#to the moon and to saturn chapter two | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

nouvxllev · 6 months

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the girl across your street || p5 (FINAL)

Pairing: Jenna Ortega x Fem!Reader

Summary: You spent half of your life waiting for the right person to just step into your life and take over your heart by storm, someone who would think of you when they see a shooting star, someone who'd paint canvases of your face so the world would know who considered you greater than the Mona Lisa, someone who cherished you oh so dearly. Now, you can happily say with all your heart, you found her.

Words: 4.4k

Warnings: restating my statement on the previous chapter, this is the longest chapter of all lol

a/n: got a lovely suggestion from @ajortga (check out their stories btw, theyre amazing!) and an anon request for this part! i appreciate them and i wrote it to the best of my abilities.

part 1 || part 2 || part 3 || part 4 || masterlist.

'...I still got love for you

Your braids like a pattern

Love you to the moon and to Saturn

Passed down like folk songs

The love lasts so long...'

"There's my favorite actress of all time, Jenna goddamn Ortega!"

You shouted with your arms out, ready for a hug, while running over to Jenna in the freezing cold. She was clad in a puffy hoodie and comfortable jogging pants, and she had her beanie on, wrapped around her head along with her own pair of headphones, preparing for the impact of your body-crushing hug.

"Y/n, y/n! No, slow down!" she screamed before toppling down to the snowy ground along with you, your arms wrapped around hers as you laughed together in harmony.

She sat up, your body going in rhythm with hers, "You really love that line, don't you?" She chuckled before cupping your cheeks with her hands. She muttered a quiet sorry, noticing how you flinched at the cold touch.

"Hey, you've finally accomplished your goal. You deserve it, Jenna." You loved saying her name, no amount of terms of endearment could ever beat the love and devotion you had for it.

Jenna looked at you, a smile covering her face as her dimples took over and her freckles became more visible to you, a sense of hopeless romance reflected in both of your eyes before pulling you in with her hands and planting her lips against yours.

It hasn't been one day since you last kissed her and oh how you missed the taste of her lips on yours. It's like your problems melted away by her scent and the taste of her lipbalm.

Before you knew it, you and Jenna had become the IT couple of the year. It even surprised you how the world knew the both of you were dating in the first place considering how Jenna never really posts on social media about her personal life and neither do you. But with how paparazzis work and how Jennas fans work harder than the devil, you can see now why your relationship with Jenna got blasted online.

Now, the two of you were the global love team, featured in commercials, advertisements for certain brands, and even you trying a hand at acting. You occasionally made appearances as Jenna's love interest in a show, though your role was more of a background character, the audience always loved seeing you together with Jenna.

In each film you directed, Jenna was sure to be in it, and she always became the character you couldn't bear to kill off even with a gun to your head.

Jenna always assured you that it was perfectly fine if her character was killed off since she's an amazing actress who pulls all her stunts so flawlessly, but watching her act getting shot in the head, stabbed, or possibly tortured in the horror movies you were set to direct? Just right in front of you? Hell, you'd rather do that to yourself with no pay.

But of course, like Jenna always ranted to you about, the entertainment industry was ass. Jenna warned you after you guys made it official that you'll be under the spotlight for a couple months, or even years. You couldn't go outside for even a minute without seeing a paparazzi literally in the bushes with a huge goddamn camera as if you can't see them. But if that was the price to pay just for Jenna to be beside you at all times, you'd deal with it even if you'll have paparazzi surrounding your coffin soon.

"Y/n?" she said, waving her hands in front of you, as if the only thing keeping you grounded was your tight grip on her waist. "I have something to tell you."

"Yeah? Yeah, sorry, what is it?"

"I'm moving in with you."

"What?"

Damn, you were certainly not ready for that.

"If— If that's okay, of course—"

"It's always okay, it's more than okay, Jenna!" You took her hands into yours, shaking them with excitement. "When are you moving? Actually, why are you moving?"

"It's been months into our relationship, y/n. I don't like how you always drive to my apartment every day just to see me." She stood up, lifting you by your grip, "also, I'm moving next week. I still have a schedule to clean up on."

You stood up alongside her, walking backward while facing Jenna as she walked beside you. "But driving to your apartment is my favorite part of the day, Jenna."

She sighed, "Okay, you choose, driving miles to my apartment or waking up beside me?"

"Definitely the latter." You picked, way too instantly, pointing a finger at her and clicking your tongue while she laughs.

"See? It'll be fun. For the both of us." She ran beside you then took your hand, pushing her body to be against yours as you smiled under your breath. Oh, how you loved being in her presence.

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The two of you approached the front door, kicking off your shoes while Jenna placed hers gently near the entrance. You turned on the lights as you headed for the kitchen, calling out, "You want something to drink, Jenna?" while noticing Jenna was still at the doorway.

She immediately turned the corner upon hearing your voice. A small smile played on her lips as she looked over at you, one of your hands on your hips as you scanned the refrigerator for ingredients. "I'm good. Thanks, y/n."

"Make yourself at home, Jenna. Since you are moving in," you said, glancing over your shoulder. You noticed Jenna looking around your house, finding the interior and atmosphere both familiar and yet vaguely new.

"You got it fixed?" she called out after noticing the DSLR camera you always loved and adored on top of the coffee table. You had it fixed for the holidays and for Jenna, of course, considering how both of you always enjoyed making videos with it in the past. You figured it was time to revive those memories.

"Yup! I had to. Its got my treasured moments in it." You approached her. After scanning your near-empty refrigerator, you took the DSLR camera in your hands and handed it to her. "I wanted to do a Christmas special on it, this time, with you on here."

"Christmas special?" She looked up at you, smiles and all. You remained the same for her—the one who always loved making videos, even if you were too scared to post them online or just didn't have a reason to. Nonetheless, you gave your best in those videos, and it truly brought out your happiest side.

"Didn't even know that was possible. I mean, no offense, but this looked like it got run over by a bullet train." She fiddled with your camera, turning it on and scrolling through the photos and videos. She was surprised to find old videos she hadn't seen the last time she turned it on.

You chuckled at Jenna's comment. "Okay, I'll admit it was pretty busted, but I found a technician who worked wonders on it. And about the Christmas special, well, it's going to be the first video I filmed in a long while."

"Long while? You haven't filmed something in this?" She looked at you, concern filling her eyes. She always knew you were the one in the friendgroup always recording a moment, even in the past she had heard, so why stop?

You sat down with her, "Ever since you left, I haven't been able to record. Even if I did, I'd just delete it anyway. Nothing is ever perfect without you, Jenna. I didn't realize how much it meant to me until I couldn't bring myself to do it without you." Your voice dwindled down into a whisper as you took her free hand that was beside yours, gently grazing your thumb on her palm. The vulnerability in your voice was something Jenna liked about you, how you spoke your mind whenever you were with her.

"I never knew," Jenna admitted, her fingers gently intertwining with yours. "I'm sorry, y/n."

You nodded, a small smile playing on your lips before you checked your phone for the time. "Okay, sappy moment over!" You immediately stood up, putting your phone in your pocket, "I have to go and buy some groceries. Wanna to come, Jenna?"

"I'll stay if it's alright." She assured you, chuckling at how fast you got over the moment so quickly.

"More than alright. I won't be long anyway." You headed for the doorway, putting on your boots and coat, your hand already on the doorknob until you heard Jenna call out your name.

"Y/n! You forgot something!" She called out, approaching you with headphones in hand.

You looked over at her, already smiling at the fact that she was more than an inch smaller when you put on your boots. "Oh, right," you said before cupping her cheeks and giving her a quick peck on the lips, completely ignoring the fact that she was already handing you your headphones.

You gave a little wave and a quick goodbye before going out and closing the door behind you.

"Your headphones—!" Jenna called out before you were already running across the street with your hands in your pockets. Honestly, she was more surprised with your ability to forget everything in your vicinity rather than how you walked so fast.

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Your voice from the camera echoed throughout your bedroom, the room where the both of you had confessed your love for each other. Jenna laid comfortably on your bed, the window opened as cold air flowed into the room, and your camera held up high by her hands. She was watching an old video you had filmed before, you and Jenna in her old home, filming a cooking video, she’d think you’d call it.

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"Weeelcome to—hey Jenna, what should we name our cooking show?" You picked the camera up from the camera as it started recording. You went over to Jenna who was already prepping the ingredients needed, even she was in get-up, an apron and all. You contemplated if you could quickly go to the store and buy a chefs hat for her.

Jenna glanced up from her task, her eyes going to the camera before going to you. "Maybe just our names together? Jenna and Y/n."

You lowered the camera a slight bit, the perspective looking a little wonky, "But Jenna, that's so boring! We need more pizzaz." You looked at Jenna who was screaming towards the kitchen and the cupboards to check where her knife went.

"Then have you got something in mind?" She sharply asked, turning her heel around, "Have you, somehow, seen my knife? I swear it was just around the sink."

"Yeah, okay, great point, I have nothing as well." You placed down the camera on the counter, using a jar of whatever behind to keep it from falling down. "Here," you said with a cheeky smile as you presented the knife as if you were kneeling before a queen, and Jenna could only give you an unimpressed look.

You helped Jenna for a hot minute before turning to the camera once again, your full body being shown and a certain someone who was outside of view "Today, we're baking cookies—Jenna, c'mere." You held your hand to Jenna who wasn't in frame.

Jenna, still holding an unimpressed expression, walked over to where you were standing, joining you as you both appeared side by side in the frame. You appeared comically taller in the camera than Jenna, making you laugh just slightly before the shorter one punched you in the gut.

"Alright, anyway, let's bake some cookies!" You clasped your hands together, and Jenna could only look at you with eyes that conveyed love and adoration, wondering how you never noticed it.

Jenna picked up the camera and whispered, a little bit too loudly into the camera, "Side note, we have little to no experience at all at baking," she said, "We have absolutely no idea what we're doing!" You screamed from the background, already mixing in the ingredients, making her laugh before yelling that you made the wrong step.

"We're winging it, Jenna! God, who knew we could be such good bakers?" You exclaimed while mixing everything up, your hand was getting tired by how you whisked everything at such random paces, but Jenna didn't mind.

Everything was going smoothly, and perfectly Jenna could say so herself before her face scrunched up in confusion when you accidentally added salt instead of sugar.

Jenna's eyes widened, her warnings to stop you were a bit too late as you had already added half of the cup into the mixture. "Wait, oh fuck, y/n, y/n! That's a whole cup of salt!" She exclaimed, throwing her body against you as she tried to grab your arm that was pouring the sugar, but it was already too late.

You paused mid-mix, staring at Jenna, then at the bowl with a horrid expression. "Shoot!" You immediately, in instincts you'd defend until your dying days, dove your hand right into the mixture, as if your hand could magically pull out the tiniest ass bits of salt grains.

Jenna with all her might, restrained herself from bursting into laughter, "Okay, that's just so wrong, you can't just—!"

"Alright, alright!" You pulled your hands from the mixture, putting them up in the air in surrender as the gooey texture of incorporated eggs, flour, milk, and whatever was in there went down from your sleeves.

"Let's just make another batch." You turned to her, "let's just make another batch," you repeated.

"Y/n, we went through 3 batches already."

A moment of silence you both had as both of you looked at the batter you two worked hard on. Before a playful fight completely outraged from the both of you when you started to hand paint Jenna's face from the batter, creating silly drawings on her face as she ran away from you armed with a spatula to fend you off.

In the end, the both of you completed your task of baking cookies while using the same batch, and, well, they turned out... nice. On the camera, they looked really nice, and they kinda even smelled good from afar.

"Annnd, it's done!" You exclaimed, and Jenna tilted the pan slightly to give the camera a preview of the cookies.

After a bit of banter from the both of you, a minute passed by, and you two were holding cookies.

"They look... edible enough to eat anyway," Jenna said, inspecting them before looking towards you with your own cookie. "Cheers?"

"Cheers!" you echoed, holding up your cookie to Jenna's in a mock toast. The camera captured the moment as both of you took a bite simultaneously. And how your faces contorted into disgust.

"Y/n, just take it out, even I can't swallow this."

"Okay, good choice, oh god—!"

The last thing the camera recorded before it fell was you and Jenna quickly spitting out the bites into a nearby trash can and rushing over to the sink, pushing each other as you tried to turn the faucet on and rinse off the disgusting taste you both had in your mouth.

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Jenna laughed heartily as she scrolled through the numerous videos you both had filmed over the past months with the camera in her hand. She couldn't believe that your entire bond had been created over this camera—how you wanted to become a director and how she wanted to become an actress. It was surprising how well the both of you fit with each other, down to your interests.

She kept watching the videos you had filmed for the both of you. Jenna even went out of her way to roam around your room, looking for memory cards to see what other videos you both had done. That was until she opened a certain drawer in your table lamp, tucked away all the way to the end. She couldn't have spotted it if she hadn't opened it all the way.

Handwritten notes, letters, wilted flowers, keychains, an abundance of printed polaroid photos, and photos in general that you had kept, intending to give them to Jenna. These mementos had been tucked away in this drawer for months on end.

She didn't want to pry, but a part of her was drawn to the crumpled letter that stood out among the rest. When she opened it, it had pen scribbles and stains from what she assumed were tears.

The letter read,

To my Jenna To my dearest To Jenna

To the girl across my street, (9/27/2020)

You shouldn’t be the one I should be writing a love letter to at 1 in the morning, even if I know in my bones I’ll be writing letters for you until I rest for eternity. You shouldn’t be the one that keeps me up at night wondering if you’ll ever come back until now. You shouldn’t be the one that I subject my undying love to, the love that I kept reserved all these years, and yet you arrive and suddenly, all of it is yours. You shouldn’t be the one for me at all. But you are, and I hate that you’re everything I want in my life. I shouldn’t be mad at you Jenna. In fact, I love you. I love you so much, it hurts as I write this. I love you so much, I can’t look at myself anymore wondering what I would’ve done to keep you moving away from my life. Ever since I saw you, I felt like nothing in my life mattered more than being with you, even if I knew that was impossible. Well, until you suddenly picked me up after a horrible fall. I knew from everyone in my town that you were the most private person, you never opened up to them even if they always kept coming to your doorstep with leftovers from their family dinner. You told me that it was a bit overwhelming, seeing your fridge pile up everyday with everybody’s leftovers, you even got a lollipop from a kid. From our conversations, it was those random moments you told me from your life that I cherished the most, even if it was just something you remembered out of the blue. I fell mad in love with you, head over heels. No one would know falling in love with a great force other than me with you. I realized that when you invited me to your family's house for Christmas after you found out about the relationship I had with my parents, since then, I knew the love I had for you was soon going to drown me until my heart was filled with your name.

The way your family welcomed me with open arms as if I was someone, finally someone a part of something, I couldn’t bear to walk away anymore. The way you had introduced me to your siblings and cousins with a smile that I could only mistake for as a star, the way you had made me a part of your family, the way you made your family love me the way they loved you. I hate it, Jenna. I hate how your eyes brought revelry upon those who are grieving, how your touch brought forth the saints buried in the hearts of sinners, how your laugh would make every great poet struggle to illustrate the sound of your voice, how your soul brings every angel and saint to shame. I hate how you made me so happy, how you made the happiest side of me shine. I hate how I hate none of these things at all. I love everything about you, I can’t just pretend like I don’t. I love you, Jenna. I love you with all of my heart, each bone in my body yearns for yours, your very being became the muse of every thought, my soul is eternally yours forever, why did I let it be that way? And why until now, It’s still yours to keep? To rip apart? Yours to silently remind you that there’s someone out there who had their heart programmed to beat for you, and for only you. The day you left, I only realized how you were so important to me. It’s maddening how that was the first thought came to mind, how I fell so in love with your soul I completely forgot how you left me in pieces. How you didn’t text me, how you didn’t call me, how you didn’t even do the bare minimum as knocking on my door or maybe leaving a note to say you were leaving entirely. It’s been exactly a year since you left, and I haven’t stopped thinking about you ever since. A part of you still stayed with me, or maybe I just looked for you everywhere, hoping one day you’d appear beside me like nothing ever happened and grace me once again with that smile of yours that would last me a lifetime. Everything reminds me of you, Jenna. Every place, every home, every street, every film, every note that I hear from a song you’d used to sing to me with your stupid guitar you always wanted to master but never got the chance to. I’m in love with you, Jenna. I’m so in love with you to the point I can’t say it to your face. I’m yours forever more, and I hate that I am.

From, y/n. Happy Birthday, Jenna.

I wished I confessed to you more earlier.

"Jenna! Jenna!" A voice she loved, loved now more than anything, quickly pulled her out of her thoughts, banging against her own door. She pulled herself up from your bed, running towards the door in a hurry while holding the letter in her hands.

Jenna unlocked the door to see you. The love of her life, someone who wrote thousands of letters for her every day since she left, someone who had the stupidest idea to spend every inch of her savings to go buy her the headphones she always wished to own, someone who was now standing in the freezing cold.

"Jenna— Oh, Jenna, I forgot my headphones, and—and it was freezing like shit. God, I never knew there was a snowstorm coming in. I'm sorry I took so long I—"

You were cut off mid-sentence by her, who pulled you by your collar into a passionate kiss. The warmth of your house, the warmth of Jenna's body against yours, the warmth of her lips that brought every inch of your body to heaven was everything you needed to calm down. If only you had paused for a minute to take a glance at Jenna when you were rambling, you could only see her eyes in a lovesick gaze for you, you could see how much she loved you, you could see how she was everything you perceived her to be.

"Y/n," Jenna whispered, her voice a soft melody that resonated in the quiet room as you wrapped your arms around her waist.

You smiled, tucking a loose strand of hair behind Jenna's ear. "What… What was that for?"

"I love you," she whispered under her breath. "I love you," she added, one more time, as if you were going to disappear if she didn't.

"I love you too, Jenna. What's going on?"

"I just—I just love you so much, y/n. I always said I love you, but never added so much or expressed how much I loved you." Jenna was always straightforward when it came to talking. It was her nature, her style of sentence, how she spoke aloud, the quiet confidence she had whenever she spoke to someone; it was one of the characteristics she had that made you fall in love with her. But now, she couldn't express herself in the way she wanted to. She did, but it only fell short. The amount of love she had for you was something she could never express properly, even with a dictionary in her hands, it couldn't be possible.

It only took you a minute before figuring what had happened.

"You... you read the letter?"

"Yes—Yes, I read the letter, y/n. All of it."

"Well, what'd you think?" You almost thought that you had discarded the letters you wrote for her, but you kept the most important one of all.

She pulled you into a soul-crushing hug, "I love you. I'm sorry, I just love, love, love, you, y/n. I'm sorry if I'm not enough for you."

"Jenna," you whispered, gently pulling back to look into her eyes, "You don't know how much you're more than enough for me. You don't know how much your smile just means everything to me, good or bad, and your love is everything I've ever wanted. I wouldn't have it any other way."

Jenna's gaze softened, and a relieved smile played on her lips. "I'm just afraid that my love might fall short, you know? That I couldn't express it the way you do."

You cupped her face, your thumb gently grazing her skin, admiring her freckles. "Your love is perfect, Jenna, it's yours. I don't need grand gestures or expressions to make me feel happy. I just need you—your love, your presence, and everything that makes you who you are. Just, please, don't change that just for me—or for anyone."

The both of you kissed, the middle of the night while the orange light coming off from the kitchen flickered. A kiss, you knew, lasted only for a second. Or maybe even a few seconds, but this kiss lingered like a memory that lasted forever, a picture that was photographed and kept in a sealed case, stars that die but explode into a gorgeous nebula, a kiss that's worth for a thousand lifetimes.

Afterward, both of you watched the videos that you had filmed whenever and wherever. Jenna noted your habit of bringing the DSLR everywhere, capturing snippets of your private life where she wasn't in the frame. However, you quickly threw the camera against the headboard when she came across the holy grail of you trying out some skateboard tricks, where you horribly fell and got various scars on your leg.

In that moment, both of you probably knew you were going to stay with each other no matter what happened, or what challenges you faced. The way you both kissed then, in the doorway, was the most romantic kiss you had shared in your entire life. Probably not the most ideal of spots to decide to marry someone, but then again, who was the insane one who dated the girl across her street?

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Invisible string.

That was the saying for those who believe there's a string of fate binding people who were destined to be together, or for anyone who was in love for that matter. It's a sweet thing, you can say, considering how you're one of the people who truly believed in it. You spent half of your life waiting for the right person to just step into your life and take over your heart by storm, someone who would think of you when they see a shooting star, someone who'd paint canvases of your face so the world would know who considered you greater than the Mona Lisa, someone who cherished you oh so dearly. Now, you can happily say with all your heart, you found her.

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a/n: aaahhh this series has come to a close, thank you for all the love and support! now i can finally do another series with JO's characters or maybe just oneshots. (i have a fuck ton of drafts.)

