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raeuberprinzessin · 10 months

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Making Amends - Fantasy - Prompt 16, Chapter 9

@felixmonth, @stainedglassm

Summary: For Felix Month 2021 - beware, the chapters are not in chronological order^^

When Felix loses a bet with his cousin, he has to make amends with Adrien’s friends. Well, at least this provides a good excuse to spent a lot of time with Adrien’s “very good friend”, a certain designer, who may or may not be described as tolerable … or cute. This may not be so bad. Yeah, not bad at all.

AO3 | Masterlist

Prompts: First | Previous | Next

Chapters: First | Previous | Next

"Don't worry, dude. Everything's chill between us. We both think - Ah, I mean, Felix and I are bros now. I mean, you're still my best bro, but you know. You get it, right?" Nino's rambling was almost as bad as Marinette's when she was nervous. At least that was Felix's opinion.

"That's great! I'm so glad you two get along!" was Adrien's reaction. He didn't even seem to notice that he barely escaped a word vomit. Instead, he gave his cousin a proud approving smile. Felix loved his cousin, he really did, but he would prefer him not to give him the look a pet owner gave their puppy for not shitting on the carpet.

That had been right after he made amends with the DJ. And as nice as it was to get along with Nino, simply by the law of the enemy of my enemy, he still had a long way to go. He knew that. He just had no idea how to continue.

“Well, your little stunt got Alya, Juleka, and Rosé akumatized. You already did something for Alya, which by the way is another stunt I will get both of you back for. As soon as I have more time,” Marinette declared, threateningly brandishing one of her colouring pencils like a sword. A very short cyan-blue sword. “But anyway, I’d advise you to continue with them. Although it probably doesn’t matter which one goes first. Rosé would probably be a bit more open, but I guess Juleka would be easier on you.”

“Rosé is the bubbly pink … girl? And Juleka is her goth friend?” he asked as he continued to note down what materials Marinette already had and how much. He barely stopped himself from using any derogatory term for the small blond and very, very pink classmate. The girl had too much energy, always talking and gesticulating. Her voice was so high and she was talking practically all the time and just everything about her was so … so … very not English. There was no better way to describe her.

Yeah, choosing her as his next target would not go well.

“So, Juleka it is,” he announced and turned to his friend. Since the theme for the silent auction was decided and Marinette said, she was fine with designing the costumes for everyone - fine his ass, he didn’t want her to do it, but nobody even took a second to listen to his very relatable concerns … -, she had been designing almost non-stop. And right now she just hummed as she added some accents to Max’s futuristic dolphin suit.

“I said,” Felix tried again leaning slightly over her, blocking the light, “I’ll continue with Juleka.”

“I heard you the first time and Felix, I swear to whatever unholy deity is willing to listen, probably Plagg, Trixx or Xuppu-”

“Not unholy,” the monkey kwami interjected. He sat on one of the ceiling beams and was doodling a few of his former holders’ transformations. Most of the kwamis had been very excited about the theme. Just Kaalki sat on Marinette’s bed, eating sugar cubes, watching interviews with celebrities and was all around sulking. And making nasty remarks about the dolphin kwami going by the name of Flipp.

“- if you don’t step out of my light, I will tie you up, throw you over my shoulder like one of our bags of flour, climb up onto my balcony and let you dangle there as if our house is a donkey and you’re the carrot. And don’t think I wouldn’t do that.”

On one hand, Felix knew it was a serious threat. On the other the mental image alone almost had him daring her to do as she said. But hanging from her balcony he wouldn’t get anything done and in the end, she would only regret what she said, since she just had a very short temper while designing. And he knew that. So, he stepped back and she turned back to her sketch with a slight huff, but he caught the little smile she unsuccessfully tried to hide.

“Fine. But, please, just tell me what I should do for Juleka,” he complained as he turned back to her materials.

“What makes you think I know?”

The blond snorted at that. “Of course you do! She’s your friend and you’re a bit scary with how much you know about your friends.” It was true. Marinette knew a lot about her friends. She even wrote their events down in her planner and now that he was in charge of her schedule she had him memorise those events as well so if he planned possible events that not only included both of them but also other classmates, nothing would coincide. But that wasn't a half-bad idea! Quickly he pulled out his phone to check his calendar app for any events Juleka had going on.

“You mean, like how I know that you’re hungry but won’t ask for the pain au chocolat with the dark chocolate Papa made especially for you, because you want to eat it with your five o’clock tea later and won’t allow your stomach to dictate when you eat something?” Felix looked up from his phone and stared at the girl. She just shrugged. “You have checked the time at least five times in the last half hour and that’s only what I have witnessed,” she explained. “Plus, I could almost see the saliva run down your chin when Papa told you about your favourite pastry.”

Felix audibly clapped the cover of his smartphone case shut and put his phone away. She was correct, of course, but he felt petty and unwilling to give her this win. “Just so you know, pain au chocolat is not my favourite. I like the mocha macarons better.”

“Oh? That’s good to hear, then I’ll give the pain au chocolat to Adrien tomorrow.”

Felix hissed at that. “Over my cold dead body!” he growled quite irritated but he instantly felt a bit soothed when he heard Marinette’s soft giggles. Of course, she wouldn’t do that. He knew that, but still, he was a bit miffed at the thought she might give something to someone else that was meant for him. Whether it be a pastry or his place in her life.

“Actually, this is just more proof, that you definitely know what I should do for your friend,” he tried to get back to the original topic. Marinette just hummed noncommittally. “Please, Marinette? You know, I need your help to do this making-amends-stuff. And it’s also a bit your fault I’m in this predicament.”

“Okay, first off: I did not tell you to make that stupid bet. That’s on you. You made a mistake and I hope you learned from it and it better not be to make sure that the odds are even more in your favour the next time-”

“Was there any other lesson to learn from that?”

Marinette heavily breathed through her nose when he interrupted her, so he decided to not add anything and to just let her say her part for now.

“Anyway, what I wanted to say is, that a part of this making-amends-stuff, as you called it, is that it should show that you are trying to be a better person. I will help you at some point, but first, you will have to put in some work. This is more than some homework you can finish and not think about again. Try to find out what Juleka’s fantasy is and what you could do to make her happy. Happy and grateful enough so she might accept that the bad behaviour from your last visit is not who you are.”

Having said what she wanted to say, Marinette turned back to her sketch and narrowed her eyes as she critically looked it over. She was done with their discussion.

***

Talking to Juleka turned out harder than he thought. He tried to start a conversation but she just mumbled something unintelligible and hid behind her hair. And Marinette just gave him an amused grin and a slightly raised eyebrow, letting him know that she still expected him to make an effort to find out what Juleka would like himself. Maybe he should pay for a few lessons of confidence training? She could definitely use it!

At the end of their lunch break, he still hadn’t made any progress and he was ready to ask Adrien to give him another punishment. He would get nowhere like this.

“You could use some help, am I right?” he heard a high voice ask and turned to the source. The pink flower girl, Rosé, stood there and gave him a small smile. The kind of smile someone gave out of embarrassment when they weren’t sure whether to smile or even say something.

“Yes, I could use some help, but Marinette has this idea that I have to put in the effort before she considers helping me.” He sighed and pulled an overly dramatic grimace. “Why is she one of my favourite people again?”

Rosé giggled and relaxed her posture slightly. “Probably because she sent me a message last night. Hey, Rosé, tomorrow Felix will try to find out what he could do for Juleka to make amends with her. I want him to try on his own at first, but if he hasn’t been successful when lunch is over, could you help him? He’s not a bad person, I promise. If you can’t trust him, trust me with this. Have a good night, see you tomorrow, Mari,” she read the message and looked back up. “Well, you don’t look like you had any success, so here I am. Also, you’re stressing out Juls with your attempts to approach her. Maybe we could meet at the library after school and brainstorm an idea?”

“That should be possible. I’ll just inform Marinette that I’ll come over later than planned. She’ll probably design first anyway and we can finish homework later.”

Rosé smiled and nodded. “Okay, see you then, Felix,” she bid goodbye and returned to her friend group. Finally a silver lining! And in the end, Marinette had helped him anyway, even if it was indirect. It was actually scarily smart. Before now he had thought Rosé was annoying, but now that he had talked to her, she didn’t seem that bad. Quirky and excitable maybe and if he had to spend long periods of time with her she would certainly be unbearably annoying after a while, but she seemed to be alright if he only had to interact with her for a limited amount of time. He wouldn’t have known that if Marinette hadn’t sent her his way.

Felix grabbed his bag and went to find his friend to tell her: Well played!

***

"Do you really think a new instrument is the best we can come up with?" Felix frowned as he looked at the list of ideas Rosé and he had come up with. He learned that Juleka liked music and played several instruments like everyone else in her family, although she preferred the bass guitar. She liked make-up and styling and had dyed her hair in different colours in the past.

"I guess it's the best thing that's possible and not just some fantasy," Rosé answered doodling a little cute kitty next to the list of ideas. "A fantasy?" What did she mean by that? In a city that got attacked by a magical supervillain and his butterflies almost daily - and got saved by two teenagers with magical jewellery just as often - he would think anything fantastical wouldn't seem quite as out of reach. "You know, if you have another idea, just say it. Even if you don't think there's anything I can do. Maybe we can think of something that's close enough or I can make sure to at least turn a part of this fantasy into reality," he offered after he had a few moments to think about it.

"Are you sure?"

Felix gave her a small self-assured grin. "I better be!"

Rosé giggled at that and began to tell him about the curse her girlfriend only recently broke.

***

“What do you say?” It was a bit later in the afternoon and Felix had just told Marinette about the idea Rosé and he had come up with. “That should be possible, right?”

Marinette sat at her desk but turned to face him. She fiddled around with some ballpoint pen, rolling it thoughtfully between her thumb and her index finger.

“Maybe,” she finally answered, “but the last time Juleka tried to model for me, she got very nervous. Alya was a bit pushy because she convinced Adrien to help out as well and that’s why we had a time limit. In the end, I was pushed to model with him and Juleka got akumatized. Do you have any plan for what to do if Juleka gets anxious again?”

“Well, not inviting these two might be a good start for now.” He didn’t intend to have them there, but this just confirmed his thoughts on the matter. “I could also take the shots myself. I have some experience behind a camera and I imagine having a professional photographer there would mean more stress to her. I could even try to not be seen by her.”

“You mean, you would hide in the bushes and on trees?” Marinette asked slowly. She gave him a look as flat as a sheet of paper. And to be honest, hearing it like this, it sounded … weird in the best case.

“No, I think I better not do that.”

“No,” Marinette agreed sagely, “you better not.”

***

Felix wasn’t sure how he thought Juleka would react, but he didn’t expect her to look like a cornered little bunny.

“You- you want me to model some of Marinette’s designs? Don’t you remember, what happened last time?”

“Oh Juls,” Rosé whispered and hugged her friend. “That’s exactly why we want to have a do-over! Don’t let that one bad memory stop you from doing something you really want to do!”

“We hope to create a less stressful situation this time,” Felix offered. “It would be just you, Rosé, Marinette, and I. I will also shoot the photos. So, there will only be people you have at least talked to already. This could be the foundation of a portfolio if you want to do more modelling gigs. Also …” Felix looked around and after not seeing the lying girl anywhere near them, he leaned a bit in and lowered his voice, “considering other people who confidently model and who have less than half as much reason to be as confident in their looks as you should be, you really should do this. Always remember: If you would like to do something but you wonder if you are qualified enough, rest assured that there is at least one unqualified person who does exactly this.”

Juleka still looked a bit hesitant, but finally, she nodded.

***

Felix should have known. Of course, it would have just been too easy, if they could just get to the location and take the photos.

Some students from her brother’s school recognised Juleka and immediately crowded around her. Rosé was so excited for her friend, she told them about the photoshoot and they asked if they could stay. They wanted to help and watch.

After all this excitement Juleka’s confidence took a nose-dive. She was nervous and stiff and looked like she was forced to do this at gunpoint. Felix only took half a dozen pictures before he decided this didn’t make any sense.

“The only fantasy I see in these pictures is her fantasy of running away and hiding,” Felix whispered as he stood next to Marinette and showed her the pictures. His friend gave them a critical look, but finally, she sighed and gave him the camera back.

“Well, at least they seem to be genuinely supportive. That’s not the worst-case scenario. But maybe we should still reschedule?”

Felix shook his head. “We won’t have enough time if we don’t get the pictures by the end of the week.”

Marinette frowned at him. “Why the time limit?” she wanted to know. Felix hadn’t told her, but he had sort of planned another surprise for Juleka, but he hadn’t told anyone. He didn’t want to put more pressure on Juleka or disappoint any hopes he might spark, should it not work out as he planned. But maybe he should tell Marinette now?

“The modelling agency you work with has a youth program and I know someone working there because he used to work for my acting agency. I showed him the class photo and he agreed to take a look at Juleka’s portfolio. And if he could get the portfolio by the end of the week, he might be able to get Juleka into their summer program. This would-”

“Felix, I have to interrupt you.”

