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fridayfirefly · 3 years

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All For The Investigation

Read All For The Investigation on AO3

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By Tim’s calculations, there was an 87% certain that Marinette Dupain-Cheng was the Parisian former hero Ladybug. However, 87% was not 100%, so Bruce required further investigation. Damian was stuck with the job.

Except, Damian knew that stuck wasn't exactly the right word. Stuck implied that he was displeased with the situation. Damian wasn't displeased. Marinette Dupain-Cheng was the most pleasant person in all of Gotham Academy. If Damian had to choose anyone to be forced to spend time with, he would choose Marinette. Though he grumbled about being forced to spend time with plebeians (for the benefit of his brothers, who would mercilessly tease Damian if they even suspected that he had a crush), Damian was quite pleased by the assignment.

Given that Marinette was in his history class, it was quite easy to arrange a situation in which they were forced to be in each others' proximities. When their teacher announced that there would be an upcoming group project with randomly assigned partnerships, it was simple for Damian to break into her office and switch around some of the names. When the partnerships were announced and Marinette and Damian were paired together, Damian made his move.

"Dupain-Cheng, if you would like to work on the project over the weekend, we can do so at my house."

"Sounds good, Wayne, but you know, you can just call me Marinette," said Marinette with a smile.

Damian felt flustered, which was a very bad sign. He never felt anything less than perfectly composed. "Then you may call me Damian."

Marinette's smile got even bigger. There was a feeling in his chest that, had it been caused by anyone else, Damian would have suspected it to be a complication of the broken ribs from Joker's last attack. "Let me give you my number, and we can plan a meeting this weekend. Would Saturday work for you?"

Damian nodded as he handed Marinette his phone. "My schedule is free on Saturday."

"Great!" chirped Marinette. She plugged in her number, then posed for a picture, explaining that it was, "For the contact photo."

And if in the privacy of his bedroom, Damian stared at that contact photo for twenty-minutes straight, it was just for research purposes. Just to compare Marinette's facial structure to that of Ladybug. Completely normal investigative business.

The next morning, Damian found his way to the bedroom of his most tolerable brother. "Grayson. Can I confide in you without any of the information getting to anyone else?"

Richard glanced up from his laptop. "Sure thing, Baby Bird." He patted a spot on the bed next to him,

"Don't call me that. I despise nicknames," grumbled Damian. He took a seat, staring at the wall in front of him, still weighing the risk versus reward of talking to Richard. If his brother had some technique for extinguishing romantic interest it would solve Damian's problem. However, if either Drake or Todd got word of Damian's crush there was no doubt in Damian's mind that they would never let him hear the end of it.

"So what's on your mind?"

"It pertains to the girl in my who Drake suspects to be Ladybug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng. She has become difficult to investigate. I have found myself unable to observe her objectively."

Richard frowned. "I'm not sure I know what you mean. Is it something that she did that's bothering you?"

Damian searched for the right words to explain the situation. He was not usually so tongue-tied, but the proper words seemed to escape him at every turn. "Dupain-Cheng is not what I expected. I assumed that it would be a simple task, to observe her and determine whether she has any connection to the Parisian superhero. However, I have found it difficult to concentrate on my mission when I am around her."

"You find it difficult to concentrate when you're around her. How so?"

Damian gritted his teeth. He didn't want to spell out his crush so obviously, but Richard seemed incapable of looking between the lines. "I have found myself preoccupied with trivial things like getting to know her personality, rather than investigating her background. She makes me feel... flustered."

Damian could see the moment that Richard made the connection. His brother's face lit up as he exclaimed, "You have a crush on her?!"

"Quiet!" snapped Damian. "This does not leave this room. I need to learn how to get rid of it, so I can get back to completing the mission."

Richard was grinning ear to ear. "That's not how crushes work. You can't just snap your fingers and have them disappear. The only thing that can get rid of a crush is time. Or sometimes if they get a haircut that kills the feeling. But mostly it just takes time."

"I cannot afford to wait for these feelings to fade. I'll look into scheduling her a haircut." Damian stood up, resolved to get rid of his crush before Marinette came over later that day to work on their project.

"No wait," Richard grabbed Damian's arm. "I doubt that your attraction to her is so shallow that a haircut would destroy the feelings you have for her. This is something that you'll have to talk to her about."

Damian frowned. "Perhaps I should give the mission to someone else. Jon could transfer to Gotham Academy for the semester. His detective skills are lacking but his judgment would be less clouded than mine. If I ignore her for long enough I'm sure that I can evade talking about my feelings."

"Why don't you just ignore the mission for a few weeks while you get to know her."

Damian fixed Richard with a death glare. "I cannot ignore this mission. Father gave it to me personally."

"How about twenty-four hours? You spend the next twenty-four hours in getting-to-know-her mode rather than background-check mode and at the end of it, we can regroup and decide what to do next. If you actually get to know her, you'll better understand the depths of your feelings. Once you have that understanding, you'll be able to see if waiting out your crush is a viable option or if you need to pass on the responsibilities to someone else."

It wasn't the perfect solution, but it was better than anything Damian had come up with. Anything that could potentially alleviate Damian's inability to focus on the investigation was worth trying. "Fine," Damian replied curtly. "Thank you for your assistance."

"No problem," said Richard. "You know, I would love to get to meet Marinette sometime."

"Don't push your luck," grumbled Damian, ignoring Richard's laughter as he stood up and left the room. There would be no way to hide the fact that Marinette was coming over to the Manor from his family. There was also no way that his family wouldn't intrude upon Damian and Marinette as they worked. However, if he explained everything beforehand and phrased everything in precisely the right way, he might be able to pass off his odd behavior towards Marinette as a part of his investigation. Damian pulled out his phone and composed a text to send to the family groupchat.

Damian: Dupain-Cheng is coming to the Manor at approximately 22:00 to work on a history project. I will be covertly conducting my investigation. From what I have gathered, she would respond better to subtle questioning, rather than a straightforward interrogation.

Tim: wait does subtle interrogation mean that you'll be flirting with her???

Jason: I need to see this

Steph: I'm willing to bet money that his flirting offends Marinette so much she storms out of the Manor before Damian can finish the mission

Dick: No way. I'll bet 20 dollars that his flirting works too well

Steph: done

Damian huffed, half tempted to call off his meeting with Marinette. His siblings were insufferable.

Damian: Please refrain from intervening. Confirming that Dupain-Cheng is Ladybug is a vital first step in determining whether the Justice League needs to interfere in the affairs of the Order of the Miraculous.

Bruce: Damian is correct. No one will bother him while he is working with Marinette.

Damian smirked as he turned his phone off. His plan wasn't foolproof, of course, but a direct order from Bruce to not interfere would force his siblings to be more subtle about spying on him and Marinette. The chance of him being interrupted was significantly decreased.

Damian got everything set up in the den, which was only ever used on family movie night. It was perfectly situated for the task at hand - a room small enough to be classed as cozy but big enough to not feel cramped. It was out of the way, surrounded by other equally unused rooms, so his siblings would have no excuse for lurking in the hallway outside. Damian brought in snacks, chargers, and a few books from the Wayne Manor library on Renaissance Art, the topic of their project.

Marinette arrived promptly at 2 in the afternoon, holding a Tupperware container full of gingerbread cookies, with a smile on her face. "Hi, Damian. I brought cookies."

None of his planning accounted for this moment, for first laying eyes on Marinette. Damian froze up, desperate to put the right words in the right order. "Welcome to Wayne Manor, Marinette. I have everything set up in the den if you'll just follow me."

"Sure." Marinette toed off her black boots and arranged them on the shoe tray next to the door. She was left in sage green cat-print socks that matched the rest of her outfit, a pine green sweater and black jeans. Damian couldn't help but wonder if she knit the sweater herself - Marinette's talent for designing was well-known throughout Gotham Academy, as it was what got her accepted into the prestigious high school in the first place.

Marinette followed Damian through the Manor, complimenting little details that Damian had never noticed before - the pattern of the curtains, the bay window in a sitting room that Damian had never bothered to enter, the family pictures that lined the wall in the hallway. Marinette made it seem so obvious to pay attention to those little details. Damian wished that he could see the Manor for the first time through her eyes and feel the same amazement that she felt as she oohed and awed over the decadence that Damian had considered banal.

Damian was so captivated by Marinette that he almost missed the fact that Drake and Brown were lurking in the study across the hall from the den. A text to his father about the gravity of his mission would be enough to get them sent away on some inconsequential but time-consuming task. Damian would have to find an inconspicuous time to pull out his phone during their work on the project to let his father know about their intrusion.

"Now I know why you call it Wayne Manor. This place is huge." Marinette shrugged off her backpack and set it down on the coffee table next to her container of cookies.

"Its size is entirely unnecessary for ordinary life," agreed Damian. "However, it makes for very challenging games of hide-and-seek."

Marinette giggled. "That sounds like fun. You'll have to invite me next time you play."

"I'll make sure of it." Damian smiled, surprised to find that his happiness wasn't forced. He rarely engaged in childish behavior, and even more rarely did he find any enjoyment in it. Yet the mental image of playing a child's game with Marinette was pleasant to him. The feelings he had for her were deeper than Damian anticipated.

The pair got to work on their project. Damian sent out the text to his father as soon as he opened his laptop, leaving Marinette under the impression that he was researching sources. A series of irritable texts in the family groupchat confirmed the fact that Drake and Brown had been removed from their hiding spot.

"Do you want to try a cookie?" asked Marinette, pushing the Tupperware towards Damian.

"Thank you." Damian took one, just to be polite. Growing up in the League of Assassins, he never really had a taste for sweets. Alfred's baking was the extent of what he would tolerate. He took a bite - small, to back up his claim that he already ate if it turned out to be inedible. Surprisingly, it was nearly as good as Alfred's gingerbread cookies, and those were tailer made to Damian's taste. The cookies were heavy on the ginger and cloves, just as Damian liked. "These are delicious," Damian professed.

Marinette blushed. "Thanks. I know they taste a little different than store-bought gingerbread. My parents make them with a lot of ginger."

"These are much superior to store-bought cookies."

"Thanks. You know, you're a lot nicer outside of school. You always seemed kind of grumpy in class."

"I'm not a fan of the state-mandated curriculum."

Marinette nodded. "I get what you mean. I barely have any room in my schedule for my design classes, with all the mandatory classes that Gotham Academy makes us take. I'm lucky that I have my internship, otherwise, I think I would go crazy, taking so many classes that I don't care about."

"Your internship is with Audrey Bourgeoise, isn't it?"

Marinette nodded. "I was friends with her daughter, back in Paris. Originally it was going to be a four-year internship in New York City, but I renegotiated some of the terms so that I could do the first two years in Paris, then the last two in Gotham, while she established the new branch of her company."

"You renegotiated the terms of a prestigious internship at the age of fourteen? Weren't you afraid of losing it if you pushed too hard?"

Marinette shrugged, nonchalant as if it were normal for an intern to make such a bold move. "I didn't want to leave Paris. My whole life was there. I wasn't ready to just pick up and move to a new country."

"What changed that you were able to come to Gotham?"

"There were a lot of reasons. Hawkmoth was the biggest one. I felt nervous about leaving my family and friends behind when he was terrorizing the city. After he was defeated I felt a lot more comfortable leaving."

That aligned with the theory that Marinette was Ladybug. "What were the other reasons?"

"My age was one. I didn't feel ready to leave home at fourteen and my parents didn't like the idea of me leaving home that young either. Another big one was the fact that I didn't have a good handle on my personal style. I was worried that designing full-time in Audrey Bourgeoise's office would cause me to lose my originality. The worst thing I could imagine was watering down my designs to appeal to the rest of the fashion industry."

"Your conviction is impressive. Most in your position would not worry about selling out to obtain such a highly coveted position."

"Audrey said the same thing, though when she said it, she spoke it with annoyance, not admiration. I've never been highly motivated by wide-spread success. I don't need to be a household name to feel content with life. I just want to design clothes that I'm proud of."

The fluttering feeling in Damian's chest returned with full force, alongside a tendril of anger at the unfairness of the situation. Here was the most perfect person Damian had ever laid his eyes on, and he was forced to pick her apart piece by piece to figure out her deepest darkest secrets. Damian didn't know much about relationships, but this didn't seem like the way they were supposed to go.

"You look upset," Marinette's observation was tinged by the worry in her voice.

"I'm not upset," he assured her. "I was just wondering how I never noticed how interesting you are."

Marinette flushed, her cheeks turning pink. "What does that mean?"

Damian shrugged. While his nonchalant attitude was all a bluff, his admiration of her accomplishments was all real. "Most of our classmates feel accomplished with the most conventional of achievements. Yet you secured an internship at the side of one of the most renowned fashion critics in the world and you still stay humble about it. You weren't blind-sighted by the incredible opportunity. You fought to maintain your values, no matter if it meant losing something priceless."

Marinette's blush deepened. "That's just who I am. It's not special, it's me."

"It is you," agreed Damian. "And it is special."

Marinette gave him a wide-eyed look, shocked by the emotion in his words. "We should get back to work," she said, self-consciously rubbing one cheek with the sleeve of her green wool sweater.

"Of course," Damian amicably agreed. He had pushed far enough for intel and had managed to get to know her a little better in the process. His flirting wasn't as blatant as it could have been, but it got the job done. Richard had said that once he knew the depths of his feelings he would know what to do. Richard was right. Damian's feelings were seemingly endless, a maze of all the things he liked about Marinette, in which every corner he turned was a new quirk that he couldn't un-notice. Yet Damian didn't want to pass on the responsibility of investigating Marinette to anyone else. He wanted a reason to spend time with her.

It wasn't the best situation. Damian wished that he could get to know her organically. However, Damian wasn't the type to dwell on the could-have-been. He had an opportunity to get to know Marinette right in front of him and he wasn't going to let it go.

Hours later, after Marinette went home, Richard stopped him in the hallway. "So what did you learn?"

"My investigation has proven inconclusive. I need to further get to know Marinette Dupain-Cheng if I want to uncover her identity. For research purposes, of course."

Richard laughed. "Of course."

#maribat #daminette #marinette x damian #maridami #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #Damian Wayne #miraculous ladybug fic

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munku-collar · 3 years

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This is your open invitation to infodump about an opinion you've been wanting to share. Go off, friend 💙

Actually had a convo about this with my gf today that a lot of people fundamentally misunderstand Demeter as a character which I've def complained about before but specifically when it comes to her sense of fashion or appearance in human AUs.

For some reason there's this tendency to make her dress modestly or somewhat plain, to make her look like a goody-two shoes, which is not the case at all. At face value Demeter and Bombalurina are the "sexy cats" of the show. Their makeup is the most human/least cat like and designed specifically to make them attractive, and the choreo in the macavity number oozes sensuality and the song itself hints at a very active sexual and dark side of Demeter which she shared with Macavity.

Yes, she knows the things he's done are terrible and left him behind and now can offer warning, but there's nothing to say she didn't also enjoy things with Mac when they started out, which I always talk about whenever I mention Demecavity. It's a direct parallel to Grizabella honestly, in that they both were out in the world doing things that were perhaps morally questionable in pursuit of either romance, fame or belonging, and neither situation worked out. That's probably essay worthy in itself, but I'll leave it there for now.

Anyway, the fact that Macavity is obsessed with Demeter and wants her back is a direct indicator that Demeter has a naughty side or has an edge to her, because Macavity would not fall in love with a run of the mill goody-two shoes who just fawns over him. There was something in Demeter that he related to and found exciting and attractive, and it certainly wasn't because she is the type of person to wear sweater vests and modest dresses or even casual wear with sneakers.

Design-wise her appearance is more wild compared to some of the other queens and some productions push this really far with her wig. She's one of the handful of cats to wear a spiked collar and there are some parallels between her eye makeup and the trad goth fashion movement. See examples here.

(2nd photo on the top row is of the lead singer of Siouxsie and the Banshees which is a band featured on my Demeter playlist because their music just Screams Deme.)

Yes, she is a very loving character, and is sympathetic, especially towards Grizabella, but there's an underlying strength in her and even a hint of darkness compared to a lot of the other cats. It's even in her color scheme: she's got white on her chest over her heart, indicating a sense of purity, which extends to gold, making her attractive and "valuable" or covetable, but the gold is shrouded in black, which suggests that she's tainted by encroaching darkness, regret, and in my eyes, anger. These details in her appearance are directly transferable to her personality, which a lot of people misread.

There's a tendency to make Demeter this fearful, defenseless creature in order to make whichever character she's shipped with, whether it be Munk or someone else appear stronger or more capable and caring, which I don't understand. She is shown to be very alert throughout the show, warning the tribe of potential danger every time and she isn't afraid to use her voice. She participates in all the activities, doesn't hide away(in some productions she does which is an intentional change but on the whole she's Involved in the tribe) and she is the one to reveal Macavity's deceit. She is the one to physically attack him first. Demeter is not demure and incapable of taking care of herself or others. She has to have a sense of fire or strength in her for the story to work. Like I've said, there has to be a reason Macavity wants her back so bad.

And women, contrary to popular belief, are 3 dimensional, so yes she can have moments of vulnerability or anxiety, but that is not all she is. She's capable of experiencing a range of emotions and presenting herself in more than one way, which many people tend to forget. And this happens with several characters, in every single fandom I've ever been in, where people reduce a character to a handful of emotions or quirky traits in order to ship them, or turn them into props for other ships, or because they simply don't put in the effort to analyze a character. I'm not sure why it happens but it's something I've consistently noticed and it irritates me to hell and back.

So how should Demeter be presented in AUs or drawings where cats are wearing human clothes? Simple and goth or grunge leaning. Black clothing with hints of brighter colors mimics her fur pattern. Perhaps a gold shirt or dress. Goth inspired makeup(whether full goth or a more subdued look) directly parallels her facial markings. Black leather jacket. Tall boots or heels. The collar. The collar should always be there, whether it's her actual collar or a similar dramatic necklace. Obviously she can wear a range of things depending on the situation, but the overall vibe should be the same: Trustworthy with a hint of edge.

The goth umbrella is very large and filled with many fashion motifs and movements including anything from leather to lace, and of course Deme can lean outside of a specific type of fashion too, but the overall style should be a mixture of grungy, sexy, and casual, in line with her characterization. Low necklines but long sleeves. Short skirt but long boots and oversized jacket. Something that indicates that she seems like trouble, but is very in control of her self presentation, and most importantly, her clothing isn't performative. She doesn't dress for anyone else's happiness, she dresses for her own.

For a character with such apparent trauma who has, for the most part, found happiness, her clothing should be a form of armor or a form of visual storytelling. She should look comfortable in her clothing, because she's become comfortable in her own skin again, and should wear it with pride, as she wears the title of Jellicle. This is moving into character design territory, which I'm not going to go into too much even though I could (art degree 🤪) but yeah.

I suppose I'll leave off with some outfits I would put her in, if I wasn't too lazy to draw. Some of these are more on the tame side, indicating that she's found a sense of easy confidence and honestly, rehabilitation, but they all share visual traits. You can imagine they all are in her wardrobe/belong to the same person. A sense of coherency is a must when picking a style for a character, and these looks, combined with either subdued trad goth or full trad goth makeup accurately reflect Demeter's character much more than something like pastels and lots of florals, or sweater vests, or a simple graphic t-shirt and jeans.

No shade to anyone who draws her like that, because people make beautiful art, but in my eyes it's not the most accurate representation.

Lastly, don't come arguing. This is my blog, my opinion, and quite frankly I don't care to read any differing ones 🤪 This is a very personal topic to me and it's my blog so I'm always right. Don't agree? Keep scrolling ✌

#my shit #asks #demeter #cats demeter #demeter cats #cats 1998 #cats the musical #JH #macavity #grizabella #demestrap #demecavity #no this is not going under a cut cuz yall WILL read this #get educated

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n-ctarinenga · 3 years

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the warmest home [ cottagecore!ashton blurb ] | 995 words

From an outside perspective, you and Ashton were quite the odd couple.

Until you looked closer, noticing Ashton's chipped black nails from hours of digging in soil, your earrings made from hand picked flowers set in resin, and the smell of mint and wildflowers on your sun-kissed skin, that is.

Both of your friend groups joked about your relationship at first, both of you really proving right the old saying about opposites attracting.

You and Ashton have, for the most part, always been people who are confident in yourselves when it came to how you presented to other people. The difference was while you lived in fishnets, velvet and platform shoes, Ashton was much more at home in light cotton, plain jeans and his feet in the dirt, a pair of boots and a leather jacket if he's feeling fancy.

You were the odd couple, visually. But after being together five years, and living together for three of them, you were more comfortable around each other than anyone else in the world.

The house you called a home with Ashton was slightly eccentric. Paisley rugs covered the floors where dark woods hid underneath, plants hung and sat in any available space they could sit, Halloween decorations sat out all year round, and your door stayed open for anyone of your friends at any time of the day.

Turns out when you mix goth and cottagecore together for an interior design aesthetic, the theme turns out to be warmth and comfort for as many people as possible.

As you wake up, you feel that warmth as the first thing you notice is the warming spring air coming through your open window. You hazard a guess Ashton opened the window after getting up himself, and are proven right when you reach your arm out for your boyfriend, instead only finding the coiled body of you fluffy black cat Siouxie instead.

You wipe the sleep from your eyes as you open them slowly, turning over to see your little napping buddy and reaching out to stroke her fur down from sticking up on the top of her head.

"Good morning, princess." You say, slightly groggy and quietly, but good enough to earn a small meep.

Yawning as you swing your legs out of bed, your feet hit the floor, and you grab Ashton's shirt from the night before to pull over your body while you summon the inner strength to go through your daily routine of getting ready.

Walking out of your room, you're met with a hallway filled with pictures of your and Ashton's adventures and loved ones, taking special care to acknowledge a couple in particular as Siouxie follows you down the hall and downstairs.

You can already hear music softly playing as you make your way through the house, coming to the back door and smiling at the sight of the man you love already hard at work in the veggie patch closest to your back porch.