#jenna ortega x reader #jenna ortega x y/n #jenna ortega x you #jenna ortega #jenna marie ortega

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seeingivy · 9 months

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ribbons release

actor eren x f!reader

**part of my method acting series

content: happiness for once. until it is not. ronnie's love for foreshadowing strikes again.

an: not a fan of this chapter, but we digress. read it and do not kill me if you don't like it.

song: not explicitly mentioned, but this chapter reminds me of about you by the 1975. ratty healy, I hate you but you ate on this one thing.

previous part linked here

“I ju-just sent my loc-location, Eren.”

“I got it, Y/N. I just need you to hold on for ten more minutes, okay? Can you do that for me?”

“Y-yes.”

Seattle is famous for rain. You understand that all too well now. After what you’ve counted as twenty-seven minutes - from when you went to take the trash out to the mailpost you’re hiding behind now - you’re all but soaked. Drenched.

Your phone is blowing up with texts, the rain is only getting harder, and the mini black dress and ribbon in your hair do no favors to keep you warm. You slide out of your call with Eren and quickly scan through the messages, buzzing so loud they’re blocking Eren’s voice.

reiner: so, so proud of you always!!! stop being a big famous pop star and go back to being the little twerp who needs my help killing spiders on set :/

levi: I love you too, kid. And on a real listen, we really do love the album.

armin: ann and i are smelling a triple threat on the horizon. love you to the moon and saturn <3

connie: i was accidentally pooping while i listened to dorothea for the first time and i think the combination of those two things at once gave me like a really visceral reaction. im not ok. u are amazing.

mikasa: u are givg me aneurysm. pls don’t forgor to call me the scnd ur okay.

erwin: Call me ASAP.

erwin: Not urgent. Just feeling emotional about my little Canadian reaching hearts all over the world.

king of bitches (maybe: ryomen sukuna): Fluff shit indeed. Blow me a kiss when you beat James for Album of the Year.

danny: where is the album release post? it’s almost been half an hour.

You have bigger problems at the moment. Like the frozen piece of fabric you’re wearing. You should have named the album sweaters or scarves or something. Then at least you’d be warm. And blend in with the paparazzi.

Fuck.

“W-wait, Eren. Y-you ca-n’t b-be the one to get me.” you murmur, shivering through your teeth.

“Do you want to stay with someone else? I know nice people here. My neighbor is in her late forties and has like two middle school aged girls that are really nice. They’d take care of you, I promise you can trust them and-” he rambles.

“N-no. I want to st-stay with you. But pa-papara-zzi. S-send ss-omeone e-else.”

“Paparazzi? Why are-?”

“Er-eren.”

“Would it be that bad if it was me? Like it has to be someone else, Y/N?”

“Y-yes.”

“I have someone in mind. She’s leaving right now, okay?”

Eren’s sound is muffled over the line now, which has you digging your phone into your ear to catch the ends of what he’s saying.

Blast the heater….butt warmer on before she’s in the car….bring it up and I will kick your freeloading….

“Y/N?”

“H-here.”

“Good. I’m sending her. Don't get upset, this is the best I could do, okay? I-I promise she’s actually nice. You can trust her and-and I’d never send someone who would do something bad.”

“O-okay. I t-trust you. J-just get me ou-out of th-this, please.” you whimper, praying to god the rustling behind you is a rabbit and not the group of them finding you.

“I’m trying sweetheart, okay? She’s speeding. She’s on Main and Third, three lights and she’s there.”

That’s when you see it. The flash of the camera. And hear five consecutive clicks right after. You look around the periphery, before you see two of them, two tall guys speed walking closer to where you’re hiding.

So you do the only thing you can. Stand up and run instead.

You scramble up off the pavement, hiking your dress down, and keep running down the block. Climb up the gates, knock over trash cans to block the way, anything to stop them. And when you look back, after who knows how long, you realize they’re gone.

And sit flat on the messy pavement, finally lifting the phone back up. Only to realize Eren’s no longer on the line because your phone is dead. You drop it straight into your lap and dig your hands into your head, covering your ears to stop the pounding sound of the rain from getting any louder.

God. Just breathe. Whoever is coming to get you is on the way. They’ll come get you and then you’ll be out of this mess.

You hear three resounding clicks and a flash of a light to look up at two different paps, two girls this time, getting a straight on picture of you. And all you can do is put your head down in your lap and cry.

They already got the picture. There’s no point in trying to run out of it anymore.

“Y/N.”

“Pl-please. I’m b-begging you. You already got your picture and can ss-spin it into whatever you want. I-I’m still a person, please. Just let me go.” you respond, the tears blinding your sight of vision.

You feel a towel being wrapped around your shoulders and soft hands lifting you up by your arms. And then all of a sudden you’re in a warm car, being sped out of the neighborhood past the groups of paparazzi in between the houses, and not directly across from them having your picture taken.

You’re in a car. You’re okay. You’re leaving. You’re okay.

You lean back and breathe hard, phantom sobs still racking out of your chest, trying to register that you’re almost there. Safe behind closed, triple locked doors.

“D-did you tell Eren?”

“Yes. He’s not far, we’ll be there soon, okay?”

“Okay. T-thank you. I’m Y/N.”

“Lana.”

You turn your head to actually take in the driver this time, to be met with the Lana you feared. Ricky’s ex-girlfriend, Lana. She has short brown hair - entirely different from her long, beachy waves from the Girlfriend incident - a pointed nose and a very clenched jaw.

“Th-there are more blankets on the floor. I pumped the heater pretty hard, but I’ll turn all the fans your way. And anything you could possibly need is being rushed to the house for you, so just don’t worry, okay?”

“I appreciate it. Thank you for coming to get me. I-I”

“Please don’t thank me. I just-”

She takes a harsh intake of breath and turns to give you a look, her mouth upturned.

“He locked you out, didn’t he?” she whispers.

“Yeah.” you respond.

“What did you do?”

“I told him I didn’t like him back.”

She turns her head towards you, a look of confusion on her face.

“It was a PR thing.”

She snorts.

“Your managers must hate you.”

“I’m starting to think they just might.”

“Well. Don’t feel bad. Not for a fucking second. Just because he likes you, doesn’t mean he’s entitled to you reciprocating back. You like who you like. And if I were you, I wouldn’t stop liking a guy like Eren for a skeeze like Ricky either.”

You lean against the glass, hot air blowing in your face, as you take in her expression - so enraged, so exasperated, so furious that it gives you a chill. But when she looks over and gives you a halfhearted smile, you see the pained expression there too.

That’s when you pinpoint it. Lana reminds you of Historia.

“I’m sorry.” you respond.

“For?”

“You knew he locked me out. He must have done it to you too, no?” you whisper, the tension in the air delicate.

She swallows hard and clenches her knuckles on the steering wheel, eyes laser focused on the red light shining on her face. And beyond the original striking features - her sharp jaw and nose - you see the softness too. The dimples, the wrinkles near her eyes, the light brown freckles.

“I wanted to take time off from acting. It-I did a role that was really traumatic and I just needed a break. And he was just about to go on tour and he wanted me to come to support. Like a little cheerleader.”

“So he locked you out?”

“For two days. He-he’s just. A lot of the fame stuff got to him when he was really little. And now he’s got this convoluted sense of self-image and it just- I don’t know. He’s got problems.” she responds.

“I’m sorry. Really, that’s-”

You stop talking, words failing you. And maybe it’s the way your head was frozen ten minutes ago and it’s being melted now, or that the picture they took is going to leak soon, or that there is no good thing to say to something shitty like this. It only took him three months to turn on you, which you’re guessing is generous now. She must have infinite patience for putting up with it for an entire year.

“In a weird way, I’m glad it’s me and not Eren. You- this does something for me. Making sure you’re not out there for two days, it-it helps me.” she whispers, looking over to give you a smile.

“I really appreciate you, Lana. Thank you. And I-I’m not mad at you for the Girlfriend thing. You had every right to do that.”

“Y/N. I have every right to drag Ricky James’ name through the mud. But not yours. And I- shit. Please don’t tell Eren we talked about this. He’s going to kill me.”

“Why?”

“He told me that if I brought it up, he’d kick me out of his house. I kind of stay there because I-I hate living in our townhouse on set because of how toxic it is and he was nice enough to offer. And he made it very clear that I have to pick you and make sure you’re okay, not make you uncomfortable or anything. We’re here to take care of you and-”

“I brought it up. I’ll deal with him if he gives you a hard time. I used to be really good at that type of thing.”

“I know for a fact that you could tell him to twirl in the air like a show pony and he’d do it.”

“I’ll test the theory and let you know.”

She laughs, giving you a smile which you warmly return. Your phone buzzes in your lap, finally revived, and you send a quick message to Mikasa and Jean before shutting it off.

“I-I didn’t know that it was going to go that far. I knew the song and that we were just going to sing it. Let people speculate it was about you. I-I didn’t know they’d have a girl who looked like you OR bring Eren up on stage. And Eren didn’t know anything about the song or the performance at all - they, they set him up.”

“Why would they do that? I mean, they got horrible backlash in the entire thing.”

“They thought people would like it. And they severely underestimated how much people love you. And they did it because, Eren- he. He doesn’t follow rules and-”

“Follow rules?”

“I’m saying too much. He-he’s going to get mad. Ju-just rest, okay? You’re okay now, we’re two minutes from the neighborhood..”

You give her a questioning look, which she returns with a dismissive shake. Stubborn - she’s Historia alright. You lean back in the chair and reach for the music nob, twisting it on. Only to be met with the Teletubbies Theme blasting through the car and a very flustered Lana turning the knob off.

“Fuck.”

“Teletubbies?”

“I-I can explain.”

“Please. I’d love to hear it.”

She drums her fingers on the steering wheel as the silence hangs in the air.

“Okay. Maybe I can’t explain.”

“No need. I appreciate versatile music taste in prospective friends. Especially classics like this.” you respond, cranking the music back on.

“Friends?”

“Don’t be silly. Not exaggerating, but I think you quite literally saved my life a few minutes ago. You’re like the La-La to my Dipsy.”

“Lame. You’re more of a Tinky-Winky. And anytime. We girls stick together, right?” she responds, reaching for your hand and giving it a squeeze. Like Eren.

Did she learn the hand squeezes from Eren? Is he squeezing her hands? They live together so …are they dating?

“We’re here.”

You nod, appreciative of Lana more than maybe any person on god's green Earth, as she pulls into the driveway and helps you out of the car. It’s only after sitting that you’re realizing your legs are so bone dead tired that you’re barely moving on your own.

You move past the hood of the car as Eren walks into the garage, immediately beelining towards you. His hair is long again - it’s always changing every time you see him - and he’s all wound up with tensions sitting in his shoulders. His hands are warm and cupping your face, yanking the cold towel off and replacing it with a warm one.

“Hey. You-you nicked your face, Y/N. And you’re freezing, you-” he whispers, brushing his fingers across the skin near your eye that stings on touch.

Lana holds the door open as he leads you in, arms aggressively moving up and down your shoulders and his face all pinched up in concern.

“You’re good to go? I put your stuff out by the door.” Eren says, gesturing to Lana.

“Is she leaving?” you ask, looking up at Eren.

“Yeah. Don’t worry, it’ll be just us. And I’m sure Mika and Jean will drop everything to fly out for you tomorrow, I can tell them if you need me to and-”

“Well, don’t make her leave. She shouldn’t stay on that stupid set just because of me.” you respond.

Eren looks over and glares at Lana, who is now wide eyed and giving Eren a sheepish smile. Fuck. He asked her not to talk about that.

“Lana.” he says, in a warning tone.

“Eren. Chill out. I didn’t even-”

“You’re so full of yourself, you know that? You- she got drenched and the rain and you were talking about set?”

“It’s not like that! It just came up and-”

“Oh, for sure. You just happened upon it like you were a villager walking in a town square. Ooh Y/N. You just got drenched in the rain and chased by paparazzi, but more importantly, the girls I work with are super bitchy.” he responds, mimicking her voice.

“You-it wasn’t like that! You’re so aggravat-”

“Eren. Leave her alone.” you ask, looking up at him. And you’re sure you must look horrible because he immediately stops when he looks at your face again and signals for her to leave, which she’s receptive to.

“Okay. Lana, text me when you’re there. And check if you were followed on your way out.” Eren says.

Lana stops and holds both of your arms at your biceps, hands soft on your skin.

“Do call me if you need anything, okay? Especially Ricky related. Whatever you do, I’ll back you up, Tinky-Winky. ”

“Thank you, La-La. I’ll take you up on that.” you respond, giving her a warm smile.

“Oh god. No. No, you don’t get to be friends now. Fuck no, Lana. Please stick to the geriatric grandmas you play Scrabble with.”

“You’re just mad they beat you at mahjong last week. Because you’re a prissy loser.”

“And you’re-”

You jab Eren in the side, signaling him to stop, as they both nod and she slides her way out. From the way he’s arguing, the look on his face is so similar to the one he gives Connie when they argue, you know they could go on for years if they got the chance.

“Fuck you, Eren.”

“Eat shit, Lana.”

She flips him off as the door clicks shut behind her, the lack of her presence making you suddenly aware of your breaths. And of Eren, warm Eren rubbing into your shoulders and concerned green eyes staring into yours.

“I like her.” you whisper.

“Me too. Don’t tell her that though, she’s got an ego problem.” he responds.

You laugh, which has him smiling at you, and suddenly you’re sobbing. And on cue, Eren has his arms around you, his touch warm and his voice oh so soft that it kills you. That you haven’t seen him in two months. And haven’t talked to him for longer.

“Eren.”

“Hey, hey. Don’t cry, it-it’ll be okay. I- we’ll fix this, okay? I’ll call Levi and Hange, whoever you want, they’ll all come and-”

You reach up, tangling your arms around his neck as he keeps nervously talking, trying to hold you closer even though it’s not physically possible. And he’s just so-

So familiar that he feels like home.

“You’re breaking my heart here, Y/N. Please stop crying, I-I’ve got you, okay?” he murmurs, straight into your skin as you nod, trying your best to even out the sobs still leaving you. And slowly but surely, the stream slows and your breath evens out enough to get at least a few words out.

“Okay. Okay, okay. I’m okay.”

“Y/N?”

“Hm?”

“As much as I like holding you, you’re freezing. Take a shower first and we can do this all you want, okay?”

You pull back, wiping the tears off your cheeks and giving him a nod. He gives you a small smile, before placing his hands on your shoulders and leading you down towards the bathroom. And you don’t miss all the posters and pictures he has on his walls - one from each season of Attack of Titan, a few of him and Armin, and even one of him and Lana flipping off the camera together.

He pushes you into the bathroom and immediately turns on the shower all the way to the hottest setting, before turning around and putting his hands on his hips.

“Towels, clothes, shampoo. There’s soap in there already and take as long as you want. Sit in here for three days if you have to just- do-do whatever you have to do and-”

You pick up the bottle of shampoo, the lavender scented Pantene, the one that you’ve been using since you were fifteen. And you know, you know that Eren’s atrocious ass uses a three in one hair and conditioner so it’s not his.

“Eren.”

“Hm?”

“Did you just happen to have the brand of shampoo that I use?”

“N-no. Those are Lana’s.”

“Then why are they unopened?” you ask, giving him a smirk.

He glares at you, before rolling his eyes and holding your face. And now he’s leaning so close, so close that your lips are only a few feet away from yours, when he talks.

“You know why you can’t make fun of me for keeping a spare of your shampoos in my house?” he whispers, green eyes burning in yours.

“Why?” you whisper back, stomach lurching.

“Because you’re actually here. I knew you’d come back to me.” he responds, giving your cheek a pinch before walking out.

And when you watch him walk out, giving you one last smile before he shuts the door, you can’t help but roll your eyes. Typical Eren. Funny, irritating, and soft all in one.

He’s the same as you left him.

You pad out of the shower, Eren’s hoodie and sweatpants ridiculously huge on you, as you follow the sweet smell into the kitchen. Eren is leaned over the counter, sliding vegetables into two bowls of ramen as you walk in.

“Hey.”

“Hi. Took a while. Thought you died in there.” Eren responds, pressing his hands to your skin to test how warm they were.

“I almost wish I did.” you respond, laughing.

Except Eren doesn’t find it funny and instead he’s dropping the utensils and standing at your side.

“Y/N.”

“I was joking!”

“Nothing about that was funny. Don’t ever joke about that.” he responds, rummaging through the drawers at your side before pulling out a little tube of gel.

Eren taps the top of the counter, which you jump onto, before he takes his place in between your legs. His hands are focused on reading the instructions, forehead all scrunched up in concentration.

“What’s that?”

“It’s like this…scar ointment or whatever. Helps things heal better, I want to use it on that cut on your pretty face.” he responds, twisting it open and squirting some on his finger.

He brings his hands to your face, eyes intently focused on your cheek. You hiss the second his finger makes contact with your skin, the tingling sensation catching you off guard.

“I’m sorry sweetheart, I know it hurts.” he whispers, smothering the cold gel down the side of your eye.

“I-I fell on the pavement. My knees are pretty bad too, Eren.” you whisper, which he nods at.

After he finishes, he’s carefully sliding the ends of your pants off and carefully placing the ointment on each of the jagged marks on your legs. And you eye the bowls of ramen at your side - knowing instantly that the one without mushrooms is yours - and reach for the food. The broth is so warm it soothes the aching feeling in your throat, still seasoned to perfection the way Eren always makes it.

“Eren.”

“Hm?”

“Can I ask you a weird question?”

“Sure.”

“Are you and Lana dating?”

He looks up from your leg and gives you a devilish smirk. And then starts laughing. Like full on, crouched over, tears from his eyes laughing.

“Okay. It wasn’t that funny.” you murmur, rubbing your hands against the warm bowl and frowning.

“Oh god, Y/N. Jesus-”

“It’s a normal question! She lives with you, you trusted her to come get me, and you guys have a picture together in the hallway.”

“Are you jealous?” he asks, standing up and leaning straight into your space.

“Absolutely not.”

“Are too.”

“Am not.”

“You don’t need to get all embarrassed. Watching you kiss Ricky James made me want to break something, preferably his neck.”

You swallow hard at the mention of Ricky again, the thought of him and what happened was so far away because you were with Eren. In his space, in your shared bubble, after so long. And he catches on too fast because he’s already profusely apologizing.

“Hey. I didn’t mean to bring him up, I-I’m not trying to push you into telling me what happened it’s just-”

“No. No, Eren. It’s okay. I know. I-”

You breathe in hard and put the bowl of ramen down and reach for his hands instead. You keep your eyes focused on them - on the little mole on his left hand, the feeling of his knuckles underneath your fingers, and on him squeezing your hands three times before you start talking.

“Ricky and I were faking the relationship for PR. Since London Boy and all that, it was Danny and Sareen’s idea. That-that’s why I stopped talking to you, I-I felt bad. And I was ashamed that I was even doing it, I-I don’t know. The Little Women press and all that, it would just get people to stream and talk. Make me a triple threat. And then today, I- He told me he liked me. And I said I couldn’t do that right now. That I don’t like him back. I went to take out the trash because it was so awkward and then I was going to go home but he- he locked me out. And when I asked to come back in, he repeated the same words to me. That he couldn’t do that right now.”

Eren lifts your hands, still locked with his, and presses a kiss to the top of your knuckles, as you continue. His lips burn your skin, still.

“I was out there and it-it was cold. And then I heard the cars and I saw seven paparazzi trucks, right on the porch. Ricky, his address isn’t leaked. No-no one knew I was there or that he was but they all showed up, right when I was out there and-”

“He called them, didn’t he?” Eren asks, his tone so harsh, so unyielding that it almost doesn’t sound like him.

“Yeah. And I ran, for so long. I- they got a picture. A few, I know they did and I was just so, so scared that I was going to be out there forever, that I was all alone and they were just going to-”

Eren reaches forward, wrapping you in his arms for what feels like the fiftieth time tonight, but you welcome it. Focus on his heart beating under your ear, running your fingers over his fish tattoo on his bicep, and on his soft, steady breaths.

“Eren.”

“Hm.”

“You didn’t say anything. What are you thinking about?”

“What I’m thinking isn’t productive for you to know right now.”

You look up at him, giving him a questioning look.

“Drop it, Y/N.”

“No. Tell me. I’m sure you’re mad and all but-”

“Mad? I’m fucking furious, I’m livid. That he fucking locked you out and left you in the cold. You-you could have been seriously hurt. You are hurt. And not only that, the fucking paparazzi. You-you ran in the cold, you fell, you can’t stop crying and-and- I’m going to kill this asshole when I see him next because it’s his fault you’re feeling like this.”

“Eren.”

“No. Shut up, Y/N. I’m being serious. I-I don’t like seeing you like this and don’t tell me not to. He hurt you. It’s that simple.”