Marinette cut him off with a raised hand and a pensive expression. “We don’t even know if Juleka would want this. I agree, it’s an amazing opportunity and Juleka deserves this chance. I appreciate how much thought and work you put into this and I’m sure Juleka would, too.”

“But-?”

Marinette’s lips twitched into a tiny smile. “Still,” she continued, emphasising the word to point out that she was not using a but, “I think you should talk to her before you show the pictures to anyone else. She’s surrounded by people who support her and she is this anxious. Could you imagine how violated she might feel if she learns afterwards that some stranger saw the photos without her consent?”

Felix couldn’t precisely understand why Juleka might be hurt. He was usually ecstatic when he learned people saw his work. But Marinette knew the girl better. Maybe she really wouldn’t want that. The boy decided he should talk to Juleka first, but when he looked around he couldn’t see her anywhere.

“Mari.”

“Give me a moment, I’m texting Luka. I’m sure he can calm her down.”

“Amazing idea. Maybe he can also tell us where she likes to hide?”

The young designer looked up and let her gaze wander over everyone present as well. She couldn’t find her friend but only a moment later they both noticed something else. “Merde!”

“With baked beans on toast,” Felix added with a nod. “Alright, you find a place for your glam up and I try to find our model before Mothbreath does.” With this Felix followed the little black butterfly. It was surprising enough that nobody else seemed to notice the akuma. Rosé talked to those other students about the band she and Juleka played in. If he had to guess, he would say she tried to keep their attention from her friend. Only, Rosé did it too well, so she didn’t notice anyone leaving.

Felix followed one of the paths for a bit until he found a hair clip near the edge of the grass. It was black and pretty simplistic, but he was sure he had watched earlier as Rosé used this clip to keep Julekas hair out of her face.

He looked around and noticed that there was a shortcut towards the toilets if he walked over the grass compared to the gravel path. Of course, an upset girl would run to the toilet. He should have learned this from Marinette by now!

With a deep sigh, Felix cursed Hawk Moth and public toilets and the fact that he would still do what he had to do. To put one over on Mothbreath and so Juleka wouldn’t be reminded of past traumatic events.

He didn’t usually storm the ladies’ room, but this also wasn’t a usual situation. He was faster than the akuma and skidded in front of a still pretty upset Juleka.

“Not her!” he hissed, watching the flying pattern of the black insect. “Not today!”

Felix heard the scared sobs Juleka tried to suppress. As if the butterfly could hear her and take control of her if she was too loud.

“Juleka, please listen to my voice,” he begged while internally praying that Ladybug would soon appear. “Take deep breaths. Concentrate on your breath on the feeling of your lungs expanding when you breathe in and contracting when you breathe out. You’re doing great! Ok, Juleka, do you think, you can listen? Hawk Moth can only control you if you think the power he offers is the only way out for you. Do you understand me? You don’t need his power. I think the fact that you are here is proof that you are so much stronger than he is. Do you want to hear my theory on why he mainly akumatizes teens and children?” Felix didn’t wait for an answer. Giving the girl something else to focus on seemed to be as good a plan as anything else.

“Teens and children haven’t had the chance to learn a few important life lessons. It’s a lot more likely that a situation seems hopeless to them. Hawk Moth thinks they are the best targets. Easy victims. I don’t think you’re a victim and I’m offended Mothbreath would dare to think this!”

A surprised little laugh sounded behind him and Felix felt a tiny part relax slightly.

“Mothbreath?” Juleka whispered.

“Yeah. I’m also convinced the akumas are created by his burps.” This was improvised, but he heard the girl giggle softly. The dark butterfly seemed to be scandalised by his words and left the restroom through a window. Felix felt himself finally relax. He was confident that Ladybug would be able to do the rest.

“Thank you. I … I really didn’t want to be akumatized again. I just get so anxious when so many people expect something from me. What if I disappoint them? Rosé and Luka’s friends were so excited for me and you organised everything and Mari agreed to let me model some of her designs. And my dad loves her designs and I just know that he would make this big deal about this. And if I end up having this portfolio and people immediately see through me and know I’m not an actual model? After all, most pictures of me end up being awful!”

No, no, you can’t get upset again, just when I was able to calm you down a bit! Felix tried frantically to come up with an idea.

“I just don’t want to disappoint everyone if I can’t do it,” Juleka added faintly not knowing how her words sparked an idea in the blond boy. Felix remembered himself saying something very similar many years ago. Reaching a decision he carefully looked out the door and saw Ladybug de-akumatizing that pigeon guy and joking with her cat boy. Seems as if Hawk Moth had to use the akuma one way or another and the pigeon guy was the only other option. He hoped Mothbreath bumped his tiny toe when he kicked something, angry about his newest loss and his stupidity.

“Look, over there is a bench, let’s sit for a moment,” he offered and pointed to a wooden bench not far away. Juleka nodded and followed him there. He took a moment to sort through his thoughts.

“Many years ago, when I had my first acting role, I said something similar. I was afraid I wouldn’t get it right and would be replaced by another, more experienced child actor, which would surely disappoint my family. One of the assistant cameramen found me and sat down with me. He told me that even though people may think otherwise, a camera doesn’t capture reality. This goes for acting and modelling. Shortly after my aunt disappeared, there was an interview and a photoshoot with Adrien. In the interview, they praised how brave my cousin was, because he could still smile for the camera. I like to think that I know my cousin well enough to know that he didn’t feel like smiling or brave in any way and this interview is just another reason I owe my uncle a kick in the crotch. He hid and mostly still hides in his obscenely large house and Adrien had to manage on his own, while the media hunted him down because stories and pictures of the son of the mysteriously vanished wife of a failed designer sold well.” He took a deep breath, to get back on topic.

“What I’m trying to say is, that in front of a camera, you can be whoever you want to be. It’s not Juleka, the girl who had a photo curse. When you’re in front of the camera, it’s Juleka, the model. If it would help you, you can have a pseudonym.”

“Do you have a pseudonym?”

“No,” he answered but pulled a piece of cloth out. “Back then, a friend gave me a piece of cloth she had used to practise stitching. I could hide it in the pocket of my costume. With it, I had an easier time getting into character.”

“Was Mari this friend?” she asked and finally there was a soft smile on her lips. She knew the answer, which is why Felix only smirked but didn’t answer. She snorted at that. “So, who are you playing if you have it with you now?”

“Initially I thought I would play the photographer, but it seems I also picked up the role of a civilian hero and your coach. This reminds me …”

Felix raised the hand in which he still held the hair clip she lost earlier.

“I think you lost this. It’s not a talisman made by Marinette, but then again, what else is? And I’m sure, Rosé will be more than happy to supply you with your own talisman. May I?” Felix didn’t comment on how Juleka blushed when he mentioned her girlfriend. Instead, he motioned to the hair that was hiding half her face. He leaned forward and fixed the hair clip so her hair would be held back.

“See? Now I can only see the model of today’s photoshoot. Before we go back, Marinette scolded me and told me, I should tell you before: I know someone working for a modelling agency with a youth program because he worked for my acting agency when I started out. He said he would be happy to take a look at the photos we shoot today and maybe he could get you into their summer program if we can show him the photos by the end of the week. Initially, I only wanted to tell you if everything worked out, but Marinette thought it’s more important that you are okay with someone else seeing your photos. What do you think?” Felix watched her and carefully tried to take note of every twitch that might tell him if she felt uncomfortable with the idea. Of course, he wanted to respect her wishes and if she didn’t dare to outright tell him, she didn’t like the idea, he wanted to be able to offer her a way out.

But he was worried for no reason because he could see determination steel her face and she gave him a brave nod. “That sounds like an amazing opportunity, Felix. Thank you. But, you know, now I really expect you to shoot amazing pics!” She gave him a small smirk and he returned it as he stood up.

“Perfect! Then let’s return to the location!”

***

When Felix saw his uncle later that day he was walking with a limp and when he asked his cousin what happened, he told him that Garbiel had bumped his tiny toe somewhere.

Huh! Well, it didn’t hit someone undeserving, Felix decided and revelled in the petty feeling of schadenfreude.

#miraculous ladybug #marinette dupain cheng #felix graham de vanily #felinette #felinette fanfic #felix month 2021 #marinette x felix #rich!marinette #felix redemption #bamf marinette #Hexxe: Making Amends

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wasteitonserendipity · 2 years

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The Best Years: Day 245

Pairing: Mingyu x female reader

Genre: fluff, lot of crack, gyu and OC pretty much share a braincell at this point

Warnings: none

“So, what time do you think you’ll be home dear?” you asked, opening one of the gorgeous oak cabinets, taking out a glass.

“Probably around five, as long as the traffic’s not too bad. Maybe I’ll pick up takeout on the way?” Mingyu smiled from across the marble island.

“Sounds great honey, maybe Chinese tonight? I’m feeling some pot stickers!” you laughed, leaning over the counter to give him a quick kiss.

The whole moment felt totally adorable and domestic, something you felt like you could truly get used to.

However, you were quickly interrupted by someone clearing their throat.

“Mommy, why are they kissing?” a small child asked his mom, tugging on her sleeve.

“I’m not sure, honey,” she said, sending you eye daggers, before shuffling him away, “let’s go look at the kids rooms!”

You and Mingyu looked at each other for a split second before you began laughing hysterically. He was always creative with dates, even if they seemed a little unorthodox. He showed up at your door at around three o'clock, declaring that he was going to take you on a date that you’d never been on before, and he kept his word. You could truly say that you’d never been on a date to IKEA, the giant home furnishings warehouse, before.

“Let’s move scenes before the staff catches up with us!” he laughed, coming around the island and slinging an arm over your shoulder.

You moved through the store at a fairly slow pace, due to the fact that you both kept getting distracted by things you found amusing. At one point he was running around with a white, fluffy, faux fur rug over his head, declaring that he was the abominable snowman.

After about an hour you came to the section where they kept the models of bedroom sets. you’d loved getting inspiration from whatever the designers had pieced together finding ways to incorporate things into your own home.

You came to a set with gray walls with white trim and beautiful soft lighting. There was a rustic looking headboard that looked like it was made out of an old glass door with a small shelf on it. Everything was accented with dark gray or black. On the bed, a gray fluffy comforter and a ton of huge pillows all different shades of gray and white. A small, simple chandelier hung in the center.

“This is seriously the perfect room.” You said in awe, plopping down on the bed, “like the colors, the style, everything.”

“I figured you would’ve liked the bright blue room over there.” he laughed, sitting down next to me.

“I do, don’t get me wrong,” you shook your head, “but when I get to a place with someone else, I’d like something a little more elegant but still a little rustic, like this. Plus, you can add different colored accent things if you feel like it!”

You came out of my fantasy world to find Mingyu looking at you with nothing but adoration in his eyes and a huge smile on his face.

“What?” you said, feeling a little self conscious that you’d gone into la la land about a freaking bedroom.

“Nothing,” he smiled, “you’re just adorable is all.”

He gave you a peck on the cheek before pulling you up.

“Let’s go look at some other stuff!” he giggled before running towards the kids section. You rolled your eyes at the fact that your boyfriend was five, but followed happily after him.

You finally came to the lower level of the store where they kept all of the individual items that were in the rooms upstairs. Somehow you managed to wreak even more havoc down there than up stairs, because now you could find even stranger things to play with.

You’d chased him around the kitchen utensils section with an odd looking egg beater at one point. You even played with the stuffed broccoli and carrots that were in the section labeled “toys”.

Surprisingly, you’d picked up a few things that you actually wanted to buy; a new set of wine glasses, a little desk chair and a few organizing things.

As Mingyu pushed the cart you hopped on to the opposite side. Suddenly you heard a very familiar guitar riff fill the air.

“Life’s a tangled web of cell phone calls and hashtag I don’t knowsss. And you,”

You hopped off of the cart, grabbed the nearest object to me and used it as a microphone as pointed at him dramatically and sang along.

“you’re so caught up in all the blinking lights and dial tones”

He crossed his arms and pinched the bridge of his nose, laughing as people stopped to stare at your little show.

“Come on, Gyu!” I giggled, handing him a wooden spoon, “this is on the playlist, you know the words!”

You flung your hands dramatically around in the air.

“Tune out the static sound of a city that never sleeps, here in the moment on the dark side of the screen.”

“Hit it!” You yelled, pointing at him again.

Instead of being thoroughly embarrassed like you thought he’d be, he took your hand and spun you around while pretending the spoon was a mic.

“I like the summer rain, I like the sounds you make.”

He pointed at you for the next line, a few people stopping to observe your adorable chaoticness.

“We put the world away!”

“We get so disconnected.”

You continued on with your little impromptu concert, dancing and laughing and singing together, until the closing “ohhh's” of the song. The small crowd that had formed erupted into applause and laughter as you hooked arms around each other and took a bow.

“Thank you, thank you! We’ll be here all week!” you joked, patting Mingyu’s chest as he looked down at me with a smile.

Your heart almost felt like it would burst at the fact that you'd seemed to have found your partner in idiocy.