It surprised you Ashton waited this long to plant his snow peas, convinced he was gonna leave your bed in the middle of the night to do them after hearing him excitedly talk about the sprouts he had successfully sewn.

Walking past you out the back door, Siouxie curled into her favorite spot in the sun next to General Cluckers, who sat on one of the mismatched outdoor chairs you kept on the back porch. Ashton did his best to deny he had a favorite chicken out of the few that called your yard a home, but it was obvious Cluckers had a special place in his heart, being the first chicken he had ever adopted.

Turning to the kitchen instead of going out the door, you pull your favorite mugs from the cupboard, setting the kettle on top of the stove and preparing tea bags into the mugs while you wait for the water to boil.

You take a moment to yawn again, stretching out your muscles not quite adjusted to being up yet when your attention is caught by your front door opening, looking out into the hallway to see who had arrived.

You smiled as you saw Luke closing the door behind him, pulling another cup from the cupboard and setting it beside yours and Ashton's. It wasn't unusual for the guys or any number of your other friends to show up and make themselves at home.

Hearing his feet coming down the hallway, a noise of surprises comes from Luke as he turns into the kitchen.

"Who the f-" Luke starts before interrupting himself as you turn to him, "oh jesus christ y/n you scared the shit out of me." He breathes out a sigh of relief, hand on his chest dramatically.

Confused, you raise an eyebrow as you pour water into each of the mugs in front of you.

"Scared you?"

"Yeah, well," Luke gestures to your outfit, "I don't think I've actually seen your legs without jeans or fishnets before."

You roll your eyes as you let out a chuckle, handing him a cup of tea.

"And I don't think I've ever seen your hair without grease." You joke, reaching a hand up to ruffle his hair with a laugh.

Luke huffs jokingly, smiling as you pick the cups up and nodded your head towards the backyard.

"Come on, Ash is out the back."

To be continued one day

#Ashton irwin #5sos #Ashton 5sos #ashton irwin imagine #Ashton irwin fanfic #Ashton irwin blurb #Cottagecore!ashton #Gardener!Ashton #5 seconds of summer blurb #5 seconds of summer imagine #5 seconds of summer fanfic #5sos fanfic #5 seconds of summer

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amphtaminedreams · 3 years

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Sitting Front Row at...(On a Budget Obvs): Lookbook no.15

Hey to anyone reading!

And welcome to my fave lookbook I’ve done in a longggg ass time! Yes, that’s partially because it involved making collages and doing the low effort work of scouring Vogue Runway for “research purposes”, but I promise, that statement wasn’t made out of COMPLETE laziness-I am super happy with it too. It’s been a good use of pre-part-lockdown-lift time in the interim between that brief period of Christmas celebrations and eateries finally fucking opening again because let’s be honest, I always knew I was gonna get distracted by oat milk vanilla lattes and veggie all day breakfasts once I could actually sit down with them at my fave local cafe. You could say I was very much operating on a self-imposed deadline.

The “what I would wear to sit front row at...[insert designer here]” TikTok/Instagram reel trend was something I wanted to get on board with ever since I first saw one and whilst the option of doing my own live action take-I really cannot bear the thought of having to edit footage of myself awkwardly attempting to sit nonchalantly in front of a camera for hours on end-was off the cards considering my complete lack of screen presence, I decided a Tumblr text post would work just as well, and if not even better in a way. Given the absence of the time limitations you face when you’re making a reel or a TikTok I thought it’d be cool to present the looks as part of a mini moodboard for each designer which adds a bit of context to each look even if you aren’t familiar with their past collections and establishes the general vibe of the brand I’m attempting to replicate. Not to sound snotty or as if I am the font of all knowledge on anything high fashion related but even with my amateur knowledge I noticed that as the video trend took off and was adopted by big name influencers, it became less about the average person putting their own personal spin on the aesthetic of the labels we can’t ordinarily afford and more about them building outfits that only vaguely resemble the general public perception of the brand around the real corresponding (and often gifted and thus inaccessible to someone who doesn’t makes thousands for a sponsored post) pieces they own SO I thought I’d take the trend back to its roots and get a bit resourceful. All that being said, in no particular order, here are the outfits I would wear to sit front row at Gucci, Vera Wang, Miu-Miu, Marc Jacobs, Dolce & Gabbana, Brock Collection, Alexander McQueen, Etro, Burberry aaaand Saint Laurent based on their past collections and guess what? They didn’t cost a shit tonne of money :-)

-disclaimer: will include an asterisk before any new purchases if from a high street store though to be honest, I don’t think there are any, we shall see! I do include where I got old purchases from in case anyone wants to search anything on Depop/Ebay-

1. Saint Laurent (formerly Yves Saint Laurent)

-blazer from identityparty on Depop, pleather trousers from Zara, jewellery from Dolls Kill-

I know technically abbreviating Saint Laurent to YSL doesn’t really make much sense anymore given the brand’s name change in 2012, but I’ll always think of it as that in the same way I’ll always associate it with the slightly dishevelled yet simultaneously glitzy rock n’ roll aesthetic. The thing is, whilst YSL hasn’t done anything wildly out of the box for a long time, it’s rare they put a look on the runway that I wouldn’t wear; they never end up being a fashion week standout but the Parisienne take on grunge we’ve seen Anthony Vaccarello establish as his go-to will always have a place in my heart.

2. Alexander McQueen

-embroidered leather jacket from Ebay (originally Topshop), harness from Amazon, dress from ASOS, boots from Koi Vegan Footwear-

Alexander McQueen is a brand that is pretty much universally liked, from the historically extravagant and groundbreaking shows the man himself put together to Sarah Burton’s more toned down but still beautiful collections. Obviously I didn’t attempt to do justice to the former, so I tried my hand at putting together a look inspired by Sarah’s blend of delicate femininity and nomadic edge, and it went...okay? Like it’s definitely not my favourite of all the looks because it does give off slightly cheap copycat vibes buuut outside of the context of this lookbook it’s cute.

3. Brock Collection

-boater hat from Ebay, midi skirt from morganogle on Depop, corset top from ownmode_, heels from amybeckett1, bag from Primark-

Brock isn’t as well known a brand as most of the others in this list but I adore everything Laura Vassar Brock does and I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to try and channel the vision of one of the OG pioneers of the cottagecore vibe through my own wardrobe. I mean fr, this woman’s work as a steady provider of meadow photoshoot worthy dresses and corsets and skirts is v slept on and I will not stand for it. I will sit in front of a camera and then write a paragraph in my blog post begging anybody who reads to give LVB (an abbreviation I acknowledge is unlikely to catch on because Lisa Vanderpump anybody?) some form of acknowledgement for her services to period romance novel inspired moodboards everywhere.

4. Marc Jacobs

-coat from House of Sunny, white shirt from Retro World Camden, co-ord from Sugar Thrillz, bag from Poppy Lissiman-

If there’s one thing Marc Jacobs always does, it’s COMMITS. TO. HIS. THEME. I just KNOW he has a secret Pinterest with separate boards for every fashion era of the 20th century and he is putting those boards to good use providing us with collections that are as immersive as they are eclectic year in year out.

5. Miu Miu

-beret from H&M, hair clips from H&M, jewellery from Primark, coat from mollyyemmaa on Depop, shirt from YesStyle, sweater vest from YesStyle, skirt from Depop, diamanté belt from Brandy Melville, shoes from Koi Vegan Footwear-

We all like to talk about Bratz dolls and Monster High dolls and Barbies as fashion inspo but can we all focus on Cabbage Patch dolls for two secs so as to acknowledge the fact that a Miu Miu collection is basically all their fits grown up? And made boujie as fuck? If I want my fix of Wes Anderson meets Scream Queens (what a combo) inspired outfits, if I want prissy and girlish but also glam, if I want to look like a bratty rich girl whose one redeeming quality is her eye for vintage clothes, I know where to look and that is the Miu Miu section of Vogue Runway.

6. Vera Wang

-blazer as in no.1, velvet bralet from catdegaris on Depop, harness from Amazon, skirt from Ebay, knee high socks from Ebay, lace up boots from Ebay-

Vera Wang’s RTW aesthetic, a blend of the ethereal, ultra-feminine bridal designs she’s known for and British style punk rock influences, is something I feel has only become firmly established in recent years but it is everything I ever wanted and more. I always find myself trying to balance the part of me that loves everything girly and delicate and pretty and the part of me that would love to be in a biker gang and Vera’s collections are always an inspirational reminder of just how well it can be done.

7. Burberry

-coat from charity shop, suit from emmafisher3 on Depop, top from simranindia, shirt underneath from Zara, jewellery from ASOS-

Now I’m not gonna lie, I’m not the biggest fan of Burberry but there have been a few looks over the past few years I’ve really liked and as someone who owns numerous trench coats, high necks and way too much plaid, I thought it’d be an easy one to replicate. Plus, if you can count on Riccardo Tisci for nothing else you at least can rely on him giving you some layering inspo which is very much needed in a country where it literally just snowed in April and where my plans for today have just been cancelled because the iPhone weather app did a Karen Smith and didn’t predict rain for today right up until it started raining so thanks for that one British meteorologists. Your incompetence strikes again.

8. Etro

-corset from Urban Outfitters, vinyl trench coat from Topshop, boots from Ebay, black slip dress from kaoanaoleinik on Depop, fur trim afghan coat from louisemarcella-

Like with Brock Collection, Etro isn’t a hugely well known brand, but it is always one of my favourites-to add a spanner into the works of any attempts to cultivate a firm sense of personal style, I live for the ornate Bohemian look that Etro does so well just as much as I love both grungy and girly pieces, and so I really wanted to include a brand whose collections go down that route. It was a toss-up between this and Zimmerman, the flirtier, free spirit counterpart to the dark romance of Veronica Etro’s designs; her vision really shines through the most when it comes to the brand’s winter collections, imo, and given that I live in a country where winter or some weather state resembling it does seem to take up 70% of the year, I did decide on channelling her work rather than that of the equally talented Nicky and Simone Zimmermann this time round.

9. Dolce & Gabbana

-flower crown from ASOS, tiara from Amazon, earrings from YesStyle, dress from alicealderdice1 on Depop, opera gloves from Ebay, boots from Koi Vegan Footwear-

D&G is a brand I felt really conflicted about doing-I don’t include their current collections in my fashion week reviews based on the actions of designers Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce over the last few years because I don’t want to mitigate the collective effort of fashion critics to push them towards irrelevancy. Though people like to claim the brand has turned a corner since Lucio Di Rosa was brought on board as the manager of celebrity and VIP relations last year (they are as prolific a force on red carpet fashion as ever), we haven’t seen any real meaningful apologies or reparations made by Dolce and Gabbana themselves which once again leaves us in the all too familiar quandary of whether or not we can separate the art from the artist especially when it is far too much of a simplification to only credit the two men for their work given there’s a whole design team behind them. There are a LOT of shitty people working in fashion, the whole industry is a bit of a cesspit if we’re honest, but I don’t think that should stop us from at least being able to appreciate old collections if we make sure we aren’t engaging in any kind of promotion of current works whilst doing so. D&G are a brand of high highs and low lows, with looks that range from hideously ugly to showstoppingly beautiful in a single show-when the looks are good, they are GOOD-and their presence in the fashion world is most definitely felt whether we want it to be or not. It would just be shit to refuse to recognise the existence of some real iconic runway moments, the practical work that went into the ornate detail and opulence that helped cement D&Gs place in sartorial history, the styling that’s made goddesses and fairytale queens out of modern day women as they’ve glided down catwalks, the far more extravagant and, let’s be real, sexier version of our world D&G shows have transported us to in the past. Will I talk about D&G ever again? No, and if you Google the scandals their brand has faced over the past few years, there are more than enough reasons why, but just this once I did want to pay homage to some of the collections, the snippets of which I saw on my Tumblr dashboard back when I was about 13, that first got me into fashion.

10. Gucci

-fur coat from Topshop, clips from Zaful, glasses from Ebay, dress from gracewright246 on Depop, shirt from Boohoo, blazer from charity shop-

Now last but, if you ever read any of my fashion week reviews (the likelihood of someone actually having read one of them and reading this is incredibly, incredibly slim lol, I wouldn’t read me either) you’ll know, definitely not least, is Gucci because Alessandro Michele comes through every!! single!! time!!

The man is truly the king of quirky throwback maximalism and it hurts my heart that a lot of people seem to think of it only as a brand associated with ostentatious displays of wealth. Year after year since Michele was made creative director he has released purposeful, fully-fleshed out collections which unravel themselves to us on the runway like time capsules containing the belongings of the rich and whimsical and yes that can sometimes result in outfits which are *ahem* a bit mismatched but it doesn’t matter because through fashion he manages to take us to a vivid version of the past where people could dress as freely and lavishly as they wanted to, into the wardrobe of a person unaffected by the side-eyeing of others. You get the impression he doesn’t design so much as plays around with some kind of enchanted dress up box and takes inspiration from there and to give that impression is only a credit to his talent-to make outfits so kooky and extravagant look like they were meant to be takes a boldness and genuine love for clothes that I do tend to feel a lot of the big name designers have lost in the pursuit of profit and the necessary placating of the dying customer base that keeps that coming in. Of course I'm not for a second saying Gucci does not care about profit, but at the very least, they have on board a creative director who genuinely has fun with what they’re putting out there and wants to make a statement too and that really shows; you can rest on your laurels and sell tweed boucle jackets to rich old white women for eternity but nobody’s going to mention your brand name and the word groundbreaking in the same sentence ever again unless they’re talking about what it was a century ago, you know (mentioning no names...unless...did I hear someone say Chanel)? That feels like such a shady way to end, lol, but I’m sure said brand will survive-to be fair, they’ve been included in every other What I’d Wear to Sit Front Row At video I’ve seen so although I’m always slagging them off for doing the saaaaame thinggggg year after year, for that same reason their aesthetic is instantly recognisable and so will always be a source of imitation. There are obviously pros and cons to being a brand which constantly reinvents itself but I think it’s totally possible to do that whilst maintaining an overall mission, and Alessandro Michele’s work at Gucci demonstrates that with ease.

Anyway, if you got to here, thanks for reading! I know I’m super behind on this whole TikTok trend and I know a Tumblr post instead of a video is a bit of a cop out but all the real, physically awkward ones out there know that watching yourself back is excruciating lmao, so I hope this does the trick. After this, I’m gonna get back to the reviewing S/S21 collections post though knowing me I’ll probs take a few days to get back into that because I feel like since I left full-time education (RIP me going back in a few months) writing continuously like this for any longer than about 15 mins fries what brain cells I have left. Again, thank you for reading and if you are, sending many good vibes your way! Stay safe!

Lauren x

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thdorkmagnet · 3 years

Text

The Queen of Hearts

Hey everyone! Happy Valentines!!! I hope you all are having a great day today! Since it’s the holiday all about love I had to do something Starco to celebrate the day! I’m pretty happy with the result too!! I made it as cute and fluffy as I could but with my typical splash of drama because I like it haha!! I really hope you all enjoy!! and a great big thank you to my very dear friend @kikithefox231 who actually helped me finish this fic up so I could get it out on time!! It was really fun to collab on the end and it makes it even more special to me knowing I got to make it with someone I care about! I may not have anyone romantic in my life to celebrate this day with but I got tons of friends, family, and fans who really help make this day special to me!! So yeah lots of love to you all!! Thanks for keeping me going!!

Star was insecure about her cheeks. At first Marco would have thought that was ridiculous, after all Star wasn't the insecure type. He was the self conscious one, Star was strong and confident and was never shy about her appearance.

But lately Marco had noticed a change in her demeanor, a crack in her confident armor. She had seemed to despise her cheeks. At first it wasn't obvious, just little things like shying away from cameras or not looking directly in mirrors. But then it started to progress. During winter Star had had a large rainbow scarf which she always kept wrapped around her face, muffling her voice and most importantly hiding her cheeks. Even when the weather didn't demand it she would insist she was cold and needed.

Obviously this had tipped Marco off something was wrong. And thus began trying to piece together what was upsetting his loving girlfriend. He played close attention to her behavior and noticed her tendency to cover her cheeks when out in public. If someone mentioned anything having to do with her appearance, no matter what it was, Star's hands would instinctively move to her cheeks. To anyone else it would look like Star was merely flustered, but Marco knew better. She was hiding.

But the one that hurt the most was whenever Marco would try and kiss her on the cheek. Everytime Star would flinch as soon as his lips touched her skin. It was for only a second and she always covered it up with a bright smile and playful banter afterwards but it was still there. It still hurt. At first Marco had thought he was being paranoid but with all the rest of Star’s strange behavior that didn’t seem likely. He tried not to take it personally but… it was hard not to.

And then there was Star’s clothes. Her outfits, while always cute and adorable, had begun incorporating hearts into their design. Marco was almost impressed with the many, many ways his girlfriend had found to decorate her cute outfits in hearts. Dresses, skirts, bracelets, hairclips, boots, sometimes it was subtle, sometimes it was obvious, but there was always some kind of heart design on her person at all times. Luckily, this last clue had helped Marco finally figure out what was going on with his sweet bestie.

Star missed her cheekmarks.

Marco couldn’t blame her for that. After all, they had been a part of her for such a long time, most of her life, in fact. Losing them had to be hard, like she had lost part of her identity. Marco knew if he was to lose his hoodie he’d feel the same way. He loved Star no matter what, heart cheekmarks or no, but it was obvious losing them had started to affect her attitude towards herself. And that simply couldn’t stand.

Marco would not sit back and let his loving girlfriend hate something about herself. Not while he was around! She had helped him so many times grow more confident in his own skin, her mere presence filling him with pride and self-worth unlike anything he had ever known before he met her. It was time he returned the favor.

And so Marco began hatching a plan, one that would help Star face and overcome this insecurity once and for all! It had taken a while for him to come up with the perfect idea and in the meantime he had been careful to not give anything away to his girlfriend. He didn’t want her to know he was aware of her self-doubt, not until the moment was right. And luckily for him, the perfect day to put his plan into action just happened to be close at hand. This year Marco was gonna give Star a Valentine’s Day she would never forget!

…

Marco made sure to wake up early in the morning so he could be up before Star. His bestie tended to be the first to rise, usually waking him up in the most loud but adorable way possible. But not today. Today Marco needed to be the one waking her. He got up before dawn, making himself a cup of delicious cinnamon tea before getting to work. He had a lot of preparations still to make and he had to have them done before Star got up around 7. It took some work but he managed to have everything done around 6:50. Time to wake up Star. He threw on his outfit for the day before heading upstairs to greet his girlfriend.

Marco slowly creaked open the door and peeked his head into Star’s room. His girlfriend looked like a sleeping angel and he couldn’t help but stare at her peaceful face for a minute or so. However, he started realizing he was bordering on being a creep and so crept towards his girlfriend as quietly as he could. He tiptoed over to her, making sure to avoid the several bear traps she had set up around her room, before leaning over the bed so his face was close to hers. He grinned at the little drool mark running from her mouth all the way down her cheek and her almost non-existent snoring. He was tempted to kiss her awake but he had learned the hard way that it was better to wake Star up gently. Otherwise, she was likely to instinctively punch the nearest object. Marco really didn’t want another black eye.

"Sttaaaaarrr," Marco greeted his girlfriend in a sing song voice. The blonde grumbled and rolled over on her side, muttering something about ‘taco cats’ and ‘needing more ice cream sandwiches’. Marco chuckled softly at his girlfriend, she was just too cute sometimes. Or all the time really.

He tried again to wake her up, pushing gently on her shoulder, not enough to hurt but enough to her attention. Star mumbled something incoherent again but this time she actually sat up, rubbing an eye with the back of her hand. Marco could still see her eyes were clouded over with fog and she blinked at him a few times in confusion. "Marco," she slurred, her head lulling slightly to the side. "What time is it?"

"It's a little after 7," Marco explained, sitting down on the edge of her bed.

Star nodded and stretched letting out a loud tired yawn. "What are you doing up so early?" she asked before pausing, finally getting a good look at her boyfriend. Her mouth dropped open and she looked like she wasn't sure if she should laugh or be worried for her besties' sanity and Marco wouldn't blame her for either.

He was fully aware how ridiculous he looked. He had swapped out his old red hoodie for the day and replaced it with a bright pink one, covered in hearts of many shapes and colors. His jeans were a dark red and his shoes were the same except he had tied the laces into a heart. But it was his hair that seemed to be the most surprising to Star as she stared at it in disbelief. At first Marco had planned on dyeing the whole thing pink but thought better of it and just settled for a few streaks of pink that actually worked surprisingly well with his brown hair.

And to top it all off he had painted pink hearts on his cheeks to match the ones Star had lost. He noticed her eyes lingering on those for a few seconds before she looked away. She seemed a little uncomfortable now, picking at a loose strand on her nightgown and when Star did look in his direction again. She seemed to be avoiding staring directly at his cheeks.

Then came the question Marco had been waiting for. “Marco, what are you wearing?”

Marco just shrugged as nonchalantly as he could. “Just getting into the Valentines day spirit.”

Star’s eyes darted over his outfit again, confusion pinching her brow. “So is this a normal way to celebrate Valentines?” she asked, her tone light and curious which Marco took as a good sign. “Cause I don’t remember any other Earth holidays making you dress up like this.” She gestured to his ridiculous outfit.

Marco gave her a fake hurt expression, putting a hand on his chest, right over where his actual heart would be. “What are you saying you don’t like it? And after I put in all this work for you!”

Star rolled her eyes, clearly seeing through his act. “Well I never asked you to do this, y’know” She put her hands on her hips but her grin had returned which made Marco’s heart swell with joy. It was working. “But yes, I do like it. It was very sweet of you to go all out for me.” Then, to Marco’s immense excitement Star leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder. He gently gripped her side in a protective and loving hold, returning the hug by placing his head over hers. “Even if you do look ridiculous,” Star added playfully.