You deflate, knowing Eren too well to know that he won’t drop this. Especially when he’s overly passionate, deep in the feeling right now.

“Okay. But can you just be here for me right now? I need you here and not all….tense and mad. B-Be soft. And warm.”

He stops, the frustration in his forehead dissolving as he takes a breath and smiles at you. Not fully, but it does the job.

“Okay. I can do that. Let’s watch Fruits Basket. And then go to bed.”

“You hate Fruits Basket.”

“But I love you. Enough to watch your weird bestiality adjacent show and pretend to like it.”

You smile and he reaches forward to pinch your cheeks.

“Look at that smile. There she is. There’s my sweet girl.” he whispers, voice all tangled in his throat.

You wake up to an empty bed, Eren’s side cold. And you pull his hoodie on before padding downstairs to find Eren’s phone pressed to his ear. He gives you a wave and points to the plate - a mix of eggs, french toast, and fruits - perfectly placed to perfection.

You give him a smile and he walks off, taking the phone with him. You frown as you watch him disappear, jabbing your fork through the cantaloupe.

What is he talking about that’s so important he doesn’t want you to hear?

You jump off of the stool and quietly pad towards the direction he walked, hiding in the hallway. He’s leaning against the wall, staring at the picture right across - one of Levi and Hange kissing your cheeks at the vow renewal - and angle yourself to hear his words.

“Is he okay?”

“I’m glad. You tell me if you need anything else, okay?”

“Okay, Coco. I missed you too, yeah?”

Who the fuck is Coco?

He hangs up and you immediately scramble back to the kitchen, trying your best to stay inconspicuous as he comes back and gives you a smile. It doesn’t reach his eyes, the expression on his face almost tired.

“Hey sleepyhead. You okay?”

“Mhm. Food is really good, Eren.”

He gives you a smile as he sits at your side, eyes focused on you as you eat your food. He places both of your phones in front of you, and you spot yours with nearly a hundred notifications. But when you reach for it, Eren grabs your hand in the air and locks it on his own instead.

“Just-wait. Eat first.” he says, his tone hollow.

You turn your head to the side and take in Eren’s expression, downtrodden and uncharacteristically unexpressive. The complete opposite of Eren yesterday - moony eyes and soft smiles.

“Eren.”

“Y/N. If I ask you to do this for me, can you trust me and listen?”

“No. You-what’s wrong? You’re being weird.” you ask, reaching for his hand.

He looks over, the look indiscernible, as he leans forward and presses a kiss to your cheek.

“You-I took care of most of it, okay? Levi and Hange are coming. Just, don’t panic. You-it’s okay.”

“Eren. You’re scaring me. Just tell me.”

He takes a deep breath, cracking the knuckles in your hand as he nervously talks.

“You-your pictures leaked. The ones of you running last night. And-and people started speculating really fast - wondering why you were running and crying on the night your album released instead of celebrating it. And-and then Ricky, he tweeted a bunch of things.”

You pale. And reach for your phone, which Eren stops again.

“They’re lies. Obviously. You don’t need to read them, not yet. And Lana told me she’s ready to back you up, whatever you want, when you need it. But, that’s not-”

“What, Eren? Just spit it out.” you respond, frantically.

“They- Ricky’s fans are mad at you. They’re sending you death threats.”

“Oh.”

You deflate, staring at the cold mess of breakfast on your plate. Death threats. Hate, you’re no stranger too. Of people commenting on your looks, how bad your singing is, how lame you are. But wishing you were dead? Full on, unbothered and cursing your existence?

“And not just you, but your family too.” he whispers, watching your face fall.

Your family. Your parents, Colt, Falco-

“Excuse me. What did you just say?

Eren doesn’t respond and the tears fall immediately from your eyes, hot and angry as he reaches forward, immediately swiping them away. His expression's pained, he knows this all too well.

“I sent your family a security detail. Don’t worry. Colt was only minorly injured and-”

You stand up and grab Eren’s shirt, bundling the fabric into a fist in your hands, as you glare at him.

“Injured? What the fuck do you mean injured, Eren?”

He sighs, lifting his hands to move yours, and hold them. You’re still clenching hard, so hard you’re sure you’re drawing blood, but he’s doing his best to uncurl your hands as he talks.

“They threw a brick through the window. And the glass, Colt was sitting right there. I was just on the phone with Falco, he said he’s doing better. The security detailing has medical so you don’t have to worry about that again and they’re both okay and-”

“No part of this is okay, Eren! Quit saying it’s okay when it’s not! They almost killed my brothers.”

“Y/N.”

“No. No, this is horrible, Eren. They-they don’t do any of this stuff. Falco’s barely thirteen. And Colt - he’s going to college. He’s not a celebrity, he’s not a singer, he’s just a student. How is he supposed to go out after this? Why- how is it supposed to be normal? And now, they’re going to be like us. They’re going to feel like they’re trapped in this fucking suffocating ass fish bowl and everyone’s watching and laughing at them and they just-”

“Y/N. Stop. It’s not going to-”

“Falco’s too soft for this. He’s just a kid, Eren. I can’t- no. This isn’t fair. Eren, they didn’t even do anything. They’re literally just related to me, they just love me and they’re getting hurt because of it. You- you’re probably getting dragged in the mud too. Everyone who helps me gets subjected to this, loving me comes with this big thing behind me and I can’t even keep people who get it with me. I let you go when you were the only person who understood and I messed it all up and got myself involved with Ricky James of all people and-”

“Y/N. Stop. Please."

You sit flat on Eren’s floor, head in your hands, and cry, teardrops falling straight onto the floor. And Eren’s sitting there with you, with your big mess of jumbled feelings and mistakes, and trying his best to help you with it.

That’s how Levi and Hange find you two, after pocketing the spare key Eren told them about. After he insistently called them and payed for a private jet, going on and on about how Y/N needed them. And here you two are, despite their original conceived notions that you two were fighting, on the floor, in each other’s arms.

“Some things never change, huh?” Hange whispers.

“Yeah. They keep fucking crying every time we see them.” he whispers back.

Between Levi and Hange - Jean, Mikasa, and Connie who make it out that night - and Eren and Lana, they fix things. Most things.

Ricky’s narrative about you is clear cut - half-true and half-fake. Your team forced him to date you and defend you for PR purposes, after the Girlfriend incident. There was an agreement that you two would write certain songs, make certain appearances, and support each other.

But then Ricky turns the gate. Says that you’ve deeply, severely hurt him. That you led him on, that you used him to boost your own ego, and that you were dangerously obsessed with fame and not him. That you were all things - heartless, fake, that he doubted if you were even a real person. A glorious pop-star, empty and hollow on the inside.

And people jump on it fast. Citing the fact that you would throw away your friendship with Historia to be famous, that you stopped dating Eren when he stopped being successful, that you can go to tours but not to Mikasa or Jean’s birthday parties.

The worst part? Ricky lied, but the things they pointed out were true. Every mistake you make is on display and that people make it a point to draw attention o it. That you really were in too deep, too deep into pleasing Sareen and Danny, and being a triple threat that you forgot that they were all there too.

Eren, especially. Sweet, sweet Eren who saved you, who held you when you needed him.

You look over at him and Lana, the two of them very aggressively debating how to use their last turn of their daily Wordle, and feel your heart deflate.

You dropped the ball. You’ll never make it up to him.

Lana, in her infinite kindness, has chosen to share her own story, as a corroboration for yours. That Ricky taunted, mocked, and harassed her the entire time they were dating. That you're anything but the things he says. Because she’s had enough and she’ll do it to help out her Tinky-Winky. (Much to Eren’s dismay, he hates that you’re both becoming closer as time goes on.)

And to complement the announcement, Lana asked for one thing. To go out in style. You wrote a song with her and promised her that she was going to be the lead actress in the music video. A girl rage moment, like The Man. Danny and Sareen approve the move, making no comments or concerns about anything else that happened, and ask to be involved when the time comes.

You sit on it for a few days. Till you’re ready. But where you are now - with these people - needs to stay for a little longer. Before you brace everything again.

“Yo.”

You smile, opening up space for Connie on the couch for you.

“Hi Con.”

“Deep in your thoughts there, princess. Thinking about how your album is about to go Multi-Platinum?”

“No. Just the entire thing.” you respond, frowning.

Connie rolls his eyes, reaching forward to squish your cheeks way too hard.

“Ricky, when I catch you, Ricky-” Connie says under his breath,

You snort, reaching forward to push Connie off. You focus back on Eren and Lana, who are now pulling each other's hair and a nice string of insults, as Mikasa and Levi brew their tea, entirely unbothered in the back.

And when the screen in front of you flashes, when your third album goes Multi-Platinum after a week of being released, they’re all climbing on you. Jean and Mikasa are hollering in the back, Connie and Lana are jostling you in the air and pressing kisses to your cheek, and Eren, Levi, and Hange smile at you, the three of them enveloped in their own hug, across the way.

You split your separate ways at the end of the week, when you’re ready. Connie, Jean, and Mikasa return to set, Lana and Eren are gone with the wind, and Levi and Hange disappear again.

When you sit on your plane back home, it sits in. How lonely this entire thing is. How a week full of your friends who love you only happened because of this sickening thing. That it's not a given, that they're presence is only in the bad times and almost never the good.

Your phone buzzes in your lap and you pick up your phone to read the notification.

eren: don’t be a stranger. fish like to swim in schools, not alone.

It’s something that rings in your mind, time and time again. When everyone else wins the war, when you keep performing and letting them take and take, for the sake of the work. For the art, for your dream.

And when you give up acting, singing, and dancing at the end of it all and make zero intentions to ever do any of this again, the question still bothers you.

If fish like to swim in schools, why did Eren push you so far away? Why was he so intent on swimming alone? Where you couldn't follow?

eren: I'm not saying that for you. and I know that this is selfish but...

eren: I need you just as much as you need me.

Fucking liar.

next part linked here

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hiraethwa · 3 months

Text

one summer day

07 sun and moon. where you plan a surprise for ushijima’s birthday with the help of his teammates

<< 06 saturn ii. | >> 08 to be human.

pairing: ushijima wakatoshi x reader a/n: as inspired by “i promised myself i would never fall in love but it was 4am and we were laughing way too hard and i felt happy for the first time in a long time" this one got a little out of hand hahaha :) hope you enjoy a cute slice of life chapter after all that angst from saturn parts i and ii - ave word count: 2.8k warnings: cursing, falling in love tags: @lemurzsquad -- (inbox me if you want to be added to the tag list)

august, second year

you hope that the boys did a good job of keeping your plan under wraps as you signaled to semi in the volleyball gym,. it’s summer break, and you had baked ushijima’s favorite cake as a surprise for his birthday. you have been planning this since the break started, coordinating with the boys on the team to celebrate his birthday.

you stay hidden from his sight outside the doors, watching as tendo claps his hands twice to get the team’s attention, counting to three before they launch into a terrible rendition of the birthday song. it physically hurts you to hear the out of tune and unsynchronized singing, but you make your feet move forward.

the candles on cake flicker as you step into the building, joining in to the singing as best you can. ushijima turns around to find you smiling sweetly at him, dressed in a white summer dress that falls to your knees, as if he heard you among the sea of voices.

there is surprise in the way his eyes slightly widened, lips parting. he did not see this coming, you note with a strange sense of satisfaction, feeling a song coursing through your body.

you stop in front of him, lifting the cake for him to blow the candles out. “happy birthday, toshi” you have been using that shortened version of his name for him lately, preferring the way it sounds. what you didn’t know though, was that the team has been giving him grief about you doing it, teasing him to no end when you were not around despite his repeated rejections of claims that the two of you were dating.

a wide smile graces your lips as you soak in the way he stares back and forth at you and the cake before closing his eyes for what only felt like seconds, making a wish. you watch as his tongue darts across his lips before he puts out the candles in one breath.

you hand over the cake to one of the first years, as ushijima thanks the team for the surprise and orders them back to practice in his captain voice. the third years had chosen him to lead the team, leaving shortly after they were done with interhigh nationals to focus on preparing for university entrance examinations.

you know how significant it was for him to be chosen as captain. how he valued being relied upon by his teammates to see them through to victory. he aspired to be the dependable ace, and now he is.

you place a hand on his arm, stopping them from resuming practice. it was evening now, and definitely time for dinner. you have a reservation booked at a restaurant in town, and have made the necessary arrangements for the team to be able to attend it.

“coach gave you all time off tonight,” you announce, enjoying the various looks of surprise and respect on their faces except ushijima, who looks like he saw this coming. “c’mon, we have a dinner reservation in thirty minutes.”

they stand frozen in place, before one of the first years, shirabu, breaks the silence. “how did you do that? coach is so strict, he never lets us slack off at practice.”

you laugh, noting how they felt comfortable to address you now, a far cry from the beginning of the school year when they were too afraid to approach you whenever you visited your friends at practice. “that’s because i’m coach’s favorite,” you wink at the setter, sending him into a blushing fit.

though the coach seemed hard to get along with, he had taken a liking to you after you brought him homemade food on a few occasions to bribe him into letting you stay and watch the matches. despite the mean facade he wears, he was always kind when he interacted with you.

you remember him taking a look between you and ushijima back in may, having noticed how you two seemed to appear together and how you stood closer than normal friends would, elbows touching and how only ushijima got packed bentos from you, and bluntly asked if you were dating.

you had looked at ushijima, meeting his eyes and immediately looked away, heat burning your face all the way to the tip of your ears. and the two of you had denied it so quick and loudly that it caught the attention of the shiratorizawa players who were in the middle of a match. the spike the opponents sent back caught your team off guard, hitting soekawa in the back of his head and scoring the match point.

coach had made them do a hundred serves each as penalty after the visiting college team left.

sometimes you wonder if ushijima has told him anything about you to make him treat you so kindly. sometimes when you sat next to him at matches, helping him record the plays since they did not have a manager, and he talked to you about your life and your plans, he felt like more of a parental figure than your own parents. sometimes when he looks at you with that all knowing glint in his aged eyes, holding his words back and trusting you to make your own decision, you wish your parents were more present in your life.

“go change into clean clothes, please!” you shoo the sweaty boys away from you when they try to give you a hug. the first years, recognizing the influence you have with their coach, had taken to lining up in a straight line, saluting to you with reverence. “yes, senpai!”

you shake your head at the younger boys as they start cleaning up, jumping with excitement at the prospects of being given time off. you place the cake back into the cake carrier to bring to the restaurant as dessert.

“y/n-chan!” tendo casually walks over to you, hands placed on his hips. “you look real pretty today. ushijima-kun must be over the moon that you dressed up for his birthday.” he grins at you teasingly.

you elbow the boy, rolling your eyes at him. “shut your mouth if you don’t have anything good to say, satori.”

“huh? anyone with eyes would be.” he sticks his tongue out at you, leaning back on the bench with his hands braced on either side of himself.

you sit down next to him, watching the team packing up the equipment and mopping the floors. particularly the team captain. you got serious, remembering their recent loss in nationals. “how was practice? i know the interhigh loss must have been tough.”

“well enough, i suppose. we are constantly pushing each other to improve, ushijima-kun most of all.” he shrugs, pausing. you know that he gives his all and more to be the best out there. after all, he is one of the top three aces in the country at the high school level. but still, you worry that he is pushing himself too hard.

when school was in session, you had to drag your boys out of the gym by the neck on some evenings. they would lose track of time, practicing hours past practice, wearing their tired bodies down. and you would be there to tell them off. on some days, bribing them with food gets them out of the gym.

tendo pins you with a knowing look. “i’m glad you found each other, you know.”

“who?” you frown at him. he needs to stop being so vague and whatever this is.

“you and ushijima-kun. he’s different around you, a good different,” he gestures toward you, “and you, you are happier around him. you smile more, and you come out of your shell to hang out with us. it feels like he’s the sun and you’re the moon, and you reflect the light he shines on you radiantly.”

you understand what he meant. you, of all people, would know. being around ushijima feels like basking in warm sunlight in spring when it’s a little too chilly without the sun. though you don’t want to admit it, it feels like home.

you don’t care to dig deeper and put a name to the feeling. you just wish to savor the present before it slips through your fingers. all you know is that you truly felt safe to be yourself around him. you love the person you are, the person you are becoming, with ushijima by your side.

since that vulnerable night you shared with him months ago, he had kept his promise. whenever you took a step towards the light, he was right there next to you. and when the darkness tried to lure you back into its familiar embrace, he held your hand tight, refusing to let you go.

slowly, but surely, you began to look forward to plans you made with your friends and classes that you found an interest in. to see the summer transition to autumn. to the life you would have after high school. music started to feel like magic instead of an escape.

the hazy future that had avoided you became clearer. you had friends who cared about you. you grew the courage to show yourself and say the things you were too afraid to say in conversations. you smiled more, laughed more. you started living, and it felt good. it felt amazing, actually. you have developed the confidence to be the person that you kept hidden away for far too long.

“i’m the lucky one,” you mutter to yourself, lost in your own thoughts, failing to notice that tendo had been called away and the boys are filing out of the gym, chattering excitedly. semi calls out to you, “let’s go, y/n!”

“wait for me!” you yell back at him, jumping up and grabbing the cake carrier. semi links his arm through yours as you catch up to them.

a lively air surrounds your group of friends as you head into town for dinner. your party of twenty takes up a good portion of the restaurant. talking and laughing about the most random things, from semi’s recent obsession with styling his hair to the time ohira got so nervous talking to a girl he said he likes her friend.

the waitress comes by the table to take your orders, timidly trying to speak to the boys, but they are all distractedly speaking amongst themselves. so you stood up, clinking your fork to a glass of water to get their attention, telling them to decide on their orders and tallying up the different sets that they chose. she shoots you a grateful smile for making her life easier and not having to interact with the intimidating group of boys. you return an apologizing smile to her for your party who is being difficult to handle.

dinner flies by with you seated between ushijima and semi. tendo rose to his feet, copying your earlier actions of clinking a utensil to a glass to get everyone’s attention. and proceeds to give a birthday toast to ushijima. “ushijima-kun, i am grateful to be able to call you my friend. happy birthday to the best team captain i have ever had!”

you all cheer for his sweet and simple birthday wish, sounds of clinking glasses and whoops fill the air. soekawa, seated beside tendo goes next, and then, ohira, and one by one, going around the table, birthday wishes are said to ushijima.

shirabu wishes his senpai a great year of volleyball ahead and to win the nationals in his final year. semi admits that he admires ushijima’s work ethic when it comes to volleyball and for the soon-to-be third years to do their best.

and then all eyes fall to you, the last one at the table to say something. the only girl sitting at the table full of strong-framed volleyball players. but somehow, you don’t feel like the odd one out. no, you feel perfectly comfortable with the group of friends who is beginning to feel like family.

but it is the pair of earth colored eyes that knocks the breath out of you.

“wakatoshi, it has been my honor to call you my friend in the past year. you’ve seen parts of me that no one else had seen,” you pause, the hoots and excited clapping from the second years interrupting you. you shoot them a glare that promises death, realizing how your words implied something else.

but you ignore the burning in your cheeks as you continue your toast. “and yet you stayed when you did not have to. you’re an amazing person, and an even better volleyball player. let’s celebrate this day next year and every year after that. happy birthday, captain!”

you meet his eyes, a warm light to them. a silent thank you reverberating in their depths.

no, thank you. a blink, and then a slow smile back to ushijima as the world fades away to silence until it was just the two of you.

you see the understanding in his eyes. so many words left unsaid because they were not needed, not with him. they say soulmates complete each other. but you never believed in soulmates. even if they did exist, he wouldn’t be yours.

tendo is right. he’s a sun, capable of powering entire planets, and you are but a barren moon, thriving under his care, much like the other planets and their own moons in the solar system. just as the moon orbits the earth and the sun, so does the sun orbit the center of the milky way galaxy. and the sun is always out of the moon’s reach, destined for greater things.

you are grateful to have him in your life, but you know that sooner or later, he will move on. he is meant for more than just this. such is this life. so you will take whatever fate has given you and hold on to it tightly while you can.

even if your souls are made from the same fabric, it is not enough for the ill-fated hand that you have been dealt. it should be enough for you to be able to share this time with ushijima. it has to be.

and then the noise comes flooding back in, pulling you back to reality as ushijima looks away towards someone who pulled him into a conversation.

you stand up abruptly, unsettled by the realization that crept up on you. “i’m going to get some fresh air”, you say tightly to no one in particular, grabbing your purse and walking out the door.

you settle on the curved bench, throwing your head back and enjoying the occasional cool breeze kissing the warm skin on your neck, legs stretched out like a cat. you stare up at the sky, at the moon and the stars twinkling in the distance.

a heavy weight settling besides you startles you, sending you scrambling to sit up. “it’s me” ushijima.