#the best years series #seventeen writing #seventeen series #seventeen fluff #mingyu fluff #mingyu x reader #non idol au

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squigglysquidd · 2 months

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Fantasy Novel: Chapter 2 Snippet

“I think I’ll make some damascas for this piece.” He grips the metal piece and wipes it with the corner of his apron to get the dirt off it.

That reveals a bit of the metal that’s untarnished and it looks almost violet. Rowan’s eyes widen and she gazes upon the metal in his hands.

Oh, the beauty it is to begin with, let alone to think he’s going to layer it for his damascus design which gives decorative, yet gorgeous results.

“You like it?” her father asks with a calculated, approving once-over.

“I do.” She nods and heads for the bellows.

She takes a quick glance at the quench vat to make sure it’s deep enough and nods in approval.

Before he can stick his blank into the forge, she takes a second to grab the iron poker. She shifts the coal around just as she hears her father’s boots on the ground as they grow closer.

Nearly throwing the poker back in its barrel, she rushes to her position. She tries to smile at him and pumps the giant bellows a few times to stir up the heat. Her father watches and waits until she gives it three long bursts of air before his gaze rises to her, but only for a moment.

It’s a proud, approving look and she’s going to take it for what it is. It’s his best effort to try and forget what’s happening in the world and just focus on the two of them working together.

Countless bangs of Orind’s hammer against the steel and his anvil mark the changing hours. Rowan knows they miss lunch because, when she considers food in the still moments, her stomach growls and churns angrily.

Those thoughts are quickly shoved away when her father calls out for something, though.

‘More air! The coal! My hammer! The other hammer! Tongs!’

‘Water, Row. Water!’

That’s the only time she can make him tend to his needs. She shoves the canteen of water into his hands every chance she can. He then calls out an acknowledgment of it as if he suddenly remembers he needs to drink. Without the water, the heat would surely get to him.

Together, her work keeping his thirst in check and the chill, autumn air are helping to keep him on his feet. She knows he’s still wearing himself thin, but she could sooner move the mountains than get him to stop.

“Damn the hells!” Her father shouts in frustration at something he sees on his blade.

He slams it on the anvil and it breaks in half, cracks weaving through the metal. Anger taking over, he tosses it with all his might with disastrous results.

Not seeing where he’s throwing his discarded metal which is still of great size aside, he hits the quench trough right beside him. It causes steam to burst out and oil to splash upward.

He’s too close.

#fantasy #fantasy novel #original writing #original characters #oc #original content #writing #writblr

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circuitsofgold · 10 months

Text

Title: Untitled

Pairing: Clyson

Rating: M

Summary: A fuck or die/sex pollen fiction in the spirit of Valentine’s day. :D Prince Clu goes mucking about where he shouldn’t and has to suffer the consequences.

Notes: Fantasy AU

Here it was the feast of St. Valentine and Prince Clu didn’t have anything to get the one he loved. The problem was that his lover was a Siren. Sugar didn’t agree with them so chocolates were out. Roses would likely be eaten. And Clu couldn’t exactly write poetry.

Just about the only things Sirens enjoyed were shiny things. Trinkets and the like. Clu could just as easily give Dyson a bag of gold coins and he’d be happy.

But that seemed too easy.

So Clu rode into the Great Forest looking for something that might appeal to a Siren. At a certain point, his horse refused to go any farther. Something about the horses not tolerating Faes. Clu tied it to a tree with enough slack that it could still eat before continuing on his own.

He had thought he brushed against a spiderweb but then he felt like something physically hit him. And then he got the oddest feeling in the pit of his stomach. Like when Dyson’s delicate fingers touched it. Clu looked down at his fingers and saw something that was green and sparkly. He raised his fingers to his face and sniffed at it. It smelled like the forest but there was some sort of sickly sweet undertone.

The powder or whatever it was all over him. Maybe Alan would know. And if it was what he thought it was... he was hoping Alan would not be in his study when he returned.

When he returned to the castle, the Prince was in luck. The wizard was not in. Which was a good thing because Clu had a rather impressive hard on. As luck would have it, his armor did not cover his groin. Something he had to often wonder if that was intentional or a design flaw.

Clu returned to looking through the books, though having a rather difficult time focusing. But then he found it. Clu skimmed the pages growing ever more incredulous and uncomfortable by the second.

“You have got to be kidding me.” He said out loud to no one as he made to ride to the lagoon. Dyson was going to have a field day with this one.

----

Dyson had been stringing gold buttons to make a belt when he caught a different scent. Leather, sweat, horses. Human male. Which would mean Clu was coming to visit. But there was something decidedly off about his scent. There was a rather strong sickly sweet scent about it that spoke of pheremones.

The Elder Siren sent the others in the Brood away. If Clu was coming in a mood, they would need their privacy. He slipped into the water to wait for Clu’s approach. And when he surfaced, the human was removing his armor. On which there was a green powder which made Dyson lift a brow. That accompanied by the erection straining at the crotch of his pants tied it all together.

“You went mucking about with in the Great Forest and got hit by a damiana interitio trap. Didn’t you?” Dyson asked as if he could not believe Clu’s stupidity. “Come on. I have to save your foolhardy life.” He instructed before heading to the sunning rock hearing Clu following him in the water.

When Clu got to the sunning rock, Dyson had already shifted to his legs and had gathered a jar of some sort of fluid. “Take off your clothes. You would have anyway.” The wet clothing was peeled away from tanned flesh. Up close like this, Dyson could see that the pupils of Clu’s eyes were blown wide.

Dyson takes note, as he always does, of the various scars and bits of ink decorating his Prince’s body. A rather impressive scar resting in the divot of one hip, likely from a blade of some sort. Other various scars from swords and jousting. His tattoos do not detract from his value but add to it.

“I’ve tried to take care of this myself. It would seem that the terms require another.” Clu spoke, sounding very apologetic. Well, the human was aware he messed up. Dyson quieted him. “I’ll take care of you.” He soothed as he pressed the jar into the human’s hands. “The terms are that you have to fuck or you will die.” He explained as he unwrapped his silks, his own loins twitching at the prospect.

Dyson had only done the act once before with his Prince. It had hurt afterwards but for the most part it had been pleasant. Clu had been patient and gotten him loose and needy. Depending on how long the human had been stubborn, there might not be time for that.

Clu was coating his fingers with the oily fluid so Dyson scooted close between Clu’s parted legs. The Prince parted the Siren’s ass to tease at the hole between them. Dyson shuddered before winding his arms about the golden Prince’s neck, lifting himself up onto his knees to give those questing fingers more access.

Dyson turned his head to catch his Prince’s mouth in a needy kiss. Pressing in with his tongue to taste his Prince’s mouth. Clu had a metallic taste to him, like biting down on a gold coin. His lips part to allow the human to breathe just in time to feel the fingers withdrawing from him. On cue, Dyson got the jar. “I want to do this.” He explained as he got some of the oil to coat his own hands with as his silver eyes settle on his human’s rigid length.

Clu hissed as the cold hands touched his heated cock. But cool skin was a constant with the Siren he had become attracted to. Fingers closed around his flesh to properly anoint it in the slippery liquid. “Dyson. Please... I need to...” The Prince begged and Dyson understood. Not wishing to prolong his human’s suffering anymore than he had to.

He put his hands on Clu’s broad shoulders. “Hold it steady, my love.” The Siren murmured as he positioned himself. He had been craving this feeling again though he had imagined it under different circumstances. It hurt initially with each new movement downward but when he bottomed out into Clu’s lap, he felt one of the human’s arms wrapped around him to reposition him.

The human’s clothes were bunched up and placed under Dyson’s head for a makeshift pillow. “Don’t hold back, my love.” Dyson murmured running his fingers over the soft stubble along Clu’s jaw. The human needed a release and a release he would have. Clu nodded and he started moving his hips with a groan that he was giving into his body’s desires.

The Siren wrapped his legs around the Prince’s waist as his hands grasp the human’s shoulders. Determined the ride out Clu’s demanding movements. He felt one of Clu’s warm hands reaching between them to stroke his own aching flesh in time with his thrusts.

It seemed to be soon that Dyson felt just as hot as the human on top of him was. Though he knew there was no change in his body temperature. Dyson cried out as he came onto Clu’s muscled stomach. He heard Clu give an almost pained sound as he too had a much needed orgasm. Then Clu’s arms gave out.

Dyson switched positions with Clu. He cleaned up his human and then covered up Clu’s nakedness with his abandoned silks. The Siren abandoned his own human legs and settled beside the Prince to conserve his energy when he had his tail back. “You need to rest now, my love. I’ll be right here.”

Clu was too worn out to argue against it. So he closed his eyes. Dyson smiled and rested his own head on Clu’s chest. Listening to his heart beating. That precious sound was the last thing he heard before he drifted off to sleep himself. Nestled in the warm arms of his human lover.

#Clyson #Clu/Dyson

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gamebunny-advance · 2 years

Photo

Grab Bag Doodles

Oh, it’s actually a grab bag this time instead of NSR and OC doodles! I’ve been working a lot more than usual this past week, so I haven’t had the energy to work on anything serious, but I just feel like I’ll explode if I don’t start posting at least something I’ve drawn once every few weeks, so here’s my doodles from last-last week.

1) Tabuu and Primid. Wanted to start drawing them again. I feel like I didn’t get as much out of Tabuu and his underlings as I wanted before my interests started shifting.

2) Mini Bosses. As I doodled this, I thought of a comic about how my human Tabuu, Galeem, and Dharkon seemingly have an aversion to clothes. Tabuu is like that for obvious reasons, he’s already a naked humanoid, so any clothing I gave him in this form was just for modesty. Galeem and Dharkon just don’t wear shoes because I feel like they’re more ethereal that way. I’m also trying to drop some of the religious imagery with them and make them more fantasy focused. It’s still a work in progress though.

3) Malt Shop Blue Sketch. He’s the next one up, but I’m not feeling the pose, so I’m probably gonna rework this. It doesn’t really lend itself to much interesting animation. I did however want to swap out his shades for regular glasses, so we can see his eyes through them.

4) Touhou!DJSS. I dunno, I just like the design I made for him and wanted to draw it again. It’s amazing how well DJSS lends himself to being a haughty anime girl.

5) Ex’s Meme. I’ve been wanting to do this for a while, just so my feelings about this ship are a little more clear. I actually already filled it out, but I’ll wait until I actually finish the art to say anything about it. I wanna redo the art anyway. I think it’d be funnier if they’re interacting a little more directly.

6) Sizeshifter. A joke from the “Let’s do a science!” comic that might get cut. I dunno, think it’s a little low brow, but... it’s still kinda funny. Kliff’s here because he’s helping with the experiments as a part of his community service.

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

NJ + Kliff: So does it work on your pe-

DJSS: You’re both going to stop right there before I have a reason to kill you.

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

7) Kun3h0 Expressions. Just working on some expressions for Kun3. I didn’t label them all, but going clockwise, starting in the upper left corner: default, excited, annoyed, despondent, shocked, disappointed. I might rework “despondent” to be a little more interesting. I like making her puffs a little expressive though. Maybe the puffs should “inflate” when she’s mad?

8) Yomi redesign. I don’t think I ever posted about them, but Yomi was the character I came up with to test how HONK works. I was never really happy with their design, but I had to push through so I could focus on learning the program rather then get caught up in the art. They’re still not great, but I like them more than I did before. I might try a human version, because I think this is just serving to prove to myself that I’m really not good at doing more anthro furry stuff yet. We’ll see though~ I’m not too attached to them, so I might design a new avatar for testing.

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mach-speed-spin · 2 years

Note

Hey Speed-spin, I enjoy your content and character analysis, and I want you to analyze some of the OCs on this site: https://beybladefanon.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Character

I mainly want you to analyze characters such as Lilly Megami, Rena Ishizaki, Liza Fujiro, and Miyu Himeno, and give some constructive criticism.