“Hey, aren’t you always the one saying pink is my color,” Marco retorted.

“Touche, Diaz,” the blonde said, gently gripping the front of his pink hoodie before pulling him closer to her. Their lips met and instantly it was like a firecracker had just gone off between them. Even if everyone claimed there was no magic left on Earth-ni, Marco knew this was false because kissing Star could only be described as magical. The way her lips fit against his perfectly, the tiniest of movements that sent electricity coursing down his spine, the way his stomach flipped and his brain turned to mush, all of it was too amazing to describe. Marco wanted the sweet feeling to last forever but allowed his girlfriend to pull away regardless. There would be plenty of time for kisses later.

Besides, he still had a plan to carry out. This was only phase one, he couldn’t afford to get distracted by kisses, no matter how amazing they were. Getting back on track, Marco slyly hinted to his girlfriend, “Sooooo, I may have a tiny surprise for you, y’know, for Valentines Day and everything.”

Star’s eyes sparkled as she squealed in delight, any discomfort she had shown early was completely gone, replaced instead with the adorable, hyperactive energy she seemed to radiate. “Ohhhh what is it?! Tell me, tell me, tell me!” she asked, bouncing up and down on the bed, causing the whole thing to sway and nearly knocking Marco off the mattress.

The hooded teen couldn’t help but chuckle as he fought to keep himself steady. “Whoa, whoa, easy there, princess.” Star instantly stopped bouncing and shot him a glare.

“Marco,” she hissed in a warning tone.

“Oh right, sorry, don’t use the ‘P’ word, I forgot,” he apologized, giving Star a sheepish grin.

And just like that, the smile was back on Star’s face as she gleefully exclaimed, “It’s okay! You can just make it up to me by telling me what your surprise is!”

Marco laughed and shook his head. “If I told you it wouldn’t be a surprise then,” he pointed out obviously.

“I won’t tell anyone, I promise,” Star said, while shooting him the most innocent grin she could muster, which was just too cute for words and made Marco’s cheeks heat up instantly.

The temptation to give in came a second later but Marco stayed firm, shaking his head and declaring, “No way! You’ll just have to wait and see it.”

Star frowned and let out a dramatic sigh. “Okay, fine,” she mumbled and crossed her arms in a pouting manner.

Marco held back a chuckle from the cute display, but still wanting to appease his bestie, he offered, “But if you really want to see it so badly, we can go right now.”

“Yes!” Star cheered, clutching onto his arm in a tight grip. Marco tried not to cringe but if she squeezed any tighter she might break his bone. Not that he minded, losing his arm to Star’s death grip was a small price to pay for the excited smile on her face. Her eyes were like little gemstones, their brilliant glow would put literal diamonds to shame and he could stare into them forever. Her smile was so wide now that it had caused her cheeks to puff out in that cute way only Star could do and if that wasn’t enough than the slight rosey tinge to her cheeks made Marco’s heart hammer so hard he briefly wondered if it was trying to escape his chest so it could show love and affection to Star itself.

The young Latino had to clear his throat to regain use of his voice so he could add, “Okay but before we do, you need to get dressed.”

“Well, duh,” Star scoffed, rolling her eyes. “I wasn’t exactly planning on going out in my nightgown.”

“Oh no, that’s not what I mean,” Marco said, a sly smile starting to spread across his lips.

Star was confused now, giving him a curious and slightly alarmed expression, “Then what did you mean?”

“I mean, I took the liberty of setting you up with an outfit of your own to wear.”

“You what?!” Star exclaimed, gasping in surprise.

“Yep!” Marco grabbed Star’s hand pulling her up from the bed with him. “So come on, let’s go get you ready!”

“But wait! Marco!” Star shouted as he dragged her out of her room. She followed along but looked completely lost on what was happening to her. Marco noticed this and turned to her with an honest smile, hoping to convey his good intentions.

“Trust me on this, Star. You're gonna wanna dressed up for what I have planned.”

…

Marco led Star towards Britta’s Tacos keeping a firm grip on her hand since he had insisted she be blindfolded for the unveiling of the surprise. He was surprised Star hadn’t protested but clearly she was too excited to care, a bright smile on her face as she allowed her boyfriend to lead her through the streets of their home, putting her complete trust in him to keep her safe. However, his inquisitive girlfriend hadn’t stopped asking where they were going since leaving the house. “Where are we going? Is it the mall? Are you gonna buy me those cat earrings I was looking at last week? No wait, I bet you hid my present at Janna’s didn’t you? Very sneaky, knowing I would search your room for a present beforehand.”

This was always greeted with the same response from Marco, a small chuckle followed by, “You’ll see.” Then Star would huff and pout for a few seconds before asking him again. Cycle, repeat. Not that Marco minded, he knew patience wasn’t a virtue for Star and he honestly found it beyond adorable. She was like a little kid and he loved seeing this side of her again. It felt like it had been a while to see her so relaxed and at ease.

He took a quick sideways glance over his shoulder taking in Star’s new attire. He had spent quite a few hours picking everything out, trying to find the perfect outfit for his high-standards girlfriend, imagining how she would look in it but nothing had quite prepared himself for the pure beauty that he beheld. Marco was already well aware she could make anything look good, but… this new look might be her best yet. She was wearing a pure white top and a red, ruffled skirt, connected together with bright red suspenders that each had a tiny pink heart on them. They criss-crossed behind her back with another heart charm but that was unnoticeable from this angle. Her leggings were a light cream color covered in small star patterns with a pair of bright red boots over them. Her sunglow hair was as radiant as ever with a cute tiny heart hairclip placed delicately in her swept bangs. She had a bracelet on each wrist one red, one white, that helped to tie the look together perfectly. She bounced up and down excitedly causing her skirt to flutter in the wind and her hair to sway with her movements which somehow made her even more adorable.

Marco had to look away to avoid being blinded by her cuteness, his cheeks now lightly tinged pink. His focus back up ahead though he smiled as he saw they had arrived at Britta’s while he was distracted. He could see the gathered crowd and colorful decorations he and the others had spent hours putting up and felt his heart soar. This was it. The moment he had been waiting for for weeks on end. He waved to everyone, before signaling them to stay quiet and they nodded in return. Marco sucked in a deep breath for courage before turning to face his girlfriend, trying to ignore her adorable outfit.

Star noticed they had stopped and excitedly gasped. “Are we here? Is it time for the surprise?!” she asked, jumping up and down in place.

Marco laughed and replied enthusiastically, “Yep, it’s time for your surprise!”

Star was thrilled to hear this, squealing and shaking her fists in the cutest way possible. He smiled at her animated response and slowly moved behind her to take off the blindfold, struggling to undo the knot since his girlfriend didn’t seem capable of standing still. Finally, he pulled the blindfold away from her eyes, shouting joyfully, “Alright, herrrre weeee goooo!”

As the cloth fell away from Star’s bright blue, a cheerful yell filled the area, everyone screaming, “Surprise!” Marco could tell just by looking at Star’s flabbergasted face she didn’t know how to react. Not that he blamed her. The fast food stand had been redone for the holiday thanks to his and others’s hard work. The tables were now draped in bright pink tablecloths and the old, worn umbrellas that rested over them replaced with new more festive ones, each one covered in hearts and roses. The building itself had been painted a bright red, with tiny heart designs stenciled meticulously over the fresh coat. So fresh in fact, it still hadn’t yet dried, causing the building to have a shimmering glow in the early morning light. And on top of that there were heart banners and confetti thrown about the place, seemingly at random, although in actuality it had all been very intentional since Marco’s organised mind had been the one overseeing everything.

And then there were the people who filled the large space, possibly half the town gathered to celebrate. All of Star’s friends and family were present, Mewman, human, Monster, and everything inbetween, all there to help the blonde royal finally face her insecurity. Marco smiled gratefully as he saw everyone was following his plan perfectly, the entire crowd dressed head in toe in pinks and reds. And most importantly... each one with twin hearts painted on their cheeks.

Star looked around at her loved ones, gawking awkwardly, caught in a rare moment of complete speechlessness. Marco couldn’t tell if it was from the shock of seeing her home and friends consumed by such a girly color or from all the cheekmarks but either way, it was obvious he had caught his bestie completely off-guard. The hooded teen could see the gears turning in his girlfriend’s head as Star slowly turned to him and asked in a startled tone, “Marco? What is all this?”

Marco shrugged. “Just celebrating Valentine’s Day with my girlfriend at our favorite fast food place,” the hooded teen replied innocently.

Star huffed, her cheeks puffing up cutely. “You know what I mean,” she murmured in annoyance. She gave a sideways glance at everyone. “I know you said it was a surprise but I was not expecting this.”

“Well that’s what makes it a good surprise,” Marco retorted, sliding his hands in his pockets.

“If it helps, Star. None of us saw this coming either,” Janna spoke up from the crowd, surprisingly at ease despite wearing a pink dress.

“Yeah, a head’s up would have been nice,” Tom grumbled from beside his girlfriend, looking quite uncomfortable in the fuzzy, pink bunny suit Janna had forced him to wear, his cheeks the darkest shade of red Marco had ever seen on his best guy friend.

“Hey, don’t complain,” Marco scolded, wagging a finger in the air. “You all agreed to help out, remember?”

The only reply he received were some noisy grumblings and a few audible sighs from the crowd.

“Plus, you look cute, Tom,” Janna cooed, giving her boyfriend a playful nudge with her elbow.

Tom just buried his head in his hand, sighing and grumbling about how stupid this whole thing was and how Janna had tricked him and many other things that were unintelligible.

“Wait, help with what?” Star asked, bringing them back on topic while giving Marco a questioning look.

“Well, I was gonna try and bring this up more subtly but…. I know you’ve been self-conscious about losing your cheekmarks.”

Star’s eyes widened, clearly taken aback by the accusation and he could see the fear already forming behind those sky blue irises but she quickly hid it behind a false smile. She scoffed, waving what was supposed to be a nonchalant hand in the air. “Wwwwwwhat? No I’m not,” Star nervously lied, trying to pass it off with a playful, albit nervous smile. Marco saw through it in a heartbeat but didn’t comment on it. He needed to be gentle about this.

“Star,” he said in soft tone, putting a hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay, you don’t have to hide it anyone.”

Star chuckled nervously, her eyes flicking left and right as she shifted uncomfortably on her feet. “Hide what? There's nothing to hide,” her voice was now noticeably shaking and she seemed to be struggling to keep up the charade, her armor finally cracking and her true feelings showing through.

“Star,” Marco said again, a bit firmer but still gentle and reassuring. He wanted her to trust him. He wanted so desperately for her to open up to him and tell him everything.

Finally, Star gave up the act, her mask slipping from her face as she stared down at her feet shamefully, biting her lip as she admitted, “Okay, fine. You’re right.”

Marco hid the smile on his face, excited to hear Star actually admitting it. He had thought it would take a bit more convincing but they were making progress. His plan was working! He waited patiently for her to continue, knowing it was important for her to open up in her own time.

The blonde royal looked over at the crowd of people watching them all closely and blushed, before whispering softly to her boyfriend, “Uhhh, do you think we can continue this without everyone… watching.” She gave a subtle incline of her head in the crowd's direction, before lowering her head where no one could see her blushing cheeks.

Marco quickly took charge, turning to the crowd and saying in a loud tone, “Okay everyone! Can you give us some privacy? Me and Star need to talk alone for a bit.”

Most of the crowd parted after that, leaving the young couple to work through their problems in privacy. All but one hadn’t moved from his spot, the tiny bird man wearing a dress scarily similar to Star’s glaring at the two in annoyance.

“What about the tacos?” Ludo squeaked out. “You promised us we’d all get tacos!”

Marco let out a long sigh before pulling out 650 dollars in cash, handing it to the small bird Monster. “Here, knock yourself out,” the hooded teen grumbled. “Now leave us alone, please.” Ludo ran off laughing to himself, while Dennis followed tiredly behind him, shooting the two an apologetic look.

Now that the two had their privacy, Marco turned his full attention back on his girlfriend, Star still looking uncomfortable but had at least stopped blushing and hiding her face. The hooded teen waited for her to say something but soon realized she wasn’t going to open up to him on her own and so helpfully supplied, “Soooooo, do you want to-”

“How long have you known?” Star muttered, interrupting him.

Marco paused, before admitting sheepishly. “Awhile. I mean, I’m your best friend and boyfriend, Star. I know you better than anyone.”

Star nodded and let out a long breath. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense.” She crossed her arms tentatively in front of her chest. “Just thought I was better at hiding it then I actually was.” A quick glance back at the decorations before, adding, “So what is all this stuff anyways?”

Marco shrugged, trying not to take offense to the slight bitterness in her tone. “I figured since you were missing your cheekmarks I’d make you feel more comfortable.”

“By showing me what I’m missing?” she asked, her voice still bitter.

Marco’s eyes widened. “No, no!” Marco shouted, realizing his mistake too late. “Not at all! I-I was gonna say I’d paint on new ones for you and you wouldn’t have to feel weird about it cause… everyone else would have it too, see?” He took a deep breathe, trying to calm his nerves, speaking in a soft murmur again, “I just want you to feel comfortable with yourself again. And if giving you back your cheekmarks helps then-”

Star took in a sharp inhale, “I don’t deserve them, Marco.” Her tone was sharp, cutting through the air like a knife as Marco flinched, his eyebrows creasing with concern. “Wha-What do you mean?” he asked, placing his hand on her’s, feeling her hands trembling in his own.

She tried to keep it all in, she squeezed her eyes shut and gathered the swirling thoughts in her head once again. “I don’t deserve them Marco, I-” she paused tentatively, biting her lip. “...I destroyed the magic and...it’s not fair Marco! It’s not fair that after everything I’ve done, after all the issues I’ve caused, after...everything....it’s not fair to miss some stupid old cheekmarks.” She felt something wet on her hands, she reached and touched her cheeks, surprised when she found her cheeks completely dry. “...Marco?!” she quickly met his eyes, a piercing pain shooting through her heart as she saw his eyes stained with dripping tears. She slowly let her hand caress his cheek, wiping a few of the tears off of his cheek. “Star…” he started, his voice getting choked up as he tried to form his own words. “You...You don’t have to feel like you deserve anything. You’ve already done so much for others and sacrificed so much of yourself to fix what you think is your burden...I know how it feels, to want to have a reason to deserve something...someone.” He gave her hands a small squeeze, the small gesture comforting the both of them. Star smiled, even with her own tears trembling down her cheeks. “You’re amazing Star, you’ve already done so much for others, and you don’t need to feel like you owe everyone this. You feel what you feel Star, it’s okay to miss them, it’s okay to feel like that part of you is missing.” Star let out a shaky sigh, “But...I’ve already caused so many issues for so many creatures and people, this isn’t as important as them.”

“Starrrr,” Marco cooed, gently pressing his forehead to Star’s forcing their eyes to connect, the couple's tears blending together into a puddle at their feet. “I want to pay attention to what I’m about to say, okay. Because what I’m about to tell you is the truth and nothing in my eyes will ever change it, understand?” The hooded teen waited for the small nod from his bestie before continuing. “None of that was your fault. None of it! You were just doing what you thought was right. And in my eyes, you're a hero! You saved everyone! Even if they don’t want to accept it, it’s true.”

The boy pulled away and gestured to their friends and family stating, “Look around you! Everyone’s happy and safe thanks to you.”

Star did take a long, hard look at the people in her life, the many, happy smiling faces that were all around her. She saw Jackie and Chloe sharing spicy tacos together while smiling and crying from the pain. She saw Tom wolfing down his own pile of tacos while Janna was busy taking bets from several gullible teens including Ferguson and Alfonso. She saw Pony flirting with some poor young man just trying to enjoy his breakfast, doing his best to ignore the annoying horse face.She saw Rafael and Angie playing with baby Mariposa, trying to get her to take her first steps using a taco as motivation to get her chubby legs in motion. She saw her own parents spending time with Eclipsa and her family, the two ladies watching while their husbands wrestled on the ground, Meteora clapping for her dad from her high chair. She saw Buff Frog and his kids enjoying their meal, she saw Oskar lazily handing out tacos to hungry Monsters, she saw Ludo stuffing down $650 worth of tacos much to his younger brother’s horror and dismay.

And she couldn’t help but smile, Marco’s words finally sinking into her guilt-ridden brain. She had helped make all this possible. How had she forgotten that?

Marco noticed the joyful expression on his girlfriend’s face and continued his praise, saying, “So, you see Star, you aren’t the villain of this story, you’re the hero.” He gently turned her so they were face to face again, giving her a heartfelt smile. “And you deserve to be happy.”

Star didn’t know how to respond to that, wiping away at her tears with the back of her arm. Marco’s hand was now on her side, giving it a very light squeeze. “And I want to make you happy, Star. Will you please let me help you feel like you again?”

Star nodded, too overcome for words.

Marco didn’t waste a second, quickly pulling out a small vial of face paint, the color bright pink and a perfect match for her lost cheekmarks. “Alright then, hold still, okay.” The blonde did just that, staying as perfectly still while her boyfriend worked on restoring what she lost. She could feel the small brush moving across her cheek, the cold liquid slowly drying against her skin. She could still feel some deep part of her screaming in panic, that this was wrong and that she was unworthy but she pushed it down. Marco thought she was worthy. And if he believed that, then she did too. She didn’t have to trust herself just yet but she knew she could trust Marco. And that was really all that mattered.

She felt the brush pull away before moving to the next cheek, Star watching Marco closely as his eyebrows furrowed in concentration and he stuck his tongue out in the most adorable way possible. She resisted the urge to smile, knowing it might mess up the design but she did feel her heart flutter in her chest from how cute her Marco was. And for the first time in months, she felt like she deserved him.

“Okay, done,” Marco said, Star feeling the brush lower away from her cheek as her boyfriend finished applying the make-up. The hooded teen took a step back to admire his work before nodding once in approval. He pulled out a small mirror from his pocket and held it up so Star could see her reflection.

Star gasped as she stared at herself. She hadn’t looked in a mirror in- well, she didn’t know how long actually. She had started to hate the way she looked in them, her bare cheeks only serving as a painful reminder of what she had lost and whenever she would start to miss them that was when the guilt kicked back in. So she had made a habit of avoiding them. But now, she was staring at herself again, this time with the familiar pink, heart-shaped markings standing out brightly against her skin. They looked just like she had remembered them, the familiarity of it making her heart ache. Star looked complete. Star felt complete.

Star was finally herself again.

And she owed it all to Marco.

“See, you look adorable, just like always,” said bestie stated, giving her a wide, loving grin and Star’s heart felt like it might burst from the rush of emotions that look was giving her.

“Thanks, Marco,” Star choked out, her eyes still fresh with tears as she threw her arms around Marco’s neck pulling him into a warm hug. The hooded teen wrapped comforting arms around his blonde bestie, holding her tightly and running his hands through her long hair. “I love you,” she whispered into his chest, meaning every word.

“I love you, too,” he replied, placing a tender kiss on the top of her head. The two stayed like that for a minute, neither wanting to release their tight hold as they clung to each other like a lifeline. Their hugs always went on longer since getting together but this had to be a new record. They could have stayed in that moment till the end of time, wrapped in each other’s love and warmth, if Marco’s stomach hadn’t interrupted the moment, rumbling loudly in protest to being empty.

The two pulled away quickly in surprise, the boy’s cheeks blushing in embarrassment. “Uh sorry, my bad,” he said with a sheepish grin.

Star just giggled and said, “Guess you worked up an appetite spoiling me so much.” She winked at him.

Marco laughed and replied, “Well now that you mention it, heartfelt speeches do make me hungry.”

“Are you too hungry for me to give you my gift now?” Star asked, giving him a flirty look.

Marco’s heart thumped in his chest. “Uhhh no, I can wait,” he said in a nervous tone, ignoring the loud growling of his stomach.

“Well if you're sure,” the blonde said, pretending to think it over, before finally moving in for a kiss. Marco, who had been waiting for this moment all morning, closed his eyes and just enjoyed the feeling as Star’s lips captured his. Once again, it was magic. No other words could do it justice. The way her lips moved expertly against his own, the way she tasted, the way her hands gently drifted up the front of his hoodie, all of it was too amazing to describe, and the warm feelings made his head spin. When Star did pull away, Marco couldn’t help the whimper that escaped his throat. It was too short, he wanted more now that his plan was over. Forget his hungry stomach, his heart was hungry for love and affection and that was more important.

Star smiled at him, her eyes full of tenderness and devotion and with her heart cheekmarks back on her blushing, he really couldn’t think of a time when she had ever been more adorable. “Don’t worry, Diaz,” she teased, giving him a tiny kiss on the nose. “That was only part one of my gift. We have all day for me to give you the rest of it.”

“The rest of it?” he asked in a squeak.

Star giggled. “Yep. I got more kisses where that came from,” she said with a flirting look... which instantly turned into a child-like beam as she loudly shouted, “But first, I need me some Valentine’s tacos!! This princess is hungry for more than just love today!”

With a loud cheer she ran towards the counter, drawing the attention of everyone around her. Marco paused to admire his girlfriend for a moment, taking in the twinkle in her eye and the lightness in her smile and knew he finally had his old Star back. The whole Star. It wasn’t just the cheekmarks that had been missing from her after all, he thought.

“Come on, Marco!” Star shouted, growing impatient. “You need to come pay the man! You did promise everyone free tacos, remember?”

And with that Marco smiled and went over to join his girlfriend, ready to enjoy the rest of this special holiday with the love of his life and whatever wonderful, weird craziness that came with her.

#star vs #star vs fanwork #Post-Earthni #My Writing #Starco #Valentine's Day #kikithefox231 #thanks bud!!!