“hey, you. what are you doing away from your party, birthday boy?” you relax back into your comfortable position. sometimes you think you get high on air around him.

he nudges you. “not the same without the person who made it all happen.”

you unconsciously scoot closer to him despite the heat radiating off his body. “i enjoy their company, but i think the quiet suits me more.” against your best judgement, you lean in towards him, resting your heavy head against the curve of his shoulder. the silence always feels so loving in his presence.

“thank you,” you turn to look at him, finding his gaze already on you. his face is inches away from yours. that’s the closest you two have ever gotten, you think. you could lose yourself in his eyes forever.

“for what?” it comes out as a whisper.

there is a twinkle in his eyes. “for today. for making my birthday such a memorable one. for all the food you made me. for the green tea you keep stocked for me. for seeing me.” a smile graces his lips, “for being on my side. for nothing. for everything. for being you.” he lists, counting on both hands.

maybe it’s the way his voice calms you and soothes your fears. maybe it’s the feeling of his arm against yours. maybe it’s the way the moonlight is shining in his hair. maybe it’s the feeling of the melody that had been slumbering in you shift and open one eye. maybe it’s the way he saw your darkest and ugliest parts and still chose to stay. maybe it’s the way he felt like home.

because despite your best intentions, despite the promise you made to yourself to not fall in love, you find yourself stepping off the cliff.

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reblogs and comments are appreciated! i wanted to yell so much as i proofread this part omg AHHH my inbox is also open if you would like to yell about them privately <3

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vivmaek · 1 year

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SOLAR RETURN OBSERVATIONS: PART TWO

Sun in the 1st House - This is a great year to center yourself and to focus on your needs. This is the start of a new chapter, and the influence of this placement gives the native enough energy and hope to bring about positive change. You might feel more excited about daily life and waking up every morning will feel a little bit easier. Enthusiasm comes naturally, and this placement will ease any other negative influences seen within the solar return chart. You might have several lightbulb moments in regards to your identity, and at the end of the year you’ll be feeling more confident than ever.

Jupiter in the 10th House - Opportunity is on its way. Jupiter is expanding all themes regarding the tenth house. The native is going to develop a strong sense of reputation and will notice a change in status by the end of the year. Their ego may inflate a bit, but this can be good if used wisely. Getting recognized, promoted, or an increase in salary are to be expected with this solar return placement. If the native travels under this influence, they will receive a lot of attention for their journey. Gaining favors from people in authority should also be relatively easy.

Venus Conjunct Ascendant - The native is going to feel a lot of affectionate feelings and a need to express them. A sense of love is going to be elevated within all connections and the native will benefit from this influence. This is a great time to take on relationship problems. The native will seem especially attractive during this time and will probably go through a glow-up of sorts. Their personal style is being defined, and they’ll have the energy to put extra effort into their appearance. Negotiations will go well and will work in their favor.

Sun Trine Midheaven - During the course of this year, the native is gaining an understanding on who they are and how that aligns with their wants and desires. Garnering achievements or some sort of reward is to be expected with this influence. The native is going after their goals and has all the support and tools on hand in order to do so. They are being encouraged to use their skills and resources in a focused manner.

Moon Square Saturn - This aspect points to a lot of frustration. The sign of both the Moon and Saturn can give indication of what exactly the source of contempt is. The native might be lacking emotional control and is learning how to manage this.

Pluto in the 6th House - A change in routine is very much needed with this influence. The native might take on a new position at work, giving them a new list of responsibilities. Or, they might start developing a workout routine or exercise plan. The native may start to notice changes to their body, ranging from weight gain/loss to aging. If you have any health issues, make sure to get checked up sometime this year. Physical trauma to the body might occur this year. The native could find themselves being more accident prone than usual.

Saturn in the 9th House - There isn’t going to be much adventure this year. In fact, vacations or travel plans may end up delayed or canceled. If you are in college or university, this might be an especially hard year for you. Expect restrictions in school and from mentors. Assignments that used to take no time at all might start to take days instead. It would be a good idea to take a gap year during this time, or just a break in general. Saturn does reward hard work and effort though, so this decision is up to you. If you know you have it in you to keep pushing, then don’t give up.

Mercury in the 4th House - Now is the time to make plans for future stability. Natives under this influence need to start thinking about domestic issues. Home renovations and fix-ups are a good idea when Mercury is in the fourth. Redecorating your home is also something that should be done during the year. The past is going to weigh heavy on the mind, and it would be good to focus on comforting your inner child.

Moon in the 12th House - Mediation is a skillset that absolutely must be used and developed during this time. A lot of emotional fulfillment can be found through charitable work and spiritual practice. Emotional cycles and chapters in your life are going to be coming to a close. This is a time to retreat, reflect, and recharge. Embrace solitude.

Mars Conjunct Uranus - Be cautious of accidents. Please drive safe and follow directions when using machinery.

Mercury Trine Mars - Expect a lot of speed and energy entering your life. If this is a tight aspect, then this year is going to fly by. The days will go by quickly, and there is going to be a lot to do.

Moon Trine Pluto - Go to therapy! This is an excellent time to connect with the subconscious. Deep rooted feelings and emotions are going to reemerge, but this will be beneficial and help aid the healing process.

Uranus in the 11th House - If you’ve been feeling drawn to social justice and activism, this would be a good year to start getting involved. You might make some unexpected friends or unexpected changes may occur within your friendships. A wish fulfillment might randomly manifest during this year. The native will be able to come up with solutions for whatever setback might occur. You might realize that the straightforward path you were once trekking isn’t as straightforward as it once seemed. Issues within society might be affecting you on a more personal level.

Chiron in the 11th House - Your connections with friends, and your hopes and dreams might undergo some damage. This might be a lonely year and the native is going to face rejection at one point. They are going to be told “no” over and over again, it is going to be a painful process. You might not fit in where you currently reside.

Mars Square Ascendant - Unfortunately, the native is going to have to put up with a lot of bullshit under this influence. They might get bullied, harassed, or violated. It is important for them to avoid arguments and for them to try and walk away first during disagreement. People might assume they’re in a bad mood when they’re actually not.

@courttt-xo

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florida3exclamationpoints · 3 months

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Since Taylor seems to be confused about what Mary's Song (Oh My My My) is, I put together a comprehensive list of potential mashups or pairings she could use during surprise song o'clock. Hope this helps 🫶

She said, (dear reader) I was 7 and you were 9. I hit my peak at 7. The tricky thing is yesterday we were just children. I looked at you like the stars that shine in the sky. Love you to the moon and to Saturn. The stars in your eyes shined brighter in Tupelo. I've never seen nobody shine the way you do. He's passing by, rare as the glimmer of a comet in the sky. The pretty lights. One night a few moons ago, I saw specks of what could have been lights but it might just have been you. I know looks can be deceiving, but I know I saw a light in you. And our daddies used to joke about the two of us growing up and falling in love. Up on the roof with a schoolgirl crush. And our mamas smiled and rolled their eyes. When you're on the phone and you talk real slow 'cause it's late and your mama don't know. And said "oh my, my, my." (My, my, my, my.)

Take me back to the house in the backyard tree. Please picture me in the trees. In backyards, winning battles with our wooden swords. Friday night beneath the stars in a field behind your yard. Said you'd beat me up, you were bigger than me, you never did. Hey Dorothea do you ever stop and think about me? Down in the park, honey, making a lark of the misery. You would break your back to make me break a smile. We were like the mall before the internet, it was the one place to be, the mischief, the gift wrapped suburban dreams. Take me back when our world was one block wide. We had this big, wide city all to ourselves. When I'm feeling alone, you remind me of home. I didn't choose this town; there's just one who could make me stay all my days. I dared you to kiss me and ran when you tried. Daring you to leave me just so I can try and scare you. I've been loving you for quite some time; I just like hanging out with you all the time. Just two kids, you and I. You throw your head back laughing like a little kid. Like a child when our eyes meet. At 14 there's just so much you can't do. When you're 15 and somebody tells you they love you, you're gonna believe them.

(Next chapter) I was 16 when suddenly I wasn't that little girl you used to see. 16 and wild. A teenage couple in the driveway, holding hands on the way to a dance. I'm crazier for you than I was at 16. Teal was the color of your shirt when you were 16 at the yogurt shop you used to work at to make a little money. The kind of radiance you only have at 17. But your eyes still shined like pretty lights. Your eyes look like coming home. Starry eyes sparking up my darkest night. And our daddies used to joke about the two of us. Any snide remarks from my father about your tattoos will be ignored, 'cause my heart is yours. They never believed we'd really fall in love. Seems like there's always someone who disapproves. Sun sinks down, no curfew, twenty questions, we tell the truth. You can hear it in the silence, you can feel it on the way home, you can see it with the lights out, you are in love, true love. Not trying to fall in love, but we did like children running. And our mamas smiled and rolled their eyes. And your mama's waiting up, and you're thinking he's the one. And said "oh my, my, my." "Oh my, love is a lie," shit my friends say to get me by.

Take me back to the creek beds we turned up, 2am riding in your truck. 2am, in your car. Just a boy in a Chevy truck that had a tendency of getting stuck on back roads at night. And all I need is you next to me. Everything I need is right here by my side. I'll be summer sun for you forever. Take me back to the time we had our very first fight, the slamming of doors instead of kissing goodnight, you stayed outside till the morning light. I remember that fight, 2:30am as everything was slipping right out of our hands, I ran out crying and you followed me out into the street; you took me by surprise, you said "I'll never leave you alone." This love is worth the fight. You fight, then you talk. When we had that fight out in the rain, you ran after me and called my name, I never wanna see you walk away. Oh my, my, my. My heart, my hips, my body, my love.

A few years had gone and come around. Our coming of age has come and gone. We were sitting at our favorite spot in town. I love my hometown. This place is the same as it ever was. And you looked at me, got down on one knee. And all at once, you're all I want, I'll never let you go. I like shiny things, but I'd marry you with paper rings. I wanna teach you how forever feels.

Take me back to the time when we walked down the aisle. Church bells ring, carry me home, rice on the ground, looks like snow. I want you for worse or for better. There you'll stand, next to me, all at once, the rest is history. Our whole town came and our mamas cried. I'll be there if you're the toast of the town, babe. I had the fantasy that maybe our mismatched star signs would surprise the whole school when I ended up back at our class reunion walking in with you. You said "I do" and I did too. I vowed I will always be yours. I'm so in love that I might stop breathing. You and me forevermore. Take me home where we met so many years before. I find myself running home to your sweet nothings. Barefoot in the kitchen, sacred new beginnings that became my religion. Take me to the lakes where all the poets went to die. It's been 2190 days of our love blackout. Floors of a cabin creaking under my step. Just being in your arms takes me back to that little farm. He feels like home. I want to watch wisteria grow right over my bare feet, 'cause I haven't moved in years. I heard your key turn in the door down the hallway. We'll rock our babies on that very front porch. Your little hand's wrapped around my finger and it's so quiet in the world tonight, your little eyelids flutter 'cause you're dreaming so I tuck you in, turn on your favorite night light. Give you my wild, give you a child. We could get married, have ten kids and teach them how to dream. After all this time, you and I. Time, mystical time. I've been sleeping so long in a 20 year dark night, now I see daylight.

I'll be 87, you'll be 89. Long story short, I survived. Time breaks down your mind and body, don't you let it touch your soul; I'm gonna love you when our hair is turning gray. All my days, I'll know your face. I'll still look at you like the stars that shine in the sky. When Emma falls in love, it's all on her face, hangs in the air like stars from outer space. Oh my, my, my, my.

#i did it i remade it 😭#actually. its longer this time skdhskfbjs #now after that entird debacle. you better appreciate this 🤺#mary's song #taylor swift #taylor swift debut #marys song #surprise songs #the eras tour

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ariadnelives · 2 months

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Dokkaebi Fire - A Short Story

Author's Note: The bulk of this story takes place during the events of "Force Majeure," directly between chapters 8 and 9, during the crew's time in hiding in Xiagu. It is not intended to be read in sequence. If you'd like to catch up on the series so far, you can do so on ao3 or tumblr.

“Cookie?” Pilar called into the flat as she entered, not waiting to be let in. “It's me today. Ariadne's making final preparations for her surgery tomorrow, but she'll be by as soon as she's back on her feet.”

Aoibheann sat on the armchair in the living room, pointed at the television which appeared to be carrying a local news broadcast from one of Saturn's other moons. She had a blanket draped over her lap, and she watched the news broadcast idly, taking in none of it.

“Remember, starting tomorrow, Ariadne won't remember anything beyond the six-month point in our stay here, and we have to keep it that way, so, be careful what you say around her.” Pilar laughed without joy.

Aoibheann did not.

“You know,” Pilar tacked on, “I'm a complete liar. You could dime out the whole plan and I'm pretty sure me and Ari would absolutely leap for joy as long as it meant you were talking again.”

Aoibheann glanced over at Pilar wistfully, dark circles under her eyes, but said nothing. These little responses indicated their old friend could still hear them in there, that they could get through to her, even if she couldn't muster the strength to respond. She'd barely spoken since they lost the station. She was usually a tightly-wound powder keg, full of fire and passion, and she had to direct it towards her purpose or else she’d explode. Now, it was like all that fire inside her had gone out, and all that was left of her was an exhausted shell of a woman.

She seemed able to move around on her own, but rarely found the motivation to do so. She had grown somewhat thin and gaunt, as she only ate when fed, so every day, Pilar or Ariadne or one of her apprentices would stop by to see her and make sure she ate. Sasha had been spreading herself far too thin on Ariadne's project, but still found time to check in on her and monitor her physical health. Her apprentices had removed all sharp objects, belts, and shoelaces from the premises, but Pilar thought that was overkill. She had known Aoibheann long enough to know she would never physically harm herself. Still, it didn't make it easy to watch her torture herself like this.

Pilar sat next to her, and gently took her hand.

“I hate having to feed you this stuff, Cookie,” she said, opening up a small gray package she'd brought with her. “Replicated MREs. No wonder Baltimore and Beam went to a convenience store twice a week when they were in the army.”

Aoibheann looked with disdain at the lump of meat before her, served with a mush that could only be described as “prepared grain.” She hated eating it as much as Pilar hated serving it to her.

In their small hidden town of Xiagu, all of the food came out of the replicators. Xiagu had a surplus of energy, with its passive solar collection and years of nobody to use the stored power, so nobody was worried about the expenditure of creating food and water from reserves.

Back on the station, they had only managed to earmark power for replicator use two years previously. Like most spacecraft, all of the water fixtures were powered by replicators, generating as much water as needed from a stored bank of energy, which was in turn refilled by a device in the drains which converted waste-water into energy. The food replicator could make prepared meals, but crew members would only be allowed to use it if they could make up the energy cost. This happened pretty naturally, as everybody had to use the bathroom regularly and could credit this to their account, and had the handy benefit of encouraging people to clean up after themselves-- every time you emptied your trash into the energy-reclamation chute, you added replicator energy to your canteen account.

However, back home, most people didn't bother to use the replicators, because truly, Cookie's food was better fresh than anything they could produce, and she loved making it. Here in Xiagu, however, the replicators had nothing but military-grade “Meals Ready to Eat” and raw ingredients programmed into them. When the town was alive, there had been gardens to produce the vegetables, and people to tend them, harvest them, and cook them in the many small restaurants. Now, all that was left was replicators.

Cookie's star apprentice, Yellow, had been put in charge of the replicators while Cookie was indisposed, and had very few requests for anything other than the prepared MREs since they'd been there. Everyone on the crew was required to learn to cook, from Cookie, and nobody particularly felt up to trying to fill her shoes. Everyone had pretty much accepted meals of nondescript lumps of meat, vegetables, and starches on the firm belief that any day now, Cookie would be back on her feet, doing what she loved.

Yellow was the one in charge of food distribution, and had desperately been asking Ariadne to authorize them to reopen Cookie's kitchen, with her at the helm, until Cookie was well enough to resume her post. It's what Cookie would want, she insisted, but Ariadne was taking Cookie's condition unusually poorly, and had refused to allow the kitchen to operate without Cookie present. Yellow was frustrated, but understood. Nobody would feel right about having communal meals like before without Cookie.

Pilar carefully cut up the packaged meal and fed bites to Cookie, who halfheartedly complied with each bite. She offered her a cup of tea, which Cookie held for warmth but wouldn't drink without prompting.

“Look, Aoibheann...” Pilar said, “I know you're not well. I know this has been harder on you than anyone.”

Cookie met her gaze.

“But I don't...” Pilar began, and choked. “I don't think Ariadne will go through with this with you in this condition. She cares about you too much. You know what you mean to her. To me. She's not going to put herself at risk until she knows you're okay.”

Aoibheann looked downcast.

“She needs you,” Pilar whispered. “I need you. Please come back to us.”

****

Aoibheann's mind drifted back to when she’d met Ariadne and Pilar, thirteen years previously. She had been living on the streets for two years and had only passing contact with Pilar. She had been homeless since the Hanguk-Éire massacre, when Susan Weaver’s bombs had incinerated her family’s house and restaurant, left her and her mother destitute, and claimed her father’s life. Her mother had turned to drugs to cope with the loss, and ultimately found herself bleeding out in the gutter after an altercation with a pusher who she couldn’t pay for her latest fix.

She had distrusted the new girl at first. In her experience, another new person living under the overpass was another person who might get to the good scraps before her. She didn’t need any more competition. There was, however, a certain unspoken respect between her and the Aguilar girls. They were the only kids living on the streets of that particular block, and they had to look out for one another. They didn’t talk much, but they had struck up an arrangement. Pilar needed to go foraging to keep Sasha fed, and knowing that she would have to dig through trash bins and steal from loosely-guarded shops to make this happen, she felt it was too dangerous to bring her nine-year-old sister along with her.

So, she struck up an arrangement with Aoibheann: if she kept Sasha safe while she went out on runs, Pilar would try and steal a little extra food so Aoibheann could eat as well. Pilar and Sasha had been squatting in an abandoned house on a nearby side-street, and Aoibheann could crash there in exchange for keeping an eye on Sasha. It was shelter, and food, and it was a better deal than she was getting anywhere else. Under normal circumstances, Aoibheann would’ve developed a mighty crush on Pilar, but crushes were the sorts of things normal girls got to have. Aoibheann needed to focus on staying alive.

The new girl had been Racquel when they met. She had been raving about how the world was going to end, a secret conspiracy to reign atomic hellfire onto the bio-domes. It was the standard fare of the doomsaying lunatic, so nobody paid her much mind, but she’d named Ramos and Ramos specifically in her raving, and that caught Pilar’s attention. Nobody hated the Ramoses like Pilar, although Aoibheann didn’t yet know why.

So, Pilar and Racquel started going out on runs together. Suddenly, they were bringing back more than enough food, not only for the four of them, but they even got to share it with the others under the bridge. One day, they came home clean, wearing fresh clothes, and carrying a bundle of new clothes under their arm. They told her that Racquel’s name was Ariadne now, and that they would be needing her help a lot more often. They’d found some sort of mentor, who would “get them out of here,” but they’d need to spend hours, even days, with her at a time.

Aoibheann wasn’t a fool. She knew that if they succeeded in getting out of here, that she would be left behind. She couldn’t, however, risk being thrown out on the street. She’d watch Sasha and crash on the floor of this abandoned townhouse as long as they’d let her.

Sasha seemed like such a little kid then, although Aoibheann knew on a logical level that she was only three years older.

“If you could be anything in the world when you grow up,” Sasha had asked her one day, while the other girls had been away at their mysterious mentor’s for a few days, “what would you be?”

“I’m just trying to grow up,” Aoibheann said, “if I can make it that far, I’ll see what I can get.”

Sasha scrunched her nose. “You’re not playing the game right.”

“I’m being realistic,” Aoibheann said.

Sasha breezed past this. “I’m going to be a doctor when I grow up.”

Aoibheann considered pointing out that Sasha had a third-grade education and no money, but thought better of it, and instead just sighed. “Well, it’d be a crying shame if you starved to death before then,” she said. “Let’s see what your sister left us.”

Aoibheann looked at the handful of scraps Pilar had left on the table. Pilar had stolen them an entire rotisserie chicken, which Aoibheann had admonished her for-- the abandoned house did not have a working refrigerator, she pointed out, so she’d have to use the meats straightaway or they would quickly spoil and attract flies-- and several cans of diced white potatoes, which Pilar figured would keep Sasha’s stomach full, but Aoibheann pointed out had very little nutritional value. This was, of course, in addition to the six chocolate bars Pilar had, being thirteen years old, been sure to nab on her little excursion.

Aoibheann had nothing in the way of seasonings, except for a variety of salt and pepper packets she’d taken from a loosely-supervised outdoor seating area at a nearby restaurant, as well as, on one extremely lucky day, three sets of cheap silverware and a bottle of hot sauce.