Thanks for the ask. I don’t usually do OCs, but I’ll give it a try

Lily Megami

Design wise, this is my favorite version. Personally, I think her other designs feel too fantasy-based for Burst, but would fit perfectly in metal fight. Looking at her bio and involvement in the plot, I like that she gives She someone to interact with more during Turbo and beyond, however by not making any major changes to the plot I’m unsure whether these interactions are a good thing. If she actually affects Shu’s actions, then it’s great, but if Shu just sorta ignores her then as a character, Lily would just feel wasted

Rena Ishizaki

Her design fits the Burst universe well. It’s not as exaggerated as someone like Kurt or Ranjiro, but stands out just enough. I like that she becomes the new owner of BC Sol, since that is something that we don’t see in the anime after Kris takes over the wbba. I’m just not sold on her involvement in season 1. I think it would be better if you split her into two characters. First, you have a character in season 1 who doesn’t appear much after that (small appearances are good, but don’t overdo it). Then, you have a character introduced in Evolution as Kris’s eventual successor, who takes over BC Sol before Turbo

Liza Fujiro

Her character, on a conceptual level, seems great. It just needs some refining. Her design works except for the mask. I don’t know why exactly, but it feels off. Maybe making it more like Kyle’s wold help. I’m also not convinced that having her train with Lui would work, since it feels somewhat out of character for him (I get that he trained with Such, but that also felt out of character). If Lui gets an arc before meeting her, it would explain why he acts that way and would be some nice Lui focus in Turbo. Her being Evel’s assistant is good, and allows character dynamics in the Dread Tower to be better explored

Miyu Himeno

Honestly there’s nothing about her that really grabs my attention. With Beyblade (and not just Burst), characters will often have some exaggerated trait that allows them to stand out even when they’re minor characters with little screen time (and major characters have more traits that build off the exaggerated one). Miyu seems to lack that one exaggerated trait. She seems too much like a real person to work in a world where Kurt and his gang of sewer clowns aren’t the odd ones out. I suggest giving her something to make her stand out quickly, and then develop her emotionally, similar to Rashad in the manga. His introduction is him stopping a robbery by punching a guy out of a moving motorcycle, and the over time we learn more abut him and his ideals. Her character has great substance, but lacks the style that makes Beyblade characters memorable

#beyblade #beyburst #beyblade burst

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edenaeris · 3 months

Text

[food fantasy] dessert crisis / chapter 4

🦋 Writer: Mitsuki

🦋 Featuring: Ritsu, Tsumugi, Anzu

[ Ois~su♪ ]

Season: Spring

Location: Library

Ritsu: (*whispering*) Aoba-oniichan, are you there?

Tsumugi: Oh, Ritsu-kun, Anzu-chan. What brings you to the library?

Ah, by the way, Ritsu-kun, are you still interested in books about sweets-making? I specially selected a few for you that I hope will be helpful.

Ritsu: You’re so thoughtful, Aoba-oniichan. But I’m not here to look for books this time.

Tsumugi: Oh, then you must be looking for this. I found it on the table after you and Isara-kun left this morning.

Ritsu: Ah, my original design~ So it was in the library, after all. Well, I don’t need it anymore, though.

‘Cuz I already finished a better, revamped version of this drawing~ And as promised, I came here to share it with you, Aoba-oniichan ♪

Tsumugi: Eh? You’re saying he finished it just a while ago, Anzu-chan?

Then you can say this is freshly baked. Wah, I’m flattered.

But is it based on this drawing you made, Ritsu-kun?

Ritsu: Definitely not. Desserts are meant to impress people from the get-go and make their stomachs happy once they actually eat them.

In other words, first we need to make their eyes light up before making their hearts light up.

If I used this initial sketch, it wouldn’t be that eye-catching, right? That’s why I made an upgraded version of it.

Tsumugi: Ahaha, is that so…?

(Fortunately, he didn’t use this design as a reference, in the end. If what he made actually looked like that, I wouldn’t know how to deal with it.)

(Guess I can let out a sigh of relief, at last.)

Ritsu: Alright, Anzu. Let’s give him the sweets we’ve prepared.

Tsumugi: Oh, so this one’s mine? How exciting.

Tsumugi: (This… This is the upgraded version?! It’s even worse than the previous design… I don’t even know how to describe this feeling.)

(It’s like something’s crawling straight out of hell [1], whispering my name as it pulls me down with it.)

(Although conceptually, this does remind me of Cthulhu. In any case, how can I put it in words…)

Ritsu: So, what do you think, Aoba-oniichan?

Tsumugi: Aha, it certainly does catch people’s eyes, ahahaha.

So this is the dessert inspired by the Cthulhu Mythos you made? I remember that in your drawing you named it something like “The Cthulhu Dessert Plan”.

Ritsu: Yup. You’re so smart, Aoba-oniichan, you could tell right away.

C’mon, c’mon, have a taste ♪

Tsumugi: (Really, I don’t want to say something like this to Ritsu-kun, but this thing actually makes me speechless.)

(I was the one who asked to try some of his sweets, though, so it’s not like I can simply refuse them now.)

(I just need to bite the bullet and gulp it down.)

Well, technically we’re not allowed to eat in the library, but since Ritsu-kun is so eager about this, I’ll have a small bite and leave the rest for later, alright~?

Yum! It’s delicious!

Wah, Ritsu-kun, you’re so talented! The freshly baked aroma is still lingering too.

Ritsu: Actually, that merit must go to Anzu. While I did most of the production process, it was Anzu who put it in the oven for me.

I must admit, you really mastered how to calculate the right temperature for it, Anzu. Seems like you also have a good hand for sweets-making.

Hahaha, no need to be so humble, I’m telling the truth.

On top of it, Maa~kun and Ecchan were there to enjoy it with us, so we ended up having a great time.

You should also join us the next time we make sweets, Aoba-oniichan.

Tsumugi: (It looks like this was the result of everyone’s joint efforts, no wonder it tastes so good.)

(Now that I think about it, it was really rude of me to outright reject it and think of it as disgusting.)

(Even if it looked bad or tasted bad, it was given to me with sincere enthusiasm, so I should eat it with gratitude.)

Ahaha, sure. Let’s make some sweets together next time.

Ritsu: Ah, Anzu, you said you wanted to see my previous design, right?

No prob. This is what I came up with after getting inspired last night in the library.

Actually, something really interesting happened yesterday. So you know, it was like this, and then this happened…

Tsumugi: Anzu-chan opened up a smile right away. But looking back, it was indeed an interesting experience.

Oh Anzu-chan, you want to help me organize the books?

You say that if you go home too late, your family will be worried, but it’s still your responsibility to aid your idols, so you want to help me while you still have time?

Haha, thank you, Anzu-chan. There’s really not much to sort out compared to yesterday, but there are still books scattered around, so if you really want to help, I’d be grateful.

Ritsu: Looks like Anzu will stay here and help you organize everything, so I’ll be leaving first. I still have some sweets I want to give to the others.

Tsumugi: Sure, sure. Thank you for sharing your sweets with me, Ritsu-kun ♪

ㅤ

[ ☆ ]

Notes:

A small note. Tsumugi actually says here [混沌](hùndùn), which means “chaos”, but more specifically the primary state of chaos of the universe according to Chinese mythology. Neither of us knew that until Aeri pointed it out, which is why this note was added later, we apologize.

ㅤ

🦋 Translation: Eden

🦋 Proofreading: Mia (ENG)

ㅤ

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billygoatsgardwrites · 2 years

Text

Wild Hearts Chapter Nine

The next few days were the hardest for her, mostly because they had to get back to work. Bill was still very happy. More so than he’d ever been. They had a ton of fun at work, probably more than they really should be having. The best she could figure was he finally felt not only free but at peace with himself and his life. She could only imagine getting to live out one of his biggest fantasies, at least in part, played a huge role in this. She was more than happy to be the one to help him with it. Not only that, but learn more about herself through the whole experience and make the connection with him. They didn’t talk about Aurora, ever. It was just them. He even got her off the set one day for a picnic in a nearby field. Something he’d planned entirely. She’d never had anything like this in her entire life. Scott had never been this romantic, even when they were just dating.

On Wednesday, she was giving a brief rundown of everything going on to the executive producer. More or less a progress report on Bill and the status of the other horses, when Bill entered the stable with another guy. Someone she hadn’t ever seen before. That wasn’t saying much because she assumed when it came to production stuff there were a ton of people she was never going to meet. He motioned over in her direction and they came towards her.

“You wanna be in the movie?” Bill asked her.

“Hold your horses there Bill,” The other guy laughed, “There’s a whole process before that point.”

“Yeah but she’ll do great.” Bill insisted.

“I’m sorry what’s this about?” She asked, she couldn’t exactly say she didn’t want to be in a movie. It had been a dream of hers long ago but she’d written it off for a myriad of reasons. The most she’d ever done were a few plays in high school and one stage production locally right after she’d been married. She would have continued but Scott had put an end to that too. That was five years ago and she’d given up on all of her dreams entirely shortly after.

“Bill here thinks that you may be a better onscreen match for him than who’s supposed to play his wife.” The guy said, “The only reason I’m here right now is I kind of agree with him. Their screen tests are lukewarm at best.”

“You want me to play his wife?” She asked, “In the movie?”

“If you show any more promise than that annoying Amber Slate woman, yes.” He said. She looked at Bill, kind of stunned to hear this. More than that. Outright shocked. This wouldn’t just be her first movie but she’d be right up there next to Bill. Could she actually pull this off? He seemed to think she could.

“I’ll be working with you too, see? You trust that I know what I’m doing, right Chris?” Bill insisted, “If she can teach me all this shit about horses which she did, I can teach her everything I know about acting.”

“Honestly I believe if anyone can do that, it’s you, but it’s more about chemistry. You gotta give me something here.” This guy now known as Chris said even though she still had no actual idea what his role in any of this film was.

“One day,” Bill said, “All I need is one, then she’ll audition.”

“Alright, I’ll want you in my office tomorrow at nine. Got it?” He asked, “I’ll get the others there too, casting, producers...whatever.”

“Thank you, so much.” Bill said. The guy gave her another look and then walked out of the stables looking like he was not very comfortable being in there. She couldn’t imagine he would be given his designer suit and all the smells around them. “How fast can you learn a Russian accent?”

“Not in 24 hours. You’re insane.” She laughed and shook her head, “As nice as this idea is-”

“I’ll call my dialect guy.” He said, “I learned it.”

“No offense but you’re already from Sweden and that accent is weird anyway.” She said, “Right now you’re workin with a girl from the south. Dallas. I gotta lose this accent in 24 hours to audition? Ain’t no fucking way, Bill.”

“Do you want this?” He asked, “Don’t lie, I saw how your eyes lit up. Whatever it is, you like the idea you just don’t think you can do it. Is that right?”

“It’s not as simple as all that.” She said, “Besides what if they don’t think we got chemistry anyway?”

“For one, we do, I know what on screen chemistry is. I’ve had plenty of it. Secondly, if you really want this I can teach you what you need to know. You have to believe that.” He insisted. She sighed. She guessed that it wasn’t really going to hurt her to try.

“If I don’t get the part I still get to keep the horse job right?” She asked, “And what about that anyway? I can’t just go from lead horse wrangler lady to...what? Supporting actress? I got no time to be doing both.”

“If you don’t get the part I’ll make sure they let you keep your job. If you get the part you’ll be replaced. Please? That actress is...she’s not a bad actress but we got nothing between us. It’ll ruin the movie.” He insisted. This seemed very important to him, just like all the kinky pony stuff. At that point she definitely trusted he knew what he was doing and saying. The world of acting was his expertise, not hers. Though it did kind of get her wondering what his on screen chemistry with any woman was like. She still hadn’t even seen a full movie that he’d been in. All she had seen were some clips of Pennywise. There wasn’t time to sit down and watch a two part movie that would amount to being four hours of her day. At night she was just too exhausted and during the day she was busy. She’d thought about asking to watch it with him then thought that would be weird.

“Fine, I’ll give it a try but on the condition I get to watch you in some movie somewhere and you don’t get all squirrely about it.” She told him.

“I was never stopping you in the first place. Might want to start with Hemlock Grove.” He said, “Come on, we have a lot of work to do.” He took her arm and started to pull her out of the stables and back towards his trailer. She supposed that was the best place to work and prepare for this. It was exciting even if it also made her kind of nauseous with anxiety. Was this really happening? Even worse, what the hell was Aurora going to think when she got back. If things went the way he seemed to want them to go this was only going to make his life worse. She wasn’t sure she wanted to be a catalyst to that sort of situation.

*****

The rest of the day was grueling. Far more so than just working with horses and training Bill how not to fall off of them and kill himself. She found she actually wasn’t bad at acting, not with him. He made it so easy. Probably because he was so talented. Hearing him with a Russian accent was constantly driving her crazy. There was no way that hurt the performance because whenever he did it she got turned on and couldn’t stop looking at him with such a hunger that it made her soul ache.

He laid out the movie for her and went over the script. The role was indeed supporting, not close to main. Enough screen time to make her character important but not enough to draw focus away from him. The good thing about the story was that the husband and wife were very much in love. Two very psychopathic people who enjoyed the hunt. Somewhere along the lines they’d grown bored with dangerous game and turned their attention to humans. The movie made it seem like it was some sort of foreplay for them. It was a dark and gruesome plot, but it was very well written. Her character was cunning and dangerous. A woman meant to compliment everything that his character was.

The worst part was the dialect coach. Not that he was bad at his job but she was terrible at changing her speech patterns. She was pretty sure both Bill and this new guy, Matt, were about to wring her neck for not being able to get anything right. She could deliver the lines just fine if she didn’t have to do that Russian accent. That was what they spent the most time on. Over, and over, and over. She just couldn’t get her mouth to do any of that. Especially not the whole rolling R thing she was supposed to do on quite a few of the words.

It probably wasn’t until around nine that night that she started to kick her brain into gear to function correctly enough to start, just barely, doing it right. The first line she actually spat out correctly made them cheer loudly. It also made her laugh because she was relieved that it had even worked. They’d spent ten hours discussing this, trying to teach her, even over lunch and then dinner. It just never stopped. It gave her a whole new appreciation for the dedication that Bill was putting into his work.

“Good just keep doing that.” Matt told her, “Don’t stop, keep speaking in that accent so you don’t lose it if you have to.”