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binniedeactivated · 4 years

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saint. || soobin🌪(2)

ya’ll--- i just want to say that soobin looks so STUNNING in this photo i literally can’t with this man

🖤┊𝔰𝔞𝔦𝔫𝔱 . ೄྀ࿐ 𝖕𝖆𝖎𝖗𝖎𝖓𝖌: 𝖘𝖔𝖔𝖇𝖎𝖓 𝖝 𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖉𝖊𝖗 𝖌𝖊𝖓𝖗𝖊: 𝖘𝖒𝖚𝖙/𝖆𝖚 𝖜𝖔𝖗𝖉 𝖈𝖔𝖚𝖓𝖙; 2007.

you knocked on the door that stood taller than anything you’ve ever seen. you looked at your shoes a bit and smoothed out your outfit. you decided to wear something to help you guys get in the mood. it was a pink pastel halter top with a plaid skirt to go with it. you wore boots instead of heels because...you didn’t want to make it look like you tried too hard. You knew were his house was i mean..who didn’t know where the choi’s resided? It was the only mansion anyone has ever seen in this small town. You remember passing it a lot when you were little, wondering how lucky it was to grow up into a rich family. You weren’t poor or anything but you wouldn’t exactly say you were upper middle class. Maybe somewhere in between. anyways, Even though the skirt you wore barely passes your knees you still thought you looked well conserved. Not a whore like your mother would say, even though she barely saw you because you wore a big jacket before you left your house.

anyways you were ringing the doorbell for what if felt like hours until the door was swung open. There was soobin just standing there in plain attire. A black t shirt and grey sweatpants. He wore his black hair over his eyes this time instead of the side part he normally wore to school. You thought he looked rather cute when he wasn’t trying to look like an arrogant prince. He checks you out and gives you this dumb grin that makes you blush almost instantly. You thought it was stupid maybe you shouldn’t have wore the outfit maybe it did make you look like a try hard.

“you can come in” soobin says not mentioning the outfit at all even though he thought your out of school clothes made you look much more mature and sexy. You enter and was immediately intimidated by the high ceilings and marble floors. the big golden chandelier that sat in the middle of the two staircases that curved up into a hallway. There were angelic engravings of a baby cupid plastered on the wall in stone. His house was beautiful but you weren’t surprised. The choi’s were loaded. He closes the door behind you finding it cute at how you stare at everything.

“I’m starting to think you’ve never saw a house before”. Soobin says behind you with his deep voice scaring the hell out of you.

“I have. It’s just yours is...beautiful”.

“yeah. my family have owned this house for years. have had dozens of renovations on it so it never looks old or run down. since I have no older siblings i’m up next to own it”.

you bite the inside of your cheek thinking about how lucky he was. Here he was with a mansion to his name at 18 years old, and you were lucky if your family leaves you a scarf or piece of expensive jewelry in their passing.

“Are you hungry?”. soobin asks while walking to the kitchen. you just watch him. he was much nicer outside of school. it felt like he was living two lives. you furrow your eyebrow.

“am i hungry?”.

“have you never heard of food before either?”. he laughs while digging into his cupboards.

“i’m sorry i’m not used to nice choi soobin. only that prissy jerk that i go to school with”. soobin laughs as if you told a joke or something. you watched his eyes envelope again and again, it was so cute. but you still weren’t going to admit that.

“but no i’m not hungry thanks for asking”.

“a prissy jerk. that’s one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me”.

you decide to take a seat on one of the highchairs at his kitchen island. you could go on and on about the black and grey stone designs and granite countertops that raided his kitchen but you’d rather save the description of his house for a different time. it was a beauty though.

he takes out two slices of bread and starts spreading peanut butter on a piece with a spoon, like a weirdo.

“too bad you denied hunger. i make the best peanut butter and jelly sandwiches around town”.

“oh no, i feel so bad that i’m missing out on peanut butter and jelly on a ripped piece of bread”. you joke.

“ripped?”.

“yes it’s ripped now because you decided to scrape peanut butter on it with a spoon”.

soobin licks the peanut butter off of his finger and focuses on it like it was a science experiment.

“how else should it go on there?”.

“with a butterknife”.

“what?”.

he asks with a boggled expression. you sigh, hopping your short legs off of the highchair and going into his silverware drawer. you pick up a butterknife and grab another piece of bread and began spreading the peanut butter on it smoothly. you grabbed another butterknife and spread the jelly on it the same way and tossed the utensils in the sink when you were done. you closed the caps on both of the jars before handing the sandwich up to soobin who had his eyes on you the whole time.

you two made this sort of eye contact that made your heart skip a beat. it was like he was looking directly into your soul, embracing you. It was more intimidating because of the height difference. he towered over you like the giant he was.

“thank you”. he utters before smirking again and biting into the sandwich sloppily as if he were five years old. not to mention the crumbs that fell to the floor as he did so.

“soobin you’re getting crumbs on the floor”, you fuss grabbing a broomstick. he takes it from your hand and puts it back in the corner.

“just leave it. the maid will get it, it’s fine”. you brush a strand of hair behind your ear.

“that doesn’t mean you purposely leave it there”. you mention while grabbing the broom again and quickly sweeping up his mess. You washed your hands shortly after and soobin stands in the doorway watching you cutely while eating his sandwich. his dimples depressing in both cheeks.

you wipe your hands with a piece of paper towel and dispose it. you hadn’t noticed he was staring until you lock eyes with him again.

“alright soobin what are you looking at?”.

“you. you’re cute. my mom doesn’t even fuss over me like this”. he says before licking jelly off of his hand. you glared at him disgustingly.

“just finish your sandwich soobin”. you mumble, and he throws the last bite into his mouth before dusting his hands off. you stand back in the foyer with your hands on your hips.

“alright, so where are we doing this?”.

with his mouth still full he says, “we can go upstairs to my room”. and you follow after him up the spiraled stairs and down the hallway that was infested with pictures of soobin and his family. Ultra sound soobin, newborn soobin, Baby soobin, toddler soobin, preteen soobin, middle aged teen soobin, up until now.

you finally enter his room that was of course as royal as the rest of the house. His bed was huge and had drapes over it and was held on a platform as if he was some sort of king. He had at least a 90 inch tv mounted on the brick wall across his bed with a fire place underneath. and could you guess what the color scheme of his room was?

yes, yes it was. it was royal blue. he had numerous sports trophies in a trophy case next to his closet. and boy, soobin’s closet was like another room in his home. he even had his own bathroom. While you struggled for bathroom time at your own house, this boy literally pisses and poops as he pleases.

why do bad people get the best out everything?

“you like it?”.

he questions scaring you again. you nod.

“your family must really love you. this room looks expensive. how much does it cost to sit on your bed?”. you joke. soobin laughs and hops on his bed with his shoes off. while he lays down he watches you go around his room and look around.

“so, are you ready?”. he asks. you were nervous. you bite your lips taking your jacket off slowly.

“sure”. you say like you had no fear in the world. you were dying inside. he adjusts himself on the bed. you take a step up and breathed before you straddled him. soobin settles his hands on your waist.

“so, the first step to sex would be foreplay but since we covered that in Sister helena’s class already--”. you and soobin stop and share a laugh. yours was mainly out of embarassment though so you playfully hit his chest.

“We can start with kissing. Have you ever kissed someone before?”.

“no”. you muttered hoping he didn’t hear you. It was quite humiliating to be 18 and to have never kissed a soul.

“well, let me see what i’m working with first then. Lay one on me”. he demands pointing to his face and closing his eyes. you stared at his stupidly cute face and had an urge to smack it but you didn’t.

you lean into his cheek and he backs up opening his eyes. you sit back up.

“on the lips”. you widen your eyes.

“fine fine”. he closes his eyes again and you go for it. while you were pushing your lips on his he laughs against your mouth making you stare him in his eyes.

“why are you kissing me like that”. and you couldn’t help but laugh at your own efforts.

“like what?”.

“like you’re scared of what’s going to happen next”. he flutters his eyes back open. “when you kiss someone you kiss them with confidence and passion, even if you don’t like them. that’s what makes it good. and that’s also how it gets heated very quickly”.

you folded your arms.

“how do you know so much about sex anyways?”. soobin chuckles again. god why was he so cute?

“hey hey this isn’t about me it’s about you. Do you want to try again or would you like me to demonstrate it?”.

not wanting to hear him clown you again you agree to the second option. soobin sits up so that his face was closer to yours. he was actually much better looking up close. he stared in your eyes with that same stare again. As if he were looking directly into your soul embracing your wholeness. it was loving. and caring. way opposite from the Choi soobin you knew at school.

he brushed a strand of hair behind your ear. “you have to relax. alright?”. you nod and close your eyes trying to maintain steady breathing. He cups your cheek before his cloud like lips layer yours in a way that yours could never layer his. He had so much more power in his kiss, kissing your upper lip and then your lower lip shortly after. in the movies you’d normally see the girl kiss back. so that’s exactly what you did, or attempted to do.

you mimicked soobin’s movements of kissing his upper lip and bottom lip before pushing yours fully on his. you had to say, the moment was angelic. the both of you continue with the same passion, struggling for air. your heart picks up it’s pace again and you felt like you were on cloud nine. You both were so engulfed in the kiss you hadn’t notice that soobin had laid down and you followed him, on top of him kissing him like you never had before. he lowers his hands down below your waist grasping your ass now, and you omit a tiny whimper into his mouth.

“soobin-ah! we’re home did you study your bible?”. his mom yelled from down the stairs with his dad arriving behind her with a closing door.

#choi soobin #txt #kpop #choi yeonjun #kang taehyun #heuningkai #txt au #choi soobin au #choi soobin imagines #txt imagines #kpop imagines #kpop au

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pwnyta · 3 years

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Genshin Impact character opinions (alphabetical)-

0/10 Albedo is my least favorite design... He looks so fuckin goofy and from what I know about his character the fact he looks so goofy is not great.... The shorts look so dumb and the blue of his shirt looks weird...

Just wanted to visualize my issues with his goofy outfit... wont be ‘fixing’ anyone elses.

10/10 So fucking cute. The colors are beautiful and well spread through the design, Zettai ryōiki. bunny theme...terrific. Ambers just perfect. Look at that fucking adorable face as well... look at her big ol smile and tell me she aint a 10/10. She’d get a 10 if all I ever saw was that big ol smile.

9/10 Barbara is adorable. Her costume is gorgeous. I love the white with blue and the gold accents. Very pretty my only gripe is the lighter blue on her bow...

10/10 Beidou is just gorgeous.... I love that shade of pinkish-red with the off-black and purple with the gold trim. Shes just so hot... also her English voice is also top tier which is irrelevant to my ranking... maybe but--

1/10 Bennetts not as bad as Albedo but god hes annoying to look at... and listen to.... he looks like hes a Kingdom Hearts knock off, the colors are weird, and he has the personality of s1 Ash Ketchum.... Im sure hes a swell lad... but

6/10 Chongyun I mean I love the color pallet and over all its fine. I think the onesie with the cropped jacket and the weird half robe is weird but it looks fine if I dont think about too much.

7/10 Diluc is pretty but not as fun to look at as some others. I do really like those red palm gloves. My biggest gripe is his shirt.... with the belt? WHAT? Sir do you know what a belt is for.....

8/10 Diona... so cute. I kinda just wish her hair wasnt pink. I dont like the pink in her design at all but other than that... super cute. I just noticed her gloves had little peets on them.... THATS SO CUTE.

4/10 Fischls color pallet (other than her hair) is gorgeous but other than that... hate the overall design... Im not opposed to sexiness... but come on....

7/10 Ganyu is very cute but idk whats going on with her outfit at all.... its a very confusing piece.... but I dont hate it...

7/10 Whoops forgot the new girl... Her designs cute... but it is a bit dampened by the fact I think about toilet boy Hanako.... but other than that very cute!

9/10 Jeans a hottie. Love her tight pants... is it too much to ask for more hot girls in tight pants? IS THAT SO WRONG?! I dont really like the weird open top bit or the red bits but I dont hate it either.

10/10 Kaeyas design is one of my favs. His color pallet is gorgeous, the design is cool, tasteful tiddie window... its great. Good for him. I’ll even excuse the spiked fingerless gloves which no other character could possibly pull off.

10/10 Keqing is gorgeous too. Again with the beautiful colors, a really charming outfit design combined with those little cat-ear buns. I do often see up her skirt when flying and climbing however and it makes me feel like a bad person LMAO IM SORRY KEQING!! I DONT MEAN IT. She seems like the type thatd be really embarrassed about it!!

10/10 Klee is so fucking cute. I kinda wish her eyes were green like her charm but the red is good too. That red and white with the warm brown is really nice, and you cant go wrong with a poofy hat! Shes so cute.

10/10 Lisa was designed to be a smoke show but she pulls it off better than Fischl. Love the roses throughout her design, the color pallet is on point, her hair matching the dull gold of the accents is really nice, a peak of Zettai ryōiki and her green eyes just POP. Shes beautiful.... I love her.

3/10 My issue with Mona is mostly her bottom half... I get that her tights design looks cool but with the rest of her vibe having her main clothing piece be like... a bathing suit? ITS A CHOICE and it ruins her design for me. Also I hate the baubles on the ends of her hair.... but her color pallet is real nice. I also like her bigger eyebrows...

10/10 Ningguang... also a total smokin hottie. Her colors are beautiful and really feel RICH. That brassy color and gold on white with the ginkgo designs... the bitch is just poppin. She looks fantastic.

8/10 Noelle is so cute... I like when I add her to my party and she gets all excited and eager to help... very cute. Her design is an endearing mix of badass knight and dutiful maid.... my only issue is her skirt.... looks kinda weird. Wish she had some petticoats to fill it out more. Also dont like that her roses pop out the way they do... reminds me of Shreks ears....

10/10 Qiqi is adorable I love Jiangshi, love the colors, wish she wasnt wearin horni thigh highs(I only ever see thigh highs squeeze thighs like that in l00d art dont come for me... I didnt design her.) but lolis gonna lol. But again her design is top tier. Shes so cute.

5/10 Razor... is kind of a mess but its largely the colors.... its a lot of weird colors. Also his design makes me think of the male MC... I literally thought he was like an AU version of the MC....

10/10 Sucrose is so cute. Again that white blue and gold look great... I like her frilly shorts and thigh highs.... her boots are cute... her hair color is a little weird but I dont dislike it. Kinda wish her eyes were a different color tho.

4/10 Childe is fine... but after seeing all the other Fatui designs and his own monster form I look at him like this and go.... REALLY? Thats what were goin with... alright... Also his whole design screams ‘fire’ to me not just colors either the shape of his mask and the pattern on his scarf thing.... its weird that hes Hydro.

10/10 I love the female MCs design... I chose the male MC because his colors popped more and im a dumb animal and was like ‘ooh shiny‘ but I think her design is a bit better over all...

9/10 Male MC is still good... its very cute. I like how she looks more suited to the Anemo and he looks more Geo... Thats pretty cool. I really like his colors... the browns/gold/white... its a striking look.

6/10 Ventis pretty cute... I dont get the weird... corset thing hes wearing, dont like his shoes,,, but other than that its pretty cute but nothing special imo.

10/10 Xiangling is so fucking cute. everything in her design makes me clutch my heart at how endearing she is. Love her. Weird color palette... its even weirder that it fully works.

7/10 Look I love Xiao hes a good lad so I cant be too harsh... but all the colors on his design look a bit weird which really brings his over all design down... which I think is cool over all.

9/10 Really cute design for Xingqiu! The colors are beautiful... I love blue and white and gold obviously and he even does it with more of an emphasis on the blue and its a greenish blue and it looks great. the top is just gorgeous, those frilly sleeves are super cute... not a huge fan of the shorts but I hear theyre comfy and easy to wear.

10/10 Xinyan just looks terrific. Cool and punky, great fiery color pallet, cool theme, cheeky personality without it being obnoxious.... Shes great! Weird voice tho... lmao

11/10 You cant tell me what to do! Zhongli is the only male smoke show in the playable cast for that he gets an 11 ok? I love a dumb old man. I do think the coat over his longer coat is a bit weird but I aint mad at it. Love the colors, very earthy, the subtle gold design on his pant legs are cool and really hes got a lot of cool bits on his coat, his face/hair are lovely. Hes a total babe.

A SUGABABE

#GI tag.

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midnightactual · 3 years

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Critical Analysis & Tactics IV (CAT-4): Yoruichi vs. Soifon Part A

How strong is Yoruichi? That’s actually a very involved question. I’ve decided to create a series of articles detailing my thoughts on the matter by looking at military incidents and confrontations involving her. This is the fourth, and you may consult the others at your leisure:

CAT-1: The Hollowfication Incident

CAT-2: The Central 46 Trial Breakout

CAT-3: Yoruichi vs. Byakuya

CAT-5: Yoruichi & Soifon vs. Aizen

CAT-6: Yoruichi vs. Yammy

CAT-7: Yoruichi, Kisuke, & Isshin vs. Aizen

CAT-8: Yoruichi & Co. vs. Yhwach

CAT-9: Yoruichi vs. Askin

I’ve obliquely talked about this fight before (here) as it relates to Yoruichi’s disinclination to use her zanpakutō, but not in great detail. It says quite a lot about their respective powers and abilities, but to an even greater extent it reveals the exact nature of their relationship prior to Yoruichi’s departure from the Seireitei. These are all matters which I feel there are points of confusion and misunderstanding on by others. Given that, I’m going to give my own perspective on all these issues.

Since the is a long post, let me as usual put the basic conclusion here up front: this fight wasn’t particularly serious in terms of physical danger, as Yoruichi was hardly trying and Soifon radically underestimated her abilities. This fight is far more about psychology and mutual understanding of one another.

01. I’ve discussed this in the past (here), yet it bears not just repeating but additional emphasis: Yoruichi is at her absolute weakest ever during the Soul Society arc, as she herself alludes to in chapter 119:

She drops Ichigo like a sack of potatoes despite him being injured and slumps against the wall because she’s so winded, and openly comments on the fact that she’s wildly out of shape. It’s abundantly clear that she isn’t performing at anywhere near her previous or future maximum abilities during this arc.

02. Yoruichi’s attire also bears some scrutiny. Notice how she’s dressed above. She has on her stretchy pants, and we know from earlier scenes with Ichigo in chapter 116 that she’s wearing a turtleneck (plus you can see the sleeves poking out of her jacket). Also notice her footwear. All throughout Ichigo’s bankai training, Yoruichi is wearing shoes with integrated greaves. These appear to be flats based on the shoes she wore as a Taichō (and which Soifon still wears as one) but modified to suit her preferences. By the time she fights Soifon, however, her outfit has notably changed, as seen here in chapter 157:

The turtleneck has been replaced by the keisen shōzoku-inspired top, as she later reveals and which even here is evident from the lack of sleeves. The shoes have also been replaced with boots instead (which are capable of dispensing anken). She has cloth wrapped around her arms, and her shins are wrapped in gaiters. She only wears this variation on her outfit when fighting Soifon. (As seen in CAT-6, when she later fights Yammy, she’s wearing an outfit identical to when she trained Ichigo.)

In reality, gaiters largely exist to protect against scratching, puncture, or friction. The wraps on her arms are similar to puttees, and serve a similar function, while the remainder of her scarf functions like a neck gaiter. One might ask why she’d discard hard greaves for soft gaiters, and the answer is that their protective power is actually likely superior.

As noted in CAT-3, in chapter 117, Yoruichi completely halted Byakuya’s release of Senbonzakura using a cloth ribbon, and as noted in CAT-5, in chapter 177, did similar to Aizen. I would suggest that that cloth ribbon is special, and that her arm wraps, gaiters, and neck gaiter are made of the same material. I would also suggest so is her hair wrap, given it repeatedly survives Shunkō, to include her Raiju Senkei form where electrical Kidō is literally running through her hair. What this cloth material is and what its exact properties are remains unknown, but it seems incredibly durable. (Given it appears to be a tan color, it might not be related to the Ginpaku Kazahana no Uzuginu of Byakuya’s scarf, but it could be the same material but processed or treated differently, possibly explaining the immense value of that scarf beyond mere rarity.)

This assertion is supported by the fact that during the actual fight, in chapter 157, Yoruichi both takes and deals several blows to areas protected by these garments, suggesting they were made specifically for fighting with Hakuda:

A question becomes apparent at this point, which is: where did Yoruichi get this stuff? More than likely from the storage depot above the study chamber, which is likely where she also got the first outfit she used for this mission (since she obviously didn’t bring it with her to Soul Society given she came as a cat). In other words, I think it’s very clear that Yoruichi specifically equipped herself to fight against Soifon, knowing she would likely be dealing with Hakuda and might have to use Shunkō and dressing to compensate for her own weakness.

03. Yoruichi and Soifon’s reunion is very telling regarding how truly familiar they are with one another. Here’s how it starts:

I want you to pay attention to how close Yoruichi is before Soifon notices her approach. Part of this is due to Yoruichi’s speed, but remember: she’s not flash stepping at anywhere near her optimum, and would be conserving her energy heading into battle. Part of this is due to Yoruichi’s stealth, but remember: Yoruichi felt Renji’s ambient reiatsu approaching even at a notable distance through solid matter. Soifon doesn’t notice Yoruichi until the very instant before she’s tackled off of Kiyone. (The closing-in panel at top-left suggests the bottom panel is indeed Yoruichi’s own perspective, as she hits Soifon in the very next panel.)