She did, however, have access to a small metal trash can with a lid, water from a neighbor’s hose spigot-- Aoibheann felt bad about this, because water was so tightly regulated on Mars and the owner would surely be steeply charged for the waste, but this was a low priority compared to their survival-- and an old gas stove that the new girl had rigged up to illegally supply them with heat.

Aoibheann had cut the meat off the bones of the rotisserie chicken and plopped the bones into the cold water with all the fat and gristle, and opened up a few of the salt packets into the mixture. She put it on the stove and let it heat up to a boil, then turned down the gas and watched as the mixture turned a translucent yellow. She eventually fished out the bones with her knife, and dumped all the potatoes, and the meat from the chicken, into the broth.

After it had stewed for a while, Aoibheann took a taste. It was thin, watery, and somewhat bland, but it would do for the time being. Using the now-empty potato cans, she scooped out two servings of soup and handed one to Sasha.

“Now, we just have to keep it just hot enough,” Aoibheann said, “and it won’t go bad. We’ll be able to eat this until your sister gets back.”

Sasha took a taste. “It’s…” she had been taught, if she had nothing nice to say, to say nothing at all, so she didn’t finish her sentence. Aoibheann had spent enough time with her to know what she meant.

“It’s a tick bland like this,” Aoibheann shrugged, passing her the hot sauce. “Give it a dash of this, it’ll be a sight better.”

Sasha complied, tasted it, and her face made it clear that while it was in fact a sight better, it still wasn’t quite tasty.

“My mom used to make potatoes with a cheesy sauce,” Sasha said sadly. “They were really spicy. Pilar’s favorite food.”

“My dad was more of a cabbage man,” Aoibheann said. “My mom handled the meats, him the veggies. Hanguk-Éire cuisine is… all about things coming together in the pot.”

Sasha added a little more hot sauce to her soup.

“I wanted to be a cook,” Aoibheann said. “Like my folks, before, all this. My dad was a cook. His dad was a cook. His dad was a cook. And so on and so on, all the way back to our homelands.”

“You could still be a cook,” Sasha said, eyeing her soup. “...someday.”

“Well, we’ll have to get your sister to scrounge us up some quality ingredients, then, won’t we?” Aoibheann said.

The two of them finished their soup, and Aoibheann noted that it was getting late, and insisted that Sasha go to bed. Sasha refused without a story, and Aoibheann tossed back a “tough titties” which was met with an infuriatingly irresistible pout.

“FINE,” Aoibheann groaned, and improvised a story.

“Once upon a time, there was a kingdom,” Aoibheann began. This was how all her stories began, they all took place in this kingdom. “The kingdom, you see, had been through every horror you could put a kingdom through. It had been invaded. It had been burned. It had been taken over and torn in half and put back together again more times than you could count. Every evil overlord you could name had taken the place over, at one time or another. So the people in the kingdom, they were always sad, and they started to wonder, would they ever be free? And then, one day, they found out, there was another kingdom, just like them, halfway round the world, and they decided to join forces. But then, after a few decades of unity and prosperity, the entire world fell into darkness, and the people of the two kingdoms had to run. They ran far away, and found a new promised land in the desert, and built a home there.”

“Then, one day, in the new kingdom, there was a little girl who lived in a little house with her ma’ and her da’, and she loved her life. The dark creature from the old world, it caught up with them. It took her da’, and burned down her house, and she and her mother had to go out into the woods.”

Sasha looked scared. “The woods?”

“Aye,” Aoibheann said, “and her mother dear didn’t last long. There were these flares of Dokkaebi Fire, the goblin lights, and mother dear thought surely she could follow them to safety… Pretty soon, the little girl was all on her own.”

“I don’t like this story,” Sasha said, trying not to betray how frightened she was.

Aoibheann sighed. “Neither do I. But see, the story has a happy ending.”

“Happy?” Sasha asked.

“Happy enough,” Aoibheann replied, “for now. See, the little girl knew not to follow the goblin lights. She ran into the dark, and there she found… a brave, dashing adventurer. A gorgeous girl, noble and good, who’d been lost in the woods herself.”

Sasha’s eyes brightened at this. “Did she have a sword?”

“A little one, aye,” Aoibheann laughed. “And she was on a quest, to find a way out of the woods. But the problem was, she had to look after a sweet, wee little baby, and couldn’t leave it long enough to make any real progress. So the little girl, she’d faced all the darkness in the world. She could handle a wee little baby! She agreed to take care of the baby while the adventurer looked for a way to save herself and the little one.”

“Did she find a way out?”

“Someday she will,” Aoibheann said, “but all she found so far was… a sorceress.”

“This story has everything,” Sasha said.

“The sorceress was as beautiful as the adventurer, and sharp as a tack, but she was untrained. Powerful magic, but she didn’t know how to use it.” Aoibheann explained, “so, together, they managed to track down the Baba Yaga, a wise but crafty old witch, who could teach the sorceress and adventurer how to find the way.”

“And the little girl?” Sasha asked.

Aoibheann thought about this. “The little girl gets to spend time with the sorceress, and the adventurer, and that sweet wee little baby,” she said, “and she appreciates the time she has with them. Someday, they’ll find their way out, and she’ll still be in the woods, but she’ll always be glad to have met them. The end.”

Sasha crinkled her nose. “That’s a bad ending,” Sasha said bluntly. “The little girl should just leave the woods with them. Then find the creature that took her house, and kill it.”

“And how’s she gonna do that?” Aoibheann laughed.

“The adventurer and the sorceress will help her!” Sasha said. “Maybe the Baby Yaga can tell her some spells!”

“Baba Yaga,” Aoibheann corrected. “Okay, so say she does. Say she tells the adventurer and the sorceress everything that happened, and they go slay the evil creature. What happens next?”

Sasha thought about this. “Maybe they fight another creature,” she said. “An octopus?”

“Why are they fighting an octopus?” Aoibheann asked, still chuckling.

“It’s guarding a treasure,” Sasha said as though it were the most obvious thing in the universe. “You have heard a story before, right?”

“Fair enough,” Aoibheann said. “And then, say, they beat all the creatures. What then?”

“Happily ever after,” Sasha said triumphantly.

“Well, you’re a sight more deft at this than I am,” Aoibheann said. “Let’s get you to sleep, I’ll do better next time.”

Aoibheann swaddled Sasha in the dirty, tattered blanket that they’d found a few weeks earlier, sat out in the hallway, and began to cry.

In the present day, Aoibheann thought back to her sobbing in the hallway. At the time, she was convinced that Ariadne and Pilar would surely abandon her when they finished training with Blue. When they started building their first spacecraft in an alley under the bridge, she’d defended it from thieves and scrappers at knifepoint, even thinking that they would use it to leave her behind. When, against all odds, Ariadne had built a spaceworthy craft, she was stunned into silence when they invited her along.

“Don’t be dumb,” Pilar had said, extending a hand to her “of course we’re taking you with us. We started this crew to keep Sasha fed. How are we gonna do that without a cook?”

And so, Cookie had been born. As the goblin lights lit the way to ruin, Pilar’s hand pulled her onto the right path.

****

Now, Pilar’s hand was busy cutting up bites of nondescript meat and placing them into Aoibheann’s mouth.

“Do you remember… back in our street urchin days,” Pilar asked, “Me and Ariadne would come home from Blue’s, put Sasha to bed, and then you, me, and her would stay up late gossiping. We’d show you all the cool stuff Blue had taught us in our lessons, and you’d take the ingredients we’d stolen for you-- better ones, after you started giving me lists-- and you’d teach us how to cook like you.”

Aoibheann almost smiled, and Pilar saw it.

“Alright, you’re right,” Pilar said, cutting her another bite and placing it in her mouth. “Nobody can cook like you. Don’t let it go to your head. But you taught us to cook better than most people.”

Aoibheann accepted another bite wordlessly.

“You know, Ariadne used to use Blue’s tricks to fix up that abandoned house, Alan’s house, and I used to show you all the martial arts tricks, and you’d be rapt with attention,” Pilar said. “When me and Ari started dating, we had a friendly debate about it. See, I thought you had a crush on her, and she thought you had a crush on me. Joke’s on us, turns out you were more than capable of having both.”

Aoibheann came close to smiling again.

“Funny, that’s a fond memory now. Back then, it was the worst year of our life,” Pilar said. “Wonder what we’ll remember fondly from now, when we’re older.”

Aoibheann’s fractional smile faded away. She couldn’t imagine anything worth cherishing from this time. But then, she couldn’t back then, either.

“And we don’t have to talk about…” Pilar cut herself off. “I mean, the… what we’ve had together… The unspoken closeness between the three of us. Rare as it might be that we’ve acted on it, it’s still special to me. To us.The problem has never been that we don’t feel about you, the way you feel about us. If you wanted... what’s between the three of us... to be more, it’d be yours in a heartbeat.”

Aoibheann looked down at her lap.

“We’ve always loved you, Cookie,” she explained. “And don’t get twisted up on the definitions. Every sense of the word. Whatever you’re thinking I surely can’t mean… I mean it. I don’t know what’s going on in your head. I just hate to think that… I mean… we’re going into the most dangerous time we’ve ever faced. If something happens, to me or to Ari… I just want to know you know what you mean to us. To me.”

Pilar gave her another bite, and Aoibheann didn’t fight her on it.

“Do you remember our wedding?” Pilar asked, and laughed. “Of course you do. Hard to forget something like that. Do you remember how angry you were that we wouldn’t let you cook us a grand feast?”

There was a spark in her eyes that demonstrated that she had not, in fact, entirely let this go.

“We stole the supplies for hamburgers from a local grocery store, and made Beam cook them,” Pilar said. “We actually almost got caught, pulled over for speeding on the way home. Ariadne told the cop her name was Ariadne Baltimore. Small town, local cops, everybody knew their parents, they figured they’d just miscounted the sisters, and let her go. Idiots.”

Pilar sighed.

“You weren’t allowed to cook because Ariadne needed you by her side,” she explained. “You were her maid of honor for a reason, Cookie. Our crew, our marriage, our family… where would we be without you? Would we even be us?”

Pilar offered Aoibheann another bite, and she didn’t take it. Pilar looked concerned. She hadn’t eaten nearly enough to be satisfied yet.

“What is it?” Pilar asked.

Aoibheann opened her mouth, thought hard, her eyes darting back and forth as though she was trying to make sense of something she couldn’t put words to.

“Aoibheann, are you… are you alright?” Pilar asked. “Should I get Sasha?”

Aoibheann shook her head vigorously. She had been lost in her depression for months, wondering if she was really better off waking up in the morning, but suddenly, the floodgates had come open, and she couldn’t wait one more second to let out what had been eating at her and destroying her soul ever since they’d lost the station.

Her voice was dry and raspy. She had not spoken more than two consecutive words in weeks, and her body vehemently protested the sudden change in this policy.

“Was it my fault?” She asked, thinking back to a conversation she'd had with their tormentor years ago. “Did I do this to us?”

****

“Excellent work today, everyone,” Cookie’s voice boomed through the kitchen. “The festivities went off without a hitch. This is an anniversary our captain won’t soon forget.”

“Thank you, Chef,” her crew echoed back.

“Dismissed,” she said to the assembled kitchen staff, and then quietly approached one of the greener pirates who’d recently started the galley rotation that was mandatory for the whole crew. “Libby, a word?”

Cookie ushered Libby into a small room at the back, which she used for prep when she was working on more intimate, personal projects. This was the room where she prepared birthday meals for Spacebreather, Ariadne, and Sasha. This was the table on which she’d painstakingly crafted Ariadne and Pilar’s wedding cake. The small walk-in freezer was the one where she’d had a brief, clumsy tryst with Blue on a rare visit to the station, after Cookie had enraged her by challenging her to a contest to see who could make a better mole negro oaxaqueño sauce, and then winning it.

Libby had been invited into the inner sanctum, and the look on Cookie’s face made it absolutely clear that it was not an honor.She was in deep trouble. Worse still, there was a salt shaker on the table in front of her.

“Do you think this is funny, lass?” Cookie asked. “Is this a fun game to you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Chef,” Libby said, actually looking somewhat convincing.

“The cap of the salt shaker was unscrewed. One shake, and dinner would’ve been ruined.” Cookie said. “It was your responsibility to set the table in the captain’s quarters.”

Libby got immediately defensive. “Anybody could’ve done that,” she said, “I didn’t do it, it’s totally unfair that you--”

“Anybody could’ve,” Cookie said. “But I gave you a responsibility. You were responsible for the Captain’s table. You signed off on a table with an unscrewed salt shaker on it. That makes you responsible for the salt shaker, whether you placed it there or not.”

“How is that fair?” Libby replied indignantly.

“Lass, why do you think Ariadne requires all crew to complete a rotation in my kitchen before they’re cleared for field service?” Cookie asked.

“She needs someone to cook for her?” Libby asked derisively.

Cookie sneered. She did not care for Libby, and never had. The girl seemed to attract drama. How, she wondered, could someone with so few friends be so perpetually in the middle of a falling out with a group of them? “And why do you think my standards are so meticulous?” Cookie asked.

Libby declined to answer, because she knew her honest answer would get her in trouble, but her face betrayed what she wanted to say: “Because you’re a huge bitch?”

Cookie answered her own rhetorical questions. “The skills you need to be successful in here, will be invaluable to you out there. You didn’t go over your loadout with a fine-toothed comb. You didn’t take the responsibilities you were trusted with seriously. You allowed your crewmates to operate with faulty equipment, that, had I not intervened, would’ve caused the mission objective to fail.”

“To be clear,” Libby said, “the ‘mission’ was serving them dinner.”

“IN HERE IT’S DINNER,” Cookie bellowed, her eyes full of all the rage and fire that she kept tamped down in her heart every second of every day, and slammed her fists on the table, knocking down the salt shaker. The chrome lid clattered off, and salt spilled onto the teak countertop. Cookie wordlessly grabbed a pinch of it and tossed it over her left shoulder. “In here, you fail in your duties and it means dinner isn’t very good that night. Out there, you fail in your duties and your sisters in arms die. That’s why Ariadne makes you work with me before you’re allowed to work for her. You can’t be trusted to handle the stakes out there if your team, and your commanding officer, can’t even trust you to do your job correctly when the stakes are only whether tonight’s chicken will be a little dry. Is that crystal clear?”

Libby looked as though she was about to protest, or accuse Cookie of being melodramatic, but Cookie cut her off. “Think very carefully about what you say next,” she said, “and if you’re lost as to what answer I’m looking for...” She pointed at the band that she kept tied around her head, so that even if one of her brilliant red hairs slipped out of its tight bun, it would still not fall into her face. It was white, and said, in bold black text, “YES CHEF.”

Libby grumbled. “Yes, chef,” she said. “next time, I’ll check the table settings more carefully.”

“Glad to hear it,” Cookie said. “But I think it’s important that you know… I know you put the shaker on the table.”

“What?!” Libby snapped.

“If the Captain, or her first mate, were to be poisoned, I would need to be able to verify who’d done the deed.” Cookie said. “Every step of my meal preparation is accounted for. There is a record of every action taken in this kitchen, cupboard-to-table. If something goes wrong with a meal, within seconds I will be able to identify the point of failure and exactly who was responsible for preventing it. Of course, it helps to have a private video feed into the captain’s quarters.”

Cookie tossed her communications device onto the table, and hit play. It projected a small, but surprisingly clear, hologram of Libby setting the table, smirking as though struck with an idea, and unscrewing the cap of the salt shaker.

“You have… a security camera… in their quarters?!” Libby asked.

“I’m the only person in the system they trust with it,” Cookie said. “I trust them with my life, and they trust me with theirs. Now, I gave you a chance to confess to your little prank, and you decided to lie, to pass the buck onto someone else. I’m afraid I can’t let that slide. I’ll have to fail you for this rotation. Come back at the start of the next one and you can reapply.”

“What?!” Libby snapped again. “I’m two days away from finishing! I have to start my galley rotation over again just because you caught me playing a harmless prank on your little pervy peep-show?”

“Call it pervy if you like,” Cookie said dismissively. “The nature of my relationship with the captain and her first mate is enthusiastically sanctioned and is, frankly, none of your concern. The behavior you showed in here, would’ve only spoiled Captain Ariadne’s dinner. If you showed the same level of carelessness and irreverence out there, it might’ve gotten someone killed. ‘Harmless’ indeed. You’re not responsible enough for field work until you can prove you can handle kitchen duty.”

“This is bullshit,” Libby said, gathering up her things to storm out of the room. “Like it even matters whether that bitch’s little dinner is ruined.”

Cookie slammed her fists on the counter again.

“Captain Ariadne is the greatest woman who ever lived,” Cookie growled, “and if I hear you speak of her like that in my presence again, you’ll lose a hell of a lot more than your galley rotation.”

Libby moved to storm out, but Cookie rushed the door and held it shut.

“Now, you listen to me, you little twerp,” Cookie said, jabbing a finger into Libby’s chest, shaking with anger. “That woman pulled me out of the gutter-- pulled all of us out of the gutter. There is nothing more important than the work she does, and we are the beating heart that allows her to do it. So if you want to be a part of this crew, you’ll show her some goddamned respect and start taking your work fucking seriously.”

Libby looked furious.

“What do I want to hear?” Cookie asked pointedly.

Pilar was astonished. “You think… because you were hard on the Nameless in her galley rotation… that she went totally off the rails, tried to kill us, and drove us out of our home?”

“Yes, chef,” Libby grumbled after a beat, and Cookie allowed her to pass.

****

“She tried to say we were like a cult,” Cookie said weakly. “That we were just minions blindly following Ariadne’s orders. That we turned against anybody who didn’t fall in line.”

“Is any of that true?” Pilar asked rhetorically. “Does the crew actually act like that?”

Cookie let the tears come. “I do,” she said. “What if she… how do I know she isn’t holding my devotion, my zeal, against the entire crew?”

“You… blindly follow Ariadne’s orders?” Pilar asked, entirely rhetorically. “That’s a surprise, I thought you really believed in our mission.”

Cookie was taken aback. “I do!’

Pilar smiled. “There’s some of that fire,” she said. “I’ve missed it. Aoibheann… when is the last time Ariadne actually gave you an order?”

Cookie had to think about this, but came up short.

“Exactly,” Pilar said. “This is what’s been eating you, all this time?”

Aoibheann looked afraid to reply, so she just asked what she’d wanted to ask, ever since they were driven out of their home.

“Do you forgive me?” She asked. “Does she… does she forgive me?”

Pilar looked Aoibheann square in the eyes. “Cookie, you’ve never needed our forgiveness. An insane terrorist attacked our home. There’s nothing you could’ve done to prevent that.”

This was not what Aoibheann wanted to hear.

Pilar sighed. “Of course we forgive you, Aoibheann,” she said in a voice that sounded entirely earnest, but using words that betrayed how sarcastic she was being: “for not allowing someone who turned out to be a sexual predator and an actual serial killer tamper with our food and ruin our anniversary. We forgive you for being the most devoted friend we’ve ever had. Because someone else mistreated us, it must’ve been wrong that you treated us right. We will always forgive you for loving us, Aoibheann. You will never lose our forgiveness for that.”

Aoibheann was struck speechless again.

“Don’t go quiet on me,” Pilar said affectionately, “I just got you to talk again! I’ve missed your voice.”

“I appreciate your taking care of me,” Cookie admitted, “while I’ve been… not myself.”

Pilar gently put her hand on Aoibheann’s, and gave it a squeeze, and then told her the most reassuring truth she had.

“The Nameless is a user,” she said. “She wants a bunch of people who act like puppets and put her well-being first. Ariadne spends every second of every day encouraging her crew to think and act for themselves, and to put each other’s well-being above all else. That’s why she thinks Ariadne’s a tyrant. Not because you defended her honor after a sociopath tried to ruin her anniversary and then called her a bitch.”

Aoibheann felt as though she’d just received absolution for something that had been dragging her through the muck for months. How could she not believe Pilar, of all people? She began to cry openly.

“Hey, hey,” Pilar said, “it’s okay! I got you.”

“I’ve let the crew down,” she said, “had them eating this flavorless mush for however many months. I’ll be back at a stove first thing in the morning, don’t you worry--”

Pilar laughed. “Aoibheann… Cookie, I’m glad you’re back but… don’t push yourself too hard, okay? Let your apprentices handle it for a bit. Besides, you haven’t walked by yourself in a pretty long time. It’ll take a bit before you’re seaworthy again, let alone fit to run a kitchen.”

Aoibheann looked downcast. “Well, I’ve spent enough time sitting around like a lump being no good to anybody,” she said indignantly.

“You’re plenty good to us,” Pilar said flatly, “just by being here. We love you, Cookie. You don’t need to… justify your existence by being a devoted servant.”