“I’ll keep her on her toes. Don’t worry.” Bill said.

“I don’t think it matters because I’ll probably go to sleep and it’ll all be wiped from my brain.” She said and yawned.

“Then I will just have to speak with a Russian accent all the time until after the audition.” Bill said, using the accent exactly as he was explaining. She wasn’t even going to complain about that because it was so fucking hot. She didn’t think it would help her one bit but if it wasn’t a big deal for him there was also no reason to make him stop.

“You think that will be a punishment for me?” She laughed.

“Well, whatever you two got going on here, he was right. He has no chemistry with Amber. I’ve seen them.” Matt said, “But, I got shit to do so good luck let me know how it turns out.”

“Of course,” Bill said, “We’ll get lunch or something.”

“Sounds good. Have a good night.” Matt told them and then headed out of the trailer. Krystal looked over at him and sighed.

“It will be a borderline miracle if we pull this off you know.” She said, “It’s not just my acting it’s the chemistry...the fucking chemistry.”

“Then there’s no reason it shouldn’t work. We got this.” He said putting an arm around her and pulling her close. She laughed softly and leaned into him, resting her head against his chest and closing her eyes. It felt good to be in his arms like this again, even if she knew there was no way this could actually last. It relaxed her, though, and she was definitely going to need that to be able to get enough rest to pass the audition in the morning.

*****

At nine o’clock sharp the next morning, they were at some large office in downtown L.A. It was big enough for a group of people and here she was supposed to perform these lines with Bill. Prove to everyone who was probably investing an ungodly amount of time, money, and effort into this project that she was worth it. She was barely worth her weight in horse manure so she also wasn’t sure why Bill was trying to sell her so hard on this. Maybe to him she was good but he had to be biased right? Maybe it was some kind of rose color glasses or he was just drunk on whatever lust she’d been providing him. She was so nervous she also thought she might puke. She hadn’t been able to eat anything for breakfast. Her only saving grace was that she didn’t have to do this audition alone. He would be there and he’d help her keep focus. At least she hoped.

The introductions were very quick. She was aware they were busy because they made that abundantly clear. It seemed they were really only putting up with this based on Bill’s word and the level of respect they had for him. She didn’t play into the equation at all because they didn’t know her nor did she have any clout in the industry whatsoever. She heard Bill talking to them, explaining the situation. From what she understood, the guy she met the day before had been the director. Also in the room was the casting director, a few of the producers, and the lead script writer. It seemed that if this was going to be decided it would be all of them who chose her, even though she knew that she’d already won Bill’s vote.

“Alright are you ready?” Bill asked, turning to her.

“Not really but guess there’s no better time than this.” She said and laughed nervously. He put a hand on her arm and turned her to face him, so the men who were watching were in the corner of her eye. They’d still be able to see her and what she was doing but she wouldn’t need to focus on them. He put his hands on her face and moved her head to look into his eyes as he looked down.

“You can do this, just us here okay?” He said, “Deep breath, I’ll read you in. Like we practiced. Remember?” He was nodding his head a bit as he said this like he was trying to convince her. She just nodded and took in a deep breath. He dropped his hands and stood up quite a bit straighter. His posture took on the confidence of the man she’d seen in the bedroom in that equestrian outfit in the bedroom. He was dressed normally hear but picturing that certainly helped her to loosen up, even if it only was a bit.

“This? This is the one?” He asked angrily, “This one, he will be no fun. Weak.” He motioned as if he was holding something in his hand. She knew that according to the script they were supposed to be looking at pictures or something to decide on their next target together. It was somewhat of a chilling discussion to establish them as horrible elitists who only ever others as below them. Cattle. Or worse.

“No this one, very deceptive.” She said, “Maybe small but crafty. Give us a challenge.” She motioned to his hands as if he actually had a photograph there.

“You are mad, I could snap his leg like twig.” He insisted.

“Perhaps,” She said, “But he is a thinker, educated. We need to worry about this one, I told you...I have seen him sniffing around. We invite him and take care of problem ourselves.”

“Hardly any meat on this one. I shoot him when he comes in the door. No effort.” Bill scoffed as if what she was proposing was ridiculous.

“No fun in that,” She shook her head, “When have I made mistake before? Hmmm? Tell you what, if I wrong about this then you choose next pig. It is my turn and this is the one I want.” He laughed and grabbed her, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her in close. His hand stroking gently over her cheek as he looked into her eyes.

“How could I ever say no to you?” He purred, “My sweet princess can have this poor cow if that is her wish.” He pulled her into a kiss because that’s what they were supposed to do and she kissed him back eagerly. After all, they were supposed to have something resembling chemistry here and it really wasn’t hard to fake it while kissing him. He released her a moment later and she found herself trying to catch her breath. She turned to look at the rest of the men there.

“Give us a moment please, outside.” Casting director said. She was fairly sure his name was Kevin or something. She hadn’t really been paying attention thanks to how on edge she was. He nodded and took her arm, pulling her out of there before she could think of anything to say in her defense.

“Shit that’s bad right?” She asked once they were out in the hall.

“Trust me if it was that bad they’d have stopped us from saying our lines way before the kiss.” He laughed, “It’s normal, they are just going to discuss it. You don’t have anything to worry about, I swear.”

“And if they say no?” She asked.

“They aren’t going to say no.” He told her, “Come on, want some coffee or something?” He motioned to a table that was set up just outside of there that had an assortment of refreshments.

“Water is fine, I think I’ll puke if I have anything other than that.” She told him. He nodded and went to grab her a bottle, holding it out in her direction. She took it from him and opened it, taking a small sip to help deal with how dry her mouth had gotten. The door opened and the director poked his head out and looked around for a moment until his eyes landed on Bill.

“Bill, can we see you in here a minute? Just you,” He said.

“Yeah, Krystal just have a seat okay?” Bill told her and headed back into the office. That was easier said than done so she didn’t do it. She just paced instead. It seemed like eternity before the door opened again and Bill came out of there he was holding something in his hand which he then held out for her to take. It was a large packet of stuff. She looked at him but took it anyway.

“What is this?” She asked.

“This is the part where you find out about all the paperwork that comes with being in a movie, that and your copy of the script.” He said.

“Are you serious?” She asked, “They...they want me? They said it’s okay?”

“Yes,” He smiled, “We’re going to need to do a lot of work for this but it will be worth it. I promise. You’ll even get your own trailer, well, it was going to be Amber’s but they don’t need her around anymore do they?”

“Yeah but I don’t want her to-”

“Truth be told she wanted off the project.” He said, “Look, it’s no hard feelings between any of us. She’s not even a bad actress but sometimes the chemistry just isn’t right. I think we both knew that and she already had something lined up. Her schedule was pushing filming really thin for her. She wasn’t sure after finding this out, it was worth it. She’d mentioned maybe trying to sweet talk someone into a replacement and I thought you were perfect. I can have her tell you herself if you don’t believe me.”

“Oh...really?”

“Sometimes that’s just how it is.” He said. “Besides, the last thing I’d want to do is start your career by making you an enemy if that was the case I’d have had them bring in another professional. No offense.”

“None taken because I still think that might be a better idea.” She laughed.

“You’re working with me, I’ll teach you everything I know, and you’re going to do just fine. I promise. Have I steered you wrong yet?” He asked.

“No, but in all fairness it’s only been a little over a week so you have a lot of time to fuck something up.” She joked and punched him in the arm playfully. He stumbled back, all dramatic, as if she’d actually hurt him then started to laugh. “Oh shut up.”

“Come on, we have a lot to do and very little time to do it. We need to get started. Are you ready for this?” He asked. She nodded. In all honesty she didn’t think she was ready. What she thought was that he would show her the way. Guide her. Help her learn everything she needed to know in order to be able to do this. She did trust that he could do that, could get her prepared. In that moment she was very unprepared. More so than she’d ever been but she had faith he could get her to where she needed to be. This seemed to be like all the good karma she’d been waiting for after so many years in that nightmare she called a marriage.

#WHChapterNine #WHStory

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nevermindirah · 3 years

Text

Yitzhak!

is a character! who Gregadiah What-Is-Math Rucka gave us almost no information about!

I've gone through Tales Through Time #6: The Bear and #1: My Mother's Axe with several magnifying glasses and done a lot of googling and taken my copy of the Tanakh off my shelf for the first time since (well, since the last time I needed to read Torah for TOG reasons, which I think was Booker Passover headcanons) and here's the best I can come up with.

In The Bear we meet someone who goes by the name Isaac Blue:

Read on for a lot of comic panel analysis and historical research and Jewish flailing!

So what do we know about this Isaac Blue person?

He's Lorge, he's got curly hair, he's basically a taller version of Joe as drawn by Leandro Fernández (ie an antisemitic stereotype why the fuck did they approve this character design?? and then why did they double down and copy-paste it to Yitzhak??):

He's got a mezuzah on the doorpost of his house in Alaska!

I screamed about the mezuzah way back in January in this post where I (very reasonably) assumed this character was Joe and spun myself a tale about how Booker is still Joe's brother so the mezuzah stays up even though Booker isn't welcome in that house for a century. Bottom line: the mezuzah is a tradition with origins in the commandment from Deuteronomy 6:9 to "write the words of G-d on the gates and doorposts of your house" and evolved over the course of the Rabbinic period into the modern mezuzah we see here.

I did unnecessary levels of google image search to glean absolutely no useful information about Yitzhak’s origins from this panel:

I've decided the variant cover of TTT 6 is Yitzhak because of a panel in My Mother’s Axe, shown here, and what's likely an unnecessarily deep reading of Exodus, discussed further down:

The person at the right of the bottom panel is wearing the same clothes as in the TTT 6 variant cover and has the same shoulder-length curly hair and hairy forearms.

Left to right, the people in this panel are Lykon (I'll never get used to him being white in the comics), Andy, Noriko (I think? why doesn't Andy mention her by name here?), and Yitzhak. Andy's robe has a stereotypically Greek design on the sleeve cuff, and I had to stop myself 10 minutes into a Wikipedia rabbit hole because Gregorforth doesn't think that deep about this shit. The solid clues as to timeline that we get in this panel are:

Andy's iron axe

the presence of Lykon, who Andy first met in 331 BCE

So all we know is that Yitzhak is an immortal, he was a contemporary of Lykon, and he's Jewish.

Isaac is the most common Anglicization of Yitzhak (which in turn is the most common Anglophone transliteration of יִצְחָק‎), and Greg always uses the (transliterated) Hebrew when he refers to this character. Yitzhak is the long-awaited child of Abraham and Sarah in Genesis, the child who G-d commanded Abraham to sacrifice but spared at the last minute. I see what you did there, Gregory.

Why Isaac Blue? This is where I pulled out my Tanakh. According to the New JPS translation, blue is the first of three colors of yarn listed in Exodus 35:6 among the gifts requested of the Israelites to construct the priestly garments for the Tabernacle and later the Temple. Then in Numbers 15:38 the Israelites are commanded to "make themselves fringes on the corners of their garments throughout the ages; let them attach a cord of blue to the fringe at each corner."

And now for sandbox timelines party! Gregadiah gave us ALMOST NOTHING to go on, so I'm gonna make my own fun.

I, like many modern Jews, think the stories in the Tanakh are foundational mythology that are valuable because of how they've shaped our people but that contain some fucked-up shit and either way aren't meant to be a record of historical facts. Modern scholarship generally agrees that the community we now call Jews emerged as a distinct group of Canaanites sometime in the late Bronze Age (cw this video's host says the Name of G-d aloud despite being a religious studies scholar who knows that is not a name anyone but the Temple priests are allowed to say). The first non-Biblical written record of the people Israel is from an Egyptian source c. 1200 BCE, and the Biblical kingdom of David and Solomon was probably an exaggeration of whatever really happened during the Bronze Age Collapse. We start getting into historical-fact territory a few centuries into the Iron Age:

588 BCE Solomon's Temple destroyed, Babylonian exile begins

538 BCE Cyrus of Persia allows Jews to return to Jerusalem

515 BCE Second Temple construction complete

332 BCE Alexander the Great At Something I Guess conquered Judea, beginning the Hellenistic period of Jewish history — 331 BCE Andy & Lykon find each other

167 BCE another jerkface Greek king desecrated the Temple and basically outlawed Judaism

164 BCE recapture of Jerusalem and Temple rededication during the Maccabean Revolt

70 CE destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans, beginning of the Rabbinic period of Jewish history that we're still in now

What if... and hear me out... what if immortals come in pairs, and the pairs are:

Andy & Quynh

Joe & Nicky

Booker & Nile

LYKON & YITZHAK

What if Yitzhak was a priest of the Second Temple? What if he and Lykon killed each other just like Joe and Nicky would in the same city around 1300 years later, but instead of enemies-to-lovers speedrun with an absurdly long happily-ever-after, when Lykon died permanently Yitzhak decided to separate from Andy and Noriko and become the hermit we later see in Alaska?