But I want to make a point regarding reiatsu detection before proceeding: Shinigami who are very familiar with each other will naturally detect one another’s reiatsu at distances at which other, more powerful Shinigami won’t. An example of this is Rukia detecting Ichigo’s approach before Byakuya does in chapter 581, presumably due to the nature of Ichigo and Rukia’s bond:

And another example is Yoruichi and Yūshirō detecting one another at a great distance in the Soul King’s Palace in chapter 628, while not noting anyone else on either end, presumably because they’re related:

In other words, people with strong bonds should have a distinct advantage in identifying one another even if one part is moving quickly or attempting to conceal themselves. This suggests that Yoruichi and Soifon do not actually share such a bond, a point which will repeatedly be made over the course of their fight, but especially two pages later back in chapter 153:

Stop and think about their situation. Soifon can see the eyes and skin color of Yoruichi at this range, and likely also feel her reiatsu... and she still doesn’t recognize her. How many dark-skinned, gold-eyed people are there in the Seireitei who wear orange jackets and move quickly and stealthily? It’s worse than the translation here lets on, by the way:

The original Japanese here at the bottom-left is, “何者だ貴様!!” which translates to Romaji as “Nanimonoda kisama!!” Yes, that kisama. The literal translation would be something like, “Who are you, you bastard!!” I think Soifon calling Yoruichi “kisama” is all the proof you need to firmly establish she has no idea who this is, and doesn’t recognize it as Yoruichi until she hears her voice. I also think that reaction panel firmly dispels any idea that Soifon is acting and doing this just to insult Yoruichi, because this is a face of shock:

It’s very obvious that Soifon is surprised by the fact that she’s seeing Yoruichi again, despite all those visual indicators, which is... strange, and perhaps suggests something about Soifon’s powers of observation. Regardless, this can be taken in contrast with the next page, and Yoruichi’s reveal:

Which is surprisingly playful. Yoruichi isn’t stressed at all here, and remains fairly upbeat and comparatively unperturbed for the first section of the fight until Soifon tears the (breakaway?) sleeves off of her uniform. It’s pretty clear that Yoruichi doesn’t go into this fight expecting a hard slog, even if she took precautions with her outfit. Indeed, I would say she expected it to be merely a performance review.

The point remains: Soifon didn’t identify Yoruichi until well after they’d made contact, and past the point when it should’ve been obvious who was accosting her.

04. Starting in chapter 154, we’re treated to repeated scenes presenting Yoruichi and Soifon as equals:

This first panel makes it very clear visually, and that sets the tone for what follows.

It’s also echoed in the way that they trash-talk each other.

And also reflected in the visual framing of their exchanges; these panels are clearly designed to kind of ‘reflect’ one another. Take notice here of Soifon’s further trash-talking: she’s asserting that she was a better warrior than Yoruichi even when Yoruichi was her Taichō! How’s that for confidence? And it should tell you a lot about how Soifon looks back upon Yoruichi’s tenure, which we’ll get into later.

This apparent equity is also reflected in them trading hits. Yoruichi’s injury seems more grievous, given she’s coughing up blood, but Soifon doesn’t seem to regard it as a more notable injury than she herself suffered, nor does it actually impact Yoruichi’s performance any more than Soifon’s does her. (Nor will Soifon’s strikes with Suzumebachi seemingly do anything to slow Yoruichi down as the fight goes on.)

This sense of equity will persist right up until after Soifon reveals her shikai and starts to speed up, at which point she will reveal that she’s been “going easy” on Yoruichi and that (in her mind) they’re not equals.

I think it’s because of this rather thorough visual symbolism (and Yoruichi’s reactions of surprise as Soifon’s performance) that many people walk away with the impression that Soifon and Yoruichi are equal in performance, not just in this fight and this arc, but throughout Bleach. We already know, however, from (01), that that simply isn’t true: Soifon here at her maximum output can only just rival Yoruichi at her weakest.

This is emphasized by the fact that Soifon will go on to fail to score two consecutive hits with Suzumebachi on Yoruichi, and by the fact that we know (from her escape from Byakuya with Ichigo) that Yoruichi isn’t going all out with her flash steps here either. This is not only Yoruichi at her weakest, this is also Yoruichi fighting in a very conservative fashion. And Soifon still can’t take her out despite earnestly trying.

05. The motivations of both parties are rather plainly established. Soifon’s motivations are revealed by the panels above with her, “Which of us... is the better warrior?!” and, “Now do you see? I’m better than you!” remarks. This further emphasized by a panel in chapter 158:

Soifon is obsessed with proving she’s better than Yoruichi, and rubbing Yoruichi’s face in the fact.

Yoruichi, meanwhile, rather obviously turned up to see where Soifon was at in terms of her progression, as chapter 154 alludes to:

Yoruichi is there to see whether Soifon has filled her proverbial shoes. This shouldn’t be surprising as we know from Soifon’s flashbacks in chapter 159 that:

Yoruichi added Soifon to her bodyguard unit in the first place because she “[admired her] skills” and was “expecting great things from [her].”

In other words, Yoruichi showed up to see how Soifon had been getting on in terms of her skills for all this time, and seemed to largely expect a fairly casual encounter (although she was prepared for it to escalate). She wasn’t anticipating Soifon’s mindset and drive to actually try and kill her. Soifon, meanwhile, is resolute in her determination to punish Yoruichi for what she regards as having been abandoned.

Click here for Part B!

#Out Of Character #Long Post #Meta

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crunchykiwibby · 3 years

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Core Four

Hi! After days of my antics i had decided to show my drawings for my redrawn Descendants next to outfit clarification/ idea for my fanfiction (+ analysis because I love fashion analysis! I watched one episode of the topic and I'm hooked now-) also sorry about the poor camera quality I'll digitalize it soon 😭

So here's them all together:

So what they have in common is the use of patterns and somewhat baggy(ish?) clothing whether it's from the top, ( Carlos, Evie) or by the pants ( Jay, Mal). The next use is pictures or patterns which is pretty predominant in Mal's side of town ( The inner city/ a good most of the Isle except anywhere near the coast. Which is known to be Uma's side of town.) 9 times out of 10 you would see a lot of painted clothes with patterns or designs, pieces of leather or cloth in clothing that can form a pattern or pictures. It is very popular on the Isle to wear gloves, bandages, and something you can at least move in because sometimes certain areas get congested and you might have to jump from a building time to time, run away from a troll, or fight. Also it's good to wear clothes that hide stuff you stole or hide weapons compared to Uma's side of town where you kinda just casually have a dagger or sword out. The inner city fashion is a mix of military, grunge, and goth depending on where you are. And it also reflects in the fanfiction in their Auradon fashion which I'll describe later. Their outfits together all clash but it's unified in one shape or pattern which also presents their friendship.

MAL

So Mal doesn't have fear as she usually doesn't worry about being randomly shanked out of nowhere. Seen here I kept her purple/ green aesthetic but I used a very minium of pink which was her top which was magenta. Her outfit is quite girly tomboyish. Her top is a repurposed binder that she cloth dyed and painted green flames on. I did this changes because she's more of the rambunctious one in the group next to Jay so her clothes are fitted in the purposes of movement next to the fact of her always stealing and running away which I felt that the leather jacket limited her upper body in her og design, I do love the leather don't get me wrong! But it's more practical in fall/winter (assuming that it's pretty tight) than spring and summer which is when my fanfiction takes place. However the use of leather is shown in her pants as the her pockets is dyed leather. Her hair is more blunt like cut and a deeper purple more toward her hair in D3 (Which was the color I like the most) but it's not a long asymmetrical bob it's just a blunt cut bob and she keeps it that way for a while. She aims for that casual militant fashion a lot, as some of her outfits won't look like what is the one above since she's not jumping place to place in Auradon would lean towards edgy and militant for a while until Coronation and later in the series where it leans more like EGIRL/Prep as her hair gets longer and is just plain black and cut again so she would wear a baggy clothes with combat boots in darker shades of purple and green while some of her shoes consist of designs of her own graffiti in the earlier parts and eases slowly into more to skinny jeans and a shirt that's stuck in with some canvas shoes. You notice how her outfits would present a very dominant leader energy because her outfits would stand out a lot when she stands with the group. Reflecting her always in control and assertive role as leader in the group. Whether in maybe the graphics on her shirt or the pattern until later where her and the core four all equally stand out in their own ways but not clash with one another and she's not trying to outshine any of them. So her style choices in the beginning reflects how she sees herself more of a pawn to her mother and more of someone was placed in charge due to her mother's orders which makes her prone to have a harder time shifting from that mindset in the beginning.

EVIE

Her outfit is very male gaze oriented, intentionally as presented on how she was raised so how she dresses is out of place for normal people on the Isle that live more in the inner city as she dresses more for fashionable and what the Isle consider Auradon like. However don't get it twisted because her outfit is quite practical than one thinks. Her outfit is a dress with attached shorts that is hard to see due to her dress because she dresses in a way for the male gaze. Her sleeves are utilized in a way that she can keep weapons. Any weapon. Same applies to her dress skirt the cut is makes her capable of sneaking in a knife or something same rules don't apply to her purse as it just keeps makeup and a mirror in hand for quick access. Her dress is pretty tight at the waist as her mother always say "tinier the waist the better" and the closest thing of love she got from her mom is that she complimented her waist so her outfits then on compliment her waistline. Her colors are still blue and red as her mother thinks that what works because Snow White but later on she will have mementos of her mother's colors of red, black, purple, greens, and gold albeit jewelry or clothing pieces. Her shoes aren't made for any parkour. Most of her shoes are heels. Mother says a girl in heels fluctuate the legs. Her hair is in the braid as it makes her face pop out more, it represents also the strict beauty guidelines she follows due to her mother's influence so her hair will always be up and tight until later on she starts wearing it loser to present how confident she is in her skin. Her hair leans towards a black blue color it's has a blue shine if you see it in the sun which has a slight color reference to her D1 hair mixed with D3. As a result her Auradon fashion can be formed with ease as it's a easier transition since she dresses like that before going to Auradon so her outfits would be very reflective of what's popular in Auradon without the prep, so she would wear dresses but they would be in darker colors and have a few spikes. Of if she was wearing a skirt it would be a synthetic leather. Her fashion is edgy prep until later in the series where it's still edgy but has a color tune up a bit. Her outfits will very much reflecting of fitting in Auradon as much as possible and try to appeal to the male gaze in Auradon as she would try to look more modest and muted compared to everyone in the group until later on she's comfortable of being herself as she dresses more for herself and wears what's fashionable and what makes her comfortable than what her mother thinks. Her outfit choices reflects more of her needing to be approved by others which makes her have a wavering confidence in what she wears forming into her wearing clothes she would never be caught dead wearing but has to so she gets her mother's and other's approval until she realizes that she lives for her not anyone else.

JAY

This dude knows he's a little shit. So he dresses like one. His is simple and it reflects that he needs to have places to store a box cutter and a cheap necklace. He's all about practicality. He hates and I mean HATES anything that prevents him from moving in absolute precision. There is no leather on him besides his pants which are similar to Mal's with the leather accents. Now his hair is long and just up until later he wears is down often and is just styled. So his Auradon outfits will reflect Mal in some form, it's different because it leans towards athlesiure, jock, and skater in many different ways until later he leans towards athlesiure and jock with a sprinkle of skeeter fashion with brighter colors and more simplicity so not a lot of patterns or graphics. His earlier outfits will always be outshined by Mal. No matter how similar it can be it will always be outshined by Mal. His outfit choices shows how he just goes along with Mal because that's who he knew the longest next to the fact that he doesn't crave the same need for power and leadership as Mal does he just in it for the loot and his mindset isn't about teamwork it's just what works for enough for him to get his share until he notices that he gets and works enough to get his share but...he isn't noticed that also made sure everyone get theirs, just somewhat ran over just because everyone assumes he doesn't care when he does or take it for themselves so they get brighter and become separate and drastically different from Mal making him shine.

CARLOS

His outfits are practical yet fashionable like Evie's but simple. He wears anything that makes him blend in blend in. He blends in so hard that Evie stands out more than him. His clothes are very two sided like his mom's hair but he only literally have one outfit since being on the Isle and what was in his bag of stuff when he went to Auradon was like a few inventions and games and some pictures and his oversized jacket and finally getting new clothes given by Evie and some new friends he makes as seen worn here because he doesn't really go out. His hair remains the same and just gradually gets longer and he can place it in a ponytail. Which if posted on his friend's stories just looks like a maltese ponytail. His Auradon outfits are simple and blends in more better in Auradon than Evie's. He mostly wear button up shirts with some pants or sweater. He just is scared and a lot of his clothes represent security in the beginning so some of clothes would be bagger than others until later he becomes more secure and wears clothes that reflects his newfound happiness and security which is more fashionable and what's popular with Auradonian boys while being himself. As with such with the two-sided clothing from before it also presents what his personality is like really in real life, and his oversized jacket is washed its a pure white jacket. He's witty and comical and iconic while also being anxious and terrified. So his outfit choices reflects him coming out of his shell show what more of him meets the eye making him be the iconic king he is.

I hope that this analysis makes sense 😭 please let me know if it doesn't! Also i would like to hear some suggestions because ironically fashion is also not my strong suit and I'm worried that I made them too ooc but know disney i probably wasn't far off smh-

#disney descendants #descendants #my art #disney #mal descendants #jay descendants #evie descendants #carlos descendants #mal bertha #evie grimhilde #carlos de vil #this was choicee #//sob

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rammaukins · 3 years

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Shara - The New Latexdoll

IMPORTANTE NOTE: Everything that appears here, in this story, only exists in my mind, anything that resembles reality is coincidence or fortuitous. . . ( hopefully there will be many of these 🤩, or not, who knows 😭 )

Damn! Where is the Zipper? - Movimento 1

( My gratitude to KunKlo , for his great job of correcting my English and expressions. )

Part 1

On an ordinary Friday afternoon, Shara, a clerk working as a secretary in an advertising company, was strolling around looking at the shop windows of the stores in the commercial district. Like every last Friday of the month, she had put on comfortable clothes that were easy to take off, so that she could easily give in to the temptation to try on a new dress or some other garment and maybe buy it. But what was typical of this day after getting her paycheck, was that today she was going to treat herself to a new pair of high heels.

She was addicted to heels, she had renovated her house to make a dressing room in which half of the space was just for her shoes. And she had her shoes sorted by day of the week, by heel height, by whether she wanted to be more or less comfortable. She had set aside a special place for her most expensive shoes and also her favourites for creating an impression. From that dressing room, without any friend or acquaintance of hers knowing, she had made a few videos for YouTube that she knew would appeal to lovers of heels and fetish fashion. Always avoiding showing her face or any detail that would make someone recognize her.

Today was one of those days when she hoped to be able to buy some shoes that were not run of the mill, that were extravagant, impossible looking, with which she would surely get more followers and thereby improve her earnings. And if she could also find some clothes to impress, so much the better. She even looked in costume shops for porcelain Venetian type masks, not minding if they were made of plastic. If she could further cajole her followers by letting herself be seen completely and still maintaining her anonymity, that would be great.

She wandered the streets of the shopping district, looking into the windows, hoping to see something that would catch her eye. Shara today was also hoping to find something nice to wear this weekend, to get really sexy and seduce again someone she already had in mind. For a moment while she was looking at a lingerie shop, she remembered how that person was running his hands over her skin. Those manly, strong hands, that knew so very well how to excite her body.

Shara walked down several streets, perusing all the shops for possible purchases. She had made a mental note of some of the clothes she had seen and which shops they were in. With the clothes she had some choices, but for now, she couldn't find what she had truly come for. After going into five shoe stores, she couldn't find a pair of shoes that were out of the ordinary. There were sandals of all kinds, shoes of all shapes, heels of all sizes. There were several models, that if you could combine them and create a single pair. . . she would have something worthy to use in her videos. But so, Shara was forced to keep looking, getting a little frustrated.

As she was about to return home, a shop caught her eye. She had never noticed that narrow alleyway in the cyberpunk clothing shopping district, where each shop was more outlandish than the last. If it weren't for the neon lights on the sign, “Your Sin”, she wouldn't have noticed that shop at all. It wasn't the first time she'd been in a sex shop, but it wasn't something she was in the habit of doing. At the moment she was entering, another client was coming out and he gave her a tremendous fright. He was the typical person who didn't care about the opinions of others, dressed in leather clothes, with his chest covered by a torn fishnet t-shirt and, for a man, made up too much, like. . . whatever urban movement he belonged to.

Shara stood watching the man leave, when the shop owner greeted her and invited her in. With some embarrassment she looked back and forth, in case there was another customer, but apart from the shop owner, there was no one else in the store. She took a deep breath and relaxed, and began to feel more comfortable knowing she was on her own. It wasn't her first time in a sex shop, but she didn't feel comfortable buying intimate things in person, preferring the internet. She always felt uncomfortable, when she felt someone's gaze upon her, thinking she knew what they were thinking about her when they bought something. For this reason, she never showed her face in the videos.

Now more relaxed, she began to look at the products on display, and the first thing that caught her eye, was a complicated corset, underbust, with a strap connecting to a collar that was the same shape as the corset. On the collar it said in dark gold letters "Sex Toy". Shara was impressed by the outfit upon closer inspection. Both the corset part and the necklace part had the same design, except for the detail that the neck corset had that characteristic witch's necklace design. Not very high, but high enough to cover the head from behind and limit the view from the sides. It looked like something out of a bad eighties epic-erotic fantasy witch movie, but with a careful and elegant design.

"With that you could charm any man right under your heels." - Shara suddenly heard behind her.

The young woman who was attending the shop, after seeing Shara, noticed right away that she was not a regular shopper in these types of establishments. So she had said that phrase to her, to get her mind focused on something that wasn't so embarrassing, and it seemed to work. Shara relaxed a little more and didn't look around herself so much. She noticed the amazing, shiny, pale pink latex Cheongsam dress with black lotus floral embroidery that the shopkeeper was wearing. She was also wearing a corset-like belt, much like the one Shara had been looking at, but without a collar. The whole outfit was very provocative, giving her a sensual and chic figure.

"Hi. I just wanted to introduce myself, honey. I am called Beky. I can see you're more of an online shopper, so I think I'll leave you a little bit to your own devices to familiarize yourself with the store." - said the shop owner, trying not to scare her.

"Look, down this aisle you'll find some cute outfits, toys are over there, leather clothes here and accessories and bondage items over there. High heels and stripper shoes are here and at the end of that aisle, you can find the most fetish like and the craziest shoes. Let me know when you find something that interests you." - Beky said, pointing down several aisles.

That last bit of information made Shara forget what she was currently looking at. She said thank you and went straight for the shoes. Her inner slutty self had always wanted a pair of stripper shoes to surprise a visitor. She already had more or less a picture in her mind of what she wanted. But when she reached the shoe rack she was overwhelmed by the sheer variety of rare shoes and boots on display. They were mostly available in black, white, red and transparent. The lowest heel was three inches and no platform. There were shoes with thin heels, wide heels, shaped figures, pony-boots and some that immediately caught her attention, the ballet-heels.

They were shaped like ballet shoes, but made of patent leather, on the instep there was a transparent sheet and two straps that crossed in "x" form , another one with a buckle that crossed the instep, and then a much wider strap on the ankle, whose closure had two small rings, to lock it with a small padlock.

"I love them." - she said to herself, marveling at the design and at the same time she was so excited to have found what she was looking for.

Shara had heard of them, and also, she had read comments coming from some of her fans. But until now she had had no interest, mostly because the ones she had seen as an example in a link, sent by one of her followers, was a rather horrendous design. But that pair was anything but hideous, she examined the shoe more closely and there was no doubt that whoever wore that pair of shoes would have to tiptoe like a ballet dancer. That shoe had caught her attention, they were perfect, with an elegant finish, just what she was looking for and she had to have them.

She picked them up and looked for the size of the shoe, and when she looked at the label, it wasn't her size. But then she saw something that further crushed her plan. To her big disappointment, right next to the size of the shoe, was the price of that shoe. It was totally out of her reach. With some annoyance she looked at the rest of the ballet-heels there. And she found some pink booties, vintage design. Shara took a closer look at the boot and the price seemed more reasonable than the shoe.

"It's not as pretty as the other one. . . but it will do." - She said to herself hoping it would have the effect she was looking for.

With the ballet-heels in hand she walked back to the checkout counter where the owner was taking a call. There was an open box next to her, while she was holding up a flesh-colored, see-through latex suit. As Shara waited for the girl to end the call, she couldn't help but overhear her talking about a "LatexDoll" model latex costume from something called "WomanDoll" that she had received. But only one had been delivered and she had ordered ten.

Shara visually examined the box the clerk had on the table. There were two things that caught her attention, right at the bottom of the box it said: "Designed to attract attention and not let anyone recognize you." Then Shara's gaze went to the top of the box, and that slogan captivated her: "Become your own Sex LatexDoll".

to be continued...

tumblr: Shara - The New Latexdoll (Part2) >>

DeviantArt: Shara - The New Latexdoll (part2) >>

Story by Rammaukin

Correction by KunKlo.

If you 😍 it, click on 💗, and we appreciate your comments 👍 , also the criticisms 🤬, although it may and is very likely that, we do not pay attention to them 🧘.

#digital art #tights #corruption #boots #cute girls #digitalilustration #rammaukin #story #part1 #solofeme

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leemotionalwreck · 3 years

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Of Black Chats and Fallen Angels (chapter 5)

HEY BEFORE YOU READ!: This chapter does contain someone being made extremely uncomfortable at best, and sexual harassment at worst. If I’m wrong about that please let me know, I just don’t want to accidentally trigger anyone or make them uncomfortable so I’m covering all my bases now. Thank you and enjoy :)

Read it here on AO3!

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | You are here

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He felt Plagg shift restlessly inside his jacket pocket while he watched the sunrise from the backseat of his car. At 4:51 am, the sun had yet to rise, and the street lights illuminated his face as Adrien rested his head against the window. The ride was quiet as usual, the only words being ‘good morning’ as he climbed into the backseat and ‘thank you’ as he exited and headed towards the building where the photoshoot was to take place.

Adrien did his best to avoid conversation with anyone aside from a polite ‘hello’ or ‘good morning’-- his eyes were blurry with sleep, so it was probably for the best. He kept his head low as he walked towards the elevator, passing businessmen and women with cups of coffee filled to the brim, talking-- rather loudly-- into their earpieces and brushing past others just like themselves. He’d never liked the building itself; it had always been dull and grey despite the constant stream of people coming in and out-- as if it was a cruel reminder of just how similar it was to his new life.

Two flights of stairs and an elevator ride later, Adrien had finally reached the floor where the shoot was to take place. Walking towards the dressing room, he opened the door to see the photographer laughing about something with his makeup artist.