Aoibheann was uncomfortable with this sentiment, and it showed on her face. This was, after all, how she showed her affection for Ariadne and Pilar. How could she show them her love and devotion without being able to cook for them?

“I don’t know how to…” Cookie began. “Please… Please, just… tell me what to do.”

Pilar sighed. She knew Cookie was far too devoted to her duties to go completely without orders. “She and I will be back in a few hours, for dinner. Let her hear your voice. Tell her you love her, and wish her luck on her procedure. If you have the strength, give her a hug. And, most importantly, just… please, be okay. Be kind to yourself and take all the time you need to get back on your feet. We’ve only got the one Cookie, so take care of her for us, okay?”

Cookie smiled, and squeezed Pilar’s hand back with what little strength she could muster.

Pilar picked up the now-empty tray that the MRE had been on. “Now that you’re back, do I have your permission to start up the kitchens? Let your apprentices do some real cooking?”

Cookie nodded her head.

“Then I guess this is truly an event worth of celebration: you’ve had your last Meal-Ready-To-Eat,” Pilar laughed. “I’ll see you tonight, Cookie. I want to put some meat back on your bones, so I’ll be cooking, and I expect you to be looking over my shoulder and barking orders at me the whole time.”

Cookie looked at her and smiled, and Pilar’s heart melted. It had been a long time since anyone had seen that.

****

Cookie’s apprentices stood in a straight line at the back of the Hotpot Spot, an abandoned restaurant that Sweettalk had identified as her childhood favorite. Cookie, wearing the chef’s coat she’d fled the station in, freshly laundered, and her trademark “YES CHEF” headband, limped into the restaurant, supported by a cane that Sweettalk had fished out of her childhood home, and said had belonged to her grandfather.

Cookie was still not back to full strength, but her apprentices could see the fire they’d come to fear and love had returned to her eyes.

“As you may have noticed,” Cookie announced, the natural loudness of her voice undiminished by her time indisposed, “I have been… unwell, of late. As such, I am unable to resume my duties at this time.”

Her staff turned to her chief apprentice, Yellow, for guidance. Yellow remained silent, so the rest of them did as well.

“It’s alright, kids,” she said, stamping the cane on the ground loudly. “You don’t have to pretend. I’m not my old self yet. It’s fine. I wouldn’t feel right resuming my post here anyhow. This isn’t my kitchen. I’ve called you all here because you are the apprentices most equipped to run a kitchen of your own.”

Yellow nodded in assent.

“As such, I have a new directive for each of you, until such time as we’ve retrieved my kitchen, and I’m back to my usual vim and vigor, each of you is to select one of the defunct restaurants in this town, take your pick of the remaining staff and any available volunteers, and you will run your kitchens to the standard I have taught you.”

Cookie sighed.

“I know what you all think,” she said. “I know what you’ve said to me, in the past. You think your best is only a pale imitation of my cooking. But I need you all to know that… isn’t true.”

“Chef?” Yellow asked.

“I was the fourth person on this crew, lass,” Cookie said. “The first person to join, after the founding members. At the beginning, we had one mission: Keep Sasha Fed. There is nothing I value more highly than that mission. I live for it, and if I’m blessed with the chance, I will happily die for it. We may have expanded the definition of ‘Sasha’ to include everyone we love, but this mission is and will always be my life’s labor. Food doesn’t just sustain us. It is love, in physical form. The Captain and the First Mate have been very gracious to me, in the time we’ve known each other, by allowing me to show them my love and devotion in the way I’m able to offer. Over the last nine months, they have shown me the devotion was not one-sided, and given me the love I was able to accept. So your mission is, as it always has been: get in the kitchen, and show your love to the crew. Fill their bowls with it, in the way only you can, with or without me. And when your cup is empty…”

Cookie choked up a bit, and did a halfway decent job masking it.

“...When your cup is empty, allow those who love you to fill it back up, until you’re ready to pour from it again.”

After a long, uncomfortable beat, her crew shouted back “Yes, Chef!”

“I have been derelict in my duties,” Cookie said. “I let you go this many months without loving one another properly, because you wouldn’t do it without me.”

“Chef, permission to speak freely?” One of her younger apprentices, a quiet young boy who specialized in pastries, piped up.

“Granted,” Cookie said.

“You never ordered us not to run the kitchens without you. In fact, before…” He paused carefully, then opted to leave it unsaid, “before, you always taught us how to take the lead for the rest of the crew, when you had to cook for the Captain’s table. We wouldn’t run the kitchens without your say-so because…”

“It’s okay, lad, no need to be scared of the likes of me,” she reassured him.

“We were ordered not to,” he told her. “The Captain was very clear: ‘There’s no crew without Cookie.’”

Cookie leaned on her cane and looked a bit sad.

“She couldn’t handle it, Chef,” Yellow explained. “Knowing somebody else was doing your work, while you were suffering the way you were.”

Now Cookie could feel her heart melt. “She said that, did she?”

The young baker boy winced. “She said that there’s nothing more important than the work you do, and that everything the crew does, is just so you can do it,” he said. “She said… well, she said she was derelict in her duty to you, and that she couldn’t replace you until she’d made it right. Until you’d forgiven her for letting you down.”

Cookie laughed. “We’ve known each other a long time, indeed,” she said. “The captain is a sentimental one, I’m afraid. She blames herself for all this. For my condition. Don’t tell her I said this, but she’s still more Catholic than she’d like to admit.”

Everyone’s eyes flared at this. Of course none of them would tell her she’d said that, as they all valued keeping their heads attached to their necks too much. Cookie was one of the only people in the system who could get away with saying something like that in front of Ariadne.

“She could never let me down if she tried,” Cookie said, “and even if she did, I will always forgive her. That you can repeat to her. Now, that’s enough prattling on from an old fool. You all have restaurants to open. To work!”

“Yes, Chef!” Her apprentices all shouted, and broke formation to claim their restaurants.

“And remember,” she shouted after them. “If you talk to the Captain, this was her idea!”

She had, in fact, passed her forgiveness along to Ariadne the previous day, before her surgery, and assured her that she didn’t need forgiveness, the same way Pilar had done to her. After her procedure, Ariadne wouldn’t remember Cookie giving her consent to reopen the kitchens, but she was delighted that when she came out of it, she seemingly remembered, on some level, that she had been absolved of all wrongdoing.

She was relieved when, during the fight Alicia staged with her, Ariadne had suggested they put her apprentices to work in the kitchens. Despite being set back several months, she was done punishing herself, and letting everyone else punish themselves with her. It was a do-over many were not fortunate enough to get, and after all she’d lost, Aoibheann was not one to turn her nose up at a second chance.

****

Months later, when all this was over and Sasha’s medicine and a lot of good eating had restored her muscles into mostly proper working order-- she still felt uneasy at times, and preferred to keep the cane on hand, just in case-- they were repatriated to their home, the Nameless had been defeated, and the station had erupted into a celebratory frenzy. Yellow and the kitchen staff had burned the candle at both ends to supply enough party snacks to keep anyone from drowning in all the wine. Two former crew members, Baltimore and Beam, had returned to the station to join in the celebrations. Sweettalk and Sasha had, believing themselves slick, pulled Ghostrunner and her new girlfriend Vigil back to their quarters. Alicia had brought Blue back to the station and, in the haze of wine, loudly announced her intention to start a relationship with her, before disappearing back to her own quarters. Cookie and Blue had, despite their past rivalry, a deep, abiding respect for one another, and Blue was one of the few people who was authorized to do as she pleased in the kitchen. Cookie knew firsthand that after Blue’s enthusiastic and athletic lovemaking, she would likely need something to eat, and a bit more wine, so she’d set a bottle of red and a bowl of fresh mozzarella in conspicuous locations in the hopes that she would find them. Cookie was, uncharacteristically, not in the kitchen that night.

If she had learned anything from the past year, it was that she had to sometimes set the weight of the world down, and allow the people she loved to take care of her as much as she took care of them. So, as had become tradition, once per month, she would retire to the Captain’s quarters instead of her own, and allow her friends to show them how much they loved her. Pilar spent the day marinating meats, just the way Cookie had taught her, and Ariadne had built a heating element into her personal dining table so that Pilar could cook them some of Cookie’s favorite foods.

They would then retire to the bedroom for a night of passion-- Ariadne always had some new device she’d built and wanted to show off. Being married to Spacebreather, she was in the unfortunate position of being a bit of a pillow princess, but not on pillow principle, and so never had anyone else to use it on, and Cookie was the only person other than Ariadne who Spacebreather was willing to touch. They would spend this time laughing, and experimenting, and making sure not an inch of her, or the captain, went unkissed, and then they would fall asleep in each other’s arms, all the while gossiping and reminiscing the way they had back on Mars.

Sometimes, on these nights, Cookie would think back to what Spacebreather said to her, during her episode, about how if she ever wanted something more between them, she could have it.

The thing was, she didn’t want something more. She treasured these nights they had together, but as far as she was concerned, nothing had changed about what they were to her. They were her best friends, and they were her calling in life. She would, to the best of her ability, serve their mission with almost religious zeal. Even unto her death, she would prioritize keeping her loved ones happy and healthy. She had already loved them, more, she believed, than she could ever love anyone else, even when they had started an exclusive relationship with one another, and she was just a heartbroken teenager pining after them both. How could she want something more, when she couldn’t even imagine something better than what she already had?

The first time the three of them had ever fallen into bed together, years after Ariadne and Pilar had made it clear they were soulmates, they had been a ball of teenage hormones, propelled by a raunchy party game that had gotten a bit out of hand. Aoibheann had awoken mortified and furious at herself for daring to succumb to her own desires like this. Her whole life, whenever she’d allowed herself to love something, it was taken away, and that only when she accepted that something was beyond her grasp, would she stand a chance of being lucky enough to attain it. She was sure that by admitting to her wants, and acting on them, she had ruined everything. Except, Ariadne and Pilar noticed her embarrassment and simply chose to behave as though nothing had changed. It had happened only occasionally in the past, and each time, Ariadne and Pilar would wait for Cookie to bring it up. Otherwise, it was completely unspoken.

The one crucial difference was, now, Aoibheann “Cookie” Gyeong, once the saddest girl on Mars, had finally accepted that it was okay to want, and to act on those wants, that this was not following the goblin lights to her death as her mother had. She, who loved her life so much that she shut down for the better part of a year when she feared it had changed irreparably, spent most of her time refusing to acknowledge what she loved about it. She did her job, showed her love, and asked for nothing in return except for the ability to keep doing it.

“You know,” Ariadne said, running her fingers through Aoibheann’s long, smooth, bright red hair, as a sleeping Pilar cradled them both in her arms, “we don’t do any of this for you. We do it because we like doing it. It’s fun for us.”

Cookie laughed. “Oh, I hadn’t noticed,” she quipped.

Ariadne smiled, and told her something she’d waited years to be sure Cookie would be ready to hear. “Thank you,” she said, “for being my friend. For loving me. For making what we do worth it.”

Aoibheann shot a smile right back. “I could say the same to you.”

#core story #lgbt

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vanadiumvalor · 7 months

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[☀️SOLAR HOUSE | Chapter Two | Pg. 8] Crossfaded Encounters

This furry webcomic / comic about the solar system updates every Tuesday!

Annotations on this page: [5], [6]

[5] Voyager 2 returned thousands of images of Uranus and its system. Two notable ones include an image from the front taken on January 14th, 1986, and one from the back, taken on January 25th of the same year. Source: NASA

[6] Cassini-Huygens was an orbiter and probe mission sent to Saturn that studied the planet and its moons between 2004 and 2017. During its final mission phase, The Grand Finale, the spacecraft orbited between Saturn’s atmosphere and its rings before plunging into the planet. Source: NASA

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sadboi-writer · 11 months

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Dear Jack (Series)

Chapter Three: Dummy Dancing

Summary: Truman is targeting the members of the Bobby Wasabi dojo. Except for Eddie. When it’s revealed Truman is blackmailing Eddie the dojo springs into action to protect their friend, and Y/N’s feminine wiles are the perfect distraction (much to Jack’s dismay).

Word Count: 2.7k

Warnings: None

The four snuck into the freshly waxed hallway. Jack crouched and felt the wax.

“Ah, Waxy Wednesday, where a lunch tray meets a freshly buffed floor and legends are born,” He smirked

Eddie ran in from the cafeteria, “Hey guys, I got the trays!”

“Any problems getting by Marge the Lunchlady?” Kim asked

“Nah, she said they don’t pay her enough to care.” Eddie answered

Y/N nodded, “Fair enough.”

“Guys!” Jerry came bounding down the stairs, “Did I miss anything?”

“No, not yet.” Kim replied

“Aren’t you supposed to be in detention for that toll booth in the boys bathroom?” Y/N asked

He smirked, “I should be, but when you sit me in the back and leave a window open. I’m what they call a flight risk.”

Milton shook his head, “Jack, your record is about to be broken. Prepare for the new world champion: Milton ‘The Missile’ Krupnick!”

Milton took off his jacket and track pants to reveal a skin-tight spandex suit. Y/N was quick to cover her eyes.

“Pants, Milton!” Y/N cried, “For the love of God, pants!”

Jerry groaned, “Dude.. eat a sandwich.”

Milton frowned and put up his hood. The door near the cafeteria opened. Y/N went to the stairs in case they needed to cover for any of the others. That’s when they saw Truman.

“Oh look!” He greeted, “I walked into the middle of a loser-palooza! And the lovely Y/N of course.”

He took Y/N’s hand and kissed their knuckles. They snatched their hand back and sent him a glare.

“Hello, Truman,” Y/N grimaced

Jack stepped between Truman and Y/N protectively.

“What do you want, Truman?” He asked

Truman sidled up closer to the group, “I thought I’d just hang out.”

Jerry sneered, “Do you have to do it here?”

Y/N climbed the stairs and sat next to him on top of the lockers. As far as they could get from Truman.

“It’s a free hallway, Jerry.” Truman replied

Milton cut him off, “Truman, if you’ll excuse me, I have a date with destiny!”

The snobby boy laughed, “Well that’ll be your first date ever.”

“Hahaha, very funny.” Milton mocked, “You’re about to see my skid marks... okay, I thought that was gonna sound different when it came out.”

Kim rolled her eyes and ran to the garbage can before turning back to the group.

“Okay, guys, this garbage can marks Jack’s record of 47 floor tiles!” She hollered

Milton stepped back and took a running start before he jumped and slid on the tray on his knees. He was going super fast and slammed through the doors.

Y/N was the first on their feet.

“Milton, oh my God!” The shouted as they ran to him

Jack was right behind them, Jerry and Eddie close after.

“Dude, he just shattered your record!” Jerry cried

Kim nodded, “And that paper mache solar system outside the science room!”

Jack looked at the floor, “It looks like someone greased his tray!”

Y/N saw the slight trail of oil spray on the ground.

“You’re right!” Y/N agreed

That’s when they heard Truman laugh, “Looks like!”

The boy strolled off cackling to himself. Milton limped toward them, grimacing with pain every step he took.

“It looks like Saturn is now lodged in the dark side of the moon.” He groaned before limping away

They all saw that Saturn was lodged between his butt cheeks. Y/N cringed at the sight.

After school they were at the dojo. Jerry was taking his usual shower while the rest of them worked. That’s when Jerry ran out screaming.

Correction, he ran out screaming with bright pink hair. The others were immediately giggling while Y/N got shaken by the brightly colored boy. Kim strolled up to the two as Jerry sat down.

“Wait, something’s different,” She teased, “Don’t tell me... new bathrobe!”

Jerry huffed, “It’s my hair! This is what I get for showering! Rudy, what kind of shampoo are we using?”

Rudy took the bottle, “That’s the same shampoo we always use.”

Y/N looked at it and peeled off a false label that showed it was actually a bottle of hair dye.

“This isn’t shampoo!” Jerry cried out, “It’s pink hair dye!”

Eddie was looking lower than everyone else, “Dude... do you shampoo your leg hair?”

Y/N glanced at Jerry’s legs and burst into a fit of giggles, leaning into Jack’s side for support as they both laughed. Jerry put his foot on the bench, showing of his newly pink leg hair.

“Dude, when I shampoo... I’m all in.” Jerry replied

It was then that Truman strolled in, smug as ever.

“Love your new look! Awesome!” He mocked, “Just awesome!”

Jack stood, “I know you did this Truman. Somehow you snuck in here and switched out the shampoo for pink hair dye!”

“Whaaaaat?” Truman asked condescendingly

“No, it wasn’t Truman,” Rudy piped up, “I’ve been here all day and I never once saw him ooze his way in here.”

Truman smirked, “Looks like I’ve got an airtight alibi. See you around, Pinky.”

He cackled before sending a wink to Y/N then strutting out of the dojo. Jerry scowled as he slightly trailed after Truman.

“Pinky? Why would anyone call me Pinky?” He asked

Jack plucked a hair out of Jerry’s head and handed it to him.

“Ow!” Jerry looked at the hair, “Ohhhh, I get it!”

The next day before classes there was a pep rally with Kim leading. She was pep-talking the girls basketball team before she ran through the banner. But the banner stuck to her and took her down with it.

Y/N was immediately next to her trying to pull the paper off of her. As Truman strolled down the stairs cackling.

“Looks like you got yourself into a sticky situation!” He laughed

Once they had gotten most of the paper off of Kim everyone was sent to class. During the next passing period Kim was standing with Y/N as they grabbed their books from their locker. As they opened the locker there was a small box in it with a little letter attatched.

“Huh, wonder who that’s from?” Kim asked

“I don’t know.” Y/N shrugged

They looked at the letter.

Dear Y/N,

I saw this and thought of you.

I was wondering if you would want to go on a date on Friday?

Love,

Jack

Y/N’s heart fluttered, Kim peeked over their shoulder.

“Ooh! You better open it!” Kim prompted

Y/N was quick to untie the little bow and as soon as the lid was off Y/N was covered in glitter. Their eyes filled with tears. Until they heard Truman laughing.

“Looks like you’re finally as sparkling as your eyes!” Truman semi-complimented

Jack, Jerry, and Milton approached.

“Y/N what happened?” Jack asked

Y/N ran off to call their mom. They went to the dojo as soon as they were picked up and sat in the locker room, staring at the note.

After school everyone came to the dojo. Kim was the first to seek Y/N out, entering the locker room and sitting beside them.

“I was so hopeful,” Y/N murmured

Kim wrapped an arm around them, “I know.”

The two got up to leave the locker room and joined up with the guys. Y/N sat on a bench next to Eddie. Head toward the ground. Milton was the first to speak.

“Guys, we all know Truman is behind all these pranks,” He reasoned, “We just have to figure out how he’s doing it.”

Jerry shrugged, “Grease, hair dye, sticky paper, glitter, and blue cheese. Sounds like my grandmother’s medicine cabinet.”

“Truman’s picking us off one by one, he’s got all of us!” Jack despaired, “Except for Eddie.”

Eddie turned away from the group, “What are you guys saying?”

“We’re saying you’re next.” Milton said, crossing to sit on the opposite side of Eddie from Y/N, “If I were you, I’d roll myself up in bubble wrap and sit in the basement. I did that when my father showed me my own birth video.”

Y/N gagged, “Gross.”

“Do you guys have any idea where we come from?” Milton cried in disgust

Eddie smiled, “My mother told me it was a pumpkin patch!”

Milton shook his head, “I wish.”

Jack stood and approached the bench, placing a comforting hand on Eddie’s shoulder.

“I think what Eddie needs to hear is that we’re going to be there for him.” Jack stated

Eddie stood and moved to the other bench, “Guys, guys, guys, I can take care of myself.”

The group followed him.

“No,no,no, don’t worry Eddie! We’ll protect you!” Jack offered, “We’ll walk you to school in the morning!”

“And after school we’ll walk you back home.” Kim added

Milton sat next to Eddie again, “We’ll be the last thing you see at night, and the first thing you see in the morning! How do you like your eggs?”

“Guys, stop! I can’t take it anymore!” Eddie panicked, “It wasn’t Truman who pulled those pranks on you!”

Y/N stepped forward, “Then who was it?”

Eddie looked at the ground in shame, “It was me.”

“What?” they all demanded

Jack walked forward, “Eddie, why would you prank us like that?!”

“Do you know what you did to me? That paper was so sticky I lost four freckles and half an eyebrow!” Kim scolded, “And you broke Y/N’s heart!”

“And a clown keeps following me around asking where I get my hair done!” Jerry paused, “Wait, what did he do to Y/N?”

Y/N shook her head, “I’ll tell you later.”

“I didn’t want to!” Eddie lamented, “Truman’s been blackmailing me.”

“How is he blackmailing you?” Milton asked

“Truman’s dad owns the security company that watches the mall,” Eddie answered, “One night Rudy let me stay late in the dojo to work on some moves. The thing is, I wasn’t working on karate moves.”

