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#And looking into Law's flower has been very fun and productive
jeiyuuen · 4 months
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Honestly, how am I supposed to live normally with the knowledge that Luffy's flower is sunflower while Law's is Queen of the Night?
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cateyesinlove · 4 months
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To my secret Santa, Merry Christmas @sirenarts , haven meeting you is one of the best things this year and I will forever be grateful I get to call you my friend!
AO3
“No” Azriel simply answered while cheeking some paper from a folder, leaning into his desk with ease as if he didn’t have the fiercest of lawyers in the whole New York area in front of him murdering him with her sight, Lady Death herself, Nesta Archeron.
“What do you mean no” she growled, arms crossed and fuming.
Azriel let a sigh out and dragged his hand down his face, “ It means I am not taking time off from my job to go around asking who wants to come with me on an adventure where I follow some influencer girls around like a lost puppy for a beauty brand launch party.” He answered harshly, “ I’ll lose all credibility, Nesta”
Azriel has only felt fear three times in his life, his line of work didn’t necessarily allow him to feel it more often
When his hands were burned
When he almost died
And now watching Nesta smile like the devil herself standing in front of him.
“ Well good thing you need to do neither of those things,” Nesta said smiling scarily chipper, she uncrossed her arms and put them in her waist. “ Emerie has already agreed and Cassian told me you had already taken the week off so you can do your usual brooding in the mountain.”
Azriel was left speechless.
Then he frowned, “ How did you get Berdara to do it, she is worse than me with time off and that is something.” he asked.
Nesta shrugged smirking, putting her hands in her pockets.
“I guess it’s just one of the many perks of being an awesome lawyer who saves your fucking asses all the goddam time.”
Azirel rolled his eyes, being a bodyguard was a great job and it paid well whoever you were also sued a lot depending on the clients you worked with and how much of an assholes they were
“ Well I might still refuse Nesta,” he said defensively
Nesta smile somehow grew bigger and she pulled her phone out showing it to Azriel. “ Oh have I forgotten to tell you the person I need you to take care of is Elain?” she asked, in her phone a photo from the photoshoot of Elain’s new brand; Elain was dressed in a flower gown surrounded by all types of plants and holding some of her products.
He was left breathless.
Azriel’s first thought, as it always was whenever he saw Elain, was that she looked beautiful. There was a shine to Elain that Azriel had only been able to find in the stars in the night. Her glow was incomparable.
He felt his ears and face grow hot and a blush took over his face.
Fuck.
Nesta laid the trap for him and he fell like the idiot he was.
He cleared his throat and scratched his neck with the other, “ Yes, you forgot that very important detail, Nesta,” he scowled
Nesta laughed, “ Well what can I say, it is fun to toy around with you when it comes to Elain,” she said examining her engagement ring.
“ You don’t have to gloat on my misery Nesta,” he said, a sigh of exhaustion scaping him as he let himself fall on his chair.
“ You can always call her Azirel,” Netsa said rolling her eyes at the stupidity of her future brother-in-law.
“Nesta,” he warned with a serious tone.
“Fuck off,” she responded irritated, “ She broke up with that loser months ago Azriel, you could have easily called her and asked her out and-”
“Nesta respectfully fuck off, it’s none of your business.” he cut her off tired of hearing the same thing from the same people.
His brothers.
His sisters-in-law.
And his three-year-old nephew.
‘So, will you do it yes or no?” Nesta asked irked.
“Of course, I’ll do it, Nesta,” he said exhausted putting his hands on his face.
“ I’ll see you tomorrow then,” she said walking out of his office with a smile.
_____________________
“ So what exactly does Nesta have on you to convince you to be doing this?” Azriel asked Emerie as they examined the surrounding area where they were waiting for the car with Elain and her friends for the launch party.
“Not necessarily what but who” she grumbled fixing her glasses and walking towards the car that had arrived, opening the door.
“SUNSHINE!” a small ginger woman exclaimed as she walked out of the car, dressed in a modest teal dress and her straight pin hair loose, a small broach with a moon holding it out of her face. The woman threw herself at Emerie kissing her cheek.
Azriel didn’t know what to do, he froze for a moment and when he was ready to tackle the girl he saw Emerie laugh and hold her by the waist hugging her, she kissed the woman and separated from her turning a more professional stand as she could probably see photographers appear, keeping a discrete hang on the back of her wife
“Azriel, this is my wife, Gwyn Berdara.” Emerie introduced with a smile.
Azriel couldn’t help but smile, “ Oh so this is why you accepted the job?” he asked laughing
“ Oh like the reason you accepted was any better?” Asked Feyre as she climbed out of the car with Nesta.
All the girls laughed as Azriel went red, then panicked flooding him as he looked over at the car but the door was closed, he started to look everywhere for another car, Elain’s car.
“Don’t panic,” Nesta said putting the poor boy out of his misery, Elain and the twins are coming in another car.
Ease flooded his body until he saw a white car approaching and off the car came out Elain.
Beautiful, wonderful, splendid Elain, in a beautiful dress adorned with flowers of all types, but all of a pink and white scheme along side with some vines.
As Elain climbed out of the car, the first person she saw was Azriel, extending a hand to her, Like all those years ago.
“Az,” she said his name in surprise, a whisper only for him to hear but with a huge smile on her face.
He took her hand and smiled back at her, “ Elain” he greeted with the same huge smile.
“I- wha- what are you doing here?” she said still smiling and hugged him, she couldn’t keep her excitement, the last time he had seen him was months ago, and she missed him too much.
Which was a mistake, especially with all the cameras around them.
NEWS FLASH!
Icon Elain Archeron seen at her launch debut with new beau?
Who is this handsome mysterious man?
3276 Likes 298Comments Shares
Purpleunicornc
Okay but the sunshine x sunshine protector tropes
Starwhogazes
It’s the pink-and-black aesthetic for me
Jediemma
Okay but Elain the lovely fawn and a man who looks like her protector? Iconic
Nikethestatue to Jediemma
Like death itself?
Jasmineandshadows
OMG death and the lovely fawn? Iconic
Siren.arts
OKAY they are my new favorite couple!
“Let’s go” he whispered holding her waist and shielding her as much as he could from the flashes to the building. “ Oh and,” he started chuckling a bit. “Nesta asked me to keep you safe.” he answered, “ and I will always look out for you.”
Elain went red to the face but gave him a huge smile. “ I know,” she answered as they entered the building.
Cerridwen and Nuala came out of the car and gathered with the rest of the girls as they saw the scene play before them.
“Ugh he is such an idiot,” said Nesta crossing her arms and looking at them.
“Leave them alone Nesta,” Feyre answered laughing, “ They need time.”
“They are both idiots,” answered Nuala rolling her eyes, “They are the only ones who don’t know they are madly in love with each other.”
“It’s going to be a long week,” Cerridwen answered holding her sister by the shoulders and directing her to the building.
“Yes, it will” Answered Nesta walking with arms intertwined with Gwyn who was giggling.
Emerie shakes her head with a small chuckle and follows everyone inside
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gross80byrd · 2 years
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hikari-kaitou · 3 years
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Capcom's Official AA Fanclub Surveys - DGS Edition
Many Western fans may be familiar with the Turnabout 4koma comics that get posted on the official AA fanclub site that Capcom runs, thanks to some lovely fans on tumblr and elsewhere who have shared their translations. What fewer people seem to know about is the character surveys.
Back in the old days, they used to hold a survey on Capcom's official AA fansite every few months where they'd write about the seasonal activities of a handful of characters and ask fans to vote for the funniest/most pleasant/strangest/etc answer.
They stopped doing them in like... 2016? 2017? The original text is lost for good as far as I can tell. Even the wayback machine couldn't help because the content was password locked and you can't get past the password wall while remaining in the archived version.
Fortunately, I saved some of my translations of them so I thought I’d share them.
Cut for length...
"February has begun, and the DGS cast is nearing the end of their journey aboard the RFS Alacrei. Which of them acted the most strangely?"
Ryuunosuke ~ Exhausted from his intensive study session, he decided to try some katana swinging practice as a change of pace and to combat his recent lack of exercise. But because he wasn't used to handling the katana, he swung it too hard and it went flying out of his hands and got stuck in the wall right next to Sherlock, who had just entered the room. Sherlock asked him, "aren't you supposed to be studying right now, Mr. Naruhodo?" and handcuffed him to his desk.
Susato- worked on developing a curriculum for Ryuunosuke. 'If we keep going at this pace, he won't be able to learn it all in time... It'll be hard on Naruhodo-sama, but we'll have to work hard through a couple of nights together.' With that thought, she created a harsh study schedule, and almost seemed to be looking forward to it for some reason.
Sherlock- Driven by excitement over the thought of returning to England after a long absence, he went up on deck to stare at the ocean. Being February, it was very cold out there and he ended up being chilled all the way to the tips of his fingers. He returned to the ship cabins and amused himself by putting his frozen hands on Ryuunosuke, who was stuck in his room studying.
Van Zieks- Upon hearing from Vortex that there was a Japanese exchange student coming to England to study law, he smashed a Lord's Bottle. He apparently also didn't care for the fact that that Japanese student wouldn't be alone, because he proceeded to shatter his chalice, too.
Hosonaga- in order to provide a respite from studying, he provided some hot chocolate. They enjoyed a pleasant tea time, marveling over how sweet and delicious the drink was until Sherlock piped up with some unnecessary trivia: 'Actually folks, chocolate has long been used in Europe as an aphrodisiac!' Everyone promptly spat it out."
"The long winter is nearly over and spring is on it's way, putting the DGS cast members in a celebratory mood. Who found the best way of enjoying spring?"
Ryuunosuke: the Yuumei University faculty members were holding a flower viewing event, and he joined the assistance committee. He exhausted himself keeping the blankets clean so the intense shower of flower petals wouldn't pile up too high on them, delivering sake and snacks, and mediating whatever pointless fights arose. To top it all off, for some reason his compensation was only a single piece of leftover candy. Talk about a sad result!
Susato- her father and the others living in his dormitory were  holding the flower viewing event, so she got up early to prepare the bentos. But her father carelessly forgot to tell her that they wanted tea cakes, so she had to go around the house and neighborhood collecting sweets. For some reason, she ended up being able to gather caramels, biscuits, candy sticks, basically everything but tea cakes, for the tea ceremony.
Sherlock- he disguised himself as a beat officer and infiltrated Scotland Yard to have some fun. There was a real beat officer napping on his feet in the spring sunshine, and while observing him, Sherlock ended up falling asleep too. Detective Gregson gave them a good scolding when he found them, but then Sherlock revealed his true identity with a "hey, it's me, folks!" "What the blazes do you think you're doing?!" Gregson shouted, his rage growing even more, and Sherlock ended up making a run for it.
Van Zieks- went to the vineyard to oversee the production of the contents of his Lord's Bottle. As he viewed the still unopened grape blossom buds, he thought about how they would someday grow up to fill his Lord's Bottle, and ended up going around to look at each one. But the farm hands couldn't stop wondering whether the bottle itself or its owner's heel might come flying at them and were quite uneasy.
Asougi: exhausted himself running around since early morning helping with the professors' flower viewing event. When it was over, he took a break, sharing his reward candy stick [the name of the candy literally translates to 1,000 year candy] with Ryuunosuke, who had also been helping out. 
"I wonder if the candy's effect is halved if you share it with someone."
"That still gives us 500 years."
They laughed and enjoyed looking at the flowers until dark. Then they parted ways with a handshake and a "see you later, best friend."
(This one was something about celebrating New Years. For some reason I didn't save the original question)
"Ryuunosuke ~ To celebrate New Years, he planned to pound mochi with everyone at the office. He somehow managed to get his hands on some mochi rice and he and Sherlock started pounding. Iris was having such fun watching them that she steamed a whole bunch more mochi rice so they could have some to share, and he and Sherlock spent the whole evening pounding mochi like crazy.
Asougi~ Because it's New Years, he went around to a bunch of shrines. When he drew his new year's fortune, he got a "horrible luck" result. "I'm not worried about it," he claimed, and headed up to the mountains early on New Years morning and work hard on a full training course of purification by water, meditation under a waterfall and wooden sword practice. It seems that he was working really hard to clear his mind of all earthly thoughts
Sherlock- Agreed to help Ryuunosuke pound mochi. As Ryuunosuke was flipping the mochi over, he carelessly dropped his badge into the bowl and Sherlock mixed it in without noticing, so they had to crack open both the hard and soft mochi to look for it. Fortunately they found it in the 4th one they checked, but apparently Sherlock got his hands and face covered in sticky white mochi in the process.
Susato- Wore a furisode and went with her father to do the first shrine visit of the year. The shrine was incredibly crowded and they had to wait in line for a long time, but she brought the Encyclopaedia of British Law and a copy of the Strand Magazine in her sleeves to secretly read as they waited so she actually ended up enjoying the wait.
Van Zieks- Ryuunosuke cheerfully gave him some mochi as a New Year’s (which at that time was celebrated at the same time as the Chinese New Year) gift, which he accepted confusedly, wondering “...Can the Japanese not even keep track of when the New Year is?” Because Ryuunosuke referred to it as a rice cake, he tried to eat it like a regular cake without softening it with heat first. It was so hard that he couldn’t imagine how it could possibly be food, and ended up misunderstanding the Japanese even more!
"Autumn has arrived, and the weather is starting to cool off, which means that everyone is becoming more active. Which character chose the most pleasant autumn activity to keep busy with?"
Iris was making bread but her hands are small and it’s difficult for her to knead the dough, so she asked for Ryuunosuke’s help. She wanted to make enough to hand out to Gina and all the other homeless children in the East End, so she made a massive amount and Ryuunosuke was stuck kneading this massive mountain of bread dough all day. Apparently he became such a expert at kneading that he could be a baker now.
Asougi was practicing with his sword, slicing autumn-colored ginko leaves as they fell from the tree. He cut so many leaves, though, that he ended up making a big mess on the ground, the number of fallen leaves now having increased, and it took him a long time to clean it all up.    
Sherlock: Ryuunosuke told him that he was making anpan (bread filled with sweet red bean paste, the bane of my Asian-dwelling existance) and asked Sherlock to help by being in charge of getting the poppy seeds they’d need to sprinkle on top, so Sherlock went out and gathered a ton of poppy seeds. In fact, he got so many of them that no one knew what to do with them all cuz they had a huge amount of leftovers. Sherlock said, “Well, they’re only the size of poppy seeds! Surely you two can deal with them somehow! Ahahaha!” and Iris scolded him.   
(I couldn’t capture it in English, but Sherlock’s line contained a pun, and a pretty stupid one at that, so that’s part of why he got scolded)
It’s grape harvesting season, so Van Zieks commutes to the winery regularly to direct the production of the contents for his “Lord’s Bottle.” He demands perfection in everything from the selection of the grapes to the way they’re squeezed, and the winery staff is terrified by the “grim reaper’s” gaze and heel swinging (i.e. the leg thing he does in court) so they grumble as they work. 
"Hearing that there’s a holiday in the West called Halloween, the people involved with the court in Japan decided to try it out themselves. Naturally Halloween is a big deal in England as well. So, which member of the DGS cast had the best celebration?"
Team Ryuunosuke and Asougi- Asougi got Naruhodo up on his shoulders and they draped a white sheet over themselves to make a ghost costume. They went out like that, but Naruhodo had such exaggerated reactions to the fear of the people who saw them and to bumping his head on tree branches that they ended up losing their balance and falling on top of each other?!   
Sherlock Holmes- went wearing a horse’s head mask. Iris used her skills to make it a fancy horse covered in stars, but the eye holes weren’t well made and he had to wander around blindly. Because of that he tripped hard over a pile of coal! He ended up getting so dirty that the stars on his costume were covered up!
Van Zieks- took inspiration from his nickname and dressed up as the grim reaper. He covered himself up with a skeleton mask and hood figuring no one would know it was him. Unfortunately he got angry when he saw Megundal (McGilded) pass by and started throwing bottles and glasses and ended up giving himself away.
"November has arrived, and autumn is nearing its end. However, the DGS cast is still keeping busy, even on their days off. Which character chose the most interesting way to spend their late autumn day?"
Ryuunosuke- Thinking that he’d better learn more about British culture if he was going to be a defense attorney in Britain, he went down to the East End with Gina for a little observation. However, because an Asian like him stood out so much, he got mobbed by the other children. On top of it all, his arm band got stolen from him and he had to send a replacement request to Yumei University on the other side of the ocean.
Asougi- He went for a meal at La Quantas. The customer at a nearby table got a persimmon for dessert and scarfed it down, saying “Mm! This is it! This sweetness makes it worthy of being called a treasure among foods!” Asougi tried to comment on this by saying, “The customer at that table sure is enjoying his pershim--gak!” but he may or may not have accidentally bitten his tongue in the process and been unable to finish his sentence.
Iris- She accepted Ryuunosuke’s request to learn more about British culture and prepared a bagpipe and kilt costume for him. “This outfit sure is breezy,” Ryuunosuke said shyly upon trying it on. With Ryuunosuke now dressed, he, Iris, and the others from their office headed over to Gregson’s place to get him to treat them to some fish and chips.   
Sherlock- He accepted Ryuunosuke’s request to learn more about British culture and cooked up some European style curry for dinner. Thanks to the fact that his secret ingredient was a large amount of Chinese herbal medicine style spice, it caused some strange side effects and Ryuunosuke, who’d eaten it, ended up passing out and falling over.
“Another taxing trial for Ryuunosuke has finished and now it’s December. As the year draws to a close, which character acts the strangest?”
Ryuunosuke- he was recruited to help with snow removal around Yumei University and the courthouse and he enthusiastically began his task with the help of a large shovel. He got a little carried away, though, and ended up accidentally burying his umbrella, which he’d left propped up against the side of the building, in the snow he’d just finished shoveling.  He had no choice but to share Asougi’s umbrella on the way home.
Asougi- On the way home, he nods silently to Ryuunosuke’s question of whether he’d finished his travel preparations and changes the subject: “...Come to think of it, it seems that tomorrow is celebrated in the West as God’s birthday.” “I’ve heard that they eat chicken as part of the traditional celebration. Wanna try it?” Ryuunosuke asks invitingly. Asougi is strongly opposed to that particular menu item, however, and they end up going out for their usual beef stew that night instead.           
Susato- in addition to her year-end travel preparations, she also was busy with straightening up the book room in her home. She managed to get the law books in order when she suddenly stumbled upon some old issues of Strand Magazine! She hurried through the rest of her cleaning, then began flipping through the magazines she’d found, trying to decide which to take with her on her trip. She accidentally lost herself in her reading and didn’t realize it until it was already the middle of the night.
Sherlock- he was in the middle of a long ship voyage when Christmas night came. His mind on his partner in a far-off country, he made a toast alone on deck, when suddenly the crew began shooting off fireworks with a cry of “Merry Christmas!” Sherlock had to dart back and forth across the deck to prevent the fireworks from hitting him and setting off the explosive chemicals he carries with him.
Main series edition
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starlightsearches · 3 years
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Can we get 3 with hux from the flower AU prompts?
Hello friend! Thanks for the prompt, I hope you like it!! 🌹🌸💐🌼🌺🌷🌻
Requests are open ✨
Florist! Armitage Hux x Model! Reader (f)
Warnings: Not really, a little yearning, some slutty narration, it's kind of silly and maybe ooc, but I think that's it.
I've been feeling pretty shitty about myself and my writing over the past few days, and I figured the best way to break myself out of that funk was to write something, even if it was stupid. Sometimes when your brain is telling you that you can't do something, you gotta do it anyway. Let me know what you think, besties!
3. Flowers are often used for photo shoots and Person A gets hired to arrange the flowers for one, but they can’t help getting nervous around the model, Person B from the Flower Shop AU Prompts
Armitage is out of his element.