“Hey Cecil,” he said groggily. The doorframe seemed to be the only thing holding him up at the moment. “Hi, Mona.”

Cecil turned to see who had spoken, grinning when he saw a sleep-deprived Adrien Agreste. “What’s up, Adrien,” he said, his American accent thick as always. Giving the model a once-over, Cecil’s grin died down slightly. “So,” Cecil took a sip of his cup. “How many ounces do you want this morning?”

Mona slapped his arm. “You know there’s no coffee before shoots.” She huffed, getting a laugh from her husband in return. Turning to Adrien, she smiled sweetly. “I’m sorry sweetie, but coffee’s gonna stain your teeth and I wanna get you out of here as soon as possible.”

Cecil opened his mouth to protest before Adrien yawned again.

“It’s alright,” he muttered. The floor seemed to be getting closer and Adrien wondered why until he realized that he was falling forward.

Cecil jumped towards Adrien to catch him just as he managed to right himself. “I’m alright,” He said. “I just hope I can make it to school on time.”

“Well then,” Mona said unsurely as she gestured to the chair in front of her. “Take a seat and we’ll get started.”

Cecil took another sip of his coffee. “We might take a little longer setting up, cause there are so many new people this time around. Just take your time and head over when you and your partner are ready, okay?”

He looked up from where he sat while Mona prepared everything she needed on the counter behind him. “Partner? What partner?”

She turned toward him slightly. “No one told you?” Adrien shook his head. “Ah, that’s all right. You’ll meet her soon enough.”

*********

After sitting still and in a chair for entirely too long and getting changed into the clothing provided, Adrien checked that the time on his phone read 5:35 before setting it with the rest of his clothing and heading towards where the shoot was taking place.

The room was spacious with plenty of natural lighting coming in from the massive windows that reminded him of his bedroom. The walls and floors were baby blue and white, giving the place a strange feeling that it had just been painted, despite having been there for years. With Cecil, the crew, and the equipment set up on one side of the room, all tables filled with coffee cups and torn open sugar packets lined the wall on the other side of the room.

While Adrien was chatting friendly with one of the newer assistants by one of the tables (which had always seemed out of place to him in the otherwise empty room), Cecil came up to him with a girl trailing behind who Adrien couldn’t see quite clearly save her long brown hair that reached her waist.

“Sorry no one told you about this earlier,” Cecil smiled apologetically, his bright white teeth contrasting his deep brown skin. “But we’d figured you’d be okay with it. She’s pretty new, so go easy on her, yeah?” Adrien smiled and nodded. “Great. We’re almost done setting everything up, be ready in ten.”

The photographer walked away along with the intern, allowing Adrien to finally get a look at the new model.

Lila Rossi.

“Lila!” Why hadn’t she brought this up before? “Since when are you a model? You never mentioned it before.”

“About that; funny story actually,” she giggled. “I hadn’t told anyone because, one; I’d only been hired recently and two, even if they had hired me sooner, I was told not to tell anyone. I had no idea you’d be the one I was working with since all they told me is that I’d be with some big-time model and not to bring it up until after.”

“Oh,” he murmured. That didn’t answer all of his questions, but he could always ask later when they had more time. Shaking himself out of his thoughts, he plastered a smile on his face. “Well. I’m glad to be working with a friend.”

“So am I,” Lila purred. Something in her eyes made Adrien want to turn away and run while she took a step closer to him. “I’ve been thinking, you know.”

Adrien stared cautiously at the manicured finger that was making its way up his chest. “Oh?”

“Mhm. I think, as friends, it’s important to have close relationships with everyone in the group. But it seems like you and I aren’t all that close.”

“We’re plenty close right now, aren’t we?” He joked, shifting away from her slightly.

Lila maintained the contact between the two, seeming as if she had no intention of moving away any time soon. “You know what I meant, silly.” Her gaze was finally torn away from his arms and chest, locking on his eyes instead. “We don’t spend nearly enough time together, and I think the two of us should hang out more. Maybe after this shoot is over we could--”

“Alright guys, come on over!” Adrien didn’t think he could have been more grateful for Cecil than he was at that moment.

“We’re coming!” He shouted across the room. Removing himself from Lila’s touch, Adrien turned to face her again and placed a hand on her shoulder. “You’re right Lila, but I’d hate to leave the others out, you know? Besides, we’ve got school after this.”

As the pair walked towards the set Adrien noted the strangled growl that came from behind him, along with the burning sensation that came from where she touched him.

*********

The designer, Jeremy McKnight, was present the entire shoot-- adamant about being there to ensure his vision was properly executed. His original idea had been extremely reliant on the theme of good and evil. Light and dark, yin and yang, angels and demons, and so on. Both outfits were simple enough. For Lila, all-black clothing; basic dark jeans, and a black long-sleeved shirt with a dark grey ruffled shirt over it along with black boots to complete it. Adrien was almost completely the opposite. A white long-sleeved shirt and white pants, complete with a light blue button-down overshirt and white tennis shoes.

Both models had a few pictures taken alone before stepping in front of the camera together.

“Alright, you two,” Cecil said as the two walked in front of the camera. “From what I’ve seen, you two have chemistry, which means this part shouldn’t be difficult at all.”

The designer spoke from his chair a few feet away from the camera. “Exactly. What we want is the coming together of light and dark. You guys think you can do that?” Unfortunately, Jeremy fit the stereotype of the diva designer perfectly. His cliche beret, scarf, and glasses all seeming to feed into the persona.

That wasn’t helping the pit in Adrien’s stomach.

It wasn’t nerves. He’s done countless photoshoots before, the one continuous emotion being boredom. No, this was something else-- something synonymous to fear. Or was it dread?

The two nodded in tandem. “Great!” The designer said. “Let’s see what you guys got.”

*********

A couple of shots later both Cecil and the designer were pleased with the outcome, except for the latter requesting to adjust the two models himself.

Cecil looked at the two for confirmation consent before turning back to the designer. “Yeah sure. Just make it quick, cause we’ve only got about an hour left.”

“What time is it?” Adrien asked.

Cecil looked at his watch. “Seven on the dot.” Looking back up at Adrien, he raised his eyebrow with a chuckle. “You got somewhere to be?”

He smiled sheepishly. “School.”

He chuckled. "Fair enough. Alright Mr. McKnight, come on over."

Jeremy walked towards the two with his nose in the air and began his adjustments. In the end, Adrien was facing towards the camera with his hip jutted to the left and his head in his pockets. His head was angled slightly upwards while his gaze was still locked on the camera. Lila's body was faced entirely towards Adrien, with one arm on his shoulder and the other with its thumb in her belt loop. Her head faced the camera and the designer beamed at his work.

He wasn’t claustrophobic, that was what he knew. But right then and there the suffocation he felt was overwhelming and he felt faint. His breathing grew shallow and his palms were sweaty and the ground was swaying but Lila and Jeremy didn’t seem to notice. In fact, it seemed as if they were getting close to him and that Lila’s grip on his arm was getting tighter. Worst of all, the burning spread. It spread from his shoulder and filled his chest and melded with his brain and sank into the soles of his feet. It grew so hot that it felt cold and the fear grew with it and Jesus was he about to die?

“Great,” Jeremy said. “How does that feel?”

Adrien couldn’t really tell if he nodded, hoping the strangled noise that came from somewhere was both his and a sign of confirmation.

“It’s perfect,” Lila said.

“Alright then,” Said the photographer. “Last couple pictures and we’re done.”

*********

Lila and Adrien (after securing a sleeping Plagg in the pocket of his school bag) returned from the dressing rooms at the same time, both dressed in their school attire and their bags on them.

Adrien released a deep breath and Lila sighed next to him. Her hand somehow back on his shoulder. After Jeremy had moved away from him earlier the suffocation subsided but it wasn’t until Cecil called him over to where his tripod was set up that the pain had all but went away.

“Hey, you alright man?” He asked softly, making sure that the girl on her phone not too far from them couldn’t hear the question.

“Yeah,” Adrien said. “Why?”

In any other situation, the dumbfounded look that Cecil gave Adrien might have made him laugh, but right now he was worried. Why wouldn’t he be okay?

The photographer took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose before sighing deeply and kept on speaking. “I’m gonna help the rest of the crew put all this away then meet up with Mona downstairs,” Cecil huffed at his uncooperative tripod before it finally conceded and he continued. “I know you two have school, but if you want I wouldn’t mind buying a cup for you.” He sighed at Adrien. “Looks like you need it.”

Adrien sighed, “Yeah. Yeah, that sounds nice.” He called to the girl not too far from him. “What about you, Lila?”

“Hmm?” She'd been texting furiously to someone on the other end of her phone. Based on the look in her eyes, he’d hate to be whoever that was right now.

“Do you mind stopping for a coffee before heading to school? I’ll make sure to give you a ride if you do.”

“Oh,” she smiled and put her phone in her grey messenger bag. “Sure. As I said, it couldn’t hurt for us to spend more time together.”

Adrien just shrugged at the curiously worried look Cecil gave him.

As the trio walked down to the ground level Lila questioned where Mr. McKnight had gone.

“No idea,” Cecil said.

Just as they turned the corner, Adrien could have sworn he felt a pair of eyes on him. He caught a glimpse of them, most likely imagining the red gaze burning through his back directly into his soul.

*********

“Thank you both so much!” Lila called as she slid into the back seat of the limo, her drink in hand.

Cecil looked at Mona and nodded. “Hey Lila you go on ahead,” she said. “We’ve got something we need to talk to Adrien about.”

Halfway out the door, Lila shot a look at Adrien who nodded.

Mona’s tongue fiddled with her lip piercing. “Are you and Lila dating?”

Naturally, he’d been taking a sip of his tea at that time; which meant he choked while burning his throat and nose.

Fun.

After reassuring the couple that he was okay, he answered Mona’s question. “No. no we’re not. Why?”

“I told her about earlier,” Cecil said. “About how uncomfortable you looked. If you two aren’t dating-- are you okay?”

Adrien’s heart warmed at the fact that they cared enough. He hadn’t felt a love like that in a while. Smiling, he answered. “Thank you both, but I’m okay. Lila can be somewhat… touchy-- but that’s just how she is. I swear I’m alright.”

They looked at each other skeptically, silently having some sort of conversation that Adrien, despite speaking several languages, couldn’t even begin to decipher what they were thinking.

After a long, drawn-out silence, they nod and Mona says one more thing before they leave to walk to their car. “Hey, in case she ever tries anything-- I can’t always be there but please remember that you’re allowed to be uncomfortable and say no.” He nodded and said goodbye to the both of them.

He slid into the seat next to Lila, handing her his cup to avoid spilling on the leather seats.

“What’d you get yelled at for?” She asked. He couldn’t tell if she was serious.

“Nothing I was in trouble for. Just a reminder. ”

Aside from Lila’s attempts to start a conversation, the rest of the ride was silent as Adrien did his best to figure out exactly why Mona had been concerned, too deep in thought to notice the burning sensation spread as Lila ran a hand up and down his thigh.

#of black chats and fallen angels #ml #miraculous ladybug

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shardweavers · 4 years

Text

Chapter One - The Light of a New Dawn

The Primordial Light within the Champions of Eorzea threatened to overtake them; in those final moments, a great darkness spread. With all their might; and the aid of the Crystals of Light that once belonged to the heroes of this shard; that Light was released to hold back the ancient sorcerer before them. Such strength... such despair. The Light felt as if it would shatter them from its intensity, when a familiar voice called forth; the Warrior, Ardbert, stood before them; at her side.

"Do you think you can do it?" A simple nod was all that was needed. An axe of Light suddenly hurled forth, and fractured the core of the foe before them. Soon after, a burst of frozen Light weakened his core further; a Light-infused rock hurled forward to push the axe of Light further forward. Immediately after, came a sword of Light, which pushed it even further; then a Light arrow to drive it further still. As the Warriors of the Source joined their strength together, along with the Warriors of the First, the Light that opposed the Darkness swiftly became blinding. It immediately forced them to shield their eyes, then, before they knew it, they were back in the recreation of Amaurot; on the flat roof of a tall tower. They glanced about, to find the Ascian standing before them, holding a hand over his now pierced core. It shone and glimmered as the aether began to dissipate, and he began to fade away.

"Remember," his words echoed into their souls, "Remember that we once lived..." A genuine smile formed on his lips. He was finally granted the sweet embrace of death that he so wanted to welcome. Tears formed of their own accord on the face of the one that had thrown the axe of Light. The one that had rejoined with Ardbert. Her dark hair with touches of teal moved gently in the breeze, as she watched the Ascian started to disappear. He looked at her with sad eyes before he faded away.

* * * Her eyes opened with a start. Slowly, she placed a hand to her face, and found it wet from tears. How many weeks had it been since that fight, yet she still felt this emptiness and regret? Daylight peeked through the window via the slightly drawn curtain. A dark-haired Miqo'te made a face as her ears flicked in response to the morning light. Still on her back, under the covers, she then rolled over, away from the window on her bed. After opening her eyes slowly, she found herself staring at the wall where a single poster hung; a promotional poster for the Songbirds. They were a performance group known throughout Eorzea for their great songs and dance, and as luck would have it, they would be performing in Ul'dah again soon. She thought that perhaps she could convince some of the other free company members to join her in watching their performance then. A frown formed on her face after a moment, she realized that would be unlikely; she knew they would not have time to see it. Important matters now called them back to the First Shard.

The female Miqo'te pushed back the blankets as she sat up, then stretched with her arms up above her. She let her arms fall lightly to her sides, then got up to make her way to the dresser so she could get dressed for the day. Her hair was frizzy from the night's rest, so; once she had put on her normal attire; she grabbed a comb, then ran it through her black and teal tipped hair until she felt it looked presentable once more. She gave herself one last look over in the mirror. Her fair-skinned face stared back at her. Her blue eyes danced in the reflection as she examined everything to make sure she looked okay. Typically, she kept her hair short with two braids ending in beads with feathers. Today, she would wear her favorite outfit for the journey; a black cropped top with leather jacket, a pair of dark gray shorts with multi-belts,and knee-high, lace-up boots over flower-themed thigh-high stockings. With a nod, she smiled, satisfied that she could leave looking presentable. After she grabbed her Scholar codex, she fastened it to her side; Shoto was now ready to go. The Miqo'te headed out of her room to make her way down the hall to the main free company area, wondering aloud mostly to herself.

"I wonder if anyone else is up and about at this hour?" Shoto rounded the corner, then noticed one of the other free company members of the Crystal Wardens already awake. In fact, Yuki had already been up for quite some time. The lean Viera had her elbows on the table as she sat and sipped her cup of coffee. To her side, an emerald carbuncle bobbed its head as its tails swiveled behind it. She wasn’t overly tall for a Viera, rather, she was on the shorter side. The woman's stature was made up for in her temperament. Her scowl struck fear into her foe; with the glare that seemed to be ever present on her face.

Her outfit was calmer than her temper. It was a nice, flowy robe in a white fabric, that had black trim and a design of gold markings. The robe had gold armoring at the shoulders to make it sturdy and practical, but not uncomfortable. At the bottom of her robes, the black, knee-length skirt peeked out. She wore open-toed sandals on her feet, which had long, leather straps that wrapped around some heavy, black fabric that covered her shins and calves; the straps continued up to wrap around her thighs. Her hands were covered in a pair of fingerless gloves, one of which rested around her coffee cup. The gloves extended into armbands that went to her elbows, each had matching gold armor to her shoulder plates. Her long white hair draped, which framed her face, and ended in soft, light grey curls. This was offset by the black tips of her long, vertical ears.

Waking up early was usually her best chance for some solitude since she was never sure how soon the others would be up. She motioned to Shoto as the other Miqo'te headed down the stairs. She had a hard time dealing with most of the free company’s members, save for Shoto and Sumire, the latter of whom was not yet present. Yuki wondered when the male Miqo’te would be getting up, as she knew they would be leaving soon.

"Good morning, Shoto. I am assuming you are ready to head out soon." The carbuncle flicked its tails noticing the Miqo’te entering the area. Yuki took another sip of the coffee before her, then sat her cup back down, and pushed some of the strands of white hair back out of her face with her other hand. Shoto smiled seeing her fellow free company member up already. She always found delight in the company of others.

"I wouldn't have it any other way. The plus side of being up early means I can get some breakfast going to try to get the others moving," the Miqo'te chuckled to herself. She moved towards the kitchen that was to the side of the free company's main area, turned the oven on to heat up, then glanced back to Yuki, "Would you like a fresh cup of coffee or tea as I start breakfast? I'm thinking dodo eggs and bacon bread this morning. Nothing too fancy." Shoto grabbed an apron from the shelf. She patted it out as she tied it around her waist, put a kettle of water on to boil, then began to gather up supplies as she waited for Yuki's reply and the oven. The Viera nodded to herself, then called out, loud enough for Shoto to hear her.

"I suppose. I'm fine with anything that could be considered edib--," Yuki jumped slightly, as her response was cut off by the sound of sudden footfalls coming down the stairs.

“I heard a mention of breakfast?!” The excited voice came from a small, violet-haired, male Miqo’te who had bounded down the stairs; two at a time. His short, slightly shaggy violet hair had light purple tips, the same color as the tip of his long, thin tail. His dark gray shirt was half unbuttoned, the violet vest was buttoned completely over his stomach. A brown belt sat loosely around his waist, with a gold rectangle attached to one side; a small canteen for water. His pants were a durable, black canvas-like material that sat loosely over his legs; also over the black, leather shoes on his feet. His hands were wrapped with a violet cloth that gave him extra grip on the rather large, metal lance he had strapped to his back. A lance that he removed, then leaned against the wall before he joined Yuki at the table. The oven's timer went off, which let Shoto know the oven was ready to bake. The white-haired Viera breathed out, then brought her attention back to the table in front of her instead. Her cup was empty, so she twirled it in her fingers.

In the kitchen, Shoto had used her supplies to quickly put together the bacon bread and put it into the oven. She then cracked a few eggs into a bowl, whisked them about, and put them into a pan to cook. While they did that, she peeked her head around the corner eyeing Sumire that had come down for breakfast. "Ah! I thought I heard another voice. There should be plenty for the three of us." Shoto grinned at both of them.

Sumire gave her a grin in response. Yuki continued to sit quietly, as she looked back to her empty cup. The kettle started a low whistle, as if on cue. Shoto moved back into the kitchen, then removed it carefully to a tray along with cups. She put a large tea bag in the kettle and walked out of the kitchen. The female Seeker put the tray on the table in front of the Veena and the male Seeker.

"Breakfast will be ready soon," Shoto said, as she put the tea set on the table before Yuki and Sumire. The eggs were almost done cooking by this point, so she hurried back to the kitchen. With a ding from the oven timer, the bacon bread was finished. She carefully removed it from the oven, then sat it on top to cool while she finished with the eggs. Once everything was done, Shoto reappeared before the two with the bacon bread in a nice basket. She set a plate of eggs for each of them, then the dark haired Miqo'te took a seat at the table joining the Viera and other Miqo’te.

"It all smells delicious, Shoto, thanks!" Sumire perked his ears up, then took some of the bacon bread to go with his eggs. He also took a cup of tea for himself with a bit of cream. No sooner did he have his share then he'd started eating a bit hurriedly.

"What are the plans for today?" Yuki asked as she took some bread for herself. "You mentioned something about the First last night," she took a cup of tea for herself as she continued her question, "Are we meeting up with Angel and Ice before we go?"

"I figured they will probably be meeting up with us on the First. I know G'raha-," Shoto stopped herself, "I mean, the Crystal Exarch, wanted to speak with all of us." Eos and Selene then appeared, and snagged part of her bacon bread from her plate. Shoto chuckled softly, "There is plenty. Don't fight, you two." The fairies twirled in the air; it was like watching them dance. They took a place nearby on the windowsill, as they shared the piece of bread they took.

Yuki shook her head at the bickering fairies then took another bite of food. It was never a dull moment around here, that's for sure. Her carbuncle nosed up closer, as it very clearly eyed the food on the table. After a moment of staring, Yuki handed the blue creature a small piece of her bread. It happily took its reward, then rested beside her again.

Sumire seemed focused on his own food for the moment, he'd eaten most of his bread along with all of his eggs, then worked on slowly enjoying his tea. Yuki brought her hands around her tea cup, warming them. She didn’t look up but stared into the ripples of the liquid as she spoke, “Speaking of the First…” she paused trying to find her words, biting at her bottom lip, “Are you going to be okay, Shoto?” The female Seeker stopped eating, a bit lost in words. “I…I will be alright.”

"We're just worried," Sumire lowered his teacup as he looked from Yuki to Shoto. The Miqo'te's dual-colored eyes focused on Shoto; his left, pale green one, and his right, blank white one, the one where his scar sat. He then flicked his ears, as he continued with a concerned tone, "You were really upset, even after we got back here. I don't think you've talked to anyone, have you?"

Shoto gave a soft smile. She truly had caring friends. After all, they were both there along with Angel and Ice during the final battle with Emet-Selch. She pushed a few strands of her teal tipped hair from her face, “Not really. Honestly, I’m not even completely sure why I felt the way I did.”

"Shoto," Yuki gripped her cup, “you were crying over our enemy.” “I know," Shoto mumbled a bit, "I guess it was hard since he had kind of gotten close to the group. I just wish,” the female Seeker trailed off a little. Sumire then gave an understanding nod.

“You wish that it could have gone differently?”

Shoto nodded in response. “The feeling I got in that final moment before he faded. It was strong coming from him, like something I knew but had forgotten.”

The Viera tilted her head a bit; brought a hand to her chin in thought, “Perhaps, it has something to do with the Warriors of Darkness combining with us in the end?”

"Something... forgotten," the Dragoon bit his lip. He looked at the little bit of bacon bread on his plate. He'd seen the soul of Renda-Rae in that fight. That was all he'd told anyone, but her question returned to him at Yuki's question.