Eddie explained how Truman had recorded him dancing with a practice dummy, and kissing said practice dummy.

“Truman saw everything from his father’s office. He put it on a flash drive and unless I do whatever he says he’s gonna put it on the internet.” Eddie explained, “I’m sorry, guys.”

“That’s okay Eddie,”Jack assured, “He’s not gonna get away with it.” Milton nodded, “Truman’s gonna be sorry he messed with us. When you poke a bear do you know what happens? Seriously, does anybody know?”

That night they all gathered around some practice mats, laying out a map of the mall.

“Okay, our goal is to get into the security office and get the flash drive out of the safe.” Jack explained, “So, let’s go over the plan one more time.”

Eddie pointed to the map, “I’ll lure Truman out of the office by taking him to the parking lot with the promise of shooting me with paintballs.”

Kim quirked an eyebrow, “You think he’ll go for it?”

“I’m pretty sure.”

Eddie pulled the front of his gi apart to show his already paint-stained chest. Y/N continued the plan. “To avoid Eddie actually getting shot and freeing him to come help you, I will bump into them and distract Truman.”

Jack grumbled a bit at that part, “Once we’re inside I’ll disarm the security system.”

“I’ll crack the safe.”Milton added

“In the courtyard, I’ll distract the security guard.” Kim continued

Jerry piped in, “And I’ll distract the guard’s dog!”

Jack made a face, “How are you gonna distract the dog?”

“See, I don’t know if you know this about me, but I was partially raised by wolves.” Jerry gloated

“No you weren’t.”Y/N corrected, “You lived in a camper and traveled until your little sister was born.”

Jerry proceeded to howl and a wolf pack howled back. Y/N glared at him. The rest of them seemed impressed.

Y/N proceeded to set up outside on a bench. She streaked her mascara so it would look like she had been crying and then she placed a little bit of bubble solution near her eye to make her eyes water.

Not long after they sat down Truman and Eddie exited the mall. When Y/N saw them she immediately started loudly sobbing.

“The lovely Y/N!” Truman was quick to abandon Eddie, “ What burdens thee?”

She blubbered for a moment, “I just, I really thought Jack liked me! But, I guess I was wrong. I’m just ugly and unlovable!”

Y/N knew that would set Truman off, if he could do anything to one-up Jack he would.

“But, that’s not true! You’re amazing, kind, and beautiful!” Truman replied, “Jack is a fool to not like you!”

Y/N wiped their tears, “Well, thank you Truman. That’s very sweet of you.”

They made eye contact and Truman started to lean in toward them. No one had come to retrieve Y/N so they worried they would actually have to kiss the little rat. Until they saw Kim over his shoulder.

“I have to go, Truman!” They announced, “Thank you for cheering me up.”

Y/N then ran off, once they rounded the corner they were face to face with Kim.

“You have impeccable timing,” Y/N complimented as they headed to the dojo

Kim nodded, “I’m glad I saved you from that.”

Once back at the dojo the group sat together to wait for Truman. Jerry sat back to back with Y/N as they tried not to fall asleep on each other. It wasn’t long until Truman stormed in.

“Breaking into my father’s office?! You guys are in so much trouble!” Truman shouted

Jack shrugged, “We’ll take whatever comes. But, we had to help a friend out.”

“I want that flash drive, and I want it right NEOW!” Truman demanded

Y/N stood, “Sure, no problem. But, first, come take a look at this.”

Truman stalked toward Y/N, “And how dare you utilize Y/N’s feminine wiles against me.”

Jack and Jerry’s eyes widened as they stared at Y/N. They let Truman suffer as they watched his meltdown over the flash drive.

“Doesn’t feel so good when it’s you, huh Truman?” Jack asked

“Please tell me you won’t post that.”Truman begged

Kim nodded, “We won’t post it. We’re not like you, Truman.”

Jack stepped up, “Let’s make a deal, we destroy both videos and you never mess with us again. Deal?”

“Deal.” Truman agreed desperately, “Just delete it, please.”

Eddie quickly deleted both files. And Truman was quick to change his attitude.

“You know I only melted down like that because I knew there was a camera,”He lied, “I was just putting on a show.”

“Well, show’s over.” Eddie replied, “When you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us. Bye, Truman.”

“Bye, Eddie.” Truman mumbled, “Maybe next week we can go paintball-”

Eddie cut him off, “Get out!”

Truman nodded but stopped at Y/N, “Could we finish what we started?”

He started to lean in again, Y/N put their hand on his cheek and pushed him away.

“Never gonna happen, Truman.” Y/N replied

Jack looked at the two, his face growing rather hot. But,he turned to Eddie anyway.

“Eddie, remember what you just told Truman.”Jack said gently, “If you’re in trouble we’ll always be there for you.”

“Got it,” Eddie replied, “Thanks guys.”

As they all left, everyone’s parents picked them up. Save for Jack and Y/N’s. Jack’s mom was running late, and Y/N lived within walking distance of the mall. But, Y/N didn’t want to leave Jack to wait alone. So the two were just sitting together, on the same bench that Y/N had distracted Truman on.

It was oddly silent between the two. Like neither knew how to start a conversation that needed to be had.

“What did that note say?” Jack finally asked, “The one from Truman’s prank? Kim said he broke your heart?”

Y/N shook their head, “It was just a stupid love letter.”

“Not from Truman though, right?”

“Obviously not, Jack.”

“Well, after you used your feminine wiles on him, I wasn’t sure.”

That had come out far more bitter than Jack had intended. The air was suddenly tense as Y/N scooted away from him.

“It’s not like you actually care, Jack. You just care that it was Truman.” Y/N spat back, “It doesn’t matter, I was just distracting him.”

“I just think it’s interesting you didn’t come up with anything else.”

Y/N stood, “Whatever, Jack. If you really want to know, he wrote the letter from you. Because I have a big fat crush on you!”

Y/N stormed off. Leaving Jack sitting alone, dumbfounded at how he had messed up that badly.

#Kickin It #kickin it x reader #Kim Crawford #Milton Krupnick #rudy gillespie #Jerry Martinez #Eddie Jones #jack brewer #jack brewer x reader

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ivystoryweaver · 7 months

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🌿IvyStoryUpdates Nov. 5 - poll included

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Next priority updates:

Spooky season has come and gone but that's okay, we are most of the way through our ghost love story.

Spectre: A Moon Knight Halloween Love Story 🔥 👻 Up next: Event #8b: Us 🎃 8/11ish Events completed

I guess it's POEVEMBER! So this poor, ignored boy/fic shall get a November update.

The Only One - A Poe Dameron Story 🚀 Up next: Episode 5 - date #2 and Poe has an urgent mission 💫 4/10ish Episodes completed

These two are so close to finishing, wink wink

Perfect Fit (Nathan Bateman Choose Your Own Adventure) 🔥 🤖 1/2 Parts completed - make sure to vote at the end of part 1

Decadent: A Miguel O'Hara Story 🔥 🕷️ Up next: Chapter 13 - An accident in the lab! 🕸️ 12/14 Chapters completed

Asks/Requests updates:

If you have sent me a request/ask, I promise you I have it.

Titled/in-progress requests:

@themarvelousbee - Poe Dameron, titled "There is Someone" - trying to get this one published during Poevember

@cositsamarvelfan - Marc Spector, titled "Can't Stand It"

@saturn-rings-writes - Orestes, titled "Made for You"

@babyprofessorsharkpalace - Duke Leto Atreides, titled "Left Behind"

Other requests:

@dowbastan - Duke Leto request

@soulsforsales - Arctic Monkeys song

Anons:

Miguel and a deaf!female!reader

Steven x m!reader fluff

More Moon Dads. um, YES

I have more asks in my inbox that I promise I will get to. The ones above are older and/or have been started.

I just wanted to let everyone know I do read and love your asks and requests, and they are not forgotten!

HAPPY POEVEMBER

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ

Requests are paused for one shots and fics ⏸️

Requests for headcanons, drabbles or screaming ab blorbos are open 📭

Askbox always open 📥

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ

My current WIP list

Updates blog - @ivystoryupdates

Reader blog - @ivystoryreader

Main Masterlist

💚 Ivy

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ

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lovinbarzal · 8 months

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NATIONAL BF DAY | our song au

wyatt johnston x fem! barzal! reader

au masterlist | masterlist | fc: emily carey | a/n this completely based off the post i made about my bf lmaoooo but it's super short...sorry ! i do have their meeting chapter in the works as well as part two to greatest love story!

y/nbarzal has posted !

liked by jpav, jackhughes, and others

y/nbarzal HAPPY NATIONAL BF DAY TO MY POOKIE!!!!!!!!!

i'm so FLIPPIN happy that we met when we did (even if it did cost me my favorite shirt). you are truly the best bf ever! you know exactly how to balance me out. i thought i was gonna end up alone with 40 cats (i'm allergic) but then i found you and i'm happy that the universe brought is together.

i love you to the moon, wyatt pookie johnston <3

load comments

wyattjohnston_ awww my sugar 💞💞💞💞

wyattjohnston_ i love you to saturn, y/n sugar barzal<3

↳ y/nbarzal smooches for you💋💋💋

↳ jackhughes i just barfed in my mouth

↳ y/nhughes die

barzal97 aww (eww)

trevorzegras my kids✨

↳ y/nbarzal mama

↳ wyattjohnston_ mama

fanacc1 OMG MY OTP!!!!

quinnhughes_ ahh ok

↳ y/nbarzal kys

dallasstars rooks💚🌟

hateacc1 🤮

↳ fanacc2 go away😒

titobeauvi91 otp🙈🧍

#our song au #wyatt johnston #wyatt johnston imagine #wyatt johnston x reader #dallas stars #x reader #ig edit #jack hughes #trevor zegras

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journeytothewestresearch · 9 months

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Hey so I wanted to ask more about Taiyin Xing? Any time I try to find info about her there’s nothing. So if there’s any more info you can give, it will be greatly appreciated.

I only know a little bit about Taiyin xingjun (太陰星君, "Supreme Yin Star Lord; i.e. the Moon). In modern Chinese folk religion, she is commonly worshipped alongside Taiyang xingjun (太陽星君, "Supreme Yang Star Lord; i.e. the Sun).

Both are part of the “Eleven Luminaries” (Shiyi yao, 十一曜). These include the “Nine Planets” (Sk: Navagraha; Ch: Jiuyao, 九曜, “Nine Luminaries”) of Hindu astrology, namely the Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, and Rahu and Ketu, as well as two shadowy planets from East Asian astrology called Yuebei xing (月孛星, "Moon Comet Star") and Ziqi (紫氣/紫炁, “Purple Mist”).

Here is a picture of Taiyin xingjun from the Ink Treasure of Wu Daozi (Daozi mobao, 道子墨寶, c. 13th-century). See this article for citations.

Some worshipers believe that she is the moon goddess Chang'e (嫦娥), but this is not universal. In fact, Journey to the West (Xiyouji, 西遊記, 1592) treats them as two different deities. They both appear during Monkey's battle with the rabbit spirit in chapter 95:

See volume four here.

At the end of the slightly later Investiture of the Gods (Fengshen yanyi, 封神演義, c. 1620), Empress Jiang, the dead wife of the evil Shang Emperor, is deified as Taiyin xing.

See volume four of the combined PDF here.

Here is a Xixia dynasty painting of Taiyin xingjun. I really like it.

Found on Chinese Wikipedia.

#Moon goddess #Taiyin xingjun #Chang'e #Journey to the West #JTTW #Yuebei xing #Mid-Autumn Festival

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jedipoodoo · 1 year

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love you to the moon and to saturn

part one | part two | part three | part four | part five

part one: i think your house is haunted

Notes/Warnings: multi-part fic. Omega whump, Omega POV, Hunter whump, hurt/comfort, Hemlock is a b*tch, Omega is tied up/restrained, Hunter gets beat up and Omega is forced to watch. I've been working on this since the finale and as per usual, this one-shot is now a multi-chapter fic. Enjoy the first chapter!

Omega was terrified.

The guards were always terrifying, always present, but today they were on edge.

They roughly slapped a pair of cuffs on her hands instead of simply telling her to stand, and dragged her from her cell. Omega blinked to clear her vision as the harsh red light was replaced with the white lights in the hall. The commando guards shoved her in front of them and jabbed a blaster in between her shoulder blades to urge her forward.

Omega tried to get a good look at the cell across the hall. Crosshair stared back at her, eyes wide and mouth set in a firm line. She could almost believe he would jump to his feet, break down the walls of his cell, and run after her. But Crosshair wasn’t an idiot, and neither was Omega. What could he possibly do unarmed against two large, armored commandos?

The familiar brown eyes watched her walk down the hall with as much grace as an imprisoned adolescent could muster. She glanced back at Crosshair as they loaded her into the elevator. His head was already in his hands.

Omega had long given up on resisting, it only ended up with her being hurt. Or worse, Crosshair being hurt.

"The best thing you can do is cooperate," Emerie Karr, the woman who called herself Omega's sister, had warned. Emerie insisted that she had warned Crosshair of the same several times, but he had ever listened. Omega understood that Emerie had been trying to help them, but it felt like there was no sincerity behind it.

Hunter, Wrecker, Tech, and Echo were Omega's brothers, and they had come back to Kamino and certain doom for her. Crosshair was her brother even though he was loathe to act like it, and even he had risked everything to warn them, or so Emerie had told Omega.

If Emerie was Omega's sister, why wouldn't she act like it? Why didn't she offer them another way out?

Omega frowned. Instead of going down, the elevator was taking them up. Omega was always brought in to watch Nala Se’s work in the labs below ground. Why were they taking her up?

She made herself breathe. Things were going well for them. Nala Se’s work was progressing well, even ahead of schedule, and she hadn’t stepped out of line lately, they couldn’t be punishing her. Perhaps this could be a reward?

Omega shuddered to think what kind of reward Doctor Hemlock would have in mind. Good or bad, she wanted nothing to do with him.

The elevator stopped just as one of the commandos received a comm.

“The timetable’s moved up,” He told his companion. They each placed a large hand on her shoulder, pushing her forward before the door was completely open.

Omega stumbled over her feet, her hands stretched out in front of her to catch her balance, and tried to catch her bearings. This floor had the same light fixtures as all the other levels of Mount Tantiss, but everything was brighter. Sunlight seemed to come from some unseen windows as they moved her forward.

Alarms began to go off, and Omega froze.

“Move it stupid girl!” the butt of a blaster collided with the shoulder where she’d received several injections the day before.

Omega cried out in pain, and slapped a hand over her mouth. Humiliation swelled in her chest at how childish the noise was.

“You idiot!” The other commando snapped at his companion, and now all of them had stopped, even as the PA system announced an intruder alert. “You gotta keep her quiet or he’ll hear!”

Omega bit her lip. Who was he?

“Isn’t that the whole point of this?” The first commando pointed out.

“Oh, right.” Before she could blink, they hit it again. Omega grit her teeth so that only a whimper made it through, but the pain drove her to her knees.

One of them yanked on her injured arm, and she screamed. It felt like her arm was being ripped out of its socket, white hot pain searing through her body and echoing off the metal walls.

"Stop! Stop!" She gasped, but they tightened their grip on her arm and resumed dragging her down the hall. One of them took a few steps ahead to open a door.

Why were they hurting her like this? What point were they trying to make? Hemlock's torture and experiments were sadistic, but they were never pointless.

"AH!" she cried out as they yanked her arm again, and they tossed her into the room.

Omega landed on her bad shoulder and whimpered. She tucked her arms into her chest to protect them, and looked around. The room was empty. It was barely larger than her cell, but brightly lit in comparison

The door behind her slid shut, and Omega clumsily stumbled to her feet.

"Hey!" She slammed the manacled around her wrists against the door, sending a jolt of pain up her arm. After taking a deep breath to mitigate the pain, she gathered all her determination and the discipline Echo had taught her to slam her good shoulder against the door. If they wanted her to make some noise, she'd make some noise

"Let me out of here!" She screamed, slamming her fist on the door. It was solid beneath her hits, not even a dent, and the only window available was just barely out of her field of vision when she stood on her tiptoes.

She felt rather stupid. She didn't even know if the commandos were still out in the hall. For all she knew they had dumped her in there and left. But Omega had enough of being treated like some animal, and she was going to make it known.

"Hey! Let me go!" she screamed.

The commandos didn't deign to reply to her, but she could hear them out in the hall.

"Blast him!" one of them shouted. Blasterfire muffled any other noises they made, and Omega's heart beat faster. One of them cried out, and most of the blaster fire disappeared. There were a few more blasts, and then some grunts, harmonized with the clash of plastoid armor.

With one final clatter, the noises stopped.

Omega bit her lip and backed away from the door. Did she want to know what was on the other side of the door? What kind of creature had fought its way into Mount Tantiss and taken out the commandos?

Her flight instinct took over as she heard them at the console, tapping the buttons. She scurried across the floor, trying to hide in the corner of the empty room as she curled into a ball and covered her face with her arms.

The door slid open, and a helmet clattered to the floor.

"Omega!"

She gasped and looked up, unable to believe her ears or her eyes.

"Huh…Hunter?" She whispered.

Hunter stepped into the room.

"Hey kid, it's okay," He whispered, holding out his arm towards her.

Omega braced her hands against the wall, slowly pushing herself to her feet. She stumbled forward, and Hunter closed the rest of the distance between them, wrapping her up in his arms.

"Hunter!" Omega sobbed. She looped her arms around his neck, still in the cuffs. Her left shoulder screamed in protest, but she ignored it. She had to hold onto him, to wrap her arms around his neck, bury her head in his scarf, to feel his arms around her, with a promise that they would never let go.

"You came! I knew you'd come!" she said.

"Yeah," He chuckled softly, "We came.

"I'll always come for you, kid."

Omega looked up at him, "Are Echo and Wrecker here too?"

Instead of answering, Hunter scooped her up into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist.

"About that…"

Omega felt a sinking feeling deep down in her stomach. The lights overhead flickered out, and the red forcefield blocked the door, prohibiting their escape. Hunter shifted Omega to one arm and drew his blaster, fruitlessly aiming at the commandos and TK Troopers that flooded the hall outside the cell, an innumerable amount of blasters aimed at them.

Omega shivered in Hunter's arms and he pulled her closer.

"It's okay, it's okay," he told her. He took his eyes off the troopers for just a moment to whisper in her ear.

"It's all part of the plan."

"Sergeant Hunter, put down your weapons or we will be forced to shoot." One of the commanders warned.

Hunter did as he was told. Without letting go of Omega, he crouched down and set his blaster on the ground, kicking it across the room towards the door. Then he drew his knife. In a classic display of Bad Batch noncompliance, he threw it at the shield, grinning to see several of the TK Troopers flinch before it landed just short of the door.

With Hunter disarmed, the shield was deactivated and a dozen TK troopers swarmed them. One of them grabbed Omega under her shoulders to lift her off of Hunter and she whimpered.

“She’s hurt,” Hunter snarled, even as the troopers pulled him back by the shoulders. Another whacked their blaster against his groin, forcing Hunter to his knees.

Omega, still wearing her bindercuffs, was dropped unceremoniously on the ground and expected to stand on her own. Hunter’s hands were pulled behind his back and cuffed.

“Good work, men.” This was a new commando standing in the doorway, with yellow paint on his armor.

“Bring them to Doctor Hemlock.”

#lizart writes #sergeant hunter #hunter #omega #the bad batch #tbb hunter #tbb omega #the bad batch hunter #the bad batch omega #tbb omega whump #tbb hunter whump #ttmats

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ryuuka-balaen · 9 months

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I'd dug it up earlier to send to someone as it had been relevant in conversation recently, so may as well post it here too; a lil bit of CatLore(tm) for my main Warhammer Army; the Knights of Noble House Valere.

When I decided that it would be healthy for me to try to partake in physical hobbies more often rather than spending all my free time online and having almost exclusively online friendships, the first thing I went to try was Warhammer. I'd been trying to get into it for nearly a decade and I've always loved my funny little minis and models so it was the most obvious choice to me, especially being that I'd just been given a new 3d printer I could make terrain and models with. However, this came with a small issue; I didn't like the style of the models I already had as much as I used to. Which meant I needed to browse through which factions 40k had to choose from, and find something with an aesthetic I did enjoy.

What I found that i liked was the Imperial Knights and Grey Knights.

First, some official lore as Context;

Imperial Knights are huge mechs owned by influential families called Noble Houses. Before the founding of The Imperium of Man wherein the God-Emperor took the Golden Throne, the Noble Houses were some of the first humans to leave Terra and colonize the galaxy in an event referred to as The Long March. For the purpose of this colonization, they built huge agricultural mechs with chainsaws that could reave forests for lumber, explosives that could level mountains for construction, etc. Of course, these tools were repurposed into weapons of war. The mechs were equipped with armour that can withstand a nuke and autocannons that shoot shells wider than a man is tall. The planets colonized by these Noble Houses are referred to as Feudal Worlds. When the Age of Strife began and humanity lost a significant portion of the knowledge required to create and upkeep their most advanced technologies, contact between distant worlds was also lost. Many Feudal Worlds that were isolated from this regression have yet to be rediscovered by The Imperium.