He's plenty comfortable working with his assistant in the back of the shop, or helping customers as they dither over the size of the arrangements and the available flowers at the counter. But this is madness.
The backstage of the set is absolutely teeming with people, and every single one of them runs past without a glance in his direction, shouting into headsets or flipping through stacks of pages attached to clipboards.
He ventures further, past a few darkened hallways until he finds an occupied room. There's a vanity mirror against the far wall, and a woman sitting in front of it, resting her head on one hand, the other holding a book.
"Excuse me," Armitage knocks gently against the door frame before stepping inside.
You set the book down, greeting him with a smile.
"Hello, are you here for makeup?"
For a moment, Armitage is speechless.
He hadn't noticed your strange apparel when he first caught sight of you, but now he can't seem to look away from the dress you're wearing, a less-than-faithful recreation recreation of a Victorian gown that hangs low on your shoulders and tight around breasts, leaving very little to the imagination.
Is he hallucinating? He's never believed in ghosts before but you do seem like a rather lovely, and strangely familiar, apparition.
Your brows furrow in confusion before you glance down at yourself, eyes going wide like you've forgotten what you were wearing.
"Oh," you exclaim, throwing your head back with a laugh, "it's a period piece were doing today."
"I'm sorry?"
"You laugh again, finding his idiocy endearing instead of annoying, "you're not the makeup artist, are you?"
"The florist."
"I see. We're doing a shoot today, a romance novel cover. Do you read romance novels?"
So that's where he recognized you from. He's seen your face before, many times over. How to Wed a Rascal, Devil's Daughter, Three's a Crowd, and his favorite: Kingdom of Thirst.
He's spent too much of his time—bleary eyed, reading into the late hours of the night—imagining your face, your eyes, the sound of your moans as he devoured book after book, story after story.
But he's not about to tell you that.
"Uh, no, not really," he lies, and you shrug off the answer, turning the seat so that you can face him.
"I've only read a few, and they're alright. The jobs pay well, at least, and they're more fun than most shoots."
He nods, leaning against the door frame in an attempt to appear casual, hoping you'll say more. He likes hearing you talk.
You don't look like yourself in pictures. It's not just the makeup and the editing, although he's sure that has something to do with it. You're much more earnest in person, and surprisingly easy to be around. It's magnetic, your personality, to the point he can’t take his eyes off you. It must be what makes you so great at your job.
"You were looking for a place to put your flowers, right? I can help with that," you say, standing from the chair and moving into the hallway, calling into the empty space, "Hey Stacy!"
The sound of harried footsteps echoes down the corridor, and soon you're greeted by a serious looking woman, dressed in all black with her hair swept up into a ponytail.
"What do you need, babes?" she asks without looking up from her cell phone, "Jack said he'd be here half an hour ago but traffic's got him running late, of course. Shouldn't matter since we're ahead of schedule so far and going for a pretty minimal look this time but I told him to haul ass anyways, traffic laws be damned. Who is this?"
Every word pours out of her mouth without a breath in between, and it's not until she looks up, meeting his eyes that he realizes she's talking about him.
"This is . . ." you turn to look at him expectantly, raising your brows.
"Armitage," he provides, and you nod.
"Right, Armitage," you smile, turning back to Stacy, "and he's got the flower delivery for the shoot today waiting in his car."
Stacy nods, mumbling into her headset. "That's great. I'll have Phil unload them."
Armitage nods, wondering if he should offer to stay and arrange them. It's not something he'd typically do . . . but he's not exactly in a hurry to leave.
Another set of footsteps meets the three of you from the end of the hallway, this time provided by another harried-looking woman, almost in a sprint.
"Bad news, Stacy," she pants when she arrives, out of breath, "Ronan's called in sick. He's got food poisoning."
Stacy groans, and you roll your eyes. "Typical. Did you call somebody else?"
"They're all busy: Theo and Jacob are out of town shooting swim, and Will's best man at a wedding."
"We'll have to call off the shoot, then, won't we?"
You shake your head, defeated. Armitage can't help but feel for you; it's obvious how much work goes into these productions, so much time wasted. Not to mention the six dozen flowers currently dying in the back of his van.
"Not so fast," Stacy holds her hand up, silencing the group. Her eyes land on him, and she chews on the inside of her cheek, thinking.
"It's Armitage, right?" she asks, tapping her finger against her lips, "have you ever . . . modeled before?"
He feels his face grow hot, heart racing, "What? No. Absolutely not."
The other woman catches on, sizing him up herself. "Wait a second, you're right Stacy. He's totally got the look. Those god damn cheekbones could slice through steel. He’s about the same size as Will, too, so costuming wouldn't be a problem. How tall are you? Six foot? Six foot two?"
"No," he steps back, "I won't do it."
You put your hand on his shoulder, begging him with your eyes.
"Please, Armitage. It would really help."
He twists his face into a frown, already feeling his resolve crumbling under your eager gaze.
"Well . . . alright."
The three of you erupt in to cheers. He's absolutely going to regret this.
An hour later—hair done, costumed, and feeling ridiculous—Armitage walks out onto the set.
God, no.
It's a surprisingly faithful recreation—he assumes—sumptuously decorated and absolutely bursting with flowers. That's not the problem.
It's a bedroom, most of the space taken up by a large, dark four-poster, rose petals strewn across its surface. He knows what that means.
Bile rises in his throat, a wave of nausea rolling his stomach. He couldn't do this. There was a reason he read so many romance novels: he liked to imagine he could be someone different, someone charming, passionate, wicked.
Being that person is not in his nature.
Vivian, the costumer, approaches him from behind, startling him.
"You ready?" she asks, gesturing him towards the stage, but he hesitates.
"There's no need to be nervous, hon. Your partner for today? She's a god damn angel, the best of the best. You'll be in good hands . . . or I guess she'll be in your hands."
She laughs at her own joke and pats him gently, wandering away.
He's going to throw up. Or pass out. Or drop dead. He can't handle this.
Then he sees you, gliding in through the doorway. You're sparkling with your makeup and hair done to perfection, your eyes warm and bright, and you're smiling at him. Just for him.
Somebody ushers him towards the set, and you join him, arranging yourself on the bed.
"Nervous?" you ask him, laying down on your elbows, a little too at ease. He doesn't have to answer, he knows you can see it on his face.
You hold out your hand to him, and he takes it, adjusting to the feel of your skin against his. "You don't need to be, it's easy."
You pull without warning, and he falls forward, knees hitting the mattress. His other hand land besides your head, close enough to your face that he could reach out and stroke it, if he wanted to.
"Ready up there?" the photographer yells from across the room, and you give him the thumbs up before slipping in to your proper pose. You place his hand at your waist, tilting up his chin.
"Now furrow your brow a little," you whisper, "and part your lips."
He does as he's told, and soon enough the camera flash sparks in his periphery.
It's not as horrible as he thought it would be, although you are doing most of the work. You shift periodically, sometimes staring deep into his eyes, or looking down demurely with your hand just barely grazing your forehead.
"Alright, that's great, that's perfect," the photographer monologues, never taking his eye from the viewfinder, "why don't we get a couple with your lips at her neck?'
He trembles, his breathing shallow, but you look up at him with the slightest nod, arching your back just a little farther, leaving your skin exposed and inviting.
He bends closer, examining the graceful lines of your body. If this were real, where would he kiss you? If he had you to himself—without all these people watching—in his own bed, no pretense, no costumes . . .
He brushes his lips tenderly against the junction between your neck and your shoulder, and he swears that he can hear you sigh in response, your spine curving against his fingers, your chest pressed tighter against his own.
"That's perfect," the photographer shouts, but Armitage isn't listening, entirely preoccupied with the feeling of your pulse against his mouth, his lips traveling up over your jaw, stopping just below your ear.
You turn to face him, slowly, until nose brushes his, staring into his eyes. If he tilted his chin just half an inch, he'd be kissing you.
"That's great, everybody! I think we're done for today."
The set erupts with applause at the photographer's words, but you still don't pull away from him, smiling gently, whispering against his lips.
"Like I said, you're a natural."
His face grows flush, and he shifts back onto his feet, clearing his throat with a cough.
You stand beside him, brushing your hands nervously over the bodice of your gown.
"Thanks again for doing this, we all really appreciate it."
"Of course, it was . . . fun."
"No really, it was a huge favor. I'd like to do something for you, in return—we could get dinner, maybe? My treat."
You place your hand on his arm again, stroking your thumb down over his elbow. Despite how much he's touched you over the last hour, this contact feels different. Because you're not playing a part this time. Because it's him you're reaching for.
"We can change first, of course," you say, the words rushed as you read his dewy-eyed imaginings for hesitation.
He smiles, placing his hand over yours in reassurance, "I'd like that."
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Hearts Painted on Skin
Written for @damianwayneweek's Day 4. I selected Soulmates for this. I've never written a soulmate AU before, so this was fun to explore. Thanks @audreycritter for the idea! She flooded me with ideas for this week and I am so thankful for them all.
Characters: Damian and Dick
Summary: Damian has a mark just under his collarbone in the shape of a feather. Mother has always told him it was a scar. He was mostly okay with that until he came to Gotham and saw more marks. Marks that could not possibly be scars. He is starting to wonder if she lied, and why.
AO3 Link
~
Damian looked in the mirror, his shirt in his hands, prepared to pull on. For what felt like the thousandth time, he paused to look at the little mark on his skin. It was a feather, unmistakably. Damian had held enough up to it for comparison, whenever he could get his hands on one.
“It is a scar.” Mother’s voice echoed in his head.
It was a statement she’d told him time and time again. Each moment he brought it up. Every moment he looked at a League member who had a darker patch on their cheek, or wrist. Whenever his eyes lingered on flowers and swirls and shapes painted on fingers, arms, feet, and one time an eyelid. She would lean down, her voice soft, promising, full of truth, hard as law, and whisper those four words. It. Is. A. Scar.
“But others have similar.” Damian had asked once.
“Of course they do, they are fighters as well.” she had told him.
Damian believed her. Why would she lie? What reason had she to speak falsely about such a thing?
And yet.
He dropped half of the shirt to run his fingers over it, it was smooth as the skin underneath. It was skin, just of a darker color. A warm chocolate to his tan. It was not raised, not pinched. Nothing about it was creased or seemed to be anything but natural. As if it had always been there.
“But I do not remember getting it.” he had said again, in response to her once.
“You received it when you were young. A baby.”
He had furrowed his brow. Who would harm a baby? Even in the League? Especially Talia’s child? She’d never told him.
Damian tugged his shirt on, covering the spot with soft cotton and a bright pattern of animal silhouettes that somehow did not look childish. He ran his hand over the fabric, again pausing by the not-scar. His eyes flit to his dresser. In the drawer rested a bottle of concealer, matched to his skin tone exactly. It was empty now, used up and he had yet to replace it.
Normally, Damian would cover his not-scar with it. Careful layers blended to hide the fact that anything blemished his skin. It was a dangerous mark. Made when he was a baby, and carrying a weight on it that Mother insisted would draw catastrophe to him if it were seen.
He had complained about the concealer once, hating the time it took to apply and how it made his skin feel itchy sometimes.
Mother had run her fingers through his hair, gentle and loving, “I know, dear, but it is not safe to bring attention to. If others learned of it--you would be in danger.” She had even gone so far as to insist Damian not tell Grandfather.
It was a dangerous secret so terrifying the leader of the League of Assassins could not know. One Damian had to protect him from. At least, that was what Damian had thought then. Now, he wondered if Mother was protecting him from Grandfather.
He tugged on his shirt, testing the collar, even stretched it hid his mark with ease. No one would see it today. Perhaps his new concealer would arrive soon. Pennyworth had approved the order, as something useful to help them hide their identities better. Bruises from patrol were hard to explain, especially when Richard was under scrutiny for caring for him.
A knock immediately preceded, “Damian? You ready?”
Damian turned and nodded at Richard, “Yes, I believe I am.”
He looked over his brother, searching his skin for anything like Damian’s own mark, but beyond real scars, Richard was unblemished.
His brother, and guardian, smiled at him, “Great, let’s go! It’s a beautiful day and I promised you some ducks.”
Damian allowed a smile, “Yes you did.”
They spent the day at one of Gotham’s parks. Richard said they were doing recon to determine if Wayne Enterprise should fund a beautification project, but Damian was well aware his brother was using this as a day of relaxation. He was taking the day off work, and Damian had been excused from classwork for the outing.
He’d intended to take the recon seriously, by marking down elements both in favor of, and against selecting this park as the location for beautification funds. And for a little while Damian had. Then he’d flipped to a blank page in his notebook and started sketching the scene ahead of them.
Beside him, Richard lounged on their picnic blanket, reading what looked to be a romance book, and picking at grapes Pennyworth had packed for them. Normally, Damian would take the opportunity to berate him for laziness, but they had faced a number of difficult patrols over the past few nights and Damian was inclined to let him have his break.
Richard consistently drilled into him the importance of caring for one’s body all the time, mentally and physically. Damian knew this day would make Batman safer in the field, and also--he was kind of enjoying the quiet time. It was new to him, learning to relax and feel safe outside of the very few places he’d had at the League, but he could see the appeal to it. It did help keep him sharp, and he was always better rested after.
So he focused on on relaxing. He sketched for a while, drawing the pond first, and the trees around it. Then flipping the page to work on his figure drawing. As he drew, Damian’s eyes caught on marks. On birthmarks, and scars, and tattoos. Most importantly, his eyes locked onto various not-scars. Which is what they had to be.
He doodled them on another sheet. Drawing each unique one. Even those that were similar in style usually had little differences. A star might have one arm longer than the other, while one was perfect.
The only time he saw two of them match perfectly were on a couple pushing a stroller. The couple had little numbers on the back of their hands, one on their left, the other on the right. Damian pressed his lips together. They could have been tattoos, many people had them, but Damian couldn’t help but wonder.
He had been wondering since he’d arrived in Gotham months ago. People here all had marks. They had marks and they showed them off. Confused, Damian had messaged his mother to ask her. She’d said they were scars, tattoos, birthmarks that were meaningless. They were the marks of a different type of people than Damian had been raised around.
Distance had a way of stripping his mother’s voice of it’s old comforting truth.
But he had been busy learning. There was so much to learn in Gotham that had nothing to do with the mark on his body. Damian had spent more time frustrated about rules, and fearing he’d be sent back to a place that felt less and less like home every day. More and more time learning to be a good Robin to his Batman, and learning to trust Richard.
The question of his mark was rarely on Damian’s mind, and mostly relegated to moments he was alone or like this.
He glanced over at Richard. The man was still immersed in his book and Damian’s question died on his lips. He flipped his book to a new page and focused back on the pond, specifically the ducks swimming around on it. He had, after all, been promised some ducks.
That night they returned to patrol. Damian almost suggested they take a break, but they’d been working a drug trafficking case over the course of the week and were close to wrapping it up. If all went well during this patrol then they could rest. Damian would insist upon it if Richard did not.
They staked out an old appliance store. Richard figured the drugs were being shipped out either in the appliances or the crates. They just needed to intercept a shipment, incapacitate the team working on it, and confirm the drugs were there. Then they could call in Gordon and be done with all this.
Batman and Robin were crouched together. Richard had declared that they should stick close tonight. Damian wondered if it was because he knew they both were still feeling a little worn down. He could read it in Richard’s body language, and he knew his mentor could read the same in his.
After around twenty or so minutes, a truck pulled up to the building and the shipping door opened to allow it to back in. They watched for a moment, confirming no other trucks were on their way, and then both pulled back from the edge of the roof they’d been peering over.
Richard pointed to a large vent they could drop in on the store from. Damian nodded, and followed his mentor. The slipped into the vents, then moved like mice over to where the shipping area was located. Damian paused behind Richard as the man peered through an exhaust vent to watch the proceedings below.
“They’ve started unloading.” he whispered, then tapped something on his cowl and was silent for another long moment, “And they’re talking about the drugs.”
“So we go?” Damian asked.
“I’d say so.” Richard said, “Stick close tonight Robin, I’ve seen a couple guns swinging around and I don’t want to explain a bullet wound to Al tonight.”
“The same goes for you.” Damian responded.
“There’s twelve by my count, two of those are still in the car. Try to get to them first. I’ll grab the guys with the guns,” Richard directed.
“Affirmative.” Damian agreed. Taking out the ones that could remove the product, and the ones that were the most dangerous first was a good idea.
With that, Richard kicked out the vent, tossed a handful of gas pellets, and they dropped into the smoke.
Damian bolted through it for the truck. He was able to easily dodge the men and women in the room, now sent into a flurry of action and confusion over the smoke. He ducked around the driver’s seat of the truck and yanked the door open.
The man inside was shocked, and Damian was able to use that element of surprise to yank the man out of the front, sending him tumbling to the ground. A few quick blows had him unconscious.
Damian straightened, and turned back towards the truck cab. His eyes went wide, seeing the passenger leaning over both seats, a gun aimed out the door at him. Damian dodged to the side as the gun went off. Pain sliced through his arm as the bullet nicked him, but at least it hadn’t hit him in anything vital.
He swore, Richard had just told him not to get shot.
He snarled at the man, immediately returning fire with a batarang. It caught fingers, and the gun went tumbling to the floor of the cab. Damian then lurched forward, and dragged the passenger out of the car. Twisting his arm as he fell to drag it up behind his back.
In another movement, Damian grabbed the man’s other hand and yanked it behind his back, securing them both with a zip tie.
“Stay.” he growled into his ear, “Or you will regret it.”
He climbed up into the cab and jammed a pole under the steering wheel, locking it in place to keep it from moving if anyone tried to drive the truck.
With that, he turned back into the fray. At this point the smoke had begun to clear. Damian could see that Batman had knocked out a few men already, they were down to 8 enemies to fight. Richard’s warning to stay close was fresh in Damian’s mind, his throbbing arm a reminder that maybe his Batman had wanted him to not quite jump ahead like he had. But then again, Damian should have been able to handle two men in a truck.
He huffed, and fell into line beside Batman.
“Robin, you get the car under control?”
“It will not be going anywhere.” Damian confirmed.
“Good.” There was something tight in Richard’s voice Damian didn’t recognize, but there wasn’t time to explore the reason for that the other men and women were on them already.
Damian had to admit, he and Richard worked well as a team. They were efficient, and quick. Richard’s insistence on having them run drills and practice together before they’d ever gone out into the field had paid off early on, and since then they’d only built on that success.
They managed to take out the rest of the criminals quickly, and they prevented any of them from escaping. After that, Richard directed Damian to zip tie the unconscious thugs while he checked out the boxes of goods.
As Damian was finishing up with the last man, Richard called out, “Found them! I’m calling it in.”
“Good, I am finished here.”
They paired back up outside the building as Batman called the car to their location. Damian had his cape tugged over his arm in an attempt to hide the bleeding, but as they waited, a breeze caught him by surprise and tugged it up, and out of the way.
“Robin!” Batman said, “Why didn’t you tell me you’d been injured?”
Damian tugged his cape back in place, scowling, “You told me not to get shot.”
Then his eyes caught on Richard’s left arm, it too was visible and bleeding. Damian pointed at him, accusing.
“You as well! How could you not tell me you’d been injured?”
Richard opened his mouth, closed it, and opened it again, “I-For the same reason as you. It happened right at the start.”
That must have been why Damian hadn’t heard it, they’d been shot at roughly the same time.
His brother shook his head, “Amazing, we both managed to do the one thing we didn’t want to. Alf’s going to have a field day with this one.”
When they returned to the bunker Alfred directed them both to a shared cot.
“Shirts off young masters, I’ll need to dress both of those wounds.”
Damian rolled his eyes and started tugging off his vest, then undershirt. It wasn’t until it was off that he remembered he still had not covered up his mark. Hopefully they would lump it in with the other scars across his chest.