'If you had the strength to prevent another tragedy... could you do it...?'

He'd remembered his youth, the other orphans that had died. How he could only barely save the youngest of them from the dragons in Stone Vigil. 'Yes,' he'd replied, 'If I could stop something like that from happening again, I would absolutely do it this time.' He hadn't spoken since he mumbled, but the expression on his face was deeply thoughtful; accentuated by the grip on his nearly-empty teacup.

Yuki shrugged it off, “Something we could probably ask the Crystal Exarch about. Speaking of, it is about time to be heading that way.” Her voice drew Sumire's attention back to the present. He nodded in agreement, then hurriedly finished the little bit of bread, then washed that down with the little bit of tea left in his cup.

Once everyone had finished eating, Shoto picked up their dishes, then took them to the sink. Yuki and Sumire hurried back to their rooms to grab their travel bags. Shoto thought over what all she had packed in her own bag as she cleaned up; mostly healing items along with a change of clothes and provisions. Eos and Selene both flew down from the window and sat on Shoto's bag to wait. She came back out from the kitchen as the Viera and the other Miqo'te returned with their bags. Sumire picked up his lance from its resting place against the wall, then placed it on his back over the strap of his bag. Yuki made sure her tome was firmly attached to her hip, then adjusted her bag.

"Well that takes care of everything on my end." The Miqo'te picked up her bag, and threw it over her shoulder. The fairies fluttered around her, then disappeared as she continued, "I guess we can start heading to the portal, then to the First." She smiled at Yuki and Sumire, who both nodded in response, then they all headed out the door. Little did the group know what would await them on the First.

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cutegirlmayra · 5 years

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Platonic Tails and Amy? Not many fics focus on them :(

Certainly! My fav character with my fav character to write! Let’s do this!

Prompt:

It was a sunny day outside, so Tails kicked his legs off the side of his house’s roof and let his tails dangle down with them as he laid back and looked up videos about how to build certain things.

He was amazed at how easy he could understand everything. It was all structured out and made sense. Everything had a function that was put together by many different pieces that created the invention you wanted to improve your–and others–lives!

As he cheerily focused on his hobby, just relaxing on a nice day, he heard a small call from below him and blinked his eyes. “H-huh?”

“…-ails! Tails!” the voice kept growing as the distance came closer to his home.

He sat up, “Whoever it is, they don’t sound distressed.” He flicked another ear up to listen more closely, lowering his Miles-Electric and pausing the step-by-step video.

“Tails? Are you even here? OooOOOooohhh… They’re always out saving the world and leaving me behind…”

He knew that whine anywhere.

“Amy?” He raised an eyebrow before moving to the edge of the rooftop and waving over it, gripping it. “Amy!!!” he cried out, showing her where he was.

From a small distance down and out by his home’s entrance, he noticed Amy looking disappointed before seeing him and waving happily back.

“Oh, Tails! Why didn’t you say something earlier?”

He flew down beside her and cutely tilted his body to the side, moving his hands behind his back and wagging his tails slightly. “Whaddaya need?” he slurred but looked rather confident.

He then noticed something about Amy’s dress…

“Ah… Amy, are you wearing something new?” He noticed some slight differences. The usual red of her dress was brighter and the rim of her dress had laced frills. She also was wearing a different headband… it matched the rims and looked like a ‘fancy cute’ style.

“Em-hmm.” Amy chimed, showing off as she lightly lifted her skirt to reveal that her shoes were also high-boots with the same doll-like design.

“I wanted to run by the new look with you before I show it off to Sonic~” she posed and walked around for a moment, one hand on her hip and the other down with her wrist pointing her hand daintily up.

She looked over her shoulder and lowered her eyes, “What do you think? A total knock out, right?”

Tails sweat dropped… ‘Sonic will think she’s a little girl again…’ he shook the thought away though.

“It’s… It’s really nice, Amy. But I thought the reason you changed your look before was because you were worried Sonic would only see you as a little girl still.” he put a finger to his mouth, trying to be tactful and discreet.

“I did. This isn’t a little girl outfit, Tails. It’s a light, gothic lolita style! I didn’t want to go too far and startle Sonic with something strange.” She posed once again, really thinking herself something else as Tails once again feined a smile.

“Eh-heh… is that so?” He bit his lip. ‘She looks like a walking doll! She says she wanted to go light on it, but she looks like an old-style french maid.’ he sighed, deciding to be a good friend and keep his mouth shut.

“You do look nice…”

“I know, right!? What do you think Sonic will say?” She posed once more.

“…First?”

“Oh-ho! Tails! You’re right! He’ll be so swallowed up in all the things he’ll want to say that he won’t be able to say anything! He’s so shy like that~” she swooned, placing her frilly gloves up by her face.

“…He’ll be speechless alright.” Tails slightly quaked, ‘Is it really alright for me to keep her going like this? I want to be a good friend… but I don’t want to upset Amy. But if I don’t tell her the truth of how I see it, then I’ll have to answer to her hammer for sure!’ He lightly bit the nails under his gloves and thought long and hard about how he was going to go about this.

‘I hate lying… but this isn’t lying if she’s happy, right?’ he debated, placing a hand to his chin and staring long and hard at the ground. ‘Maybe if I tell her Sonic likes more… mature- ugh, no. I mind-vomited just thinking about spouting that stuff out! What if I..? Yeah! I can tell her she looked better the way she was! Ohh… but she may take that the wrong way… Man, this is hard. If Amy were a dude, it’d be easy to just say her looks too iconic to change. But girls can be touchy about their looks cause it can mean more to them. I mean, Sonic cares about his looks, but he doesn’t mind getting robot gunk all over his quills…’ As Tails’s thoughts went off, Amy continued to strut and walk down the catwalk runway in her mind before blinking her eyes at the sudden silence that came on the area.

She frowned when she thought his face, “Tails.” she broke him out of his deep thoughts.

“O-oh! W-what is it?” He was nervous, clearly having not decided how to go about this yet.

She stared at him a moment, then turned fully to him with a serious look on her face, hands to her hips, not putting up with any more of his crap. “You had your thinking face on.”

“..I… I did?” He gulped, his tails retreating below his shaking knees.

“I know you, Tails. I can tell when you’re overthinking something…” She looked sorrowfully down at her clothes. “It’s… It’s too much?” She smiled weakly, bowing her head and looking up at him, as though apologetically. “For Sonic… I mean.”

“…Yeah.” He scratched behind his head, “I’m sorry I didn’t come right out and say it, Amy. I really do think it’s cute! I just know that Sonic might make a comment and you’ll think he’s making fun of you…”

“He’ll call me a ‘real doll’, right? In his sly little way he does that?” Amy giggled into her hand.

Tails perked up and also joined the laughter, “Hehe, yeah! I was just thinking you’d look great in a dollhouse. Haha!”

A hammer flew directly to the side of him.

His eyes shook and his face turned white.

Amy’s eyes narrowed and he quickly straightened up as though she was a drill sergeant. “I mean! I don’t know why anyone would say that, Ma’am!”

Amy sighed, “You were kinda blunt there, Tails… I really liked this outfit too…” She looked over her dress again. “Do you think I need to leave ‘cute’ behind and take up something more… ‘edgy’?”

“Oh please don’t.” Tails’s eyes shrunk at that mental image. “Even Sonic would avoid you if you did that!”

She growled a little and Tails hunched his head a bit down, avoiding raising it above her own.

“I-I-I mean… what’s wrong with your iconic dress?”

“It’s old! That’s what!” Amy kicked the ground and Tails sighed, seeing she was redirecting her disappointment at the rocks on the ground than at himself.

He was still trying to be submissive and take this sensitively. “If you really want to change your look… why not pick something that makes you happy? Instead of just thinking about Sonic all the time?”

“Because Sonic makes me happy.” She stated, looking at the still water in his functioning watermill and examined herself in the water. “But… If I really had to be honest…” She looked a bit sad…

This made Tails feel a bit bad for saying anything… but then-

“I’d really like to wear something more like this.” she pulled out a magazine and showed Tails the girl’s look.

Tails’s eyes lit up, “This looks great!”

Amy’s ears perked up and she looked genuinely relieved, “You mean it? You think it looks cute?”

“Definitely! And it’s not so ‘bold’ as the lolita look.” He flipped the magazine a bit and saw some other designs that Amy had circled with a red pen. “I like how you look for affordable outfits too. None of these are too much or even too little, either. I think even Sonic would say something polite about these.”

As Tails kept going through the magazine, he saw out of the corner of his eye how Amy’s face lit up. She didn’t say much, just listened to his comments, but he could tell by her demeanor that she really appreciated everything he was saying.

“So… This skirt with these cute bracelets and maybe this jacket?” She pointed to different pages, and Tails nodded.

‘It really doesn’t matter to me what she likes and doesn’t like.’ he said to himself, watching as Amy grew excited about the new outfit she was planning on getting.

He peeked a side-glance to her, ‘As long as she’s happy, smiling like this, then Sonic will think she looks good regardless of what’s she wearing. Maybe… that’s how I’ll be a good friend to her. Even I like people telling me I have good taste, or when someone compliments my machines. I bet all Amy needed was someone to believe in her, and I know she’s capable of doing the rest.’

He continued to agree with everything she pointed out, seeing it wasn’t so extreme as her gradual transition method she had thought of before. Plus, it was clear Amy didn’t really want that style anyway, she would much rather pick something she liked, and not something she thought someone else would like.

When Amy came back around, she had more magazines and was wearing the outfit her and Tails had picked out and talked about together.

This time, Sonic was around.

They were hanging out on the roof when Sonic looked down and lowered his raised knee to see Amy in the distance, waving them down.

She grew nervous when she saw Sonic and smiled with a blush, stroking a front quill down by her cheek.

“Looks like it’s Amy.” Tails smiled, then looked over to Sonic. ‘I wonder if he’ll like it? I’m being a good friend to him too, by not showing him Amy in that doll outfit, haha!’ he chuckled inside his mind.

Sonic, after a moment of understanding what he was seeing, smiled too and nodded. “Yeah. She looks great!”

Tails grinned from ear to ear, kicking his legs out from below the edge of his roof. ‘Hehe~’ he chimed inside his head.

“Yeah, she does, doesn’t she?”

#sonic prompt #tails and amy #amy and tails #tails prompt #amy prompt #sonic the hedgehog #sonamy #sonamy prompt #cutegirlmayra #tails the fox #tails miles prower #amy rose #platonic tails and amy

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hannahmcne · 4 years

Text

Westward sc 3

When he woke up, he was buried underneath a very large, heavy blanket that was pressing him into a thick comforter. The feeling would have been relaxing if it hadn't been so unbearably hot. Slowly, Ben crawled out from underneath the weighted item and discovered that his shoulders, knees, wrists, and ankles were sore. He winced as he rubbed them and then squinted at the daylight visible at the top of the teepee. It looked like mid-afternoon outside and was high-noon in Agrabah inside the teepee.

Ben picked at his clothes. He looked like he'd walked through a waterfall. He was completely drenched in his own sweat and completely parched. He ran his hands through his hair and then found, like Evie had promised, a new outfit laid on a tarp at the center pole of the teepee, where he had originally fallen asleep. A long-sleeved maroon shirt that looked like something that would keep him warm on a jog in November, some tan pants with very deep pockets, and a pair of shoes that were brown with black designs on the sides. He wondered if Evie had made them.

He wasn't too excited to see the winterish clothes but grateful that Evie had come through nonetheless. He wondered what his wardrobe would be the next few months and found he wasn't exactly sorry to say goodbye to suits and polished shoes for a little bit.

He rolled the sleeves up on the shirt to his elbows before he wandered closer to the flap of the teepee. He could hear people bustling around outside. He wondered if it was 'safe' to go out now. He wasn't exactly wearing Auradon colors anymore. What if Evie, Mal, or Uma got mad at him?

He pushed the flap open and stepped out. And the sight outside shocked and scared and thrilled and amazed him all at once. There were so many people.

People were rushing across the camp, which was actually much larger than Ben had first realized. People were standing and chatting, passing water bottles back and forth with bright smiles. People were tending small shops and exchanging wares. Hurt people sat in chairs and talked with each other. Young children raced on little horse and dragon toys, and there were even young adults his age who were walking arm in arm, shoving each other, everything. There were carts and small wagons lining the outside of the main road, which stretched for at least two miles in either way. There were other teepees and small structures, but it appeared everyone was living out of wagons and off the land. How extraordinary.

"Ben!" Someone called, and Ben's head snapped up in the direction of Jay, who was sitting on the back of a cart with Mal and Carlos. Mal was kicking her legs back and forth nonchalantly, and the sight of her made him pause before he glanced to make sure he wouldn't run into anyone and then crossed the road to join them.

"Sleep well?" Jay asked with a laugh as Ben neared them. "You look like you came back from the dead."

"Close enough," Ben shrugged, shielding a yawn. "How long was I out?"

"Four years," Mal drawled. "We made it all the way to the new land without you."

Ben snorted at the same time as Carlos. He took that as a good sign – he was catching on to her humor rather well. Mal looked down at him, carefully taking in the red shirt and his mussed hair, and then glanced away.

"It's only just starting to become evening," Jay assured him. "But we've got things on their way. Some people are already packing up. I think Evie is gonna have your teepee dismantled with the rest and put your stuff in with Carlos and I's wagon. That okay?"

"Only if it's okay with you," Ben assured Jay. "I wouldn't want to intrude."

"Nah, it's cool, man," Carlos nodded. "We've never met a king before. We'll have to assimilate you into Isle culture."

"Assila-wha?" Jay crinkled his brow. "You and Evie both talk mouthfuls."

"It means to integrate. To mix," Ben supplied.

Jay rolled his eyes. "Well, look at this, guys," he elbowed Carlos with a roll of his eyes. "He's pretty, he gives inspirational speeches, and he has a brain."

"Two of those are true," Ben conceded. "However, I'm not sure my looks prevailed after having my face in the mud and then passing out for, well, all day." He tried not to look at Mal or Jay too hard or to sound like he was accusing them.

"Beauty is pain," Mal drawled, pulling her leg up onto her knee and continuing to kick the other one out. "And it could be worse. You could have been woken up right before midnight, hiked through the forest with a defense squadron thinking that the high kingdom had sent someone to order you to move or be moved, accidentally kidnapped the King of Auradon and then stayed up till now without a nap so you could go hunting to feed two-hundred kids and young adults." Mal let out a long, loud, piercing yawn. "I have been up for seventeen hours on two hours of rest."

"My cot is still set up if you want it?" Ben offered, cringing a little as he imagined how damp it might be from him basically drowning in his own sweat. Luckily, Mal didn't seem interested. "And wow, you lead defense squads, cast magic spells, and feed the masses. Anything else?"

"Spray paint," Jay mumbled under his breath. Mal kicked him.

"Excuse you," She spat. "Spray paint is a noble art form. I'd like to see you create anything remotely intelligible."

Jay furrowed his brow. "Intelli-wha?" He asked.

"Don't hate on the spray paint," Carlo nodded. "Her crap is pretty darn near perfect."

Mal let out a snort. "Ha! That's me, I am perfect. She multi-tasks; she dabbles."

"You're the best," Carlos shrugged. Mal nodded in agreement.

"Are you guys… a couple?" Ben asked slowly, glancing between Mal and Carlos. Carlos burst into laughter while Mal gave him an unimpressed look.

"No," She shook her head. "No. So don't get all worried, Prince Charming."

Ben's face turned red as he held up his hands. "I wasn't implying anything," He insisted. "I just wasn't expecting such high praise among friends from the Isle of the Lost."

"We're more like family," Jay explained. His face had taken on some dark tones and he was examining Ben in that same way Evie had been.

"Nah," Mal shook her head and kicked him again. "The King's right. We're like a gigantic lust-fest. You, me, Evie, and Carlos. We're all in a gigantic, messy relationship together."

"Oh, does that mean I get to hold your hand and bring you flowers?" Jay puckered his lips out as he teased her. Immediately, a cloud of rage darkened Mal's face.

"No, that's what Evie's for," She shoved Jay off the cart this time. "But you can walk down the street and make sure Shrimpy isn't messing anything up."

"You're too much work, Mal," Jay sighed. "I'm breaking up with you. You can keep Evie and Carlos."

"Who's Shrimpy?" Ben asked, crossing his arms and choosing not to comment as Carlos began to laugh even harder.

"Uma," Jay rolled his eyes. "She and Mal are having this power struggle that Evie usually balances out."

"It's not a power struggle," Mal hissed. "I'm more powerful than her. Especially here. Her little seashell trick only works near the ocean. I can turn into a dragon wherever. What we have is her thinking she can control me, and Evie trying to convince me to let her."

"So Evie's in charge?" Ben asked, glancing between Carlos and Jay in amusement.

"Evie's our people leader," Jay explained. "She's the, uh, Carlos, what's the word?"

"Executive person," Carlos supplied. "She works better at getting the people to rally behind her, though Mal and Evie both think they're effective leaders." He elbowed Mal, who simmered. "Uma is better at dividing resources and keeping track of things, so she's our Resource Advocate. Mal, you probably noticed, is a fighter. She's the one who keeps us safe and handles the weapons, the squads, anything involving hunting or fighting, etc…"

"Military," Ben supplied. "Cool. It looks like you have things going."

A whiff of something nice caught his nose and he turned to look down the road. In the distance, a thin smoke was rising. "Is that where Uma is now?"

"Yeah," Carlos nodded. "Mal and whoever else was hunting today brought back a few deer. Uma, Harry, Gil, and the pirates used to work her mom's food shop on the Isle, so they and whoever else can cook are handling it."

"I hope she falls in," Mal muttered under her breath. "I wonder what fried octopus tastes like."

"Have you ever tried being nice to her?" Ben suggested, raising his eyes at Mal.

"Have you ever tried kissing up to a live wire?" Mal shot back, turning her fiery gaze on him.

"No, why did you do that?" Ben replied. Carlos snorted and shoved Mal's arm. Mal scoffed and kicked her leg out at Ben. Ben caught her boot and held it up higher. Mal yelped a little as she scooted forward and scowled at Ben as Carlos and Jay both laughed at her. Ben took a moment to examine her foot in his hands. It was small – he could wrap his entire hand around her sole – and he probably had mugs at the palace with a wider diameter than her ankles. Tiny little Cinderella feet, this girl had. But she made up for her size with what looked like acres of toned muscle. He could see strength in every single tendon going up her leg. It helped that she was wearing tight pants with a few threadbare places behind her knees, across her calves, and even stretching up inside her thighs.

He dropped her foot as he felt his face growing a bit warm. Mal scowled a little as she moved back to her original position but didn't seem to have noticed him examining her. Either that, or she seemed to not care. Jay and Carlos, on the other hand, exchanged a cautious look.

Jay leaned forward and clapped Ben's shoulder. "Come on," He invited. "I'll show you Uma's area. You'll probably be helping us pack things up there tomorrow."

Ben nodded and let his eyes rest first on Carlos and then on Mal. He put a hand behind his back and bowed to them both, to which Carlos snorted at again. Then, without another glance back, he followed Jay away.

As soon as they were in the midst of the crowd and out of sight of the cart, Jay swung an arm around Ben's neck. "Okay, listen up," He whispered in a hushed, warning tone. "I want you to picture Mal for a second. Don't ask questions; just do it."

Ben blinked. It wasn't hard to conjure up the image of the purple-haired fairy – especially so soon after glancing at those long, long legs she had. "Okay?" He questioned, furrowing his brow.

"She's pretty, isn't she?" Jay pressed his lips together. "I'm sure you noticed how her mouth is all one color and how her eyes have those little flecks that catch the sun, right?"

Ben's mouth went dry. "Jay, if she's yours, then-"

"She's not," Jay hissed, cutting him off. "She's no one's. That's why I'm telling you this – don't go after her. She's pretty to look at, but don't touch her. She's dangerous."

Dangerous. He said it the way you would talk about a person's identity. They're Christian. They're Bisexual. They're president of the women's court or they're the national tourney champion. Not a description; a title. "That's what Evie told me about her," Ben nodded. "But, uh, Jay, I wasn't-"

"Evie's right," Jay interrupted. "Because that purple-haired pixie has more fight in her pinky finger than the rest of us do in our bodies. Even Uma. And she doesn't exactly consider love a priority."

"Jay," Ben interjected with a blush coloring his cheeks. "I'm, uh, taken back home. I'm not going to make a move on Mal."

Jay blinked in surprise. "You're taken?" He asked. "As in, you've got someone waiting for you? Why did you agree to stay, then?"

"I, uh-" Ben stammered and then swallowed. "It's complicated. But she'll understand."

"Sheesh," Jay snorted. "Must be one heck of a patient lady. Alright, then."

They stepped under a little string of blue lights and Ben saw people hard at work cutting up the carcasses of several deer. Dozens of small, hot fires were being tended to by a variety of people in teal blue. Most of them seemed to be pirates. Ben watched a pirate with a teal sash tied around his hat take a large, clean knife from a collection.

"Be warned: Uma might put you to work," Jay called in his ear to be heard over the noise.

Ben looked around at the hustle and bustle. His stomach growled a little at the good smell in the air. "I'd be happy to help,"

"Wonderful," A voice came from his immediate right. He nearly jumped out of his skin when Uma put a hand on his bicep and turned him around. "You ever done any of this before?" She gestured over her shoulder to the deer, which had been strung up with rope so they could effectively get the meat off, and pulled a long, sharp, clean knife out of the pile.

Ben glanced over his shoulder and discovered that Jay had vanished. That didn't surprise him. "I have done high school dissections and I'm a quick learner," Ben shrugged. To be honest, he'd much rather be tending the fire than dismembering meat, but if that's what Uma needed then he would do it.

"Lovely," Uma clapped him on the arm and handed him the knife. "Gil has been at this for four hours since Mal's crew started bringing in the first few. They brought in extra so we could smoke some and that way we don't have to stop as we travel. I'm going to have him show you how to do it so you can take his place and then when all is said and done, you'll either be on the smoke racks or cooking things with Harry." She pointed at a tall, bulky, blonde-haired man who was mostly apart from everyone else. Ben nodded and, taking the knife firmly in his hand, headed towards the lone outsider.