Grey Knights are the God-Emperor's Special Boys who live on Saturn's moon Titan in a Grand Fortress-Monestary. unlike other chapters of space marines, there are only every 800 Grey Knights at any one time, and every single one of them is a psyker and has mad wizard powers. They also all wear ~Special Boy~ armour that's been sanctified and blessed with Mystical Rituals that makes them harder to kill than your average Space Marine. They exist only to fight invasions of the Daemon forces of Chaos, and will take any measure to do so. The whole thing is very edgy and they try very hard to be cool.

Unfortunately, the rules of warhammer40k don't normally allow one person to use models from two different factions in their army at the same time, and doing so is referred to as a "Soup Army" which is generally very frowned upon by the gaming community. Regardless, I happen to be and continue to be a fool of a kitty that likes my funny little Knights, and what I wanted to do was run an army that's made half and half of the two factions I like.

That begs the question though; Why would these two factions be fighting together? the Grey Knights are Daemon Hunters, and as such only fight against those corrupted by Chaos, and while the Noble Houses of the Feudal Worlds which have been rediscovered by The Imperium do fight alongside The Imperium, they don't do so Often or Consistently. (And, by game rules, while any imperium army is permitted to field either one large or up to three small Imperial Knights models, that isnt enough for me)

While I do like the Imperial Knights official lore, I'm pretty neutral on that of the Grey Knights (as much as I do like to make fun of them, the idea of an order of paladins that'll show up anywhere, anytime to lay the smackdown on some demons is pretty cool). So, my solution to that question was; What if they aren't Grey Knights? Any military that's fielding gigantic irreplaceable Death Mechs is also going to employ footsoldiers, aren't they?

The Knights I paint and play are of the Noble House Valere, one of the many to take part in The Long March and the many to still be isolated following the Age of Strife. The House, however, has not been idle in it's isolation. From the time contact was lost in the 25th millennium House Valere has continued to make technological progress, re-engineering the systems utilized in their great Knights to smaller and more compact forms, to create Exosuits in which even an untrained wearer could rival a Space Marine in combat. While this is surely impressive, the real feat of innovation achieved by Valere's researchers is undoubtedly their progress in harnessing The Warp. Normally only Psykers would be able to utilize the reality-bending power of The Warp, however the continued study and research between the 25th to the 41st millennium has seen these researchers engineer methods for machines to make use of The Warp, and integrating this into the Exosuits of House Valere's Knights allows every one of their footsoldiers to wield the power of a Psyker.

The current Standing Army of House Valere, which is to say the models I currently have (though many are currently unpainted), numbers at six Knight Mechs, one Armoured Troop Transport, and seventeen Exosuit Soldiers.

In Game Terms that's;

one Knight Preceptor, two Armiger Helverins, and two Armiger Warglaives for 1,000points of Imperial Knights,

one Nemesis DreadKnight, one Brother-Captain, one Brotherhood Champion, one Razorback, five Terminators, five Grey Knights, and five Purifiers for 1,000points of Grey Knights,

which all together makes a happy Tournament-Standard sized army roster of 2,000points.

House Valere's age of peace is not to last much longer, as the universe permits none to escape it's wrath and there are a great many who, whether for Tech-Heresy, claims of territory, or simply Hunger, would see The House's citizens dead.

As a footnote; I do want to clarify that when i wrote this i felt like an absolute madwoman and it seemed very Chuuni / "9th-grader's Overpowered Self-Insert OC" but fuck it cringe is dead, I'm having fun, and others have said its neat so im keeping it.

#/⁠ᐠ⁠｡⁠ꞈ⁠｡⁠ᐟ⁠\#warhammer40k #warhammer OCs? i guess.#or like. non-canon lore?#except the core books explicitly state “the universe is huge anything is possible”#so like. GW does validate anyone's silly lore in a very star wars expanded universe kind of a way.#part of why im posting this now is because i *just* assembled the last 5 models tonight #though they still need bases #poor dudes are comically small compared to the others lmao

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talonabraxas · 2 months

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Intuitive Astrology: Aries New Moon Solar Eclipse April 2023

The Aries Solar Eclipse and the Cosmic Skies

Let’s take a look at what cosmic influences will be imprinting on the vibration of this Eclipse –

Vesta, the Goddess Asteroid of Hearth and Fire, is active under this Eclipse. Vesta may activate things within the home for us, or may guide us to reflect on how we can feel more at home regardless of our external surroundings.

Humea, the Hawaiian Goddess of fertility has a softer influence here, but adds to the highly creative energy that this Eclipse already holds. Humea has the gift of being able to give birth using multiple parts of her body. She is the ultimate creator and all of us can connect and tune into her vibrations to enhance our creativity, our reproductive health, and our manifestation efforts.

Eris, the Goddess of Discord and Strife, is aligned with Jupiter at this time, adding to the Eclipse energies. The presence of Eris and Jupiter together does indicate some volatility, but it does seem to be well-balanced with the other cosmic forces. Remember, when Eris is concerned, she brings Discord and Strife because she knows that a better way can be achieved. She wants to stir up the status quo so we can question things and ultimately, find a new way to greater harmony.

Pluto, the planet of death and rebirth, is also triggered under this Solar Eclipse. While Pluto does rule over the process of transformation from death to rebirth, it does feel like the energy of the rebirth will be highlighted here more strongly. Pluto’s presence, coupled with the potent Solar Eclipse, can help to bring never-imagined opportunities and awakenings that help us to completely rebirth and transform into a higher version of ourselves.

The Eclipse Portal and You

The Aries New Moon Solar Eclipse is laying the foundation for a new pathway to emerge. It is ripe with fertile, creative energy that we can use to shape and fashion the next chapter of our lives.

You are a co-creator of the Universe, so use this power and work with the Eclipse by exploring manifestation work and setting intentions. Keep your vibration lifted, and remember that all things are possible, especially when you step up and become the leader of your life.

If you want to dive deeper into understanding what the Aries Eclipse may stir in your life, look to what house Aries falls in your natal chart, as those house themes can be intensified during this period.

You can also reflect on what was happening in your life during the last Aries-Libra Eclipse cycle, which was from October 2013-September 2015. It is not that the same events will happen again, however you may find yourself exploring similar themes or graduating to the next lesson of whatever came up for you.

The partner to this Eclipse will be the Scorpio Lunar Eclipse on May 5th. As we journey through these two Eclipses, we can feel out of sorts and emotionally scattered, so be gentle with yourself and others during this period.

Under this Aries Eclipse, know you have added power to set intentions, seek opportunities, take that leap of faith, and put yourself out there. Allow your true authentic self to shine, and opportunities will flow your way. Forever Conscious

Art: Aries by Talon Abraxas

Eclipse April 8, 2024 1:30 PM

Hecate retrograde, 2nd house Leo Lilith retrograde, 4th house Libra Moon South node retrograde, 4th house Libra Lilith retrograde, 5th house Sagittarius Pluto, 8th house Aquarius Mars/Saturn conjunct, 9th house Pisces Neptune, 9th house Pisces Venus, 10th house Aires Midheaven, 10th house Aires Moon North node retrograde, 10th house Aires Sun/Moon exact conjunction, 10th house Aires Mercury retrograde, 10th house Aires Jupiter/Uranus conjunct, 11th house Taurus

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siderealmaven · 2 months

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Good morning and Happy Full Moon in Libra! ⚖️🌕✨

originally published on @siderealmaven's Patreon.

I would like to congratulate all of you for making it through the ridiculously hectic astrology of April, which included two eclipses, a Mercury retrograde, and a Saturn-Mars conjunction. I guess if you’re not into astrology you might be able to just shake your head and say “Well, that was crazy. Anyway!” But if you are an astrologer or astrology enthusiast then you’re probably sitting with your journal thinking “So what did that mean for me?”

Well if so, you’re in good company. This author loves to psychoanalyze the stars, the society, the self and to be honest, this new Taylor Swift album that seems to have more layers than Shrek’s onion. We may finally be out of the astrological dog house (which felt like walking through a rainstorm pushing a dead car up a hill to a gas station that turns out to be closed!) but this Full Moon still serves as an important chapter for our Libra House that will last until November 1st, 2024 on the next New Moon in Libra. (That’s a 6mo cycle!)

Full Moons are all about Release. They are the climax of a story, the birth of something that’s been gestating, the letting go of built up energy. This can be reflected in the Tower card, pulled from my Tarot Manara deck. The tower represents a shake up and sometimes even a shake down. It’s a disruption that forces everyone to stop and witness a change that will alter life as we know it.

However this doesn’t mean that your Tower moment will be gigantic, in your face, or even obvious. Libra is not a loud or dramatic sign, it’s quiet and strategic. It’s persuasive and at times even deceptive in its motives. But one thing you can always count on with Libra is fair play. For every action there seems to be an equal and opposite reaction. Whatever falls is replaced with something new and sometimes that new thing is so shiny and so distracting we don’t always notice what is fading out.

If you want “clues,” on how this will affect you personally, then look to the topics of your Libra house and consider the placement of your natal Venus. Overall, the presence and power of Venus is represented by the Hierophant card, which speaks to us about belonging, community, social groups, identities and the rules we all agree to follow when we commune with each other. Drawing this card can indicate getting a new job, joining a new friend group, attending social gatherings, organizing with a union, getting married, graduating or even going to a new school.

Together the Tower and the Hierophant present an opportunity for you to shake the table when it comes to your social groups, social obligations, and the boundaries you set for yourself in these spaces. If you’ve been wanting to try something new, to get into a new hobby, to change up your career, or finally walk away from something that you no longer hold any joy or motivation for, this card combo suggests that the time is now.

With Venus entering Aries today and Mercury stationing direct in Aries on 4/25, we are being given the fiery boost necessary to make changes to the way we show up for ourselves and within relationships. We are being given the power to break negative cycles of behavior and implement new ones, to set boundaries and move in new directions. You may also feel called to break a tradition around this time and Aries encourages you to trust your instincts here. After all, new traditions can be built if you’re willing to be the first one to try.

So this week, so ahead and ask yourself; What do you wish was different? How can you change your behavior to align yourself with these desires? How can you leverage your community to help achieve these goals? Do you have room in your heart and life for more connections you might need but not yet have? Are you brave enough to seek them? To not run away when you meet them?

And lastly, be real with yourself. Take some accountability for the way your own attitudes and inaction may be contributing to previous setbacks or stagnancy. Yes, community is vital to our survival as a species. But you’re also an individual adult in charge of yourself. Nobody can make you change but you. ❤️‍🔥

Thank you so much for reading! <3

#sidereal astrology #astroblr #astrology community #libra #libra moon #full moon #full moon in libra

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astrologyaware777 · 1 year

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PlutonicDesire has an amazing website you must check out.

Search in google PlutonicDesire

🏥 Medical Astrology

❌️❌️❌️❌️❌️❌️❌️❌️❌️❌️❌️❌️❌️❌️❌️

Each planet & sign represents a certain area of your body as well as functions, and diseases can be linked to that. In the chapter Sings you can find more information to what body parts are ruled by which sign/planet. Problems to a certain area of your body are related to an affliction towards the planet that is ruling the specific body part.

An affliction occurs when a certain planet is badly placed within a birthchart such as Venus placed in Aries, and when harsh aspects are made to that planet (by squares or oppositions), or when a planets is conjunct with a malefic planet such as Venus conjunct Saturn.

This can either be interpreted in a Natal chart, Solar Return chart, Transit chart.

It has more effect when a certain planet is already badly placed and aspected in the Natal chart + harsh aspects in transit.

Meaning of the Planets

An affliction occurs when a planet is in aspect with Saturn, Mars, Northnode or Southnode. Or when a planet is in exchange with one of these, this is considered the strongest affliction. More info regards affliction :

1) Aspect by Mars, Saturn, Northnode, Southnode

2) House/ Planet in aspect with 6th,8th or 12th ruler

3) Planet is afflicted in the houses 6, 8 or 12

4) Combust planet (conjunct Sun)

5) A planet positioned between two malefics

Sun :

Bones, heart, stomach, right eye, skin, head, joints

Afflicted:��high fevers, mental illness, problems to the bodyparts the Sun rules over.

Moon :

Heart, breasts, left eye, lungs, brain, blood, body fluids

Afflicted: sleeplessness, lack of intelligence, astma, blood related problems, problems related to diabetes, menstruation, appendix, lung disorders, coughing, vomiting

Mars :

Energy of a person, neck, blood, female organs, genitals, red blood cells

Afflicted: Brain disorders, injuries, toxicity, painful eyes, itching, blood clotting, female genital disease, weak bones, tumor, piles, blisters, knee problems

Mercury :

Galbladder, nerves, lungs, hair, chest, tongue, arms, face

Afflicted: muscle and chest problems, typhoid, madness, paralysis, seizure, cholera, dizziness

Venus :

Face, urine, semen, throat, glands

Afflicted: eye disorders, genital disease, throat issues, fever, gonorrhea, syphilis, rheumatism, blood loss

Jupiter :

Fat, brain, liver, kidneys, lungs, ears, tongue, memory

Afflicted: diabetes, problems with ears and tongue, memory and pancreas

Saturn :

Legs, joint bones, muscles, teeth, organs, skin, hair, knee

Afflicted: physical weakness, muscle weakness, stomach pain, organ injury, disease to the skin or feet, joint pain, blindness, paralysis, deafness

Northnode :

Legs, breathing, lungs

Afflicted: breathing problems, cataracts, blisters, cancer

Southnode :

Abdomen

Afflicted: fever, problems with lungs, insects in the intestines, ear problems, eye disease, stomach pain, physical weakness, brain disorders

Meaning of the Signs

Aries : Head, brains, inflammation, fever, face

Taurus : Throat, endurance, thyroid gland, gums, middle ear, lips

Gemini : Hands, nervous system, harms, shoulders, lungs

Cancer : Breasts, chest, stomach, mucous membranes, uterus, ribs

Leo : Heart, energy, vitality, spine, middle back, muscular portion of the heart

Virgo : Small intestines, pancreas, duodenum, enzyme production, fingers

Libra : Waist, lower back, skin, glandular vascular part of the kidney

Scorpio : Genitals, colon, bladder, large intestine, rectum, nose

Sagittarius : Hips, thighs, sciatic nerve, liver, arteries

Capricorn : Skin, knees, hair, nails, teeth, cell walls, joints

Aquarius : Blood circulation, lower legs, calf, ankles, shins

Pisces : Feet, toes, lymphatic system, spleen in its lymphatic role

YIN signs : Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn, Pisces

YANG sings : Aries, Gemini, Leo, Libra, Sagittarius, Aquarius

Modality of the signs

It concerns the basic reactions or response patterns of the organism to pathogenic factors and the disease process.

Cardinal :

Illness is usually clear and definite. Remission; often, sudden, dramatic onsets and remissions may alternate. Predisposed to acute disorders, moderatelevel of inherent vitality and resistance to disease.

Fixed :

Highest inherent vitality and resistance to disease. But once disease gains a foothold, it similarly becomes persistent and tenacious, and often becomes chronic. Eliminative functions are slow and sluggish. Poor detoxification : once toxins, pathogens and morbid tumors gain a foothold, they’re also difficult to expel.

Mutable :

Minor complaints that come and go. Inherent vitality and resistance to disease is usually lowest. Tend to have a sensitive, allergic nature.The Mutable signs rule the digestive and respiratory tracts, which are always in intimate contact with the outer environment, and therefore allergically and immunologically challenged.

Temperament by element

Fire signs = Choleric

Earth signs = Melancholic

Air signs = Sanguine

Water signs = Phlegmatic

Ascendant = Birth, infancy, childhood

MC = Prime of life

Descendant = Maturity and old age

Nadir/ IC = Death and its legacy or aftermath

Planets in 6th house

Your health can easily be seen by your 6th house. Having a planet in that house doesn’t mean you will have a certain illness,

but it increases the risk of it.

Sun in 6th = prone to exertion

Moon in 6th = prone to depression

Mars in 6th = prone to irritation

Mercury in 6th = prone to stress

Venus in 6th = prone to unpleasantness

Jupiter in 6th = prone to exaggeration

Saturn in 6th = prone to burdens

Uranus in 6th = prone to confusion

Neptune in 6th = prone to distraction

Pluto in 6th = prone to destruction

Placement of 6th ruler

The nature of how you catch a disease can be seen by the house in which the ruler of the 6th house is located. So for example, if the Lord of your 6th house is Leo, than the ruler is the Sun, Look where the Sun is placed and if it’s located in the 1st house, it means that you easily catch a disease or illness due to personal (bad) habits.

1st house : personal habits

2nd house : chronic from birth

3rd house : friends

4th house : home and family

5th house : pasttime activities

6th house : work

7th house : partner

8th house : genetic, unknown

9th house : travel

10th house : work, social life

11th house : strangers, community

12th house : weakness, low resistance

The degrees

6 degrees Leo / Aquarius : bad for eyesight

18 degrees : diseases, unlucky degree

25 degrees in Aquarius : linked to alcoholism

29 degrees Taurus : bad for eyesight

9 degrees Gemini : Weak lungs

20 degrees Gemini : Bad for eyesight

9 degrees Libra : Spinal problems

14 degrees Scorpio : Health problems, physical anomalies

25 degrees Sagittarius : Trouble eyesight

23 degrees Pisces : Fever, cuts

28 degrees Pisces : Suicidal tendencies

Various sources such as : http://www.greekmedicine.net

The wheel of the zodiac is a great cosmic mandala representing wholeness. It is likened to the body of a Great Cosmic Man. The individual signs comprising it correspond to the various parts of his body, starting with Aries at the head and ending with Pisces at the feet.

Aries rules the head, brain, skull, cranium, eyes, pituitary gland, and the adrenals.

Taurus rules the neck, mouth, jaw, throat, medulla and brain stem, larynx, thyroid, vagus nerve and vago-parasympathetic nervous system.

Gemini rules the chest, lungs, respiratory tract and nervous system.

Cancer rules the stomach, uterus, and female breasts.

Leo rules the heart, circulatory system, major arteries and thoracic spine.

Virgo rules the intestines, especially the duodenum and small intestine.

Libra rules the kidneys, lower back, genitourinary tract, and lumbar spine, as well as the hair, skin and all aesthetic body parts.

Scorpio rules the eliminative organs - colon, rectum and bladder, as well as the sexual organs, gonads and genitalia.

Sagittarius, the sign of long journeys, rules the locomotor aparatus - the hips, loins, thighs and buttocks, as well as the liver.

Capricorn rules the knees, bones and joints, the skeletal system and the structural connective tissue.

Aquarius rules the shins, calves and ankles, as well as the sympathetic nervous system and the peripheral vascular system.

Pisces rules the feet and lymphatic system.

Sign Symbolism and Body Parts

Each part of the body, according to its essential form and function, has a deep symbolic significance for the indwelling soul. The signs of the zodiac embody basic symbols or archetypes that resonate with the symbolic significance of the body parts they rule. These are as follows:

Aries: The charging ram. The head or soul / spirit that leads the body onwards.

Taurus: The mouth and throat: material appetites for acquisition and nourishment. The vegetative functions. The neck, which connects the Yang soul/spirit with the Yin material body, which gives it nourishment and sustenance.

Gemini: The dual-natured nervous and respiratory systems, which connect the soul / spirit with the material body.

Cancer: The house / home, womb or coccoon. The protective, nurturing space that stores, processes, ripens or grows things until they're ready to be released.

Leo: The lion, king of beasts, ruling the heart, king of organs, which radiates Life and heat outwards through the blood like the Sun. The thoracic spine, which enables us to stand regally proud and erect.

Virgo: Mutable or changing Earth worked on to be valuable nourishment. The intestines - the body's food processing plant.

Libra: The kidneys, which balance fluids and electrolytes. The genitourinary tract, through which a man plugs into his mate or partner.

Scorpio: The eliminative organs: elimination as a necessary prelude to transformation. The reproductive organs, handling life and death.

Sagittarius: The locomotor aparatus, which takes us on long journeys and explorations.

Capricorn: The bones and joints, which give solid structure (Earth) and functional usefulness to the body. The knees, which must bend in humility.

Aquarius: The peripheral vascular and veinous system, which returns blood back to the heart, ruled by opposing Leo.

Pisces: The lymph, the body's fluid recycling system, resonates with Pisces, the last sign, which ends and recycles the wheel of the zodiac. The feet, which must stay firmly rooted on the ground to anchor ethereal Pisces.

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