It was not to be however. Next to him, Richard had stilled. He was staring at Damian’s chest. Damian could feel it, his eyes locked on the feather just under his collarbone.
He froze, his spine stiffening. He didn’t know what to say. His mother’s excuses felt like lies on his tongue and he knew he couldn’t give them to Richard. The man wouldn’t believe him for a moment.
Richard’s gaze was strangely soft. Not angry or upset or any of the things Damian had come to expect from what someone might do when they saw his not-scar. It made him want to squirm in his seat, but he was Damian al Ghul-Wayne. He did not squirm.
“Damian--” Richard’s voice was terribly soft, his eyes glittering, “I had no idea.”
Damian swallowed, there it was. The sadness that he had thought might come. It was dangerous. Seeing it put people in danger, and Richard had seen it, and Damian--Damian did not want him in any kind of danger.
He reached up to put his hand over the mark, and looked down, “I am sorry--I forgot. Had I remembered I hadn’t covered it I would not have--I would have dressed my arm on my own.”
“Do you not want me to see it?” Richard sounded hurt.
Damian looked back up at him, surprised. Richard sounded like he did when Damian was particularly cruel. He tried not to be that way sometimes, but--well pain or frustration drove him to saying things he regretted.
“I--Mother told me no one was allowed to.” He pressed his palm against it a little tighter.
“Why?” Now Richard sounded confused.
Damian was confused. Shouldn’t he know? The way Mother spoke of it had made Damian believe it to be something that anyone would recognize. A black mark.
“It is dangerous.” Damian said simply, “Just seeing it would put myself and others in danger.”
Richard’s brow was furrowed. Behind him, Alfred cleared his throat.
“Master Damian, might I ask, do you know of soul marks?”
“What?” Damian asked, looking up at him, “No, I have never heard of the term.”
Something twisted in his stomach. Sour and warm. He was certain now Mother had lied. He didn’t know why she had lied, but it was making him sick. The warmth was a kind of hope. An answer to the questions plaguing him since he’d arrived.
“A soul mark is a mark each of us are born with. It is to help us find the person most suited for us in the world. Some people never meet their soulmates, but find love all the same but others do and their marks always match.”
Damian remembered the couple he’d seen in the park, their matching hands.
“So then--this is one of those? Not a scar?”
He let his hand drop, fingers grazing the feather.
“I can confirm that it is indeed a soul mark.” Alfred said.
Damian frowned at him, “Have you seen its match?”
Alfred smiled at him. Richard cleared his throat and Damian returned his attention to him. Understanding now blooming, Richard had thought he’d keep something like a soul mark from him. Had believed Damian wouldn’t want him to know something so personal. He must apologize.
Before he could get the words out, Richard had tugged his own shirt off and there, under his collar bone and just above his heart was a feather. It was the feather. Damian’s feather. The one he had seen every day in the mirror. The one he’d traced a hundred times wondering about.
“Oh.” Damian said.
And then, “I don’t understand. I--we would not be romantically compatible?”
Richard snorted, “Soulmates don’t have to be romantically involved, Dames. It can be totally platonic. Often best friends will have matching marks, or a father and son. It just means--well it means we fit together in a special way. That we’ll always be precious to each other.”
Damian could have told Richard that, and it seemed his body had already done the work for him. Or fate? Damian felt he may get a headache if he tried to figure this out.
The point was, Richard was the most important person in his life. He just--he’d had no idea that it had been declared before he’d even met the man. Before he even knew that they would get to the point where they’d trust each other with their lives. It felt right. Instead of a declaration these marks were a promise.
Richard had chosen to love Damian with his whole heart before even knowing who Damian would be to him. And Damian? Well Damian had done the same.
“I hate to break up this moment, but you are both still bleeding.” Alfred said, “You may continue to talk but I really must begin caring for your wounds.”
Damian blushed, “Yes, of course.”
Instead of talking, they fell into silence, both Damian and Richard lost in their own thoughts. Soon, Alfred was finished, and had dismissed both of them.
Damian looked from Richard to the elevator that would return them to the penthouse and back, “I still have questions.” he said, not wanting to be sent to bed with his mind still racing.
“Me too.” Richard said, “How about some cocoa? We can talk upstairs.”
“That sounds nice.”
They moved up to the penthouse, and Damian sat at the bar, his hands pressed into the marble countertop of it. They’d both dressed in pajamas, but even with a shirt tugged over his soul mark --and how nice it was to have a real word for it-- he still felt exposed. Raw. Like there was something new and strange about him.
But nothing had happened with it. It was still there, still the same color and size. Still just a part of him that he’d always had.
“So.” Richard said, taking the seat next to him, and sliding a mug of steaming hot chocolate over, “You have questions?”
“As do you.” Damian said, taking the mug to hold between his palms, “Why don’t you ask yours first?”
His brother hummed, “I think yours will probably answer mine, but let’s start with something easy or maybe not easy, but, well what do you know about soulmates or marks?”
Damian nodded, “I--Mother never explained soulmates to me. I know the term only in a general sense. A phrase used not literally, but figuratively to describe two people romantically entwined. None of my teachers spoke of it, and no one at the League did either.”
He tapped his mug, “I was not blind, I saw the marks. But I believed them to be other things. Scars, birthmarks, or--well I did not have a word for what they were.” Damian could not look at Richard, it was silly. He should have asked more, pressed Mother for answers or done his own research, “It was not until I arrived in Gotham that I saw so many and began to wonder. Surely not everyone in the world could have gotten tattoos? But--not all were visible and so I did not ask.”
Richard was quiet, listening and taking in Damian’s words with rapt attention. He hadn’t even sipped his cocoa. Damian took a gulp of his, just to do something that wasn’t watching his brother.
“And yours?” Richard asked, “What did Talia tell you about it?”
“I--Mother told me mine was dangerous.” Damian pressed his fingers to his chest again, “I was not to talk about it or ask about it. It was supposed to be a scar, from an attack on me when I was a baby. But I always knew it was not. Still, she was insistent I not tell anyone or let others see. Especially Grandfather.”
Damian frowned, “I thought for a long while it was to protect him. That I was cursed.”
He looked up at Richard, into his brother’s eyes, and knew at last why Mother had been so insistent he stay silent, “But I was wrong. Mother was protecting me, and you. If Grandfather knew I had a soulmate, he would have hunted the world for them, and then used them against me.”
Damian did not think he could have stood having Richard in danger because of him. He hated the very thought that anything would happen to his brother. Especially because of him.
He sipped his drink again, “Mother used to rub her wrist. I saw a mark there once. A little bat. I never asked her about it, and she never offered to tell me--Richard? Do the marks have special meaning? Or are they obscure?”
“They do have a meaning, there’s a lot of meaning in their placement and look and well everything.”
“Teach me?”
His brother smiled, “Of course. I’d be happy to.”
They worked their way through their mugs, and second rounds while Richard spoke. He talked about how soul marks that were hidden usually meant that the relationship was more intimate, but not always. How marks mirrored each other, one on the left, one on the right so that the pair could be face to face and match, like looking in a mirror. How if one’s soulmate died the mark faded to be almost invisible or if their relationship broke and shattered how it would line with cracks.
“Just because someone has a soulmate doesn’t mean that things will work out perfectly. We are human after all.” Richard said.
Some people could be born without marks, and very rarely one would change, and shift to take on the form of another. Most often that happened if a soulmate had died, but sometimes it happened for other reasons.
“And the meaning?” Damian pressed, wanting to know, to understand why a feather? Why this mark on his skin and not something else?
His brother hummed, “There’s books and stuff out on their meanings, especially for marks of similar styles. But when it all comes down to it, the meaning really comes from the pair. Some people know instantly why a mark looks the way it does. A shared memory or love of something. Maybe it is the first line a lover traced across another’s wrist, or an idea that is important to them.”
He leaned forward, elbow on the bar’s counter, “Want to take a guess at ours?”
Damian furrowed his brow, “Robin?” he guessed, “or your previous title, Nightwing is indicative of a bird and flight?”
Richard nodded, “Those are good thoughts. I’ve always looked at it as a symbol of flying and of freedom. But feathers have other meanings too. Trust, loyalty, hope, a connection between the creature who had the feather and where it has gone now.”
“I like those.” Damian said, and then looked down at his mug, “You have given me many of those things.”
“And you’ve done the same for me.” Richard said, “We don’t need to name why it is a feather you know. We can feel the meaning here.” he pressed a palm to his heart, “and just know.”
Damian nodded, “I am glad I share it with you. And--I am glad I did not know before now.”
His brother frowned, then nodded, “I see, if you did, and we’d have seen each other’s marks, then you might have thought our relationship was because of the soul mark?”
“Is that silly?” he said, peering up.
“No. It’s a worry a lot of people have.” Richard reached out and took Damian’s free hand, “But soul marks don’t make relationships Damian. They just indicate potential, and while they are incredibly accurate in that indication, it’s up to us what we do with it.”
Damian squeezed Richard’s hand, “I see. We are--doing well?”
Richard laughed, “I’d say so. We had a rough start, but yes, Dames. I think we’re doing just fine.”
Damian smiled, “Excellent. Thank you for answering my questions.”
“Of course.” His brother stretched, “Now, it’s later than either of us should be up. We can chat more tomorrow.”
“Yes.” Damian said.
They got up, rinsed their cups and moved to the hall with the bedrooms. Damian paused, hesitating before he entered his own.
“I was planning to suggest we take the night off patrol, but our injuries have cemented that. Perhaps we can return to the park tomorrow?” he said.
Richard smiled, “Sounds like a plan.” In a motion he tugged Damian forward into a tight hug and pressed a kiss to his forehead, “Love you, kiddo.”
Damian returned the hug, “You as well.”
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arcane-apathy · 3 years
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F Drider X F Reader
AN: Welcome to a new little mini-series of mine. I have been dying to write a drider story for the longest time now. This story is the first of my high fantasy genre, all my other stories have been modern fantasy or sci-fi. But this one is pure fantasy. I’m very slowly trying to make my content applicable for a wider audience as well. Anyways... Thank y’all for your support, and I hope you’ll enjoy! 
Warning(s): Swearing, Violence, Injuries, Mention of Sexual Assault, Death, Alcohol, Brief Mention of Nudity
  The Bloodroot Forest was the last place you expected to make camp in. When you first saw it on the map you tried everything to avoid it. But, the forest was massive and would take weeks for you to circumvent. Upon arrival you discovered the name of it is scarier than the actual forest. Simply named after the dark red sap that flowed from the otherwise normal trees. The forest was calm, the paths well worn and old, and the deer were brave. 
  Your camp was measly and made of the bare necessities, product of a rushed escape. War has ravaged your community, forcing everyone to seek refuge in new places. You have yet to find a suitable home, one far enough away so you wouldn’t need to flee again. For now you lived out of your bag, foraging for food, and with a stiff back. But, whenever you wanted to complain, you had to remind yourself of what your fate would’ve been if you hadn’t left home. 
  The forest was peaceful at night as you laid on your makeshift bed, tightly wrapped up in your cloak. The wind gently tosses the branches above you and the occasional noise of an animal. Just as you were about to sleep, the noises changed. The nocturnal birds stopped chirping and you could hear the animals running further away from you. And you didn’t dare to move. Animals only left when they were scared and if the deer that were brave enough to mosey into your camp earlier were scared, something big was coming. 
  Very slowly you sat up, straining your ears for any hint as to what was coming. The silence was bone chilling. Then there was a rustle. You couldn’t tell exactly where it was coming from, which didn’t put you at any ease. Slowly your hand landed on the blade at your waist, a gift from your uncle after coming of age. 
  “Well, what do I have here?” You quickly cover your mouth to keep from screaming, turning around to look behind you. Yet no one was there. “Look up.” Out of sheer curiosity you obeyed, your eyes quickly met with large pure black eyes and pincers. You try to scramble away from them, only to find yourself hitting the tree behind you. Driders were a force to be reckoned with, most of them being mercenaries or guards to those of importance. But, encountering one in their natural habitat was another story. Here they were territorial and followed no laws. 
  The Drider smirks as he hangs above you, his black and white legs twitch in anticipation as he watches you, “I knew I smelt something off earlier. Now I know what it is.” His pitch black hand reached out to touch you, “and you do smell divine.” Normally when a scent-sensitive person no matter what race they were compliments you on your scent, it would fill you with a sense of pride. But this just felt wrong on so many levels. “So girly, what are you doing in my territory?” 
  You shy away from his hand, glancing up and the red and black abdomen above you, “just passing through, I promise to be gone by morning.” 
  He clicks his tongue disapprovingly, his pincers rising as he frowns, “see I can't just let you through without any way to pay." You could now feel the heat of his breath fanning over you as he gets even closer. Sadly with his advantage of four arms he managed to grab a hold of your wrist. "But, I can easily think of a way for you to pay." 
  Now it was your turn to frown, "I don't think so." His grip tightened, promoting you to tighten your grip on your blade. Thankful it was hidden within your cloak. 
  "You don't have a choice", he hisses and tries to pull you off of the ground. You pull out your blade as fast as you could, using the momentum to slice his arm. The Drider hisses in pain as you scurry out from underneath him, bolting into the foliage not even bothering to look back. If you were lucky you'd be able to return for your things at a later time. But your safety was more important than your measly possessions. 
  You knew it was crazy to try and outrun a being with eight legs and the instincts of an apex predator. But it was all you had. It didn’t take long for the muscles in your leg to start to burn. The cool night air felt like freezing on your skin and like a fire in your lungs. And you could hear him gaining on you. 
  “Get back here you little bitch,” he hissed. Which only prompted you to run faster, despite how much it hurt. You could hear that he was taunting you, but you didn’t bother to actually listen to what he was saying. All you focused on was the ground in front of you, avoiding the tree roots at all costs. But what you didn’t account for was webbing. The silk was basically invisible in the dark, and thick enough to trip you. 
  You fall onto your shoulder with a cry, pain blossoming along your left-hand side like a spiteful flower. The branches and roots doing little to cushion your fall. Desperately you crawl to your hands and knees. Doing everything in your power to keep any semblance of distance between you and the Drider. But his laugh was already too close for comfort. Before you know it, you're grabbed by the hair and lifted off the ground. You couldn't help but scream as he pinned you to a nearby tree. His two pairs of arms being a natural advantage, "got you now."
  You kick at his chest, using every ounce of strength to push him away. But it just wasn't enough. You couldn't reach for your blade, and any attempt to wiggle out if his grasp was in vain. "Let me go!" 
  "Yeah right, after you've cut me with your blade. Nice try you little wench, but I'm going have fun with you until you take your last breath," his grip on your arms tightened to emphasize his point.  
  “Put her down brother,” a more effeminate voice calls out to him. Your breath catches in your throat as the source of the voice steps out of the shadows. The male Drider was large in comparison to you, but the female that entered the clearing made him look small. Much like the male, her skin, eyes, and hair were a pure black. Instead of a red and black abdomen, her arachnid body was pitch black. As she got closer the more the male dwarfed in comparison. 
  “The bitch was in my territory and she cut me.” 
  “And now you’re in my territory and I don’t care, let her go.” 
  The male looks at you, then back to the larger female with a frown, “fine.” Then he literally dropped you. You fall to the ground with a whimper, using your good arm to sit yourself back up. “Why even bother protecting her? She’d make a better meal than friend.” You struggle to get up, only realizing you were caged in by his legs and the tree. 
  “It doesn’t matter. My territory, my rules,” she slowly walks closer. “Step away from her.” Nobody moves, especially not the male Drider. All you heard was her sigh, heavy with disappointment, then all hell broke loose. The two Driders charge at each other, the male desperately trying to claw at her before she pushes him away. You watch in fear and awe, scrambling back into some bushes for safety. The male notices you moving and tries to lunge for you, but the female beats him to it as she stands over you. 
  “You really want to fight your own family over a pathetic human?” 
  “My morals mean more to me than you ever will.” She charges him again and picks him up before slamming him onto his back. Her pincers rise as she lets out a bone-chilling hiss of anger. With ease she climbs atop him, using her weight to hold him down. Her hands swiftly find their way around his throat. His legs flail and try to push her off, and he claws at her arms. But she did not let up. Instead you heard a sickening crunch, and his legs and arms fell to the ground. 
  Silence surrounded the two of you as she stood up and backed away from the lifeless Drider. Her chest heaving from the action and her hair in her face. You couldn’t help but stare at her in the moonlight. She sighs and looks at you, “I promise I won’t hurt you.” You watch her legs curiously as she steps closer to you. “You are hurt, please let me help you.” 
  You look back to the body and ask meekly, “he was your brother?”
  She nods, “one of thirty.” 
  Your eyes widen at the number, yet it made sense. Spiders lay a ridiculous amount of eggs, so Driders must do the same. You look back up to her as you try to stand up, “I think I dislocated my shoulder.”  
  “I have medical supplies back in my burrow, and light,” she smiles a little as she lowers herself down to look at you. “Can you walk?” 
  “I believe so, but it’s hard to stand up with one working arm.” She nods and grabs onto your good arm, gently pulling you to your feet. “Thank you.” 
  “Your welcome,” she smiles and gently holds your hand, “the forest will get darker the closer to my burrow we go. The trees are really thick over here.” You nod a little and let her guide you through the trees. Every time there was a log or boulder in your way she would pick you up and carry you over it. Her strength, agility, and endurance were nothing but impressive. No wonder why Driders are so sought after to be guards for nobility. Soon the opening of her burrow was in sight, a pair of bushes strategically planted alongside the opening to give it a little bit of cover. 
  The burrow was cozy to say the least, and was bigger than it looked on the outside. It was cool inside due to being underground, yet it was bright with the help of oil lamps and candles. The walls and ceiling were smoothed down and holding shape with the help of webbing. “Sadly I don’t have any furniture for you to sit on cause… well,”she motions to her abdomen before going to a large trunk. She pulls out a large blanket and leaves it folded up so it was like a pillow, “but this will be better than the floor.” 
  “I’m plenty used to sitting and sleeping on the ground by now. But thank you,” you sit down and wince as you bump your shoulder into the wall. You watch as she digs through a different trunk, reading the bottles and containers. 
  She walks over to you and sits on the ground in front of you, her legs sprawled out all over the place. Even without the added height of her legs she was still a few feet taller than you. If you had to guess, she looked to be around nine feet tall when she stood at her full height. “I don’t have many pain killers, but I do have a bottle of brandy if that will help.” 
  You chuckle as she hands you the bottle, “anything is helpful at this point.” 
  She motions to your cloak, “may I?” 
  You nod, “of course.” Her fingers were nimble as she undid the pin that held the garment closed. The cloak fell to the floor around you as she gently ran her hands along your shoulder. 
  “You’re right, it’s dislocated,” she offers a small smile, “but, I can easily put it back in.” 
  You sigh and take a swig of the brandy, “that would be greatly appreciated… After a few more sips.” 
  “Of course,” she chuckles and watches you drink. “I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Lalia.” You smile a little and introduce yourself as she watches you curiously. “So, what are you doing in the Bloodroot at night?” 
  “I was trying to sleep.” 
  “So you’re a traveler?” 
  “I’m trying to find refuge,” you wince as she lifts your arm straight. “I had to flee home because of war, and I’m just trying to get as far away as possible.” 
  “I’m sorry to hear of your loss.” 
  “It’s fine, I’m safe and that’s all that matters to me.” 
  She smiles a little and slowly lifts your arm, “this will hurt.” 
  “I fully expect it to,” you nod and close your eyes. The brandy only helps so much, even if you got wasted off of it. She notices your determination and nods. One of her hands gently resting on the back of your shoulder as she guides your bone back into the socket. You bite back a scream as you feel the bone pop back into place, then the pain immediately subsides. Simply an annoying buzz versus the piercing sensation that it was before. You let out a breath that you didn’t notice you were holding while Lalia tied something behind your neck. 
