like anger.

“You-!”

“You heard me.”

It isn’t a question. Spain advances, pulling his old halberd from its resting place on his wall. He lifts it, a familiar weapon in a hand that feels like his own again, leveling it at Veneziano’s chest. The Italian is shivering. When all's said and done, he’s still the same kid Spain knows. One day, he’ll apologize for this.

Today is not that day.

Veneziano only holds Spain’s steely gaze for a moment, before he backpedals rapidly, stumbling. “Y-You’re a fool, Antonio! Both of you! Even you can’t stop what’s to come. Germany’s going to change the world, and only one of us is going to be on the right side when he does!”

The brunet whirls and darts away. Spain waits until his running steps fade down the hall before he drops his halberd with a clatter and slumps back down to his knees. England crosses to him, crouching down to rest his forehead against Spain’s own.

“Thank you,” Spain whispers, “for everything.”

--

Three days later, the Spanish Civil War comes to an end. It’s not a happy ending, but Spain knows where he stands now. He knows what he’s working towards.

Two years, eight months, two weeks, three days.

Another war is on the horizon.