"Hey, I'm Ben," He called when he got near enough. "Uma sent me to help you out. She said she wants you to teach me how to do this and then take a break."

Gil wiped off his forehead as he stood up and looked at Ben. His face lit up with a bright, childish smile. "Hey man! I know you! You're the character who passed out in the teepee today when we were bringing you your cot!"

Ben turned a little red. "Yeah, sorry about that," He apologized. "I meant to be awake to help you guys but I, uh, had lost a lot of sleep."

"Hey, no problem," Gil reassured him. "And uh, you're King Ben, right? I know you, man!"

"Really?" Ben raised an eyebrow and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "No one has recognized me yet."

"Well, my dad talks about your dad a lot," Gil said nonchalantly. "My dad… well, I'll give you a hint. He's quick, slick, and his neck is incredibly think."

G. Gil. Gaston. Ben inclined his head. "Do you… have a problem with me?" He asked cautiously. "I mean, I don't have a problem with you, but…"

"Nah," Gil shook his head. "I never really cared. But hey, when you get back to the castle, tell your mom that Gaston says hi, and tell your dad that – well, actually, don't mention that." He snorted and then gestured to the deer he was working on. "I already got the insides out and took care of the fur. We have someone from Evie's crew working on the hides because they're tough and we can make things with them. Mal has this nifty spell she made up that makes it so we don't have to wait for the meat to get older so it's softer. Usually, you have to wait until after this thing that Evie and Carlos know the word for goes away. It think it starts with an r…"

"Rigor Mortis," Ben supplied.

"Yeah, that's the word!" Gil nodded in approval. "We basically do it piece by piece. I already did the shoulders and that's the easy part, but I'll help you go through the rest. We have people over there with smaller knives who are getting things ready to be smoked or dried or cooked. The important thing over here is to not let it touch the ground and to not shred the meat to bad – oh, have you washed your hands?"

"I haven't," Ben shook his head. "But I will right now." Gil nodded and turned back to the beast. Ben turned away and spotted a line of people rinsing their hands off under a stream of water. He followed them, scrubbed his hands off(they even had soap… in the forest?) and then returned as Gil was handing off a few large pieces of meat to a young girl who'd come to get them.

Gil carefully explained how to trim the fat so that Uma could have the others turn it into soap or use it for whatever else she could find. Then, he guided Ben through the butchering process. Ben never, in a hundred years, had imagined he would be doing this, but decided it was best to consider his life choices when he wasn't holding a very large and heavy knife.

Gil stopped helping him after a while and went to go clean his knife off and get his water bottle, but then he returned and started talking to Ben as Ben worked, occasionally giving advice but mostly telling jokes about Auradon, the villains, and everything else he could think of. It was refreshing – Ben couldn't remember the last time he'd actually laughed with a friend.

"Hey, Ben," Gil started, taking a swig of his water bottle. "Do you know the name of the prize my dad won?"

Ben paused to briefly examine Gil, who was trying his best to not smile as he kept his eyes off his new comrade. "No," He responded slowly. "Does it have anything to do with hunting?"

Gil shrugged. "Depends on your point of view?" He shrugged. "I don't think so."

Ben shook his head. "I give up," He declared. "What was the name of the prize your dad won?"

"The No-Belle prize," Gil responded, snorting a little as he spoke.

Ben burst into laughter – the embarrassing kind where you snort and chortle more than you actually laugh. He turned away from Gil as Gil began to laugh even harder at his embarrassment, and then leaned his head against the tree they'd been working beside. "Oh my gosh," He gasped. "Oh my gosh."

Gil smiled brightly and took another drink before he pointed to the sky. "The sun is going down," He pointed out. "We better finish up soon. Do you have a place to stay? It'd be nice to have a bunkmate. Harry usually hangs with Uma."

"I've been put with Jay and Carlos," Ben explained. "But maybe I'll switch around. I like you a lot."

"Me too," Gil nodded. He got to his feet. "Let me finish up these last little bits. If you take what you've cut up over to Harry and everyone, they can show you how we get things done."

Ben nodded. He would have shaken hands with Gil, but his hands were kinda gory. So instead he laughed and thanked Gil and then took the collection of his work over to the opposite side of the road, where he put it down on a rack, like how he'd seen another young boy do it.

"Well, well, well," Someone drawled over his shoulder. "Wha' a lovely surprise."

Ben turned and found a man's face hovering close to his. He leaned back a little, eyes wide, and the man let out a tiny, barking laugh. "How's it feel being a king now?" He asked, leaning in even more with a crazed glint in his eyes. Then, maniacal laughter spilled from his lips as he retreated, curling his fingers and removing his pirate's hat. His red and white clothes were in tatters and clutched in his left hand was a glinting, slightly dinged pirate's hook.

"Give it a rest, Harry," Uma rolled her eyes, putting a hand on Ben's shoulder as she navigated around him. "He's still new."

"Aye, we nicked him," Harry agreed, a mischievous glint in his eye. "How long d'ya think he'll last?"

Uma laughed. "Evie told us not to scare him off. Honored guest."

At this, Harry's face twisted into something similar to rage, though a strong sense of humor remained trapped underneath his skin. "You said I could hook him!" He declared, brandishing the hook at Ben.

"I said if he didn't do his work," Uma corrected, rolling her eyes. "And you don't need to get all jealous. If anything, he's gonna end up Evie's second." The daughter of the sea witch gave him a cursory glance. "Though he probably wouldn't mind if Mal decided she wanted a partner."

Ben's cheeks burned red. "I'm not here for any relationships," He corrected Uma quickly. "I'll be working with them, and you, but I'm, uh, already spoken for back home."

Uma raised an eyebrow and turned to Harry. "Don't listen to him," She advised. "You should have seen him turn into a fish when he first saw Mal. Even if he is spoken for, it won't last long with her around."

"I'm married," Ben interrupted. He felt around his neck and pulled up a ring on a chain strung about his head. "I don't wear the ring while I travel in case of ambushes but I'm married."

Uma gave the ring a cursory look. She hummed. "Pity for her," She shrugged and then turned around. "Alright, Harry, how much more?"

Ben let the comment slide. True, Mal was lovely, and yes, Evie seemed to be rather offended that he didn't find her equally so, but he was tied to Audrey by law. There would be no ruination of that fact while he remained here.

Uma and Harry wandered away without giving him any more commands, and Ben shifted uncomfortably before glancing down the assembly line. It amazed him how many people there were. Children and teenagers were everywhere, tending to all sorts of different tasks. He noticed that there were fewer of them further down the path, where large drying racks were set up beside fires and a couple of smaller children occasionally turned the meat so it would dry evenly. He headed down that way.

Ben supposed, gauging from the shortage of helpers and the type thereof that this was a task reserved for the small children, but seeing as he'd been given no other orders, he guessed that this would be a good place for him to pitch in until Uma came up with another job.

A bright-eyed little girl with colorful streaks in her brown hair was chatting happily with anyone who dared come too close to her lively spirit. Ben examined her from a distance – the colorful, jeweled headset around her head, the large glasses, and frilly dress. It struck him how alike she and Evie were. He'd assumed all of the people on the Isle simply went around ruining each other's lives over and over again and again, yet it seemed he couldn't have been farther from wrong. These people were creative, dedicated, and happy. Sure, they could all probably kill him and they had all had their fair share of hardships, but they were good. A deep love was taking root in his chest for every single one.

"Can you acquaint me with the process?" He asked cheerfully, stepping up next to the small girl. She looked up at him with a bright, fearless smile. "Of course!" She exclaimed. "We're just rotating everything around every half hour to make sure it dries evenly. And there's a system! Those ones over there will need to be done in five minutes, and then those and those-" She pointed to each of the fires in turn and it occurred to Ben that there were six fires. Clever.

"So, what's your name?" He asked, reaching up and helping her begin unpinning strips of meat. They had a nifty contraption that looked like a giant shelf, but with thin boards that held clothespins to dangle the meat in the smoke and above the flames. There were four to each fire set at equal distances with about two or three hovering around the one he had joined.

"I'm Dizzy," the girl introduced. Ben cast his mind back to his list of villains that he'd memorized at fourteen for his ninth-year history project – she could be the daughter of Doctor Doom or Doctor Doofenshmirtz, but his best guess was Lady Tremaine's granddaughter.

"Drizella's daughter?" He asked to confirm.

Dizzy nodded a little, keeping her mouth closed in an easygoing line. "Yeah," She agreed softly. "What about you? Were you sent to the Isle afterward? You don't seem like someone who was there for very long."

"Neither do you," Ben pointed out, casting his mind back to Mal, Evie, and Uma. "And no, I'm someone Mal picked up on the road yesterday and I've decided to hang out."

Dizzy looked over at him with wide eyes. "Oh!" She gasped and almost dropped the piece of meat she was turning. "You're the king? You're the person who's going to be helping us?"

Ben could blush and stutter out something. Or he could tease her for not knowing him. Neither seemed like the best reaction. So, instead, he stopped and wiped his hands on his pants for a second before he bowed, picking up Dizzy's hand and kissing her knuckles for a few seconds. He could feel eyes boring into his back – maybe Uma, maybe Harry, maybe any number of Islanders. Or maybe Mal. He imagined her green gaze watching him and a smile crooked his mouth as he stood back up. "I'm Ben," he introduced, leaving out the title. It was better without the title. He was more like them without making himself out to be something he had never really been able to play the part of. "Please to meet you, Lady Dizzy,"

"Well, aren't you a charmer?" A sultry voice came from behind him. He glanced over as he straightened up and saw Evie, still in her clothes from earlier, looking a little offended as she watched him release Dizzy's hand. "Where was that chivalry earlier when I was with you?"

Ben's danger sense, however weak it was, started tingling. "I don't usually do that," he admitted with a light blush. "I just thought that… the situation called for it." He wanted to impress the younger girl. He wanted to make her feel special.

"Ah," Evie's lips curled. "I see. You shake hands with me, kiss Dizzy's hand, and get on your knees for Mal."

"I did not-" Ben began before he recalled what she was referring to. He exhaled. "Evie, is it so much of a problem to you if I want to make Dizzy feel special? Could you perhaps be grateful for the way I did act rather than terrorize me for not immediately being smitten?"

Evie flinched and frowned and Dizzy set a hand on his arm. "It's okay, Ben," she consoled him. "Evie and I are like sisters. And she's been through lots. You can take the Isle out of the girl, but you can't take the girl out of the Isle!"

That doesn't stop Evie from turning and striding away.

"I hurt her, didn't I?" Ben whispered as he watched Evie disappear.

"It'll be okay," Dizzy shakes her head. "She's just been clued in to how she's still bending to her mom a little. We all forget; it's hard when we haven't been gone so long yet." She glanced through a rack at Ben. "Her mom used to beat her for every man who didn't stare when she walked past. So she's always tried really hard with people who don't react as quickly. And it doesn't help that you're a King with a big castle." Dizzy paused as she flipped around another strip of venison. "How many rooms in your castle?"

"I, uh…" Ben stuttered, completely thrown off by what Dizzy had revealed to him about Evie. He couldn't imagine being beat because other people didn't look at you as you walked past. "Uh… too many. Too many to count."

Dizzy nodded like this made sense. "Do you think there'd be enough for every one of us to come to live there?" She asked. "I know Evie said that we're going to go build our own place, but I was just wondering."

"I don't think so," Ben replied honestly, looking around at everyone surrounding them. "I wish, though. I'd take you all with me in a heartbeat." Then, he smiled at Dizzy. "Especially you."

"I've always wanted to go to Auradon," Dizzy sighed dramatically. "Do you really have carpets you can walk onto? Have you been to a swimming pool before? What does ice cream taste like?"

Ben stopped and stared at her. There was this horrible building in his chest that felt like he was being filled with hot tar. "Carpets?" He asks weakly. They have carpets everywhere. They have carpet decorations hanging on some of the walls. Little Belle has bright pink carpets that make his head hurt every time he walks in. Audrey has her own thick, plush carpet rug that he's not supposed to touch. And swimming pools… he's taken Belle to the pool more times than he's taken her anywhere else. She doesn't like swimming but he makes sure she goes and that she knows how to swim, no matter how much of a fit she throws. "I, uh, yeah," He agreed softly. "I'll have some carpets sent to you guys when you get things set up. Big ones with fun colors that feel soft. And, uh, yeah, I love swimming. Ice cream… well, there are different flavors, but it's cold and sweet, and if you eat it too fast, then it gives you a headache."

"Really?" Dizzy gasped, eyes growing large and bright in excitement. "I've never had ice cream and most of the carpets are ruined. Cruella De Vil has lots, though, but we're not allowed to touch. Mal once threw a party at Carlos's house and so I got to see them then. And I don't know anyone except for Uma and her pirates who can swim."

"You live on an island," Ben blinked. "You can't swim?"

"There's a barrier," Dizzy shook her head. "Even Evie and Mal can't swim."

The back of Ben's neck grew hot, as if someone was glaring at him from behind. He stored that bit of knowledge about Mal away and then exhaled. "If you can't swim… how did you make it here?" He asked.

"Carlos built boats," Dizzy shrugged. "After he broke the barrier and Mal kept it open for everyone to get out, they put everyone on boats. And Mal cast an invisibility spell so we could cross without Auradon finding out. That's also why Uma was allowed to come."

There was so much information in that sentence that Ben had to stop and stare. Carlos built boats. Carlos broke the barrier. And Mal held it open. Holy crap.

"That's cool," he managed to choke out after a little bit. "And good that you were able to come over. I… wish I'd been able to bring you over myself. I guess I was too busy being king… gosh, that sounds lame." He exhaled and shook his head. "So, what about you? What was your life like?"

"I worked in Grandma's hair shop," Dizzy answered. "I had a few customers… a witch here and there. I mostly did lots of scrubbing and scouring and sweeping. Lots and lots of sweeping."

"Sounds like the old Cinderella treatment," Ben mumbled.

Dizzy's eyes flicked back up through the rack, and then she glanced past Ben as a group of kids ran by screaming. "Yeah," She mumbled. "She went from Wicked Stepmother to Wicked Grandmother."

Ben gestured out to the kids with a thumb. "You want to join them?" He whispered.

Dizzy shook her head. "Not really," She declined. "I know I should, but I'm used to the work. It still feels weird to play."

A little boy that only came up to Ben's knee dashed up and tapped his hand on Ben's thigh. "Diseased," He announced. "You're diseased."

Diseased. Ben glanced up as the group of kids all howled and shrieked at him. He reached over and tapped Dizzy. "Now you're diseased too," He laughed.

"Me? I can't be diseased!" Dizzy stared at him. "Who will tend the fires?"

A man in white and red stepped up out of the shadows that Ben hadn't even realized were falling over the camp. It was Carlos, who had apparently made his way down to Uma's side of the camp. "Go on, Diz," he encouraged her. "You need a break. I'll cover you."

Dizzy hesitated, and Ben took her shoulders and shoved her away. "Go on," He told her. "Go play. You're only a kid once."

The little boy jumped up for Ben's hand. "You too!" He declared, yanking on Ben's fingers.

"I dunno," Ben shook his head. "I've got to help Carlos with the – Woah!" He tripped forward, glimpsing only Jay's long, brown hair as he caught his balance, and then the other diseased kids flooded around him to pull him in as Mal's two associates began finishing the fire he and Dizzy had been on. Dizzy shrieked as she was pulled into the vortex of screaming kids.

Ben laughed as he was pushed to the ground and then started grabbing random children, gathering them into his arms, and tickling their sides mercilessly. He laughed, then let out a little roar that made all the kids scream and giggle. Little ones climbed up onto his back and older children hung off his neck as they tried to team wrestle him to the ground. Some danced out of his reach and pointed their fingers with little shrieks. "Beast!" They cried. "Beast! Beast!"

It appeared word of who he was had gotten around. Ben didn't mind all that much as he picked up one of the smallest children and tossed them, squalling above his head, into the air. More kids gathered around. "Me! Me! Me!" They begged. Others held fast to his back. "Piggy-back ride!" They shrieked.

Instead, Ben reached out to one of the older kids. "Tag!" He yelled. "You're diseased!" Immediately, everyone jumped away, screaming, and took off running as the child tried frantically to tag everyone who dashed past. Ben jumped out of the way and about ten small children and older toddlers ran after him, letting out little yells as they dashed away from the tagger.

The sun went down. Ben did his best to guide the cluster of children away from the fires, but they all slowly dropped out one by one as the sun dipped out of sight and the night grew cool. Some mothers and caregivers called the children for dinner while others went of their own accord. Eventually, Ben was left to pick up three tiny kids who hadn't yet recovered from Isle emaciation and head up to the camp with Dizzy looping her arm through his and resting her head on his biceps. He balanced one kid on each shoulder as they yawned and stuck thumbs into their mouths, and then one six-year-old boy climbed onto his back and burrowed his nose into Ben's shirt as they walked up. The racks were still up, but adults were now switching the meat from side to side as the children all ate and went to sleep. Ben found several clean blankets stacked beside a wooden cart and spread them out, laying each of the three kids comfortably before covering them from the night chill. Dizzy he let use his arm a little longer as she tried to find Evie and then finally set her inside what she said was her cart so she could curl up with a soft sigh on her own blankets.

Ben leaned against a tree and watched as Uma directed for bones to be chopped up for broth to be made with and a large collection of young adults started packing away the jerky venison for the trip. His arms felt a bit sore from playing with all the kids, but he supposed he'd better get used to it. A few days more, and they'd be packing up this small camp and heading west.

He wondered if Audrey had been informed he'd vanished yet.

Someone slinked up through the shadows to him and held out a white plate to him. He took it, curious, and then saw green eyes light up through the dark. His hands went a bit clammy and a deep fire lit in his stomach as he stared at her. Mal.

"Good job tonight," She commended. "That looked absolutely exhausting."

Ben laughed a little, nervously. "What's this?" He asked.

"Dinner," Mal declared, stepping forward and leaning against the tree as well. She was facing the other direction and not nearly close enough for him to touch, but it was still close and he felt his breath hitch. "You missed it, so Uma put that aside for you."

"Ah," Ben nodded, squinting through the dark and then reaching down to feel some jerky and something that felt like a fresh vegetable on the side. "Thank you." It occurred to him that he hadn't eaten all day. "Is it safe?"

Mal burst into laughter, rolling her eyes, and Ben blushed. "Sorry," He apologized. "I didn't mean to accuse or anything."

"No, no," Mal shook her head. "I get it. Be careful of the food offered by kids of villains. I'm sure every kid in Auradon would know that."

"No!" Ben disagreed, snapping a little in his haste to explain himself. "No, that wasn't it at all. I totally trust you!" And to prove this, he reached down and found a piece of the vegetable, quickly raising it to his mouth and biting. Mal watched him with slatted eyes. It was so dark, he could barely tell where her body was, though he knew in the back of his mind what she looked like. Thin and powerful and with calluses and muscle in place of everywhere Audrey had soft skin and plush weight. He remembered, briefly, what it had felt like when he and Audrey had last lain beside each other over two years ago and then pictured Mal lying at his side in his wife's place.

God, was he so twisted that he was replacing Audrey after being away for a day?

'A month,' a voice nagged in his head. 'You haven't seen her for over a month. And she didn't look at you when you went to see her, so she hasn't seen you in longer.'

"I was just joking," she started in a slow tone. "I don't expect you to trust us after knowing us for a day and for, well, everything last night."

Ben blinked back at her and he hoped he could see the honesty in his eyes. "But I do," he replied.

Mal rolled her eyes. "Well, maybe you're a fool after all," She declared, and then pushed off of the tree. "Don't die overnight. Evie's rather fond of you."

"No, she's not, but she thinks I'm fond of you," Ben refuted. His words made Mal stop. She didn't turn to look at him, but he could almost feel her lips press closed.

"Careful, your majesty," she mumbled in a little hiss that had him immediately drawing connections to snakes and lizards and dragons. "Hasn't anybody bothered to warn you yet?"

"Only every person who mentions you," Ben raised an eyebrow. It was dark, but he somehow knew she would know. "It makes me wonder what happened to the last poor fellow?"

Mal snorted a little like he was a small child who'd said something particularly amusing and then walked away, still not looking back at him. He frowned a little and finished his dinner in the dark. Then, minding the ground, he headed back to the fires. In the light of one, Uma and Harry were standing very close, speaking to each other with tiny grins and soft whispers. Uma wrapped her fingers around Harry's hook carefully, and he watched her with a crazed look.

Ben set his plate down with a small stack of others he could vaguely see the outlines of. Uma glanced up at him. "Oh, good, you did get something to eat. I was wondering."

Ben nodded. "Yeah," he agreed. "Thanks for setting it aside for me."

Harry tilted his head a little and frowned at Ben as Uma's face twisted in confusion. "What?" She asked.

Ben stopped and examined her face. Pure, unabashed loss. She had no clue what she was talking about. "Oh," he shrugged it off. "I must have been misinformed. Pardon me. Well, I'll see you in the morning, then."

He turned and walked away, and Uma did not follow.

He went back up the road and found where Jay, Carlos, and Mal had been before. Jay and Carlos were curled up in their cots in the backs of their carts, and in the middle was a spare one for Ben. He hopped up, pulled his shoes off, and glanced around and up at the stars before noticing the next cart over. It was darkened, but nothing could silence Mal's striking green gaze as she hovered on the edge of the cart, gazing out over the road with her slatted gaze and watching everyone come and go. Watching him, specifically. She was like some emerald-gazed gargoyle, staring down from above.

Ben didn't say anything to her. He had a feeling he'd done enough damage for one day. He pulled up under the blankets and pressed his nose into the pillow, trying to put out the girl next door from his thoughts without forcing his head to acknowledge that there might be a small problem.

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