  She was using a scarf as a makeshift sling, “you should keep your arm like this for a couple days at least. So, it doesn’t pop out of place again.” 
  “Thank you Lalia, you truly are a lifesaver.” 
  She waves a slender hand dismissively, “it was nothing.” You glance at the claw marks that her brother had left along her forearms, the wounds already clotted. “Don’t worry about it, it’ll take a lot more than some claws to hurt me.” She gets up from sitting down and goes to put her supplies away. Now that your pain was gone, you finally got a chance to fully take in the woman in front of you. 
  Even in the lighting of the cave she was entirely black. Her skin, eyes, hair, and arachnid body were the color of ink. The light only reflecting off of her arachnid body made her look like she was made of velvet. Her face, just like her body, was slender and angular in nature. Then you also noticed she was completely bare, her lengthy hair being her only modesty. She was as beautiful as she was intimidating. And you couldn’t help but stare. 
  “Are you alright,” she tilts her head.
  “Uh yeah,” a little bit of heat rushes to your face, “just the brandy is starting to catch up with me.” 
  “Oh,” she looks around her living space before going to a shelf. She brings back a pitcher and a cup, “water from the nearby spring.” You smile as she hands you the cup, taking a large drink out of it. Not only was your pain dying down, so was your energy. Your exhaustion from traveling the woods all day and from running for your life. Lalia chuckles as you loudly yawn, her  legs making their way back to one of her many chests. She pulls out a bed roll and another large blanket from it, “I’ll make you a bed real quick.” 
  “I can make my own bed, it’s fine.” 
  “You have one working arm, I have four. I’ll make your bed.” Her tone left no room for arguing, so you simply sat and watched as she laid out the roll and the thick blanket atop of it to make it more plush. “Then you can use your cloak and the blanket you’re sitting on to cover up with.” 
  “Thank you, again… I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you.” 
  “There’s no need hun, I’m just doing what’s right.” You couldn’t help but feel a little flustered by the pet name, but you didn’t let it show. Instead you got up from your spot and made your way to the bedroll. Using your good hand to pick up your cloak. You kick off your boots, something you usually didn’t do while on the road. Then made yourself comfortable on the makeshift bed. Lalia brought over the blanket you were sitting on and gently laid it down around your feet. “Do you think you’ll need anything else?” 
  You arrange the blanket and your cloak to your liking, “I don’t think so.” It took you a little bit, but you were finally able to lay your head on the bedroll’s built in pillow. Which was hard with only one working arm. While you try to get comfortable, Lalia is walking around the main area of her burrow. Turning off the oil lamps and blowing out the candles, leaving only one lit so you weren’t drowned in darkness. You silently yawn as she moves about the burrow with ease. Making you wonder if it was purely by memorization or if she had enhanced night vision. 
  “I can feel you watching me.” 
  You blush as you were caught red handed, “I’m merely curious… You’re only the second Drider I’ve ever talked to.” 
  “I hope my brother didn’t make too bad of an impression.” 
  “There have been worse.” 
  Lalia slowly makes her way closer to you, her voice slowly becoming quieter, “I will have to go back out soon… To hunt and to claim my new territory…” 
  “I see, are you nocturnal?” 
  “Not exactly, but it’s easier to hunt at night. I’ll be sure to find your things as well.” 
  “That would be greatly appreciated. It’s all I have.” Her smile falters a little at your words, “no pressure though.” 
  She scoffs a little, “that’s not what I’m sad about.” 
  “Please don’t be sad for me. Like I said earlier, I’m alive and that’s all that matters to me.”  
  She comes closer to your bed and crouches down. Her warm and slender fingers gently brushing your hair off your face. "That is quite the noble thing to say. I don't know many people who would say that." 
  You couldn't help the heat that rushed to your face, "I'm nothing special." 
  "I would say otherwise,” her kind smile illuminated by the distant candlelight. You return the smile before having a jaw splitting yawn. She chuckles and gently pets the top of your head before standing up again. “You should sleep hun, it’s been a long day.”
  “I suppose you’re right,” you sigh and you try to get comfortable. “Good luck hunting.” 
  “Thank you, I’ll be back before morning.” You nod and watch as she walks towards the mouth of her burrow. Your need for sleep makes your eyes too heavy to hold as soon as you lose sight of her. Despite being alone within the burrow of a Drider, all you felt was comfort.
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Ryuu to Sobakasu no Hime (Belle) Novel | English Translation | Chapter 3
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**This is a machine translation. I put it together by extracting text page-by-page from a .pdf version of the Japanese novel, and running it through Google translate. I have only minorly edited some of the more confusing lines to make it more read-able. It is still a very rough translation, but it’s good enough to understand what’s going on. If there is anyone out there who wants to properly translate the novel, I am more than happy to edit it, if you’ll contact me.**
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Chapter 3: Memory
"Mother."
"What is it, Suzu?"
When I called, my mother turned around and replied.
Eleven years ago. The house was still new. There was no garage yet, and potted flowers were lined up all over the garden. "Do not cut my hair."
I told her that and ran down the slope in front of my house. Mom walked down the stairs opposite her, resting her hand on her waist and waiting. I ran away in the opposite direction, bouncing, saying that I would never let my hair be cut. But I was taken back without a hitch. She was seated on a bench in the garden and dressed in a haircut cape. “I’m going to make you look cute, Suzu.” After cutting my hair, I don't like the tingling of my hair. She shook her legs and sharpened her lips. But when she held the scissors without hesitation, she cut my hair all at once. "Because you’re going to be an elementary school student," I hope the hair on both sides doesn't stick to my shoulders. The bangs were far above the eyebrows. Even when I went to school, my neck was tingling for a while.
I played a lot with my mother. I took a sumo wrestling on the lawn of the riverbed in the evening. I pushed her by force and my mother rolled on the grass. I won, I laughed happily. Mother also laughed. I asked why? Won’t she cry if she loses? Mom shook her head. “I'm glad that the weak Suzu has become stronger.” Dad was laughing while lying on the grass. My mother often made salted seared meat. She lightly sprinkles salt and roasts the bonito stabbed on a gold skewer from her lenticel over an open flame on the stove. I was staring from the top of the chair. Since the fat drips, the microwave oven will not get dirty if you bake it while sucking it with cooking paper. When it gets burnt, dip it in ice water to cool it, and then drain it. It was a style. So as a kid, I had a hard time holding a thick piece of salted meat with chopsticks, and I had a hard time putting it in my mouth. Mom was waiting for dad's return, holding a mug and watching my struggle.
My dad was a salaryman at that time, and he wore a tie and went out to the city every day. Perhaps because of that, we had some money in our house in the old days. Mother bought a state-of-the-art smartphone at the time. I decided to try out the performance of the on-board camera, and on dad's lap, I pointed my smartphone at my mom. I asked dad to help put mom in the frame and pressed the shutter. She is dressed in white.
The smiling mother, she was beautiful. The photo of her was printed on paper and is still at the house. I was a cheerful child running around, unlike now. I definitely liked playing outside rather than inside the house. If there were trees, I climbed, if there were leaves, I tore them, and if there were insects, I chased them. But it didn't burn in the sun. I must have been such a constitution. Instead, my face is freckled.
I was often injured. My knee was also full of scratches. In the woods, on the riverbed, on the slope in front of my house, I often stumbled and fell. My mother ran up in a hurry and she hugged me tightly, crying in pain. Mysteriously, it hurts somewhere. That's when I was happy. I don't know how many times I fell because I ran around vigorously and wanted mother to hug me. Every time mother rushed in as if it was a big deal for her daughter and worried. Every day was like summer vacation. I clung to mother doing the laundry and cleaning and played. After lunch, she opened the tatami mat, laid a summer futon on the tatami mats, and we took a nap together. The smoke of the mosquito coil was rising slowly. When I woke up, most of the time, I couldn't see my mother sleeping next to me, and she was busy doing housework. In retrospect, she never been told me that she is busy. She was always with me when I asked for it. Since my house was in the mountains, I rarely went out to eat somewhere, and instead my mother cooked any kind of food. One day she saw it in a picture book, and she said she wanted to eat yakitori. She had never eaten it before. My mother made yakitori by sticking chicken on skewers one by one. For the first time in my life, I saw yakitori with the naked eye. I didn't know how to eat it, so I couldn't do well by chewing the meat and removing it from the skewers. Dad and mom were staring at me. Never missing what her daughter experiences for the first time in her life. The place where we, who live in the mountains, go out to play is not an amusement park or a shopping mall, but a campsite further in the mountains from our house.
On a sunny summer day, my mom and I wore a wide-brimmed hat and crossed the subsidence bridge. Dad was carrying a lot of camping equipment. The water crystal pool in the depths of the Yasui Valley was a breathtaking blue color even for us living in the area. The water is so transparent that you can clearly see your shadow on the bottom of the river. I feel a little scared as if I were floating in the air. My mother was an advanced swimmer. She boasted that her mother, who was once a local kid, swam like a kappa every day in the summer. She knew all about the fun of the river. At the same time, she never let her swim in dangerous places on dangerous days. Mom wraps around me, floating. She dived into the water to show her off her skills. Still picked up by her, I became anxious and called out. “Mom, don't go.” But mom, she swam in the blue water, as if she couldn't hear me.
One evening, I was playing with my mother's smartphone and saw a strange app. I put it on. When you launch the app, you'll see white and black horizontal stripes lined up. I pointed to what this was and asked my dad who was next to me. Dad looked it and twisted his neck, calling mother, who was preparing dinner. After dinner, mother's hand fixed the smartphone I was holding vertically. I laid it down and found it to be a piano keyboard. As prompted, I pressed one of the keys. There was a "do" sound. I looked at my mother's face. My mother also saw my face, saying that she had come out. It's mom’s music production app. Only then did I look around my mother's room and notice. Old records, cassette tapes, and CDs are lined up on the shelves to the end. And if you set them on a record player or cassette deck and pass them through an amplifier, music will be played from the left and right speakers. The collection was a brilliant one that accurately captured the main points of the history of classical, jazz and rock. I didn’t know at the time, the value and meaning of such a lineup being packed in a room at the end of the world.
In that room, I pressed the keys of the app one after another and recorded. When played, each sound sounds in the order in which they are arranged. Even if you enter an insane scale, it will play back in a lawful manner. I was so happy that I bounced on my chair. My mother was laughing too. Warm incandescent light was illuminating us. After that, I was crazy about this app. I had my mother lend me a smartphone and I was playing around with it day, night and morning. The operation was intuitive and easy to use. There were words that I couldn’t read because it wasn’t a children's app. And there were many functions I didn't understand. But I was absorbed in that kind of thing. I was completely absorbed in the exciting new experience of writing songs. I composed a number of songs and previewed them in front of my mother. The mother who finished listening gave me advice in short words each time. If you do xxx, it will be better, or the trick is to do xxx. She sometimes took out some of the records in the collection and listened to them for reference. My mother is neither a musician nor a composer.
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I think each piece of advice is accurate even if I look back on it now. Over and over again, she listened to my melody, and she said she noticed something, and she sang herself to make sure it was. When I asked, she said it wasn't bad. She said she was smirking at me as she said. I put the sound in a place that I wouldn't normally put it. I'm sure this song was a failure, and all the work I've done so far will be ruined. But as it gradually takes shape, it seems strangely cohesive, she said. I felt as happy as I wanted to. I'm sure it's my parents' favor, but even if my mother added, I was happy. For me, I'm not making it with the intention of letting someone else listen to it. It would have been nice if only my mother could listen to it. My mother sings along with the song I typed in. Take the tempo with her right hand and sing gently. The voice of mother, who was also a member of the chorus made by her friends, echoed and was transparent.
She listened to my weird songs many times. I was happy and sang along with it. Anyway, it’s a song that is as nice as my mother.
I couldn't. Happy memories of me and mother suddenly end here. And that August has come. After this, all I have is a painful, painful memory. The voice of a little girl crying and crying echoed in the riverbank. A girl was left alone on a sandbar. Is she 4 or 5 years old? She looked smaller than I was. It was so sunny just a while ago, but I noticed it wasn't a blue sky, and it was covered with overcast clouds. The beautiful and calm river was cloudy, flooded, driftwood-filled, and surprisingly fast. I can imagine that it is raining heavily upstream. Before this happened, there were people happily making noise on the opposite bank when the flow was still transparent. They are now staring at the girl on this shore. She wore colorful outdoor clothing that made it easy to see that she probably came from the city, not a local. The girls' clothes were also bright colors that I had never seen. Why did people from the city overlook the girls' flashy colored clothes? Why did she forget her existence and she came back to this shore? What to do with friends, their families, and those who enjoyed fishing and canoeing on the riverbanks.
It seemed that she couldn't do anything, and she had no choice but to stand and look like a stick. It's no wonder you're standing. The violent flow of the river separated the girl from the people. Everyone realized that it couldn't be helped. One of the adults was talking to someone on his cell phone. However, everyone can see that where the girl is, is gradually narrowing. Everyone is aware that it is very unlikely that the rescue team will arrive in time. Therefore, I have no choice but to stand up without being able to do anything. Is it just listening to the girl's crying as it is? At that time, someone picked up the red life jacket beside the canoe.
I went forward while staring at the girl. She was a mother. Mommy, and I hurriedly clung to the hem of her mother's clothes. She realized that what her mother was trying to do was too dangerous. She wouldn't have been anxious. She screamed and pulled hard, trying not to let her go. Mom crouched down and squeezed my hand, and she told me something. At that time I can't remember what mother said. Maybe I was screaming and not ready to hear the words. Mom stood up to shake off my chasing and ran, locking the buckle on her life jacket. I fell down on a stone in the riverbank trying to chase her. Still, I got up and shouted at mother's back. Don't go. I think mom didn’t hear my words. While checking the girl's whereabouts, I went around the river, went into the water, and got in the stream to help. It started to rain.
How long has it passed since then? Suddenly the surroundings became noisy. The girl was rescued from the river. Adults are pulling the soaked and tired girl out of the river. I was staring at while getting wet in the rain. People running up. A mixture of joyful voices and crying voices. Are you okay? Open your eyes. I'm glad I was saved ... The girl was wearing the same red life jacket that her mother wore. At that moment, I understood at once what was happening. Mom isn’t here.
"Mother ..... Mother .....!"
I looked left and right, searching for her.
Not anywhere.
"Mother ...!"
In the distance, I heard an ambulance siren. The girl was wrapped in a blanket.
Carried by many adults, she leaves the riverbank. Everyone is crazy about it and realizes that my mom isn't there.
She isn't.
"Mom!" Only I raised my voice and kept calling. Many times. Many times. Many times. I don't remember much after that. When I heard that my mother was found all the way down the river, it seemed like a lie. It wasn't long before I realized that the mug that mother was using was missing. Dad put a picture of mother, which he took someday, in a picture frame and put it in a corner of the kitchen. He had to add flowers every day next to it. Neighbors bothered to talk to me every time I met them on the road, listened to me in a friendly way, and encouraged me with tears. Meanwhile, the Internet was flooded with anonymous posts about the accident.
"It's a suicide act to jump into a river flooded by rain"
"It seems that she was confident in swimming, but it's different from the pool."
《It is irresponsible for my child to help someone else's child and die》
《If there is an accident, playing in the river will be a nuisance and annoying》
《Because helping people is a good person, this is what happens》
The person who wrote it probably didn't know anything about the actual situation, and the day after he wrote it, he probably forgot what he wrote. However, the person who wrote it keeps sticking in my chest forever. Immediately after the accident, an acquaintance told me with resentment that it was terrible when I saw this. In front of these words, I was too young to understand all the meanings. However, as I grew up and became able to understand the meaning of the words accurately, I continued to suffer from the unconscious malice contained in them. Losing mother.
How should I pass on these writings as a bereaved family, even though I still can't accept them, as if the mother who helped me was all bad?
Aside from me, my mother just smiled in the picture frame in the kitchen. From that accident, I think something has changed decisively from what I used to be. One evening, in mother's room, where dust began to build up, I stood on her chair, hoping to return to her happy memories. And I sang the song I sang with mother. But when I started singing, I realized I couldn't sing at all. My voice became stuck in the back of my throat and couldn't get out of my mouth. I was confused. Something in my heart was suppressing me from singing. Why can't I sing? Tears came out.
Hey mom. Why can't I sing?
It was clear that the reason why singing was so fun and necessary was because my mother listened to it.
However, just because you can't sing... You don't have to worry about anything. Even if you can't sing, no one will blame you. Life just goes on. I went to a local junior high school. The jumper skirt uniform was stuffy. Many of the elementary school classmates went to the town as they went on to school, and there were not half of the students remaining in the local area, so even in junior high school, it became a compound class. Therefore, the chorus practice was accompanied by the vice-principal teacher, and it was decided to sing in all grades. There were three people in all grades. Because there were only three people, I quickly realized that I was just lip-synching without singing. I was asked why I didn't sing, but I didn't say anything. I thought they would get angry, but they didn't get angry. It means that only I can visit from the next practice.
I sat alone in a corner of the music class and watched everyone practice. I may have looked like a lethargic girl who was just silent. But inside that, there are things that can't be translated into words.
I think it was swirling. When I left school and returned home, I irresistibly entered mother's room in the twilight. The twilight light was shining through the window. Cardboard boxes containing tableware and seasonal home appliances that are no longer in use are piled up on the table. It was completely turned into a storeroom. It's been many years since then. It has passed. I listened to the large number of records there, one by one from the edge of the shelf. Days, days, days. By listening earnestly, I managed to calm my rough feelings. But one day, there was a moment when I thought I couldn't bear it anymore. Upon returning, I entered my mother's room, sat down in front of the keyboard, quickly opened the report sheet, and began to write fiercely with a pen to spit out the incomprehensible feelings in my chest. I was almost suffocating if I didn't spit it out. I turned over the paper and continued to write forever. -Why did mother leave me in the river? Why did she choose to help the child who she didn't even know her name rather than live with me? Why am I alone? Why, why, why – I added paper, supplemented with post-it notes, and wrote long, long lyrics. The scale that springs up is notated long and long. Those that were neither were spit out as pictures. It was a swirl of many kinds. It was like a whirlpool floating on the surface, like a black hole that swallowed everything, and like a hole in the top of my head. The floor of the room was filled with pieces of paper with a mixture of lyrics, pictures and sheet music. But suddenly..... I returned to myself and stopped writing. Right now, I've noticed the worthlessness, meaninglessness, ugliness, and helplessness of the words, pictures, and scales I wrote.
What are you doing? I broke the paper. Everything I've written so far.
I threw it in the trash can without hesitation. The bundle of paper looked like a vomit that I had just spit out. Then I became a high school student.
I finally found myself worthless. The uniform tie was stuffy. I crossed the subsidence bridge while looking down and went to school. I took an exam and passed the exam at a junior and senior high school in the center of the city, and transferred from high school. There, I met my childhood friend Shinobu-kun again.
"Shizu.."
"Shinobu-kun ..."
Now that I was in high school, Shinobu-kun looked tall and shining, all different. On the other hand, I didn't seem to have grown at all since then, and I was irresistibly embarrassed and couldn't even talk. What have I been doing so far? I started a new life going to the city from the mountains, but I couldn't get into studying. Even though I had a hard time taking the exam, I just looked out the window during class. Knowing that this shouldn't be the case. Club activities didn't go anywhere. There were very few such students. On the way home, you can see the students devoting themselves to club activities. The track and field club is jumping the training hurdle in a line in the courtyard. The volleyball club is running on the ground. A percussionist in the brass band with a metronome in his ear is striking a stick in the hallway. The Naginata club sits upright in the martial arts hall with a good posture, and thank you for your cooperation, saying before the practice. The first-year students of the baseball club, who have not yet been numbered, stand side by side and watch as if they are digging into the practice of their seniors. I didn't belong anywhere, so I left school quickly. It was already winter. There is a river called Kagami River that flows from east to west in the center of the city. Since the flow is often gentle, the TV tower and buildings on the opposite bank are reflected like a mirror. When I returned to the station through the road beside it, the girls of the light music club carrying the "Chahahaha" musical instrument case overtook me with a light step while laughing. A cute cat-shaped stuffed animal attached to the school bag is shaking. Attached to my school bag was a cheesy plastic plate of "Gutto Koremaru". "Gutto Koremaru" is an egg-shaped character who can poke his hand against the wall and endure the pain. I have a crack in my head, probably because I endured it too much. Of course, it's not cute.