We don't know how old Yitzhak is compared to the others, only that he was a contemporary of Lykon at a time when Andy was using an Iron Age version of her mother's axe. Other plausible origins for him:

a Jew of the early Rabbinic period, maybe a child or grandchild of people who were still alive before the Second Temple was destroyed

a Judean of the Second Temple era under the Romans or Greeks or Persians, maybe a priest, maybe not

an exilee in Babylon, maybe of the generation who got to return, maybe of the generation who was exiled (he doesn't look like he was 50 at his first death but who knows, he could've been mortal for both)

an Israelite of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah, maybe a priest of Solomon's Temple or again maybe not

an Israelite wandering in the desert with Moses

THEE Yitzhak, ben Avraham v'Sarah, our patriarch who was brought up for sacrifice and then spared, and then spared again, and then spared again, and again, and again...

or! he could also be a Canaanite or other Levantine who predates the people Israel, who at some point in his very long life chose to join our mixed multitude, who like Andromache before him (and like Avram and Sarai would in this case do after him) took a new name to reflect the magnitude of influence this people has had on him

Why do I keep saying Yitzhak might have been a priest? It's thanks to the one detail in the artwork I could plausibly connect to solid research without getting a PhD real quick. Take a look at the gorgeous detail on the opening of his robe in the TTT 6 cover. He's dressed in rags, holes and dirt everywhere, rough stitches probably from hasty repair work — except for the neck opening. Compare that to this description from Exodus 39:23 of the construction of the priestly garments for the Tabernacle: "The opening of the robe, in the middle of it, was like the opening of a coat of mail, with a binding around the opening, so that it would not tear."

The next verses describe the intricate designs for the hem of the priestly garment. Yitzhak's ragged garment looks like the hem was torn off entirely.

Am I overthinking this? Yes I am! You're welcome!

My friend and historical research hero @lady-writes is in a Discord server with Gregadiah and asked the man himself some questions about all this. He clearly thinks he's being sneaky?? No shit Yitzhak is Jewish, dude, I want DETAILS!

I will not be giving up my Jewish Booker headcanon, I've put too much thought into it by now, the internalized shame of antisemitism explains Booker's depression too well for me, and it just adds so much richness to Booker/Nile both being children of forced diasporas. Fortunately (for him, not me, bc I'd do it anyway!) Gregothy supports fan headcanons even when they're not in line with his own:

One last thing before I close like 100 research tabs and go back to writing historical fantasy and/or porn! I love that, despite that atrocious caricature of a face design, our canon Jew and our fanon Jew are both Lorge and Soft and Kind, flying the face of the antisemitic stereotype of Ashkenazi Jewish men as small and weak, but also not falling into the New Jew / Muscle Jew stereotype that Zionism created. (I am trying SO HARD not to talk about Israel/Palestine for once ughhhhhhhhhh) Anyway here's a (US-centric but very good) primer on both these stereotypes of Jewish masculinity. Is this why I'm forever projecting my transmasc diasporist feels onto Jewish Booker the service sub? 🤷🏻‍♂️

I’ll reblog a second version of this with full image descriptions so that there’s a version accessible for folks who need IDs as well as a version accessible for folks who get overwhelmed by walls of text.

#TOG POC Love Fest #yitzhak #jewish booker #tales through time spoilers #tales through time #tog meta #tog #jewish things #mine #antisemitism #hi i'm an antizionist jew no i don't really want to talk about it

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writingwithcolor · 3 years

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Jurassic period alien interacting with key cultures and historical figures in Middle East & Asia throughout history

@ketchupmaster400 said:

Hello, so my question is for a character I’ve been working on for quite a while but wasn’t sure about a few things. So basically at the beginning of the universe there was this for less being made up of dark matter and dark energy. Long story short it ends up on earth during the Jurassic Period. It has the ability to adapt and assimilate into other life animals except it’s hair is always black and it’s skin is always white and it’s eyes are always red. It lives like this going from animal to animal until it finally becomes human and gains true sentience and self awareness. As a human it lives within the Middle East and Asia wondering around trying to figure out its purpose and meaning. So what I initially wanted to do with it was have small interactions with the dark matter human and other native humans that kinda helped push humanity into the direction it is now. For example, Mehndhi came about when the dark matter human was drawing on their skin because it felt insecure about having such white skin compared to other people. And ancient Indians saw it and thought it was cool so they adopted it and developed it into Mehndi. Minor and small interactions though early history leading to grander events. Like they would be protecting Jerusalem and it’s people agains the Crusaders later on. I also had the idea of the the dark matter human later on interacting with the prophets Jesus Christ and Muhammad. With Jesus they couldn’t understand why he would sacrifice himself even though the people weren’t deserving. And then Jesus taught them that you have to put other before yourself and protecting people is life’s greatest reward. And then with the prophet Muhammad, I had the idea that their interaction was a simple conversation that mirrors the one he had with the angel Jibril, that lead to the principles of Islam. Now with these ideas I understand the great importance of how not to convey Islam and I’ve been doing reasearch, but I am white and I can understand how that may look trying to write about a different religion than my own. So I guess ultimate my question is, is this ok to do? Is it ok to have an alien creature interact with religious people and historical events as important as they were? Like I said I would try to be as accurate and as respectable as possible but I know that Islam can be a touchy subject and the last thing I would want is to disrespect anyone. The main reason I wanted the dark matter being in the Middle East was because I wanted to do something different because so much has been done with European and American stuff I wanted to explore the eastern side of the world because it’s very beau and very rich with so many cultures that I want to try and represent. I’m sorry for the long post but I wanted you guys to fully understand what my idea was. Thank you for your time and hope you stay safe.

Disclaimer:

The consensus from the moderators was that the proposed character and story is disrespectful from multiple cultural perspectives. However, we can’t ignore the reality that this is a commonly deployed trope in many popular science fiction/ thriller narratives. Stories that seek to take religious descriptions of events at face value from an areligious perspective particularly favor this approach. Thus, we have two responses:

Where we explain why we don’t believe this should be attempted.

Where we accept the possibility of our advice being ignored.

1) No - Why You Shouldn’t Do This:

Hi! I’ll give you the short answer first, and then the extended one.

Short answer: no, this is not okay.

Extended answer. I’ll divide it into three parts.

1) Prophet Muhammad as a character:

Almost every aspect of Islam, particularly Allah (and the Qur’an), the Prophet(s) and the companions at the time of Muhammad ﷺ, are strictly kept within the boundaries of real life/reality. I’ll assume this comes from a good place, and I can understand that from one side, but seriously, just avoid it. It is extremely disrespectful and something that is not even up to debate for Muslims to do, let alone for non-Muslims. Using Prophet Muhammad as a character will only bring you problems. There is no issue with mentioning the Prophet during his lifetime when talking about his attributes, personality, sayings or teachings, but in no way, we introduce fictional aspects in a domain that Muslims worked, and still work, hard to keep free from any doubtful event or incident. Let’s call it a closed period: we don’t add anything that was not actually there.

Reiterating then, don’t do this. There is a good reason why Muslims don’t have any pictures of Prophet Muhammad. We know nothing besides what history conveyed from him.

After this being said, there is another factor you missed – Jesus is also an important figure in Islam and his story from the Islamic perspective differs (a lot) from that of the Christian perspective. And given what you said in your ask, you would be taking the Christian narrative of Jesus. If it was okay to use Prophet Muhammad as a character (reminder: it’s not) and you have had your dark matter human interacting with the biblical Jesus, it will result in a complete mess; you would be conflating two religions.

2) Crusaders and Jerusalem:

You said this dark matter human will be defending Jerusalem against the Crusaders. At first, there is really no problem with this. However, ask yourself: is this interaction a result of your character meeting with both Jesus and Prophet Muhammed? If yes, please refer to the previous point. If not, or even if you just want to maintain this part of the story, your dark matter human can interact with the important historical figures of the time. For example, if you want a Muslim in your story, you can use Salah-Ad-Din Al-Ayoubi (Saladin in the latinized version) that took back Jerusalem during the Third Crusade. Particularly, this crusade has plenty of potential characters.

Also, featuring Muslim characters post Prophet Muhammad and his companions’ time, is completely fine, just do a thorough research.

3) Middle Eastern/South Asian settings and Orientalism:

The last point I want to remark is with the setting you chose for your story. Many times, when we explore the SWANA or South Asian regions it’s done through an orientalist lens. Nobody is really safe from falling into orientalism, not even the people from those regions. My suggestion is educating yourself in what orientalism is and how it’s still prevalent in today’s narrative. Research orientalism in entertainment, history... and every other area you can think of. Edward Said coined this term for the first time in history, so he is a good start. There are multiple articles online that touch this subject too. For further information, I defer to middle eastern mods.

- Asmaa

Racism and Pseudo-Archaeology:

A gigantic, unequivocal and absolute no to all of it, lmao.

I will stick to the bit about the proposed origin of mehendi in your WIP, it’s the arc I feel I’m qualified to speak on, Asmaa has pretty much touched upon the religious and orientalism complications.

Let me throw out one more word: pseudoarchaeology. That is, taking the cultural/spiritual/historical legacies of ancient civilizations, primarily when it involves people of colour, and crediting said legacies to be the handiwork of not just your average Outsider/White Saviour but aliens. I’ll need you to think carefully about this: why is it that in so much of media and literature pertaining to the so-called “conspiracy theories” dealing with any kind of extraterrestrial life, it’s always Non-Western civilizations like the Aztec, the ancient Egyptians, the Harappans etc who are targeted? Why is it that the achievements of the non West are so unbelievable that it’s more feasible to construct an idea of non-human, magical beings from another planet who just conveniently swooped in to build our monuments and teach us how to dress and what to believe in? If the answer makes you uncomfortable, it’s because it should: denying the Non-West agency of their own feats is not an innocent exercise in sci-fi worldbuilding, it comes loaded with implications of racial superiority and condescension towards the intellect and prowess of Non-European cultures.

Now, turning to specifics:

Contrary to what Sarah J. Maas might believe- mehendi designs are neither mundane, purely aesthetic tattoos nor can they be co-opted by random Western fantasy characters. While henna has existed as an art form in various cultures, I’m limiting my answer to the Indian context, (specifying since you mention ancient India). Mehendi is considered one of the tenets of the Solah Shringar- sixteen ceremonial adornments for Hindu brides, one for each phase of the moon, as sanctioned by the Vedic texts. The shade of the mehendi is a signifier for the strength of the matrimonial bond: the darker the former, the stronger the latter. Each of the adornments carries significant cosmological/religious symbolism for Hindus. To put it bluntly, when you claim this to be an invention of the aliens, you are basically taking a very sacred cultural and artistic motif of our religion and going “Well actually….extraterrestrials taught them all this.”

In terms of Ayurveda (Traditional holistic South Asian medicine) , mehendi was used for its medicinal properties. It works as a cooling agent on the skin and helps to alleviate stress, particularly for the bride-to-be. Not really nice to think that aliens lent us the secrets of Ayurvedic science (pseudoarchaeology all over again).

I’m just not feeling this arc at all. The closest possible alternative I could see to this is the ancient Indian characters incorporating some specific stylistic motifs in their mehendi in acknowledgement to this entity, in the same vein of characters incorporating motifs of tribute into their armour or house insignia, but even so, I’m not sure how well that would play out. If you do go ahead with this idea, I cannot affirm that it will not receive backlash.

-Mimi

These articles might help:

Pseudoarchaeology and the Racism Behind Ancient Aliens

A History of Indian Henna (this studies mehendi origins mostly with reference to Mughal history)

Solah Shringar

2) Not Yes, But If Ignoring the Above:

I will be the dissenting voice of “Not No, But Here Are The Big Caveats.” Given that there is no way to make the story you want to tell palatable to certain interpretations of Islam and Christianity, here is my advice if the above arguments did not sufficiently deter you.

1. Admiration ≠ Research: It is not enough to just admire cultures for their richness and beauty. You need to actually do the research and learn about them to determine if the story you want to tell is a good fit for the values and principles these cultures prioritize. You need to understand the significance of historical figures and events to understand the issues with attributing the genesis of certain cultural accomplishments to an otherworldly influence. 1.

2. Give Less Offense When Possible and Think Empathetically: You should try to imagine the mindsets of those you will offend and think about to what degree you can soften or ameliorate certain aspects of your plot, the creature’s characteristics, and the creature’s interactions with historical figures to make your narrative more compatible. There is no point pretending that much of areligious science fiction is incompatible with monotheist, particularly non-henotheistic, religious interpretations as well as the cultural items and rituals derived from those religious interpretations. One can’t take “There is no god, just a lonely alien” and make that compatible with “There is god, and only in this particular circumstance.” Thus:

As stated above by Asmaa and Mimi, there is no escaping the reality the story you propose is offensive to some. Expect their outcry to be directed towards you. Can you tolerate that?

Think about how you would feel if someone made a story where key components of your interpretation of reality are singled out as false. How does this make you feel? Are you comfortable doing that to others?