In a dark and narrow corridor.
I resisted, "I can't do it! Hey!", But I was pulled into the room, saying "OK." The soundproof door slammed behind me. Shinboku "Ah!" There was a flashy room in a karaoke box, and the pink and purple lights were spinning mysteriously. It smells of incense. Only for girls in the class.
I heard that it was a social gathering, but when I saw the frenzy of the girls standing on the sofa and shaking their heads, I thought that I could not get into this tension very much.
"Peggie Sue is cute"
"This is the one that is popular in" U ", isn't it?" On the monitor screen on the wall, the popular Az of "U", Peggy Sue, was seen singing in a black rubber dress. Purple lipstick that shakes silver hair. An eccentric beauty with red eyes. Peggy Sue? "U"? Az? Is it popular? I don't know anything. It's like an event in a different world from me. Then, Hitomi suddenly offered a microphone, "Yes." Sing, and so on. "Huh?" Puzzled. Neither the coat nor the muffler is taken off. But "yes" the microphone was pointed again. Why for a child like me who is at the end of a class?
"Sing together?"
"Hey, sing."
The shadows of the girls press the microphones. What do you mean?
"Are you not going to sing alone?"
"Isn't it a lie that you can't sing?"
I see, so it’s this situation.
Dozens of microphones are forced against my face one after another. "Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"
"Sing"
"Hey, sing?"
"Sing"
Those voices sound like a threat.
"You're telling me to sing."
"Sing!"
"Sing!"
Ahh!
Immediately, the microphone popped off and fell to the floor.
The girls dancing on the sofa suddenly saw me. It's calming down as if I was taken aback.
"What happened? Suzu-chan"
The mic and the shadows of the girls disappeared like a phantom.
"No, nothing. I'm sorry. Hey ..."
Without saying anything, I pushed the door of the karaoke box open by force and went out like crawling. Someone might have heard and told everyone that I couldn't sing.
When I got off the bus, powder snow was flying. I almost slipped down the slope from the bus stop. Even in Kochi, it usually snows in the mountains, aside from the city. When I crossed the subsidence bridge, I heard a crackling sound of thin ice. The surface of the concrete bridge is frozen.
Cold. It's not dexterous enough to get used to everyone, and it's not divisible. On the other hand, I’m not strong enough to be alone, not prepared, and have no idea.
I don't do anything selfish. Rumors that you can't sing, that's a lie. I'm just not confident in myself for a while. I want to get along with everyone. Really. I know. Of course I know. So "Ah ... Ah ..."
In the middle of the bridge, I impulsively exhaled my voice.
"Ah ... ah ... ah ah"
As I breathed in, cold air sank into my throat. Still, I sang towards the river. "Ah..”
Did I sing? It didn't match a song. It's just a growl. The bag slipped off my shoulder. Will you forgive me if I sing? Can I get along with everyone if I sing? It doesn't help to sing alone in such a place. It's like a scream of a dead end before being crushed. Still, I sang that song with my mother with a squeezed voice. I was happy back then. It's different now. Powder snow was swirling in the flow of the river. Suddenly, in front of me it became pitch black. Nausea swelled from the back of my stomach, and I held my mouth with both hands.
"Uuuuu!"
I crouched on my knees. However, I couldn't stand the momentum of the backflowing gastric juice. I pushed my body forward and vomited towards the clear stream under the bridge. The vomit that was about to kneel and vomit fell to the surface of the water, creating a number of ripples. I spit out everything in my stomach and fell on the bridge. My hair is messed up and my mouth is smeared with gastric juice and smells. It's already spicy. I want to get rid of everything. Shivering and crying as if groaning. Drops of tears ooze on my cold cheeks and tingle. I wish I were gone.
I could hear the slight sound of powder snow folding and piled up right next to me. A notification came to the smartphone that slipped off my bag. It was a message from Hiro-chan.
<< Look at this, Suzu. It’s so amazing that I’m seriously laughing. >>
There is a link to somewhere.
-------------------
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Dcx2NedPVBEdbfQaU-WC0pJMRmn20ASn7HSC0KY9R7E/edit?usp=sharing ~ Google Doc of the English-translated novel.
ryuutosobakasuhime.wordpress.com ~ English fan-site for Ryuu to Sobakasu no Hime where translations, scans, and other content is posted.
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moveobjectsonblogs · 3 years
Text
Zodiac Challenge
Welcome to the Sims 4 Zodiac Challenge!
This idea came to me in a dream after a month of um-ing and ah-ing over whether or not I should start my very own Sims inspired Youtube Channel.
This is also inspired by the Not So Berry Challenge over on my queen, lilsimsie’s page, since I recently started playing that myself and found myself engaging with aspects of the game I never used to before. 
SO, the Zodiac challenge... It’s a legacy challenge inspired by Zodiac traits*, aspirations and careers with a little extra spice to keep the story moving along.  
*Please keep in mind that this is not a direct reflection of Zodiac traits, but merely an inspired challenge based on some common information surrounding each sign and a need to make a workable legacy challenge. I love all you little start signs out there equally and I believe we all have some positive influences on society as a whole. 
Okay, okay, cut to the chase already. Here are the rules of the challenge: 
No excessive money cheats (freerealestate is acceptable, as well as moderate transfer of household fees when a sim moves out) 
You have full control over CAS for your sims/partners/children, however traits are to remain according to challenge 
The color attached to each generation/sign needs to be visible on all sim outfits as well as in household, but you can decide to what degree
You can create looks inspired by the signs, but again, you can decide to what degree 
Make it your own! Where a generation requires pack-specific traits, aspirations, careers etc which you do not own, please substitute and come up with your own unique spin on it!
If a skill, aspiration, or career is listed, the expectation is to MAX IT OUT!
Please tag me! I want to see your videos, characters and creations on this
Generation 1 - Aries / Red - The Go-Getter
You start out as a runaway teen, trying to make it in the Big City. You believe you have what it takes to be the next National Leader, and the City is the place to be! You have a quick temper and a fiery personality, so in order to appear calm in the public eye (everyone wants a piece of you!) you need to practice Wellness every day. You don’t have time for marriage, but your PR Manager advised you it would look good for your political career to adopt!
Traits
Hot Headed
Self-Assured
Ambitious
Aspiration
Leader Of The Pack
Career
Politician (Politician branch to become National Leader)
Skills
Charisma
Wellness
Additional Requirements
Reach Level 3 Fame
Must have no biological children, only adopt
Don’t have a good relationship with child/ren
Never marry
Never retire 
Generation 2 - Taurus / Dark Green - The Loving Nurturer
All your life you tried to get the approval of your always-too-busy presidential parent. You were pawned off to day-care, baby-sitters and after-school activities to fill your time and never knew what a parental figure or family time was. You were told to always appear perfect in terms of good grades, a good university degree and a stable career but in your heart all you ever wanted was love! You spend quality time with your children and your greatest pleasure is helping them grow and succeed in life. You believe in taking the time to grow your own produce in order to eat only the healthiest food and other sims would describe you as ~earthy~.
Traits
Foodie
Family Oriented
Romantic
Aspiration
Big Happy Family
Career
Freelancer (any branch you want)
Skills
Parenting 
Gardening
Additional Requirements
Marry your High School/University sweetheart
Have minimum 3 children 
Work part time in order to help children with meals & homework everyday
Generation 3 - Gemini / Yellow - The Open-Minded Adventurer
You loved your cozy (some would say sheltered) and unconventional upbringing with your earthy parent and many siblings; however, you want to see the world and all it has to offer for yourself! You love people, creativity and being busy and you want to see it all, try it all and be it all. Thanks to your loving mom, you were always made to believe you can be whatever you want in this world. You can never sit still. Due to that, you have many different careers, many different worlds you live in and many different lovers...You’ll try anything once!
Traits
Outgoing
Adventurous
Creative
Aspiration
Renaissance Sim 
Career
Any 3 (as per Aspiration)
Skills
Flower Arranging
Video Gaming
Fitness 
Additional Requirements
Have a love child before marriage 
Have 3 failed romances before marriage 
Move to 3 different worlds in lifetime 
Generation 4 - Cancer / Grey - The Intuitive Gossip
You want a nice and normal life, no surprises, everything as it should be and in the right order. You want to settle down, and live an uneventful life. But when do plans ever work out like that? You earn a university degree in something sensible, and you follow that route with determination; however, you’ve always been described as psychic by those who know you, and you always have the dirt on the town folk. Finally, late in your life you understand that this ability can bring in some serious cash. You switch to the social media career and always work from home to protect your identity from those who’s secrets you spill. Who would ever suspect you, the nerdy Brainiac who barely speaks up? xoxo, Sims Girl
Traits
Neat
Unflirty 
Materialistic
Aspiration
Academic
Career
Initially something connected to Degree, but switch to Social Media (Internet Personality Branch) in late Adult Life Stage 
Skills
Logic
Writing
Media Production 
Additional Requirements
Attend university (Business or History degree)
Change careers when in Adult life stage to Social Media Career
Always work from home
Marry for convenience and not love (not attracted to partner)
Have no relationship with child/ren
Generation 5 - Leo / Gold - The Romantic Star
Your life growing up was boring. Your mom and dad were the least romantic people ever and everything was cookie-cutter perfect (and devoid of any emotion) growing up. So, from a young age, you throw yourself into movies and get lost in the romantic, passionate and fairy tale aesthetic of it all! You move to Del Sol Valley straight after high school to try and make it as a big star and start your own fairy tale! But it turns out not all fairy tales are perfect, and you have to kiss a few frogs to find your prince/ss!  
Traits
Cheerful
Self Absorbed 
Romantic
Aspiration
World Famous Celebrity
Career
Actor/Actress 
Skills
Acting
Singing 
Additional Requirements
Move to Del Sol Valley straight after high school with very little money (10K max)
Cheat on 2 different partners
Date both genders
Generation 6 - Virgo / Beige - The Critical Perfectionist
Owing to your famous parent, you always attended red carpet events with the best food imaginable. Let’s face it, you always thought your taste was just a touch above everyone else. And when you’re good at something never do it for free! Your dream is to criticize others and earn a pay check for it.For you, life is about experiences, perfection and having something to show for it in the bank account. You want to wear and eat the finest things!
Traits
Perfectionist
Genius
Snob
Aspiration
Fabulously Wealthy
Career
Critic (Food)
Skills
Gourmet Cooking
Mixology
Additional Requirements
Marry a famous sim or a sim at the top of their career
Have a house worth over 100K
Have 1 child
Generation 7 - Libra / Pink - The Classy Advocate
You grew up in a very classy home, with only the finest things. You believe in the value of beautiful art, intellectual discussions and physical beauty. From behind the thick, gilded window panes in your childhood mansion, you always witness the injustices of the world and felt a calling to help those without a voice.
Traits
Materialistic
Art Lover
Outgoing
Aspiration
Party Animal
Career
Law (Any Branch)
Skills
Charisma
Violin
Additional Requirements
Attend university, join the debate guild
Marry a sim you find extremely attractive
Volunteer weekly
Own art pieces worth over 20K
Generation 8 - Scorpio / Black - The Beautiful Empath 
You’re a sweetheart deep down and you find beauty in all things physical. Where your parents saw beauty in materialistic things, you see beauty in yourself and others. You always dreamed of perfecting your own body as a testament to your intense passion towards your goals. You meet a beautiful partner along the way and together, you create a perfect image of love, beauty and emotional intensity.
Traits
Jealous 
Active 
Romantic
Aspiration
Soulmate
Career
Athlete (Bodybuilder career)
Skills
Fitness
Mischief
Additional Requirements
Marry a sim seen as extremely attractive
Have 1 child minimum and encourage active side (from toddler to teenager)
Go on a date night with your partner every weekend
Generation 9 - Sagittarius / Purple - The Traveling Spy 
You’re fun to be around and can never sit still. You’ve used this to your advantage to lure people into trusting you, and you have friends all over the world! Little do they know, you’re a secret agent with some top-tier missions to accomplish. Your passion for love and romance means you have a few slip ups and made some (unexpectedly great) mistakes along the way. You can’t ever be tied down. Keep it moving, blend in with the locals and you’ll never get caught!
Traits
Non-Committal
Adventurous
Cheerful  
Aspiration
Serial Romantic
Career
Secret Agent (Any Branch)
Skills
Comedy
Photography
Additional Requirements
Live in Mt. Komorebi and Sulani in lifetime – dabble in local culture and activities  
Have children from both of the above worlds with one of the locals
Never marry  
Generation 10 - Capricorn / Brown - The Idealistic Pragmatist
You’re smart – scary smart. You are a quiet, intelligent soul and you love to lose yourself in the mountains when life gets overwhelming. You approach life with military intelligence, routine and perfection and never thought you could meet someone who cracked through your tough exterior. When you do meet them, you marry them after the first few dates and start your family. Your partner adores you and your family and quits their career to take care of the large brood of kids and animals in your rustic, outdoorsy home.
Traits
Loner
Genius
Loves the Outdoors
Aspiration
Extreme Sports Enthusiast
Career
Military 
Skills
Pet Training
Logic 
Additional Requirements
Marry a spouse after a maximum of 3 dates
Have spouse quit job to raise children
Have 4 children minimum
Go Climbing/Hiking or do Snow Sports every weekend
Generation 11 - Aquarius / Blue - The Outspoken Activist 
You grew up with nature and animals taking preference over technology and humans. Therefore, you are sickened by the state of the world that humans have created and you decide to pursue a green future. You are all for eco living, off the grid lifestyle and conserving the environment for generations to come.
Traits
Vegetarian
Green Fiend
Creative
Aspiration
Eco Innovator 
Career
Civil Designer (Green Technician) 
Skills
Fabrication 
Logic 
Additional Requirements
Live in Evergreen Harbor (all 3 neighborhoods) and convert all to Green Eco Footprint
Live off the grid at least once
Adopt children and animals until household limit of 8 is reached 
Generation 12 - Pisces / Light Green - The Creative Overthinker 
You’re a dreamer and you want to heal everyone. Due to your parent’s ideals growing up, you want to make a difference... but you also want to create art and move souls. You tend to internalize your dreams and fears and as a result often feel misunderstood. You move around as a doctor trying to heal the world and as a result, love is last on the list of accomplishments.
Traits
Creative
Gloomy
Loner  
Aspiration
Painter Extraordinaire 
Career
Doctor 
Skills
Painting 
Baking 
Additional Requirements
Have no friends apart from future spouse
Gain fame through paintings  
Marry for the first time as an elder
Never have children
Live in all worlds through lifetime
138 notes · View notes
organic-guacamole · 3 years
Text
showtime
episode 211 let's go
ok first of all, this is the second to last episode guys... I don't even wanna think about how much pain I'll be in after next week's episode
mr mazzara doing the recap-
this is so weird to me and I don't know why
WHY DIDN'T YALL JUST ASK BENJAMIN FOR HELP, THATS LITERALLY HIS THING
is Nini giving out the cards a callback to season 1 when Natalie Bagley said that Nini gave her a card or something on opening night of another musical?
STEPHY AS THE ENCHANTRESS OMG YES
Ricky in the crown gives me Harry styles in that photoshoot vibes
he's so pretty.
ok but why did we never see Ricky and Ashlyn interact before? it's been like 5 seconds and I already love how they bounce off each other and it's just so natural
OH THEY REALLY DON'T HAVE ANY UNDERSTUDIES-
well that explains a lot...
so Ricky fell on top of Ashlyn and all that broke for both of them was their wrist-
insert Jake Peralta *coolcoolcoolcoolcoolcool no doubt no doubt no doubt*
of course howie was amazing as the beast, were we expecting anything less??
Ricky is so beautiful and I will not shut up about it....
let me enjoy this before the makeup crew slaps mud on his face.
Nini and Ricky talking to eachother? in a civil manner? wasn't she avoiding him just in the last episode? hm ok
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH THEY CANT EXPRESS THEIR FEELINGS JUST LIKE ME HAHAHAHAHA THIS IS HILARIOUS, WHATS NEXT? THEY CUT EVERYONE OFF CUZ THEY CANT HANDLE EMOTIONS? ...ha
yes Kaden and Rico, my favourite east high boys 🥰
I mean....where's EJ?
THERE HE IS
EJ AND GINA IN THE BACKGROUND... doing something idek
KOURTNEY'S MOM IS BACK YAY
Howie is a shining star, ofc ofc
the smallest fOrk
can't wait to see the fork burst into song about how she deserves more than to be used to eat salad😌
the duster and the bluster.... ok😃
hi Gina!
hi- oh wow I didn't know Robbie Rotten was in this show!!!!!
the portwell look.
that my friends, is a married couple's look✋
GOSH EJ WHAT DID THEY DO TO YOU
aww Gina's so excited for this
D word?
Die?
Delicious?
Dom Toretto?
"good, clean fun all alone with someone I dig...a lot"
sir that does not sound very clean to me
SEBLOS
Seb looks so cute standing there next to pope Carlos
DID THEYEY REALLY LIGHT ANTOINE ON FIRE-
I NEED TO SEE THAT
Seb's reading Carlos better than big red read the script in episode 102, this is great development after the "fight"
Kourtney really just made the best outfit for herself and let the rest of them suffer
the way Gina immediately goes to hold on to EJ after the announcement
"tonight we're going to put the U in UTAH"
...
"hey where are you from?"
"TAH"
SEB'S SINGULAR CLAP KILLED ME-
he's officially salt lake city's resident thanos
just wity clapping because for some reason I have a feeling he doesn't know how to snap his fingers...don't ask why
Ms Jenn do you mind encouraging your leads before the show? idk just an idea
pepto bismol product placement smhsmh
those flowers are bigger that big red himself-
*bops along to the opening theme*
that whistle at the end slaps everytime
WHY IS THE AUDIENCE SO MASSIVE
I guess they're all here to see Ms Jenn go on as a fork after Nini decides to *go her own way*
wow i am so funny
so they couldn't do many group scenes cuz of covid, but this 300 person crowd is cool? nice
OO THE VIOLIN GIRL FROM EPISODE 6 IS IN THE ORCHESTRA
HOWIEEEEEE
"Mr Caswell", he said, in the loudest voice possible while backstage at a show that's about to start.
Mazzara what are you trying to pull-
I usually like Benjamin but I don't like his tone
"iS yOuR wHoLe FaMiLy HeRe?" LIKE YOU DON'T ALREADY KNOW THATS A SOFT SPOT FOR EJ
"we've had some good conversations these past few weeks"
right so what's going to happen after you graduate?
what does he think of you not going to Duke?
what did he say about you giving the sweatshirt that's been in the family for 3 generations to a girl you're not even dating?
good old Mr. M
therapist Mr. Mazzara, they all need it.
start with Ricky though.
"Michael Bowen"
dude why did you shave, now you look less like "hot lumberjack" and more "creep at the gas station"
OH-
does she not like Mike anymore?
why does it sound like jennzzara started dating and now they just sit back and talk smack about everyone in their freetime
break the fourth wall-
uhhhh im scared
why am I scared
he's scary
hehe flowers for Ricky, obviously for Ricky, ObViOuSLY
oh boy poor Michael
this man is in love, rip
why does Ms Jenn always look at people with her eyes open so wide
LILYYYY
I'm only excited because I really like the idea of lily and Ricky being friends, nothing more.
ha this guy's got jokes
a MOAT AROUND THE SCHOOL
wheeze
also he's very pretty.
"the wolves and very talented humans"
how dare he forget to mention the very talented wolves and normal humans, smh erasure
"being nice, what a concept" ted talk by Lily who still doesn't have a last name
did she just say lol out loud
same with the hug emoji last episode-
go touch some grass babes
the way he didn't say no, but said he didn't know how the east high kids would react-
not saying he does want to date her but that's an interesting thing to think about, also another thing to write an essay analysis on just to leave it in my drafts for a few months
awww lily genuinely trying to help him
sorry guys, I've been taken by the Lily charm (didn't know it existed until now but oh well)
REMEMBER WHEN I SAID I'LL NEVER SHIP PORTWELL?
just look at me now
the Lily wink I can't she's so cute-
HELP ME I'M BEING HELD HOSTAGE BY LIL-
David Attenborough?
oh nvm it's Benjamin narrating the show in a really weird British accent for some reason.
STEPHY GOT MORE LINES YAY GOOD FOR HER
also is this to show that Nini doesn't care about being the star of the show anymore? the way she's supporting everyone else even though she's a fork?
I would pay for a special of the full musical ngl
OOO THE TRANSFORMATION WAS SMOOTH
shockingly
yo where did the makeup come from
man I wish I was a theatre kid
THIS IS STEPHY'S EPISODE NOW IDC✋
my girl is starring
"needs an X-factor"
Simon Cowbell creeps in
"it's a yes from me"
and them boom, he takes Nini and mistreats her horribly and then she comes back to theatre after deciding music isn't for her👍
"I thought she just hog-tied him?"
don't ask sebby, it's better if you don't know.
imagine they spotlight the wrong person and this dude is just some random person that likes writing down stuff during shows.
Ms Jenn just let them do what they rehearsed (at some point we never saw) or else this is gonna end horribly wrong
"help"
same Carlos, same
I love how seb is just his translator rn
I thought he said "great displeasure" instead of "greatest pleasure"....help?
big red coming out from throwing up to see his girlfriend star is the cutest thing in this show.
Ash and Gina dancing is so fun
I'm imagining them practicing at night at their home, watching the movie for the 100th time and making sure their one dance together is perfect
KOURTNEY YES
HOWIE IS IN LOVE AHHHH
I LOVE HOWIE SO MUCH
SEBBY
THIS SCENE HAS SO MUCH GOING ON I CAN'T KEEP UP
THIS IS SO GOOD
HOW???
no because I'm actually crying
I'm dead serious.
we need this musical released as a special
big red is so proud and I love to see it
Natalie: "if you do not by at least 20 dollars in concessions, you do not support art"
rando in the audience: "but I pay for ad free Spotify"
Mr Mazzara clapping in the distance
Gigi, the guy you like is talking to you, complimenting you and hyping you up
YOU LUCKY LITTLE FEATHER DUSTER
aw EJ teasing her about the chocolates in a way that doesn't make her feel bad? take notes Richard
JORDAN FISHER
there is no rest of the show idc Jordan is it for me
THE WIG CAP ON RICKY OMG
they look like they're high and having "deep" conversations on the floor
THE MEAN GIRL WITH THE EYES-
@sunshine-julie-molina YOU HEAR THAT
Natalie really just be coming for them all
Howie what is happening rn
I'm scared
"did you enjoy it"
"very much"
dude wants a kiss so bad
ASHLYN OMG
NO DON'T DO IT BECAUSE OF LILY, PUT YOUR OWN TWIST ON IT
I want a Jordan autograph please
just keep swim- oh pushing...
Gina is literally a giant next to him and I live for it
am I about to cry for the 3rd time in this episode?
yes.
Ricky's leg kicks under the table makes me so happy aw
the portwell glances will kill me.
ah yes, mashed potato snow
Mr. M.... I'm not a theatre kid but even I know you can't have your phone on backstage.
Howie please just do it
CHIP'S BIG LINE I CANT
I LITERALLY HAD TO PAUSE IT AMD SCREAM INTO MY MASK FOR A SOLID 2 MINUTES (I'm not at home rn) HES SO CUTE
oh ok bye Jordan
oo tea
NOT HIM BEING STARSTRUCK BECAUSE HE'S MEETING HIS FUTURE BROTHER IN LAW-
"we're all just glad Gigi has a big brother figure in her life"
excuse me for a few thousand hours while I laugh hysterically
THE CAMERA ZOOM ON EJS FACE AND EVERYTHING-
STOP EJ LOOKS LIKE HE'S GONNA CRY BUT I CAN'T TAKE HIM SERIOUSLY WITH THE STAGE MAKE-UP
someone else said this already but I think it's hilarious that they had to bring in 2 guest characters to create some portwell angst
omg this really is Cici's episode, found family is their thing
elevator music lol
I'm gonna bet that big red took the harness for his surprise for Ashlyn without realising what it was
did Ms. Jenn just....tell her most mentally unstable student....to commit suicide....on a disney show...was that....I'm very....well....what the actual-
oh and there she goes running off instead of trying to make it right
oh wow Nini's the hero, she's gonna save the show 🤩
😐
the judge is doing a sudoku
honestly if I went to the hsm show as well, I'd come prepared for this one too
Lily why are you looking like that-
I WAS JUST STARTING TO LIKE YOU DON'T MESS THIS UP
wow ok, there goes that.
omg
what if Howie was acting weird because he knew what Lily did and wanted to tell Kourtbut Lily threatened him so he was scared to-
anyways see y'all clowns next week when we all simultaneously lose all motivation for the week without Fridays to look forward to.
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What true love feels like - part 1 | Tom Felton imagine
Ladies and gentlemen, this is the moment you’ve been waiting for...my very first TOM FELTON imagine. (Just kidding, I was probably the only one waiting lol).
Word count: 2129
Pairing: Tom Felton x reader
Note: This is going to be a mini series. I really hope you’ll like it. Section written in italic is a flashback.
When I was a little kid, I loved going to weddings. God knows how many times I was asked to be a flower girl or a bridesmaid. All the decoration, the music, the spirit of true love mesmerized me, and I usually find myself imagining my own wedding. I had it all planned out by the time I met Him. And when proposed to me after five years of dating, I knew my time had come. Everything looked exactly how I wanted it. The huge mansion was covered in white and blush pink decoration. The sweet scent of the innumerable amount of roses filled the whole place. Family members, friends and their dates were chatting and laughing together. The wedding registrar was already preparing by the arch made out of fairy lights. And the always rainy and chilly London woke up to one of the warmest spring mornings today. Even the weather was on my side.
- How are you feeling sweet girl? – my Mum asked me from the armchair, where she had been sitting on ever since the creator of my wedding dress came to the dressing room to help me put on my huge dress. I looked at myself in the mirror, admiring the perfectly made ball gown with the delicate waist line, hundreds of tulle layers, and sparkling sleeves. It was my dream dress.
- I’m not sure – I confessed to her – Am I supposed to be nervous?
- Nervous? – She looked at me confused – Honey, you might mistake your feeling with excitement. It’s normal for…
- I’m pretty bloody overwhelmed, Mum – I turned to her – Somehow, I feel like I’m going to make a huge mistake if I walk down that aisle.
For the last couple of months, I was too busy with planning the wedding that I totally forgot to take some time and concentrate on myself and on my feelings. I wanted everything to turn out as I imagined it when I was twenty. And everything was just like that. Except me. I woke up today with a knot in my stomach, no appetite and a very bad feeling. All I could think about was that I’m making a mistake.
- What do you mean? – Mum stood up from the chair and walked over to me so she could held my hand as a sign of support – Y/N?
I looked down at our hands, my eyes glued to the silver bracelet with the single white pearl charm hanging on it. I could still remember how his crystal blue eyes sparkled and how warm his gaze was when he gave it to me. We went to Rochefort-en-Terre for a little getaway. We wanted to be somewhere, where they didn’t know him, so we could be alone together. He saw this bracelet at a local family’s jewellery shop and he swore he just couldn’t not buy it. I had never took it off ever since then.
- I just wonder if he is really the one – I bit my bottom lip. I didn’t dare to look up to my Mum’s eyes. They paid everything for our wedding and never complained because of the expenses – I mean, we’re about to make a hopefully lifelong commitment. I just want to make sure I’m not making a mistake here. What if everything goes downhill after the wedding? What if we slowly fall out of love?
- Than you learn to love each other again – She put a finger under my chin, and forced me to look at her – Darling, you’re still young. Of course you have your doubts about a commitment like this. But here’s something to think about: the one that you truly love, will never make you wonder. There’s a difference in the way you love someone. There is the kind that you will fall in love with and this changes with circumstance and time. And then there is the love that you love with your entire being, it never fades, it’s timeless – she kissed my cheek – I’ll go and get your father. It’s almost time.
She left me there with my thoughts. He was such a great and loving person. Passionate about the things he loved. He was always there for everyone if they needed someone. He made me happy. He made me feel loved and respected. He gave me everything he could. And still, I was standing in the middle of the dressing room, questioning myself. I wanted nothing, but marrying my soulmate. I think the sign of a true soulmate isn’t someone you just want to do the super fun stuff with. A real soulmate is the person who makes any ordinary day fun. Some people make all these huge plans to do with their special someone, forget that. Find someone who you can take grocery shopping and still have a blast with. Find someone who makes you look forward to waking up on Monday. I think I had found it.
- Okay okay, listen – he laughed as he dragged me into the supermarket in the middle of the night. I had a very long day and my upcoming exams were stressing me out, but he wanted to help me relax and have a little bit of fun before I pull an all-night study session – Both of us will have exactly 5 minutes to find the best matches to the tasks. When I count to three, we both run to find the products.
- Babe – I whined and tugged on the sleeve of his sweater which I used as a PJ. We were both in our pyjamas, considering that he literally pulled me out of the bed while I was taking notes for my business law class – It’s almost midnight, and I really need to study.
- Shush – he silenced me with sass in his voice. It actually made me smile. He looked so adorable when he was acting like a kid – 5 minutes. 5 tasks.
- Alright, gimme the details – I rolled my eyes and put my hair up in a messy bun.
- First, go and find my favourite candy. Second, find something very random. Third, find something you think I should really try. Fourth, find something in my favourite colour – he led me to spot where we were about the start from.
- And what’s the fifth task? – I looked up at him.
- Find something which reminds you of our love – he kissed me quickly, but before I could kiss him back, he ran away like he was a cannon ball.
- Hey, cheater – I yelled after him, but my laugh gave me away. I loved that man.
I smiled at the memory. He always knew how to cheer me up, when I was down. But he also knew when he had to give me time and space too. I appreciated how he let me moan to him when I had a bad day, or how supportive he was about my dreams and goals. He never failed to be there for me and help me on my journey.
- Are you ready to go? – I jumped a little by the sound of my Dad. I was too deep in my memories and thoughts, I didn’t realize when he came in. He was standing by the door, my bouquet in his hand. He looked worried.
- What’s wrong? – I asked him. This morning he was fine and happy when we were having breakfast. In fact, he was excited about that he can annoy my brother and sister with the fact that their youngest sibling had gotten married first.
- Your mother told me about your unsureness – he smiled at me lightly. I sighed and sat down on the sofa carefully, not to wrinkle my dress. He sat down next to me and took my small hands in his huge ones – Y/N, if you’re constantly having to wonder where you stand with someone, maybe it’s time to stop standing and start walking.
- I don’t know what you’re talking about – I tried to fool him, but he was my father after all. He knew us better than we knew ourselves, so we could never get away with a silly little prank or if we tried to fake sick so we didn’t have to go to school.
- You think I haven’t noticed anything? – Dad laughed a little – June bug, you’ve been quite distant with him lately. He probably thinks that you were just busy with planning the wedding, but I see what I cannot see anymore. And that’s love. You’ve been looking at him like he was just a body, and not someone you want to spend the rest of your life with. And I want you to know, it’s okay – He squeezed my hand – Sometimes your heart needs more time to accept what your mind already knows.
I had to do the right thing. He might had been right about everything, but the whole situation was more complicated than that. That man really loved me. And he was probably already waiting at the altar, nervously looking around, looking at the entrance of the ball room so catch me there. I could see his smile in front of me. I could see him tearing up when my Dad places my hand in his. That man gave me his heart. I helped him pick up the pieces after his first love left him. He trusted me. I couldn’t break him. And Mum was probably right too. I can learn to love him again.
- I need to call him – I said rather to myself and not my Dad. He gave my hand a final squeezed and left me alone in the room. I was glad he didn’t ask me anything. I paced around the room, my dress flying around me while I was manically searching for my mobile. I was chewing on my lips and my heart was beating way too fast. How could I put myself in this situation? How could I do this to him? They were the longest five rings of the call before he finally picked up.
- Y/N? – His voice was surprised. He probably didn’t know why I was calling Him just right before I had to walk down the aisle to marry him – Are you okay?
No, I wasn’t. I forced myself to not to cry, because I didn’t want to ruin my makeup, but I could feel my eyes burning and my throat tightened. I was choking on my withheld sobs. I loved how his voice was smooth, a tiny bit raspy and manly, but playful at the same time. I could have listened to his voice all day long. Just listening how he told me everything about his day or what new projects he has been working on lately.
- I think we were meant to be, but we did it all wrong – I blurted out and collapsed back to the sofa. I let a single tear run down my cheek and drop on top of my pearl charm on my bracelet. I heard how his breathing fastened in the phone, like he was panicking. I was too. I didn’t know what was right or wrong. I desperately needed him by my side to feel his arms around my body, holding my close to himself. Feeling the warmth of his body calming down my shaking frame. I needed him to kiss into my hair and whisper in my ears that he has me and everything is going to fine – I just want to tell you, it takes everything in me not to call you, and I wish I could run to you, and I hope you know that every time I don’t…I almost do. And even though I’m unsure about most things in life, I am certain that I love you and will continue to love you forever.
- Y/N, what happened? – His voice was filled with worry. Knowing him he was already running his fingers through his hair, thinking about if he should come to see me right away or stay exactly where he was – Talk to me! What’s going on?
- I’m so sorry – I whispered into to phone. By this time, I couldn’t hold back my tears. And I didn’t even care anymore – I have to marry him…
- No, no you don’t have to – He was practically yelling. I only heard him yelling once, when he was completely lost in the ocean of feelings, and we were trying to figure out what was going on between us – Y/N, please…
- I love you, Tom – I said as a goodbye and ended the call. And with that, I ended something which I cherished for years. I ended a beautiful love story.
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cloviaglade · 3 years
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THE CRIMSON FLOWER ROUTE CORPORATE UNION AU
Yeah it came to me in a dream shared it with a friend and she said I should inflict it on the world so here we go
Warning: It's super long but I broke it up into chunks
(note not all members of the house fall into the categories listed also I'm not the best with corporate terms and positions. Also this was made for fun and isn't that serious)
The houses
The Black eagles generally were in accounting or sales. They dealt with a lot of the customers firsthand and were considered expendable
Blue lions where mostly in HR or IT
Golden deer mostly worked in maintenance and public relations.
Staff and church members are members of the board. Flayn has her position on the board despite her age because nepotism
The Seiros Co:
It's a large company that provide a large array of services and products that promote physical and emotional well-being. The company started out with good intentions but soon became a corporate monster
The company provides a host of benefits to its employees including on site housing, on site restraunts, on site pools gyms ect. They even have the best insurance on the planet. They even have horse therapy.
However they have to pay premiums on the health insurance, their rent is docted from their pay, they have to pay for on-site facilities, and those living on site are heavily encouraged to work overtime.
a lot of this is justified by cover every single health expense and days of for minor colds. Many employees seek mental health care more often than they seek physical care.
The on site living conditions vary heavily. Most are just a small white room with a single bed and a dresser. No visitors after certain hours and forget about outside visitors. However rumors are spreading that the board members have spacious luxury apartments.
The pay without all the benefits is not a wage you could live off of. But with the rent for these rooms doct from your pay you couldn't reasonably save up for different arrangements.
The strike begins:
Edelguard was finally fed up watching her team struggling. She hears constantly about how her workers are not making enough. How they have to scrape because they needed new clothes or shoes. Or worse how Petra wasn't able to support her sick grandfather
She hired a lawyer Hubert to look into information about their contracts and compare everything to labor laws. She needed to know how much of this was legal and if there was anything to be done about it.
Huberts lawfirm dealt with several lawsuits in the past. They are considered ruthless in court however media painted them out to be money hungry and demented
As expected, it was legal (mostly due to lack of regulation for these types of benefits) but really unfair, So Hubert suggested a strike. His firm would handle all the legal matters as they prepared a lawsuit and to unionize.
Edelguard was careful to organize it in private. Nothing was emailed. Nothing to tract them. Flyers were handwritten and posted in the dorms inviting members to secret meeting on slow hours.
Roles
What everyone did on the day of the strike/position they were in the office.
Black eagles
Edalguard: head of sales- she got everyone in her department and many others in different departments to simply stop working for the day when she commanded everyone to stop working via megaphone. She suck in hubert and went to a private meeting room to set up a list of demands.
Hubert: head of Vestra lawfirm- he snuck past security with the help of Edelguard. He brought a laptop and a phone with Hotspot so he could video call the rest of his attorneys from inside the conference room. Once the strike was in full swing he toured the place with Edelguard gathering evidence.
Ferdinand: senior sale manager has the highest customer satisfaction - when the strike was well underway he sent a mass email to everyone in every department including the CEO and founder herself in a very professional tone about how there is a strike. Lornez replied immediately and they when to the breakroom to enjoy tea while on the clock.
Lindhart: IT software specialist - first thing he did was turn off all the bans on websites. Everyone could go on whatever website they wanted to. He left the download blocker up and other safety precautions in place. Others could looks at memes and scroll through social media ect. He then returns to his dorm and takes a paid nap.
Caspar: manager in accounting slow but very accurate and a real team player - he hated the no pets policy with a burning passion so he let all the stray and feral cats that hang around the building in through one of the side doors. They stayed mostly on the ground floor and a few made a mess under the desks. He played with the strays with a few of his co-workers.
Bernadette: customer service rep. - she hated the calls filled with angry people. She clocked out, disconnected he phone, ran into her dorm and screamed into her pillow until calm. Once she calmed down enough she did some embroidery.
Dorothea: sales representative- has the highest upsale rate - she gets into her car and just leaves. She is still clocked in. Nobody knows where she went. Some say she met with a lover, others say she went on a binge. Nobody really knows.
Petra: bilingual sales rep. - she signed her phone off and immediately called up her family overseas. She proceeded to catch up and talk with her family for hours. She rarely got to speak with them due to the difference in timezones.
Blue lions
Dimitri: head of IT - he doesn't actually know much about IT and has little intrest in it. He got the job because his dad recommended him. With the outside website ban lifted and the lost of control of his department he frantically tried to get everything under control
Dedue: cyber security and protocol educator - although the bans are lifted he is still concerned about a cyber attack. He is frantically try to restore the ban but it seems like lindhart deleted the code.
Felix: hardware specialists - he was the one who should've been promoted into Dimitri's position and is a bit smug about how everything is falling apart in front of his boss. He bypasses the download blocker and plays minecraft on the company computer. Dimitri is too busy to notice that felix isn't helping.
Sylvain: HR rep. - he knew from the start that working conditions were shit. He was tired of trying to raise moral by doing everything but paying the employees more, giving them time off, and reasonable working hours. He went to the break room where Ferdinand and Lornez were having tea and ate a bunch of the snacks the company was reselling at super high prices then faxed a picture of his ass and balls to rhea herself as a letter of resignation.