3. Is Pseudoarchaeology Appropriate Here?: Mimi makes a good point about the racial biases of pseudoarchaeology. Pseudoarchaeology is a particular weakness of Western-centric atheist sci-fi. Your proposed story is the equivalent of a vaguely non-descript Maya/Aztec/Egyptian pyramid or Hindu/ Buddhist-esque statue being the source for a Resident Evil bio weapon/ Predator nest/ Assassin’s Creed Isu relic.

Is this how you wish to draw attention to these cultures you admire? While there is no denying their ubiquity in pop-culture, such plots trivialize broad swathes of non-white history and diminish the accomplishments of associated ethnic groups. The series listed above all lean heavily into these tropes either because the authors couldn’t bother to figure out something more creative or because they are intentionally telling a story the audience isn’t supposed to take seriously.*

More importantly, I detect a lot of sincerity in your ask, so I imagine such trivialization runs counter to your expressed desire to depict Eastern cultures in a positive and accurate manner.

4. Freedom to Write ≠ Freedom from Consequence: Once again, as a reminder, it’s not our job to reassure you as to whether or not what you are proposing is ok. Asmaa and Mimi have put a lot of effort into explaining who you will offend and why. We are here to provide context, but the person who bears the ultimate responsibility for how you choose to shape this narrative, particularly if you share this story with a wide audience, is you. Speaking as one writer to another, I personally do not have a strong opinion one way or the other, but I think it is important to be face reality head-on.

- Marika.

* This is likely why the AC series always includes that disclaimer stating the games are a product of a multicultural, inter-religious team and why they undermine Western cultures and Western religious interpretations as often (if not moreso) than those for their non-Western counterparts.

Note: Most WWC asks see ~ 5 hours of work from moderators before they go live. Even then, this ask took an unusually long amount of time in terms of research, emotional labor and discussion. If you found this ask (and others) useful, please consider tipping the moderators (link here), Asmaa (coming eventually) and Mimi (here). I also like money - Marika.

#alien character #historical fiction #science fiction #pseudoarchaeology #Middle-Eastern cultures #South-Asian cultures #Islam #writing with Islam #mehendi #cultural appropriation #areligious perspectives in writing #asks #WWC

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science-lings · 2 years

Text

Fun Design Details and Random Facts about My Links

Sage (BotW): Conceptually post-botw2 so they have longer hair with a more gingery tinge and they may or may not have a prosthetic/ magic limb, when we get more info about botw2 I’ll probably figure it out lmao. Anyway they’re the magical guy bc they keep the Champions powers and was affected by dying so they can talk to ghosts and do other minor necromancy, also they’re a skilled elixir maker and food enchanter and general little witch guy. Color scheme is generally blues and teals and greens but they also wear a lot of pink and red bc in game they look pretty good in it. Has a big pretty green cloak that's heavily embroidered bc they seem like the type. What is a big cloak but a cool fantasy comfort hoodie.

Guardian (AoC): A major part of his design and backstory is that he’s half sheikah. He has patches of white hair and a section of red in one of his eyes. He generally wears the normal sheikah stealth armor or the sleeveless turtleneck body suit bc he likes to be flexible. He has a dark teal/ blue sheikah forehead tattoo, but in his original design I had the idea of putting the tattoo on his mouth. so that when he opened it the eye would open but it was too complicated so I decided against it. His color scheme is blues and purples and grays and that muted bronze of sheikah armor. This version of the champions garb is a scarf-cape ie LU Warriors. Doesn’t always wear it as it gets in the way an is kind of impractical. It looks pretty cool though.

Captain (WW): A big part of his design change is that I wanted to give him darker skin but keep his sun bleached blonde hair, as I feel like more people of the great sea should be less white. He spends so much time in the sun that it’s a mystery how he was supposed to be so pale. He also has a lot of freckles and subtle scars. He wears some of Tetra’s princess Zelda jewelry, like the little ear wings and anything else pretty. He turned his old green cap into a little scarf/ bandana because there’s no way he would fit in the outfit now. This guy is kinda tall, at least for a Link. I liked his little swirly belt buckle so I kept that and gave him Linebeck’s coat to add to the pirate aesthetic. His color scheme is greens and blues and golds and accents in jewel tones since he wears a lot of jewels. He also wears smudgy eyeliner and dark eyeshadow.

King (SkSw): You know that cool iridescent metal that SkSw Zelda has as the main material for her jewelry? Well King is absolutely decked in it. It’s what his loftwing shaped crown is made out of and he has jeweled rings and a necklace all made out of the stuff. He has a serious wing motif, there are wings on his clothes and new sword and that’s not to mention the crown. Hylia always had a bird thing going on so King is really playing into that. He has his loftwings feathers as a shoulder piece and his sailcloth was turned into more of a sash-cape. Looks very roman. Color scheme is reds and purples and humble warm browns. He doesn’t like looking too fancy all the time but he definitely dresses a little more extravagantly than the average Hylian.

Hunter (TP): He’s the type to wear a lot of leather armor, a good balance of protection and flexibility, as his job is literally monster hunting he decided to invest in something like that. Has a full wolf pelt tied around his waist and I kinda want to give him a skirt like that one concept art. Maybe that’s just what he wears whenever he isn’t in full armor lmao. His hair is gradually turning black due to the prolonged use of twili magic. He has the markings on his face and thighs that mirror his wolf form but they only show up at night and they glow because i think that would be cool. He has a kind of shaggy mullet and a grumpy vibe but has a surprisingly dadly quality about him. His color scheme is mostly neutral with blacks and browns and greys but with a bit of the classic forest green and bronze chainmail. Yes he has fangs, are you surprised?

Hero (OoT): Wow this guy almost looks normal, sure he wears a little more green than the average person and tends to wear tights while on horseback, but he’s not one for armor or anything too crazy. Okay, he wears his golden gauntlets when it’s convenient but is generally not too crazy with his design. His hair is long enough to be in a low ponytail and is nice and normal. I might add some white hair despite him being in his early twenties. That all changes when he puts on the FD mask though. I’m planning on making the markings that come from that be more complex than just thick lines and making them glow bc it should be unambiguous how powerful this guy is. I mean, it’s still the same guy, he just kicks more ass. It lowers his voice and makes him astronomically strong. It’s really hard to actually hurt him and he’s taller and generally pretty terrifying.

General (HW): I’m gonna be honest, his design is really giving me some trouble. I’m not sure exactly how to make him interesting while still staying true to the character. I could go full Camelot type medieval knight but I’m not sure that feels quite right. I could make his era more based around Elizabethan England, so I can give him funny hair and give the royal court some tutor type drama but I’m not quite sure. In any case, his life is full of hiding in the castle whenever he’s able to, to avoid stalkers, and doing his best to combat manipulative royal courtiers that he doesn’t tell the Queen about because he doesn’t want to become a problem. His color scheme is vibrant royal blues with orange accents. Bright colors are only for the fancy people and the General is nothing if not fancy.

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wolveria · 3 years

Text

Inside Your Wires - Chapter 1

Pairing: Human!Connor x Android!Reader

Summary: Assigned all cases involving android-related crimes, saddled with a prototype that follows him around like a plastic puppy, Detective Connor Anderson knows this must be karma for all the bad shit he’s ever done.

He thought he'd hit rock bottom, that he didn't have much left to lose, but he's proven wrong by the android sent by CyberLife. And Connor learns just how much further he can fall.

Prompt: For the @dbhau-bigbang 2020 challenge!

Series Warnings (18+ only): Eventual smut, slow burn, fantasy bigotry, violence, brief noncon elements, angst with a happy ending

AO3

(Story moodboard by @uh-kitty-got-wet)

November 5th, 2038

Friday 11:21PM

The whiskey was harsh and burned like liquid fire as it slid down his throat. He dropped the shot glass onto the bar top and closed his eyes and savored the bloom of the cheap booze warming his chest. The music from the old jukebox behind him belted out tunes that would have been considered outdated when the place opened.

It was like this most nights. He was alone, exhausted, and well on his way to a pleasant buzz. The one thing Connor had going for him was that he hadn’t started in on his third drink until 11 PM.

That had to be some kind of record. On a Friday night, he was usually shitfaced by 10. Call it the long hours he’d been working, or maybe the fact he felt more self-loathing than usual, he’d somehow managed to hold off on spiraling until nearly midnight.

Definitely a record. And Connor deserved to celebrate.

When he tipped the glass with one finger and caught Jimmy’s eye, he nearly looked away in shame. The bartender had never given him shit before, at least in a verbal sense, but the cool stare he gave Connor now made him want to crawl into a hole and die there.

But Jimmy didn’t say a word, just gave him another dose of poison and turned away, leaving Connor in relative peace to enjoy the game. Denton Carter was kicking ass tonight, so at least there was that.

It was all going beautifully until the door opened and the sound of rain echoed throughout the tiny bar, along with a distinct smell of wet asphalt and dirty concrete. Out of the corner of his eye, Connor saw two of the other regulars shift in their seats to stare at the newcomer.

Not another regular, then. And by how lengthy the stares were and the sudden shift in atmosphere, Connor guessed the barometric pressure had taken a drop due to a pair of long legs and pretty eyes.

Turning his body only far enough to get a glance for himself, Connor was not disappointed, eyeing the stranger from their black dress shoes, up their shapely legs clad in dark jeans, past curvy hips and—

Oh.

Connor turned back in his seat, hunched over and grimacing in disgust, put there by the sight of a blue triangle on a lapel and a glowing armband around one arm. He hadn’t even needed to look higher for the LED to know what the fuck had just waltzed into the joint like it actually belonged there.

He nursed his whiskey, praying the thing would pass him by and leave him the fuck alone. Or better yet, Jimmy would throw it out.

No such luck, of course.

“Detective Anderson,” spoke a smooth, raspy voice to his right. “I’m the YN800 model sent by CyberLife.”

He elected to ignore it. Maybe if he did so for long enough, it would take the hint and go away.

Again, Connor’s luck was not holding out.

“I called your cell phone, but you didn’t answer,” the voice continued, unimpeded. “I then looked for you at the station after checking your home, but you weren’t there either. Your colleagues indicated you tended to frequent the bars in the area, and I was fortunate to find you at the fifth one.”

His eye twitched. This thing had gone to his apartment?

“Well, here I am,” he answered, dry and caustic as he stared straight ahead at the wall of bottles. He calculated how angry Jimmy would be if he took out his service pistol and shot it through the head.

Pretty angry, Connor decided. It would probably leave a stain. Also, he didn’t want to compensate some asshole company for property damage.

“What do you want?” he finally growled, scratching his nail into the bar top already marred with various scuffs and dings.

“You were assigned a case earlier this evening. A homicide.”

Already, a headache was forming between the eyes at the sound of the android’s irritatingly friendly voice.

“Yeah, and?”

“It involved a CyberLife android,” it said in that same smooth inflection. “In accordance with procedure, the company has allocated a specialized model to assist investigators.”

You have to be shitting me.

Connor grit his teeth and clenched his glass tighter, a flush of heat moving through him that had nothing to do with his blood alcohol content. A fucking android was sent to help cops do their job?

Fuck that, and fuck this hunk of junk.

“Good for them,” he answered as he tipped the glass up to his lips. “I couldn’t give less of a shit. Now get the fuck out of my face. We don’t need any help, especially from a plastic pair of tits like you.”

He should have known that wasn’t the end of it. The android spoke again, adopting a tone of what it had probably been programmed as “sympathetic.”

“I understand you may be experiencing reluctance to having an android’s assistance in this matter, but I am—“

“—ruining a perfectly good evening, butting your nose where it doesn’t belong and sure as fuck isn’t welcome.”

Connor put his glass down harder on the bar top than he meant to, nearly spilling his drink.

“I suggest you leave before I void your warranty.”

Connor thought the machine got the message when it finally went silent. He could even see its mood ring spinning yellow out of the corner of his eye before it settled on that annoying placid blue.

He’d just brought the glass halfway to his lips when it said, “I’m sorry, Detective, but I must insist.”

Connor set the glass back down and started to count to ten. He couldn’t lose it now, he’d promised Jimmy he wouldn’t break anything else after the last brawl he’d gotten into.

But the fucking thing just kept on talking.

“My instructions stipulate that I have to accompany you.”

“You know where you can stick your instructions?” Connor growled before downing the glass of whiskey.

It was a good thing he had, because its next words made him choke on spit.

“No. Where?”

Connor set the glass down, and for the first time that evening, fully turned toward the android and stared at it.

The damn thing was staring back, head slightly tilted like a curious puppy. It had large eyes to match the image too, earnest and innocent and entirely too sincere. Its attire at second glance wasn’t the typical android faire. A smooth grey android jacket and a dark, patterned tie marked it as something different. Unique.

And just a little too pretty. Every designed, group-focused imperfection on its face made it that much more appealing. Its hair was neatly coifed, pulled up and pinned behind its head, exposing the smooth curve of its neck.

Hanging down the left side of its face was a strategically-placed lock of hair that Connor immediately want to twirl his finger around. He suspected that was the point.

The further down Connor’s eyes traveled, the more he lost his train of thought. The perfectly sensible tie was lying on the slope of its breasts, something even the jacket couldn’t cover. Why the fuck androids had breasts to begin with, Connor couldn’t begin to fathom, and it seemed even more ludicrous now seeing them on a “specialized model.”