Ashe: new hire in IT - was called down to the first floor to replace a keyboard a cat peed on. Found caspar was the reason the cats were let in. Caspar then persuaded him to play with the cats instead of shooing them out. 3 hours later he completely forgot about the strike and clocked out per usual. He completely forgot about the strike
Mercedes: head of HR - she meets with the board and discussed what to do about the strikers. They can't force them to go home since everyone striking lives on site and has every right to be there. No significant damages is being done to property. The only loss is from those not working (and a keyboard covered in cat piss and $35 worth of snacks) Mercedes is forced to find a way to get them to stop but in a way that doesn't really change anything. She leaves the meeting when it is over clocks out and returns to her modest house she calls out sick for the next couple of months.
Annette: HR rep - she tries to stop the chaos on the floor and to convince everyone to return to work. She is ignored. She wanted to ask for a megaphone to help gain attention but edelguard took the one from HR and the person with the key to one in the event closet is striking as well. She runs around in a paint trying to answer emails and settle everyone down.
Ingrid: IT helpline rep - helping Dimitri reset the ban on outside websites is above her pay grade. She at least know some of the terminology and the basics. She manages to set up a very basic blocker but it didn't block whole domains just the homepage of every website she could think of that's wasn't appropriate for work. Logging into the site allowed you to bypass the block. Ingrid feels like she will be fired for not being able to do more
Golden deer:
Claude: event planner - noticing that there was no work happening he finally decided it was time to actually do his job. He dipped into those sweet event funds and ordered as many pizza's as he could from every pizza join that could deliver. He busted out the sport balls and got employees to clear some room for flag football on the 3rd floor. He got Hilda to organize games of hide and go seek in floors 4 and 5. All games and activities were not officially approved but followed all guidelines.
Hilda: claudes assistant - organized games on the 4th and 5th floors. The cubicle although uniform made excellent hiding spaces and the food plaza just got rid of the old tables and chairs awaiting delivery of new ones so there was a ton of space to run around. Hidia had to jump between floors pretty often which was a workout all on its own but it was worth it to see everyone smile at work for once.
Lornez: head of advertising - he was tired of writing jingles and stupid commercials for the company. He wasn't aware of the strike until he got the email from Ferdinand. He offered to treat him to some tea he brought from home. They had a lovely talk and watched Sylvain stress eat. He tried to talk Sylvain out of resigning but failed.
Raphael: pizza delivery guy - he thought it was a joke at first since they never delivered pizza to the Serios Co but was persuaded by Claude. He got stopped at the front by the front desk clerk who was ordered not to allow any deliveries. Soon more pizza guys showed up and some of them where not as nice as Raphael. He eventually got in and successfully delivered his pizza.
Ignatz: accountant - he wanted no part of this and tried to work despite being on the 3rd floor. He doesn't have any PTO and is frantically trying to get his absence approved because he cannot work under these conditions. He got walled in with desks and chairs and hand to crawl his way out to try to find someone in HR to help him but found their office empty. Worst day of work ever.
Lysithia: Intern- hopes to join the advertising department - She needs this job for school credits so finding out that her boss told her to take the day off because of strike she immediately thought of her record. Lorenz assured her that she would get credit as long as he had any say in it. She played a round of hide and go seek before studying in Lornez's office
Marianne: customer service rep.- she heard the rumors and on the day of the strike she freaked out and when to have a panic attack in her car. She was on lunch technically but she took a 3 hour lunch. She came back in clocked out and decided to try that horse therapy.
Leonnie: pizza delivery guy (not nice) - she knows the customer didn't care that the order took so long to complete and was very understanding that the 30mins or less delivery time but seriously! 50 PIZZAS!! She had to stretch and press dough at top speed for like 45 mins then she burnt her hand while boxing some of the pizza's and she had to deliver all of it to this company just outside of town and now the person at the front door is insisting that the pizza was ordered by mistake oh no! Not today! You will take the pizza and you will pay for it and tip 25%.
Church
Rhea: CEO and founder - she honestly believes her practices are helping the community. She doesn't realize that she doesn't give her employees much choice. She thinks her employees are ungrateful.
Seteth: president - also believes the company is doing the best they can. He knows the dorms are small and brand but they house 78.364% of their employees and they all see a doctor at least 3 times a month. He hates that he has difficulty finding a balance between competitive prices, compensating workers, and turning a profit.
Flayn: secretary - she saw the fun going on in the 5th floor while on her lunch and thought it was organized by staff and didn't connect it as part of the strike.
Catherine: front desk - tried to turn away all the delivery drivers but more kept coming. She kept getting calls from upper management about the social media platforms and tried frantically to get in to make a statement but had little luck. She gave up when Leonnie demanded payment and let all the delivery people in.
Shamir: social media manager- she originally attended the meetings as a mole but soon learned that her fellow employees hardships. She drafted huge posts on every platform exposing the truth, changed all the passwords then took a vacation during the strike.
Hanneman: chief operational officer - he is calling and emailing the IT department about the bans every moment he can. He organized the meeting as soon as the strikers got rowdy.
Manuela: chief financial officer - although she is worried about the finances she has also been pressing about where to cut the budget first. Horse therapy is ridiculous! They own the whole ranch and are responsible for the upkeep of every horse. And all the horses are carefully hand selected and trained too. It's too much nobody uses the horse therapy because nobody has the time off to go to horse therapy!
Alois: Chairman - his title is mostly empty. He joined the strikers in a game of flag football scored a touchdown. Then went back to work as usual. Didn't check his emails about the strike since he only checks them in the morning when he first comes into work.
Gilbert: treasurer - he puts business first. Doesn't know his daughter works for the same company. Was friends with Dimitri's father. He is stressing about how the company will recover financially. He is the reason for the pay cuts so they can fund most of the benefits.
Cyrill: gopher - he gets paid minimum wage and lives on site. He considers himself lucky that he can drive the company car to go pick up office supplies from the store. He was homeless before he got a job at Seiros and feels like he is important.
Results
Since several members of the board were caught participating in strike activities the hubert and his firm counted them at strikers and used this in court.
The dorms were not considered responsible accommodations saying that prisoners in jail cells at least have their own toilet.
The news when crazy with the posts on social media. The account never replied to any dms or comments. When called they said a rogue employee posted them falsely because she was being fired.
Rhea was forced to pay a lawsuit that gave all dormitory workers an allowance of $1000 for rent for life. Even if they choose to leave the company.
Dimitri was fired for not actually having any training. Felix was promoted to the head of IT and everyone respects him.
Rhea looses her company. And most of her assets. She kept the therapy horse ranch and manages that for a living.
With the entire company now belonging to her since everyone above her resigned she made a ton of changes making the company more normal. She pays a fair livable wage to every employee. She repurposed the dorms into offices or solitary break rooms.
Huberts firm gets rebranded as a honest firm that wants to help the little guys. He later goes on to help other corporations unionize.
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Survey #368
“whatever doesn’t kill you, is gonna leave a scar”
Have you ever bought a YouTuber’s merch? My favorite shirt is the Day of the Dead design by Cloak, which is Markiplier's and jacksepticeye's clothing brand. Mom's friend/former co-worker also got me a Ninja Sex Party shirt because she knew I liked them. There are SO MANY YouTubers I wanna support by buying shirts. Do you think oatmeal tastes better when made with water or milk? Milk, 110%. Have you ever left a note in a library book? No. What time of day do you prefer to wash your hair? Morning. Has anyone ever spread lies about you? Yes. Have you ever taken a photograph with a celebrity? If so, did it turn out the way you wanted, or do you wish you could retake it? No. If you could move out of your home country permanently, would you? If so, where would you go? If it didn't mean being so very far from my family, I would love to move to Canada. Is there a celebrity that everyone else seems to love, but you find totally overrated? Why is it that you don’t like them? I legit don't know who's considered currently popular, and I especially don't know who they are as people. If you could volunteer for any charity, which one would you choose? Do you think it’s more important to help humans, or are animal and environmental charities equally important? Something relating to animals, and I think they're both equally important. Do you prefer holidays where you relax, or actually do things? I like a mix. Something chill, but you still do some stuff as a family. Do you think that after we die our spirit is still alive? Yes. Has anybody ever told you that you could be a model? Someone has mistaken me for a model in a picture I once took. It was one of the most flattering things I've ever heard, haha. Do you use different kinds of moisturizer for different body parts? ie. hand lotion for your hands, face cream for your face. Or do you just use one moisturizer for all body parts? Yes. Have you ever felt like you were someone’s rebound? No. Has anybody ever broken up with you over something really pathetic? What was it? Have you ever been dumped in a disrespectful way? (eg. through text, through a friend..) I have 100% been dumped in a very cowardly and disrespectful way; after dating Jason for nearly four years and being very serious, he broke up with me very abruptly over Facebook Messenger. His reason was valid, but at the same time, he NEVER talked to me about it. Apparently my depression was dragging him down. If he'd fucking communicated it, I would have explored new treatment options so goddamn fast. But no, he decided to snap his fingers and disappear. That's exactly WHY it was so traumatic, I think: it was so unexpected and sudden. Did you have a lot of role models as a kid? Animal enthusiasts like Steve Irwin and Jeff Corwin for sure. Do you feel like anyone looks up to you? Why or why not? God no. I'm just... not someone to aspire to be like. What was the last thing you found offensive? I'm not sure. Who is the nicest person you know? My mom. Do you feel safe in your country? I feel safe in NC, rather. Like I don't expect an atom bomb or terrorist attack or something in this obscure area. In the U.S.A. itself, sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. America is definitely not loved by every other country. Do you feel safe where you live? Not in this city, no. Have you been falsely diagnosed with something by a bad doctor? Yup. Did y'all know I apparently have ADHD? I know, shocking. Have you ever had a doctor refuse to treat you? No. Name the strangest game you’ve ever played (video game or real game): The first Silent Hill, probably. It took a lot of reading to get it. Do you know anyone who has been struck by lightning before? No. Which cartoon character would you want to keep as a pet? Does Stitch count? Or a Pokemon. Do you like marshmallows? Yes. What is your favorite flavor of candy cane? I really like the Jolly Rancher candy canes, I think they are? Have you ever fostered an animal? No. Do you still take hot showers when it’s hot out? Not as hot, but not cold except on very extreme occasions. When writing $ sign, do you draw one line through the S or two? Two. What animal have you always wanted as a pet but couldn’t have? I'm thankful that my parents were pretty open-minded to what pets I really wanted, but one I was never allowed to have was a ferret because of how messy and smelly they are. List three people you’ve had crushes on: Jason, Sara, and Sebastian were probably my biggest crushes. Have you ever thrown up from cramps? No, but god have I felt close. List three people you had a hard time forgiving. Jason, Colleen, and my dad. Who is the most spiritual person you know? Probably my sister's mother-in-law. Would you ever start a vlog? God no, I'd bore people to tears. Are your dreams coming true yet? I mean, I guess in some ways with my mental health. In my deepest depression, what I have now was a dream, even though current me is very discontent with it. Most of my dreams, though? No. Do you struggle with depression? I've been diagnosed with severe depression since 7th grade. Are you haunted by your past? A few things won't leave me alone. What medical conditions do you have? Just a lot. There are even more that are up for debate. I've talked about my diagnosed conditions enough. Do you use a Magic Bullet? No. What does your apron look like? I don’t have one. What are your favorite spicy foods? Hot Cheetos, Takis, hot wings, jalapeno pizza... Man, I love spicy food. Which do you like better: being an adult or being a kid? Being a kid. Were you excited to be a teenager on your thirteenth birthday? I had very mixed feelings. Did you feel insecure in high school? Shit, I still do. Would you ever be friends with someone who was suicidal? What the FUCK is this question? No fucking shit I would be. Someone being suicidal in no way affects who they are as a person. Who was the biggest bully in high school? I don't think there really was one. What was your favorite class in high school? Art. Would you rather have a daughter or a son? If I wanted kids, a daughter. Have you ever written to an advice columnist? No. Have you ever had a doctor not believe what you told him? Maybe? I did however have an employee at the ER the first time I went try to pry out of me that my self-mutilation was for attention, and it wasn't until I insisted about a dozen times that it wasn't that he believed me. It's odd looking back that I got REALLY attached to him during that stay, knowing now that it was absolutely horrible and extremely unhelpful for him to do that. If you’re female, would you feel uncomfortable having a male gynecologist? I would absolutely refuse to have a male one. Do you like Lisa Frank? Yeah, like can you talk about aesthetic. What gives you nightmares? Boy, I wish I could tell you, given how much I have them. Were you ever hospitalized as a child? No. Did you get senior pictures taken? No. What color is your bicycle? I don’t have one. Did you ever have to take home a fake baby in health class? No, thank fuck. Would you rather wear ivory or white on your wedding day? What color will your bridesmaids wear? I'd rather wear black. I think red will be the bridesmaids' color. Would you rather have a swimming pool or trampoline? I want a swimming pool so damn badly so I could exercise my legs without worrying about sweating, and I can stop and rest whenever I want, unlike going walking or something. I don't think my knees could handle a trampoline. Do you think babies are cute? Some, sure. But a lot, not really. Do you dream about the future a lot? Yeah. Do you think about your past a lot? Way too frequently. How good are you at living in the moment? I'm trying to get better at it. Have you ever questioned God’s existence? Yeah. Vanilla frosting or chocolate? Chocolate. What’s your favorite foreign cuisine? I've actually been exploring Italian pasta lately. I'm not a big fan of foreign food that I've tried, though. Have you ever moved to another state? No. Did you do anything productive today? No. .-. Can you say the alphabet backwards? No, actually. Do you like flowers? Of course; does anyone not? Have you ever thought you were gonna die? I didn't care if I did or didn't. What kind of mood are you in today? I was honestly really depressed through most of it. Just health stuff was really getting to me. I just woke up from what was honestly like a four-hour nap and I feel all right, I guess. What are you craving right now? I REALLY want Domino's jalapeno pizza. Is there anyone you would seriously punch right now if you had the chance? No. What is worse, physical or emotional pain? Definitely emotional. Have you ever walked in on somebody doing something… questionable? When Dad still lived with us, I think he might have been watching... you know... on TV when I came into my parents' room for something. Idk for sure though. I didn't ask, and I don't want to know. If you were to make videos on YouTube, what would they be of? Oh god, idk. I don't want to make any. What I'd have most fun with would be reptile education, but I 1.) have literally one snake, 2.) am not extremely educated on a good number of them and don't want to be misleading, and 3.) I would run outta content fast. So, leave it to Snake Discovery, haha. Posting pictures of yourself in a bathing suit on the internet - ok or not? Yes, it's okay????? If you're talking about me personally though, you won't see me dead in a bathing suit picture. Do you typically laugh when somebody falls down? No, I gasp and see if they're okay. What is the most disturbing movie you’ve ever watched? Paranormal Entity. The ending is... a lot. Your opinion of Katy Perry, please? I like a couple of her songs. If you could say anything to your Mom right now… what would it be? "Thank you for absolutely everything."
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2020 Fanfic Roundup
I’m following the same format as @catty-words​ so if I did it wrong... well, you can guess who I will be blaming (love you, Cori). Anyway, here I go!
Total Word Count of 2020: 112,490
Total Hits of 2020: 16,321
Other 2020 AO3 Stats: KUDOS: 1,320 COMMENTS: 197 BOOKMARKS: 149
(just for comparison)
Total Word Count of 2019: 19,242
Link and Titles to Works of 2020:
[Law & Order: Special Victims Unit] Too Close (5,342 words) - post “A Midnight in Manhattan” Amanda and Sonny discuss things she thought they would never bring up
[Never Have I Ever] Never Have I Ever… Hooked Up With My Arch-Nemesis (4,834 words) - In which Devi wants Ben to shut the hell up after she finds out he got into Princeton
[Never Have I Ever] Anemoia (n.) (2,641 words) - Rebecca is much more than just Paxtons sister
[Never Have I Ever] Sonder (n.) (11,615 words) - Five times Ben and Devi realize the other is human, and the one time it changes things
[Anne With an E] Flashover (n.) (6,986 words) - Gilbert runs a flower shop that Anne visits once a week
[Never Have I Ever] Agnosthesia (n.) (1,530 words) - the order of things about Ben that Devi falls in love with
[Never Have I Ever] let there be damage ensued and tabloid news (5,806 words) - five times Ben realizes Devi is beautiful and the one time she realizes he is beautiful, too
[Never Have I Ever] and that kind of love (2,391 words) - Paxton rescues a drunk Eleanor from a party
[Never Have I Ever] don’t expect me to play fair (5,049 words) - Eleanor is getting anonymous flowers after every performance on her first Broadway show.
 [Never Have I Ever] Ecstatic Shock (n.) (6,669 words) - Eleanor tries to have a simple rebound with a Tinder date that turns out to be Paxton Hall-Yoshida
 [Never Have I Ever] Pâro (n.) (7,328 words) - Devi asks Ben to fake being her boyfriend for a party, and everything goes wrong
 [Never Have I Ever] our coming of age has come and gone (7,566 words) - five times someone implied that Ben and Devi like each other, and the one time they admit it
 [Never Have I Ever] tried to change the ending (5,012 words) - Devi looks back on the track of her and Ben's relationship
 [Never Have I Ever] tossing pennies in the pool (4,585 words) - in the wake of Devi's breakup with Paxton, she attempts to figure out who she is
 [Never Have I Ever] rock n roll is here to stay (4,132 words) - in which Devi considers Ben and herself
 [Anne With an E] just think of the fun things we could do (5,722 words) - Anne reappears in Gilberts life
 [Never Have I Ever] and why i’ve spent my whole life trying to put it into words (16,724 words) - Paxton and Eleanor run into each other at the Sherman Oaks class of 2023 reunion
 [Never Have I Ever] Worlds of Starlight (8,558 words) - in 1878, when Shadowhunters begin to go missing, Ben Gross' search leads him to the doors of the London Institute-- run by the Vishwakumar family-- where Mohan Vishwakumar has just vanished
Favourite Fic: I really really loved my Rebecca fic, but I am also a little weak for coming of age
Hardest Fic: Worlds of Starlight has been the most difficult to write, in terms of risks being taken and just plain cultural things-- writing for characters you dont share a culture with is really hard because of nuances and such-- and I also had a bit of a hard time with tabloid news
Do you plan to take prompts in 2021?
I would love to take prompts! Alas, I am bad at writing them and overall I am not a very popular person or writer-- all of my interactions on my work are because my friends list them on fic rec pages and they are all cool and popular blogs-- so people do not tend to come to me seeking custom works. It would be lovely, though! Perhaps I should make a post about which fandoms I will write for… 
What was the best thing about 2020?
@catty-words @parkersedith @montygreen @feisties ← meeting them and tricking them into believing that I am worthy of their friendship and entrance into the writing squad
What was the worst thing about 2020?
Um… everything?
Any last thoughts for 2020?
Goodbye and thank you for NHIE
Goals for 2021:
Less fanfic related guilt (in terms of productivity) 
Actually get some prompts and have good ideas for them
Posting my friends birthday fics on their actual birthdays instead of a million years late (or not at all-- sorry, my loves)
I want to finish Worlds of Starlight and maybe come of with a better name for it
Maybe break 150K? Or 200K? That would be neat. And garner some more appreciation for eleanor/paxton, obviously
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𝕯𝖊𝖘𝖎𝖗𝖊
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𝔤𝔢𝔫𝔯𝔢: demon!au, poly!,au
𝔭𝔞𝔦𝔯𝔦𝔫𝔤: ateez x reader
𝔯𝔞𝔱𝔦𝔫𝔤: NC-17 
𝔴𝔬𝔯𝔡 𝔠𝔬𝔲𝔫𝔱: 2341
𝔴𝔞𝔯𝔫𝔦𝔫𝔤𝔰: violent, character killed.