The android hadn’t moved apart from its artificial breathing, another thing about the machines that was uncanny. They weren’t human, and the fact CyberLife kept trying to pass them off as such was a goddamn insult to humanity.

He met the thing’s eye, gave an unimpressed huff, and went back to nursing his drink. If the fucking tin can didn’t understand a dirty innuendo, he certainly wasn’t going to ruin its pristine, virginal programming.

Connor doubted everything that had just gone through his head as those unnecessarily realistic tits were pressed against his elbow, without warning or any sense of decency or a concept of personal space.

“How about this, Detective?”

Connor fumbled, nearly spilling his drink, a massive what the fuck! warning flashing in his head as the machine pressed closer.

“I’ll buy you another drink, on the house. Surely that’s worth a few minutes of your time? And if not, you can send me on my way.”

Connor couldn’t speak with that voice right into his ear like a close confidant, sultry and low and borderline pornographic, so it was a good thing the android didn’t bother waiting for a response.

Instead, it turned to Jimmy and said in a louder, more normal tone, “Bartender, another round for the detective, please.”

Jimmy turned from where he was cleaning glasses on the counter, eyebrows shooting upward as he looked from the machine to Connor. It had backed up a few inches, but there were a lot of reflective bottles on the wall. Connor wondered just how much Jimmy had seen.

Connor gave a little helpless shrug as if to say, Don’t look at me, I don’t know what the fuck it’s doing!

But when the damn thing actually brought out real paper money and set it on the counter, Jimmy got moving. Seemed he wasn’t picky about where his money came from, and Connor almost resented the fact he hadn’t thrown the android out on principle.

Who the hell gave it money in the first place? CyberLife? What, did they hand it a few bucks of allowance before letting it off its leash?

Despite all his reservations, and there were a great many of them, Connor was not about to turn down a free drink. Or two.

“Make it a double,” he grumbled, purposefully avoiding the android’s focused gaze. He could practically feel the thing staring into the side of his head, but at least it remained at a distance and wasn’t pressed against his side like a drunk, horny badge bunny anymore.

“Thanks, Jim.” Connor took the glass and tipped it back, drowning it in one go. The slide of the familiar burn down his throat, spreading throughout his limbs, did quite a lot to help ease the tension in his muscles.

He released a heavy exhale, pushed away from the bar, and got to his feet.

“You want to play plastic cop? Okay, then. Keep up,” he said, tilting his head in its direction without actually looking at it. “Or I’m leaving your ass behind.”

Connor didn’t wait for a response, only raised his hand in parting to Jimmy, and pushed open the door to let the rain-drenched Detroit night swallow him whole. But even through the sound of the rain pinging off the hood of his nearby car he could hear the even footfalls behind him, just a little too close for comfort.

Fucking androids.

Next Chapter

#connor x reader #detroit: become human #human!connor #android!reader #dbh au big bang #my writing #my fanfiction #inside your wires #i make connor suffer but he's gonna be hard about it

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snowywrites · 3 years

Text

Yuri x popular Fem!reader

summary: fluffy fic in which the reader sees Yuri while working at a coffee shop and intends to be closer friends with her.

word count: 2.1k

"Y/N!"

You stop in your tracks, turning to scan the tables around you for the source of the voice; it was kind of familiar, and your eyes fall on a customer that's a regular here at the coffee shop. A young man around your age, usually here with his friends but alone today.

You had been about to go make another coffee for a different customer, but you force a service smile onto your face and hurry over to his table. "Hello!" You wrack your brain for a second to bring a name to this man- it wasn't easy keeping track of so many different people, and not just at your job! You also tried to keep tabs on the majority of your peers from school, too. Fortunately, it clicks a moment later. "Hatsumi, was everything alright?" You ask, noting he's already finished his pastry and drink.

Hatsumi grins, clearly pleased you had remembered him. Customers tended to get really happy over little things like that... if only they knew you did this with all of them. It was no secret you were one of the favorites here at the little shop, consistently getting better tips than many of your coworkers. "It was great!" He answers you brightly.

You nod and inquire politely, "Would you like me to go ahead and bring the bill out now?"

A moment of hesitation, and then, "Oh- uh, yes, thanks." He seems a bit disappointed, but you don't have time to dwell on it right now, not with how busy today's rush hour is. The only good thing is you're hopefully going to be getting off in about a half hour.

You assure him you'll be right back and then flit off to the counter to ring up the items he'd ordered and print the bill. As you're doing so, you feel a tap on your shoulder.

Glancing up, you see your favorite coworker, a girl several years older than you. "Y/N," she begins, a bit of a pleading look in her eyes that means she's about to ask you for a favor.

Biting back a sigh, you push down whatever annoyance you have at being interrupted to look expectantly at her. "What's up?"

"Can we please switch tables really quickly?" She practically begs you.

Switching tables wasn't too terribly uncommon- sometimes when guests came in, the baristas would know them outside of work and might ask a coworker to deal with the order and anything else.

"Sure," you giggle, ever the people-pleaser. You had a reputation to keep, after all! You don't like to brag, but you do enjoy the fact that you have many different friends and are well-liked by just about everyone you know. "Who?"

She gives a hop of delight. "Can I take the bill to Hatsumi?"

You can't help but smirk mischievously. "Ohhhhh, I see."

She lightly smacks you on the arm, instantly blushing. "Nono, I just-"

You cut her off before she can defend herself, knowing the two of you don't really have the time to waste playing around. "It's no worries. And who's that order for?" You question as you point at the circular silver tray in her hands which is holding a cute polka-dotted cup of tea.

"Ah, this goes to table three, the girl with the purple hair."

You nod, exchanging the bill for the tray. You want to watch and see what will happen between your friend and Hatsumi, if anything, but when you look towards the designated table, already heading for it, you realize you recognize the girl sitting there.

You have no trouble recalling her name. One of the members of your Literature Club, Yuri...

You haven't actually been in the club all that long at all, maybe a week-ish, and you feel like you haven't had any time at all to get properly acquainted with Yuri. Part of you feels that it's a shame, because you get the sense she's a very interesting and sweet person beneath her quiet and distant shell. It's just hard when she's always reading, and even in the rare moments she's not, she doubts herself so much during conversations with you that it just ends up being a bit weird.

But not today! No, you're suddenly filled with a sense of determination to get closer to Yuri.

You consider playfully scaring her when you walk up, but ultimately decide against it; aside from being naturally timid anyway, she's also, as usual, reading, and doesn't seem aware of anything going on in the shop around her. So, yeah, best to use a more gentle approach.

"Hey, you," you say, putting all the friendliness in your voice as possible, stopping beside the table to greet her.

In spite of everything, Yuri still jumps a bit in her seat, violet gaze flashing up to you in alarm.

'So much for trying not to scare her,' you think unhappily. Pushing that thought away, you give her a reassuring smile. "Sorry, it's just me! Y/N. We're in the Literature Club together," you try to remind her, wondering with a pang of horror if she's actually forgotten who you are. That would be a first for you.

A second of silence, but at last Yuri's tense grip on her book loosens, and she glances down at it, avoiding making eye contact. "O-Oh, I'm sorry."

Another awkward beat of silence. This was what you meant!! It always went like this with Yuri, and you wished more than anything that you knew how to make her more comfortable around you. Hoping to carry the burden of saving this interaction, you laugh nervously, "It's no worries! But, you didn't forget me, did you?" As much as you're just trying to joke around, there really is a slight feeling of hurt that that may very well have been the case.

Yuri stiffens, quickly answering, "No, I- I didn't!" It's a rushed response, louder than you've ever heard her speak and yet still quieter than most people's normal speaking voice. As if embarrassed by her small outburst, she ducks her head to add quietly, "Uhm, that is- I just meant that... I wouldn't ever forget you, Y/N."

Oh. Talk about giving someone butterflies. You never knew what to expect with Yuri- sometimes she could never get her words out, but then other times she'd say something with such a deep meaning that it would catch you entirely off guard. What's odd though is you know for a fact how truly sincere she is; Yuri is the type of person that's much deeper than most people, and she wouldn't say something if she didn't really think or believe it.

"Thank you, Yuri," you say warmly, setting her tea down near her on the table. "Here you go! I like this kind, too." Truthfully, since you hadn't taken the order yourself or even made the drink, you weren't 100% sure what kind of tea this was, but you were willing to try anything to make Yuri more at ease. It also wasn't unheard of for you to make conversation with customers, even if it was busier than usual right now- for once though, you weren't aiming to make a good tip or secure a regular customer. You genuinely wanted to talk with her. "Hey, is that the same book you're reading at the club?" You question after catching a glimpse of the cover art.

She shakes her head, causing some of her bangs to fall into her face. Brushing them out of the way, she frowns and then nods. "W-Well, kind of. I finished that one yesterday... this is the sequel," she explains.

"It must be pretty good if you want to read the next part already," you comment. "What's it about?"

As predicted, Yuri noticeably perks up. "Oh, I think you would really enjoy it, Y/N. It's about-"

"Y/N!"

You flinch at the stern voice of your shift supervisor, who apparently hadn't realized Yuri was speaking when he cut her off.

You glance back to see him gesturing at you in clear annoyance, motioning to the line of guests waiting for their drinks to be made. You nod, signaling you'll be right over.

Focusing back on Yuri, you're unable to mask your disappointment. "I'm sorry, I've gotta get back to work. I'm supposed to be off in a little bit though."

Yuri seems to also be discouraged, apologizing for keeping you, even though you're the one who had intentionally kept the talk going. She bites her lip, and then, probably overtaken by a brief moment of courage, suggests, "When you get off, maybe then I could tell you about the books?"

You're stunned, but at the same time, this was precisely what you'd been hoping for! "Yes, sure! That sounds great. I'll see you then!" You chirp, hurrying away.

The last of your shift passes by rather quickly, and when it comes time to clock out, you actually have to tell your supervisor no, you can't stay another extra hour even if they are busy, because you have plans! Normally you would have, but not today.

You meet Yuri at the door and the two of you leave the coffee shop together. The sun is close to setting, but not quite there yet. "Thank you again, Yuri! I like spending time with you, I've just been a little busy lately," you say.

Yuri mumbles something you can't quite hear, but then adds more clearly, "I-I'm glad..."

"So," you begin, clasping your hands behind you and beaming at her. "About those books!"

That's all it takes for Yuri to dive into an explanation of the main plot points as the two of you walk side by side towards your home.

You're more than a bit tired from work and standing on your feet for so long, but it's nice to have company on the walk back, especially someone like Yuri. You hum and comment every so often, honestly thinking that they did sound like the sort of books you would enjoy. Full of fantasy and mystery and thrills... and of course, romance.

"So, the main character ditches his friend, who's been with him the whole time, for the new girl? And she's from the enemy's group?" You surmise.

Yuri hesitates. "I don't want to spoil anything for you if you're wanting to read them for yourself..."

"Such a tease," you sigh, pretending to be betrayed. "Oh, we're here- this is my house."

The two of you stop at the gate leading to the front yard of your home, and you're positive you aren't imagining the plaintive expression on Yuri's face. You didn't really want your time together to end either, but alas, you both have classes tomorrow.

"If- If you really would like, you can borrow the first book from me," offers Yuri. "And then... you'll see for yourself how it all goes."

You nod enthusiastically. "Yes, please! Thank you, that's really sweet of you! We can discuss it too after I'm finished reading it. I think I already know who my favorite character is going to be, though."

Yuri tilts her head curiously. "Who would that be?"

"Nope! It's a secret, for now." You pause, glancing up at the darkening sky. "Will you be okay walking home by yourself?"

Her violet eyes soften at your concern. "Yes, I don't live very far from here."

You find yourself unsure of how to say goodbye to Yuri, an uncertain quiet settling over the two of you, but she doesn't seem to find it awkward. "Okay, if you're sure. Do you mind giving me your phone number, though?"

She starts in surprise, a dusting of pink covering her cheeks. "U-Uhm- I- you-?"

"So you can text me when you get home," you quickly defend your reasoning, feeling a bit shy yourself at Yuri's reaction. She really was unique- most people tried to play it cool when asking for or giving numbers.

"R-Right," she stammers, reciting it off for you, and her phone buzzes at the quick text message you sent her so she would have your number.

"I'll see you tomorrow then, at the Literature Club," you finally say, already looking forward to it. "And don't forget to bring the book, please!"

Yuri steps back, her gaze on the ground but you still see her smile to herself. "Yes, I will. Bye, Y/N." She seems like she has something else she wants to say, but then she gives herself a shake and quickly turns away, her long hair twirling to follow her.

You watch her go until you can't see her anymore, partly due to wanting to make sure she was safe.

You couldn't help but admire her for her intelligence and beauty, even if she seemed to admire your social skills in return. Hopefully this was the start of a very deep relationship with Yuri.

#yuri #yuri x reader #ddlc x reader #doki doki literature club #reader insert #scenario #imagine #fem reader #ddlc reader insert #preference

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