- 𝔈𝔫𝔤𝔩𝔦𝔰𝔥 𝔦𝔰 𝔫𝔬𝔱 𝔪𝔶 𝔪𝔬𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔯 𝔱𝔬𝔫𝔤𝔲𝔢. ℑ𝔣 𝔶𝔬𝔲 𝔣𝔦𝔫𝔡 𝔰𝔬𝔪𝔢𝔱𝔥𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔴𝔯𝔬𝔫𝔤, 𝔭𝔩𝔢𝔞𝔰𝔢 𝔱𝔢𝔩𝔩 𝔪𝔢! 
- 𝔓𝔩𝔢𝔞𝔰𝔢 𝔤𝔦𝔳𝔢 𝔪𝔢 𝔰𝔬𝔪𝔢 𝔣𝔢𝔢𝔡𝔟𝔞𝔠𝔨! 
- ℑ 𝔞𝔭𝔬𝔩𝔬𝔤𝔦𝔷𝔢 𝔣𝔬𝔯 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔡𝔢𝔩𝔞𝔶!
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𝔠𝔥𝔞𝔭𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔬𝔫𝔢.
The blood that fell on the snow was even more intense, with the right hand holding the wound that had been inflicted, while the other was resting on the stone wall that was on the side, looking for some hold to balance. She had run away from the inn where she worked, because a group of men, the same who was now following her, had gone too far, ending up stabbing the poor girl, who at that moment was trying to remain clear.
Someone pulled her back, enough to make her drop on the snow. The contact with the snow made her eyes widen, she turned with her belly underneath and, with the strength that was left, she tried to crawl away from them, but with poor results, since one of the men took her ankle, dragging it towards them, laughing to crack skin.
<< Come on bitch! >> she felt an absurd pain, when a hand sank into her hair and pulled her head back. 
<< Leave me alone! >> she shouted with all the breath she had.
She felt the callused hands of the men touch her whole body from above the dress, only screams came out of her mouth, while salty tears streaked her cheeks. As soon as she felt the cold hit her back, she understood that no one would save her by now, but she could not help but scream in tears when she felt a tongue run over her back. When she thought she was gone, she heard footsteps approaching. 
<< What's going on here? >> a male voice reached her ears.
<< It's none of your business, >> said one of them raising her bust and making her turn towards the new group of arrivals: << Unless you want to have fun too >>.
As soon as she met her gaze with one of the boys, she felt a strange warmth in her chest. 
The boy widened his eyes and looked maliciously at the man who clutched her hair.
<< If I were you I would leave her hair >> said the tallest.
Areum, as soon as the man let go of her hair, fell forward breathing heavily. She had lost too much blood and the cold wasn't helping her. She knew she was dying.
Meanwhile, while the girl was slowly dying, the men who had surrounded her were suffering more than ever. Those young boys were killing them slowly. 
 Areum, having blurred vision and ears whistling, did not know if the arm that was a few meters from her face or the chilling screams that she heard in the background were the result of her fantasy or reality. 
After how long it is not known, she heard someone lift her, turning her towards the boy.
<< Heck, you're bleeding a lot ... >>
One of the tall boys moved her hair away from her face, trying to look her better in the eyes. 
<< Hongjoong ... why did we meet her right now? >> he whispered stroking her cheek.
<< I do not know why right now, when we have been looking for her for centuries >> he said stroking her cheek, feeling how cold her skin was.
A small lament came out of Areum's lips when the pain in her chest increased, causing her to close her eyes. 
<< Do not move, you will make things worse and you will suffer even more >> said a figure at her side.
She turned her head slightly and to her left saw the most beautiful man she had ever seen in her 20 years of life. He had shoulder-length black hair, black eyes and a sweet smile. Instead of the duramagi * he wore a dark blue Hanfu *, which at the movement of his left leg uncovered his entire leg, showing off a tattoo, depicting a dragon, covering his thigh.
<< Are you experiencing so much pain? >> said another man, entering her peripheral vision.
Areum licked her lips, trying to soften them, because they were too dry.
<< Yes, it hurts too much. >> as soon as she finished speaking, the pain became pounding, forcing her to squint.
<< Hongjoong >> said the same man who asked her about the pain: << At least make her die without feeling pain ... please. >>
The person concerned looked at the other seven men, who looked at him with a pleading look. He didn't know what to do, he wanted to make her feel as little pain as possible but, a law that had been stipulated between Heaven and Hell, forbade everyone. He ran a hand through his hair, ruffling it, trying to think of a way. He looked at the woman in Yeosang's arms, her skin was white as snow, and her hanbok, previously pink, in the center of the stomach, was completely covered in blood, which continues to flow profusely.
<< Ok I will >> exclaimed Hongjoong getting on his knees in front of the woman.
Hongjoong's hand landed on Areum's wound, while his eyes changed color to become red, a dark red cloud came out of his hand, which enveloped the girl's body. Meanwhile Areum, who was between the unconscious and the conscious, heard a strange voice in her head. She found herself in a circular forest, inside which there was a completely white weeping willow.
<< Where the hell am I? >> Areum whispered going towards the weeping willow.
<< Welcome to the dark >> a mass of voices greeted her.
<< Who are you? >> she answered alarmed, taking a step back.
The branches of the willow moved, allowing the entity to come out into the open.
<< I am Mammon, demon of Avarice. My human part has found you, unfortunately at the wrong time. >> the demon came over <<he asked me not to make you suffer and that's what I want to do, since my companions have asked me the same thing.>>
The demon ran his fingers through his fiery red hair, showing his eyes of the same color and a small pentagon which he had in the center of his diaphanous forehead. The nails of the hands were very long and white colored.
<< Who are your companions? >> asked the girl.
<< My companions? >> said Mammon, bowing his head slightly to the side: << They are Asmodeo, demon of Lust, Beelzebub, demon of the Throat, Belfagor, demon of Laziness, Amun, demon of Wrath, Leviatan, demon of the envy and Lucifer, demon of Pride. >>
<< Why did your human part beg you not to make me suffer? >> asked the girl, taking a step back when Mammon took a step towards her.
<< Because both me and my human part have found ourselves in you, as well as my other companions ... How can I explain it to you? >> he stopped for a moment trying to fix his thoughts and then continue: << Each person , human and otherwise, has a person to whom she is linked, called soul mate. This person is very important, especially for us demons; if a demon loses his soul mate, he will not be able to survive >>
<< Why won't it survive? >> she asked curiously. 
<< Because it's like you're halfway through. Half heart, half soul. You would not be able to understand ... it is such a strong emotion that it changes you forever. >>
Just when Mammon finished talking, Areum felt her body become gelatinous, making her fall on her knees on the black ground.Just when Mammon finished talking, Areum felt her body become gelatinous, making her fall on her knees on the black ground.
<< I see that Hongjoong has managed to make you die in the most delicate way possible >> said Mammon smiling with a sad look, approaching the girl.
<< Die? >> asked the girl placing her hands on the ground.
<< Yes, the boys asked him for this favor. Your soul mates asked him for this favor, even knowing the problems that this action will bring. >> Mammon put a hand on her shoulder, helping the girl to stand up.
<< Now what will happen to me? What will happen to them? >> Areum put a hand on Mammon's.
<< Now you will be a spirit in search of another body, now I will take you to the edge of the Dark to make you go to Heaven, while, they will only have to wait for your return, between pain and punishment. >> He placed a hand on her back, walking beside her.
<< Punishment? Why? >> asked the girl walking with him.
<< Because they violated a law stipulated between Heaven and Hell >> replied Mammon.
When they reached the border of the dark, she saw a completely white door, wide open.
<< Little Areum, it's time to go. We will see you soon >> exclaimed Mammon, who without giving Areum time to reply, pushed her inside the door, which closed immediately.
Meanwhile, when Hongjoong finished the ritual, he saw that Areum's eyes were completely closed and that her chest did not rise or fall anymore. He lifted his hand from above the wound and placed it on the snow, while black tears wet his cheeks. 
<< Hongjoong ... >> a whisper made him turn and saw Seonghwa next to him, who had striped cheeks.
He was about to respond to the older when a scream full of pain attracted everyone's attention. Wooyoung was on the ground, covering the left side of his neck.
<< Wooyoung! >> Jongho screamed kneeling next to the older.
Jongho squeezed both of Wooyoung's cheeks looking him in the eye. His eyes were changing color, turning blue.
<< What's going on? >> Seonghwa tried to lift Wooyoung's hand from the neck, but the latter pulled a claw.
<< It hurts! My neck! >> Wooyoung cried tightening even more the left part of the neck.
<< Hongjoong give me a hand! >> Seonghwa squeezed Wooyoung's wrists, while Hongjoong, who had just approached, turned Wooyoung's neck to take a look.
The other five boys couldn't believe their eyes. A tattoo had appeared on Wooyoung's neck.
<< What kind of flowers are? >> Yunho asked approaching to look better.
<< They look like a peony and peach blossoms >> replied Mingi.
<< And what do they mean? >> asked Jongho. << Peony means 'healing from madness' while peach blossoms mean 'family' >> replied San.
Hongjoong rose to his feet, helping Wooyoung. He straightened his now purple hair, and looking at the body of Areum the last time, he disappeared with the others.
*****
Planet Earth, year 2400.
Over the years the Earth had changed from bad to worse, the demons had come out of the depths of the Earth and made it their own; the few humans who remained had to face bloodthirsty demons or other humans who had gone mad every day. By now I was used to this reckless life, I walked the streets of Seoul always armed and with a bag on my shoulders, always full of medicines, food and some products for intimate hygiene. I had chosen to live a nomadic life, as houses and old apartments were always targeted by other human beings who had survived this drastic change. And now here I am, it was dawn and the only noise I heard, were my steps against the asphalt. That day, after a week's break in an old car shop, I had decided to start my journey again; I didn't have a specific destination, I only knew that this was not the place my heart was looking for. 
A noise behind me blocked my flow of consciousness, but I continued to walk, trying to make anyone who was following me believe that I hadn't heard him in the least. I turned right, towards an alley, hoping it would follow me and I kept walking, I hid behind a dumpster and waited, when it passed in front of me, I jumped up and tightened both arms around his neck, immobilizing him.
<< Why are you following me? >> I asked trying to hold my grip since the person was trying to make me lose it.
<< Your smell is familiar to me so I wanted to know who you were >> said the man, trying one last time to free himself.
Smell? Heck! He is a demon! But of all people and entities, I had to attract a freaking demon?
I immediately let go of him with a push. As soon as he turned I saw his purple hair slightly stained with blood, as well as his clothing. 
<<Well, now that you have seen me go away or I will use strong manners.>> I exclaimed when the latter got up from the ground, wiping his white pants.
<< Actually - he said coughing- with that veil that covers your face I don't see you at all >> 
<< But can I know what the heck do you want from me? >> I asked trying to keep calm.
<< I want to know who you are, I want to know why my sense of smell brought me to you! >> he replied desperately.
<< Do you think that I know it? >> my patience was reaching the limit.
<< Yes, do you have something that attracts demons? >> he stood up and began to approach me.
<< Do not approach! >> I screamed, pulling out my gun from the front pocket of my jeans and pointing it at him.
I didn't even have time to pull the trigger because, something or someone, pushed me to the ground making me fall on the concrete. I looked up and saw another demon, completely transformed, with purple eyes and black hair, with pink and long nails.
<< Wooyoung, are you okay? >> asked the newcomer, turning to the other boy.
<< Seonghwa don't hurt her! Smell the air! >> exclaimed Wooyoung, when Seonghwa walked towards me.
<< Why? >> Seonghwa asked looking at Wooyoung.
As those two continued to talk about their business, I jumped up and started running. I had to get away as quickly as possible! I didn't even make 50 meters that I found myself with both Seonghwa and Wooyoung on top of me. After a few seconds, Wooyoung  took off the veil that covered my face. Both boys had open mouths and wide eyes. A hand began to stroke my hair as I tried with all my might to get them off me.
<< We waited 980 years and 68 days >> whispered Wooyoung.
<< Welcome back Areum >> continued Seonghwa smiling.
What the hell had I gotten into? And who the heck was Areum?
Taglist:
@yangcaffeine​ @xxhzxqhxx​ @moonmin-miya​ @atiny-wooyoung​ @atiny-piratequeen​ @zaffiro99​
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benmcm18 · 3 years
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Group 7 Independent Project!
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Pre Production -
This is the second time I’m working with Group 7. It is truly an honour to be surrounded by such talented people. We have learnt from last time and we thought it would be interesting to switch up the roles. Here was what we ended up with:
Director - Jack
Cinematographer - Bonnie
Producer - Heather
Production Design - Ben
Editor - Heather
Writer - Tom
Here were also the tasks we sorted ourselves:
Write a 1-page proposal (synopsis and directors statement) - JACK (13th May)
Make the movie - Jack
Make a plan and a schedule for your work - Heather
Create a mood board (Each character) - Ben
Create a sonic world for the film (no dialogue / no voice-over) - Heather and Ben
Cut together a series of still images or sequences of footage to create a 2min film - Heather
Record some sound effects using objects you have in your room/ house - you can record on your phone. - Heather and Ben
Source and use sound effects and Atmos sound on Freesound. - Tom
Make a storyboard + animatic - Bonnie
Source footage - eg shoot, take stills, source stills, or work with stock footage from Film Supply to envision your idea - Bonnie
Shot list - Bonnie
Scriptwriting and development - Tom
Present it at the crit - receive feedback - Everyone
Write a short critical reflection on your blog. - Everyone
Songs - Everyone
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As Production designer I had to create a mood board. We had discussed in meetings what aesthetic we wanted to go for and I believe we ended up with a mixture between films like “Moonrise Kingdom” and “Fight Club”. Either way, these were two of the films I took inspiration from when working on the mood board of the film.
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Additionally, I had to think of the costume for both actors. For the man I chose to instead of having major differences in the two separate costumes to instead change them subtly to give a feeling he is still grounded in reality. So that means I added the glasses, changed the tie and gave him a watch to switch up how he looked. The Imagination costume is inspired from Ewan MacGregor’s character in “Big Fish'' we wanted to give him a full blue costume originally but I realised fairly soon that that wasn’t going to happen. So I adapted and decided to use his ties as a means of stating which reality he was in. When he is in the “dream world” he has a very colourful yellow tie but when he returns to his office I believe we went with a black/red tie.
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For the woman, I chose to give her a very colourful look. This was purely so she could match the imagination around her. I discussed with Bonnie about possibly putting flowers in her hair but for some reason we couldn’t find anything. In regards to the rest of her costume I gave her shades so that there would be a physical separation between the two. If he can’t make eye contact with her how is he supposed to connect.
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Overall, I’m very happy with the costumes and for a first attempt I’m actually quite proud.
Finally, set design. I had recently worked on a project called “Pied” where I had to create a whole set for my actors. That was pretty much my crash course for this independent project. Using the knowledge I can gain from creating that set I tried implementing it into the office workspace and the picnic arrangement. I’m happy with it but it will honestly be down to you to decide if I did a good job. If I could mention any little “fun facts” about what I did here would be a few:
I used a ping-pong table as the walls splitting the workspace
I tried spreading the food along the picnic like a wall that separated the two of them.
There is a jar of pickles in one of the shots. I don’t know who would bring a jar of pickles to a picnic but I thought it would be funny
On the back wall of the office there is a bunch of hidden Easter eggs *HOWEVER* David’s massive head covers them up!
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In regards to how the other team members did. We developed the script ideas until we landed on this one. Jack had a great idea about filming some really nice shots of food. We were actually quite a big fan of this idea. I just thought Heather’s idea would allow us to experiment more.
Tom then wrote a (very) detailed script in collaboration with Heather, Bonnie drew a genuinely fantastic storyboard (she is too hard on herself haha) and Jack prepared for the shoot. One issue that presented itself fairly soon was the fact we had two actors on set. However, our Producer (Heather) handled it like a pro and we managed to get the all clear. Overall, a very hardworking start with the promise of Bonnie doing a short animation for the storyboard. (I’m looking forward to hopefully seeing it)
Production -
The shoot day was very fun. We all arrived at 11:30am and we made our way over to the location. Originally, we had planned to film on top of a hill however, things quickly changed and Jack said there was a fantastic path to film on. I was fairly set on the hill idea (As I had imagined the scene being somewhat similar to the UP opening montage) but he said it was a better location and I trust him.
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So this is where it got a bit funky. It turns out the location had been converted into a dirt road since the last time Jack had been there. This was a bit demoralising as we had carried a lot of props out but luckily we had seen a location closer to the beach that could possibly work and the rest was history. That very location near the beach ended up where we would film.
With Jack directing and myself on camera we began to make our way through the storyboard Bonnie had devised. I have to be honest there were parts where we deviated from what was on the storyboard: For example, there is a section where he falls over however it didn’t look natural so we thought of another way to film it. This was where I got a bit carried away with VFX. In the long run I’m pretty sure everyone is happy with it but I wasn’t too sure at the time.
Jack did well as a director, he worked well with David and Kady especially when it came to movements of the actors. There isn’t any dialogue in the scenes so it's mainly physical language instead of verbal. My only advice for Jack would be to do a bit more research on the project before going onto the shoot because there were parts of the shoot where actors would ask questions about their character and I wasn’t confident he knew the answer.
In regards to me, I find it very hard to create something someone else envisions because I’m used to directing and filming projects on my own. I definitely think I improved on this project and having the storyboard and detailed script was a big help. I also felt I should have been more prepared as it didn’t look very good in front of the actors with me fiddling around with the camera because I had set it up in the wrong position.
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Overall, I think it was a very fun shoot and it went pretty smoothly. You're going to hit speed bumps on the way but I believe Jack and I handled them well.
Oh also, forgot to mention that I had to also record sound and label all the audio and footage for Heather (why do I almost call you Clair XD) It didn’t take as long as I expected and was actually somewhat therapeutic if you can believe haha.
Post-Production -
The post production process has been going well. We have plenty of time until the deadline and we have already got a very solid draft edit so I’m not worried. I just kind of want to get it finished.
First and foremost, Heather has been doing a fantastic job editing the video. She works efficiently, takes feedback on board and seems to me to have a very solid feel on the fundamentals of editing. Looking at the edit now, there are definite issues but nothing that can’t be solved in 10 minutes. It’s clean, fluid and most of all enjoyable to watch. I’m worried without a synopsis people might not get it but I guess you could see it as “up for interpretation” haha!
Before I talk about my role in the Post-Production process, I just want to mention who else is working on the edit as well. Bonnie is planning on adding some very small animations to the edit to give it that feeling of “not-reality” I think this is crucial because without the animation in the shots. When the man defies the laws of physics it will seem really strange. I believe Tom is doing sound, I’ve supplied them with plenty of audio from on set and am free at anytime to get more for them so it will just be down to when it is completed, I have faith that Tom will create something really special with the Sound design as he will probably blend the sound of the surrounding nature with cold office sounds. I’m excited.
Now onto the part I play. I offered to do the VFX for the film and I’m very happy with them. It’s nothing incredibly tedious to create. It’s very basic motion tracking and keyframing but I think using it in small doses works well and with it accompanied by the animation and sound it will take the film to new levels of quality.
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I’m just going to talk about the final VFX shot as it was the most challenging (but fun) part to work on. First, I had to figure out how I was going to get the image of Kady onto the wall without printing her because I realised I would be able to match up the shots if I had just zoomed out from an actual image. So I went for a bit of green paper. I motioned tracked it through After Effects and then played with the colour so it matched the scene. I then added an artificial zoom in Premiere and I got the final result. Now, it is not perfect in any means. I wasn’t able to track back any further than I did so the image in the paper actually moves but with the help of Heather and the use of changing aspect ratios I think it really works. I guess we will have to see how people respond.
So that is about everything on the project. I will be back to reflect next month on the finished project. Hopefully it turns out okay. Hopefully, it doesn’t turn into a train wreck. I’m sure it won’t :)
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